News & Announcement

We have officially entered the Winter season. The season often symbolizes both despair and hope. No one can deny that in this Winter of 2020, there is indeed various levels of despair and that we need to continue to build on those traits that will strengthen us and our hope. Take the time to slow your emotional reactions and accept that the pace we are given may not be what we want. Find some new skill or challenge during this time to do with your student, or help them explore what new skills they can take on themselves. Oftentimes focusing on a new goal can bring in a new light and/or purpose.

Please read on to hear ..

As we begin our last week of school before our Thanksgiving break, I want to stress the importance of the brain-body connection as well as the need for all of us to breathe deep and continue to take stock on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting our well-being and that of our children.
....

We are a month before the end of the first trimester of the school year, which means that it is progress report time for our programs who get grades. Our CR high school students will be getting their progress reports, and report cards for Nature Academy students are just around the corner. For our homeschool families, we are nearly a third of the way through the school year. 

This is the time for students to take time to review their progress.

This is a short newsletter, with a few updates that are right around the corner, this week and the next.

Our SLV Charter teachers and support team continue to find various ways to work with you and your student.  Our mental health counselor has created a few additional groups for support, one for our families who have lost their homes, one for our high school students who need to unwind together.

We had a good turnout of parents who came to our last R & R Coffee check-in.  We are finding themes in what is front and center on your mind and I’ve been told by several that the sharing was beneficial.  There were many who shared the need to discuss the idea of ‘what is enough’ when it comes to learning, when and how to encourage students in their work, how to balance screen time and screen fatigue, time management, and of course loss and grief due to either the fire, the pandemic, or both.  Robin and I hope to see you this Tuesday, Oct 6th at 10 am

Each of our programs are building greater regularity with their online support; be it 1-1 conferences, daily ‘synchronous’ Zoom lessons or check-ins, parent meetings, Google Classroom organization, go-bags or boxes are still being delivered, and Danelle is still getting curriculum materials in from various sources.


...... This is a time when it’s great to remember the benefits of a Growth Mindset. As Carolyn Dweck says: “Keep Going! Our intelligence, creative abilities, and character are things that we can improve in meaningful ways. We can always learn and get better at what we do.”  When things are tough, as hard as it can be, staying positive and persevering will bring great gains. In fact, it is often during the hard times that we learn the most...though perhaps not in the ways we initially thought. Together we can get better.

A huge thank you to our local firefighters and first responders.  They were and are tireless in their efforts in saving as much of our mountain communities as they did.  Our appreciation is endless.

It feels like ages ago that I sent out a ‘formal’ Charter News email that shared school plans.  Let’s call this a ‘Take Two’ effort at officially starting school courses and activities in earnest. Currently, the fire evacuation has been lifted for all but the farther reaches of the community.  And still many are not able to come back due to electrical and/or water constraints. Resettling and cleanup has begun for the community in general and the SLVUSD schools in specific.

Welcome to the start of a very unique school year of Learning and Living together. This is certainly not the way that any of us would like to welcome in another wonderful year together.  We won’t have the exciting voices of children in and out of the classroom, warm welcomes at the door and seeing kids with their new school attire, but life has thrown us all into a world of uncertainty and we are all doing our best as we get to carve out a new normal; a time where Learning and Living are truly intermingled. (We will need to...

Here is one last newsletter to share what the Charter staff is thinking about so far as we prepare for next year. Additionally, I have listed some resources that you may want to refer to throughout the summer.

Next year, we will still work under the guidelines of the Department of Health and Santa Cruz County Office of Education as will SLVUSD as a whole. I'll be working with the County Office Taskforce regarding reopening schools; in particular with a committee focusing on Curriculum, Blended learning, Local Assessments/Grading/State Testing/Field Trips/Work-based learning.  ....

The end of the year is always a bittersweet time for all of us as we say goodbye to our graduates and to the students who are moving on to other high schools, to other towns, states, to futures that we will no longer be a part of.  

I have had the privilege to participate in a variety of Zoom celebrations this past week where our fabulous teachers honored each of their students, especially those advancing to high school or post-secondary life options.  As always, the teachers’ talks were personalized for our students’ whom we have known for many years, thus knowing and appreciating their full ‘humanness’.  Each program has the tradition of...