UPCOMING EVENTS

• February 16 @ 11:30 a.m. - Measure C and D Board Study Session
• February 21 @ 6:00 p.m. - School Board Meeting
• February 22 @ 1:00 p.m. - Special Board Meeting
• February 24 @ 6:00 p.m. - Del Mar Sweetheart Sockhop
• February 28 @ 7:00 p.m. - LAMS/SLOHS Spring Choir Concert

 

SUPERINTENDENT’S MESSAGE
Dr. Eric Prater, Superintendent

 

Tragedy in Turkey and Syria
During the early morning hours on Monday, February 6, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the countries of Turkey and Syria killing thousands of people. I was stunned by footage of a father holding the outstretched hands of his 15-year old daughter whose body was buried underneath a mountain of concrete. She died, despite her father’s helpless pleas. As a fellow parent, I feel profound sadness for these families. If you’re able to help, please do so.

 

Youth Athletics
In January, Laguna Middle School hosted the first Youth Athletics for Leadership tournament where over 300 San Luis Coastal elementary students competed against each other in soccer and basketball. With Cal Poly Fellows coaching the various site teams, I was thrilled to see all of our schools participating in this program. 

In partnership with the San Luis Coastal Education Foundation, the Youth Athletics for Leadership program is anchored in the desire to get as many students positively engaged in their schools as possible. Through the medium of sports, hundreds of elementary students have opportunities to play and compete in soccer, basketball, track and field, flag football, etc. in a supportive, encouraging environment. 

Friendships and positive mindsets are developed through this process where students across the district come to know each other through healthy competition. Many of these students have never played organized sports before and it’s a wonderful opportunity to change self-perception and self-confidence among our kids. I hope you have the chance to come out and watch the next season kick-off on Friday, February 24th at our various elementary schools.

 

Author Visit
In March, we are fortunate to have award-winning author Matt de la Peña visit some of our school sites to share his stories and experiences growing up in California. His novels and illustrated children's books have contributed to our diverse literature in San Luis Coastal libraries as well as add to our efforts to create windows and mirrors in our schools. 

The Single Story
No matter how much we try, it is very difficult to avoid the single story - where stereotypes and prejudice foment. What is the “single story” anyway? When we only read certain books and authors or limit ourselves to the same radio host or recirculate old narratives about people and events, we develop a limited, narrow view of the world. 

As I close out, I wanted to share a moving TED talk with you by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie regarding the danger of the single story. It’s worth checking out!  

Have a wonderful 3-day weekend.

Eric

 

BUSINESS SERVICES
Ryan Pinkerton, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services

Earned Income Tax Credit Annual Notification
You may be eligible to receive the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on your 2022 tax return. Please review the EITC Annual Notification from Food Services to see if you qualify. 

Broadband Internet Survey
The City of San Luis Obispo is looking at ways that they may be able to increase broadband internet throughout the city. If you live within the city limits, they are asking you to complete a survey. Here is the link with more information and the survey.

Measure C
The voters approved Measure C-22, a $349 million bond measure, in November. While completing the Measure D work at our two comprehensive high schools, we are also beginning the planning phases for the Measure C work. The focus of Measure C is our elementary and middle schools, as well as our continuation high school. Currently, we have a Request for Qualifications out for architectural services. Next month, we hope to select architects to work with each school site on their individual projects. During that process, we will be getting input from all stakeholders. Much of the modernization work has to go through the Department of State Architects (DSA) for approval. This process can take several months.

While this planning is going on, we are putting together a separate plan to complete security fencing at all of our school sites. The focus is adding new fencing and replacing old, short fencing. We hope to bid this work and have it completed over the spring and summer months. There are a couple of sites that will need decorative fencing along the front of the campus; this may be delayed and put in the overall master plan for the site due to ADA requirements and access needs.

We are also putting together a separate plan for fields renovation. This is another project we can begin now and work on continuously. We will be sharing this plan soon.

When school districts move forward to sell bonds and receive the funds for modernization, they must be rated first, much like a credit check prior to purchasing a car or home. The better the credit rating, the better rate. The better the rate, the cheaper it is for taxpayers to pay off the bonds. Due to our outstanding fiscal management as a district, SLCUSD received a very high bond rating (AA1 rating, with a AA2 issuer rating). This is the second highest rating we can receive. The average income level in our area is what holds us back from obtaining the highest rating. SLCUSD's rating is a very positive outcome for our property tax payers.

