http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=3729
Hello Howard Staff,
We are definitely on the countdown to Winter Break. This of course means that we can expect extra stress among our students and families (and ourselves too), so be prepared for the unexpected and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Sixteen items of note this week:
• Tail Feather Assembly, Friday 1:00-1:30 – This Friday will be out Tail Feather Reward Assembly (AKA Extravaganza of Ridiculousness!). See that attached assembly map and directions for details. We’ll see if we can out do Egg Roulette!
• Track/Soccer Field Open and Rules/Expectations – The fences have finally been moved, so the soccer field is open for business. I haven’t had a chance to run any of this by Recess Supervisors or the PBIS Team, but as a place to start, here is what I think can be the basic rules and expectations for the track and field. Keep in mind, these are subject to change:
• Schedule – It’s Kelly’s track, but we can have it at AM Recess five days a week and Tuesdays & Thursdays at Lunch Recess. Use of the field is contingent on there being enough staff at recess to cover both the playground and field.
• Entering and Exiting the Field – Students must wait to go onto the field until they is an adult to supervise. Students should enter and exit from the corner gate located by swings (not the gate at the 50 yard line down the sidewalk towards Kelly.
• Boundaries – All students must say inside the track fence and are not allowed to play along the outside of the fence.
• Non-Soccer Activities – Students may walk or run the track or use the long jump pits (until the pit covers are installed). Students may also play in the field if it does not interfere with the soccer game.
• End-of-Recess – Students must quickly line-up when the bell or whistle blows. Since it’s a long walk, if there are individuals being slowpokes, they will lose the privilege of playing on the field at recess
• Safe, Kind & Responsible – And, of course, all of our general playground and school-wide rules still apply out on the field.• Construction Updates – There were a few interesting items at last week’s Construction Progress Meeting. Attached are the complete minutes, which are written in a near indecipherable construction/architect-speak, but here are the highlights:
• Fences – Todd Construction put up their fences and Island Fencing took down all of their fencing last week, so we now have easy access to the track and field.
• Move In Dates – The preliminary construction schedule has a spring break move in date, though the district is still nervous about that timeline. They have only ever moved schools over the summer, although the district is also nervous about moving two schools (us and Roosevelt MS) over the same summer. The construction superintendent made the suggestion of moving the substantial completion date from Feb. 1 to December, which would then allow us to move over winter break. The construction people are very interested in moving up the demolition timeline from it’s current May 1 start date, so they will have more time for the finish the site by early August. If we are able to do mid-year move in, PiVOT architects have drawn up a plan for how students can get around the old building for arrival and dismissal, although they haven’t given me a copy of the plan yet. I’ll share that at soon as I get it.
• Why is it so quiet out back? – The city was supposed to approve the civil engineering plan last Monday, but have not done so yet. Once that get’s approved, they can start working on the footing and plumbing. The current estimate from the city is that they will be able to start working on the pad this week and outside of the pad soon after.
• Site Security – The construction company realizes there may be some vandalism and/or theft on the site (they already had some copper wire stolen, though that probably wasn’t kids), so they are planning to install some security cameras to hopefully deter or catch folks responsible for any of these types of activities.
• Second Story Slide – I mentioned earlier that the slide on the south side walkway on the second floor down into the library would happen. Right now the architects are figuring out how to make it fit. There is a chance we might loose some library shelving to make it fit, though maybe we can do some fun creative shelving around the slide later on if we have to lose some shelving space. More to come on that.On a related note, I’ve heard that River Road is having the same conversations we had about all the glass around the classrooms, so maybe that topic isn’t dead, though I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. Still, Joel and I are hoping to get a joint design team meeting between out schools to discuss this again.
• Fire Drill Wednesday at 8:30 – Weather dependent, we’ll plan to hold our December Fire Drill on Wednesday, Dec 17th at 8:30. If we’re rained out, we’ll wait for a break in the weather later in the day.
• PRIDE Awards Wednesday – Wednesday at lunchtime will be the December PRIDE Awards. If you haven’t done so already, teachers should pick a letter (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, Excellence) to honor students and fill out the PRIDE certificates located in the office. Invitations to families are also in the office. There is no minimum or maximum number of PRIDE recipients per class, but a general guideline is 2-3 per class. And remember, as you turn in your PRIDE nominations, be sure that you let Lori know who and why each student is being recognized so she can put their name up on the board.
• PTO Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The December PTO meeting will be this Tuesday, 6:00-7:00 PM in the library if any staff are able to attend. I’ll be conducting interviews at the Kindergarten Job Expo, so it would be great if there are any other staff members who are able to attend. There’s been a great turnout of staff and families at this year’s meetings! Hope some of you can make it!
• Bi-Lingual Office Assistant Interviews – I didn’t hear from anyone wanting to join in on the interview committee, so I scheduled them for this Wednesday, 1:20-3:30 in the office. I know this is during prep time for teachers, but if anyone would like to join Lori, Alicia and myself for interviews, just let me know.
