MBUSD Superintendent's Newsletter

Superintendent's Newsletter

August 26, 2022

Dear MBUSD Parents and Community,

I hope your first week back to school was a great one! Cabinet and I visited all of our school sites on the first day of school and it was amazing to see our students, staff, and families again. There was excitement in the air as our campuses were filled with smiling faces and an eagerness to begin this new academic school year!

We are off to a great start and I am excited for what is yet to come and to celebrate the many opportunities that will prepare our students for success.

Today’s newsletter features some of our favorite highlights from the first day of school, Mira Costa being chosen as the “Best Public High School,” and our continuous commitment to school safety.

First Day Memories

Thank you to everyone who shared their #MBUSDFirstDay stories!

Click here to check out our back to school albu m on Facebook. Also, don’t miss out on all of our Instagram story highlights.

We plan to continue sharing these photos on social media! If you haven’t done so already, post your photos and tag us!

Read the Daily Breeze Story on MBUSD Back to School

MBUSD Opening Day for Staff - August 22

The professional development day welcomed 71 new teachers and staff with more than 500 staff members in attendance! The morning was kicked off by our Mira Costa band and choir!

Staff from all school campuses had the opportunity to collaborate in various professional development sessions throughout the day.

During the program, we recognized all of our employees who reached a milestone for their service to MBUSD. In total, we honored 1,840 years of service! You are all truly appreciated and incredible. I am extremely proud and appreciative of everything you do to support our Manhattan Beach Unified community. Thank you once again for your dedication!

Please see here the list of our 134 employees who received their service pins.

Welcome our New Leaders

Please join me in welcoming our new leadership team members to the MBUSD family.

MBMS Principal

Jennifer Huynh

Vice Principal

Luke Olesiuk

Watch Video: MBMS at a Glance

We are also thrilled to welcome new Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSA’s) to our District!

Tanya Sanchez

K-12 STEM TOSA

Julietta Stuart

Secondary Math TOSA

Lauren Galbraith

MBMS Counselor on Special Assignment

Anna Gralnik, Ed.D.

Literacy TOSA

Thank you MBEF for supporting our programs and educators by providing funding for these positions!

School Safety

As we welcome students and staff back for the 2022-2023 school year, we want to ensure you are aware of the safety procedures in place across our District. The Manhattan Beach Unified School District continues to keep the safety of students and staff as its highest priority by utilizing multiple safety measures already implemented throughout the District that help us provide safe, secure, and positive learning environments. Read here for more information on multi-layered school safety measures.

Safeguards to Protecting Yourself and Pets Against Coyotes

There have been reports of an increase in coyote sightings and activity in the City of Manhattan Beach and throughout the South Bay. Please be mindful and vigilant. The City is reminding residents to follow important safeguards to protect themselves and their pets against coyotes. Click here to learn more about the steps you can take to avoid coyote encounters .

The City is keeping track of sightings and attacks and these incidents should be reported to the Manhattan Beach Police Department Animal Control at (310) 802-5160. If a coyote is posing an imminent threat to life, call 911.

For more information, you can also watch the Public Service Announcement video created by the City of Manhattan Beach about coyotes in MB below:

Mira Costa Voted “Best Public High School”

We are excited and proud to announce that Mira Costa High School has been voted the "Best Public High School" in the South Bay by Daily Breeze and The Beach Reporter readers in the 2022 South Bay's Best Readers' Choice Awards!

Go Mustangs! You can check out the announcement on page 8 here.

Pennekamp Alum Thanks Staff in a Special Way

Rosie Foss is a 9th grader at Mira Costa, but during the first week of school, she made a stop at her elementary alma mater, Pennekamp, to say a special thank you to all of her elementary school teachers and librarian. She created this special embroidery piece of work showcasing the school site’s motto "R.O.A.R.S."

The gift was a thank you to all of the staff who made an impact on her during her time at Pennekamp!

New Modular Buildings Installed at MBMS

They have arrived! New modular buildings were transported and installed at MBMS earlier this week. The 5,500-square feet of space will be home to new classroom and practice spaces for the choral and instrumental groups. There will also be individual training rooms for our students! The project is scheduled to be completed by late fall.

This was all possible thanks to the generous support of our Manhattan Beach community in passing Measure C.

Peachjar in Action!

MBUSD is excited to use Peachjar, a new way to streamline how we distribute and receive e-flyers! Keeping families informed about important upcoming events, activities, and reminders will be even easier than before and will assist in keeping the information in one convenient place (on a school’s website).

A Peachjar icon will be displayed on every school website which takes users to the e-flyer portal that displays all approved flyers for your school site and the District.

Peachjar’s platform will:

Streamline school-to-home communication by distributing important school and community information directly to families as digital e-flyers.

Provide an efficient communication tool to maximize the reach of school activities to the community.

Save staff time precious time by streamlining the e-flyer approval and distribution process.

Boost parent engagement and participation through the delivery of information as interactive digital flyers.

Increase access to resources for families by enabling community partners to easily connect with families.

How it works?

E-flyers are sent directly to your email inbox and posted on school websites automatically for easy access through the Peachjar portal. Notifications will be sent once a week and are managed by the District.

Please note, emails come from Peachjar (not the school site). Each e-flyer is approved by District staff, per District guidelines. It is used exclusively for the distribution of District-approved e-flyers.

MBUSD Emails

We want to share a friendly reminder to our staff and families about email addresses. If you are a parent/guardian, please use our mbusd.org email accounts to send messages to staff when communicating. Please avoid using the mbusdapps.org accounts to communicate with MBUSD staff. The email convention for most of our accounts is firstinitiallastname@mbusd.org (jdoe@mbusd.org).

Also, if you are a staff member, please only use your mbusd.org email address when communicating as well. Our mbusd.org accounts are the only official email accounts to be used for email communication.

Latest COVID-19 Updates

You can find all of our COVID-19 information, guidance, and updates on our District COVID-19 page. This is updated with new information as LACDPH guidelines and protocols change.

Calling all Students! Hometown Fair Art and STEM Exhibition

The Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair is hosting an Art and STEM Exhibition. It will provide an opportunity for students to showcase their art and science projects to the public!

Click here for Art & STEM application

Click here for “Imagine the Future: Our Pier in 50 Years” Art Exhibition Application

Check out all other details about the Hometown Fair Community Showcase

Upcoming Events

Mira Costa Drama/Tech students are already preparing for their fall and spring shows! Stay updated with the latest information here.

TEDx MANHATTAN BEACH

Raci Levine, a junior at Mira Costa High School and the President of the Jewish Cultural Club will be a speaker this year.

Reminder Labor Day Holiday is coming up!

The District office and school sites will be closed on Labor Day, Monday, September 5.

The next Superintendent Newsletter will be published on Friday, September 2.

Thank you as always for your continued support and partnership. I look forward to a wonderful year ahead and want to extend my deepest gratitude to all of our families and staff who support our students every day on their path to success.

Sincerely,

Dr. John Bowes

MBUSD Superintendent

Manhattan Beach Unified School District

325 S. Peck Avenue

Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

310.318.7345