Monte Vista TK-8 Community News

1) Both our Varsity Girls Volleyball and Boys Varsity Soccer teams won their first games of the season!

2) Our Instructional Leadership Team visited many of the classrooms across campus using our Problem of Practice support tool to gauge where we are with grade level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful instruction.

3) Our morning meetings this week for all grade levels continued to have student voice share about the character trait of the month of RESPONSIBILITY. We also celebrated September birthdays.

4) Our Mayor, Tyller Williamson, came to speak to our 4th graders as part of their inquiry arc work.

5) Dr. Ashby and Ms. Wessel continued their goal setting sessions with teachers for the school year.

6) The Soul Patrol trainings continued with around 150 students present as they reviewed the use of Stop, Walk, and Talk, learned about active supervision, reviewed expectations on playground and cafeteria, and explored Playworks games to teach to students.

7) Our School Site Vision Council had their first monthly meeting of the school year, reviewing Council purposes, hopes and vision, and the Math goal of our Single Plan for Student Achievement.

8) We had a helpful professional development with our teachers around different school culture and classroom management skills small group breakout. We also had a classified staff meeting where we had our Multi-Tiered System of Supports book club session and discussed some safety pieces including some hot spots at recess and transitions.

9) Our high schoolers for 5th and 8th grade Outdoor Science School as well as some parents received some training for the upcoming experiences, and our 8th graders reviewed the expectations for their week-long upcoming offsite experience.

10) We took on Picture Day on a early dismissal day and ended with more than enough time to spare, AND we took on a two-day or so heat wave. Way to go blue jays!

Looking forward to an amazing 26'-27' school year. Days 28-32, here we go!

Jay jay, chirp chirp!

MISSED THE VOLUNTEER MEETING? | Join Us This Wednesday
If you missed last week’s Volunteer Information Meeting, there is still time to join us! Our second virtual meeting will be held Wednesday, September 16, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. We’ll discuss upcoming events, ways to help, and what volunteering actually looks like. Sign up here.

BOOK FAIR | September 28–October 2

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to the Monte Vista Mini Gym! Prepare for the fair by creating an eWallet for cash-free shopping for your student. We also need volunteers to help set up and keep the fair open. Volunteer shifts are only one hour, so please click here to sign up!

READ-A-THON | September 28–October 9
Get ready to find sponsors, read books, and win prizes! Our Read-a-thon is the PTO’s biggest fundraiser of the year and helps support programs and activities for Monte Vista students. Packets with instructions, reading logs, prize information, and details about collecting pledges will be sent home soon! Anyone who would like to contribute early can find our pledge page here.

DINING OUT AT ROSINE’S | Wednesday, September 30
Later this month, enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner, or takeout at Rosine’s while supporting Monte Vista!

LOST AND FOUND | Missing Something? Our volunteers check lost items for names and do their best to return anything labeled directly to the student or teacher. Unmarked items are kept for multiple months before being donated. If getting to the lost and found racks is difficult, submit a Lost Item Request, and we’ll try to watch for it.

1) Read-A-Thon kicks off in a few more weeks, on September 28th, so get ready to have a spot in your home and time of day for your child to read or be read to at home, and we have a Book Fair that same week with an awesome RIGHT TO READ FAMILY TIPS NIGHT on Tuesday, September 29th, where we will have dinner, the Book Fair open, and some great stations and giveaways that provide some tips and love for reading hacks! The evening will be from 5:30PM-7PM. Also, we have a Dress Like a Book Character Spirit Day on Friday, September 25th.

2) Our Grades 1-8 Fall Afterschool Enrichment Clubs forms will be going out possibly as early as September 14th or 15th!! Stay tuned! We have some really exciting ones planned and some new ones too. Here are some hints: Buenos Dias, Mulligans and Birdies, Adobe Online Suite, Sets and Spikes, Broadway Babies, Micro Bits, and more!!

3) We are all done with annual registration! Our campus earned $1000 for getting everyone annually confirmed for the year in ParentVue. Go blue jays!

4) Our next Dining Out Night is on Wednesday, September 30th at Rosine's on Alvarado St. It is an all-day one, so breakfast, lunch, or dinner...anyone's game!

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MPUSD NEWS HOT OFF THE PRESS FROM MARCI MCFADDEN (see fliers further below):

Your Voice Matters: Join us for our District English Learner Advisory Council - MPUSD families are invited to participate in our District English Learner Advisory Council (DELAC) meetings during the 2026 - 2027 school year. DELAC provides parents, guardians, and caregivers with an opportunity to share their voices, learn more about district programs and services, and help shape how we support multilingual learners across MPUSD. All parents, guardians, and caregivers are welcome. Childcare and dinner are provided. Visit our website or see flyer below for dates, times, and location.

Board of Education Meeting- The Board of Education meets this Tuesday, September 8 at a special location of Marina High School. Open session begins at 6:30 p.m. and you may access the agenda HERE. We will not be on AMP-TV this evening due to the location change, but you can always Zoom into the meeting. If you miss the meeting and want to know what actions the Board takes, you may read Board Highlights later that evening or watch Spotlight on Board Highlights later in the week.

