Madison Middle School

By gaston_e 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2019/08/26/august-26-2019/

Greetings Madison Staff!

Many of you have already stopped in, but tomorrow is the day we all get to reunite. 

The goal of this blog is to share all of the important information in one convenient location. My goal is to post weekly, by early Monday morning, with the news and information for the coming week. Please try and read the post by the end of the day Tuesday. Not all the information here will be important for every staff member, so use the bold headings to help determine if it’s important for you. 

• Master Schedule 2019-20: Linked here and on the Madison Shared Google Drive is the master schedule. 
• Enrollment: Some of our classes are slated to be quite large. We are slightly over our projections for this year (Peter’s projections were spot on, he’d like you to know), but are unlikely to receive any additional staffing. We have more students enrolling daily, but here are our current numbers:
          6th – 145
          7th – 124
          8th – 143 
• In-Service Week Schedule (Agenda)
  
  • August 27 (T) – Planning Day – Teachers report back and this is a protected planning day.
    
  • August 28 (W) – Building PD Day – We will begin at 8:30 and will finish as soon as we get through the agenda. 
  • August 29 (Th) – Optional 4J BTS Event/Specialist PD – The 4J Back-to-School Event at South Eugene High School is this morning from 8:30-10:30. Attendance is encouraged, but optional. Following that, there will be multiple required trainings for some licensed and classified staff, so look for emails from folks running those sessions for details. SSD licensed staff will have a meeting immediately following the BTS event. SSD classified staff are to return to buildings and use the remaining time to watch the SafeSchools Trainings.
    
  • August 30 (F) – Building PD – We will have our staff ISLA training from 8:30-12:00. After lunch we will wrap up with any remaining agenda items.
    
  • September 2 (M) – Labor Day, No School
    
  • September 3 (T) – Building PD – We will begin at 8:30. Agenda items include PBIS tour planning, review of students on IEPs, time to complete SafeSchools training and TalentEd self-evaluation.
    • Fee and Schedule Night
      • 6th grade – 4-5:30pm
      • 7th/8th grade – 5:30-7pm
  • September 4 (W) – 6th grade classes, new 7th/8th grade orientation – Sixth graders will attend for the full day. Sixth graders will also receive lunch for free this day. New 7th and 8th graders are invited to come at 2:00 to walk through their schedule. 
• Meeting Schedule  – Below is our current plan for monthly and biweekly meetings. We have decided to hold team meetings twice a month instead of weekly to help with teacher workload. These are also on our Madison Zimbra Calendar. 
  • Staff Meetings – 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, before school
  • TLC – 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, before school
  • Climate Team – 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, before school
  • Justice League – 2nd and 4th Thursdays, before school
  • Professional Development – Every Friday from 2:45-3:45 
• Talent Ed Classified and Licensed Goals and Self-Assessment – All staff, both classified and certified, need to complete a self-assessment before the end of September in TalentEd. For Licensed staff, one change to the self-assessments is they are now visible to the building administrators after it has been completed. The idea is that this will assist with goal setting and coaching. One other change is the standards for SPED teachers have been revised to more closely match what SPED teachers are actually required to do. For classified staff, completing the self-assessment in TalentEd is new. HR is loading all staff members into TalentEd by September 1st. We will share any updates as soon as we receive them. 
• iPads – 11 of our 12 carts are in the building and ready to go. The final cart will be here before kids are scheduled to get their iPads. At our Wednesday staff meeting we will review the plan for how iPads will be checked in and out each day and how we will roll out the iPads and expectations for kids. Please be thinking about apps you need specific to your grade level or content area. April will need your list by Wednesday afternoon. 
  • 4J Technology Website – This site has links and information about the different technology we use. If you need help with a tool, this is a great place to check first.
  • Current Approved Apps list – Check here to see if the app you want is already vetted and approved. If it’s not, use an App Request Form to request an app be reviewed and approved for use. Linked here are the district criteria for approving apps.
  • 4J purchased online subscriptions – Here are the sites for which the district has purchased licenses for all students. 
• Technology Help – April Risley is our new TSS, replacing Geoff Henderson. She will be here Monday through Thursday mornings. However, if you ever need assistance with anything technology related, you should send an email to 4jdesktop@4j.lane.edu or call (541) 790-7777, but do not email April directly. This is important because a low number of tickets would indicate that our school doesn’t need as much technology support as it is currently getting, so please make sure you complete a ticket before asking April for help. Tickets for our school are routed directly to her first, so she sees them immediately. The reasons staff are asked to put in tickets to the desktop are numerous, including but not limited to:
  
  • To get an accurate accounting of the workload for our schools
  • to obtain statistics on the overall workload for TSS staff
  • to justify the existence of site-based TSS
  • To get statistics on the type of requests coming in so they can target training and other resources
  • To see historical data for devices and problems
  • Because TSS assignments can change at any time
  • To better allocate TSS staffing 
• SELCO’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grants – As a credit union founded by teachers, SELCO wants to support projects that inspire curiosity, bring students together, and spark something new. That’s why SELCO offers educator grants up to $1,000 to help bring creative classroom ideas to life. Applications are due August 15-September 30. Visit selco.org/SPARK for details and to apply. 
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next 2 weeks:

August 27 (T)
Licensed Staff Report Back
Planning Day

August 28 (W)
Classified Staff report back
Building professional development

August 29 (Th)
7:30-8:30, District Back to School Breakfast & Social (SEHS Lawn)
8:30-10:30, District Back to School Event (SEHS auditorium)
10:30, Specialist Staff In-services (Various Locations)

August 30 (F)
8:30-12:00 ISLA Staff Training
12:30 Building PD

September 2 (M)
Labor Day – No School

September 3 (T)
Building PD
Fee and Schedule Night
 – 4-5:30pm, 6th grade
 – 5:30-7pm, 7th & 8th grade

September 4 (W)
Classes begin for 6th graders
2pm – New 7th and 8th graders

September 5 (H)
All students begin classes

September 6 (F)
2:45, Building based PD (topic TBD)