May 13, 2020

spotlights


Wednesday May 13, 2020

Core value of the month: Hard work

 

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE


Dear Monta Loma Families, 


Thank you!

Now more than ever, the importance of the partnership between school and home is crucial. We see the work you are doing to ensure your students are getting the very best education. We know it’s hard, but you keep going. We also see the love and care you give to your families and your community. Thank you for the sacrifices and support. We are in this together and we are here for you!


Principal’s Coffee Recap

It was a treat to connect with so many of you at our recent Principal’s Coffee. Thank you for coming to our Zoom meeting and sharing your experiences. 


I was pleased to share our plans to recognize and celebrate our 5th graders who are being promoted to middle school next year. We will be producing a video with a welcoming message from Dr. Rudolph and myself, teachers’ speeches, photos of our 5th graders and a slide show of candid photos from their time at Monta Loma.


We also discussed how distance learning has been going for everyone so far. It was good to hear that having everything in google classroom was helpful for you and that your students are enjoying the videos with teachers. We are available for help if you need a question answered or some individual time with teachers. All staff maintain office hours when you can email or call and get help quickly. Of course you can email anytime outside of office hours. Staff makes every effort to respond within 24 hours. 


Finally we discussed planning for reopening schools. Thank you for your input and thoughts as we plan for reopening. MVWSD is seeking representative groups of parents, students, teachers, and staff members for school reopening focus groups. Four volunteers are needed per school site. The focus groups will explore desires and concerns for school reopening. More information is found in our district news section below. To apply to be a focus group member, please complete an application found here by May 16 and contact me at [email protected]


Upcoming Meetings

Our next Principal’s Coffee will be on May 20th at 6:00pm. Directions for registering in advance will be shared in a separate email.


Our Site Council Meeting is scheduled for May 19th at 4:30. This is a meeting of our site council. The public is welcome to attend and there is a time reserved at the beginning of the meeting for public comments. Directions for registering in advance will be shared in a separate email.


We also have a general PTA meeting for PTA members on May 22nd at 3:00pm.  Look for a link from Kara Chambers a few days before the meeting.


As always, please reach out to us for anything you may need. 


In partnership,

Gloria

 


 

CALENDAR

  • Monday - Friday: Breakfast and lunch available to youth 18 or younger from 11:30 am to 1 pm at Gabriela Mistral Elementary, 505 Escuela Ave. 

 


 

Distance Learning Tips

Here are a few tips that might help you and your student with Distance Learning. Do you have any tried and true methods of helping your students’ school days be more efficient and your family’s life a little easier? Share them here. http://mvw.sd/37PbG

 

 “Caught you being good!”  Set a timer for yourself (15-45 minutes, depending on the age of your kids).  When the timer goes off, positively reinforce your child by noting their focus, independence, and/or perseverance through a challenge.  If you can periodically name, celebrate, and give attention to what they are doing right, they are more likely to keep it up, and less likely to get our attention with undesired behaviors.

 

Multiple kiddos? Go incognito! If you have multiple kids or are trying to access your own Google account while checking out theirs, here is a tip: Hold down COMMAND + SHIFT + N when you are in Chrome. This creates an incognito window, where you are not signed in. This means you can sign in with one account in one window and another account in another. You can do this for as many accounts as you like so that you can flip between windows to look at information from multiple accounts simultaneously.

 

Ask your student for high & lows for the day. Not everything is fixable, but asking and talking about schoolwork will help your student feel supported and understood. 


PTA NEWS

Dear Monta Loma Community,

I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. These are difficult times, but I've been so moved by the efforts of so many to reach out and take care of each other.  


We will hold our last Association Meeting May 22 at 8:40am online through Zoom.  You need to be a PTA member in order to vote or run for a position.  You can become a member by going to our website www.montalomapta.org/membership/


In addition to financial matters, we'll be holding our election for next year at that meeting.  Although these times are uncertain, we do know that our kids, school staff, and families need our support.  We will continue to work to enrich the lives of our kids, to strengthen our community, and to support our wonderful staff.  Please consider joining us in this work.  


In particular, we are still seeking candidates for Executive Vice-President, Communications Chair, Secretary, Hospitality Chair, Auditor, Historian, and Parliamentarian.  You can see descriptions of most of these roles on our website www.montalomapta.org/get-involved/ Any one of our board members would also be happy to answer any questions you have about these roles and serving on the board.  There is training available through our regional and state PTAs and we have an extensive amount of documentation to share as well.  No one has to reinvent the wheel or go it alone!  Let me know if you'd like to run for a position.  We'll also take nominations the day of the meeting.


