P.D.

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

 

March 20, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/03/18 22:36 Posted in Announcements, Equity, P.D.  |  Comments Off on March 20, 2023

 

Hi Everyone,

Not only is spring break almost here, but Monday is FREE Cone Day at Dairy Queen!

Twenty-three items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Allocation Updates – Several staffing updates:

• Classroom Teaching Assignments – James volunteered to move up to 4th grade and Liz volunteered to fill the 2nd grade position, though she is planning to go half-time next year and look for a position at the Job Expo. Downtown has eliminated ESC staffing for all schools that have them and are replacing them with an Instructional Coach (see next item). Gloria will be placed half-time into our 1st grade vacancy and the other half will go to the Job Expo. We’ll also have a 0.2 PE and an 0.2 Music vacancy for next year going to the Job Expo. For reference, here is the complete classroom list for next year at this time:

KG: Gulewich, Harmon, Seno, Vaughan
1st: Gori, Speasl (0.5)/VACANCY (0.5), Zluticky
2nd: Ayres, Dempsey, Norton, Rabourn
3rd: Ball, Harshbarger, Talley
4th: Benavides, Cobb, Longoria, Reich
5th: Heinrich, Lovato, Parks

• Instructional Coach and ESC – Downtown has eliminated ESC funding and is planning to replace these positions with an Instructional Coach who will work full-time at their assigned building. They will take over many of the ESC duties, but will have additional yet to be determined dues as well. They will primarily work at their assigned building, but they are officially Instruction Department employees. Downtown is paying for these positions by eliminating many of the current TOSA positions. It’s not clear at this point if these position will go to the Job Expo or if someone will be placed into these positions. I’ll be sure to share more information as we get it.

• Other Grant Funded Staffing Updates – Principals on Friday finally got the staffing the school board approved on Wednesday:

• Family Resource Coordinator – No change. Remains full-time.
• Librarian – No change. Remains full-time.
• SIA 1st Grade EA Time – We received 8 hours instead of our current 12 hours.
• Student Success Coordinator – No change, Remains full-time.

• Non-SPED Classified Staffing – With the 4-hour SIA reduction, along with increased staffing costs, and the small reduction in our general classified allocation we did have to reduce a significant amount of EA hours and even with Iris leaving us at the end of the year I’ve had to displace Kari from her Title 1 position. All other non-SPED EAs (Kinder, Title, and Building) are staying at their current hours. Classified displacements are based strictly on seniority and job classification.

• SPED Classified Staffing Update – SSD admin said they are not reviewing the applications for additional staffing until April, which means we only have 35 hours of EA time at this point and have to reduce 11.5 hours of SPED EA time. Unfortunately, I’ve had displace Julie (5.5 hours) and Laura (4 hours). I’ve also had to reduce Molly by 2 hours. These reductions too are based solely on seniority within the SPED EA job classification and not job performance or any other factors. SSD said they will place people back at their original building if and when they reinstate staffing, which I feel we have a strong case for.

• Complete 23-24 Staffing Plan – Linked here is the complete 23-24 Staffing Plan, which includes all staff and funding sources. Let me know if you spot anything that looks like a mistake or you have questions about it.

• Limited Software Subscriptions Next Year – Related to the above, in the past, we set aside about $5,000 in the Title Budget for software subscriptions, but we had to eliminate this in order to retain staff. This means next year software subscriptions will be limited. We can probably renew a few out-of-building funds, but we won’t be able to afford all current subscriptions, though they could still be funded for by grants, classroom funds, or a request to PAHS.

• Holt Spirit Day, FRIDAY, Sports Day & Assembly! – This Friday is a Holt Spirit Day and this time it’s Sports Day! Wear your favorite team gear or simply wear your Holt spirit gear. I’m planning to wear some sort of pop culture fictional sports team, so see if you can guess this Friday!

• REPEAT: Lost & Found Donated FRIDAY – Remind your class between now and spring break as you pass by the Lost & Found that we are donating anything left behind the last day before spring break.

• REPEAT: ACE Award Nominations Open – Nominations are due by March 31st. Linked here are the ACE Awards Webpage and the ACE Awards Nomination Form.

• April 3rd PD/Planning Day, CLASSIFIED – Principals were emailed that April 3rd will be the final day of the Classified Pathways PD. It will be 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.

