This and That:

• An article, Empathy: A Note, was shared with me and I thought is well worth passing along to you.  This is the time of year when empathy (as well as patience) often runs thin.  A time when situations that were met with compassion months ago are no longer.  Often these are associated with student behavior – but it could also be true of teaching and learning.  At one point in the article the author, as a teacher herself, confesses that: “Empathy nudges me to sidle inside another’s mind and heart and see what it’s like in there, even to glimpse what I look and sound like from within that other world.”  Hope you are able to take a few minutes and read this article – and sharing it with others as you think appropriate.
• Here are a few follow-ups from our Horizontal meeting earlier this week:
  • I will check on a few ACR questions that came up and hope to have answers for you as soon as next week (i.e. Can we put the form online? Can we have one district message around ACR? How will we communicate our ACR message?, etc.)
  • I have sent an email to Sal, Debbie and Candy regarding the questions that came up when discussing Extra Duty.  Most of these questions were associated to athletic hirings and therefore may be addressed through AD meetings.  I will communicate with you if I receive any updates.
  • 6th grade Move Up: I decided that each MS would host their feeder 5th graders on May 19  (or some day that week) this year.  Here are some expectations that I have around that visit (and let me know if you have any questions/concerns with any of these):
    • You will make reach out to all of your feeder schools to finalize date and time for this visit.
    • You will determine, with your feeder schools, which schools will need transportation and who will be contacting the bus garage to make necessary arrangements.
    • Costs for transportation is the school’s responsibility (and should not be a large amount).  Feel free to negotiate with your feeders, but ultimately this is something we are going to make happen so don’t push for them to pay.

Reminders:

• I have jury duty these next two weeks.  As you probably know, that requires me to make a call in the evening to see if I need to report the next day.  If I do need to report then I will let you know via email.
• The TELL survey will be open from Feb. 1 – 29.  In mid-January you should have received letters to hand out to your teaching staff.  If you haven’t already, please hand out those letters today.  Here is a 1-page overview of the TELL survey with additional details.  If you can make it work, it is more than appropriate to provide time for your staff to complete this survey.
• Leadership meeting for everyone on Monday at 3:15.  A New Administrator Academy will precede it beginning at 2:00.