Dear Charter Families,
The heavy storms seem to have past us and we have some sunny weeks ahead. When I see students on campus, it is evident how glad they are to be back on-site and working with their friends and peers. This email has some important updates on bus routes, for those of you who have their students take it to and from the school. There is also a special announcement from the district about the eligibility to receive the Earned Income Tax Credit from the Federal Government. There is also some reminders about the PAC meeting and we have noted the planned CAASPP testing dates that will be in late April-early May. AND! Our All-Charter play has their performances coming up at the end of the month!
Also, I have kept in the COVID information from California's Department of Public Health. We still have some students and parents who wear masks due to wanting to stay healthy or who have relations that are immunocompromised. We appreciate them and also the community for accepting that families have different levels of safety when it comes to using masks. We are still having members of our community who are getting COVID. Luckily, the symptoms don’t seem to be as bad in general.
Our programs are back to their schedules and Melanie back to offering special opportunities for their students. is getting them back into the gardens. I am seeing some of the flowers coming up from the 100’s of bulbs that the students planted everywhere! This is a nice visual reminder that Spring is just around the corner. Fall Creek, Nature Academy, and CRMS have students doing various science activities around water monitoring, quality and are mapping the information from our area to be evaluated as they continue their studies. The Nature Academy is combining environmental standards into their studies. There has been a field trip to the Exploratorium for our K-8 homeschool programs and Nature Academy is taking their students to Pacific Edge and will then do some beach clean-up tomorrow.
P.S. We had several families who were heavily impacted by the storm’s damages. If you are still impacted by slides that make it so that you land-locked and cannot attend school, or are need of support please give our office a call.
~Rhonda
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From our Superintendent: TRANSPORTATION UPDATES 1/20/23
TEMPORARY BUS ROUTES CLOSED:
SWAN BUS ROUTE
This route will reopen when we have a certified Bus Driver cleared by CHP.
TEMPORARY BUS STOP CLOSURES 1/20/23:
Lake Boulevard (Lompico)
West Drive (Lompico Park)
Brookside (Forest Lake)
Forest Lakes Park
These stops will be reopened as soon as it is determined that school buses may safely pass. You are welcome to drop your student off at a different bus stop location.
For information about bus routes and general transportation information, please contact
the Transportation Department at (831) 336-2223 or visit the Bus Information/Transportation
Website. You can also find this link on our SLVUSD Charter Website under the Parent/Students tab. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Earned Income Tax Credit Information Act Communication:
Based on your annual earnings, you may be eligible to receive the Earned Income Tax Credit from the Federal Government (Federal EITC). The Federal EITC is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families. The Federal EITC has no effect on certain welfare benefits. In most cases, Federal EITC payments will not be used to determine eligibility for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, low-income housing, or most Temporary Assistance For Needy Families payments. Even if you do not owe federal taxes, you must file a federal tax return to receive the Federal EITC. Be sure to fill out the Federal EITC form in the Federal Income Tax Return Booklet. For information regarding your eligibility to receive the Federal EITC, including information on how to obtain the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 797 or any other necessary forms and instructions, contact the IRS by calling 1-800-829-3676 or through its website at www.irs.gov.
You may also be eligible to receive the California Earned Income Tax Credit (California EITC) starting with the calendar year 2015 tax year. The California EITC is a refundable state income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families. The California EITC is treated in the same manner as the Federal EITC and generally will not be used to determine eligibility for welfare benefits under California law. To claim the California EITC, even if you do not owe California taxes, you must file a California income tax return and complete and attach the California EITC Form (FTB 3514). For information on the availability of the credit eligibility requirements and how to obtain the necessary California forms and get help filing, contact the Franchise Tax Board at 1-800-852-5711 or through its website at www.ftb.ca.gov. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
After School Sports Reminder for students in middle or high school: Winter Sports starting (January-March) MS: Girls Volleyball, Wrestling (no cuts), Flag Football HS: Basketball, Soccer, Wrestling
Charter students are able to participate in our District’s afterschool sports if they remain in good academic standing and complete the required participation requirements/forms.
Middle School form: SPORTS PERMISSION SLIP High School forms HIGH SCHOOL Athletic Forms
Tryouts: Students must be eligible in the last eligibility grading period prior to tryouts (minimum 2.0 GPA and no F's-- based on the prior report card or progress report). Students should make every effort to attend all tryout days. Team rosters will be posted the Friday after tryouts are complete.
Covid Protocol: A student who has been required to be quarantined due to Covid, will have an opportunity to have 1 tryout day upon returning to school prior to any league games played. An athlete that wants to join a NO CUT sport can join upon returning to school.
Each sport has different coaches and once you are on a team, you will have communication primarily with your coaches.
Middle school Athletic Director, Lupita Alaniz–[email protected].
For the high school, Jared Bradley at [email protected], is the initial contact person.
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January special option For students, grades 5-8.
Charter students in grades 5-8 are invited to come together in person this January for a special elective opportunity in Exploring Math Creatively.. We will be exploring the concepts of fractions and data analysis through games, manipulatives and art to help build a stronger math mindset and enjoy working with math together. Every Tuesday and Thursday starting January 10th through the 26th from 12:45-2:05 at the Quail Hollow campus.
Many of the activities will be based on the work of Jo Boaler, co-founder of YouCubed, whose goal is to inspire all students with open, creative, mindset mathematics. If you are not familiar with this resource it's worth checking out. https://www.youcubed.org/
Students participating in the all charter play: If you would like to take the school bus from QH to the tri-campus for play practice in the PAC, please contact Rhonda or Danelle. You will either need to have a parent/guardian with you until the play practice begins or you can purchase a bus pass and you can quietly stay in the middle school library while you wait for the practice to start.