• UPDATE: April 3rd PD/Planning Day, LICENSED – I’ve found out our building is going to host part of the PD this day. The 4J PD Calendar says Lang Arts Adoption (4.0 hours) Building Based PD (1.5 hours), but hopefully, we’ll get details on times, locations, and content soon. I’ll add an item to Tuesday’s Staff Meeting agenda for what folk would like to do with the Building Based time if we do actually get time this day.

• REPEAT: Erin’s Law & Second Step Child Safety Unit, Lesson #5 – 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. 4J purchased only one kit per grade level, but linked here are Child Protection Unit Scans of the teacher guides if that makes things easier. 

• Sheldon Drama Club Addams Family Assembly, 4/21 @8:30 – The Sheldon Drama club asked to perform for us two musical numbers and a very short scene with some actors leading a short activity like singing/snapping along to the Addams Family Theme Song. They may even do a dance game like “freeze dance” with some grade-level volunteers using a song from Wednesday like Goo Goo Muck. The assembly will be in the cafeteria from 8:30-9:30. We shouldn’t need to open the wall, but we will put out 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.

• Cafeteria Room Clear Plan – A few weeks ago we had to do a room clear in the cafeteria at breakfast when a student has a seizure. We scrambled with last-minute grab-n-go breakfast to get the kids fed, but it did raise the need to have a plan if this were to happen again in the middle of breakfast or lunch.

Our current thinking is if there is a medical emergency in the cafeteria, students eating breakfast or lunch will room clear into the gym, taking their food with them. Cafeteria staff would do their best to relocate meal service for any students still needing a meal and/or for any classes arriving for lunch.

• Needs Index Follow-Up – I shared earlier that Holt dropped on the district Needs Index and I would get more information as to why. 4J Data staff emailed me that our percent in Special Education, ELD, and the mobility rate did not change, but there was a drop in the percent of students qualifying for Free & Reduced Meals (now 42%), which they admit is not as accurate since all students are currently receiving free meals. They are basing the current FRM percentage on the number of families in enrolled in SNAP and TANF (i.e. food stamps). This could potentially impact future Title 1 funding, which is based on the school’s level of need, so I’ve already shared my concerns about these numbers with the district Federal Programs Coordinator. Also, I’ve asked Felicia for an article that can run in the Quick News about signing up families for SNAP and TANF. Felicia also had the good idea to put SNAP and TANF info into all of our spring break food boxes.

• Playground Upgrade Updates – Two playground updates:

• Soft Play “Caterpillar” Repairs – I keep meaning to share this but kept forgetting. If kids ask why there is caution take on the yellow caterpillar climber, it’s because the concrete footing at one of the bases is cracked. Facilities staff were out fixing the spiderweb climber when they noticed the cracked base on the caterpillar. Facilities staff said they will fix it over spring break.

• Bark Chips Along the Sidewalk – We asked for this last year and didn’t get it, but we asked again this year and this time said that it’s a safety issue, but we will at some point get bark chips put along the sidewalk between soft play and hard play, which right now is a trail of mud where kids have killed the grass running next to the sidewalk and is now a muddy slip and fall hazard.

• Summer School Updates – Principals were emailed the summer school building use plan. Holt is again hosting KITS (4 classrooms) and SEAL (12 classrooms, two classes K-5, no middle school this year). They did note that they tried to find different sites for schools that hosted last summer, but due to facilities projects were unable to move, though they expect that next year they may be able to use different sites for a few of the regions. Summer school dates for SEAL are July 5 – August 14, Mon – Friday – full-day, and KITS will be June 27 – Aug 18, Tues, Wed, Thurs- full-day.

If you’re interested in working at summer school with me, Kim, and Darla, positions are now posted on the 4J Jobs website and a complete list of positions and job descriptions can be found here.

• Early Release Day Moving to Wednesdays – If you missed it in the latest 4J Parent News or Vol 2. of the 4J Educator News, we are going back to early release Wednesdays instead of Fridays for next year. Early release times are staying the same, though I was obnoxious and did put in a plug at the all admin meeting on Friday for us to look at shortening the school day since the board approved counting recesses and PD as instructional minutes earlier this year.

 

• 2023-2024 Calendar Approved – The 23-24 School Year Calendar was approved by the school board, so make your vacation plans accordingly.

