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The
Latest News from the Mill Valley School District
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Important
Dates:
School
Board Meeting
September
10, 6pm
Back
to School Nights
Sept 3
- Elementary
Sept 17 - Middle School
District
Directory 2008-2009
Update
your information in the District Directory.
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your information.
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District
News Archive
June
2008 - special
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| Superintendent's
Message |
 We
began another year of
extraordinary learning in
Mill Valley on August 28.
I want to extend a warm
welcome to those children,
parents, and community
members returning; and those
who join us for the very
first time. In this learning
community, our Board of
Trustees, staff and
educational partners strive
to preserve a tradition of
quality; and more
importantly, one of
continuous improvement.
We accomplish these things
because our community
believes deeply that our
kids deserve the very best.
As Superintendent, I am
humbled each day by the
quality of our teachers and
support staff, the active
involvement and support of
our parents and community,
and the commitment our Board
of Trustees makes so that
all of this works in the
best interests of the
children we serve. For
those returning, thank you
for committing once again to
keeping Mill Valley Schools
great; and for those of you
who are new, jump in and get
involved in your child's
school. The wealth of
talent that contributes to
this school district's
success is extraordinary;
and I am certain those of
you new to the District will
want to contribute your
talents, too. I hope
you will read on, not just
this month, but every month.
There is always a lot
happening in Mill Valley
schools and this year
proves to be no exception!
Ken Benny
Superintendent
|
| Very
Important News! Parcel Tax
Is Now Measure A |
On
November 4, Mill Valley voters
will cast their ballots on
Measure A, an amendment to the
District's existing parcel
tax. Even with
outstanding independent
audits, oversight from an
independent financial
commission, and prudent
spending practices, our school
district faces a continuing
and growing funding gap. This
funding gap exists because of
significant enrollment growth
over the past four years, a
slumping economy, and budget
cuts at the state level.
The District's independent Community
Financial Advisory Commission (CFAC)
anticipates a significant
funding gap will continue to
grow over the next three years.
Already, for this budget year
2008-09, the Board was forced to
cut over $600,000. The
Board and leadership team worked
hard to keep those cuts as far
from the classroom as possible,
but as we plan for 2009-10, we
anticipate further student
growth and a continued difficult
national and regional economic
picture. Our budget drives
a 'people business'. With
87% of that budget invested in
people, any future reductions
will work against our exemplary
record of recruiting and
retaining the very best
teachers, maintaining excellent
programs, and preserving small
class sizes that contribute to
our District's quality of
teaching and learning.
It is critical that you learn as
much as you can about Measure A
so you will make an informed
decision at the polls on
November 4. There will be
many opportunities for you to
get information and ask
questions in anticipation of
Election Day. Please take
advantage of those
opportunities. We welcome
your questions. You are
encouraged to visit the Financial
News on the District web
site to view information already
posted and to re-visit it
regularly to get the latest
information.
|
| Soaring Enrollment
Continues |
|
Four
consecutive years of
enrollment growth have
resulted in over 260 more
students in our six schools.
Our opening day enrollment was
2,498 K-8 students, with the
bulk of the growth once again
a larger than expected
kindergarten population and a
smaller exiting eighth grade
class. This year's
kindergarten will top out at
about 330 while the exiting
eighth grade numbers are
expected to be about 206.
2008-09
School by school details
follow.
Implications
of Enrollment Growth
The
following chart 'looks back' at
Mill Valley enrollment trends
and 'looks forward' at continued
growth through 2011-12.
Enrollment trend assumes rolling
each grade level forward with
kindergarten classes of 330 each
year.
|
| Welcome
Forty New Staff Members |
|
With retirements,
resignations, leaves, and
growth, we welcome lots of new
staff members at our schools
and district office.
Nineteen new teachers spent
one and one-half days this
summer learning about the
district, its programs,
professional development, and
culture. Each year we
attract some of the very best
new and veteran teachers.
This year five teachers
begin their teaching careers
in Mill Valley. Twelve
veteran teachers join us from
other areas of California and two
teachers come from other
states in the country.
Due to growth at Edna Maguire
and Tam Valley, we have added
additional office support in
the way of part-time
administrative assistants.
We also welcome District-wide
staff in the way of Nurse,
English Language Teacher, and
Executive Assistant for
Student Learning and
Communications.
|
| Skills
Development Academy |
The middle
school is proud to welcome
a new special day class (SDC) to
its campus and to our district!
