May 15, 2023

By Allan  

Greetings Bolts,

This Monday is National Speech Pathologist Day, so a big shout out to our awesome SLP, Katharine, who we are so lucky to have here at Holt!

Twenty-five items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Two updates:

0.5 SPED TEACHER VACANCY – After previously changing their mind, SSD is once again moving Sheryl Carroll to Holt, where she will be 0.5 at Holt and 0.5 at YG. Sheryl is currently a SPED teacher at Edison.

SECRETARY & 0.2 PE/MUSIC – We held secretary interviews last Thursday and are waiting on HR to make a job offer. The part-time PE and Music Job Postings are now up and we have at least one solid candidate applying for each position, so we should be good for next year!

• Raptor & Fire Drill, THURSDAY @8:05 – Staff should now be able to log onto the Raptor app (iOS and Android) with your 4J email and password. Staff are not required to use the app for the May 18th fire drill at 8:05, but I’m going to initiate an evacuation on the app so staff can see how the app works during an emergency. Do note that staff are not required to install this app on your personal devices, but may do so if you choose. Next year, I think we should have all teachers use the app to account for students, so we are practiced using the app if there ever were a real emergency, especially for evacuation/reunification situation such at what happened at SEHS last week. Teachers not wanting to install the app on a personal device could install it on their district issued iPad and if you were out of wifi range could have a colleague mark your students accounted-for for you. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

• Holt Spring Carnival, FRIDAY, 6:00-8:00 – Remind your kids to bring the whole family (adult must be present with kids) to the Holt Spring Carnival this Friday from 6:00-8:00. There will be games, a cake walk, food trucks, free pizza (one slice per person), and a car bash! This is a free event.

• Friday PD: Curriculum – The 4J PD Calendar lists “Curriculum” and “SPED Educator Training” as the topic for this Friday’s PD, but nothing else has been shared with principals. If downtown doesn’t pull anything together, plan on this being additional individual and team prep time.

• Class Lists Due May 24th – Grade level teams should complete your 23-24 Class Lists by Wednesday, May 24th. After Team Meetings that day, lists will be available for classified and licensed staff to review and share feedback ahead of the June 6th Staff Meeting were grade levels will meet to share individual student information.

• Fundations + Math Student Consumable Order Due, May 26 – See this email for details, but remember that consumable orders for Fundations and Math are due Friday, May 26th. One person from each grade level should place your order.

• Holt Spirit Day, May 26th – Friday, May 26th is a Holt Spirit Day. We stole Wacky Hat Day for last month’s Spirit Day since Recycle Day didn’t quite play out, so stay tuned for the official theme. How about Mix-Up / Clash Day, where kids wear crazy mismatched clothes? That’s an easy one for all kids to participate. Stay tuned!

• 4th & 5th Assembly Monroe Victory Tour Performance – Monroe Middle School Band and Choir are performing for feeder school 4th and 5th graders. We’re waiting for confirmation, but we’re tentatively expecting the assembly to happen Friday, May 26th, 9:15-9:45 in the gym.

• Friday PD: Staff Choice – Friday, May 26th is Staff Choice. I plan to ask at the next prinicpal meeting if the ULD trainings are still happening. Seems the last few times they did not share out the Zoom links and I’m not sure they actually happening.

• Staff Social! Friday @4:00 on May 26th! – Location is TBA (don’t ask me to choose or else we’ll end up at The Embers on HWY99), but mark your calendar for our final Friday at 4:00 of the school year!

• May Spirt Assembly & Talent Show Combo Assembly, June 1 – Rather than hold two separate assemblies so close to one another, we’ll combine the May School Spirit Assembly and the Talent Show Assembly. May 26th will still be a spirit day (stay tuned on the theme since we moved up Wacky Hat Day), but we won’t have an assembly that day and will shift it to the Talent Show Assembly Date on Thursday, June 1st, doing drawing between acts and such.

• Responding to Racial Slurs Follow-Up – On the Zimbra Calendar, the Google Drive, The Staff Dashboard, and linked here is the Responding to Racial Slurs Slideshow. This slideshow contains a lot of ready-to-go activities and slides teachers can use. There’s also several links embedded in the slideshow including the Little Spot SEL Books, Indigenous People’s Day Resources, and videos of Don’t Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller and Marvelous Max – Autism Awareness for Kids. A future PD following next fall might be looking at what are the words and common language we might use for bias incidents.

On a related note, the 4J Equity Department added a page containing Specific Topic Resources for responding to issues of hate and bias.

• 23-24 Master Schedule Updates – Reps met last week and although it may not be a “Dream Schedule” it seems to at least be an “I Can Live with this Schedule.” This will be on the agenda for Tuesday’s Staff Meeting, but linked here is the Draft 23-24 Master Schedule. A couple caveats on the schedule are one, Title & SPED need to make sure Tier 3 times when there are two grade levels being served at the same time that they are not both heavy caseloads, and two, we are continuing to look at changing around the library schedule where we would do weekly 30-minute Library lessons and weekly 15-minute checkout time (most classes checking out on Wednesdays and a few on other days). Feel free to let me know ahead of Tuesday’s Staff Meeting if you have any questions.

