April 29, 2019

By Allan  

 

Howdy Roadrunners,

Remember to mark your calendar for this Thursday at 5:30-7:00 for the Annual ACE Awards at North Eugene High School to cheer on Howard’s three nominees; Julie, Zach, Linda, and Katrina!

Sixteen items of note for this week:

• 19/20 Staffing Updates – Nicole and Charissa will swap their originally planned positions for next year, with Nicole now staying at 1st grade and Charissa moving up to 3rd grade next year. Also, our ELL teacher for next year will be Cynthia Wenks, who is currently at Buena Vista and who in the past worked with Corianne at ATA. Please welcome Cynthia to the Awesome Howard Team!

• REPEAT: May 3rd Transition Day – For this Friday’s Elementary Transition Day, the day is not intended for organized PD or meetings led by principals, but is for teaching staff to get together to plan or do transition work for next school year. Possible activities may include but are not limited to:

• Class list preparation for 2019-2020
• Pre-K transition meetings
• 5th to 6th grade transition for fall of 2019
• Kinderzone prep Sept. 2019
• Grade Level planning
• Planning for last six weeks of school
• Parent Communication
• Begin filling in report cards
• Assessing student work

The Instruction Department can provide resources if requested by individual teachers, grade levels or buildings.

• Classified Staff May 3rd Offerings – See the linked Transition Day Email classified staff were sent regarding details for workshop offerings happening this day. If staff are interested in attending, see the linked Workshop Registration Directions for how to sign up for workshops at 4jpd.net

• Class Lists – If teachers would like to begin working on 2019-2020 Class Lists, I’ve set class lists up on Google Sheets the same as last year. The above link gives view access to everyone and I’ll send classroom teachers an email before Monday giving you edit access. To help create balanced classes, check off the appropriate columns for IEP, ELD, Title, TAG, 504, Behavior, Teacher Level of Support, Current Teacher, Other Notes, and the Boy/Girl Count at the bottom. If receiving teachers have student placement requests for siblings or other incoming students, please connect with sending grade levels. Also, for grade levels who might potentially see a classroom added, I added a second tab if any sending grade levels want to be overachievers and fill out class lists should staffing scenarios change. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Friday Early Release PD: CANCELLED next two weeks – This Friday is the elementary Transition Day, so there is no Friday Early Release PD this week. There will be no PD Friday next week either because it will be a make-up day for the missed hour of prep on May 3rd.

• End-of-Year Office Dates – With only 34 student days left, here are some key dates regarding finances and supply lists:

• School supply lists due to Lori – May 31st.
• Last day to use school credit cards – May 31st.
• Last day to order using purchase orders – May 15th.
• Last day to turn in receipts for reimbursement from student body account – June 14

• ESSA Updates – Howard’s ESSA Team and Site Council meet for an expended meeting last week to begin developing our Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP), which is the new version of a School Improvement Plan and replaces what we did last time using Indistar. On the Google Team Drive in the Site Council Minutes folder are materials and information discussed at the meeting, which includes a CIP template that we will be completing over the course of two additional meetings, a sample completed CIP, as well as other items.

In terms of goals and strategies discuss, my goal were to focus on areas within our control as well as to align our plan to district plans and focus areas. Our last improvement plan had some great strategies, but we needed up not being able to do some of them due to demands from district priorities and initiatives. The three main goal areas we discussed were one, a reading and math goal (with potential strategy areas being equity/ELL, math learning targets, formative assessment [district focus], grade level common agreements, data teams/SPED referral process [district focus], instructional framework [district focus]), goal two, a study skills/growth mindset goal (with the main strategy being to become an AVID school), and goal three, a school climate/PBIS goal (with potential strategy areas being student attendance strategies, equity/ELL, SEL/PBIS [district focus], tiered behavior response [district focus]). We’ll continue to refine goals and strategies at our next meeting and will discuss these at a future staff meeting before we finalize the CIP at the May Site Council Meeting, bu please feel free to share ideas, thoughts, or questions on any potential goals and/or strategies with myself or your Site Council reps.

• UPDATE: May Artist in Residence Schedule – I moved one 5th and 2nd grade class on the schedule (both teachers already know) but linked here is the Updated Puppet Artist in Residence Schedule for Noah McLain, the Puppetry & Storytelling artist starting next week. Let me know if you see anything else that need fixed or updated before the end of the week.

• May PBIS Focus: Positive Attitude – The May PBIS monthly focus is Positive Attitude. The PBIS team created a PBIS/CSC Cheat Sheet that matches our PBIS monthly themes with corresponding Caring School Community class meeting lessons, which is an easy way to tie the two activities together.

• Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day – We’ve tried the monthly Walk & Roll to School Days this year, but this month is one of the big months where we’ll have prizes and incentives for students, which Michelle will give out to students who walk, carpool, or roll to school.

• REPEAT: Don’t Touch the OAKS Testing Snacks – Remember that for the next few weeks, there are snacks on top of and inside the Staff Room refrigerator for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders during state testing. They are NOT up for grabs.

