https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2020/08/14/august-14-2020/
Back in the olden days…
Update from the District: Here is a brief summary of the superintendent’s email and the district’s staff information session from last Thursday.
- All instruction will happen online until at least the first week of December.
- In November, the district will reassess the current situation and determine if some or all student groups can return, or if distance learning will continue.
- Attendance will be taken, grades will be given, and much of our traditional system will be in play.
- Some certified staff members will be offered the opportunity to work from home if they choose. Please note that even if you are able to do most of your work from home, there may be times staff will be asked to come into the building.
- Plans are still in the works about how our phenomenal educational assistants will provide services and supports during distance learning. Karen Hardin did note that some people will be asked to work outside their traditional duties to help avoid layoffs (ie: bus drivers doing food deliveries). Every single one of our classified staff is a valuable asset to our school and learning community. Please know we are advocating strongly for you to continue your work in supporting students in instruction, intervention, and relationships/connections.
- Staff can begin coming to the building August 17 to work in classrooms. Please see the note below about visiting the building for guidelines and expectations for being in the building.
- A few things that came out of the Q&A portion of the staff session:
- All students will be required to wear masks.
- There is mention of students coming for “targeted, on-site supports”. Charis said this would include students coming on-site for tests they can’t do via video chat, such as for Special Education evaluations, GED tests, or for short-term orientations for particular programs or tools.
- Sick days will work similar to our usual process. Staff will use AESOP to record sick days. More info will come from HR. They are also working to create a plan to train subs in using our platforms so they can step in for teachers if needed. Additionally, some people may access the Family First Coronavirus Relief Act. If you need to talk with someone about a leave, leaves@4j.lane.edu is your contact point.
- Instruction will be a combination of synchronous (live) and asynchronous (posted videos and assignments) instruction. More info will come about daily and weekly minutes for instruction.
- There was a question about EAs being able to work with small groups online and the answer to that was yes 🙂
- Someone asked about cohorts of 100. The current guidance says kids can remain in stable cohorts of up to 100 students but the state is encouraging smaller cohorts.
- The district has two staff members dedicated to managing our Covid response. Dawn Strong works more on the adult side of our response and Joyce Johnson manages our child response. If there were to be a positive case, they would coordinate with Lane County Public Health to determine the district’s response. Contact logs would be used to determine who might have been exposed and then communicate with those affected. Lane County Public Health would also help determine who might need to quarantine on a case-by-case basis.
- If a student has an out-of-district transfer, they can choose to enroll in EOA, but they do not lose their spot at the school they lotteried into. However, if they unenroll from the district to either home school or go to a program outside of 4J, they would need to complete a transfer to reenter and would lose their lottery spot.
- High school based preschools will be closed as long as school buildings are closed.
- The district team decided on alternating weeks for a hybrid model first to address health and safety. They felt having the same group for a week would minimize cross-contamination. Additionally, it allows for reduced costs with custodial as well since they’re not having to deep clean throughout the week. Finally, from an instructional standpoint, the team felt five days in a row allowed for better opportunities for relationships and digging into concepts and skills rather than having kids in 2 day chunks.
- When/if we go to a hybrid model, those in-person days would be shorter to allow time for planning, working with the kids online at home, and collaborating.
District Administration Updates: There has been a lot of movement and some hiring this summer. Here’s what’s happened since June:
- Joe Hadley is the new assistant principal at South Eugene, replacing Garrett Bridgens who was named principal of Charlemagne. He has been a principal and AP in the past, most recently in San Mateo, CA.
- Stephanie Randall is the new assistant principal at Gilham and Willagillespie. She replaces Lavinia Page, who is now the principal of Gilham. Stephanie comes from Cottage Grove and South Lane ESD and has an extensive history in ELD and coordinating family services.
- Travis Schaeffer is the interim assistant principal at North Eugene. Travis has been the band director at both Kelly and North Eugene most recently.
- Misael Flores Gutierrez is replacing Karen Pérez-Da Silva as the Equity, Instruction, & Partnerships administrator. Misael most recently was an assistant principal at Churchill and holds a masters in Special Education. He also has an extensive history in equity work across the state.
- John Wayland, assistant principal at Kelly Middle School, has been names the interim principal of Kelly for the coming year. Juan Cuadros, the former principal, has accepted a position as the executive director of curriculum and instruction for the Bend-La Pine School District. This leaves an opening for an assistant principal at Kelly.
Eugene Online Academy: Our enrollment numbers are pretty consistent with how they looked at this time last year, at around 430. It’s important to note that these numbers do not yet reflect families that may choose to enroll in Eugene Online Academy (EOA). As of the beginning of August, about 40 Madison families have shown interest in EOA. We do not know who those families are or what they will choose to do yet. Students enrolled in EOA must remain enrolled until the end of the term. Currently it sounds like all EOA students will follow a trimester system, so we may have students transfer back at the end of trimester one, which is Dec 7. Once there is a better idea of how many students are committed to EOA, the district will take steps to staff that program appropriately using current district staff. We haven’t been given a process for that thus far.
District Interest = about 2,200 interest forms were submitted (as of 8/3)
In case you’re interested, EOA is a curriculum created by Florida Virtual Learning. Grades 6–12 use the K12 curriculum, Fuel Education, primarily facilitated by 4J teachers. Examples of other Oregon schools that use the K12 Fuel Education curriculum include Springfield SPS Online, Bend-La Pine Online and Oregon Virtual Academy. The district EOA website has more information about the program, including links to FAQs and sample lessons. Here is another great link: Grade Level Curriculum Standards.