September is Attendance Awareness Month - Every school day matters! September is Attendance Awareness Month, a reminder that being at school each day and on time helps students stay connected, keep pace with learning, build confidence, and develop habits for success. At MPUSD, each day counts and every person matters. We also know challenges can sometimes make getting to school difficult, and our schools are here to help. Learn more about why attendance matters and how MPUSD supports students and families. Also, throughout the month we will highlight what attending every day means to our students and staff in video reels on our social media, YouTube channel, and in this newsletter.

UPDATED: Free Food for MPUSD Families - NOTE: The Ord Terrace Elementary School time has changed to 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. We are excited to share chef-prepared, take-home meals for MPUSD families. Visit one of four school sites on various days, including Central Coast High School, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, Ord Terrace Elementary, and Seaside High School.

From Coach Brandi Hobson (PE teacher and athletic director):

Hi everyone! Here is the schedule and important information for this week’s volleyball and soccer activities.

Here are the practice updates for this week:
Varsity

• No weekday practices this week due to 8th grade science camp.
• Sunday, Sept. 20: Coach Tooker will hold a practice at Monte Vista from 9:00 AM–12:00 PM to prepare for Monday’s game.

JV

• Monday: After school–5:00 PM
• Tuesday: After school–5:00 PM
• Wednesday: 1:00–4:00 PM
• Thursday: No practice
• Friday: After school for about 1 hour, around 3:45 PM, to prepare for Monday’s game.

Thank you for being flexible with the schedule this week!

BOYS AND GIRLS SOCCER

• Here are the soccer updates for this week:
  Girls Soccer
  

  • Tuesday: After school–3:30 PM
  • Thursday: After school–3:30 PM
  JV Boys Soccer
  
  • Tuesday: 2:45–4:00 PM
  • Thursday: 2:45–4:00 PM
  Varsity Boys Soccer
  
  • Tuesday: 2:45–3:45 PM
  • Thursday: 2:45–3:45 PM
  Mark Your Calendars!
  Our JV Boys have a game on Monday, September 21st at Pacific Grove Middle School.
  More game details and times will be shared as we get closer. Thanks, everyone!

September 2nd- Seussical Jr. Musical rehearsals begin (Mondays-2:30-3:45PM, Wednesdays, 1-3PM, and Fridays, 2:30-3:45PM)

September 7th- Labor Day holiday, No School

September 14th- Fall Clubs Forms go out to students and parents (priority turn-in as soon as possible from this date but definitely by September 21st, most clubs will probably have filled up + club confirmation emails sent out early the week of September 28th)

September 9th- Fall Picture Day Grades TK-8

September 10th- School Site Vision Council Meeting (calendar invites sent to parents & staff)

September 14th-18th- Outdoor Science School 8th grade at Camp Ocean Pines, Cambria, CA

September 24th- English Language Advisory Council Meeting 6PM-6:30PM (calendar invite coming)

September 28th-October 2nd- Outdoor Science School 5th grade at Mt. Hermon, Santa Cruz, CA

September 28th-October 9th- Annual Monte Vista TK-8 Read-A-Thon & Scholastic Book Fair

October 5th-9th- FALL BREAK (no school)

October 12th- Return from Fall Break (turning in Read-A-Thon logs and donations during this week)

October 23rd- Trunk or Treat Halloween Family Event at Monte Vista from 5:30-7:30PM

+ Grades 6-8 Halloween Dance from 6PM-8PM.

September 28th- Jonathan Blumenfeld (4th grade)

The sixth week of school was a rebound week with our daily attendance! We stayed above 95% all week, and we even stayed ABOVE 96% and 97% on Tuesday and Wednesday--guess we should have picture day and heat waves more often, lol (just kidding). For those families who had students out, please turn in the independent study packets the day they return to school after the absence (a new state requirement). Otherwise you have to recover through Saturday Academy or a future after school tutoring attendance recovery program.

Our Chronic Absenteeism rate went from 13.4 to 15.2%, which is still above our goal of 7%. Our average daily attendance rate continues to be at an all-time low of 95.5%, which is well below our goal of 97% for this school year.

Our percentage bands for attendance went down a little bit this week. Satisfactory level was at 71% (538 students--28 students less than last week). 102 students in the yellow at risk area (increase of 14 students from last week), 97 students in the orange moderate chronic (increase of 24 students from last week), 16 students in the light red (9 less than last week--YAY), severe chronic area, and 2 students in extreme chronic (one less than last week). Anyone who stays in moderate, light red, or dark red areas (moderate, severe, or extreme chronic) is considered to have chronic absenteeism. We will work with these families to make sure independent study packets are turned in the first day they return to school after the absence(s). Otherwise, they will have to do Saturday Academy or possible after school tutoring attendance recovery (latter program is still pending based on staffing).

We will continue in the 26-27 school year to climb back up to 96% average attendance rate ( and even climb to 97%) and then upping our goal to get no more than 7% chronic absenteeism since we made our goal of below 10% this last school year with 8%. As of now, we are sitting at 15.5%...eek.