 

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

Career Technical Education (CTE) Middle Schools Modules Begin
On Monday evening, we kicked off our CTE middle school evening modules at SLOHS. Participating students from LAMS arrived at 5PM for the evening classes. We had students in the automotive shop becoming acquainted with the various tools and workings of the shop. Next door in the Robotics lab, a group of students started to learn more about aviation and engineering from our Cal Poly Fellows. A third cohort of students were busy in the multi media center at SLOHS, learning the inner workings of graphic design. On Thursday evening, a cohort of students started working in the photography and design unit as well. 

These CTE enrichment opportunities are part of our on-going push to build awareness in our middle school students around pathways at the high schools.  We are in our initial phases and plan to open similar opportunities to students from LOMS at MBHS in the coming weeks. All of these enrichment courses are part of our K12 CTE grant. Kudos to Marci Bedall, our CTE TOSA, and Jessica Baza, our Middle School CTE counselor, for bringing this opportunity to our students.

Summer Experience Sign Ups Are Coming Soon!
Elementary and Middle School Students (Fall 2023): 

Current kindergarten - 7th grade students will be eligible to request courses soon to participate in SLCUSD’s Summer Experience program. Course requests will need to be submitted in order to be eligible to participate.  Directions will be provided in an email so please be on the lookout for this message in your inbox starting February 21st and 22nd. We look forward to providing another exciting, free experience for all participating students this year! Click on the Summer Experience brochure that was mailed to all families in January for more information.

ENGLISH    SPANISH

High School Students (Fall 2023): 

Current 8th-11th grade students will be able to participate in SLCUSD’s Summer Learning Program again this year.  Courses will be available for students who need to make up classes (credit/grade recovery) as well as for students who want to get ahead and take classes for the first time (original credit).  SLCUSD is committed to staffing all classes to be taught in person this summer in order to provide students with a more connected learning experience. SLCUSD’s Summer Program dates are as follows:

Dates	Daily In Person Schedule
Session 1:      June 12 - June 30     Session 2:      July 3 - July 21	8:30-12:45 Optional sack lunch available upon dismissal

More information will follow regarding specific courses available and how to sign up.  Students who wish to take online classes for high school credit can also pursue college level classes at Cuesta or Hancock College.  

Hate-Motivated Behavior; Identification and Response
As a nation, we have witnessed an uptick in hate filled speech and behaviors. In San Luis Coastal, we constantly reflect on our own practices and situations that may arise in our schools. Our own Board Policy states that “behavior or statements that degrade an individual on the basis of his/her actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, ethnic group identification, race, ancestry, national origin, immigration status, religious belief, color, mental or physical disability, age...shall not be tolerated."

Over the past few weeks, SLCUSD provided training for both administrators and teachers regarding Hate-Motivated Behavior on our campuses. We reviewed national data, our own policies related to Hate-Motivated Behavior, responses to issues on campuses, and methods for prevention. This recent training has provided schools with the opportunity to have rich discussions about how we support students and the systems in place to address these behaviors when they happen. 

Beyond training our staff, it is also important to address this issue in classrooms across the district with students. Certainly, a discussion at the elementary level will look different than one at the middle and high school level, but the message is the same.

At the elementary level, we address hate-motivated speech with students through lessons on bullying prevention, kindness, and inclusion. We also focus on this through the work of Kindness Week, and our Be Unique/Ability Awareness Weeks, which will be happening on each site before the end of the school year. 

At the middle school levels, we are proactive in teaching the Respecting Differences lessons and bullying prevention lessons integrated into the Second Step program as well as through focus weeks and clubs which promote inclusion and support. 

Our high schools focus on prevention through the anti-bullying unit in the health classes and through a focus on inclusivity through their clubs, such as the Sandy Hook Promise Club, REACH Club, and the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Club among others. We will continue to provide these proactive lessons and emphasize the importance of reporting and making the processes and consequences that follow a hate-motivated incident clear to all students and adults on campus.

Celebrate Kindness!
Schools around the district celebrated the Great Kindness Challenge the week of January 23rd-27th. As a nationally recognized program, over 19 million students in over 115 countries celebrated in this incredible effort to Grow Kindness! 

Locally, schools participated in many different kindness activities from creating Kindness Stations to Growing Kindness by cleaning their gardens, to being Kind to Themselves through making affirmation bracelets and even had a Throw Kindness Like Confetti dance party! Other sites did daily Kindness Messages and Kindness Challenge Sheets! 

It was a busy and fun week around our District seeing students practicing kindness so they can continue those acts beyond the fun activities and challenges to everyday acts of kindness that make our world a better place to learn and live. School counselors spearheaded these activities with the support of school staff.