I hope you all had plenty of time out in nature and off screens, to rest and revive. Ramadan Mubarak to those who celebrate!  I was amazed to learn that today is also Vaisakhi, Navratra, Ugadi, Khalsa Sirjana Divas and Hindu New Year. Understanding each other's traditions and values is so important to building inclusive communities. 

I invited Maha Elgenaidi, founder of Ing.org, to speak at tomorrow’s school board meeting during item 9.3 Resolution in Recognition of Arab American Heritage Month. Ing’s mission is educating for cultural literacy and mutual respect.

Here is a useful brief guide for educators about Ramadan:

Read on for:

1. School Board meeting Wednesday April 14th
2. Superintendent’s Friday letter 
3. Mental Health Webinars
4. Common Cents 
5. Drawing on Earth’s Global Challenge

Next School Board Meeting Wednesday April 14th

Find the agenda here, along with information about how to watch the live broadcast as well as how to submit public comments.  Key items on the agenda include:

• Resolution “A Call to Action on Climate Change in Recognition of Earth Day” - we will hear an update on MDUSD’s partnership with GreenSchoolYards.org to create outdoor classrooms
• Resolution “In Recognition of Arab American Heritage Month” - we will hear about resources from ing.org that were featured in the state CA Dept of Education presentation “Understanding and Countering Islamophobia”   **This is the first time MDUSD has proposed this resolution**
• Update on Mt Diablo CARES Expanded Learning program
• Update and Discussion on ReOpening Schools 
  • (tip: search #MDUSDisBack to see photos from campuses across the district)

Superintendent's Friday letter

Click here to read Dr Clark’s March 19th letter, full of information including: 

• Congratulations MDUSD student winners of Contra Costa County Science and Engineering Fair: Angello Ledesma, Elyse Contreras, Andrea Rosmarin, Jonathan Yu, John Lins, and Erin Weber!
• Organizational Update including kindergarten registration for fall at mdusd.org/enrollnow and the opportunity to apply for the new  YVHS CCAP STEM program 

Mental Health Webinars

Don’t miss these important Mental Health webinars created by MDUSD Counselors in English or Spanish. Coming up Tuesday April 20 at 5pm is “Anxiety and Depression” - Register here.  You can also watch all past webinars such as “Recognizing When To Get Help Beyond The Home” or register for future topics at https://mdusd.org/mental-health

Common Cents

Did you know that MDUSD has a new column with answers to frequently asked questions? It is about sharing the accurate data associated with all things fiscal, budgets, data, and more!  Visit https://mdusd.org/bscc 

The March 31st post included:

• What is the cost of a special election for a recall?
• Why is there a deficit? 
• Where do the funds come from for our district? 
• Does district staff engage with legislators to try to get more funding? 

Drawing on Earth’s Global Creative Challenge

Join Mark Wagner this Earth Day in his Global Creative Challenge.  Mark is the amazing artist who led The Largest Illustrated Story chalk drawing project for Mt. Diablo Unified School District at nearly all of our elementary school sites!  

(This flyer features the Wren Avenue Elementary School of the Arts chalk project)

Join him online or in person for his next Guinness World Record attempt! #STEAMforStudents

What a beautiful day to welcome students to our Mt. Diablo Unified School District campuses. 

I enjoyed this morning as a volunteer with Ygnacio Valley High School PTSA, handing out treats to staff and posting welcome back signs for students.  Thank you to all our Mt. Diablo Unified School District teachers and staff for your hard work to make this all possible! #MDUSDisBack

  

Read on for:

• COVID vaccine appointments

• MDUSDisBack photos

• Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta Days, Larry Itliong

Our school principals are working closely with the health dept to expand vaccine outreach in Bay Point and Monument with Spanish speaking ambassadors.  Plus, great news on vaccines...

