SVUSD eNewsletter
March 24, 2023
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Take in the sights and sounds of the Kinder Connection Center at Rancho Cañada Elementary School, where kindergarten students are getting extra time to socialize, be creative, and just be kindergartners! |
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Amira Hana Named 2023 OC Classified Employee of the Year Finalist |
Congratulations to Amira Hana, Melinda Heights Elementary’s fabulous playground assistant. Amira was selected by the Orange County Department of Education as the 2023 Orange County Classified Employee of the Year finalist in the area of Security Services. This honor is based upon her work performance, leadership, dedication, and involvement with her school and community. Amira is eligible to compete for honors through the California Department of Education.
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Kathy Martin ACSA Region 17 Elementary Principal of the Year |
Congratulations to Kathy Martin, principal of Melinda Heights Elementary! Mrs. Martin was selected by ACSA (Association of School Administrators) Region 17 as the recipient of the 2023 Elementary Principal of the Year. Being selected by her peers is a high honor that recognizes her exemplary leadership and dedication to her students, staff, community, and colleagues. One of her SVUSD colleagues that nominated her noted that Kathy “does an excellent job of building up all around her. She celebrates strengths, brings joy to every situation, and has a focus on community and academic rigor.” We agree!
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March marks California Arts Education Month! A resolution encouraging all members of the District community to participate in celebrating the arts and giving full support to the arts programs in SVUSD schools was approved by the SVUSD Board of Education on March 9, 2023. The study of arts, which includes dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts is an essential and integral part of a well-rounded education for all students. There is strong community support for Arts Education in SVUSD schools.
Please join us in celebrating our SVUSD artists throughout this month and share with us the amazing work of our students throughout our District. Be sure to follow SVUSD VAPA on social media:
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The safety of our students and staff is a primary focus for SVUSD. We maintain extensive safety resources on our website for our community. Resources are updated on a regular basis and include information and resources on emergency operations, wellness, cyber security, communication, environmental safety, firearm safety, and more. We invite you to remain informed and become our partner in keeping our schools safe by regularly visiting SVUSD’s Safety Resources webpage.
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Melinda Heights Students Raise Money for India |
Fifth grade classes at Melinda Heights Elementary joined with a school in New Zealand to read the book, Thirst. As they Zoomed with other fifth graders from across the ocean, they were moved by the fact there is little clean water in India. The students at Melinda Heights wanted to do something to help. They spent time with their teachers talking about acts of service and committed to raising the money to have a clean water well built in India. Students conducted bake sales and car washes to raise the money themselves. They are continuing to bring in donations to help with longevity of the well. Melinda Heights students are learning what it means to truly think globally!
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Montevideo Chooses to Include |
Montevideo Elementary's Choose to Include Spirit Week lives on in the hearts and minds of our students and staff. They are taking the month to share read alouds that cover topics such as loving our differences and similarities, including everyone, stories about characters with various challenges, and more. Additionally, the students have embraced Unified Recess and playground friendships abound!
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RSM Students Learn Through Food |
At Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate School, teacher Sharon McKeague’s Foods class is a popular VAPA choice for students. It is no wonder – incorporating multiple subject areas into lessons makes learning meaningful and fun! The photos are great examples of students gaining practical skills in the kitchen while learning about leavening agents, then putting baking soda and baking powder to the test in their buttermilk biscuit cooking lab.
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2023 - 2024 Transitional Kindergarten Registration is Now Open! |
For the 2023-2024 school year, SVUSD offers Transitional Kindergarten (TK) for those children who will turn 5 years old between September 2, 2023 – April 2, 2024. Registration is open! Our program is a half day program with childcare available through TLC for those who need before or after-class child care. Please use the links below for additional information and registration. For students with Individualized Education Plans, please consult with your student’s IEP Team for TK placement.
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2023 - 2024 Kindergarten Registration
is Now
Open!
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Registration for SVUSD's full day Kindergarten for the 2023-2024 school year is now open. Registration will be conducted online and you will be able to register your child from the comfort of your own home! Childcare is available through TLC for those who may need before or after class child care. Click below for general registration information and assigned neighborhood school locator. For site-specific registration information, please visit your school’s website and view the “Enrollment” page under “About”.
