October 22, 2018

By Allan  

 

Hello Awesome Howard Staff,

No one hit the Mega Millions $970,000,000 jackpot, so I guess that means everyone is coming to work Monday. However, if you want to get in on Crystal’s lotto pool, give her $3 before Tuesday at 2:00 to get in on the new $1.6 billion jackpot!

Seventeen items of note for this week:

• Allan Out Monday – I’m at an all-day training this Monday 8:30-3:30, but will have an admin practicum student, North Eugene HS teacher Travis Sheaffer, covering for me. His secondary placement is with me and his primary placement over at North, so feel free to call on Travis if you need help with anything. Give him a good taste of elementary.

• Informal Observations – I used this already for a couple teachers, but linked here is a new TalentEd Informal Observation form that incorporates Behavior Framework Modules 1-4. I’ll plan to use this form for teacher’s first informal who are on Contract Year-1 or Probationary/Temporary.

• New SPED Referral Process – I shared in earlier announcements the new SSD process for referring students to be evaluated for Special Education, but last week principals received our first presentation on this new process as well as slightly updated forms. Linked here is the new SPED Referral Process (which includes the process for both staff and parent referrals) and also the new SPED Referral Packet. The short version of the new process is that if a student is being consider for a SPED evaluation, building staff need to complete the above SPED Referral Packet, send it downtown to an SSD team of school psychologists and other specialists who meet every other week to review packets, and then send their recommendations back to buildings to decide whether or not to proceed with an Evaluation Planning Meeting. It’s a massive eleven page packet, but it’s all the same information you’d look at prior to an Evaluation Planning Meeting. Also, most of it can be printed off from Synergy or easyCBM and we’re allowed to simply write “See Attached.” The reasoning behind this new process is to bring equity to the referral process, because for a variety of reason, students with similar experiences and challenges might get evaluated at one school but not at another. SSD is still taking input on the packet format, but the process is pretty well set in place. If you’re interested, linked here is the SPED Referral Process Presentation principals were shown last week. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• PTO Meeting Updates – Linked here are the October PTO Meeting Minutes. Highlights from the meeting include an upcoming science themed PTO Family Night on Wednesday, November 14th.Tech Trot updates, and plans to feed teachers dinner during conferences.

• Mission/Vision/Collective Commitments Draft – Meetings notes, handouts, and Collective Commitment posters can be found on the Google Team Drive Meetings/Teams > Staff Meetings > 2018-2019 > Minutes > 2018-10-19. Looking over the ranked Collective Commitments, the 4/5 poster had more than any other, so I used those five commitments as the base. I then took any of the other commitments that received six or more dots and matched them up with the 4/5 commitments, which wasn’t too hard since all teams did a good job of matching commitments to the vision statement. Linked here is the Draft Collective Commitments, along with our Mission and Vision Statements. Teachers to look over these commitments and ask the following questions, which we will review at a future Math PLC meeting:

• What collective commitments did the group feel were the most important? Why?
• Were there any commitments that people could not commit to? If so, why?
• Are these commitments specific enough about how we will behave as a group?
• Are we leaving any commitments out that need to be included?

If you have wordsmithing suggestions or have other thought or input before then, please let me know.

• SMART Notebook Update – If any teachers need to update SMART Notebook on your laptops, downtown has received the updated license. To run the update, first quit Notebook if it’s open. Then go to your application folder where you should see Managed Software Center. Open that, click on the Software tab and then find SMART Notebook Activation. If you click Install that should update the license key and you should have Notebook fully functioning again. If you need assistance, call the Technology Help Desk at x7777 or email Peggy at 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu

• Facilities Items – Four facilities related items:

• Space Heaters – Space heaters are not allowed in schools for safety reasons, but I do know that with colder weather I sometimes see these temporarily set up. Please do not use these in the building, but if you are, be especially careful that no combustibles (i.e. anything that can burn) are nearby. Combustibles near a heater is what caused the fire at Corridor last school year.

