Madison Middle School

By barsotti_p 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2020/12/11/december-11-2020/

Hi Madison Staff,

Here’s what’s happening this week:

This Week’s Schedule:

Madison Information    

• Meetings & PD Plan: Wednesday is going to be our first Optional Staff Social before our staff meeting at PD.  It will start at 9:45
• FOG (Front Office Group): The FOG plus some EAs are going to be doing some targeted attendance interventions for students that are showing up about 70%-80%.  Please see FOG notes for more details.
• Weekly Check In: Linked here is the staff weekly check-in. I’d like to know how you’re doing and be able to offer support for those who need it.

DISTRICT INFORMATION                 

• School Choice: January usually kicks off school choice season in 4J. The timeline for school choice will remain the same this year, but in-person tours and the school choice fair have been cancelled. 
     
• Hybrid Learning Survey: Families were asked to declare their intentions for the remainder of the school year. Their choices were hybrid learning, remaining at their school but staying in CDL, and shifting to EOA. Families that did not respond were automatically assigned to hybrid. This week we were told that families will not necessarily have the option to change their minds as changes affect staffing. Additionally, new students will be assigned to hybrid learning. Please note that the metrics (change it to Lane County if using the link) currently indicate we will likely not be returning in-person anytime soon as case counts are steadily increasing. We are at 291 positive cases per 100,000 residents and we must be below 100 to return in-person. Here are our families’ responses:

• Regional Subs: As you know the district is exploring multiple strategies to support you and your building as we all navigate distance learning.  One strategy we are using is to assign two “Regional Permanent Subs” to each region.  One to support elementary schools in that region and another to support the secondary schools in that region. 
  The District is happy to inform you all that Annie Whitted has been assigned in Absence Management as our regional permanent sub.  Annie will be set up in the system and automatically assigned to the first absence/vacancy in your region. If Annie already has an assignment for the day, Absence Management will send the job out to the sub pool just like we are used to. You can still assign a prearranged sub to an absence or vacancy if needed.  The system will automatically assign Annie (assuming they are available) but then you will see the option to “reassign sub to this position”.  If you click this green button it will remove the resident sub and you can assign the prearranged sub.  If Annie does not have an assignment on any given day they are going to contact the sub desk.  We will then assign them to one of your buildings so they can shadow and learn more about your school and how they can help the next time they have an assignment at your school.  In preparation of them shadowing at your school please think of what they can do to help and be productive.  Some good examples include running small groups, helping with breakout rooms, co-teaching, reaching out to students and families, and providing Zoom support.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION

• Repeat – Hour of Code: This week brings The Hour of Code. Many of our classrooms typically engage in coding activities during this week. Visit code.org for lesson and activity ideas. They’ve also added Code Bytes which are live video mini-lessons  happening all next week. Other activities can be found at Hour of Code, Khan Academy (more advanced), and Tynker. I recommend testing these activities on your iPad to make sure they’re accessible for kids. Also, it’s always a good idea to start these lessons with a little growth mindset refresher so kids can expect to be challenged, fail often, and have to problem solve. 
     
• Decentralizing Christmas: This was new learning for me and I wanted to share it with staff. In December we often turn our focus to the impending holiday season. With the influx of ads on TV, shopping events, and holiday decorations all over, it’s no wonder the December holiday season often gets a lot of attention. However, we generally do this because Christmas is one of the major Christian holidays and historically federal and school calendars centralize those holidays. Winter Break happens when it does because it used to be called Christmas Break. Spring Break used to coincide with the Easter holiday. However, for many other religions, their major holidays occur outside of December and do not receive the same attention the December holidays receive. As we step into our equity work, one of the things we will begin to address is if we are intentionally or unintentionally centralizing majority culture and what that means for representation and inclusion for all students. Linked here are some resources from Teaching Tolerance around December holidays and considerations for teaching about holidays. 

What’s Coming Next Week: 

Winter Break: December 21 – January 1
January 4: Professional Development Day (5.5 hrs PD + 2.5 hrs Planning)
January 18: Martin Luther King, Jr Day
January 24: No School – Progress Reports

One week! One week! One week!

Gina and Peter