• Full Day Kindergarten Updates – Licensed staff got an email last week regarding the hiring process for full-day kindergarten next year. For Howard, I posted two vacancies at the kindergarten level since our current kinder teachers have part-time rights, though they will both be interviewing. The interviews will be conducted Tuesday at the Kindergarten Job Expo and hiring should be completed by the end of the week. I’ll let staff know as soon as hiring for these two positions if official.
To answer some other questions staff may have, I posted two and not three kindergarten positions because HR assigned the number of positions to schools based mostly upon current staffing. Schools will have the option of adding more kindergarten classrooms after staffing allocations are distributed. Regarding the fast hiring timeline, downtown is wisely (no sarcasm) wanting to finish hiring before our neighboring districts in order to get the first crack at potential external hires. There is expected to be about 5,000 new teaching positions across the state to meet the new full-day kindergarten requirement, which could very well mean a teacher shortage and that’s why it’s smart of 4J to start this process early.
• 2015-2016 Enrollment Projections – Principals received preliminary projections for next school year. These numbers included Life Skills students, counting them as whole students, though when it comes to staffing allocations, Life Skills students are counted as 0.25 of a whole student. The kindergarten projections are also supposed take into account the usual bump in enrollment schools see at first grade, which is thought to be because parents don’t always enroll at kindergarten since it was only half a day (either enrolling in private full-day programs or not enrolling at all since it’s not a legal requirement). Howard is projected for 368 students next year (K=57, 1=60, 2=78, 3=56, 4=54, 5=63), which is 22 students over our projection for this school year at 346 students. That’s good news because it should mean an increase in staffing as long as the staffing ratio stays the same. However, we’re currently at 375 students and I’m making the case to downtown that our projection should be significantly increased, at least to 380, given all of the new housing in the area, our pattern of increasing 25-30 students each year for the past three years, and also the new school being completed next school attracting more students. We do have a big outgoing 5th grade class at 65 and a smaller incoming KG class projected, but even with that I still think we’re going to see an increase in enrollment.
On a related note, I also met with the new Ecco Apartments manager and leasing manager (who I discover is a former student of mine, which made me feel old) and more than half of the apartments (120) are 2 or 3 bedroom. I also asked them if they are seeing more interest from people already living in the area or from people living outside the area. They said it’s about half and half, with some young 18 and 19 years olds who already live in the area renting and then the other half are people moving here from out of state or out of the area for jobs.
• CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grants Due Jan. 2 – I sent this out once before, but I thought I’d remind anyone interested in applying for a grant they are due Jan. 2nd. The CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant Program is a competitive grant open to PreK-12 teachers and is designed to help teachers innovatively implement technology in their classrooms to increase student achievement. They will consider requests of up to $5,000 submitted by full-time classroom teachers, with a deadline of January 2, 2015. Grants will be awarded in April.
• The Threat of Stereotype – Stereotype threat is a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their social group. Stereotype threat and the responses it elicits can play a powerful role in the relatively poor achievement of certain students—African Americans, Latinos, and girls in math-oriented domains. The following article is an excellent piece that discusses the impacts on students and more importantly how educators can help.
• Teachers can take a cue from Google to encourage innovation – Technology firms, including Google, have found success with a strategy that allows employees to spend one-fifth of their time on “passion projects.” Now, the approach appears to be catching on in education, with some teachers setting aside time for students to work on inquiry-based projects. This article includes 20 tips to help educators adopt this approach.
• 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:
December 14 (SU)
11:00-10:00, PTO Fundraiser at The Growler GuysDecember 15 (M)
Regular DayDecember 16 (T)
8:00-9:00, Allan to Superintendent Search Focus Group (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 7)
3:30, Lifetouch Proofs Due to Lori
4:00-7:00, Allan to Kindergarten Expo (Ed Center)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)December 17 (W)
8:30, Fire Drill
9:00-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)
11:00, PRIDE Awards at Lunch
1:20-3:30, Bi-Lingual Office Assistant Interviews (Office)December 18 (H)
2:30-3:30, Staff Hot Chocolate Bar (Library)
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Planning Meeting (Room 10)December 19 (F)
10:55-12:30, Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Room 11)
1:00-1:30, Tail Feather Rewards – Extravaganza of Ridiculousness!December 22 (M) – January 2 (F)
Winter breakJanuary 5 (M)
Classes ResumeJanuary 6 (T)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 7)January 7 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Career Day
9:00-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)
9:30-4:30, Allan to Reclassification Meeting Training (Ed Center)January 8 (H)
Regular DayJanuary 9 (F)
Regular Day
And to end of a fun family oriented note, Paula had her baby, John Nicholas Robertson – aka Jack, this past weekend. 8 lb. 4 oz. 21 in. Mom and baby both doing well!
Allan