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Parent Advisory Committee meeting; Tuesday, February 21 at 9:30. We will meet in the Library or on Zoom. For those who cannot meet in person, you can connect via Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting: PAC Feb 21 Zoom mtg
These meetings are designed to ensure we have parent input into critical documents that are the backbone of the Charter, as well as supporting the growth and development of the campus activities and culture of the Charter as a whole. Yearly this committee gives input to our Local Control Accountability Plan (includes our school goals and funding) School Safety Plan, Annual Parent Survey, and our 5 year Charter Petition Renewal and Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accreditation review.
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2023-2024 SLVUSD School Calendar: The 2023-2024 SLVUSD School Calendar
It is posted to the SLVUSD website HERE.
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Pick-up and Drop-off Safety: Safety Expectations and Warning of Accidents.
As we increase activities at our site, we are having more and more drivers dropping and picking up their students at various times in the mornings and afternoons. We have seen a downturn in the safely awareness, also seeing parents pick their children up in precarious locations. Please do not park outside of a designated parking spot in from of the District Office.
For any K-8 pick-up or drop-off.
- Please drive down and either park in front of the District Office building, or drive around back of the building to drop off your middle school student or wait in your car for your student to come to you during pick-up times.
- Please drive slowly when going around the District Office building. Please show some patience and wait in line for students to fully get in the cars.
- If you plan to wait an extended period of time for your child to get their things ready, please pull over to the far right side while you wait.
For CRHS families: The Coast Redwood High School parking lot is only large enough for Charter staff. To help ensure safety, we are requesting that parents drop off and pick up their students outside of the CRHS gates and not to utilize the staff parking lot as a turnout.
Parents and student drivers are encouraged to utilize the lower campus parking lot to park their cars and to walk up the stairs to CRHS.
- Your student may also meet you down at the lower parking lot, descending from the stairs from CRHS to the lower campus. Or if space, park off the road, along the wooden fence on Marion along the side of the CRHS building, outside of our gates.
- Please do not use the top of the drive down, or the small CRHS parking lot to make a U-turn. There have been a few close calls between students, bicycle riders, skateboarders, and vehicle drivers navigating in and out of the staff parking lot. And recently there have been some actual fenders benders,
- High school students are directed to wait for their rides at the bus stop or along the wooden fence outside of the CRHS gates, or at the lower campus parking lot.
Please do not park in front of the school bus stop. (at the top of the drive down, adjacent to the weed benches and signage.) Our wonderful bus drivers pull out of the district office driveway and turn right into their first bus stop at 12:00 and again at 1:15 or 2:10, based on the day.
-Thank you
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All Charter Play Information: Peter Pan: Somebody to Love
- Performance Week: January 30-February 5
Please email Amber directly with any questions at [email protected].
Free online live tutoring now available.
Students can now have 24-hour access to various resources, including live 1:1 tutors. This is a fantastic resource for our students and families. Here is the link to check it out:
https://www.brainfuse.com/highed/helpNow.asp?a_id=6BE9380D&ss=&r=
Student Nutrition Services: FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH
- All SLVUSD students are eligible to receive a free breakfast and lunch through the cafeteria.
- Complete the Free/Reduced Lunch Application at https://family.titank12.com/
- Although a meal application is not necessary to receive free meals during the 2022-2023 school year, households are encouraged to complete a meal application to ensure that your school receives accurate funding. As well, your child’s eligibility for free or reduced lunch could qualify you for additional outside services or benefits including Free/Reduced Bus passes, student fee waivers, P-EBT, discounted utilities, and more.
- Meals will be served from our Multi-use Room in the central area of the campus.
- Mondays: 11:45-12:15
- Tuesdays, Thursdays and a few Mondays 12:10 - 12:40
- Wednesdays: 12:00-12:30
- Fridays: 11:50-12:20
- Breakfast will be available in the mornings from 8:00-8:30
- Lunch will be served as followed:
- CRHS students can order lunch and they can pick it up from the Charter multi-use room.
- More details are coming from our Student Nutrition department. SLV Student Nutrition Services.
Student Absences: REMINDER
For Nature Academy families, everyday that your child is absent from school you need to call our attendance line at 831-336-8527 to report their absence. Please leave your child's name, your name, and the reason for the absence.
For Homeschool families if your child will be absent from enrichment classes please contact your teacher of record to report their absence.
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GENERAL COVID NOTIFICATION: 2022-2023 COVID-19 GENERAL NOTIFICATION
This notice is to inform you that Santa Cruz County has dropped to a lower status as it relates to COVID-19. While the County COVID rates may go up and down there is still a higher exposure potential in a school setting. Due to the potential of being exposed to someone with COVID-19 (both in and out of school), we encourage ALL students to follow the actions below to protect one another:
- CDPH recommends that students wear a mask while in indoor settings to protect themselves and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. High-quality masks with a good fit and filtration provide the best protection.
- If you develop symptoms of COVID-19, stay home, email your school site’s Health Office and get tested. You may pick up home test kits from any school site or the District Office. In addition, students can be tested at one of our Inspire testing locations.
- If you test positive for COVID-19, isolate at home and notify your students’ school site Health Office right away.
This general notification will be sent each week in this Charter News in lieu of providing individual exposure notifications for COVID-19. Note that infections diagnosed in students and school staff are not necessarily the result of exposure at school, and when safety protocols are followed in schools, COVID-19 transmission remains more likely to occur outside of school settings.
Thank you for considering this important information. We consider the health and wellbeing of our community a priority. Additional information can be found at 2022-2023 SLVUSD Students: General Protocol for Symptoms and Positive Test Results.
Health Office Contact Information Charter – [email protected]