 

• COVID Updates – Two COVID protocol updates:

• COVID Updates for Staff – Masks will no longer required in health settings (i.e. the heath room) starting April 3rd and as of this week unvaccinated staff with religious and/or medical exceptions are no longer required to do weekly testing or masking but are required to screen for symptoms and stay home when sick. See this email for details.

• COVID Updates for Volunteers – Volunteers with religious and/or medical exceptions as of last week are no longer required to wear a mask, but are required to screen for symptoms and stay home when sick. See this email for details.

• School Continuous Improvement Plans – I mentioned at Site Council earlier this month that district admin is having schools revisit their school improvement plans. This was the focus of the all-admin meeting I attended last Friday it’s not much of a shift for elementary schools and is pretty much what we have already been doing, using the ORIS Tool and doing a Data Dive. The linked 4J School Continuous Improvement Plan Completion Guide (TLDR) is what schools are to complete by the end of April, but the form is almost identical to our current School Improvement Plan and our focus areas are two of the main areas they want schools to look at (Attendance and Equity/Inclusion), though we may need to revise the goals so they focus on more specific of subgroups rather than “ALL” students. I’ll present a draft plan to Site Council (primarily using our current school improvement plan) and then with all staff. I’m thankful we went through the ORIS process last year because I honestly cannot imagine trying to squeeze a meaningful discussion or process into one month of what our Site Council worked on for an entire school year.

• Sheldon Region Mental Health Specialist Update – Sheldon Region Mental Health Specialist Sydney Stringer has been meeting weekly one-on-one with a few Holt students, but Amy McCormick is returning from a leave and will take over Sydney’s caseload starting this week. See this email for details.

• McKinney-Vento Data Summary for March 2023 – Linked here is the March 2023 McKinney-Vento Report (i.e. homeless) report for the school district. Holt has the fifth highest M-V count of any elementary school in 4J and has more M-V students than another other Sheldon Region elementary or middle school.

• UO International Cultural Service Program – Don’t forget about the free classroom presentations offered by the UO International Cultural Service Program. See the ICSP Brochure for details.

• Sluggo’s Home Run Reading Challenge – Video Link – If you want to give your kids a fun reminder about Sluggo’s Home Run Reading Challenge, linked here is a 2023 Reading Program Intro Video from the Ems and Sluggo.

• Free Library Card for 4J Staff and Students – I knew all 4J students could get a free library card, even if they don’t live within city limits, but I just learned the same is true for 4J staff. Just bring your school ID to get a free card. If for nothing else, do it so you can get access to free streaming services. Hoopla and Kanopy are two surprisingly good services you get free with your library card, among others. Also, I just checked out season one of Yellowjackets on DVD from the library, since I don’t have Showtime, and it is fabulous!

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

March 20 (M)
2022 Electronics Recycling Competition Holt Drop-Off (Front Office)
Artist in Residence Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
Title Staff Room Duty
Staffing Plans Due to HR
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals Meeting (Ed Center)

March 21 (T)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting (Library)
5:00-7:00, Feed Hope Spring Food Packing (Library)

March 22 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
5:30-6:30, 22-23 Kindergarten Orientation (Library & Zoom)

March 23 (H)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
5:45-7:15, Conscious Discipline Parent Education Series (Library)

March 24 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Sports Day
8:05-8:40, School Spirit Assembly (Gym)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Staff Choice

March 27-31 
No School – Spring Break

April 3 (M)
No School — PD/Planning Day

April 4 (T)
Birthday Drinks & Goodies in Staff Room:
Library Week #1 Classes
Kindergarten Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
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)

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)

53 days until summer break (but who’s counting)!

Allan

 

 

March 13, 2023

By Allan  |  2023/03/11 22:40 Posted in Announcements, Articles, P.D., SEL, Technology  |  Comments Off on March 13, 2023

 

Hello Holt Staff,

Congratulations to Robbie and Holt’s OBOB Team who made it to the state tournament at this past Saturday’s Regional OBOB Competition! Holt, along with Buena Vista, Charlemagne, and one other out-of-district school. Way to go, Bolts!

