Upcoming Events

• May 8, 4:00 p.m. - Morro Bay High School Film Festival @ Bay Theater
• May 10, 6:00 p.m. - Morro Bay High School FFA End of Year Banquet
• May 11, 10:00 a.m. - SLCUSD School Board Study Session
• May 11, 6:00 p.m. - Morro Bay High School AVID Celebration
• May 12, 8:00 a.m. - Morro Bay High School Pirate Olympics
• May 12, 6:00 p.m. - Los Osos Middle School Drama Presents: Mary Poppins Jr.
• May 16, 5:00 p.m. - SLCUSD School Board Meeting
• May 16, 6:00 p.m. - District Bands Concert @ San Luis Obispo High School
• May 17, 7:00 p.m. - Morro Bay High School/Los Osos Middle School Choir Concert
• May 18, 5:30 p.m. - CL Smith Open House
• May 18, 5:30 p.m. - Sinsheimer Open House
• May 18, 6:00 p.m. - Empty Bowls - SLO Farmers Market
• May 18, 6:00 p.m. - District Bands Concert @ Morro Bay High School
• May 18, 6:00 p.m. - AVID Senior Celebration @ San Luis Obispo High School
• May 19, 9:00 a.m. - SLCUSD Special Board Meeting
• May 19, 7:00 p.m. - San Luis Obispo High School Drama Presents: Sense & Sensibility
• May 20, 7:00 p.m. - San Luis Obispo High School Drama Presents: Sense & Sensibility

 

SUPERINTENDENT’S MESSAGE
Dr. Eric Prater, Superintendent

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." - Voltaire

May is Employee Recognition Month, a time for us to honor and celebrate the hard work and dedication of the educators and staff members in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District. As Superintendent, I am privileged to work alongside an outstanding team of professionals who are committed to providing your children with the best possible education.

Over the past year, our schools have faced significant challenges, and our employees have risen to the occasion with courage, creativity, and resilience. They have gone above and beyond to ensure that our students continue to receive a high-quality education in a safe and supportive environment.

As we celebrate Employee Recognition Month, I want to express my gratitude for the outstanding efforts of our teachers, administrators, and support staff. They are the heart and soul of our schools, and they deserve to be recognized and appreciated for all that they do.

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our PTAs and Parent Booster Clubs for honoring our employees and showing your gratitude with meals, gift cards, and clever celebrations. I want to thank you for entrusting us with the education and well-being of your children.

Cinco de Mayo
Today we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a day that commemorates the Mexican army's victory over the French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. This day has come to symbolize the spirit of resilience, courage, and unity in the face of adversity.

As we celebrate this important day, I want to take a moment to recognize and honor the significant contributions of the Mexican and Mexican-American communities to our country and our schools. These communities have enriched our culture with their traditions, food, music, art, and language, and have helped to shape our national identity.

At our schools, we strive to create inclusive and welcoming environments that celebrate diversity and promote cultural understanding. We believe that learning about different cultures and perspectives is essential for our students to become responsible and compassionate citizens of the world.

On this Cinco de Mayo, let us renew our commitment to building bridges of understanding and respect across cultures and communities. Let us celebrate the diversity that makes us stronger and more vibrant, and let us continue to work together to create a brighter future for all.

Safety and Wellness in Our Schools
I want to take this moment to share with our school community information about what the District has done to keep our students and staff safe from school violence. We live in a time when we must maintain our vigilance while still creating an atmosphere of academic achievement in an environment with pathways and opportunities for students to learn, achieve, and celebrate their intellectual, creative, personal, and future success. 

This year we have had an increase in the number of reports of threats. Most are not credible threats, but all require a diligent investigation. I want to thank our school staff, District counseling staff and our law enforcement partners who all work together to report, investigate and swiftly respond to any reports of potential threats and emergencies to keep our schools safe.

What we have done for school safety:

• Increased perimeter fencing and gates at our school
• Minimizing the amount of time school administrators are off campus during the school day
• Training for all staff on actions to take to prevent and how to respond to an incident on campus
• Updated our lockdown and lockout procedures
• Updated our threat assessment process to include a rapid assessment by site administrators
• Updated our school site emergency plans
• Updated our reunification procedures
• Developed a draft Emotional Wellbeing Plan
• Conducting regular no-stress lockdown drills for students and staff
• Collaborated with experts on threat assessment updated procedures
• Modernized the Districts notification and alarm systems at each school site
• Fully implemented the use of Parent Square to provide information to families
• Placed School Resource Officers in each of the jurisdictions that our schools are located in: the City of Morro Bay, the City of San Luis Obispo, and the communities of Los Osos and Los Ranchos

What we are planning to do:

• Conduct reunification training at each school site
• Install perimeter fencing and gates at all the schools
• Improve visitor check-in procedures at each school site
• Provide ongoing training on school safety
• District leadership training on managing all emergencies 
• Place satellite phones at each District facility including school sites
• Increase school community outreach on school and home safety

I encourage anyone who feels threatened or observes a potential threat to contact law enforcement, a school administrator or other trusted staff members and/or utilize the District’s website “Report a Concern Button’ so that action can be taken for the safety of our community. We are all partners in school safety. If you “See Something, Say Something” so that the District and our law enforcement partners can “Do Something.”

Artificial Intelligence and Public Education
Lastly, I’m wondering if you’ve ever heard of Khanmigo? It’s a new concept platform from the Khan Academy that integrates artificial intelligence (AI) with a personalized approach to education support and innovation. I’m very excited about this future platform and how it might accelerate, enhance, and inspire a future generation of students and teachers. As it develops, I’ll keep you posted. Check it out!

