Mavericks Memo

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Upcoming Events

Family Communication

February 11, 2026

cup of coffee and notebook with brief written and a set of glasses

February 11, 2026

Dear Monroe Families,

I hope this message finds you well. Please check out our website at monroe.campbellusd.org for up-to-date information, as well as be on the lookout for our communication that comes out on Wednesdays every two weeks.  For a student perspective on school news, please check out the Monday Minutes, our weekly student broadcast.

 

Upcoming Events

  • February Break: There is no school from February 16th through 20th
  • PTA Goodwill Drive, March 1, from 9 AM to 2 PM
  • Cafecito- Teens and Social Media: March 4, from 8:30am-9:30am
  • Daylight Savings: March 8th clocks spring forward
  • No School: March 9th for a Teacher Professional Development Day

 

Reminders


Social media has become a powerful tool to make connections, keep up with friends and family long-distance, and keep up with content from various influencers. Still, its uses can go way beyond mindless scrolling. Healthy use of social media starts with purpose. Be mindful of the content you are watching and ask yourself: Is this inspiring? Am I learning something from this? Is this distracting me from an important task? Or: Is this causing me stress? Am I comparing myself to what I see on-screen? Am I spending the majority of my time online rather than doing other things? Staying aware of what you are watching and how many hours of the day you’re dedicating to watching can help you manage your time around staying productive, judging if the content you’re watching and leaving time for other activities offline, too.

 

Family and Community Engagement: 

  • Join us at our Spring Community Resource Fair on Saturday, March 28, 2026 from 10am-1pm, here at Monroe Middle School! We’re excited to bring together over 20 community organizations that have partnered with our school to support families through shared resources, wellness services, and community connections. Families can enjoy free health screenings, free haircuts for students, delicious food, music, and fun activities for all ages. Discover how our school and community work together to support your family! 

We can’t wait to see you there!

 

Principal's Corner

As we reach the midpoint of the school year, we want to take a moment to celebrate the incredible partnership we’ve built together. It has been a joy to see our community grow, and your involvement has been the key to that success.

To ensure we continue providing the best possible experience for your students, we invite you to share your thoughts in our Mid-Year Family Studer Survey.

Your input directly influences how we support our students. This year, your feedback has already helped us lean into some wonderful initiatives, including:

  • Increased Family Engagement: We loved seeing so many of you on campus for "Lunch with a Loved One," creating a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere for our students.
  • Student Ownership: Our recent Student-Led Conferences showcased the impressive growth and accountability our middle schoolers are developing.
  • Holistic Support: We’ve strengthened our Advisory periods, ensuring every student has a dedicated space for academic guidance and social-emotional support.

The information for the survey will be sent out this week.  

Health and Safety

Attendance

  • Report an absence, please call our 24-hour voicemail line at 408-341-7022 or monroe_attendance [at] campbellusd.org (when leaving a message or sending an email please let me know the student's first and last name, grade, and the reason for the absence)
  • For information regarding the CUSD Attendance policy please click here
  • ATTENDANCE MATTERS - REPORT STUDENT ABSENCES
    Students that are marked unexcused are unable to receive credit for assignments missed that day. If you call the school to verify your child’s absence with an allowed reason, your child can receive full credit for assignments missed that day. Please call the main office to report your child’s absence and refer to our student handbook for additional school policies.

Please review these important guidelines with your student to ensure a safe and healthy school year.

💊 Medication Policy and Procedures

For the safety of all students, we have strict rules regarding medication at school.

  • No Student-Carried Medication: Students are not permitted to carry any type of medication (including over-the-counter items like Tylenol or cough drops) in their backpacks or pockets.
  • Exception for Self-Administration: The only exception is if your student has a completed "Authorization for Student to Carry and Self-Administer" form on file, with both a doctor's signature and a parent/guardian signature. This form must be turned into the Health Office before the student carries the medication.
  • All Other Medication: All other prescribed or over-the-counter medications must be dropped off and stored in the Health Office and administered by Health Office staff, with a signed medication authorization form on file.

📞 Contacting School During Illness

If your student is feeling unwell, the Health Office must be the first point of contact.

  • Official Procedure: Students who are not feeling well must report to the Health Office. All necessary calls to parents/guardians will be made only by Health Office staff.
  • Safety and Checkout: This ensures proper student safety, guarantees your student is logged out correctly, and provides official documentation of their illness and departure time.
  • Cell Phones: Students are not permitted to contact parents from their personal cell phones during school hours if they are feeling sick. Please discuss this policy with your child to ensure they know to report directly to the Health Office.