This class is offered through
Marin County Office of Education
(MCOE). The class is
called the "Skills
Development Academy", or
"SDA." It
currently has 13 students
spanning grades 6-8 who have
cognitive delays. It is taught
by Jennifer Hammond and her
instructional assistants.
The primary focus of the
curriculum is focused on
"functional skills,"
which are skills needed to
succeed independently as the
students mature.
The District effort to bring
this class to MVMS was
enthusiastically led by
Assistant Superintendent Kerri
Mills, Principal Matt Huxley,
and Assistant Principal Anna
Lazzarini. The class, previously
housed in another district, will
have more room to serve these
students by being at MVMS.
By having the class in our
District, students will be
provided opportunities to
participate in community
training (skills taught in real
life settings, such as shopping
for groceries, ordering from a
menu at restaurants, etc.) as
well as participate in other
classes at MVMS. We have
one other MCOE class in our
district, a preschool special
day class located at Edna
Maguire and taught by
Katherine Platt. As is the
case with other school districts
throughout Marin County, we host
two classes that serve ours and
other districts' students.
Funding for staff and facilities
is through a county-wide fiscal
allocation plan. |
| High
Levels of Achievement Continue |
| STAR
Results Published
We
can all be proud of our
students and staff as
annual results of the California
Standards Test (CST)
were made public on August 14,
2008. Additionally,
Academic Performance Index (API)
scores for schools and
districts were released on
September 4, 2008.
As
has been the case since 2003,
the District has demonstrated
continuous, incremental
improvement on all assessments
and at all grade levels, with
the vast majority of our
students either meeting or
exceeding state expectations.
While this is but one measure
of success for our students,
schools, and District, we can
celebrate these
accomplishments. It is
important to recognize this
accomplishment because a
significant measure of a
school's or district's success
on a standards-based
assessment is not in what
occurs in any one year, but
really what occurs over
several years. The Mill
Valley School District has
shown consistent, incremental
improvement every year for the
past five years. We are
committed to high levels of
learning for all students and
continue to seek ways in which
we can continue to get better
and better.
The CST is an assessment
given each spring with
results published in August
just before the start of the
new school year. CST
is administered to students
in grades 2 through 8 in our
District and tests students
according to the California
content standards.
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| Extended Unexcused
Absences |
School
Board Revises Independent
Study Policy
Regular
attendance plays an important
role in student achievement.
The Mill Valley School
District no longer conducts an
Independent Study Program for
students who miss school due
to unexcused personal
absences. Absences as a result
of family vacations are not
considered excused under
District policy and California
Education Code and will be
recorded as unexcused.
It is the responsibility of
students who are out of school
for unexcused absences to make
up any work missed while away.
When planned in advance,
teachers will make an effort
to provide students with
assignments and homework
during the absence.
However, there are many
assignments, including those
taught and completed in the
classroom setting, that cannot
be made up and which may
result in adversely impacting
a student's grades.
Students who are out of school
due to unexcused absences for
more than fifteen (15)
consecutive student school
days will be removed from
their school rolls and must
re-enroll with the district
upon return. There can
be no guarantee that a
student, upon re-enrolling,
will return to the school and
class from which he or she
left.
|
| Finance,
Technology, and Facilities
Update |
|
Finance
The District has just completed
closing its financial books for
the 2007-08 school and fiscal
year and as a result also
concluded a successful
independent audit. While
we still anticipate reductions
from the state in the amount of
$270,000-$300,000, the
continuing delay in the approval
of a state budget will not cause
immediate cash flow problems for
the Mill Valley School District.
Our status as one of only eighty
districts in the state primarily
funded through local sources
protects us from this concern.
We are pleased that we have
multi-year contracts with our
employee groups and that both
Kiddo and our PTAs are doing so
much to help fill our funding
gap. Mill Valley is proud
that our employees are provided
with competitive salaries and
benefits as part of our
comprehensive plan to recruit
and retain the very best
teachers and support staff.
Technology
New Apple Leopard Server
As Apple released its
new OSX operating system called
'Leopard' on all its new
computers last spring, the
District upgraded all servers to
OSX 'Leopard' Servers as well.
Now all new 'Leopard'
teacher and student computers
will align with the district's
new Apple OSX 'Leopard' Servers.
