Happy New Year 2024!

I hope you all had a wonderful winter break, with the opportunity to rest and revive, as well as to connect with friends and loved ones.

At MDUSD, our board held our re-organizational meeting in December, where Erin Mc Ferrin was elected as Board President and Linda Mayo as Vice President for 2024. 

We also approved a Tentative Agreement with the MDEA Teachers' Union that will provide a 9% salary increase effective July 1, 2024 and 100% health benefits coverage at Kaiser rates starting Jan. 1, 2024. (Due to "me too" clauses in other union agreements, these raises and benefit increases will also be effective for other union and association employees.)  Thank you to MDEA and to our district negotiating team for working so diligently to make this possible.

Thank you to everyone who donated to HOPE for the holidays! Ms. Rosie Reid and the HOPE team did an incredible job hosting the largest holiday fair we’ve had for homeless & foster youth, collaborating with local community organizations who provided free food, toys, coats, school supplies, shoes, haircuts, and even a bilingual Santa.

And a beautiful Kwanzaa celebration was organized by the Mt Diablo African American Parent Advisory Council in Bay Point. It was a wonderful way to focus and reflect on family & community this winter.

Next school board meeting is Wednesday January 17th. Details at mdusd.org/about/board-meeting-information

Submit Teacher of the Year nominations through Jan. 16. 

Who are your favorite teachers?  Here’s your chance to recognize them.

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District is now accepting nominations for 2024-25 District Teachers of the Year, who will go on to compete for Contra Costa County Teacher of the Year (TOY) 2024-2025.

District staff members, parents/guardians, students and community members are encouraged to nominate classroom teachers who have demonstrated a passion for teaching, an ability to differentiate instruction to meet students' needs, and teachers who connect with and support their school community. 

The deadline to submit a Teacher of the Year Nomination Form is Tuesday, January 16, 2024. Click here for the form in English and here for the Spanish form.

New, free Youth Mental Health & Behavioral Apps from CalHOPE.org: 

I’m excited to share this groundbreaking new state program providing free, safe, and confidential mental health support for young people and families across the state with two easy-to-use mobile apps:

1. Brightlife - Behavioral health coaching for parents, caregivers, and kids 0–12
2. Soluna - free, safe, confidential mental health support for 13-25 year olds

Brightlife

https://www.hellobrightline.com/brightlifekids/

Get support with the tough stuff and help your child thrive. No costs attached. No insurance required. No referrals needed.

Sign Up for Free

California cares. That's why California is paying for 100% of the care your family gets through BrightLife Kids. Real coaches. Real simple. Really free — for all California families.

En Espanol

https://www.hellobrightline.com/es-US/brightlifekids/

Obtén apoyo para lo difícil y ayuda a tus hijos a prosperar. Coaching de salud conductual para padres, tutores y niños de 0 a 12 años. Sin costos asociados. No se requiere seguro. No se necesitan referencias.

A California le importa. Por eso California paga el 100 % de la atención que tu familia recibe a través de BrightLife Kids. Coaches reales. Muy sencillo. De verdad es gratuito para todas las familias de California.

In many languages!

Includes coaches who are bilingual (English/Spanish) and live translation services that cover 17 other languages* for parents/caregivers who need it. 

*Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, Russian, Farsi, Japanese, Arabic, Cambodian, Hindi, Hmong, Thai, Laotian, Punjabi, Mien, and Ukrainian

Soluna

Confidential support for 13- to 25-year-olds in California. No cost. No pressure. Chat 1:1 with a professional coach, use interactive tools to destress, or explore quizzes, videos, forums, and more.

I'm excited to introduce you to Soluna: a new, innovative, and completely free mobile app that offers confidential mental health support for your child, wherever they are in their journey. 

Research shows a stark increase in mental health issues in young people due to pressures around academic stress, social media, and tech usage. As digital natives, your child and their generation face complex challenges and stressors unlike any before them. And they often struggle in silence. That's why having a safe, private, digital mental health resource for young people is so critical. And Soluna is here to help. 

Why Soluna? Based on over two decades of clinical research, Soluna is leading the way in digital mental health for young people with a commitment to inclusivity and equity. And it all starts with our robust, diverse suite of resources designed to support a variety of needs and interests for young people ages 13 to 25. 

A universe of tools at your fingertips 

Here’s a quick look at the resources we offer to ensure your child can find the support that's right for them: 

🛠 Interactive tools: Our Thought Shaker, Mood Log, Starboard, and more will help users destress, find calm, and reset. 

🤝 Soluna coaches: Users can chat via text with a professional for personalized, 1:1 guidance. 

🔮 Unique content: To learn more about their mental health, users can explore quizzes, text chats, swipeable activities, and more. 

📕 Digital journal: For venting their feelings, jotting down ideas, or drafting big dreams, we provide users with a safe and private Free Write space

A few quick things I want to share before you take off and enjoy your Thanksgiving vacation:

• TONIGHT Nov. 14: Strategic Arts Plan Presentation to PAC at 5:30pm at Willow Creek Center 
• Nov. 15: Fentanyl "Save a Life" Event at 6 p.m. (5:30 p.m. check-in) at Northgate HS (registration is required)
• #GivingTuesday - Join MDEDF to raise $12,000 for garden science programs
• Volunteer in school gardens this Saturday!

