https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=9367
Greetings Everyone,
If you have any leftover Halloween candy you’re looking to get rid of, the giant community candy dish in my office will gladly take them off your hands.
Fourteen items of note for this week:
• Staffing Updates – Please welcome Kaitlyn Michlanski as our latest new kindergarten teacher. Kaitlyn did her student teaching at Holt in a Kindergarten classroom and was also in the same UO Teacher Ed Program cohort at Savannah and Megan. Kaitlyn’s first official day will be Wednesday, setting up her classroom up that day and during conferences, and starting with students the following week.
We’ve also posted for an additional 6-hour CLC EA position that was approved last week, which should get posted this week, so if you know of any good candidates out there or folks with fewer six hours looking for more time, let them know they should apply.
In other staffing new, I’m also working with downtown to get support for our Music and PE specialists who now have the largest class load in all of 4J. There’s almost no flexibility in the schedule for rescheduling missed preps, so we’ll be relying on extended contract for either classroom teachers or specialists if we can’t reschedule any missed preps.
• Tailfeather Incentive starts MONDAY – See Mellissa’s Email for details, but remember to be on the lookout for positive class behaviors and shower those classes with tailfeathers from November 4 – 22, culminating in a movie day reward a the end of the day on the last day before Thanksgiving Break, Wednesday, November 27th.
• REPEAT: EA Extravaganza Nov. 7th – For classifieds staff, Conference Days are regular work days. See Marlee Litten’s Email and Directions for a list of the workshop opportunities as well as the registration instructions. Follow this Registration Link and do a search for “K-8 EA PD.”
• REPEAT: Conferences Notes – A few key reminders about conferences this week:
• Student Profile Sheets – Teachers, have families review and update Student Profile Sheets.
• Parent Report Update – Parent reports will be delivered to teachers once they are available.
• Title 1 Compacts – Please remember the following:
1. You sign the Teacher section
2. You have the students read (or you read it to them) the Student section
3. You have parents/guardians sign their section at conferences
4. If a Compact is in Spanish (the student’s name is at the top on that side), please sign the Teacher section and have the student sign their section on the Spanish side. This is helpful for the parents when they get sent home.
5. DO NOT SEND COMPACTS HOME WITH STUDENTS!!!For “no-show”, give Corianne the Compact with your signature and the student’s signature.
• Allan Available for Conferences – Let me know if you’d like me to join you for any of your conferences.
• PTO Provided Dinners – Soups and Salads will be here Wednesday night and on Thursday there will be PF Changs for lunch and a separate dinner provided.
• UPDATED: Artist in Residence Schedule – Linked here is the Updated Schedule for the Fall Artist in Residence (Glass fusing Fun! with Rachell Jarvis), which starts this week. Several adjustments were made, but classrooms effected already know. And linked linked here is a Draft Schedule for the Spring Artiest in Residence (Bugs, Bones, & Botany: Exploring the Natural World Through Arts with Jess Graff) from May 4 – June 5.
• PTO Meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 12 – Not this week, but next week on Tuesday, November 12th at 6:00 will be the November PTO Meeting if any staff are able to volunteer their time to show support for the work of our PTO Board members.
• PTO MOD Pizza Fundraiser, Thursday, Nov. 14 – Also next week will be the November PTO Resturant Fundraiser and this month it’s at MOD Pizza on Coburg Road. I try to limit my carbs so my meal of choice at MOD is to do the MOD Salad, where you get to go through all of their pizza toppings and choose which ones you want to go into a big ol’ salad!
• Fun Friday! – Sports Day, Friday, Nov. 15 – The November Fun Friday is next week. This time it’s Sport Day, so come to school ready to celebrate your favorite team or sport. Get kids pumped and get your own attire for the big day!
• NATIVES Program Assembly, Friday, Nov. 15 – Not this Friday, but Friday next week will be a NATIVES Program Assembly. The KG/1/2 assembly will be 8:10-8:40 and the 3/4/5 assembly will be 8:50-9:20. Remember to pre-teach assembly behaviors before the assembly and remember there is a Caring School Community lesson on assembly behaviors if you’d like to use that sometime before the assembly. See the linked NATIVES Assembly Map & Directions for details.