Classroom Workstation
Reimage
Nearly 1,000
computers throughout the
district were re-imaged. For
the first time in recent
memory, all classrooms,
computer labs and laptops cart
computers have a
"fresh" and
standardized operating system
installed. The reimage will
allow these computers to
operate faster and provide a
standard set of software from
computer to computer.
Hardware Evaluation
Work continued on our
hardware replacement, recycle,
and refresh program by exiting
aged computers that had severe
technical failures or were operating
at a substandard performance
level. As part of budget
adoption, the Board of
Trustees conditionally
approved a line item of
$75,000 for computer
replacement. That
purchase has been put on hold
until after the parcel tax
measure in November so that
our fiscal capacity can be
fully evaluated to continue
the replacement program.
Phone System and
Network 'Refresh'
On July 1st, preparations
began for the installation of
the new internet based phone
system. This system
replaces an aging telephone
system that had become costly
to maintain and one that
continued to experience
intermittent outages. Backbone
equipment to support that
installation was completed
prior to the opening of
school. Beginning with the
District Office in
mid-September, transitioning
to the new IP phone and
wireless, break-out learning
system will begin. About every
two weeks, an additional
school will move over to the
new phone system. Project
completion is slated for late
November. The new system
will also include an emergency
notification system that can
contact staff and parents.
Facilities
Plumbing
At the Middle School,
significant repairs were
made to aging and damaged
sewer lines. Nineteen
holes had to be dug, of which
9 were in the floor of lower
7th grade, Kiddo and the
District Office. This
includes two 12 foot deep
holes on each side of the
manhole on the Camino Alto
side of the building to
reconnect lateral drains. These
holes caused an interruption
to the irrigation on that side
of the property. This
interruption temporarily
affected the landscaping.
Because some of the damage was
also related to tree roots,
some trees had to be removed
to protect the future
integrity of the sewer lines.
New Classrooms
Responding to growth, a
portable building was
installed at Tam Valley which
required widening of the fire
lane, and additional barrier
removal to comply with the
American with Disabilities Act
(ADA). This barrier
removal included new parking
spaces and a retaining wall,
new ramping, improvements to
the bathrooms, and a new
compliant water fountain
donated by the outgoing 5th
grade class.
Cleaning
The District has reduced the
number of chemicals used to
clean our schools on a daily
basis to three.
Why are we limiting the number
of chemicals?
- Easy to understand for
substitutes and custodians.
- Avoids errors in use for
health and safety.
- Saves dollars through
elimination of multitude and
duplication of products
being used.
- Replaces toxic and
hazardous cleaning compounds
with environmentally
preferable alternatives.
- Improves indoor air
quality.
|
| MVSD
Takes Lead in "Streetsmarts" |
You've
probably seen the many vertical
banners throughout town
encouraging drivers to slow down
and be careful for the sake of
our kids. We are proud to
be a founding member of
"Street Smarts Marin";
and continue to promote programs
focused on Safe Routes to
School. Please explore the
options below and make a choice
that works for you and your
child.
Carpool
Find other parents to
share driving your children to
school. This reduces the
number of cars in the queue
every day, congestion on our
streets, and gives you more time
to attend to other needs in the
morning. The Mill Valley
School District Directory
contains information on how to
find other Mill Valley families
to "SchoolPool" (walk,
bike, and carpool together to
school). See the Safe
Routes to Schools website for
a neighborhood map and additional
information. Please sign up for
SchoolPooling when you update your
family's directory listing.
Walk
or Bike
If you live close enough, walk or
bike with your children to school.
This allows you to spend quality
time with them and gives them
exercise before class. Or if they
are old enough, let them walk or
bike with their friends.
California Department of Health
Services studies show that
children who are physically fit
score better on tests.
Drive
Safely
MVSD is proud to be a
founding partner of "Street
Smarts Marin". If you choose
to drive your children to school,
please be "Street
Smart". Remember to obey all
traffic laws and observe school
guidelines for drop-off and
pick-up. Drive slowly and
carefully. Children are
unpredictable and you never know
when a child might dart out in
front of you. Do not block
sidewalks, driveways and bike
paths and stop at all
crosswalks. Be sure to look
right before you turn right to
ensure that a child is not
crossing the street. For
information on improving our
Street Smarts in Mill Valley see www.streetsmartsmarin.org.
