Scotts Valley High School

Dear Scotts Valley Community,

Items included in this update:

• Surveys - parents and staff
• Next steps
• Measure A Town Hall Webinar visit SOSSV.net 
• District’s Cultural Responsiveness Committee (CRC)
• Internet connectivity update
• SVHS and Brook Knoll highlights

Thank you to those that have participated in the district survey. As a reminder, the survey closes today at 3 PM and we are compiling the results and we are relying on a good response rate.  We also implemented a staff survey and will be reviewing those results as well. 

Our next steps are to review survey results, begin to implement COVID testing for staff and identify students to return for small group support for partial days or certain days of the week. At this time students, even in small groups, have to remain in a static cohort and cannot commingle groups. We will be reviewing school schedules, staff schedules and we will be in communication with you regarding any upcoming transitions. As you know, we are offering parent training sessions to support you.  We had a great turnout for our last workshop on Mental Health, Anxiety, and Depression.  Our next workshop will be on October 28 at 7:00 PM and is focused on supporting your child to manage distance learning.  To find a recording of the last workshop, or to participate in future workshops, please visit the Distance Instruction Resource page on our website.  

We are receiving the question, ”Why are private schools in session and not public schools?”  There are key requirements that have been put in place and some are different for private schools. As mentioned, testing 50% of your staff every month is a requirement and easier to implement in a smaller educational setting. Additionally, most private schools do not have collective-bargaining agreements. 

A Town Hall Webinar was held regarding the Measure A school facility bond. Information and the recording are available at SOSSV.net. 

We have begun meeting as a District team to discuss Cultural Responsiveness.  Our team is currently made up of administrators, counselors, and teachers, and we are researching best practices and reviewing our current curriculum. We look forward to increasing awareness and providing strategies and supplemental resources for our teachers.

Since my last letter, we experienced some technology challenges that made it difficult for teachers to conduct their distance learning sessions from their classrooms for a couple of days. We are working with the County Office of Education, as they help to provide our Internet connections, and we were able to resolve the issue. We apologize for the struggles this added on top of already challenging times, but we now have a process to follow to restore bandwidth should this issue arise again.  Please know that we understand how frustrating it is when there are internet interruptions. We will continue to work to improve our systems.  

Some Site highlights:

SVHS

Back to School Night was a success! If parents missed it, the videos, including the administration’s presentation, are still posted on the homepage. The library is having a virtual book fair on October 12-23.  (See News from the Nest for more details.) 

SVHS is planning for a Drive-Through Haunted House Halloween for families!  This year will be outdoors, drive-through, and families will stay in their cars.  Currently, if all goes well, they plan to open this for the last two weekends in October: October 22-24, Thurs-Sat, and October 29-31, Thurs-Sat.  Each day the event will be from 5-8 pm.  Yesterday a student survey was released, focusing on academics and mental health.  The results of this survey, along with the results from the parent survey, will be reviewed to support students across SVHS.

Brook Knoll 

Red Ribbon Week is coming up 10/23 -10/31.  There is no better time than the present to focus on making smart choices for our bodies and minds.   The school counselors have put together a series of activities that all students can enjoy as they explore healthy choices.  Additionally, the elementary counseling team has provided grade-specific journals for students to use as a resource to help manage and understand their feelings and emotions.   

During a typical year, 4th Graders enjoy an informative and exciting field trip to Cabrillo College.  Unfortunately, last year, our 4th Graders were not able to attend due to county closures, so Cabrillo has invited both 4th and 5th-grade students this year to a Live Virtual 4th Grade Experience, in partnership with Santa Cruz College and Career Collaborative.  This year’s experience will include interactive activities, a virtual tour, and a live question and answer session with a Cabrillo team on October 27.  Vine Hill School 4th and 5th graders will be participating as well.

As we close out another busy week, we are focusing on positive thoughts and hoping for a few needed rain drops this weekend.  

Stay healthy and take care,

Tanya Krause

Dear SVUSD Community,

In an effort to update everyone on the present status of Santa Cruz County related to the current State Monitoring system, the County Superintendents drafted this update.  I know you are interested in the status of reopening our schools, and as I have mentioned over the past several months, there are multiple factors that need to be considered and addressed before it is safe or allowable to do so.  There are multiple links to various data points included in the attached letter, and we hope this letter provides a current update to what we are expecting in the next week or so.  Again, my apologies if this information is confusing to you, but remember, schools didn't create this public health monitoring system; however, we are held accountable to it.

