To Do:

• Add to your calendar: On December 5 we have a Leadership meeting that begins at 3:15.  The planned agenda is to talk about a possible district bond and then walk across the street for our holiday social.  I’d like for all MS building administrators to come to the board room at 2:30 on Dec. 5 for a informational meeting with Josh Marks and Colleen Funderburg regarding a draft system for processing discipline/expulsion students between home school and alternative options.  Josh will present the draft system flowchart and ask for your feedback on how to improve it. Please plan on having at least one administrator from each building attend – but all admin would even be better!

This and That:

• No matter where your vote landed, we now know who will be our 45th President.  To be honest, I am not very politically motivated – but the path leading up to this election caught my attention.  Unfortunately, what drew me in was the ugliness within the process leading up to the Nov. 8th vote.  Although the candidates have since communicated a collaborative voice, not all in our country have – which again is very disappointing.  It is truly time to pull together no matter what our political views are and it is up to us, as leaders and fellow workers in our district, to model this stance.  I am proud to know you and work with you in great degree because I know your heart.  You love working with kids and are passionate about their ability to learn; preparing each for her/his future.  I know that you care and will advocate for every student at your school – regardless of race, gender, sex, socio-economic status, or any other subgroup title that can be thought of.  If there is tension in your building I encourage you to address it head-on and clearly communicate what your expectations are around how all people will be treated at school.  Thank you for what you do day in and day out as a building leader! [I wrote this prior to Shay sending out a “message to staff” email earlier today.  I appreciate his words and echo his communication around what many of you and your staff members are experiencing right now.]
• I know some of you may have already had a meeting with your MS Horizontal “sister school” and begun conversations around progress monitoring – and that is great.  Whether you have had a first meeting yet or not, I committed to providing you with some resources and items to consider around this topic.  And thankfully, because of Lora’s work, you are now receiving those resources!  I’ve loaded all of the documents in Google Drive for you to access (Instruction/PD tab – then Progress Monitoring folder), but want to specifically link to one document (How do we Know if we are Growing) I recommend you start with.  It is a combination of things to consider and recommended action steps for ultimately creating progress monitoring assessments.  Additionally, there are a number of excellent readings that will be a good resource for you to review and potentially discuss.
• Next Friday and Saturday I’ll be in Portland for a TURN Conference.  This is one in which we’ll have district, classified, building, and certified leadership attending in order to continue our efforts around working collaboratively on issues that benefit the district as a whole.  I’ll be leaving Thursday afternoon, but please call or text my cell phone if you need me for any reason that evening or Friday.
• You have probably all watched a “Kid President” video before, but maybe you haven’t watched one recently!  They are all pretty good, but here is one he did honoring teachers and students that I thought was worth another look.

• Thank you to all who were able to attend the admin technology training on Monday afternoon at PCMS.  I trust you were both encouraged to think about the current use of technology for instruction – as well as challenged to think of ways in which you might lead in how technology could be used in teaching/learning.  If you weren’t able to attend this training I encourage you to consider if someone from your building could participate in the future.

Reminders:

• Next Tuesday, 11/15, is a MAC Survey day.  You are aware that this is a major funding source for our FAN advocates, so please take the time to review which of your, if any, activities are considered “claimable” time.
• Next Tuesday is also Principal for the Day, sponsored by the Education Foundation.  Not all of our schools will participate this year – but all of our middle schools are!  By now you should be aware of whom is coming to your building as “principal.”
• Next Thursday is College Day in all of our schools across the district.  Encourage your staff to wear college gear and make sure you take a photo to send to Andrea and Alandra.
• Don’t forget to complete your SLGGs in Talent Ed by next Friday, Nov. 18.  Let me know if you have any questions about the process or specifics around goals.  More than anything, please make your goals meaningful to you and student learning.
• Per his email sent out on 11/8, Skip has opened up the BrightBytes survey and it will remain open through Dec. 2. Here is the link for logging in. As a reminder, this survey is one measure of Future Ready that the district has identified.