
Husky Nation Highlights
Community Newsletter - September 10, 2023

Parent Conferences are Next Week! 🏫
- Parent Conference Week is scheduled for September 18-22, 2023. Your child’s teacher will be working to schedule conferences with you (in-person or on Zoom). Please contact your child's teacher if you haven't scheduled a conference yet.
- Please note the following minimum days due to conferences: September 15th, 18th, 19th, 21st, and 22nd. September 20th will be a regular Wednesday dismissal.
- For in-person conferences, all adults are *required* to check-in to the Front Office to obtain a visitor badge before proceeding to your child’s classroom. Please be sure to bring current photo identification.
- Conferences are scheduled for 15 minutes. Please be prompt and mindful of time. If you need to continue a conference, please make arrangements to do so at a later date.
✏️ PTA CORNER 🍎
We Won! 🥳
THANK YOU Husky Nation!
We won the PTA Membership Drive competition against Brightwood Elementary. With your tremendous support, we more than tripled our memberships from last year and reached almost 900 memberships, that is 96% of our enrollment!
We look forward to working together to support one another, build community, and to provide valuable and enriching educational experiences to our students!
PTA Association Meeting 9.13 at 6:30PM
PIZZA + CUPCAKES + POTLUCK + KIDS CRAFTS
The PTA will have its first Association Meeting in the School Cafetorium on September 13 at 6:30PM.
All Families Welcomed! Our PTA is always open for new ideas that can better support the needs of our diverse community. Meet fellow students and parents and learn about PTA’s plans for the 2023-2024 School Year. An agenda for the meeting is available here.
There will be pizza, cupcakes, refreshments, and a potluck. Please feel free to bring an item to share. In addition, we will have a kids corner with arts and crafts.
Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing everyone!
Reflections Arts Program 🎨
Explore the arts and express yourself! This year’s Reflections theme is “I am Hopeful Because…”
Get creative and submit to one of the many categories including dance choreography, literature, photography, film production, music composition, and visual arts. All grades are welcome to submit. Please visit bit.ly/MHReflections for more details.
All participants with eligible entries will be entered into a raffle to win a $5 gift certificate for PTA’s Santa Shop (to be held on December 14-15). In addition, all participants with eligible entries will receive a “See’s Candies” lollipop and a participation ribbon. All category winners in each division receive a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd award ribbon and award certificate, with the 1st place recipient receiving a marble plaque.
Submission Deadline: Wednesday, October 11th, 2023 at 11:59PM.
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities 🤝
We are grateful for our volunteers. Here are some of our volunteer needs at this time:
Ongoing:
- Morning Valet (School) - mornings (7:30am-8:00am)
- Husky Pop-Up Store (School) - monthly at recess (9am-11am)
Email Ms. Chan (school counselor) if you are interested. - Spooky Bash Committee (PTA)
- Reflections Art Program Judges (PTA)
On Friday, September 1st, the CA PBIS Coalition recognized schools across the state that are moving in the right direction with their PBIS implementation.
Monterey Highlands was honored with a Gold Implementation Award for our efforts to move forward with PBIS. Other AUSD schools that were recognized include Brightwood (Gold) and Repetto (Silver). Click here to learn more!
This work wouldn't be possible without the amazing leadership of our PBIS Coach Mailin Chan and our PBIS/LEAD Team: Khanh Nguyen, Kelly Fukushima, Melissa Kwan, Ashley Orozco, Sara Safa, Lydia Vargas, Calvin Ly and Amy Miller.
📒 ASB Announcements 📢
Mr. Calvin Ly, Adviser
The Associated Student Body (ASB) oversees all fundraising and school activities at Monterey Highlands. The ASB Cabinet meets weekly on Fridays to review activity and fundraising requests.
Parents or teachers interested in creating a fundraiser should request one using this Google Form Link.
ASB is looking forward to planning fun spirit weeks and other schoolwide activities this year including: Red Ribbon Week, Earth Week and much more!
Upcoming Fundraisers 💰
Benefitting the 8th Grade Class of 2024 Promotion Activities 🎓
Th 9/21 @ Panda (on Atlantic/Floral)
Panda: Print this flyer or use code 359918 for mobile
Wed 10/18 @ The Habit (Garfield/Main)
8th Grade Parent Meeting - 9.11.23 @ 6pm (Zoom)
Join us as we begin planning 8th Grade Promotion for the Class of 2024.
