“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” --Oliver Wendell Holmes
Dear Charter Families,
Thanks to everyone who helped to make Staff Appreciate week special for our teachers. Our teachers and staff continue to amaze me with all the special events that they continue to offer our students. I am deeply appreciative of all that they do. And an added thank you to the parents who support our teachers and programs. We wouldn’t be as strong without your support.
I am still not able to drive, thus still not able to come on campus. I miss the students and the excitement! A huge thanks to all the Charter staff for holding it together while I support from home. I am still in daily correspondence with my admin team, and the teachers and I are in communication when needed as well. I am replying to emails whenever possible and so please continue to email me if there is a question or concern I can help with.
Please read on to hear about some of the events that have transpired or are happening soon!
- Three students Lily Brown (QHIA), Nia Stearns (QHIA), and Stella Pfefferkorn (Nature Academy) participated in the Santa Cruz Fashion Teen Show this past Sunday, May 1
- The Roaring Camp Music festival was a success. So proud that our growing Middle School Band performed as well. They are determining when to offer a concert just for our Charter families. Expect to see that date soon!
- All programs were involved in the Fun Run; each with a special purpose for their money; CRHS will be using their funds to paint a mural in ther basketball /lunch area.
- We had our 1st all Homeschool Skate Day since before COVID. Thank you Marcy for leading this and to all the other teachers who went to help out.
- Nature Academy Civil War Day at Harvey West Park to the Evergreen Cemetery, May 6th
Coming up soon, read below fo further information.
- Santa Cruz County Math Contest. Saturday, May 7th.
- Authors Fair, Saturday May 7th
- GLOBE Symposium, May 7th
- A special PAC meeting will be held next week on May 10, starting at 10:30. Please come!
- 1st all-Charter ice-cream social; a time fo parents to connect: May 12.
- Please see our Dates to Remember for dates of our various promotions and CRHS graduation. Note: all programs lst day of school is June 7th, regardless of when the graduation or promotion celebrations are planned
- Mountain Fair the weekend of June 4th and 5th.
Thank you for allowing us to share in the growth and positive well-being of your children.
All the best,
~Rhonda
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Parent Advisory Committee: Our next meeting will be: Tuesday, May 10th at 10:30 via ZOOM only. We will be talking about ideas for coordinating special events and more parent opportunities for our school and various programs next year. For those who can come, we meet in the library so that parents can easily talk amongst themselves. I will open the Zoom and will start the meeting from there. Here is the link:
Thank you to the parents who attend these meetings. 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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COVID Update – Vaccines will NOT be required for students and/or staff in the 2022-23 school year as previously anticipated. Schools will most likely continue with testing and tracking of exposures. Schools will still be required to provide Independent Studies as a choice for families; SLVUSD provides this through SLV Charter School.
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FashionTeens – Thank you! We want to thank you for your tremendous support of the FashionTeens program and for all the students involved.KendasLanders from our QHIA program supported our students as they prepared for this contest.
There were professional photographers, as well as videographer for the show and will share their fabulous images and video soon. In the meantime, bask in the glory of a job well done!
Three cheers to our students who participated in the show. Stella won the Social Consciousness Award ($100) and was 1 of 6 students to receive a pass to a weekend summer workshop in Los Angeles with FIDM! Nia won a $50 gift certificate to Bookshop Santa Cruz for an outfit made mostly of paper.
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GLOBE Symposium: A team of student scientists from Coast Redwood Middle School will be presenting their research on the effect of stream flow rates on biodiversity in the San Lorenzo River at the G.L.O.B.E. student research symposium Saturday, May 7. The symposium will feature high school and middle school student research teams from around California. The students will receive feedback on their research from professional scientists, student scientists and environmental science educators. Participants will also attend a presentation on the use of drones in scientific research and will participate in a research study at the slough on crab populations.
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MATH CONTEST & FESTIVAL, May 7, 2022
Audience: Math Educators 5-12
Mark your calendars, because the Santa Cruz County Office of Education is bringing back our Individual and Team Math Contest for students grades 5-8 the morning of Saturday, May 7, 2022, 8:30-10:45 AM.
We are so happy to announce that we are signed up with our four charter teams for this year's Santa Cruz County Math Contest.
