Grants

September 26, 2022

By Allan  |  2022/09/24 20:30 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Grants, P.D., SEL, Technology  |  Comments Off on September 26, 2022

 

Greetings Bolts,

Twenty-five items of note for this week:

• Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program (FFVP) Starts TUESDAY – The Sheldon Region Nutrition Services Food Manager never got back to me about an required procedures for starting the program, so I’m making up my own guidelines:

• Bags of raw fresh fruits or vegetables will be delivered to classrooms each morning in bags.
• Staff or students passing out fruits or vegetables should wash hands or wear gloves.
• Fruits or Vegetables should be served daily (not saved overnight)
• Leftovers may be sent home with students

And if there are any teachers willing to volunteer a 2-4 of your students for deliveries, let me know.

• Gaga Ball Pit Install TUESDAY – Facilites let me know they’re installing the Gaga Ball Pit this Tuesday. They’ll need to cone off part of hard play, but the rest of hard play will be open. They think it will take two days at the most and possibly just one.

The Gaga Ball Pit will be closed until I’ve had a chance to meet with Recess Supervisors (see the item a couple below) and all classes at your grade level have gone over the Gaga Ball Pit Rules.

• Optional Library Schedule Meeting, TUESDAY @2:45 – Downtown Library folks emailed the final word on the library schedule, which is classes will have library twice a week every other week and once a week for checkout on the off week. I’ll plan to hold an optional meeting on Tuesday after school for anyone who wants to help develop a schedule. I’m thinking we’ll do a rotation of K-2 goes twice a week for Week #1 and grades 3-5 go twice a week for Week #2 and then rotate, but I haven’t looked to see if that works yet, though if there are any go-getters out there who want to draft something ahead of time, that would be fabulous! Here’s a link to the current Library Schedule.

• Optional Shared Staff Goals Committee, WEDNESDAY @2:45 – This Tuesday (correction) Wednesday at 2:45 in the library is an optional meeting to develop shared building goals staff can cut-and-paste into TalentEd as your goals for the year if you choose. I drafted a few SEL Related SMART Goals to get the conversation going, but my thinking is to make goals for things we’re already doing, such as teaching Second Step, holding morning meetings, and such. See you Wednesday if you’d like to help!

On a related note, Here are some ODE Sample Goals for teachers and specialists at all grade levels if any staff want to use them.

• REPEAT: Back to School Night, THURSDAY – Back to School Night, is Thursday next week, 5:30-6:30. I’ve included in the Quick News that specialists (SPED, ELD, Music, PE, and Library) will also be available to meet with families. The schedule will be:

5:30-6:00, Free Pizza & Title 1 Presentation (cafeteria)
5:30-6:30, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Class Visits
5:30-6:00, Kinder Meetings
6:00-6:30, Free Pizza & Title 1 Presentation (cafeteria)
6:00-6:30, 4th & 5th Meetings
6:30 Back to School Night Ends

• Holt School Spirit Assembly, FRIDAY @8:15 – This Friday at 8:15 in the gym is the Monthly School Spirit Assembly. Add your name to the Hungry Hungry Hippos Sign-Up Sheet if you’d like to participate! Watch for details coming soon! UPDATE, linked here is the Assembly Map & Directions.

• Classified Meeting Friday @1:30 – This meeting was originally schedule for next week, but I wanted to meet sooner since we have the Gaga Ball Pit coming soon. I’m thinking we should have one supervisors assigned to Gaga Ball, one more for hard play (depending on how many kids are there), and one for soft play, but I want recess supervisor input on this since you’ll be the ones out there each day. I also want to go over the Gaga Ball Pit Rules to make sure we’re all on the same page and if there’s anything we want to change about the rules before we teach them to students.

• Friday PD: K-2 Fundations, 3-5 Wit & Wisdom – Linked here is the Elementary PD Doc for this Friday, which includes Zoom links and other info. Please note the time changed for K-2:

• Grades K-2, Fundations, 2:30-4:00
• Grades 3-5, Wit & Wisdom, 1:25-2:25

• October Staff Potluck, Oct. 3rd – Not this week, but next week is the first Monday of the month, which is when we celebrate that month’s birthdays with cake provided by Sunshine in the Staff Room. Staff are encouraged to bring an item to share if they wish potluck style. If you’d like to bring something, you can add your name to the Potluck Sign-Up Sheet.

• Professional Development Calendar – Related to the above, downtown is now using just one PD calendar to avoid another Friday PD debacle like last week. Linked here and on the Holt Staff Dashboard is the 2022-2023 District PD Calendar for Instructional Staff, which they continue to update, but at least they’re all working off of the same document.

• Leadership Plan Proposal – Linked here is the Proposed 22-23 Holt Leadership Plan. For comparison, last year’s allocations are included, but the only change was to reduce the Equity position to 2 days from 3.5 day and moving that to a new position for assemblies that are not the regular monthly assemblies, such as author visits or other performers. The thinking behind this is that although we all agree the equity position is important, we got pretty minimal support from the district TOSAs when we tried to get some things starts, so the amount of work for this position is still a bit unknown, and for the assembly position, the non-monthly assemblies are more involved since there dealing with finances, coordinating with PAHS, contracts, and working with the assembly folks. Let me know if anyone has other plans you’d like to propose and I can add them to the document. Here’s the remaining steps in our Leadership Plan process:

10/4 – Share plan(s) and discuss at Staff Meeting
10/5 – If needed, subcommittee meets to add/modify plans.
10/18 – Plans (w/out name) discussed and voted on.
10/19-10-22 – Staff sign-up to fill the leadership positions.
11/2 – Staff vote on plan with names attached.

• Classified Self Evaluation and Goals – I heard there’s some questions about the classified self-evaluation and goals, so I wanted to share that for the self evaluation when you score yourself between Ineffective, Area for Growth, Effective, or Exemplary, most people will be in the Area for Growth or Effective range. If you score yourself Exemplary, that’s an area you should be teaching others across the district. It’s also totally fine to mark ineffective if that’s where you think you are. For goals, I would say don’t make extra work for yourself and pick a goal you’re actually working on. So don’t feel obligated to commit to learning sign language or something big, but pick something you’re already doing, such as committing to attend Conscious Discipline PD or working on learning more kids names or working to keep your small group materials better organized. Essentially, make it a practical goal.

• Sub Plans and Notebooks – Germs is staring to work it’s way around the school, so make sure your Sub Plan Notebook (different from the Emergency Binder) is up to date. Notebooks should include the following:

• Class list
• Student Health Information
• Behavior Support Plans
• IEP and 504 Plan Accommodations
• Emergency generic sub plans with your schedule

There should be a notebook for this in every classroom, but if yours is missing, see Melanie or Sharon.

• Classroom Cleaning Every Other Day – Facilities has still not staffed our 2-hour night custodian, but Richie is still required to do electrostatic cleaning, which is cutting into his time for emptying garbages and sweeping classrooms. Facilities has given Jeremy an hour of overtime to clean classroom each day, so one day he is cleaning A & B wings and the next day cleaning C & D wings. If I remember right, A & B wing is being cleaned this Monday.

• No School Purchases Shipped to Your Home – If you place any online orders for school, DO NOT have them delivered to their home address. 4J Financial Services may potentially deny any reimbursements for purchases if they are shipped to your home instead of school.

• PAHS Printing Parent Volunteer – Holt parent Stephanie Gibson is resuming her role as the Holt Parent Production Assistant. Look for the Copy Order Mailbox in the main workroom for a Copies Form if you have any jobs. I’m not sure which day Stephanie is coming in, but I believe she’s planning to start this week. .

• Non-Essential Volunteers Allowed – Although I announced last week I was willing to go rogue on the above parent volunteer, Risk Management emailed principals later in the week that non-essential volunteers are now allowed. Volunteers still need to complete a background check and must also provide a proof of vaccination, though downtown is checking with legal counsel if that is still required.

• Seesaw Optional, but Great for Family Involvement – I think most teachers know this, but to just put it in writing, teachers are not required to use Seesaw. However, it’s a great way for to involve families and see what their kids are doing at school. You don’t necessarily have to do assignments on Seesaw, though you can, but having kids recording themselves reading something or taking a picture of their work and posting it for their parents to see if a pretty easy way for teachers to involve (and to ingratiate yourself to) parents. Linked here are a number of 4J Seesaw Resources if you’re new to the app or want to review the basics.

• EEF 2022-2023 Grant Applications DUE OCT. 7TH – Applications will due October 7th and EEF did not say anything about Site Council rank ordering grants, so just submit your proposal on the EEF 22-23 Grant Application. Below is a graphic od their funding priorities. Let me know if you have any questions or care to discuss grant ideas.

 

• Comp Time & Trade Time Tracking – HR is asking classified staff to use forms they created for Classified Compensatory Time (PDF or Word) and Classified Trade Time (PDF). Trade Time is what is used most of the time, but to clarify the difference between overtime, comp time, and trade time:

Overtime: When a classified staff member works in excess of 8 hours one day or 40 hours a within a week, they are paid 1.5 times their regular rate for the additional time.

Comp Time: When a classified staff member works in excess of 8 hours one day or 40 hours a within a week, they earn time at 1.5 times amount of time worked in excess that they must track on the Comps Time Form, which can be banked to use at a later date by mutual agreement with their supervisor.

Trade Time: When a classified staff member works in excess of their regularly scheduled time any day, they must track the time on the Trade Time Form, which can be banked to use at a later date by mutual agreement with their supervisor.

Note that staff must notify me prior to accumulating hours.

• BEST Coordinator Job Reposted – Downtown has been unable to hire a new BEST Coordinator for Holt (and for other schools) and are reposting the vacancy, which means our start date for BEST is currently on hold.

• Save Our Schools Opt Out Form – A heads up there’s a Save our Schools Opt-Out Form circulating online and in our community made by Heritage America. If you receive this form, simply thank the parent or guardian and let them know you’ll give it to your principal. The form cites OARs with a loose interpretation of them, but don’t engage in a discussion about the opt-out form or any actions you’ll take regarding the form. If you’re interested, here are Talking Points that were given to principals, though we too were told to not engage parents regarding the form if we get one.

• Red Cross Classroom Presentation – Red Cross is offering free classroom presentations on disaster preparedness for K-5 classrooms. If you’re interested, see the linked Email, Handouts, and Registration Link.

• Relationship Matter More Than Rules – An oldie, but a goodie from Edutopia. Community building in the classroom starts on day one. See this Edutopia Article for strategies to begin forging strong relationships.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

September 26 (M)
ELD/Speech/Counselor/Library Staff Room Duty
Pastini Fundraiser Continues (Sept. 12 – Oct. 16)Fall Benchmarking Continues
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals Meeting (Ed Center)

September 27 (T)
Title Groups Start, 3rd – 5th
Happy Birthday to Me!
8:10, Allan Reading to Class
2:45-3:30, Optional Library Schedule Meeting (Library)

September 28 (W)
1:00-5:00, 4J Flu Shot Clinic (Ed Center)
2:45-3:15, Optional Building SMART Goals Meeting (Library)

September 29 (H)
2:45-3:30, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)
5:30-6:30, Back to School Night
• 5:30-6:00, Free Pizza & Title 1 Presentation (cafeteria)
• 5:30-6:00, Kinder Meetings
• 5:30-6:30, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Class Visits
• 6:00-6:30, Free Pizza & Title 1 Presentation (cafeteria)
• 6:00-6:30, 4th & 5th Meetings
• 6:30 Back to School Night Ends

September 30 (F)
8:15, School Spirit Assembly (Gym)
1:25-2:25, Friday PD, 3-5 Wit & Wisdom (Zoom)
2:30-4:00, Friday PD, Geodes (Zoom)
UPDATED! 4:00, Friday @4:00 (Public House)

October 3 (M)
SPED Staff Room Duty
School Custodian’s Day (ALL)
Pastini Fundraiser Continues (Sept. 12 – Oct. 16)
Fall Benchmarking Continues
10:40-12:40, Staff Potluck Luncheon (Staff Room)
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals Meeting (Ed Center)

October 4 (T)
Title Starts, 1st – 2nd
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)

October 5 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day

October 6 (H)
9:00-9:30, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
6:00, PAHS Holt Bolt Planning Meeting (Cafeteria)

October 7 (F)
10:00, Fire Drill
1:25-2:25, Friday PD – Staff Choice (Zoom)

Go, Bolts!

Allan

August 16, 2022

By Allan  |  2022/08/16 21:48 Posted in Announcements, Arts, Assessment, Grants, Literacy, P.D.  |  Comments Off on August 16, 2022

Greetings Holt Staff,

I hope you’re all still enjoying your summer! Mine was rather short since I did summer school, but it was pretty quiet and much slower than the regular school year. My summer highlights were a few short trips to Yachats and Portland with the family. I only got one of my summer books read, but I highly recommend CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties if that’s your sort of thing. The movie I most enjoyed over the summer was The Perks of Being a Wallflower, though the actual best films I watched were probably the 1959 Japanese film The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I still need to watch part II and III of this 9-hour 3-film epic I borrowed from Ben) or the Alfred Hitchcock films I watched with my kids (Rear Window, Psycho, & The Birds). My favorite proud parent moment of the summer was my kids getting into Stranger Things on their own. My 5th grader, Josie, really got into Eddie Munson’s Big Heroic Scene in the final episode and would walk around the house singing Metallica’s Master of Puppets, which I found hilarious. But enough about my summer.

Feel free to read these announcements now or ignore them until closer to your report-back date, but I figured I’d send this info out now for folks wanting to know the plan for the year.

For folks new to Holt, my intention with my weekly staff announcements is to send just one email to all staff per week during the school year, usually Sunday morning, so as not to clutter up your inboxes. My hope is that staff read the announcements by the end of the day Tuesday each week (once school starts, that is). These sometimes get long, but I like to err on the side of over-communicating rather than under-communicating. I’d advise staff to read the bold heading for each bulleted item and you can decide from there if it applies to you or not.

On with the lengthy thirty-two announcements!

• Welcome 22-23 New Staff – Please welcome the following fabulous new staff members to TEAM HOLT!

• 2nd Grade Teachers (Michael Dempsey & Myah Rabourn) – Michael is an experienced teacher who’s taught since 2004, starting out teaching high needs primary grade students in the Bronx, New York to teaching at the Hong Kong International School and most recently teaching at the Ruamrudee International School in Thailand. Myah student taught last year with Ashley and later was a regular sub for us in the spring, but before that was an EA in Lebanon School District and ended her time in Lebanon teaching 3rd grade on an emergency license.

