http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=11328
Hey Bolts,
Let’s start things off with some cheery news. This past Friday SJ welcomed a happy healthy baby to the family when Elliott Joseph Anthony Moore joined the Moore clan. Wish them all well while SJ takes the next few months off!
Ten items of note for this week:
• Staffing Updates – Four staffing updates:
• Temp Counselor Job Posting – The Temp Counselor Job Posting for Darla’s replacement for the remainder of the year went up last Friday and is posted through this Thursday.
• Welcome (back) Nichole Roy – SJ’s long term sub is former Holt student teacher and regular Holt sub Nichole Roy, who will start this Monday. Please welcome Nichole to the team!
• New CLC EA – Dylan Johnson was moved to Camus Ridge instead of Holt. SSD is instead sending us a new hire who should start this Wednesday. They told me her first name is Elizabeth (I haven’t gotten her full name yet), so please welcome Elizabeth to the team!
• District Teacher Moves – District admin sent the following message to principals, which is mostly the same as what they send the week before. This message makes it sound that it will be after the impact of the Oct. 18th Vaccination Mandate when downtown will assess the need for teacher shifts.
Variance in class size – We continue to have some large class sizes across our elementary school and the luxury of some small classes. We will be revisiting building staffing allocations following the impact of the October 18 vaccine mandate to address any teacher shortages or to ameliorate our large classes across the district.
• Arrive to Cafeteria On Time (not early) – With only 5 minutes between classes, it is important teachers enter the cafeteria on time and not early, which allows for a cafeteria reset between cohorts. We do want to give a BIG thank you and very much appreciate teachers helping students get through the line. :)
• Tips to Avoid Student Quarantines – We’ve had two positive student cases and a possible third case we’re waiting on test results. Now that I’ve had to contact trace a couple times, I have some tips on minimizing close contacts (i.e. kids who’ve eaten breakfast, snacks, and/or lunch with masks off within 6-feet of a positive student longer than 15 minutes) having to quarantine.
• Keep Breakfast and Snack Under 15 Minutes – If students have their masks off eating within 6-feet of another student with their mask off longer than 15 minutes, all of those students will have to quarantine for 24 days or 10 days from the onset of COVID symptoms if they eventually test positive. If teachers keep your breakfast and snack times under a cumulative 15 minutes total (for example, 10-minute breakfast, 4-minute snack). Then no students in your class would have to quarantine if you had a positive case.
• Mix Your Class and Cafeteria Seating Charts – Related to the above, even if you keep your breakfast and snack below 15 minutes, if the same students ALSO sit within 6-feet of one another in the cafeteria, either next to, across the table, or from behind on the next table, they WILL have to quarantine. Please check your seating charts to make sure the same students in your class are not also sitting together in the cafeteria.
• Staff Room Duty Reminder – I’ve added Staff Room Duty to the Staff Zimbra Calendar. Teams should take care of daily cleaning, wiping crumbs off surfaces so the custodial staff can sanitize, wrap up/clean up/throw away food, wipe microwave, and load/start/unload dishwasher as needed.
• TalentEd Notes for Probationary Teachers – Now that we know contract teachers (those who have taught in 4J four or more years) do not need to complete any tasks in TalentEd this year and probationary teachers (those who are in their first three years with 4J) will complete all tasks as usual (self evaluation, goals, 2 informal observations, and 1 formal observation) here’s my plan:
• Informal Observations – I’m going to start doing informal observations this week and will swing by classrooms for 10-15 minutes, after which I’ll submit my write up through TalnetEd. We do not need to meet, but I’d be happy to meet with folks if you’d like.
• Formal Observations – I’ll email probationary teachers a date to observe a reading lesson sometime next month. We’ll do a pre conference the day before the observation and a post conference sometime (hopefully) soon after.
• Educator Goals – Probationary teachers are supposed to have two SMART Goals and one professional goal. Since the state is pushing “Care & Connection” this year feel free to make ALL three goals about SEL, morning meetings, building community, and not focused around academics and testing data. HR provided a SEL Goal Template and a Technology Goal Template you may use if you’d like, but also let me know if you’d like any help or want to bounce any ideas around.
• Calling Office by Intercom (send a runner or adult do the talking) – If you have an emergency in your classroom, you can call the office by phone or the intercom, but know that if you use the intercom it is very difficult to understand student voices. If you need to relay something quickly, it’s likely faster to send a student to the office or for the teacher to talk/yell across the room into the intercom if you’re unable to call.
• Autodialer Attendance Calls – As an FYI, downtown is finally starting the autodialer tardy call to families this week, which will hopefully lessen the number of tardies we’re currently seeing, which seems unusually high. Absent calls started last week.
• Learning for All Update/Pause – There’s currently a pause on all district ACT PD until at least January, but the Learning for All PD is indefinitely postponed for the year. If you want more details, see the linked SSD Email.
• Smithsonian Resources for Teaching and Learning – The Smithsonian Institution and PBS have teamed up to make extensive materials available online. Check out this link for free PK-12 resources on coral reefs, ocean ecosystems, air and space exploration, African-American history and culture, and more.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
October 18 (M)
SPED/PD Staff Room Duty
No School — Teacher Work Day
8:30-9:25, KG Data Team (C04)
9:00-2:05, Optional Teacher & EA Tech Support Sessions (Zoom)
9:35-10:30, 1st Grade Data Team (C04)
10:40-11:35, 2nd Grade Data Team (C04)
11:40-12:25, 3rd Grade Data Team (C04)
1:10-2:05, 4th Grade Data Team (C04)
2:15-3:10, 5th Grade Data Team (C04)
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin MeetingOctober 19 (T)
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Cafeteria)October 20 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)October 21 (H)
4:03-6:30, Allan to Conscious Discipline PD (Zoom)October 22 (F)
7:30-8:30, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting (Zoom)October 25 (M)
Office/Library/Music Staff Room Duty
4:30-6:00, Health Insurance In Retirement Presentation (Zoom)October 26 (T)
2:45-3:25, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)October 27 (W)
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)October 28 (H)
2:45-3:25, IPBS Team Meeting (Library)
4:00-6:00, Allan to ELA Adoption Meeting (Zoom)October 29 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Dress-Up Day!
Have a good 4-day week, everyone!
Allan