Contra Costa Residents 50+ Encouraged to Request Vaccine Appointment Now - Thousands of Appointment Slots Available

People who are currently eligible are strongly encouraged to beat the rush by requesting appointments as soon as possible, using the online request form at cchealth.org/coronavirus or calling 1-833-VAX-COCO (1-833-829-2626). People currently eligible for appointments in Contra Costa include: 

• Anyone who is 50 or older and lives or works in the county

• Anyone who is 16 or older and has a high-risk health condition, disability or illness and lives or works in the county 

• Essential workers who live or work in Contra Costa, including healthcare personnel, emergency services workers, education and childcare workers, agriculture and food workers, transportation and logistics workers, and anyone who lives or works in a congregate living space in the county

CCHS expects this week to expand eligibility to:

• Anyone who lives or works in the county and is 16 or older

Invitamos a los Residentes de Contra Costa de 50 Años de Edad y Mayores a que Soliciten la Vacuna Hoy Mismo - Miles de espacios para citas disponibles

De ser posible, pedimos que las personas programen sus citas utilizando el formulario de solicitud en línea en vez de llamar por teléfono, ya que esto les ahorrará tiempo. La página de Ayude a su Vecino incluye consejos que le servirán para ayudar a un amigo o un ser querido a programar una cita en caso de que se le dificulte utilizar el Internet o un teléfono inteligente.

Las personas actualmente elegibles para programar una cita de vacunación en Contra Costa incluyen:

• Cualquier persona de 50 años de edad o mayor que viva o trabaje en el condado

• Cualquier persona de 16 años de edad o mayor que tenga una condición de salud, discapacidad o enfermedad de alto riesgo y que viva o trabaje en el condado

• Los trabajadores esenciales que vivan o trabajen en Contra Costa, incluyendo al personal de salud, los trabajadores de los servicios de emergencia, los trabajadores de la educación y del cuidado infantil, los trabajadores del sector agrícola y de alimentos, los trabajadores de transporte y logística y cualquier persona que viva o trabaje en una instalación de vivienda congregada del condado

MDUSD is Back

It was a joy for me to see smiling faces last week at our elementary schools, including Ygnacio Valley Elementary, Meadow Homes, and Walnut Acres! 

    

Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta Days, Larry Itliong

Don't forget that our school district has this Friday April 2nd off in honor of Cesar Chavez Day. Here is a Learning for Justice resource on Cesar Chavez for educators and families.  

California also has designated April 10th as Dolores Huerta Day. Chavez and Huerta together launched the National Farm Workers Association, though some history recognizes primarily Chavez. Both have compelling stories as effective community organizers, and Dolores Huerta is still alive and organizing today. Here is the Dolores Huerta curriculum toolkit all about civic engagement and her signature rallying cry "Si Se Puede".  You can learn about this curriculum on April 1st, 6:30pm with "Teaching the Life of Activist Dolores Huerta." Register at: http://bit.ly/TeachingDoloresHuerta

Organizing is always most effective in coalition, even though our American stories often feature one person instead. In fact, Larry Itliong was the person who started the Delano Grape Strike with more than 2,000 Filipino farmworkers, that Huerta and Chavez later joined.  Their organizations later merged to become what we now know as United Farm Workers (UFW).  Be sure to read his story here to learn the full, true history of their journey together for justice. 

I hope you all enjoy a safe and relaxing spring break April 5-9th!

As my family cooks corned beef & cabbage for St Patrick's Day today, I wish you all and your families much luck and good health.  

Here are two important items I wanted to be sure to share with you before I go offline:

• Next steps for in-person student opportunities at MDUSD Schools
• Board President Statement in Solidarity with Asian Americans

Next steps for In-Person Student Opportunities at MDUSD Schools

Last night we held a special board meeting about the ReOpening of Schools Timeline.

The majority of us chose to attend the meeting in person in the board room, which has been rearranged with COVID spacing and precautions.  The public for now needs to still access our meetings online, but eventually I'm hopeful that we'll end up with a combination of in-person and online access for all.   It was wonderful to be back in the board room again!

With fresh news of a tentative agreement between MDEA and MDUSD on a hybrid MOU that had been agreed upon at 5am Tuesday morning, our board unanimously voted in favor of the timeline as described in the MOU (pending approval):

The agenda, with tentative agreements attached, will be posted at mdusd.org/boardmeetings at least 24 hours in advance of the special meeting.

I am so thankful to all who spent countless hours ensuring agreement on the safety and logistics of hybrid learning, and I look forward to seeing the smiling faces of students on our campuses very soon!

Board President Statement in Solidarity with Asian Americans

My heart goes out to our AAPI students, staff, administration and community in the midst of unconscionable hate and violence.  We posted this message today on the district website.

A special thank you to the over 70 caring MDUSD teachers, staff and community members who signed a letter to share this information and resources that are so important at this time.

