April 4, 2022

By Allan  

 

Greetings Holt Bolts,

Twelve items of note for this week:

• Sunshine Newsletter Highlights – Desiree send a Sunshine Newsletter of Sunshine Committee events coming up:

• Staff Potluck Monday! – I forgot to put this on the calendar way back when Sunshine originally sent this out a couple months ago, but it’s not too late to add your name to the Staff Potluck Luncheon Sign-Up! Sunshine will provide Birthday cake for April Birthdays!

• Volunteer Appreciation Week and Treat Table Sign-Up – Sunshine also shared the April 18-22 Volunteer Appreciation Week Sign-Up to recognize our small but dedicated volunteers, as well as student teachers and practicum students.

• Staff Shout Outs – Click the Shout Outs Link to post a shout out about a staff member who has gone above and beyond! You can also use the shout out notes in the Staff Room table. These will be shared in the next Sunshine Newsletter!

• Holt Openings for Job Expo – Holt Will have one full-time SPED teaching position and one half-time SPED teaching position at the Job Expo later this month if you have any teacher friends you want to recruit to come work here at Holt! SSD is pairing the half-time job with a Gilham half-time SPED job, so it will actually be a full-time position. Spread the word that Holt is the place to be!

• Summer School Classified & Licensed Jobs – The new SEALs Summer School Program has a number of openings if folks are looking for summer work. The 4J Jobs website has postings for Teachers (Elementary and Middle), Counselors, Secretaries, and EAs (Elementary and Middle). There are also job postings for K.I.T.S. (Kids in Transition to School) and E.S.Y. (Extended School Year). Most positions close Wednesday.

• Friday PD – School Improvement Plan Updates – This Friday’s PD time will be an update and chance for input on our School Improvement Plan being worked on by Site Council. We’ve looked at a variety of data and have used the ORIS Tool to examine areas of need. Our next step will be to develop 2-3 goals and I wanted staff to have a chance to share your thoughts on priority areas. If you’d like to review the data, info, and past meeting minutes, you can go the Holt Staff Drive > Meetings > Site Council > 2021-2022 > Minutes.

• April 15 PD/Planning Day – Principals were told last Wednesday that we are in charge of the PD for this day (5.5 hours of PD, 2 hours of prep), though a portion of the day that’s a district led Zoom, but downtown doesn’t know yet what time that will be, so I can’t announce times for the building PD at this time. However, as I shared last week, I will plan on doing an all-staff review of Kelso’s Choice and the Second Step Bully Prevention Unit (which is different from the Erin’s Law Student Safety Unit). Let me know if you have any additional topics you’d like us to cover or if you’d like to help lead or assist with the Kelso or Bully Prevention review. I’m also planning to hold a Classified Meeting this day, but will announce the time of this meeting once downtown figured out the time for their portion of the day.

• SSD Staffing Allocation Update and Clarification – I shared last week how SSD Licensed & Classified Allocations were different this year, with no program identification between LC and CLC staffing. If you are interested, linked here is a Google Slide Show and Google Doc that SSD Admin went over with principals last week, but the elevator speech version is that IDEA tells us special education is NOT a place where students go to receive services, but rather special education services are to follow students as determined by the IEP.

• REPEAT: 2022 Electronics Recycling Competition – Remind kids they can drop off any old electronics at the collection site in front of the office this week. See the Electronics Recycling Competition Flyer for details, but donations can be anything with a plug or that takes batteries (toys, cell phones, monitors, computers, phones, cables, etc.).

• Suspected Norovirus – If you’d didn’t hear through the grapevine, C-Wing had a suspected Norovirus outbreak with half a class out sick with similar symptoms (i.e. barfing). Lane County Public Health ordered nightly deep cleaning for that wing and for classes to use hand wahsing instead of using hand sanitizer, so remember the continued importance of washing hands and not touching your face, even for non-COVID reasons.

• Oregon Blue Book Student Essay Contest – If you’re looking for a writing topic that may grab your kids’ interest, the Oregon Blue Book Student Essay Contest theme for the year is, “Oregon Students Share Their Pandemic Experience.” Students can submit written or video essays. Written essays must be 100-300 words and will include an illustration to go with the essay. Video essays must be two minutes or less. Winners will be featured in the 2023 Blue Book and also invited to the State Capitol for the official Oregon Blue Book Release Party. The contest is open until October 20, 2022.

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

Hall Passes:
• Any student coming to the office must have a hall pass (hot pink). Please remember if they are coming for a break you need to note the time that they are able to return. If you need more hall passes, please let the office know.
• Generally, students should have permission to be in the halls with a note, or in some cases, a self-manager badge. All students in halls should follow the regular rules of the halls and walk quietly.

• 100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying – This Guardian Article has some fabulous tips! Whether it’s taking fruit to work (and to the bedroom!), being polite to rude strangers, or taking up skinny-dipping, here’s a century of ways to make life better, with little effort involved. Some of my favorites were:

22. Laugh shamelessly at your own jokes.
34. Go for a walk without your phone.
60. Drop your shoulders.
91. If in doubt, add cheese.
97. Listen to the albums you loved as a teenager.

But I firmly disagree with this one (utensils MUST be loaded in the same order they go into the drawer):

17. Don’t be weird about how to stack the dishwasher.

And one bonus tip I did a few years ago that was a life changer:

101. Turn off you phone notifications. My phone only has text and phone notifications turned on. All other apps I check when I’m ready to, not when they tell me to.

 

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

April 4 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
School Librarian’s Day (5th Grade)
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
2022 Electronics Recycling Competition Drop-Off Week
8:30, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Zoom)

April 5 (T)
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, Conscious Discipline Parent Nights (Zoom)

April 6 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
12:45-2:25, Storyteller, 4th Grade
2:40-3:30, 2nd Grade Data Team
3:00, Allan Meeting w/SSD Admin (Zoom)

April 7 (H)
Regular Day

April 8 (F)
8:00, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Zoom)
1:30-2:25, Friday PD – School Improvement Plan (Cafeteria)
1:30-2:20, KG Data Team Meeting
2:25-3:15, 1st Grade Data Team Meeting

April 11 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
2nd Grade Staff Room Duty

April 12 (T)
Allan Potentially Testifying at Custody Hearing
2:45-3:25, PBIS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

April 13 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
12:45-2:25, Storyteller, 4th Grade
2:40-3:30, 5th Grade Data Team

April 14 (H)
9:10-10:10, 4th Grade School Garden Project Lessons (Garden)
10:40-11:40, 4th Grade School Garden Project Lessons (Garden)
12:45-1:45, 4th Grade School Garden Project Lessons (Garden)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Job Expo (Zoom)
6:00-7:00, PAHS (Parents at Holt School) Meeting (Zoom)

April 15 (F)
No School — Planning/Professional Development
Times is TBA for All-Staff, Classified, and District Meetings

Just eleven weeks until summer (or is it too soon for that?).

Allan