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Community Matters Quarterly
Fall 2018
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World Class. Community Funded.
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The Community Newsletter
of
your
Menlo Park City School District
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From Superintendent Burmeister
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We are off to the start of another wonderful year here in the Menlo Park City School District. As a community funded district we rely on and are grateful for the local funding that makes up nearly 90% of our annual budget. That includes property and parcel taxes and the generous support from philanthropic donors in our parent and neighbor community. As I write this, our school's PTOs and the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation are wrapping up their annual campaign. We invite you to participate if you have not already by learning more and donating at
www.supportMPCSD.org. And in case you missed it please read our June
Report to the Community here.
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While we are speaking of school funding, this year our School Board will lead a community-wide conversation on what it means to be "fully funded." This means outlining as a community what we value and would include in the complete program we would offer if funding were no obstacle. Then with this as a guideline we can work towards fully funding and implementing that program. I've addressed it more deeply in my latest
Sup'sOn blog which I invite you to read.
NEW THIS YEAR -
SUP & SANDWICH!
I value meeting folks from all over our community. I'll be hosting two meet & greet events where I'll give you an overview of the state of our district, and then welcome questions and socialization with you. And we will provide those who respond with a light sandwich lunch! Our first event is October 19 at Arrillaga Family Recreation Center, 700 Alma St., MP. I look forward to meeting and talking with you soon.
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Thank you, as always, for the trust you place in us to not only educate the youth of this community, but to enrich all of our experiences by providing a high quality civic service to the families of Menlo Park, Atherton, and East Palo Alto.
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Dates to Note
All School Board meetings are held in the TERC Boardroom,
181 Encinal Ave., Atherton
October 9
- Deadline to indicate interest in Fully Funded Advisory Committee (see article below)
October 9
- School Board meeting, 6:00p.m.
October 23
- School Board meeting, 6:00p.m.
October 27
- Hillview Band performs in MP Halloween Parade, 10:30-11:30a.m.
November 6
- School Board study session on Compensation Philosophy, 5-7p.m.
November 4
- Hillview Jazz Band performs at MP Farmers Market 9a.m.-noon
November 13
- School Board recognizes retiring members Lambert & Thygesen, 6:00p.m.
November 13-17
- Hillview Drama presents The Ghost Train. Thurs 3:30p.m., Fri 7p.m., Sat 4 & 7p.m. at Hillview PAC
November 18
- Sup's On at MP Farmers Market, 9a.m.-1p.m.
December 1
- Hillview Bands perform at RWC Hometown Holiday Parade, 4-6:30p.m.
December 6
- Laurel Chorus Winter Concert, 6p.m. at Laurel Upper Campus
December 11
- School Board meeting, 6:00p.m.
December 12
- Hillview Orchestra performs at SF City Hall Noontime Concert
December 18
- Hillview Music Concert 7-8:30p.m. Hillview PAC
December 19
- Encinal Winter Sing
December 22-January 8
- Schools closed for Winter Break
January 13
- Sup's On at MP Farmers Market, 9a.m.-1p.m.
January 14
-
Speaker Series
: Retired Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis
January 15
- School Board meeting, 6:00p.m.
January 26
- Oak Knoll 3rd Grade presents Disney's Lion King Jr. at Hillview PAC
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Seeking Community Advisers
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One of the ways to get involved with your school district is to serve on a School Board or Superintendent's Advisory Committee. These committees organize around specific topics and either advise the Board, or the Superintendent directly.
Advisory Committee on Full Funding
Superintendent Erik Burmeister is seeking members for a Superintendent's Advisory Committee known as the
Full Funding Advisory Committee to provide input on the development of a definition of "full funding" for MPCSD. The deadline to communicate your interest is
Tuesday, October 9, 2018.
Finance and Audit Committee
The Menlo Park City School District Board of Education is seeking one volunteer community member to serve on the School Board’s Finance and Audit Committee. Applications are due
Friday, October 19, 2018
.
For details on both committees, their scopes, when they meet, and how to submit your interest, please
click here
.
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Long-time School Board Members to Retire
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The Board of Education for the Menlo Park City School District will say farewell to two of its long time members when Joan Lambert and Terry Thygesen are honored at their last official School Board meeting. All are invited to join the School Board in recognizing and celebrating Ms. Lambert and Ms. Thygesen on November 13, at 6:00p.m. in the TERC Board Room, 181 Encinal Avenue, Atherton.