Twenty items of note for this week:

• 23-24 Staffing Allocation Updates – Tthe school board should approve the grant funds for SSC, ESC, Library, Family Resource Coordinator, and SIA EA this Wednesday, so I should hopefully have allocations this Thursday or Friday and will email an update. No word one way or the other regarding additional SPED EA staffing. The remaining timeline for staffing is:

Mar. 8-15 Ask for volunteers to change grade levels
Mar. 17 Notify staff of moves if no volunteers
Mar. 20 Announce staffing moves
Mar. 20 Submit Staffing Plan to HR

• REPEAT: Spirit Day – Sheldon Pride Day, TUESDAY – Tuesday, March 14th is Sheldon Pride Pay. Encourage your students to show their pride for our region high school by wearing green or Sheldon HS gear!

• K-2 Family Math Games Night, TUESDAY – This Tuesday from 5:30-7:00 is Family Math Game Night for K-2 families. The schedule is as follows; 5:30-6:10 Math games in classrooms, 6:15-6:30 Overview of math goals, 6:30-7:00 Dinner & raffle in the cafeteria.

• REPEAT: Fire Drill, WEDNESDAY @8:05 – This Wednesday at 8:05 will be our March Fire Drill. Linked here are the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Lines Map. If we are rained out, we’ll try again next Friday.

• REPEAT: 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.

• REPEAT: Holt Night Out Fundraiser – Killer Burger, THURSDAY- This Thursday is a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at Killer Burger at Oakway Center! Remind your students to just mention Holt when ordering and Killer Burger will donate a percentage of their family’s purchase to Holt! Take out and dine in only.

 

• REPEAT Staff Workload Relief Day, 3/17 – This Friday is a Staff Workload Relief Day. Licensed staff are allowed to work from home this day as long as you are available to team members and have notified me ahead of time.

• UPDATE: Classified Staff Meeting, FRIDAY @9:00 – We did not have a February Classified Meeting, but we will meet this Friday at 9:00 in the library. And by WE, I mean Kim will facilitate the meeting because, despite the elementary principal pleading to move our PD to the afternoon so we can meet with classified staff in the morning, downtown is sticking with an inconvenient morning meeting time for principals. Anyhow, we’ll use this time to review individual student plans, like we did earlier in the year, and to also make sure we’re in alignment on recess and school rule expectations. Let me know if you have any additional agenda items for the meeting.

• REPEAT: Erin’s Law & Second Step Child Safety Unit, Lesson #5 – 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 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 the summer break. 4J purchased only one kit per grade level, but linked here are Child Protection Unit Scans of the teacher guides if that makes things easier. 

• April 3rd PD/Planning Day – A few people have asked, but no detailed plans have been shared by downtown yet, though the 4J PD Calendar says Lang Arts Adoption (4.0 hours) Building Based PD (1.5 hours). Stay tuned! UPDATE: Here’s the t.

• 4J TOSA Contacts – Better late than never. Principals have asked for this since August and (finally) linked here is the 4J TOSA Contacts webpage. This does not include the non-Instruction Dept. TOSAs, mentors, equity coordinators, therapists, behavior consultants, mental health specialists, coaches, etc., which principals continue to ask for.

• Send Extra FFVP Snack Home Daily – If you have any leftover snacks from the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, they should be sent home with kids at the end of the day. It’s totally fine for one kid to take a dozen apples or the entire bag or whatever the snack of the day was, but we are not supposed to accumulate snacks over multiple days and should avoid wasting them and throwing them out.

• Responding to Racial Harassment and Bias Events – At a recent town hall meeting with our communities of color, concerns were elevated that our schools were not following our policies and ARs related to harassment and bias events. The main thing staff needs to be aware of is to immediately report any incidents of racial harassment to me as soon as you become aware of them. From there, I will take action and decide on steps based on the 4J Universal Response Protocol we are to use for major incidents of racial harassment.

• Oregon DHS Reporting Link – As a reminder, staff can now find the Dataport link and Oregon DHS documentation, process, and forms on the 4J website under Staff > MORE STAFF LINKS > in the “Policies, Rules, Forms” section > Instruction and Forms for Reporting to DHS. See image below. This link can also be found on the Holt Staff Dashboard. Do note that you cannot view Dataport unless you are connected to the 4J Network at school or logged on with a 4J VPN from home.

 

• School Calendar for 2023-2024 – I noticed on the next School Board Meeting Agenda is the item “Approve the Academic Calendar for 2023-2024.” No calendar is linked there yet, but I bet it will be soon if you want a preview of what will likely be our calendar for next school year.