TONIGHT - Strategic Arts Plan to be presented to PAC - Parent Advisory Committee

I’m so excited about this plan to provide comprehensive visual and performing arts at all levels to students in Mt Diablo!  After making painful cuts these past few years, we are finally in a place to grow and sustain these excellent opportunities at every school. 

Come meet our new VAPA specialist, Kellie Hoover, and ask her your questions in person about how you can help strengthen arts offerings at your school site.

5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14th at Willow Creek Center, 1026 Mohr Lane in Concord.

The agenda includes: District Updates from MDUSD Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark and a discussion of MDUSD's Visual & Performing Arts Plan led by Curriculum Specialist, Kellie Hoover. Details are here.

Fentanyl Awareness: Tools to Save a Life, Wednesday Nov. 15th

This is something I can't recommend enough to parents and students. I thought I knew all about fentanyl, but it didn't really hit home for me until I heard directly from local families who had lost or nearly lost children to the dangers of fentanyl. They are now courageously speaking out to teach us all how to be ready to save a life at any moment. It can truly happen to anyone.

MDUSD's next free Fentanyl Awareness: Facts and Tools to Save a Life event is at 6 p.m. Wednesday, November 15th at Northgate High School. (Check-in is at 5:30 p.m.)

They will share the latest information and data about the dangers of fentanyl and train families and students how to recognize an opioid overdose and administer Narcan/Naloxone to try to save a life. It includes presentations by Assemblyman Tim Grayson, health professionals, parent voices and a student panel.

Please check your ParentSquare posts for a link to register. Registration is required to receive the free Narcan/Naloxone.

#GivingTuesday - Join MDEDF to raise $12,000 for garden science programs  

This is a fabulous opportunity to pitch in together to make a big difference. Your donation will help school gardens in every part of Mt Diablo, including exciting projects like the Rio Vista Food Forest, which is being installed in Bay Point where fresh produce is hard to come by (described as a "food desert"). This will be transformational for the whole community!

Click below to hear from Rio Vista Elementary Principal Janis Heden, parents Gabby & Juan, and parent/business sponsor Juan Carlos Sanchez:

Can you help unlock their dollar-for-dollar match today?

Donate in the Facebook Giving Tuesday fundraiser here or directly at mdedf.org/donate.

Spread the word! Please follow and share the Foundation Giving Tuesday social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.

High School Students: Are you looking for volunteer service hours? 

Apply here to the Foundation Student Engagement Committee by Nov 15th.

Volunteer in school gardens this Saturday, Nov 18th

growinghealthykidsbayarea.org/volunteer

• Fair Oaks Elementary in Pleasant Hill
• Mt Diablo Elementary in Clayton 
• Silverwood Elementary in Concord

I'm so excited that tomorrow night, Monday Oct 30th at 5pm, is our School Board study session on our districtwide Visual and Performing Arts Strategic Plan! 

Read the plan and presentation here. You can join us in person or submit comments via email: details here.

I first found out about Create CA's resources for strategic arts planning back when I was newly elected to the board in 2019. I was excited to see how they facilitate a process to include not only teachers and staff within the district from various grade levels and types of art, but how they also include community partners to bring a rich array of professional artists and funding to our under-resourced schools.

Fiscal challenges and COVID delayed our ability to begin, but thanks to voter support of Prop 28, all CA school districts will now see an influx of ongoing funding for the arts!

That is what will truly help us make our vision of quality arts for all into a reality. For MDUSD, Prop. 28 funds are estimated at $4,397,853 annually, beginning in February 2024. This is a huge opportunity to make structural changes that dismantle inequity and enrich all students. And every school site council will be a key part of their school arts plan.

Please come or watch the meeting tomorrow night online, and reach out to me anytime. 

This week for me was so enriched by MDUSD music, including Battle of the Bands and the Northgate Jazz concert. 

Mr. Lejano is such a joyful force of nature! He is the Concord High Band Director and visionary of this event, hosted by Concord High that invites and includes bands from our area. They even combined a few bands to ensure students could participate from smaller programs. Each band cheers on the others, there’s a drum circle midway through that even the audience can join, and it culminates with a joint rendition of the song Born this Way that I cannot watch without a few tears.  This is a shining example of how music is so powerful for social emotional learning and belonging.  

Watching our various bands play always makes me so proud of our district teachers and students, and yet mindful of the opportunities that are not as plentiful at some schools in our district.  That’s why I’m so hopeful about our work on the Strategic Districtwide VAPA plan, which is something I started advocating for back before I was elected to the school board. We have a unique opportunity with Prop 28 funds to create new, more equitable structures of the arts in our schools. There were exciting big ideas at the spring & summer District VAPA planning meetings, and I look forward to this topic coming to our board very soon.

Funding for Gun Violence Prevention

Big news! This week Governor Newsom signed AB28: The Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act!

Thank you to all who advocated for this, especially Moms Demand Action local parent volunteers: Alex Navarro, Shannon Reif, Lisa Dell’anno, Nichole Hsu, Diana Honig, and Michelle Sinnott.

This historic legislation provides urgently needed, reliable, annual funding for vital programs including $75 million to the California Violence Intervention & Prevention (CalVIP) grant program and $50 million to Dept of Ed to fund school mental health, behavioral services, and school safety measures.

County Teacher of the Year

Congratulations to the Contra Costa County Teachers of the Year: Mr Alvarico and Ms Gonzalez-Ortega, as well as to MDUSD Finalist Danya Townsend, and all who were recognized at that inspirational evening.