September 2, 2014

By Allan  

 

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all took some time to relax this Labor Day Weekend before the big show beings on Wednesday!

Fourteen items of note this week:

• Supervision First Week of School – All available staff should help supervise in the morning out front, in the breezeway and the 1st grade hallway areas. Students and buses generally start arriving at 7:25. Staff should also help out at dismissal in the bus area and by the Howard sign.

• Staffing Updates – For any staff who were not at Friday’s meeting, Aden Farina-Henry was hired as our new 4 hour CLC 1:1 EA for a first grade student. Aden worked in a similar position when he lived in Austin, TX. Also from the CLC, Bryon decided not to return to his position in the CLC this year, so ESS has posted for his position. We will have a sub taking his place until ESS hires his replacement. Renee Henderson also got hired into an EA position at Spring Creek where she’s been the BEST Coordinator. The posting for this vacancy will code on Tuesday, so I’m hoping to conduct interviews this Friday so we can have someone hired when classes start on Monday. We also have a new School Psychologist, Kelly Korach, who besides working at Howard will be at Corridor/YG and Twin Oaks. Kelly recently completed his School Psychology Degree at Lewis and Clark College and previous to that he taught English as overseas in Japan teaching. Please join me in welcoming these folks to Howard!

• PBIS Focus: Safety – The September PBIS monthly focus is Celebrating Your Success, so remember the PBIS/CFK Cheat Sheet, which matches our monthly themes with Caring for Kids class meeting lessons. This is an easy way to tie the two activities together.

• Classroom Newsletters – I’d love to have copies of classroom newsletters (electronic version preferred) when teachers send/email them home to families. This helps me keep up to date on what’s happening (or going to happen) in classes, and also lets me know details of any class activities that I might be able to get the local media to come out and cover. I love promoting our school!

• Updated 2014-2015 Master Schedule – Attached is an updated Master Schedule, which now includes PE/Music and Library schedule tabs.

• District Mandatory Policy Review for all StaffAttached and linked here is the District Back-to-School Memo, which all staff must review and sign & return the acknowledgement form to Lori no later than Friday, September 26th.

• Howard Staff Handbook ReviewAttached is the updated Staff Handbook for 2014-2015. All staff must review the handbook and sign & return the acknowledgement form to Lori by Friday, September 26th.

• Principal Visits to Classrooms – I’d like to again visit every classroom sometime during the first couple weeks of school to greet students. I’ll read a favorite story to your class and chat with the kids a bit. Teachers, please let me know a good 15-20 minute block of time to come and visit. Thank you!

• TAG Identified Students – Teachers, if you have any TAG identified students in your class this year, you’ll have already received an email naming the kiddos.

• Information Supplied for Guest Teachers – In this email from HR 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 our permanent staff are out, it is essential that our Guest Teachers receive the best information possible.

• 4J Admin Updates – Maddie Ahearn is the new Math Curriculum Administrator for the 2014/15 school year. Maddie was previously a math teacher leader in 4J, working at North Eugene and Roosevelt. Before coming to Eugene 4J in 2010, she worked in Baltimore Maryland as a math instructional coach and teacher. Randi Bowers-Payne was just hired for the Risk Manager Administrator position. In Lansing, Michigan, Randi acted as the entire Human Resource department for a Regional Education Service Agency.

• Dept. of Ed. projects public schools will be ‘majority-minority’ this fall – If we needed an additional reason to focus on issues of race and equity, a milestone is expected to be reached this fall when minorities outnumber whites among the nation’s public school students for the first time, U.S. Department of Education projections show. This is due largely to fast growth in the number of Hispanic and Asian school-age children born in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.

• More teachers engage students with virtual field trips – In 2013, 25,000 teachers — a 30% increase over the previous year — joined Skype in the Classroom. See this ABC News article on how some educators are using the platform to bring virtual guest speakers into their classrooms and to take students on virtual field trips.

• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for this week:

September 1 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 2 (T)
9:00-9:30, Staff Meeting – PBIS Review (Library)
9:30, Q&A Session for New Staff – Optional (Library)
11:00-12:00, Allan to Facilities Dept.
1:00-2:00, Meet your Teacher

September 3 (W)
First Day for Students
PBIS Focus: Safety
Fall Benchmark Testing Begins

September 4 (H)
10:40, Allan Reading to Class

September 5 (F)
10:40, Allan Reading to Class
8:15, Title 1 EA Interviews – Tentative (Office)

September 8 (M)
Writing Samples Window Opens
Fall Benchmark Testing Continues
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting

September 9 (T)
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)

September 10 (W)
Regular Day

September 11 (H)
Data Team Meetings

September 12 (F)
Regular Day

Have a great first week back, everyone!

Allan

 

And now, travel back to 1985 and enjoy an episode of The Cosby Show titled “The First Day of School”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-nH3Q7ArAk[/youtube]