April 15, 2022

Conferences Recap

Thank you so much to all of you for putting so much time into making sure the conferences went well. It was SO great to see families in our building again. I’m a big believer in the school-family partnership and, while that has been challenging the past couple of years, I feel like some momentum has been made to keep that link strong.

Next Year Update

My primary focus, PCMS-wise, is building a staffing plan for next year. There are still a number of unknowns in the staffing plan, as we are looking at all the staffing needs across all secondary sites to see how things balance with some population shifts at other schools. I have shared some of my thinking with some of you and am not keeping anything secret, it’s just that there are many unknowns that likely won’t be solved before May 1. That said, if you have questions about your particular situation, please connect with Deb to schedule some time with me this week.

One thing I can share is that we will continue to have Advisory next year, as it will be a mandated common practice for all BLP middle schools.

Observations

It’s the time of year where we are wrapping up both mini and formal observations. I’ll be emailing the probationary and temporary staff to schedule observations as well as the accompanying pre- and post-observations meeting for the next few weeks.

“Regular” teachers (I don’t love that term) can expect to see Lora Nordquist and/or Dean Richards visiting classrooms for some mini observations in the coming weeks, as they have both graciously offered to help pick up some of the slack that our administrative shuffling has caused. A reminder that mini and formal observations both are designed as times for staff to get a fresh set of eyes on their classroom and planning in order to improve in a supportive fashion.

Admin Update

Speaking of the Admin shuffle, I wanted to let everyone know that we are working on a plan that will keep Kristy here for the remainder of the year, even after Anne-Marie returns. I know the current model of “who’s here today?” can feel frustration or unsupportive or confusing or all of the above, and please know the current plan is all of us doing our best to mitigate those feelings and that we realize its shortcomings, hence the move to have Kristy her through the end of the year.

SIW Update

We have some school-discretion SIWs coming up, which your ICCL team are working to plan. Two things to know are that Sean Keating, the next PCMS Principal, will be joining SIW via WebEx on April 27. More details to come as that gets closer. The other thing to know is that we will meet on May 27 to review some of our YouthTruth data from this year’s survey. I’ll share some data from the survey ahead of time, as well as the model we’ll be using to discuss it as a group.

End of Year Odds-and-Ends

The LAST DAY OF SCHOOL is Thursday, June 16th. It will be an SIW schedule for that day, with the preceding Wednesday being a typical schedule. The ICCL team and others are working on a schedule for that day to provide students and staff with a celebratory time in the afternoon. More details to come.

The 8th grade Promotion Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, June 14th at 5:30 pm in our Gym. We will recognize the atypical journey this year’s 8th grade class has had in their Middle School lives and wish them well as they leave the nest.

Staff End of Year Celebration will be held at a place and date to be determined. This year has been all sorts of difficult, it’s important that we gather to recognize that and celebrate one another.

Our annual End of Year Awards recognition will continue this year. Here is a link to the spreadsheet detailing the school-wide categories with some selection criteria and the staff awards that have been given out in years past. The school-wide awards will continue in the fashion listed, the staff awards are up to the awarding staff member to continue or not. If you’d like to add a new award to recognize a student or students, please let me know and we’ll talk it through and make a decision together.

A note about awards: last year, Lisa and I went through the recipients’ list and noted how many recipients fit the profile of the stereotypical “good student” teachers love to see in their classrooms: compliant, polite, quiet, high-achieving academically, and female. This is likely a result of unconscious bias manifesting unconsciously and without intention or malice. We know through research that discussion of unconscious bias in an attempt to raise awareness of said bias is a key step in the mitigation of unconscious bias, hence this long explanation. As you are nominating students for school-wide awards and/or selecting students for staff awards, I ask that you be mindful of examining why you are drawn to nominate the student you are and to ask yourself if there are students who may not come to mind immediately who would be deserving of recognition.

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