From Tammy and Karen
I have been in awe with the Artemis II astronauts this past week. So much about this mission seems unfathomable, yet here they are, 4 human beings (and many more people on earth), making this amazing mission happen. They will have traveled 695,080 miles by the time they return, with a maximum distance of being 252,756 miles away from earth. Now that is a lot of frequent flier miles! As impressive as all the math and science is that makes all this happen, the expertise, teamwork, and camaraderie of the crew is equally impressive. Here’s wishing them the best as they are set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego on Friday night at 8:07.
ECSC Transition Meetings: Many of you are getting ready to start ECSC transition meetings for your incoming kindergarteners next year. Here is some guidance we have put together to help you know how to make sure your kindergarten teachers, who are being asked to attend the meetings are being covered with subs, or in some instances, compensated for their time.
Guidance for upcoming ECSC transition meetings (* is from the contract):
- *The district will provide substitute release time or compensation for preparation for, as well as attendance at ECSE meetings.
- *Kindergarten teachers who are required to attend ECSE meetings will be compensated at the certified employee’s per diem rate unless a substitute is provided to allow for such meetings to occur within the workday.
- *If the certified employee volunteers to attend such a meeting outside of the workday, such member shall be compensated at their per diem hourly rate.
- Kindergarten teachers can attend IEP meetings for their current students during their scheduled prep time. However, if a teacher misses their prep time to attend ECSC meetings (requiring sub coverage), they must either be provided with equivalent makeup prep time or be compensated at their per diem hourly rate.
- If Kindergarten teachers attend ECSC transition meetings after the student contact day during a designated ‘work day’ (2:30–3:15 PM), they will be compensated at their per diem hourly rate. If other meetings are scheduled during that time—such as staff meetings, PLCs, MTSS, committees, etc.—the teacher will be excused to attend the ECSC meeting instead.
Important Links
- April 8th Elementary TLC Update
- Special EDge April 9th
- BLS School Libraries Newsletters!
- 1-Page Student Management guide
- Dates to recognize groups
- CPI Trained Staff List (let Sara Young know if you see staff who are not at your school)
Notes from our Team:
From Julie, in Curriculum and Instruction
Here is the list of sessions for Educator Network Day on April 15th from 2:05-3:15.
Admin: Please note your location for the session. Also, please plan to participate in the session you are attending.
For our virtual hosts, A link will be sent to you with a list of participants and a zoom link to the session. Please plan to email participants the zoom link about 30 minutes before the session begins. Plan to take attendance. Virtual sessions are below:
- Tammy- TDG
- Karen and Anna- NEWSELA
- Gary and Laci- Wayfinder
From Triz in Human Resources
Hope you all continue to cruise through your evaluation process and have experienced some relief in getting all the steps complete. Just a friendly reminder that we need to have files dropped into your provided Google Files as well as the workbooks for HR to have access. If you are having any issues with the sheet, please remember to reach out to Jessica Lamay or me.
We should be starting the summative cycle for classified staff, so if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you again for all your work on these!
Helpful hints about uploading to your google drives.
Click the link to open the Rubric.
Choose the Download Icon to download and save your own copy to complete digitally complete or print and complete.
Save and/or upload with the correct naming convention to your provided Google folder and the correct employee spot in your workbook.
Linking Files:
Once you’ve dropped your files into the shared site folders
Please be sure to link them into the correct column of your workbook.
See steps in the samples below:
- Click to select the file you are attaching in the workbook.
- Click the ‘chain link’ icon to copy the link to that file -OR- Ctrl/Command+C.
- Click on the ‘File Chip’ in the corresponding row and column for that employee/eval piece. Ctrl/Command+V -OR- Right mouse click, then click Paste, to attach the file.
- Tab -OR- click on the file name pop-up (as above) to complete the attachment.
- File is attached.
From Tami Pike in Nursing
From Kinsey, Policy and Advocacy
May Day. May Day (May 1st) celebrates the labor movement and workers’ rights, and is often recognized internationally with protests and rallies. This year, a national “Day Without Immigrants” is also being planned on the same date.
Locally, there are some community groups organizing strikes and community action on May 1st. They are hoping our educators and students will participate in their May Day Strike, and have asked the district to support by facilitating student/staff absences and allowing teams of community volunteers to do service projects on our campuses as a form of the protest on that day.
As you know, our neutrality here is important. If you get similar requests for your school to engage in this effort, here are a few tools:
- Our response to their request—feel free to borrow any of this language;
- Our guidance on participating in protests;
- Please let us know if you believe your school will be impacted by substantial student or staff absences that Friday, so we can support you;
- Media inquiries should be directed to Communications.
Other Dates For Your Calendars:
Thurs, May 14 = Latino Family Night and KínderFiesta* *These can be found on our district Outlook Family Engagement calendar
- Thurs, April 30 = Life and Career Readiness Fair*
- Fri, May 1 = Asian Family Night*
From our Middle School Partners
Our middle school partners either will be reaching out or already have reached out regarding information on your 5th grade students. They are looking for data around supports as well as critical need to know information. Please be on the look out for this and ensure your teams are responding to these requests in the desired time frame. Thank you!
From Ryan in Human Resources
Next week, we’ll be sending out the complete list of each site’s Excellence in Education honoree.
Emails inviting each honoree to the recognition event will go out on Thursday, April 23.
Before that goes out, pleaes take a moment to notify their honorees directly.
We encourage you to start thinking about how you can deliver the news in a celebratory fashion – announce it at a staff meeting, share it in front of peers, or however feels right for your setting. These recognitions reflect the incredible work happening across our system, and we want the entirety of the process to feel meaningful.
The event will take place at Mountain View High School on Wednesday, May 13 from 4:30–6:30 p.m.
Action Items
- Look at your Educator Network Day assignment for Wednesday and plan on attending and supporting the instructor, whether it is live or virtual
- Follow the directions for end of the year summative evals that Triz sent–make sure you can access them and get questions answered before you need it
- Orient yourself with the May Day protest information and how to respond
- Respond in a timely way to the middle school requests for information to transition students
- Notify your Excellence in Ed winners in your building in a meaningful way prior to the big announcement on April 23.
Important Dates
- April 14: Elementary Horizontal 3:00 – 4:30 location North Star Elementary
- April 15: Educator Network Day for SIW
- April 21: #1 PLC and Phly Like Canadians meet from 3:00-4:30
- April 28: The PLC3PO and We Are the Winners meet from 3:00-4:30
And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Jesse Rasmussen!
Congratulations to this week’s winner, Jesse Rasmussen, Principal at RE Jewell. Prior to being the Principal at Jewell, Jesse was the Assistant Principal and a teacher at there as well. One could say that the Jaguar pride runs deep with him! Jesse has had a worldly upbringing and education. From growing up in Africa to spending three years teaching in the Middle East, he has experienced diverse educational environments firsthand. Jesse and his wife, who is also a teacher in the district, are proud parents to 3 amazing daughters, who have all had the opportunity to attend school with him at Jewell. When he is not “principaling”, Jesse enjoys various hobbies, from designing board games, painting figurines for the games, and getting energized weekly on the Taekwando mat. Please let us know your drink of choice Jesse and we’ll deliver!
