MPCSD District Newsletter - December 17, 2025 | | Educating and empowering students while embracing childhood and adolescence. | | |
As we wrap up 2025 I want to ensure you are in the loop when it comes to the fiscal exercise we are working through, which we refer to as Funding our Priorities. In preparation for the January 15, 2026 board meeting I am working closely with district leaders to arrive at over one million dollars of cost-savings considerations for next year and then again for the following year(s). While the board will not be taking action at the January meeting, they will engage in meaningful discussion and provide critical input to our staff team. At the February meeting, the revised considerations will be brought back to the board for direction. You are always invited and encouraged to attend board meetings, share your perspective, and stay connected to the decisions being made. Board meeting agendas and Zoom links are available at our district website and you may always email the board at board@mpcsd.org.
As you can imagine, this exercise is sensitive and difficult. Given 90% of our expenditures are spent on people, we will not be able to avoid reducing expenditures in this area and all departments will feel these shifts; as a caring community member, you may be concerned about what the outcome will be and how the process is affecting our staff. I am committed to an informative and respectful process that ensures the people, positions, and/or programs who are potentially impacted find out first, before the public. I recognize that in the absence of information, uncertainty can build and create insecurity. To alleviate this, my team and I are working quickly and thoughtfully to avoid an extended timeline. We are committed to upholding the integrity of the process as we align resources to our vision and strategic directions using the input and research we have collected, including the survey that so many in our community completed. As superintendent, I am taking responsibility for this process and leaning into our core values of compassion and teamwork.
We will come back together in the new year with renewed energy to tackle challenges and celebrate progress, supporting each other as I know the MPCSD community does. In the meantime, I wish you and your loved ones a restful winter break and look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday January 6.
Sincerely,
Kristen Gracia
Superintendent
| | Reading Over Break? We Have Recommendations | | Winter Break could be a wonderful time to enjoy reading as a family or for kids to find their next favorite book. Reading specialist Jacqui Cebrian prepares an annual list of “faves” for all ages, including adults! These book recommendations may be just in time for gifting, too. Take a look, find a book. Pictured here are just some of the titles, from the picture book section. Happy reading! | | NEW Student Registration is Coming Soon | |
Registration for NEW students will open on February 2! This means incoming TK and kinder students of our current families, and any new students who will be starting at MPCSD this coming fall. Each elementary school will host information sessions in January:
Laurel Prospective Family Info Night for ALL Grades - January 14, 5:30-6:15 p.m.
Oak Knoll TK/Kinder Info Night - January 22, TK 5-6 p.m., Kinder 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Encinal TK/Kinder Info Night - January 29, TK 5-6 p.m., Kinder 6:30-7:30 p.m.
For families interested in Spanish Immersion, there will be two information sessions dedicated to learning more about that program. NEW THIS YEAR continuing SI families do not need to attend an info session prior to enrolling a new SI student. Families NEW to SI are still required to attend one info session:
Spanish Immersion Info Nights - February 10 or March 19, 6-7 p.m.
All dates and more details available at the district’s enrollment pages.
| Save the Date: Amazing Generation Event | | |
The Amazing Generation Co-Author Catherine Price is coming to MPCSD's Speaker Series in January!
The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World
January 21, 2026, 6-7 p.m., via live Zoom exclusively for the MPCSD community
Want a sneak peek of this topic? Catherine Price and Jonathan Haidt were on the Today Show yesterday!
Preorder your book in time for our event! Use this special Kepler's webpage.
Last year we read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. This year, we are thrilled to follow up with an event based on the highly anticipated book The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World by Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price. We are pleased to be joined by Catherine Price as we learn how young people can be empowered to stand up for themselves by choosing a life not dominated by screens. Parents will leave with ideas for how to engage with their children as together we create a community where children grow, explore, enjoy unstructured time, and avoid becoming the next anxious generation.
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Award-winning science journalist, speaker, and author Catherine Price is a leading voice in the national conversation about digital devices and how to create healthy relationships with technology. Her books include her bestsellers, How to Break Up With Your Phone and The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again, and Catherine and her work have been featured in outlets including The Best American Science Writing, NPR, The New York Times, Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, and TIME Magazine, among many others. She is also a former middle school teacher, the parent of a young child, and a core member of the team behind Jonathan Haidt's #1 NYT-bestselling book, The Anxious Generation. She writes the popular Substack newsletter, "How to Feel Alive," and her TED talk on fun has been viewed more than 5M times. In all of her work, Catherine's ultimate goal is to help people of all ages scroll less, live more, and have fun.
The MPCSD Speaker Series is supported by the One Community Campaign.
| | Host Family Needed for Spanish Intern | | |
MPCSD partners with the Amity Institute Program to bring Spanish speaking interns to support our elementary schools. Our interns model Spanish language speaking and are informal ambassadors for their country.
We are in need of a new host family to host one of our wonderful interns. The timeframe would be February through the end of the school year. Host families are asked to provide free room and board (3 daily meals) and a private bedroom for the intern. All families who have hosted interns in the past developed close connections and long lasting friendships.
