Welcome to your one-stop hub for West Valley Distance Learning. Here you can drill down to specific teachers and teams of teachers in order to check updates on assignments and check in with staff so each student can follow an in-home learning program. Students should check their teacher's page each day.

8/7/2020

West Valley Families,

Welcome to the 2020-21 school year! As you likely already know, we’ll be starting our school year in distance learning and continuing in this format through December. Please read this very long letter -- my apologies -- to learn more about how we will begin the school year.

As disappointing as it is to not be together in person, distance learning is the challenge of the day and we are determined to provide excellent learning opportunities for our students. Many staff members volunteered their time over their summer break to work on committees to determine best practices for distance learning. I am proud of the commitment, collaboration and flexibility staff, students and parents have displayed since we transitioned to distance learning in March. These are the traits that will continue to serve us well during these challenging times.

Distance Learning Plan: The CUSD Board has agreed to remain in distance learning through the first semester, until January 8, 2021. This plan allows for many things that have been expressed by our community (students, staff, and parents):

• Structured daily and weekly schedules for students, with both synchronous and asynchronous learning everyday

• A robust distance learning program, with weekly opportunities for small group and/or one-on-one support

• Engaging distance learning content

• Consistency of program, school, and teacher

• Opportunities to build community in the school community where a student attends

• Adherence to the health and safety guidelines required by the County and State

Technology Requests: If your student is in need of a device or an internet hotspot, please let us know by completing the correct form below. We suggest that you have one dedicated device per student in your home. We will reach out to you once your device is ready to be picked up.

Request a Student Device

Request an Internet Hotspot

Student Nutrition Services: Please click here to view updates to our district’s nutrition services. CUSD will continue to provide meals to families who are in need.

Staff Updates: WELCOME to the following NEW staff members!

• Kshama Haladi - 5th grade

• Parul Gupta - 5th grade

• Divya Kananchery - Resource

Our fantastic 2020-21 classroom teaching staff is as follows:

Kinder: Erin Leary, Stephanie Chang, and Moira Kakes

1st: Sarita Burbank, Kathleen Erikson, and Audrey Shih

2nd: Lisa Okuno, Bridget Mercik, and Irene Peters

3rd: Rebecca Kirk, Kelyn Dewar, and Karolyn Koerner

4th: Sharon Ungerfeld, Natasha Adam, and Melanie (Mussett) Han

5th: Nicole Sivan, Kshama Haladi, and Parul Gupta

Resource: Divya Kananchery

What’s Next? The WV staff will be meeting early next week to determine the details of the beginning of the school year. Please expect further communication from me and/or your student’s teacher soon regarding daily schedules, class placements, material pick-up procedures, general expectations regarding school attendance, and more. Please make sure at least one parent has access to ParentVUE, as this is an important tool we use to communicate with parents/guardians.

Virtual Principal’s Coffee:

Principal’s Coffee has been a first day of school tradition at West Valley for quite some time, and I’m determined to continue that tradition this year, albeit virtually. Please join me on Thursday from 8:00-8:30AM for a quick Welcome to the New School Year message (meeting link/details will be emailed to parents and posted here on 8/12). This meeting is open to anyone who wants to attend (parents, students, and staff). If you have questions you would like me to address with our whole community, please submit them here by 8/11. I will likely not be able to answer all the questions that are submitted, but I will do my best to answer the most pertinent questions.

Reminders for August 13th: It’s the first day of school; it’s the due date for submitting your student’s opening day packet; Virtual Principal’s Coffee from 8:00-8:30AM.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!