• REPEAT: ACE Award Nominations Open – Nominations are due by March 31st. Linked here is the ACE Awards Webpage and the ACE Awards Nomination Form.

• REPEAT: Lost & Found Donated at Spring Break – Remind your class between now and spring break as you pass by the Lost & Found that we are donating anything left behind the last day before spring break.

• District Admin Updates – Chavez principal Deirdre Pearson took a job in Medford School District and Charlemagne principal Joe Hadley is leaving 4J at the end of the year. Also, North Eugene principal Trinity Welch-Radabaugh is stepping away from her role, but will continue working in 4J in a role to be shared at a later time. See this email for details.

• Digital Learning Day, March 15 – District Librarian Amy Page shared a very cool Digital Learning Day Choice Board teachers could use, which has loads of online activities that range from Art to coding to Digital Comic Creating to Music to Robotics to Digital Citizenship. This may be a page to bookmark if you ever find yourself with some time to fill.

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

March 13 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
Library Week #1 Classes
Office/PE/Music Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)

March 14 (T)
PI Day
Sheldon Pride Day
9:00-12:00, 4th Grade Symphony Field Trip (Holt Center)
10:15-11:45, Allan Covering Music Classes
2:45-3:45, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
5:30-7:00, K-2 Math Games Night (Classroom & Cafeteria)

March 15 (W)
8:05, Fire Drill
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
2:45, Grade Level Team Meetings
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

March 16 (H)
Holt Night Out – Killer Burger
2:45-3:30, Leadership Team Meeting (Library)

March 17 (F)
St Patrick’s Day
No School – Staff Workload Relief Day
8:00-11:30, Allan to Principal PD

March 20 (M)
2022 Electronics Recycling Competition Holt Drop-Off (Front Office)
Artist in Residence Continues
Library Week #2 Classes
Title Staff Room Duty
Staffing Plans Due to HR
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elem Principals Meeting (Ed Center)

March 21 (T)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting (Library)
5:00-7:00, Feed Hope Spring Food Packing (Library)

March 22 (W)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
5:30-6:30, 22-23 Kindergarten Orientation (Library & Zoom)

March 23 (H)
8:10-9:10, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
9:25-10 :25, 5th Human Growth & Development (2 Classes)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Garden Project (Garden)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
5:45-7:15, Conscious Discipline Parent Education Series (Library)

March 24 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Sports Day
8:05-8:40, School Spirit Assembly (Gym)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD – Staff Choice

March 27-31 
No School – Spring Break

April 3 (M)
No School — PD/Planning Day

 

10 days until spring break (9 if you don’t include the workload relief day)!

Allan

 

 

February 21, 2022

By Allan  |  2023/02/18 15:59 Posted in Announcements, Articles, Arts, P.D., Technology, Video  |  Comments Off on February 21, 2022

 

Hello Holt Staff,

Hope you’re all having a restful three-day weekend!

Twenty-two items of note for this week:

• REPEAT: Artist in Residence Starts TUESDAY – OUR Artist in Residence, Larry Meyers, starts on Tuesday. Linked here is the Schedule.

• 4J Board Member Visit, TUESDAY – Geoff is on a district committee looking at elementary libraries and 4J Board member Michelle Hsu was interested in visiting one of the schools piloting licensed librarians. She’ll be visiting Holt this Tuesday at 10:45.

• REPEAT: Holt Spirit Day – Wacky Dress-Up Day, FRIDAY  – Not this week but next week is a Holt Spirit Day and it’s Wacky Dress-Up Day! Start planning your outfit now and let your kids know how they can participate, wearing mismatched closthes, bright color, crazy outfits, crazy attire, or simply wearing their Holt gear or Holt school colors!

• REPEAT: School Spirit Assembly, FRIDAY @8:05 – Note that we are starting earlier for our monthly School Spirit Assembly this Friday in the gym. The assembly will start at 8:10, but all classes should be in the gym seated by 8:05.

 

• Holt Friday at 4:00, @Beer Garden! – Get ready for some bangers and brews at The Beer Garden this Friday for the February Holt Staff Friday at 4:00! See you there!

