https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2020/03/27/march-25-2020/
Hi all. I miss your faces. I hope you are doing well and making it through as best you can. My house is surviving on a diet of excessive amounts of video games, homemade baked goods, and Netflix with a little yard work thrown in.
Below is the current state of affairs as we know them. Please note that things are constantly changing with new orders from the governor, clarification from ODE and the federal government, and interpretations and clarification of existing orders. We hope to be able to answer many of your questions here, but also appreciate your flexibility knowing this isn’t the final draft of how things will be in the coming weeks.
- Staff Meeting 9:30am on Zoom – Peter sent out an invite last night (Thursday) to our Zoom meeting. If you haven’t used Zoom before, please follow this link to create an account. Use your 4J email to create the account. At about 9:25 on Monday, follow the link in the email and you’ll be connected to our call. Please look at features like muting your audio and turning off your video feed.
- Ready to Work for Certified Staff – Per the governor’s order, all regular staff will be paid throughout this time. However, all staff must stand “Ready to Work” as of next week (Monday, March 30). This looks different for each employee group. Certified staff and some EAs will begin working on completing professional development (if needed) around Google Classroom and planning for engaging with students online. The current proposed schedule for next week is a little further down in the announcements. Specifics about how much teachers will be asked to post and engage with students each day is still being determined. They are gathering input from multiple sources including teachers, admin, and EEA. We will hopefully have clear expectations for you on Monday.
- Ready to Work for Classified Staff – Classified staff will “stand ready” for a variety of projects or tasks and will continue to be paid as long as they are available for work. Some projects may look similar to your current school role while others may look very different based on the needs of the district or school building. What we do know for sure is most of the workload will be varied with some working more than others at times. The goal will be achieve a balance over the course of our time out of school. Again, everyone is being paid for according to their contract with the understanding that when/if you are needed, you will be available. More information will come during our Zoom call and more guidance will be sent out by HR soon.
- Important Note and Focus – As we move forward with online learning, our first priority is to engage with our kids and help connect them with us or other resources they may need. We’re really focusing on relationships and connection before content. We will have avenues to connect students to supports they may need. Please reach out to Peter, Anne, or myself if you need supports for students. Academic content will be rolled out slowly and can only cover previously learned topics. We’ll talk more about this on our Zoom call. Please don’t worry about content yet! There will be shared Google folders for content areas and grade levels to share resources and build on ideas from colleagues. TOSAs will also be available to provide support and guide teachers toward resources.
- Needs Check In – Peter and I will be reaching out to each of you individually to get more information about what resources you have or need, address any questions or concerns you have about being available for work. We understand some people are caring for children, parents, etc and will do what we can to match work requests with each person’s other responsibilities.
- Remote or On-Site Work – As much as possible, staff is being encouraged to work from home. Certified staff who will be creating and uploading lessons can choose to work from school if you follow social distancing guidelines. You must inform an administrator when you plan to be at school. Administrators need to keep track of who is planning to be in the building so that the custodians can deep clean after you leave. We will share a log where people can indicate when they’re going to be in the building. Staff assigned to other projects or duties may be asked to be present in buildings. That information will be communicated along with the project or assignment.
- Leave Provisions – If you are unable to work due to illness, high-risk factors, or for any other reason, please contact Peter or HR at HR@4j.lane.edu to help navigate the different options.
- Social Distancing Requirements – If you are choosing to come to school, please read these Social Distancing – Workplace Requirements. Note: All staff MUST enter through the main entrance and may not use any other entrances. There are several guidelines that must be followed from now on. Remain 6′ away from others, cover coughs and sneezes, wipe down any surfaces you’ve used. Custodians will be on site next week to help, so people shouldn’t need to use the alarm keypads.
- Proposed Schedule for Certified Staff March 30 – April 3 – Below is the suggested schedule for next week, it is continuing to evolve so please be flexible if it changes. The goal is to spend the week learning about using Google Classroom if you’re not already fluent, getting to know Zoom, and beginning to plan instruction and activities to be shared with students for April 6-24.
- Monday, March 30 – 8:00 – 9:30: Make sure you are able to use Zoom, 9:30am-11am: Zoom staff meeting, 11am-3pm: Self-selected online PD, Zoom practice, Complete Google Classroom checklist
- Tuesday, March 31 – 9am-3pm: Zoom trainings held every hour on the hour (self-selected), grade level or content area teams begin collaborating
- Wednesday, April 1 – Planning and collaboration all day, create student “welcome back” letter by grade level team
- Thursday, April 2 – Planning and collaboration, reach out to families by focus to help determine need/access to resources
- Friday, April 3 – Planning and collaboration
- 2020-21 Staffing Update – We submitted our staffing plan as the board approved the use of additional SIA funds to lower middle school class sizes. Our total FTE for next year is 18.6, which is includes 1.0 for counseling, 0.2 for intervention, and 0.2 for data coordination, and an additional 0.6 from SIA. We haven’t heard anything specifically about the new behavior EA position, but assume more info will come when HR has time to process staffing.
- Job Expo – The Job Expo is expected to happen as planned. The exact dates are still being determined. The main difference is the expo will be held virtually rather than in person. Keep an eye on your email if you’re interested in participating.
- STATE TESTING IS CANCELLED! – Best news all week 🙂
- Resources for later -I’m working on collecting resources that might be helpful. Eventually I will create a page on our blog to house all this information.
- Schedule of Upcoming Events:
March 30 (M)
9:30am, Zoom Meeting with all staff
11am-end of day, self-selected PD, collaboration time
March 31 (T)
9am-3pm, Zoom PD offered every hour on the hour
Planning and collaboration
April 1 (W)
Planning and collaboration
April 2 (H)
Planning and collaboration
Connect with families
April 3 (F)
Planning and collaboration
April 6 (M)
1st day live with students
April 7 (T)
Regular day
April 8 (W)
Regular day
April 9 (H)
Regular day
April 10 (F)
Regular day
