Big Ups!
…to everyone who helped deliver two awesome graduation ceremonies this week!
At the high school, Jen and Jennifer did so much work ahead of time, our speakers Allie, Heidi, and Greg did awesome, and Mary, Caleb, and Ian stepped up to help push a bunch of final logistics over the finish line.
At the middle school, our 8th grade Crew leaders Eric, Phoebe, and Woo get big ups for supporting the creation of those amazing 8th grade songs and videos. Alexis and Kim made great videos. Ian and Dante jumped in and did a great job presenting. Lynda coordinated cake and Laurie coordinated the alumni speaker and Caleb coordinated a ton of other stuff (as always). Joe and his band brought it!
So much good stuff. So many happy tears. Great job everybody.
2 More School Days!
- Mon June 17th – RMS: 6th Grade Al Moody Park, 7th Grade Ryan Ranch
- Mon June 17th – RHS: Fun Monday – Schedule
- Mon June 17th – Fire Drill, 10:30 AM
- Tues June 18th – Last Day of School – RMS Schedule – RHS Schedule – #onerealms Community Meeting 1:05-2:15
- Wed June 19th – Juneteenth Holiday – Office staff will not be available to help with check out tasks.
- Thurs June 20th – Last Staff Work Day/Check Out Day – Check Out List
- Thurs June 20th – Certified Staff may work from home on this grading day if you have your check out tasks done. If you are not going to be on campus and will not be available by phone, make sure your grades are posted correctly with Jill ahead of time (Tuesday).
Staffing Updates
- Lindsay White will be joining us next year as an additional Learning Specialist and SPED case manager! The team and I are still working out how we are going to arrange things, but this additional staffing is for both middle and high school. Lindsay is coming from Summit and I have heard nothing but glowing reviews about her. Our first meeting on Friday morning was really positive and I am very excited to have her on our team!
- As the RMS Crew heard this week, Bethany Skau will not be returning next year as she got a position at Redmond High School (a great move for her and her family). A big loss for us – Bethany is an awesome teacher and an all-around valuable team member. Much more to be said about Bethany, but I hope that we will still see her around from time to time (in her words, “for a volleyball game or a beer!”)
- In her place we will be welcoming Stephanie Hemstead, who is an art teacher (with an ELA endorsement/background as well) coming to us from Pilot Butte Middle School. I met with her this week and we had a great conversation and I was left feeling optimistic that she is going to be a great addition to our team!
- Our HS ELA position is going to be filled at 1.0 FTE under Temporary status by a district employee who is owed a job. I haven’t been given the green light to share who this is yet, but it is exciting that we will have 1.0 to work with instead of the projected 0.5.
- We are getting one more Inclusion EA! This person will also be assigned here to serve both middle and high schools.
- A small team interviewed both MS Humanities and HS STC/OSSM candidates this week and we are very close to finishing that process. I hope to let you all know the outcome in the next couple of days!
- Any and all leads you have on rad Fieldwork Coordinator candidates are appreciated – send them my way please!
Regarding administration for next year: I will be staying on as Interim Principal, and we will be getting a second administrator who will either be called Interim Principal (also) or Interim Assistant Principal. This person will be an internal move so they will know district protocols and policies.
I am working with a few district folks on this and have been pushing 3 priorities for this second administrator:
- Skill in student culture and behavior support.
- Experience in principal role to confidently lead while I am on paternity leave.
- Enthusiasm for the Realms/EL Education Vision.
My next priority will be ensuring that we have a second administrator standing by for my paternity leave, which will align approximately with Trimester 2. I am proud that this team was able to step up and power through this spring with 1 admin, but it was not always pretty!
The process for hiring a new “official” (non-interim) Principal is robust, and I expect that it will begin in late winter next year.
Summer Work Interest Survey
Quite a few people have talked to me about summer projects that they are interested in pursuing… which, if we step back for a moment, is really an amazing thing!
Whether you have already spoken to me about a project or not, please complete this google form if you are interested in doing some work over the summer.
Looking Ahead: August, September, and Beyond
Inservice week will run from Tuesday, 8/27-Friday, 8/30 this year. Additionally, all certified staff can choose to work either Monday, 8/26 or Tuesday, 9/3.
Classified staff can see their start dates in the document below:
According to the new CBA, I am supposed to give you 60 days notice for any evening events that I’d like you to attend. I can tell you now that we will have an Open House/Back to School event ON OR NEAR September 18th. I can’t totally confirm this yet because I have to coordinating with other middle and high schools before locking in a date. Thank you in advance for your flexibility here, and know that I will let you know as soon as I have a firm date.
On the topic of looking ahead, below is the “unofficial” Realms 24-25 calendar. I don’t expect it will change before publication, and is definitely close enough for curriculum planning:
UKG, Evaluations, and EOY Meetings
Many of you will have noticed by now that things like SLGG’s and Observations have been flowing to you for approval in UKG… and the recent documents are (for most of you) blank.
In the past couple of years I have really valued this end-of-year process, and the meetings often produce amazing ideas.
This year, it has simply not been my priority, and so I have to ask your forgiveness for the lack of feedback. It is possible that I will be “redirected” by district leadership and come back to you to mop this up.
So, for now, if you get an “observation” sent to you for approval that is blank, I would ask that you consider approving it, and PLEASE reach out to me directly if you have concerns.
Thank you for your understanding. Providing you all better feedback is one of my top priorities for next year!