Cheetah Chat #3
August 23, 2024
Principal's Message
Thank you for all the hard work you put into Back to School Night. We had a packed house and the parents feedback was wonderful about all you presented in your classrooms!
Important Dates
Bulletin from Marilyn
Here is the BULLETIN for next week from Marilyn!
Important Information
- IMPORTANT- Please fill out this google form on Substitute Services by classroom teachers. This will help me determine who would like to receive students in an emergency situation.
- The DASHBOARD is your resource for EVERYTHING. Thank you Ms. Wooten for your work on this! Check here often as items will be updated frequently.
Counselor's Corner
As LVJUSD continues to open Wellness Centers, it is with great joy to announce that Leo R. Croce will be opening their first Wellness Center in the next few months. A Wellness Center is a safe and confidential space students can access throughout the school day to self-regulate or “reset” with the support of our new Wellness Center School Counselor, Ms. Medina.
In the Wellness Center students learn about mental health, emotion recognition and management, coping skills, building healthy boundaries and relationships with peers. Students who access the Wellness Center will receive support with a focus in skill acquisition, to help students become self-advocates and achieve self-regulation. SEL tools that support relaxation, mindfulness, and mediation are available in the Wellness Center for students to utilize. Additionally, Ms. Medina will work with students and their families to ensure students are receiving the correct support and access to information regarding mental health.
From the District
SUPERINTENDENT - Contact: Jennifer Arias
Staff Survey- Kickoff/ Back to School Social: ALL EMPLOYEES! Regardless of whether or not you attended this year’s Back to School Staff Social on 8/13, we request your participation in this brief, anonymous survey to guide us in our future planning of events! As a thank you for participating, you have an option to include your email for a chance to win a $25 Starbucks gift card! Emails will not be linked to your responses and will be used solely for the drawing. Survey closes on Friday, 8/30!
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES - Contact: Lori Rice
The Rotary Club of Livermore is once again offering Rotary Mini-Grants. Rotary will award grants up to $600 to deserving groups and individuals for projects, activities, and/or materials which benefit the Livermore Community. There will be three Mini-Grant cycles this year. Important to note: Please complete all sections of the application and have a Rotary member sponsor sign it. Send your application directly to both the Mini-Grant Chair and Co-Chair. The application and guidelines have been included in the attachments folder and are available on the Rotary Club of Livermore website. You’ll also find a list of Rotary School Sponsors - please find the Rotarian assigned to your school. Important dates to remember:
September 6th Fall Grant Applications Due
October 2nd - Club Meeting - Grant Awards to be presented
December 20th Winter Grant Applications Due
January 29th Club Meeting - Grant Awards to be presented
March 7th Spring Grant Applications Due
March 29th Club Meeting - Grant Awards to be presented
BUSINESS SERVICES - Contact: Lynn Kneizeh
LVJUSD Contract Policy All contracts (any document that obligates the District to payment) must follow the guidelines and be signed by those authorized by the Board. - details attached in the folder.
LVJUSD is partnering with Lakeshore Learning in a shopping event at the Lakeshore Learning Outlet in San Leandro! The event is exclusive for LVJUSD staff on September 7th 8am-10am before the store opens to the public. Lakeshore will be providing refreshments, prizes, and swag bags. The outlet location has items 20-40-60% off and any regular-priced items will receive a 5% discount. RSVP by August 28th via the link on the attached flyer. Contact Purchasing with questions.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - Contact: Elida Rodriguez
Special Teacher Event at Livermore Public Library! Teachers of all grades, you are invited to attend a special event at the Civic Center Library on Tuesday, September 10th to learn more about all of the amazing resources the library offers to help students with projects, research, tutoring, and more. Their Digital Library gives students access to a ton of resources that would otherwise have a fee to access. Refreshments start at 3:30 p.m and presentation starts at 4:00 p.m. Giveaways and raffle tickets for all who attend! See flyer in attachments folder!
Text Reminder: When sending text messages, please remember to identify your school or sender. All text messages from our district come from the same 60680 number and parents of multiple students could be confused as to who is sending the message. (Ex: Start your message with “From LHS:” or “From Ms. Smith:”)
Livermore Learns “Cultivating Friendships in Elementary-Age Students” - Tuesday, August 27 from 7-8pm: The first Livermore Learns of the school year will explore the typical stages of friendship development for elementary students and the vital connections between SEL skills and friendships. Practical strategies to help students build healthy, lasting relationships will also be discussed. Please share with your elementary families. Flier is in the attachments folder.
2024-25 Parent and Student Handbook- The updated 2024-25 Parent and Student Handbook is available on our website in both English and Spanish. The table of contents is linked for ease of viewing. A quicklink to the handbook is on all site homepages.
Assessment AND Accountability Items
easyCBM is NOW in Illuminate the window is open until the 6th of September. Frequently asked questions can be answered here. More information can be found under on the Elementary Dashboard under the District Assessments button. Thank you for your patience as we transition to this new platform. Reach out to your site-specific MTSS ToSA with any questions.
Elementary
The Elementary and Secondary Dashboards are now LIVE.
Elementary includes–all math and ELA pacing guides, UFLI slides, ELD, UA, SEL resources, and MORE! All Curriculum Dept. information will now be housed in this one-stop shop!
BeGLAD Training - Professional Development - LVJUSD is excited to offer BeGLAD training to teachers this fall 2024. This will be an in-person 6-day training session at no cost to participants and within their workday.
