Monarch Memo: August 29 - Sept 2, 2016

NO C.P.T. Monday, C.P.T. on Sept. 1st

Back to School Night August 31, 2016

Show your MV spirit  

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Jersey Day       Superheroes         Beach Day Nation Day Super Spirit

KUDOS to the Guidance team for a great College Night. Great attendance! The tech team did an excellent and efficient job with the distribution of the Chromebooks.  A smooth roll out!  Way to go.  Also, a big shout out to our football teams who had big wins over Hoover this week.  Thanks to our ASB for entering Monty in the PPR mascot contest. Did you vote? Please do not hesitate to share information or kudos that you would like our MV family to know. 

What's New?

Staff members may know by now that our student Jacob Parkes collapsed on Tuesday morning.  Thanks to the quick action of our MV staff, and the AED, his life was saved.  Last report, Jacob is in the cardiac unit at Children's hospital and is still assessing the function of his heart.   The family is in financial hardship so any means of providing support is appreciated. The family could use grocery cards, meals, gas cards, and free bus tickets to use the school bus for the other Parkes boys who attend MV.  Contributions can be given to Brittany Woods.  Thank you everyone. 

Reminders and information

Back to School Night - August 31, 5:15 - 8:00 p.m. (Flyer) 

1. Burgers, info. Booths and entertainment (cheer, music), parent meetings in the 5:15 - 5:50 window.  
2. Schedules for students will be placed in your mailboxes on Monday to distribute to students Tuesday to fill out and take home.  Parents may need them Tuesday Night because some come to BTSN straight from work. Students can also take a picture of their schedule and text the picture to parents.  
3. Period 3 teachers - all parents must see the welcome video with important information.  Please make sure parents sign in on the sheets provided.  We will need a copy of your period 3 sign in sheet turn in to the front office to Amanda for Title I purposes. 

CELDT Testing - the District Assessment Team will be here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to test to our 171 EL students. Students will be only be pulled out for one day and complete all four portions of the CELDT test on that day. Campus Supervision will be collecting the students at the beginning of period 2 during those three days. On the day the students test they will most likely miss periods 2, 3, 4 and 5. We will be using the library all three days so please do not send students to the library during periods 2-5 on CELDT testing days. 

Sunshine Fund - please contribute soon.  See flyer attached.

Reserved Parking Spot - $40.00 to the Finance Office no later than Friday, Sept. 2

Club Advisor Meeting -  Thursday, September 1st.  The meeting will start promptly at 12:18 PM in room 801.  Advisors and coaches: Team/club charter form and Fundraiser request forms due before or at meeting. 

Attendance - Take attendance daily and diligently. Thank you. 

Pledge of Allegiance - Per Ed. Code, we will begin period 3 every day with a pre-recorded message for the Pledge for students to join in.  We will keep you posted on when this will begin.    

Communication - Please utilize the daily bulletin for your important announcements. Club information and meeting dates/times can be posted as well.  Please send all info. To MaryBeth Bostick.  

Here is the phone message to parents on Sunday, August 28, 2016

Tomorrow, Monday, August 29 is a regular start school day. First period begins at 7:15 a.m.  Our next C.P.T. late start day is Thursday, Sept. 1 the morning after Back to School Night. We are looking forward to seeing you here for Back to School Night on Wednesday the 31st.  Join us for BBQ hamburgers and entertainment in the quad beginning at 5:15 p.m. Classroom visitations begin at 6:00 p.m.  Your student will be bringing home their class schedule on Tuesday night.  Please remind them to give you the schedule and/or have them take a photo of the schedule to text you so you know their classroom room numbers.  

This week is spirit week.  We are looking forward to our Monarchs dressing up for Jersey Day on Monday, Superhero Day on Tuesday, Beach Day Wednesday, Nation Day on Thursday and Super Spirit Day for our Welcome Back Assembly on Friday.   

Our first home football game is Friday, Sept. 2nd and we need your support.  The athletic director needs a pool of adult volunteers for the "chain gang" for all of the home varsity games. This is an important job and parent volunteers are greatly appreciated. If interested, please contact Athletic Director, Anessa Carroll at acarroll@guhsd.net.

Parents and students please remember to check the Monte Vista website daily and read the bulletin to stay up-to-date on important information and school events.

