To Do:

• Please work with your staff to have your enrollment updated/accurate by the end of the day Monday (9/10). This includes having all new students in Synergy, and all students that have not appeared at school yet removed from Synergy.
• As you likely are aware, completely honoring interpreter requests during our conference times is nearly impossible. With this in mind, we are going to try something new this year. Rather than schools making the request for interpreters and holding our breathe that some of these requests get filled, we are instead going to find out when interpreters are available during conference times, share this information with schools, and then communicate with families when interpreters will be in the building. We will not have a good idea of when interpreters will be available until the week of Oct. 1. What I would like to do is hold a meeting with one administrator from any building that will be requesting an interpreter. We will meet at 7:30am on Friday, Oct. 5 here at the Ed Center (in Gary Timm’s office – right next to mine.) So I have an idea how big our group will be, please let me know whom from your school (if anyone) will be attending.

This and that:

• I wish you all could see what I get to see when I visit each of your schools… the excitement, passion, love of getting to work with students – and how it plays out so commonly and differently at the same time at each of your sites. Stopping in to see what was happening on the first day with kids was definitely fun – and something I miss about not working in a building. (To me the feeling is sort of the same felt before a big game [performance, contest, recital, etc.] in that there is some stress leading up to this day, but once it began then the stress turned to adrenaline and it was a whole lot of fun!) I either witnessed or received pictures of your staff adding some fun to their first day outfit in an effort to make kids feel welcomed as they entered, signs around lockers that helped to remind 6th graders how to open their locker, teaching on how “intentions” directly affect the results they experience, as well as tons of support from all staff in the building. The starts of the year are always a mix of chaos, excitement, nerves, planned and unplanned events, and dreams of accomplishment. May these feelings of hope and positive determination continue for the days and weeks ahead.
• Here are the dates for Leadership (all admin meet at the Ed Center board room @ 3:15pm) meetings this year: Oct. 1, Nov. 5, Dec. 3 (social), Feb. 4, April 1, June 17 (BBQ).  Additionally, there will be two meetings (one in March and one in May) that have a PD focus and will be calendared at a later date. More to come regarding our PD-focused meetings next month…
• You may or may not have heard by now that our state has decided that a SBAC “opt out” will be counted as a “Does Not Meet” from now on. This brings two things to my mind.  First, the perception – portrayed through the media – of how well our schools are doing educating kids in our community will likely take a hit as this change will no doubt drop our school’s “Meet” percentage. Second, the validity (and usefulness) of analyzing OAKS scores for informing instruction just got less valid, reliable and useful. (My opinions)
• In this article, What Teachers Look for in School Leaders, author Jon Saphier contends that research indicates trust is a foundational factor needed for collective efficacy – which is essential for high student achievement. Mr. Saphier outlines, from a teacher’s perspective, how a principal can build trust amongst her/his staff. In reading this article my mind wandered toward how trust and school culture are connected…
• This message is from Hayley regarding an update on Skills Trainers:Unfortunately, we learned today, that one of our Skills Trainers will be out on medical leave with a broken leg for the start up of our Skills Training Sessions!Amanda, Cristina, Jen, and Lorna have worked to arrange the schedules to provide Skills Trainers for students that had spring plans in this first session. We are optimistic for our Skills Trainers return and appreciate you understanding with this situation!

Reminders:

• MS Horizontal on Sept. 17, beginning at 3:15pm, at HDMS. Please work to arrive a few minutes prior to 3:15 so we can start on time as we have a very full agenda. I’ll include the agenda with next week’s blog post.