Rachel, Eccleston Elementary Student: Welcome to Mondays With Maria,

David, University High School Student: It's time to go back to school. Orange County. Stay tuned, for our Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez, is up next

<Intro Song playing>

Announcer: Presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Here's OCPS Superintendent Dr. Maria Vasquez.

Dr. Vazquez: Wow. Thank you so much. David from University High School and Rachel from Eccleston Elementary. She's starting her first day of kindergarten in just one week. It's so exciting. Hi everyone. Welcome back. One more week until the first day of school, and can you believe it? It's season four of Mondays with Maria. I'm so excited to see everyone back in our schools for the 25-26 school year. I can't believe it. You must stay tuned for the next few minutes because I have a lot of announcements for you. First, I have to welcome Luminary Elementary School to our family. That's our brand new school located in the Laureate Park area. We now have 214 schools. Just incredible. I've toured the school, and it's absolutely beautiful, and it's ready to welcome students. Next week, I want to remind everyone that it's hurricane season and the experts are predicting another active season this year.

Dr. Vazquez: Please keep an eye on the tropics, the heat as well. It's been warmer than usual. Those heat indexes are very, very high. I want to make sure you get the list of bad weather makeup days for this year. You can do that through our new chatbot feature called Let's Talk on the front page of the newly designed website. It's just gorgeous. I hope you go to OCPS.net and start exploring. Also, this year, all meals at no charge in all schools will continue, so excited that we're able to provide that for our students. There are some new menu items that you have to try. Just go directly to your school's website under the Quick Links Menu Tile. Another great feature on your school's newly designed website. This year, our Cell Phone Free Schools continue. No cell phones, bell to bell. You can find that information in the code of student conduct.

Dr. Vazquez: Remember, parents, make sure you and your child review and sign the code of student conduct. Another need to know for parents is transportation. Registration for your child's school bus is ongoing. If your child is eligible for bus service, please register through your Skyward account. Also, the Find My Bus link is up on the front page of OCPS.net. Also, under Quick Links. If you're unsure of your bus stop or the time to be at the bus stop, you can go to the Find My Bus webpage. Returning this year is the bus rider card readers. Students will tap on and tap off so that parents can track their child while riding the bus. New this year: School Cash Online. That is where you will pay for everything from field trips to club fees to yearbooks and everything in between. It replaced school pay. Make sure you register at OCPS.SchoolCashOnline.com.

Dr. Vazquez: I know there are a lot of new things to get used to this year, but it's all with you in mind. We're working to make things easier and more streamlined for our families. Last but not least, all of your communication is now in one place. The new communication platform called Parent Square is pulling together all of your school to classroom to district communication. This is where you'll see everything from emails to text messages to voice calls, even direct messages and posts from teachers and principals translated in nearly 200 languages. You can even set up delivery preferences in your own personal feed of information. Without all of the noise from other social media sites, we encourage families to activate their account, but if you don't, you'll still get all of the information in the traditional way through email, text, and sometimes phone calls. Please look for an invite in your email before the first day of school.

Dr. Vazquez: We're excited to host Meet the Teacher events this week at all Orange County Public Schools. They are a fantastic opportunity for students and parents to visit their schools, find their classrooms, and get acquainted with their teachers and the school environment. Please check your Individual School's website or Parent Square for specific dates and times. We encourage everyone to attend to help ensure a smooth start to the school year. The first day is August 11th. Mark your calendars before we go. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe. We'll have more on our podcast. Just go to wherever you get your podcasts and search for Mondays. With Maria, I will leave you with the cutest and our littlest learners in OCPS's first Preschool Hawk Haven. How can you not be excited about school after watching this? Have a great week.

Student: We did it. We did it.

Teacher at Hawk Haven Preschool: Walk in a circle. Go that way. Good job.

Eden Capps, Hawk Haven Preschool Director: Hawk Haven Preschool is a preschool for two and three-year-olds within our community to come and build the foundation to create language development and skills that they wouldn't otherwise have.

Victoria Romero, Teacher at Hawk Haven Preschool: What about this one?

Eden Capps, Hawk Haven Preschool Director: We know that this is the time in their development that's crucial for learning, so we're setting them up to be our future leaders. Each week, our children head to the library for a lesson. Our older class, our class of threes, also go weekly to the library for yoga.

Victoria Romero, Teacher at Hawk Haven Preschool: To see them grow is it's everything. It's all I want to do every day. They are learning to problem solve. They're learning to just communicate with each other. We encourage family style because when they sit together and they pass the utensils and they pass the plates around, just a great way to communicate and practice our manners. Do you want to do your cheese?

Eden Capps, Hawk Haven Preschool Director: The vision for Hawk Haven Preschool is a community-based early learning center that's completely free of economic barriers.

Classroom of students: 24, 25

Announcer: For an extended conversation on today's topic. Listen to the Mondays with Maria podcast. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Mondays with Maria is presented by Addition Financial Credit Union, count us in for every step of your financial journey. Learn more at Additionfi.com. For more OCPS news and information, visit TheSlice.OCPS.net. I'm your announcer. Emily Hannon, a student at Audubon Park School. Thanks for watching, and have a great week.