• 3rd Grade Teachers (Kendalynn Ball & Marissa Harshbarger) – Kendalynn student taught at Holt this past year in Liz’s classroom and also taught 2nd grade at summer school. Marissa student taught at Edgewood this past year in a 4/5 blended classroom and had prior experience as a SPED EA and also a Behavior EA in Springfield.

• Behavior EA (Levi Thompson) – Several of us got to work with Levi this summer at SEAL where he was the secretary and did a great job with kids and staff, but his day job last year was as a Behavior EA at South Eugene High School.

• Human Services Coordinator (Felicia LaCuesta) – Felicia comes to us from the Salem-Kaiser School District where she served in a similar role as the McKinney-Vento (homeless) Student Advocate for the past two years. Before that she worked as a Branch Director at the Boys and Girls Club. Also, if you’ve forgotten what this position is (since it’s a new one for us), it is something of a resource/wrap-around coordinator to help families in need get access community resources.

• Kinder EA (Amber Callier) – Amber comes to us from Howard where she was an Education Assistant in the CLC. Before that Amber was a special education EA from her home state of Georgia. Amber also lives right here in the Holt neighborhood!

• Lead Custodian (???) – We conducted interviews back in July and had a strong pool of candidates, but Facilities and HR are moving VERY slow. I’ve been told a job offer has been made, but am still waiting for an official announcement.

• Librarian (???) – We conducted pool interviews with Howard and Chavez last week and have selected a candidate for each of our schools, but are now waiting for HR to do their thing. Hope I’ll have something to announce by next week.

• School Nurse (???) – I’m told SSD has hired a nurse for us, but the person has not gone though the HR intake process yet, so hopefully I’ll have an announcement soon.

• Special Education Teachers (Emily Henson & Whitney Oliver) – Emily is our new full-time SPED teacher and comes to us from Utah where she’s taught in a self contained classroom at an autism charter school. Whitney will be our part-time SPED teacher, at Holt in the morning and Gilham in the afternoon. She’s an experienced teacher who was the CLC teacher at Chavez last year.

• Title 1 EAs (Carol Eichers & Lori Tingue) – We’re welcoming back two Holt Bolts, Carol and Lori. You may remember Carol from last school year when she took over as our COVID Utility EA for the last part of the year. Lori was with us two years ago, teaching with the Dynamos, and started with us last year before taking a temporary teaching position at Gilham.

I’ve also pleased to announce that Sped EA Darrin Heffington will be returning this fall. We’re thrilled to have you back, Darrin!

Below is a list of the classroom teaching assignments and linked here is a complete 2022-2023 Staff List. Also, the Holt Website Staff Directory has been updated. Let me know if I missed anyone.

KG: Katie Gulewich, Lesli Harmon, Robin Seno, Robin Vaughan
1st: Jacque Barton, Heidi Gori, Lisa Zluticy
2nd: Michael Dempsey, Jenna Norton, Myah Rabourn
3rd: Kendalynn Ball, Marissa Harshbarger, James Longoria, Desiree Talley
4th: Caitlin Benavides, Elizabeth Cobb, Ashley Reich
5th: Liz Ayres, Debbi Heinrich, Candace Lovato, Geoff Parks

We’re excited have all of you join our team!

• Updated School Map – Linked here is an Updated 22-23 Holt School Map of where folks are working this year. Let me know if you spot anything that looks wrong. This doc can also be found on the Staff Google Drive under MISC > Maps.

• Building Access & Sign-In – SEAL finished Monday and KITS finishes Thursday. Once your classroom is no longer being used, you’re welcome to come in if you’d like. Facilities is postponing our summer deep cleaning until winter break, partly due to Facilities staffing shortages and partly to allow staff wanting to come in early to do so. For now they’ll just do a quick summer cleaning.

If you do come in early and outside of regular work hours, be sure to remember to sign-in on the sign-in/sign-out sheet, which will ensure the building is armed if you’re the last one out.

• Report Back Dates, CLASSIFIED DATE CHANGE – Please note HR made a mistake on the Classified Work Year Calendar and you now report back one day later than what was originally on the calendar. Here are the report back dates:

• Elementary Secretaries – Monday, August 15
• Licensed Staff – Friday, August 26
• Classified Staff – Tuesday, August 30 (196-day on 8/24)

• Inservice Week Schedule – Linked here is a Draft Inservice Week Calendar downtown shared with principals, which has dates, times, and locations for teachers. It’s still in draft form because they need to confirm host schools can accommodate their plans (I just found out on Thursday Holt is hosting Sheldon Region elementary teachers the 26th and 29th). A final draft will be sent soon. Counselors, Librarians, Music, PE, and SSD licensed staff will have PD different from what’s on the Holt Staff Calendar, so see the above link and watch for additional information from your district admins.

Classified Staff are scheduled to have a district led PD the first day you report back on Tuesday, August 30th, but principals do not have any details on that yet.

For the one day on Inservice Week I’m in charge, I’ll try to keep things useful but succinct, so staff can maximize what little prep time you have (Candace gave me a gentle nudge over the summer and tagged me on the meme below).

I’ll add Zoom links, locations, and other details to the Staff Zimbra Calendar as I get them, but here’s the inservice week calendar as it currently stands:

August 23 (T)
New Teacher Welcome Event (Time & Location TBA)

August 24 (W)
New Teacher Welcome Event (Time & Location TBA)

August 25 (H)
New Teacher Welcome Event (Time & Location TBA)

August 26 (F)
8:00-9:00, Time to Pick-Up Wit & Wisdom Materials
9:00-4:00, Wit & Wisdom ELA PD – Day #1 (Holt)

August 29 (M)
8:00-3:00, Wit & Wisdom ELA PD – Day #2 (K-3 @Zoom, 4-5 @Holt)

August 30 (T)
Protected Teacher Planning
Classified Staff Report Back
Educational Assistant PD (Location & Time TBA)
8:30, Welcome Back Burritos, Coffee, & Supplies! (School Garden)

August 31 (W)
8:00-12:00, Holt Back to School Meeting (Cafeteria)

September 1 (H)
7:30-10:00, 4J Back-To-School Gathering (Tentative)
1:00-4:00, Health for Grades K-2 (Zoom)
1:00-4:00, Math for for 3-5 (Zoom)
4:00-5:00, Kidnerzone Meeting (TBA)

September 2 (F)
9:00-12:00, Universal Design for Learning PD (SEHS)
1:00-4:00, Math for for K-2 (Zoom)
1:00-4:00, Health for Grades 3-5 (Zoom)

September 5 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 6 (T)
Collaborative Planning Time for Lang Arts Adoption
8:00-10:00, Staff Meeting (if needed)
10:00-11:00, Optional New Staff Orientation and Q&A (Cafeteria)
2:00-3:00, Meet Your Teacher
3:00-4:00, Kona Shave Ice Fundraiser (Hard Play)

September 7 (W)
Classes Begin – First Day of School

• Wit & Wisdom Material Available – The new reading curriculum, Wit & Wisdom, has been delivered and classroom sets of materials are labeled and waiting outside each teachers’ classroom. However, K-2 still had a few items in Portland, so they’ll probably get delivered later this week. Also, downtown is having Unit Zero printed and bound for all teachers, but they are not done yet.

• Wit & Wisdom Online Access – All staff have digital access to Wit & Wisdom Online. Just visit the website and log on using the password: elafororegon

• Wit & Wisdom PD Notes – Katie Stiles, K-3 Literacy TOSA, had a few suggestions and notes regarding the PD on August 26th and 29th:

• Print Module #1 – It is available online, but she suggested printing the first model and bringing it to the PD.

• Review Student Text – She also said reading over the student text ahead of time will make staff feel more prepared.

• August 26th PD, In-Person – Friday, August 26th, all Sheldon Region elementary teachers grades K-5 will meet at Holt, 9:00-4:00. 8:00-9:00 is time for teachers to collect your teacher guide and other materials.

• August 29th PD, In-Person and Zoom – Monday, August 29th, K-3 will be on Zoom and grades 4-5 will be in-person at Holt, 8:00-3:00.

• Student Supplies (don’t help yourself just yet) – School supplies have started to be delivered, but teachers should hold off on gathering items. Office staff need to first take inventory to make sure we got everything we ordered and will let teachers know when we’re ready to distribute.

• Welcome Back Burritos, Coffee, & Supplies! Tuesday, 8/30 @8:30! – Join us for burritos, coffee, school supplies and socializing with work friends! Brought to Holt Staff by the amazing group at The Hope Project on Tuesday, August 30th at 8:30 in the School Garden!

 

• Optional New Staff Member Orientation and Q&A, 9/6 @10:00 – I’ll be available 9/6 at 10:00 in the cafeteria to share some Holt nuts & bolts logistics, answer questions, and provide any assistance for new folks. I can get busy during inservice week, so I like to set aside a time when I’ll be available for new staff. You can also always text, call, or email.

• Meet Your Teacher, 9/6 @2:00 – In-person “Meet Your Teacher” is allowed this year and looking at past staff calendars, it was the Tuesday before the first day of school from 2:00-3:00, so that’s what I’ll send out to families, but let me know if that’s incorrect. I’ve also scheduled Kona Ice to come at 3:00, so hopefully that’ll make it easier to chase families out of your classrooms when the event is over.

• 2022-2023 Class Lists – Here’s the link to the 22-23 Class Lists that were created last spring. As usual, there are quite a few new move-ins and move-outs, so some adjustments will need to be made.

• 2022-2023 District PD Calendar – District admin shared the linked 2022-2023 DRAFT PD Calendar with principals if you’re interested. It’s changed a few times already, including (after input from principals) changing some of the SEL and Curriculum Friday PD days into building based or teacher choice days instead, so we have those at least once or twice a month. All dates are also on the Holt Staff Calendar.

• Work Hours, 7:30-3:30 – For full-time staff, we are back to our regular work hours of 7:30-3:30, and we are going back to students entering the building at the 7:50 morning bell.

• School Hours – Even though the school board approved counting PD, lunches, and recesses towards state required instructional minutes, elementary school hours are staying the same for this year, which are:

Monday – Thursday: 7:55-2:25
Friday: 7:55-1:10

• Holt Meeting Calendar – I stuck with the same meeting rotation as last year, with the exception of PBIS meetings. Downtown wants schools to hold a monthly SEL Meeting, which they suggested for elementary schools to roll into the PBIS Team, which will now meet twice a month:

• Staff Meeting (1st & 3rd Tuesday each month, 2:45-3:25)
• PBIS/SEL Meeting (2nd & 4th Tuesday each month, 2:45-3:25)
• IPBS Meeting (same week as second Staff Meeting, 2:45-3:25)
• Leadership Meeting (same as second PBIS Meeting, 2:45-3:25)
• Classified Meeting (Monthly on  “Staff Choice” Friday PD dates)

There’s a few months where adjustments had to be made because of non-school days, but this is the plan for most months.

• COVID Protocol Updates – We’re pretty much back to normal this year, with in person meetings (parent groups, Title 1 Family Nights, Meet Your Teacher, Book Fairs, etc.), field trips, and volunteers back in buildings. If you saw the most recent CDC recommendations for schools, 4J implemented most of those back in the spring. Principals are supposed to get a copy of the HR presentation we received today, but here’s the scoop on what was shared with us:

• Visitors & Volunteers – Volunteers are allowed in schools, but casual visitors who want to each lunch with their kids, walk them to class in the morning, or just want to stop by to visit are not allowed. Visitors are allowed to come in for IEP meetings, Parent Group Meetings, or enrolling new students, though Zoom continues to be an option for meetings, which I think a lot of families now prefer for convenience. 

All volunteers (even your friends and family helping to set up your classroom) need to check in through the Raptor Sign-In System in the main office. 

• Doors Will Remain Locked – Partly for safety and partly for COVID, all school doors will remain locked, just as we did last year. All volunteers will need to be let in through the main office. 

• Vaccination Requirements – The state is continuing to require staff to have on file a proof of vaccination or an approved exemption. District employees who are unvaccinated will be given a choice of weekly testing or wearing a mask full-time while at work. 

• Outside Groups – Kidsports, YMCA, City of Eugene and other outside groups are allowed to rent space at schools again, although they are required to provide proof of vaccination of all their employees if any part of their program overlaps with the regular school day. 

• No Fabric Furniture, Stuffed Animals, or Shag Carpets  – The ABC area rugs 4J purchased for teachers are still allowed and vinyl furniture is allowed, but long shag carpets, classroom stuffed animals, and fabric couches, chairs, or furniture are not allowed since they are harder to clean if your class were to have a COVID (or lice) outbreak. 

• COVID Positive Staff Protocol – If staff test COVID positive, you’re to notify your administrator (me). HR will let you know your official quarantine dates. The protocol for COVID positive students is coming soon according to this HR Email. 4J is working with Bethel and Springfield to so that all three districts are doing something similar for students. But the main message for staff and families is, if you are feeling sick, STAY HOME! 

• COVID Testing Partnership with UO – 4J is continuing their partnership with the UO, but are scaling back what schools are asked to do. Students will get a trimester worth of test kits and will have an unsupervised dropbox to return their kits for the UO to pick up. 

• ArtSpark Artist in Residence Survey – Holt will get two Artist Residencies again this year funded by ArtSpark. I want to get your preferences early, so we can lock in an artist and date before the good ones are taken. Please fill out the linked Artist in Residence Survey to help start the conversation when we make a decision at our Back-to-School Staff Meeting.

• Holt Staff Handbook – For new staff, the Holt Staff Handbook includes most every relevant building policy and procedure. Please take time to review the handbook and let me know if you have questions or if you spot anything that possibly needs revised.

• Conscious Discipline PD for EAs & K/1/2 Teachers, New Date Option – EAs and K-2 teachers have an opportunity to participate in a yearlong Conscious Discipline PD. This was shared in the spring, but downtown added a September kickoff meeting date for anyone wanting to join who is not able to attend the August 22nd or 23rd kickoff meeting. See the linked Conscious Discipline Email for details.

• Student Teacher, Anyone? – Western Governors University is looking for a placement for a student teacher this fall. See the linked email and let me know you are interested.

• Morning Arrival Plan – This is a repeat from last year, but now that we are no longer cohorting, the morning arrival plan for this year will have students eating breakfast back in the cafeteria. Here’s how it will go (depending upon the bus arrival times once we get them):

7:25, buses arrive and students are supervised in the cafeteria.
7:35, students are release to line up at the same grade level entrances we used this year and K/1 going out to hard play (they like to run).
7:35-7:50, students arriving later who want breakfast can go to the cafeteria until 7:50.
7:50, first bell rings and students to go to class.
7:55, tardy bell rings and all doors close.

I’ll review this plan with supervisors at the Classified Staff Meeting on Wednesday, August, 31st for input and any tweaks we might want to make. Here’s my initial plan for where supervisors will be stationed:

Cafeteria (Alex, Ashley C., Levi, Jackie, Lisa G. after buses)
A Wing Doors – 5th Grade (TBA HIRE & Iris)
B Wing Side Doors – 3rd & 4th Grade (Annie & Kelly)
C Wing Doors by Gym – 2nd Grade (Julie, Lisa P., Marilyn)
D Wing Doors – KG & 1st Grade (Cheryl & Wendy)
Crossing Guards (Darren & Ben)
Buses (Lisa G. & Molly)

• Rainy Day Arrival Plan – If get a downpour (kids can be tough if it’s light rain), we will use the same rainy day plan as last year. This would also apply to days with poor air quality, with the exception of moving the 5th graders outside into the gym. :

Cafeteria – (Levi, Jackie, Ashley C., Lisa G. after buses)
5th Grade – Covered Area (TBA HIRE. & Iris)
3rd and 4th Grade – Gym (Annie & Kelly)
     • Enter through gym doors on blacktop
2nd Grade – Library (Julie, Lisa P., Marilyn)
     • Enter through 2nd grade door and walks to library
     • Robbie in Library, Annie at door, Jackie at K-2 intersection
KG & 1st Grade – K-1 Hallway (Cheryl & Wendy)
*Outside – Kim, Allan, Darla directing traffic flow

AT BELL, all stations stay in area to avoid traffic jams. Use radios to coordinate release.
         • K-1 and 2nd graders in Library released first
         • 5th grade enters through A Wing exterior doors
         • 3rd & 4th released down main hall.

 

• Reimbursement Reminder – Two reimbursement reminders:

• Get Approval Before Purchasing – If you’re purchasing anything, you need to get purchases pre-approved by your principal (me). This is mostly to make sure you’re buying something Finance Dept. rules will allow us to reimburse you for. Food items are particularly tricky.

• Save Original Receipts – The Finance Dept. requires original receipts for reimbursements, so make sure you save those since bank records, credit card invoices, and such will not work.

• Tech Support Requests – Staff can submit tech support requests to our TSS (Technology Support Specialist), Rob Geerling, by emailing 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu, but you can now also use the new 4J Freshservice for technology help requests. At this site you can search the Solutions area of the customer portal, or the system will auto-suggest knowledge articles based on what you have typed in the Subject of the new ticket. You can also call the Tech Support Hotline at (541) 790-7777.

• Make Sure Your Voicemail is Set-Up – All teachers should ensure your 4J voicemail is set up and working. See the linked 4J Phone Voicemail Manual or this Quick Start Voice Mail User Guide for how to set it up, as well as for info on phone functions. If you have questions, please contact our TSS, Rob, at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call (541) 790-7777. And if you are moving classrooms, do not move your phone to your new room. Phones are connected to a particular port, so moving them would cause you issues.

• Preptime for EAs – A reminder for teachers that the Classified Staff OSEA collective bargaining agreement obligates EAs assigned instructional responsibilities prep time and for building admins to notify teachers of the District’s expectation that EAs who provide instructional support to be provided the opportunity to discuss scheduling prep-time. See the linked email for details.

• SELCO’s Educator Grants, Due 9/30 – Super easy grant for free stuff! SELCO’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grant Program is now accepting applications for projects up to $1,000 that inspire curiosity, make learning accessible, and spark something new. Applications are open August 15–September 30. Visit the above link for details and to apply.

• YMCA is Hiring – For any staff wanting to supplement your hours, the Y’s Youth Development team is hiring for before and after school care program Aides, Teachers, and Site Directors. For any questions reach out to rachel@eugeneymca.org or APPLY HERE

• 2021-22 ODE School Report Cards – These linked State School Report Cards (link on email, not on blog) are embargoed for anybody outside the district until October 16th. For the first time in five years, these report cards are going to be used by ODE to determine the level of state support (comprehensive or targeted) that each school will receive in 2022-23. Overall, Holt scored better than other higher needs schools and better than lower needs schools than Holt, but I haven’t dug into the subgroup data yet.

• District Admin Updates – Linked here is the complete list of 4J Admin Updates (email and webpage), but highlights include:

• Chief of Staff: Rob Hess – Kerry Delf took a job in Beaverton and Rob Hess, who was the the HR administrator in charge of licensed staff, is taking her place. Downtown is hiring a separate Director of Communications, which is a duty Kerry also filled.

• Human Resources Administrator: Mike Ingman – Mike Ingram, former principal at Sheldon High School, is taking Rob’s place in HR as the licensed HR Administrator.

• Sheldon High School Interim Principal: Kay Graham – Kay Graham, former assistant principal at Sheldon, has been named interim principal for the year.

• Director of High Schools: Greg Borgerding – Greg Borgerding, who was the principal at Churchill High School, is taking Superintendent Andy Dey’s position as Director of High Schools.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next few weeks:

August 18 (H)
KITS Last Day

August 23 (T)
New Teacher Welcome Event (Time & Location TBA)

August 24 (W)
New Teacher Welcome Event (Time & Location TBA)

August 25 (H)
New Teacher Welcome Event (Time & Location TBA)

August 26 (F)
Licensed Staff Report Back
8:00-9:00, Time to Pick-Up Wit & Wisdom Materials
9:00-4:00, Wit & Wisdom ELA PD – Day #1 (Holt)

August 29 (M)
8:00-3:00, Wit & Wisdom ELA PD – Day #2 (K-3 @Zoom, 4-5 @Holt)

August 30 (T)
Protected Teacher Planning
Classified Staff Report Back
Educational Assistant PD (Location & Time TBA)
8:30, Welcome Back Burritos, Coffee, & Supplies! (School Garden)

August 31 (W)
8:00-12:00, Holt Back to School Meeting (Cafeteria)

September 1 (H)
7:30-10:00, 4J Staff Back-To-School Gathering -Tentative
1:00-4:00, Health for Grades K-2 (Zoom)
1:00-4:00, Math for for 3-5 (Zoom)
4:00-5:00, Kidnerzone Meeting (TBA)

September 2 (F)
9:00-12:00, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Strategies PD (SEHS Auditorium)
1:00-4:00, Health for Grades 3-5 (Zoom)
1:00-4:00, Math for for K-2 (Zoom)

September 5 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 6 (T)
Collaborative Planning Time for Lang Arts Adoption
8:00-10:00, Staff Meeting – If Needed
10:00-11:00, Optional New Staff Orientation and Q&A (Cafeteria)
2:00-3:00, Meet Your Teacher
3:00-4:00, Kona Shave Ice Fundraiser (Hard Play)

September 7 (W)
Classes Begin – First Day of School
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

September 8 (H)
Regular Day

September 9 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Staff Choice

Let me know if you need anything and please resume your summer!

Allan

 

January 31. 2022

By Allan  |  2022/01/29 16:44 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Grants, P.D., SEL  |  Comments Off on January 31. 2022

 

Howdy All,

Thought I’d pass along a compliment from my sub who mentioned how helpful and welcoming of a staff we have here at Holt. Glad to finally get to come back!

Fourteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Two staffing updates:

• School Nurse Update – Lisa West, our school nurse, has taken another job outside of 4J. Her last day was last week and I’m still waiting for an update from SSD as to who will be her replacement.

• 22-23 Staffing Timeline – HR is behind on getting staffing information out for next year. Right now their goal is to have it out to principals the last week of February.

• Friday PD: SEL/Morning Meetings – This Friday’s PD will be an SEL focus on Morning Meetings. Licensed staff will meet in the cafeteria at 1:30. The following Friday PD will be an update on the 22-23 ELA Adoption, which will include an optional drop-in Zoom Q&A session by the Adoption Team Leaders.

• Classified Absence Reminder – If you’re absent and even if you don’t need a sub, you need to record all absences in the Absence Management System (formerly AESOP). If you have questions how to enter an absence, visit the website 4J Absence Management Quicksheets and Support.

• CORRECTION: Visitor/Volunteer Process – I made a mistake and left out a step for anyone wanting to use volunteers. The Volunteer Approval Process, in addition to volunteers completing the volunteer back ground check, principals also have to fill out a submit volunteer names to HR for approval along with a liability waiver form. Apologies to Elizabeth and Robbie who had volunteers try to come last week, but HR put a stop to it when they saw them sign-in through the Raptor sing-in system. So if you want visitors and/or volunteers, give me the following:

• Volunteer Name
• Volunteer Tasks (what they’ll be doing)
• A Signed Volunteer Liability Waiver

• Bertha Holt Celebration, Gift of Hope Project, Coming in February! – As part of an ongoing tradition, the students of Holt are raising money to support an international family using the Gifts of Hope Catalog through the Holt International Organization. See the linked draft Gifts of Hope Project Flyer for details, but the short version is we are asking student to find a way to earn $1 that they contribute. These will go home with students and we will announce the gifts chosen on the Ultimate Cozy Pajama Day Assembly on Feb. 25th.

• EAs and Staff Meetings – If any EAs would like to attend Staff Meetings that occurs beyond your normal work day, let me know and we can make an agreements about banking trade time to use on a non-student day.

• Walk+Roll to School Day, WEDNESDAY – The first Wednesday of each month is Walk & Roll Day, so please encourage your students to walk, bike, carpool, or ride the bus to school. If students live a long way from school, they can try parking a ten minute walk from school and walking the rest of the way. The goal is to reduce traffic and pollution around our school and to promote physical activity for our students.

 

 

• Save the Date for OSAS PD, Friday, March 11 – Gloria emailed earlier, but SAVE THE DATE for the required Oregon Statewide Assessment System (OSAS) security training on Friday, March 11th at 1:30 (location TBD). because there will not be the usual opportunities for make up trainings in other buildings. EAs who will be in 3/4/5 classrooms or SPED classrooms when testing occurs need to attend as well.

• Staff Meeting Location Survey: DEADLINE EXTENDED – Were up to 23 votes and it’s still a dead heat between switching Staff Meetings to Zoom or remaining in-person. We’ll decide at Tuesday’s Staff Meeting, which will be the last time we’ll be able to meet in the cafeteria. Fill out the Staff Meeting Location Survey by Monday to tip the scales one way or the other.

• REMINDER: Teacher PD Survey – Teachers were already given time for this, but if you haven’t already be sure to complete the linked 4J Teacher Curriculum Trainings Survey.

• REPEAT: EEF Grants DUE FRIDAY – EEF is accepting grants for round two of the school year. See the EEF Email or EEF Website for details. Unlike in the past, staff may directly submit grants without first going through Site Council. This year, after the Feb. 2 deadline, all submitted grants will then go to Site Council for rank ordering.

• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Leaving the building during work day – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook, is on “Leaving the building during work day”:

Leaving the building during work day:

• For safety reasons, all staff must notify the office when leaving the premises. Should there be an emergency during the absence, it is important a staff member’s whereabouts is known. Likewise, staff must let the office know when returning to the building.
• All itinerant, or district personnel, visiting Holt MUST sign in/out while on campus.

• Using Morning Messages to Start the Day in Distance Learning – The morning message is a popular way to help elementary students transition into school—and it can be adapted for home learning. See this Edutopia Article for details.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

January 31 (M)
2nd Grade Staff Room Duty
Report Cards Sent Home
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues
4:30-6:30, Allan to Conscious Discipline PD (Zoom)

February 1 (T)
Black History Month
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
5:30-7:30, 4J/EEA Negotiations (Zoom)

February 2 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
4:15-5:15, Optional Morning Meeting PD (Zoom)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

February 3 (H)
5:00-7:30, 4J/EEA Negotiations (Zoom)

February 4 (F)
1:30-2:25, Friday PD – PBIS / SEL PD

February 5 (SA)
1:00-2:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)

February 7 (M)
3rd Grade Staff Room Duty
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues
National School Counselor Week
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Zoom)

February 8 (T)
International Clash Day (sorry, one of my all-time favorite bands)
1:10, Fire Drill
2:45-3:25, PBIS Team Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
6:00-7:00, Conscious Discipline Parent Nights (Zoom)

February 9 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
2:40-3:25, 1st Grade Data Team

February 10 (H)
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting (Zoom)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Zoom)

February 11 (F)
Friendship Day & Holt Celebration Assembly
1:30-2:20, 2nd Grade Data Team
1:30-2:25, Friday PD: ELA Adoption Update

Have a fab week, everyone!

Allan

 

January 24, 2022

By Allan  |  2022/01/22 20:18 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, Grants, P.D., SEL, Video  |  Comments Off on January 24, 2022

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for being out last week. In normal times, I would have just come to work, but since my vaccinated middle schooler tested positive and since I had primary COVID symptoms (sore throat, congestion, minor fatigue), I figured I needed to follow the rules and stay home from work. In the end, I never tested positive and burned a few regular ol’ sick days.

Twenty-one items of note for this week:

• Staffing Update – Please welcome (back) Margaret Maddy as our newest 2.5 hour Title 1 EA. You may recognize Margaret because she previously worked at Holt in the kitchen. Welcome to the team, Margaret!

• COVID Updates – In COVID news…

• Contact Tracing Resumes – The state is now requiring schools to contact trace for all UNMASKED situations (breakfast, snack and lunch), but not recesses. This means the pause on contact tracing is over.

I asked if this meant specialists (PE, Music, SPED, Title, ELD, etc.) no longer needed to maintain seating charts, since those are always masked situations, but was told they should continue to maintain seating charts just in case rules change or if any unusual situations come up. See this 4J Communication for additional info on changes in contact tracing, isolation ,and quarantine.

As a reminder, the best way to avoid close contacts is to keep breakfast and snack in the classroom to less than 15 minutes total or create two different seating charts for breakfast and snack.

• KN95 Masks Available – Downtown is giving all schools KN95 Masks and is ordering more. One mask is good for 5 days and can last good longer if cleaned and disinfected. Come by the office if you want one.

• Staff Notifications – Teachers will get a notification from the district if a student in your class tests positive AND was in school during their infectious period. If a student developed symptoms over the weekend and was not infectious while at school, there would be no notification. However, I will continue to notify teachers of positive students so you have the quarantine dates for sending out assignments.

• Temporary Paid Leave (TPL) – If staff test positive for COVID, you will qualify to TPL. Staff Sick Leave into AESOP and after 4J Staff Contact Tracer Dawn Strong contacts you, she will authorize TPL. Also, staff caring for a child who is positive and if the staff member is not fully vaccinated (booster), they would qualify for TPL because they are now a close contact. If you are booster, however, you’d have to use sick days for child care. (I know. I know. Not my rule there.)

• January Virtual Assembly, THURSDAY @7:40 – The January Virtual Winter Wonderland Assembly is this Thursday. See the above linked agenda for details, but log on early at 7:40 and the festivities will begin at 7:50. Zoom links are on the Staff Zimbra Calendar.

• Science Assembly, THURSDAY @8:30 & 1:15– Ashley emailed details earlier, but this Thursday will be a very cool Extreme Science Assembly. See the link for some videos you might show your kids ahead of time to get them excited! Zoom links are on the Holt Staff Calendar.

Grades K-2: 8:30-9:15
Grades 3-5: 1:15-2:00

 

• REPEAT: Holt Winter Wonderland BINGO Night, THURSDAY – Get your student’s pumped! Not this week, but next week on Thursday, January 27th is a Holt Virtual Event and this time it’s Winter Wonderland BINGO Night!

• Asynchronous EA Learning – FRIDAY – SPED and Title EA were emailed info about Asynchronous EA Learning happen din this Friday, which may have missed a number of building EAs. More details and session descriptions are coming this week, but newer staff are encouraged to attend specific foundational sessions that they have not been able to join previously. These sessions will be highlighted with guidance.

• Report Card Info & Reminders – Three items of note:

• Print on Friday – Report cards cannot be printed until Friday morning. Melanie will send out an email after she’s updated the attendance.

• Parent Reports – The 4J Parent Reports (easyCBM, OSAS, attendance) need to go home and will not be available to print until Thursday. Gloria will get them to staff as soon as she can that day.

• Friday Teacher Work Day Expectations – Although teachers need to come in to print report cards, downtown emailed principals the official expectations for Friday’s Teacher Work Day, which is:

The staff work day is a regular work day. Teachers are allowed to work from home if they notify their administrator in advance. However, teachers should plan ahead if they need to collaborate with any colleagues on grading or student issues. Please be aware that teachers are highly visible members of the community, so keep in mind public perception of how this day is used.

• Staff Meeting Location Survey DUE FRIDAY – With only 13 votes it’s a dead heat between switching Staff Meetings to Zoom or remaining in-person. Please fill out the linked Future Staff Meeting Location Survey by the end of the week.

• Student Semester Changes – Last Thursday, I emailed the list of students switching pathways. If teachers haven’t already, do the following as soon as possible:

1. Decide who is taking the new students.
2. Notify the office who is taking the new students (so we can put them into your Synergy).
3. Send new families a Welcome Email by Tuesday, which can simply be your fall welcome email.

We had 12 students returning to in-person and 11 students moving online. Here’s the grade level breakdown.

Returning
KG – 2
1st – 3
2nd – 3
3rd – 1
4th – 1
5th – 2

Leaving
KG – 1
1st – 2
2nd – 0
3rd – 0
4th – 5
5th – 2

I’ve emailed returning families the following Welcome Back – Quick News.

• Bertha Holt Celebration, Gift of Hope Project, Coming in February! – As part of an ongoing tradition, the student of Holt are raising money to support an international family using the Gifts of Hope Catalog through the Holt International Organization. See the linked Gifts of Hope Project Flyer, but we are asking student to find a way to earn $1 that they contribute. These will go home at the semester change and the deadline to return funds raided is Thursday, Feb. 10th. We will announce the gifts chosen on Feb. 11th, Friendship Day at Holt.

• Classroom Buddy Activity – At the request of Student Council, the PBIS Team emailed teachers a Classroom Buddy Activity we’ll do for the Feb. 11th Friendship Day. See the above email for details and classroom buddy assignments, but be sure to following the timeline:

• Complete All About Me activity AFTER the start of the new term (Monday 1/31) and with enough time to meet and exchange with your buddy teacher.
• Meet with your buddy teacher to match kids up and then exchange papers.
• On Friendship day (Friday 2/11) hand the papers out to your class so they can “get to know” their buddies. Make sure you explain what classroom buddies are because it has been awhile and some kids might not have been here when we did them last.

 

 

• Parent Education Series – Jenny and Max are leading a parenting titled “School to Heart to Home – Conscious Discipline Parent Nights” starting next month. Please help promote this event. I’ve created a Facebook Event and Jenny made a Program Flyer (English & Spanish).

 

Parent Education Series
School to Heart to Home – Conscious Discipline Parent Nights

Let’s face it, being a parent is a hard job! It has been even harder since the beginning of the pandemic. At times, our emotions get in the way of our ability to access our own parenting brilliance. Wouldn’t it be nice to respond to conflict with rational thinking and problem-solving? Join us as we learn to regulate our emotions and stop reacting out of impulse or tradition, so we can help our kids regulate their emotions and reactions.

Come learn, connect, and explore parenting with Conscious Discipline

This series, led by 4J staff on Zoom, is based on the School to Heart to Home parenting education curriculum from Conscious Discipline.

Tuesday, February 8 at 6:00p-7:00pm – Brain States: A new way of understanding yourself and your children
Tuesday, March 8 at 6:00-7:00pm – Composure: Being the person you want your children to become
Date TBA – Assertiveness: Setting limits respectfully
Date TBA – Encouragement: Noticing, accepting and connecting with children

Dinner! Make & Take Materials! Free!

Following each session, attendees will receive:

• a gift card to a local restaurant (to replace the meal we’d provide if able to meet in person)
• printed material related to content covered.
• a copy of Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline, a parenting book that covers much of the content we will discuss.

RSVP here:

Registration Form Or email Jenny Potter potter_je@4j.lane.edu Limited to 25 families!

Once you’ve registered, we will send you a link.

For more information about Conscious Discipline, visit the Conscious Discipline Website or this short Conscious Discipline Video.

• REPEAT: Fire Drill, TUESDAY @1:10 – This Tuesday at 1:10 will be the January Fire Drill. Linked here is the Building Evacuation Map and the • REMINDER: Teacher PD Survey – During last week’s cancelled Staff Meeting, I asked teachers to use the time to complete the linked Optional Teacher Curriculum Trainings Survey (which was revised the following day on 1/19). Be sure to complete the survey by the end of the week if you did not do so already.

• REPEAT: Final School Choice Tour TUESDAY – The last school choice tour of the year is this Tuesday at 12:30, but wanted staff to know I’m planning a Zoom tour of the school at the end of my presentation, so you may see me walking around hallways and classes Zooming with my iPad or laptop.

• EEF Grants Due Feb. 4 – EEF is now accepting grants for round two of the school year. See the EEF Email or EEF Website for details. Unlike in the past, staff may directly submit grants without first going through Site Council. This year, after the Feb. 2 deadline, all submitted grants will then go to Site Council for rank ordering.

• Optional Morning Meeting PD (Virtual) WEDNESDAY or 2/2 – Jan. 26th and Feb. 2nd 4:15 to 5:15 pm, SDS staff will present how you might help to meet the Social Emotional Learning needs of your students while developing a better sense of community, belonging and classroom culture. RSVP using this Google Form as soon as possible. SPOTS for this session are limited to 50 participants. Extended Contract will be provided.

 

• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Medications – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook is on Medications:

Medications:

• It is the policy of the Eugene 4j School District to cooperate with parents to dispense medication that has been prescribed by a physician during the school day. Confidentiality should be practiced regarding individual student medication.
• All medication should be kept locked in the office and must be in the original container issued by a registered pharmacist. Parents must sign an authorization form granting the school permission to administer medication.
• Students are only allowed to carry inhalers if there is an authorization form in the office to do so. This is very rare at the elementary level. Otherwise, students should not have medication with them, including over the counter medications. Cough drops are not permitted in class and should be immediately sent to the office.

• Black History Month Resources – February is Black History Month, so I wanted to pass along this list as a starting point for resources. There are, of course, many other resources available; Rethinking Schools, the Zinn Education Project, and Facing History and Ourselves to name a few.

Info on BHM origins:
• Awesome Video: How Black History Went From a Week to a Month
• Article: Black History Themes
• Article: The Man Behind Black History Month

On Teaching:
• How to Be an Anti-Racist White Educator
• What Anti-Racist Teachers Do Differently

Black Youth Leaders and Activists:
• Past: Youth in the Civil Rights Movement
• Present: Young Black Activists, Young Black Leaders and Creators Making History Today, Amanda Gorman

Black History Month 2021
For 2021, the BHM theme is The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity. There’s obviously such a wealth of resources to work with here, but these are a few books related to this theme:
• Read-aloud: Me and Mama
• Sony Animation: Hair Love
• Read-aloud (there are a bunch of other great ones on this YouTube channel): We March

Lesson plans, etc.:
• Virtual History Journeys
• PBS Learning Resources

Keep in mind that black history and teaching the story of historically of marginalized groups should be a year round-activity and not just a sidebar or novelty to the American history typically taught in U.S. schools. It should be viewed as a central part of the American story.

• MegaMillions Lotto Pool – Time to dream big! The MegaMillions Jackpot for Tuesday’s drawing will be $396 Million. If you want to join the pool, get me $2 (cash or Venmo) by 3:00pm on Tuesday!

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

January 24 (M)
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues

January 25 (T)
12:30-1:10, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Zoom)
1:10, Fire Drill
2:45-3:25, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)
7:00-8:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)

January 26 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
4:15-5:15, Optional Morning Meeting PD (Zoom)

January 27 (H)
Holt Spirit Day, Winter Wonderland!
7:40-8:10, Winter Wonderland Virtual Assembly (Zoom)
8:30-9:15, K- 2 “Extreme Science” Virtual Assembly (Zoom)
1:30-2:15, 3-5 “Extreme Science” Virtual Assembly (Zoom)
2:45-3:25, IPBS Meeting (Library)
6:30, Holt Winter Wonderland BINGO Night! (Zoom)

January 28 (F)
No School – Staff Work Day
7:30-8:30, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting (Zoom)
9:00, Allan to SSD Meeting (C1)

January 31 (M)
2nd Grade Staff Room Duty
Report Cards Sent Home
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues
4:30-6:30, Allan to Conscious Discipline PD (Zoom)

February 1 (T)
Black History Month
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
5:30-7:30, 4J/EEA Negotiations (Zoom)

February 2 (W)
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
4:15-5:15, Optional Morning Meeting PD (Zoom)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

February 3 (H)
5:00-7:30, 4J/EEA Negotiations (Zoom)

February 4 (F)
1:30-2:25, Friday PD – PBIS / SEL PD

February 5 (SA)
1:00-2:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)

Have a good week, everyone!

Allan

 

January 17, 2021

By Allan  |  2022/01/15 20:25 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, Grants, Literacy, P.D., Science  |  Comments Off on January 17, 2021

Howdy Everyone,

Nineteen items of note for our 3-day student week:

• COVID Updates – Here are eight COVID reminders and updates:

• Fully Vaccinated Definition Change – The CDC, State of Oregon, and Lane County Public Health now consider “Fully Vaccinated” for adults 18 years and older to mean you’ve received your booster and the two weeks to take effect. This means if a staff member is a close contact, they would need to quarantine if they are not boosted. Fully vaccinated staff DO NOT need to quarantine if they are a close contact, including even if a COVID positive person is in their home, as long as they do not have any COVID symptoms.

• Close Contact & Contact Tracing Change – Schools are not contact tracing at this time for students, but are for any positive staff member. Student grade level cohorts are notified by downtown if a student in their cohort tested positive and to watch their child for symptoms. This also means that Test-to-Stay is also paused until we resume contact tracing.

• Testing for Staff – Schools are now allowed to administer rapid tests to staff members who develop symptoms while at school.

• If you are sick, STAY HOME! – Do not be the person who tests positive and then tells the 4J COVID Team, “I had a sore throat all week, but went to work not thinking it was anything.” If you have any of the following symptoms, STAY HOME:

• Fever of 100.4° F or higher
• Sore Throat
• Chills
• Cough (non-persisten, dry coughs are okay, but congested coughs are not)
• Shortness of breath
• Difficulty breathing
• New loss of taste or loss of smell
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

• COVID Positive, Same as Vaccinated for 90-day – If a student had COVID in the last 90 days, they are treated as if they’re fully vaccinated, so if they were a close contact to someone positive in that time, as long as they have no symptoms, they can come to school.

• COVID Call Script – If you’re curious, here’s the COVID Call Script schools are using when a parent calls to report their child was either a close contact, tested positive, or their child in sick. It’s more invasive than what we do during normal times, but we do need to collect all this info from families.

• Seesaw Tip for Students in Quarantine – A good idea for managing workload. Send a Seesaw lesson for the first day of a student’s quarantine, but wait to see if they complete it before sending subsequent days. Some kids are too sick to do their work, so don’t create more work for yourself.

• COVID Testing for Educators – WVT Lab in Corvallis is offering free weekly COVID testing for educators, where they’ll mail you a test each week. With tests in short supply, thought folks may want to sign up. And starting Jan. 19th, Every home in the U.S. can order 4 free at-⁠home COVID-⁠19 tests at covidtests.gov. The tests will be completely free—there are no shipping costs and you don’t need to enter a credit card number.

• Holt Winter Wonderland BINGO Night, Thursday, Jan. 27th – Get your student’s pumped! Not this week, but next week on Thursday, January 27th is a Holt Virtual Event and this time it’s Winter Wonderland BINGO Night!

 

• Report Card Info – Four Report Card items of note:

• Report Card Printing – Teachers are NOT to print report cards until the secretaries work their Synergy magic or else the attendance data on the report cards will not be accurate. I haven’t connected with Melanie or Sharon on this, but I believe teachers can print starting Thursday, Jan. 27th.

• Report Card Completion Deadline – Downtown wanted principals to tell teachers they shared with EEA that teachers will have until 11:00AM on Friday, January 28 to complete report cards, as they want to ensure staff who are interested in attending the Superintendent Staff Forum on their grading day from 9:00-10:30am are able to do so.

• REPEAT: Report Card Dates – See the Report Card Email send earlier for details, but please note the following dates.

• Elementary Grading Day – Friday, January 21
• Elementary Staff Work Day – Friday, January 28
• Elementary Staff Work Day – Friday, January 28
• Report Cards Sent Home – Monday, January 31

• REPEAT: Working from Home – Grading day is a regular work day, but HR allows teachers to work from home if you notify me in advance. Plan ahead if you need to collaborate with any colleagues on grading.

• Science Kit Restocking – Holt has permission to keep out kits and downtown will restock whatever materials we need. Teachers should let me know by Thursday if you need anything for your winter science kits. Jamie Tait said she’ll get us whatever it is we need.

• 2022-2023 Enrollment Projections – We got our budget for next school year and buried in that document is our enrollment projection for next year, which has us at 529 students for next year. That is the same as what we were projected for this year and it looks like downtown did the same for all schools. If downtown sticks with these projections and staffing ratios are kept the same, we shouldn’t see any staffing reductions.

• Student Semester Changes – With the extension of the survey window, downtown anticipates having lists of students transitioning between programs by Wednesday. Buildings that were significantly impacted by additional enrollment have already been communicated with and Holt was not one of those schools, so I expect our numbers to remain relatively the same. I shared this earlier, but this is the count for Holt students who are currently online:

KG: 5
1st: 9
2nd: 7
3rd: 5
4th: 4
5th: 10

• EAs can get a sub on Day #1 – HR is now allowing all EAs to get a sub on the first day of an absence, so please put in for a sub if you are out. In the past, only SPED and Title EAs could get a sub the first day of an absence and Kinder or Building EAs had to be out three days before they could get one.

• Jan. 28 EA Extravaganza – Downtown is putting together some learning for EAs for Friday, Jan. 28th in the morning. Due to limited capacity among presenters, most/all of the offerings will be asynchronous, so stay tuned for more info later.

• Teacher PD Survey – I’ll give teachers time at a future Staff Meeting or a Friday PD to complete the linked PD Survey, but if anyone wants to give their input how, feel free.

• Shoe Donations for PE – I’m putting the article below in the next Quick News about donating used shoes, particularly for KG – 2nd grade sized shoes, but feel free to ask your students and/or include this article in your next classroom newsletter.

Shoe Donations for PE

Holt’s Physical Education teacher, Mr. Alex, is looking for donations of used shoes. We particularly need kindergarten through 2nd grade sized shoes. These shoes are for students who come to PE with shoes that no longer fit, break, or are not the proper shoes for PE activities.

• EEF Grants Due Feb. 4 – EEF is now accepting grants for round two of the school year. See the EEF Email or EEF Website for details. Unlike in the past, staff may directly submit grants without first going through Site Council. This year, after the Feb. 2 deadline, all submitted grants will then go to Site Council for rank ordering.

• BEST Updates – The BEST After School Program at Holt is set to start Monday, February 7th. The program will run Monday – Thursday from 2:25-5:25 and will partner with the YMCA. They will use the gym, cafeteria, playground, and library and Title 1 areas for small group instruction. The academic focus will be on math. Students will have enrichment opportunities in addition to academics. They will also be given dinner. The program will start small with 20 something students, but will hopefully grow from there. Aubrey Bulkeley is the Holt BEST Site Coordinator is you have any questions, though you can check in with me as well.

• ELA Pilot Information – If you’re interested, the ELA adoption team leaders emailed teachers participating on the pilot last week, which included updates to the schedule, info for K-2 EL teachers, and helpful links.

• REPEAT: Fire Drill, Tuesday @1:10 – This Tuesday at 1:10 will be the January Fire Drill. Linked here is the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line Map. If it’s raining, we’ll reschedule for Tuesday the following week.

• REPEAT: 4J Superintendent Selection – Fill out the Superintendent Selection Survey by Jan. 25th. Make your opinions heard. There’s also a series of staff and community forums you may want to attend:

Community Forums
Thursday January 13, 5–6:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Tuesday, January 18, 7–8:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Thursday, January 20, 5–6:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Saturday, January 22, 1–2:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Tuesday January 25, 7–8:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom

Staff Forums
Friday, January 21, 9–10:30 a.m. — Online via Zoom
Friday, January 21, 3:30–5 p.m. — Online via Zoom

• REPEAT: School Choice Tours – I’m holding virtual school presentations and tours starting this Tuesday, Jan. 11th (12:30PM) and later on Jan. 20th (6:00PM), and Jan. 25th (12:30PM), but I did want teachers to know I’m planning a Zoom tour of the school at the end of my presentation, so you may see me walking around hallways and classes Zooming with my iPad or laptop.

• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Newsletters – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook, is on Newsletters:

Principal (Quick News):
Weekly communication sent to families electronically with school news & events. PAHS can contribute their information here as well

Classroom Teacher:
Teachers communicate with either electronic or paper newsletters. Teachers have discretion as to how often communications go home, however, communication with families on some level is the expectation. Some grades coordinate newsletter, others do not. Currently there is not a standard electronic platform.

PAHS:
Our parent group communicates through flyers, Quick News, and Facebook

• A More Equitable (and Engaging) Way to Teach Writing in Elementary School – When teachers tie writing instruction to what students are reading, learners begin with a more level playing field. We discussed some of these ideas back on Jan. 3rd and our adopted writing curriculum, Being A Writer, does tie writing to literature, but see this Edutopia Article for details.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

January 17 (M)
No School — Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 18 (T)
KG Staff Room Duty
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues
1:10, Fire Drill
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)
7:00-8:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)
January 19 (W)
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)

January 20 (H)
2:45-3:25, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)
5:00-6:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)6:00-7:00, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Zoom)

January 21 (F)
No School – Grading Day
9:00-10:30, Superintendent Staff Community Forums (Zoom)
3:30-5:00, Superintendent Staff Community Forums (Zoom)

January 22 (SA)
1:00-2:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)
January 24 (M)
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues

January 25 (T)
12:30-1:30, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Zoom)
2:45-3:25, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)
7:00-8:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)
January 26 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
4:15-5:15, Morning Meeting Professional Learning Opportunity (Zoom)

January 27 (H)
Holt Spirit Day, Winter Wonderland!
2:45-3:25, IPBS Meeting (Library)
6:30, Holt Winter Wonderland BINGO Night! (Zoom)

January 28 (F)
No School – Staff Work Day
7:30-8:30, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting (Zoom)
9:00, Allan to SSD Meeting (C1)

Enjoy the short week!

Allan

January 10, 2022

By Allan  |  2022/01/08 21:15 Posted in Announcements, Assessment, Grants  |  Comments Off on January 10, 2022


 Hi Everyone,

This is our one and only full 5-day week with students for January.

Fourteen items of note for this week:

• COVID Updates – I did more contact tracing and quarantining of students last week than ever before in a single week. Here are some COVID reminders and updates:

• REMINDER: Keep Seating Charts Updates – Makes sure you’ve given me your most current classroom, cafeteria and/OR specialist seating charts.

• REMINDER: Breakfast & Snack Times – If you can limit breakfast and snack times to less than 15-minutes total per day, then we can avoid most school-based close contacts. I’ve also seen some teachers make different seating charts for breakfast and snack. If a student does test positive, anyone within 6-feet for more than 15 cumulative minutes with their masks off over the course of the day will have to quarantine.

• Quarantine Rule Change – Students and staff now only need to quarantine for 5-days instead of ten. Also, students and staff do not need to be “symptom free” but instead need to have “improving symptoms without meds.”

• School Rapid Tests – Each school has a limited supply of rapid tests. These tests can be given to staff or students who are a close contact due to a school exposure. We cannot use the school rapid tests for an exposure outside of school (i.e. daycare, friend gathering, positive person in the household, etc.).

• Test-to-Stay Only w/School Rapid Test – If someone is a close contact outside of school, they must quarantine for 5-days, even if they receive a negative test from a doctor, clinic, or home test. Test-to-Stay only happens for school based exposures.

• Volunteers for Essential Functions – Volunteers are still allowed in schools for “essential functions,” such as for instruction or safety, but I’m still holding off on advertising this to families since that may change at some point. Still, if you do need volunteers, it is allowable.

• Booster Clinics – If you’re looking for info on where to get your COVID Booster, you can visit Vaccines.gov

• COVID FAQs – Here a few frequently asked questions I’m getting lately:

I’m a close contact. Do I have to quarantine? If you are fully vaccinated and not displaying any symptoms, you are cleared to come to school, even if the positive person is someone living in your household. This is true for both staff and students.

Are masks still optional for staff outdoors? If you can maintain 6-feet distance from students, masks are optional. For myself, I’ve found it impossible to maintain 6-feet distance when kids are around and am just masking-up.

What are the symptoms that require staff and students to stay home? I’ve heard an updated list of symptoms is coming out sometime soon, but for now, this is the official list.

• Fever of 100.4° F or higher
• Sore Throat
• Chills
• Cough (non-persisten, dry coughs are okay, but congested coughs are not)
• Shortness of breath
• Difficulty breathing
• New loss of taste or loss of smell
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

• Math Benchmarking for 1st – 5th BEST Placements – Teachers, please prioritize completing Math easyCBM Winter Benchmark this week. Our goal is to start BEST in early February and we need this data to help decide which 1st – 5th grade students would be the best match for the math focus in the after school program.

• Report Cards – See the Report Card Email send earlier for details, but please note the following dates.

• Elementary Grading Day – Friday, January 21
• Elementary Staff Work Day – Friday, January 28
• Report Cards Sent Home – Monday, January 31

Also note the following from the Holt Staff Handbook regarding Report Card Grading Day:

• Licensed Staff – Grading day is a regular work day. HR allows teachers to work from home if you notify your administrator in advance, but be sure to plan ahead if you need to collaborate with any colleagues on grading. Please be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town. Teachers are highly visible members of the community, so keep in mind public perception. HR has said that if working off-site on grading days is abused, we will not be allowed to continue the practice.

• Official Testing Window Has Been Released – ODE’s official testing windows are March 8th – June 3rd for grades 3-5. In the future, downtown will provide a tighter window for when all elementary schools will be expected to assess students.

• PBIS Meeting Tuesday @2:45 – A reminder to staff that anyone and everyone, classified and licensed, are invited to attend the PBIS Meeting this Tuesday at 2:45 in the library. On the agenda to be discussed are:

• Review and finalize Student Support Charts
• Determine Action Plan & use of $500
• Family Awareness of Discipline process (from PBIS Leaders meeting)
• Fidelity Inventory Results
• Classroom Buddies

• Classified Staff and Delayed Start Days – HR emailed principals regarding expectations for classified staff on days when there is a 2-hour delay. Highlights include:

• All Classified staff should report to work as soon as they can do so safely.
• School-based classified staff should report to work as soon as they can safely and in time to perform assigned duties. This should be no later than 2 hours after their regular reporting time.
• Missed work time can be made up during the workweek in accordance with trade time provisions in the collective bargaining agreement (Article 11.3). If an employee is unable to or is not interested in making up the missed work time during the week, they may use available comp time and/or personal time, if eligible.
• Staff are not be permitted to use paid sick time to make up for time missed from work due to the weather.
• Employees and administrators/supervisors should work collaboratively to resolve questions and concerns.
• Human Resources is available if administrators or supervisors have any follow-up questions.

• Fire Drill, Tuesday, Jan. 18 @1:10 – Not this week, but next week on Tuesday, January 10th at 1:10 will be the January Fire Drill. Linked here is the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line Map. If it’s raining, we’ll reschedule for Tuesday the following week.

• REPEAT: School Choice Tours – I’m holding virtual school presentations and tours starting this Tuesday, Jan. 11th (12:30PM) and later on Jan. 20th (6:00PM), and Jan. 25th (12:30PM), but I did want teachers to know I’m planning a Zoom tour of the school at the end of my presentation, so you may see me walking around hallways and classes Zooming with my iPad or laptop.

• Attendance Incentives – Have any students needing an incentive for regular attendance. 4J got an EEF Grant to purchase incentives. If you need something, let me know and I’ll make a request to the Student Services Department for the funds.

• 4J Superintendent Selection – Fill out the Superintendent Selection Survey by Jan. 25th if you’d like to make your opinions heard. The main point I made on my survey was I want someone from the northwest who might actually stay and not another outsider short-timer who’ll just use 4J as a stepping stone to something else.

There’s also a series of staff and community forums you may want to attend:

Community Forums
Thursday January 13, 5–6:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Tuesday, January 18, 7–8:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Thursday, January 20, 5–6:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Saturday, January 22, 1–2:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom
Tuesday January 25, 7–8:30 p.m. — Online via Zoom

Staff Forums
Friday, January 21, 9–10:30 a.m. — Online via Zoom
Friday, January 21, 3:30–5 p.m. — Online via Zoom

• United Way Annual Giving Deadline, TUESDAY – Campaign Forms will be collected through Tuesday, January 11th. See the linked United Way of Lane County Email for details. LPT: You can make a donation directly to your classroom and then you get a tax deduction!

• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Reimbursement Guidelines – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook, is on Reimbursement Guidelines:

Reimbursement Guidelines:
• If you’re asking for a reimbursement, the merchandise must be shipped to the school. You’re not allowed to have it shipped to your home.
• If you are asking for a reimbursement, receipts must be dated in the last 60 days and this includes secretary time to submit paperwork to 4J Financial Services. .
• Submit your receipt before the 13th if you want your reimbursement to show up on your next paycheck.
• There is a $250 monthly limit for reimbursements.
• The best bet is to still use the school’s business Amazon account for ordering. If you need an invitation to your Amazon business account, let the secretary know

• MegaMillions Pool? – Want to join me in being a millionaire? MegaMillions is almost at $300 million for Tuesday’s drawing. Cash or Venmo me $2 by 3:30 Monday if you want to join!

