PLACENTIA-YORBA LINDA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT's COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL Monday, April 30, 2018 10:00 A.M. Di
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PLACENTIA-YORBA LINDA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT’S COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL Monday, April 30, 2018 10:00 a.m. District Education Center Board Room WELCOME The meeting was called to order at 10:05 a.m. by Deputy Superintendent Candy Plahy. Mrs. Plahy asked the representatives to take a few minutes to reflect and share with their table mates what was the best thing, in their opinion, that happened this year. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES The minutes of the March 5, 2018 meeting were accepted as submitted. GOOD NEWS REPORTS Board of Education Trustee Judi Carmona encouraged the representatives to attend the area music concerts for elementary, middle and high school feeder schools this month, as these are evenings filled with fantastic music performed by our students. Bryant Ranch Elementary students from the Little Diggers Garden Club started a farmers market on Fridays after school. The harvest includes beautiful flowers and vegetables grown organically and without toxic pesticides. Fourth grade students simulated the Gold Rush and a journey to California. Bryant Ranch celebrated three wonderful student performances of Seussical the Musical partnering with McCoy Rigby Conservatory of the Arts. Students are working hard to finish up a great year at Bryant Ranch! Community Advisory Council – Kathleen Callahan reminded representatives of the opportunity parents have to nominate a Special Education teacher of the year. Click here for nomination forms: CAC_form_English.pdf CAC_form_Spanish.pdf In addition, at the next meeting the council will be electing new board members. Esperanza High School shares that three hydration stations have been installed. The Anatomage table was revealed during the month of April. The table allows students in the Medical Sciences Academy to go beyond the textbooks and animal dissections of years past and learn about anatomy on a virtual cadaver. In April, 33 Jazz Band students boarded a bus bound for Reno to participate in the Reno Jazz Festival, which features top professional and student musicians across the nation and is one of the finest jazz festivals in the world. Thank you to Brad Davis for continually providing these amazing opportunities to Esperanza’s amazingly talented musicians! Pitsco Education wrote an article featuring Esperanza’s ABC Teacher Pathway, highlighting a Glenview teacher and her teacher-in-training, Esperanza student Jenna Varner. The teacher Jenna works with was actually her teacher at Glenview in 4th and 5th grade. The Esperanza Medical Sciences Academy HOSA Chapter successfully competed at the California State Leadership Conference in April. This year Val Easton, Tyler Rex, Frank Perez and Laura Evans took 38 HOSA students to the Anaheim Convention Center, where there were 3,500 attendees from 140 schools, excited to compete in medically-related events. EHS students moved on to round two for all events they competed in. State finalists included Maddy Galvin (Bronze Medal in Medical Math), Priya Patel, Ayesha Shah, Claire Lee and Marianne Hanouneh (4th place finalist in Community Awareness), Maddy Galvin, Emilee Carr, Angel Castro and Dakota Becerra (5th place finalist in Biomedical Debate). Maddy Galvin (Bronze medalist) will be competing at the International Leadership Conference (ILC), which will be held in Dallas,Texas in June. There will be over 10,000 attendees at ILC from every state to compete in over 50 medical-related events. Congratulations to all the finalists and their amazing teachers/advisors! In his fifth year as Esperanza’s head wrestling coach, Christian Holiday has been named Orange County Coach of the Year. This year, the Aztecs won a CIF championship in addition to the national championship won by sophomore Aaron Nagao. Christian and his staff have done an outstanding job of building a world-class program at EHS. He is a student-first kind of coach and cares deeply about his athletes. Esperanza is fortunate to have him on board. EHS physics and chemistry teacher Matthew Emrick was recently published in the Journal of Chemical Education published by the American Chemical Society for research entitled “An Integrated, Multipart Experiment: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of CdS and CdSe Quantum Dots as Sensitizers in Solar Cells.” Congratulations to Matthew; EHS is lucky to have him! Kevin Kowalski has a very successful pottery business and a huge social media following for his work. He has been included in several national shows and has taught over ten workshops. His pieces are amazing! Fairmont Elementary sixth grade students spent the week learning science in the outdoors at Emerald Cove in Running Springs, California. Students learned science and also how to be part of a great learning community at camp. All students and teachers in grades PK - 6 treated parents to an amazing evening of wonderful student work at Open House. Students in fourth grade presented a