Diario Camino del Río

Week of September 28

Our upcoming events and activities:

September 28 (M)

8:05, Joel in late due to family needs.
8:00-2:30, IIPM Data Team Meeting (Room 17)
8:30-2:30, 4th Grade Field Trip- to Leaburg Dam
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

September 29 (T)

7:45-8:20, Joel at Walk a Thon Meeting at Kelly
8:45-9:30, Cafecito con Padres (Room 10)
2:45-3:45, Site Council (Conference Room)
4:00-5:00, Joel to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)

September 30 (W)

8:00-8:30,  OAC Construction Meeting at ECDR.
1:00 – 1:30, Walk A Thon Assembly Kick Off

Grade Level Framework Revisions due to Joel via email.

October 1 (H)

5:00 AM-5:00 PM, Joel and Kathy Larson in Portland for the Priority Schools Network Meeting
2:45-3:45, Tech Training Meeting (3rd, 4th, 5th attend)

October 2 (F)

Regular Day

October 5 (M)

Regular Day

October 6 (T)

4th Grade Field Trip- Thistledown Farms (Murphy)
October 7 (W)

10:00-11:00,  Joel with Kevin Boling in Truancy Hearing (Conference Room)
1:30-2:00, Joel meets with Randi Bowers Payne about Traffic
1:45-2:45, PBIS Meeting (All Classified Staff Attend) (Room 8)
1:45-2:45, PLC Collaboration time for all teachers not on PBIS.
6:00- 8:00 PM, Curriculum and Ice Cream Event (Child care provided for young children in library.)  (Ice Cream in Cafeteria at the end of the evening.)

October 8 (H)

9:00-2:00,Walk A Thon all day. Students will be bused to the Kelly track in 1 hour intervals from 9:00-1:15. Parent Group will publish a schedule soon.
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting (Room 7)
6:00-8:00, NEHS Latino Advisory Parent Meeting

October 9 (F)

No School, State wide In-service Day
Licensed Staff – Non-Contract Day
Classified Staff – Regular Work Day
5:00-8:00 PM, OALA Social Event at UO. Dr. Gustavo Balderas to speak.  Contact me if you would like to attend. Staff who identify as Latino Hispanic are encouraged to attend. All are welcome.

October 12 (M)

The gym reopens for PE and school wide use.  (400 person capacity)
Dr. Patricia Gándara visits 4J for evening event to speak on bilingual education.

October 13 (T)

Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice (?)
8:00-12:00, Vision Screening  in the Library
8:30-1:00, 4th grade Field Trip to Thistledown Farms
3:00-4:00, PLT Meeting
6:00-7:00, Grupo de Padres

October 14 (W)

10:00, Recess Evacuation Practice to Cafeteria/ Front of School
11:00-1:00, ODE Visit to School and Classrooms
1:45-2:45, Teacher Collaboration Time in the Library (planning and math formative assessments are suggested topics)
6:00-7:00, Talking with Books Kindergarten Group 1

October 15 (H)

9:00 AM, Great American Shakedown- Earthquake Drill
4:00-6:00, CLLAS Latinos in Education Event with Patricia Gandara, Gustavo Balderas, Edward Olivos. (University of Oregon Knight Library)
6:00-7:00, Talking with Books Kindergarten Group 2

October 16 (F)

Room Clear Practice by classroom teachers throughout the day.

Some important happenings of the week:

Site Council Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, September 29th (Joel cannot attend due to meeting with Gustavo Balderas)

1. Title 1 Review and discussion of 2015-2016.
2. EEF Grant Discussion and prioritization.
3. Upcoming Visit from ODE, What to expect.

Grade level Framework Revisions due Wednesday, September 30th:  Please prioritize this work this school week.  I want to post and publish these for staff to use. In addition, we are beginning to consider ways ti include SLD in the schedule.  It is vital that we know the specifics of your schedules. Wednesday PLC time could be a great opportunity to review these frameworks. Grade Level Framework Revisions due to Joel via email.

