Week of June 11, 2018
Hi Everyone,
We’ve made it! The final week of the school year! Thank you, everyone, for making our school so great for our students and families. Here’s the final announcements of the school year.
• End of Year Ice Cream Celebration – After kids leave on the last day of school at 12:15, we’ll have an end-of-the-year ice cream celebration in the cafeteria. There will be root beer floats, ice cream sundaes with all the fixings, and it will also be a chance for us to wish well those staff members leaving us this summer. See all you there!
• PE and Music Updates – Downtown has finally decided how PE and Music will work for next year, which is that students will get two PE classes and two Music classes each week, all year long. For us, that means we get to have a full-time PE and full-time Music teacher all year long. Ronny is moving to ATA to become a health teacher. David is staying with us. The district will help us hire a new PE teacher who will stay with us all week long.
• Master Schedule Updates – Last Thursday we worked hard on revising the master schedule. There will be some changes next year as we try to maximize the PE time across the school. In addition, we are setting a common English Tier 2 time to allow for greater flexibility in grouping across grades. Lastly, one other big change is to formalize SLD during language time across all the grades.
•4th Grade Interview on Monday and Tuesday – We will be having 4th grade interviews on Monday and Tuesday. I will let staff know as soon as a hire is confirmed in June.
• Fire Drill Tuesday at 9:00 – While a few classes are away on field trips, we’ll hold our June Fire drill at 9:00.
• Field Day – Field day is Monday in the AM. It will include several stations which are detailed in Ronny’s email. Ronny did a great job organizing the whole thing. Also, Jaime helped to finalize the volunteer schedule. Thank you Ronny and Jaime for coordinating this.
Teachers — please go back and read those emails and attachments closely for organization on Monday. PE will be cancelled tomorrow.
• 2018-2019 PLC Info & Free Book! – I recently shared with teachers about the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model teachers will be participating in next school year. Principals have been reading the book Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, and if there are any teachers interested in also reading the book to learn more about the process, I thought I’d offer to purchase the book for you for your summer reading list. Let me know by the end of the week if you’d like a copy of the book and I’ll get it ordered for you. On a related note, to support the PLC rollout across the district, downtown added another Staff Development Specialist (SDS), which has made for some SDS re-shuffling, so for next year Reid Sheppard has still been assigned to our school (Yes!).
• Summer Lego Robotics PD at Lane ESD – Teachers, there is a summer professional development around Lego Robotics and Coding happening at Lane ESD, August 1-3. If our building sends at least one teacher all three days and fills out the paperwork on your plan for how to use it with students, our school will get a complete LEGO EV3 Core Set (a $400 value)! I would be able to cover the refundable $50 registration fee to reserve your spot. If any teachers are interested, let me know by the end of the week. See this workshop link for additional information.
• 4J book giveaway June 11-13 – Library Services is moving out of their space at the Ed Center and has hundreds of gently used ex-library books to give away. There are books for all age levels, from preschool through high school, fiction and nonfiction. This is a great opportunity for teachers to add to their classroom libraries. When: Mon-Wed June 11-13, 1:00-5:00 Where: Library Services, Ed Center (straight from the main door, jog left, follow the signs) What: books, bookends, posters
• Care Team Summer Resource – Linked here is a List of Summer Family Activities sent to me by the contact at DHS. The document is in both English and Spanish.
• Changes to District TAG Identification for 18-19 – Sarah Prater Eichner, the District TAG Coordinator, let Building TAG Coordinators and principal know about some changes coming next school year. Her email has all of the details, but the short version is that next year there will be a fall TAG testing window for students to be referred for testing. There will also be a spring testing window for students scoring in the 97% on OAKS. Sarah is also planning to visit schools to share information about the process for identification of underrepresented populations. I will give you a revised district TAG plan in the Fall.
• District School Improvement and Professional Development Surveys – Downtown is surveying licensed, classified, and administrators regarding district professional development and school improvement plans. Linked here is the Classified Staff Survey and Licensed Staff Survey.
