Quote to consider:
“True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure – the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation.” ~Robert McKee
To Dos:
STATE TESTING TRAINING: Lang Arts, Math and Science teachers giving the OSAS: Training modules, the test administration manual, (TAM), the Oregon Accessibility Manual (OAM), and fillable PDF test security forms all are available at this link. More specifically, here are the training materials for Test Administrators. Wednesday, May 5th SIW time is reserved for reviewing these training sessions. After review, please send specific questions to Dave VanLoo and cc Heather.
SPARKS UPDATE: Sparks Summer Jobs are posted and will close May 5th.
There will be a stipend of $5500.00 for certified staff:
- internal only
- Teachers
- Dean of Students
There will be a stipend of $3500.00 for classified:
- internal employees
- external applicants (OSU candidates, interns etc)
STAFF COVID PROCEDURES: Thanks to those who contributed to the safety team’s work in putting together this reminder slideshow covering staff responsibilities in supporting contacting tracing. It is expected that all staff routinely follow the guidance in this document. Kara has connected with each wing’s safety point person to review this information and ask them to disseminate this information back to their wing-mates.
MEDIA CENTER: Please remember that COVID procedures are still in place for the library. Visits to the library must be pre-arranged, including students with iPad questions or issues. Students and teachers can email Jill with iPad concerns, and students can still use the Get Help button on their iPad. This will reduce the amount of wandering students, and it will ensure that someone will be in the library to help them.
Bits and Bobs:
STAFFING 21/22: We are working to share the teaching load more equitably across our content areas. This can be more challenging with PE/Health and electives courses, this is why we have folks other than teaching staff instruct elective courses. We believe it is vital to continue our work keeping our student to teacher ratio at a level that optimizes engagement and teachers being able to truly know our students. As we look at next year’s master schedule we are functioning with the idea that to keep class sizes where we want them, we need the four core content subject areas to have an equitable number of sections. For our PE/Health and electives courses, we need more sections since these subjects are offered to all and students have choice. We are working to post additional FTE openings in PE and electives to support these efforts.
CONTENT UPDATE: Our 6th graders take two electives. One music class (Band, Orchestra, Choir) the other elective is a wheel consisting of 4 courses each for 9 weeks. All 6th graders will have a section of AVID, a section of Mind Up and two of the following courses to make up their four course wheel: Foods, CTE, Art.
Looking at additional FTE in 7/8th electives will support our elective class sizes being reduced and open up opportunities for our students. What these additional courses will be may depend on the applicant pool, we are looking for computer science as a focus area, as this is being pushed strongly at the state level and is also what other middle schools in our area are working to offer.
21/22 MS SCHEDULE: Transportation is planning (as of now 😬) to run two bus routes instead of four. This would mean middle schools would return to 8:45 – 3:40 bell times next year!!
MAY SIWs (as of now):
- 5/5- state testing training time
- 5/12- staff meeting in Kennedy’s WebEx room (3:30-4:30pm)
- 5/19- teacher work time
- 5/26- staff meeting in Kennedy’s WebEx room (3:30-4:30pm)
WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS: Here are a few expectations and suggestions about the weekly delivery of HDMS student announcements:
- The link to the “Announcements Folder” can be found in the hot links under “Schedules” on the right side of the HDMS blog page.
- Please make the announcements slideshow available on Monday of PURPLE weeks to your Advisory students through your Canvas Advisory Course.
- Please make the announcements slideshow available on Monday of GRAY weeks to your 4th period through a LINK in your Modules in Canvas (it could be at the top of your Monday assignment, on a separate page, etc.)
- Elissa will send an email to staff on Monday mornings of Gray weeks to remind staff to access the announcements and make them available to students.
- Please consider showing the announcements at the end of class (maybe during cleaning time?) due to students arriving late due to buses etc. to ensure that all students see them.
CDC and ODE/BLS GUIDANCE: Despite new CDC guidance being released with respect to vaccinated people and mask wearing outdoors, we are obligated to wait until new information is released from OHA and ODE (RSSL) before we are permitted to act upon it. As always, until our district communicates something, we must proceed with past practices.
STUDENT DRESS CODE: As we approach warmer weather, attire may change for students, and we want to best support students with dressing for success. Please see the HDMS Handbook starting on page 15 as a reference for full details of HDMS Dress Code.
There are many conversations within schools in our state and across the country surrounding dress code and “body shaming” that disproportionately impact girls. Let’s be mindful of the conversations we are having with our students in regards to dress code that we are discreet and these conversations help build success for students at school and positive support. If you have any questions about dress code please reach out to Heather Petersen and Kara Jokerst.
Reminders:
TAKING STUDENTS OUTSIDE: With the weather being so beautiful, many classes are taking the opportunity to go outside with their students. Please review this document and be sure to follow the guidance within.
TEACHER CANDIDATE HOSTS: OSU has shared their need for teachers willing to be ambassadors for our profession; please consider their request of being a cooperating teacher by hosting a teacher candidate next school year. They are looking for placements in math, science, language arts, and social studies (and a few students are also adding the ESOL endorsement). Email Wendy, Nole, and Heather if you are interested; OSU has profiles to share.
SAFETY FEEDBACK: Here is this week’s optional safety survey for staff to provide feedback to the safety team. And here are the results from last week’s survey.
High Desert Highlights:
