January 18, 2021

By Allan  

 

Hi Everyone,

Anyone want to do a Mega Millions Pool? It’s up to $850 million and the next drawing is Tuesday night! If you do, get me $3 by 4:00 on Tuesday (I’ll get $2 tickets with the $1 multiplier for each person in the pool) and then Wednesday morning we’ll all be millionaires!

Twelve items of note for this week:

• 2021-2022 Staff Survey, Due Feb. 15 – Principals will receive staffing allocation for next school year on Wednesday, February 22nd, so to help me in plan potential staffing scenarios for next year, I’d like staff to complete the linked 2021-2022 Staffing Survey. I’d like to know staff members’ individual plans and preferences for the future as well as your thoughts on next year’s staffing plan, master schedule, or other thoughts. All answers will be kept confidential and let me know if you have any questions.

• 2021-2022 Enrollment Projection – Related to the above, schools received their budgets for next school year and buried in that document was our enrollment projection for next year, which has us projected at 529 students, only one student less than this years projection of 530 students. With downtown saying they are keeping staffing ratios the same for next year, this makes me think that classified and licensed staffing will hold steady. Currently we have 490 student enrolled, which includes both students attending EOA and attending here, but comparing our projection to other schools, it looks like enrollment projections largely stayed the same for most schools even though nearly every school is under-enrolled.

• Class Lists, DUE FEB. 12 – With feedback from the Leadership Team, let’s keep the class lists sheets simple. Instead of the Big Placement Form, teachers should use this Hybrid Class Lists 2020-21 Google Sheet instead (Staff Drive > MISC > Class Lists). There’s a tab for each classroom with a column for your Cohort A group and Cohort B group. For the students changing teachers, you should check the Big Placement Form to make sure there are no student combinations we need to avoid. Also note:

• Siblings – The first tab, Siblings, tells if students in have siblings or not. If they do, connect with the sibling’s teacher to make sure they are all placed into the same A or B Cohort. If there are siblings at middle or high school, you don’t have to do anything. Those levels will have to match what we establish when they move into hybrid.

• Pathways – The second tab, Pathways, tells if students have selected Hybrid, SSO, or EOA. Be sure to place students at your grade level returning from EOA. There are a handful who are coming back either to Hybrid or Same School Online.

• CDL Placement for Returning EOA Students, DUE JAN. 25 – Although we are not switching to hybrid February 1, the above mentioned students returning from EOA will start back with us at the semester break on February 1. Whether they chose Hybrid or SSO, they will need a placement into a classroom while we are still in CDL. Grade levels should email Melanie which teachers are taking these students when then rejoin Holt at the semester break.

• Feb. 12 Deadline Note – This deadline might get moved up. I wanted to give teachers time to focus on report cards and not make this deadline before the report card send-home date, which is currently Feb. 8. However, if it looks like we’re moving into hybrid sooner, I’ll have to move up the deadline.

• Keep Class Lists Confidential – Downtown does not want us going public with what students will have what teacher/class A or B until right before we go Hybrid and Same School Online.

• CDL Blend Breakdown – Here’s the breakdown of how many of each grade goes into the blends:

K/1(23 total) 11 Kinders and 12 First Graders
1/2 (23 total) 6 First Graders and 17 Seconds
3/4 (24 total) 16 Third Graders and 8 Fourth Graders
4/5 (25 total) 10 Fourth Graders and 15 Fifth Graders

 

 

• EA Job Posting This Week – With the potential for hybrid coming soon, HR has lifted the hiring freeze, so I submitted a posting for Tanelle’s unfilled Kinder/Title EA position, which should hopefully go up this week. We’re kind of flush with Title funds, so I’m posting for a 5.2 hour position. If you know of any strong candidates our there, please encourage them to apply!

• Sheldon Region Sub – HR hired Sonja Drapela as the Sheldon Region sub if any teachers need coverage. Teachers are still welcome to prearranged another sub if you have a sub you like or you may also do asynchronous lessons if the absence is only a day or two. Linked here is Sonja’s Email to principals, which contains her contact info.

• Quick News FYI – I’m posting a short article in the Holt Quick News on Monday reminding families not to “help” their kids when we do winter benchmark testing this week. Also, the week before we send home report cards I’ll write an article explaining the various marks, such as a 1 means this and a Y means this.

• COVID Vaccine for Staff FAQ – If you missed the email sent to staff, 4J posted an extensive FAQ regarding vaccinations for staff on their COVID-19 Vaccine FAQ webpage.

• January SSD Newsletter – If you’re interested, linked here is the January Student Service Department Newsletter, which was sent to SPED teachers and principals. Note that the parts referencing LIPI (Limited In Person Instruction) is more a secondary topic. Brooke told elementary principals she’s put a pause on LIPI planning to instead focus on hybrid planning. However, hybrid doesn’t look like it’s starting anytime soon, then we will being focusing on LIPI.

• Happy Numbers Free Rest of Year – Downtown probably doesn’t want us using this, but I know kids can get bored of using the same apps over and over, so if you want to mix it up for your students, Happy Numbers is now free for the rest of the year. I’d advise primarily sticking with Dreambox, which is proven, but occasionally using something like this or Prodigy can help motivate and keep up interest levels.

• 5 Ways to Take Some of the Distance Out of Distance Learning – It’s important this year to keep connecting with students and fostering their engagement in learning. See this Edutopia Article for details on how you might do these five items:

1. Be Dramatic – shout and whisper
2. Focus on connecting with students
3. Make sure everyone speaks
4. Really see each student
5. SEL, early and often

• Researchers consider teachers’ on-screen presence – This EdSurge Article is kind of nerdy, but I found it interesting regarding the science behind engaging students via instructional videos or Zoom. Findings show that when these visuals are used effectively, it can drive student engagement, but in some cases it could be distracting.

• 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 18 (M)
No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 19 (T)
8:30-11:30, Allan to HR Pool Hire Interviews (Zoom)
3:00-4:00, Staff Meeting (Zoom)
6:30, How to Draw Dragon w/Ms. Kim (Zoom)

January 20 (W)
8:30-9:00, Student Council (Zoom)
9:00-9:45, Virtual Coffee w/the Principal (Zoom)
9:30-10:00, KG Data Team – Tier 3
10:40-11:10, 1st Grade Data Team – Tier 3
12:00-12:30, 2nd Grade Data Team – Tier 3

January 21 (H)
11:15-12:30, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
6:00-7:00, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Zoom)

January 22 (F)
7:30-8:30, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting (Zoom)
12:00-1:15, Lunch Bunch – KG 12:00, 3/4 12:20, 1/2 12:40, 5th 1:00 (Zoom)

January 25 (M)
1:30-4:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)

January 26 (T)
12:30, Allan to Attendance Meeting (Zoom)
12:30-1:30, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Zoom)
2:00-3:00, PBIS Team Meeting (Zoom)
6:00-6:30, Creation Crew w/Ms. Jackie (Zoom)

January 27 (W)
9:00-9:45, Virtual Coffee w/the Principal (Zoom)
9:00-9:45, Allan to Check-In Meeting w/Jeff Johnsonl (Zoom)
9:30-10:00, 3rd Grade Data Team – Tier 3
10:30-11:00, Allan Meeting w/Office Staff & SSC (Zoom)
10:40-11:10, 4th Grade Data Team – Tier 3
12:00-12:30, 5th Grade Data Team – Tier 3
6:30-7:00, UO O Heroes Virtual Event (tentative)

January 28 (H)
2:00-3:00, Technology Leadership Team Meeting (Zoom)
12:00-8:00, Pegasus Pizza – Holt Night Out Fundraiser

January 29 (F)
No School – Grading Day

Hope you a good 3-day weekend.

Allan