http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=471
Hi Everyone,
Winter Break is almost here! I hope you all have plans to rest, relax and rejuvenate during your time off. I know I already have some plans in place.
Eight items of note for this week:
• January 3rd Professional Development Schedule – Please see the email or flyer that was sent last week for details on what to bring and the locations for the district math workshop held on our first day back from Winter Break. K-5 teachers will meet from 8:30-11:30 at various locations depending upon your grade level. SPED teachers will meet from 12:00-3:30 at Chavez Elementary School.
• Absences for the BCS Championship Game – HR and District administrators are receiving questions about whether employees may use leave (paid or unpaid) to attend the game. Typically, the days requested for leave are January 10 and 11, regular school days. Most employees do not have paid leave available to take “vacation” on school days. While many employees have personal leave, personal leave may not be used for recreation, but to attend to personal business, such as visits to the doctor, accountant, parent-teacher conferences etc. Due to the unique circumstances of the BCS championship, the District will allow for some flexibility for employees to take unpaid leave, provided the leave does not disrupt District or building operations, upon advance supervisor approval. Due to the potential for an unusual number of absences, HR is asking principals to notify them which staff are taking these days off, so please let me know if you are planning to be absent these day. Details are attached.
• Updated School Calendar – Attached is the Revised PD/Planning Calendar for the current 2010-2011 school year that was recently renegotiated. The most notable are March 28th which is now a full 7.5 hours of planning and 0 hours of PD. April 15 is designated as 3.75 hours of strategic collaborative planning time facilitated by the principal at the building and 3.75 hours of individual planning time.
• Cafeteria Use and Gym Zimbra Calendars – Just in case you did not yet read the Building Use Team minutes, it was suggested at the meeting that we have a master calendar for Gym and Cafeteria use that both schools could access. We decided an online calendar was easier than trying to find a central location for a physical calendar. All staff will soon receive an email to accept a “Cafeteria Use” and “Gym Use” calendar to your shared Zimbra calendar. These calendars will list all events that either school had approved outside of the regularly agreed upon times. Please let me know if you have any questions on how to set up or view these calendars.
• easyCBM Winter Benchmark Deadline – All easyCBM Winter Benchmark scores must be entered into the online system before 4:00 this Friday. If you have questions, please see the 4J easyCBM website, or feel free to ask me.
• Sustainable Budget — Revised recommendations – If you have’t done so already, you may want to review George’s revised budget recommendations. They are available online on the district website. There is also an attached four page handout the communications department has made available. In terms of closure and consolidation, we are most effected by the new recommendation for the district to appoint “a task force take another look at language immersion and alternative schools in 2011–12, to consider the future of the district’s remaining alternative schools as the district’s enrollment grows smaller,” which would likely mean something along the lines of another Alternative Schools Review process.
• 4J Equity Newsletter – This monthly newsletter goes out to principals each month, but I thought I’d share this with staff. The newsletter typically shares district activities happening around equity issues.
• Selected Children’s Books Published in 2010 – Each year, the International Reading Association asks seven regional teams of teachers and librarians to choose the best children’s trade books based on classroom and library try-outs with children. Here are the 2010 selections as they appear in The Reading Teacher. For annotations on each book, click the link above and go to 2010 Teachers’ Choices.
Have a great week and an even better Winter Break, everyone!
Allan