Monrovia Unified School District
Board of Education Meeting Highlights
November, 2021
State of the Schools
The Monrovia Unified Board of education delivered it’s 2021-2022 State of the Schools Address at MHS. Thank you to the nearly 100 community members who showed up to be a part of it! Highlights included how the District navigated COVID-19 and school closures; moving from virtual learning to hybrid learning; the return to in-person instruction; how MUSD has maintained a sound budget; expansion of student support systems; and school programs such as athletics, the arts, early college and more! Here is the showcase video shared at the end of the event: https://youtu.be/gKVyyBLxBcA
Recognitions
The Monrovia Unified Board of Education invited students from Mayflower Elementary School to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at its November 10, 2021 meeting, respectively. Deved Shalaby and Olivia Sobolewski did an amazing job starting off our Board meeting.
MUSD’s 2021 Teacher of the Year Kristin Ford received gifts, flowers and applause from the Board of Education, Personnel Commission and community members. The Board of Education held a joint meeting with the Personnel Commission to recognize Ford’s 19 years of excellent teaching at Monrovia High School. She continues to be one of the district’s most caring teachers for our students.
The Board of Education also recognized MHS students Matthew Hui, Kristoffer Kaufmann, and Andrew Smithwick, on being named "National Merit Scholarship Commended Students," by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). There are around 35,000 nationally recognized students for this award and Monrovia has three of them.
More than a dozen Monrovia High School students were celebrated for their excellent Advanced Placement(AP) test grades. The Board of Education congratulated the following students for being recognized as AP Scholars, AP Scholars with Honor, & AP Scholars with Distinction, by the National College Board. (Some students were unable to attend.)
AP Scholars:
- Valery Almeida, 12th grade - Luke Grebel, 12th grade
- Luca Ammon, 12th grade - Elizabeth Hutson, 12th grade
- Sarah Avalos, 12th grade - Ashley Jauregui, 12th grade
- Sophia Childers, 11th grade - Raymond Revilla, 12th grade
- Robert DeBetta, 11th grade - Matthew Rocha Torres, 12th grade
- Finn Espinoza, 12th grade - Ava Shechtman, 11th grade
AP Scholar With Honors:
- Alexander Lenz, 12th grade - Megan Ta, 12th grade
- Jane Neuman, 11th grade
AP Scholar With Distinction:
- Edward Feldman, 12th grade - Susann Martinez, 12th grade
- Matthew Hui, 12th grade - Andrew Smithwick, 12th grade
- Elizabeth Liu, 12th grade
The final recognition goes to the Johnson-Stavroulakis family for their donation of an outfield fence for Monrovia High School's softball field. The family is made up of former MHS alumni who wanted to give back to Monrovia Unified in a big way. The Board of Education gave a huge thank you to the family for their generous donation.
Actions Taken by the Board of Education
The Board of Education updated several policies related to student absences and truancy in order to comply with updates to California Education Code. To review these updates, visit Absences and Excuses and Chronic Absence and Truancy.
In a related matter, the Board of Education also adopted Board Policy 5112.5, Open Campus, as recommended by the California School Boards Association (CSBA) and in accordance with education code. This updated policy continues to allow 11th and 12th graders at Monrovia High School to leave campus for lunch, if they meet certain criteria. Students must maintain a positive attendance record and have at least a 3.0 grade point average to qualify. For more information click here.
Staff Presentations to the Board of Education
Assistant Superintendent Darvin Jackson presented the Personnel Commission’s Annual Report for 2020-2021 to the Board of Education. One of the report spotlights includes Lupe Davis, the Board of Education’s appointee, being reelected and sworn in on January 21, 2021. For the full Personnel Commission report: click here.