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Proposition 28
Proposition 28, also known as “The Arts and Music in Schools - Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act" passed in November of 2022. This measure offers an annual guarantee of funding for dance, media arts, music, theater, and various types of visual arts (including photography, craft arts, computer coding, and graphic design). School districts have three years to spend the funds received and will continue to receive annual distributions.
This measure requires that districts utilize 80% of the funds to employ arts education staff (certificated and/or classified) and 20% of the funds for the investment in training and materials.
County and statewide arts advocacy groups have advised school districts to gather data on their baseline, conduct an inventory of arts programs throughout their schools, and engage in strategic arts planning to better prepare for this new stream of funding as we all await accountability guidelines from the CDE. SVUSD is encouraged that we are currently in a new strategic arts planning cycle for the development of our next five-year arts education plan. Within this process, we are data tracking and inventorying programs to collaboratively identify our goals for arts education in all included subjects and disciplines throughout our schools. Please keep tabs on our SVUSD VAPA webpage for updates throughout our planning process.
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Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Meeting
May 24, 2023
5:00 pm
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Please don’t miss our next CAC meeting on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 5:00 pm. We will be holding our elections for voting members and executive board members There are open positions for SVUSD and LBUSD parents to join the team. We need you! If you are interested in joining the group as a voting member, please visit our webpage or go directly to the CAC Participation Application. We are meeting at Laguna Hills High School and we also offer a Zoom option. A map of the school site and Zoom information can also be found under the “Meetings” accordion on the CAC webpage. We hope you can join us!
If you are wondering what the South Orange County SELPA Community Advisory Committee is all about . . . the purpose of our Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is to improve and promote communication between schools, parents, and public agencies to increase community awareness, facilitate parent education and support, and to coordinate activities on behalf of children with exceptional needs. All are welcome to come to any CAC meeting, as well as, joining the CAC as members.
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Calling all future business and cybersecurity leaders! Through a partnership with Saddleback College, SVUSD is pleased to offer dual enrollment for students to earn a college level certificate in Business or Cybersecurity. During this 1-2 year program, students will complete a series of online courses through Saddleback College while also completing at least four classes at their SVUSD school. By the end of their senior year, students will have earned their SVUSD high school diploma, a certificate from Saddleback College, and transferable college credits. The program is open to all SVUSD high school students. The next cohort begins Fall 2023! To complete the interest form, visit ECP Interest Form
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In this episode of SV Connects, you'll get an inside look into how students at MVHS are expressing themselves, solving creative problems, and learning effective communication through the process of creating art. |
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Gates Elementary 6th Graders Have a Blast
(and a Snowstorm!) at Camp
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Gates Elementary’s 6th grade students and teachers recently experienced an exciting adventure at camp in the San Bernardino Mountains - the largest winter storm in 30 years! Thanks to incredible teamwork between Principal Clearwater, Gates 6th grade teachers and parents, District leadership, and First Student Transportation, all students and staff were transported down the mountain and back to school safely amidst unprecedented snowfall and intermittently closed roads.
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THHS Wrestlers Place at CIF State |
Sophomore Kylee Golz became Trabuco Hills High School's first female wrestler to place at the CIF State Tournament in Bakersfield. In addition to placing 3rd in a challenging field at State, she also took 1st place at her Masters & CIF Individual tournaments. Senior Henry Sturn placed 4th at State after winning 1st place at his CIF and Masters wrestling tournaments as well. These two athletes give Trabuco Hills their first-ever dual place winners in a single year. Way to go Kylee and Henry!!!
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SVUSD Celebrates Inclusion Week |
March 6th-10th, SVUSD's twelve Unified Champion Schools participated in the global Spread the Word: Inclusion campaign. With the goal to spread inclusion awareness for students with and without disabilities across campuses, schools celebrated each others' similarities and differences all week long during Inclusion Week.
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La Paz Intermediate Student Receives
Wheelchair Accessible Van
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La Paz Intermediate student Anthony Sarkis and his family were recently gifted with a wheelchair accessible van by an organization called Muriel’s Angels. Always advocating for students, Principal Harville and her team recognized a need and submitted an application for their incredible student. You can read more about Anthony’s story by visiting the Muriel's Angels website.