We look forward to a safe and
healthy school year. Please
consider one of these alternatives
for transporting your child to
school. Your choice will
contribute to the health and
safety of the whole community. |
| Board
highlights and September 10
Preview |
At the August 27 Board
Meeting:
- Superintendent
Ken Benny presented the 2008
California Standards Test
Review results, gave an
update on enrollment
numbers, and reported on new
staffing.
- Assistant
Superintendent Michele
Rollins gave an update on
Measure A - Parcel Tax.
She also gave an update on
new school lunch provider,
Revolution Foods, and thanked
the PTA and Old Mill
Principal Jane McDonough for
all their work in research,
coordination and
implementation.
- Assistant
Superintendent Kerri Mills
announced that a Marin
County Office of Education
program, the Skills
Development Academy (SDA),
will be housed at Mill
Valley Middle School for
2008-09, and provided
information about the
program.
- Director
of Maintenance and
Operations Tim Ryan gave an
update on summer facilities
work.
- Director
of Technology Terry
Kritsepis gave an update on
the installation of the
Voice Over IP Phone System.
At
the Next Board Meeting on
September 10:
- Teachers
attaining permanent status
in the district will be
recognized by the Board and
Superintendent Ken Benny.
- Director
of Maintenance and
Operations Tim Ryan will
provide a comprehensive
review this past summer's
work.
- Assistant
Superintendent Kerri Mills
will present information on
the District's 504
Intervention Program.
- Superintendent
Ken Benny will highlight
this summer's New Teacher
Institute.
- Assistant
Superintendent Michele
Rollins will review the
2007-08 'Unaudited Actuals',
an overview of the past
year's financial books.
|
| Lara
Day - Bone Marrow Registration |
Lara
is a beautiful, six year old
girl who attended one of our
schools. She is very ill with
Leukemia and she needs your
help.
Event Details
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Edna Maguire Elementary
School, 80 Lomita Drive
An informational tape will be
shown at the drive and those
who wish to register will have
a cheek swab sample taken by
the personnel from the
Stanford Blood Center.
Happily, both Greg Bechelli
and his brother, who was his
bone marrow donor, will be on
hand to answer questions about
the bone marrow donation
process. Derek Leith from the
Stanford Blood center will
also be there to answer
questions. Two years ago Derek
was a bone marrow donor for an
unrelated six year old child.
Please also refer to either of
these two web sites for more
information regarding the bone
marrow donation process.
http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/donate/marrow.html
The cost of processing a cheek
swab sample is usually $52.00.
We have received matching
funds to allow us to test 75
people at a cost of only
$25.00.
How to Help:
- Become a registered bone
marrow donor on September 13
at Edna Maguire and
contribute $25.00 towards
lab processing.
(Please bring check or cash)
- Become a registered bone
marrow donor on September 13
at Edna Maguire and
contribute $52.00 or
whatever you can towards lab
processing. (Please bring
check or cash)
- Become a registered bone
marrow donor on September 13
at Edna Maguire. If you
cannot contribute
financially, we still need
your help.
- Donate any amount towards
testing SOMEONE ELSE who
would like to register, but
is unable to contribute
financially. If you would
like to contribute
financially towards testing
someone else and you are
unable to attend Lara's day
on September 13, you can
send a check for any amount
made payable to: The
Stanford Foundation
Please write a notation in
the memo area that says:
Lara HLA Testing
Please send your check to:
The Stanford Foundation
c/o Cece Bechelli
237 Laverne Ave.
Mill Valley, CA 94941
- If you would like to
register as a bone marrow
donor but cannot attend the
drive on September 13, you
can go on line to
www.marrow.org and have a
cheek swab kit sent to you
at home. You can also
call Derek Leith at the
Stanford Blood Center at
(650)723-5532 to schedule an
appointment.
- Bring a plate of cookies
(disposable plate) to add to
our refreshments any time
between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00
p.m. on September 13.
If you have any questions please
contact Adrienne Puech at: apuech@comcast.net or (415)
518-1421.
Or you may contact Derek Leith
at the Stanford Blood Center:
(650) 723-5532
Lastly, we are hoping for a
wonderful turnout in honor of
Lara. Please pass this
information on to at least five
people and ask those five people
to do the same. Thank you
so much for taking the time to
read this. We hope to have a
show of great support for little
Lara on September 13! |
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