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Welcome to Mondays with Maria, brought to you by the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Here's OCPS Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hello. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the first day of school is less than two weeks away. Welcome to our new set with a new look and new topics for this upcoming year. Here today with me is Nancy Alvarez.
Nancy Alvarez: Isn't this just gorgeous? Your new set? It is so beautiful. Thank you for inviting me back for Mondays with Maria. This is so exciting. We have so much to talk about, and I cannot believe August 10th is just right around the corner. Coming too soon.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Absolutely. The summer has flown by, but I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer break.
Nancy Alvarez: So I think I'm going to try to squeeze in one last vacation in between back to school shopping and the first day we're going to make it happen. Thank goodness for Amazon. Fingers crossed.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: I hear you. I hear you. There's so much excitement building around this new school year. I'm starting my second year as Superintendent. Wow. And we have our back to school news conference scheduled Monday, August 7th at Riverdale Elementary. You may recall that we had to relocate all the students and staff due to Hurricane Ian and the flooding. So we're so excited that they're going to be back in their new building this year.
Nancy Alvarez: That's so great and so exciting that you're having the news conference there to sort of celebrate that. Yes. You know, and we have to talk about hurricane season because there's so much happening at once with families heading back to school, but they have to be prepared as well this time of year.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Oh, absolutely. Remember last year we had two hurricanes, but this year I am so happy to announce that the National Weather Service has designated OCPS as a storm ready district, and that's a designation that not many school district have. Additionally, we have all of the makeup days on our website ocps.net, so families can view the prioritized dates for this upcoming school year.
Nancy Alvarez: And certainly let's hope that we do not have to use that day or any of the days this year, but it's important to know, so there's no confusion later what those days are. So I understand we have some good news when it comes to school meals. This is exciting.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes, it is. I'm so happy to report that the US Department of Agriculture approved for OCPS to serve all of our students, all meals at no charge. Yeah. Such exciting news.
Nancy Alvarez: This is really good news, and it could really potentially save all families hundreds of dollars a month in some cases. Another way to save right now, of course, is through school supplies and the state's tax-free holiday, which goes through August 6th. So that's an important date for parents to keep in mind. So let's talk about transportation as well, because there's some new things there.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Absolutely. We have a few new items in the area of transportation. So first of all, families can now go to the find my bus link on the front page of ocps.net to confirm their child's bus stop if they're eligible for transportation. Additionally, all of our bus drivers will have tablets where they will be able to track riders, be able to get up to date traffic information, as well as road closures. So that is going to help us get our students to and from school more quickly. Additionally, we are still hiring bus drivers and mechanics, so if you are looking for one of those positions, please go to our website and apply
Nancy Alvarez: The Foundation for OCPS. Just let me know that the registration system has now opened for additions volunteers and partners in education. I'm going to put that additions thing on my to-do list. Also linked on the front page of ocps.net to make it easy for parents.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Absolutely. And we need parents to volunteer this school year so that we can work collaboratively to educate your child, our students. This year we are also bringing back our thought exchange. That was such an incredible tool for, for me and for our team this past school year. We will have the QR code where you can scan and let us know what questions that you might have or what topics you would like for us to address here on Mondays with Maria. We are also going to continue with town hall meetings, and we're going to be rolling out some additional opportunities for the community and our employees to interact and give us feedback on how we're doing.
Nancy Alvarez: So many opportunities really to have your voice heard, whether you're a parent or an employee in this district. All right. There's a lot of information and you know, this is just really touching the surface of all that is involved in back to school topics. And really now is the time for families to sit down together and go over everything.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Absolutely. And I strongly encourage every family with their child review the code of student conduct. We are going to be having our final meeting to approve the Code of Conduct Tuesday. We ask that parents come out and give us feedback. So much more is available on ocps.net, on the front page and under the tab for current families. If you're looking for something that's not there, please email
[email protected]. Thank you all for watching another new year. I can't wait to welcome everyone back.
Nancy Alvarez: August 10th. We're heading back. Mark your calendars and stay tuned next Monday for the Back-to-School News Conference. It will be shared on all of the district's communications platforms.
Monday's with Maria has been brought to you by the foundation for Orange County Public Schools, investing in our children today to strengthen our community tomorrow. For more OCPS news and information, visit the slice.ocps.net.