Smart Goals Meetings on October 15 and 16th:

I have ordered an administrator substitute for October 15 and 16 to spend time with teachers to review SMART Goals. I am also going to pre-order a substitute to help you get our of the classroom to meet with me.  I encourage you to log in to Talent Ed and begin to create your goals within Talent Ed.  I will meet with all licensed staff on those days to APPROVE your  pre-written SMART Goals.  Please create them before we meet to make the meeting productive and efficient. If you are not sure where to go on this, call me, text me, or email me this week to get guidance on how to do the goals. Smart goals can be written by grade level (except for your classroom data).  I encourage you to write one literacy goal, one math goal, and one professional goal related to AIMS4S3.

Communicating about district-wide and individual scores – If you have families ask about state test results, you may find the district’s news release and key points helpful. Individual student score reports will be mailed to families of students who participated. Parents can expect to receive them later this month. (They are in process to be mailed out this week, but in case of any delays or complications don’t promise that they’ll be received this week.)

Awesome Achievement | BJ’s Restaurant – Similar to the Papa’s Pizza Achievement Awards, BJ’s Restaurant is offering Awesome Achievement Awards that honor kids’ work with a free meal at BJs. Teachers can order up to 3 packs of 40 awards per year through BJ’s website.

Sanipac Recycle Art Contest – SaniPac is looking for 6 great works of art to put on the side of their trucks to help celebrate and promote recycling in Lane County. They are sponsoring a contest for students in grades K-8. Winners homeroom classes will be awarded a pizza party and $350. The 6 winner and 6 honorable mentions will also receive $50 gift certificates to Maude Kerns Art Center and be featured in the Sanipac 2016 Calendar. See the flyer for details.

These kids were geniuses — they were just too poor for anyone to discover them – Her is an article Erin Gaston shared with the Howard staff  article  about how under identified low income students are for TAG. 4J used to blanket test all 2nd graders, but that program was eliminated due to budget cuts and consequentially TAG identifications have also declined. Jaime Jones, our TAG Coordinator, Karen Ramirez Guttierrez and I want to encourage teachers to let me know if you think any of your students might possibly qualify for TAG. Most students now qualify for TAG off of  new OAKS scores. However, it is very rare to get parent requests for TAG testing. Please do your best to help find which of our students are  hidden 97% ers.

Week of September 21

• NAACP Back to School Celebration – On Saturday, October 3rd at the Downtown LCC location from 10:00-1:00, the Eugene/Springfield NAACP would like to welcome parents and students to participate in this year’s Youth Council, Act-So and Back to School Tutoring (BTS) program in partnership with Lane Community College. They invite families to come learn more about these great opportunities and the many available resources at their kick-off celebration. Free lunch will be served at noon.

• Lane County Math Teachers Circle – September 29th – The Math Teachers Circles (MTC) is a PD model which is meant to be accessible, fun and engaging. Teachers do some math together – generally facilitated by higher ed – and then have some space to discuss problems of practice with each other. Statewide, the Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics (OCTM) is taking a lead role in MTC’s, supported by the Oregon Math Network. Locally, Regine (Lane ESD), Theresa Hilkey (Eugene-4J) and Diane Ray (Springfield) are taking a lead as part of their roles in OCTM. If you’re interested and would like more information, see their flyer. They’ll provide free food, a round of drinks, fun, fellowship, PDUs, and a chance to be a math learners for a change and connect with colleagues.

• News from the Emerald Empire Reading Council – Here’s the September Newsletter from the Emerald Empire Reading Council. This month’s newsletter includes a number of workshops, programs, and literacy grants. If you’d like more information, visit their website.

• Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level Title 1 Newsletter that went out to Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s newsletter is mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there is an interesting note about the district’s new Family Resource Center, located around the corner from the Superintendent’s office, and will be providing a host of services–consultation, community service connections, classes for parents, regional parent involvement events, school consultation, etc.

