The Board of Trustees looks forward to the opportunity to celebrate outstanding students from each of our schools and to thank fantastic parent volunteers at their Board meetings.  With the stay at home order and the move of our Board meetings to a virtual format, we wanted to celebrate our amazing Oka Wolfpack  through a video.  The Board of Trustees would like to celebrate: Brooklyn Fabre  (K), Chi Pham  (1st), Charlize Tran  (2nd), Lily Haris  (3rd), Han Lai (4th), and Maddox Allen  (5th).  These students are to be commended for their outstanding efforts, academic successes and wonderful character.  In addition, the Board of Trustees would like to thank two standout parent volunteers: Cindy Rotter  and Joelle Walton .  We are grateful to these women for their commitment and dedication to the Oka students, staff and community.  Please join us in honoring these extraordinary members of the Wolfpack!!

Each week, we are proud to share videos and photos from our staff and families as they continue to connect during this challenging time.  Please continue to share so that we can include them in upcoming newsletters.  Email your videos and photos to  [email protected].

This week, we have the opportunity to celebrate two of our fantastic schools through video!  The Board of Trustees would like to celebrate some of our remarkable Tamura Tigers, including: Cortez Black  (TK),  Kayla Luong  (K), Christopher Le  (1st), Dominic Ixta  (2nd), Jonathan Lee  (3rd), Kristin Yee  (4th), and Kainoa Kotani  (5th).  These students are to be commended for their outstanding efforts, academic successes and wonderful character.  In addition, the Board of Trustees would like to thank two standout parent volunteers: Voung Pham  and Thao Le .  We are grateful to these volunteers for their commitment and dedication to the Tamura students, staff and community.  Please join us in honoring these extraordinary Tigers!!

Each week, we are proud to share videos and photos from our staff and families as they continue to connect during this challenging time.  Please continue to share so that we can include them in upcoming newsletters.  Email your videos and photos to  [email protected].

Teacher of the Year, Jeff Siemens, pictured above earlier in the 2019-2020 school year.

Masuda Middle School is honored to celebrate science teacher Jeff Siemens as Teacher of the Year!  Mr. Siemens is a team player, having taught many courses at Masuda from science to PE from sixth grade to eighth grade.  He takes any duty in stride and gives his all in every way.  He makes a difference for kids and his peers at Masuda and is always available for them.  He is dedicated and creates a positive learning environment.  Mr. Siemens is respected by both staff and students as one colleague explained, "because he is just a genuinely good person."  As Principal Jay Adams notes, "As an administrator, I am blessed by Jeff's team player, "will do" work ethic.  He has a motivated, giving mindset, which I know I can always count on to benefit the entire Masuda Family.  Not only our students, but his colleagues as well, benefit from all that Mr. Siemens has to offer.  It is absolutely my privilege to work with such a fine teacher."  The entire Masuda Family is honored to celebrate Mr. Siemens as Teacher of the Year based on his outstanding contributions to the students (and staff) whose lives he impacts daily!

Please note that this is the same message that was sent to families on Friday.  

Dear FVSD Community:

With the school year coming to an end, we want to send a heartfelt thank you to the students, staff and parents/guardians throughout Fountain Valley School District for their ongoing efforts to ensure that learning continued during this very unique time.  This was a trying period for everyone, and we need each of you to know how much we appreciate you! 

Moving forward,  continued efforts to keep students, staff and families safe against COVID-19, and providing a high-quality education for our 6,300 students, will be our mission for the 2020-21 school year.  The first day of school for FVSD students is September 9th, which is nearly 13 weeks away.  Because the COVID-19 pandemic and related health orders are changing over time, what next year will look like is also subject to change, based upon new information. The reopening of schools will depend on several factors coming together successfully, including: implementing public health recommendations for schools, countywide efforts to ensure COVID-19 is under control, and progress along the Governor's multi-phased roadmap    for ending the stay at home order. Additionally, the  California Department of Public Health (CDPH)  and the  California Department of Education (CDE)  have both provided guidance documents over the last week.  We are still working with the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA) to make decisions regarding the reopening of schools locally, and we will share that guidance as it is available. 

At this time, our goal is to have all students back in traditional classrooms with their teachers every day; however, this may not be possible. Therefore, we must prepare for alternative instructional models that seek to reduce the number of students on campuses at any given time, wherein students physically attend school part of the week and attend 'virtually' on the other days.  Moreover, we have heard from some of our parents who would prefer a full-time distance/virtual learning model, and we will provide this option for families who feel it is best for their child(ren).

To help guide our plan in FVSD, our Reopening Schools Advisory, consisting of various stakeholder groups, will meet throughout summer to engage in the important conversations about our collective future.  Please know that we will provide ongoing and regular updates through July and August, via email and district/school websites. 

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to our students, our community and to each other.

Mark Johnson, Ed.D.

Superintendent

We recently conducted a survey of parents to gather input related to the reopening of schools for the 2020-21 school year.  Participation was the strongest of any recent FVSD survey, with over 3,700 responses received.  Please know that this data, as well as information we gain from future surveys, will be used to guide our reopening plans in FVSD.  Here is a summary of the results: 

When presented with the scenario of schools being able to reopen in September "with limited to no restrictions on social distancing," parent preferences were as follows:

• 78% of parents likely would send students to school
• 22% of parents would enroll in a full-time distance/virtual learning program with FVSD

When presented with the scenario of schools being able to reopen in September in "a hybrid model where students were on campus 2-3 days per week and participated in distance/virtual learning on the other days," parent preferences were as follows:

• 85% of parents likely would send students to school
• 15% of parents would enroll in a full-time distance/virtual learning program with FVSD

When presented with the scenario of a hybrid model and asked about fee-based childcare needs, parents responded as follows:

• 42% of parents indicated that they would need fee-based childcare on days when students were not attending in-class instruction
• 58% of parents indicated that they would not need fee-based childcare provided by FVSD

When presented with scenarios for returning to school in the hybrid model that integrated various levels of social distancing, hygiene measures, and masks, parents responded as follows:

• 72% of parents would have their child attend school if wearing a face mask was optional
• 63% of parents would have their child attend school if wearing a face mask was required
• 59% of parents would have their child attend school if wearing a face mask was required and there were significant distancing restrictions during recess and lunch

The parent survey also provided the opportunity for parents to share comments with FVSD.  Survey participants offered over 1,350 comments, with the following categories of comments having the greatest number of responses:

• 23% of comments were parent recommendations to return to school full-time
• 12% of comments were safety/hygiene/cleaning related (non-masks)
• 12% of comments were mask-related
• 11% of comments were concerns about the social-emotional well-being of students
• 7% of comments were parent recommendations to make improvements to distance learning

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS	MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Courreges School	Fulton Middle School
Cox School	Masuda Middle School
Gisler School	Talbert Middle School
Newland School
Oka School
Plavan School
Tamura School