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

January 10 (M)
Office/Library/Music Staff Room Duty
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues
2:45-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Zoom)

January 11 (T)
12:30-1:30, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Zoom)
2:45-3:25, PBIS Meeting (Library)

January 12 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
2:40-4:30, 2.5 Title EA Interviews (Library)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

January 13 (H)
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting (Zoom)
5:00-7:30, 4J/EEA Negotiation Session (Zoom)
5:00-6:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)
6:00-7:00, PAHS (Parents at Holt School) Meeting (Zoom)

January 14 (F)
1:30-2:25, Friday PD/PLC – SEL

January 17 (M)
No School — Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 18 (T)
KG Staff Room Duty
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues
1:10, Fire Drill
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Zoom)
7:00-8:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)

January 19 (W)
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)

January 20 (H)
2:45-3:25, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)
5:00-6:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)
6:00-7:00, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Zoom)

January 21 (F)
No School – Grading Day
9:00-10:30, Superintendent Staff Community Forums (Zoom)
3:30-5:00, Superintendent Staff Community Forums (Zoom)

January 22 (SA)
1:00-2:30, Superintendent Selection Community Forums (Zoom)

I’m normally kind of averse to inspirational feel-good types of things, but I really like this video of National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman sharing a new poem to kick off 2022.

Allan

 

December 13, 2021

By Allan  |  2021/12/11 19:35 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Grants, P.D., SEL, Video  |  Comments Off on December 13, 2021

Hey Holt Bolts,

The week before winter break is usually a crazy one, with more than normal of escalated behaviors (kids and adults), so be prepared. Also, give yourself permission to just have fun with kids this week, which can lessen some of the undesired behaviors. That’ll also send kids off to winter break on a positive note and help them feel good about coming back from the break in January. Make this week a fun one!

Eighteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Four staffing updates:

• Behavior EA Update – Hannah Connor, who recently started as a 2.5 hour Title 1 EA, is our new Behavior Support EA, filling Max’s former position before he became our school counselor. Besides working here at Holt, Hanna also currently works as a Behavior Technician at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders and prior to that worked as a Personal Support Worker.

• 2.5-hour EA Vacancy – HR is allowing me to submit to hire our runner-up for this position without having to start over. My hope is HR will make the job offer next week and the person can start after winter break.

• Holt BEST Coordinator Update – Downtown is shuffling BEST Coordinators. The person originally assigned to Holt is being moved to Howard and Howard’s coordinator, Aubrey Bulkeley, is coming to Holt. Aubrey will start at Holt in January, though she’ll be visiting Wednesday after school, and the goal is for BEST to start up in early February. Depending upon available curriculum and hiring of BEST EAs, they are planning to start small with 15-25 students.

• BEST Academic Coordinator Opportunity – If any staff are interested in supporting BEST as the Academic Coordinator, see this linked Email and Job Description. The best fit for this position is a licensed staff member who has an interest in/comfort level with math and data, but classified staff with this skill set can also take it on. Here’s the basic overview:

• Oversee EA instruction in Do the Math small groups (similar to Title groups happening during the day).
• Look at data, and with consultation of the Data Team, determine who should be invited to BEST.
• This is an extended contract position for 1.5 – 2 hours per day.
• There are Academic Coordinators at other sites who can help, with regular collaboration meetings planned.

Since this is extended contract, there’s no interview or job posting or anything like that. Just let me know if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch with Molly Lajoie, the District BEST Afterschool Coordinator.

• REPEAT: Crazy Hair Because We Care! FRIDAY! – Get kids pumped and plan your own crazy hair! If families want to share their crazy hair on Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #crazyhairbecausewecare, Papa’s Pizza will award the “BEST Hair” photo with a FREE Large Pizza of their choice!

• December Virtual Assembly, Friday @7:55 – The December Spirit Day Virtual Assembly will be this Friday at 7:55. Here’s the agenda for the event:

7:50
Start Zoom meeting with each class.
Music will be played until start time.

7:55
Assembly begins Live! Mr. Chinn Starts us off!

7:56
Miss Kim pulled out 23 winners (Pre drawn…one from each class) and adds to the wheel (pre-written) 😜
These kids will STAY IN CLASSROOM!  Pizza coupons Prize will be delivered!
Mr. Chinn will then Spin the wheel with all 23 names on it for the big prizes!

1st Spin = Connect 4
2nd Spin = Large Pop-It!
3rd Spin = Bubble Wand
4th = Drone

These winners can come down to get their prize!

8:00
Ms. Reich does BOLT WINNER DRAWING for Vending Machine Coins by
They can come to get their prize!

8:01
While we are waiting for Holt Bolt Winners to get their prize, Lets share ourCrazy Hair (Highlight each room!)

8:05
GAME TIME!!!
We drew 8 Spirit Tickets and have 4 teams for the game!
Today we are playing Reindeer Games!

GAME:
4 teams of 2
One person wears the reindeer antlers
The Other player throws the rinds on the antlers.
The first one to get 3 rings on the antlers wins!
PRIZE??? Gold Coins and something else for “losers” 🙃

8:07
End Assembly portion. Congratulations to the teams!

8:09
School cheer and goodbye!

• SIA Library Pick-Up WEDNESDAY – The SIA Classroom Libraries are being delivered this Wednesday. Teachers should pick up your three book sets at the end of the school day.

• Science Kit Transition Survey + Information – I connected with Jamie Tait, District K-5 STEM Specialist, regarding Eric Anderson’s Email and Holt’s past agreement with Sue Wilson and Jaimee Massie where each grade level kept their kits and had them refilled by the district. Jamie is fine with this arrangement and she and Eric are seeing if they can possibly use this arrangement at other buildings.

So don’t send you kits back, but if you have kits that need restocked, let me know and I’ll contact Jamie.

• January PD & PLC Times – For January and February, district admin have reduced the amount of PD and PLC time to just 1-hour per week on Fridays, though it’s actually 55-minutes, 1:30-2:25 to ensure staff get their golden hour, but I’ve deleted the Wednesday PLC times off the calendar. There’s only two Friday PDs this month and I will send a separate email with the plan for those days.

• COVID Updates – Two updates:

• Outdoor Mask Requirement – Downtown emailed principals that starting January 4th students will no longer need to wear their face coverings while outside at recess. When students go to recess, make sure they take their masks with them so they can put them back on when they re-enter the building. Ideas for taking masks out are:

• a mask lanyard,
• in a pocket
• slid below their chin
• wrapped around their arm

• Test to Stay – Downtown is planning to start using BinaxNOW rapid testing at schools in January. Specifics are going to be shared with principals later, but linked here is the OHA Release from earlier this month.

 

 

• Cabinets Blocking Doors – This Monday is our Fire Marshall re-inspection. The main issue on the Fire Inspection Report is moving rolling cabinets, wagons, or other items from blocking the 3-foot required fire egress, so I’ve told Ryan to move anything not already moved before the re-inspection.

• Work Room Doors Closed – We have a few students who elope now and then, so we need to make sure the two work room doors are kept closed. They don’t need to be locked, but being closed is probably enough to keep students from wandering in.

• Leadership Plan Approved – The 4J JCAC (Joint Contract Administration Committee) last Thursday officially approve the Holt Leadership Plan.

• K-5 Health Adoption Reps – Downtown is looking for Churchill or Sheldon Region reps on the K-5 Health Adoption Committee. They are specifically looking for Special Education, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 4th grade, and PE reps. If you are interested, see the linked email and add your name to the K-5 Health Adoption Team Interest Google Form.

• Holt School Choice Tour Input – I’m prepping for January School Choice Tours and wanted feedback on the School Choice Tour Slideshow and the Holt School Choice Webpage. Although Holt is closed to most transfers, this is our chance to retain students and families who live in our neighborhood who are considering leaving us for other schools. Let me know if you see anything we should add to highlight for families or if there’s anything that looks incorrect. This is where we want to seriously brag about ourselves!

• Send Me Photos for Social Media! – Related to the above and showing ourselves off, please text me pictures of anything fun or interesting happening at school. I love getting good content to post to our social media pages, which potential families also often check out when shopping for schools.

• $600 Kindness Mini Grant – The Choose Kindness Foundation is offering schools $600.00 to design and implement kindness activities that may be used for classroom or school-wide kindness events or celebrations as well as specific Teacher Wellness through kindness activities. Linked here is the very simple Choose Kindness Mini Grant Application and also Sample Ideas for potential kindness activities. The due date is Feb. 25, 2022 and notification of awards will be by March 11, 2022.

• Choose Kindness Foundation Music Video – Related to the above, the music video below, from the Choose Kindness Foundation, highlights four kindness skills kids can practice: be friendly, offer help, show appreciation, and reach out to those with needs. It’s a tad corny, but feel free to share with you class if you’d like.

• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Child Abuse – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook, is on Child Abuse and Child Abuse Reporting:

Child Abuse
Any employee of the district who has reasonable cause to know or suspect that a child has been subjected to abuse or neglect, or who has observed the child being subjected to circumstances or conditions that could result in abuse or neglect will immediately report these observations to the counselor and/or principal, completing the Suspected Abuse Reporting Form. School employees are mandated reports and should contact the Department of Human Services with their observations/concerns, immediately (within 24 hours) or the EPD Non-Emergency line:

Oregon Child Abuse Hotline, 1-855-503-7233 (SAFE)
Eugene Police Department Non-Emergency Number, (541) 682-5111

School employees should not contact the child’s family, or any other persons, to determine the cause of the suspected abuse or neglect. It is not the responsibility of the school employees to determine or prove that the child has been abused or neglected.

• 5 Days of Holiday Resources for Educators – While Character Strong is a curriculum for the secondary level, they shared some links that could be used at elementary to wrap up the week before winter break.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

December 13 (M)
ELD/Speech/Title/Counselor Staff Room Duty
Artist in Residence Continues
National Cocoa Day
Fire Marshall Re-Inspection
2:30-3:30, Allan to Care Team Meeting (Zoom)
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Zoom)

December 14 (T)
2:45-3:25, PBIS Meeting (Library)

December 15 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
2:45, Teacher SIA Library Pick-Up (Library)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

December 16 (H)
Regular Day

December 17 (F)
Holt Spirit Day, Crazy Hair Day!
7:50-8:10, December Virtual Assembly (Zoom)
2:35, LEAVE EARLY FOR WINTER BREAK

December 18 – January 2
No School – Winter Break

January 3 (M)
No School — Professional Development/Planning Day
SPED/PE Staff Room Duty
8:00-1:30, Staff Meeting/PD (Cafeteria)

January 4 (T)
2:45-3:25, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)

January 5 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)

January 6 (H)
Regular Day

January 7 (F)
1:30-2:25, Friday PD

FIVE days until winter break! Make them good ones!

Allan

September 27, 2021

By Allan  |  2021/09/25 20:19 Posted in Announcements, Grants, P.D.  |  Comments Off on September 27, 2021

 

Greetings Holt Staff,

Nineteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Four staffing updates:

• Michael Larsen (CLC Teacher) – Regular Holt sub, Michael Larsen is taking Kristina’s spot at our CLC Teacher. Michael has a Masters Degree in Special Education and prior to teaching worked as a CLC EA. To help with the transition, Michael will start on Monday and will overlap with Kristina through her last day on September 30th.

• Max Taylor (Behavior EA) – Max was hired as our new Behavior EA and started last Friday. He recently graduated from the UO with a Sociology Degree and has experience working as an office assistant at Chavez.

• Kyla Lenker (Utility COVID EA) – Kyla joins us as our Utility COVID EA. She has an Elementary Education degree and most recently worked as an EA in Junction City. Before that she worked as an inclusion specialist with middle to college-aged individuals experiencing DD. Kyla has an intake meeting with HR later this week and should be able to start soon after.

• Student Office Assistant (Anna Moore) – Sheldon High School student and former Holt student Anna Moore will be our new Student Office Assistant. We’re still working out her exact hours and start date, but she should be starting soon.

Please welcome these fine folks to Team Holt. Go, Bolts!

• Walk+Roll to School Day – Not this week, but next week on Wednesday, October 6th is Walk & Roll Day! Please encourage your students to walk, bike, carpool or ride the bus to school. If students live a long way from school, they can try parking a ten minute walk from school and walking the rest of the way. The goal is to reduce traffic and pollution around our school and to promote physical activity for our students.

• Rainy Day Arrival Plan – This is Oregon, so we’re only going to do the rainy day arrival plan if it’s an downpour. However, if we do get a downpour, here where grade level cohorts will be stationed and who will be supervising:

5th Grade – Covered Area (Connie & Iris)

4th Grade – Gym (Ben & Tasha)
• Enters through gym doors on blacktop

3rd Grade – Cafeteria – (Marilyn, Max, Alex)
• Enters through gym doors by bike rack
• 2 in cafeteria one at gym doors

2nd grade – Library (Robbie, Annie, Jackie)
• Enters through 2nd grade door and walks to library
• Robbie in Library, Annie at door, Jackie at K-2 intersection

Kinder & 1st Grade – K-1 Hallway (Cheryl, Wendy)

*Outside – Kim, Allan, Darla directing traffic flow
*Breakfast carts at each station for handing out breakfast

AT BELL all stations stay in area until released to avoid mixing cohorts
• K-1 and 2nd graders in Library released first
• 5th grade enters through 2nd grade door
• 3rd released
• 4th released

• Updated Inside Recess Supervision Plan – Related to the above, linked here is the Updated Supervision Schedule, which includes a revised inside recess supervision schedule for where recess supervisors are stationed.

• COVID & Quarantine Updates – Holt has not had any positive staff or students at school yet, but it’s only a matter of time before we a class or groups of students and/or staff have to quarantine while we contact trace. Talking to other principals who’ve had to do this, please take note:

• COVID Cleaning Update – I asked at a principals’ meeting about the discrepancy between what custodians were told and what’s in the district COVID-19 Communicable Disease Plan and the COVID-19 Infection Prevention Cleaning and Disinfecting Protocols. I’m not totally satisfied with the answer since I still see discrepancies, but an email from the custodial manager said the plans and practices are aligned.

• Seating Charts to Allan ASAP – If you have not already, give me your seating chart as soon as possible. This also goes for PE, Music, Title, and SPED groups. Paper or electronic copies are fine.

• 6-feet apart if you don’t want to quarantine – If you have a COVID positive student, any student who were within 6-feet of them for for 15-minutes cumulative time over the day will also need to quarantine. This also applies to staff, so keep yourself and students 6-feet apart whenever you can if you want to avoid dealing with quarantines.