• Great TED Talk – This video is a great reminder by Dr. Camara Phillis Jones on race, racism and how to become an active anti-racist. Camara Phyllis Jones, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., is research director on social determinants of health and equity in the Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). If you are looking for something provocative and intellectual to watch (20 min), Allegories of Racism by Dr. CP Jones is a very cognitive and creative presentation. https://youtu.be/GNhcY6fTyBM

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather while it stays nice.

Joel

Some news ideas for your newsletter:

PICTURE DAY

Picture day is on Thursday, October 1^st. Picture order packets will be sent home with students on Monday, September 28^th.

VOLUNTEER BACKGROUND CHECKS

Community and parent volunteers need to complete an online volunteer background check at – https://www.helpcounterweb.com/welcome/apply.php?district=eugene. All information on the application is sensitive and will remain confidential.

BOXTOPS COLLECTION

Please bring BoxTops into the school office. Box Tops are found on hundreds of participating products throughout your grocery store. General Mills, Betty Crocker®, Pillsbury®, Kleenex® and Ziploc® are just a few of the brands you’ll recognize. Although Box Tops coupons appear on most sizes and flavors of participating brands, there are a few exceptions.

Week of September 14

What’s coming up?

September 14 (M)

8:45-11:45, Joel to Rosh Hashanah Services until 12:00 (Out of building)
12:00-1:00, IEP Planning Team with Kelly Korach, Justin Potts, Katie Hynes- Petty, Jennifer Harris.

1:00-2:00, Parent Group Advisory Team Meets in Room 10
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

September 15 (T)

8:15-9:45- All EA’s in a Systematic Supervision Training from 8:15-9:45 with Brie Stiller.  (not in classrooms or available for assessments) (Conference Room)
2:40-4:45, Staff Meeting (Library)  Carmen and Jennifer will share a Culture of Caring PD.
6:00-7:00, Parent Group Meeting (Library) (All staff are welcome to attend)

September 16 (W)

1:45-2:45, PLC Collaboration time begins for 2015-2016. (All grade level teams work in the library.) Specialist will be available to share data.  Possible PLC activities: analyze schedule, KRA data, Easy CBM initial data, consider your literacy small group instructional structures for the year, set team goals in math, work on AIMS4S3 Planning.

2:45-3:45, Uninterrupted individual planning time

September 17 (H)

2:00-2:30, Back to School Assembly (We will call students to the CAFETERIA before 2:00)
2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting (Piper’s Room 8) (EA’s encouraged to attend. 1 hour comp time available)
The next  PBIS meeting will be on a Wednesday @ 1:45 in the workday.
3:15-4:45, Design Team Meeting (Library)

September 18 (F)

12:30-1:00, Strings Assembly for 4th and 5th Grade (Cafeteria)

2:15-4:00, Initial Eligibility Meeting (Conference Room)

September 21 (M)

9:00-9:30, First Fire Drill

1:00-2:00, Joel in meeting with Jennifer Scurlock (Office)

September 22 (T)

9:00-10:00,  Joel @ Dual Language North Articulation Meeting

8:00-3:30 Title Meeting

2:45-3:45- First PLT Meeting ( TASKS: Design Leadership Plan, Review Staff Handbook, Discuss Year 4 Priority Status and how to present SBAC Data)

September 23 (W)

1:45-2:45, PLC Collaboration time begins for 2015-2016. (All grade level teams work in the library.) Specialist will be available to share data.  Possible PLC activities: analyze schedule, KRA data, Easy CBM initial data, consider your literacy small group instructional structures for the year, set team goals in math, work on AIMS4S3 Planning.

2:45-3:45, Uninterrupted individual planning time

September 24 (H)

Academy Day- No School- AIMS4S3 Training

September 25 (F)

Academy Day- No School- AIMS4S3 Training

Important News Snippets and Announcements

District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff – Linked here is the updated District Back-to-School Memo for 2015-2016, which covers a variety of district rules, policies and guidelines. All staff must review the memo and sign & return the check list acknowledgment form to Edna no later than Monday, September 28th.  The memo is the same as last year with the exception of updates to the following sections:

2.) Summary of Spending Guidelines and Controls for 2015-16 – There are new spending guidelines and control in this massive document, but the part that applies most to building staff is in regards to Employee Reimbursements. See the link here to view just that section, but be aware that expenditures are supposed to be pre-approved by the building principal and that reimbursements are limited to $250 per reimbursement, per month.