• Automatic Blinds Update – Upstairs classrooms, minus yellow wing, do not have curtain control at the moment. Facilities Dept. staff are waiting for a part that went bad, but have made the downstairs curtain controls more stable. Still, there are going to be issues, so in the meantime don’t bother with notifying me and Crystal if your blinds aren’t working until they are officially fixed. Here’s an email from Dexter with more detail if you’re interested. On a related note, continue to make sure to classroom furniture is not left under the blind to cause obstructions.

• AMX Issues During Evacuation Drill – If you’re wondering what went wrong with the blinds, alerts, and PA system during the ALICE Drill last week, a bunch of setting in the AMX system got change and are now fixed. Once we hit the lockdown button in the office, it locked us out of making announcements until we deactivated the lockdown (I had to use the phone in my office). We’re also concerned that it took almost two minutes for the curtains to drop after hitting the button. The doors locked right away, but the curtain delay was not good, but Facilities staff think the delay will get fixed by the part needed for the above blinds issue.

• Green Wing Evacuation Bottle Neck – During our evacuation drills last week, it was pretty clear we have too many classes exiting the green wing 1st grade door. Linked here is a Revised Evacuation Map which has one of the 4th grade classrooms (Carla) exiting with the Title 1 classrooms down the nearby Library stairwell. We’ll try this at next month’s fire drill to see if this works better, or if it causes traffic issue with 2nd grade exiting. We’ll see how it goes.

• School Supply Budget – We’re six weeks into the school year and have already spent a third of our supply budget, mostly on paper. There’s quite a lot of the school year left (30 weeks if you’re counting), so please be judicious in your use of paper, copies, and supplies. Hopefully this spike is just for start-of-the-year stuff.

• Library Updates – Library updates from Julie:

I miss you all! Thank you for your patience during my absence. It was so unexpected. I was not prepared to be gone by any stretch of my imagination.

Library for next week. My subs will not be covering the library. So the library will be closed except for scheduled classes. OBOB lunches will also be canceled this week. Please tell the kids I’m so sorry.

Ailson Connor will cover Kinder classes on Monday for check out.
Wednesday morning classes for check out
Thursday and Friday classes for check out

I have reached out to Priscilla Ing to cover, I’m hoping she can make it.
Tuesday – Jessy ‘s 1st grade check out
Wednesday Charpie’s 1st grade class for check out
Callihan 5th grade class for check out

• NCU Teacher Ed Program Student Opportunities – Downtown sent an email to principals asking if any teachers want to host NCU teacher education students. The above link lists the students and placements being sought. It’s first come, first served, so let me know by Friday if you’re interested and I’ll forward your name to HR.

• Reminder: Classified Breaks and Meal Periods – HR sent principal the following email reminder regarding Classified Breaks and Meal Periods. Please see the key questions and answer below:

Q. An employee arrived 15 minutes late for work and said she would work through her first break to make up the time. Is this acceptable
A. No. Your employee must actually take all required breaks. The rest break may not be deducted from the beginning or end of the work period.

Q. My employee says he prefers to skip his afternoon rest break and leave 15 minutes early. Is that OK?
A. No. The law requires employees to take all required breaks. The rest period may not be deducted from the end of the work period to reduce the overall length of the total work period.

Q. Sometimes my staff would like to skip their breaks and add the time on to their meal period so they can have an extended lunch. As long as they receive the total time required, is this allowed?
A. No. To be in compliance with the law, you must require employees to take all breaks separately and approximately in the middle of each segment of four hours or major part thereof worked as the nature of the work allows.

Q. No matter how often I remind my employee, he refuses to take his meal and rest breaks. Since I have given him every opportunity to take the breaks but he chooses not to, am I in compliance?
A. No. Your employee may not legally waive his rights to receive required rest and meal periods.

• Parent/Teacher Conference Info – Three items of note for conferences coming up in three weeks:

• Parent Report & LZ Printouts – I know some teachers like to have the parent reports with attendance and assessment data for conferences. I’ve sent an email to the data folks downtown to ask if these will be available again this year. Last year we only got them at grading periods, so if we do not get them, remember there are parent reports available in easyCBM, although they are limited to only this year’s data. Last year we also printed out the LearnZillion Parent Sheet on Productive Struggle. Let me know by Friday, November 2nd if you’d a class set of these.

