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Parent/Guardian Message
Dear SMJUHSD Students and Parents/Guardians, I hope this message finds you doing well. It has been five weeks since the start of the new school year. The best part of course is that our students are back on campus. I am grateful to our staff for their efforts to maintain a safe learning environment for our students. Our students also play a major role in the school environment by adhering to health and safety protocols - thank you for your cooperation! I want to provide you with a summary of information shared at last week’s Board Meeting, which you can also view on the recorded videos posted on our district website at this link : COVID testing of 2505 students and 244 staff has identified 33 students and 6 staff who have tested positive since the start of the school year across all of our schools. We are hosting vaccination clinics for students and their families at each of our school sites starting at the end of the school day as indicated below. September 16 @ ERHS September 23 @ SMHS September 30 @ PVHS TBD @ Delta HS All employees will be required to provide proof of COVID vaccination or test weekly starting on October 18. End-of-year 2021 data indicates that we made positive growth last year in several areas, including graduation rates, college eligibility (A-G), summer school attendance, state seal of biliteracy, and reclassification of multilingual learners. This is all especially exciting, given that we were in a remote or hybrid learning model the entire year. Our School Board made a commitment to adopt a new district logo that reflects our district’s vision and mission. The process and timeline for going about this change, to include student and staff input, will be brought back to the board later this year. The process has begun to move our board elections from at-large to trustee areas. There will be several public hearings on the topic at the forthcoming Board meetings through January. Detailed information will be posted on our website in the very near future. Have a good rest of the week and thank you for your continued support. Gratefully, Antonio Garcia Superintendent Santa Maria Joint Union High School District
Tuesday, Sep 21 2021
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Parent Advisory Committee meeting Thursday, Septembe...
Dear Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Parents, Guardians, and Students, Good evening and I hope all of you are well. You are invited to the District Parent Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, September 23, 2021, starting at 6:30 PM, presented in English and Spanish with Mixteco interpretation available. The meeting takes place at the Santa Maria High School Cafeteria. Food served at 6:00 PM. The Parent Advisory Committee plays a critical role in developing the District's Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). This month's meeting focuses on the Local Control Accountability Plan and the input on the District's Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) Plan. To access the 2021-2024 LCAP Plan, please hold the control button and click on the bold LCAP. This will take you to the District website, where you will access the LCAP plan in English. We look forward to your engagement. Below are ZOOM links for the meeting: PAC Agenda Introductions Local Control Accountability Plan Process Local Control Accountability Plan 2021-24 / ESSER III Plan Parent engagement activity Budget Overview 2021-22 school year Follow-up questions and dialogue Thank you, Steve Molina, Director of Student Services 805-878-8136
Tuesday, Sep 21 2021
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Social Media Warning
Destructive Social Media Challenge September 15, 2021 Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Families, This email is regarding a new social media trend greatly affecting our high schools, the “Devious Licks” challenge, but also referred to as the “Tik Tok Bathroom Challenge.” This new social media trend encourages students to “lick” or vandalize and steal items from their school. The bigger the item, the bigger the brag or “Devious Lick”. Items such as soap dispensers, fixed hand sanitizers, fire alarms from walls, teacher’s keys, urinals, computer monitors, and school security vehicles are being stolen and vandalized to post to video-sharing apps, such as Tik Tok or Snapchat, using various hashtags, including #deviouslicks. This week alone our high schools have had thousands of dollars worth of damage done by acts of vandalism to their facilities, mostly to our student restrooms. Damage done to restrooms often requires us to close that facility for repairs, unfairly harming all students that need to use that facility during the day. In response to this, we are increasing surveillance of our campuses, and reviewing all camera footage for responsible parties. These are very serious offenses, and if a student is found to be damaging school property, stealing, vandalizing, or being in possession of stolen school items (including people’s personal belongings), the district will: Take appropriate disciplinary action. In accordance with Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 5144, students may lose school privileges for the remainder of the school year, such as participation in athletics or other extracurricular groups, clubs, school dances, and activities. File charges, per California Penal Code 594PC Vandalism and 484PC Petty Theft. Stolen property valued at $950 or more is a felony in California. Seek restitution for the stolen and damaged items from the student or their parent/guardian(s). The typical cost to replace soap dispensers and urinals can run from $500-$2,000. We ask that you help us put a stop to this by talking with your student about the serious consequences of participating in this destructive trend that involves stealing or damaging school property. We also encourage parent/guardian(s) to monitor their students’ social media activity, as these types of social media challenges tend to involve risky behaviors. Unfortunately, students do not typically realize the serious consequences or threats to the safety of others these trends pose. Thank you for your assistance in helping to put a stop to this in our school community. SMJUHSD
Friday, Sep 17 2021
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By-Trustee-Area Elections
September 14, 2021 Parents/guardians, staff, and all other stakeholders of the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, In April 2018, the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Education approved a resolution that began the process of moving to "by-trustee-area" elections. Up to now, our school district has had "at large" elections in which all district voters cast ballots for every seat on the board. By-trustee-area elections would subdivide the district into "trustee areas," with voters casting ballots only for the seat representing their designated area. By-trustee-area elections would put the district in compliance with the California Voting Rights Act. Trustee areas would be formed utilizing forthcoming data from the 2020 Census. We will be discussing the process at our school board meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. and invite you to join by clicking on the following link: English: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvPYs34lm9hOdAwgfi-gDGg Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvPOf03ekQDsiYfv60Ffbfg Mixteco: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviEi9hvcQl96poD0PDiSIA If you are unable to attend, the recorded board meeting will be posted on our district website ( http://www.smjuhsd.k12.ca.us ) within 24 hours.
