Community Update
April 12, 2022
Vista Arts Under the Stars
Our incredibly talented students from kindergarten through high school have been practicing all year in fine arts, music, dance, and drama. They recently showcased their talent at the Festival of the Arts in March. This event was hugely successful, with more than 30 performances and over one thousand visitors. We have planned a second demonstration of their learning and talent development for this Tuesday and Wednesday, April 12th and 13th.
The Visual Arts Under the Stars Show will open Tuesday, April 12th, from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm in the Vista Civic Center Gallery, and will run through mid-May.
The Arts Under the Stars at the Moonlight Amphitheater will take place Wednesday evening, April 13th. Gates will open at 5:00 pm. The show will start at 6:00 pm and will feature performances from elementary, middle, and high school musicians, bands, choirs, and theater departments from various schools in the district. The event is free and open to the public. Please come to support our students as they showcase their talents.
Check This Out: Parent’s Guide To Arts Education In California Public Schools
Celebrating our Amazing Teachers and Staff
Congratulations to our March STARS of Excellence and Innovation. Their willingness to go above and beyond every day has not gone unnoticed, and we are proud to acknowledge all of their talents.
Early Education Fair
Our 6th Annual Early Childhood Education Fair will be held on Saturday, May 7th from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at VIDA, and everyone is invited to attend. This is a wonderful community-wide event that will bring in 2,000 students, families, staff, and community partners. Students and parents will not only have the opportunity to learn more about our schools and the programs that we offer but also be connected to resources from our community partners. Please see the flyers for additional information.
Keeping Our Campuses Safe
Vista Unified continues its efforts to provide safe campus environments for its students and staff. The annual Comprehensive School Safety Plans (CSSP) were presented at the March school board meeting. CSSPs help schools develop protocols for safety situations and responses. Starting in January, every middle and high school sent a team to the San Diego County Office of Education Diamond Safety Team Training. Over six sessions, participants will receive instruction on Positive School Cultures, Stop the Bleed, Threat Assessments, and Effective Campus Security. Site teams included an administrator, counselor, social worker, and campus security advisor. In April, safety training for elementary school leaders will take place and will focus on Secure Campus, Lockdown, and Run-Hide-Fight. A key outcome of these sessions will be for our elementary students to participate in pre-planned intruder drills during recess or lunch. Finally, we are excited to share that with LCAP funds, emergency classroom buckets and first aid kits are being ordered for every classroom across our Vista Unified campuses and will be delivered to schools over the summer.
Strategic Planning Update
Our third and final Guiding Coalition Event took place on Friday, April 8th and Saturday, April 9th. During these two days, Guiding Coalition members came together to analyze data from our Community Engagement Series and, using feedback from community stakeholders, created final draft versions of our Graduate, Adult, and System Portraits. These portraits will guide the direction of our work as a district for the next five to seven years.
We would love your participation at our upcoming Community Installation Event on May 7th. At this event, you will be able to view all of the work the Guiding Coalition and Strategic Planning Team have undertaken this year and provide your feedback on the final draft versions of the Vista Unified Graduate, Adult, and System Portraits. Community feedback has been an essential component of our work in developing these portraits, and we want to provide a final opportunity for you to share your thoughts before these portraits are presented to the School Board. Please see our Community Installation flyer in English and Spanish, and we look forward to seeing you there!
Summer Learning Programs Are Taking Shape
Elementary Summer School - Splash into Summer - Elementary summer school is being offered from June 13th to July 1st this year. Our theme is “Splash into Summer: The Wonders of Water.” Five district elementary schools (Bobier, Breeze Hill, Mission Meadows, Monte Vista, and Vista Academy) will host students from all elementary sites. Student invitations will be sent the first week of May. Students will have many learning experiences with community partners including the Vista Irrigation District, San Diego County Office of Education, “Splash Lab,” and Vista Soccer Club. Additionally, incoming kindergarten students will have the opportunity to attend “Jumpstart” in either July or August at their schools. Jumpstart will give these students an introduction to the kindergarten expectations and routines and assist these students with transitioning from home to school. A parent orientation will also be provided so families can meet the teachers and ask questions before the first day of school.
