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Campus Connections
is the newsletter of the Milpitas Unified School District. If you have stories for our next issue, please send them to
Scott Forstner
.
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Our Strategic Goals guide us as WE grow stronger
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Dear MUSD Community,
As we bring the first semester to a close, we have much to be proud of in MUSD!
Strategic Goal
#1:
Build a Culture of WE is strengthening as we work through the
challenges
we've experienced this fall. These have afforded us an opportunity to listen and empathize with those who may not have felt compelled to share their voices in the absence of difficulties. More parents and community members participate in our board meetings, community input opportunities, and advisory councils. Our students are leading in action and conversation with each other, staff, and school leaders. Together we are better understanding the different facets of what it takes to be culturally aware and collaborative in our WE.
As we further our partnerships with Milpitas businesses such as Flex, KLA, and XL Construction, and the City of Milpitas, our students will experience more opportunities to job shadow, intern and learn about pathways to career. Advanced manufacturing, virtual design construction engineering, and business development are examples of the careers our students will enjoy as we further our work in meeting
Strategic Goal # 3:
Develop Educational Pathways.
We are piloting online video archival of our Board meetings and boosting our presence on social media in order to meet
Strategic Goal #2: Improve Communication Systems
. These videos are available on the home page of our website,
let us know what you think
.
We received the California School Boards Association Golden Bell Award for our Love 4 Literacy program, the CA Model Schools Award for Cal Hills High School, and we were notified this week that Rose and Curtner Elementary Schools have received the CA Distinguished Schools Award. Rancho Milpitas Middle School is again a National Schools to Watch recipient, and we have applied for the Santa Clara County Hoffman Award. Our athletics scholars won; our 2nd State Football Championship in three years, our 1st Championship for our Robotics Club, division wins by our Speech and Debate team, and our Band students were Grand Championship Finalists for the first time in the 2019 Western Band Association competition. Our learners shine as we strive to meet Strategic
Goal #4 Students are Engaged and Making Social, Emotional, and Academic Gains
.
In just 90 school days, our students, staff, parents, and community have made incredible strides in deepening the tapestry that makes MUSD a vibrant village of learners. Take time to pause with your family, reflect, and relish the amazing ways in which our children have grown this year. May your holiday be warm and your New Year magnificent!
In community,
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MUSD early literacy program among the best in state
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A phone call from School Board Trustee Chris Norwood to Director Greg Barnes put the wheels in motion for staff at Milpitas Unified School District to develop a new and creative way to promote early childhood literacy.
After several brainstorming sessions from a team of educators, MUSD’s Love4Literacy Program was born. Three years later, the program was selected as one of 57 recipients of California’s leading educational honor, the Golden Bell Award.
“Love4Literacy has grown tremendously over the last three years,” Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. “It has provided our families with opportunities to experience learning alongside their children as they explore historical parks, museums, working farms and more. The action based learning together approach gives our students a jumpstart on an educational path to success.”
Field trips included the NuMu New Museum Los Gatos, Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont, Fujitsu Planetarium at DeAnza College, Crab Cove in Alameda and the South Bay Historical Railroad in Santa Clara.
With a goal of creating academically equitable communities by reducing educational and opportunity gaps, the Love4Literacy program’s objective is to increase reading exposure for non-school aged children while fostering early vocabulary and literacy skills through the use of oral, traditional and digital literacy materials.
Milpitas Unified School District partnered with Milpitas Library, YMCA, and Health Trust to sponsor a variety of educational events for young readers and family members, including pancake breakfast reading and resource fairs, free educational field trips, summer camps, and a 17-week Kindergarten experience. Each event was designed to develop educational concepts and a love for literacy among the youngest readers, as well as to offer parents resources designed to foster their growing educational relationship with their children.
“We feel honored to know the work we’ve started is valued at the state level,” said Barnes, who is the Director of Learning & Development for the District. “The impact of the program is directly related to the dedication and participation of the teachers and parents as they partner together in providing education and life skills to students both in class and at home.”
The program was made possible with support from BAPS, Milpitas Rotary, Kiwanis, the Public Library, YMCA, and Catholic Charities, added Barnes.
A judging panel composed of experts from school districts and county offices of education across the state reviewed written entries and made initial recommendations. On-site validators then reviewed the recommendations and assessed the programs in action. This year’s Golden Bell winners demonstrated that they are addressing student needs through areas such as equity and access, school climate and safety, technology and wellness.
“Now more than ever is a time to acknowledge and celebrate innovative and impactful programs that make a difference in the lives of our young people,” said CSBA Executive Director Vernon M. Billy. “This year’s Golden Bell winners truly serve as beacons of success as we work to more fully and equitably serve all of California’s public school students.”
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Attendance Rates on the Rise at Calaveras Hills
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A caring school climate, an expanded offering of classes, a team of motivated staff members, and a shared focus have made all the difference at Calaveras Hills, an alternative high school that serves approximately 180 students within Milpitas Unified School District.
This combination of factors has resulted in a nearly 15 percent increase in Attendance Rates from the 2016-17 school year to the current 2019-20 school year at Cal Hills.
As a staff, “we have really focused on attendance over the last three years,” said Cal Hills Principal Carl Stice. “Our attendance clerk, Andy, really stays on top of making sure that any absences get excused if legitimate, and he communicates regularly with parents.”
At the end of the 2016-17 school year, the Attendance Rate at Cal Hills was 80 percent. Each year since then, there has been a steady increase from 82 percent in 2017-18 to 91.4 percent in 2018-19 to 94 percent so far this school year. While the Attendance Rate is up at Cal Hills, Stice added that improvement needs to be made in the Chronic Absentee Rate (any student who is absent 10 percent or more).
