Monticello Matters (Family News)
September 12, 2022
From the Administration
Club Day
Friday was our first 2022-23 Club Day. We had a wide range of offerings for our students. Many thanks to Jeannette Stott, our teacher coordinator, and all of our teachers and students for organizing a great event. Clubs are being added all of the time, as students and teachers find new ways to engage and do things that interest them. If your student has an idea for a club, all they need to do is find some people to join and a teacher to sponsor. They should contact Mrs. Stott to get it added for October.
Newly reinforced policies
The year has gotten off to an amazing start. Your children are wonderful! We have been pleasantly surprised by how well we were able to kick off our "not new, but newly enforced" attendance and cell phone policies. We appreciate your support and reinforcement at home.
Family Community Forum
The overarching goal of these sessions is to connect directly with employees, families, and students that we may not otherwise see, hear, or interact with, develop relationships, facilitate engagement, and encourage increased engagement among stakeholders. Hosting these forums throughout the year will allow us to collect employee, family, and student input and perspectives that will be extremely helpful as we work to develop the strategies to support us in meeting the ACPS Strategic Plan Goal 3: Affirming and Empowering Communities.
The first family forum is October 5 from 6:00-7:00 pm (Zoom). If you would like to attend as a family representative, I need two families. Please let me (Dr. Costa) know as soon as possible so I can submit your name for additional details regarding the event. Thanks!
7 Things to Know about our MoHS Library
A neat graphic made by our library media specialist, Heather Humis Chadwick
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hTsF4qPf-1oY_QXHqxmYDPtTMjpkOeSQytSaFMMJQTQ/edit
Mustang Morning
Students who do not sign up for a MM or who have not been requested remain in their homeroom.
Students who have not been "teacher requested or pulled" by a teacher do not need to attend homeroom or Mustang Morning; therefore, don't need to be at school until 9:45. Attendance does not count in the same way as their regular classes. Having said that, as soon as students come onto campus, either by walking, driving, or riding the bus, they are required to be in their assigned classroom.
To avoid the calls that will go out at 9:45, if your child has your permission to get to school for first block, please email mohsattendance@k12albemarle.org to let our attendance office know that you are aware of and excuse the absence. You can email once for the whole week if your child knows that they have not been pulled. Thank you for your ongoing assistance in making sure our attendance records are accurate.
Division Surveys in October
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 month of October, 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 me.
The Panorama Survey will be administered on October 7 and the Peer Nomination/DESSA assessment will be completed on October 28.
Day of Caring
All 9th graders will participate in a Day of Caring on Wednesday, September 21 with their Freshman Seminar/AVID 9 classes. Students will report to their regular A-Day classes in the morning, but if students have Freshman Seminar/AVID 9 on a B-Day, they will go to Mountain View Elementary School during 1st block for community service.
The A-Day Seminar students will do community service projects on the MHS campus. Teachers are collecting ideas on what projects they may complete.
Homecoming and Homecoming Dance
Our teachers and students are finalizing Spirit/Homecoming Week, which begins October 3. Our homecoming football game against Fluvanna is Friday, October 7.
Back to School Night
Our State of the School presentation will begin promptly at 6:00 pm in the auditorium.
Back to School Night
5:30-5:55 Program Meetings (TBD)
6:00-6:25 State of the School (Auditorium)
6:30-6:38 1A
6:42-6:50 2A
6:54-7:02 3A
7:06-7:14 4A
7:18-7:26 1B
7:30-7:38 2B
7:42-7:50 3B
7:54-8:02 4B