• Survey on the future of assessment in 4J – Oscar Loureiro sent an email to teachers and Title 1 EAs earlier, but if you haven’t already, please complete the linked Criteria to Choose a Universal Screening Assessment for 4J. One of the district goals on the 4J Vision 20/20 Strategic Plan is to have a balanced system of assessments that supports effective teaching and learning, informs continuous improvement, and promotes equity in student access and outcomes. See the above linked email for additional details.
• District Admin Update – Peter Tromba is returning to 4J to be principal of Spencer Butte Middle School, as Tasha Katsuda departs for a role as a district curriculum director in Bethel. Peter has been principal at North, Monroe, and at Spencer Butte nearly 20 years ago. He’s also been the 4J Technology Director before he was recruited to work at ODE. Peter is an old friend of mine who I am happy to see back in a leadership role in 4J.
Here is our end of the year calendar:
June 11 (M)
Field Day from 9:00-11:00
June 12 (T)
All staff library books due back to the library
June 13 (W)
5th Grade to the Coast All Day
June 14 (H)
June 15 (F)
Last Day for Students, Early Release
Last Day for 192 & 196 Day Classified Employees
9:00-10:30- 5th Grade Breakfast (Cafeteria)
11:15- 5th Grade Clap out
10:35, Grab-n-Go Sack Lunches (Cafeteria)
11:40, K-5 Dismissal
12:00, Staff Last Day of School Root Beer Float & Ice Cream Party and Staff Farewell Celebration (Cafeteria)
June 18 (M)
Last Day for Licensed Staff
4:00-5:30, Joel to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)
June 28 (H)
Joel’s Last Day
July 26 (H)
Joel Reports Back to Work
August 28 (T)
Licensed Staff Report Back
August 29 (W)
Classified Staff Report Back
El Camino del Rio Staff Back-to-School Staff Meeting
Have a fabulous summer everyone and I’ll look forward to seeing you all in the fall!
Joel
Week of June 4, 2018
Hi all,
We have two weeks to go. I know you can do this! I know many of you have seen the quote above. When I think of you, I see the words committee citizens replaced with the El Camino del Rio team.
Here are some items of note:
• LEL Thank you- The LEL teachers and admin wanted to thank you all for being such gracious hosts. It was truly a spectacular day for the immersion team to learn more about our impressive teaching staff. I was so proud of what our students demonstrated to the team. Thank you for being such great teachers and leading the way in the district towards inclusive bilingual education.
• RFZ statement – Drafts are in staff boxes. Please read and sign off. Make comments/edits if desired. Turn in to Joel before June 6th, to his office or at the staff meeting. Next year’s t-shirts will have our RFZ statement printed on the back. The statement will be translated to Spanish and final edits will be made by the Equity Team.
• Master Schedule – Schedule team met on Tuesday. Proposed changes: ELD time will be designated for all classes in pull-out model, SLD time in the classroom will happen at the same time as ELD, Common English Literacy Tier 2 for 1st and 2nd grades, Designated Core time for Spanish, Scheduling to create collaboration time for teachers, PE and Music schedules are still in process, Increasing Science/S.S. time at the end of the day, District is mandating 60 minutes of mandated daily recess/lunch times,
We are still exploring adding Choice Time on Fridays from 1:00-1:45. This would have a cultural component to help us keep to our vision of a cross cultural understanding.
Next Master Scheduling Team meeting on Thursday, June 7 at 3:00.
• Upcoming events explanations: Here is a brief explanation of some upcoming events we discussed:
End of year events – Field Day is Monday, June 11, 9:00-11:00. Teachers will be taking their classes through the stations. BBQ on the same day. Look for the modified schedule. Joel will ask Craig to put in an order for mowing.
June 6th Assembly moving from 8:15 to 9:00 start time. Strings performance and award presentation at the assembly.
June 13th Assembly will honor Craig, regular awards, honor students exiting ELD.
June 15th clap-out for 5th graders. 5th grade breakfast will have speeches, awards, certificate for bilingual program, slideshow, cake. Starting at 10:40 classes will be called down to pick up brown bag lunches.
