Monarch Memo

December 18 - 22, 2017

Happy Winter Break and Happy New Year!

Best wishes for a enjoyable Winter Break.  I hope your holidays are filled with memorable moments, delicious meals and connections with family and friends. Before we head out, here are some thank yous, congratulations and semester transitions.

Thank you to Mike and Carrie Copeland for hosting the staff at the Holiday party in their home on Saturday night. We appreciate the games, contests and conversations.  It was great to see some of our little Monarchs in attendance as well.  

Congratulations to Martha Bakkedahl who will be retiring at the end of the semester. There will be a retirement celebration for her at Nicky Rottens, Monday, December 18th starting at 3:30 p.m. Please click on the flyer to enlarge for details.  Hope you can join in and wish her all the best in her retirement.

Eric Wilson was selected by our student body as the Golden Apple Teacher of the Year for Monte Vista.  The student representatives were happy to get to tell Mr. Wilson directly that he was selected. Congratulations Eric.

 

We have a new baby Monarch, Eliyas Nathaniel Estrella, to parents Edward and Alicia.  He was born on December 13 at 10:59 a.m. Weighing 7 lbs. 15 oz.  Congratulations to Edward and his family.

Erica Reed, transition teacher, is moving to Texas at the semester.  She has been an amazing and compassionate teacher to our students and will be greatly missed.  We wish her and her husband all the best with their new endeavors.  

Welcome back to Akeem Miller who will be taking Martha’s place in the new year.  Akeem is looking forward to being back as a collaboration teacher in addition to his coaching.   

Staff Holiday Potluck and Scholarship Basket Drawing

You are cordially invited to attend the Monte Vista holiday potluck lunch on Thursday, December 21, 2017 at 1:15 p.m. in the library community meeting room for lunch and then the library to eat and enjoy conversations with your colleagues.  We will give away the beautiful opportunity baskets after lunch.  Thank you to Gracia for her great organization of the baskets and to Jen for Enright for sending out letters to the community to get donations and for creating some pretty amazing baskets.  Denise has done a great job with PR and getting folks visiting the office to purchase tickets for the drawing. San Miguel Fire donated an adult bike and there is a basket with 3 nice bottles of wine where the tickets will be $1 each.  The rest will be 3 tickets for $1.  Tickets are still on sale. Perhaps you will be a lucky winner.  All money collected goes towards college scholarships for our seniors!  Remember school lets out at 12:31 p.m. on Thursday,

December 21, 2017, then come to the library for lunch!

FPM Audit last Tuesday

We were audited for CTE, ASSETs, EL, TITLE I and via the district for Athletics and ASB (on Wednesday).  Thank you to all the staff members who hosted visitors in their classroom (especially the Gen. Ed. teachers who were not expecting the EL auditors).  We were fortunate that there were no findings for the site, however, there are expectations set for us through our district departments when moving forward such as PD, documentation practices, etc.  A big thank you to Amanda Engstrand for uploading all the required documents and writing reports and to Sam and Joe along with the EL teachers for all their preparation for the visit.   Tom Gochenour spent many hours writing and plan as well as Kristine Miller who had to inventory all of our items purchased with ASSETs, CTE and Title I funds.  Also, thank you to our CTE teachers who stay on top of their programs of study to keep us in compliance.  We appreciate many others, like our ladies in the main office, who helped us find and upload documents.  We are in the clear for another two years at least. Great job everyone.

Last week at MVHS - Click on pictures to enlarge.

Here are some photos capturing some events that took place last week.  There are great performances by theater and music. Thank you to the ASB for coordinating the group photo for GHHS and Deirdre Oakley for hosting the National Honor Society induction on Friday.  Monarch Stars were honored on Thursday.  

MV Key Club members volunteered Sat., Dec. 16 with the Spring Valley Kiwanis at the Spring Valley Community Center’s annual Breakfast with Santa!  Our awesome PTSA parents created gifts for all staff members.  Have you joined PTSA?

