The first few weeks of school are dedicated to establishing positive school cultures and safe and nurturing learning spaces. Students of all ages are at their best when they feel safe, loved, and connected to the adults responsible for their care. Early in the school year, teachers and schools focus on articulating procedures and routines as well as expectations for performance and behavior. For younger children there's a lot of practice too. Especially for TK or K students attending school for the first time.

You may hear your children talking about Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health by building social emotional competence to support school and life success. PBIS also improves teacher health and wellbeing. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable and safe learning environments where everyone thrives.

Thank you for talking to your children about your behavioral and performance expectations for them. Also, talk to your children about how school is going for them. Keep the lines of communication open with your teachers and principals too if you suspect your child's experience is not going well. Your child's school experience is important to us. The more we focus on early intervention, the more likely we are to help all children succeed and have a positive school experience. Please communicate with your school at the first sign of a problem.

The number of teachers and other staff members assigned to each school is based on the number of students enrolled in the school. Prior to the start of the school year, enrollment numbers are based on projections. This week begins the process of aligning the number of employees with the number of students. In most cases, there are few, if any changes. In the event there are significantly fewer students or significantly more students than we planned for, principals decrease their staff or increase their staff accordingly, which may result in students experiencing a schedule change. Principals will communicate that change directly to families.

Attendance has steadily decreased everyday since school started, due primarily to COVID positive tests or symptoms related to COVID. We had 251 students and 28 staff members test positive for COVID this past week. During the first two days on school, 104 students and 5 staff members tested positive. This past Friday, 8% of our students were absent. Thank you parents for monitoring your children for symptoms. With the intense heat during the school day driving students and staff indoors there will be an increase in exposure. Consider masking when indoors to reduce exposure. Masking is optional but encouraged by local public health officials. We have masks available for any student who wants one.

It was wonderful to see so many families attending our elementary Back to School Night events. We had an excellent turnout, especially considering the heat and the highly transmissible strain of COVID that has many people avoiding indoor gatherings. Most elementary schools held their event this past Thursday. I enjoyed meeting and welcoming many moms and dads who arranged their work day so that they could be available to meet their children's teachers.

Middle School Back to School events are this coming Tuesday, August 16 at the following times:

Arizona from 5-6 pm

Loma Vista from 5-6 pm

Villegas from 5-6 pm
Wells from 5-6 pm

High School Back to School events are on Thursday, August 25 at the following times:

Alvord ACHS from 5-6 pm

Alvord High School from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Hillcrest from 5-6 pm: Meet and Greet. 6-7 pm: Classroom Visits

La Sierra from 5-6 pm: Meet and Greet. 6-7 pm: Classroom Visits

Norte Vista from 5-6 pm: Meet and Greet. 6-7 pm: Classroom Visits

Students need to be exposed to fresh air and exercise. Physical education and recess help students build social skills, as well as dexterity and strength as they engage in outdoor play. Children develop curiosity as they explore the world around them. COVID has made outdoor learning and spending more time outside even more popular and more common in schools. We will continue to utilize the great outdoors for learning, but not while it's dangerously hot. This coming week, we will again experience temperatures of 100 degrees.

School officials determine if outdoor activities can be conducted based on the temperature, humidity, heat Index, age of students, length of time outside, and whether or not there are shaded areas. When students are allowed to play outside because the conditions are warm, but acceptable, such as in the morning, schools provide frequent water breaks, actively monitor students for signs of overheating, and closely monitor students with medical conditions including asthma or other conditions that place them at higher risks for heat related issues. When the heat of the day becomes intolerable and unsafe, physical education classes and other activities move inside.

Regarding athletics, all high school coaches are trained to plan practices, conditioning, and other activities that prevent heat illness, per Assembly Bill 2800, the California High School Coaching Education and Training Program.

Your children might tell you about an i-Ready assessment they have taken or plan to take. The i-Ready reading and mathematics diagnostic tool is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your student’s needs. Each item a student sees is individualized based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier questions. The purpose of this is not to give your student a score or grade, but instead to determine how best to support your student’s learning and personalize instruction to meet his or her needs.

I-Ready is among the assessment tools that are considered "formative" because they provide teachers and intervention specialists learning feedback in the moment. Teachers use the results to adjust instruction to keep students on track. All of our schools have academic intervention teams and our elementary schools have literacy and mathematics specialists to support students by providing one-on-one and small group instruction.

The Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) measures verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities important for academic performance. We will be offering the PSAT for ALL 11th graders who choose to take the college entrance exam, at no cost. Talk to your counselor for details and how to register.

Test dates:

Primary test day: Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Saturday test day: October 15, 2022

Alternate test day: Tuesday, October 25, 2022

SSD deadline (register for accessibility supports) : August 23, 2022

Six reasons to take the PSAT:

1. Become familiar with the test questions and format of the SAT
2. It's a dress rehearsal for the SAT which will reduce anxiety when you take the SAT
3. PSAT results guide your SAT test preparation plan
4. Colleges will not see PSAT scores
5. Your PSAT score might qualify you for a National Merit Scholarship
6. Colleges may try to recruit you if you opt to have limited personal information shared with colleges and scholarship providers when you register to take the PSAT.

While the SAT and ACT currently are not considered in the admission process at UC and CSU schools, there is a section on the application where students can submit SAT and/or ACT scores. Much like an AP or IB test score, SAT and/or ACT scores can be used as an alternative method of fulfilling minimum requirements for eligibility or for course placement. Other colleges in California or in other states may still require SAT or ACT scores as part of the admission process.

All students can eat breakfast and lunch free at all of our schools. Students need their student ID number in order to receive their free meal(s). It is helpful if students memorize them and/or have them handy to reduce the wait time for all students.

On behalf of the Board of Education, thank you for your partnership and your trust in us. It's a privilege to serve our students and their families and we look forward to working together in the interest of our students.

We all know that there will be challenges and situations that will occur over the course of the school year. But if we approach each challenge and every situation with a problem-solving mindset as partners, we can overcome most anything and ultimately help everyone, primarily our students, grow from the experience.

In partnership,

Allan Mucerino

Students Reporting a Positive Case: 251 (Last week 104)
Staff Reporting a Positive Case: 28 (Last week 5)
Cases Requiring Contact Tracing: 214 (Last week 25)

Riverside County Data COVID-19 Community Level
Level: Medium (last week Medium)

Weekly Metrics Used to Determine the COVID-19 Community Level

Case Rate per 100,000 population: 230.6 (Last Week 288.15)

New COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population: 6.5 (Last Week 8.4)

% Staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19: 6.2% (Last Week 6.7%)

Recommended actions based on current level

Wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation. Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines. Get tested if you have symptoms. If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider taking additional precautions. More details on the CDC web site here.