• Informal Observations this Week – I’ve said this before, but for probationary folks, I’m going to try to get around to do informal observations this week, so don’t be surprised if I pop in for 10-15 minutes at some point for a short observation.

• Optional Meeting w/UO Interior Architecture Student, Feb. 27 – A UO Interior Architecture student contacted me, wishing to speak with and/or a tour the school to better understand different types of students and faculty needs. They’re hoping to talk with teachers and educational assistants to understand unique opportunities that may benefit a variety of user groups. If you’re interested in helping this UO student, I’ll be meeting with them Monday, February 27th at 2:45 in the library.

• Holt Night Out – Pegasus Pizza, Feb. 28th – Not this week, but next week on Tuesday, February 28th is a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at Pegasus Pizza at Oakway Center! Just mention Holt when ordering and Pegasus will donate a percentage of your purchase to Holt. Take out and dine in only.

 

• REPEAT: 22/23 Staffing Survey – To help me with next year’s staffing plan, I’d like staff to complete the linked 2023-2024 Staffing Survey. I’d like to know staff members’ individual plans and preferences for the future as well as your thoughts on next year’s staffing plan, master schedule, or other thoughts. All answers will be kept confidential and let me know if you have any questions.

• Read Across America, March 2nd – NEA’s Read Across America is next week on Thursday, March 2nd. This is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading. For some ideas and resources, check out NEA (National Education Association) or Reading Rockets, or Discovery Education. Or just read aloud high-quality books, invite guest speakers, read with buddies, or any other fun celebration of reading and literacy!

• Kona Ice Fundraiser, Friday, March 3rd @12:30 – Kona Ice is coming to Holt for during Read Across America week. Teachers should sent bus riders who brought money to hard play at 12:30, so they have time to buy and eat their shave ice before having to get onto the bus. 4th and 5th grade will still be on the playground at this time, but I will be out there to crown control. And remember, all staff get a free shave ice as well! Just show your badge!

• Voice Amplification Systems – Tech folks emailed that all classrooms have now received new LightSpeed voice amplification systems. Most teachers already use the voice amplification systems, but if you don’t, I’d strongly encourage you to give it a try. Linked here is a short video and also training materials. Linked here are additional LightSpeed Training & Troubleshooting Videos. If you have any trouble with your system, submit a help ticket at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu

 

• April 3rd District ELA PD Survey – The 4J ELA team emailed principals to ask teachers for input on the April 3rd ELA PD Day. Please complete the linked 5 minutes ELA PD Survey, which is grade-level specific. SPED, Title, and any licensed staff who support literacy are also welcome to fill it out.

• 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.

• Summer School Dates, June 29 – August 15 – No word yet on summer program locations, but I did get an email that the dates for summer school will be June 29 – August 15. I am pitching for Holt to be given a pass on housing a program, though I don’t think we’ll get our way this year. Edison is the only new building with AC, but it’ll most likely be closed for the summer so the contractor can fix punch list items that would’ve been too disruptive to fix during the school year.

• UPDATE: 4J Grown Your Own Teaching/Counseling Program – HR sent an Email Update  to principals about the 4J Grown Your Own Program that there is additional financial assistance through the Lane ESD for classified staff wanting to get their teaching or counseling degree. I’ve already heard from a few classified staff who are interested but let me know if you are interested and I will get you additional info. The deadline to apply is Feb. 28th.

• 4J Weather Alert Text Set-Up – Every staff member is should be set up in school messenger to receive text alerts if there’s ever a delay or school closure due to weather conditions. If you did not receive a text last week for our 2-hour delay, you should go to https://go.schoolmessenger.com to register for an account. Use your 4J email address and pick a new password. Once in, you can add/delete phone numbers for text messages and limit what notifications go to email or to your phone. And as of Saturday, there’s another chance of snow this Wednesday!

• Input on 4J Budget Priorities – Think more funding should go towards reducing class size than other district positions? The last 4J Educator Newsletter has a section called Integrated Guidance where all staff can give input on where you think district funds should be spent. Downtown identified three areas to focus on and have three different surveys. It’s a rather strange survey format, where you share your thoughts on the strategies for each of the three areas and then you rate the thoughts other staff shared. And FYI, class size is on the third survey, but I’d encourage folks to complete all three surveys to have your say. I do think downtown is genuinely paying attention to survey results, as seen by their revising next year’s proposed school calendar based on feedback.

