NVUSD News

Last year Redwood Middle School received the 2022 Youth Garden Grant from Kids Gardening, and this year our inaugural gardening class is off and running! Students are building new raised beds, replanting the garden area, and will be creating an on-site composting system!

Recently, Napa Register reporter, Jennifer Huffman, visited the new garden class at Redwood Middle School to see what RMS students are learning. Read all about her experience in the story Napa students get to work - in the garden.

We distributed a new edition of our Family eNewsletter today; read it wherever you receive your ParentSquare messages or click here. 

What did you have for lunch today?

Chicken pozole!

BBQ chicken drumsticks!

Bean and cheese pupusas!

Carnitas burrito!

…and a favorite, beef hamburgers!

Students across the Napa Valley Unified School District started this school year with access to free, hot lunches prepared using the “scratch” cooking model. This means that NVUSD lunches are prepared with fresh, raw, local ingredients and only incorporate premade or precooked items when necessary.

This is explained in more detail in the image below.

This is possible due to recent facility improvements such as the construction of the central kitchen, finishing kitchens at individual school sites, and partnerships with organizations such as the Chef Ann Foundation. As NVUSD’s scratch cooking program evolves, more and more meals will be made exclusively from scratch, not just “speed scratch.” These partnerships and facilities allow great things to happen and ensure more equitable outcomes for students in the lunchroom by offering appealing, palatable food that can be tailored to student's unique cultural backgrounds, better control of flavor and ingredients, meals that are healthier and more cost-effective (as economies of scale are realized), and meals that utilize locally sourced products. It’s a win-win. 

Here are some fun facts about our lunch program.

• NVUSD utilizes a speed scratch/scratch cooking model for lunch.

• Students are provided a daily vegetarian option at lunch and have access to a salad bar every day!

• Lunch is the focus of the central and finishing kitchens. 

• All produce served is fresh and 98 percent comes from California.

• Food is procured locally whenever possible.

To learn more, check out the menu or visit the NOSH website.

The Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) recently launched its Breakfast in the Classroom program, allowing all TK-12th grade students the opportunity to eat a free, nutritious breakfast each school day after the bell has rung. While breakfast has been offered for some students, this program ensures all students have access to the morning meal and does not require them to arrive at school early.

McPherson Elementary School Principal Troy Knox has noticed the positive impact. He shares, “In just the first few weeks of this school year, I have already seen an increase in student attention, fewer behavior issues, and better attitudes because students are provided a healthy, nutritious meal to start their day. Plus, I have not made any trips this year to a grocery store to make sure I had enough snacks for students.” 

West Park Elementary Principal Katelyn Bennett shares similar sentiments, “We were nervous at first. Change can be hard, but our community rose to the occasion. Students and teachers can now be found in their classroom or outside on a beautiful day eating breakfast while they participate in community circle time or other aspects of their morning routine. What’s most surprising is now almost every student is eating every morning! Students are getting the fuel they need to learn.”

California is the first state in the nation to pass free universal meals. This state mandate coupled with a strong commitment from NVUSD resulted in this research-backed program, one that will only continue to be finetuned and evolved to best serve our students.

So, wondering what’s for breakfast tomorrow? Visit the NOSH website to learn more about our meal program and future meal offerings.

There are many ways a school community works together to keep its students, faculty, and staff safe and supported. Beyond providing the necessary physical infrastructure and training, NVUSD cares for its students through a multifaceted social-emotional framework. This framework helps create an environment where students are seen, known, and cared for. As we near the end of September and suicide awareness month, the importance of being known feels more crucial than ever. Here are a few ways our schools have successfully built on this framework to educate and support students.

Napa High School Counselor Wendy Sommers shared, “In our high school, counseling teams found creative ways to share information on mental health, managing stress, and suicide prevention and provided this content for teachers to use in their classrooms during intervention blocks.” A similar age-appropriate tact was also taken at middle schools during student advisory periods. At that time, counselors and teachers shared ways for students to communicate concerns with trusted adults so resources could be made available before, during, and after a difficult situation. Many NVUSD middle and high schools also hung informative student-centered posters around their campuses, such as the poster you see here. At the elementary level, teachers and counselors helped facilitate mindfulness of emotions lessons that incorporated TOOLBOX resources and then shared additional information with parents in the school newsletter. This work bolstered existing programs such as the BEST (Building Effective Schools Together) program in elementary schools and the Second Step program in elementary and middle schools. 

Together NVUSD’s principals, teachers, nurses, counselors, social workers, and therapists provide our students with a solid social-emotional framework, one with meaningful learning that cascades through grade levels. 

Read about the many ways NVUSD keeps its community safe here.

We distributed a new edition of our Family eNewsletter today; read it wherever you receive your ParentSquare messages or click here. 

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We distributed a new edition of our Family eNewsletter today, read it wherever you receive your ParentSquare messages or click here. 

Earlier this month, the Napa Valley Unified School District’s Operational Services team celebrated the completion of its first summer internship program. Three NVUSD high school students worked with the Maintenance and Operations and Transportation Services departments on real-world projects including the installation of new HVAC/electrical units in schools, maintenance of equipment, and installation of a bus camera system, to name a few. According to Maintenance Director Albert DeSousa Jr., a common theme emerged over the eight-week program, that of great learners. “All our interns were great learners.”

The summer intern program was developed in collaboration with The Napa Valley Education Foundation and NVUSD’s Student Support Department and supported by Work Based Learning Specialist Amber Cleveland. Amber shared, “We were grateful to offer this amazing opportunity to our NVUSD students. This paid work-based program merged their interests with real-world experiences. This was just one more way we prepare our students to be career and college ready!” 

The student interns reported to work daily and partnered directly with NVUSD staff. Staff members helped educate the interns on different equipment types and how to use the equipment, and then provided direction and support as projects were underway. The collaborative aspect was special, shared DeSousa. “It was a great teaching opportunity all around. Usually, teaching happens in the classroom and maintenance and operations are typically in the background. This program changed that dynamic and we enjoyed the opportunity to interact with students.”

Director of Transportation Justin Binion elaborated, “Although we had work to get done each day, we wanted to understand the interests and goals of our interns so we set some goals around what our interns wanted to learn. Myron, our Transportation Services Intern, wanted to take ownership and install a camera system so he worked directly with the mechanics in our shop and ended up installing a camera system in one of our buses. Seeing him accomplish his goals, and his excitement and eagerness to learn were immensely gratifying. He was a great addition to our team.”

Myron continued, “What inspired me to set goals for myself was that I would see and hear the other bus drivers on goals they wanted to complete over the summer. I want to set goals now and when I meet those goals, I want to set new ones and then meet those!”

Beyond the on-the-job learning, instruction was also scaffolded into the program through a weekly workshop where students learned resume-building techniques, about local opportunities at colleges and trade schools, and other transferable skills directly from professionals. (For some, this work even resulted in course credit from Napa Valley College.) Both DeSousa and Binion agree that the internships were a true success, one that allowed “three great kids, great learners, to get their hands into real work.”

Napa kids head back to school for 2022-2023 academic year--Read Jennifer Huffman's interviews with students on the first day of school at McPherson Elementary School and view Nick Otto's photos of students on their way to class at McPherson Elementary on the first day.