Our EME Focus
- Tier 1 Instruction
- Belonging
- Define what it means to be an Art Focused School
Thoughts of the Week
A Thankful Spirit: To smile or not to smile, that is the choice
I get asked pretty much everywhere I go, “why are you always happy?”, or “how come you’re always smiling?” The answer is…I choose to be, and I choose to!
So then the question is “Why?” So…here is the long answer. If you want the short answer skip to the last paragraph and I will not be offended.
In 2001, Angie was pregnant with our second child, Christian, after four years of unexplained infertility. We actually found out while we were on vacation in Florida. We were having a great time and then, on the last couple of days, I started to get a burning pain on the skin on my chest. I thought maybe I had been stung by a jellyfish as I started to develop a sore. After about two weeks the burning and sore had gone away, just leaving a scar, but the sickness started. Over the next 5 months, I lost almost 60 lbs, couldn’t walk and couldn’t drive. I was finally told, by the department of epidemiology, that I had been bitten by a brown recluse spider while I was in Florida. I ended up at Mayo and was diagnosed with Post Viral Autonomic Neuropathy, meaning that my body had fought off the virus the spider had given me but then recognized my small nerve endings as the same thing, so started attacking them. These control blood pressure, digestion, body regulation, etc. I was also diagnosed with POTS. As a last ditch effort in August, they infused me for 5 days with gamma globulin, pure antibodies. I spent the day before Christian was born at a waterpark…slowly… going up and down. It was awesome! The doctors told me I would not be able to return to work and put me in a study. Two of the 56 people in the study went back to their normal lives. I was one of them, and sent pictures of me to the doctors the next August, hiking the hills of South Dakota while carrying Christian on my back!
These are some of the things that happened after that; Christian was born, we adopted six more kids, and had a surprise 9th child! I graduated with my teaching degree (fulfilling the “deal” I made with God when asking him to spare my life) and my Master’s (deal I made with myself). My wife found her passion for work in Homeopathy and pursued 6 years of classes and three degrees. We moved to Texas and back to Iowa. I was a part of multiple holidays, birthdays, and many important things in my kids life. I became a teacher, I got to teach 3 of my children in my classroom, see our oldest son graduate from school, and spent another 14 years married to my soul mate! Our final year in Iowa I noticed that I was having trouble carrying our ninth child up the two flights of stairs to her room and putting her to bend without getting winded. I went to the Doctor and he told me I was in Kidney failure. I was like, “what the hell!” I had been put on medication to protect my kidney due to being a Type 1 diabetic, and apparently it causes kidney failure in 0.001% of patients. Lucky me! They hoped to find me a donor kidney before I ever needed dialysis.
In March of 2015, I was offered my first Admin job, and was super excited! It was in my hometown and I couldn’t wait to move home! I started dialysis in my second month of my new Admin job after further kidney damage from blood pressure meds that were supposed to “stabilize” things and protect my remaining kidney function. Have I mentioned my body reacts to everything? By May, I had lost over 60 lbs again and was having trouble getting around. I was not tolerating the dialysis at home, so I started central line dialysis, through a stint in the heart. That worked for a while, but I was allergic to the filters that the blood ran through, so I was super sick everytime I left Dialysis. By the beginning of August it did not look like I was going to make it. I had spent most of the summer in the hospital. I then got a call that my cousin, more accurately, Angie’s cousin’s wife, was a perfect match and had started the process on her end without even consulting me. What a gift! She donated a kidney to me on August 23, 2016 and I was back at work 14 days later.
These are some of the things that happened after that; I coached almost all my kids in some sport, saw my daughter go to her first day of Kindergarten, and attended our son’s wedding. . Was a part of multiple holidays, birthdays, and many important things in my kids life. Spent another 4 years married to my soul mate!
This is the last one, I promise! In 2019, I was eating a soft shell taco in the teacher’s lounge and tore my esophagus. While doing this I also tore an artery in it. By the time Angie had picked me up and we arrived at the ER, I had lost a lot of blood. I passed out about 30 minutes after arriving and the next thing I remember is being in the recovery room. Here is a little of what went on in between. They could not stop the bleeding, even the cauterization did not work. The doctor came out and gave Angie my options: 1. Airlift me to Minneapolis, but he did not think I would survive the flight. 2. Remove a large section of my esophagus, with one year recovery time. Or 3. He wanted to do something that had not been done before. I was fortunate enough to have the number one gastro doctor in the state of Minnesota as my doctor, and he wanted to try an experimental stint that he had just received that week. Angie said yes to #3 and I am still here!
