There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway
Dear Charter Families,
Remember, there is no school on Monday. It is a professional development day for teachers and hopefully a day to detox the sugar from our bodies. If your student is not feeling well on Tuesday, please keep them home. The season is changing, and that can mean that we need to be more vigilant in caring for our health. Hopefully, a three-day weekend can also provide time for extra sleep for everyone as well!
Another reminder is that Tuesday, November 2 is picture makeup day, from 10-11 pm, in case you want to have your student dress up a bit for a retake. It is also the day for our Parent Advisory Meeting.
Thanks to all the volunteers who made the special events for our K-8 Halloween events happen. We couldn’t have our special events without parent volunteers! And a huge thank you to Dave and Shawnee Dunning, parents of two current Nature Academy students and two alumni and owners of Legend Theatrical. They donated their services of a stage, DJ, lighting, and props to create a special Middle School Halloween Bash, along with the Nature Academy’s parent council and parent volunteers from all the programs. It was truly a special one-time event designed to bring together students from our three middle school programs. 95 students attended or 77% of all our 6-8 students who attend on-site classes attended. That is a great turnout!
Please read on for updates on Gr 5-8 student council, MS sports, Robin Bates weekly opportunities, a virtual event opportunity from Bookshop Santa Cruz, program reminders, and updates.
Thanks for sharing your family and children with us.
~Rhonda
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From our Superintendent: Please read the PARENT COMMUNICATION - DISTRICT UPDATE #9 to learn about his parent tought exchange, evacuation sites, covid update. If you would like any additional information on SLVUSD and COVID, including our COVID Dashboard, Inspire Diagnostic Testing, Community PCR Testing, Return to School Policy or CDPH Guidelines, please click on the following link: Superintendent Communications and COVID Information.
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From our Mental Health Counselor: I am now available Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-4 and my office is located in our Coast Redwood High School building. My confidential voice mail number is 831-850-002 and you can still also email me at [email protected].
Along with my visits to all of our classrooms to present and facilitate learning of mental health topics, there are some social groups for middle and high schoolers that are available. These are drop in zoom groups and just places for students to come in and connect.
Also, onboard this year is our first counselor trainee, Charlotte Warren! Charlotte worked in our district last year as an intern and I got to know her in our mental meetings and was very impressed with her knowledge and warmth. She is a wonderful addition to our support team here at the Charter. Stay tuned for a zoom art group that she is preparing to offer our younger students.
Middle Schoolers Art and Lunch Bunch
A lunchtime social/art/check-in group
Tuesday@11:45 at a table outside - Bring lunch if you want to!
“The HIVE” Online Middle Schoolers
Stay connected with peers and check-in weekly in this 45 min zoom group. Make new friends, share your interests, strengths, and goals. Or just listen and relax!
Tuesdays @ 3 pm Zoom Link
“The Unwind” Highschoolers
Back due to popular demand! This was a fun group last year, and we’re going to keep it going! Connect and have fun with fellow high school peers in a relaxing zoom group.
(Our goal is to eventually change this group to in-person meetings)
Thursdays @ 3pm Zoom Link
Robin Bates, LMFT
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Parent Advisory Committee: Our next meeting will be: Tuesday, November 2nd at 10:30. Please try to attend! If you would like to join via Zoom, please email me and I will create a link!
After a long wait, we will be starting our bi-monthly Parent Advisory Committee meetings. They will be held every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 10:30 on-site (with an online opportunity for parents requesting to participate via Zoom). Our current focus is the completion of our WASC report, and further completion of Quail Hollow site projects.
The Parent Advisory Committee is open to any and all parents who would like to learn more about the inner workings of the SLVUSD Charter School. We want to have representatives and hear perspectives from every Charter program.
We will meet in the Charter Library. This is an important year to be involved!
These meetings are designed to ensure we have parent input into critical documents that are the backbone of the
Charter. Yearly this committee gives input to our Local Control Accountability Plan (includes our school goals and
funding) School Safety Plan, Annual Parent Survey, as well as our 5 year Charter Petition Renewal and Western
Association of Schools and Colleges Accreditation review.
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New This Year: Student Council. Our first meeting with interested students in grades 5-8 will be this week during lunch on Thursday, November 4. Teachers Rosie Hope and Alex Leovic with be participating in facilitating the group meetings throughout the year as well.
This is an exciting opportunity to develop now that our programs are all on one site. We have a great group of students this year in all grade levels and I am excited to have them more actively involved in creating their school community.
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Charter Middle School Charter Band: Thank you parents who are getting the students to class on time. They are sounding better and better each week! It is great to hear the students in the morning. We meet in the Multipurpose room Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8am-8:40am. There is a modification of the lesson for beginners and the more intermediate musician.
If you haven't signed up but would like to join us, band instrument options are: Flute, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Bb Trumpet, Trombone, and Percussion (Snare drum and Mallets.)Here's our informational pdf and a link to our Band google classroom.
