The Mustang Messenger

I hope you are doing well. We have enjoyed celebrating The Great Kindness Challenge all week at Rancho Pico. Students made bookmarks, puzzles, decorated rocks, and completed acts of kindness.

As you are aware, the safety and well-being of our students is of the utmost importance to us. One of the things we do is lockdown drills. We had one on Thrusday, during a passing period and the students did a great job finding a classroom to shelter in place. These drills are designed to prepare our staff and students for the possibility of an intruder on campus.

Please talk to your students about school safety and remind them that if they see something, to say something. We have a many caring adults on campus fpr students to talk to and a CareLine program for students to report health and safety concerns.

Have a great weekend,

Catherine Nicholas, Ed.D.

If you would like to read our newsletter in a different language, you may translate it to your home language:

Step 1 - Click on the Translate button

This button can be found at the top of the emailed newsletter.

Step 2 - Access the Translation and ADA bar

On the right side of the newsletter, you'll see the ADA and Translation features. To translate your newsletter, click on the Translate button and choose your desired language.

February is Black History Month and students are encouraged to participate in the Black History Month Art Show. See flyer below. Students must use the QR Code to sign-up by February 3rd to participate. Submissions are due February 16th.

Thank you to our parents who came to our PAC Meeting and Forum on Drugs in our Community. Dr. Nicholas talked about employment opportunities in our district and shared grade and CAASPP data. Our PAC president, Mandy O'Connor, shared our upcoming Fundraising Campaign - "Bucks for Books and Band." There will be more information to follow.

We had 11 panel members from around SCV present on drugs and drug education in our community. It was incredibly informative. Please contact our counseling office for resources.

Mrs. Stoffel received the "Esteemed Conductor Award", presented by the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association for outstanding musical service to SCSBOA as the 2023 Elementary Honor Orchestra Conductor. Congratulations Mrs. Stoffel!

Students participated in activities in our wellness room and completed acts of kindness!

Thanks to our generous PAC (Parent Advisory Council) our students are able to check out games from our library to play outdoors. Our student library helpers will have a system in place to check the games in out of the library during lunch.

Thank you for your support PAC and the Rancho Pico Library!

The theme of the week is to build on relationships. The wellness theme for February is Relationship.

We are in need of parent volunteers every Wednesday during lunch to supervise the student store, where students can redeem their DASH tickets for various items.

Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up. Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050F4FA8AB2EA4FB6-student

Please view the District's guidelines on expired COVID test kits on this link.

Each quarter we analyze our grade data and take a close look at our students who received Ds and Fs. The grade of a D or F indicates that a student has not mastered all of the content standards and we look for ways we can support the students. Some examples of support are after school tutoring, in-school intervention, and student study teams.

Second quarter, Rancho Pico had 94 students who had one or more Ds or Fs. We had 36 students who failed a course. Below is the data broken down by ethnicity, gender, and student groups.

CJSF is an Honor Society based on academic achievement and community service. Spring membership is open to both 7th and 8th graders. Applications will be available February 1, but students can check if they qualify and start working on community service hours now. Please join the Google Classroom using code 5qs2gtl for details.

Every THURSDAY is Think Ahead Thursday. Students and staff are encouraged to wear college gear or a shirt or sweatshirt that represents a future aspiration. We will be asking for all students and staff who wear Think Ahead Thursday shirts to join us on the stage at brunch on Thursday for a photo for next week's newsletter!

The William S. Hart Union High School District prohibits unlawful discrimination against and/or harassment of any student, employee or job applicant on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, ancestry, religion, age, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, political affiliation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, sexual orientation, or any other basis prohibited by state and federal nondiscrimination laws respectively at any District site and/or activity. The William S. Hart Union High School District also provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. All inquiries regarding discrimination, civil rights, 504 complaints, Title II, and/or Title IX should be directed to Mark Crawford, Director of Human Resources, William S. Hart Union High School District, 21380 Centre Pointe Pkwy, Santa Clarita, CA 91350, or by phone (661) 259-0033, or by email: UCP@hartdistrict.org.