REMINDERS

• SEMESTER 2 schedules will NOT be printed.  Please tell your students to look up their schedules on their Chromebooks.
• Special Education Golden Apple nominations are due 1/16/18. Please review the information in the memo shared via email by Denises regarding who is eligible to be nominated, who is eligible to nominate, and please consider taking some time to click on the link shared and complete a nomination form.
• Desks needed for PSAT on Wednesday, February 28th (a minimum day for WASC). Rad needs 12 teachers to please switch their desks for tables for ONE DAY ONLY please email her  if you are willing to help.
• Do you like to dance? The Poly Club is performing a short Polynesian dance at the next assembly and the staff are invited to join. Tracy will send a video out.  If you are available, Poly would love to have you join.  The song is from the movie Lilo and Stitch and it is Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride.  Practice will be daily after school once we return from break.
• Reminder from Anessa

Amazon wants our high school to win big! #GetWhatGetsYou

✔ play for a chance for our school to win the $10,000 grand prize

✔ play for a chance to win gift cards

✔ play every day

Visit to play:                   getwhatgetsyou.com

Week at a Glance     

Monday, December 18            CPT  - PLC meetings

Tuesday, December 19 Finals minimum day periods 2 & 6            

Wednesday, December 20           Finals minimum day periods 1, 3, 7.

Thursday, December 21 Finals minimum day periods 4 & 5

Staff potluck - LCR and library at 1:15 p.m.

Friday, December 22 Last work day for staff.  Don’t forget to sign in at the front office.  

If you plan to take a personal day, please fill out a blue sheet with Denise.

Dec. 25 - Jan. 5, 2018 Winter Break.

January 8, 2018 First day of second semester.

Here is the message sent home to parents on Sunday, December 17, 2017  

This is our last week of school for the semester.  Our students will be taking final exams on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week.  Tomorrow, Monday is a CPT late start day.

Our bell schedule is different for finals so please make sure to review the schedule that is attached to the email version of this message with your student. Finals for periods 2 and 6 are Tuesday, periods 1, 3 and 7 on Wednesday and periods 4 and 5 on Thursday.  The last day of school for students is Thursday, December 21. School and district offices will be closed for the winter break until Monday, January 8th.

 

Just a reminder that this week and the first week back in January is the last opportunity for yearbooks to be purchased for $75.00.  After January 12, the cost will go up to $90.00.  Our Finance Office will be open Monday through Thursday this week until 3:30 p.m. so you are welcome to stop on by and purchase a yearbook.   

 

We want to wish you a very wonderful and safe holiday season and Happy New Year. We will see our Monarchs in 2018 on January 8th.

Monarch Memo

December 11 - 15, 2017

Congratulations to Ron Hamamoto and his coaching team for an amazing football season.  We are so proud of our young men for getting so far in CIF playoffs.  We will not be hosting our championship game on Saturday, but we are an alternative site for Steele Canyon if CIF needs to utilize our stadium.  Here is a great video clip link of Rad at the CIF finals on December 1st if you didn’t get a chance to see it.  She shares what many of us feel.  What a great season of football.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uja3bi0g4a6zlk8/montevista.mov?dl=0

The Fill the Boot Toy Drive raised $1039.41 in donations on Thursday.  Thank you for your contributions. Our students were able to volunteer to go shopping at Target that same evening.  Thank you for joining the San Miguel Firefighters Charitable Foundation in raising money for the 2017 East County Toy Drive.

Band's Winter Concert is Tuesday Dec. 12th at 7pm in the band room (701). It is $5 a person and free for middle school students and younger. Come eat desserts and let the students serenade you with the sounds of the season. There is also going to be a silent auction of baskets put together by each section. Invite your students, invite your friends, invite your family, invite yourself to the Winter Concert!!!!

REMINDERS

California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) for teachers, please complete by deadline December 15  

The purpose of the survey is to obtain your perceptions of student behavior and attitudes, school programs, and policies, and the overall school climate as they relate to student well-being and learning.  

1.  Your participation is voluntary.  

2.  The CHKS survey is ANONYMOUS.

3.  The CHKS survey pertains only to Monte Vista

TO ACCESS THE SURVEY:

1) Copy and paste the following link: surveys.wested.org/cscs/JV743TV

If you are having trouble accessing the survey, please email Joe Garcia directly. Thank you!

