If this email is clipped—or photos are not displayed—click the "View entire message" link at the bottom of the email. 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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'The time we have together is precious,
both in person and on screen.'
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Virtual working, teaching, learning, and living is challenging. Struggles do beget innovation, and from that we’ve created exceptional learning experiences for our students in MUSD EducatEveryWhere. Technology has allowed us to stay connected with each other from anywhere in Milpitas, the USA, and the world. We are in our students’ homes, and their parents and caregivers are in our classrooms. Yet, a screen between us hinders the organic connection that ties us closer in community.
In the last five days 1,805 of our learners stepped onto campus to be in person with the 966 MUSD team members who have invested so much of their lives to support our students, their families, and each other. The time we have together is precious, both in person and on screen. Masks can’t hide the smiles in our eyes and the excitement in our students’ voices. However, feelings of trepidation may not be so apparent. Wonderings of how we will maintain the quality of learning for both those in person and online creep into conversations about how version 3.0 of MUSD EducatEveryWhere is progressing. Ingenuity in how to maximize the time for both groups of students also emerges.
As Esmeralda Santiago points out “How can you know what you’re capable of if you don’t embrace the unknown?” The year with COVID19 has been fraught with unknowns… we didn’t know exactly how we would build our online learning classrooms, how we could support our students with special needs including social emotional welfare, or how we would be able to provide learning experiences in music, PE, or art virtually. With this opportunity for expanded in-person learning we have new unknowns to work through, and we will do it just as we’ve done before, together.
At the forefront of our partnership is knowing we depend on each other to uphold our compact for safety and security. We will continue to maintain the more stringent precautions of 6 foot social distancing, twice monthly COVID19 testing for on campus students, and staying home if a student has travelled more than 150 miles out of Santa Clara County. Meeting strategic goal #1, build a Culture of We, requires a commitment to persevere through the unknowns together.
Committed to Our Community of Learners,
Cheryl Jordan
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Student Safety First Video |
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State Board Member of Year's blog |
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'There was no loss of learning and leading' |
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Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been receiving 5-10 newspaper articles a day from across the country, 3-5 direct calls from other school board trustees, 5+ social media DMs per week from parents and community members. I also participate in 5 Zoom calls across the region and state regarding what's happening now and what happens next at the legislative level. All I can think about is the Milpitas Unified School District team members, parents and students, and community.
As we enter into the season of Spring, it symbolically represents new beginnings and new opportunities of hope. It also represents a new allergy season.
In the upcoming weeks our MUSD campuses will be much more active. There will be admin staff in offices, as well as custodians, Student Nutrition Services, and Maintenance Operations & Transportation team members on sites. Teachers and students will once again utilize classrooms in new ways, and some will continue to teach and learn within MUSD EducatEveryWhere from a distance.
To ensure we have the safest environments possible, for those coming to campus at any time, there will be a daily online health status check-in requirement. We will see adults and children wearing masks and/or face shields, and following predefined pathways across school grounds and campuses. We will see much smaller classroom sizes, designated bathrooms, cleaning schedules, and other safety precautions per County Public Health guidelines across the district. We will see some uniformity and creativity in schedules and models at our elementary and secondary schools — including Milpitas Adult Education with our CDC preschool leading the way as it has since June 2020. There will be inconveniences, sacrifices, struggles and new challenges to overcome. WE are MUSD!
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Rancho MS named 2021 California Distinguished School |
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Rancho Milpitas Middle School received word this month from the California Department of Education that it was selected as a 2021 California Distinguished School.
The 2021 California Distinguished Schools Program recognizes California schools that have made exceptional gains in implementing the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education for all students.
“This accomplishment is a result of our collective and collaborative professional efforts to support our students over the last several years,” said Rancho Principal Casey McMurray. “This is definitely a highlight in an otherwise very challenging school year.”
Rancho, which follows 2020 recipients Rose and Curtner Elementary Schools, qualified for this prestigious honor under Category 2 of the California Distinguished Schools Program for Exceptional Student Performance in English Language Arts and Mathematics as well as Suspension Rate and Chronic Absentee Indicators.
“We will celebrate this recognition and share it with our community,” McMurray said. “Kudos to each of our team members for the work they have done and continue to do despite the difficulties.”
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Burnett teaching tandem provides unique simultaneous in-person, distance learning experience to students |
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For Burnett Elementary School sixth grade students, the math lessons come fast and furious from the teaching tandem of seasoned educators Kristian Lecours and Jennifer Harlow—whose classroom compatibility is contagiously engaging.
