June 5, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/06/03 22:01 Posted in Announcements, Articles  |  Comments Off on June 5, 2023

 

Hello Holt Bolts,

If kids and adults seemed nutty this week, I’m sure it’s because Saturday’s full moon was the lowest of the year. Credit to Candace for sharing this factoid!

Nineteen items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Two updates:

OFFICE ASSISTANT – Our office assistant position did not have anyone bump into it, so the position should post sometime this week.

NURSE – Our fabulous School Nurse, Eden, is sadly leaving us next year and is moving to her neighborhood school, Howard, where her kiddo will attend kindergarten next year. It’s been great working with you this year and you will be missed! SSD will place someone soon.

• REPEAT: Fire Drill, TUESDAY @8:05 – Our final Fire Drill of the year will be this Tuesday at 8:05. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

• REPEAT: Sheldon Senior Grad Walk, THURSDAY – Sheldon HS will hold a Grad Walk on this Thursday at 9:45. Classes are invited (though not required) to line the halls to clap and cheer (signs are a nice touch) for seniors in their cap and gowns who attended Holt as I lead them through their elementary hallowed halls one final time. See this email for details, but basically it’s a chance for seniors to connect with staff they knew, to be cheered on by kids and staff, and also serve as an inspiration to our elementary kiddos. SHS said they’ll connect with us soon with additional details, but they’re planning on two buses worth of Holt alumni coming to visit!

• REPEAT: Report Card Grading Day Expectations, FRIDAY – This Friday is a regular work day for both classified and licensed staff. For licensed staff, HR allows teachers to work from home if you notify your administrator (me) in advance, but be sure to plan ahead if you need to collaborate with any colleagues this day. Also, be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town. Teachers are highly visible members of the community, so keep in mind public perception. HR has said that if working off-site on grading days is abused, we will not be allowed to continue the practice. For classified staff, this is a good day to cash in any accumulated trade time you’ve built up, but remember you need to notify me before you begin accumulating trade time.

• Report Card Info & Guidance – For reference, downtown asked principals to share the linked Report Card Guidance for when you start working on report cards. Their link is formatted a little funky, so here’s a PDF Version that’s not sideways on the second page.

• CORRECTION (K-2 & 3-5 times were flip flopped) Field Day, June 13th – Field Day will be Tuesday, June 13th. 305 will go 8:45-10:15 and grade K-2 will be 12:00-1:30. Field Day will run similarly to last year, but see the linked Field Day Doc for details, but the main things teachers need to prep for is to divide students into 4 color groups before field day, Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow.

• Kona Ice Fundraiser, June 13 @1:30 – Kona Ice is coming to Holt Tuesday, June 13th at 1:30. Teachers should send bus riders who brought money to hard play at 1:30 (15-minutes earlier than last time), so they have time to buy and eat their shave ice before having to get onto the bus. And remember, all staff get a free shave ice! Just show your badge!

• Last Day Lunch Plan, 6/15 – Deb is already planning our last day of meal service, which will have grade levels coming to the cafeteria to simply pick up a sack lunch on a 5-minute rotating basis, which they will put in their backpacks to take home (bus riders included).

10:25 – Kinder
10:30 – 1st
10:35 – 2nd
10:40 – 3rd
10:45 – 4th
10:50 – 5th
11:10 – Early Dismissal

• REPEAT: LICENSED: Goals Reflection Due & Sample Language – All licensed staff need to complete their Goals Reflection in TalentEd by the end of the school year. If you used the Optional SMART Goals shared in the fall, linked here is a 2023-2023 SMART Goals Reflection Sample you can cut-and-paste from if that’s helpful to folks. And remember, no shame or blame if you didn’t achieve all of your goals. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• REPEAT: CLASSIFIED: TalentEd Self Reflection – Most Classified Staff completed the Self Reflection at the start of the year in TalentEd, but if you didn’t do it already, be sure to log onto TalentEd and complete the form as soon as possible. Let me know if you need any help with this.

• REPEAT: 23-24 Class Lists Review – Linked here are the 23-24 Class Lists for staff to review and make any suggested revisions if you spot any bad combinations or imbalanced classes. Sending and receiving teams will to discuss students at Tuesday’s Staff Meeting, so let teams know your suggestions before then.

• REPEAT: End of Year Checklist – Linked here is the End of Year Checklist. Once teachers have completed all tasks on this list and have had me or Jeremy sign-off, you are free to start your summer. And that includes if you take care of everything on Thursday, June 15th! I’ll put hardcopies in mailboxes next week.

• REPEAT: Erin’s Law & Second Step Child Safety Unit – All classroom teachers should use the Second Step Child Protection Unit for meeting the state Erin’s Law requirements. For each grade level, there are six lessons, which are to be covered at three points in the school year, with Lessons 1-4 in the fall, lesson 5 right before spring break, and lesson 6 right before summer break (within the last two weeks of school). Each grade level has their own kit, but linked here are Child Protection Unit Scans of the teacher guides if that makes things easier.

• James Brown Award – James Brown Award Nominations – This award is in honor of James Brown, one of the first custodians at Holt. He worked extremely hard to make our school a safe, clean, and beautiful place to be. Throughout his 13 years at Holt, he was a hard-working, dedicated, humble, and kind member of the staff. Each year, a staff member is recognized who exemplifies the characteristics resembling James. We would like your help in awarding this year’s recipient, if you can nominate a fellow staff member on this Google Form. For your reference, here are the past James Brown winners:

2017 James Brown Presented with Award
2018 Winner – Lisa Goff
2019 Winners – Jincy and Heidi
2020 Winner Jenny Potter
2021 Winner Kelsey Hicks
2022 Winner Ryan Brown

• Ems Tickets – The Holt Night at the Ems is Wednesday, June 21st. We have extra tickets if any staff would like to get some tickets for this game.

• Summer School Classroom Map – This was shared at a prior Staff Meeting, but liked here is the most current Summer School Map and which classrooms will be used.

• June SSD Newsletter – Linked here is the final SSD Newsletter of the school year that was sent to SPED teachers and principals, and has info about year-end SPED activities and responsibilities.

• 21 Unexpected Last-Day-of-School Activities Your Students Will Love – It’s almost here—the last day of school. Linked here is a WeAreTeachers Article with some fun end of year activities. My favorites on here are #3 Hold a classroom trivia tournament, #6 Let your students teach, #7 Play end-of-year classmates bingo, #21 21. Serve up a scoop of memories, and #23 Wear a Last Day of School crown.

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

June 5 (M)
Happy ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ Day
Library Week #2 Classes
Kindergarten Staff Room Duty
PE & Music Outside (Kickball Field)
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

June 6 (T)
Birthday Drinks & Goodies in Staff Room:
8:05, Fire Drill
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting – Class List Transitions (Library)

June 7 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

June 8 (H)
Last Day for Dynamos, Speech, Library, & ELD
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
9:30, Sheldon Senior Grad Walk
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Library)

June 9 (F)
No School – Grading Day
8:00-1100, Allan to Admin LETRS Training (Zoom)
1:00, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)

June 10 (SA)
7:00-9:00, Sheldon HS Graduation (Hult Center)

June 12 (M)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
PE & Music Both in Gym
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

June 13 (T)
8:45-10:15, Field Day, Grades 3-5
12:00-1:30, Field Day, Grades K-2
1:30-3:00, Kona Ice Fundraiser (Hard Play)
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

June 14 (W)
PE & Music Both in Gym
8:30-10:30, KG Walking Field Trip (Country Lane Park)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings

June 15 (H)
Last Day for Students – Release Time 11:10
Last Day for Classified Staff
PE & Music Both in Gym
8:30-10:00, 5th Grade Breakfast & Celebration (Cafeteria & N. Park Church)
9:00-10:00, Kinder Magic Show (TBD)
Grab-and-Go Lunches
-10:25 – Kinder
-10:30 – 1st
-10:35 – 2nd
-10:40 – 3rd
-10:45 – 4th
-10:50 – 5th
-11:10 – Early Dismissal

11:30-12:30, Annual End-of-Year BBQ (Cafeteria)

June 16 (F)
Last Day for Licensed Staff
7:30-9:00, Allan to MAPS Board Meeting

Seven and a half days to go!

Allan

May 29, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/05/27 21:14 Posted in Announcements, Science, Technology  |  Comments Off on May 29, 2023

 

Howdy Bolts,

Twenty-four items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Two updates:

0.2 MUSIC – I’m happy to announce we have rehired Tracy Zehner as our 0.2 Music teacher for next school year.

OFFICE ASSISTANT – HR has put a hold on this position and there is a possibility they will place a displaced employee into this position. They said they will let us know if we can post or not sometime this week.

• Kendall Subaru AdoptAClassroom Drawing TUESDAY – Kendall Subaru is once again “adopting” Holt and there will be six lucky teachers who will get $500 to spend on their classroom. We’ll stick with our criteria from last year for who is elected, which is one winner from each of the following:

• new teacher (5 years or less)
• switching grades (last 2 years)
• 1 upper
• 1 primary
• SPED (this is a requirement of the grant)
• Specialist

We’ll also take off winners from the last two years. I’ll spin the Wheel of Names in the library on Tuesday after school to select the lucky winners, and that way folks can keep an eye on me so that I’m not cheating if you’ll like to watch, but you do not need to be present to win. ;)

• ELA and Math Student Consumable Order, DUE TUESDAY – See this email for details, but consumable orders for Math and ELA are due this Tuesday. One rep per grade level should complete the linked Order Form.

• Annual Safety Inspection, WEDNESDAY @10:30 – Our annual safety inspection is this Wednesday at 10:30. Linked here is a handout of the Most Common Classroom Safety Violations. The two main items we got dinged for last time were:

• Combustable items hanging from ceilings
• Door egress width (3 feet) blocked by rolling carts and other items

• May Spirt Assembly & Talent Show Combo Assembly, THURSDAY @8:30 – Our combo School Spirit/Talent Show Assembly will be this Thursday, 8:30-9:30 in the cafeteria. Linked here is the Assembly Map and Directions. Stay tuned for additional directions for the performers.

• Friday PD: Double Prep – For the final Friday PD of the year, it’s a double prep to make up for the missed prep on Grading Day next week.

• Fire Drill, June 6 @8:05 – Our final Fire Drill of the year will be Tuesday, June 6th at 8:05. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

• Raptor Alert Log-In Issue – If you had trouble logging onto the Raptor Alert app, try deleting the app from your phone or iPad, reinstall it, and then try logging in again. That fixed the issue for everyone who’s tried it so far. I don’t think the rostering issue is fixed yet, but staff can sill poke around the app to see what it looks like during a drill/emergency.

• Sheldon Senior Grad Walk, June 8 – Sheldon HS is planning a Grad Walk, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 8th at 9:45. Classes are invited (though not required) to line the halls to clap and cheer (signs are a nice touch) for seniors in their cap and gowns who attended Holt as I lead them through their elementary hallowed halls one final time. See this email for details, but basically it’s a chance for seniors to connect with staff they knew, to be cheered on by kids and staff, and also serve as an inspiration to our elementary kiddos. SHS said they’ll connect with us soon with additional details, but they’re planning on two buses worth of Holt alumni coming to visit!

• Report Card Grading Day Expectations, June 9 – Friday, June 9th is a regular work day for both classified and licensed staff. For licensed staff, HR allows teachers to work from home if you notify your administrator (me) in advance, but be sure to plan ahead if you need to collaborate with any colleagues this day. Also, be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town. Teachers are highly visible members of the community, so keep in mind public perception. HR has said that if working off-site on grading days is abused, we will not be allowed to continue the practice. For classified staff, this is a good day to cash in any accumulated trade time you’ve built up, but remember you need to notify me before you begin accumulating trade time.

• LICENSED: Goals Reflection Due & Sample Language – All licensed staff need to complete their Goals Reflection in TalentEd by the end of the school year. If you used the Optional SMART Goals shared in the fall, linked here is a 2023-2023 SMART Goals Reflection Sample you can cut-and-paste from if that’s helpful to folks. And remember, no shame or blame if you didn’t achieve all of your goals. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• CLASSIFIED: TalentEd Self Reflection – Most Classified Staff completed the Self Reflection at the start of the year in TalentEd, but if you didn’t do it already, be sure to log onto TalentEd and complete the form as soon as possible. Let me know if you need any help with this.

