New Metrics and Next Year…
The governor’s news conference yesterday introduced metrics that need to be met in order for districts to welcome students back into buildings. If we were to apply those metrics today we would not be able to bring kids back to the building. However, the metrics are based on the preceding three weeks of data so making a prediction for the start of school is not quite possible right now – but we’re getting darn close. So what do you tell families or teachers that might call you? Until you hear for sure the direction we’re going, I would use words from Lora’s email last night in any conversations you may have:
While the news from the governor is challenging, it is also one district teams have been preparing for and we remain ready to serve our students and families in whatever form is necessary. We are committed to providing meaningful educational opportunities for all of our students. We hope to share additional information about the metrics, our decision making timeline and other details within the next week.
Even though we cannot say with 100% certainty we are going to a distance learning model my advice to all of you would be to stop counting desks! Stay tuned for more info (and there will be more info)
Keep moving forward with school Blueprint work
Earlier this week (7/27) Paul sent you an email with directions for completing your school’s Operational Blueprint. Even though things are changing, continue with this work and try to complete this plan by its due date.
Staff Letter
I am holding off on sending you a letter you can send to your staff re: next year. Jim and Katie sent one out to their admins but things are moving so fast that whatever I send would probably be old news as soon as I hit the send button.
Admin Hires
A quick update on current administrative hiring:
- Lorin Page was selected as the VP of Three Rivers K-8 – welcome Lorin!
- Nole Kennedy has been selected as the VP of High Desert Middle School
- TLC director is still TBD
August 11th
Reserve this day on your calendar for a horizontal meeting. I do not have the exact time or topics yet but this is when all level leaders will be meeting with their admin teams.
Health and Safety Trainings Aug 19
Recognizing the vast amount of new trainings that will need to be completed by all district staff, we are looking towards a model that will allow synchronous and asynchronous methods of delivering these sessions. We will delay public access to school buildings until a week after our front office staff return to work to allow time for trainings to occur. Administrators will attend a district safety day on August 19th. If you originally had the 13th on your calendar delete that event.
Off Friday
FYI – I am taking Friday off. If you need me just text and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Just a reminder of two summer opportunities…
From Kinsey…
If you are looking for a learning opportunity to dig into equity work, please consider participating in this workshop. We wanted to bring it to your attention, because we have the unique opportunity to work with a nationally-recognized teacher:
August 24-25, we are offering (for university credit or PDUs): Daring Classrooms and Schools: Practicing vulnerability, relationships, and dialogue as a basis for equity leadership. Matt Kay, a nationally-recognized author, equity consultant, and practicing classroom teacher will present and facilitate half of this WebEx/online workshop. The other portion of the workshop will be collective learning based on Brene Brown’s work on vulnerability and courage, as well as some other resources promoting dialogue and relationships (teacher-to-student, and colleague-to-colleague).
Mr. Kay is the author of the book we chose for a recent book study (Not Light But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom). His work was relevant and enlightening to all participants in the book study, including district and building administrators, instructional coaches, specialists, and K-12 teachers, and was firmly rooted in high-quality and tangible instructional practices.
Here is a video sample of Mr. Kay’s message around safe spaces in the classroom–one of many topics from his book. “You have to practice the skills that make people feel safe.”
Join us for this opportunity to learn, talk, and grow together as anti-racist educators!
If you are interested in taking this workshop for university credit, OSU-Cascades requires some paperwork from you by July 6, so register on Performance Matters ASAP (course # 10796).
We are working on making additional copies of his book available–we’ll email registered participants with details soon, for those who are interested in reading the book before the workshop.
From Sean Reinhart…
Dear Culture of Care Stakeholders,
Registration is now open for the Trauma-Informed Educational Leadership Summit, hosted by Culture of Care, August 20-21, 2020! See attached flyer with registration and/or link below.
Trauma-Informed Educational Leadership Summit
As a reminder, day 1 is open to the community, and day 2 is just for school teams that are working with Culture of Care. In order to attend day 2 you must attend day 1. We will be sharing with our priority schools this week. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Hope to see you there!
Amber, Erin, Amy & Sierra