Sincerely,

Tanya Krause, Superintendent

Dear SVUSD Community,

In keeping with the commitment I made at the beginning of the pandemic, this year I intend to send periodic and necessary updates.  Some of these communications contain a lot of different information.  I apologize to those that feel these are too lengthy.  Length will vary depending on the content to share.

This letter includes:

     -Overview of progress up to Week 3

     -Update on the new state Monitoring Color coded system 

     -Upcoming Parent Survey - October 1st

     -Cultural Responsiveness District update

     -Site Highlights and Back to School Nights

Congratulations SVUSD community, we have completed Week Three of full remote instruction, which is new for teachers, students, parents, and administration.

I believe everyone now acknowledges that this fall’s remote instruction has differed greatly from last spring’s distance learning. As expected, our team has been working through Zoom link challenges, Internet challenges, and some accessibility issues. Of course, on our first day, September 8, Google struggled early on and though eventually picked back up, it created a lot of anxiety just on day one. Although there was some user error, Google has had its challenges far beyond just our District or County, and a lot of folks are working to assist students, parents, and teachers and we are making good progress.

I want to give a big shout out to all of the teachers, administrators, and support staff, as preparing for this new version of school has required a lot of new learning. For many of us who have been in this profession for many years, in many ways, it feels like starting over. We will look back at this time when we were forced to learn new things that are carried forward hereafter.

Many people have inquired about when we plan to return to some form of in-person instruction with students. As most of you know, the state changed its monitoring system into a color-coded system with new timelines in place.

School districts need to be in Red (Sustainable) for over two weeks and near or in the Orange level, (Moderate), and Santa Cruz County is moving closer to that category.  In addition to the Public Health requirements, there are also the California Department of Education and state legislative requirements. One example is that employers need to provide COVID testing to 25% of their employees every two weeks, and 50% of the district staff once a month. We have been working on requiring insurance to cover the majority of those expenses and the County Superintendent has been working to secure timely and accurate testing for school employees. In addition to those parameters, we also have agreements that need to be finalized with our employee groups for returning to small group in-person instruction.

The schedules our teachers and administrative team have worked to put together meet the needs of students, parents, and staff while keeping our community safe.  As we have implemented our new year, we acknowledge the need to analyze what is working and prepare to make shifts where necessary if we are able.  To help us in this process, we are soliciting input from our parents and our teachers. On October 1st, you will receive a Parent Survey through our school messaging system.  Your feedback is very important to us and we ask that every parent participates in the survey in order for us to make informed decisions.  The survey will be open until October 9th.   

While our focus has been getting the school year started and working to make the necessary transitions at every grade level to move into small group or hybrid instruction, we continue to work on a multi-layered approach for our district to address cultural responsiveness and sensitivity on a variety of levels within the district. We have formed a district committee, researched age-appropriate supplementary curricular materials which we will purchase, and are investigating training opportunities for our leadership team and employees. We do have a plan and look forward to responding to this important topic.

The District is proud to be offering a series of Parent Trainings. This past Wednesday, September 26, our own SVUSD counselors presented a workshop on Mental Health, Anxiety, and Depression.  We had a great turnout!  Please see the Distance Instruction Resource page of our website for resources and additional upcoming training sessions.

As you are aware, all of our schools have held successful, online Back To School Nights.  Engagement and attendance for these events were high!

A few site highlights:

At Brook Knoll and Vine Hill, materials have been handed out, and students have the technology and the resources needed to fully participate in Remote Instruction with online enrichment courses, such as lessons from the Life Labs, Code Naturally, Music, and Art. The PBIS teams are working on creating a strong virtual community with expectations and creative, positive rewards. 

Teachers at SVMS are providing games and activities for students in Instructional Support to reinforce learning.  The school counselor, Abbie Stevens, is offering Lunch Bunch for students and is creating a google classroom for each grade level to share pertinent information. The band is in full swing, and students have picked up instruments and have been participating in virtual music activities!

The Student Government at SVHS is actively creating a weekly Falcon News video with announcements. Their Welcome Back Rally featured a socially distanced teacher competition and it looks like they will have 22 active clubs. Respect Week will be held Monday, September 28th through Friday, October 2nd and will include a Virtual Community Service Fair.

As always, thank you for your patience and your tenacity as we work together to ensure that we provide a quality education to all students.

Best regards,

Tanya Krause, Superintendent