This and That:

Classified Staff Appreciation Week: As you may have heard, last week was officially National “Classified Staff Appreciation Week.” For those of you that are new to Elk Meadow, I want to make sure you know you were not forgotten! At Elk Meadow, we celebrate STAFF appreciation week in May (instead of separate certified and classified weeks). In the meantime, please know that you are SO appreciated for all you do for our students and our Elk Meadow community.

Staffing:

School Psychologist: I am grateful that Alix Keel has joined our SPED team as our school psychologist for the remainder of the school year. Alix has many years of experience and will be at EME on Thursdays and Fridays. Alix’s office will be in D-wing near the student bathrooms.

Health Room Support: Alison McClellan is a district contact tracer that will be using Elk Meadow as her home base for the remainder of the year. While contact tracing for the district will be her top priority, we are thrilled she will be able to support the health room between phone calls.

Media Manager: We will be hosting interviews for our media manager on Monday 3/14. Thank you to Kathy for volunteering to be part of our hiring team.

Spending Due Date: Student body and general fund accounts need to be spent by April 15th (or you have permission from Kelle to spend it after that date). Please see Chris if you aren’t sure how much money you still have in your account(s).

Digital Citizenship Made Simple (From Instructional Tech): This month is all about digital citizenship. We all know it’s important but hardly have time to fit it in. Check out Digital Citizenship Made Simple. This week we’re looking at social media. Our latest post, Instagram Ready, includes a quick social media Kahoot all ready to go. As always, visit our blog for more bright ideas.💡 (And to our subscribers: please pardon the broken link this morning. This email will get you where you need to go.)

Parent Volunteers Step 2 (Repeat of an email from Kelle last week): Once you send out the letter inviting families to volunteer in your classroom, hopefully, you will have some families respond that they would indeed like to volunteer.  Only once a family has reached out expressing interest in volunteering, please send these linked directions to them (these should not be sent out to all families).

Volunteers: As you have have volunteers approved to work, please let Kelle know at least 24 hours before they are scheduled in the classroom. The office will be setting up a system so we know who to expect each day.

Summer School (Jump Start): Due to some needed kitchen work at EME, summer school will not be hosted at Elk Meadow this summer. Students from Elk Meadow, Pine Ridge, Jewell, and Miller will use Pine Ridge for their summer school site this year.

Summer School (Jump Start) Hiring: More information about summer school hiring will be coming out in April. There will be several different job opportunities available for Jump Start.

SIW Agenda: SIW this week is “Teacher Prep.”

Staff Meeting Agenda: I am planning for a short staff meeting on Tuesday. We will be covering the most relevant changes to RSSL and our COVID 19 protocols.

Focus on Excellence and Equity:

TLC Update: Here is a link to this week’s TLC Update.

COVID/ Safety Related Information:

EME COVID Anonymous Safety Concern Form: Link here.

RSSL March 2 Update: For those who are interested, here is the complete March 2 update to the RSSL

More COVID Update Info. (From Tami Pike): Here’s some updated COVID-19 information from the the Health Service Team

To Do:

Spring Conferences: Spring conference date and time request forms will be in your box by Tuesday AM (hopefully Monday). Please send them home no later than Tuesday 3/15.

Masking Changes Conversations: Ready or not, there go the masks!  It’s going to be kind of strange to see full faces on Monday. Missing teeth, nose rings, braces… all will be revealed!  Not everyone will be comfortable without a mask so thanks for your help with teaching students to be respectful and honor the choices we each make.  If you haven’t already, please ensure you follow through with teaching the activities shared by Jennifer Hauth has put together for Friday, March 11th, and Monday, March 14th.

Important Dates: