First two weeks back for teachers – so this topic is about as clear as mud so I am going to do my best to clear things up and fix anything that I might have communicated incorrectly. Here goes… There are 3 days between 9/1 and 9/3. Of those 3 days two can be building directed and one is for teacher work-time. As I have mentioned before, during this building directed you’ll probably want to break these days into smaller, more manageable meetings and time chunks. I also want to reiterate that just because two days are reserved for building directed activities, don’t think you have to use it that way. Giving the teachers more work time is a good thing. The next week from 9/9 – 9/11 is for district training and teacher work time. There is no building directed time these days. So, if you were planning on using this time to contact families you’ll need to schedule that activity the week prior if possible. Remember, during the first weeks back for students should the emphasis should be placed on connecting with families. Academics will occur but connections are most important.
An important note from Human Resources: A quick reminder that new hires should not be working before they are cleared. We have been working very hard, but the drug and background check is out of our control. Please let new hires know that they can’t attend Monday’s New Teacher Day unless they are cleared. New teachers will have the opportunity to watch the videos at a later time as they will be recorded. If
New Teacher Welcome Baskets – We need you to stop by Stephanie Ben’t office on the 3rd floor early next week for new teacher gift basket. They have names on them. They are only available for those who have cleared the HR process. Sorry for this last minute request.
Staffing – I have spent the last several days talking with many of you about your staffing. If I haven’t talked to you it’s probably because you’e not adding or losing staff. Those schools were my first priority. I’ll be reviewing staffing plans over the next two days and following up with all of you. To facilitate those conversations, do me a favor and clean up your staffing plans with current numbers and current configurations. And remember, everything is a temp hire from here on out. Thanks!
Childcare – I need everyone who is hosting childcare in their building to please complete this table so I know who has been identified as your academic support staff and what locations in your building will be utilized. On Tuesday I said the gyms were not the best location. I want to correct myself on this a bit. Park and Rec would prefer that the gyms not be used if this is also going to be where people are coming in for meals. However, if this can be managed effectively then the gym is a viable option.
Classified schedule…Following is a clarification of the workdays for your classified EA positions prior to Sept. 14. During the week of Sept. 1 – 4, all classified (who aren’t on the clock yet) have one day of work to report in for – at your discretion. During the week of Sept. 7 – 11, your classified EA (those who haven’t reported to work yet) folks have three days of work – specifically Wednesday – Friday.
From Dana regarding FAN advocates – Here are some general guidelines. These are in the process of being finalized but in general are the parameters of working from home.
FAN Advocates will have the option to work at their site or at home, with these caveats:
- Advocates are expected to be working and available during workdays and during work hours.
- Principals may require staff to report to the building for a variety of reasons with 24-hour notice: team planning, trainings, to meet clients, etc.
- If an administrator has concerns about a staff member needing more support, that staff member will be expected to report to the building during working hours. When working at a site, proper safety measures such as wearing a mask, physical distancing, washing hands, and limiting teams to small groups will be expected.
- Confidentiality needs to be maintained during work hours. Unless a FAN Advocate can secure a location in a room adjacent to the FAN office, Advocate children will not be able to come to school.
Please reach out to me any time if you want to discuss these expectations. As a reminder, these provisions are for CDL only. New expectations for working during the Hybrid learning option will be shared at a later date.
SOP documents and schedules – here are the updated schedules for school staff:
Here to serve – Here is a list of who to contact for elementary support.
- John Craft- Instructional Technology
- Brenna Frost- Instructional Technology
- Dyan Sultzer- Instructional Technology
- Lindsley Gehrig- Literacy Anna Schmitt- Literacy
- Cate Denson Hill- English Language Development
- Kerry Morton- Mathematics
- Michele Oakes-Mentor Program and National Board Certification
- Carrie Kennedy- Mentor
- September 9th training opportunities – below are the optional training opportunities on September 9th for teachers and educational assistants. Please try to free up your educational assistants for part of the day on the 9th so they can attend sessions. This will not be your only opportunity for optional trainings. We will offer additional sessions later in the month. Sign up for these classes and future classes will be available on Performance Matters on Wednesday, September 2nd. All courses will be on Webex
- Kindergarten Lexia 8:00-9:30
- 1-2 Lexia 9:45-11:00
- 3-5 Lexia 2:00-3:30
- Lexia for Educational Assistants 8:00-9:30
- Lexia for specialists 12:45-2:00
- Seesaw for Beginners 8:00-9:30
- What is new to Seesaw? 2:00-3:30
- Effective Synchronized Math Lessons K-2 11:00-12:30
- Effective Synchronized Math Lessons 3-5 11:00-12:30Screen Recording. 9:45-11:00Using Webex More Effectively 11:00-12:30
- Google Classroom 3-5 12:45-2:00
- and more to come….
Communicating with your families… you recently received (or soon will!) an email from Alandra with a list of suggested topics to cover with your families in your regular communication channels. You will likely receive a similar email from Alandra every week, for the next handful of weeks. In an effort to coordinate communication coming from your school and the district, please make sure you have disseminated the topics (in your next family communication) that Alandra is suggesting, as you receive them.
Some questions have come up regarding iPad insurance. In a nutshell, parents can still pay for iPad insurance this year. Please refer them to this district site for more information. (You might want to include this in a future parent communication.)
Save the Date! – Friday Sept 4th 10-11 – all elementary principals please add this Zoom link to your calendar for a mental health pick me up. Self and Collective Care as a Foundation for Transitional Leadership is the topic. The stress associated with seemingly unending changes, uninvited endings, and evolving expectations about new ways of doing things can feel overwhelming. Factor in the concerns about the well-being of staff, students, their families, our own families, and each other, and levels of stress become an even more serious concern. With this understanding, and grounded in the knowledge of transition leadership, this session puts forth a shared responsibility framework for systemic approaches and practical considerations for taking care of ourselves as leaders and then shifting to the facilitation of collective care for the staff you work with.
Safety Topics…
Look for an 18 min. COVID-19 Training video created by our district nurses to be released early next week. We would like this video to be a district required training. Everyone should view it before September 11. Staff who have concerns about returning to work may want to watch it prior to coming into the building.
Paul has put together several important resources for everyone to read and implement. Please take the time to review each:
- Welcoming Staff Back Into Buildings – this document outlines the topics and steps to take for welcoming staff back into the building.
- Staff Contract Tracing – this needs to be in place by Tuesday, September 1
- Attendance Information – this document is in DRAFT form but it should be finalized soon. It outlines the attendance requirements for CDL and Hybrid. This information needs to be covered prior to the first day with students.
- Materials distribution – see updated procedures
AutoDialer – We are looking at the feasibility of changing the AutoDialer code so that is goes out at 11 am (after the 10 am attendance deadline for the prior day. The script will sound something like this, “Your child was marked Not Virtually Present in one or more of their classes yesterday. Please refer to ParentVUE or StudentVUE for more details.”
If a staff member feels ill after entering a school site, they are to isolate themselves within the building and immediately call their supervisor.
The supervisor will text Tami Pike, Health Services Supervisor, at 541-350-8387 with the following information:
This is [insert your name] and I have a staff member feeling ill. Please call me. The staff member can be reached at [insert phone number].
Tami will call you and advise you and the staff member’s next steps. Please share this protocol with your staff.
Reminders…
- No Tuesday Horizontal Webex meetings this week or next. Stay tuned for a different schedule where we can come together.
- update staffing plans
- complete childcare table
- Friday Sept 4th 10-11:00