• Draft Inservice Week Schedule & 4J PD Calendar – District admin shared with principals last week the Draft Inservice Week Schedule (here’s a Detailed Schedule) as well as the 4J PD Calendar for the year. The Calendar is pretty empty at this point, but the inservice week is more fleshed out. I’d asked if they could move the District Back to School Event to Thursday, so we could do our all-staff back to school meeting the day classified staff report back, but was shot down on that.

• 2023-24 Class Lists Review – Linked here are the 2023-24 Class Lists for staff to review and make any suggested revisions if you spot any bad combinations or imbalanced classes. Sending and receiving teams will to discuss students at the June 6th Staff Meeting, so let teams know your suggestions well before then.

• 2023-24 Master Schedule – Linked here is the 2023-24 Master Schedule as it currently stands. Most every grade level was good with this schedule, though we’re still seeing if there are any fixes we can make to help 4th grade that don’t cause issues for other grades.

• 2023-24 Holt Calendar – Leadership last week added a few dates to the Holt Staff Calendar for next year for the Welcome Assembly and Meet Your Teacher. We’ll discuss the proposed date for Curriculum Night (Tues. Sept. 26th) at the June 6th Staff Meeting.

• 2023-24 District Calendars – Staff were emailed next years Employee Work Year Calendars and also the District Calendar. I’ve had a few people ask about the two Mid-Term Grading Days. Principals asked about these at our meeting last week and our directors had not heard either what the plan is for these days. Principals also asked about the three days off for conferences, wondering whether the expectation is there is 16 hours of conference as in the past or if there’s a new expectation of 24 hours of conferences. Elementary directors were left out of the loop on this one too, so we’ll have to wait to hear what upper district admin says the plan for these dates are.

• REPEAT: Licensed IEP/504 Time Log DUE JUNE 8 – I’ve shared this before, but the Licensed IEP/504 Time Log is for licensed staff to record times you’ve attended IEP and 504 meetings during your prep time or beyond regular work hours. The deadline is to complete the form is June 8th and payment would be on your June 30th paystub. Teachers can receive up to 12 hours compensation.

• End of Year Checklist – Linked here is the End of Year Checklist. Once teachers have completed all tasks on this list and have had me or Jeremy sign-off, you are free to start your summer. And that includes if you take care of everything on Thursday, June 15th! I’ll put hardcopies in mailboxes next week.

• Mystery Science Subscription Renewed – There were enough staff wanting Mystery Science for next year, so we will renew the subscription for another year.

• Building Budget Cuts Next Year – If we seemed more free-spending with building funds this year, it’s because we used ESSER funds to cover all the school supplies (paper, materials, copies, etc.), which are what normally eat up most of the building budget. ESSER funds go away next year, so we’ll have to go back to pre-COVID stinginess with the school budget.

• Water Balloon Launch Last Week of School – We have a kind donation from Annie of a ton of waterballoons, so I was thinking we could do something I’ve done in the past. At recess the last week of school, we can have kids stand behind the kickball backstop while any interested staff can come out and hurl water balloons towards waiting students through the chainlink backstop (I have a few water balloon launchers to add to the fun). This way we can control kids not getting too wet. We’ll plan to do this at recesses on Monday the last week of school, so let me know if your grade level would rather we not do this with your classes. All staff are welcome to soak some students if you have a grade level you’d particularly like to get wet!

• REPEAT: Erin’s Law & Second Step Child Safety Unit – All classroom teachers should use the Second Step Child Protection Unit for meeting the state Erin’s Law requirements. For each grade level, there are six lessons, which are to be covered at three points in the school year, with Lessons 1-4 in the fall, lesson 5 right before spring break, and lesson 6 right before summer break (within the last two weeks of school). Each grade level has their own kit, but linked here are Child Protection Unit Scans of the teacher guides if that makes things easier.

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

May 29 (M)
No School – Memorial Day

May 30 (T)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
Office/PE/Music Staff Room Duty
ELA and Math Consumable Orders DUE
PE & Music Outside (Gaga Ball)
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
8:15, Allan to Formal Observation
9:15, Allan to Formal Observation
2:45, Adopt A Classroom Drawing (Library)

May 31 (W)
8:50-10:45, Final Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
10:30-12:00, Annual Safety Inspection
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:30-4:00, Talent Show Rehearsal (Music Room)

June 1 (H)
6:00-7:45, Talent Show Assembly (Cafeteria)

June 2 (F)
Alex Returns!
8:10-8:45, 3rd Grade Playground, “Walk the Trail” Pioneer Activity
1:30-2:30, Friday PD -Double Prep
3:30-5:00, 4J 2023 Retiree Celebration (Ed Center)

June 5 (M)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
Title Staff Room Duty
PE & Music Outside (Kickball Field)
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

June 6 (T)
Birthday Drinks & Goodies in Staff Room:
8:05, Fire Drill
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting – Class List Transitions (Library)

June 7 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

June 8 (H)
Last Day for Dynamos / Title 1 Groups
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
9:30, Sheldon Senior Grad Walk
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Library)

June 9 (F)
No School – Grading Day
8:00-1100, Allan to Admin LETRS Training (Zoom)
1:00, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)

June 10 (SA)
7:00-9:00, Sheldon HS Graduation (Hult Center)

June 12 (M)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
Kindergarten Staff Room Duty
PE & Music Both in Gym
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

June 13 (T)
8:45-10:15, Field Day, Grades 3-512:00-1:30, Field Day, Grades K-2
1:30-3:00, Kona Ice Fundraiser (Hard Play)
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

June 14 (W)
PE & Music Both in Gym
8:30-10:30, KG Walking Field Trip (Country Lane Park)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings
1:30, Kona Shave Ice Fundraiser (Hard Play)

June 15 (H)
Last Day for Students – Release Time 11:10
Last Day for Classified Staff
PE & Music Both in Gym
8:30-10:00, 5th Grade Breakfast & Celebration (Cafeteria)
9:00-10:00, Kinder Magic Show (TBD)
Grab-and-Go Lunches

-10:25 – Kinder
-10:30 – 1st
-10:35 – 2nd
-10:40 – 3rd
-10:45 – 4th
-10:50 – 5th

11:10 – Early Dismissal
11:30-12:30, Annual End-of-Year BBQ (Cafeteria)

June 16 (F)
Last Day for Licensed Staff
7:30-9:00, Allan to MAPS Board Meeting

Eleven and a half days to go!

Allan

 

 

May 22, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/05/20 21:27 Posted in Announcements, Articles, SEL  |  Comments Off on May 22, 2023

Hi Everyone,

The Spring Carnival was a ton of fun! My favorite moment was when a 2nd grader at the car bash paused whacking the car with a baseball bat for a moment to yell out, “I’ve been waiting my whole life to do this!”

With just four short weeks left in the school year, I wanted to remind everyone to do your best to stay positive when working with challenging students and situations. I know I’ve caught myself being short with students I could have handled differently. Remember to take the extra time to pre-teach the behaviors you expect, acknowledge positive behaviors when students are following expectations, and when students are not following expectations, start with a reteach, giving students a chance to turn things around before jumping to a consequence. We’re all tired at this point in the year, so it’s important we remember the teaching component when handling misbehaviors (myself included).

Twenty items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Three staffing updates:

SECRETARY, Sharon Alberts! – I’m pleased to announce that Sharon has been hired as our secretary for next school year! This means we’ll be hiring for her office assistant position, which I hope will get posted this week. We’re glad you’ll be in this role to take care of us next year, Sharon!

0.2 PE POSTING PULLED – HR pulled our PE job posting because they may be placing someone into this position. 

0.2 MUSIC INTERVIEWS – Ashely and I will conduct interviews for this position after school on Zoom, 2:35-3:45. If anyone would like to be part of interviews, let me know and I will send you the interview materials.

• Team Meetings, WEDNESDAY, Class Lists Due – Grade level teams should complete your 23-24 Class Lists by this Wednesday. After Team Meetings, lists will be available for classified and licensed staff to review and share feedback ahead of the June 6th Staff Meeting were grade levels will meet to share individual student information.

• Fundations + Math Student Consumable Order Due FRIDAY – See this email for details, but remember that consumable orders for Fundations and Math are due Friday, May 26th. One person from each grade level should place your order.

• Holt Spirit Day – Vacation Day, FRIDAY – This Friday is a Holt Spirit Day and this time it’s Vacation Day. Show your school spirt by dressing up as if you’re going on vacation (tropical shirts, sunglasses, tourist gear, etc.) or simply wear your Holt spirit gear! Get your students pumped!

• Final Friday PD: Staff Choice – This Friday is Staff Choice. I plan to ask at Monday’s principal meeting if the Zoom trainings are still happening. Seems the last few times they did not share out the Zoom links and I’m not sure they’re actually happening.

On a related note, this is the last Friday PD of the year. Next week (6/2) is a double prep to make up for Grading Day (6/9), and the final Friday of the year (6/16) is the last day of school for licensed staff.

• Staff Social! Friday @4:00 at Beer Garden! – Mark your calendar for our final Friday at 4:00 of the school year, which will be at The Beer Garden. See you there!

• Last Book Nook, May 31 – Let your kiddos know that Wednesday, May 31st will be the last Book Nook for the school year.

• Annual Safety Inspection, May 31st @10:30 – Third time’s the charm. 4J’s liability insurance agent and members of 4J Risk Management are scheduled to conduct a safety walkthrough inspection next week on Wednesday, May 31st around 10:30. Linked here is a handout of the Most Common Classroom Safety Violations. The two main items we got dinged for last time were:

• Combustable items hanging from ceilings
• Door egress width (3 feet) blocked by rolling carts and other items

• May Spirt Assembly & Talent Show Combo Assembly, June 1 – Rather than hold two separate assemblies so close to one another, we’ll combine the May School Spirit Assembly and the Talent Show Assembly for Thursday, June 1st, 8:30-9:30 in the cafeteria. Linked here is the Assembly Map and Directions. Stay tuned for additional directions for the performers.

• Erin’s Law & Second Step Child Safety Unit – All classroom teachers should use the Second Step Child Protection Unit for meeting the state Erin’s Law requirements. For each grade level, there are six lessons, which are to be covered at three points in the school year, with Lessons 1-4 in the fall, lesson 5 right before spring break, and lesson 6 right before summer break (within the last two weeks of school). Each grade level has their own kit, but linked here are Child Protection Unit Scans of the teacher guides if that makes things easier.

• Lockdown Magnets Are Here & Please Give Feedback – I shared earlier I’d volunteered us to try using the lockdown door magnets, which the plan for is that doors will always be locked and the magnets will be placed over the latch plate on the door jam, which allows the door to remain unlocked, but in the case of an emergency, the magnet can simply be pulled off by anyone to secure a classroom instead of staff having to fumble for keys. For teachers who currently keep your doors locked and closed, you are welcome to continue this practice if you choose. We will deliver magnets to staff for use on interior doors, and since this is a pilot, be sure to share with me any feedback once you start using them.

 

• Raptor Tech Issue and Rosters Not Synced – Risk Management emailed principals they are having tech issues syncing student rosters in Raptor Alert, so if you didn’t see your class during last week’s Fire Drill in the Raptor app, it wasn’t you, it was a district tech issue, which they are working towards resolving.

• 4J COVID Protocol Updates – 4J is changing three COVID protocols to align with changes in state policy. One, COVID positive staff and students are no longer required to quarantine for 5 days and instead just need to be fever free for 24 hours without meds. Two, schools recieve new testing kits in the fall to have on-hand. Three, effective June 17th, the vaccination and religious or medical exemption requirement for staff, visitors, and volunteers will end. See this email for details.

• Ems Tickets for Sluggo’s Reading Challenge – Ems Tickets are here. They are sorted by class. There are also free staff tickets, two per staff member. Come get your tickets from Melanie by the end of the week and any tickets left after that can be claimed by staff wanting more than just the two tickets.

• Free Moving Boxes – Melanie ordered boxes for staff who are moving classrooms or schools, but the warehouse dropped off twice as many as we’d asked for (we think they’re trying to get rid of them), so staff are welcome to take what you want. The boxes are on a pallet next to lost and found. The sooner you can take them the better.

• Mystery Science Subscription? – 4J has cancelled the district license for Mystery Science due to low usage rates. It’s $1,695 for a site license if there are enough teachers who want it. Let me know by the end of the week if you and/or your grade level regularly use this and would want it for next year.