These are some of the things that happened after that; Fulfilled most of my wife’s bucket list and bought her dream lake home and her favorite boat for her (truly her boat, she never let anyone else drive and is at her happiest flying down the lake full speed or pulling the kids in endless circles on tubes and wakeboards), saw four more of our kids graduate, moved across country for fun, and got the job of my dreams here at Elk Meadow! Again, I was a part of multiple holidays, birthdays, and many important things in my kids life. Spent another 4 years married to my soul mate!
Life is short, and I know that as well as anyone. I choose to smile each day because I realize how truly blessed I am. Through all this I have had so many awesome experiences! I would not trade the bad experiences, because that has made me who I am and how I see the world! My grandpa always told me to leave everywhere you go better than you found it. When I smile, what I notice is people smile back, and that means I am following my Grandpa’s advice! I try to focus on all the things that I GET to do each day, good or bad and try to find the joy in them! So this is where many of my values come from that I have shared with you all. Family first! Make it to the moments you can’t do over, the gones! Go first and go often! To quote Kung Fu Panda, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift…that’s why they call it the present”
Upcoming Details
MONDAY
- Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
- New Principal Mentor Meeting 8:00-9:00
- Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00
TUESDAY:
- Staff Appreciation Breakfast 7:00-8:00
- Picture Retakes 8:30-10:30
- Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
- Elementary Admin Meeting 3:00-5:00
WEDNESDAY:
- Tier 3 Meeting 7:30-10:30
- EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
- Firebuster Scooter Presentation in D6 12:00-12:30
- SIW – Art Training #1
THURSDAY:
- Secure Drill 8:00
- First MTSS 2:30-3:10
- Beginning Admin Meeting 5:00-6:30
FRIDAY:
- EME SpEd Meeting 2:30-3:10
- EET Giving Tree
- Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2
UPCOMING DATES
- December 1 – EET Giving Tree
- December 1 – Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2
Updates from Downtown
If you are looking for a great “read” over this break, to inspire and motivate, try out this new book from Adam Grant. Adam’s books are easy to read/listen to and I find myself being inspired to challenge the way I think about things or my approach to solving problems. He also makes me want to be more curious about the way I learn and tap into the power of “what if?”. I am currently listening to Adam read this book, and would love to have a jam session with anyone who wants to jam about it! When I get done reading a book like this, I suddenly believe in myself a little bit more, and who couldn’t use a little bit more of that right now.
Reminders:
- Student Services:
- Monthly REQUIRED inclusion EA Trainings: Contact Krista Hough or Stephanie Smith for info
- Prevent, Teach, Respond information, PTR Facilitators Guide
- MTSS Tier 3 process
- Counseling:
- DEI November:
- Refer back to Kinsey’s e-mail for more info this month
- TLC Recent Update:
- Safety:
- Updated SRO List as of 11/14/23. Congratulations to Officer Amy Ward on her retirement!
New Notes:
Medical Moment:
Please share in your next family newsletter:
Health Emergency Ready Oregon (HERO) Kids Registry is a new resource to help families prepare for medical emergencies. Below is a brief overview and attached are FAQs. We encourage you to visit our website www.herokidsregistry.org to learn more, or reach out to the HERO Kids team at [email protected] to schedule a short informational presentation. We can also provide materials for, and/or attend, community outreach events! HERO Kids has also recently released three new education videos. Each video has a different focus and are only 1 minute long. Videos are available in both English and Spanish.
Overview:
HERO Kids Registry is a voluntary, no-cost system that lets any Oregon family record critical health information about their child before an emergency. Registry information can be accessed quickly by EMS and hospital emergency departments at the moment they need it.
Registering with HERO Kids is especially useful for young people who are medically fragile, or for those who have complex conditions, developmental disabilities, or mental health conditions. Young people in a crisis can’t always communicate their needs. Family members may not be present, or they may too distressed to help. Language barriers can impede communication. HERO Kids Registry can help offset some of these challenges.
Parents and legal guardians can register their child or young adult with HERO Kids online, and there is a paper registration option for people who prefer it. Young adults aged 15-26 can register themselves. HERO Kids Registry is secure and HIPAA-compliant.
Please share this information with your families in your next family newsletter. It is specifically for Families of Students with Complicated or Chronic
Health Conditions, Developmental Disabilities or Mental Health Conditions.
HR Moment:
Performance Module
Goals For Certified Staff:
- All certified staff are required to submit goals through UKG
- Classroom teachers are required to submit SLGG goals and their UKG form is organized as such
- Everyone else is prompted to submit goals but are not asked to submit SLGGs
- Jennifer Hauth has emailed a goal template for Student Success staff for them to copy, complete and upload to their UKG goal form. See details here
- Josh Marks has provided a goal template for Speech staff to do the same
- If a staff member has not been provided with a template from someone who oversees their program, then they are to follow the instructions within UKG to provide their own personal goals for the year