May 9, 2022

By Allan  

 

Hi Everyone,

My 91-year-old father-in-law had to go to the hospital Friday afternoon and has been in the ICU with intestinal bleeding since then, so I didn’t get as much time to get school work done this weekend as normal. He’s stable now and I hope to get the Site Council agenda and Draft School Improvement Plan out by Monday, as well as a draft plan to Leadership for the 22-23 Class List Process. Stay tuned!

Fourteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing & Expo Updates – Four updates:

• 0.5 SPED Position – Whitney Oliver has been hired as our 0.5 SPED Teacher (shared with 0.5 SPED at Gilham). She’s an experienced special education teacher who is currently the CLC teacher at Chavez. She had excellent references and should make a great addition to our school! Please welcome Whitney to to Team Holt!

• 1.0 SPED Interviews Friday – Our 1.0 SPED Teaching job was not filled at the Expo, but Kelsey and are conducting interviews this Friday at 1:30 to try to hire someone from the 4J Early Hire Pool. Let me know if any of you would like to volunteer your time to join us.

• 2nd Grade Interviews Thursday – Our two 2nd grade classroom positions are also both unfilled. HR wants us to interview some of their early hire candidates before posting externally (I do know of some strong external candidates), so I’m conducting interviews this Thursday at 2:30. Let me know if you’d like to join me for these interviews.

• New School Nurse – Please welcome our new school nurse, Jill Klinko. He schedule isn’t set just yet, but we are sharing her with and Cal Young, so she’ll hopefully be there three days a week like our prior school nurses. Please welcome Jill to the team!

• Region Equity Manager Visit Tuesday – Alma Reyes Guillen, the Sheldon Region Equity Manager emailed principals she is planning to visit all schools in our region this week. She’s visiting Holt on Tuesday at 11:00, so don’t be surprised if you see her in your classroom or around the school.

• Friday PD – Watch for a separate email for this Friday’s PD, which will be async so I can conduct SPED teacher interviews.

• Bruce Hale, Virtual Author Visit, May 17th – Author of the Clark the Shark series of books, Bruce Hale, is doing a virtual author visit at Holt on Tuesday, May 17th at 1:10. I don’t have a Zoom link but will add it to the calendar once I get it. We’ve ordered some books for the library by Bruce, so hopefully we’ll get those this week. If you’d like to get kids excited, he has on his website some Fun Activities and Curriculum Tie-ins.

• Holt Bolt, Thursday, May 19th – The Holt Bolt is on the calendar for Thursday, May 19th at the following times:

K/1/2, 8:45-9:45
3/4/5, 10:30-11:30

The event this year is a “Fun Run” and not a fundraiser. PAHS is going to test out a new digital tool for counting laps, where all students will have a QR code sticker, which volunteer will scan with an app on their phones that keeps track of all participating students. If it works well, we may try it for the Fundraiser Holt Bolt next school year. Students will run around the building. We’ll have a map we will share soon. There will be prizes (TBA on details) and also Otter Pops (or something similar) for kids at the end of the event. There will also be t-shirts for all students and staff! This is my first jog-a-thon at Holt, so let me know if I’m missing anything or if you have any questions.

• CORRECTION (times were swapped): Field Day, Wednesday, June 15th – Holt’s annual end-of-year Field Day will be Wednesday, June 15th. Grades 3-5 will be 8:45-10:15. Grades K-2 will be 12:00-1:30. Linked here is the 2022 Field Day Plan, including station direction, where classes will start, and map of the stations. Thank you, Alex, for coordinating all of this!

• COVID Updates – Two COVID updates:

• When to Stay Home w/Symptoms – We are almost back to regular-times standards for when staff need to stay home, which is fever or vomiting. The only new wrinkle is if you have symptoms on the COVID list you need to have a negative test, which I can administer to you here at school. The HR COVID person said staff, “need to stay home if they are sick – that goes without question. If it is congestion and runny nose, and they test negative they can come to work. As always, they must be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to work (if they had a fever).” COVID symptoms are:

• Fever of 100.4º or higher
• Chills
• Cough (non-persistent, dry coughs are okay, but congested coughs are not)
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

• iHealth Rapid Test Expiration Dates – If families ask about the expiration date on the iHealth tests that were sent home with all students, the date have been extended to 9 months instead of the 6 currently listed on the boxes. Also, the date is likely to be extended to 12 months. Also, we still have extra tests if you know of any families needing rapid tests.