Tuesday, Sep 14 2021
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SMJUHSD Public Service Announcement
SMJUHSD Public Service Announcement September 10, 2021 The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District would like to remind students, parents, teachers, and staff that staying home when sick with COVID-19 is essential and will help continue to keep infections out of the school environment and prevent the spread to others. In recognizing the number of positive cases among students and staff has been extremely low in relation to our total population, we nonetheless want to prevent ANY spread of cases, especially when preventable. Students and staff should stay home from SMJUHSD campuses if they: have symptoms of COVID-19 are waiting on test results have tested positive per guidelines from the SBPHD and CDC are identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive or if someone they live with is close contact and has symptoms or tests positive. The most common symptoms are fever, dry cough, and tiredness, but COVID-19 affects different people in different ways. For more information, please visit: https://publichealthsbc.org/ The District Office has coordinated vaccination clinics at Santa Maria High School, Pioneer Valley High School, and Ernest Righetti High School. Students who would like the vaccination must complete the consent form attached in the post and provide a driver's license/school ID. Please refer to the following schedule below with the registration link: Date School Location Notes/Accommodations Thursday, September 16, 2021 Ernest Righetti High School, 941 E. Foster Rd., Santa Maria, CA 93455 Cafeteria Student vaccinations start time at 2:00 PM for ERHS students only. Parents/Guardians/Siblings start time at 3:30 PM. https://kordinator.mhealthcoach.net/vcl/1631283428661 Thursday, September 23, 2021 Santa Maria High School, 901 S. Broadway, Santa Maria, CA 93454 Ethel Pope Student vaccinations start time at 2:00 PM for SMHS students only. Parents/Guardians/Siblings start time at 3:30 PM. https://kordinator.mhealthcoach.net/vcl/1631289556218 Thursday, September 30, 2021 Pioneer Valley High School, 675 Panther Drive, Santa Maria, CA 93454 Cafeteria Student vaccinations start time at 2:00 PM for PVHS students only. Parents/Guardians/Siblings start time at 3:30 PM. https://kordinator.mhealthcoach.net/vcl/1631289729731 Kenny Klein SMJUHSD Public Information Officer kklein@smjuhsd.org 805 709-1454
Monday, Sep 13 2021
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Free Rapid Antigen and PCR Testing!
