It is my intention to get in the routine of sharing these updates on Friday afternoons, but these start-up dates just don’t follow a pattern that is conducive to that goal just yet. Thanks for your patience and understanding. As crazy and quick as this week may have seemed, I was really excited to have everyone back in this building. It was a little disappointing to be out of the building all day yesterday, however I am really appreciative of the opportunity our team (Heidi, Linda, Lorin, Jay, Jim, and I) to work on our EBISS process. Some key take-aways I’d like to share with you were the following;
- We do incredibly good work around supporting all our students.
- We have some incredible supports and expertise available to us with just a quick message or call.
- Streamlining is important. This work is not separate from School Design.
- Modern, progressive EBISS should reflect a growth mindset for everyone involved. What we say about student’s performance is incredibly important.
- We must focus on what we can control and change.
Connect Ed
I am so sorry for the Connect Ed issues. I do not know exactly what the root of the problem may be, but please know we have people working on it. First, there appears to be an issue with Synergy. Once Synergy is “happy” again, then Lindsley (and the rest of their team) can try to reassign the Connect Ed material. It will be in our best interest to have a plan B for instruction until we are comfortable Connect Ed is performing as expected. Lastly, everyone at the district asked me to express their gratitude for patience as they know these wrinkles can be draining. Try not to let it drag you too much.
Camp Highland and Outdoor Recess
Lorin shared the schedule via email already but just in case you still need it, click here for the Camp Highland Schedule. We will keep a close eye on the air quality and pay attention to the district’s direction; if it looks like we are unable to be outside then we will cancel Camp Highland and figure out a Plan B to communicate our expectations for recess. If we are directed to stay indoors, then please be ready for a quick staff meeting at 8:30am on Wednesday morning to brainstorm some strategies to deal with indoor recess, lunch, and PE. If we can be outside then we should not need to meet as a team until the following week.
Recess Duty
Based on the conversations we had in our master scheduling committee it was determined that each grade level could establish the rotation (day by day or week by week) they felt best fit their team’s habits and patterns. When you have one established please provide a copy for Lorin and me to keep for our future reference. To avoid over-crowding, I think it may be best to keep these as a separate document and off the google calendar for now.
The playground/field areas for supervision will be a bit easier in the beginning with the construction fence, however when the construction is finished and the access is more open we will need to work on a plan to deal with our blind spots behind the tent. We should also have some (ever-so-fashionable) fanny-packs, to go along with your glow-vests, for every teacher with band-aids, gloves, etc. so you can each have your own ready to use each day.
Evacuation Drills
We will need to shift our evacuation line up area for evacuation drills to the southeast corner of the blacktop due to the tent taking up the current space. Although the exits are not currently blocked the path to the open blacktop space is constricted by the construction fence. In the event of an evacuation please be prepared to use alternate routes if your normal route typically takes you through the back doors. As you exit your classroom, if the back exits appear congested by other classes exiting, then take your alternate route out the front of the building. Also, please take a moment to ensure you have your evacuation map (pink, laminated paper) clearly posted on either side of the door. These show your main evacuation route, but please remember you always have the authority and flexibility to change your route based on what you see in the hall.
One last note; I will ask for leadership to calendar these mandatory drills for the year as I try my best to avoid the really inconvenient times to conduct these drills but it is a challenge so would love more input. Hopefully with some more people viewing the calendar with me we can try to pick some optimal times. Please know that although these are usually calendared in beginning of the year, I usually reschedule about a third of them based on events happening in school.
iPad AUPs
The iPad AUPs will be stored centrally with Debbie in the Library. As you collect them for your class please plan on turning them over to Debbie when we do the iPad roll outs.
Calendar
The calendar is still very much a work in progress right now. I’ve added quite a few of our meetings to the the google calendar and I will also update the list in the master schedule document as well. It is really important to me to establish good timing for our meetings so I am still “massaging” the sequence of these for the course of the entire year. Please let me know if and when you see a conflict or discrepancy.
Thank you everyone for a really enjoyable Ice Cream Social and I especially want to give a a shout out to Rob. For those of you who didn’t know, Rob hung out in the cafeteria distributing ice cream bars with scissors ready to cut the wrappers off for the kids. This was totally unnecessary but incredibly thoughtful and I am deeply appreciative.
Enjoy the Labor Day weekend! I hope you are able to find some escape from this smoke and heat.