09.10.18

Superintendent Message – September 10, 2018

  • Welcome everyone! We are two weeks away from Fall Break! Time has flown by!
  • September is School Safety Month. It’s also the theme for September’s Leadership magazine published by the Association of California School Administrators. The very first article is titled, “A comprehensive approach to school safety.” Its authors are John Czajkowski, Sonia Picos, and Manny Rubio. Excellent article written by our district safety team. Perfect timing since Monday and Tuesday is our 7th Annual School Safety and Security Training.
  • This past weekend all our middle schools participated in the 3rdAnnual Solar Sprint Competition. We had 182 students involved and besides the solar power from the sun, there was lots of adolescent energy generated, too. Thank you hosts CVM,Principal Julio Alcala, organizers Leo Ulloa, STEAM Coordinator and Jose Vargas, AP-MoM and Trustee Segura.Kudos to the following MS advisors: BVM – Lia Abundes; CPM– Melissa Rains; CVM – Gina Saclauso-Caro; ELM – Tara Taylor; GJ – Adan Escobedo; HM – Daniel Rojas/Raul Flores; MVA – Alicia Jojal; MoM – Sara Chai; NCM – Jose Valles; RDR – Joe Kelleher; SoM – Erin Barron. Three categories of competition: 1st Place for Speed – SoM; 1st Place for Creativity – CPM; 1st Place for Engineering – CVM. Fun was had by all!
  • Last week MoH hosted our annual College and Career Fair! Accolades to CCR Director Elaine Leano and Compact for Success Counselor Nancy Nieto. This year we had 59 universities represented including the Naval Academy and more than a dozen from out of state…..and 28 various industry trades. Close to 3000 students and families attended – our largest number yet! Thanks to Montgomery’s staff who exerts a lot of effort to prepare for this amazing event!
  • Our Middle School Athletics League is full speed ahead! We have all our middle schools and 8 schools from our feeder districts. This season athletes participate in flag football, softball, baseball, cross-country, cheer, first ever tennis tournament. Hundreds of student athletes, lots of parent support, and many dedicated staff serving as coaches.
  • A year ago our Board approved an update on Board Policy 3405 – Fraud Prevention. In this policy the Board “recognizes it has a fundamental legal, ethical, and moral duty to protect all district assets as part of the district’s primary institutional mission…” In May 2018, our Board approved a new regulation – AR 3405 Fraud Prevention. The regulation describes a new Fraud Prevention Hotline process. This hotline allows anonymous reports to be made by phone or online.
    • The hotline will go live on September 11th. We will be sending information to all employees tomorrow with the phone number and link on our district’s website homepage. Once the district’s third party provider receives a written or verbal complaint, a report will be generated and forwarded to the chief compliance officer and the internal auditor. The internal audit department will investigate all complaints received related to fraud.
    • All employees are asked to be on the alert for any indication of fraud, financial impropriety, or irregularity with their area of responsibility. Any employee who suspects an irregularity shall immediately report those suspicions to a supervisor or superintendent’s office. And, the fraud hotline is the method employees or community members can anonymously report any suspicions.
    • This is another way our Board and district leadership is working to provide transparency across the district. I want to thank Frances Martinez – Internal Auditor andVernon Moore – Chief Compliance Officer for their work to get the Fraud Hotline up and running.
  • As we approach the final two weeks of this quarter, I want to thank all staff for the thoughtfulness, planning, and consideration you have given in educating each student’s heart and mind! And, that you make concerted efforts to share and invite your colleague’s partnership as well as look for ways to improve relationships with each other. I’d like to talk about partnerships and circles.
    • The purpose of a partnership is to create something greater than we can create alone; not because of any deficiency or incompleteness in us, but because each of us is unique, with our own talents and abilities. In partnerships with each other, we increase the efforts and talents available for creating something meaningful – together! These partnerships can be powerful relationships for personal growth, too.
    • Tonight, you are going to hear a presentation on where we are in becoming a restorative district. One of the practices our staff across the district is using is called restorative circles. There are many reasons why a gathering of people in a circle is powerful. A circle is a shape that is found repeatedly throughout our world. Being in a circle allows us to experience each other as equals. Each person is the same distance apart from the next person, and no one is seated higher than or stands apart from others in the circle. When a group of people come together in a circle, they are united. Because a circle has no beginning and no end, the agreement to connect in a circle allows energy to circulate from one person to the next.
    • People who take part in a circle find that their power increases exponentially while with the group. Like a drop of water rippling on the surface of a pond, the waves of energy produced in a circle radiate outward in circular motion – a circle of people is like a satellite dish that sends out that energy.
    • There is power in numbers, and when the commitment is made by many to face one another and focus on one intention, their circle emanates ripples of energy that can change the world.