Here are our teams:
- 6th Grade Team #1---Chase Hoskins, Kai Molfino, and Jackson Bates
- 6th Grade Team #2---Finn Lonsdale, Zoe Boyd, Max Plummer, and Landon Strudley
- 7th Grade Team---Tommy Fidrych, Lilia Brunner, and Damian Spracklen
- 8th Grade Team---Ollin Bates, Bob Brown, Ellawyn Strudley, and Jacob Cunningham
And a huge that you to Rebecca Doty for preparing and leading these teams.
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Student Author’s Fair WHERE: Del Mar Elementary School (1959 Merrill St. Santa Cruz, CA) Outside in the office quad area along with local vendors (fun art, jewelry, fairy hair design, food, drinks, and other treats).
WHEN: Saturday, May 7, 2022 from 10:00 am --3:00 pm.
WHO: All Santa Cruz County Schools are invited to have a table to display their student work.
Our theme is "Student Writers in Bloom" We will have coffee and baked goods here, in addition to a taco truck and two fun vendors: Fairy Hair Sparkles by Kat, and K Dezynz Jewelry by our own Karyn Adams.
The Author's Chair and audience chairs will be set up on the grassy area in wing C. The school tables will be in wing C. There will also be some tables set up in the quad with writing and art supplies for students to craft and write during the fair.
Parents can park in the main Del Mar lot, or in the side teacher lot at Del Mar. There are also a bunch of spaces in the drive aisle.
This will be a sweet, small event, and is a perfect post-covid reentry into the Student Author’s Fair.
Come and be inspired!
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Last Garden News From Melanie:
What an amazing year it has been in the gardens! Students have accomplished so much this year rebuilding their gardens on this beautiful new campus despite the gophers! The K-5 garden has evolved from nothing into something incredible with many different edible flowers, a few veggies, and many herbs that get the students' five senses engaged.
The middle school garden has gone from weeds to wonderful with an abundance of edible flowers that we plan to harvest and use for herbal teas next year.
The high school garden has nothing but an abundance of food and edible flowers continuing to grow through the Summer to prepare us for next year's classes. Worm and compost bins all over the campus are full and thriving with high hopes of harvesting castings and compost next fall.
We have had several wonderful wildlife encounters this year while creating so many new funny and endearing garden stories that we loved sharing with each other. Some of those story topics included a tiny disturbed birds nest, "El Jefe" the hummingbird, the campus lizard boy, the growing tadpole's in the middle garden, one student's view of the benefits of slugs and being kind, monarch caterpillars and the great search for milkweed, the notorious poison oak pulling mistake, wild turkey mama's and their babies, the gopher murder by the Great Blue Heron, and of course there were a few wild children stories too!
As Summer approaches I have been working on drip systems in all of the gardens. The middle garden drip system will be turned on after a little maintenance next week while the K-5 Garden has a brand new system installed. Slightly more complicated is the CRHS drip system which I will be working on and completing next week. All drip systems will be set to 10 - 15 mins twice a week for an early morning watering. I will be checking school gardens once a week throughout the Summer so please email me if you happen to see anything unusual going on.
The Seed Co-Op that is located in the Charter Library should be open late next week and will be available to all students and teachers.
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Booster-Sponsored Ice Cream Social for our parents
When: Thursday, May 12th, 3pm,
Where: Highlands Park Playground area.
Parent groups from FC, QHHS, CRMS, QHIA, & NA are all on board to support this first ever event that we hope to have become an annual event. This is a chance for the parent community to come together, as well as their students! All the Charter teachers and staff are invited to join us!
Bring Your Own Spoon (Help save the planet, one spoon at a time!)
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Summer School Enrollment is Open!
The Summer Learning Opportunities will run from Tuesday, June 14 - Thursday, July 14, 2022, from 8:30-12:30 (no classes Friday, June 17, 24, July 1, July 8, or Monday, July 4).
Course offerings are listed on the enrollment form. Elementary and grades 6-8 have more enrichment in addition to Math and ELA focused classes. High school summer school is primarily for credit recovery. Priority will be given to high school students that received a D or F in a previous course. High School students should consult with their teachers prior to completing the enrollment form.
The deadline for submitting registration requests will be May 27, 2022.
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Band Update: The Roaring Camp Music festival was a success. We are so proud that our growing Middle School Band performed at this event. Teacher Mr. Gonzalez is determining when to offer a concert just for our Charter families. Expect to see that date soon!
