Dear MTUESD Community,
We hope that you enjoyed your holiday. The festivities of the Valentine's Day celebrations are one of the most joyful and heartfelt holidays that we celebrate at school. The kids were so excited and their crafts and cards were truly magnificent. If you happen to be in the area, stop into the district office and take a look at Mrs. Rodriguez’s pasta flamingos. We have quite a beautiful display on our wall thanks to her students’ efforts.
I do want to be transparent with you that a number of staff members received layoff notices in our district this week. As you know, this is a complicated process where we have to meet state timelines. We also have to create what's called the “bumping path” for more senior teachers that are being laid out of restricted positions to go back into their classroom opportunities. I have been upfront that the district is in a very difficult financial position, and we will be losing some general education teachers. It will not be as many people as we noticed, and we will know more as the budget unfolds over the next couple of months. We are also aggressively pursuing other funding. Public education is a little bit off on timelines in that we need to notify people of reductions and workforce by March, but the State budgets aren't done until the end of May. Please bear with us as we support our staff through this difficult time. As always, we want to do the very best we can for kids, but we need to live within our means. I WISH I WAS GOVERNOR AND COULD FIX THIS MESS.
Please join me for a community meeting on Thursday, at 5 PM in the Mark Twain library. This is an engagement meeting where we talk about the LCAP process and I can answer any questions that you may have.
I am very grateful to the contractors for completing the Copper gym repairs. That gym is back open and structurally safe as of this Monday. The Copper staff had a dysregulated physical school environment for a couple of weeks with those repairs as well as the playground work that is now underway, but the kids and staff were stellar. These are the last of the large construction projects at Copper until we are able to tackle the main bathrooms. Thank you all for your patience and resilience. Anytime you find a major structural deficit like that we don't wait to repair. The risk is too great. The playground material needs a pretty stable temperature swing in order to cure so once we get into Spring, especially if it's dry and hot, it would not be suitable construction. There's never a good time for construction, but I hope you enjoy the result.
Once the contractor finishes down at Copper, I expect they will pivot up to Mark Twain. That playground in the primary yard is going to be a challenge because there are some granite boulders that will require some grinding out. I will keep you posted on that construction schedule. We are changing out a few items on the playground and just giving it a little mini facelift before that surfacing goes in.
I want to express my appreciation to the Board's thoughtful decision for permission slips related to student education and surveys. The board is very invested, as they should be, in making sure our parents are aware of their options for opting in and out of student activities. The hardship of collecting permission slips from families can be difficult with information going back-and-forth in a student's backpack. What we plan to do next year is to include in the registration forms a universal permission slip listing those student activities and then you can opt out of your student at that time. We will still aggressively pursue advertising those opportunities as they come forward. This does not apply to the sex education curriculum in fifth and seventh grade, which requires a whole separate notification process including a parent preview night. We hope this is a blended solution that gives parents as much information as they wish to receive, and also gives our staff the flexibility to not be over burdened by collecting individual permission slips for each activity. This does not apply to things such as ski trips, etc., which require a tsunami of forms.
Summer school registration is ongoing. We will be able to accommodate as many students likely that want to come. Don't miss this chance for your student to receive some extra support and enrichment. We are doing rotations that are so cool! PE rotations, art rotations, afternoon swimming and so much more. We have a large staff that is ready to help and support your kids, so join us.
I want to thank our ELAC community. They come out in force. We appreciate their participation on the second Tuesday of every month. The committee is open to everyone and all are encouraged to attend.
There are many events coming up on the school calendars so please make sure you take a look at those weekly updates. The foundations of a strong and healthy school system are partnerships between families and staff. We've come a long way this year on a lot of fronts, including facilities, instruction, and behavior. We look forward to an academic focus for the remainder of the year.
It was great to see so many people at the AMA tournament. A huge shout out to Eric Peters and his coaching staff for such a well run and enjoyable experience for students.
Enjoy your weekend ahead. Do you know how cool MTUESD IS? BELIEVE, CREATE, EXPERIENCE, AND SHARE.
We got good mojo here….
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
650-996-3290