The duo immediately started team teaching at the very beginning of MUSD EducatEveryWhere in March 2020, and has not looked back. “Honestly, the benefits of team teaching are exponential to both students and teachers,” said Lecours, who is in his sixth year at Burnett. “The kids are held more accountable and engaged since we have two sets of eyes watching them.”
Lecours has a handful of in-person students in his classroom, the number depends on the day, while the rest of the class is remotely signed on through Zoom. Harlow is also online, monitoring the chat, providing helpful tips and words of encouragement while making sure students are staying on task. A Jamboard allows the in-person and online students to work simultaneously on the same questions.
“Sharing the workload has been amazing,” said Harlow, now in her 16th year at Burnett. The two share 67 sixth-grade students. “We have different strengths and bounce ideas off each other when it comes to instruction.”
Their chemistry is undeniable.
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Sinnott 6th grader competes in
Bay Area Scripps Spelling Bee
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Parnika Sadhu, a 6th grade student at Sinnott Elementary School, won her school's 2021 spelling bee and qualified for the Bay Area Scripps Regional Spelling Bee in March..
Parnika, 12, who is in Mrs. Calvello's class, competed amongst 21 students across the Bay Area in a virtual spelling bee, where she finished 10th overall.
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MUSD Innovators on the Move! video series |
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MUSD educators are a talented bunch, reaching our learners with their passion, knowledge, and innovation. When faced with a pandemic, our MUSD team members rose to the challenge creating MUSD EducatEveryWhere.
We’ve always been a sharing, collaborative crew. That’s why we’ve begun this video series "MUSD Innovators on the Move!" highlighting the practices, methods and approach of our teachers, specialists, paraprofessionals, and classified team members.
At MUSD, we move forward together and this is how we do it!
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March: Women's History Month |
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Honoring Amazing Women Leaders of Milpitas |
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Deanna Sainten
Weller Principal
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Olivia Contreras
Randall Co-Principal
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Hanna Asrat
Burnett Principal
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Kristan Prolo
Randall Co-Principal
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Joanna Butcher
Milpitas HS Athletic Director
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Norma Rodriguez
Assistant Superintendent
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Kelly Yip-Chuan
MUSD Board Vice President
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Hon Lien
MUSD Board Clerk
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Wendy Zhang
Assistant Superintendent
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Ashwini Kantak
Milpitas Assistant City Manager
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Carmen Montano
Milpitas Vice Mayor
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Evelyn Chua
Milpitas City Councilmember
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What new classes/programs/internship opportunities would you like to see added to MUSD that not yet offered? |
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Isabella Kellas
Although MHS has many extensive educational opportunities - whether it be through community service, tutoring sessions or field trips - our community could be enhanced even further with career-oriented internships.
One of the ideas I would propose is building programs with organizations in Milpitas that cater to multiple fields students may be interested in. For instance, a student who is interested in the medical field and wants to expand his or her knowledge can be partnered up with a medical professional at Johnson and Johnson. Not only would this strengthen the relationships between students and professionals, but this would also allow adults to promote their products and work experiences to bring more people into their field. A win-win situation!
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Lei'Ahni Apiag
I believe that MUSD already gives a lot of great opportunities for students, but there could always be more to engage in. Something that should be included in Milpitas are paid internships! Think about it; imagine how this could persuade high schoolers to experience new and different fields.
Paid internships result in many opportunities for students who are trying to search for their career starting early. Paid internships could also accommodate those who need help raising the money while acquiring new skills. There should be internships for different fields such as engineering, arts and culture, business and management, education, technology, installation and maintenance, health care, and law enforcement. Paid internships should include multiple options for students, so students can branch out and find what they want in the future.
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Vanessa Hu
Despite our increasing reliance on technology, there are not many opportunities for students to explore the field of computer science in MUSD. Although there is an AP Computer Science A course taught at MHS, this class was only just recently added, and based on the schools that I went to, elementary and middle schools do not have much access to resources to learn programming at school.
Since the AP class at MHS only teaches Java, it would be great if there were courses that teach other programming languages as well. There are many existing programming languages, such as Python and C, and they are all used for different purposes and careers. Giving students the option to choose whichever language that they wish to learn will allow them to focus on a specific tech path that they would like to pursue. As for students in middle school, having a block programming class offered as an elective can help people gain a general idea of what programming is like.
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First day of In-Person Learning at MUSD schools |
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Adult Ed, Cesar Chavez, Anti-AAPI video resolutions |
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Latest community activities from our District Calendar |
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Have a look at our District Calendar for information on more upcoming events, meetings and more. Here's the link.
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MUSD | Phone: (408) 635-2600 |
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