• SEMESTER 1 FINALS are due to Denise.  A hard copy or electronic copies are fine.
• SEMESTER 2 schedules will NOT be printed.  Please tell your students to look up their schedules on their Chromebooks.  
• SHARE YOUR EVENT: Do you want your event or information on our front page website carousel? Travis can post this for you. If you have original pictures (original photos taken with iPhone/Android will work) of an event, please send them his way with a small description. No event is too big or too small! For documentation purposes, I prefer you complete this Website Announcement Request Form (also on the MVHub); however, if you feel more comfortable emailing Travis, that is fine :)
• DESTINY will be updated on January 24 by ETS. Destiny will not be available for MVHS staff on 1/24/2018  from 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.Destiny is the web-based program that we use to check out textbooks, Chromebooks, and library books to students. It is also used to see if students owe any school fines.

Week at a Glance      See Gracia to purchase tickets for baskets this week.

Monday, December 11        Site Governance Meeting 7:15 a.m. LCR

WASC Strategic Planning Team meeting 8:15 in room S-1

Site Safety Meeting 8:30 a.m. LCR

PTSA Meeting 6:00 p.m. Library

Tuesday, December 12         Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) Auditors on campus all day

Winter Band Concert 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 14           Monarch Stars during lunch in room 311.

School Site Council at 3:15 p.m. in Guidance Conference Room   

Friday, December 15 VR Team (Jimmie Johnson Grant) meeting at

12:15 p.m.

Saturday, December 16 Holiday Party at the Copeland’s home

Here is the message sent home to parents on Sunday, December 10, 2017

We want to thank you for your support of our events and programs over the past few weeks such as our Holiday Outreach Festival, Astronomy Night, Fill the Boot and winter school performances. We especially want to thank our faithful football fans who have joined us during our amazing CIF Championship season.  We are very proud of our young men and coaches and grateful for the support of our families and community.  We hope you will join us next season and now join us for our winter sports season that is getting underway.  

For students wanting to try-out for spring sports, we will be hosting physicals on campus.  This will take place on Thursday, January 18 beginning at 2:00 p.m in the Student Support Center.  The cost is only $20.00 cash. Please make sure to complete the sports clearance paperwork online and bring in the necessary physical paperwork on the 18th.  

Our next PTSA meeting takes place tomorrow Monday, December 11 at 6:00 p.m. Parents, please join us.  

Band's Winter Concert is Tuesday Dec. 12th at 7p.m. in the band room (room 701). It is $5 a person and free for middle school students and younger. Come eat desserts and let the students serenade you with the sounds of the season. There is also going to be a silent auction of baskets put together by each section.  We look forward to seeing you here.   

This coming week is our last full week of classes before final exams. We will be on a finals bell schedule on December 19, 20 and 21st.  The last day of school for students is Thursday, December 21st before we head into Winter Break.  Please keep up to date with Monte Vista events by visiting our website regularly and following us on Twitter, Instragram and Facebook.  Have a wonderful week Monarchs.

Monarch Memo

December 4 - 8, 2017

MVHS CIF Division 4 Champions!!!!

Congratulations to our players and coaching staff for an exciting game and season.  Thank you for honoring our school with a CIF Championship with such class. There are so many great articles online, in print and in social media that will give the community a great taste of how impressed the Prep sports community is with our young men.  Thank you to all the staff members who were there on Friday night.

Our team plays on Saturday, December 9 @ 6:00 p.m. at Western High School against Katella High School with a record of 13 - 1. This was Katella’s first CIF title win and our game will be played just miles away from their home school.  ASB is looking to plan a pep rally at lunch on Friday to support our team. Check your emails throughout the week for any updates from Leisa, Anessa and Bill.

Thank you to all of the staff members who volunteered their time to work the booths and games for this year’s Holiday Outreach.  All of this could not happen each year without the dedication of Rob Gorney and the coordination of the ONE.org students.  Rob will keep us posted on how Monte Vista was able to support those in need this holiday season.