• Do staff quarantine after a close contact? – If a staff member is fully vaccinated and was identified as a close contact, they DO NOT need to quarantine unless they are presenting COVID symptoms (Fever > 100.4, cough, shortness of breath, chills, difficulty breathing, or new loss of taste/smell) and continue work as normal.

• How long do students quarantine after a close contact? – When kids are quarantined individually either through exposure at school or at home, they cannot return for 14 days.

• What happens when an entire class has to quarantine? – Linked here is the full doc of What happens when a positive case has been identified? but here is the short version:

Day 1 – Asynchronous lessons from classroom teacher
Day 2+ (if necessary) – Synchronous lessons from classroom teacher, following the K-5 Connect Schedule
Day 3 – Students NOT identified as close contacts return for in-person learning

• What happens when individual students have to quarantine? – Also on the What happens when a positive case has been identified? doc is this full answer, but below is the short version:

1. Teachers send parents the Family Quarantine Letter (edited to fit how you are sharing lessons).

2. Teachers provide students lessons by either Option A: Send the essential components of your daily in class learning and activities as a Seesaw assignment or Option B: Until Oct 15, assign students the pre-made lessons created by TOSAs (linked on the above doc).

3. Students may access a district teacher (not their brick and mortar teacher) during office hours (links and times are in the above doc).

4. Communicate and collaborate with case manager for any student on an IEP or 504 or ELD.

• Student Quarantine Extended Absences K-5 – A longer more detailed version of the above is described in the Grades K-5 Student Quarantine & Extended Absence Process I shared last week. The following Teacher Quarantine Flow Chart has also been created to assist teachers with this process, which includes details on preparing students now before a quarantine, what happens for a whole class quarantine, and for individual student quarantines.

• How do I know if a student is on quarantine? – I shared this earlier, but as a reminder, if a student has a little grey house next to their name on your Synergy seating chart, that student is on quarantine. District contact tracers are sometimes slow to update this, so just ask myself or office staff if you’re wondering about a particular situation. 

• DUE: Classified & Licensed Self Assessment & Goals – All staff, both classified and licensed, need to complete a self assessment in TalentEd by September 30th. Licensed staff need to also complete a Goals Development Form by October 30th, which later next month we can develop some optional building goals people can use.

For the self reflection ratings, how I evaluate staff on the 1 – 4 scale is a 3 is the target. If you’re a 3 (Effective), you’d doing a solid job. If you’re a 4 (Exemplary), you should be going around the school district teaching other staff that area. A 2 (Area for Growth) is not necessarily a bad thing. It just mean there is room for improvement. For myself, I can think of lots of areas I know I can get better at.

• iPad Charging Options – If teachers want a charing stating in your classroom Brian got his hands on some extra chargers and there are a couple options:

• COW Cart w/Chargers – Long term, I think we’ll be able to keep iPads at school and won’t be required to send them home daily, so COW carts are probably the best long term solution. Brian can wire a cart with about 5-chargers for now (chargers are on backorder and can be fully wired up with chargers later).

• Power Strip w/Chargers – Short term, if you’re tight on classroom space right now, a power strip with 5 chargers hooked up might work better for now. If you’d like this option, also let me know how long of a cord you’ll want for your power strip.

Teachers should let me know if you’d like one of these options.

• Second Step Tips – In addition to the digital resources I shared last week (let me know if you didn’t get access), each grade level should have at least one physical kit, as well as the bullying prevention unit materials. Let me know if you are missing anything. 4J Behavior Specialist Shasta Quigley shared the following Second Steps resources:

Getting Started:
How the Program Works Scroll to the bottom of the page for the 8 minute walkthrough

VIDEO: Program Walkthrough Overview of the teacher dashboard, how to create classes and online resources and lessons

Other Links:
K-5 Digital Scope & Sequence
Pacing Guide for a 20 week sequence. Includes information on length of lessons

• Site Based Safety Committee – 4J has been out of compliance regarding state requirements for building Safety Committees. Myself, Kim, and Darla will make up the team, but I wanted to open it up to anyone else who would like to join. Linked here is a Safety Committee Email from Brooke Wagner with a description of committee and committee member obligations. Let me know by the end of the week if you’d like to join or if you have any questions.

• Friday Afternoons – I shared earlier that I’m pushing pause on Wednesday and Friday PD/PLCs, but downtown officially told principals October 1st should be 1-hour of protected prep and the remaining time in the afternoon should be protected for teachers to create asynchronous content that can be used by students in quarantine.

• Student Birthday Treats – I’m putting this in Monday’s Quick News, but for health and safety reasons we cannot allow families to send swag bags or gifts to students on someone’s birthday. We can allow pre-packaged foods, such as store-bought cupcakes, popsicles, or individually packaged treats.

• Chairs Up at End of Day – A reminder to staff, please have students put chairs up at the end of the day.

• October 15th PD – A few people have ask what the plan is for the Friday, October 15th PD Day. All that’s been shared with principals is “Professional Development (5.5 hours), Guest speaker – Race/Equity, SEL Building Specific, Teacher Planning Day.” So now you know as much as I do.

• Highly Qualified recruitment change for SPED EAs – To open up the classified candidate pool, HR Emailed principal they are no longer requiring applicants for SPED EA vacancies to meet HQ standards, which is a minimum two years of college. I’ve heard rumors this may soon apply to general EA positions as well, so if you know of anyone good out there who couldn’t apply for position before that they should do so now, whether it’s for a permanent job or as a sub. UPDATE: HR Emailed principals Sunday that beginning immediately, ALL educational assistant candidates who are at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or equivalent, will be referred to hiring administrators for consideration.

• Licensed Rover Subs – HR Emailed principals they have hired 5 “rover” subs who will fill any unfilled sub jobs, which have been rampant across 4J. They plan to hire 5 more. If there are days where there are no unfilled licensed sub jobs, they’ll be assigned to any unfilled classified sub jobs.

• REPEAT: Safety Week, THIS WEEK – Safety Week is this week. See the schedule below and see the Sept. 13, 2021 Announcements for details.

• Monday – Directed Evacuation (i.e. Fire Drill) – 1:45
• Tuesday – Lockdown Drill – 8:35
• Wednesday – No Drill or Weather Make-Up Day
• Thursday – Room Clear – Time decided by teachers
• Friday – Earthquake/Fire Drill – 8:35

Please let me know if you do not have a manual or if you have any questions or suggestions.

• REPEAT: SELCO’s Educator Grants, Due THURSDAY – SELCO’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grant Program is now accepting applications for projects up to $1,000 that inspire curiosity, make learning accessible, and spark something new. Applications are due September 30.

• REPEAT: EEF Grant Applications DUE NEXT WEEK – EEF Grant Application are due Friday next week. No one has brought a grant to me yet, so unless someone tells me this week they want to submit a grant, I’ll plan to recycle some old grants for books, PBIS stuff, and various supplies.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

September 27 (M)
Safety Week
Allan turns 50 and get’s a discount a Denny’s!
8:10, Allan Reading to Class
9:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
12:05, Allan Reading to Class
1:45, Fire Drill
2:35, Sunshine Committee Meeting (Library)

September 28 (T)
8:25, Lockout Drill
2:45-3:25, IPBS Meeting (Library)

September 29 (W)
No Drill or Weather Make-Up Day
2:45-3:25, PLC Meetings – Repurposed for Leadership Plan Discussion (Library)
4:00-5:00, Allan to 4J Data Team Meeting (Zoom)

September 30 (H)
Room Clear Drill – Time decided by teachers
2:45, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)

October 1 (F)
8:35, Earthquake/Fire Drill
1:25-2:25, Asynchronous Content Prep Time

October 4 (M)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

October 5 (T)
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)

October 6 (W)
Picture Day
Walk+Roll to School Day
2:45-3:45, Asynchronous Content Prep Time
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

October 7 (H)
Regular Day

October 8 (F)
1:25-2:25, Asynchronous Content Prep Time

Two weeks down, thirty-four to go! Have a good week, everyone!

Allan

 

September 13, 2021

By Allan  |  2021/09/11 20:53 Posted in Announcements, Assessment, Grants, Technology, Video  |  Comments (2)

 

Hi Everyone,

Our first two days of school seemed to go well. There’s a few tweaks we may want to make, but overall things seemed to run quite smooth, so nice work, Team Holt!

Twenty-four items of note for this week:

• COVID: Staff Stay Home If… – A reminder from the 4J COVID-19: Staff Information – Fall 2021-22 Slide Show I went over two weeks ago, staff must conduct a daily self-check and attest to the following:

√ You are not experiencing primary COVID symptoms due to an unknown illness;

• Fever of 100.4° F or higher
• Chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Difficulty breathing
• New loss of taste or loss of smell
• Note: Not all persons with COVID-19 exhibit primary symptoms, particularly in the less-likely breakthrough cases in individuals who are fully vaccinated.

√ You have not been identified as a close contact of a person who is COVID-19 positive;
√ You do not live with a person who is COVID-19 positive;
√ You are not awaiting the result of a COVID-19 test that was administered due to COVID symptoms; and
√ You have not been placed in isolation or quarantine by a health provider or by Lane County Public Health.

If in doubt, please call, text, or email me.

• Safety Week, Sept. 27 – Oct. 1 – In two weeks we’ll hold our Safety Week, which is a good way to bring awareness to staff, students, and families about the various safety procedures right at the start of the year. I like to do this when two months overlap within the same week, so we can take care of two monthly required fire drills all in one week. I’ll plan to go over this Tuesday’s Staff Meeting, but I tried to work around recess times and PE/Music times to avoid stepping on anyone’s prep time. I’m proposing the following times and also that on Tuesday and Friday the 8:10-8:40 PE/Music classes move up 5-minutes and the 9:45-10:15 PE/Music classes move 5-minutes later so everyone get’s their prep and we can squeeze the drill in between.

• Monday – Directed Evacuation (i.e. Fire Drill) – 1:45
• Tuesday – Lockout Drill – 8:35
• Wednesday – No Drill or Weather Make-Up Day
• Thursday – Room Clear – Time decided by teachers
• Friday – Earthquake/Fire Drill – 8:35

4J is looking to use a different program in place of ALICE, likely I Love U Guys, so schools were told to wait to practice those drills until staff have been trained.

All of the above drills are listed in the Emergency Procedures Manual, the rainbow tabbed spiral notebook (which is also in the process of being updated) that should be hanging in every classroom. I’ll make a short announcement before each drill, but it’s also good and encouraged for teachers to prep students prior to each drill.

MONDAY– Directed Evacuation (Fire Drill): Linked here is theBuilding Evacuation Map (same as last year) and an updated Fire Drill Line Map. The evacuation routes are similar last spring, but I’ve updated the spots where classes line up to include new classrooms and teachers. Let me know if you have any questions.

TUESDAY – Lockout Drill: I will announce that this is a lockout drill, where if there was something unsafe in the neighborhood we would lock all exterior doors (though right now they’re all already locked), we would not let anyone in or out of the building, but continue business as usual inside the building until the all-clear, which I will announce 10-minutes into the drill.

WEDNESDAY– No Drill – Weather Make-Up Day

THURSDAY – Room Clear: Room Clear Drills will happen at a time determined by classroom teachers. In normal times this drill would be done in cooperation with another classroom where students could go in the event of an actual room clear, but for this year because of distancing rules, I’d advise teachers to use their commons areas, the library, or an empty classroom if you have one nearby. The goal of this drill is for students to know where they would room clear to in the event of an actual emergency since in most cases the teacher would need to remain in the classroom when the rest of the students moved out of the room.

FRIDAY – Fire/Earthquake Drill: For the Earthquake Drill, teach students to “Drop, Cover, Hold,” meaning drop to the ground (so you don’t fall over), cover yourself by going under a desk (to protect yourself from falling objects), and hold onto the desk legs (so you stay under cover and don’t get bounced out). There are many resource on The Great Oregon Shake Out website for you to teach students about Drop, Cover, Hold and earthquake preparedness. See the linked Evacuation Map & Lines for where classes should line up for the Fire Drill following the Earthquake Drill when you hear the fire alarm go off.

Please let me know if you do not have a manual or if you have any questions or suggestions.

• Meeting Calendar Update – Mentioned in the Leadership Meeting Minutes, wtih the added meetings and PDs this year, we had to revise our building meeting calendar. Regular meetings will be:

• Staff Meeting (1st Tuesday of the month, 2:45-3:25)
• IPBS Meeting (2nd Tuesday of the month, 2:45-3:25)
• Leadership Meeting (3rd Tuesday of the month, 2:45-3:25)
• PBIS Meeting (4th Tuesday of the month, 2:45-3:25)

In going down to one Staff Meeting a month, we figure since teachers are already meeting twice each week, we can probably take care of short business items at those meetings.

Also, I’m leaving September’s meeting schedule mostly as planned, except for swapping out the Staff Meeting on the 28th for an IPBS Meeting. The above schedule of meetings will begin in October

• Calendar Requests – Related to the above, staff needing to add any event to the school calendar must use the Calendar Data Entry Form found in the IMC. Please fill it out and turn into Melanie as soon as your event is planned. Prior to scheduling an event, check the school calendar for conflicts. If you’re planning an evening event that will be using the cafeteria you can’t start it before 6:30. The cafeteria is rented out to the YMCA until 6:00 each night and while they’ll help us set up before 6:00 we can’t have parents and guests in there until they’re out.

• No Evening Events on School Board Nights – This isn’t new, but a reminder that schools are not to schedule evening events that conflict with School Board Meetings, not that we’ll have as many evens due to COVID restrictions, but I’ve added Board Meeting to the Staff Zimbra Calendar (and also the Zoom link to the meetings if you want to listen in).

• easyCBM Fall Benchmark Testing Window – ODE guidance has been exceedingly clear on schools providing “Care & Connection” with students and families for the first two weeks of school. Schools should plan on starting the 1-minute 1:1 assessments the week of September 20th and the whole group measures starting the week of September 27th (my birthday!). The window will be open through October 14th.

• State Vaccine Mandate Reminder – Fully vaccinated staff must submit a copy of their proof of vaccine even if they received their shot from a 4J clinic and did the district vaccine verification process. OHA requires the district have a copy of employee vaccination documentation. The deadline for submitting the required OHA exception form is Monday, September 13th at noon. Linked here is the HR Vaccine Mandate Email sent earlier to all staff. Also. Lisa G. offered to deliver any paper verification form if you’re not doing the online form. She said to just put the paperwork in her mailbox if that is helpful to you.

