November 29, 2021

By Allan  

 

Hey Holt Bolts,

Just three weeks until winter break (with a 4-day week in the middle), but remember this can be a stressful time of year for many students and families (and us too) for a variety of reasons, so be prepared for uncharacteristic behaviors the next few weeks.

Sixteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Three staffing updates:

• Behavior EA Job Posting & Interviews – Interviews for our Behavior EA position will be this Thursday after school 2:35-4:00. If you’d like to volunteer your time to help with interviews, let me know and I will share applications and interview questions. Both classified and licensed staff are welcome to join!

• Two New EAs Start Wednesday – Our two new EAs, Hannah Connor (2.5-hour EA) & Andrew Raasch (CLC EA) are set to start this Wednesday, so please introduce yourself and welcome them to Holt!

• Holt BEST EA Job Posting – If any classified staff are interested in additional hours or if you know of anyone else good, please encourage them to apply for the Educational Assistant, BEST Afterschool (multiple vacancies, multiple sites) job posting. Although it says multiple sites, district BEST admin will give people their site of preference (Holt, of course). The posting closes Wednesday.

• Erin’s Law & Second Step Child Safety Unit– If you haven’t already, to meet the Erin’s Law state requirements, teachers must cover Lessons 1-4 of the Second Step Child Protection Unit this fall before winter break. Lesson 5 should be taught right before spring break and lesson 6 right before summer break.

• Behavior Check-In Survey – Kim and Max wanted to connect with staff on any other students that need behavior support and if there are any topics regarding behavior you have questions or need information. If you have students needing additional supports or information, complete the linked two-question Behavior Check-In Survey.

• REPEAT: Artist in Res. Survey (Term 2) DUE FRIDAY – For our Term 2 Artist in Residence, teachers should take a look at the LaneArts Residency Descriptions to pick your top five artists. Then fill out the linked Artist in Residence Survey 2021 (Term 2), which will help facilitate our discussion and decision at our December 7 Staff Meeting. Please complete the survey by this Friday.

• Elementary Director Visit Thursday – Director of Elementary Education Services, Jeff Johnson is planning to visit Holt this Thursday at 9:45. He said he wants to stop by some classrooms, so I figured people would appreciate a heads-up.

• COVID Protocol Reminders – Two COVID protocol related items:

• ODE Outdoor Mask Requirement & Test-to-Stay Changes – An ODE Bulletin and ODE News Release from last week said the state will soon issue revised guidelines that don’t require masks to be worn outdoors and new rules so students do not need to quarantine if they test negative for COVID. However, 4J is working with the county to determine next steps on these and what it means for schools, so at this time all 4J COVID protocols are status quo until further notice. Stay tuned!

• 3-Feet Physical Distance Reminder – Continue to remind students to maintain 3-feet physical distance, especially when they are walking in line, lining up in class, lining up at the end of recess, or lining up outside the cafeteria.

 

 

• December Fire Drill, Tues. Dec. 7th @1:10 – Not this week, but next week on Tuesday, December 7th at 1:10 will be the December Fire Drill. Linked here is the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line Map. If it’s raining, we’ll reschedule for Tuesday the following week. 

• Allan Out of the Building Dec. 7th – I’ll be out of the building Tuesday, December 7th to attend an in-person ELA Adoption Meeting and retired South Eugene HS principal Stephanie Cannon will cover for me. I’ll plan to be back in time for the Staff Meeting.

• SIA Classroom Libraries – Principals will get more info on this Wednesday, but downtown used Student Investment Act (SIA) funds to purchase diverse books for classroom libraries. Holt is getting three pallets worth of books on Wednesday, December 15th at 2:00 (which I’ll tell downtown is a terrible delivery time). Each classroom teacher will get 3 book bins worth of books, which teachers can pick up after the delivery.

• 4J Care Teams – 4J has Regional Care Teams to help schools when they’ve exhausted their resources to assist a family. For additional info, here is the Sheldon Region Care Team Flyer. Connect with Max for initial requests for assistance, but principals got an email there were zero referrals from Sheldon Region schools, so let me know if you have any student or family situations you’re feeling stumped how to help. Referrals could for assistance could be:

• Death of a parent
• Incarcerated parent -­ concerns about recent incarceration or pending release
• Homeless or impending homelessness
• Unknown if open child welfare case but has concerns that were called in
• Domestic Violence
• Extreme behavior issues – ­additional supports needed outside of school
• Specific resource needed but unknown where to refer
• Medical concerns about the child or other family

• UPDATE: K-5 Health Curriculum Adoption/Pilot – The adoption team is hoping to get reps from South and Sheldon area schools, particularly a SPED teacher, an ELD teacher, a PE teacher, Kinder, 1st, 3rd, and 4th, ideally. See this Update Email for details and let me know if any of you are interested.

• Language Arts Pilot Info – If you’re curious, the ELA Adoption Team shared the linked ELA Pilot Info & Timelines with committee members last week.

• Mobile Pantry on Wednesdays – I’ll share this in the Quick News, but linked here is a Mobile Food Pantry Calendar from Food for Lane County if you have any families you want to share this with.

• BrainPop Pilot Ending – 4J’s Free BrainPop pilot ends this week on Tuesday.

• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Threats by Students – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook, is on Threats by Students. I actually just added this to the handbook because I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of this policy, especially since downtown hasn’t sent the district back-to-school policy memo in three years:

Threats by Students
Schools are required to notify the parent of a student when another student makes threats of violence or harm or the student’s name appears on a targeted list that threatens violence or harm to the students on the list. State law requires verbal notice within 12 hours of learning of the threat and written notice within 24 hours, so staff should report threats to the principal as soon as possible.

• REPEAT: Computer Science Education Week / Hour of Code Dec. 6-12 – Next week, December 6-12, is Computer Science Education Week, which include the Hour of Code. Check out the tutorials and activities at Hour of CodeComputer Science Education WeekKhan Academy, and these Edutopia Articles. Let me know if any of you are doing something cool for the Hour of Code. I’d love to see if we can get some media coverage!

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

November 29 (M)
4th Grade Staff Room Duty
Artist in Residence Begins

November 30 (T)
Regular Day

December 1 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
2:40-3:25, KG Data Team Meeting
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

December 2 (H)
9:45-10:45, Elem Director Visit to Holt
2:35-4:00, Behavior Support EA Interviews (Library)
5:30-8:00, Holt Staff Annual Gingerbread House Event (Katie’s House)

December 3 (F)
7:30-8:30, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting (Zoom)
1:30-2:30, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)
1:30-2:20, 1st Grade Data Team Meeting
2:25-3:15, 2nd Grade Data Team Meeting
2:30-4:00, Allan to New Teacher Mentor Meeting (Zoom)

December 6 (M)
No School – Staff Work Day
5th Grade Staff Room Duty

December 7 (T)
Computer Science Education Week – Hour of Code
TAG Testing Week
Artist in Residence Continues
Allan Out – Stephanie Cannon Covering
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Library)

December 8 (W)
Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
2:40-3:25, 3rd Grade Data Team Meeting

December 9 (H)
4:30-6:30, Allan to Conscious Discipline PD (Zoom)

December 10 (F)
1:30-2:20, 4th Grade Data Team Meeting
2:25-3:15, 5th Grade Data Team Meeting

Have a good week, y’all!

Allan