Congratulations to the Academic League Teams. Both JV and Varsity are still undefeated 4-0 this season. Way to go!

AVID Field trip to Long Beach State on Saturday.  Our Monarchs in

front of the Walter Pyramid Arena at Long Beach State. Thanks Mark Campillo
and AVID teachers for providing these opportunities for our students.

Astronomy Night

Thanks to James Enos for coordinating Astronomy night for our students with support from Michael Copeland and Tom with ASSETs. Despite the full moon they were able to see planetary bodies. They will aim to schedule another night in Spring.  We appreciate this special night for our students.    

WASC Strategic Planning Team

Thank you to our team who put in a full day with working lunch on Wednesday.  They worked on our Action Plan and will be bring these to your Departments during PLC on Monday for your review and input.  The team members have been putting into our WASC plan and we truly appreciate this.

EVENTS and REMINDERS

• One.org donation cups -  Please encourage your class to donate between Nov 28 - Dec 5. The top 2 classes with the most donations will receive a nice party for their generosity. Please fill up those cups and secure them when you leave (Rob).
• Fill the Boot Thursday 6:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. Student volunteers are being recruited.
• 15 week grades due to Gracia at 8:00 a.m. Monday, December 4.
• Finals are being copied.  Please do not send students to Maribeth’s duplicating room to pick up finals.  
• Teachers - thanks to those who have completed the IT survey for your laptop preference.  There are still teachers who need to complete the survey because Dan McDowell must get the order processed before the end of the semester.  He needs to know if you would like a Mac, PC, or Chromebook. You can see the basic specs of each device here.   If you have NOT completed the preference form. IT would appreciate if you could do that ASAP.
• Printing from Chromebooks Coming Soon - Thanks to our onsite tech ninja, Jerry Guzman, we can now offer students printing from their CHROMEBOOKS, but Laura asks that you hold off announcing it officially yet. Please see the email from Laura Preble.  

Week at a Glance      See the shared Google Events calendar and Athletics calendar.

Monday, December 4              CPT - PLC meetings

Grades due to Gracia at 8:00 a.m.

Meet and Greet for the Pathway

Academy Program (formally FYE) in the

MVHS Library from 8:15 - 9:15 am.

Tuesday, December 5             English Department pull out for CAASPP scoring.

Counselors off campus for all day training at district.

Choir Concert 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, December 6 ELAC meeting at 5:00 p.m. in Room S-3

Thursday, December 7                Fill the Boot 6:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.

Camp LEAD

Friday, December 8 Camp LEAD

Pep Rally at lunchtime for our CIF Champions.

Saturday, December 9 MVHS football vs. Katella High School at 6:00 p.m.

Western High School, Anaheim, CA.

Here is the message sent home to parents on Sunday, December 3, 2017

We had an event filled day last Friday.  It started with our Holiday Outreach Festival immediately after school then our CIF championship football game vs. San Diego High School and then ultimately Astronomy Night. These were all successful events thanks to the dedication and attendance of our staff, students and families.

Congratulations to our football team for their victory over San Diego High School  earning them the title of Division 4 CIF Champions. We are so proud of our young men who play with so much heart and passion.  They will be moving on to the Southern California Championship in Division 5-A on Saturday, December 9th at Western High School in Anaheim at 6:00 p.m.  They will be playing Katella High School with a 13-1 record.  This is a battle to make it to the State Final on December 16th.  We are proud of our young men for bringing this honor to our school and community.   Any more details on this game will shared later in the week.  Watch for information via social media, Remind messages and our website.  

Tuesday night is our Choir Concert at 7:00 p.m. in the Little Theater. Please come enjoy our talented vocalists.

Wednesday is our ELAC parent meeting at 5:00 p.m. in room S-3.  Thursday morning our Monarchs will help support local Firefighters by volunteering for “Fill the Boot”.  This is the annual fundraiser for Muscular Dystrophy.  If you have some spare change, please offer it to our students and staff who will be standing along our driveway from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Just a friendly reminder that Camp LEAD is Thursday and Friday for those students participating.  Thank you in advance for supporting and attending our Monte Vista programs. Have a great week Monarchs.