How Progress Reports Help students succeed on Mondays with Maria presented by Addition Financial.

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Welcome to the Mondays with Maria podcast. Today, we are talking about progress
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reports. I can't believe we're already halfway through the first nine weeks.
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And with me today, I have two very special guests, Jose Martinez,
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who is our Deputy Superintendent, and Dr. Tashonda Brown Cannon,
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our Chief Academic Officer.
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So, Jose, we're going to start with you. Share with families why it is so important
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to stay on top of the progress reports?
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Well, Dr. Varsas, I could tell you as a parent, I check my son and daughter's
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progress reports regularly.
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I rather know if there's a concern early on so that obviously I could address that concern.
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You know, staying informed also is helpful as well because you also have an
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opportunity to celebrate those successes with your kids and really identify
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any potential challenges with your school and your teachers.
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So Tashonda, if we catch these concerns early...
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It could make life a lot stressful for both student and parents, correct? Absolutely.
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We catch concerns early. It
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really helps us to close gaps versus having to really climb over barriers.
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When we're thinking about literacy, it's very important for us to be able to
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identify those reading deficiencies so that we can work with our parents and
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the teachers can work with the students to provide those targeted interventions
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that are needed to help them. be successful.
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As we know, reading is foundational. And so throughout all of the core subject
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areas, students need to have that strong foundation of reading.
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And so in order for our students to be successful, it is imperative that we
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close those reading gaps as soon as possible.
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While it's important to be on top of all of our subjects, mathematics is another
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one because, you know, math builds on those topics.
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So if you are, let's say, struggling with your multiplication facts,
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you're going to struggle with fractions, decimals, any part of geometry.
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So the key is to catch those areas where the child is struggling so that we can support them.
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Let's say if a parent does notice some concerns on the progress report, what should they do?
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Well, you know, the first thing a parent should do if they notice a concern
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would be just to reach out to their teacher.
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So teachers can provide, you know, incredible insight into what's contributing
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to those challenges and, you
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know, obviously work with our families to develop a plan for improvement.
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Now, when my children were in school many moons ago, we did not have the tools
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that we have now where parents can access information, you know, electronically.
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I remember with one of my children, you know, when it was progress report time
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or report card time, I could tell where the conversation was going to go.
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Whether it was already there waiting for me or if I had to dig.
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And a common response was, don't worry about it, Mom. I got it. I got it.
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So there was really less of an opportunity to monitor. So let's start there.
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How does a parent access their child's progress report?
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And so we know that they are able to access the progress reports using Skyward.
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But what I love about Skyward is that, as Mr. Martinez said,
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you can check it every day, two, three times a day, if you would like to,
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so that you're not hearing, oh, the teacher's going to upload that grade.
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But really looking at that progress report in Skyward, but I also advise parents
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to pay attention to the comments that are in Skyward because it will say your
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child is on grade level or your child is below grade level.
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And if parents ever have any questions, as we have previously mentioned,
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having a conversation with that teacher so that the teacher can identify those
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specific skills that are needing to be refined is very helpful.
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It is. And our teachers want parents to be partners in this process.
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And so sometimes I'll hear, well, I don't want to bother the teacher.
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No, no. The teacher wants you to be engaged because they know that if you're
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aware, chances are assignments are going to be turned in on time.
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And that if the child is struggling, the teacher is going to be made aware so
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they can intervene as soon as possible.
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So as with technology, sometimes we have a hard time.
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Accessing it. So if a parent is having difficulties accessing their child's
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progress report, there's some things that they can do.
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So first, they can always ask their child to show them the progress report because
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students can see them as well, depending on how good or not so good they may
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have trouble accessing it.
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Or a parent can contact the school. There may be an issue where we need to verify
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contact information to make sure it matches your child's information.
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But every one of our schools has a skyward lead who should be able to assist.
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And that is all year long, not just now as we are talking about progress reports.
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Let's talk a little bit about elementary or elementary families.
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There are, you know, progress reports, but they look different than those that
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are in middle and high school. Tashonda, can you tell our parents what should they be looking for?
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So our students in kindergarten through first grade, they do not have your typical
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letter grade. So you would look at your satisfactory, your outstanding or your needs improvement.
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In grades two through five, we do have letter grades.
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But again, as I previously shared, you really want to focus on those comments,
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not just the letter grades that will focus on if the student needs more time on task?
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Does the student need more support in reading, math, or the social sciences?
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Those comments are very important.
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And again, I still encourage parents to follow up with teachers if they have
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additional questions about the progress report or the report card.
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All right, so we've talked about how important it is for parents to really stay
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connected, monitor through Skyward hourly,
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or on a regular schedule, but definitely when the progress reports and report cards come out.