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Middle School After School Sports: Our Winter 1 season is kicking off this week! Come out to support our athletes!
Wednesday, November 3
Boys Basketball @ SLV vs Shoreline
7th - 4pm, 8th - 5:15pm, 6th - 6:30pm
Thursday, November 4
Boys Basketball @ Branciforte Middle School
8th - 4pm, 7th - 5:15pm, 6th - 6:30pm
Girls Soccer
8th grade @ SLV vs SVMS 3:45pm
6th/7th grade @ Scotts Valley Middle School 3:45pm
Boys Basketball @ Branciforte Middle School
8th - 4pm, 7th - 5:15pm, 6th - 6:30pm
Girls Soccer
8th grade @ SLV vs SVMS 3:45pm
6th/7th grade @ Scotts Valley Middle School 3:45pm
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Charter Library Help needed: If you are interested in volunteering in the library, please contact Clara Elliott at [email protected]. Help is needed bar-coding, entering books into our system, and shelving. Your help is greatly appreciated!
Here is a link to the library to give you a little taste of what is being developed: https://bit.ly/3yCnPlY
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Gardening News: Every class is participating in composting and caring for worm bins. The garden areas have been cleaned up, plants and seeds are being planted and new sprouts are growing in each area. Students are tracking our campus rain amounts, wind and temperature highs and lows. For the month of October our campus received 9.28 inches of rain. Our highest wind gust was 28.9mph, our highest temperature was 98 degrees and our lowest was 40.5 degrees. Discussion continued on drought tolerant plants that we can also use for making teas this spring.
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Charter Parent Volunteers:
Volunteer opportunities will be available on a limited basis at each school site. The registration process for volunteers is as follows:
New Volunteer: You will be required to pick up and fill out the volunteer paperwork from your school site and obtain a signature from the school site administrator. Once complete, please bring your signed paperwork to the Human Resources Office. You will also be required to provide verification of a full COVID-19 vaccination* and a current TB result.
Returning Volunteer: You will be required to provide verification of a full COVID-19 vaccination. This documentation can be provided to your child's school site. The school site will forward proof of vaccination to the Human Resources Office. You may also bring the proof of COVID-19 vaccination* documentation directly to the Human Resources Office.
*Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required regardless of where the volunteers are on campus, inside or outside.
Registration packets are available in our Charter Administration Office.
The Human Resources Office hours will accept volunteer registrations on Tuesdays from 7:00-11:00 am and Thursdays from 12:30-3:30pm. The Human Resources Office is located at 325 Marion Avenue, Ben Lomond, CA 95005.
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Student Nutrition Services: New online ordering system: Parents and Students need to order meals using this link to the online ordering system: https://family.onlineordering.linq.com. Orders are due by 9 am the day before. This means Monday's meals need to be ordered by 9am Sunday. You will need your student’s school ID number to create an account if you do not already have this, please call the Charter office at 831-335-0932 or email us at [email protected] or [email protected].
Free_and_Reduced_Application_(English).pdf
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What’s happening in our Charter Programs:
Quail Hollow Homeschool: Our Annual Costume Parade and Extravaganza was a huge success. We enjoyed sharing the day with Fall Creek Homeschool. Thank you to all of the parents who were able to be cleared to lead an activity and support us for this super fun parent participation day! There was a photo booth, Plinko, wands and spiral ghosts, cork sugar skull making, popsicle stick puzzles, paper airplane activity, coloring and puzzles, cornhole, bowling and giant Jenga, and miniature pumpkin decorating. We concluded with the story, “Alice and Greta” - a story that shows how our outlook on what we see and how we treat others affects our outlook on everything.
Fall Creek Homeschool: We had a Data talk using a graph on Growth Mindset. The graph showed that the number of students that report having a growth mindset declines as they get older. We discussed what a growth mindset is, what we noticed and wondered about the graph, and why this mindset might decline as we get older. Silent Writing- Do you have a growth mindset? How could you use a growth mindset to help you with your schoolwork?
Quail Hollow Integrated Arts: 7th-8th grades began putting together a rough draft of students’ opinion writing. 6th grade is currently focusing on an informational writing piece and students should have started or drafted an initial essay. The assignments will be supported in class but will need to be worked on at home. Students had a blast on Hogwarts Day making wands and learning spells in the morning as well as playing capture the flag. Students also began beading spiders (they will have time to finish these if they did not finish already), making butterbeer with a whipped topping, making slime, and playing outdoor games.
Coast Redwood Middle School: Project Presentations: Hooray for our first presenters! The primary reward that the students receive from completing their project presentation is kind, thoughtful and honest feedback from their peers. Claire is leading the students in an upcycle sewing project using discarded jeans to create whale pillows.
Nature Academy: The trimester is ending and students are beginning their self- reflections on the efforts they have put into the courses, both academically and through the Life Skills as well as determining personal goals for the second trimester.