5). School Board Policy JB: Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying, Cyberbullying, Hazing and Teen Dating Violence – This section was updated to include gender identity in the list of protected classes.

6.) School Board Policy JFG: Transgender and Gender Noncomforming Students – This is a new policy and also a more thorough corresponding administrative rule, that spells out rights of transgender and gender nonconforming students in regards to harassment, names/pronouns, registrations & SIS information, dress code, restroom accessibility, PE, athletics and activities, and locker room accessibility.

9.) School Board Policy AC: Nondiscrimination – This section was also updated to also include gender identity.

12.) Attendance Expectations – The district expects reliable and timely attendance by all employees. Please see the linked Attendance Expectations which are more explicit and detailed than those in the past.

Classroom Newsletters – I’d love to have copies of classroom newsletters (electronic version preferred) when teachers send/email them home to families. Remember: It is now an expectation that all classroom teachers communicate with parents on a weekly basis via newsletter of a half page each.  I have increased copies to 1000 to accommodate this. Ask Karen for some easy fill templates. This helps me keep up to date on what’s happening or going to happen in classes when families ask, and it also lets me know details of any class activities that I might be able to get the local media to come out and cover. I love promoting our school!

MEET THE SUPERINTENDENT

Parents are invited to drop-in discussions with our new superintendent:

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 5:00–6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 7:00–8:30 a.m.

4J Education Center, 200 N. Monroe St., Eugene

Our school district has a new leader, and he wants to meet you. 4J superintendent Dr. Gustavo Balderas is inviting parents and the public to stop in to get to know him and to share their thoughts and questions about Eugene’s schools.

Two “Meet the Superintendent” drop-in sessions are offered in September, one in the evening and one in the morning to accommodate families’ differing schedules. Both September sessions will be at the 4J Education Center near downtown Eugene; future opportunities will be held at different locations around the district.

• The Five B’s Reminder – Office help for medical needs usually follow these guidelines.  The Five Bs are the five acceptable health/medial reasons to send students to the office, which are Bleeding, Barfing, Badly Bruised, Broken or Burning Up with Fever. Please note that tummy aches, sore throats and being tired are not on this list. Also, it’s helpful if staff do send students to the office if you can send them on their own, rather than sending them with “helpers.”

• Camino del Rio PRIDE/PBIS Assembly – Thursday, September 17, from 2:00-2:30 Kick-Off Assembly. The assembly will be in the cafeteria. Look for more details from Erin Piper on the skit each team will do to present teachers and staff to the school.

• Student Photos on Internet and in the Media – We’ve had more students than usual this year with No School Web Site, No News Media, No Photographs and/or No Videos checked off on their enrollment paperwork. Teachers, please take note of which of your students have these restrictions before sharing any photos in newsletters or on your websites. You can find this information in Synergy by doing the following:

1. Go to REPORTS
2. Go down to STU401, but click on the blue icon to the right that says “Open Report Interface”
3. Click on CONDITIONS
4. Click ADD
5. Under Conditions select “NewsMedia” or “SchoolWebSite” in the dropdown
6. Under Not menu, select “Not” in the dropdown
7. Under Operator, select “Contains” in the dropdown
8. Under Value n, type in Y
9. Then click print and you have a list of your students who do not have permission to be on the school website or be in the news media

• AM/PM Synergy Attendance Reminder – When taking attendance in TeachVUE, teachers have ability to check both AM and PM for absent students on one screen and only having to save once. To do this, first hover over the ATTENDANCE tab and then click LIST. Next select BOTH, located in the top left of your screen, and you will now be able to mark students absent in both the AM and PM columns and will only have to click SAVE once. Below are a couple screen shots of what I’ve described. This reminder is because quite a few teachers are not been marking PM absences. Let me know if you have any questions on this and to prevent people from wondering if they’re doing it right or not, I’ll let teachers know by Wednesday if PM absences are still not getting checked and/or saved.

