Congratulations to these Mt Diablo schools, recognized for excellence by the state of CA!

• California Distinguished Schools awarded to Bancroft Elementary, Sequoia Elementary, and Walnut Acres Elementary

• California Model Continuation High School awarded to Prospect High

We are so proud and thankful for all that these school teachers, staff, leadership and families did to build excellent learning communities.

Town Hall Tuesday re Concerns about Racism & Bullying

One of my key priorities in running for school board has been “Welcoming, Safe, Inclusive schools for every Mt Diablo student,” and unfortunately like many schools across the U.S., ours have had incidents of hate, racism, and violence.  This is something we take very seriously.

Our board President Nzewi and superintendent Dr Clark have therefore now scheduled a Town Hall for this Tuesday night, February 21st, at 6:30pm at Pine Hollow Middle School, Multi-use Room at 5522 Pine Hollow Road in Concord. 

This is intended to be a safe place for families to speak up about these issues, and for our district leadership and board to listen. All are welcome.

Coming up

The next school board meeting is this Wednesday, February 22, 2023. We welcome your input via email or in person! See details at https://www.mdusd.org/boardmeetings

This meeting includes a review of a contract with Curriculum Associates to provide iReady math & reading assessments and lessons districtwide for 2023-24. You're welcome to share your experiences and opinions via email to [email protected] or comment during that item at the board meeting.

Feb 1st School Board Mtg Actions & Resources

Here are a few highlights from the February 1st school board meeting:

1. appointed Matthew Fielder as the District's Chief Accountant and Tiffany Jackson as the Vice Principal at Shore Acres Elementary School in Bay Point. 

2. reviewed reports on enrollment projections and the Governor's Proposed Budget for 2023-24

3. approved a Teamsters Side Letter adjusting Landscape Department job descriptions & salaries

4. In my board report I shared these important resources:

   • https://www.calhopeschools.org/ - this anxiety & mental health resource is provided free to families and schools: The CalHOPE Schools Initiative links 3 powerful resources together at one easy access point for CA educators: 

     1. A Trusted Space: Redirecting Grief to Growth, 

     2. Angst: Building Resilience, and 

     3. Stories of Hope: SHORTS.

   • https://besmartforkids.org/ - Secure firearm storage is an essential part of home safety. With more guns in more homes due to an unprecedented surge in gun sales over the past two years, it’s more important than ever for parents and caregivers to know how secure storage protects children. And in 2020, gun suicide among children ages 17 and under reached the highest rate in more than 20 years and firearms became the leading cause of death among children in the United States. Storing firearms securely can help prevent these tragedies and keep kids safe.

Nominate a Teacher, Parent or Staff for Awards of Excellence by Feb 28th

On Thursday May 11th, you and the entire Mt Diablo Unified School District community are invited to get together at Centre Concord to recognize, promote, and celebrate the excellence of MDUSD employees and community members!

Nominations are now open for the MDEA Awards of Excellence for that evening. All nominees will be listed in the event program.

You can be the one to make sure your school is represented there.  Please submit nominations here by February 28th for the following Awards:

Outstanding Achievement in Teaching

• Leadership & Courage

• Creative Curriculum

• Most Inspirational

• Community Involvement

• Lifetime Achievement

Awards for Staff Members, Supporters, and Community Members

• Outstanding Classified Employee

• Outstanding Administrator

• Outstanding Parent Volunteer 

• Outstanding Volunteer Organization 

• Outstanding Collaborating Team

• Social Justice - individual or small team acting to improve equity, racial justice, diversity, and inclusion in our MDUSD schools

Submit your nomination here, due by Tuesday, February 28th.

Save the date to attend and celebrate all nominees together at the MDEA Awards of Excellence on Thursday evening, May 11th at Centre Concord!

Happy new year! 2023 has started off well for our Mt Diablo school board, thanks to the hard work of staff and teachers as well as parents and community.  Trustee Nzewi is now our school board President, and Trustee McFerrin is Vice President. I’m thankful to President Nzewi for opening our first board meeting with a thoughtful land acknowledgement to show respect to our Native American community.

Here are a few highlights from the January 18th meeting:

1. In efforts to attract and retain quality staff, our board focused on increasing salaries especially for our lowest paid workers. We:
   • approved a tentative agreement with CSEA (CA School Employees Association) for the 2022-25 collective bargaining agreement, 
   • approved salary increases & schedule updates for Food & Nutrition staff,
   • approved summer school higher compensation rates,
   • approved salary schedule adjustment for school principals & administration.
2. We approved a 5 year contract to improve our district website. (Thank you to all who submitted feedback along the way!) The new site will include:
   • User friendly design with search
   • Improved ADA accessibility
   • Mobile friendly app
   • Integration with ParentSquare & calendars
   • Translation into more than 100 languages
   • Aiming to launch by July 1, 2023
3. And we approved audits for the district, charter schools, and bonds - all of which showed overwhelmingly that funding is well managed and spent appropriately in MDUSD

Anonymous Reporting System Chosen

Dr Clark added a link to his Superintendent Goals here on the website. One of these goals has been to implement a districtwide anonymous reporting system that includes 

• alignment with Collaborative For Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) social-emotional learning standards,
• multiple language access to report tips via phone, app, and website, 
• trained crisis counselor response 24/7.

Thanks to all who contacted our board to prioritize this!  Dr Clark reported at the January board meeting that after researching various options, the district has contracted with the Sandy Hook Say Something Anonymous Reporting System, which includes all of the criteria that you requested.  Planning and setup begins this spring, with the system aiming to launch for the 2023-24 school year. 

Transparency

Did you see the new addition to our Board meetings page? It is the “Trustee questions and staff response”, which had been recommended by community members. 

Advocacy

Both Student Trustee Navaflores and I spoke at a recent Concord City Council meeting in support of a city ordinance to stop the sale of vape & flavored tobacco that targets youth.  I’m grateful to LGBTQ Minus Tobacco and all the organizations that provided key data that led the city council to vote 5-0 to direct staff to draft the ordinance.  Our MDUSD Board had passed a resolution in 2020 asking all cities in MDUSD to take this action, and it’s good to see Concord stepping up now to follow suit along with Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill.

Coming up

The next school board meeting is this Wednesday, February 1, 2023. We welcome your input via email or in person! See details at mdusd.org/boardmeetings 

We won!

Thank you to my stellar all-volunteer campaign leads who dedicated so much time to managing every detail these last few months:

• Aasim Yahya, Campaign Manager
• Erin Roeder, Treasurer
• Amanda Regenstein, Field Director
• Michelle Alas, Communications Director
• Sam Benabou, Data Guru
• Julie Contreras, Graphic Designer
• Lorena Pena, Translator
• Aleah Clark, Student Fellow

This landslide victory was made possible by each and every one of you coming together for the vision of welcoming, safe, inclusive schools for every Mt Diablo student. And now our coalition working to realize that vision is broader & stronger for it.

My deepest gratitude for going on this journey with me,

p.s. I also want to say thank you to Herbert Lee for entering this race. Having an opponent gave us the opportunity to be on the ballot and  therefore to engage voters this election season in deep conversations about how to best support our local public schools.