Have a nice weekend.

Eric

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
Diane M. Frost, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services

End of Year Counseling Report
At Tuesday night’s Board meeting, Student Support Services presented the data and stories behind the work being done to strengthen San Luis Coastal’s targeted system of counseling support to support the social-emotional needs of all students in our district. You are encouraged to view this presentation to learn about the important work that is being done by our school counselors and comprehensive counseling support team to both proactively support as well as respond to the identified needs of our students. We recognize and appreciate the exceptional work of our school counselors and CARE team members in leading the work in our schools to promote a positive school climate where our students feel safe, cared for, and welcomed. 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we're celebrating it throughout our district. This month we are focusing on the things we can do to be mentally healthy. When it comes to physical health, we know that proper diet, rest, and physical activity help us to be physically healthy. When it comes to mental health, we know that proper coping strategies, mindfulness, and positive relationships help us to stay mentally healthy. The counselors at our schools will be conducting lessons, focus activities, and providing learning opportunities for our students and parents throughout the month. At the elementary level, we will be focusing on kindness, connections, and mindfulness, and at the middle and high school levels, we'll be talking about mindfulness, connections, and resources for wellness.

We want to share some wonderful resources through CalHope that are free to parents and staff to help you to develop your own mental health and that of your students. We encourage you to take the time to view the film "Angst" about how to cope with anxiety. To access, Visit this page https://programs.calhopeschools.org and enter the code:SLO40X4NYM (The movie is about 43 minutes long and there are other learning materials to go along with it that you may peruse as well.)

Another great resource to reinforce positive mental health is an article from Dr. Michelle Borba on Seven Skills that help children thrive which gives parents tips on how to develop these skills in their children. We wish you all good mental health as we celebrate this May.

 

Tiger and Pirate Olympics - Mark your Calendars! 
San Luis Obispo High School is excited to host its 6th annual Tiger Olympics competition on Friday, May 26 at SLOHS. We will welcome all of the fifth and sixth graders from city elementary schools to campus for a fun-filled day of athletic competition, experiential learning in career education classrooms along with enrichment opportunities in theater, band and choir. We invite parents to come watch the tug of war and end of relay races in the new stadium. Elementary students will be partnered with current high school students as coaches and guides. It's a great experience for all! 

Morro Bay High will host its first annual Pirate Olympics on Friday, May 12th. All 4th and 5th graders from Baywood, Del Mar, and Monarch Grove Elementary schools will come to Morro Bay High for a day of sporting competitions and academic challenges. Events include Soccer, Basketball, Flag Football, and inner tube Water Polo tournaments as well as activities in Engineering, Physics, Marine Biology, Biotechnology, Agriculture, and Drama. Tiger Olympics will be a collaboration of many Morro Bay High students, coaches, and teachers, along with our amazing 4th and 5th-grade elementary teachers. This day of fun and spirited competition and learning will offer kids many opportunities to interact with students from other coastal schools and begin making positive memories with their future alma mater. 

AVID Recruitment
Our AVID Site Teams have been working hard to recruit new students to the AVID program! LOMS has been recruiting 6th-grade students from their site and LAMS & SLOHS students have been visiting 6th-grade classrooms at city elementary schools to spread the word about AVID and college awareness in general. Meanwhile, MBHS & SLOHS are recruiting 8th graders from the middle schools and are also getting the word out about AVID to current high school students who may benefit from AVID’s support. In the future, we hope to continue to increase our outreach to students and families by hosting these recruitment events each year.

AVID Field Trips
AVID students across our secondary schools have been attending college field trips to learn about the college and campus experience! Our most recent field trips include SLOHS AVID traveling to UCLA, MBHS AVID visiting Cal State Channel Islands and UCSB, and LOMS touring UC Santa Cruz. These field trips are an amazing opportunity for our students to explore and learn about college campuses, listen to student experiences, and consider their future options for college. 

AVID Senior Celebrations 
At the end of a successful college application season, AVID seniors have been admitted to dozens of colleges and universities and are making college commitments. So far, AVID seniors have committed to Cuesta, UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, Cal Poly SLO, San Francisco State University, CSU Channel Islands, Chico State, University of Arizona, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, and more. Thank you to the San Luis Coastal Education Foundation for providing funding to the AVID program to pay for a number of college applications for our AVID seniors this year.

To celebrate the hard work of the AVID Class of 2023, MBHS & SLOHS will be holding AVID Senior Nights at their schools. MBHS’s AVID Senior Night will take place on Thursday, May 11 at 6 pm at the MBHS Commons, and SLOHS’s AVID Senior Night will be held on Thursday, May 18 at 6 pm at the SLOHS Theater. Please join us in congratulating our AVID Class of 2023!

 

BUSINESS SERVICES
Ryan Pinkerton, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services

 

New Cafe at MBHS! 
SLCUSD is proud to celebrate the grand opening of the new Cafe at Morro Bay High School! Thanks to the generous support of our incredible community with Measure D, we are able to upgrade many facilities, including a brand new state-of-the-art kitchen, serving room, and seating area. Chef Cory Bidwell is leading the team at this new centralized production facility and brings years of local restaurant experience and culinary talent to the team. The new dining facility features station concepts like Pizza, Rotisserie, Wok Station, Fresh Garden Bar, and more! We look forward to serving our students at Morro Bay High School!