Mustang Matters Family Newsletter

We had a great first club day! The gym was packed witih volleyball and basketball games, Michelle Bambury, math teacher, ran out of crochet hooks, and the back fields were abuzz with frisbee, soccer, and corn hole. Our next club day is September 30.

Homecoming is right around the corner. Because of our Monday PD Day, Spirit Week starts with School Spirit Black and Gold Day this Friday!

Click here for important Spirit Week and Homecoming Information: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kkeJZbs7t2trtp-T-hWwy9hbWhfiTtrmvdT0-UdVge0/edit

Our first MHS Senate Meeting will be on Thursday, September 19 from 3:00-4:00. Our MHS Senate is made up of students from our Student Council Association (SCA), Black Student Union (BSU), Latino Student Union (LSU), Queer and Ally, Muslim Student Union (MSU), and our Southern Triad. We are gearing up for our first ACPS Student Senate meeting in October.

This week's recognition goes to Amber Marrs. Spend 10 minutes in the attendance office and you will know why! Amber deals with dozens of calls and emails every hour. She greets students all day long and will do just about anything to support her co-workers. And, all with a smile on her face. We are so grateful that you are a part of our team, Amber, thank you!

THANK YOU to all who were able to make it to our regional college fair and Back to School Night last Thursday!!! For anyone who couldn't make our in person event, our teachers created videos with an abbreviated version of their presentation. They also included links to their class syllabi. Check it out and thank a teacher!

Here is the link to all of our videos. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rKF41ORjdxtA5HxOtqhPMKk4oqVTUIUQois-GzZdR7M/edit?usp=sharing

A decisive majority of ACPS employees selected the Albemarle Education Association (AEA) to represent them in collective bargaining in last week’s election. Both bargaining units easily surpassed the 33% turnout threshold required for both bargaining units. The results are pending certification in two weeks.

A total of 82.3% of all licensed employees in the division voted in the election, which is a new turnout record for that bargaining unit in Virginia, according to the Virginia Education Association. Of those that voted, 98.5% voted in support of AEA. In the educational support professionals (ESP) bargaining unit, 55.7% of employees voted, with 95% voting “yes.”

The election results mean that the AEA is now authorized to begin negotiating contracts for more than 2,500 employees in the division, with separate contracts for each bargaining unit. In the coming weeks, AEA will host meetings in each feeder pattern and reach out to all employees of both bargaining units via online survey to ask you about your bargaining priorities in the categories of pay, benefits, and working conditions so that we can best represent you at the bargaining table.

If you’ve been waiting to see how the collective bargaining battle turned out before deciding whether to join AEA, now’s the time! You can find our online membership form here.

Thank you to everyone who has supported AEA during this journey to collective bargaining, and for voting last week to help us finish the last leg of that journey.

— Tim Klobuchar, English/Film Study teacher and AEA Vice President

THEME: Olympics

Friday: Mustang Pride (wear black and gold)

Tuesday: Countries of the World (rep your country colors)

Wednesday: Meet the Athletes (wear your team jersey)

Thursday: Rep Your Ring (see link above to check your class color)

Friday: Closing Ceremonies (Wear Neon)

The Science National Honor Society and the Red Cross will be hosting a fall blood drive on Thursday October 3 from 9 am-2 pm in the Atrium! Teachers and staff will get priority in signing up for time slots. You can register ahead of time by filling out this Google Form. You can also show up the day of the drive and you will go to the front of the line.

Here is a link to the flyer if you would like to print it and post in your classroom for students.

Thank you for your support!

Please make sure you are signed up to receive text messages through REMIND. Teachers and staff need to be able to communicate with you quickly. We know email can be hard to keep up with given all of the communication that comes to you.

Things to Keep in Mind: ACPS Grading Policy Changes this Year

Items that are put into the gradebook for a grade can be in one of these categories:

1. Formative Assessment.

   1. This is practice work, given in the beginning of the learning cycle.

   2. Examples: Classwork, Homework, Quizzes, First drafts, Exit Tickets, Labs

   3. Cannot be more than 10% of the overall grade

   4. Should be graded for completion not accuracy

   5. Retakes/revisions do not have to be offered for these assignments.

   
   

2. Summative Assessment.

   1. This is work at the end of the learning cycle, after students have been given feedback on practice work.

   2. Examples: Tests, Projects, Final Drafts, Performance Assessments

   3. Retakes/revisions should be offered for these assignments.

***Note: This is not the entire Grading Policy, just a description of some important changes this year. For more details, refer to the One-Pager from Pre-Service week linked below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_6aqTTjxZdOIPNKWoxEAkhaSKJMqAXStXOtybpCcRqo/edit?usp=sharing

Dear Albemarle County Public School Families,

We thank you and your family for being our valued partners as we work together to educate the children in our district. As you may already be aware, building our social-emotional learning skills is an essential goal for our school this year. During the months of October and November, students and teachers will participate in several exercises to better understand these concepts and to reflect on how they perceive these skills in themselves.

We will be asking for your child to reflect on their own mindsets and approaches to learning through the administration of the Panorama School Climate Survey, the DESSA Universal SEL Screener, and our Anti-Bullying Peer Nomination Survey .

The Panorama School climate survey will include content that will ask students to self-reflect on their sense of belonging, school safety, the value of school, rigorous expectations, school climate, and cultural awareness. The DESSA self assessment survey will ask students to answer questions about their strengths in the following (CASEL aligned) social emotion categories; self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, goal directed behavior, relationship skills, personal responsibility, decision making, and optimistic thinking. Lastly, students will be asked to participate in our Anti-Bullying Peers Nominations Survey. This survey gives students a chance to raise their voice to help their peers. They anonymously nominate peers who they feel might have been bullied and speak out to address things they are seeing within the school that concern them.

We are asking that all of our students participate in the surveys, as their responses will provide invaluable insights into their experiences and how we can improve and adapt our district to their needs. If a student doesn’t feel like they have enough information to answer a question, they will be able to skip the item altogether. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Beth Costa or your child's grade level administrator.

For updated rosters, coach contact information, detailed schedules including live stream video links (when available), ticket information, results, or out-of-season workout schedules, please visit www.GoMonticello.org.

September 23: Professional Development Day

September 30: Club Day

September 23-27: Spirit Week for Homecoming

September 27: Homecoming football game vs Goochland

September 28: Homecoming Dance (7:00-9:30)

October 14: Panorama and DESSA Surveys

October 15: PSAT Day

October 16 and 23: Conferences

November 18: Peer Nomination Survey