Allan's Announcements

By Allan 　http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=2473

Hello Howard Staff,

Here’s the first edition of my weekly announcements. For new staff and as a reminder to returning staff, it’s my intention with these announcements to share informational and business items here rather than at staff meetings or multiple emails sent throughout the week. Typically I send these out on Sundays and my hope is for staff read them by Tuesday evening.

Fifteen items of note for this week:

• 2013-2014 Schedules and Calendars – Attached are several calendars and schedules for staff, including the building Master Schedule, Birthday Lunch Schedule, Kindergarten EA Schedules, the Library Schedule, Lunch/Recess Duty Schedule, Staff Supervision Schedule and the Assessment & Data Team Schedules (which will likely be modified to accommodate some district calendar changes). Rather than upload each individual file, I’ve put them all in one convenient ZIP file. Let me know if you have any questions on the many schedules.

• Hiring Updates – Last week was a busy week for staffing. Robin Seno will be returning to Howard to teach kindergarten. In the Life Skills program, we also have all Howard staff returning; Rhonda Trupp, Susan Popp, Frank Hankins, Ian Bartell, Jennifer Dills and Tina Williams. We’ve also hired Terri Weston for our Reading & Math Specialist position. She has experience as a Title 1 teacher and comes to us with great experience teaching intervention groups. Finally, we’ve hired Renee Henderson for our 3.5 hour Title 1 EA position. Renee is the BEST Coordinator at River Road and has taught Title 1 groups in the past. Please welcome all of these wonderful folks to Howard!

• Sept. 4th District Teacher Training, 8:30-3:30 at SEHS – I’ve gotten the schedule for the Sept. 4th district training day. Classified staff are not required to attend, so please connect with your primary cooperating teacher beforehand on how you can help this day.

Be sure to bring your laptop. iPads will work for TalentEd, but Synergy isn’t ready yet for iOS (though you can download the app in anticipation if you’d like).

Howard will be in Room 27 (see the map) all day with River Road staff and the trainers for the various topics will rotate between rooms. Our schedule for the day will be:

8:30-9:30 – Overview
9:30-10:30 – Synergy
10:30-10:45 – BREAK
10:45-11:45 – Synergy Gradebook
11:45-12:30 – LUNCH
12:30-1:30 – SMART Goals
1:30-2:30 – Application Period
2:30-2:45 – BREAK
2:30-3:30 – TalentEd

For staff who have already taken the TalentEd/Perform training or were part of the pilot, HR has provided a menu of options for teachers:

• You may assist your colleagues during the training session as they acquire new skills.
• You may begin completing your self-assessment within TalentEd/Perform.
• You may begin writing your SMART goals, exploring Gradebook and/ or Synergy.
• You may explore the Teacher Effectiveness and Professional Development Growth website for additional resources.

Downtown may not like this, but I’ll offer a fifth option, that if you attended one of the August TalentEd trainings or were part of the pilot, you may go back to school to work after the 12:30-1:30 session. Let me know if you have any questions about the day.

• District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff – This came out sooner than normal, so I’ll send it out now. Attached is the updated Back-to-School Memo (a brief 94 pages). All staff must review the memo and sign & return the acknowledgement form to Lori no later than Friday, September 27th. I’ll place hard copies of the acknowledgement form in staff mailboxes. Looking over it myself, there does not appear to be any significant changes from last year’s memo.

• Howard Staff Handbook Review – While I’m sending out policy review items, attached is the updated Staff Handbook for 2013-2014. For people new to the building, this handbook should answer most any questions about Howard policies and procedures you might have. Let me know if you have any questions and please sign & return the acknowledgement form to Lori by Friday, September 27th that you have read and understand the contents of the handbook.

• PE and Music Semester Correction – Music and PE are the opposite semesters from what I shared earlier. We will have PE with Rachel in the fall and Music with David in the spring.

• TSS Support Model – I’ve shared before that the district, as a result of budget cuts, has changed the TSS support model and here’s how it will work for this year. James will be in the building Tuesday and Thursday mornings, 7:30-11:30. If you require technology assistance, send an email to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu . If it’s urgent, put “URGENT” in the subject of the email. CIS will also have a Help Desk available at x7777. And in a pinch, feel free to call me. I probably have TSS I or II level of troubleshooting skills.

• Counselor Schedule – Lee, Stella and I have talked and will be keeping the same counselor schedule as last year:

Monday – Howard
Tuesday – Willagillespie
Wednesday – Every other week
Thursday – Howard
Friday – Willagillespie

• enVisions Math Materials – Now that we are fully implementing Investigations, please bring any extra eVisions student book or teacher guides to the office. We can sell these to companies like Follett to help supplement our dwindling school budget.

• 13/14 Classroom Funds – Speaking of dwindling budgets, I have to unfortunately reduce classroom funds to $250 for this school year. Specialist funds were also proportionally reduced by the same amount and will have $125 this year. Sorry :(

• Google Forms for Teachers – If you are planning to use Google Apps for Education with students this year, the attached permission form (K-5) needs to be signed and dated by parents. It is the same form as last year but each year we need a new form signed.

• BEST Funding Updates – You may have read this elsewhere, but BEST will be fully funded for the next three years and partially funded the fourth and fifth year. This is great news because the future of BEST was very much in question at the end of last year. More details can be found on the 4J website.

• Beginning Spring Cleaning Now! – Packing up to move into the new Howard spring of 2015 may seem a long time away, but I wanted remind staff that while you’re setting up classrooms and work spaces now, this is the perfect time to begin going through your things and deciding what you really need and what you won’t actually be taking with you to the new building. A little work now can save a lot of time later.

• Breakfast Burrito Orders – Last but not least, remember to place your breakfast burrito orders with Lori by this Thursday, August 29th for our breakfast gathering Tuesday morning at 8:00.

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

September 2 (M)
Memorial Day – No School

September 3 (T)
Teachers and Most Classified Staff Return – Planning Day
8:00-8:30, Welcome Back Breakfast Burrito Gathering (Cafeteria)

September 4 (W)
8:30-4:00, All-day teacher professional development (South Eugene High School)

September 5 (H)
Planning Day/PD Day (though I’m not scheduling any meetings his day)

September 6 (F)
8:00-12:30, Howard Back to School Staff Meeting & PD (Breakfast provided)

September 9 (M)
8:00-10:00, Staff Meeting – potential meeting for any needed business (Library)
10:00, Q&A Session for New Staff (Library)

September 10 (T)
First Day for Students
PBIS Focus: Safety
2:30-3:30, Grade Level Collaboration Time

September 11 (W)
REGULAR DAY

September 12 (H)
2:30-3:30, TLT Meeting (Room 6)

September 6 (F)
REGULAR DAY

Enjoy your last week of summer!

Allan