Joan Lambert was first elected to the Board in 2010 and finishes her second term on December 7. Terry Thygesen has the distinction of being one of the Board’s longest serving members, from 2000-2008, and again beginning in 2010. Her fourth term ends on December 7. Under the leadership of Ms. Lambert, Ms. Thygesen, or both, MPCSD has seen its enrollment increase over 50% and passed three parcel taxes to fund excellent teachers and robust programs and two bond measures to modernize and build new campuses, including the new Hillview Middle School and the Laurel School Upper Campus. Other milestones include the creation of MPCSD's Finance & Audit; Technology; and World Language Committees of the Board; development of Guiding Principles to articulate the Board's decision-making framework; and establishment of the Early Learning Center to offer high quality preschool to as many of our community's children as possible with special emphasis on providing access for low income students.
The School Board welcomes new members Sherwin Chen and Scott Saywell who will be seated for their first Board meeting on December 11. Mr. Chen and Mr. Saywell are both active volunteers within the community and for MPCSD schools. They both have held roles on their school parent leadership teams, were part of the campaign team for the most recent parcel tax, Measure X, and have served on School Board and Superintendent advisory committees. MPCSD looks forward to continued thoughtful and judicious leadership with Mr. Chen and Mr. Saywell on the School Board.
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Got time?
If you're looking for an engaging way to spend the day and earn some extra income, come join the MPCSD team as a substitute teacher with our wonderful students. A Bachelor's degree, skills exam, finger printing, and a great attitude are all that's required. We provide you with wonderful teachers to work with & curious students who would be willing to learn from you. Subs work about 8a.m.-3p.m. and earn $170 per day. You choose the days you're available.
Please read more at the
guest teacher page
of our website. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Got photos? We love historical photos of our schools, teachers, and students. And we know there are many MPCSD alumni and parents of alumni in the community who may have some great photos to share. If you're willing to share, please email photos with a brief description to
hello@mpcsd.org. Thank you!
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MPCSD's Central School circa 1890s.
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Early Learning Center Preschool
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MPCSD's new Early Learning Center preschool is now open and serving many happy children and families at Lower Laurel Campus! In addition to painting, block play, storytime, and riding trikes on the playgrounds, our young "Hummingbirds" class is studying Trees and our older "Doves" are learning about the Human Body. Pre-registration for next school year will be open November 1-February 15 for children who will be 2.9 to 5 years old at the beginning of the school year. More information is available at
district.mpcsd.org/earlylearning
. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions at
earlylearning@mpcsd.org
or 650-324-0186 ext 8900.
We currently have a handful of full and part-day spaces available in the 2018-19 school year. For more information about curriculum, philosophy, and our staff, visit
district.mpcsd.org/earlylearning
. We welcome you and your children!
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MPCSD Parent Education Speaker Series
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One of the most special things MPCSD offers is a truly notable education series, featuring excellent, well-known speakers and timely topics. From the new documentary "Angst" with a discussion panel, to an evening with retired Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis, to "The Importance of Teaching Compassion to Our Kids" with noted CEO Jeff Weiner in conversation with our own Oak Knoll Principal Kristen Gracia and Superintendent Erik Burmeister, this year's series is sure to entice you. Free on-site childcare is always available for potty trained children. View our full line up and event details
here
.
If you'd like a hard copy, please
click here, print, and hang
where your most important calendar events are posted. You don't want to miss this year's events.
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San Mateo County Schools Make Gains
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Students in San Mateo County increased their scores on both English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics assessments last school year, according to 2018 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) results released by the California Department of Education this week. The gains were largely consistent with state-wide results, however students in San Mateo County continue to outperform their state counterparts on both tests.
Here in MPCSD we continue to report excellent results, with 84% of students meeting or exceeding standards in ELA and 81% of students meeting or exceeding standards in mathematics. Additionally, students in many of our underrepresented groups have made significant gains, including 17% more of our socioeconomically disadvantaged students meeting or exceeding standards in ELA, and 8% more in math, than last year. A full preliminary report of MPCSD's Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments will be presented at the School Board meeting on October 9 at 6:00p.m. in the TERC Boardroom, 181 Encinal Ave., Atherton. School Board meetings are open to the public.
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Fun Ways to Support our Schools
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Dine Out for Lunch & Dinner and Raise Money for Our Schools!
Looking for an excuse to eat out? MPAEF can help! On October 16-18 and December 5-6, when you eat out (or take out) at participating restaurants in Menlo Park, Redwood City and Palo Alto - they will donate 6-20% of proceeds to MPAEF. It’s a win win for everyone!
Click here
for a list of participating restaurants.
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Sip Wine and Support Encinal, Laurel, Oak Knoll and Hillview Schools!
