The students and staff of Mountain Vista K-8 School in the Oracle Elementary School District returned from Winter Break ready to work hard and make a positive impact on our school community.
We started the Spring semester by recognizing student achievement during Honor Breakfasts. Students in each grade level and their guests were invited to a special breakfast in our school cafeteria. Certificates were presented to students who earned the Citizenship Character Award, Perfect Attendance, Cougar Honor Roll by earning all A and B grades on their report card as well as Principal’s Honor Roll for earning all A grades on their report card. Honor Breakfasts are a special occasion enjoyed by students in Grades K-8 at our school and a tradition we look forward to at the beginning of each new academic quarter.
We are proud to announce that the Oracle Elementary School District Governing Board raised the daily rate of pay for substitute teachers from $86 per day to $100 per day during our January Governing Board Meeting. Additional compensation was approved for substitute teachers who work more than ten consecutive days ($110 per day) or a long-term substitute position which would include lesson planning and grading responsibilities ($130 per day). We hope to attract quality substitute teachers by raising the daily rate of pay to be competitive with neighboring school districts. Members of the community who are interested in substitute teaching opportunities are encouraged to visit our school website at www.osd2.org and submit a completed application to our District Office.
The students and staff at Mountain Vista K-8 School benefit greatly from the generous and supportive volunteers who share their time and talents with us each day. Our District Office is working diligently to ensure that each volunteer has completed the required paperwork to volunteer with school children. We are also planning a Volunteer Orientation to be held for all current volunteers this summer. We will review important information with our volunteers including campus emergency procedures, our campus PBIS (Positive Behaviors Interventions and Supports) Plan and answer any questions that volunteers might have before working with our students.
Our Governing Board and I are committed to implementing the Capital Bond Projects approved by Prop. 439 with absolute transparency and great responsibility for the use of our community’s tax dollars. In December, we started the process of hiring an architect firm with an outstanding reputation, experience on projects similar to our proposed projects and that specializes in educational design. We also sought project managers who specialize in managing educational projects. I’m pleased to report that a recommendation for hire will be made to our Governing Board during the February Meeting on February 20. The recommended architect firm and project manager both come with strong reputations for quality work in our community. Updates on the Capital Bond Projects are shared during each Governing Board Meeting on the third Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM in the Mountain Vista K-8 School Library. Our community members are encouraged to attend our Governing Board Meetings.
Mountain Vista K-8 School is a busy place with events scheduled each week! For detailed updates about upcoming events, we invite the community to follow Mountain Vista K-8 School on Facebook. We are looking forward to our first Superintendent’s Roundtable Discussion on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 5 p.m. in the School Library. We will discuss our current math curriculum, its strengths as well as ways that we could improve math instruction at our school. The Roundtable Discussion will be followed by our monthly PTO Meeting at 6 p.m. Our community members are welcome and encouraged to attend events at our school and we look forward to sharing more information with you next month in this newspaper.