https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=12264
Hello Holt Staff,
Sorry, this is a long set of announcements.
Twenty items of note for this week:
• Staffing Updates – Two Staffing Updates:
• SPED EA Interviews, Friday – Emily and I will conduct SPED EA interviews this Friday if there are any staff, both licensed or classified who’s like to join us. Let me know and I’ll send you the agenda, applications, and questions. I realized this is during the Friday PD, but there is a timelines to this hire and no other times worked, so anyone helping with these interviews will have to miss the Friday PD.
• 1st Grade Hire – We held interviews a week ago and had some strong candidates. We’re waiting on HR to make things official.
• Bellizzi’s Pizza Fundraiser, WEDNESDAY – Remind your class there is a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at Bellizzi’s Pizza Joint on Coburg Road this Wednesday, 4:00-9:00. Just mention Holt when ordering and Bellizzi’s will donate 25% of the total bill to the school. Take out and dine in only.
• REEPAT: School Spirit Day, FRIDAY, DRESS-UP DAY! – Friday, October 28th is the monthly Holt Spirit Day and this time it’s Dress-Up Day! Kids can come to school in a favorite costume or fancy outfit. The following costume dress code has been shared with families:
• NO weapons or weapon-like props
• NO masks (except with teacher permission in class)
• NO especially scary or gory costumes
• NO inflatable costumes
• NO dressing as another race, ethnicity, or culture• REPEAT: School Spirit Assembly, FRIDAY – We’ll have our monthly School Spirit Assembly on Friday in the gym. The assembly will start at 8:15 and all classes should be seated at that time. We’re planning on announcing Holt Bolt jog-a-thon prizes at the assembly, so stay turned for details. See the linked Assembly Map & Agenda for details.
• REPEAT: Kona Ice Fundraiser, FRIDAY @12:30 – Kona Ice is coming to Holt for one last time before they shut down for the season. Teachers should sent bus riders who brought money to hard at 12:30, so they have time to buy and eat their shave ice before having to get onto the bus. I do realize 4th and 5th grade will 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!
• Friday PD: Curriculum – The 4J PD Calendar lists “Curriculum” as the topic for this Friday’s PD, but as usual, no other details have been given. The patter seems to be downtown sends information to principals (and not directly to teachers for some reason) two days before the PD, so stay turned for more info later this week. Mostly likely we’ll be Zooming in the library at 1:25 for something or other.
• Safety Week Info, Oct. 31 – Nov. 4 – Next week we’ll hold our Safety Week, which is a good way to bring awareness to staff, students, and families about the various school safety procedures.
• Monday: Evacuation Drill (i.e. Fire Drill)
• Tuesday: Lockdown Drill
• Wednesday: Secure Drill & Playground Emergency Whistle
• Thursday: Room Clear – Time decided by teachers
• Friday: Earthquake/Fire DrillTeaches should pre-teach the drills to students ahead of time and can either use the Standard Response Protocol Poster, which should be posted in every classrooms (let me know if you don’t have one and I’ll get you one) or you could use the linked Safety Week Slide Show, which I plagiarized from another school. For your own edification, here is a link to the Complete SRP Guide and the SRP Folding on the Staff Google Drive.
Lesli is working on a schedule for the drills and those will be added to the Staff Zimbra Calendar soon.
MONDAY – Evacuation Drill (fire drill): We’ve already done one Fire Drill this year and I will simply pull the alarm to start the drill. Linked here is the Building Evacuation Map and the Fire Drill Line Map. Teachers should explain that an Evacuation Drill can be more than a fire drill and that there are times we might need to evacuate to a specific locations, such as an announcement saying, “Evacuate! To the church across the street.” or another location.
TUESDAY – Lockdown Drill (for a danger inside the building): I will first announce that we are doing to do a Lockdown Drill, giving a brief explanation how it will work. I will then announce, “Lockdown! Locks, Lights, Out of Sight.” Classroom doors are to be locked, curtains closed, lights turned out, and students moved out of sight. Classrooms should appear unoccupied and remain locked until a first responders unlock doors. For the drill, myself or staff will unlock classroom doors to announce all clear. In a real Lockdown, if there is an immediate threat, staff and students would self-evacuate.
