Week of June 15th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II

Issue 41

Week of June 15th, 2015

Announcements

Penultimate Post of the Year.  Today's post will be the 2nd to last of the year.  There will be a few updates from the summer, but regular posts will not resume again until the last week of August.  So, these last two posts will be longer than usual as we wrap up the 2014-2015 school year.

Final Grades.  Final grades are due at 3pm on Wednesday, June 17th.  Please make sure that you are not late with your grades because there is a rapid turn around time for summer programming.   Please remember that these grades are the official grades that will remain on students transcript records.  These grades will be used to calculate official grade point averages and thus be a primary influence in our students' college futures.  With such importance attached to these final grades, please be sure to be extra meticulous as you finish the grading cycle for the year and enter in your final grades.

In addition, I have been fielding some concerns about what to do with students whose grade is below 65.  From a purely mathematical perspective, evaluate how close the grade is to failing (55) versus passing (65).  If their final grade is closer to 65, round to 65.  If their final grade is closer to 55, round to 55.  There are always going to be instances in which math, while necessary, is not sufficient.  It is always expected that you use your professional judgment to give final grades.  FYI, students who were passing in January hold onto those credits.  Those who were not passing in January will fail the whole year (2 credits per course) if they fail in June.

Final Benchmarks.  Your final benchmarks should be uploaded into this document here by the end of the day on Wednesday, 17JUN15.  We will be using this data to analyze student progress over the course of the year, and we will compare the data to student performance on June Regents to evaluate the efficacy of this year's benchmarking system.  For Regents terminating courses, please enter your predicted regents exam scores (like we did in April).

Field Day Logistics.  Students are to report to advisory.  We will be making announcements for students to leave in a staggered dismissal.  Dismissal announcements will begin at 9:15.  In the event of rain, we will relocate the event to the gym and you will be called up later (at 9:30).  I am confirming availability with the other principals in the building.  SLJ has already agreed to let us have the gym from 9:30-11:00.  Hopefully AIL and the Middle School can also relocate for the morning.  Please check your emails in the AM for last minute updates.


Extended Advisory Logistics.  During the extended advisory on Monday, please use the time to wrap up end of the year logistics with students.

• Review grades in Skedula.  If they are failing, please make sure they understand that they will be receiving a summer school assignment.  If they are not passing at least 3 core classes (core are math, science, English, history, and language), then they will be repeating the grade.  Please make sure they understand that and that you have made contact to the home to explain this and noted this in Skedula.
• Review Regents Week Schedule.  Please review each student's Regents Week Schedule. Make sure that they understand that they cannot arrive late, nor will they be admitted after 10AM in the morning or after 2PM in the afternoon.  
• Student Email check in.  Students will be receiving emails and updates over the summer.  Please make sure each advisee has an active UAI email account and knows how to log in and check her email.
• Parent Contact Information.  We will also be reaching out to families over the summer to increase family engagement and provide families with opportunities for students and their families.  Please review the information in Skedula and in particular, please make sure we have a working phone number and a working email address.  If there is in accurate information in Skedula or if there is information that needs to be added, please email me the information and I will ask Nancy to update in ATS.
• Girls Inc Summer Camp.  Please advertise our Girls Inc summer program offerings.  Even if students are mandated to summer school, they can participate in the Girls Inc Program.  Please review the Girls Inc Summer Camp Description and Application here.  Girls can fill out applications in Advisory, and you can collect them and give them to Nicole in room B35.
• Locker Clean Out.  Please make sure that your advisees have cleaned out their hall and locker room lockers.  All lockers will be clipped and cleaned out starting at the end of the day on Monday.  So students should leave nothing in the lockers.
• Call Absent Advisees.  If you have absent advisees, please call them and review the information on this list.  Please indicate in Skedula that you were able to review the above information with each student.
• Pack up your Rooms.  All technology should have been returned to Allan last Wednesday. All materials and books should be secured in locked closets and/or on bookshelves that can be turned to face the wall. All classrooms will be used for summer school this year.  Your desks should also be cleared of personal items or locked for the summer.  Please remove everything from the walls and if you used staples on the walls, please remove them in preparation for summer painting.
• Last Day of School. Students must report on June 26th, the last day of school.  They must report to their advisory no later than 10AM.  Students will only report to pick up their final report card and summer programs.  They will be immediately dismissed after they pick up the report cards and program. At 10AM, teachers will return all remaining report cards and summer programs to Nancy in the main office for mailing home. Teachers are then to report for a final staff meeting at 10:30 in room 409 and for a full dismissal for summer at 11AM.

Reminders

EOY Conferences.  End of Year Conferences start this week.  As per my last email, please remember to come prepared to your meeting with:

Data:

• Your Scholarship Report (see my email from last )
• Your Grade Scholarship Report
• Your last benchmark data
• And any other data you wish to include (e.g. qualitative examples of progress from your POD work - observations, feedback, etc.)

For this meeting, you will need to be prepared to discuss the following:

Agenda

• (15min) Reflect on your Data.  Analyze your course passing rates (what percentage passed and what was the grade distribution), your benchmark data, and any other data point(s) of your choosing to discuss  why you think it fell out that way.  Also, revisit the goals I laid out for the school year.  Have you met the goals?  Are you satisfied with your progress? If so, why? If not, why not?  In either case, what are you planning for next year to keep or change student performance?  
• (15min) Reflect on your goals.  Which were successfully achieved? Which were put aside (and why)? Which ones are you still ongoing and what are you planning to do for next year?  It's expected that your goals may have shifted from the last time we spoke.  With the amount of peer feedback through coaches and PODs, that's inevitable.  So, please bring your current goals to the table.
• (10min) Planning for Next Year.  In the final minutes of your conference with me, we will use the time to build out goals for next year.

		TUE                 16JUN15	WED 17JUN15
1.	9:30-10:10	Jamie	Sarah
2.	10:30-11:10	Mike Som	Damon
3.	11:30-12:10	Danielle	Brodie
4.	12:30-1:10	Elena	Michael Stu
5.	1:30-2:10	Anna	Darby
6.	2:30-3:10	Elana	Noam

Michelle Thursday at 9:30

Important Dates

• Monday, 15JUN15 - High School Field Day (see Wazina's Email for Details)
• Tuesday, 16JUN15 - Regents Week Begins
• Wednesday, 17JUN15 - Final Grades are Due
• Monday, 22JUN15 - Pamela's Retirement Party
• Wednesday, 24JUN15 - Plato Training
• Thursday, 25JUN15 - High School Graduation at Kumbel Theater.  All staff must report to graduation at Kumbel Theater no later than 10:30AM (or earlier if Ms. Doris asked you to help out).
• Friday, 26JUN15 - Last Day of School - Students must report by 10AM.  Staff dismissed at 11AM.  Final Staff meeting will be in 409 at 10:30.