SVUSD eNewsletter
April 14, 2023
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Patriots of both past and present joined together at de Portola elementary for an awesome week in celebrating the 50th year of their school. Many activities throughout the week culminated in a student-led assembly with guest speakers, poets, and singers ranging from current students and staff to the MVHS pep squad to city officials and several former faculty members. About 500 families joined together in a community picnic later in the afternoon, with many connections being strengthened and new relationships being formed.
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Fourth District PTA Recognizes
SVUSD Teacher and PTA Unit
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Mission Viejo High School Boys Varsity Volleyball Team Wins League Title |
Congratulations to MVHS Boys Varsity Head Coach Ryan Thurlow, Assistant Coach Mark Metrakos and MVHS student-athletes for capturing the league title at home vs. Dana Hills. This is the 2nd league title for boys’ volleyball in MVHS history, first in 2019 and now 2023. The team is currently 9-0, another first for the MVHS volleyball team to go undefeated! Go Diablos! |
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Melinda Heights Student Finalist
in National Geography Bee
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Congratulations to Ritvik Swamanathan, a stellar sixth grader at Melinda Heights Elementary. Ritvik is a finalist in the National Geography Bee and will be traveling to Arlington, VA to compete against students from throughout the USA. His incredible scores during his qualifying rounds have made him eligible to compete in the International Geography Bee in Ecuador in 2024. Ritvik has been studying geography for three years and this year learned all 197 flags of the world! |
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Trabuco Hills HS Wrestler Places 2nd at Nationals |
Trabuco Hills High School Varsity Wrestler, Kylee Golz, placed 2nd at the NHSCA Virginia Nationals. Kylee went into the tournament unseeded and successfully became an "All American" and National Finalist! Congratulations, Kylee! |
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School News
Roll Call
April Edition
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The April 2023 Edition of the School News Roll Call magazine is now available! Read highlights from each of our schools and departments. |
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SVUSD Visual and Performing Arts |
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Trabuco Hills High School Chamber Choir
The THHS Chamber Choir performed at the CMEA (California Music Educator's Association) California State Choral Festival on March 31, 2023. Applications were open to all high school level choral ensembles throughout the state of California. Of all who applied, seven were selected to perform as an adjudicated performance based off of previous year's recordings and their program's philosophy and history. Congratulations THHS Choir!
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Mission Viejo High School Choir
Congratulations to MVHS Chamber Singers & Treble Choir for placing 2nd and 3rd (respectively) in their divisions AND Chamber for taking Sweepstakes at WorldStrides Nashville! In addition to their choral performance, students were able to soak in all that greater Nashville had to offer, including Vanderbilt University, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the current Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, RCA Studio B, the Civil War Battlefields in Franklin, and the Hermitage (home of President Andrew Jackson), students continued their educational knowledge that spanned far beyond the classroom!
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Trabuco Hills High School Instrumental Music
THHS Music and ETHS Music both performed wonderfully at the 10th Annual Orange County Philharmonic Society Orchestra Invitational on March 27th. Only seventeen of the top Orchestras from Orange County are invited to this prestigious event. Congratulations to our talented musicians in SVUSD
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Trabuco Hills High School IB Unified Club Performs for Special Olympics
Southern California Board Members
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On Thursday, March 30th, eight students from Trabuco Hills High School's IB Unified Club performed scenes from It's Our School, Too!, a play written by Special Olympics, in front of more than 40 Special Olympics Southern California Board Members at the Laguna Hills Community Center. It's Our School, Too! focuses on inclusion, interactions, and difficult situations students with and without disabilities face in schools. IB Unified is an inclusive club on Trabuco Hill's campus led by IB students Hannah Lim and Anya Thakar, where students in the foundational program and students in the International Baccalaureate program meet monthly for arts, crafts, activities, and socialization. Students in IB Unified focus on connection, growth, and friendship between students with and without disabilities. Under the direction of Trabuco Hill High School's IB Coordinator, Lindsay Casserly and Special Education Teacher, Kara Johnson, IB Unified connects over 40 students with and without disabilities and continues to grow each year.
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2023-2024 School Year Bus Pass
Application Sales Window Opens Soon!
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RSM Intermediate (New Process): May 11 - June 1
Linda Vista, San Joaquin, La Paz: May 11 - June 8
New Information for RSM Bus Passes!
Due to high demand, the 23-24 RSM Bus Passes will be assigned by a random lottery process. Applications shall be submitted online during a three-week window, May 11 – June 1, then will be randomly selected to receive the passes until all seats are filled. Applicants who do not receive a pass in the lottery will be placed on the waiting list.
Linda Vista, San Joaquin, La Paz Bus Passes
Linda Vista, San Joaquin, and La Paz Bus Passes will continue to be processed on a first come, first served basis.
Price
Full fare bus passes $572
Reduced fare bus passes $286
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La Paz Intermediate School
International Festival & Marketplace
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This is a fun family cultural event sponsored by La Paz STPO to promote
diversity, inclusion, and cultural heritage in our community through
education, music, dance and food.
Este es un evento cultural con entretenimiento familiar, patrocinado por La Paz STPO para promover la diversidad, la inclusion y el patrimonio cultural en nuestra comunidad a traves de la educacion, musica, la danza y la comida.