WEDNESDAY– Secure Drill (for a danger outside the building): For the Secure Drill (formerly knows as a “lockout”), I will announce “Secure! Get Inside, Lock outside doors.” All exterior doors are to be locked. No one will be let in or out of building. It will then be business as usual inside the building until the all-clear signal is given, which I will do 10 minutes into the drill. This drill is done if there was something unsafe in the neighborhood.
THURSDAY – Room Clear (for a danger in the classroom): Room Clear Drills will happen at a time determined by classroom teachers. In normal times this drill would be done in cooperation with another classroom where students could go in the event of an actual room clear, but for this year because of distancing rules, I’d advise teachers to use their commons areas, the library, or an empty classroom if you have one nearby. The goal of this drill is for students to know where they would room clear to in the event of an actual emergency since in most cases the teacher would need to remain in the classroom when the rest of the students moved out of the room.
FRIDAY – Shelter Drill (i.e. Earthquake Drill & Fire Drill): For the Shelter/Earthquake Drill, teach students to “Drop, Cover, Hold,” meaning drop to the ground (so you don’t fall over), cover yourself by going under a desk (to protect yourself from falling objects), and hold onto the desk legs (so you stay under cover and don’t get bounced out). There are many resource on The Great Oregon Shake Out website for you to teach students about Drop, Cover, Hold and earthquake preparedness. See the linked Evacuation Map & Lines for where classes should line up for the Fire Drill following the Earthquake Drill when you hear the fire alarm go off.
Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
• CPR/AED/First Aid Training Sign-Up – I’ve been trying to since the start of the year to schedule a CPR/AED/First Aid training for any interested staff. SSD was going to check with a provider about a two part training on Wednesday, Nov. 2 (2:45-5:45) and Thursday, Nov. 3 (2:45-5:15). I’ve fired off another email for an update, but just so we’re ready if these dates do work out, let me know if you’d like to attend this FREE training. Staff required to CPR/First Aid trained and staff with medically fragile students will be prioritized, but outside of that it will be first come, first serve.
• Fall Conferences Info – Ten Conference related info:
• REMINDER: Conference Dates – Dates for conferences are:
Nov. 8 (T), 3:30-7:30, Evening Conferences
Nov. 9 (W), 8:00-8:00, All-Day Conferences
Nov. 10 (F), No School, Teacher Comp Day
Nov. 11 (H), Veterans Day – No School• Conference Email Sign-Up Sent Monday @3:30 – All classroom teachers should email their Calendly Link to families this Monday at 3:00. Below is sample language you can use for your email and below that is the English version of what I will send translated to non-English speaking families to sign up for two time blocks. Not on my blog but attached to my email is a list of all the families who marked that either the parent home language as something other than English.
SAMPLE TEACHER EMAIL (Subject: Fall Conferences Sign-Up)
Dear Families,
Parent/Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, November 8th from 3:30 pm-7:30 pm and Wednesday, November 9th from 8:00 am-8:00 pm. There will be no school on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday this week.
Conferences are in-person this year and families should sign-up for one of the open slots on the link below:
https://calendly.com/allanchinn/family-conferences-22-23-clone
Building strong parent-teacher partnerships is important in reaching our common goal: helping your child get the best education possible.
Thank you,
TEACHER NAME
———————————————————————–
EMAIL TO NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING FAMILIES:
Dear Families,
Your child’s teacher will send a link on Monday for your to sign-up for a parent/teacher conference to discuss your child’s progress at school.
For families who need translators to communicate with your child’s teacher, we ask that you sign up for two time slots in a row, to give extra time for the translator to interpret the conversation.
Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.
Allan Chinn,
Principal
• Title 1 Compacts & Conferences – Title 1 Compacts (English and Spanish) should be reviewed with all families at conferences. For the signatures, the teacher and student should sign the form and for parents review the permission section at conferences. If a parent is on Zoom, just date the form in the parent signature line that the parents agreed to do their part. Title 1 staff will put class sets in teacher mailboxes.