Coast Redwood High School: Dia de Los Muertos field trip is this Thursday, Nov. 4th. Progress reporting is on Nov, 5th (please check Schoology for grades) CA Academy of Sciences field trip will be on Nov. 16th.
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Transportation: (further clarification)
Students in grades 6-8 can use the District’s bus transportation to get to and from the campus. There is one bus schedule for all routes, designed around the Nature Academy’s 5-day requirement that is aligned to the other schools in the district. Bus information, fees, and schedules can be found at this link. Bus Transportation; SLVUSD
Thank you to all families who have signed up their children and bought a pass. It is important that your student carries their bus pass card with them to show the bus driver every time they ride the bus.
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Covid Protocols to All Families who come on-site: When your child is sick
Important for all of our students enrolled in our programs. We are committed to making sure that we are doing all that we can to mitigate the COVID virus so that we can keep our programs open for those who want to attend classes on our site. One element that is important is to make sure that we trace any positive case. This is done by accessing any student who comes on-site and shows symptoms that may be signs of the COVID virus.
If your child comes on site for classes. Please call our Charter Attendance Line at 831-336-8527 to report when your student is ill. If your student has experienced any covid-like symptoms:
*Cough *Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
*Fatigue *Muscle or body aches
*Headache *Congestion or runny nose
*Sore throat *New loss of taste or smell
*Diarrhea *Nausea or vomiting
You will either need to:
- Receive a negative PCR Covid Test, be free from vomiting, diarrhea or fever for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications and have had an improvement in symptoms.
- Isolate at home for 10 days from symptom onset. OR
- Be seen by their physician and provide a medical evaluator note to verify that an alternative diagnosis has been made and the symptoms are not due to COVID-19.
Parents who have further questions can contact Nurse Sarah Dahlen at 831-335-4452 x142.
Thank you so much to all of you who are wearing your masks properly while you are in the classrooms and outside, close to others. It is by doing so that we can keep the virus at bay and keep learning together in classrooms and on campus.
Proper mask wearing includes the following:
- Wearing your mask properly, over your nose and mouth, whenever you are inside and there is another person present in the room
- Not pulling it down or taking it off in order to be better heard when speaking in class
- No eating or drinking in class. Breaks during class or stepping outside to take a drink are time to take a drink or eat..
- We have plenty of masks in every room if you need one.
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Pandemic Updates, and information on power outages on school days: Here are some good links to perhaps bookmark regarding Covid Safety protocols: RETURN TO SCHOOL POLICY.
DRIVE THROUGH COVID-19 TESTING: Exciting News! The County Office of Education is now offering symptomatic & Asymptomatic PCR testing. Cabrillo College in Aptos, Parking Lot K Mon-Fri 2-5pm and Sat 9am-5pm. PVUSD District Office, Parking Lot Mon, Wed, Fri 9am to 5pm. Santa Cruz COE Annex, 399 Encinal St, Santa Cruz Mon-Fri 3-6 pm. Drive Through Covid-19 Testing Sites
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From our Charter VAPA Booster parents: Below you will find the updates for All Charter VAPA after school enrichment opportunities:
Charter Play: The current Covid restrictions require social distancing and mask wearing, as much as possible, for all performers during rehearsals and performances. Our Charter Play has always been an opportunity for our entire community, K-12, to perform together in a large cast of 60-80 students. At this time, this is too large a group to manage and maintain proper social distancing, particularly backstage in the PAC. In keeping with the spirit of the Charter Play, we want all actors who audition to be included. Therefore, here is the current plan:
- Change the Performance week from the first week of February to the last week of April (Monday, April 25-Sunday, May 1).
- Auditions will be the week of January 31-February 4
- We will explore the option of an outside performance venue if current Covid restrictions still inhibit proper social distancing in the PAC in April
- If Covid restrictions continue to be too prohibitive, a Musical Review, instead of a full production, may be considered as an option. This would enable more social distancing and grouping of students.
- Instructor: Amber Walker and others To Be Determined
All Charter Talent Show: Friday, May 20, at 7pm Coordinator: To Be Determined
Thank you!
Your Charter Theater Booster Club
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Employment Opportunities at SLVUSD: Are you looking for part-time or full-time work? Interested in joining the SLVUSD Team? We have several job opportunities. You can review SLVUSD job opportunities at www.edjoin.org/slvusd.
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Dates to Remember:
- Monday, November 1: Professional Development Day - No School
- Tuesday, November 2: Picture Make-ups, all grades 10:00-11:00 am
- Thursday, November 11: School Holiday, Veteran’s Day
- Monday-Friday, November 22-26: Thanksgiving Break
Key Contacts
Administrator: Rhonda Schlosser: [email protected]
Administrative Assistant: Danelle Matteson: [email protected]
Registrar: Janet Hendricks [email protected]
Mental Health Counselor: Robin Bates [email protected]
Resource Specialist: Melanie Entner[email protected]
HS Academic Counselor: Mary Zilge [email protected]