We hope you'll join us at the meeting on May 22.  I'll send out a zoom link to members a few days prior.


NEWS FROM THE DISTRICT OFFICE

SCCOE Announces New Online Portal for Essential Workers to Access Childcare

Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) in partnership with county and city leaders, community organizations and agencies throughout Santa Clara County has announced a new online portal to provide essential workers, as defined by the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health, access to childcare during the shelter-in-place order

 

In addition to this childcare resource, we have a list of resources for families developed by our School Community Engagement Facilitators. Sheltering in place and not being in our regular routines of work and school can be hard on our emotional and mental health, in addition to making access to meals, rent payments and other typical activities more difficult. Click here for info about help with meals, rent, legal issues, emotional support and more.


Food Benefits (Flyer here)

Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), children who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals at school will get extra food benefits. These food benefits are called Pandemic EBT or P-EBT benefits. P-EBT benefits help families in California buy food when schools are closed because of the coronavirus emergency.

 

Families will get up to $365 per eligible child on their P-EBT card to use on food and groceries. Families with children who get CalFresh, Medi-Cal or Foster Care benefits do not need to apply. Most will get their P-EBT card in the mail during the month of May. P-EBT cards will begin arriving sometime this month (May).

 

Families with children who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals and who do not get their P-EBT card in the mail, must apply online before June 30, 2020. The online application will launch in late May. https://www.cdss.ca.gov/home/pandemic-ebt

 

MVWSD is planning for reopening for the 2020-21 school year.

These plans will cover 14 dimensions: Governance, Health and Wellness, Equity, Curriculum, Human Capital, Nutrition, Facilities, Operations, Instruction, Resurgence, Enrollment, Communication, Technology, Finance. We'll define operations under each stage of reopening: Schools closed, Targeted opening, Open with Restrictions, Full opening using guidance from Santa Clara County Public Health and the Santa Clara County Office of Education. 

 

To view the presentation to the Board of Trustees, please click here

 

Next steps include: Activate the Reopening Task Force (composed of teachers, classified staff and administrators); continue to adapt our Distance Learning Plan; and get feedback from our stakeholders.

 

The goal is to adapt our learning environment for any scenario and make it nimble enough to adjust in the event that COVID-19 resurges later in the year. We will work with all stakeholders to vet the viability of any options. This is a community public health crisis, and we need community feedback

 

Seeking members: School Reopening focus groups

MVWSD is seeking representative groups of parents, students, teachers, and staff members for school reopening focus groups. Four volunteers are needed per school site. The focus groups will explore desires and concerns for school reopening. 

 

Focus groups will meet twice (once in May and again in June) and each group will focus on a stage:  Schools closed, Targeted opening, Open with Restrictions, Full opening. To apply to be a focus group member, please complete an application found here by May 16 or contact your school principal.


Parent Support Webinar series

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has developed a Parent Support Webinar series just for parents who have questions on how they can support their kids with learning. 


Free Parent Support Webinar series:

May 7      Episode 1: Maintaining a Healthy, Balanced Family Life

May 14    Episode 2: Reading Comprehension Support

May 21    Episode 3: Writing Development Support

May 28    Episode 4: Academic Content Support


Audience: Parents & Educators

Dates: Thursdays in May 2020

Time: 1-1:30 PM, PST

Join Live: bit.ly/sccoeparents

Cost: Free


17th Annual Mvwsd Interscholastic Chess Tournament

17AMICT is forging ahead and will be held this year despite COVID-19!  The tournament will be online this year and will be held Sunday, May 31, 2020, from 11:30 to 5:00.  Full instructions and registration are at tinyurl.com/mvwsdchess.  The registration deadline is May 29.  Come take part in one of the few events this school year going on as scheduled.  Contact Mark Ruzon, Tournament Director, at [email protected] with any questions.

 

InPlay

With extended time sheltering-in-place, InPlay, MVWSD's partner for out-of-school learning, has created a list of home-based, instructor-led programs offered by your favorite local providers to keep your students active and engaged! Please check it out. https://www.inplay.org/r/mountain-view/discover


Flyers/Events

MVWSD 2019-20 calendar

**MVWSD 2020-21 Calendar**


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