First PLT Meeting, 9/22 – I’ll hold our first PLT meeting on Wednesday, September 22 at 2:50 in the conference room to develop leadership plan options. Schools with 300-349 students are be allocated 18 days to be divide among up to 6 teachers. We’ll vote on our leadership plan at an October staff meeting. Feel free to email me your thoughts on leadership plans for the year or  (optionally) come to PLT to listen in and participate.

Title IIA PD Application Ideas –  We can apply for up to 13 sub days to support professional development. Ideas developed so far include peer observations around math instruction and  student task analysis, time to study AIMS4S3. The application is due 9/15, the day of our first staff meeting, so if you have any additional ideas, please let me know before then.

Free Mindset Kit – If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Stanford University’s FREE Mindset Kit. This free set of online lessons from Stanford University’s PERTS research center introduces students to the power of the growth mindset and describes what teachers and parents can do to help students embrace it. The kit has separate courses for teachers, parents, and teaching teams so I may bring this to a staff meeting at some point.

District Admin Update – You may have read that Family School moved to the Crest Drive building over the summer from ATA (who’s grown so much they ran out of space for Family School). Twin Oaks principal, Kathy Owen, will now be the principal of both schools and will be splitting her time between the two buildings.

Northwest Community Credit Union (NWCU) Grant – NWCU has a grant opportunity seeking requests for classroom supplies, technology, books, funding for projects, programs or field trips, to Northwest People Power volunteers to paint, landscape, move, or spruce up a space to make it a better learning environment for kids. Nominations will be accepted through October 15, 2015, while project fulfillment may extend into 2016. See their website for more information.

Withholding Recess as a Punishment Declines – Rachel Farkas, PE TOSA, shared this EdWeek article recently  regarding the debate over withholding recess as a punishment. It’s an interesting read if you have time.

FUTURE OF EUGENE’S PARKS

What do you want for the future of Eugene parks and recreation? – LAST DAYS TO TAKE SURVEY

The City of Eugene Parks and Recreation is working on a 10-year vision to guide the development of Eugene’s parks, trails, recreation facilities and sports fields. And they can’t do it without you! Take the 10-minute survey by Monday, September 14. As a thank-you, you will be entered to win customized recreation experiences for family and friends and more. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YN8FPKD

Have an excellent week.

Saludos cordiales,

Joel

Week of September 7, 2015

Hi all,

My main method of communication to staff will continue to be through the Diarío this year.  Each Sunday I will publish a post about the week. There will be resource links of interest, district news, and  a 14 day calendar to keep you ahead of things a bit. For new staff and as a reminder to Camino del Río veterans, it’s my intent with these announcements to share informational and business items here rather than taking up time at staff meetings. It’s also my hope to avoid cluttering up your inboxes by sending emails throughout the week and to instead just send just one informational email a week to staff. Typically, I send these out on Sundays and my hope is for staff read them by Tuesday evening.

Here is the Final Master Schedule:

https://drive.google.com/a/4j.lane.edu/file/d/0B0vx1uRstx9_TExxVWZaUHk4ek0/view?usp=sharing

Note:  The Music schedule occurs 2X per week. PE is on a separate schedule for Fall. Anywhere on this schedule it says PE is after February 1, 2016.

Here is the Fall PE Schedule:

https://docs.google.com/a/4j.lane.edu/spreadsheet/d/1fIihPGGBaub6qHvSh1ezYozGYV8LNRubIt1IxuQTqN8/edit?usp=sharing

Calendar Information:

We use Zimbra as our main calendaring system.

These are the view only versions of the system. You can also add to the Zimbra calendar. Most of last year’s staff are already on the editable version. Please add events to the Zimbra calendar like field trips so more staff know what is happening and the office is well informed.