PPE: The district is mass ordering Personal Protective Equipment for buildings and staff. We will have wipes, sanitizer, gloves, and required cleaning materials. We’ll have sanitizer stations set up in high traffic areas around the building as well. Once we have specific information about other PPE being provided, we’ll let you know. If you have masks you prefer to wear, please feel free to do so.
Visiting School: We are asking people to limit their visits to essential visits only that have been pre-scheduled with office staff. At this time, only current employees are allowed to enter the building. Family, friends, etc are not able to come in at this time. The building will be fully open to staff to come in and set up your rooms, if you choose to, beginning August 17. Please know that Jim and Curtis have to come behind you and sanitize anything you may have touched in any room you’ve been in. Out of respect for them, please be mindful of only going where you absolutely need to go and logging your locations on the sign in sheet so they can clean after you leave.
Our Commitment to Wellness: We want to share with you our commitment to keeping everyone as safe and healthy as possible. Our greatest fear right now is someone getting sick from exposure in the building. We are dedicated to making our building as safe as humanly possible. This means you’ll see signage going up around the building, occupancy limits for shared spaces, and possibly assigned bathrooms/stalls so everyone has their own space to use and can feel safe using it. We are currently working from an abundance of caution. We’d rather be overly protective than too lenient. Your health is too valuable to take chances. Here are a few other expectations if you’ll be in the building:
- Masks are required when entering the building, when talking with others, and when in shared spaces including the hallways, work room, and multi-stall bathrooms. You can remove your mask when you are in your assigned work space by yourself. If you’re sharing a space and working closely (within 6-10 feet) of someone else, masks will be required.
- When entering someone else’s room, knock and announce yourself to give the staff member time to mask up before beginning a conversation.
- Sanitizing wipes will be available to all staff. Please wipe down your work spaces and things you touch often. Our custodial team will be focused on shared spaces, bathrooms, and high touch points. Individuals will be responsible for cleaning their own personal spaces such as desks, phones, and supplies.
- We will also need to wipe down common area spaces after use. This includes tables in the staff room, buttons on the copiers, etc.
- After using the bathroom, please use the provided spray and cloths. Spray the toilet seat, handle, door handle, sink handle, etc (anything you’ve touched), then wipe it down with a cloth.
- We will be responsible for helping each other remember the expectations. Please approach each other with kindness, but do offer reminders to wear masks or wipe down common areas after use. If you notice someone is consistently not following expectations, please let admin know. It is our responsibility to approach them and ensure all safety guidelines are being followed.
Technology PD Survey: In case you missed the email from Ang, the district-level technology team wants your input on the PD you need and want before school starts. Please complete the survey to help them determine the PD staff wants and needs. On a related note, we still don’t know yet what PD and trainings will be provided when staff returns.
Classroom Set-ups: The Facilities team has measured every single classroom, subtracted out unusable space, and determined the maximum student occupancy for each individual room. While this won’t be an issue until students return to the building, we will let everyone know their room’s occupancy when you return in September. There will also be clear guidelines about how to space students, how much room in the front is reserved for the teacher’s work space, etc.
Work Spaces: Many of you share work spaces with colleagues. We are waiting for more information about adult occupancy in spaces, as the current guidance only talks about how much room students need to be provided. As soon as we have clarification, we’ll share it with you. With that said, if when you return, your workspace doesn’t meet the guidelines, feels unsafe, or simply is uncomfortable, please let us know! We will work hard to ensure you have a safe and comfortable place to work.
District Teams: Some of us are on various district teams. There are multiple content and grade level teams who have identified priority standards and created criteria for success for meeting those standards. Another team is working on the daily operations of a building including how to meet state guidelines during both distance learning and a hybrid model. There are so many things impacted by both distance learning and the possibly hybrid model including technology, transportation, facilities, nutrition services, etc. Many of the licensed staff on these teams were recommended by EEA. Over 200 people asked to be considered for these teams, so please know if you were interested and not selected, it wasn’t personal. There were limited spots and a lot of interest.
Childcare: I know many people are facing issues with trying to find good childcare. Brooke Wagner is convening a meeting with local community partners including the City of Eugene and other childcare providers to help get much needed information and resources out to staff and families who need reliable care. Many people are turning to the district staff for answers related to childcare. While childcare is not the district’s role at this time, they want to work with those in our community who do provide those services so people have access to care if needed.
Learning Acceleration Guide: This resource comes from TNTP (The New Teacher Project). On their website, they state, “TNTP’s mission is to end the injustice of educational inequality by providing excellent teachers to the students who need them most and by advancing policies and practices that ensure effective teaching in every classroom.” Their Learning Acceleration Guide is one tool our district content teams are using help guide decision making about what to teach next year. The thinking in the spring was that we could start this year with review and remediation. However, TNTP suggests this further creates inequities for students, especially those traditionally marginalized populations. A recent study predicted that students will experience a learning loss of 30 percent in reading and 50 percent in math as a result of the crisis. Left unchecked, it’s an academic setback that could derail the futures even of students who were previously on grade level—and would be disastrous for students who were already behind.
Schedule of Upcoming Events:
August 19 (W)
5:00pm-7:00pm Drive-thru Yearbook Distribution
August 20 (TH) Potential iPad Distribution time TBA
August 21 (F) Potential iPad Distribution time TBA
August 27 (Th)
196 Day Employees Report Back
September 1 (M)
Certified Staff Report Back
September 2 (T)
192 Day Employees Report Back
September 14 (M)
First Day for Students
We hope you’re all enjoying some relaxation this summer!
Peter & Gina