• Care Team Resources – A couple items of note from last week’s Student Care Team Meeting:

• Direction ServicesDirection Services provides assistance through three major programs: Youth & Family Services (wraparound facilitation, assistance to healthcare and insurance services, support for families involved with DHS Child Welfare, stabilization for children in foster care, coordination of services for families experiencing domestic violence and homelessness), a Counseling Center (specializes in mood and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and childhood impulse and behavioral disorders), and the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education – CADRE (mediation assistance for resolving disagreements between parents and schools about SPED services).

• Oregon Family Support NetworkOFSN offerd a variety of supports for parents, ranging from support for families of children with behavioral, emotional, or metal health challenges for success at home, school, and in life. Respite care, System navigation, Family fun activities, Support groups, Wraparound family partners, Mental health first aid training, Collaborative Parenting Series.

• Oregon Child Abuse Hotline – Wait times have been a concern when making reports to the new centralized Oregon Child Abuse Hotline, but they are in the process of hiring additional screeners, so this will be a short term problem. for now, calling earlier in the day is better and feedback on the new system is welcome at OregonChildAbuseHotline@dhsoha.state.or.us And if you don’t have it already, the new phone number is 1-855-503-SAFE (7233) and can be found on the above linked hotline card.

And remember, when you make child welfare calls, be sure to let me know and also complete an Abuse Reporting Form (Word or PDF) so I can track dates, concerns, and how many calls we’ve made for individual student.

• Separate & Still Unequal: Race in America’s Schools – There is a “deep history of harm between children of color and the institution of schooling,” says sociologist Robin DiAngelo. Despite the passage of Brown v. Board of Education 65 years ago, schools remain deeply segregated and have “reproduced profound racial inequality” for children of color. Educational Leadership’s April Issue takes a deep dive into the persistence of racial inequities and racism in education, with experts Pedro A. Noguera, Beverly Daniel Tatum, H. Richard Milner, and others unpacking the ways in which educators can start to change a broken system’s entrenched harmful practices and begin a new vision of teaching and learning.

• Why students need real-world relevancy – Students need to understand that the things they’re learning in class can be applied to the real world, writes Erin Sweeney, executive director of Schools That Can Newark. Young people who learn the career and cultural relevancy of math, science and other subjects can become the empowered decision-makers of tomorrow, she writes in this Chalkbeat Article.

• Managing Stress at Work – Rachel Farkas shared this article with me. Although it’s written more for an office type of environment, many of the stressors are the same as well as what to do to mitigate them, such as knowing the difference between good stress and bad stress, telling someone you are struggling with stress, trying to find humor in the situation (something Howard staff are quite good at), and many others.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

April 29 (M)
OSAS (formerly OAKS) Continues – See Google Calendar for Times
11:45, Allan to Formal Observation
2:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)
4:00-4:30, Allan to Admin Stand-Up Meeting (Ed Center)

April 30 (T)
Regular Day

May 1 (W)
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
PBIS Monthly Theme – Positive Attitude
Better Hearing & Speech Month
9:00-12:00, Kerins to Nearby Nature Field Trip
2:30-4:30, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

May 2 (H)
10:30-12:40, April Bday Lunches w/the Principal (Conference Room)
1:00-1:25, KG/3/PK PBIS Candyland Kindness Event (East Courtyard)
1:30-1:55, 1/4 PBIS Candyland Kindness Event (East Courtyard)
2:00-2:25, 2/5 PBIS Candyland Kindness Event (East Courtyard)
5:30-7:00, ACE Awards (NEHS)

May 3 (F)
No School – Transition Day
8:00-4:30, Allan to MANDT Training (Ed Center)
4:00, Howard Staff Social – Friday @4:00, (Lane 25 – Adult Bowling)

May 4 (SA)
May the Fourth Be With You

May 6 (M)
Staff/Teacher Appreciation Week
Artist in Residence, Noah McLain, Puppetry and Storytelling Begins
Children’s Book Week
OSAS (formerly OAKS) Continues – See Google Calendar for Times
7:45-2:15, 5th Grade to Outdoor School (waiting to confirm times)
12:00-2:00, Allan to Title 1 Coordinators’ Work Session (Ed Center)

May 7 (T)
7:45-2:15, 5th Grade to Outdoor School (waiting to confirm times)
9:00-12:00, Corliss to Nearby Nature Field Trip
10:15, Allan leading Head Start KG Transition Tour
4:30-5:30, 4J PERS Presentation (Ed Center)

May 8 (W)
Day of Action – No Students
Non-Workday for Licensed Staff
Regular Workday for Classified and Admin Staff

May 9 (H)
7:20-5:15, 2nd Grade to Oregon Zoo
12:00-12:30, Allan Covering Classroom

May 10 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
1:25-2:00, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – CANCELLED

May 11 (SA)
10:30-1:00, MEDIA EVENT: EWEB Live Test of the Emergency Well

May 12 (SU)
Mother’s Day

Enjoy the short week!

Allan