SOCIAL GET TOGETHER…
So, I feel like a real party pooper here, but I am going to hold off on coordinating something for us here. Call me crazy, but with the recent spike in cases in Oregon (and a bunch of other states), and the fact that as the weather improves on Thursday this week I suspect that any location we might try to gather at will likely be crowded with enthusiastic socializers Given the realities, I feel like it is my job to lead conservatively here. So I am going to put a big old postponement on a whole school social thing for now and start counting the days to when we can organize something officially and toast, cheers, hug etc! That said, if some of YOU want to rally a get together, I am totally fine with it and would likely join in … I just am not super comfortable organizing it (from my position) given the situation right now! Hope that makes sense.
SUMMER WORK OVERVIEW…
FIRST – A BREATH: I am both GRATEFUL and EXCITEDLY OPTIMISTIC to dig into some program development work this summer. I know, I know…. take a breath Roger! I will, I promise, and I DO KNOW that we ALL need to take a few deep breaths and RESET in order to reconnect with family, self, and nature. And then, eventually, we’ll be ready to tap back into the creativity, compassion, and purpose that makes all of you amazing educators! SO, WHEN YOU ARE READY READ THE DETAILS BELOW…
SECOND – A WORD ABOUT “PAY”: The conundrum around summer work and pay is one of the least favorite of my “professional challenges”!! As passionate educators who have signed on to start a school (an EL School to boot) we are drawn into work that is beyond what most public school teachers have to do. There is so much to do as we bbuild an amazing school for kids! AND it is both exciting and tiring at the same time! I WISH I could compensate all of us fully for the cool, creative (and hard) work of planning programs, curriculum, schedules etc. that seems to land on top of the “normal teaching” load, but I simply can’t. That said, I do have close to $9000 that I can invest in our summer work, and I have set up a budget to use that as fairly and purposefully as I can. Feel free to check it out. Know that I am grateful for and inspired by the work you do and the opportunity to collaborate with and support you. And know that you are NOT contractulally required to sign on to any of these teams! :). The only REQUIRED piece on here is the Canvas training.
SUMMER WORK SPECIFICS…
The first two tabs on this Summer Work Spreadsheet outlines our teams and my budget/pay plan. I am planning to add all of these hours IN ADVANCE to a special June 30th payroll run that will be paid in mid July. Keep an eye.
INTERVIEW TEAM: RW, MH, KLL. I am hoping to schedule interviews sometime during the period of July 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th. Hopefully over the course of two days. I will be learning more about our hiring timeline in my leadership meeting Wednesday this week, but please mark your calendars. I suspect the sweet spot will be Thursday and Friday July 2nd and 3rd and will be shooting to line up for these days. Thank you to others who volunteered…. you are welcome to join if you’d like, but I am keeping the official team to three in order to make the $’s go further!
“READY TEAM”: RW, ZH, JR, KLL. – Don’t you love that name? Sounds like a bunch of Navy SEALS (which we are clearly NOT!). I am looking to slot some time in for this team suring the same window as the interviewing team is doing its work: July 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th. THEORETICALLY this will be late enough that we’ll have some draft plans for the secondary team at the District who is meeting to work out scenarios. As soon as I know more, I will let you know!
COURSE PLANNING: This one is the most CRITICAL piece of work in many ways! We have two BIG “new” chunks next year: 3 new staff members and multiple new courses! Before I go any further, I want to say THANK YOU in advance for the creative, thoughtful, and rigorous course planning that pretty much ALL of you will be taking on this summer in order to be ready for next year. Having well planned curriculum prepared in advance is both a professional responsibility AND maybe our greatest opportunity to create an educational experience that is RADICAL, PROGRESSIVE, ENGAGING and EL aligned! I am fully aware that there is NO WAY I have anywhere near the dollars I’d like to have in order to pay you for your actual planning time. That said, I have a symbolic amount set aside for some individual planning.
- 6 hours for individual course planning on your own. The idea here is that you get a little extra pay for the planning work that you will be doing anyway. The push here is to do this planning work before our “Institute” so that you can get feedback from colleagues and then fine tune.
- 12 hours for a “curriculum tuning/planning institute” in August. The idea here is to bring your curriculum plans for one or more of your “new courses” and get feedback from peers and then time and support in fine tuning and improving your plan.
- Lets land on our dates! Please complete this Doodle poll ASAP so we can try to get these dates nailed now before all the summer plans get locked in!
- COMING SOON – suggestions and guidance on the “how” of course planning including suggested tools to use and our best thinking about how to plan with distance learning, hybrid learning, and on site learning in mind!
CANVAS TRAINING: This is now OPEN! I am going to get started on my training right away and I would encourage those of you who can to do this early. My hunch is that this Canvas training will be supportive of and REALLY helpful in your planning work for new courses! Here are all the details for how to get signed up and started.
APPRECIATING CORA!
Cora – we did not get the chance to properly send you off with our love and appreciation!! So, here is our chance. You were SUCH a ray of sunshine, kindness, and compassion throughout this whole year. Your huge heart, your patience, and your desire to make a difference in each kiddo’s life was clear and obvious every single day you were on campus. THANK YOU for all you did for our staff and kids this year – YOU MADE A REAL AND LASTING IMPACT!
Team – I encourage you all to jump onto Cora’s Yearbook Post on Instagram and “sign her yearbook” as a way of showing your appreciation!