Have a great week Monarchs!  

Monarch Memo: August 22 - 26, 2016

Chromebook Distribution Week - Library Closed

College Night, August 25th!

Cheers to a great first week!  It is always a busy week with new enrollees, drops, placement tests, etc., but our MV staff managed it all with smiles on their faces.  This is great to see.  I enjoyed visiting many classes this past week and loved seeing staff members making connections with and engaging their students from day one.  Feel free to send me an email and let me know if there is a particular class or lesson you would like me to see.

KUDOS to all of you. Everyone has been working hard to get the year started off smoothly.  Thank you for making a difference in the lives of our students everyday.

What’s New?
District Information - As a new principal, I have received many emails with information, policies, regulations, etc.  Here are a few that were sent to me recently. Please read and reflect.  We will work toward revising any practices when necessary.  

Policy: AR on Movies a must read from Paul Dautremont - Over the past couple of weeks, Ed Services has worked to update our Board Policies and Administrative Regulations regarding instructional materials and their usage.  One of them is AR 6161.11 "Utilization Of Supplementary Instructional Materials" which covers the use of rated "R" movies.  Please find attached a copy of the updated AR and a uniform GUHSD parent/guardian permission slip to be used by teachers when showing rated "R" movies.  The permission slip is a fillable pdf for ease of use.  It is now located on our district website where forms are kept.  In the next few days, plan on sharing this information along with your expectations regarding your site's process for showing rated "R" movies. This must include gaining principal, department chair and ultimately parent/guardian permission in order for student viewing.

I know that it is hard to preview all of the movies shown on your campuses.  I found the IMDb website to be useful.  After searching a film, click on the "more" menu and find the "parents guide" link.  Here you will find a detailed description of the types of things you might be concerned about. Let me know if you have any questions.  Paul

Pledge of Allegiance - Patriotic Exercises - AR 6115:  The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag will be conducted at each school daily at the beginning of the school day.  (Education Code 52720)
In addition, each school daily shall conduct patriotic exercises that may include:

1. Readings from the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, or Bill of Rights.
2. A quote from an outstanding historical person or event which emphasizes our American heritage.
3. The national anthem and other patriotic music.
4. Presentations of events from the lives of famous Americans.
5. Appropriate observance of a national holiday.

The principal of each school shall be responsible for review and selection of materials to be used, whether they are proposed by individual teachers or committees of teachers.  The district administration may prepare or suggest other source materials.  Individuals may choose not to participate in the flag salute for personal reasons.

Social Media - the personal use of social media should be conducted before or after work hours. Posting on MV accounts (work related) is acceptable during the work day.

Reminders and Information 
Newscast - The first newscast will be on Wednesday, period 3 - Teachers, please make sure to show the Newscast at the beginning of period 3.  The newscast will begin with the Pledge of Allegiance each week and is incorporated on video.  Just a reminder that additional minutes are added to period 3 each day for bulletin announcements and any other school business.

Back to School Night, August 31 - The Admin. Team will be getting information to you later this week and/or early next week with Back to School night information.  This information will include the blank class schedule sheet for students to fill out and give parents to take home for that evening, food, entertainment and booths that will be set up in the quad, the bell schedule and link to the video to show in period 3 to all parents.  Thank you in advance for your patience while we work on the details.  

PLC and Dept. Meeting Information - if you have not provided your PLC and Dept. information to Denise for Marietta yet please do so by Wednesday of this week.  Info. needed: PLC name, Dept. name, lead/chair person of each, list all members and meeting locations. Thank you.

MVHub - The MVhub (link) is a spot for all things relevant to the Monte Vista staff. Check it out and bookmark the site if you haven't already.

Freshmen Planners - Freshmen planners were NOT ordered this year.  We can revisit this in the spring for next school year - Rad.

Lunch Detentions - start August 23.  Tuesday - Thursdays only  (From the AP’s) Room 1004. Please issue detentions through the MV Hub. Campus supervisors will begin picking up students toward the end of period 5 next Tuesday.

Emergency Cards - ECs are in mailboxes. Please fill it out ASAP and submit the completed card to Denise.

