http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=11551
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 ZoomStaff 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 wellClassroom 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. DayJanuary 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 ContinuesJanuary 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
