Attendance this past week was 95.14%, which is down slightly from 95.71% the previous week.

After 74 school days, cumulative attendance is 95.92%, which is a slight downtick from 96.17% the previous week.

After 74 school days, cumulative Chronic Absenteeism rate (10% or more of cumulative school days missed) is 4.3%, which is slightly lower than 5.7% the previous week. Great work Eagles!

As we approach the final weeks of the year, we want to emphasize the importance of consistent attendance. The period after Thanksgiving break and prior to winter recess is crucial for maintaining academic progress, staying connected with classmates, and finishing the year strong.

During this time, students will be engaging in important lessons, projects, and assessments that will set the foundation for success in the new year. Missing school, even for a day or two, can cause gaps in understanding and create unnecessary challenges for both students and teachers.

We understand that this is a busy time of year, but we ask that families prioritize school attendance. If there are holiday obligations that cannot be altered please immediately reach out to Ms. Nancy to schedule for a short term independent study contract.

Thank you all for your continued collective attendance efforts to ensure our awesome students are at school and ready to rock!

Dear Eagle Community,

What a busy and awesome time of the year!

Students, educators, and community members have been hard at work over the past few weeks to increase involvement at Vivian Banks Charter School. Currently, classes are working to complete the most recent round of iReady assessments, and students are truly working at their very best to produce strong academic results. Please continue to encourage regular bed times and healthy breakfasts over these last two weeks prior to holiday break. We appreciate the collaboration as students work to complete the assessments and continue to produce high-quality outcomes!

Leading up to Thanksgiving break, the entire Vivian Banks Charter School community and our incredible Pep Club team worked tirelessly to host a very successful (and FUN) Turkey Trot and Lunch on the Lawn event, which was held on Friday, 11/22. This event was awesome, and the community attendance was incredibly appreciated! Students had fun with the Turkey Trot itself, games, and holiday celebrations, including throwing water balloons (and buckets of water!) at 'ol Mr. Costa. I personally enjoyed this time to be silly with the students! We are proud to announce net proceeds of $4,008 from Turkey Trot and Lunch on the Lawn. These proceeds will go directly to benefiting the students and programs of VBCS. We could not have done this without your support...thank you! Let's all get ready for Wednesday 12/11, when Principal Fred (5th) and Assistant Principal Christina (3rd) will be in charge thanks to their amazing Turkey Trot fundraising efforts!

Our VBCS Parent Club continues to move forward in the early stages of putting together our very special Pala Community Garden at VBCS. We are fortunate to have already received some much appreciated grant funding through the Environmental Protection Agency! Our next Parent Club will tentatively take place next Wednesday 12/18; please stay tuned for confirmation of this meeting time. All are invited to attend and participate!

Our VBCS Indian Education Council will hold its monthly meeting this Wednesday 12/11 from 1:30-2:30PM. The council's membership is growing and we are actively recruiting others to join; the council is open to any community members with a passion to get involved. At our November meeting, it was determined that as our annual focus, the council will develop collaborative programs between our VBCS students and Pala community elders. We will start to plan out semester two and activities for this partnership next Wednesday.

In collaboration between Music teacher Ms. Gutierrez, 4th grade teacher Ms. Amerson, and 5th grade teacher Ms. Lehnerz, the 4th and 5th grade students went on a very fun and exciting field trip to see Wicked last week! Students demonstrated excellent behavior throughout the field trip and all reported back that the day was so fun! Thank you upper primary team and Ms. Gutierrez for putting this all together.

This past week, we concluded our See's Candy holiday fundraiser. Thanks to your support, over $880 in net proceeds was raised! These proceeds will go directly to benefiting the students and programs of VBCS.

Lastly, we are very excited to announce that our very own Ms. Lehnerz will be taking on a new role here at Vivian Banks Charter School. Beginning with the start of the second semester and through the remainder of the school year, Ms. Lehnerz will be working as our site's new Education Specialist. She will be working individually with students, running small groups, and be in charge of all Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) at VBCS! This change will mean that we will be looking to fill the 5th grade position immediately; it is posted to Edjoin and we hope to interview amazing candidates soon. Please join me in congratulating Ms. Lehnerz!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, ideas, or would like to say hello in person, please feel free to email me at daniel.costa@bonsallusd.com. I look forward to meeting and working with each of you to support the amazing students of Vivian Banks Charter School. Have a wonderful week!

Go Eagles,

Mr. Danny Costa

Principal

Throughout my career as an educator, I have earned a Masters Degree and two credentials through the University of San Diego: a Multiple-Subject credential and an Education Specialist credential. I am

married and have been raising my family in Carlsbad, California. My oldest daughter is a Freshman at

SDSU this year and my youngest attends high school in Carlsbad. My favorite pasttime is reading while my golden retriever, Max, sits with me.

My methodology for teaching is primarily centered around Universal Design for Learning or UDL. In a

classroom of any size; this methodology is very reasonable to implement and always successful. This methodology gives me the freedom to practice differentiated instruction and focus on student centered learning strategies. Also, within the practice of UDL methods, technology can be incorporated in a way in which it enhances the learning and is not used as a content replacement. Implementations of lecture based learning and group learning would be appropriate strategies when developing courses that create the most successful student learning outcomes.

It is important for me to state my commitment to diversity and to be transparent with my goal not only as an educator but as a human being. I feel I can not help but smile when I hear the term diversity. To me, this means whatever the context that it is being used in, there is progressive thinking happening. I define diversity as: accessing compassion, supporting students wherever they are academically, and utilizing creativity to support all the needs of the target group. When a past student of mine remembers me or a friend thinks of me, I hope they remember my efforts to vary my practice, to use multiple methods to teach concepts, or to be kind to all those around me. I try to demonstrate my commitment to diversity intentionally each day in all my teachings, my conversations, and my writings.

Email: daniel.costa@bonsallusd.com
Website: https://vb.bonsallusd.com/
Location: 11800 Pala Mission Road, Pala, CA, USA
Phone: (760) 742-3300