Engaged Community
Equity Advanced
Well-Rounded Education

• New School Calendar: Classes Begin After Labor Day – Mentioned above, downtown listened to feedback and significantly changed their proposed 23-24 School Calendar. They changed most of my issues with the original draft, with school starting before Labor Day, all the non-school days in September, and also moved the spring break PD day to the Monday following the break instead of the Friday before. Parent teacher conferences are now Nov. 20, 21, and 22, right before Thanksgiving Break, which is more days than in the past, so I’m not sure how this will work, but it’s fine by me (long days 11/20 & 11/21 and a comp day 11/22?). Share your thoughts on the Revised 23-24 School Calendar Survey.

• ​​Abbreviated Day (SB 819) – Not sure if this is on folks radar, but you may have heard some rumor or speculation coming from the state that there will no longer be an option for an Abbreviated Day for students. This comes from Senate Bill 819, but the truth is there are a lot of unknowns. It is highly unlikely the bill would preclude students with IEPs and behavior plans to not have the ability to have an abbreviated day. Downtown is waiting on additional information from the state, but I’ll share more information as soon as we get it.

• Small Shifts to Limit ‘Teacher Talk’ and Increase Engagement – Guiding students to regularly direct their own discussions brings academic rewards as they gain confidence working independently on challenging tasks. This Edutopia Article reminds us to:

• Teach what good discussions look like
• Let students come up with ideas first
• Focus on all students getting to participate
• Don’t rush to clarify the hard parts
• Use video (of yourself teaching) to ensure your strategy is working

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

February 20 (M)
No School – President’s Day

February 21 (T)
Artist in Residence – Ceramic Tiles w/Larry Meyers Begins
Library Week #2 Classes
5th Grade Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Heinrich)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Ayres)
10:45, 4J Board Member Visit – Michelle Hsu
2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting (Library)

February 22 (W)
Bus Appreciation (4th)
Staffing Allocations Distributed to Principals
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Parks)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Lovato)
12:00, Student Council Meeting (Reich’s Room)
12:00-1:00, OBOB Tournament Practice (Library)
2:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting w/Sup (Ed Center)
2:40-3:30, Data Team – Kindergarten
3:30-5:30, District MTSS Team Using Library

February 23 (H)
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Heinrich)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Ayres)
10:00-1:30, 4th Grade School Gardening (Garden)
10:30, Allan to HR Staffing Meeting (Zoom)
2:45-3:30, Data Team – 1st Grade
6:30-7:30, 3rd Grade Cultural Heritage Night (Gym/Cafeteria)
6:30-7:15, 4th Grade Expert Project Night (Classrooms)

February 24 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Wacky Dress-Up Day!
8:05-8:40, School Spirit Assembly (Gym)
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Parks)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Lovato)
12:00-1:00, OBOB Tournament Practice (Library)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD, Staffing Discussion #1 (Library)
2:30-3:20, Data Team – 2nd Grade
4:00, Holt Friday at 4:00 (Beer Garden)

February 27 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
Library Week #1 Classes
ELD/Speech/Counselor/Library Staff Room Duty
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom)
12:00-1:00, OBOB Tournament Practice (Library)
2:45, Optional Meeting w/UO Interior Architecture Student (Library)
4:00-5:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Zoom)

February 28 (T)
Holt Night Out – Pegasus Pizza
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Heinrich)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Ayres)
2:45-3:45, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
5:45-7:15, Conscious Discipline Parent Night (Library)

March 1 (W)
Women’s History Month
Fluoride and Sealant Clinic
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Parks)
8:50-10:45, Book Nook, During AM Recesses (Cafeteria)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Lovato)
12:00-1:00, OBOB Tournament Practice (Library)
2;45, Grade Level Team Meetings
2:40-3:30, Data Team – 3rd Grade
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

March 2 (H)
Read Across America Day
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Heinrich)
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Ayres)
2:45-3:30, Data Team – 4th Grade

March 3 (F)
8:15-9:15, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Parks)
9:20-10:20, 5th Philosophy with Paul Bodin (Lovato)
1:30-2:30, Friday PD, Staffing Discussion #2 (Library)
2:30-3:20, Data Team – 5th Grade

 

Keep watching for those snowflakes in the forecast!

Allan