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Redwood Mountain Faire Great News! The Redwood Mountain Faire is back for 2022 on June 4th & 5th at Roaring Camp. This amazing local music festival is all volunteer-run and the proceeds are split up between the local organizations that provide volunteers. Check it out at Redwood Mountain Faire. Our Charter is one of the organizations and we have parents and teachers volunteering at the event.
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CAASPP Testing We are required to have 95% of our students take the test each year. This will be an important year to gather data from as it marks a new baseline for our Charter school after the Pandemic and Distance Learning years. Thank you to all who are helping their students prepare and participate.
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Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11 Student Participation: All students at the designated grade levels are required to participate with the following exceptions: -Students who participate in the alternate assessments. -ELA only—English learners who are in their first 12 months of attending a school in the United States. Content and Format: The Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, which are delivered by computer, consist of two sections: a computer adaptive test and a performance task (PT) based on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA and mathematics. The computer-adaptive section includes a range of item types, such as selected response, constructed response, table, fill-in, graphing, and so forth. The PTs are extended activities that measure a student’s ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple standards—a key component of college and career readiness.
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California Science Test (CAST) in grades 5, 8, and once in high school. Student Participation: The CAST is required for all students in grades five and eight and once in high school (i.e., grade ten, eleven, or twelve) unless their IEP indicates assessment with an alternate test. The CAST includes stand-alone or discrete items and PTs. The discrete item types consist of selected response, constructed response, table, fill-in, graphing, and so forth. The PTs measure a student’s ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple standards through extended activities.
- The Physical Fitness Test (PFT) for students in California schools is the FITNESSGRAM®. The main goal of the test is to help students in starting life-long habits of regular physical activity. Students in grades five, seven, and nine take the fitness test. The test has six parts that show a level of fitness that offer a degree of defense against diseases that come from inactivity. The test results can be used by students, teachers, and parents. The PFT - CalEdFacts page provides a more detailed overview of the test.
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COVID Update: SLVUSD has partnered with Inspire Diagnostics to offer an outdoor walk-up PCR testing site that is open to the entire school community at the SLV District Office, Quail Hollow school site, Ben Lomond and is offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (excluding holidays) from 1-5pm.
Families are welcome to utilize this free service. The site is available for symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Those needing a test simply need to fill out the registration once at http://sccoe.link/inspiresc, no appointment is required. Our weekly and exposure testing will continue at the school sites for students and staff.
In addition, COVID-19 vaccinations are still available through our county drive-through locations. If you would like your child to get vaccinated, you can register and make an appointment at https://santacruzcoe.org/vaccines/ or contact your student’s doctor or healthcare provider.
On-site COVID testing will continue: Our weekly exposure testing will continue at the school sites for students and staff. The District provides testing in partnership with Inspire Diagnostics. By registering your student(s) with Inspire Diagnostics, your student(s) can test for weekly screening or for exposures as necessary. When your student(s) participates in this weekly screening and/or exposure testing, he/she is eligible to remain in school during a "modified" quarantine. The Inspire Diagnostics Testing Dates and Times at Quail Hollow are Monday & Thursday 10:45am - 11:45am
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From our Charter VAPA Booster parents: All Charter Talent Show Canceled.We were not able to find a coordinatoer and sufficient support to make this happen this year. The plans are to make it a ago for next year.
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Charter Parent Volunteers: 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 12:30-3:30 pm. The Human Resources Office is located at 325 Marion Avenue, Ben Lomond, CA 95005.
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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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Community Opportunities: The district has transitioned the Community Opportunities site to the new platform that Google will continue to support. Here is the LINK to the website...
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Dates to Remember:
- Thursday, May 19: Quail Hollow Homeschool 5th Grade Celebration; 10am, QH campus
- Thursday, May 26: Coast Redwood High School Graduation; 4pm-6pm, Fall Creek Amphitheater
- Thursday, May 26: Fall Creek Homeschool 5th Grade Celebration; 11am
- Friday, May 27: Quail Hollow Integrated Arts 8th Grade Advancement; 10am-1pm, Bear Creek Rec Facility, Boulder Creek
- Monday, May 30: District Holiday, Memorial Day
- Monday, June 6: Coast Redwood Middle School 8th Grade Advancement; 10:30am-1:30pm, Natural Bridges
- Tuesday, June 7: Nature Academy 8th Grade Advancement; 10:30am-12pm, Fall Creek Amphitheater
- Tuesday, June 7: Last day of school for students
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]