Updates, Reminders, and Department Info…
From Scott in IT – Nearly all of our students will be turning in their iPads before the summer holiday. It has been a few years since we last performed an end of year device “roll in”. Those of you who have experienced this process know that it is not a small task. Thank you to each of you who have already met with Roy Fuller to learn about the process and work up a plan. Our hope is that each of you will now make the effort to provide as much support as you are able to assist your school media specialist/ librarians during the last week of school. This is certainly one of those operations where many hands make light work.
Additionally, we will be asking for any student hotspots to be turned in at that time as well. (details to follow)
DIBELS Refresher for Educational Assistants- We are seeing a need to provide a refresher training for DIBELS benchmark and progress monitoring. Please take a minute to fill out this quick survey on which dates work best for your building.
From Julie – Please reserve a two hour time slot on one of the building days during the week of August 29-September 1st. This time is for a training session on new scope and sequence, curriculum map and NewsELA training.
From Lora – Principals and LLC Team – We have entered the season where every Friday and Monday are becoming days with MANY unfilled jobs! We all need to avoid scheduling interviews, team time, studios, etc. on these days. I am requesting that building leaders and LLC team members get approval from their level leader before scheduling any field trip/PD/”school business” subs on Fridays and Mondays through the end of the year.
UKG Update
From Paul re: Spring/Summer Recruiting – Here are some FAQs regarding the upcoming certified hiring season:
Which internal candidates are we required to interview? The CBA guarantees interviews to internal candidates to anyone who has contract status, meaning they have been employed with us for three years or longer. Because of the fact that the contract letters have already been issued for next year, this includes those who are probationary three this year. If an employee has contract status and is currently in a temporary position, they are still owed an interview.
If so, how do find out which employees are in which category? Please click on this link to see the contract status of all certified staff. If someone does not appear on your list, please email [email protected]for assistance.
For those that we are required to offer an interview to, does it need to be a full interview, or can it be a phone screen or a shortened version? Asking as it will be a struggle to arrange for teachers etc. to participate in a large number of full interviews. You can run a tiered interview for any position you like, beginning with a screening round where ALL internal applicants are asked the same questions and you then decide which candidates to invite to subsequent rounds of interviews.
The Red Zone – Things to definitely read, do, share, or put on your calendar
From Julie: Important message regarding instructional coaches – Starting May 1st our instructional coaches will only be in buildings on Tuesday, Thursday and for scheduled school-based SIWs. The coaching team is preparing new scope/sequence documents, curriculum maps and required and optional training for K-5 educators.
From Lora to Principals: Our monthly PD session is this Monday, May 1st, in the boardroom starting at 3:00. Our life and career readiness discussion will end at 4:00. In our PD survey, a number of leaders expressed interest in digging more deeply into instructional practices next year. Dave VanLoo will be sharing a model with ANY INTERESTED PRINCIPALS AND LLC MEMBERS from 4:00-4:30. The purpose of the presentation is to gauge interest in this approach to instructional improvement and get feedback about what schools might need in terms of support if they want to “pilot” the model during the 23-24 school year.
Calendar
- May 1, Principal PD–Boardroom 3:30-5:00
- May 9, CEL Cohort 1, Embedded Session at Pine Ridge 8:15-2:00
- May 11, 12 – Skip is out
- May 10, CEL Cohort 2, Embedded Session at Elk Meadow 8:15-2:00
- May 16, Horizontal Meeting–3:00-4:30 Silver Rail
- May 29, Memorial Day, no school
And Finally…
Congrats to the Amity Creek Magnet School chess team on winning third place at the state chess tournament! Their third place finish is especially satisfying as the team played against bigger schools with well established chess clubs from around the state, and only started playing as a team a couple of months ago.
