It gives me great pleasure to welcome students, staff, and families back to school on August 16, 2023. There is definitely positive energy in the air around all of our schools. Our teachers and support staff have been busy preparing school environments, facilities, and learning plans so that all students have what they need to be successful learners.
Our theme for the year is creating joyful learning environments that promote care, belonging, and connection and foster creativity, curiosity, and engagement for all students. This theme is taken directly from our Systems Portrait that aspires to set the conditions needed for all students to become successful learners and realize their dreams and aspirations. Click HERE to read the full letter.
As we are all excited to get the new school year going and looking forward to many family engagement events coming up, we would like to share our tips for home and school to get you started off well:
1. Have fun creating a learning space at home. This can help with distraction-free learning and a project zone at home.
2. Say hi to your child's teacher. Send an e-mail or note to school for your child's teacher(s). Share about your child's natural gifts and interests to help build connections between them and their teacher. (For e-mails, check the school website's Staff Directory or contact the school's Community Liaison.)
3. Know the school's Community Liaison. This is your go-to staff member to help guide you on family engagement opportunities, connect you with various resources, and link you with other staff members as needed. District List here.
4. Use dinnertime or daily family exercise to check-in about your child's day. Ask what was good about their day. Check-in regarding their social-emotional needs. If there is concern, reach out to the school's Counselor.
5. Keep the adventure going by visiting a San Diego museum or library.
6. Stay empowered with your child's school. We have many engagement opportunities, including school and district councils, volunteer groups, and other means for giving meaningful feedback to keep our systems growing. Ask a Community Liaison about all of your available opportunities.
7. Set family and student goals for the year. Have fun making a family poster at home to keep you on track for your shared goals and get the year started off right!
8. Attend your child’s Back to School Night to learn how you can support your child’s learning at school. Click Here for the Schedules.
Social and emotional learning, sometimes referred to as SEL, refers to the life skills that we use in our interactions with others (social) and within ourselves (emotional). These skills include managing our emotions, developing positive relationships, and making responsible decisions, all of which are essential for success in school, work and life.
As students enhance their social and emotional competencies, they are able to achieve the Learner Portrait at Vista USD to ensure they are:
Kind and Confident
Curious and Connected
Capable and Knowledgeable
Below are a few tips for families as the new school year begins to support the social emotional development children and youth:
1. Open Communication: Encourage your child to talk about their feelings and experiences, both positive and challenging. Validate these feelings to help them feel supported and cared for. This helps build emotional awareness and strengthens the parent-child bond.
2. Establish Routines: Consistent routines provide a sense of stability and security for children. Set regular schedules for meals, sleep, and homework to create a sense of predictability.
3. Active Listening: Pay attention to your child's thoughts and emotions. Show genuine interest by asking open-ended questions and giving them your full attention when they're speaking.
4. Empathy: Teach your child to understand and empathize with others' feelings. Discuss real-life scenarios to help them see different perspectives and practice empathy.
5. Problem-Solving Skills: Encourage your child to brainstorm solutions to challenges they encounter. This fosters resilience and a proactive approach to problem-solving.
6. Mindfulness and Relaxation: Introduce simple mindfulness exercises or deep-breathing techniques to help your child manage stress and anxiety.
7. Positive Reinforcement: Acknowledge and praise your child's efforts and achievements, no matter how small. This boosts their self-esteem and encourages them to continue trying their best.
8. Collaborative Decision-Making: Involve your child in decisions that affect them, such as selecting extracurricular activities or planning family outings. This promotes a sense of autonomy and responsibility.
9. Media Balance: Monitor your child's screen time and encourage a healthy balance between online and offline activities. Face-to-face interactions are essential for developing social skills.
10. Model SEL Skills: Children learn a lot from observing their parents' behavior. Display empathy, active listening, and emotional regulation in your interactions, setting a positive example.
Remember, the beginning of the school year can be both exciting and challenging. These tips can help create a supportive environment that promotes emotional well-being and social growth for your child. Self advocacy is a powerful tool! Encourage your child to speak up, ask questions and seek help when necessary.
The Vista Unified School District is committed to connecting students to school through education-based athletics. Student-athletes, coaches, families, and staff are looking forward to another successful year of athletics in Vista Unified. Teams are beginning to prepare for the Fall season of sport on the football field, volleyball court, cross country course, pool, tennis court and golf course. We are very excited to announce the school board approval of Girls’ Flag Football as a new sports offering. The focus for VUSD athletics this year will be developing character, camaraderie and excellence throughout our athletic departments and programs. Student-athletes and coaches will have the opportunity to compete and grow on the field of play as well as participate in programs that will develop leadership skills and character. We look forward to working with families to support student-athletes' academic, social-emotional and athletic success.
Vista High School Football is excited to welcome back new Head Coach David Faatuiese to the Panther family. Coach Faatuiese is a former VHS student-athlete and will be leading the program to reassert itself as a San Diego Section powerhouse. The Vista Varsity and Junior Varsity teams will be kicking off their seasons against tough competition after a summer of hard work and practice. The incoming freshman class is working hard in the weight room and on the practice field to develop their skills for the high school level. The team will be looking to compete with other teams at the novice level to gain much needed experience on the field. As opportunities arise, games will be scheduled to provide competitive experiences for the up and coming athletes.
During the school year, kids tend to get sick more often causing germs to spread among classmates. Currently, a new COVID-19 variant, EG.5, or Eris, is on the rise across the U.S. Symptoms of Eris present like the “common cold” causing many to forgo testing, not realizing they are COVID positive.
Vista Unified will continue to follow COVID-19 guidance from the San Diego County Office of Education and the California Department of Public Health on strategies to keep COVID-19 out of our schools. The most current SDCOE Decision Tree will be the guiding document for students and staff who are symptomatic or COVID positive.
For students with COVID-like symptoms, they should test and stay home until symptoms have improved and are fever free for 24 hours. For students who test COVID positive, they may return as early as Day 6 if they feel well, symptoms are improving and they have been fever free for at least 24 hours. Always call your school to report any absences due to illness.
Last year, Vista Unified offered families several options for before and after school care for their children. These options included AM-PM (fee-based), ASES, Boys and Girls Club, and ELEVO. All of these programs were housed on a VUSD campus. These programs ran independent of one another and created pockets of inequity among the programs being offered to our students. Therefore, to address this inequity, Vista Unified combined its many before and after school offerings into one Comprehensive Program at its elementary and middle school sites for the 2023-2024 school year.
Thanks to ELO-P funding, many students who have not been able to participate in before and after school programs will now have the opportunity to participate in the AM-PM Comprehensive program at no charge because they qualify under UPP, or unduplicated pupil percentage. For families who do not qualify, we have continued our fee-based option, including implementing a sliding scale for fee-based families with multiple children. Students are being accepted into the program using the following guidance:
Equity-Based Lens aligned to our District’s Value of Equity and the Intention of ELO-P funding
Families previously enrolled in Vista’s AM-PM Program
New Families interested in before and after school enrichment programs
Staffing for the AM-PM Comprehensive Program continues to be a challenge and we are continuously hiring new staff for open positions. As new staff members onboard, we will continue to accept additional students into the program. Our continued goal is to accept every student who applies for the AM-PM Comprehensive program.
Vista Unified School District
Email: webmaster@vistausd.org
Website: vistausd.org
Location: 1234 Arcadia Avenue, Vista, CA, USA
Phone: (760) 726-2170
Twitter: @VistaBlueprint