To: Students, Parents, Staff, Families Subject: Free Rapid Antigen and PCR Testing! To help the district with the safety and health of our students, staff, and their families, we have partnered with the California Department of Public Health to offer COVID-19 testing for students and staff with a target of reducing time away from class and the work site due to quarantine or isolation. If a student or staff member reports a positive COVID-19 test to the district, they will be asked several questions to help the contact tracing in determining if they had close contact (inside of 6 feet, for longer than 15 minutes, in a 24-hour period within 48 hours of the positive test or exhibiting symptoms) with any student(s) or staff member(s). If a student or staff member is determined to be a close contact with an individual who has tested positive, they will be notified and asked to take an Antigen Rapid Test at the site. If consent is given, the individual will be tested and the results available after 15 minutes. If a positive test results, a follow-up confirmatory PCR test will be offered as well. County Public Health guidance will be followed when determining if isolation or quarantine is warranted. This testing is through Primary.Health and has already begun with sites contacting parents and guardians to get verbal consent if their student has had a close contact with a positive testing individual. To help with reducing the time required to test, we are requesting each student and staff member register for testing. To get started, please pre-register for testing by clicking this link: https://my.primary.health/l/santa_maria_jusd You only need to register once, and each time you test, it will take no longer than 15 minutes to receive the results. All questions included in registration are required for California State public health reporting. Please note this program is free for all participants. Testing is not required but highly encouraged. Each school and work site will be testing students and staff as needed during the school day. If you need assistance with registration or have questions about the CA Rapid Antigen Testing Program, you can contact a call center representative Monday - Friday, 8 am - 5 pm PST at 650-275-5419. Please contact school site administration to get specific information regarding testing at the school site. Thank you for helping us stay safe and prevent outbreaks! Kevin Platt Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources
Friday, Aug 20 2021
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Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT 300 N. San Antonio Road • Santa Barbara, CA 93110 (805) 681-5102 • FAX (805) 681-5191 www.countyofsb.org Dear Parents, The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department is excited to see students and staff return to in-person learning. Thank you for your ongoing understanding and support as we continue to navigate these challenging times with the demands and stresses that COVID-19 has made us face as a community and a nation. We know we can count on you to move forward and help the students achieve their academic, social, health, and wellness goals. Schools will do all they can to keep students safe as they return to in-person instruction and after-school programs, but they also need your help to ensure a safe return. While our schools are taking full precautions to keep everyone safe at school and limit the spread of COVID as much as possible, please know that there are other infectious diseases, such as measles and chickenpox, which can impact our schools. We need all children to be up to date on their shots. This will keep other preventable and dangerous diseases from spreading in the schools. Please call your child’s physician today to get your child caught up on recommended, required, or missed vaccinations. If your child is 12 years or older, ask their physician about how to receive the COVID-19 shot. Physicians are taking the extra steps to keep you and your family safe. For more information about school immunization requirements, visit the Shots for School website: www.shotsforschool.org, contact your child’s physician, school nurse or the Public Health Department Immunization Program at www.sbcphd.org/iz . Thank you in advance for helping to keep our schools, teachers, staff, and community safe. With gratitude, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department Immunization Program
Monday, Aug 09 2021
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Parent Advisory Committee
Dear Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Parents, Guardians, and Students, Good evening and I hope all of you are well. You are invited to the District Parent Advisory Committee meeting on Monday, May 24, 2021, starting at 6:00 PM, presented in English with Spanish and Mixteco interpretation available. On Tuesday, May 25, 2021, our District Parent Advisory meeting will begin at 6:00 PM, presented in Spanish with English and Mixteco interpretation. The Parent Advisory Committee plays a critical role in developing the District's Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The focus of this month's meeting will be a special guest, Superintendent, Antonio Garcia. Superintendent Garcia will join us in the rich dialogue on the questions that have been developed by parents. To access the 2021-2024 LCAP Plan draft, please hold the control button and click on the bold LCAP. This will take you to the District website, where you will have access to the LCAP plan in English. The draft of the plan will be available on Monday, May 24, 2021. We look forward to your engagement. Below are ZOOM links for the meeting: ENGLISH : Monday, May 24, 2021, PAC Meeting at 6:00 PM https://smjuhsd-org.zoom.us/j/87017701735 SPANISH: Tuesday, May 25, 2021, PAC Meeting at 6:00 PM https://smjuhsd-org.zoom.us/j/82818674760 PAC Agenda LCAP Questions for SMJUHSD Superintendent Garcia Local Control Accountability Plan (2021 – 2024) - Draft Other Business Thank you, Steve Molina, LCFF Task Force 805-878-8136
Saturday, May 22 2021
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Parent and Student Message from Superintendent Garcia
Dear SMJUHSD Students and Parents/Guardians, I hope you and your family are doing well. This message serves as an update to last week’s communication on our reopening plan for this spring. Earlier this week I met with school, district and Santa Barbara County Public Health Department officials, to evaluate the possibility of bringing additional students back on campus for in-person hybrid instruction in a safe manner before the end of the school year. We have been closely monitoring the current rollout of the hybrid program for seniors, county and local COVID data, and input from multiple teachers, staff, parents, and students to be able to provide a thoughtful recommendation to the Board of Education. The Board of Education will hold a special meeting on May 3 at 5:30 pm to consider and potentially take action on this matter. I will provide you with an update as soon as possible after the Board meeting. In the meantime, I urge you to continue to practice safety protocols with fidelity. Thank you for your understanding as we continue to balance the priorities of safety and learning on behalf of our students and staff. Gratefully, Antonio Garcia Superintendent
Thursday, Apr 29 2021