November 17 Update

State Freeze – Governor Brown’s state freeze will be in effect from November 18 to December 2.  Please see Lora’s email for more details on how this impacts schools.

Congrats to Jennifer Fetrow!  I received word that Jenn was nominated for an award from General Motors honoring teachers for creativity and character.  Well done and well deserved!  This nomination mentions previous classroom experience in addition to her current performance in CDL.  Keep up the great work!

New EA – Sean Jacox will be joining our team as a new EA.  His hours are primarily for when students return to campus, so he will not start right away but I am pleased to announce he has been cleared to start when necessary.

Shout Out Ticket  

SEL Ticket 

Meetings Next Week (Nov 30-Dec 4): 

• Wednesday 12/2 – Culture of Care – 2:45-3:30 WebEx Meeting due to State Freeze.
• Friday 12/4 – Safety Team Meeting – 2:45-3:30 WebEx Meeting.

EBISS 2020-2021 – I put some plans for EBISS into a google doc.  Please take some time to read this and feel free to send me questions.  

LIPI –

First, regarding the Return to School Scenarios presented by Lindsley in the webex; We would need our metrics to return to below 100 before we can consider those scenarios.  Once we are below 100 and trending down, we can move into any one of those plans, but for now they are out of our reach. 

What I know;

• We are the only elementary school not serving some students in LIPI.  Across the district we are currently serving approximately 470 students ranging in numbers from 6 – 114.  (If you are wondering why – our resources are committed to CDL and we do not have a lot of options for space.)
• Since the metrics keep evading us, LIPI offers an opportunity to bring students on campus while still following state guidelines.
• Group size must be 20 or less.  (Right now, assuming every kid came in, all our classes could come in to our building with the exception of 3; Fetrow, Henry, and Hildebrand are over 20.  4/5 would be Hybrid cohorts)
• LIPI cannot exceed 2 hours a day.
• Staff cannot come into contact with more than 3 cohorts per day and 5 n a week.
• LIPI must be optional to parents.  We cannot require them to come and we must allow them to continue with CDL.
• We can choose to open LIPI up to any and all students.  We would not need to use a EBISS-type process to identify students to come in.  We can simply open the gates.
• Current transportation schedule for LIPI is the following (not all these times will apply to Highland);
  • Elem Session 1
    • 7:45-9:45
    • 8:30-10:30
  • Elem Session 2
    • 12:15-2:15
    • 1:00-3:00
  • Wednedays
    • 8:00-10:00
    • 10:00-12:00
    • 12:30-2:30
    • 1:00-3:00

What I don’t know yet;

• Are the time frames for LIPI flexible or must they fit within the transportation schedule?
• Can time frames be different for different teaches/grade levels or must we conform to one time frame?
• What would LIPI replace for our teaching day?  (If and when we add LIPI to the day, we would remove something from your plate in terms of preparation.)
• Will be expected to teach kids in the classroom at the same time as the kids in CDL at home?  (I doubt this would be the expectation, however there are some benefits to this approach that could reduce your workload if we considered it.)
• When do(can) we start?  (The district is already engaged in LIPI in multiple sites around the district, so technically we can start any time, but it does not appear we will expand while the numbers are above 200.)  
• How many days a week will we do?  (I think this will be up to us, but we’ll have to wait and see.)
• What about desks?  This is big unknown for us and I don’t feel 100% confident we will be able to come through with the number of single desks needed in time.  Right now it’s out of our control, so if we move into LIPI without the desks, then we will need to adjust the numbers and the days for LIPI so that it works with our current set up.  (this would be a kind of LIPI-Hybrid)

What can you do right now?

• Carry on with CDL.  We are doing great work with this model and it’s showing.  There is no reason to stop what you are doing until we know exactly when we will start LIPI.
• See this as the opportunity that it is.  The impact that LIPI has had on students across the district has been incredibly positive.  This can and will increase your effectiveness in CDL.  Just a couple hours a day of in-person instruction increased the students’ engagement with CDL while at home.
• Consider some different scenarios for bringing some or all your kids into your classroom for 2 hours and think about how you would want to structure that time of the day.  What would it look like?  How will it connect to your current CDL plan and work?
• Talk with your team about your ideas and develop some common priorities for this time.  Will this be strictly reading, writing or math…or will you consider Storyline for this time?  As long as your team is operating within the same parameters there is no wrong answer.
• Big Deal, Little Deal?  Keep your perspective and keep others’ perspectives in mind at all times.