Happy Day of the Teacher!

Spring is a wonderful time of year to celebrate everyone who makes a difference in the lives of our students.  Last week was Administrative Professionals Day: a chance to recognize those in our offices who do so much to make sure our families feel welcomed, informed, and respected.

Today is National Teacher Appreciation Day, and California also celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week May 8-12th. We get to celebrate Classified School Employee Week May 21-27th, and don’t forget School Lunch Hero Day this Friday May 5th! 

I hope to see you on Thursday, May 11th at the districtwide MDEA Awards of Excellence event, at Centre Concord from 6 PM – 9 PM. Tickets are available for purchase through Eventbrite. 

View the Award Nominees here

Coffee Meetup this Thursday

I’ve been hearing from the public about many crucial issues lately, especially around safety, literacy, and mental health support. 

Stop by Coffee with your Trustee: this Thursday May 4th, 8:45am-10am at Contra Costa Coffee, for a relaxed local setting in which to share your ideas and concerns with me.

On Safety: Last week’s violent assault on Northgate High’s campus was horrific, and my heart goes out to the victim and her family.  Deepest gratitude to the school staff, police and emergency personnel who whisked her to the hospital while ensuring the rest of campus was secure, all the while doing their best to communicate with families & media. 

We must do more to prevent the violence and bullying that we are encountering throughout our schools and community. For the last year I’ve been advocating for MDUSD to follow the best practices of How to Prevent Gun Violence in Schools, and our district is now contracted to have the Sandy Hook Promise Say Something Anonymous Reporting System in place by this fall. Please share your perspective and ideas on this important topic.

Next School Board meeting 

The next school board meeting is next Wednesday, May 10, 2023. We welcome your input via email or in person. See details at mdusd.org/boardmeetings 

Congratulations!

We have so much to be proud of. Here are a few current highlights:

Congrats to MDUSD's two District Teachers of the Year, who have both been named as County Teacher of the Year Finalists - Joseph Alvarico of Ygnacio Valley HS and Danya Townsend of Olympic HS!

Congratulations to two of our District Classified Employees of the Year that were selected as Contra Costa County Classified Employees of the Year: Bus Driver Ronald Rivett (Transportation Services) and IT Network Systems Admin Jay Morrow (Technical Services), who are now California Classified School Employee of the Year nominees! 

Congratulations to Dana Tarantino, Northgate High math teacher, recipient of the prestigious Warren Eukel trust award for excellence in teaching!