Kindergarten promotion on June 12th 12-2:00, Bucklew. June 14th 1:30-2:45, Skoubo. June 15th 8:30-9:00, Brougher.
Check out with Joel starting appointments on June 14th. Joel’s goal is to have everyone out of the building on Friday.
• Spring Conferences Feedback – Teachers liked it. Saves time on report cards. Families enjoy seeing the student progress over the year. District is only supporting Fall conferences for next year, but we are working to have them. We also have some ideas for Spring conferences during the school day but this will cost money by using substitutes.
• Dreambox Student Summer Access – Before you send your students off for summer break, be sure to remind them (and their parents) that they can access DreamBox anywhere, anytime—all summer long. And, playing for just 30 minutes three times a week will help them keep their math skills sharp. Feel free to send this Dreambox Parent Tip Sheet home with your students or email it directly to parents. It’s an easy way to get everybody on the same page when it comes to summer learning.
• “Grab & Go” Sack Lunch Schedule, 6/15 – For lunches on the last day of school, Thursday next week, students will enter the cafeteria as usual. They will put together their own sack lunch, assembly line style. As students pass through the line, they should form a new line at the an exit door of the teacher’s choosing. Once all the students have gotten their lunches, teachers can walk students back to class. This process should takes about 5-8 minutes.
10:30 KG grade and 5th grade
10:40 1st grade
10:50 2nd grade
11:00 3rd grade
11:10 4th grade
If staff not supervising students are available to help during this time, that would be terrific!
• DO NOT move your phones! – Peggy Vega emailed this out earlier, but I want to reiterate that staff SHOULD NOT unplug and move your classroom phones. Moving a phone without going through the proper channels can mess things up pretty bad on the technical side. If you would like a phone moved, email 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu and we can get it done through the proper channels.
• Field Day Instructions- Please read your email closely from Ronny send on Thursday. She has created a great structure for the field day but we must fully understand it and follow it. If you have specific questions, ask them on Wednesday at the staff meeting.
• District Admin Updates – One, Ryan Spain will be 4J’s new Facilities Director, taking the place of Harlan Coats, who is retiring this year. Ryan was Howard’s project manager before taking on the #2 position at Facilities. Ryan also helped start the River Road El Camino del Río Project and put Dexter on the path as Project Manager.
And two, Courtney Leonard will be the new principal at Charlemagne, taking the place of Eric Anderson, who is taking the place of Chris Mitchell at Roosevelt MS, who is taking on the principalship at Cal Young MS. Courtney was previously an assistant principal at Hillsboro and North Eugene, and was a French immersion teacher at South IHS. Courtney and I were in school together to become foreign language teachers in 1998.
• Teachers Eat Free at Red Robin on June 5! – On June 5th, all teachers and school administrators who visit participating Red Robin restaurants and present their school ID will be rewarded with a FREE Tavern Double Burger and Bottomless Steak Fries on dine-in and to-go orders.
• REPEAT: Class Lists Due Friday – Classroom Teachers should have next year’s lists finished by this Friday, Grading Day, so specialists and support staff have time to review final lists before the end of the school year. Before then, non-classroom staff are welcome to connect with classroom teachers about any specific student placements.
• REPEAT: Report Card Grading Day, Classified & Licensed – 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 on grading.
• REPEAT:2018-2019 Leadership/Building Rep. Positions– Each year all leadership positions are considered vacant and anyone can sign up for one, with the exception of CTL positions, which downtown generally likes to keep consistent. The current list of leadership/rep positions are;IPBS, PBIS, Site Council, Social Committee, Equity, and there are also the district level rep positions such as MTL, STL, LTL . If you would like to sign up for a leadership or rep position, follow this link to the 2018 2019 Leadership Form. You’ll need to be logged onto your 4J Google account to view or add your name. If we have multiple candidates, we’ll do an email vote for those positions. You can also add rows at the bottom if anyone wants to lead a new position.
End of Year Checklists– Linked here is the End-of-Year Checklistfor staff who are in charge of a classroom or other area. Please bring it to the right people for signatures.
That is all for the week. WE got this!
Joel