• NAACP Tutoring Resources – If you missed this in the 4J Office of Equity Update, the NAACP offers free PreK-5th tutoring at the LCC Downtown Campus on most Saturdays. See the above link for details or visit the Eugene Springfield NAACP Website.
• Leave Information – There’s no policy change on this, but I do often get questions around leaves and when you need to fill out a leave form, so here are the basics:
1) Any employee out for more than 5 days must submit a leave request to HR – medical, family medical, bereavement, parental, military, personal, part-time and/or professional.
*Copies of the medical, non-medical, family medical and unpaid day request forms can be found on the HR Forms webpage. They can also be found on the web under HR-Leaves of Absence
2) Any bereavement leave request (even if it is less than 5 days) must be submitted using the non-medical leave request form. This is for HR to determine if it is for a qualifying family member, and if they qualify under OFLA. Bereavement leave is also paid out of a different leave bank than the employee’s own banks.
3) All documents required to complete a leave must be turned in directly to HR. This would include leave requests, medical certifications and release forms. All medical leaves must have a release to return to work before they can resume working. If they return to work without a release, they must be sent home until HR receives the release.
4) If an employee is taking any unpaid days (5 days or less), an unpaid day request form must be filled out by the employee, signed by the building supervisor (if it is supported), and turned in to HR. Please note, a building supervisor signature does not mean this type of leave will be approved by HR Admin.
5) HR will enter ALL leaves into Lawson for ALL staff who are on an approved leave. This process will take place at the conclusion of their leave. The only absences the building needs to enter will be non-leave absences, and unpaid day entries.
Please note the importance of #5. If HR and the buildings are both entering absences into Lawson, the employee could be double deducted which will mess up payroll, and their leave banks.
Please only enter absences for non-leave related days, and any approved unpaid day requests. Also, when entering absences into Aesop for staff on leave, please use the code Long Term Leave of Absence.
• Measles information from Lane County Public Health – Free measles shots for staff and dependents are available through many local pharmacies and at the 4J Wellness Clinic. This immunization will be made available to staff at the Wellness Clinic whether your healthcare coverage is through Moda Health or Kaiser Permanente. Please call 541-686-1427 to make an appointment. See the linked Health Notice for details.
• The Role of Emotion Co-Regulation in Discipline – Helping students regain their calm after misbehavior doesn’t mean there are no consequences — it ensures that the right lesson is learned. This Edutopia Article notes that it takes a calm brain to calm another brain—this co-regulation is something that students with ACEs may have missed out on. Their school can be an environment where they feel safe and connected even when they make poor choices.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events for the next two weeks:
November 4 (M)
Roadrunner Tail Feather Challenge Begins
Artist in Residence – Glass-Fusing Fun! – Rachell Jarvis Begins
2:45, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)November 5 (T)
Regular DayNovember 6 (W)
Monthly Walk + Roll to School Day
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:00-8:00, Parent/Teacher ConferencesNovember 7 (H)
8:00-4:00, K-8 EA Extravaganza & MANDT
8:00-8:00, Parent/Teacher Conferences
12:00, Allan to his kids conferences (Adams)
3:40, Allan to ConferenceNovember 8 (F)
Teacher Comp Day – No School
Classified Staff Regular Work Day
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS MeetingNovember 11 (M)
No School — Veterans DayNovember 12 (T)
Roadrunner Tail Feather Challenge Continues
Artist in Residence – Glass-Fusing Fun! – Rachell Jarvis Continues
9:00-10:30, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Matt’s Room, RM21)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Cafeteria)November 13 (W)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
World Kindness Day
Picture RetakesNovember 14 (H)
10:25, Allan to Formal Observation
4:00-9:00, PTO MOD Pizza Fundraiser (Coburg Road)November 15 (F)
Fun Friday! – Sports Day
Popcorn Friday!
8:10-8:40, K-2, Natives Program Storytelling Assembly (Gym)
8:50-9:20, 3-5, Natives Program Storytelling Assembly (Gym)
2:30, Early Release PD – PLC (Library)
Have a good week, everyone, and an even better three-day weekend!
Allan
