Principal’s Message:
Hello Golden Owls,
Today is the 100th day of school. Our students, staff, and parents have engaged in 100 days of learning and growing our minds and skills. It has not always been easy. In fact, there have been many moments of frustration and even tears along the way. Despite the frustration, it has been an amazing journey, and I feel honored to celebrate these first 100 days with our fabulous Golden Owl community!
We want to hear from you! LCAP survey coming soon!
The District is beginning its annual process of updating the LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan). This input collected will guide the update of our District plan for the 2022-23 school year. Look for a meeting at your school to learn more about the LCAP process, as well as a survey about the plans' goals. An email with a link to the survey will come to your inbox on Jan. 31. More information found here: https://www.mvwsd.org/lcap
Mr. Taylor will be presenting LCAP information on the following dates:
ELAC Meeting January 27, 2022, 6:00- 7:00 PM Click here to register
Principal’s Coffee, January 28, 2022, 8:30-9:30PM Click here to register
In Partnership,
Principal Vern Taylor
Events Calendar
26th - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
27th - ELAC Meeting, 6:00pm - 7:00pm - Register Here
28th - Principals Coffee, 8:30am - 9:30am - Register Here
2nd - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
9th - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm -Register Here
10th - MVWSD Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:00pm - 10:00pm
11th - Superintendent Community Check-in, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
16th - Principal Office Hours - Virtual, 4:00pm - 5:00pm - Register Here
16th - SSC Meeting - Virtual, 5:00pm - 6:00pm
18th - Principals Coffee, 8:30am - 9:30am
18th - End of Trimester - Minimum Day
21st - 25th - Washington & Lincoln’s Birthday / Winter Break - No School
In this Newsletter
School News:
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Golden Ticket Winners
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Reconfirm your student’s enrollment in MVWSD for 2022-2023
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After school Enrichment Opportunities
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Please upload your child’s completed vaccine card
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Principal’s Virtual Office Hours
District News:
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Request your free at-home COVID tests
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Guidance for upgrading your mask
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Help Your English Learner Child Become a Confident Communicator, with Dr. Kate Kinsella: February 3
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Parent University: Bullying Prevention
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Help MVEF reach their fundraising goals
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MVLA Parent Ed Speaker Series with Rosetta Lee - Teacher and Outreach Specialist
PTA News:
Golden Ticket Winners - Week of 1/24/2022
Oscar S. RM: 1 Sachika M. RM: 11
Hannah P. RM: 2 David J. RM: 13
Maxwell L. RM: 3 Tyler C. RM: 14
Omar A. RM: 4 Harper F. RM: 15
Nicolai T. RM: 5 Alejandra R. RM: 16
Aaria S. RM: 10 Jesus M. RM: 17
Milana K. RM: 9
The Vargas Way - Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be an Upstander.
What are Golden Tickets?
Students earn Golden Tickets from teachers and staff when they are following the Vargas Way. What is
The Vargas Way? Click here for an in depth view.
Reconfirm your student’s enrollment in MVWSD for 2022-2023
Mountain View Whisman School District enrollment for next fall for returning students is open.
For CURRENTLY enrolled students in transitional kindergarten-7th grade: Parents can now log on to the PowerSchool Parent Portal to enroll their children for next year through January 28. Look for an email in your inbox with more information. If you have difficulty signing in to PowerSchool, please contact your school office. For more information, call 650-526-3500 or go to https://www.mvwsd.org/register
After School Enrichment Opportunities
Vargas is looking forward to starting the first round of after school enrichment opportunities. Please make sure to read the Friday Message for class descriptions and sign up opportunities. As the year moves forward, we look forward to adding additional classes as well.
Please upload your child’s completed vaccine card
Many of our younger students are getting their 2nd COVID vaccine shot this week. When your child's vaccine card has their second shot listed, please upload a copy to Powerschool. Vaccine cards will be referred to in the case of a positive COVID exposure for your student, and MVWSD needs accurate data for decisions about COVID protocols. Click here for a video that shows you how to upload documents: https://vimeo.com/606954357. Thank you in advance for uploading your documents now!
Principal’s Virtual Office Hours
Join me on Wednesday for our informal Principal Office Hours (virtual) from 4pm - 5:00pm. Feel free to drop in if you have any questions or if you just want to chat. For office hours, there is no formal agenda, it is a time for you to stop in to say hello, and for us to get to know each other better! I look forward to meeting you!