🍴🚚 Reminder About Deliveries to Students 

  • If your child forgot an item that they need for the day, then you can drop the item off in our main office for them to come pick up during a break or during the lunch period. Staff members cannot deliver the items to the student, and we want to avoid interruptions to instruction time. Thank you in advance for your understanding.  This is a friendly reminder that Door Dash and food delivery programs  are not allowed on campus.  The office staff is not responsible for ensuring delivery of these items to your student.

Regards,

Ruth Stephens Radle                     

rstephensradle [at] campbellusd.org       

Principal

Pat Sieler 

psieler [at] campbellusd.org

Assistant Principal        

 

Laura Hammersmith

lhammersmith [at] campbellusd.org

Dean of Students

Campbell's Innovation Keeps District Ahead of Policy Makers

With 11 new changes to California Education Code in 2026, Campbell Union School District is once again a front runner in innovation and policy.

Students building with plastic cups

We are proud to be a district of innovation and effective policies.  As a result, many of the laws impacting TK-8 districts were already in place in Campbell USD. 

The five laws affecting TK-8 schools and districts are: cell phone restrictions; Trevor Project suicide prevention hotline number on the back of student dentifaction cards (7th grade and up); gender-neutrual bathrooms; phasing out ultra-processed foods in school meals; and prohibiting school staff from allowing immigration officers on campus or sharing student/family information.

In August of 2024, students at Rolling Hills and Monroe Middle Schools and middle school students at Campbell School of Innovation (CSI) began implementing Yondr pouches. Sherman Oaks implemented a phone locker system. Eliminating cell phone use allows students to focus on school and socializing without the distraction of their phones. By requiring students to use only our devices, we can assure safe technology features and filters.

Our Child Nutrition Department has been scratch cooking, sourcing organic meats and produce and using local farms well before the legislators implemented the new requirement. We are also implementing sustainability efforts of reducing plastic, other waste and increasing composting.

The district’s policies and protocols were in place before the California legislators required limitations on releasing student or family information to Immigration Enforcement officials. If ICE officers come to one of our campuses, our staff are trained in implementing protections for our students and their families and will only work with immigration authorities when proper warrants are provided.   

The new law states that schools that have more than one restroom facility per gender must designate a gender-neutral restroom with proper signage. While we have this present at our schools.  There is a requirement that it be an externally facing door, our facilities team is working with those school sites to adjust the new entry requirement for gender-neutral restrooms. We expect to meet the requirement without any major impact on our school campuses. Similarly, for the addition of the Trevor Project suicide prevention hotline number, the district will work with the photography contractor that provides our student identification cards. 

Innovation is one of the many attributes that makes Campbell a great place to learn and a great place to work.

Sustainable Support: Ensuring Mental Health and SEL Remain at the Heart of CUSD

Campbell Union School District maximizes statewide initiative to make social emotional learning sustainable.

Knowing that social emotional learning (SEL) is a key component to school success, the Campbell Union School District (CUSD) is transitioning to a sustainable funding model for its "whole child" approach - including mental health services, wellness centers, and social-emotional learning (SEL) - by participating in the statewide Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI).  

Thanks to the California legislation adopting CYBHI, here is what you can anticipate:

  • No Impact on Insurance Coverage: CUSD’s ability to bill the insurance companies will not affect a family’s insurance benefits, premiums, or deductibles. By state law, insurers are prohibited from passing these costs on to families.

  • No Impact on Outside Care: Receiving services at school does not reduce or limit a student’s ability to see their own private doctors or specialists outside of school.
  • No Out-of-Pocket Costs: Families will never be charged co-pays or fees for these school-based services.
  • No Interruption of Services: This change is strictly about how the district pays for staff and resources; it will not reduce the quality or availability of the support students currently receive.
  • Sustainability: Instead of relying on temporary grants, CUSD will use a third-party agency to bill insurance for services already being provided on campus.
  • Privacy First: The district will collect insurance information annually, but this data is used strictly for billing. It is protected by HIPAA and FERPA privacy laws and will not be shared.
  • Universal Access: A student will never be denied services if they do not have insurance or if a family chooses not to provide their information.

For additional information and resources, please visit https://www.campbellusd.org/cybhi

Your Voice Matters

We value your feedback. Please participate in our annual survey.