If you want to know what I am up to you can always click on this:

https://mail.4j.lane.edu/lavin@4j.lane.edu/Calendar.html

Staff Calendar: This is where you should post field trips so the office knows what is coming. Also,  this is where to find staff meeting dates, etc.

https://mail.4j.lane.edu/home/river_road_elementary_school@4j.lane.edu/Calendar.html

River Road Calendar Parents and Website:

https://mail.4j.lane.edu/home/river_road_elementary_school@4j.lane.edu/RR%20Website%20Calendar.html

Parking Lot Changes Information:

PARKING LOT DROP OFF

I will be sendoug out a separate dismissal email out this evening. The email will include pick up and dismissal routines, teachers duties, etc.

A little about Katie Hynes Petty, our new Learning Center Teacher:

Katie Hynes-Petty is a graduate of the U of O and has been a special education teacher for 24 years, teaching at all levels.  She has a teenage son and a daughter who recently graduated from the U of O.   She enjoys gardening, playing in the outdoors and reading.   Ask her about when she was in a half-time show for a Duck home game.

Her schedule is from:

IEPs will be scheduled on Mondays as much as possible.  She will flex that day and stay longer on another day as necessary.

District Mandatory Policy Review for all Staff -Here’s a link to this year’s District Back-to-School Memo, which covers a variety of district rules, policies and guidelines. All staff must review the memo and sign & return the check list acknowledgment form to Edna no later than Monday, September 28th. I’ll place hard copies of the acknowledgement form in staff mailboxes this Friday. I will review some of the changes in meetings but I encourage you to block out some of your workday to review these policies during the pre-service week.

Camino del Río Staff Handbook Review – Speaking of policy review items, attached is the updated Camino del Río Handbook for 2015-2016. For people new to Camino del Rio, this handbook should answer most any questions you have about Howard policies and procedures. Let me know if you have any questions and please sign & return the acknowledgement form, which I’ll also put hard copies of in mailbox, to Edna by Friday, September 25th, stating that you have read and understand the contents of the handbook.

Counselor Schedule – Our extraordinary counselor, Jennifer Harris, will be keeping the same schedule as last year, which is as follows:

Monday: River Road
Tuesday: River Road 8-12, Howard 12-4
Wednesday: River Road 8-11, Howard 11-2 (RR 2ish for meetings)
Thursday: Howard 7:30-11:30 River Road 11:30-4
Friday: Howard

Smarter Balanced Score Information – If any of you have been looking at Smarter Balanced scores from last spring, here are a few things to know. Individual scores are under review until the end of August. Also, the scores are “embargoed” from parents and students until September 17th, so DO NOT share scores with anyone outside of school staff. Schools are also advised to not make any major changes based on test results (i.e. suddenly focusing more on looking for evidence or focusing on open response) because the test itself may be undergoing changes. Schools are instead encouraged to look more overall at how they are doing. We will be reviewing some of this data in more detail in the upcoming week for further discussion.

TSS  Tech Support Schedule – Peggy will again be in the building five days a week in the morning, 2:00-4:00. She also works at Kelly and Howard quite a bit. Her Kelly time has some flex time between Howard and Kelly, so she is on-call during that time if anything urgent comes up over here.  This year, Howard has 11 COWS! If you need Peggy during her other building time, just send her a ticket through 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu and she will be be able to come back over to Camino del Río. Also remember that you can always call the tech help line at (541) 790-7777. If Peggy is sick for some reason, downtown will even send someone out from another area to give you support if necessary.

Library Updates, Library Staffing and Tech Permissions – One, the district is converting all library browser from the Via library circulation systems to a new one called Destiny that’s made by Follett and is web based. Allison Connor has been trained on the new system and will share information on the new system with  our staff at a later date. I will be assigning an EA some library time to minimally maintain the library. Currently, we do not have a volunteer to support the library during the school day. Lastly, here is a reminder to use the Technology Permission Form if you are planning to have student use Google Apps, Edmodo or district email, although I don’t think anyone was using these last year.