Training will begin with a 2 full-day workshop series (10/9 and 10/10), followed by 4 demonstration days (10/15,10/16, 10/17, and 10/18) at Lawrence Elementary School. These demo days will include morning classroom observations facilitated by trainers using BeGLAD strategies and time in the afternoon to debrief and begin to incorporate the strategies into lessons.
Please be aware that space is limited to 25 total participants. So, sign up if you are interested in participating in the training by completing the BeGLAD Teacher Training Fall 2024-Interest Form. If you have any questions, feel free to email Carla Estrada-Hidalgo at cestrada@lvjusd.org. Thank you.
As a reminder, ALL EL students must have daily Designated ELD (D-ELD) instruction that is part of their Tier I instruction. For elementary schools, this is 30 minutes per day. This is year two of our contract with Lexia English that is to be used as supplemental curriculum. Students and teachers may access the web-based platform via Classlink. Students are automatically rostered into the program through PowerSchool once they are designated as EL Students. To help you and your students get started on using Lexia English, use the LVJUSD Implementation Pacing Guide (Months 1-3) as a resource. Please take into account, that students who are listed as “TBD” in PowerSchool, must wait until they are determined to be an EL student based on the Initial ELPAC results before gaining access to Lexia English.
Please note that students in TK will not be taking the “Initial ELPAC” this school year. The CA Governor has signed into law exempting TK students from taking the Initial ELPAC. However, once these students enter Kindergarten, they will be required to take the Initial ELPAC. This means that teachers can, intentionally focus on TBD students to help them further develop their listening and speaking skills since these skill areas are 90% of the Initial ELPAC assessment for TK/K students. Thus, teachers can think of this school year as an opportunity to help potential EL students and have them score high enough to be Inital Fluent English Proficient (IFEP) when they do take the Initial ELPAC as Kindergarteners.
HUMAN RESOURCES - Contact: Mariia Kutsokon Check out the 2024-2025 Employee Newsletter by clicking here. Inside, you'll find important information regarding the benefits available during the 2024-2025 open enrollment period. Open enrollment is August 10th - September 10th. During open enrollment, you can add eligible dependents, change plan selection, and/or drop any dependents who no longer need to be covered. Changes made during open enrollment become effective October 1, 2024. There is no need to submit a new benefit application to maintain current benefits. Benefit Fair/Open House (flyer is linked): On August 28, 2024, we will host California’s Valued Trust (CVT), health benefit vendors, and offer biometric screenings (flyer is linked). Please keep in mind that in order to be eligible for the free biometric screening, you must be enrolled in medical coverage through CVT. Sign-up for a meeting with American Fidelity by clicking here. LEA MEMBERS with an American Fidelity account must schedule an appointment to update benefit rates from 11-month to 10-month deductions. Pre-taxing your health benefits CDPH Updates and COVID Protocols for Staff: On January 9, 2024, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) updated its COVID-19 Isolation Guidance, COVID-19 Testing Guidance, and State Public Health Officer Order. We continue to follow CDPH guidelines and have updated our COVID Protocols for Staff, linked here. We must notify “close contacts”, individuals who may have come into contact with COVID-19 in the workplace, in a timely manner. Therefore, we need employees to report all positive COVID cases to the District’s COVID Liaison, Mary Aguirre, at hr-benefits@lvjusd.org. We ask that you submit a picture of a positive COVID test result via email, which will replace a doctor’s note for absences longer than three days. The District continues to provide face coverings and test kits. These are available at your school site or the District Office. Workplace Violence Protection Plan: As a result of California Senate Bill 553 (SB 553), LVJUSD is required to establish, implement, and maintain an effective, written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP) no later than July 1, 2024. Our WVPP, which is modeled after CalOSHA's template, is attached. Our WVPP is available to all staff via the Intranet and the District Website. Staff will receive annual training via Keenan on Workplace Violence Awareness and Prevention and training on how to access and utilize our WVPP (which will be a video from HR). Per this Senate Bill, LVJUSD will record all reported workplace violence threats, incidents, and post-incident responses that meet the definition of workplace violence, per SB 553. Employees are to report a workplace safety concern or violence incident to Human Resources via the Violent Safety Concern/Incident Log, which is also available on the Intranet and Website with our WVPP. MAINTENANCE, OPERATIONS, & FACILITIES - Contact: Christine Rudluff Work Orders; If we don’t know we can’t fix it! There are several things I see when on campus, that typically do not have a work order in for them, and these items should be brought to our attention so they can be repaired! Stained ceiling tiles/possible roof issues Missing covers on data and power outlets Bubblers not working at sinks (many are still off from the old Covid requirements) Lights missing covers Christy Box covers missing(these are the plastic or concrete covers for valves/shut-offs typically found in landscaping areas) Tall weeds and low trees! These are just a few things that seem to get missed or many times staff believes that there is already a work order in for these items. If something listed above is not repaired within a couple weeks, there most likely is not a work order associated with it or at the least something needed to be ordered to complete the repair if a work order has been placed. Please send an email to those at your site that are able to place work orders on the HelpDesk system; your Head Custodian, Facilities VP or your site EA depending on how your site is set up. Thank you for your help in bringing needed repairs to our attention so they can be addressed! MENTAL HEALTH & WELLNESS - Contact: Shari Johnston Back to School Tips for Parents are reposted to our district website. We encourage you to share this link in your newsletters home.