Banner photo announcing CUSD's annual survey

Yearly Campbell Union School District invites families, staff and students to participate in our district survey. The data collected from the survey is our north star for decision making at both the district and school site level. The family survey window is January 20 - February 6, 2026. The employee and student surveys opened on January 26th and will run through February 13, 2026. Third through eighth grade students will participate in the survey in their classrooms with the support of their teacher. Families were sent the survey link via ParentSquare on January 20th. If you have not received the link please email ask_us [at] campbellusd.org ()

Family Communication

January 21, 2026

cup of coffee and notebook with brief written and a set of glasses

January 21, 2026

Dear Monroe Families,

I hope this message finds you well. Please check out our website at monroe.campbellusd.org for up-to-date information, as well as be on the lookout for our communication that comes out on Wednesdays every two weeks.  For a student perspective on school news, please check out the Monday Minutes, our weekly student broadcast.

 

Upcoming Events

  • 8th Grade Families

    • The High School Districts will be sharing communication about their incoming 9th-grade student nights.  

      • Del Mar 1/22/26 at 6 PM

      • Westmont 1/27/26 at 6:30 PM

 

Reminders

Family and Community Engagement: 

  • Our next PTA meeting is January 21st at 7:00 PM in the Cafeteria.  We need your support with the following:

    • Winter Family Event

    • Staff Appreciation Week in May

    • 26-27 Board Positions

 

Principal's Corner

As we reach the midpoint of the school year, we want to take a moment to celebrate the incredible partnership we’ve built together. It has been a joy to see our community grow, and your involvement has been the key to that success.

To ensure we continue providing the best possible experience for your students, we invite you to share your thoughts in our Mid-Year Family Studer Survey.

Your input directly influences how we support our students. This year, your feedback has already helped us lean into some wonderful initiatives, including:

  • Increased Family Engagement: We loved seeing so many of you on campus for "Lunch with a Loved One," creating a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere for our students.

  • Student Ownership: Our recent Student-Led Conferences showcased the impressive growth and accountability our middle schoolers are developing.

  • Holistic Support: We’ve strengthened our Advisory periods, ensuring every student has a dedicated space for academic guidance and social-emotional support.

The information for the survey will be sent out this week.  

Health and Safety

Attendance

  • Report an absence, please call our 24-hour voicemail line at 408-341-7022 or monroe_attendance [at] campbellusd.org (when leaving a message or sending an email please let me know the student's first and last name, grade, and the reason for the absence)

  • For information regarding the CUSD Attendance policy please click here

  • ATTENDANCE MATTERS - REPORT STUDENT ABSENCES
    Students that are marked unexcused are unable to receive credit for assignments missed that day. If you call the school to verify your child’s absence with an allowed reason, your child can receive full credit for assignments missed that day. Please call the main office to report your child’s absence and refer to our student handbook for additional school policies.

Please review these important guidelines with your student to ensure a safe and healthy school year.

💊 Medication Policy and Procedures

For the safety of all students, we have strict rules regarding medication at school.

  • No Student-Carried Medication: Students are not permitted to carry any type of medication (including over-the-counter items like Tylenol or cough drops) in their backpacks or pockets.

  • Exception for Self-Administration: The only exception is if your student has a completed "Authorization for Student to Carry and Self-Administer" form on file, with both a doctor's signature and a parent/guardian signature. This form must be turned into the Health Office before the student carries the medication.

  • All Other Medication: All other prescribed or over-the-counter medications must be dropped off and stored in the Health Office and administered by Health Office staff, with a signed medication authorization form on file.

📞 Contacting School During Illness

If your student is feeling unwell, the Health Office must be the first point of contact.

  • Official Procedure: Students who are not feeling well must report to the Health Office. All necessary calls to parents/guardians will be made only by Health Office staff.

  • Safety and Checkout: This ensures proper student safety, guarantees your student is logged out correctly, and provides official documentation of their illness and departure time.

  • Cell Phones: Students are not permitted to contact parents from their personal cell phones during school hours if they are feeling sick. Please discuss this policy with your child to ensure they know to report directly to the Health Office.

Regards,

Ruth Stephens Radle                     

rstephensradle [at] campbellusd.org       

Principal

Pat Sieler 

psieler [at] campbellusd.org

Assistant Principal        

 

Laura Hammersmith

lhammersmith [at] campbellusd.org

Dean of Students