Dear Mt. Diablo Unified School District Staff and Community,

     The dramatic increase in the violent and disturbing crimes and incidents toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities during this pandemic, and especially toward the elderly, is disheartening and deserves acknowledgement and denouncement. These events are antithetical to our organization’s beliefs and cultural aspirations, and they serve as a reminder that progress in these areas requires tremendous diligence, especially from educators, who bear a great responsibility to lift up our next generations ever higher. 

     Our MDUSD students and staff deserve to learn and work in a community and world that is free of racism, discrimination, and violence. Everybody deserves to feel safe in their neighborhoods and communities. 

     It is clear that the AAPI community has been experiencing discrimination and violence motivated by racism. The recent attacks on Vicha Ratanapakdee, Noel Quintana, Yik Oi Huang, Grandmother Duong from San Jose,  Mauricio Gesmundo, just to name a few, are both horrifying and sickening. The shootings in Atlanta just this morning, wherein six AAPIs were murdered, has stirred speculation about racist motivations. Truly, these events impact all of us in our communities, and we condemn all forms of racism and scapegoating of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Bay Area and beyond. 

     Education is inseparable from the ideals of justice, equity, and inclusion. We believe equity is a student, staff and community right, and every student is provided with what they individually require to learn and succeed to fulfill their academic and social education. We stand firm on ensuring equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist policies and practices. We are committed to holding each other responsible for respectful conduct and treatment of one another.

     We stand together with our AAPI students, staff, administration and community. We support restorative justice models that break the cycle of violence, Ethnic Studies to teach people about racial solidarity, community mediation efforts to not only hold people accountable, but to work together to resolve issues. 

     Here’s how you can help: 

• Save the MDUSD Campus Safety Hotline contact: (925) 709-4847. This hotline is available for students and parents/guardians to leave a confidential, taped message about anything occurring at school that is causing students to feel unsafe—this includes virtual classroom environments.
• For educators: visit this Learning for Justice response resource.
• For families: Use this resource guide to help you discuss current events with your family. Here is another parent guide to help Prevent and also Respond to Prejudice.
• Report incidents, read through reports, and news releases at stopaapihate.org  
• Oakland Chinatown created this list of how to help support the AAPI communities, report hate crimes or get mental health or legal support.

     As MDUSD continues to do our part in diversity, equity and inclusion work as a community, we hold hope as people from different cultures and communities rise together to condemn hate. A community of belonging does not happen at the expense of the oppression of others. Let us continue to do this work together. 

At last night's Mt. Diablo Unified School District board meeting, we voted to set the target date of March 22nd for PreK, K, 1, 2, SDC, Bridge students to return to campus.

Understanding that we need safety and logistics for this agreed upon with employees, negotiation dates were added for March 11,12,13,14,15 to complete the hybrid MOU.

I called for a special Board meeting for Tuesday March 16th, where we plan to approve the MOU or take any necessary steps to move forward to ensure our students begin to be allowed on campus for the in person relationship building that they have been asking for and desperately needing.

We have 13,000 students who requested in person hybrid this spring from throughout the district.

That is why we advocated so strongly for education staff to get priority vaccinations, and we must now follow through.

While I understand the call from some to delay any students entry to campus until all staff are fully vaccinated, I'm also aware of how fast vaccine efficacy grows. See this chart: 7 days after dose 1 you are 68.5% covered. 14 days after dose 1, that is 92.6%. Waiting til 2 more weeks after dose 2 only moves that from 92.6% to 94.8%.

We are already successfully and safely providing in person testing and sports with safety protocols in place including masks, PPE, and spacing. (see photo of this week's ELPAC testing at Oak Grove Middle School)

Plus, let's all remember that our current plan to bring students onto campus is for only a few hours, and gradually starting with PreK-2. It is not a full hybrid, nor crowded hallways of kids passing from class to class.  Many principals, teachers and parents are creatively tapping into the free resources and ideas for learning outdoors at https://www.greenschoolyards.org/covid-learn-outside.

Let's be safe while also attending to the needs of our students, the biggest need of which right now is a chance for time off-screen with a real person who cares about them.

I truly believe we can and must, together & safely, take this gradual next step of providing a few hours a day for students in person as soon as possible.

#TogetherWeCan #MDUSDProud