• UO Field Study Volunteers for Your Classroom – Are you looking for extra support in the classroom next year? If so, there are UO Education undergrads hoping to complete their required Field Study in classrooms with teachers. See this email for additional info, but if you would like to host an intern, RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/UOHostFieldStudy

• District Admin Updates – Eight district admin updates for next year. Erin Gaston, the current Howard principal, is the new Elementary Curriculum and MTSS Administrator. Replacing Erin at Howard is Charlie Jett, principal at Twin Rivers/Dos Rios in Springfield. Adrienne Pierce, current Elementary Curriculum Administrator, is the new Secondary Curriculum and MTSS Administrator. Nadira Rizkallah, former HR/Equity Director in South Lane, is the new principal at Edgewood Elementary. Kimberly Ingram, and elementary prinicpal in Salem-Keizer, is the new principal at Yujin Gakuen. Justin Corey, current principal at Junction City High School, will be the principal at Madison Middle School. Morgan Christensen, the current 4J Title IX Coordinator, is the new HR Licensed Administrator, taking Mike Ingram’s place, who is returning as the Sheldon principal. Lastly, Megan Russell, current AP at Gilham, is the new assistant principal at Monroe and taking her AP job at Gilham is Tom Piowaty, the current Yujin Gakuen principal (who Lavinia used to be his AP at Corridor/YG). See these emails (one and two) for details.

• 24 Morning Message Ideas To Get Your Day Started on the Right Foot – A morning message is the perfect way to engage your students the minute they walk through the door. Answering a question with no right or wrong answer allows learners to discover and articulate what’s important to them and supports their social-emotional growth. Not only that, the questions can spark important conversations that bring your community together on a deeper level. Here are some of WeAreTeachers Favorite Morning Message Ideas teachers are using to connect with their students.

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

May 22 (M)
Upbeat Survey Closes
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
SPED Staff Room Duty
Scholastic Book Fair BOGO Sale
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

May 23 (T)
10:45-11:45, Math Acceleration Testing (TBA)
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meetings (Kelsey’s Room)

May 24 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
10:45-11:45, Math Acceleration Testing (TBA)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Team Meetings – Class Lists Deadline
2:35-3:45, 0.2 Music Teacher Interviews (Zoom)

May 25 (H)
Towel Day
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:30, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)

May 26 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Vacation Day!
Fundations + Math Student Consumable Order Due
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:15-9:45, 4/5 Monroe Victory Tour Performance (tentative)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Staff Choice
1:30-2:30, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)
4:00, Holt Friday at 4:00! (Beer Garden)

May 29 (M)
No School – Memorial Day

May 30 (T)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
Office/PE/Music Staff Room Duty
PE & Music Outside (Gaga Ball)
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
2:45, Allan to Parent Meeting

May 31 (W)
8:50-10:45, Final Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:30-4:00, Talent Show Rehearsal (Music Room)

June 1 (H)
6:00-7:45, Talent Show (Cafeteria)

June 2 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD -Double Prep

June 5 (M)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
Title Staff Room Duty
PE & Music Outside (Kickball Field)
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

June 6 (T)
Birthday Drinks & Goodies in Staff Room:
8:05, Fire Drill
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting – Class List Transitions (Library)

June 7 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Team Meetings – Class Lists Deadline
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

June 8 (H)
Last Day for Dynamos / Title 1 Groups
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Library)

June 9 (F)
No School – Grading Day
8:00-1100, Allan to Admin LETRS Training (Zoom)

June 10 (SA)
7:00-9:00, Sheldon HS Graduation (Hult Center)

June 12 (M)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
Kindergarten Staff Room Duty
PE & Music Outside (Kickball Field)
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

June 13 (T)
8:45-10:15, Field Day, Grades 3-5
12:00-1:30, Field Day, Grades K-2
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

June 14 (W)
8:30-10:30, KG Walking Field Trip (Country Lane Park)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings
1:30, Kona Shave Ice Fundraiser (Hard Play)

June 15 (H)
Last Day for Students – Release Time 11:10
Last Day for Classified Staff
8:30-10:00, 5th Grade Breakfast & Celebration (Cafeteria)
9:00-10:00, Kinder Magic Show (TBD)
Grab-and-Go Lunches
     10:25 – Kinder
     10:30 – 1st
     10:35 – 2nd
     10:40 – 3rd
     10:45 – 4th
     10:50 – 5th
11:10 – Early Dismissal
11:30-12:30, Annual End-of-Year BBQ (Cafeteria)
June 16 (F)
Last Day for Licensed Staff
7:30-9:00, Allan to MAPS Board Meeting

 

It’s our last 5-day week of the year, ending with a 3-day weekend!

Allan

 

May 15, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/05/13 20:53 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, P.D., SEL, Technology, Video  |  Comments Off on May 15, 2023

Greetings Bolts,

This Monday is National Speech Pathologist Day, so a big shout out to our awesome SLP, Katharine, who we are so lucky to have here at Holt!

Twenty-five items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Two updates:

0.5 SPED TEACHER VACANCY – After previously changing their mind, SSD is once again moving Sheryl Carroll to Holt, where she will be 0.5 at Holt and 0.5 at YG. Sheryl is currently a SPED teacher at Edison.

SECRETARY & 0.2 PE/MUSIC – We held secretary interviews last Thursday and are waiting on HR to make a job offer. The part-time PE and Music Job Postings are now up and we have at least one solid candidate applying for each position, so we should be good for next year!

• Raptor & Fire Drill, THURSDAY @8:05 – Staff should now be able to log onto the Raptor app (iOS and Android) with your 4J email and password. Staff are not required to use the app for the May 18th fire drill at 8:05, but I’m going to initiate an evacuation on the app so staff can see how the app works during an emergency. Do note that staff are not required to install this app on your personal devices, but may do so if you choose. Next year, I think we should have all teachers use the app to account for students, so we are practiced using the app if there ever were a real emergency, especially for evacuation/reunification situation such at what happened at SEHS last week. Teachers not wanting to install the app on a personal device could install it on their district issued iPad and if you were out of wifi range could have a colleague mark your students accounted-for for you. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

• Holt Spring Carnival, FRIDAY, 6:00-8:00 – Remind your kids to bring the whole family (adult must be present with kids) to the Holt Spring Carnival this Friday from 6:00-8:00. There will be games, a cake walk, food trucks, free pizza (one slice per person), and a car bash! This is a free event.

• Friday PD: Curriculum – The 4J PD Calendar lists “Curriculum” and “SPED Educator Training” as the topic for this Friday’s PD, but nothing else has been shared with principals. If downtown doesn’t pull anything together, plan on this being additional individual and team prep time.

• Class Lists Due May 24th – Grade level teams should complete your 23-24 Class Lists by Wednesday, May 24th. After Team Meetings that day, lists will be available for classified and licensed staff to review and share feedback ahead of the June 6th Staff Meeting were grade levels will meet to share individual student information.

• Fundations + Math Student Consumable Order Due, May 26 – See this email for details, but remember that consumable orders for Fundations and Math are due Friday, May 26th. One person from each grade level should place your order.

• Holt Spirit Day, May 26th – Friday, May 26th is a Holt Spirit Day. We stole Wacky Hat Day for last month’s Spirit Day since Recycle Day didn’t quite play out, so stay tuned for the official theme. How about Mix-Up / Clash Day, where kids wear crazy mismatched clothes? That’s an easy one for all kids to participate. Stay tuned!

• 4th & 5th Assembly Monroe Victory Tour Performance – Monroe Middle School Band and Choir are performing for feeder school 4th and 5th graders. We’re waiting for confirmation, but we’re tentatively expecting the assembly to happen Friday, May 26th, 9:15-9:45 in the gym.

• Friday PD: Staff Choice – Friday, May 26th is Staff Choice. I plan to ask at the next prinicpal meeting if the ULD trainings are still happening. Seems the last few times they did not share out the Zoom links and I’m not sure they actually happening.

• Staff Social! Friday @4:00 on May 26th! – Location is TBA (don’t ask me to choose or else we’ll end up at The Embers on HWY99), but mark your calendar for our final Friday at 4:00 of the school year!

• May Spirt Assembly & Talent Show Combo Assembly, June 1 – Rather than hold two separate assemblies so close to one another, we’ll combine the May School Spirit Assembly and the Talent Show Assembly. May 26th will still be a spirit day (stay tuned on the theme since we moved up Wacky Hat Day), but we won’t have an assembly that day and will shift it to the Talent Show Assembly Date on Thursday, June 1st, doing drawing between acts and such.

• Responding to Racial Slurs Follow-Up – On the Zimbra Calendar, the Google Drive, The Staff Dashboard, and linked here is the Responding to Racial Slurs Slideshow. This slideshow contains a lot of ready-to-go activities and slides teachers can use. There’s also several links embedded in the slideshow including the Little Spot SEL Books, Indigenous People’s Day Resources, and videos of Don’t Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller and Marvelous Max – Autism Awareness for Kids. A future PD following next fall might be looking at what are the words and common language we might use for bias incidents.

On a related note, the 4J Equity Department added a page containing Specific Topic Resources for responding to issues of hate and bias.

• 23-24 Master Schedule Updates – Reps met last week and although it may not be a “Dream Schedule” it seems to at least be an “I Can Live with this Schedule.” This will be on the agenda for Tuesday’s Staff Meeting, but linked here is the Draft 23-24 Master Schedule. A couple caveats on the schedule are one, Title & SPED need to make sure Tier 3 times when there are two grade levels being served at the same time that they are not both heavy caseloads, and two, we are continuing to look at changing around the library schedule where we would do weekly 30-minute Library lessons and weekly 15-minute checkout time (most classes checking out on Wednesdays and a few on other days). Feel free to let me know ahead of Tuesday’s Staff Meeting if you have any questions.

• SEAL (i.e.Summer School) Classroom Use – Downtown needs 4 classrooms for KITS, and for SEAL needs 2 classrooms at each grade for rising 1st through 5th (this year’s 5th graders will go to the middle school program). I think we should exempt any classrooms from hosting if there is a new classroom teacher moving into that space. I also tried to rotate out teachers who hosted last year when possible (kinder classes and a few other don’t get a break). I’ve put this on the staff meeting agenda as a discussion/decision item, but linked here is my Proposed Summer School Map as a starting place and for reference here is Last Year’s Summer School Map.

• Playground Supervisor Reminders – Two Playground Rules reminders:

• No Pushing Kids on Swings – Students need to swing themselves and should not be pushed by other students or staff.

• No Tag/Chase/Monster Games – Tag and other chase games are not allowed, which can too easily lead to unintentional injuries and student conflicts.

• No Sidewalk Chalk on Building – If you are doing any sidewalk chalk activities with students, do not allow them to write on the building. Rain does not wash it off, so it’s pretty much there for good when kids do this. The same happens when kids do sidewalk chalk underneath covered areas, though foot traffic will eventually remove them, but it takes much longer than one good rain, so covered areas should be avoided too.

• Check That Exterior Doors Latch – It’s that time of year when there are air pressure changes and the doors don’t always latch. It’s important that all exterior doors remain locked and are secure, so when going in or out of the building, make sure the is latched shut. Jeremy has put in a work order to have the doors adjusted by the kinder wing and by the bike cage, so let me know if you notice any other doors that need fixed.

• Last Day Lunch Plan – Deb is already planning our last day of meal service, which will have grade levels coming to the cafeteria to simply pick up a sack lunch on a 5-minute rotating basis, which they will put in their backpacks to take home (bus riders included).

10:25 – Kinder
10:30 – 1st
10:35 – 2nd
10:40 – 3rd
10:45 – 4th
10:50 – 5th
11:10 – Early Dismissal

• Seesaw Renewed for 3-Years – I learned on Friday that 4J has renewed the Seesaw district license for 3 more years. I’ll put on a future Friday or Staff Meeting agenda whether we want to use Seesaw or another common communication tool with families next year.

• Volunteers Policy Change – One small change in the 4J communicable disease management plan is that individuals with a vaccine exemption are no longer required to wear a mask. I’ll let downtown communicate this out to families, but I thought staff would want to know.

• Free Bike Locks, Lights, and Helmets – If you know of any students in need, Safe Routes to School is offering free bike locks, lights, and helmets. Just let Felicia know you need any. See this email for details.

