
Sorry, did anyone else in school administration laugh out loud when reading that quote?? I find myself reading it slow and gentle as I am sure it is intended, but inside I am running at full tilt wondering where all the time has gone and can we just have one more week before staff come back! It is also a great reminder to stop, take pause, breathe, and appreciate all that August has to offer. Step outside for fresh air, a quick 15 minute walk during the work day can be life giving. Take time to give yourself that gift–you just might find that you can thrive!
From Tammy
Staffing: I am starting to get a sense of where our enrollment is high and where it isn’t coming in as planned. I will let you know by the end of tomorrow (Friday, 8/16) if you are on deck to potentially lose an FTE/staff member. We are in that critical place where we have to try to solve problems by shifting FTE around. I know that is so hard. Next week I will connect with schools who may be on deck to receive a teacher from any moves if we can do that!
Your Front Office: Currently, the Ed Center is receiving an over abundance of calls from families stating “I tried calling the schools, but no one is answering their phones.” The ask is that you work with your office staff to make sure that the phones are covered and messages are answered. We would like to help, but so many of the calls are school specific and we can’t help. Thanks so much for helping with this.
ACRs. Heads up! We will look one more time at ACR (Area Change Request)s approvals on 9/26. Know that we will not fill you to the top of your range, as we know we need to leave a cushion for neighborhood schools, but if you have room to spare in a grade, you may be receiving an ACR.
Give input into Professional Learning: Please take a moment to fill out this quick survey regarding some on-going professional learning opportunities we want to put on for all admin throughout this year. Your input with Lisa and I at the end of last year mattered! We heard you loud and clear about how good it would be to meet around very specific topics like state assessment, TAG, 504s, student behavior management, reading, and more! Don’t delay–and let’s get competitive–I know elementary can do the highest survey percentage!
Agenda for 8/22 Horizontal
- 8:00-8:15 Connection and Agreements
- 8:15-8:30—Nick Shein–UKG Timesheets
- 8:30-9:00—Robbie Faith–Seesaw and Instructional Tech
- 9:00-10:00–Kinsey–New updated Bias work and investigations pertaining to this
- 10:00-10:10–Break
- 10:10-11:10–Jennifer and Jess—School Counseling and Student Success Coaching
- 11:10-11:30 Closing and Eval
Action Items
- Update staffing plans at least every other day
- Make sure you have sent all your instructional EAs this flier for their training on the 29/30. Questions? See the email Lindsley Gehrig sent you on 8/2. Also, Inclusion EAs will also have trainings those days as well. See last week’s blog for details from Colleen.
- Start thinking about what cheer/song/interpretive dance/poem/etc. your staff will do at the welcome back celebration to show how your school is thriving/plans to thrive for this school year. No more than 20 seconds please.
- Planning for your inservice week–grab your ICCLs to plan if you haven’t already!
Important Links
- Tier 1 Expectations
- Personal Electronic Device Expectations (we’ll get it translated into Spanish)
- School Issued iPad Expectations (Draft–feedback here please)
- SIW Planning Doc with corrected Nov date
- Assurances for Learning
- Priority Standards (Critical Areas of Focus)
- Sample Main Schedule with Assurances
Notes from our Team:
From Julie Richards (formerly Walker) in Curriculum, Instruction, and Systems:
- Here is the first draft of the 24-25 DIBELS schedule. Please mark your calendars now
- Remind teachers and office managers if curriculum materials are needed, please order using this link. In addition, please reach out to Julie, Lindsley or your instructional coach if you have any questions or need support.
From Sean Reinhart in Student Services:
Thank you to those of you who have become CPI trainers to assist with the implementation of SB 283! We appreciate you! We want to ensure we help kick you all off on the right foot to feel successful in these trainings, so we have prepared some tools, tips, and tricks to get you started!
Please join us on Friday, August 23rd, from 9-12 in the Education Center Board Room 314 to connect and plan for trainings. Here is the agenda of the meeting:
- Review the grant training requirements
- Go over prepared slide decks for your staff trainings
- Review Visuals
- Review Information on what to send out prior to trainings
- Create a plan how you can complete these trainings – with a buddy!
- Answer questions
From Jennifer Hauth in Social Emotional and Mental Well Being: Please check out this great back to school resource for families from Care Solace. Sharing this in your next newsletter or a quick email is a great way to build that family and school connection by providing families with some resources to support a smooth transition to school!
Also, the Culture of Care with the HDESD has some amazing trainings to support staff and school culture throughout the year. Here is a flier of what is available.
From Kinsey in Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
Upcoming dates to note: Rosh Hashanah is coming up (evening of Wed Oct 2 to evening of Fri Oct 4—learn more here). Please check your school calendar and do not schedule Curriculum Night or other special student/family events during those evenings.
More dates to come, just wanted to get you this one now since it’s coming up fast. Thank you for your commitment to the dignity and belonging of all our families!
2024 Elections: I would encourage you to plug this topic into an SIW or staff meeting early in the fall: Here is our policy around staff engaging in political activities. Teachers should know they may not “promote or oppose the nomination or election of a candidate,” and if they engage in discussion on an election topic they must “consider all candidates for a particular office or any side of a particular political or civil issue.”
Conversations about the election will come up this fall, whether through planned lessons or unplanned student dialogue. Teachers should prepare for either situation. Here are 10 steps for teachers to prepare, navigate, and respond to sensitive discourse.
Additionally, here and here are two great resources for teaching about the election and online news sources. Our district Equity Coaches can support teachers with these conversations—just reach out.
From Eric Powell in Student Services. This is a reminder about the SIRC & STAS refresher that we will now be hosting each year in partnership with the High Desert ESD. Only the Administrator lead for your school site needs to attend this meeting each year, so please forward this invite to a different administrator at your school if you are not the threat assessment (SIRC and STAS) lead for your site.
This 2-hour training will serve as our annual touchpoint for threat assessment. For those who have not attended the full SIRC and/or STAS training, you would also need to attend that training with Misty or Lillah at some point as well (That is the link that was in the blog 2 weeks ago).
Important Dates
- August 19: Training: Managing Performance–Investigations, 12:30-4:30 (At Juniper Elementary–UPDATED)
- August 19-21: Tammy out at a Federal Programs Budget conference (text if you need me and if I can, I’ll step out and help)
- August 22: Elementary Admin Meeting—8:00-11:30, Jewell Elementary–thanks Jesse!
- August 26: New Teacher training–Update: only one admin rep needs to attend to welcome your new staff (but of course you both can come!). This will be at Pacific Crest Middle School, breakfast service begins at 7:00, and the program begins at 8:00 with welcome remarks from Dr. Cook.
- August 26: optional Wayfinder admin training on at PCMS at 2 pm in the Cornice room
- August 27: District Welcome Back! An interactive whole school event. 8:30-10:00
And finally….






