• NEA Tips – Linked here is an NEA Post with a variety of tips and resources for preparing for and conducting Parent-Teacher Conferences. My own tip for conferences is that it’s important parents get a sense that teachers know their child and that their child is valued and cared for. If you can convey that, it builds trust and it’s easier to share more challenging of information, which can make for a more successful conference.

• FREE Massages! – During conferences, LCC Massage Therapy students will be here Wednesday (two students 4:00-7:00) and Thursday (one student 9:00-12:00) to give staff working these days FREE massages. I’ll put a sign-up sheet on the Staff Room whiteboard. Put your name down by Friday, Nov 2nd if you’d like one (or two).

• Texas Roadhouse Lunch, Nov. 2nd! – Not this week, but next week on Friday, Nov. 2nd, The Texas Roadhouse is providing us with a Staff Appreciation Luncheon, so mark your calendars for 10:30 this date and bring your appetite!

• United Way Annual Campaign – United Way Campaign Forms were put in staff mailboxes this past Friday. If you’d like to donate, return forms to my mailbox by Friday, November 16th. United Way of Lane County supports many Lane County community programs that assist our students and families. Linked here is the email sent to principals. You can learn more about what all they do by following the above link or by watching the video below.

• REPEAT: Bike Rodeo, Tuesday w/Location Change – Tuesday, from 2:30-4:00 on the playground is the Safe Routes to School Bike Rodeo. The location changed to the playground due to a rainy forecast, so they can use the covered play area if it’s raining and use the entire blacktop area if it’s not. Feel free to share with students!

• The Best Classroom Screensavers on YouTube – If you have a projector and you haven’t tried classroom screensavers, what are you waiting for? Here are a few favorite We Are Teachers Screen Savers. Choose your favorites and be sure to click off the ads before you let them run. Follow their YouTube Classroom Screensavers Playlist for a complete list.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

October 22 (M)
Tech Trot Pledge Envelopes Due
Newsletter Articles Due
8:10-9:40, 2nd Grade Fire Safety Presentation (Larsen/Pond)
8:40-9:10, 2nd Grade Fire Safety Presentations (Gaston/Swift)
8:30-3:30, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee Training, Travis Sheaffer subbing (Ed Center)
8:30-12:15, Howard PLC – Half-Day (5/2/1)

1st – 8:30-9:30
2nd – 10:00-11:00
5th – 11:15-12:15

October 23 (T)
8:15-12:15, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
8:30-3:30, Allan to Pay Grade Eval. Training (Ed Center) SKIPPING
8:30-1:00, Half of 2nd Grade to Mount Pisgah
9:00-1:00, OSEA Visit to Howard (Staff Room)
11:10-2:25, Howard PLC – Half-Day (K/3/4)

KG – 11:10-12:10
3rd – 12:15-1:15
4th – 1:25-2:25

2:30-4:00, Bike Rodeo (Playground Blacktop)
2:40-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)

October 24 (W)
8:00-12:00, Smarty Ants Pilot Training (STEAM Room)
11:35-12:40, OBOB Lunches (Community Room) CANCELLED
2:40-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)

October 25 (H)
8:30-1:00, Other Half of 2nd Grade to Pisgah
2:40-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, RM24)

October 26 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:00-1:00, Kindergarten to Detering
10:30-12:40, Oct. BDay Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD CANCELLED (Make-Up Day for Oct. 12)

October 29 (M)
Lori Out
2:40-3:30, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)

October 30 (T)
2:40-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)

October 31 (W)
8:10-8:40, Halloween Costume Parade
2:40, Staff Costume Photo! (Library Story Cove)

November 1 (H)
PBIS Monthly Theme – Appreciations

November 2 (F)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
10:30-1:00, Texas Roadhouse Catered Lunch (Staff Room)
1:25, EA Supervisors Meeting (Title 1 Room, RM26)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Behavior Framework Module 5 (Erin’s Room, RM22)

Have a great week, everyone!

Allan