Shadowing-The competition is heating up to the point where the word opportunity might be changing to responsibility. I don’t like to lose, especially to trash talkers working in the office next door to me. I mean, it’s ok if we lose…for you. But for me, losing is gonna hurt. So, if you like me at all (or even if you don’t, but hate the thought of listening to me whine about losing for the next two years), you could participate and record your reflections here. Thank you for helping me show my face in the office. On a more serious note, Alandra would love to highlight the shadowing activity. If you are participating and would be willing to share your experiences with Alandra, let me know. Thank you.
New School Naming- Many of you have probably read in the paper that the board now has the final three name choices for our new elementary school. Kevin did a great job leading a team of staff, parents and community members through a process to select three names to recommend to the board. The board will choose and announce at the January meeting. The three finalists are: North Star, Ruth Reid and Florence Drake. You can read the bulletin article here. Thanks to Kevin and the committee for a great process that netted three outstanding choices.
New School Staffing- We are close to nailing down a process for staffing the new elementary school. I hope to be able to share the plan with you at our horizontal meeting in January.
Health Curriculum- The latest list of our approved health curriculum programs is from 2012. Skip is working on updating this list to reflect all of the approved programs. Programs should not be used if they are not on the approved list. The process for getting a health curriculum approved is also being updated. If you would like information on getting a health program approved, contact Skip and he will fill you in on the process.
Work Hours Survey- Thank you for your distributing the work hour survey. The DLT that created the survey began reviewing the results and feedback at a meeting this week. We will be attempting to come up with a recommendation to give to Shay in January. You are free to share this information with anyone you want/who asks. I’m open to any insights you might have if you take the time to reveiw. Thank you.
Start Time- Gary DeFrang shared this interesting article on start times. Although I personally find any research conducted at the ‘university’ of washington (sorry Gary) to be suspect, most rational people will find that this information helps validate the start time changes we will be undertaking next school year.
Outdoor School- I wanted to let you know that I have been working with Janelle and Jon to provide a little bit of compensation for fifth grade teachers attending outdoor school. As you know, fifth grade teachers who attend are able to count that as their 190th day, but it is still a lot to ask them to be out of town for two nights. We are close to finalizing a plan that would provide them a little extra money for their two nights away. The money would be from the state outdoor school funds. It is not a huge amount, but it is a step towards recognizing their efforts. I’ll give you all details when it is finalized. Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Thank you for everything you do each day to keep your schools humming. Shay began three and a half years ago and shared a vision of redefining success as more than just test scores. You are all meeting this challenge. You are doing amazing things every day to support and prepare our students. The growth in meeting the needs of students with challenging behaviors has been outstanding- you are making a difference and we are serving those students better than ever before. You continue to expand on and provide opportunities for students that they might not otherwise experience. You’ve harnessed the ‘collective genius’ at your schools in pursuit of student B. At the same time, students are still ‘learning the basics’ as our SBA scores are higher than they’ve ever been. The gap between our elementary schools and the state is growing. Our state report card detail sheet shows that our subgroup students are making strong growth. Thank you again for running great schools that give our students every opportunity to succeed.
Upcoming Events
12/24-1/4- Winter Break
1/14- Horizontal Meeting- 4:00- Site TBD