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And if a child is struggling, we have a lot of resources that are available.
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Two that come to mind are Alexia, Core 5, and Reading Plus.
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So Tashana, can you talk a little bit about the resources that are available?
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We, very important, I'd like to also mention that if a student is performing
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below grade level in our elementary schools, we notify the parents through ParentSquare.
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And so basically, parents will begin to receive that notification in September,
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basically indicating if your child needs some additional support.
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That letter will also identify the resources that we are using with your child.
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So in addition to Lexia, which is our primary resource, which really focuses
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on those foundational skills for K2.
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We also screen our students with dibbles to be able to really pinpoint reading deficiencies.
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And so the classroom teachers, they not only use software programs such as Lexia
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or Reading Plus, but they also utilize being a reader during small group instruction
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for students who need support with comprehension skills.
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And so those are just some of the resources that we're using this year,
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we do have a new textbook adoption in literacy benchmark advance that also provides
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some comprehension support for students as well.
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And in math, because math is very, very important, we recommend manipulatives
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at home as well at school and a small group.
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And we have IXL that students are able to work with at home as well to kind
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of close or narrow some of those gaps.
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In my experience, we have the vast majority of parents that are engaged at the elementary level.
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You know, they frequently interact with the teachers.
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And I think sometimes it's easier because they have fewer teachers.
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So once they get into middle school and high school...
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We tend to see some of that, you know, drop off just a bit. And,
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you know, the students are more responsible. They're older.
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So, Mr. Martinez, you were a high school principal.
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So any advice that you would give, you know, either a parent or a student if
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they are struggling, how they can access, help.
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And for a parent, what does that look like at the high school level?
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Because it is a little bit different. And sometimes when you have seven teachers
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that you're trying, you know, to keep in touch, it gets overwhelming for the parent.
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Now, that's a great question. You know, I think a big part of this is recognizing
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the importance of keeping open lines of communication, not only with your student,
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but also with the teachers as well.
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Because the student voice, you know, asking, you know, your child,
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okay, what are you struggling with? What's going on, you know,
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with particular classes? And really listening and hearing from them what those
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concerns may be and also what those successes are.
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You know, ParentSquare is also a great opportunity for our families to interact
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with all of our teachers.
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And that's a tool that is extremely beneficial to building that partnership.
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And again, keeping those open lines of communication present for our families and our teachers.
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So one of the things that I sometimes hear, if a parent's first language is
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not English, that they feel that they would struggle, right, communicating.
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So you mentioned ParentSquare, right? That is another tool that parents can
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actually customize that if English is not their first language,
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they can receive the information in their home language.
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But what about school? Like if they want to have a conference and,
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again, they don't feel comfortable manipulating the English language,
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what are some things our families need to know so that
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they can partner with the school, especially if their child is struggling?
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I think they need to know that our multilingual department still supports the
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language line. So there's an opportunity for that.
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In addition to translation, we have a phenomenal team. They are able to translate
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information for parents to make it readily available.
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So you mentioned LanguageLine for parents that don't know. That's another tool
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that we have available in all of our schools, correct? Yes, ma'am.
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And they are able to access it and they have interpreters for,
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I mean, hundreds of different languages. Correct.
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And that should be posted in the front office. so you can just ask them for
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the language line or look for, I think it might even be like a QR code that they can access.
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Anything else we want our families to know, again, I am just taken aback that
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the first half of the first nine weeks has already flown by.
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For me, if I'm a student and a parent, I would want them to know that if your
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child is struggling, it's not the end of the world.
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We have supports at the school that are going to be able to help your child. Just don't wait. Right.
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Any other pieces of advice for our families? You know, I would just reiterate
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the importance of, you know, communication is the key to successful relationships.
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Really having a strong understanding of what your children are experiencing
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in their day to day and also recognizing that we have so many resources available
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and opportunities to support not only our families, but our students
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to achieve great things within the school and also outside of the school day. Okay.
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And I just want to encourage parents. We understand that all students do not
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learn in the same manner. We understand that they may take, some students may
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take longer to learn content, but we know that all of our students can learn.
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And our teachers are equipped to provide the differentiated instruction that
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our students need to be successful. And so I just encourage all of our parents
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to continue to partner with their child's school for the success of their children.
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And what a great note to end on. Tashanda and Jose.
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Thanks for joining me today to discuss progress reports and how parents can
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stay in touch and ensure that their child doesn't fall behind.
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Thank you all for listening. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe to
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the Mondays with Maria podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Have a one,
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the slice.ocps.net. I'm your announcer, Jameer Jones, a student at Orange County Virtual School.
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Thanks for listening and have a great week.