• Safety Inspection Rescheduled Again, May 31st – I was emailed that our annual inspection date got rescheduled again and is now Wednesday, May 31st at 10:30.

• Airblade Hand Dryers – If you haven’t noticed (and I’m sure you have), but the new restroom hand dryers are extremely loud. To help minimize the noise, teachers might show kids how you’re supposed to use the new hand dryers by showing the video below. Kids are often using it wrong and that means they’re using it longer and making more noise for nearby classrooms (not to mention if they’re trying to talk over it).

• District Admin Updates – Three district admin updates for next year. One, Kevin Gordon will be the new principal of Chavez, replacing Deirdre Pearson, who took an admin job out of district. Two, Ed Mendelssohn is the new College and Career Readiness / Career and Technical Education Administrator, replacing Tia Holliday, who is retiring. Three, Eric Anderson, 4J Director of Instruction, has taken a job as assistant superintendent at the LaneESD. See these emails (one and two) for details.

• 38 Awesome Team-Building Games and Activities for Kids – We may be nearing the end of the year, but cooperative team building games are great for SEL and community building any time during the year. This WeAreTeachers Article has 38 fun activities to give you ideas. Feel free to take a break in class or take your kids out in the sun! Some personal favorites on the list that I’ve done or looked fun were #16 Hula-Hoop pass, #22 No-hands cup-stacking challenge (probably more for older kids), #27 Caterpillar, #32 Zip, Zap, Zop, and #34 Newspaper Fashion Show.

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

May 15 (M)
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive – Final Week
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Upbeat Survey Open Until May 22nd
Final Library Checkout Week
Library Week #1 Classes
ELD/Speech/Counselor/Library Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

May 16 (T)
8:45-12:15, 4th & 5th Holt/WillaG Track Meet (Sheldon Track)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library) Give a Staff Shout Out!

May 17 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45, Staff Talent Show Video (Reich’s Room)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

May 18 (H)
National Speech Pathologist Day (Title)
8:05, Fire Drill
1:30-2:30, Allan Meeting w/Risk & Safety Dept. (Office)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

May 19 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Curriculum/SPED Training (TBA)
6:00-8:00, Holt Spring Carnival (Hard Play, Cafeteria)

May 22 (M)
Upbeat Survey Closes
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
SPED Staff Room Duty
Scholastic Book Fair BOGO Sale
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

May 23 (T)
10:45-11:45, Math Acceleration Testing (TBA)
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meetings (Kelsey’s Room)

May 24 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
10:45-11:45, Math Acceleration Testing (TBA)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Team Meetings – Class Lists Deadline

May 25 (H)
Towel Day
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:30, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)

May 26 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Theme is TBA
Fundations + Math Student Consumable Order Due
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:15-9:45, 4/5 Monroe Victory Tour Performance (tentative)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Staff Choice
1:30-2:30, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)
4:00, Holt Friday at 4:00! (Location TBA)

Just two more 5-day weeks left!

Allan

May 8, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/05/06 15:01 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, P.D., Video  |  Comments Off on May 8, 2023

Hi Everyone,

A big shout-out to the amazing Nurse Eden for School Nurse Day happening this Wednesday! Not only do you take care of the daily barfs, nose bleeds, bumps, and bruises, you do it all with a smile and a sense of humor. We’re lucky to have you here, Eden!

Nineteen items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Four updates:

2ND GRADE – Jenny Bemiller has been hired for our 2nd grade vacancy. She’s currently teaching 2nd grade at Chavez and before that taught 1st grade in Bethel. Please welcome Jenny to the team and to the “Holt Staff Same-Name Club,” which here’s the list for next year: Amber & Amber, Ashley & Ashley, Carol & Carol, Debbi & Deb, Elizabeth & Liz, Jenny & Jenny, Katie, Katherine & Kathy, Kelly & Kelly, Lisa, Lisa & Lisa, Rob & Robbie, Robin & Robin, and Tracey & Tracy.

SECRETARY INTERVIEWS THURSDAY – We’ll conduct interviews for next year’s secretary this Thursday after school. If any of you would like to volunteer your time to help with interviews, let me know and I’ll send you the interview questions and candidate applications.

0.2 FTE PE & MUSIC – I’ve submitted requisition to hire for these positions.

BEST EA JOB POSTINGS – 2.5 and 3-hour BEST EA Job Postings for next year have been reopened if anyone is interested. The posting closes Wednesday.

• Classified Sick Leave Bank Open Enrollment Help Session, TUESDAY – Not this week, but next week 4J Classified Benefits Coordinator will be in the staff room on Tuesday, May 9th from 10:30-12:00. They will be available to answer questions about the Sick Leave Bank as well as provide information on how to enroll, but feel free to ask any benefit related questions you may have.

• 23-24 Master Schedule Meeting, TUESDAY – Reps will meet this Tuesday at 2:45 in the library to compare our grade level dream schedules for next year. Make sure you team has entered your schedule onto the 23-24 Skeleton Master Schedule Spreadsheet. We’ll see how schedules match up, make adjustment, and plan next steps (we’ll see if we’re close or if we need to do a lot more work).

• Class Lists Pre-Meeting, WEDNESDAY– For Team Meetings this week we’ll meet in the library for a pre-class list meeting so receiving grades can meet with sending grades before teachers begin adding creating next year’s 2023-24 Class List Placement Form. We’ll start with K/1, 2/3, and 4/5 meeting, and when teams are finished 1/2 and 3/4 will meet. I think we will forgo teams filling out the 2023-24 Class List Placement Form for this month. Following this meeting, grade should work on building next year’s lists. Let me know if any teachers want student cards to help with sorting. We can print some basic ones that look like Student ID Cards or if you want cards with all the information on the spreadsheets, we can print either or both. We’ll hold grade level transition meetings at the June 6th Staff Meeting.

• Friday PD: Upbeat Survey – The Friday is listed as Building Based PD, though downtown is pulling all kindergarten teachers for a separate meeting. Downtown is also planning to have all staff complete a second spring Upbeat Survey to provide building and district admins feedback. The survey is supposed to be emailed to staff on Monday and Friday will be the designated time for staff to complete the survey.

• Raptor & Fire Drill, May 18 – Staff should now be able to log onto the Raptor app (iOS and Android) with your 4J email and password. Staff are not required to use the app for the May 18th fire drill at 8:05, but I’m going to initiate an evacuation on the app, so staff can see how the app works during an emergency. Next year I think we should have all teachers use the app to account for students, so we are practiced using the app if there ever were a real emergency or an evacuation/reunification situation such at what happened at SEHS last week. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

• Updated 23-24 Class Assignments – A group of interventionist reps met last week and made some updates to the 23-24 Class Assignments Map. Changes from the earlier map have Title moving into the counseling office and the small SPED classroom across the hall. A-02 will be the part-time SPED teacher’s classroom, who currently serves 3rd graders primarily. The counselor would move into the E53 Calming Room (counselor could use the current Quarantine Room to meet privately with students), alone with the SSC (Kim), FRC (Felicia), BBSA (Levi), and Instructional Coach (Carla). I’ll put this on the agenda for the next Staff Meeting, but feel free to share your thoughts with me before then.

• 150 Minute Weekly PE Requirement – 4J elementary schools have been out of compliance with OAR 581-022-2263 in regards to Physical Education instruction for the past few years. In order to meet this state requirement for the 23-24 school year, each school will need to provide 150 minutes of instruction connected to the Oregon PE Standards. At least 50% of these minutes need to be physical activities. The 4J PD Compliance Plan at the elementary level will combine Morning Meeting activities (15 minutes/4 times a week) that are designed to help students exhibit responsible personal and social behavior (PE Standard #4–Social and Emotional Learning) and scheduled physical movement breaks aligned to the PE standards (10 minutes/4 times a week). The district will be providing materials, training, and support for both of these areas during in-service week.

• Elementary Math Adoption – The School Board approve a timeline for the elementary math adoption. The general timeline is to form a team between now and the fall (two reps from each building, plus specialist reps), evaluate programs next school year (23-24), pilot the programs in the fall and adopt a curriculum in the spring (24-25), and begin implementation of the new program the following year (25-26). See the linked Process for an Elementary Math Curriculum Adoption Doc for details.

• Specialist Last Days – PE, Music, and Library will go through the end of the year, but the final week for Library checkout will be May 15-19. Title groups will end on May 8th, the Thursday before Grading Day. SPED pull-out will also go through the end of the year.

• Lunch Reminder (All Students Take Lunch) – More for upper grades, please remind students they may not opt-out of lunch and that all students are expected to take a school lunch if they did not bring a lunch from home. They’re not required to eat it, but they are expected to take a lunch. Even when kids say they’re “not hungry” or “don’t like any of the food” they usually end up eating some of their food after they have a tray of food in front of them.

• Stop, Walk, Talk Refresher Videos – Teachers can use these videos below to as a refresher lesson on Stop, Walk, Talk. The first done in the style of a silent film. The second one is more for older grades and explains how to use Stop, Walk, Talk and also what to do if someone uses Stop, Walk, Talk towards them. The last one is from the Start With Heart YouTube Channel, which has a TON of SEL videos for K-5 students, which features a pig puppet.

 

 

 

• Sample 23-24 Meeting Schedule Coming – Principals asked at our meeting last week for a sample monthly meeting calendar, given that the proposed addition of required PLCs, MTSS meetings, Wednesday PD, along with building committee meetings, safety team meetings, grade level team meetings, etc. are sounding like more required meetings than the contract would allows (only 1 all-licensed staff meeting per week is allowed, though PD is not considered a meeting). I’ll share more info once I get it on this topic.

• Norovirus Cleaning in Effect – We’re seeing a jump in kids vomiting and GI issues, so Jeremy and Richie are starting Norovirus cleaning protocols in an effort to head off illness before things get so bad we have to contact Lane County Public Health. Classrooms should all have Purell Spray if staff want to more frequently sanitize as well. If you are out or need a replacement bottle, let Jeremy know.

• Leadership Plan & SCIP Timelines Extended – Principals were emailed (Leadership & SCIP) that district admin and EEA are still ironing out details on Leadership Plans, so school will not be working on Leadership Plans until the fall. We’re finished with our SCIP, but other schools are being given another month to wrap up plans.

• May SSD Newsletter – Linked here is the May SSD Newsletter that was sent to SSD Staff and administrators. This issue has info on Transition Services, Progress Reports, CMA services, and Playgrounds. You can always review this and prior newsletters on the Google Drive:SSD Newsletter Archive.

• Electronics Recycling Competition Results – Holt came in 6th place out of 13 schools with 1,340 pounds of electronics recycled. If you’re curious, see this email for details.

• A Note on Mother’s Day – With Mother’s Day this Saturday, keep in mind our goals around creating an inclusive environment for all students. We have quite a few students who either don’t live with their mothers, have lost their mothers, are being raised by their dads, or have difficult relationships with their mothers.If you’re planning to do projects or activities to celebrate mothers, consider shifting to a “Love Makes a Family” or “Family Day” theme instead. Creating an inclusive environment means we intentionally create space for students to be given choice about which adult they’d like to celebrate, regardless of gender or their role in their life. This Welcoming Schools Article shares information and resources about creating an inclusive experience for students.

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

May 8 (M)
Upbeat Survey Open Until May 22
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive Continues (4/26 – 5/19)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
5th Grade Staff Room Duty
7:30-3:30, PreK-Kindergarten Transition Meetings
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up

May 9 (T)
Birthday Drinks & Goodies in Staff Room
10:30-12:00, Classified Sick Leave Bank Help (Staff Room)
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meetings (Kelsey’s Room)
2:45-3:30, Master Schedule Committee Rep Meeting (Library)
7:00, Reverend Horton Heat (Whirled Pies Downtown)*Who wants to join me for a psychobilly freakout!

May 10 (W)
School Nurse Day (Office)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
9:00-12:30, Kinder Field Trip (Seno & Gulewich)
9:00-12:30, 2nd Grade Nearby Nature
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Class List Meetings (Library)

May 11 (H)
Twilight Zone Day
9:00-12:30, Kinder Field Trip (Harmon & Vaughan)
9:00-12:30, 2nd Grade Nearby Nature
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-4:30, Secretary Interviews (Library)
5:00-6:00, Site Council (Library)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Library & Zoom)

May 12 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Building Based (Upbeat Survey)

May 14 (SU)
Mother’s Day

May 15 (M)
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive (4/26 – 5/19)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
ELD/Speech/Counselor/Library Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

May 16 (T)
8:45-12:15, 4th & 5th Holt/WillaG Track Meet (Sheldon Track)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)

May 17 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45, Staff Talent Show Video (Reich’s Room)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

May 17 (H)
National Speech Pathologist Day (Title)
1:30-2:30, Allan Meeting w/Risk & Safety Dept. (Office)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

May 18 (F)
8:15-10:00, Math Acceleration Testing (Dynamos Classroom)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Curriculum/SPED Training (TBA)

 

Only three more full weeks, then it’s only short weeks left in the year!

