Dear Mark Twain Community,
It was a busy week filled with festive holiday events. Congratulations on the wonderful craft nights at both sites. The magic of the holidays is in those memory- making things we do with our kids. I remember the Norwegian Christmas parties that my family attended with the Sons of Norway decades ago. I still have the ornaments from 50 years ago. Cool stuff. Thank you for investing the time to do that with your kids and to the many volunteers that make those events happen.
This week was one filled with a little bit of concerning news and I want to be upfront with you. Mark Twain Elementary, for the last year, received some money from the state for CSI improvement. That was to get our attendance and suspension rates in line with the state and to work on identifying academic needs. It is a huge position and has been incredibly helpful. Unfortunately, the way the state works is when you improve on your data, they remove the structured funding so next year we will be facing another loss of a position that was funded categorically. We always make it work, but that was an unexpected hit.
Don’t get me started on how stupid the state is in this short-sighted thinking for districts like ours…
During a recent structural report, we took a look at those glulam beams in the cafeteria at Copper. We are concerned about some cracking. We had a very respected structural engineer out, and we are going to have to do some repairs on those beams with some temporary shoring. Just giving you a heads up this will impact the basketball season depending on the type of shoring system that is needed until the repairs can be conducted. I will know more in the next couple of weeks. The obvious question is whether our kids are safe, and in the estimation of the engineer, it’s something that needs to be rapidly repaired, but because we are below the snow line and the load on the roof should not be an issue right now, we can still use the building. The cause of the problem is most likely the changing temperature from extreme heat to the moist air coming out of the AC systems which over time has deteriorated the lamination on the beams. Those beams carry the load of the roof, so it is imperative that they are repaired. I will keep you posted on that one. The Board approved a contractor and we are ready to go over Christmas break, if supplies are confirmed.
We are installing a generator at Copperopolis over the break to make sure that food storage is stable during the frequent PG&E outages. I did file a complaint with the PUC about how often our power is turned off. We have been working with representatives on identifying if there’s another way that can be handled.
I want to give a huge shout out to the congregation of Branch and Vine for their amazing generosity in partnering with the Mark Twain elementary program for students that needed holiday support. The results were, needless to say, rather unbelievable. Likewise, at Copperopolis the Toys for Tots program and the Parent Teacher Club have done incredible things for kids at Copper. No child left behind takes on a really cool meaning in this school district.
I had a meeting with the high school staff about creating peer tutors four times a week to support our students' learning at Mark Twain as part of the K-16 Sierra Collaborative. They were very collaborative and receptive, and we should be rolling that out in the spring. Also, a huge shout out to Lori Oliver and David Allured for creating the middle school after school band program funded by Bret Harte's proposition 28 money–HUGE. Check out the article in the Calaveras Enterprise.
At the board meeting, it was approved that the district will be proceeding with scraping the Mark Twain track of the damaged asphalt surface to see if we can make it safe to run on it until a long-term repair can be determined. The board also endorsed the $65 parcel opportunity tax!. This district is under-funded compared to Vallecito by $5,000 per kid, per year. What could that mean? It could fund an intervention teacher for math, so your kid doesn't end up in remedial math while a Vallecito kid is on grade level. If you want your kid to have an education that makes them competitive when they get to high school, it is a local decision of $65 a year for four years. Let's put it in perspective--One extra large pizza for kids
I am sad to say that given our budget picture, we will be taking some very deep layoffs in January. If funding is restored, we can restore positions on an as needed basis. I will tell you folks, THIS IS MESSED UP. THIS STATE IS MESSED UP. We shouldn't have school districts 10 miles apart that can outspend by $5,000 per kid. I can't fix the state, but you can fix what happens for your kids. I am not asking for chocolate sauce. We are talking about vanilla ice cream.
I hope you and your family have a happy and safe holiday. We know there's been a little uptick of sickness over the past couple of weeks and the staff has done a great job trying to cover positions that are not typically their own. It takes a village and it’s hard on everyone when we make those shifts, but it’s good for kids.
There are a lot of great things going on at both sites and the way that we approach the challenges speaks so highly of the community that it just makes it all work. We have students with very high behavior needs and not enough resources to serve them, so we really appreciate everyone’s collaboration to solve solutions. No easy fix on this one.
We also have a lovely teacher with a husband searching for housing in Angels Camp. If you have a lead, please email me at lsimson@mtwain.k12.ca.us and I will forward it.
To all our families, I wish you happiness, health, and a year filled with many blessings ahead.
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
650-996-3290
Every Student. Every Day. Every Possibility.