https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=2574
Hello Roadrunners,
Ah, another four day week with students and ten items of note for this week:
• October 11th, State In-Service Day – This is a regular work day for Classified Staff, but it is a non-contract day for licensed staff, so only classified staff will be working in the building this day. That being said, I would encourage classified staff who have comp time coming to use it on this day (which is what I’m doing), because the building will be a bit of a ghost town. If you are planning to work this day, please connect with your primary cooperating teacher on how best to help out this day.
• Social Committee Dues – It’s time to replenish our Social Fund. We’ll stick with the same amounts and allocations that have been used in the past; classified pay $15 and licensed pay $25. Please direct your dues to Lori as soon as possible. Thank you!
• New CLC Staff – Please welcome Gina Carter as our new 5 hour CLC EA! Gina has been our go-to sub for Title and Learning Center, so we’re very happy she was able to start last Thursday in the CLC to help with our very challenging group of students. Please welcome Gina to the Howard family!
On a related note, I also wanted to let people know that I brought up my concerns with ESS (among other concerns) over CLC absences being left unfilled by subs. I was assured they are working with HR to make sure CLC absences will be prioritized in AESOP before other positions. I was also told HR is also going to increase the number of people on the classified sub list.
• Counselor Schedule Update – Jennifer is fitting in quite well here at Howard, but we’ve decided to adjust her schedule so she’ll be in the building more often than just two days a week. I think this schedule worked with Lee since he already had established relationships with students, but it would be nice for Jennifer to have the opportunity to get to see students, staff and families on a more regular basis. The schedule we’re going to try out will be:Monday: River Road
Tuesday: River Road 8-12, Howard 12-4
Wednesday: River Road 8-11, Howard 11-2ish (River Road 2ish for meetings [1:45 or 2:45 or not at all depending on the week])
Thursday: Howard 7:30-11:30 River Road 11:30-4
Friday: Howard• Design Committee Update – The School Design Committee had our kick-off meeting last Thursday to review the timeline and design process. If you’re curious, attached is a zip file of what was shared. The first part of the design process is the “Programing” phase, which is more big picture types of conversations around the feel and impression of what we want in a new building (no drawings, just words). The next phase is the Schematic Designs (beginning in November), which is where we’ll get down to the nitty gritty of the school layout. This Wednesday, the Design Committee will be touring three new elementary schools in the Portland area including Rose Parks Elementary and Trillium Creek Elementary, which won some major national awards for school design last year. Tom Piowaty at YG/Corridor will be on-call if anything requiring an administrator were to come up this day. Let me or your staff reps (Angela, Jenny, Lori, Lupe) know if you have any thoughts or questions, but I’ll plan to have School Design as a standing agenda item for Staff Meeting and Site Council for giving updates and seeking input as we go through this exciting process. We really are getting a very unique opportunity that not many school staffs get to go through, helping to design a brand spankin’ new school!
• Updated Master Schedule – There were a couple changes to the Master Schedule involving 3rd and 5th grade workshop and math booster groups, but I did want to make sure everyone had the updated Master Schedule, which is also on the wiki. I also added the library and speech schedules to this document.
• Sub Plans Guidelines from HR – HR asked principals to pass along the attached file, which is a list of suggested information/items that teachers should consider when preparing lesson plans for Guest Teachers. With the goal being seamless transition and a successful day when regular staff are out, it is important that substitutes receive the best information possible.
• Getting Boys to Read – In this article in The Reading Teacher, Frank Serafini addresses boys’ chronic underachievement in reading and has some helpful suggestions for getting boys interested in and also the characteristics of books that appeal to boys, which are:
• Focused on plot, not drama and emotions;
• Visually appealing, for example, magazines and graphic novels;
• Practical, with information boys can use;
• Main characters boys can easily relate to;
• Funny, with elements of mischief and slapstick.I know most of these characteristics are still true for me and actually describe most of the books I chose to read over summer (Ready Player One, Ex-Heroes, Mockingjay, Ocean at the End of the Lane, John Dies as the End, Geek Dad, etc.)
• Title 1 Newsletter – If you’re curious what’s happening in Title 1 from the district perspective, here is the latest Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals.
• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for this week:
October 7 (M)
9:00, Allan meeting with new teacher ed students
10:30, Allan meeting with Feed HopeOctober 8 (T)
2:30-3:30, PBIS MeetingOctober 9 (W)
Walk+Bike to School Day
Allan and Design Team out all-day on school tours (YG/Corridor Principal On-Call.)October 10 (H)
3:00-5:00, Design Team Tour Chavez and Meet with Holt & Chavez Staff for “Lessons Learned”October 11 (F)
State In Service – No Students
Regular Workday for Classified Staff
Non-contract day for Licensed Staff
Enjoy another short week!
Allan