If you are interested in becoming a host family or would just like to learn more about what it would entail, please contact MPCSD's Spanish Immersion and World Language Coordinator, Tami Girsky, at tgirsky@mpcsd.org, or the program's host family coordinator, Marta Solsona, msolsona@yahoo.com or by cell at 650-575-7146.
| | Third Annual 8th Grade Night at MAHS | | |
Part of MPCSD’s efforts to grow student belonging include making connections among our neighboring districts who also feed into Menlo Atherton High School. One way - now in its third year - is through an 8th grade event that brings together students from Hillview, La Entrada, and Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School to enjoy a game at MA and cheer on the bears together! MA’s cheer team welcomes the students with special signage and administrators from all schools attend and help facilitate student connection.
If you have an 8th grader, mark your calendar for the MA Girls JV Basketball game on January 28, 2026. Students and families are invited to attend and meet other 8th grade families from Las Lomitas and Ravenswood!
| | At its annual English Proficiency Ceremony last week MPCSD celebrated the 54 students, representing an incredible 19 different languages, who have become English proficient this year! That means these students came to MPCSD with a primary language other than English and have worked hard, with the support of their families, to learn English and become proficient so they no longer need English Learner services. We are so proud of them and their accomplishments, including being multilingual - a skill that unlocks lifelong opportunities. Many thanks to MPCSD’s dedicated team of EL teachers: Diana Torres, Linda Dugoni, Emily Smith, Emily Chen, Courtney Maury, Alicia Poole, Megan Kalvass. | Piecing It Together in Hillview's Art Program | | |
Creativity can flourish because of something as random as proximity, and mosaic pieces in the Hillview art program are a great example. Hillview art teacher Anna Kogan had been noticing scrap wood from Mike Bratt’s woodshop class that would typically be discarded. With an idea brewing in her mind, she got permission from Mr. Bratt to use the scraps in the art room, keeping them out of landfills and providing an exciting new medium for art projects. First, Ms. Kogan experimented with the scrap wood herself, creating a mosaic coffee table. That ended up being too heavy to be practical, but gave rise to the next idea - creating pictures with the wood pieces. She says, “I found the process calming, similar to doing a puzzle and trying to find the right piece. I generally get an idea and then sketch it out, then find the pieces to fit the concept.”
Once Ms. Kogan had refined her process, she brought the idea to Hillview’s Advanced Art class. “I challenged students to use the scraps to also make mosaics on a smaller scale. They had to use 20 pieces for the assignment. To my delight, they came up with such creative ideas and often added color to their mosaic designs.” This addition to the advanced art program is a creative way to recycle materials and show that something beautiful can be made out of something that was discarded. Ms. Kogan, who now practices this craft on her own time and continues to source found and recycled wood from around the area, reflects on experimenting with new things, “I never would have thought my work would turn into this craft, as someone who has painted for years. But, I like combining color with the wood, keeping the grain showing through. I never would have started with these mosaics if it wasn’t for Mike being so willing to let me try making something from the wood scraps in his room.” Hillview students have benefitted as well!
You can see Anna Kogan’s mosaic pieces on display at the Redwood Shores Library through the end of this month (399 Marine Parkway, Redwood City). Pictured above are one of Ms. Kogan’s pieces, the mountain range top left, and three student pieces.
Hillview's incredible elective program is supported by the One Community Campaign.
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The Spring 2026 MPAEF Auction theme has been announced: Ignite the Night! Look to your school newsletters for information about ticket sales after the new year. The MPAEF team is preparing a fantastic event in support of our schools. There are two wonderful opportunities to help make this year’s auction a success:
Auction Sponsorship
Sponsorships help underwrite some of the costs associated with executing this annual event for more than 275 guests, ensuring that even more funds are granted to MPCSD. View the many sponsorship opportunities available for the MPAEF Spring 2026 Auction. Questions about the Auction wish list and event sponsorship opportunities? Please contact Emily Moberg Robinson at events@mpaef.org.
Auction Donations
The success of the auction depends on local businesses and families like yours! MPAEF is looking for exclusive, one-of-a-kind auction items and experiences that money can’t usually buy. Think:
- 🎟️ VIP passes or tickets to sold-out shows and concerts
- ✨ Meet-and-greet with a local celebrity
- 🏢 Behind-the-scenes tour with an industry leader or sports icon 🏅
- 🏡 Vacation home stays and weekend getaways
- 🎉 Hosted parties, tickets to sporting and cultural events, gift cards, and more!
If you can offer unique access, experiences, or items, we’d love to include them in the MPAEF auction. The deadline to donate items for this year’s auction is January 16, 2026.
👉 Ready to donate? Please use these short forms to tell us about your contribution:
What are Parent-Hosted Auction Parties? These are parent-led gatherings that anyone can plan. Generous hosts cover all event costs, so 100% of ticket proceeds go straight to supporting teacher and staff salaries and elective/specialist programs at Encinal, Laurel, Oak Knoll, and Hillview schools. These parties can be for:
- KIDS (Back-to-School Pool Party, Outdoor Movie Night)
- ADULTS (Willows Wobble, Trivia Night)
- FAMILIES (Stanford Football Tailgate Party, Block Party)
Want to host a party but unsure where to start? Find more information, party ideas, and tips here!
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Kristen Gracia, Superintendent | mpcsd.org
Governing Board:
Sherwin Chen, President
Jed Scolnick, Vice President/Clerk
Scott Saywell
Francesca Segrè
Josh Spira
Board Meeting Calendar. Board meeting agendas and Zoom links may also be found at the district homepage 72 hours prior to every regular meeting.
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