Madison Middle School

By gaston_e 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2020/03/08/march-9-2020/

While we lost an hour of sleep this week, the good news is we only have students for 3 days this week AND spring break is only two weeks away!!!

• Sign of the Week: Nice to see you. Please click the link here. Technology hates me today and refuses to embed the video like usual. Apologies.
   
• 2020-21 Staffing Update – We received our tentative SIA allocation this week of an addition 0.6 FTE. The Board will vote for final approval next week. In the meantime, we will be preparing two staffing scenarios – one with our guaranteed FTE and one with our additional 0.6 FTE. The Board will hold their official vote next week and we will submit the final staffing plan the next day based on their vote. Our guaranteed FTE is 18.0, which is includes 1.0 for counseling, 0.2 for intervention, and 0.2 for data coordination. Our SIA FTE is 18.6. They did not include any additional information about the proposed behavior EA, so we will follow up about that. Please let Peter or myself know if you have any questions or suggestions.
       
• 4J Coronavirus FAQs and NASP Talking to Kids about COVID-19 – Principals and secretaries were sent the linked Coronavirus COVID-19 Talking Points for when we encounter questions from families and I thought all staff might find this useful if you have anyone ask you about this. Should students want to discuss Coronavirus, linked here is a document from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) on Talking to Children About COVID-19, though the short version is to:
  • Remain calm and reassuring
  • Make yourself available
  • Avoid excessing blaming
  • Maintain a normal routine to the extent possible
  • Be honest and accurate
  • Know the symptoms of COVID-19
  • Review and model basic hygiene
  • Discuss new rules or practices at school
    
• 2020 ACE Award Nominations – It’s ACE Awards season! Madison has exceptional staff and volunteers who make a different for students every day and are worthy of recognition. Now is the time to recognize them! Nominations can be made in five categories: teachers and licensed specialists, administrators and supervisors, classified staff, volunteers, and a special lifetime achievement award. Nominations are due by March 31st. Going by past experience, winners are usually selected when a staff gets together to nominate an individual with a flood of nominations. Linked here is the ACE Awards email and the ACE Awards Nomination Google Form. 
       
• EEF Grant Proposals Due to Peter by April 27 – EEF grant applications are now open and grants need to be given to Peter by April 27 for TLC to rank order our grant submissions. The date to submit completed grants is May 8. Linked here is the EEF email sent to principals, the 2020-21 grant application website, and 2020-21 EEF Grant Application. Schools may submit up to 5 grants for up to $5,000 each. Priority is given to schools who submit multiple applications. Let me know if you have any questions, want to bounce ideas of someone, or need help completing the application.
    
• Repeat: March 13 Professional Development Day – Below is all the information for the upcoming professional development day. Linked here is the agenda. The first page details the schedule for certified staff and pages 2-4 detail the offerings for classified staff. If you missed it, here is the email from Justin further explaining the “Unconference” model for the PD time.
  
  • Agenda
    • 8:00-10:30am: Teacher Tech PD by grade level for licensed staff (bring your own device), Classified PD, and workgroups
      • MS Heath Teachers: Mental health training at the Ed Center in the Tower room with Daniel Gallo
      • MS Social Studies Teachers: Social studies knowledge and skill sequencing PD with Jenoge Khatter at Kelly MS library
      • All other teachers – Attend Tech PD training at Roosevelt Middle School. See note below about how this training will be run. 
      • Classified Staff – Use TED (TalentEd Develop) to sign up for PD sessions beginning February 28. Here are the directions to register for TED.
    • 10:30am-1:30pm: Travel time, lunch, and teacher prep time
    • 1:30pm-4:00pm: School-based meetings and/or building-based PD
          
  • Technology PD for Certified Staff – Teachers who don’t have a specific work group to attend, will attend tech training at Roosevelt. This will be run in an “unconference” model. Here’s the description from the agenda: Using an “unconference” format, teachers will gather at grade levels and begin with whole-group brainstorming, then move into discussion sessions by grade level and/or subject groupings led by a facilitator. PROCESS: In whole-group sessions participants move through a brainstorming process to create a list of topics and breakout sessions based on the group’s interests. Topics will then be assigned to sessions in classrooms. Sessions are discussion-based, where participants actively contribute their experience to develop collective expertise. Participants can move between sessions if they find interest in multiple sessions.
         
• Love Them First: Lessons From Lucy Laney Elementary – I haven’t watched the entire video yet, but what I saw was pretty great if you didn’t catch this in the latest 4J Office of Equity Update. You will be hooked in after the first few seconds. The video details the efforts of a school staff to turn around a perpetually “failing” school in Minnesota. Their guiding principles are leading with your heart, building relationships, holding students to high expectations, but starting with “loving them first.”The video can be found here.     
       
• Schedule of Upcoming Events:

March 9 (M) 
     Track starts!

March 10 (T) 
     7:45, TLC Meeting (conference room)
     9:00, Peter and Erin to All Admin Meeting (downtown)
     6:30, Band Concert

March 11 (W) 
     Peter out all day at Equity Academy
     3:45, Climate Team Meeting (Anne’s office)

March 12 (H)
     No School – Grading Day
     District EA Extravaganza
     8:15, Peter to MS Principal’s Meeting (Parr Room)

March 13 (F) 
     No School – Professional Development Day
     8:00-10:30, District PD Sessions
     10:30-1:30, Travel time, lunch, and planning time
     1:30-4:00, Building Based PD

March 16 (M) 
     Reading Intervention Screening all day (Foods room)
     9:30, Peter to parent meeting (conference room)

March 17 (T) 
     Staffing Plans Due
     7:45, TLC Meeting (conference room)
     9:30-11, Peter to Coronavirus Meeting (district office)

March 18 (W) 
     8:00, Staff Meeting
     6:30, Board Meeting

March 19 (H)
     7:30, Justice League Executive Team Meeting (Anne’s office)
     9:00, Honor Roll Assembly
     3:45, Erin to IEP Meeting

March 20 (F) 
     2:45, PLC Meetings
     3:30, Grade Level Team Meetings

March 20-29
     Spring Break

March 30 (M)
     Classes Resume

March 31-April 2
     Lily Gold here to finish ELPA testing

Have a great week, y’all! 
Erin