• Language Link Phone Translations – 4J is not providing live translators, so teachers will need to use Language Link. See the 4J Language Link Phone Interpreting Service webpage for step-by-step directions how to do translations for in-person meetings, phone meetings, or Zoom meetings. The directions are pretty straightforward, but when they ask for the “cost center number,” that number is 270. Plan ahead if you are new to using this service, but let me know if you need any help.
• Meals for Conferences – I’ll plan on providing dinner for staff on Wednesday at 5:30 and I’ve emailed PAHS about providing a big lunch for staff on Wednesday, with enough to be left over for dinner, which is what we did last year. Let me know if you have any request/suggestions for Tuesday’s dinner!
• Staff Not in Conferences – Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are regular work days for all staff who are not part of conferences and should work your regular hours at school. However, if you have pre-arranged trade time with me in order to not work any of these dates, email me your plan ahead of time.
• Allan Available to Attend Conferences – Teachers can let me know if you have any tricky conferences you’d like me to attend. Send me a date & time (and a Zoom link if it’s on Zoom) and I’ll be there!
• Allan’s Conference Tips – I’ve said this before, but wanted to share again that parents generally just want to see that teachers “know” their child and care about them. If you can convey that at your conference, usually by sharing a story or two, mission accomplished! My other advice is to start conferences off with “How do things look on your end?” or other open ended question so parents to share anything that’s on their mind, rather than making them wait until the end and possibly running out of time.
• Free Tutoring for Students – Should any families request tutoring, you can direct them to the Free Tutoring Holt Webpage under Resources on the Holt Website. There they will find links to free tutoring through Hygge Tutoring (for BIPOC and low-income students), The Eugene Rotary, and NAACP (for BIPOC students). HOWEVER, do not suggest tutoring to parents, because if staff do that, then 4J and Holt are potentially on the hook to pay for that tutoring.
• Resources for Families – Should any families request assistance with food, clothing, housing/rental assistance, hygiene product, SNAP (food stamps) Benefits, Insurance, counseling, and such, please have them fill out the linked Helping Hand Online Form, the form below, or contact Holt Family Resource Coordinator, Felicia LaCuesta, at lacuesta_f@4j.lane.edu or call me (541)790-6174.
• November Zap Prizes – It is time to nominate students for Monthly Zap Prizes. Go to the Zap Nominations Form and add names to your tab.
• Student Tech Contract (K-2 and 3-5) – Linked here and on the Holt Staff Dashboard is the K-2 Holt Student Technology Contract and the 3-5 Holt Student Technology Contract. As discussed at last week’s staff meeting, teachers should review this document with students, using it as a teaching tool, and then have students and parent/guardians (possibly at conference) sign the agreement.
• Morning Meeting Slides From Friday PD – Although I’m not a fan of PD on Fridays, I am a fan of morning meetings, so check out the linked resources and morning meeting activity ideas found in the SEL Morning Meeting Slide Show from last Friday.
• Staff Attendance Reminder – Mentioned in the Back to School Policy Memo, staff should note that regular attendance is defined as being absent no more than once per month. Things do, of course, come up and staff need to stay home due to sick kids, being sick yourself, or using your contractually allowed leaves, but on average one absence a month is the district expectation.
• Incident (i.e. injury, unsafe student) Reports – As a reminder to staff, the 4J Incident Report form is required for all on-the-job injuries, but can also be used to report and document threatening interactions with extreme behavior demonstrated by physically aggressive students. Please do not be hesitant to use these form, as this is important information for the school district to be aware of and have on record.
• Air Quality LRAPA Conversion – If you’re someone who monitors air quality, I recently learned that Purple Air, which gives localized Air Quality Index (AQI) numbers, offers a filter from LRAPA that takes into account other variables in the air, such as fog or other types of particulates that are not harmful, but can raise the AQI. You can apply this filter by clicking on the white bar in the top left of the map and then going to the “Apply conversion” pulldown menu and select LRAPA. I’ve heard this is what the high school athletic directors are using to determine if there are games or practices outdoors, though if a district-wide communication goes out that all outside activities are cancelled, that’s trumps any local measurements on Purple Air.