New Teachers - Application Support will be having one more teacher training session to present the Grade Book in Campus Instruction and to touch on some of the functions in Campus Tools like Behavior Referrals and Messenger. This will take place after school at the ETS Office at 1901 Jamacha Rd. in Building D. Last Session - Monday, August 22nd - 3:15-4:30pm

Admin./Title I Responsibility Chart  - This will be emailed to you soon.  Please refer to this chart so you know who to go to for questions and support.

Freshmen Advisory - Teachers, just a reminder to join the Google Classroom.  The code is zf1zj5l. Thanks Amanda

"Monarchs Needs to Know" - in your Google Drive.  What a great resource for all of us.  Anessa (AD) sent a nice reminder that the conference schedules are listed.  Please check this regularly:

Here is the message sent home to parents on Sunday, August 21, 2016

Good Evening Monte Vista Families, this is Principal Minjares with a weekly update:
The best way for parents and students to stay informed is to access the Monte Vista website daily.  Parents, we encourage families to read the daily bulletin together which is located in the School info. drop down menu in addition to our headlines, calendars and department information.  

Back to School Night is Wednesday, August 31 beginning at 5:15 p.m. with burgers and information booths set up in the quad. Because of Back to School Night on Wednesday please note that we will have a CPT late start day on Thursday, Sept. 1 instead of Monday the 29th.  Please mark your calendars and we will remind families next Sunday night.  

Some important items for this week.  Chromebook distribution takes place this week.  Your student should have brought home the RUP (Responsible Use Policy) form for parents or guardians to sign and return to English teachers.  If you have not received or returned the form, there is still time to do this tomorrow. Seniors will receive Chromebooks on Tuesday, Juniors on Wednesday, Sophomores on Thursday and Freshmen on Friday.  

Thursday night, August 25th is our College Fair.  Out of state schools are coming to us and prepared to give our families a great presentation at 6:00. Families may visit college tables and speak with  representatives from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m in the gym.  A few of the colleges in attendance include:
University of New Mexico, Colorado Mesa University, Hawaii Pacific University, Calvin College, University of Albany - SUNY and University of Alabama. Hope to see you here.

Just a reminder that it is each year during the first few weeks student schedules are not firm.  We receive an influx of new enrollees, conduct placement testing which may lead to adding or dropping sections of classes.   Last week Freshmen were evaluated for math & reading placement.   We will be adding a new Algebra course to reduce class sizes so some of the students will be receiving schedule changes on Monday. Thank you for your understanding.

Our administrative team will be visiting classrooms beginning the third week of school to review school rules.  Please review the dress code policy on our website and remind your student that cells phones must be in backpacks and not in use between 7:15 am and 3:00 p.m.  (Link)

If your child wants a hallway locker, they will be given out at the Student Support Center this week on Monday, August 22nd , Tuesday, August 23rd and Wednesday, August 24th during break, Advisory, lunch and after school. Students must bring a partner when they sign up for a locker.
Have a great week Monarchs!

Have a great week too!

Monarch Memo: August 15 - 19, 2016

Monarch Staff:

Thank you for the warm welcome to Monte Vista this past week.  It is wonderful to learn names,faces and just become familiar with the campus. This “Monarch Memo” that I am sending will come to you weekly in lieu of a voice message each week.

My goal is to keep it brief and just provide reminders or key information about the upcoming week.  I prefer sending this memo instead of dozens of reminder emails over the course of the week.  In addition, I will cut and paste the all call messages home to students each Sunday so you have a copy.  Thank you in advance for reading the Monarch Memo each week. See you tomorrow.  

Reminders

Attendance:  Please take attendance from day one (tomorrow) on-line.  

Schedules:  Send a student to Guidance if. . .

• they are not on your roster
• have 2 classes scheduled in the same period
• have a hole in their schedule (example - missing period 3)

Duplicating: No duplicating walk-ups on the first day of school.

From RAD - just in case you didn’t get to all of your emails

Teachers:

Just a friendly reminder to NOT tell/promise any students that they can fit in your classes when the student is not enrolled.

PLEASE do not send students to guidance to see if they can fit in your class(es), and do not make promises to students about getting into your class(es).

Deanna and the counselors have worked very hard to not only balance classes, but balance SPED students in collab classes, get students into CTE classes, and the like.  They are looking at the schedules and student placement from a school-wide perspective and doing their best to keep classes at 38-1 for regular classes and 32-1 for collab classes.