The meting will be held virtually at 6pm at this link: zoom.us/my/mh.principal
If you can't make it, don't worry! We will meet again soon to continue planning. Please email Mr. B if you are interested in working on the 8th Grade Parent Committee.
AUSD Food and Wellness Fair - 10.31.23
Monterey Highlands is once again hosting the 19th Annual AUSD Food and Wellness Fair on Tuesday, October 31, 2023. This is a pupil-free day. As the host site, Highlands community members may attend either Session 1 or Session 2.
Please contact the school office to RSVP.
Join us, bring the kids! 👨👩👦
Grand Prize Raffle 🎁
Attend Session 1️⃣ or 2️⃣!
Pawsitive Press 🐾
Coffee Talk w/Mr. B & the AP ☕
Please RSVP if you plan to attend this meeting so we may prepare light refreshments.
You may use the Google Form link below to submit questions for Mr. Matsuo ahead of this meeting.
Coffee Talk w/Mr. B & the AP
- Our special guest will be Mr. Keith Matsuo, Director of Construction for AUSD.
- Mr. Matsuo will provide updates on our current (and future) construction projects.
Friday, Sep 29, 2023, 08:00 AM
Monterey Highlands Cafetorium
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Chromebook Care 💻
Please encourage your child to take good care of their AUSD Chromebook.
At this time, we are replacing lost/damaged devices with gently used Chromebooks only. We are not currently issuing any new devices until our inventory is replenished by AUSD.
Please let your child's teacher know if a device or charger is damaged or lost.
Attendance Matters 📈
It is in each student's best interest to be at school every day all day. In the rare event that a student needs to be checked out early, please note that only parents will be allowed to check out students before the end of the school day.
For student safety, all parents/caregivers must present a valid CA or government-issued ID. Students will only be called to the front office after parent/caregiver's ID has been reviewed.
Spicy Snack Warning 🚨
We have noticed an uptick of students bringing very spicy snacks to school and sharing them with peers.
These snacks include chips and gummi bears that are painfully spicy. Please avoid sending these items to school with your child.
Please remind your child not to share these items with other students. These items may cause nausea, discomfort and other symptoms that interrupt instruction.
Upcoming Dates 📆
- 9/11 - 8th Grade Promotion Parent Meeting on Zoom @ 6pm
- 9/13 - PTA Association Meeting (in-person) @ 6:30pm (Cafetorium)
- 9/15-9/22 - Parent Conferences
- 9/19 - Board of Education Meeting
- 9/21 - 8th Grade Fundraiser @ Panda Express (takeout/app orders)
- 9/22 - Student of the Month (Cafetorium) @ 8:00am
- 9/28 - Safety Committee Meeting (Zoom) at 3pm
- 9/28 - Fall Pictures (TK-3rd)
- 9/29 - Fall Pictures (4th-8th)
- 9/29 - Coffee Talk w/Mr. B & the AP featuring Mr. Matsuo (Director of Construction)
- 10/3 - Board of Education Meeting
- 10/4 - ELAC Meeting #1 @ 6pm (Cafetorium)
- 10/11 - PTA Reflections Student Submission Deadline @ 11:59pm
- 10/11 - PTA Association Meeting @ 6:30pm
- 10/18 - 8th Grade Fundraisder @ The Habit (Garfield/Main)
- 10/20 - Student of the Month (Cafetorium) @ 8:00am
- 10/24 - Board of Education Meeting
- 10/24 - Monterey Park Town Hall (Cafetorium) @ 6pm
- 10/26 - Safety Committee Meeting (Zoom) at 3pm
- 10/23 to 10/27 - Red Ribbon Week
- 10/27 - End of Trimester 1
- 10/27 - Spooky Bash! 👻
- 10/30 and 10/31 - Pupil Free Days
- 10/31 - AUSD Food and Wellness Fair
Monterey Highlands School
📥 Email: highlands@ausd.us
🌐 Website: www.montereyhighlandselementary.org
📍 Location: 400 Casuda Canyon Drive, Monterey Park, CA, USA
📲 Phone: (626) 570-6220