Allan

May 1, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/04/29 21:35 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, P.D.  |  Comments Off on May 1, 2023

 

 

Howdy Freinds,

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! Or maybe it’s next week depending on which website you look at (it’s traditionally celebrated the first full week of May, so I guess it depends on whether you consider Sunday or Monday is the start of the week). Regardless, Holt teachers, and classified staff for that matter as well, ROCK! It was pretty cool to hear multiple candidates at the Job Expo say how they’ve heard great things about Holt. You all are what make Holt a great place for kids and for us to work. Go, Bolts!

Fourteen items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Four updates:

MTSS-INSTRUCTIONAL COACH – I’m happy to announce Carla Zimmerman has been hired as our Instructional Coach. I worked with Carla when I was principal at Howard, where she has taught 1st, 3rd, and 4th grade as well as serving as the ESC (Essential Skills Coordinator) and for the past three years as Howard’s Instructional Coach.

2ND GRADE – We had six applicants for this position and at this point I haven’t heard anything from HR.

0.2 FTE PE & MUSIC – No one applied for these positions at the Job Expo, so HR should hopefully give me an okay to post for these positions later this week.

23-24 TOSA Updates – I asked at last week’s principal meeting which TOSAs, mentors, managers, coordinators, consultants, specialists, coaches, etc. were eliminated and which remained. We were told Staff Development Specialists (SDSs) and ELA TOSAs were the only ones reduced for next year. I also asked for a list of all the positions (and who’s in them) and how they can support schools (which principals have asked for since August).

• 23-24 Master Schedule Development – I emailed staff last week the 23-24 Skeleton Master Schedule, which has two options for teams to consider (2/3 and 4/5 AM recesses and specialists times are the main difference). If teams can work around these recess, lunch, and Tier 3 times, it’s much more likely we’ll be able to make your “Dream Schedules” work. The other two tabs are the matching, suggested, PE/Music/Library times to go along with the skeleton schedule options. Add your dream schedule directly onto this spreadsheet and next week on May 9th, we will reconvene our Master Schedule Committee to see how things match up.

• PE Minutes Requirement Change – Principals haven’t been told this, but another principal shared an email with me that went out to PE teacher stating that the district is planning to change next year’s PE minutes requirement in order to get closer to the state PE requirement, which is that all students are to get PE five days a week for 30 minutes (yes, that’s impossible if your school has 10 or more classrooms and only one gym). It sounds like a final decision hasn’t been made and they are considering options that include classroom teachers teaching PE using a kit downtown would purchase. You know as much as I do on this, but this will potentially impact our master schedule work. This is on the elementary principal agenda for Monday, so hopefully I’ll get more information then.

• REPEAT: Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week! – This week is Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week and it sounds like PAHS has an excellent response to their Appreciation Sign-Up (if you want a peek at their plans).

• REPEAT: Data Team Meetings, WEDNESDAY – We are set to have roving subs cover classrooms Wednesday, May 3rd for grade level Data Team Meetings. Here’s the schedule:

1st – 8:00-8:55 (Guest Teacher Time 7:50-9:00)
5th – 9:05-10:00 (Guest Teacher Time 9:05-10:00)
3rd – 10:20-11:15 (Guest Teacher Time 10:15-11:15)
KG – 11:25-12:29 (Guest Teacher Time 11:10-12:20)
2nd – 12:55-1:50 (Guest Teacher Time 12:20-1:50)
4th – 2:05-3:00 (Guest Teacher Time 2:00-2:25)

• Friday PD: Equity, Responding to Racial Slurs – The Friday PD this week is Building based and we are continuing our equity focus. The topic of this meeting will be how to respond to racial slurs.

• REPEAT: Classified Sick Leave Bank Open Enrollment Help Session, May 9th – Not this week, but next week 4J Classified Benefits Coordinator will be in the staff room on Tuesday, May 9th from 10:30-12:00. They will be available to answer questions about the Sick Leave Bank as well as provide information on how to enroll, but feel free to ask any benefit related questions you may have.

• Friday, May 12th PD: Upbeat Survey – This Friday is as also a Building Based PD, though downtown is pulling all kindergarten teachers for a separate meeting. Downtown is also planning to have all staff complete a second spring Upbeat Survey to provide building and district admins feedback. I don’t know downtown’s timeline for getting out the survey, but I’m hoping it will be out in time for this to be the designated time for staff to complete the survey.

• 23-24 Leadership Plan Update – A bit of a non-update, but I also asked at last week’s principal meeting for an update on the leadership plan details for next year, which is holding up us being able to work on a master calendar and that their timeline to complete a draft plan by the end of May is no longer realistic given all the other items we need to complete between now and the end of the year (Raptor rollout, Upbeat survey, master schedule [especially if we have to change PE minutes. See prior item.], master calendar, class lists, classroom changes, etc.) and that there are only 3 staff meetings and two building based Fridays left.

• Door Magnet Pilot – Way back at the start of the year I volunteered to be a pilot school for trying out the magnetic door plates. The idea is that door locks will always be kept in the locked position and the plates can be placed over the door locking mechanism. This allows the door to remain unlocked, but in the case of an emergency, the plates can simply be pulled out to secure a classroom instead of having to fumble for keys to lock a door. For teachers who currently keep your doors locked, you are welcome to continue this practice if you choose. Plates are supposed to come soon.

• District Family Handbook Feedback – Downtown is asking principals for feedback on the District Family Handbook (this is the 22-23 handbook) they send to families each year. If you have any suggestions you’d like me to pass along, let me know by May 12th.

• Packing up and Storing your Science Kits – See the linked Science Kit Packing Instructions for restocking, inventorying, and what to do with the student books and teacher guides. One person from each grade should complete the Support and Materials Request Form.

• How to Promote the Intrinsic Desire to Learn – Rather than relying on grades as external motivators, teachers can help students develop intrinsic motivation by providing opportunities for autonomy and building their sense of competence. This Edutopia Article notes that the “baseline rewards” concept suggests that basic extrinsic “rewards” in a classroom (a caring teacher, engaging lessons, predictable and fair grading, cleanliness, respectful rules and atmosphere, etc.) or in a job situation (reasonable salary, safe working conditions) must be present for people to have any sort of motivation at all. Beyond that, researchers have identified four general areas that can contribute towards creating the conditions where intrinsic motivation can be supported:

• Autonomy: having a degree of control over what needs to happen and how it can be done
• Competence: feeling that one has the ability to be successful in doing it
• Relatedness: doing the activity helps the student feel more connected to others, and feel cared about by people whom they respect
• Relevance: the work must be seen by students as interesting and valuable to them, and useful to their present lives and/or hopes and dreams for the future

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

May 1 (M)
Teacher Appreciation Week
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive (4/26 – 5/19)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
4th Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

May 2 (T)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)

May 3 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
8:00-2:50, Data Team Meetings
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45, 23-24 Classroom Placement Committee Meeting (Library)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

May 4 (H)
MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!
5:00-7:00, ACE Awards Celebration (SEHS)

May 5 (F)
School Lunch Hero Day (2nd)
8:45-9:45, 5th Grade Monroe MS Tour (Walking Field Trip)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Friday PD – Building Based (Equity)

May 8 (M)
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive Continues (4/26 – 5/19)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
7:30-3:30, PreK-Kindergarten Transition Meetings
5th Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Class Sign-Up
3:45-5:30, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

May 9 (T)
Birthday Drinks & Goodies in Staff Room
10:30-12:00, Classified Sick Leave Bank Help (Staff Room)
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meetings (Kelsey’s Room)
2:45-3:30, Master Schedule Committee Rep Meeting (Library)
7:00, Reverend Horton Heat (Whirled Pies Downtown)
*Who wants to join me for a psychobilly freakout!

May 10 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
9:00-12:30, Kinder Field Trip (Seno & Gulewich)
9:00-12:30, 2nd Grade Nearby Nature
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings

May 11 (H)
Twilight Zone Day
9:00-12:30, Kinder Field Trip (Harmon & Vaughan)
9:00-12:30, 2nd Grade Nearby Nature
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
5:00-6:00, Site Council (Library)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Library & Zoom)

May 12 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Building Based (Upbeat Survey)

And May the 4th be with you, always.

Allan

 

April 24, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/04/22 11:33 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, P.D.  |  Comments Off on April 24, 2023

 

Greetings Bolts,

This Wednesday is Administrative Professional’s Day, formerly known as Secretary’s Day, so a BIG, BIG, BIG shout out to our awesome front office staff, Melanie and Sharon! You both are a critical part of our school that holds things together! We couldn’t do it without you!

Twenty-three items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Three updates:

1ST GRADE – If you were not at Tuesday’s Staff Meeting for the announcements, Leah Willow, currently our ELA TOSA, will return to Holt as a full-time 1st grade teacher. This was originally posted as a job-share with Gloria, but Gloria was snapped up as a Title 1 Teacher at Awbrey Park for next year. Please welcome Leah back to the Holt Team!

0.5 SPED TEACHER VACANCY – SSD is moving Sheryl Carroll to YG instead of Holt, so our part-time special education teaching position is vacant and I’ve asked SSD if I’m allowed to post for the position or if they are still working through their bumping process.

SCHOOL PSYCH – SSD emailed the School Psychologist and Consultant Assignments for next year and we get to keep Kelly. Next year she’s taking on more of a leadership role with the psych group, so we’ll be her only building and we’ll get to see her around Holt more often next year.

• Master Schedule Revised Timeline – Mentioned at Friday’s PD Meeting, we’re pushing back the Master Schedule Timeline in order to include interventionist times on the “Skeleton Schedule” for grade level teams to build their dream schedule. We’ll get the skeleton schedule to teams early this week, which will only have recess/lunches and interventionist times. If teams can plan around these times, it will make it more likely we’ll be able to combine grade level dream schedules. Specialist time are the one part we may need to rework, since morning times are the less popular time, so we’ll need some compromise in that area. The revised meeting schedule will be:

April 24-May 9:  Team Build Dream Schedule

May 9 – Reps Meet
– Combine schedule
– Plan next steps

May 16:  Staff Meeting Discussion

• NEW DATE: Earthquake/Fire Drill, TUESDAY @8:05 – We got rained out last week, but this Tuesday at 8:05 looks like better weather. We’ll start with an Earthquake Drill and then move into a Fire Drill. I’ll get on the PA to announce the earthquake drill, reviewing Drop, Cover, Hold, and will launch the drill by saying “EARTHQUAKE! DROP, COVER, and HOLD!” We’ll pull the alarm to signal when to evacuate the building. In a real earthquake, you could evacuate once the earthquake is over. There are many resources for teaching Drop, Cover, Hold at The Great Oregon Shakeout. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

• Team Meetings, WEDNESDAY– The first two Wednesdays of the month on non-Staff Meeting weeks are dedicated Team Meeting times. Teams should:

• Meet in their wing so specialists can connect if needed
• Take care of any needed team business
• Complete the Team Meeting Minutes Form (make a copy) and email it to holt_staf@4j.lane.edu

The Team Meeting Minutes Form can also be found on the Holt Staff Dashboard.

Hopefully we’ll have the skeleton master schedule template out for teams to start working on by this day.

• 2023-24 Kinder Parent and Kids Meet & Greet – If you missed it in the Quick News, I’ve invited incoming kinder families for a casual meet-up on the playground this Wednesday at 3:30. I’ll be out there to schmooze and PAHS reps will be there to get incoming families started on the volunteer background check process.

• REPEAT: Kona Ice Fundraiser, THURSDAY @1:45 – Kona Ice is coming to Holt Thursday, April 27th at 1:45. Teachers should send bus riders who brought money to hard play at 1:45, so they have time to buy and eat their shave ice before having to get onto the bus. And remember, all staff get a free shave ice! Just show your badge!

