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The
Latest News from the Mill Valley School District
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| Superintendent's
Report |
Welcome
to the first of three reports coming to you from
the Mill Valley School District during the course of
the school year. In addition to these three
reports, you will continue to receive our monthly
E.News. We will try to provide timely
and educationally interesting information without
overwhelming your in box!
Please
remember that your feedback is important to us, so
don't hesitate to ask us questions about your school
district so that we can provide you with information
that will be most helpful to you.
Schools
Receive Academic Honors
Our
primary mission is high levels of student learning and
in this issue I would like to share new and
exciting news related to that. In past messages,
I communicated our schools' successes by way
of every school's superlative trend performance on
statewide assessments. Thanks to the excellent
work of our teachers and the hard work of our
students, I am proud to announce that each of our six
schools in the District attained Academic
Performance Index scores of over
900 for the first time ever.
This month I bring news of yet another commendation
that every Mill Valley school has received from Just
for the Kids California (JFTK-CA), a
free and accurate source of longitudinal student
academic performance data. The
California Business for Educational Excellence
Foundation(CBEE) and JFTK-CA annually
honors the highest performing public schools in
California. Honor Roll schools such as our six
schools must consistently raise academic achievement,
showing gains over previous years. Each
Mill Valley school will be honored by CBEE and JFTK-CA
in November at a special awards ceremony in San
Francisco. To learn more about JFTK-CA, please
visit their website,
which provides a wealth of information about our Honor
Roll schools and other Honor Roll schools throughout
California. Hats off to our fabulous learning
community of Trustees, educators, support staff,
parents, community members,
and of course, our wonderful kids!
Facilities
Master Planning is Underway
To
support those high levels of learning, you probably
know the Board of Trustees and staff have been hard at
work developing a comprehensive facilities master plan
that will guide the development of our facilities for
the next ten years.
There
has been a lot of information shared over the past
months that the District may run a bond measure
in February 2008. At its October meeting, the
Board decided to await the completion of the facilities
master plan prior to considering a comprehensive
bond measure to address modernization, remodeling,
enrollment, and energy efficiency. The
Board has been assured by our consultant, Vanir
Construction and Management, as well as Maintenance
and Operations Director Tim Ryan that while we
will need to make more repairs through the use of
other capital project funds, our schools are
"safe, warm, and dry" and great education is
taking place. A comprehensive bond measure built
off of a long range master plan would most likely
occur in calendar year 2009.
For now, the facilities master planning process will
continue through each of our schools and by way
of a district level staff and citizen Facilities
Master Plan Committee. We will continue to add
information to our website related to this and
other initiatives.
Thank
you for your continued support of this great learning
community in Mill Valley.
Sincerely,
Ken
Benny
Superintendent
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| Board
Meeting Highlights |
|
 At
the October School Board Meeting:
- Several Mill Valley Teachers were recognized
for attaining tenure
- A presentation of the 2007 Summer School program
was given by the 2007 Summer School Principal Adam
Saville and Special Education teacher Erin Conklin
- A final Strategic Plan draft was presented to the
Board to review before approval in November
- Maintenance
and Operations Director Tim Ryan gave a
presentation on projects completed at school sites
over the summer as
part of the District's ongoing preventative
maintenance program.
- Parents,
staff and students from Edna Maguire presented
information on the Mill Valley Children's garden.
At
the next School Board meeting on November 14:
- The
Board is expected to approve the three-year
2008-2010 Strategic Plan
and hear about strategic projects for 2008 through
2010.
- Mill
Valley Principal Matt Huxley will update the Board
on the Middle School's NET Program,
an alternative education program now in its third
year of operation.
- The
Board will review Annual Parent Survey results from
Spring 2007. The
survey is administered each spring and results are
made available each fall.
- Mill
Valley parent Andrea Brandeis will be recognized by
the Board for her volunteer work,
specifically for the efforts she put forth to host
Maasai dancers and artists in our community.
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| Reception
Honoring School Board Members |
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Monib
Khademi and Laura Murphy to Retire from Board
Please
join us in honoring the Mill Valley School District's
retiring trustees, Monib Khademi (12
years) and Laura Murphy (4 years) at
a reception prior to the November School Board
meeting.
