Simpler times: This photo was taken in 2019, well before social distancing protocols were in place.
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Dear Friends,
"God bless you."
"You are an angel."
"This means so much to me."
These were some of the comments I heard today during the grocery gift card distribution to school families during meal pickup.
I had the opportunity to be part of the Ed Foundation team distributing gift cards to our families, and it continues to be an eye-opening and humbling experience. Today we had the additional honor of handing out brand new books donated by Readers Books.
This week, the school district will serve over 9,000 meals to children throughout the Valley, and those numbers will likely rise in the coming weeks. The need is great, and our donors are generously stepping up to the plate to help.
The school district also continues to put Wi-Fi hotspots and laptop devices into the hands of every student, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, with the goal of having distance learning at all grade levels within the next two weeks. The Ed Foundation is helping to fund access to distance learning by providing Wi-Fi hotspot devices for all grades and additional touchscreen chromebooks for our youngest learners. I’m especially excited about the longer-term impact of enabling all students to have equal access to technology that will allow them to participate in all forms of in-school and at-home learning.
Check out the short essay below by one of our student leaders,
Luis Esteva Sueiro, who will be graduating with his fellow classmates this year amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Our students are truly inheriting a different world, and
while it makes me sad,
Luis’ essay also gives me great hope for the future. We hope to include more of these essays from students, teachers and our district leaders in our future e-newsletters.
So many wonderful local non-profit organizations and foundations are doing everything they can to help our local community. This particular global crisis is especially difficult because every area of the country is facing the same issues, and funding is stretched to the limit. You - our donors and supporters - have been extremely responsive and generous. We thank you for being there.
If you have the ability to continue to help, please consider a donation to the gift card program or online learning access today.
With gratitude,
Mary Favaro
Executive Director
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BOTH REALISTIC AND HOPEFUL,
SVHS SENIOR LUIS ESTEVA BRINGS INSIGHT AMID THE PANDEMIC
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The high school experience of the class of 2020 has been quite the unique one. In our sophomore year, we helplessly watched as the orange glow of fires creeped up the ridges of the hills surrounding our homes. During junior year, the normally clean, fresh, air was thick with dark smoke from another season of fires. Now, in our senior year, a global pandemic, the likes of which has not been seen in over a century, has forced the whole world to a standstill.
Year after year, disaster after disaster, today’s youth are beginning to accept tragedy as normal, and unfortunately, they should learn to accept that for the rest of their lives. It is devastating to a majority of my fellow high school seniors to likely never be able to ride to senior prom with their friends or hear their families cheer as they walk the stage at graduation, but our frustrations go beyond just the culmination of high school. The COVID-19 pandemic is just another reminder of the world we are to inherit, and will be responsible to fix. The leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and parents of the future are now locked in their homes observing the repeated failures of those who came before them and understand that their lives will be consumed by geopolitical, economic, and climatic disasters that could have been avoided with proper foresight.
Frankly, it can be disheartening to know that our lives will not be like those of our parents, but we will rise to the challenge. Born amidst 9/11, raised through 2008, and graduating during the pandemic of the century, we regret the tragedies that have followed our lifetime, but we will be prepared to face and conquer the future, even if that does mean we have to graduate via Zoom.
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BRAND NEW BOOKS COMPLIMENT
GROCERY GIFT CARD DISTRIBUTION
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Readers Books donated five cartons of brand new children’s and young adult books for school families! Local students and their parents were thrilled to select a book along with receiving a $50 grocery store gift card during meal pickups today.
Thank you Readers Books! Thank you donors! Thank you SVUSD Food Services employees!
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FLOWERY TEACHERS AND STAFF SEND SPECIAL
VIDEO MESSAGE TO STUDENTS
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The teachers and staff from Flowery posted videos with heartfelt, encouraging and sometimes silly messages as the community waits out the school closures.
Click below to check them out!
https://tinyurl.com/FloweryTeachersandStaff
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LATEST SVUSD COMMUNICATIONS
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Newest Edition of "Mr. Solorzano's Neighborhood"
Dated April 6, 2020
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"April 10 Instructional Day Announcement" (April 9, 2020)
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Community Information and Links
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Community Leaders Join to Launch Broad-Based Coalition For Food Security
Sonoma Valley Looking For Community Volunteers
For more, follow @SonomaValleyTogether on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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If you are looking for supplemental curriculum or programs for your students at home, please
click here
to go to our
Homeschool Resources page
on our website for links to some high quality, comprehensive educational resources.
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for supporting our students during
this challenging time!
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