Madison Middle School

By barsotti_p 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2023/01/28/january-27-2023/

Dear Monarchs,

Here are this week’s updates:

MADISON INFORMATION     

• Mandatory Equity PD/Collaboration – On Friday 2/3, ALL MADISON STAFF MEMBERS are expected to attend our shared session with our north region colleagues, from 8:30-11:30 at NEHS.  As a staff, we will move through three breakout sessions to work on a variety of topics. First, Dr. Johnny Lake will present to us about microagressions; what they are and how to spot them. The second session will be learning strategies on how to build comfort and skill interrupting incidents of racism., and the third session will be time for our Madison staff to make some specific plans related to our own goals to support Madison students.

• Preferred Names Sheet – We have started to update our Preferred Names Spreadsheet that we created last year. The idea is to keep track of our students who are using a different name than what is in Synergy, but also to have an awareness that their families may feel strongly about using one name or the other. Not all students are “out” with their family. If you pop into the document and see that something needs to be added or edited, please feel free to make those adjustments.

• Attendance Punch Card Reminder – It’s been really exciting celebrating with kids that fill their card. This is a gentle reminder that we distributed 40 cards to Focus teacher a week or two before winter break. To date, we have had 14 students come to the office with a filled card. So, either we have a ton of kids who haven’t been here a total of ten days since before winter break…..or sometimes we forget to punch the kids. If you’re not sure which is the case for your remaining punch cards, just take 2 or 3 minutes to pop into the student’s period attendance and double check how many days they’ve been present since 12/6/22. Thanks so much for helping to track their progress. Let me know if there’s anything Donna or I can do to be helpful.

• FOCUS celebration awards slides – During our recent round of celebrating students who have improved in attendance, behavior, academics, our very own Mr. Miller took some time to create an awesome slide show that’s entirely plug and play. If you’d like to kick up your celebration routine a bit, all you need to do is make a copy of the slideshow and enter your own students’ names. Easy peasy way to honor kids’ effort and progress. Our next opportunity to use it will be at the end of Tri 2.

• Printing: Purchasing has been working on a new contract for your printing needs. Starting March 1st we will be switching from InstaPrint over to Central Printing. At that time, everyone should discontinue sending requests to InstaPrint. Please communicate with your school staff regarding this change. Also during this transition, a new process for print orders will be created. We will be following up with more information.

• Based on guidance from 4J’s legal counsel, please use students’ Full Names in emails.  Please do not just use student initials.
  Regardless of what you may have heard in the past, emails within 4J should be referencing full names of students. 
  If you prefer to use only first name and last initial in the subject line, that is acceptable. However, in the body of the mail, please use students’ full names.  There are several reasons for doing this.  Here are a few:
  • Using a full name reduces confusion for staff who may not be very familiar with all of the students you work with (itinerant staff, district-level directors, etc.).
  • Even when we use student initials, those emails are still part of that student’s legal educational record, so it makes sense to just use the full name.
  • When parents (or their lawyers) request a copy of their student’s complete educational records, emails must be included.  That means the Technology Department must comb through several years of emails that reference a student’s initials to determine if it needs to be included in the Records Request.  Using student initials does not make the email anonymous in any way.

• Reimbursements: We have revised our financial policies in regards to what is an allowable employee reimbursement. Reimbursements for employees should only be made if necessary (like mileage reimbursement for travel). All purchasing should be made through purchase cards, purchase requests/orders (PR/PO), or the procurement process. Employees should NOT be using their personal funds for work purchases. If an employee needs reimbursement for mileage or travel, the employee must provide a receipt along with a supervisor’s signature to be turned into Financial Services with 60days of the activity. The same goes for parent reimbursements. Parents should not be using their personal funds to purchase items or services on behalf of the school district. We will be updating our financial policies to include what is an allowable parent reimbursement.

   
  

DISTRICT INFORMATION        

• Upbeat Survey Results: I will be meeting with an UPBEAT survey coach in the next two weeks to discuss the results of the UPBEAT survey that staff recently completed. We will review the data as a staff on Friday, February 10. There will be another survey in May to help inform our school improvement process and develop goals for next year.       

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION   

• Two Truths and a Fib – Academic Style: The tweet below shows a fun way to review vocabulary or information about a text or concept. Teachers can use it to check understanding and kids can create their own as a way to review information or create a gallery walk to deepen understanding.
  
  

Looking Ahead:

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Gina and Peter