 

• Holt Spirit Day – Wacky Hat Day, FRIDAY – This Friday is the monthly Holt Spirit Day and this time it’s Wacky Hat Day! Wear your favorite or wackiest hat or headwear, or simply wear your Holt spirit gear. Get kids pumped!

• REPEAT: School Spirit Assembly, April 28 @8:05 – We’ll have our monthly School Spirit Assembly on Friday, April 28th in the gym. The assembly will start at 8:10, but all classes should be in the gym by 8:05. Watch the Staff Zimbra Calendar for the Assembly Map & Details!

• Classified Staff Meeting, FRIDAY @1:30 – Classified staff will meet in the library at 1:30 to review the Neurodiversity and Behavior Presentation that Emily & Kelsey shared at last week’s Friday PD and also information about the Raptor app. Here’s are the iOS and Android links to download the app to your smartphone ahead of the meeting. Let me know if you have any additional agenda items.

• Friday PD: Staff Choice – This Friday’s PD time is designate as “Staff Choice.” Plan on doing whatever it is you signed up for on the Elementary Staff Choice PD Sign-up Form last time.

• Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week, May 1-5 – Not this week, but next week is Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week. PAHS is planning on showing their love and appreciation bringing various goodies all week and currently has a parent sign-up if you want a peek at their plans.

• Data Team Meetings, May 3rd – We are set to have roving subs cover classrooms Wednesday, May 3rd for grade level Data Team Meetings. Here’s the schedule:

1st – 8:00-8:55 (Guest Teacher Time 7:50-9:00)
5th – 9:05-10:00 (Guest Teacher Time 9:05-10:00)
3rd – 10:20-11:15 (Guest Teacher Time 10:15-11:15)
KG – 11:25-12:29 (Guest Teacher Time 11:10-12:20)
2nd – 12:55-1:50 (Guest Teacher Time 12:20-1:50)
4th – 2:05-3:00 (Guest Teacher Time 2:00-2:25)

• Neurodiversity and Behavior Presentation – A big shoutout to Emily and Kelsey for their presentation last Friday on Understanding Function, Replacement Behaviors, and Shaping for Neurodiverse Students. And here’s a direct link to the Behavior Intervention Ideas Doc that’s linked within the slideshow, though Emily did share it’s from her prior school, which was K-12 and she didn’t get a chance to delete all of the secondary info yet.

We’ll also share this same information at Friday’s Classified Staff Meeting, but I wanted to highlight the two slides below, which may be worth printing and hanging up as reminders, about Key Phrases & Language to Use with Escalated Students and the Function & Replacement Behavior Chart. Also linked below is the Rethinking Power Needs Poster.

 

 

And take note of the following key takeaways.

● Our students are changing. It is not their fault. They are still learning how to be human.
● Universal Design for Learning helps ALL students succeed and makes your life easier
● What skill does this student need to learn?
● Understanding function is key
● Replacement behaviors serve the same function more efficiently
● Use shaping to mold behavior over time
● There’s nothing wrong with extra motivators. It’s temporary.
● Take pride in the little victories: progress is progress

• UPDATE: Safety Inspection Now May 23rd – Our annual inspection date got rescheduled to Tuesday May 23rd at 10:30.

• End-Of-Year Purchasing Deadlines – the cutoff for purchase orders is Monday, May 15th. The cutoff for school credit card purchases is Wednesday, May 31st. If you need to order something by PO or credit card, it must arrive by June 20th.

• Field Trips Payment, 1-Week Notice to Melanie – If you are going on a field trip and there is a payment required let Melanie know at least one week before the trip.

• Be Descriptive on Behavior Referrals (Avoid Being Vague) – When writing referrals, be descriptive when writing up incidents. Instead of writing “Student was disruptive & defiant” or “Student used inappropriate language,” write “Student continued to talk out and interrupt the teacher after three reminders” or “Student called another student the B-word.” This makes things more clear to parents what happened and leaves kids less wiggle room to make excuses for their behavior.

• Licensed IEP/504 Time Log – As a reminder, the Licensed IEP/504 Time Log is for teachers to record times you’ve attended IEP and 504 meetings during your prep time or beyond regular work hours. The deadline is to complete the form is June 8th and payment would be on your June 30th paystub. Teachers can receive up to 12 hours compensation.

• Raptor (Emergency Drill) App – Downtown wants principals to rollout the Raptor App (iOS and Android) with staff before the end of May, so I will add this to a future licensed and classified staff meeting. Click the link above if you’d like to add the app now to your phone or iPad. The Tech Department should have everyone entered into the system and attached to Holt when you log in with your 4J email and password.

• Interior Classroom Blinds – Facilities asked me to share the following with staff for increasing the lifespan of the interior classroom blinds facing the hallway:

• Use Swivel Stick to Open (Not Pull String) – To open your classroom blinds, use the swivel stick to rotate the blinds open instead of pulling the drawstring to pull them up and down. The weight of the larger blinds is too much for the string and the mechanism.

• Avoid Item Pushed Against Blinds – Please do not have items on the ledge next to the blinds, which can then get pushed against and damage the blind.

• District Admin Updates – See this email and this email for full details, but here are a few admin moves for next school year. Jim Moore, principal at Edgewood, will be the new South Eugene Athletic Director. Peter Barsotti, principal at Madison, will the new North Eugene Athletic Director. Sarah “Poppy” Campbell (who I’ve been friends with since pre-school), assistant principal at Spencer Butte, will be the new principal at Charlemagne. Brian Watson, assistant principal at Monroe, will be the new principal at Kennedy, whose current principal, Jen Hebard, will be the sole principal for Chinese Immersion instead of both CI and Kennedy. And a couple out-of-district folks, Nain Muñoz is the new principal at North Eugene and Kee Zublin is the new principal at South Eugene. This leaves unfilled principal jobs at Chavez, Edgewood, YG, and Madison, along with a few AP jobs.

• May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month – Next month is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. If you’re looking for teaching resources, check out NEA, WeAreTeachers, ReadWriteThink, and the US Library of Congress for loads of ideas. There’s also quite a few stories on Sora.

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

April 24 (M)
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive (4/26 – 5/19)
Spring Benchmarking Window Opens
Library Week #2 Classes
3rd Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
3:00, Allan to Parent Meeting
3:45-5:30, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

April 25 (T)
8:05, Earthquake/Fire Drill
8:30-1:30, 4th Field Trip to UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History (Cobb & Reich)
5:45-7:15, Conscious Discipline Parent Night (Library)

April 26 (W)
Administrative Professionals Day (KG)
8:30-1:30, 4th Field Trip to UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History (Benavides)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
1:45-2:45,3rd Grade Delgani Strings Assembly (Cafeteria)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings
3:30-4:30, 23-24 Kinder Parent and Kids Meet & Greet (Soft Play)

April 27 (H)
8:00, Allan Meeting w/Amy Page & Justin Huntley (Office)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
1:30-3:00, Kona Shave Ice Fundraiser (Hard Play)
2:45-3:30, Leadership Meeting (Library)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Elem Job Expo Round #2 (Zoom)

April 28 (F)
School Spirit Day – Wacky Hat Day
8:05-8:35, School Spirit Assembly (Gym)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Staff Choice
1:30-2:30, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)

May 1 (M)
Teacher Appreciation Week
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
PAHS Can & Bottle Drive (4/26 – 5/19)
Spring Benchmarking Window Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
4th Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

May 2 (T)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)

May 3 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
8:00-2:50, Data Team Meetings
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

May 4 (H)
Holt Night Out – Elkhorn
5:00-7:00, ACE Awards Celebration (SEHS)

May 5 (F)
School Lunch Hero Day (2nd)
8:45-9:45, 5th Grade Monroe MS Tour (Walking Field Trip)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Friday PD – Building Based (Equity)

Only 8 more Mondays until summer!

Allan

 

April 17, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/04/15 21:40 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, P.D.  |  Comments Off on April 17, 2023

Hi Everyone,

Sixteen items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Several staffing updates for next year:

• Job Expo Updates – Five Job Expo updates:

COUNSELOR – Megan Travis has been hired as our school counselor for next year, coming to us from Spring Creek where she taught kindergarten and 5th grade. She’s only been with 4J for three years, but prior to working at Spring Creek worked with neuro-diverse students with ages spanning from 2-18 years old at the Sheldon Community Center for 20 years, working part of that time under our very own Kim McManus.

UPDATE:  1ST GRADE – Leah Willow, currently our ELA TOSA, will return to Holt as a full-time 1st grade teacher. This was originally posted as a job-share with Gloria, but Gloria has been snapped up as a Title 1 Teacher at Awbrey Park. Please welcome Leah back to the Holt Team!

HR made a mistake on their job offer for our 1st grade opening and is working right now to correct it. I hope to announce our hire at Tuesday’s staff meeting.

2ND GRADE (New Vacancy) – Michael was hired into an ELD position at Willagilespie/Monroe for next year. That leaves us with a 2nd grade vacancy for Round #2 of the Job Expo or if any staff are interested in moving into this opening, though being the last in one in on a four-person team can be tenuous what you’ll do the following year. Let me know ASAP if you are interested as the deadline for me to notify HR of our opening is Monday night. On a related note, Candace and Liz are flip flopping position for next year, with Candace moving back to 2nd grade and Liz moving back to 5th grade.

PE/MUSIC (0.2 FTE) – As expected, no one applied for either of these positions, but I do know of external candidates interested in both of these position, so I’m not worried about finding good candidates.

INSTRUCTIONAL COACH – This position will go to Round #2 of the Job Expo. Here’s a link to the most current MTSS-Instructional Coach Job Description. There’s full-time openings at multiple schools and downtown said they would will have more information for principals last week regarding the interview process, but principals didn’t hear anything, so I’m still not quite sure if hiring will be done by principals, district admin, or some sort of collaboration. I’ll share more info at Tuesday’s staff meeting if something is shared before then.

If you know any excellent people out there for any of our openings, tell them HOLT ROCKS and that they should apply!

• Melanie is Retiring – Melanie is sadly leaving us at the end of the school year, but did say she will sub at Holt, so she’s not gone for good. I’ve submitted a job requisition to HR last week, so the job posting might go up as early as this week. Melanie will leave some big shoes to fill, but the good news is Sharon is interested applying, so we know we’ll have at least one strong candidate!

• Volunteer Appreciation Week, THIS WEEK – Looks like every team has signed up on the Volunteer Appreciation Treat Sign-Up Form, so just remember to bring your treats this week!

• Jimmy John’s Staff Catered Lunch, DEADLINE MONDAY – Monday at 3:00 is the deadline to get Elizabeth $12 (cash or Venmo) for A Jimmy Johns Boxed Lunch (sandwich, chips, cookie) for this Wednesday.

• Holt Night Out Fundraiser – Papa’s Pizza, TUESDAY – If you missed it in the Quick News, this Tuesday is a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at Papa’s Pizza on Coburg Road. Remind your kiddos about the event and remind them to bring the flyer!

 

• NEW TIME: Earthquake/Fire Drill, April 19 @8:05 – I forgot to look at the state testing schedule and have moved the time of our drill to 8:05 this Wednesday. We’ll start with an Earthquake Drill and then move into a Fire Drill.

When it comes time for the drill, I’ll get on the PA to announce the earthquake drill, reviewing Drop, Cover, Hold, and will launch the drill by saying “EARTHQUAKE! DROP, COVER, and HOLD!” We’ll pull the alarm to signal when to evacuate the building. In a real earthquake, you could evacuate once the earthquake is over. There are many resources for teaching Drop, Cover, Hold at The Great Oregon Shakeout. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

• REPEAT: Sheldon Drama Club Addams Family Assembly, FRIDAY @8:30 – This Friday the Sheldon Drama club will perform for us in the cafeteria from 8:30-9:30. Attendance is optional, but it should be a fun assembly. Linked here is the Assembly Map and Directions.

• REPEAT: Friday PD: Equity – This Friday is a “Building Based” Friday PD and our Equity Team is putting on a presentation around neurodiversity and de-escalation strategies at 1:30 in the Library.