Don’t miss this fun event - a great way to gather with friends and neighbors, sip wine, and support our schools. Check in at Fremont Park, and then kick off the holiday season with a fun, sunny afternoon of tasting, strolling, and shopping. Purchase a bottle from your favorite Santa Cruz Mountain Winery and then stay downtown to enjoy over dinner. All proceeds benefit Encinal, Laurel, Oak Knoll, and Hillview Schools.
Click here
for more details and to purchase $49 advance tickets.
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Talk of the Town: MPCSD's Take
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MPCSD is affected by many factors. You may have heard or read about some issues in the recent news and various local government council and committee meetings. Here's our take on current topics.
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State Denies O'Connor Appeal to Join MPCSD
The California State Board of Education heard an appeal by a group of homes on O'Connor Street in the Willows neighborhood of Menlo Park to be included in the Menlo Park City School District. The State BoE denied that appeal, leaving those homes in the Ravenswood City School District. The decision was based on the intent to keep Ravenswood as diverse as possible and not further erode its property tax base. Read the
Almanac's coverage here
. Leaders from MPCSD remain open to any future discussion about public education in our city and beyond.
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MP Downtown Specific Plan Reopened
The City of Menlo Park reopened discussion about its El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan, allowing for the opportunity for MPCSD to again submit comments on the Plan's impact on our schools. Superintendent Burmeister wrote a
letter to Mark Muenzer
, Community Development Director for the City of Menlo Park, outlining the district's concerns over housing development and adequate public funding generated to support the number of students anticipated from the many planned El Camino housing units.
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City of Menlo Park Adds to Education Budget
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MPCSD thanks the City of Menlo Park for its donation of $1 million, from its budget surplus, to our schools through the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation. This donation has been negotiated over the past year and a half and will be added to a $1.5 million donation from Stanford University in endowment at MPAEF. The earnings from this money are intended to mitigate the lack of property tax the housing development Stanford is building will generate. As a non-profit, any housing that Stanford builds and rents out to its affiliated people does not need to pay property tax, which is the main revenue source for our schools.
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Magical Bridge Foundation Visits Hillview Art
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Hillview art teacher, Anna Kogan, has had students design playgrounds for middle schoolers in her sixth grade art classes. This year she wanted to expand the unit to include more engineering and math, empathy, and inclusion. A perfect partner to collaborate with in this effort is Magical Bridge Foundation, which is known for its inclusive playground for all ages and all abilities in Palo Alto, and its other inclusive playground construction projects up and down the peninsula. As part of its mission to foster inclusive communities, Magical Bridge Foundation is currently prototyping lessons that combine awareness of inclusion with playground design. One hoped-for outcome of these lessons is that walking students through a classroom simulation of mindfully designing play spaces to meet a wide variety of physical and development challenges will help school communities become more inclusive. Hillview, and sixth grade in particular, is a model school to further this work as its Achieving Independent Minds students works alongside typical peers in class. Sharing a space and collaborating with students with autism makes other students aware of differences and understanding of the variety of ways people use public spaces.
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Modeling Education for Global Friends
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When an international group of educators, journalists, engineers, and advertisers wanted to see how high tech and design thinking have been incorporated into school facilities and programming, they came to MPCSD for a tour of our newest campus, Laurel Upper School. Former school board member Laura Rich connected a diverse group of stakeholders from Brazil to see how Menlo Park City School District incorporates flexible and collaborative spaces, environmentally sound building techniques, and use of education technology. The visitors were interested in what are our concerns for elementary aged children, how we manage transitions and what we’ve learned, and how to teach young children about technology.
Laurel Principal Linda Creighton, Tech & Innovation Coordinator Theresa Fox, and Superintendent Erik Burmeister explained how the chance to build a new school from the ground up was a unique opportunity to make the physical campus reflect the values and mission of the school.
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Community Outreach - Engage with Us
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MPCSD is also part of the larger community of the San Mateo County Office of Education, as is our high school district that includes Menlo Atherton High School. For a regional perspective, read the
2017 SMCOE Report to the Community here.
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Hillview Hawks, Laurel Squirrels, Encinal Eagels, Oak Knoll Otters. These mascots represent MPCSD's four award-winning schools that are the hearts of their neighborhoods and the pride of our community. As partners in educating our future, we welcome your interest, questions, and feedback at any time. Use the links below to access each school's website, or email
hello@mpcsd.org
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School websites:
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Erik Burmeister,
Superintendent
Jammie Behrendt,
Assistant Superintendent
Board of Trustees
Terry Thygesen
,
President
David Ackerman
,
Vice President
Stacey Jones
Joan Lambert
Caroline Lucas
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