Simi Valley Schools Blog

Dear Simi Valley Schools Community:

Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year!

The first day of school is upon us and we are excited to get started. Last year, we ushered in many changes to our schools and we, and our students, are better for it. Thank you all for your patience and your commitment to our children’s education. Here are some of the highlights from the last year:

• We opened the Justin Early Learners Academy to serve the preschool needs of our community.
• Connected Learning Programs were formed to thematically partner some of our elementary, middle and high schools. CLPs create seamless, focused learning experiences in international studies, fine and performing arts, medical sciences and more.
• Middle and high school Pathways programs continue to expand.
• Our high schools now offer more Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes to accommodate more students in higher-level classes.
• There are campus/facility improvements throughout the district, ranging from new landscaping to exteriors renovations, heating/AC systems and technology upgrades.
• Monte Vista School, the district’s homeschool program, moved to a permanent home at the former campus of Lincoln Elementary School. It also offered Kindergarten programs for the first time. The result was the doubling of its enrollment over the previous year!
• We gave ourselves a redo as well, by rolling out our new district logo, Promise Statement and motto.

We’re still working hard. Moving forward into this new school year, some of the new things you will find are:

• For the first time in a long time, we’ve hired 35 new teachers and will possibly bring on more during the year!
• The implementation of the Unique Learning System for teaching functional skills to our moderate and severe Special Education students.
• The piloting of prospective English/Language Arts curriculum in all grades.
• The piloting of the elementary Medal of Honor-Character Education national curriculum, which our teachers helped to write.
• We’ve expanded our Foreign Language offerings to include Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, Chinese, German and American Sign Language at some schools.
• Our district’s budget has received a three-year positive certification from the County.
• The rebranding of the Simi Valley Adult School, which will be revealed in the near future.
• Continued facility improvements at some campuses.
• The rollout of 14,000 Chromebooks and carts for our classrooms. Also, the District’s WiFi systems will be upgraded at every campus.
• Measure X, the General Obligation Bond, will appear on the November 8 ballot for voter approval. (More information can be found on the District’s website, simivalleyusd.org.)

Improving student achievement and ensuring that every member of our staff continues to provide the best customer service possible to our families remain our top priorities. We believe that every child coming through our doors can and will reach their highest potential. From our highly qualified teachers to our nurturing and compassionate counselors, administrators and support professionals, we create an environment of inclusion and instill a love for learning. Our doors are open to every child; that’s our promise to you.

With innovation comes change. Once again, we ask for your patience as we continue to implement programs and systems to improve our students’ educational experience. If we stumble along the way, please let us know. We are here for all of you. And please, remember to drive safely in and around our campuses, especially in these first weeks of schools.

Our students are our top priority because at Simi Valley Schools, our students go from here to anywhere!

Have a wonderful school year.

Dr. Jason Peplinski
District Superintendent

For almost 18,000 children, Monday marks the end of Summer 2015 as Simi Valley public schools open for the first day of school.

The first days and weeks of school bring nerves and excitement to our school sites. They also bring increased traffic and frustration around our campuses and those neighborhoods as parents and their children navigate parking lots and narrow residential streets to get to school. When School of Choice was implemented, many students transferred to schools outside of their immediate neighborhoods, requiring families to drive their children to school, hence the increasing congestion in recent years.

The Simi Valley Unified School District has partnered with the Simi Valley Police Department to offer a public service presentation about traffic concerns around our school sites. The link below will take you to our home page, where the PowerPoint can be found at the top of the page.

SVPD Commander Robert Arabian said his traffic officers will increase patrols in and around school sites during the first few weeks of school.

“The major congestion happens when a parking lot is full and the (driver) just stops (on the street),” he said.

Drivers are not allowed to interfere with the flow of traffic on a street by stopping and waiting to turn into a school’s parking lot, he said, and may end up with a citation if they block traffic.

The link below offer a PowerPoint presentation on traffic safety. The SVPD has asked that parents watch the presentation to understand how the traffic rules apply around campuses.

Besides the presentation, there are several basic dos and don’ts that can help all of us manage traffic around our school sites better and keep our students safe.

1. When lined up in a school parking lot to drop off or pick up a child, please move your car as far forward as possible to allow the cars behind to move into the parking lot.
2. Obey the posted speed limits.
3. Don’t block the sidewalk by stopping your car short of the parking lot. Children walk and ride bikes on the sidewalks and it’s illegal–and dangerous–to block their ability to move.
4. Never, ever allow your child to run into the street to jump into your car! The same goes for stopping short of the designated pick up area in a school’s parking lot to let your child jump into the car.
5. Learn the school’s parking lot pick up/drop off routine. Every campus has one.
6. Listen to the city’s crossing guards and the school’s staff and volunteers who help direct traffic. They are there to protect your children.
7. The SVPD is asking that if you approach a parking lot and cannot fully enter it because of other cars, that you circle the block and return, instead of stopping in the middle of the street and waiting for traffic to clear. This might take a few minutes longer, but you won’t run the risk of receiving a traffic citation for blocking other drivers.
8. Be patient! Traffic usually lightens as the school year progresses.
9. Please be considerate of the homeowners surrounding our schools. Don’t block their driveways or access to their homes.
10. Do try to form carpools with other parents to lessen the amount of cars coming to school.

With everyone’s cooperation, we can keep our students safe as they come and go from school.

SCHOOL ZONE TRAFFIC SAFETY PRESENTATION

The second and third graders sitting in Andrea Keller’s classroom are learning a little differently this day.

Three sound systems positioned around the room are each blaring different lectures or music. Throughout this cacophony of sound, the students are asked to work their way individually through a timed reading comprehension lesson.

Most are not successful and many are frustrated by their own lack of concentration.

This short moment was used by Keller in last month’s Abilities Day at Simi Valley’s Garden Grove Elementary School to show these students how other students with learning disabilities struggle in class.

Principal Martha Feinstein said this all-day event happens each year.

“We do it because we mainstream kids at every opportunity,” she said, referring to Special Education children who attend Garden Grove. Mainstreaming means that wherever and whenever possible, Special Education children attend classes with their non-assisted peers.

“It gives students a little more awareness of what goes on for some students,” she said.

In another classroom, students are shown how visually impaired peers are taught, using Braille and hands-on learning tools. Soft books with lots of texture and cut-out boards with fitted shapes help small hands identify shapes and materials in the absence of sight.

Students in the outside lunch area are learning basic American Sign Language words to communicate.

And on the kindergarten play area, fifth graders learn about physical therapy. They get to try-out a wheelchair, crutches and other equipment used to enable mobility.

Every student rotates throughout the day to different classrooms focused on a specific medical need. By the day’s end, there’s a lot of understanding accomplished, Feinstein said.

“There’s a lot of empathy here already, but there’s always more after,” she said.