• Annual Safety Inspection, April 26th @10:30 – 4J’s liability insurance agent and members of 4J Risk Management will conduct a safety walkthrough inspection next week on Wednesday, April 26th around 10:30. Linked here is a handout of the Most Common Classroom Safety Violations. The two main items we got dinged for last time were:

• Combustable items hanging from ceilings
• Door egress width (3 feet) blocked by rolling carts and other items

• Kona Ice Fundraiser, Thursday, April 27 @1:45 – Kona Ice is coming to Holt Thursday, April 27th at 1:45. Teachers should send bus riders who brought money to hard play at 1:45, so they have time to buy and eat their shave ice before having to get onto the bus. And remember, all staff get a free shave ice! Just show your badge!

• School Spirit Assembly, April 28 @8:05 – We’ll have our monthly School Spirit Assembly on Friday, April 28th in the gym. The assembly will start at 8:10, but all classes should be in the gym by 8:05. Stay tuned for details!

• Classified Sick Leave Bank Open Enrollment Help Session, May 9th – The 4J Classified Benefits Coordinator will be in the staff room on Tuesday, May 9th from 10:30-12:00. They will be available to answer questions about the Sick Leave Bank as well as provide information on how to enroll, but feel free to ask any benefit related questions you may have.

• BOGO Scholastic Fair, May 22-26 – We’ve scheduled our spring Buy-One-Get-One-Free Scholastic Book Fair for the week of May 22 – 26. The library will be closed for check out this week, but Robbie will continue to teach library lessons to Week #1 classes, just in classrooms instead of the library.

• Free Earth Day Lessons & Activities – Earth Day is this Saturday and linked HERE is a collection of lessons and activities to help teachers explore this subject with K-12 students. And don’t forget about the 4J Earth Day Learning Hub.

• April SSD Newsletter – If you’re interested, linked here is the April SSD Newsletter that was shared with SPED teachers and principals. This edition includes info about specially designed instruction, required FBAs, and rules for conducting observations of students.

• OEBB Dependent Eligibility Verification, Due April 30th – I finally did this for myself if any of you have questions on the process. If you have dependents covered by your insurance you need to submit the items listed HERE by the end of April. You also need to complete the “OEBB Dependent Eligibility Verification” form, which was mailed to people. However, if you’re like me and can’t find it, you can also just send a secure email to OEBB.dependenteligibility@odhsoha.oregon.gov with the required documents, including your full name, address, and phone.

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

April 17 (M)
Volunteer Appreciation Day and Treat Table (Sunshine/Staff)
Library Week #1 Classes
2nd Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
2:40-4:30, Talent Show Auditions (Reich’s Room)
4:00-5:30, All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

April 18 (T)
Holt Night Out Fundraiser – Papa’s Pizza
1:30-2:00, Kinder Music Performance (Gym)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)
4:00-5:00, 4J Library Advisory Meeting (Library)

April 19 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
9:00-12:15, 3rd Grade Science Center and Planetarium Field Trip
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:40-4:30, Talent Show Auditions (Reich’s Room)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

April 20 (H)
Oingo Boingo Day
2:45-3:45, PBIS/Equity/SEL Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

April 21 (F)
Eid al-Fitr, End of Ramadan (Major Religious Holiday)
8:30-9:00, Sheldon Drama Club Assembly (Cafeteria)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Friday PD – Building Based (Equity)

April 22 (SA)
Earth Day

April 24 (M)
Spring Benchmarking Window Opens
Library Week #2 Classes
3rd Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
3:45-5:30, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

April 25 (T)
8:30-1:30, 4th Field Trip to UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History (Cobb & Reich)
2:45-3:30, Master Schedule Committee Rep Meeting (Library)
5:45-7:15, Conscious Discipline Parent Nights (Library)

April 26 (W)
Administrative Professionals Day (KG)
8:30-1:30, 4th Field Trip to UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History (Benavides)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
1:45-2:45,3rd Grade Delgani Strings Assembly (Cafeteria)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings
3:30-4:30, 23-24 Kinder Parent and Kids Meet & Greet (Soft Play)

April 27 (H)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:30, Leadership Meeting (Library)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Elem Job Expo Round #2 (Zoom)

April 28 (F)
8:05-8:35, School Spirit Assembly (Gym)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Master Schedule Rep Meeting (Library)
2:30-3:00, Attendance Team Meeting (Library)

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep 5th grade from their appointed rounds at Outdoor School! Believe it or not, they endured all those weather conditions at ODS last week! Thank you to all the staff who worked those long days last week!

Allan

April 10, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/04/08 14:06 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Equity, P.D.  |  Comments Off on April 10, 2023

 

Howdy Everyone,

A shoutout to Holt’s ACE Award nominees, Alex, Emily, Kendallyn, Lesli, and Lisa G. Thank you all for your work and for making our school look good!

Fifteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Three staffing updates:

• 23-24 Part-Time SPED Teacher, Sheryl Carroll – SSD has placed Sheryl Carroll into Whitney’s position for next year, where she will be 0.5 FTE at Holt and 0.5 FTE at Gilham.

• Darren Out Rest of Year – Darrin will be out on leave for the remainder of the year, but luckily Abby is able to continue to fill this position.

• 2nd Grade 1:1 EA, Julie Zybach – Outside of Abby, Julie has been our most regular classified sub at Holt this year, and she has agreed to fill the 2nd Grade 1:1 EA sub job, supporting a challenging student who was placed at Holt, for the rest of school year. Please welcome Julie to the team!

• REPEAT: Holt Night Out Fundraiser – DoughMo Cookies, TUESDAY – This Tuesday a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at DoughMo Cookies! Owned by a Holt family and located in Downtown Eugene at 980 Oak St. under the Overpark Parking Garage (free parking the first hour). I went there myself and thought they were pretty darn tasty! Get your kids excited.

• REPEAT: Team Meetings, WEDNESDAY– For this week’s Team Meetings, make sure you have a grade level rep selected for Friday’s Master Schedule Committee Meeting. Also make sure your team is in agreement regarding the master schedule questions shared in prior announcements.

As usual, be sure to complete the Team Meeting Minutes Form (make a copy) and email it to holt_staf@4j.lane.edu

The Team Meeting Minutes Form can also be found on the Holt Staff Dashboard.

• Friday PD: Master Schedule Committee Meeting – This Friday’s PD is a Building Based and we are using it for our first Master Schedule Committee Meeting. We’ll meet at 1:30 in the library to share where teams are at on subject area times, recesses, morning meetings, closing meetings, ELD pullout times, PE/Music morning preferences, and library times. Following this meeting, the schedule will be:

April 12-26 – Teams Build Dream Schedule
April 25 – Reps Meet to combine schedule and plan next steps
May 2 – Staff Meeting Discussion

• Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 17-21 – Please add your team info to the Volunteer Appreciation Treat Sign-Up for what sweet treat your team will bring on Monday, April 17th that will be good through the week (i.e. Hershey kisses, pretzels, chocolate, caramel cookies, granola bars, lollipops, or your favorite teacher treat). This is our last sign up until the EOY BBQ.

• Earthquake/Fire Drill, April 19 @10:05 – Not this week, but next week on Wednesday, April 19th at 10:05, we’ll hold our second and final Earthquake drill of the year right and will then hold our Fire Drill Evacuation. With 3rd grade on a field trip this day, we can hold these drills during their recess and also not step on anyone’s PE or Music times. 4th grade will be lined up outside when I announce the earthquake drill, so they should follow the Shakeout guidance of: If outside, get clear of buildings, power lines, trees, light poles and other dangers, drop down to your knees and cover your head and neck. Or we could do the drill two minutes later if 4th would rather do it from their classroom.

When it comes time for the drill, I’ll get on the PA to announce the earthquake drill, reviewing Drop, Cover, Hold, and will launch the drill by saying “EARTHQUAKE! DROP, COVER, and HOLD!” We’ll pull the alarm to signal when to evacuate the building. In a real earthquake, you could evacuate once the earthquake is over. There are many resources for teaching Drop, Cover, Hold at The Great Oregon Shakeout. Linked here is a copy of the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line-Up Map.

 

• REPEAT: Sheldon Drama Club Addams Family Assembly, April 21 @8:30 – Not this week, but next week on Friday, April 21st, the Sheldon Drama club will perform for us. The assemble will be in the cafeteria from 8:30-9:30. the grade level signs and cones so classes know where to sit. Attendance is optional, but it should be a fun assembly. Linked here is the Assembly Map and Directions.

• Friday PD: April 21 – Equity – April 21st is another “Building Based” Friday PD and our Equity Team is putting on a presentation around neurodiversity and de-escalation strategies.

• SCIP (School Continuous Improvement Plan) Update – Site Council reviewed and revised the Draft SCIP (School Continuous Improvement Plan) I emailed earlier. The plan is mostly the same as our School Improvement Plan as last year, except that we pulling out one action item from our Equity & Inclusion goal regarding parent involvement and made that a goal all it’s own. The other change is that the SCIP plan required us to target specific historically underserved groups, so our new goals read as:

1. Revitalize and re-engage post-pandemic parent involvement of families of students of color.
2. Emerging bi/multilingual students and students of color will maintain regular school attendance.
3. With a focus on increasing inclusive and equitable school-based practices and systems, students on IEPs and students of color will experience meaningful academic, social, and emotional growth.

Downtown may require us to slap a number onto these goals, in which case I might add 85% or 90% of students will…, but really our goal should be for 100% of students to be successful. Downtown Friday Evening provided an updated timeline that states the plans due at the end of the month are merely drafts and the final plan isn’t due until September, though I feel we already have a pretty solid plan.

We’ll discuss this at our next Staff Meeting where folks can suggest any additions or changes.

 

• Library Books to Book Nook (help stamping?) – We got an official okay for the library books being discarded to go to Book Nook. The original plan for the discarded books was to pay a company to take them away and recycle/pulp them, so Financial Services said it was okay to give them to kids, though the district librarian said we needed to stamp them discard/discontinued and black out any 4J markings, so let me know if any of your classes would like to take a box for this task or I can have a naughty kid owing time in the office take it on.

• Earth Day (4/22) Resources – If you missed it in the latest Eco Experience, Earth Day is Saturday, April 22nd and there is a 4J Earth Day Webpage with loads of elementary resources and activities you could use the next two weeks leading up to that day.

• April SSD Newsletter – If you’re interested, linked here is the April SSD Newsletter that was shared with SPED teachers and principals. This edition includes info about specially designed instruction, required FBAs, and rules for conducting observations of students.

• Love Food Not Waste Resources – If you’re interested, here is the Elementary Love Food Not Waste Resource document that includes information, resources, and more. And, here is the 3-Year Love Food Not Waste Plan for background information.

• Field Trip Ideas – COVID got us out of practice on Field Trips, but WeAreTeachers has some tips and suggestions for you, including the best field trip ideas for every grade, the best virtual field trips, and an article titled Why I Hate Field Trips (And How I Learned to Deal). Plus, don’t miss these free field trip permission forms.

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

April 10 (M)
Library Week #2 Classes
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
3:45-5:30, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

April 11 (T)
Holt Night Out Fundraiser – DoughMo Cookies
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

April 12 (W)
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings

April 13 (H)
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:30, Allan to Evaluation Planning Meeting (Zoom)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Elem Job Expo Round #1 (Zoom)

April 14 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Master Schedule Rep Meeting (Library)
2:30-3:00, Attendance Team Meeting (Library)

April 17 (M)
Volunteer Appreciation Day and Treat Table (Sunshine/Staff)
Library Week #1 Classes
2nd Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
2:40-4:30, Talent Show Auditions (Reich’s Room)
4:00-5:30, All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

April 18 (T)
Holt Night Out Fundraiser – Papa’s Pizza
1:20-1:50, Kinder Music Performance (Gym)
2:30-4:00, Talent Show Auditions (Music Room)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)
4:00-5:00, 4J Library Advisory Meeting (Library)

April 19 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
9:00-12:15, 3rd Grade Science Center and Planetarium Field Trip
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:40-4:30, Talent Show Auditions (Reich’s Room)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

April 20 (H)
Oingo Boingo Day
2:45-3:45, PBIS/Equity/SEL Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

April 21 (F)
Eid al-Fitr, End of Ramadan (Major Religious Holiday)
8:30-9:00, Sheldon Drama Club Assembly (Cafeteria)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Friday PD – Building Based (Equity)

April 22 (SA)
Earth Day

Back to the 5-day week grind!

Allan

 

April 3, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/03/31 19:26 Posted in Announcements, P.D., Technology  |  Comments Off on April 3, 2023

 

Welcome back, everyone!

Hope you all had a restful spring break.