“We also track chronic non-attenders and our administrators, teachers and counselor will make personal phone calls to reach out to connect with families,” said Stice, sharing that staff also utilizes the school resource officer and school-community liaison to make home visits.
This year, Cal Hills has also parented with school engagement specialist Enrique Flores, who meets 1-on-1 with students who have been chronically absent.
At the district level, Student Services Coordinator Amy Sanidad and her staff have assisted Cal Hills in developing school-wide strategies and incentives for students to attend classes.
“We focus on our school culture, and improved attendance has been a byproduct of that,” said Stice. “We have been opening up more opportunities for SVCTE (Silicon Valley Career Technical Education). We have an engineering program on campus and students are taking college courses at SJCCE (San Jose City College Extension).”
With 10 dedicated teachers on staff, Cal Hills has increased the level of expectations and rigor for its students. The personalized connection has helped students who have struggled in larger classroom settings, as well.
“Overall, we’re creating a sense of community and belonging amongst the students along with an extremely supportive staff that is always being proactive in making sure students are making the choice to come to school,” Stice said.
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A message from L&D: Boosting our Newcomer's Journey
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WE are humbled and energized by the diversity and personal stories of our Newcomer English Learners.
As educators, knowing the stories provides a context from which we can build compassion and understanding. Teaching our newcomers is a challenge to the main stream teacher because besides not speaking any English, newcomers may or may not have high levels of literacy in their primary language. They may be arriving without having had exposure to traditional schooling, never having held a pencil. They might be political refugees whose parents have had high or no education at all.
Or, among other factors these families may struggle with poverty.
The first and most important thing to understand as a newcomer’s educator is that newcomers will arrive with a variety of characteristics, and each student, must be treated individually according to his or her needs. All of these characteristics, and perhaps, more, must be taken into account when providing academic and English language support to newcomers. We encourage educators to personally guide students’ acculturation to the school system, help them acquire beginning English skills, provide instruction in core content areas, and develop or strengthen students’native language literacy skills. In regards to the language acquisition process for our newcomers, it is imperative to understand that language learning has a process. For some students is faster to acquire the language than to others, so we must be patient and respect the language process. Just because our newcomers do not have the academic language yet to understand the core content, does not mean they should not be receiving core instruction. The ultimate goal of providing the beginning English skills to them is to engage these students in core academic instruction.
It is for the reasons mentioned above that the office of Learning & Development has offered extended learning opportunities to a group of MHS newcomers through Saturday Academy starting on January 2020. We just have to remember that our district’s mission to provide our students with multiple opportunities and pathways for success is the premise of the work we do. All in all, the ultimate goal is to empower newcomers to graduate college-and career- ready.
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Student Rep serves as link between students and Board
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My name is Kush Brahmbhatt. I am a sophomore at Milpitas High School, and I currently serve as the Milpitas Unified School District Student Board Representative. I was fortunate to recently attend the CSBA student board workshop in San Diego. I started my role thinking that the student board member did not have enough power to make a large and positive impact on the district. However, this workshop provided me lots of insight into my position, which eventually changed my perspective about my role.
Without a student board representative, there is no connection between the students on my campus and the school district board members. The student board representative is indeed the bridge to flow ideas between the board members and the student population. I realized that I should frequently go out on campus and survey all of the students on changes they would like to see in certain aspects of the district, such as procedures and events. This is one of the only ways for students to get their messages to the board as I am the voice of the student body.
During the conference, I was able to have discussions with other student board representatives from all across California. In one of the focused group discussions, we talked about creating an anti-drug program similar to the anti-vaping program that I will be starting in this school district. Together, we were able to come up with an eight-step plan that I will be implementing in my project. Thus, I was able to create and bring something back from the conference that will benefit our district in the future.
Overall, through the CSBA student board representative workshop, I was able to expand my knowledge on how to improve in my role as a student board member, and I look forward to working with everyone at the district!
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Milpitas HS football team wins state championship
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The Milpitas High School varsity football team never let down, even after losing five of their first six games to start the regular season.
In the end, the Trojans' hard work, dedication and perseverance paid dividends as they rattled off eight straight victories en route to the CIF 5-A State Championship. Milpitas HS defeated Reseda 34-0 to close out the magical season.
Congratulations go out to Head Coach Kelly King, who was named Coach of the Year, his entire staff and, of course, our student-athletes who demonstrated the strong character of Milpitas!
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Register for second session of Parent Champions: Empowering parents with children of African Ancestry
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Attend the second of our FREE 4-part series designed to empower parents with children of African ancestry in Milpitas Unified School District! Let's work together to improve the educational experiences and outcomes for our children.
The Parent Champions Program has a mission to increase college-going and academic achievement of the students we serve by working with both parents and school personnel to increase family engagement. The program uses a working text for teaching and reference, Be A Parent Champion: A Guide to Becoming a Partner with Your Child’s School, and is intentionally designed as an empowerment model of reflections and action steps.
Register at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/85834353863
WORKSHOP #2
Date:
January 8, 2019
Time:
5-5:30 p.m. Food and Networking / 5:30-7:30 p.m. Meeting
Location:
Milpitas High School Library
Future workshop dates:
Wednesday, March 3 and Wednesday, May 13.
*Child care will be provided for children 2 and up
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Check out our District Calendar
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Have a look at our District Calendar for information on upcoming events, meetings and more. Here's the
link
.
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MUSD | Phone: (408) 635-2600
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