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Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Meeting
May 24, 2023, 5:00 pm
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Please don’t miss our next CAC meeting on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 5:00 pm. We will be holding our elections for voting members and executive board members There are open positions for SVUSD and LBUSD parents to join the team. We need you! If you are interested in joining the group as a voting member, please visit our webpage or go directly to the CAC Participation Application. We are meeting at Laguna Hills High School and we also offer a Zoom option. A map of the school site and Zoom information can also be found under the “Meetings” accordion on the CAC webpage. We hope you can join us!
If you are wondering what the South Orange County SELPA Community Advisory Committee is all about . . . the purpose of our Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is to improve and promote communication between schools, parents, and public agencies to increase community awareness, facilitate parent education and support, and to coordinate activities on behalf of children with exceptional needs. All are welcome to come to any CAC meeting, as well as, joining the CAC as members.
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Take in the sights and sounds of the Kinder Connection Center at Rancho Cañada Elementary School, where kindergarten students are getting extra time to socialize, be creative, and just be kindergartners! |
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Amira Hana Named 2023 OC Classified Employee of the Year Finalist |
Congratulations to Amira Hana, Melinda Heights Elementary’s fabulous playground assistant. Amira was selected by the Orange County Department of Education as the 2023 Orange County Classified Employee of the Year finalist in the area of Security Services. This honor is based upon her work performance, leadership, dedication, and involvement with her school and community. Amira is eligible to compete for honors through the California Department of Education.
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Kathy Martin ACSA Region 17 Elementary Principal of the Year |
Congratulations to Kathy Martin, principal of Melinda Heights Elementary! Mrs. Martin was selected by ACSA (Association of School Administrators) Region 17 as the recipient of the 2023 Elementary Principal of the Year. Being selected by her peers is a high honor that recognizes her exemplary leadership and dedication to her students, staff, community, and colleagues. One of her SVUSD colleagues that nominated her noted that Kathy “does an excellent job of building up all around her. She celebrates strengths, brings joy to every situation, and has a focus on community and academic rigor.” We agree!
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The safety of our students and staff is a primary focus for SVUSD. We maintain extensive safety resources on our website for our community. Resources are updated on a regular basis and include information and resources on emergency operations, wellness, cyber security, communication, environmental safety, firearm safety, and more. We invite you to remain informed and become our partner in keeping our schools safe by regularly visiting SVUSD’s Safety Resources webpage.
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Melinda Heights Students Raise Money for India |
Fifth grade classes at Melinda Heights Elementary joined with a school in New Zealand to read the book, Thirst. As they Zoomed with other fifth graders from across the ocean, they were moved by the fact there is little clean water in India. The students at Melinda Heights wanted to do something to help. They spent time with their teachers talking about acts of service and committed to raising the money to have a clean water well built in India. Students conducted bake sales and car washes to raise the money themselves. They are continuing to bring in donations to help with longevity of the well. Melinda Heights students are learning what it means to truly think globally!
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Montevideo Chooses to Include |
Montevideo Elementary's Choose to Include Spirit Week lives on in the hearts and minds of our students and staff. They are taking the month to share read alouds that cover topics such as loving our differences and similarities, including everyone, stories about characters with various challenges, and more. Additionally, the students have embraced Unified Recess and playground friendships abound!
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RSM Students Learn Through Food |
At Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate School, teacher Sharon McKeague’s Foods class is a popular VAPA choice for students. It is no wonder – incorporating multiple subject areas into lessons makes learning meaningful and fun! The photos are great examples of students gaining practical skills in the kitchen while learning about leavening agents, then putting baking soda and baking powder to the test in their buttermilk biscuit cooking lab.
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Proposition 28
Proposition 28, also known as “The Arts and Music in Schools - Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act" passed in November of 2022. This measure offers an annual guarantee of funding for dance, media arts, music, theater, and various types of visual arts (including photography, craft arts, computer coding, and graphic design). School districts have three years to spend the funds received and will continue to receive annual distributions.
This measure requires that districts utilize 80% of the funds to employ arts education staff (certificated and/or classified) and 20% of the funds for the investment in training and materials.
County and statewide arts advocacy groups have advised school districts to gather data on their baseline, conduct an inventory of arts programs throughout their schools, and engage in strategic arts planning to better prepare for this new stream of funding as we all await accountability guidelines from the CDE. SVUSD is encouraged that we are currently in a new strategic arts planning cycle for the development of our next five-year arts education plan. Within this process, we are data tracking and inventorying programs to collaboratively identify our goals for arts education in all included subjects and disciplines throughout our schools. Please keep tabs on our SVUSD VAPA webpage for updates throughout our planning process.
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Saddleback Valley Parent Teacher Association |
Help strengthen our community & make an impact by joining one or more of our SVUSD school PTAs. |
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Saddleback Valley Educational Foundation |
The Saddleback Valley Educational Foundation (SVEF) is dedicated to supporting SVUSD in our efforts to maintain a high quality educational program with a priority to impact STEM access for all students. Check out SVEF's website for programs, and contribution and volunteer opportunities. |
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Follow Us on Social Media for the Latest Updates |
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Superintendent
Dr. Crystal Turner
Board of Trustees
President
Barbara Schulman
Vice President
Dr. Edward Wong
Clerk
Suzie R. Swartz
Members
Amanda Morrell
Dan Walsh
Student Member of the Board
Kaitlyn Heinecke
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SVUSD WEBSITE QUICK LINKS
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Thank you for subscribing to the official Saddleback Valley Unified School District eNewsletter. We welcome your feedback, any news that can be shared with the community, and appreciate comments and suggestions. Contact the District Office directly with inquiries. Please do not reply to this e-mail as we are unable to respond to messages sent to this address.
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