living history museum, and students in fifth grade gave a state float parade. Lots of imaginative work showing the year’s learning was on display. Students and their parents enjoyed an evening with the arts. Students’ entries in the Reflections Art contest were recognized, their artwork was showcased and everyone enjoyed refreshments during this wonderful evening organized by PTA Reflections Chairperson, Wendy Reichenthal. Mothers and students enjoyed muffins, juice and conversations with each other during muffins with moms. PTA turned Fairmont’s blue lunch tables into Pinterest-worthy party tables. Everyone had a lovely time. Families enjoyed dinner and the movie Coco once the sun went down one Friday evening. Many families spread blankets and lawn chairs in front of an inflatable movie screen and had a wonderful time watching a family movie. Kraemer Middle School 7th and 8th grade students attended a PTA-sponsored field trip to Long Beach State University. During the field trip they took a tour of the campus, participated in a scavenger hunt, and learned about college life. Students from Kraemer’s elementary feeder schools visited and watched the color guard, dance team, and orchestra showcase their talents. Kraemer’s Science Olympiad team finished second in the Southern California State finals. During spring break, ASB leaders attended the California Association of Student Leaders Conference, where they attended workshops, listened to speakers, and presented to other middle school leaders. Kraemer is looking forward to the school dance, PTA fundraiser night at Jersey Mike’s, and Distinguished School night. Linda Vista Elementary had a successful book fair and well attended Open House which showcased student artwork and projects. The school carnival was also lots of fun, had tons of prizes, and was very well attended. Earth Day was celebrated by students creating “trash to treasure” projects, and a color recycle program where dry markers were turned into fuel. Fifth grade students spent the day participating in over 10 different stations ranging from candle making, butter churning, writing with a feather, making corn husk dolls, tinsmithing, soap whittling and more at the Colonial Day celebration. Students, staff and parents all joined in the fun by dressing up as colonial citizens. Linda Vista is looking forward to celebrating Teacher and Staff Appreciation week with lots of fun treats for teachers and staff. The formal dance to be held in May will have a Willy Wonka theme. To kick off the sale of the tickets, the committee sold “Willy Wonka Bars” to students before school. Four bars had “golden tickets” which allowed the lucky winners a free ticket to the dance. Students who “try out” for the variety show will entertain the school with their one minute performance and a large group of 5th graders will lip sync as a farewell performance. During LVKN (Linda Vista Kids Network), Principal Mrs. Petrovacki reads aloud the PAWS reports that are written by the students. It is a simple reward to recognize individuals for doing something special or kind. It started off with 1-2 a day and now it is up to 5+ a day and growing. When students enter the Linda Vista campus before school each day they are greeted with upbeat music, and their fellow students and teachers engage in a group walk around the blacktop area. It is not only a great way to start the day with a little exercise, but it is a fun way to socialize and wake up. Typically parents will even join in on the fun. Students are encouraged to share acts of kindness observed around campus on the Kindness Board. A student from each grade level is featured on the Kindness Board in the front office for all to see. One of the 3rd grade teachers (Mrs. Hall) took on a totally new approach to learning this year. She completely overhauled her room and created three different learning spaces to include standing desks, floor desks and regular desks. Students have a choice of seating or using pillows or cushions. A few other teachers made additions too. Students are enjoying couches, wobbly chairs, cushions, pillows, bean bags, big comfy chairs and more in their classrooms. Alternative seating promotes reading and students feel more comfortable in their learning environment, allowing them to be more open to paying attention and growing. Mabel Paine second graders had a Butterfly Garden in each of their classrooms. Students were able to watch caterpillars work their magic in creating beautiful butterflies and were extremely excited to watch the butterflies emerge, dry out their wings, and fly! Continuing with new beginnings, Mabel Paine has a new tradition started by a couple of fifth grade students during their “genius hour” projects. The two newcomers to the school came up with the idea of having "New Mustang Student Ambassadors". New students will be given a personal tour by a Mabel Paine Student Ambassador. The ambassador will show them their classroom (their desk, teacher, where to get supplies), restrooms (appropriate for their grade level), lunch tables (specific area for their class), the MPR, their playground (including rules), main and health offices, as well as drop off and pick up valet lines and parking area.