Date:
Wednesday, November 14
Time:
6-6:45 PM (prior to the November School Board meeting)
Place:
Mill Valley School District Administrative Offices,
411 Sycamore Ave.
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| Mill
Valley Teachers Attain Tenure |
At the October School Board Meeting the Board recoginzed
the following teachers for attaining permanent status:
Jennie Beuhler-Tam Valley, Eric
Dowell-Old Mill, Grace Dunn-Tam
Valley, Sara Fortine-Old Mill, Erin
Hughes-Strawberry Point, Heather
Levasseur-Strawberry Point, Karen Levin-Old
Mill, Jenny Rees-Edna Maguire, and
Sarah Stoelting-Middle School.
Congratulations to all of these fine educators!
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| Health Notice
to Parents |
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MRSA Staph
Infections
We would
like to report on a health issue that has been widely
publicized in the media and through health service
providers. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
Aureus (MRSA) is
a staph infection. While staph infections are common,
this type of staph is showing an increasing resistance
to antibiotics.
Marin County School Districts received a briefing
about MRSA from the Marin County Department
of Health and Human Services. Click
here for the latest information.
Please also see A
Parents Guide to MRSA.
When to
Keep Your Child at Home
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| Members
Sought for Community Financial Advisory Commission |
| The
Mill Valley School District Board of Trustees
established a Community Financial Advisory Commission (CFAC)
to advise the Board on matters relating to the long-term
financial health of the District.
CFAC periodically reviews the district's budget,
identifies and analyzes long-term trends, makes
recommendations to the Board and participates in
community outreach efforts. The group meets
approximately six times a year and is looking for
new members.
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| Help
Keep Our Schools Safe and Secure |
The community of Mill Valley and our school district
have observed many cases of vandalism in the community
and at our schools. Defacing of property is a
serious crime and the messages that are left can
sometimes be quite graphic. We don't want to
expose our students (or community) to this
and we also want to send a strong message to
those who commit these crimes that it won't be
tolerated. We will work closely with law enforcement
to hold these persons accountable. Our
District-wide vandalism protocol includes contact with
law enforcement, taking photos of evidence, cleaning
all graffiti promptly, and repairing all vandalism as
soon as possible. Most of these crimes are
committed late at night and/or on weekends.
As
parents and citizens, we need your help! Please report
any suspicious activities on our campuses directly to
the Mill Valley Police Department (389-4100) if
in the city or the Marin County Sheriff (479-2311) if
in the county. For crimes in progress or
other life-threatening emergencies, call 911.
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| Emergency
Preparedness a Priority |
| On
October 24, the Mill Valley School District participated
in a district-wide simulated earthquake drill. In
collaboration with the City of Mill Valley, our district
Emergency Operations Center was activated to deal with
the aftermath of a significant earthquake. Schools
throughout the District worked on all manners of
response to such an earthquake. We are
committed to a safe and secure learning environment and
to appropriate responses to all emergencies.
Fire and rescue observers provided very valuable
feedback so that we can continually improve and enhance
our preparedness.
Many
thanks to our staff, parents, students, and the City of
Mill Valley for their time, effort and expertise.
Also a very big thank you to our parent and community
volunteers who serve on our District Emergency
Preparedness Committee who work so diligently in this
area. |
| Annual
Parent Survey Results |
| Every
spring the Mill Valley School District asks
parents/guardians to take part in an anonymous
survey which allows parents another opportunity to
provide
constructive feedback and helps the District better
understand the needs of families
and the perceptions of our parent
community.
While every year we aim to
increase participation, we want to thank the 374
families who provided feedback. The
survey results are from March through May 2007.
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| Veterans
Day Event |
 Veteran's
Day is just around the corner. On this day, we
honor those who have served in our armed forces and
helped to protect our freedoms throughout our
country's history. Please take time on November
11 to reflect in your own way and give thanks to those
who have served; and in many cases made the
ultimate sacrifice for our country and the
freedoms we so enjoy. For those looking for a
way to honor our veterans, there will be a celebration
at the Marin Veteran's Memorial Auditorium,
Marin Civic Center beginning at 9:30 AM and a closing
parade on the Avenue of Flags from 11:00 to 11:15.
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| Supporting
Southern California Fire Victims |
We
have had some inquiries from the school community
about donations and support for the fire victims in
Southern California. Our contacts in the
affected areas have told us the most effective way for
our communities to assist would be to send any
donations raised by schools or given directly by
citizens directly to the American
Red Cross. Please
visit their website for information on
donations and ways to help.
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| Mill
Valley School District
Some
of the clip art used in this newsletter is
licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com
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