Secondary Summer School Opportunities - We have a variety of opportunities during the summer months for our secondary students in order to create a robust, comprehensive, and multi-tiered system of support. These fall into three main categories - remediation, bridge, and enrichment.
Remediation - We have a comprehensive program for high school students to remediate failing grades in order to be on track for graduation and to meet A-G requirements.
Graduating seniors will have the opportunity to attend up to two three-week sessions in order to complete their senior year and receive a diploma during the summer. This is a program that we offer every year for all of our seniors, but we have increased this due to the pandemic, with an additional three week session, allowing seniors to make up even more credits in order to graduate.
Current 9th, 10th, and 11th graders will also have the opportunity to remediate failing grades through a district-wide summer school program. We will offer two three-week semesters of courses in the summer months, allowing high school students to remediate credits before the next school year.
Bridge - Middle and high schools will be offering bridge options for invited students to provide targeted learning opportunities that will prepare students academically for the upcoming school year. Principals will be sharing schedules and details with parents as each site finalizes their dates, times, and programs; but districtwide, bridge opportunities include programs for incoming 6th and 9th graders, English Language Learners, special education students, and at-risk students.
Enrichment - Middle and high schools will also offer enrichment opportunities in a variety of disciplines. Just as with the bridge programs, each site will finalize their dates, times, and programs and communicate information to students and families. Sample programs include AVID, sports and athletics, visual and performing arts, lab sciences, career pathways, computer science, STEM, and design labs.
Vista Students and Staff Support Ukraine Students
Schools across Vista Unified have expressed an increasing desire to support the families who have been directly impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. Accordingly, we have organized a districtwide fundraiser, led by a group of passionate Mission Vista High School students and staff members to make this happen. All proceeds will be donated to Save the Children, a highly reputable charity organization whose mission is to provide physical aid (food, medical, hygiene, etc.) and psychological aid to Ukrainian families with young children who have been directly impacted by the conflict. Please consider donating any dollar amount by clicking here or scan the QR code on this flyer.
Parent Volunteers Are Welcomed Back into Classrooms
We are excited to announce that all parent volunteers are welcomed back into classrooms starting this week. The COVID-19 positive levels have been low for a number of weeks, so it is time to lift some of our safety protocols. Mask wearing for our volunteers is no longer required. However, volunteers are still required to provide vaccination status or the negative result from a COVID-19 test. Strategy 1 of our Blueprint for Educational Excellence and Innovation identifies parents as our number one partner in education. We are grateful for the support and encouragement that parent volunteers provide to all 29 schools in Vista Unified.
Health and Safety Update
As our lives begin to reflect notes of normalcy again, we continue to see lower COVID-19 cases throughout our schools. During the month of March, only 51 cases were reported across our 29 campuses. On August 6th, a new COVID-19 Decision Tree was released. Starting this week, students exposed in any setting will be allowed to remain in school unless they develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19. This includes when a student is exposed to a COVID-19 positive household member. Please reference the COVID-19 Decision Trees for K-12 Schools for more information.
Thank You Live Well San Diego
After a two year partnership with Live Well San Diego, the Linda Rhoades Center provided its last COVID-19 test and vaccination on March 26th. Hundreds of community members took advantage of these services. The citizens of Vista will be forever grateful to the County of San Diego and its commitment to “Get Vista Vaccinated.” Vista Unified will continue to offer COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, and boosters to our community and is happy to announce that the clinic located at the Vista Innovation Center is now also open on Saturdays from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. Please reference the flyers for locations and times.
Sincerely,
Matt Doyle, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Vista Unified School District
Vista Unified School District
Email: webmaster@vistausd.org
Website: vistausd.org
Location: 1234 Arcadia Avenue, Vista, CA, USA
Phone: (760) 726-2170
Twitter: @VistaBlueprint