• Seesaw and Students in Quarantine & Friday Prep – Downtown is continuing to work with EEA to reach an agreement regarding how to support students in quarantine. For now, teachers should post materials on Seesaw that a student in quarantine could have a window into activities occurring in the classroom. Additionally, downtown is asking principals to provide teachers time this Friday, September 17th to create a “bank” of asynchronous activities in case we need to take a break from in-person learning.

I’ll notify classroom teachers if a student in your class is on quarantine. Almost all cases this year have been due to a student being a close contact of someone who had COVID and not because they tested positive. Students officially put on quarantine will be flagged in synergy with a house icon like the ones below.

• Regular 3-Feet Student & Masking Refreshers – We need to be proactive in addressing three feet and masking requirements. You have probably already thought of this, but It will be important to have regular lessons and reminders in the first few weeks of school to address proper wearing of masks and ensuring 3-feet in the classroom, outside, and around the school.

• Attendance 15-Minutes After Tardy Bell – Downtown wanted principals to remind teachers attendance needs to be taken by 8:10, 15-minutes after the 7:55 tardy bell.

• Behavior EA Interviews Thursday at 2:35 – HR sent me our candidates list Friday afternoon, so interviews will be this Thursday at 2:35 in the school garden. We had 9 applicants and I’ll plan to interview 3-4 candidates. Interviews will be 25-minute each. Let me know if any of you are willing to volunteer your time to help serve on the interview committee. The more the merrier.

• Principal Visits to Classrooms – I’d like to visit every classroom sometime during the first few weeks of school to greet students and introduce myself. I’ll read a favorite story to your class and chat with the kids a bit. Teachers, please let me know a good 10 minutes block of time I can come and visit sometime this month. Thank you!

• Classroom Newsletters – I’d like to have copies (email is best) of classroom newsletters when teachers send or email them home to families. This helps me keep up to date on what’s happening or going to happen in classes when families ask and it also lets me know details of any class activities that I might be able to get local media to come out and cover. I love promoting our school! If you missed it last week, Holt was in the news on KEZI on Thursday and on KLCC on Friday.

• FREE Table in Staff Room – The Staff Room FREE Tables is starting to get quite a pile. If you put something there, only leave it for a week and after that dispose of it.

• Wear Your Holt Shirt WEDNESDAYS! – We wore our Holt shirts last week on Friday to show school spirt for the first day of school, but our regular school spirit day is Wednesday, so remember to wear your Holt shirt, gear, or purple & green this day each week. Go, Bolts!

Speaking of school spirit, If you missed this Instagram & Facebook posts, check out this Level 10 hair tattoo school spirit!

• Upcoming SSD Changes – An SSD Email was sent to principals regarding changes to address significant SSD staffing shortages. Most of the changes involve reassigning duties for a lot of itinerant staff (nurses, consultants, etc.), but SSD admin are also looking at caseloads and may reassign building staff to understaffed buildings.

• Air Quality Info – It wasn’t too smokey this past week, but if you wanted to know the cutoff numbers, if the air quality is in-between 101- 149, kids are allowed to go outside, but we are advised to avoid over exertion for outdoor activities. Any air quality over 150 is when we need to bring kids in for inside recess.

• University Supervisors Allowed in Buildings – If you have a student teacher, HR has said university supervisors are now allowed to come into buildings to observe and meet with student teachers and practicum students. They just need to be sure to sign-in through the main office.

• K-5 Connect & EOA – All families that were offered spots in K-5 connect had to make decisions as of yesterday. Students that have elected to attend K-5 connect are in the program for the remainder of the first semester. We are still taking students from the waiting list at grades where we have room. Families that are contacted on the waiting list will have 24 hours to make a decision before they lose the seat. We hope to have this ironed out in the coming week.

• Mystery Science Subscription – If you know Mystery Doug, he also has a website Mystery Science, which I just found out 4J has a three year subscription to if you log in using Clever.

• REPEAT: Classified & Licensed Self Assessment & Goals – All staff, both classified and licensed, need to complete a self assessment in TalentEd by September 30th. Licensed staff need to also complete a Goals Development Form by October 30th, which later next month we can develop some optional building goals people can use.

• REPEAT: SELCO’s Educator Grants, Due 9/30 – SELCO’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grant Program is now accepting applications for projects up to $1,000 that inspire curiosity, make learning accessible, and spark something new. Applications are due September 30.

• REPEAT: EEF 2021-2022 Grant Applications DUE OCT 1st – EEF Grant Application are available on their website and are due October 8th. No one has brought a grant to me yet, but before you submit one, let me know your grant title and idea so Site Council can rank order grant submission if we get multiple grants.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

September 13 (M)
Regular Day

September 14 (T)
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Library)

September 15 (W)
2:45-3:25, PLC Meetings (Library)

September 16 (H)
2:30-4:30, Behavior EA Interviews (School Garden)

September 17 (F)
1:10, Kona Shave Ice Fundraiser (Blacktop Area)
2:30-3:25, Teachers Create “Bank” of Async Activities

September 19 (SU)
Talk Like a Pirate Day

September 20 (M)
Schools can begin 1:1 easyCBM measures
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Zoom)

September 21 (T)
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Library)

September 22 (W)
2:45-3:25, PLC Meetings (Library)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

September 23 (H)
Regular Day

September 24 (F)
2:30-3:25, ACT Aligned Activity (Library)

Gird yourself for our first full week with a full-house since March 2019, but look forward to rewarding yourself on Friday with a FREE shave ice from Kona Ice!

Allan

 

September 6, 2021

By Allan  |  2021/09/04 19:45 Posted in Announcements, Caring for Kids, Equity, Grants, P.D., Technology, Video  |  Comments Off on September 6, 2021

 

Hey Everyone,

Hope you all had a good 3-day weekend.

Twenty items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Three staffing updates:

• Title 1 EA Updates – Lori Tingue was hired last week as a 2nd grade teacher at Gilham, so instead of reposting for her position, we’ve taken her hours and reallocated them to Annie, Ben, and Iris and have shuffled the EA schedule around a bit.

• Behavior EA Vacancy – Our 6.5-hour Behavior EA Job Posting closes this Tuesday, September 8th, so please encourage anyone you know who’d be good (or even someone who is simply teachable) to apply.

• Classified Sub Shortage – We have one unfilled EA sub job in AESOP are if you know any subs who are available. It’s for Jason Martinez in the CLC while he’s on his parental leave.

• Virtual Meet Your Teacher, WED (KG) & THURS (1-5) @12:00 – The Zoom link is on the Staff and Family Zimbra Calendar. Kinder does theirs on Wednesday at 12:00. Grades 1-5 will be Thursday at 12:00. My plan is to welcome families, have teachers introduce themselves (and maybe name a favorite book to read to students), do a review of arrival/dismissal procedures, what to bring to school, and some covid safety procedures. Next I’ll send people to breakout rooms for 15-minutes, at the end of which I’ll close all breakout rooms, do a short wrap up (GO, BOLTS!), and then I’ll stay on to answer any questions.

• Kinderzone Plans – The Kindergarten Team has already connected with staff where you’ll be helping this day, but linked here is the Fall 2021 Kinderzone Plan.

• Enrollment Updates – At the start of August we were 104 students below our projection of 529, but now we’re around 60 under projection and downtown will hopefully release the 9 kinders on our wait list. Nearly every school in 4J is under projection and we are far from the lowest. If you’re interested, linked here is the District Enrollment as of 09/03/2021.

• Meals Change of Plan – Principals got a message late Friday that 4J is pivoting to eating meals outdoors and that more details are forthcoming. That’s about all I know, meaning we don’t know if this means both breakfast and lunch, for how long we’ll be doing this, what’s the plan when it’s raining, what’s the plan when air quality is hazardous, and not to mention how kindergartners would make it from the cafeteria to the covered play area without spilling their trays. There’s an Elementary Principals’ Meeting Wednesday morning, so hopefully we’ll get additional details then (the day before kindergarten’s first day). Stay tuned.

• Transportation Updates – Schools do not have their morning bus arrival times yet, but 4J’s Find My Bus Stop website is now live for families. I’m planning to call Transportation on Tuesday if I don’t hear from them over the weekend about bus arrival times. More to come.

• Meeting Schedules – Due to the above two items and the “Golden Hour” of prep moved to Fridays and PLCs to Wednesday, on the Leadership Team agenda for Tuesday is to look at revising our meeting schedule. We need to shift our Wednesday meetings to either Tuesday or Thursday (I lean toward Tuesdays). I’m also going to propose we go down to one Staff Meeting a month. Since we’re now meeting twice a week, I figure we can add some business items to those meetings. Also, so that teachers get their guaranteed amount of prep, the length of afternoon meetings may be shortened depending upon when buses arrive and when teacher begin supervision students in the morning. Downtown is requiring teachers get 20-minutes of prep at the start of the day before supervising students. So more to come on this topic as well.

• Tech Updates – Four technology related updates:

• iPads Distribution for New Students – Teachers will give students new to Holt their iPads and chargers on their first day of class. If students new to Holt are coming from another 4J school, they should already have an iPad. Student devices are tracked using Learn21, the districtwide device management system. Brian has a bunch of iPads ready to go. Our plan is to checkout iPads to the new student in Learn21, put a sticky note with their name on it, and give those to teachers to distribute the first day of school. All kindergartners will get new iPads and all 3rd graders will get a new iPad with a keyboard case once they return their 2nd grade iPad (grade 3-5 iPads have a keyboard case).

• Headphones Replacements – Brian has a stash of headphones for all new students as well as for students who lost or broke their headphones over the summer. I’d advise students keep their headphones at school, but teachers may send them home if you choose.

• Seesaw Updates – Justin Huntley and his team were able to go into Clever to activate the Seesaw tile district-wide. This means if a student logins in using their QR code, they’ll be able to see the Clever page and the Seesaw title is back on there. Furthermore, Justin will be setting up our specialist in Seesaw this week.

• EdTech Subscriptions & Tools – If you missed it in the flurry of last week’s tidal wave of PD, here are all of the district purchased EdTech Subscriptions and Tools. Not on the list, we also have a subscription to BrainPOP through December, which is a pretty rad website. Be sure to check that one out and maybe the district will get BrainPOP Jr. and BrainPOP Español if enough people use it. Also, don’t forget GoNoodle Plus is free to educators this school year if you sign-up.

 

• Missing Classroom Materials Inventory – In the spring, teachers filled out a Materials Inventory Survey. If you have any updates, additional missing materials or or newly discovered excess curriculum materials, please submit an update in the above survey or email me directly with your update. If you need to review what you submitted in the spring, here is the Spring Materials Inventory Results.

• Wear Your Holt Shirt FRIDAY! – The normal spirit day is Wednesday for wearing your Holt shirt, but everyone should wear your new green Holt shirt this Friday for the first day of school where we’ll have all K-5 students in the building!

• Updated School Map – Linked here is an Updated 21-22 Holt School Map of where folks are working this year. Let me know if you spot anything that looks wrong. This doc can also be found on the Staff Google Drive under MISC > Maps.

• Skipped Videos from Friday PD – The COVID Protocols went longer than I’d expected, so I skipped a couple videos at Friday’s Staff Meeting, but if you’d like to watch them or the two documentaries that were mentioned during Learning for All, see below!

“Inside the AC360 Doll Study”

CASEL: SEL 101: What are the core competencies and key settings?

“In the Shadow of Fairview” – Full Documentary (OPB Webpage)

“Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution” – Netflix Full Documentary

 

• Care and Connection Resources – SSD Collaboration Facilitators put together these Care and Connection Resources for teachers to use with students during the first week of school. Some are a little too worksheet-like for my taste, but there’s also some really good stuff in there worth checking out.

• Color Printing – If teachers need to print in color, please contact Melanie. The office copier is the only one in the building that prints in color, but this printer hasn’t been added to staff laptops because the office copier is often loaded with labels, special paper, or is needed to copy materials for parents waiting to register children and we don’t want large jobs being sent to it. Also try to avoid printing class sets in color unless it’s a for special purpose or event.

• K-5 Connect & EOA – Families who submitted interest in the online pathways have until Thursday, September 9th to confirm they are enrolling.

• Updated District Retention Policy – 4J has unofficially used this process the past few years, but linked here is the updated 4J Grade Placement and Retention of Students Policy. In the past it was simply principal decision, but the new policy makes it more of a team decision, similar to an IEP eligibility process.

• REPEAT: Classified & Licensed Self Assessment & Goals – All staff, both classified and licensed, need to complete a self assessment in TalentEd by September 30th. Licensed staff need to also complete a Goals Development Form by October 30th, which later next month we can develop some optional building goals people can use.

• REPEAT: EEF 2021-2022 Grant Applications DUE OCT 1st – EEF Grant Application are due October 8th, 2021. Before submitting grants online, let me know your grant title and idea so Site Council can rank order grant submission (no need to do a full write up for this step). Let me know if you have any questions or care to discuss grant ideas.

• VIDEO: Starting Each Class With A Warm Welcome – One last video I passed over during our PD last Friday is a really good one, so I’m ending this week’s blog to highlight it. Keep in mind that a good welcoming activity is also a proactive classroom management strategy. It builds class community, establishes a sense of shared values, and makes everyone feel included. It can be as simple as a smile and greeting students by name as they enter the classroom, but it makes a HUGE difference. :)

 

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

September 6 (M)
Labor Day, No School

September 7 (T)
1:00-2:00, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)

September 8 (W)
Teacher Planning Day
8:00-9:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meetin (Zoom)
9:00ish, Optional Q&A Session for Staff (Library)
10:00, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)
12:00-12:30, Virtual Meet the Kinder Teachers! (Zoom)

September 9 (H)
Transition Day – KG First Day
12:00-12:30, Virtual Meet Your Teacher (1st – 5th)
2:30-3:15, IPBS Team Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Zoom) – Checking w/PAHS if they are really meeting

September 10 (F)
Classes Begin for All Students
YMCA After School Care Begins

September 13 (M)
Regular Day

September 14 (T)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library) TENTATIVE

September 15 (W)
2:45-3:30, PLC Meetings (Library)

September 16 (H)
Regular Day

September 17 (F)
2:30-3:30, Building Based PD (Library)

 

Two days to prep for two days of students!

Allan