
Sincerely ; Wyatt clifford”
This and That:
Staffing: Christi Hill, our new Office Manager, will be starting on Monday. This will be a busy week of training and transition in the office – thank you in advance for your patience with us.
Conferences: It has officially been decided that our fall conferences will be virtual. The county rate is still too high and is now being projected to continue to be high into the winter. A few more details:
- Here is a link to a schedule you can choose to print for scheduling your conferences.
- Plan to send iPads home for conferences so all of our families have access to WebEx.
- I recommend sending iPads home in the next week or two for a test run with WebEx. There was an update to WebEx over the summer and it would be a good idea to ensure it is working on your end and the student end before conferences. Please reach out to Brenna ASAP if you run into troubles.
- I sent an email on Saturday 10/9 to all of our teachers who have students that will need an interpreter for conferences. Here is a link to the interpreter scheduling document in that email.
- Here is what you can expect from an interpreter.
- Here is a link to a parent letter to request conference times in English/ Spanish that you can use if you would like. Several staff have told me they are creating and using their own form this fall, so we are not sending this to printshopt for the whole school.
- For those who want it, here is a link to the conference confirmation/ FAQ for parents. I am still waiting on the Spanish version and will add it to the same document as soon as I have it.
SIW Schedule: SIW this week is an Educator Network session. All certified staff must attend a session. Classified staff may attend a session. Please make sure you are registered.
ICCL Meetings: ICCL Team – our meetings this year have been added to the master calendar for the year. They will take place on alternating Tuesdays from our staff meetings from 2:30-3:30.
Walking Field Trips: The BLS COVID response team met this week and decided walking field trips will be allowed if the following conditions are met:
- The field trip should start and finish at the school and should be directly related to curriculum standards.
- Students must wear masks.
- Students must keep 3 ft apart to the extent possible.
- Management and instruction of students has to be done by school staff – no parent volunteers can be utilized.
- Notify parents of the walking field trip but be careful not to over advertise it. We don’t want parents “accidentally” showing up at the location. This would be subverting our current policy on visitors and volunteers.
- ***Note from Kelle – The office will prepare a walking field trip permission slip to send home to all families and keep on file at the school. All walking field trips must be approved by me at least a week in advance.
Outdoor Lunch/ Weather: As the temperature begins to drop it’s time to review the outside lunch policy:
- K-8 students will come inside for meals at 45-degrees.
- If outside temperature + windchill is lower than 40-degrees, meals will be moved inside.
- For example: If the air temperature is 48 degrees and there are sustained winds at 25 mph, then the wind chill temperature is 40 degrees = Meals inside
- Encouraging students to dress in layers will be important on days when it will be close to the minimum threshold.
Teaching and Learning:
TLC Update: Here is a link to this week’s TLC Update. A couple of highlights to check out: virtual science of reading trainings, Dreambox info, and more information on inclusive practices.
COVID/ Safety Related Information:
COVID Resources Update: Below is some COVID-related resources that will repeat in each of our newsletters for easy access.
- Flowchart for COVID-19 Questions and Concerns: Please follow this flowchart. If in doubt about what to do, you can always check with Frank or Kelle. Frank is our Safety Team Lead, and Ann Hollenberg is our School Nurse.
- BLS Return to School Website: – There is A LOT of great information on this webpage including quarantine and isolation information for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
- EME COVID Anonymous Safety Concern Form: Link here.
A friendly reminder about 3 feet distancing: One of the questions that is asked during contact tracing is “were students 3 feet apart?” All staff – as you move around the building, please do your part to pay particular attention to this rule and give students a friendly reminder about the 3 feet rule and masks up over the nose. Thank you!
Monthly Essential Volunteers Update: The BLS COVID response team met last week and because local COVID numbers are still high the ban on visitors and volunteers will stay in effect.
To Do:
Educator Network Sign-Ups: Our first “Educator Network” SIW is this coming Wednesday 10/13. If you haven’t already registered, please do so now. Here is the information from last week’s newsletter about how to register:
Julie Walker sent an email on Friday 10/1 with information about how to sign-up for the Educator Network Series (the old “district SIW”). Please find this email and register immediately. Some positions have required training and some positions have choices. Please reach out for support if you are unsure about the requirements for your position. Our educational assistants are also welcome to register.
Sub Folders: All Staff- please ensure your sub folder is up-to-date (Sue keeps all folders in the office).
Important Dates:
- SIW Schedule for the year
- Monday: Fire Drill
- Tuesday: ICCL Meeting,
- Wednesday: SIW,
- Thursday: Core EBISS team,