Diario Camino del Río

Week of October 13

Hi all,

I had a wonderful experience on Friday night at the benefit for Centro Latinoamericano.  I sat beside Ramon Ramirez, the President of PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste).  He was the keynote speaker and delivered a powerful message about migrant workers rights, sustainability, and education. He shared his experience of marching with many people from Selma to Montgomery Alabama fifty years after the original march. It was encouraging to hear him say that education is one of the greatest ways to make a difference in children’s lives whether they are from a migrant family or not.  His speech was powerful and inspiring.  I encourage you to read more about the work of PCUN. They have been fighting for migrant farm worker’s rights in Oregon since 1977.

Here is a similar message from President Ramirez 2 years ago.

• Here is The Schedule of Events for the Week:

 

October 13 (M)
8:00-4:00, Stella Dadson will be guest administrator in office- Joel doing goals meetings and informal observations all day.

9:00-9:30, Joel in meeting with Hayden Spence, UO Pre-education major and my former Madison science class 6th grade student.

7:00- 9:00, Joel to Common Core State Standards Information Night at North Eugene, All teachers are welcome to attend.

 

October 14 (T)

9:00-10:00, Meeting with new SST Leader- Kathy Krieder and Kathy Larson

1:45-2:30- Youth Orchestra- Strings Project- Recruitment  –4/5th Grade Assembly in Cafeteria (SORRY for the late Notice)

2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting, Please arrive on time unless on duty.

6:00-8:00, Parent Group Meeting- Kindergarten Presenting

 

October 15 (W)
8:00-11:00, Joel to TAG Coordinator Training (Leaving early)

10:00-10:00, Joel returns to meet with ODE Shanda Brown

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting- 1 hour paid to all classified who attend.- 3 positions available- We need your input!

 

October 16 (H)

4:00 PM-Schedules due to submit to Rosa Molina via Dropbox folder.

3:00-4:00, Costume Swap- after school.

3:00-5:00, Design Committee in Library

 

October 17 (F)

Joel in goals meetings and informal walk-through observations.- Another guest administrator will be in the building to support us to complete goals meetings.

 

October 20 (M)

8:00-4:30, Rosa Molina Visit to consult on our schedules and district wide issues.- Sarah Knudsen will send schedule out this week.

Title Meeting for Aline.

Title Coordinator and Principal Meeting

First Day of BEST
October 21 (T)

8:15-12:15, Priority School Support Team Meeting (SST) (Conference Room)

12:30-1:30- Math PD Planning meeting with Reid Sheppard and Maddie Ahearn (Conference Room)

2:45 3:45 – TLT Meeting Conference Room

6-8, Latino Family Meeting  @ NEHS
October 22 (W)

6-8,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Recker’s Room

 

October 23 (H)

6-8,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

4:30-6:30,  Joel to the  4J Equity Committee

 

October 24 (F)

Joel in Portland with Karen, Alicia, and Sara Cramer to learn about Early Literacy.

8:25-9:10,  Asemblea Andina

November 6 and 7- Parent Conferences.

 

Here are some items of note for the week:

• Please finish your grade level weekly master schedule: Make time to complete your weekly master schedule this week. It is due by Friday at 4:00 PM to be inputted into Rosa Molina’s Drop Box.

• Goals Meetings: Make you goals appointment with me this week or next. I am available as early as 7:15 some days.

• Parent Group Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The October Parent Group meeting will be this Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 PM in the library if any staff are able to attend. There was a big turnout of staff and families for the September meeting, which was a great show of support for the Parent Group’s work. Hope to see you there!

• Classified Staff Comp Time reminder.- Please ask Edna for the comp time form to keep track of your comp time on a monthly basis. This makes it easier for us to manage and keep track of.

• Classified Staff AESOP Reminder – When entering an absence into AESOP, when you get to the Time section, always select “Custom” and then enter your work hours. If you forget this step, AESOP defaults assigning the sub to an 8 hour day. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Conference Compensation for Large Classes – Most teachers probably already know this, but section 10.1.9 of the contract states “If an elementary school unit member has greater than twenty-eight (28) students for the all-school parent conference, he/she will be compensated for one half (1/2) day at his/her per diem rate.” How this was handled last year was that following conferences teachers with 29 students or more signed an extended contract form to receive their additional half-day pay.

• Elementary Leadership Plan Changes – While we need to wait for the School Board to ratify the new EEA contract, I wanted to let everyone know how the Elementary Leadership Plans will be more generous this year. The old plan I had was to divide our 14 days among 4 people (3.5 for for School Climate, 3.5 for for Technology and 3.5  for Differentiation and TAG Support  ), but pending board approval we will now get 18 days to divide among up to 6 teachers. This means we will need to revisit and update our plan. The 18 days could be evenly divided among our four current leaders or we could add new compensated leadership positions and decide how to divide the 4 additional leadership days. Let me know if you have ideas or preferences on how to distribute our 20 days, so we might have a starting place for discussion at our next staff meeting.

• District Admin Updates – Tryna Luton has been hired as the Staff Growth and Effectiveness Administrator, taking the place of Tasha Katsuda who became the new Federal Programs (Title 1) Coordinator. Since 2008, Tryna has been serving as the Director of Federal Systems for the Oregon Department of Education. One of her many responsibilities in this role was to collaboratively direct the teacher and principal evaluation system implementation. Before her work with ODE she worked at Oregon State University as a P-12 Outreach Coordinator/Administrator and she also worked for 10 years as a teacher in the Lebanon Community School District.

• Resources for Smarter Balanced – Marlee Litten posted several links for Smarter Balanced last week. The one link about universal tools is now expired, but Oscar had downloaded the video so it is loaded on the Teacher Resource Site under ESC > State Assessments on the Teacher Resource page. If you have found other resources to share, please send them to Marlee or myself. The video of a PLC team is still not working on YouTube so downtown is trying to get a copy sent to us of that one.

• Title 1 Newsletter – If you’d like to know what’s happening in Title 1 from the district perspective, here is the latest Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator compliance tasks, but there is an interesting video on close reading strategies with informational texts.

• Recycle Art Challenge – The deadline for this is Wednesday, but here’s an opportunity for teachers to raise awareness about waste control and promote recycling education PLUS win cash for your classroom. The contest is open to all Lane Country children grades K-5. Winning artists will receive a pizza party for their homeroom class and $350 will also be award to the class of each winner. In addition, each winner will personally receive a $50 gift certificate to the Maude Kerns Art Center. See the flyer for details.

•Bilingual Education turns 40– Did you know that bilingual education as we know it is 40 years old this year?

Here are two articles that outline the landmark ruling that shifted English Language Learner’s Education  if you have the time to read them.

How Lau v. Nichols Transformed Bilingual Education

Forty Years Since Bilingual Education Ruling, Challenges Remain

 

Have a rewarding and enriching week with your students!

 

Saludos cordiales,

Joel

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