• G.I. Outbreak Update – Unfortunately the barfing continues, so we aren’t able to lift the LCPH safety measures just yet. Keep washing those hands!

• ELA Adoption Update – The ELA Adoption Team meet last Friday to review their independent scoring of the two pilot programs. If you’re interested in seeing the final scores, see the linked LA/ Literacy Materials Adoption Pilot Wrap Up & Celebrations Slide Show. I checked in with Robin S. and she said the team is moving forward with recommending Wit & Wisdom for adoption.

• TSPC PDU/PEER Form Temp Change – TSPC is suspending PDU Reporting through the end of next year, December 2023. HR is not requiring licensed staff to turn anything in, but continue to track PDUs, since you’ll need to have those ready for any renewals for January 2024 and beyond (if nothing else changes). Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Self-Harm Event Recording – Linked here is the Self-Harm Video Recording from the community event about self-harm that was held April 25th at Sheldon. It could be a good resource if families reach out about self-harming behaviors.

• Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Activities – May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. If you are looking for activities to recognize the challenges the AAPI community has faced and celebrate their part in the American story, see these resources at Houghton Mifflin, NEA, Education Northwest, and the official Asian Pacific American Heritage Month website.

• 5 Super Common End-of-Year Behavior Issues (Plus How to Address Them!) – This WeAreTeachers Article was already shared by Kim, but I wanted to highlight it. Excessive talking, incomplete work, defiance, drama, and no motivation. Read on for tips how to handle these situations.

• 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 9 (M)
Yellow Day
ELD/Speech/Title/Counselor Staff Room Duty
TAG Testing Window Opens
8:30, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Zoom)
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS, ELA PT
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, ELA CAT

May 10 (T)
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS, ELA PT
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, ELA CAT
2:45-3:25, PBIS Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
6:00-7:00, Conscious Discipline Parent Night (Zoom)
6:00-7:00, ACE Awards Celebration (Facebook)

May 11 (W)
School Nurse Day (Office)
8:30-1:30, Allan to Superintendent Interviews (Ed Center)
9:00-11:00, Allan skipping Elem Principals’ Meeting
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS, ELA PT
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, ELA CAT
12:45-2:25, Storyteller, 4th Grade
5:00-6:00, Site Council (Zoom)

May 12 (H)
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS, ELA PT
9:10-10:10, 4th Grade School Garden Project Lessons (Garden)
10:40-11:40, 4th Grade School Garden Project Lessons (Garden)
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, ELA CAT
12:45-1:45, 4th Grade School Garden Project Lessons (Garden)
2:30-4:30, 2nd Grade Interviews (In-Person & Zoom)
6:00-7:00, PAHS (Parents at Holt School) Meeting (Zoom)

May 13 (F)
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, ELA CAT
1:30-2:25, Friday PD
1:30-3:30, SPED Teacher Interviews (In-Person & Zoom)

May 16 (M)
SPED/PE Staff Room Duty
8:30, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Zoom)
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS – ELA CAT
11:00-12:00, 4th Grade O Heroes Program Visit
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, Math CAT
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Zoom)

May 17 (T)
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS – Math CAT
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, Math CAT
1:10-2:10, Bruce Hale, Virtual Author Visit (Zoom)
2:45-3:25, Staff Meeting (Library)

May 18 (W)
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS – Math CAT
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, Math CAT
12:45-2:25, Storyteller, 4th Grade
7:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

May 19 (H)
8:45-9:45, K-2 Holt Bolt
9:05-9:50, 3rd Grade OSAS – Math CAT
10:30-11:30, 3-5 Holt Bolt
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, Math CAT

May 20 (F)
11:30-12:30, 5th Grade OSAS, Math CAT
1:30-2:25, Friday PD

Just 27.5 kid days left. Here’s a link to some Summer Countdown Actives to relish your final days with your kids. You’ve got this, people!

Allan