Twenty-one items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Updates – Three updates:

• SPED EA Staffing Update – SSD is evaluating requests for additional staffing next week, but HR added back 2 hours of SPED EA time, which brings Molly back up to her same hours as this year. This is not in response to our request for additional EA time, but I believe it’s downtown using “fix-it” funds to avoid unnecessary bumping.

• Darla Moving to EOA Next Year – Darla was officially placed at EOA for next year, which leaves us with a counseling vacancy for the Job Expo. HR and EEA made an agreement a few years ago giving principals an option to officially hire temp licensed staff ahead of the Job Expo, rather than holding disingenuous interviews. Bummer for us, but good for Darla and EOA. We will miss you, Darla!

• Whitney Moving to Gilham Next Year – SSD has placed Whitney into a full-time SPED position at Gilham for next year. One of Gilham’s SPED teachers is retiring at the end of the year, leaving them with a vacancy. We’ll miss you, Whitney!

• 23-24 Vacancies Summary – Below is a list of the openings we’ll take to the Job Expo later in April:

0.2 FTE PE
0.2 FTE Music
0.5 FTE 1st Grade Classroom (job share w/Gloria)
0.5 FTE Special Education
1.0 FTE Counselor

Downtown is planning to combine the 0.2 PE position with other 0.2 PE positions around the district instead of sending n 0.2 vacancies to the Job Expo, but I’ve let HR know Tracy is interested in continuing as our 0.2 Music specialist next year.

If you know any good current 4J folks out there interested in being our counselor, part-time SPED teacher, or a 1st grade job share, tell them Holt Staff are a SUPER RAD group of people to work with!

• MONDAY PD Info: LICENSED – For complete details, see the linked PD Email or  April 3 PD Info for Teachers Google Doc, but below are the basics:

Locations:
Holt: K-1 teachers and support staff (Cafeteria, Gym & Library)
ATA: 2-3 teachers and support staff (Cafeteria, Library & STEM lab)
Roosevelt: 4-5 teachers and support staff (Cafeteria & Library)

What to bring:
• Charged laptop
• Charging cord
• Printed teacher guides (Wit and Wisdom and Fundations) if you prefer printed versions over using digital versions.
• Water bottle
• 3rd Grade Specific: You will have an opportunity to look at Level 3 Fundations. You will need to bring your Level 3 Fundations book OR use the code on the front cover to gain access, as you have not used this book yet.

SPED teachers are meeting at Sheldon HS from 8:30-11:30 in Room C-9. Music teachers are meeting at Roosevelt in their Music Room, 8:00-12:00. ELD is 9:00-12:00 at ATA. I haven’t heard of plans for other licensed specialists. If you haven’t heard from your district TOSA or admin, let me know and we can make a plan for this day.

For the building-based PD time, we decided as a staff to use this time for team collaboration.

@devincomedy

Every PD for teachers is the same.

♬ original sound – Devin Siebold

• REPEAT MONDAY PD Info: CLASSIFIED – The final day of the Classified Pathways PD is April 3rd at Churchill High School at the same times (8:30 – 11:30) and in the same rooms as the previous session. If you’re having trouble remembering which Pathway you’re in, look in your inbox for an email from Reid Shepard (type in the Zimbra search bar “from:reid”) which may have the subject line of “Pathway Cohort.” If you are a new employee, still having trouble finding your cohort, or have any other questions, please CLICK HERE or use the question link on the Pathways Webpage to let organizers know.

• Classified Staff Meeting April 3rd @12:30 – I’d like to meet with classified staff on Monday, April 3rd at 12:30 in the library to review Stop, Walk, Talk and how to use this with students. You got a bit of an overview a couple weeks ago, but we are rolling this out after spring break. See the STOP, WALK, TALK items a few bullets further down for details.

• REPEAT: NED Mindset Mission (i.e. Yo-Yo) Assembly, TUESDAY, 1:20-2:05 – We talked last week at the staff meeting about the NED Mindset Mission (Yo-Yo) Assembly, and the only date left was the first day back on Tuesday, April 4th in the afternoon, which I scheduled for 1:20-2:05. We’ll hold the assembly in the Cafeteria and classes should plan on arriving in the gym at 1:15 so we can start promptly at 1:20. Linked here is an Assembly Map & Directions.

• REPEAT: Staff Shout Outs! – We’ll share Staff Shout Outs at the start of Tuesday’s Staff Meeting. The link can always be found on my blog and also on the Holt Staff Dashboard.

• Friday PD: Double Prep – The 4J PD Calendar lists “Building Based” as the topic for this Friday’s PD, but for Holt, this is a payback day for a missed “Staff Choice” Friday when I instead held a meeting to discuss 23-24 staffing.

• Holt Friday at 4:00 – Come blow off some steam at our APRIL Friday at 4:00! The location is TBA, but I’ll connect with Sunshine folks and make an announcement at Tuesday’s Staff Meeting. Mark your calendars and see you there!

• REPEAT: Stop, Walk, Talk Rollout – Staff decided we will use lessons 1 and 2 of the Stop, Walk, Talk Bully Prevention Lessons. Teachers will teach the first two lessons during the first week back from spring break. Lesson 1 takes about 50 minutes and lesson 2 takes about 30 minutes. Lessons 3, 4, and 5 offer additional practice for specific situations (Gossip, Inappropriate Remarks, and Cyberbullying) if teachers would like to cover these as well.

I’ll also start papering the hallway and other common areas with Stop, Walk, Talk posters to reinforce. I’ll also put a few out on the playground, though I know they won’t last long due to the weather and busy little hands.

 

• Holt Night Out Fundraiser – DoughMo Cookies, Tuesday, April 11th – Tuesday, April 11th is a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at DoughMo Cookies! Owned by a Holt family and located in Downtown Eugene at 980 Oak St. under the Overpark Parking Garage (free parking the first hour). Grab some coffee & Lattes for friends and co-workers or bring the fam for big & thick cookies and soft serve! Just mention Holt when ordering and DoughMo will donate a percentage of your purchase to Holt!

 

• Team Meetings, 4/12 – The first two Wednesdays of the month on non-Staff Meeting weeks are dedicated Team Meeting times. Teams should:

• Meet in their wing so specialists can connect if needed
• Take care of any needed team business
• Complete the Team Meeting Minutes Form (make a copy) and email it to holt_staf@4j.lane.edu

The Team Meeting Minutes Form can also be found on the Holt Staff Dashboard.

• DATES UPDATED, 4/4: Master Schedule Committee Reps & Prompts – At Tuesday‘s Staff meeting, we discussed a master schedule development process that involved one grade-level rep per level, a specialist rep, and an interventionist rep meeting to help develop next year’s master schedule. The plan will be:

April 14 – Reps Meet
April 12-26 – Teams Build Dream Schedule
April 25 – Reps Meet to combine schedule and plan next steps
May 2 – Staff Meeting Discussion
Before the April 12th meeting, teams should decide their preferences regarding the following areas for their reps to bring to the first meeting:
• Subject Area Times – How much time do you want for reading, writing, math, science, SEL, etc? For reference, linked here is the District Elementary Content Minutes Schedule Guide from last year.
 
• Recesses – Do you want to stick with single grade levels or do you want to try doubling grade levels for AM recesses? If doubling recesses, which grade levels? Also, would you be interested in doing 15-minute recesses Monday through Thursday and longer recesses the last day of the week (Thursdays if Friday is a non-school day). 
 
• Morning Meeting – Should we keep the 20-minute Morning Meeting time or change it?
 
• Closing Meeting – Continue 15 minutes for a closing meeting or change it?
 
• ELD Pullout Time – Continue pullout time during Tier III reading? If not, what time should pullout happen?
 
• Afternoon SSHA Time – Continue the afternoon SSHA (Science, Social Studies, Health, Art) time or change it?  
 
• PE / Music Morning Preference – Most prefer afternoon PE & Music times, but are there any grades who prefer a morning time?
 
• Library Times – We’ll assume most folks prefer their weekly library time to be opposite their PE/Music time, but do you have a preference for your second (every other week) library time?

Please let me know if there are other considerations you think teams should discuss and let me know ahead of time so I can share those with teams ahead of time. 

• Tech Subscriptions Follow-Up – A follow-up to my prior announcement that we had to eliminate Technology Subscriptions from the Title 1 Budget in order to minimize staff cuts, but a few folks asked about what exactly are the 22-23 Technology Subscriptions, which are Scholastic News (K/1), Time for Kids (2/3/4), and Learning A-Z (4/5).

• No Kurig Cups Next Year – More sad budget cuts, but we had some extra funds that were paying for Kruig Cups in the Staff Room, but these funds are also disappearing next year, so folks will want to have your own stash up cups for next year.

• Sidewalk Bark Chip Update (Now Grass Re-Seed) – Facilities changed their mind and said they are now going to re-seed the grass the muddy path along the sidewalk between soft-play and hard-play instead of laying down bark chips. Never mind that there used to be grass there and it will only get stomped out again into dirt and mud, but that is their response at this point.

• 4J Attendance Data – Principals received the linked District-Wide Attendance Data to help write our updated School Continuous Improvement Plans (SCIP). Holt’s Site Council already reviewed this data last year, but what we didn’t have access to before was comparison data to other schools. I don’t believe this changes anything for our SCIP, but it is interesting to see how we compare to other schools, which is generally better than most comparison schools.

• REPEAT: Recess Reminders for Teachers – I shared this at last week’s Staff Meeting, but wanted to remind teachers of the items came up at the last Classified Staff Meeting:

Teachers Meet Class at Red Curb – Teachers should pick up their class at the red curb and should not stand ATA a distance and wave them over.

No Riding in Wagons – For safety reasons, students are not allowed to ride in wagons (for the classes who use wagons for lunch boxes).

Warn Class No Eating on Playground – Warn kids that eating or litter on playground is automatic referral and will sit out the remainder of recess. Kids should only eat on the sidewalk at morning recess. There should be no eating at lunch recess, but kids can keep an orange or other shelf stable food in their pocket. If kids at lunch recess still want to eat, they should stay in the cafeteria.

• Behavior Referral Reminder – For all staff, be sure to document behavior incidents with a referral and also be sure to fill them out competition, particularly the date and time.

• District Admin Update – HR emailed principals that Yujin Gakuen principal Tom Piowaty is stepping away from YG, but will continue in 4J in another role that’s soon to be announced.

• Background Remover – Apple has a built-in “background remover” for images on Macs and IOS devices. It’ll blank out backgrounds behind portraits, people, and figures. Open a photo on a Mac in Preview, then > Tools > Remove Background. Bingo! You can also do it in the finder by right clicking on the image file, then > Quick Actions > Remove Background. The same trick works on photos on an iPad or iPhone. Just press your finger on the figure and you get the option to share a backgroundless version. Great for isolating products, making a headshot photo, or green-screening things to blend into a collage. Just 5 years ago this magic would be considered “AI.” Maybe it is.

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

April 3 (M)
No School — PD/Planning Day
Kindergarten Staff Room Duty
8:00-12:00, Teacher ELA PD (K/1 Holt, 2/3 ATA, 4/5 Roosevelt)
8:30-1130, Classified Pathways PD (Churchill)
12:30, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)

April 4 (T)
School Librarians’ Day
Birthday Drinks & Goodies in Staff Room:
Library Week #1 Classes
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
1:20-2:05, NED’s Mindset Mission Assembly (Cafeteria)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)

April 5 (W)
Pesach, First Days of Passover (Jewish) – April 5-13
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)

April 6 (H)
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (Library)

April 7 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Payback day for missed Staff Choice 3/4
4:00, Holt Friday at 4:00 (Location TBA)

April 10 (M)
Pesach, First Days of Passover (Jewish) – April 5-13
Library Week #2 Classes
1st Grade Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)

April 11 (T)
Holt Night Out Fundraiser – DoughMo Cookies
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
2:45-3:45, PBIS/Equity/SEL Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)

April 12 (W)
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
1:00-2:15, 4th Grade Storyteller (Classrooms)
2:45-3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings
2:45-3:30, Master Schedule Committee Rep Meeting (Library)

April 13 (H)
8:45-5:15, 5th Grade Outdoor School (Camp Wilani)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:30, Allan to Evaluation Planning Meeting (Zoom)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Elem Job Expo Round #1 (Zoom)

April 14 (F)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Building Based (Equity)

Have a good week, Bolts!

Allan