Register in advance for this meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
District News
Request your free at-home COVID tests
Order free, at-home tests: Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order 4 at-home COVID-19 tests. The tests are completely free. Near the end of January, orders will start shipping in 7-12 days. Order your tests now, so you have them when you need them. https://www.covidtests.gov.
Guidance for upgrading your mask
Please send your student to school in a well-fitting, quality face mask. Public health officials recommend upgrading from fabric masks. Upgraded masks include double masking (surgical mask + cloth mask), fitted medical masks (surgical masks) and respirator masks (N95s, KN95s or KF94s).
Please see “Choosing Your Mask” here for more guidance: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Get-the-Most-out-of-Masking.aspx
Help Your English Learner Child Become a Confident Communicator, with Dr. Kate Kinsella: February 3
Dr. Kinsella is back! At this special parent event, co-sponsored by Imai, Landels, and Vargas Elementary schools but open to all MVWSD families, parents will learn how to support their children in reading, writing, listening, and speaking both in school and in their daily lives.
Dr. Kinsella is the author of many professional publications and research-validated programs to support multilingual learners and striving readers, including READ 180 Universal, English 3D, Language Launch, and Academic Vocabulary Toolkit. She has served as the lead scholar and pedagogy guide on three recent U.S. Department of Education funded research initiatives to improve educational outcomes for K-12 English language learners.
Date: February 3, 2022
Time: 6:00 - 7:00pm
Zoom Link: http://mvw.sd/kinsella22
Parent University: Bullying Prevention
Date: 2/16/22 Registration Link: http://mvw.sd/pu021622
“Bullying” is a serious, yet often misunderstood concept. What does it really mean and how can we stop it? Better yet, how can we prevent it? This presentation will:
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Identify basic concepts of bullying: definition, types of bullying, basic data
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Provide tips for bullying reduction
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Explore relationship-building to prevent bullying as we work to create new standards of acceptable behavior
To submit questions prior to the event, please click here. We will do our best to address your question during the session.
Help MVEF reach their fundraising goals
With your help, MVEF knows we can reach our goal to raise $800,000 again in 2021-22. But what if we can do more? If we can exceed our fundraising goal by $300,000 this year, we will be able to enhance learning for all middle school students by funding one additional English language arts teacher for each middle school next year and reduce class sizes. Please donate to MVEF to help us reach our annual $800,000 fundraising goal and raise an additional $300,000 to fund two ELA teachers to reduce class sizes at the middle schools in 2022-23. mvef.org/donate
MVLA Parent Ed Speaker Series with Rosetta Lee - Teacher and Outreach Specialist
Join MVLA Parent Education online on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 from 7:00 - 8:30pm with Rosetta Lee for her talk, “Implicit and Unconscious Bias: Bridging the Distance Between Professed Values and Daily Behaviors.” We see ourselves as open and inclusive people, accepting of differences and treating all people with dignity, kindness, and respect. Yet, there are implicit and unconscious biases that get in the way of our best selves, and intentions aren't enough to guide our behaviors. We welcome Rosetta Lee, teacher and outreach specialist, who talks about the science of cognitive biases we all have and what we can do to mitigate them within ourselves and our organizations. Register for this free event.
PTA News
Readathon Planning Committee
We are starting to plan for our annual Readathon (dates to be announced soon). This is our main PTA fundraiser to fund our programs (teacher reimbursements,teacher appreciation, student enrichment, community events etc…) If you are interested in helping with the planning to make this a successful fundraiser and fun event for the students please reach out to us!
[email protected]
Project Cornerstone: Become an ABC Reader
By volunteering just 2 to 3 hours per month, our Asset Building Champions build relationships with young people by reading selected books and leading classroom activities and discussions with a focus on respect, tolerance, peaceful conflict resolution, caring and friendship. Children learn what to do if they encounter bully behaviors and how to become an UPstander.
For more information, email: [email protected]
Spirit Wear
It’s sweater weather! Check out our selection of long sleeves and hoodies for winter! Also adult and childrens cloth face masks available. Place your order online and pick it up on designated days at the office.
https://www.javargaspta.org/ja-vargas-store
Shannon Lundin, and the Executive Board
[email protected]