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THHS Student Honored: Every Student Succeeding |
Nominated by Saddleback Valley Management Association (SVMTA) and SVUSD ACSA Board, THHS Student, Cruz Melendez, was honored at the ACSA Every Student Succeeding Awards on March 3, 2023. Cruz is an incredible model of resilience, perseverance and leadership. On May 24, 2022 Cruz was hit head-on and endured multiple injuries that left him fighting for his life. After a leg amputation and countless hours of PT, he was able to return to school and was accepted into NAU.
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Mission Viejo HS Students Receive Journalism Awards |
MVHS Journalism students write articles for the school newspaper The Diablo Dispatch and recently competed in the Orange County Journalism Education Association contest with 250 of the top high school journalists in Orange County. Two MVHS students placed in the top ten! Congratulations to Aubrey Bertino for placing 10th in Feature and Jim Marsoobian who placed 10th in Critical Review. Aubrey was also recently published in the LA Times for her excellent review of The Last of Us. Aubrey’s article made the cover!
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Lake Forest Elementary Opens "Dolphin Closet" |
Recognizing a great opportunity to serve the school community, Lake Forest Elementary office clerk, Mary Core, had an idea. With a grant from Home Depot to purchase clothing racks, a partnership with the PTO, and clean, gently used clothes donated by families, the Dolphin Closet was born. Twice a month, the Dolphin Closet is open for Lake Forest Elementary families to fill a bag or two with as much clothing as they want.
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Serrano's 7th Grade Probability Carnival |
The Serrano Math 7 Teachers (Tim Hersey, Sue Ho, Alexandra Anderson, Bobby Ray and Eric Silcock) engaged their students in the wonderful world of mathematics through a Probability Carnival. Students were able to apply their knowledge of what they learned in Trimester 2 through games. Before attending the "carnival," students calculated the theoretical probability of winning each game. The next day, students played the games to explore the experimental probability of winning. The top three students in each class won a prize for the most number of tickets earned.
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ETHS Boys Varsity Soccer Wins League |
Congratulations to El Toro High School Boys Varsity Soccer on being named Sea View League Champions! |
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MVHS Boys and Girls Track & Field |
Congratulations to Mission Viejo High School Boys and Girls Track and Field on winning the 2023 Earl Engman Sweepstakes Award.
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COVID-19 Update: New State Guidance
Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a proclamation ending the COVID-19 state of emergency and state health officials have announced updates to several public health orders. The latest guidelines from California Department of Public Health align with recent recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The relevant updates for schools are as follows:
As of March 13, 2023, a person who has tested positive for COVID -19 needs to isolate at home for five days (the day symptoms begin is considered day 0). They may end isolation after five days if they feel well, symptoms have improved, and they have been fever-free for 24 hours. A negative COVID-19 test is not required.
The recommendation to wear a mask when out in public for 10 full days continues; however, this can end sooner if they have two sequential negative COVID-19 tests at least one day apart.
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Ms. Sammie and Ms. Julie's Preschool Connection Class at Cordillera are hard at work learning their letters and numbers! Last week, children used sand trays—a tactile handwriting practice! |
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The Learning Connection (TLC) |
Registration for Spring Recess TLC is now open to all current TLC participants at select locations! April 3rd - 6th from 7:00am to 6:00pm. The week will include a variety of activities, games,
arts and crafts, a special event, plus an excursion to Pirates Dinner Adventure in Buena Park! To register, visit our website or click
the button below!
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Saddleback Valley Parent Teacher Association |
Help strengthen our community & make an impact by joining one or more of our SVUSD school PTAs. |
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Saddleback Valley Educational Foundation |
The Saddleback Valley Educational Foundation (SVEF) is dedicated to supporting SVUSD in our efforts to maintain a high quality educational program with a priority to impact STEM access for all students. Check out SVEF's website for programs, and contribution and volunteer opportunities. |
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Follow Us on Social Media for the Latest Updates |
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Superintendent
Dr. Crystal Turner
Board of Trustees
President
Barbara Schulman
Vice President
Dr. Edward Wong
Clerk
Suzie R. Swartz
Members
Amanda Morrell
Dan Walsh
Student Member of the Board
Kaitlyn Heinecke
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SVUSD WEBSITE QUICK LINKS
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Thank you for subscribing to the official Saddleback Valley Unified School District eNewsletter. We welcome your feedback, any news that can be shared with the community, and appreciate comments and suggestions. Contact the District Office directly with inquiries. Please do not reply to this e-mail as we are unable to respond to messages sent to this address.
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