• SEAL (i.e.Summer School) Classroom Use – Downtown needs 4 classrooms for KITS, and for SEAL needs 2 classrooms at each grade for rising 1st through 5th (this year’s 5th graders will go to the middle school program). I think we should exempt any classrooms from hosting if there is a new classroom teacher moving into that space. I also tried to rotate out teachers who hosted last year when possible (kinder classes and a few other don’t get a break). I’ve put this on the staff meeting agenda as a discussion/decision item, but linked here is my Proposed Summer School Map as a starting place and for reference here is Last Year’s Summer School Map.

• Playground Supervisor Reminders – Two Playground Rules reminders:

• No Pushing Kids on Swings – Students need to swing themselves and should not be pushed by other students or staff.

• No Tag/Chase/Monster Games – Tag and other chase games are not allowed, which can too easily lead to unintentional injuries and student conflicts.

• No Sidewalk Chalk on Building – If you are doing any sidewalk chalk activities with students, do not allow them to write on the building. Rain does not wash it off, so it’s pretty much there for good when kids do this. The same happens when kids do sidewalk chalk underneath covered areas, though foot traffic will eventually remove them, but it takes much longer than one good rain, so covered areas should be avoided too.

• Check That Exterior Doors Latch – It’s that time of year when there are air pressure changes and the doors don’t always latch. It’s important that all exterior doors remain locked and are secure, so when going in or out of the building, make sure the is latched shut. Jeremy has put in a work order to have the doors adjusted by the kinder wing and by the bike cage, so let me know if you notice any other doors that need fixed.

• Last Day Lunch Plan – Deb is already planning our last day of meal service, which will have grade levels coming to the cafeteria to simply pick up a sack lunch on a 5-minute rotating basis, which they will put in their backpacks to take home (bus riders included).

10:25 – Kinder
10:30 – 1st
10:35 – 2nd
10:40 – 3rd
10:45 – 4th
10:50 – 5th
11:10 – Early Dismissal

• Seesaw Renewed for 3-Years – I learned on Friday that 4J has renewed the Seesaw district license for 3 more years. I’ll put on a future Friday or Staff Meeting agenda whether we want to use Seesaw or another common communication tool with families next year.

• Volunteers Policy Change – One small change in the 4J communicable disease management plan is that individuals with a vaccine exemption are no longer required to wear a mask. I’ll let downtown communicate this out to families, but I thought staff would want to know.

• Free Bike Locks, Lights, and Helmets – If you know of any students in need, Safe Routes to School is offering free bike locks, lights, and helmets. Just let Felicia know you need any. See this email for details.

• Safety Inspection Rescheduled Again, May 31st – I was emailed that our annual inspection date got rescheduled again and is now Wednesday, May 31st at 10:30.

• Airblade Hand Dryers – If you haven’t noticed (and I’m sure you have), but the new restroom hand dryers are extremely loud. To help minimize the noise, teachers might show kids how you’re supposed to use the new hand dryers by showing the video below. Kids are often using it wrong and that means they’re using it longer and making more noise for nearby classrooms (not to mention if they’re trying to talk over it).

• District Admin Updates – Three district admin updates for next year. One, Kevin Gordon will be the new principal of Chavez, replacing Deirdre Pearson, who took an admin job out of district. Two, Ed Mendelssohn is the new College and Career Readiness / Career and Technical Education Administrator, replacing Tia Holliday, who is retiring. Three, Eric Anderson, 4J Director of Instruction, has taken a job as assistant superintendent at the LaneESD. See these emails (one and two) for details.

• 38 Awesome Team-Building Games and Activities for Kids – We may be nearing the end of the year, but cooperative team building games are great for SEL and community building any time during the year. This WeAreTeachers Article has 38 fun activities to give you ideas. Feel free to take a break in class or take your kids out in the sun! Some personal favorites on the list that I’ve done or looked fun were #16 Hula-Hoop pass, #22 No-hands cup-stacking challenge (probably more for older kids), #27 Caterpillar, #32 Zip, Zap, Zop, and #34 Newspaper Fashion Show.

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

May 15 (M)
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive – Final Week
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Upbeat Survey Open Until May 22nd
Final Library Checkout Week
Library Week #1 Classes
ELD/Speech/Counselor/Library Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

May 16 (T)
8:45-12:15, 4th & 5th Holt/WillaG Track Meet (Sheldon Track)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library) Give a Staff Shout Out!

May 17 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45, Staff Talent Show Video (Reich’s Room)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

May 18 (H)
National Speech Pathologist Day (Title)
8:05, Fire Drill
1:30-2:30, Allan Meeting w/Risk & Safety Dept. (Office)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

May 19 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Curriculum/SPED Training (TBA)
6:00-8:00, Holt Spring Carnival (Hard Play, Cafeteria)

May 22 (M)
Upbeat Survey Closes
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
SPED Staff Room Duty
Scholastic Book Fair BOGO Sale
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

May 23 (T)
10:45-11:45, Math Acceleration Testing (TBA)
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meetings (Kelsey’s Room)

May 24 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
10:45-11:45, Math Acceleration Testing (TBA)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Team Meetings – Class Lists Deadline

May 25 (H)
Towel Day
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:30, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)

May 26 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Theme is TBA
Fundations + Math Student Consumable Order Due
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:15-9:45, 4/5 Monroe Victory Tour Performance (tentative)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Staff Choice
1:30-2:30, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)
4:00, Holt Friday at 4:00! (Location TBA)

Just two more 5-day weeks left!

Allan