• Vector/Safe Schools Trainings – Downtown finally sent out the Safe Schools Training info to staff. If for some reason you did not receive this email, please email Mel Morphis at morphis_m@4j.lane.edu and CC me.
• ODE Report Cards and Detail Sheets – I shared the embargoed Oregon Department of Education (ODE) State Report Cards earlier this year, but ODE officially released report card info last Thursday. Overall, Holt scored better than other higher needs schools and also better than lower needs schools compared to Holt. To view the reports, visit the ODE At-A-Glance Profiles and Accountability Details webpage and just type a school name in the window.
• REPEAT: Talent Ed Goals Due 10/31 and Optional Shared Staff Goals – The TalentEd Self Assessment and Goals are nearly due. Licensed Staff Goals are due at the end of October. If you’d like, you can feel free to cut-and-paste these Optional SEL Shared Staff Building Goals into TalentEd before the Oct. 31 deadline.
• Giving Students Choice in the Classroom Increases Engagement – When her students asked about tornadoes during a unit on weather, this teacher saw clearly how student engagement enhances learning. See this Edutopia Article for tips on giving student choice to increase student engagement.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
October 24 (M)
Safety Week – Evacuation (Fire) Drill (Time is TBA)
Library Week #2 Classes
Kindergarten Staff Room Duty
Fall Benchmarking Continues
8:15, Allan Meeting w/4J Natives Program (Office)
8:45, Allan Meeting w/ESD Affinity Group Coordinator (Office)
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)October 25 (T)
9:15-1:00, KG Pumpking Patch Field Trip
2:45-3:30, PBIS/SEL/Equity Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
4:00-6:00, Allan to IPBS Training (ATA)
5:30-7:00, Grand Opening: Edison Elementary SchoolOctober 26 (W)
Holt Bolt Fundraiser Envelopes Due
9:00-10:00, Allan Meeting w/Prevention Services (Darla’s Office)
2:45-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Kelsey’s Room)
4:00-9:00, Holt Night Out – Bellizzi’s Pizza Fundraiser
October 27 (H)
2:45-3:30, Leadership Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:30, Holt Costume BINGO Night (Cafeteria)October 28 (F)
Holt Spirit Day – Dress Up Day!
8:15, School Spirit Assembly (Gym)
10:30-12:00, KG Hearing Screening (Katharine’s Room)
12:30-2:00, Kona Ice – Holt Shave Ice Fundraiser!
1:25-2:25, Friday PD – Curriculum (Library/Zoom)
1:25-3:25, SPED EA Interviews (Emily’s Room)October 31 (M)
Safety Week – Evacuation (Fire) Drill (Time is TBA)
Library Week #1 Classes
1st /grade Staff Room Duty
4:15-5:15, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)November 1 (T)
Safety Week – Lockdown Drill (Time is TBA)
Ewok Appreciation Day2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)November 2 (W)
Safety Week – Secure (Time is TBA) & Playground Emergency Whistle Drill
Safety Week – Playground Emergency Whistle Drill (Lunch Recess)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
1:45-2:15, 3rd Grade Delgani Strings Assembly (Cafeteria)
2:45-5:45, CPR/AED/First Aid Training (tentative)
7:00-9:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)November 20 (H)
Safety Week – Room Clear Drill (time decided by teachers)
9:00, Safety Committee Meeting (Office)
2:45-5:15, CPR/AED/First Aid Training (tentative)November 21 (F)
Safety Week – Shelter (Earthquake) &Fire Drill (Time is TBA)
9:00-12:00, Health [K-5] & Vision Screening [K-2] (Gym)
1:25-2:25, Friday PD – Staff Choice
1:25-2:25, Classified Staff Meeting (Library)
Any if you need a little good news, only three of the next six weeks are full 5-day weeks with students. ;)
Allan
