ESD Superintendent Update

Greetings,

This month marks the end of the second trimester and the beginning of the last trimester of the school year. As we head into the final stretch of the school year, we want to thank our families for their partnership as we work together to support student success. Our mid-year i-Ready diagnostic assessment results indicate we are on track to meet our goal of improving student outcomes. We could only meet this goal with the engagement of our families and efforts to reinforce learning and literacy at home.

We have some great news to share with families of young children! Beginning with the 2023-24 school year, the Etiwanda School District will offer a full-day kindergarten program. While transitional kindergarten and our TK+CLOUDS preschool dual enrollment program will remain half-day programs, we look forward to the new opportunities of an extended instructional day for kindergarten students. More information to follow in this update.

We’d like to recognize and thank our African American Parent & Educator Advisory Committee (AAPEAC) representatives for their outstanding efforts to support their schools during Black History Month with engaging activities to celebrate and recognize African American excellence.

Please add these dates to your calendar!

• February 16 - end of Trimester II and report cards will be available to families via Aeries portal by February 27.

• February 17 and February 20 - School Holidays (four-day weekend)

• March 11 - Annual Battle of the Books Tournament

• March 27-31 - Spring Break

Together, let’s make the most of the opportunities ahead.

Charlayne Sprague

Superintendent

The 2022-23 version of the California School Dashboard was recently released. The Dashboard, the state's system of accountability, displays the performance of districts, schools, and student groups on a set of state and local measures based on 2021-22 performance data. The Dashboard reports that the Etiwanda School District earned a "high" status level in English Language Arts and Mathematics, placing it among the top 12% of the districts in the state. The District also earned a "high" status level for the English Learner Progress Indicator, placing it amongst the top 8% of districts in California. Additionally, the District scored "low" on suspension rates– well within the top 20% of districts. As with most (92%) districts in the state, Chronic Absenteeism represented an area for improvement for the District. Etiwanda received a status level of "high" as a result of the CDPH required periods of quarantine. For more information about the Etiwanda's performance on the Dashboard, please visit the state’s California School Dashboard website.

Video - Introduction to the California School Dashboard

The Etiwanda School District Board of Trustees is proud to announce the provisional appointment of April McAllaster to the Board of Trustees.

Mrs. McAllaster was selected from nine well-qualified community members who applied for the vacant position in Trustee Area 2. The District is fortunate to have many community members who strongly advocate for children, our District, and public education.

Mrs. McAllaster will take the oath of office at the Board meeting on Thursday, March 2, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. at the District Education Center at 6061 East Avenue in Etiwanda.

Mrs. McAllaster is a twenty-year resident of Rancho Cucamonga and a seventeen-year resident of Trustee Area 2. She is an active and engaged parent in our schools and community, having served on numerous district and local committees, including president of the Rancho Cucamonga Council of PTAs, elected officer on Windrows PTA, member of Etiwanda’s Citizen Oversight Committee (Measure I), previous School Site Council and district LCAP advisory representative, troop leader for Girl Scouts of America, city representative for Landscape Maintenance and Parks Oversight Committee, and advisory board member for University of La Verne College of Business and Public Management. Mrs. McAllaster’s three children have or are currently attending Etiwanda schools.

Mrs. McAllaster will serve the remainder of the vacant seat term (two years) for Trustee Area 2 until the next governing board election in November 2024. Please join me in welcoming April McAllaster to the Etiwanda leadership team.

Beginning with the 2023-24 school year, kindergarten students will attend school from 8:15 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. Our kindergarten teachers have been preparing for this shift to a full-day program since December and are ready to extend the instructional day. Students in kindergarten will follow the same bell schedule as first through fifth-grade students, eat lunch at school, and participate twice a week in PE with the elementary PE teachers.

Parents/guardians can start online pre-enrollment on March 22, 2023. Kindergarten enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year begins on April 5, 2023. To enroll in kindergarten for a start in August, children must turn 5 years of age on or before September 1. If your child turns age 5 between September 1 and April 2, your child is eligible for transitional kindergarten. Please visit our Enrollment FAQ webpage for information on kindergarten eligibility and enrollment.

If you have a child turning 5 between September 2 and April 1, your child is eligible for transitional kindergarten (TK) for the 2023-24 school year. Families can start the online pre-enrollment on March 22, 2023. TK enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year begins on April 5, 2023. The Etiwanda School District also offers CLOUDS, a preschool program for children who turn 3 by the first day of school. CLOUDS preschool is designed to be an inclusive setting comprised of special education preschool students and general education peers from the community.

Our TK+ CLOUDS preschool dual-enrollment program serves enrolled TK students who need additional support in developing academic and social skills. If you would like more information on our dual-enrollment program, please visit our TK+CLOUDS Program page.

In an effort to be proactive, the Board of Trustees took action to approve the district’s plan to respond to the opioid crisis affecting communities nationwide. To be prepared for an opioid overdose emergency, schools will stock Narcan nasal spray alongside our current emergency rescue measures (stock epi-pens and AEDs) to be administered by a trained staff member in the event of an opioid overdose. Narcan is a potentially life-saving medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose in minutes while having little to no effect on a person if opioids are not present in their system. It is designed to be easily administered during a suspected overdose.

While there have been no overdose incidents in Etiwanda, student safety remains our first priority. We encourage our staff and families to learn about the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and what an opioid pill may look like. What Every Parent Needs to Know about Fake Pills is a good resource for information. We also urge families to speak with their children about the dangers of opioid use and the dangers of taking pills not prescribed by a doctor.

Video - What is Naloxone (Narcan)

Attention Etiwanda families, staff, and high school students! If you are interested in serving your community as a volunteer, we can use you on Saturday, March 11, 2023! This year’s Battle of the Books event has the largest number of qualifying students in years, and it takes a small army of volunteers to run this Saturday event. Volunteers can help with set-up, tear-down, registration tables, student group escort, or score keep. Please sign up here if you are interested.

Please join us this month for a virtual seminar on ways to reduce the stress that impacts parenting. The virtual seminar will be hosted by our district CARES counseling team on February 22, 2023, at 5:30 p.m.. Please use the QR code to register.

Reserve this date! Speaker and author, Tyler Durman, will share with Etiwanda families insights from his book, Counterintuitive. What 4 Million Teenagers Wish We Knew. This presentation, scheduled for March 1 at 6:00 p.m. in the Summit Intermediate Gym, is geared to families of preteens and teens to provide advice for building a better relationship with your child while navigating those challenging years.

Programs and services that support families with children in our community.

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