Write In Readers – Journeys Intervention Materials – The Instruction Department sent out “Write in Readers” to schools for grades 1-5. These are intervention materials for students performing below the 30%. They have half the vocabulary, shorter chunks of text, and follow the theme of the main selection, but not the exact same story. Our fall benchmark numbers from the last year were used to determine a minimum of the number of students at some and high risk in reading at grades K-5. These were allocated by students per grade, not teachers. These materials were delivered to classroom teachers for use with students performing below the 30%. However, grade levels can also decide that these materials would be better used with students in Title 1 or SPED. Ed Support Services is currently auditing all SPED materials to ensure that IEP Goals are aligned to CCSS and the materials available to LC teachers will properly support them.

River Road Construction Update – If you’d like to know where River Road is at in their construction process, you can subscribe to updates by following this link. Attached is the latest update which has information about a potential purchase of some adjoining property that 4J has been trying to negotiate a purchase of for a number of years since the River Road property is so small.

Other Construction Updates- The gym is making steady progress. Please do not enter the gym until further notice. It is a construction zone.  There are dangers such as odors, and dust that may be harmful to you.

How To Tackle Digital Citizenship During The First 5 Days Of School – Digital citizenship is not a one time discussion. It is an ongoing process that needs to be taught to all grade levels. The problem is that things are changing so rapidly that it is difficult for everyone to keep up to date with the trends. Everyone has to be educated and develop an understanding of the role digital citizenship plays in our everyday lives. There is so much that goes into being a digital citizen; from taking photos of others to knowing when it is appropriate to share something online. See this short article for more details.

Gus Out to Buildings – Our new superintendent is planning to visit all schools this year and is scheduled to visit Camino del Río the morning of December 15. Gus is visiting one or two schools each week for a half-day. He also said he doesn’t need to attend a staff meeting, but would rather walk around on his own after meeting with principals for a quick check in and then meet with the principal again at the end for a follow-up.

15/16 4J Transportation Trip Rates – Attached are the 2015-2016 4J Transportation Trip Rates. After 6 years of zero rate increases, there will be a 7-9% increase this year to offset higher driver, fuel and maintenance costs. In addition, for schools utilizing activity vans, Transportation will be moving to a per-mile fee to help capture fuel and maintenance costs associated with their use.

District Admin Updates – There were a few district admin changes and movement over the summer. Susan Penrod, principal at Spring Creek, accepted a new position in the Instruction Department as K-12 Curriculum Administrator: English Language Arts. The position is the ELA equivalent of Maddy Ahearn’s Math position downtown. Taking Susan’s place at Spring Creek as principal is Raquel Gwynn, who many of you may know as a Staff Development Specialist (SDS) and the District BEST Coordinator. Raquel’s District BEST Coordinator position has yet to be filled. Over at ESS, Leila Schuck is the new Elementary ESS administrator, taking over for Amy Tidwell who’s now the Director of SPED in Bethel. Leila was most recently a SPED Consultant and a SPED teacher at Willagilespie. Cydney Vandercar is continuing on this year as the interim Director of HR. No one has been hired to fill her previous HR position.

What’s coming up?

September/October PBIS Theme – Respect

September 1 (T)
Teachers Return – Planning Day

September 2 (W)
Classified Staff Return
8:00-11:00, Camino del Rio Back-to-School Staff Meeting & PD (Librar

September 3 (H)
7:30-8:30, District Staff Back-to-School Breakfast & Social (SEHS)
8:30-12:00, District Staff Back-to-School Event & Speeches (SEHS)

12:30-2:30 PD, Library- A Conversation about elevating the Language of Spanish.

September 4 (F)
8:00-11:00, Digital Training for Journeys for Licensed Staff (Ed Center)

September 7 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 8 (T)
10:00, Q&A Session for New Staff – Optional (Library)
1:00-2:00, Meet your Teacher

September 9 (W)
First Day for Students
PBIS Focus: Safety

September 10 (H)
REGULAR DAY

September 11 (F)
REGULAR DAY

Family Back to School Social Event

See you all soon!

Joel