February 8, 2016

By Allan  

Roberto-Clemente

 

Hello Awesome Howard Staff,

I accidentally had this on the wrong on my calendar, but last week was National School Counselor Week. I wanted to take this opportunity to belatedly recognize the unique role and critical work that our rockstar school counselor, Jennifer, contributes daily to Howard students, staff and families. We’re all very lucky to have her as part of the Howard team!

Eleven items of note this week:

• 2016-2017 Staffing Survey – With 2016-2017 staffing allocations coming out in two weeks, I’d like staff to complete a short survey, either on Survey Monkey or on a Word file. I’d like to know staff members individual plans and preferences for the future as well as your thoughts on next year’s staffing plan and master schedule. Please complete the survey by Monday, February 22nd so I can get input before drawing up potential staffing scenarios after we get our staffing on February 24th. All answers will be kept confidential and please let me know if you have any questions.

• Tier IIA Funds for Tier II Planning & Support – Tell Allan Yes or No – For licensed staff, as I’ve shared in earlier blog posts and at Staff Meetings, we received Title IIA funds this year to pay for release time for teachers to do peer observations. Originally the focus was to be around math, but that focus changed to Tier II instruction after we were told we have to change our workshop model (Tier II being taught in classrooms) and staff expressed interest in doing this. As Gretta and I shared at the last Staff Meeting, we were also given the flexibility to provide teachers with extended contract for planning time to prepare for the Tier II changes next year.

Teachers (intervention staff included) should let me know by the end of the week if you would like to observe another class’ Tier II instruction (either here at Howard or at your own grade level at another school). Observations should happen between now and the end of April, before testing begins. Also, let me know if you’d like to access these funds for extended contract to do planning. As with the peer observations, there is a documentation requirement to prove to auditors we’re using the funds appropriately, telling what you did during the extended contract time. Let me know by the end of the week if you would like to do peer observations, access extended contract or neither.

• United Way Pledge Forms – Downtown somehow lost the envelope with all of our United Way pledge forms. This week I’ll put out some blank forms in the mailroom if any of you are willing to resubmit your forms by the end of this week. I’ll put an envelop in my mailbox to collect any resubmitted forms.

• North Eugene Key Club Book Drive Fundraiser for Howard – I got an email last week from a teacher at North, Calire Wiles, who’s also the advisor for their Key Club, which is a community service student group. They got the idea of doing a book drive to help supplement classroom libraries, but then heard about a Barnes & Noble fundraiser where they can arrange a book fair at their store that can take place over several days, where patrons who have a flyer will have 10% of their purchase (drinks, cookies, books, toys, etc.) donated to the school. In addition, teachers can submit “wish lists” ahead of time and Barnes and Noble will put out tables with those books with the goal that people will buy them and donate them to the school. I told Clair that I though staff would likely be excited about the chance to get additional books for their classrooms as well as fundraise for the school, but said I did want to run this by staff first to make sure there weren’t any concerns. All we’d have to do is a bit of advertising of the event and teachers would make their wish lists . The only issue I could see is timing, making sure it doesn’t conflict with any other fundraisers (Tech Trot/Penny War or Carnival). Let me know by Tuesday if anyone has concerns or doesn’t think we should let North proceed with their fundraiser for us.

• PTO Tech Trot Dates & Times – The PTO asked me to give them a date and time for the Tech Trot, which for new staff is a jog-a-thon fundraiser the PTO puts on to lower the Technology Fee for families. For a proposed date, I’m thinking Wednesday, April 20th. Having it in April instead of May allows for no conflicts with testing or the artist-in-residence, and it also gives the PTO volunteers a break between their final two events of the year. I checked in with a few people, but let me know what you think of Wednesday, April 20th for the Tech Trot at times:

• 8:15-9:00, 4th and 5th Grade
• 9:15-10:00, KG and 1st Grade
• 10:15-11:00, 2nd and 3rd Grade

• DHS Produce Plus Program – I just learned about this program at our last Student Care Team meeting, but if you ever hear of families needing access to free food, the Produce Plus program is at all DHS offices on Mondays and is open to anyone from the public. The offices closest to our area are:

West Eugene Family Center
2101 W 11th Ave
Eugene, OR 97402

McKenzie Center
2885 Chad Drive
Eugene, OR 97408

• New Building Updates – There was no Owner/Architect/General Contractor (OAC) meeting this week, but here are a couple items of note:

• Unpacking Move-In Date – Several folks have asked how soon they can begin setting up their spaces in the new building. I checked in with Ryan, our project manager, and he said this is a bit of a crystal ball assumption, but he’s thinking teachers will have some time prior to the of the year to start working on their spaces, but felt it was too early to commit exactly when. We’ll revisit this around May after all the furniture is in the new building, so more to come on this.

• When in Doubt, Throw it Out! (or recycle) – Quite a few old classroom materials are starting to show up in the workroom. If it’s something you don’t want, probably no one else wants it either, so when in doubt, throw it out (or recycle it).

• District Admin Updates – Randy Bernstein, the Director of Secondary Education, has decided to retire after a 34-year career as a public educator, 15 years of which has been in 4J. Randy will complete the year in his current role before retiring in June. Also, Jon Lauch, our longtime Director of Facilities Management and Transportation, has been tapped for a leadership position in the private sector. Jon will stay will on through April. Lastly, Dr. Charis McGaughy, formerly 4J Chief of Staff, has formally transitioned to the title and role of Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. Charis assumed the leadership and oversight of the Instruction Department in December and this past week the school board approved the final logistical pieces of reinstating the role of Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, which was last filled in 2010–11. This is not an added administrative position but a replacement. Downtown does not plan to appoint a new Chief of Staff.

• Fun Activities for Anti-bias Education – Teaching Tolerance is now offering an archive of webinars on a growing list of topics, but here is a new one that sounded particularly good. Are you looking for fun and creative ways to engage your students in anti-bias learning? This webinar features video footage of educators teaching Perspectives for a Diverse America advisory activities. These team-building exercises break down social barriers and improve classroom climate.

• How to engage, educate with virtual field trips – Virtual field trips can be a fun educational alternative to traditional field trips, Discovery Education’s Kyle Schutt suggests. In this commentary, he shares five tips to help educators make the most of virtual field trips and notes that, in his experience, event-based virtual trips are most effective.

• 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:

February 8 (M)
2:30-3:30, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
3:30-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

February 9 (T)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 1)

February 10 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to OAC Meeting (Construction Trailer)
1:30-2:30, PBIS Meeting (Room 21)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Admin Meeting (YG/Corridor)

February 11 (H)
Regular Day

January 12 (F)
Report Cards Sent Home

February 15 (M)
Presidents’ Day – No School

February 16 (T)
Progress Monitoring – Week 8
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)

February 17 (W)
Exclusion Day
9:00, Earthquake/Fire Drill
10:45, OBOB Practice (Gym)
4:00-6:00, Digital Learning Day (Ed Center)

February 18 (H)
3:45-5:15, Allan and KG Teacher to Monthly Kindergarten Teacher Meeting (Adams)
5:00-7:00, PTO McTeacher Night Fundraiser (River Ave. McDonald’s)

February 19 (F)
Regular Day

Have a fabulous week, everyone!

Allan

 

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