Week of 27JUL20

UAI Staff Summer News

Volume VIII

Issue 2

July 27, 2020

Principal's Message

Uncertainty and Anxiety.  Last week, I was supposed to be on vacation. I did manage to get some beach time in (between the meetings and mandated Principal professional development), and during those precious hours on the sand, I stumbled across this article from The Atlantic on uncertainty and anxiety.  While written in the time before COVID, many of the tenets still ring true.  

I don't have any more answers today than I did two weeks ago.  But I do know that this is the last week of July, which means that summer is halfway over.  If you have not yet fully unplugged and given yourself the break we all need, then you need to make that time a reality in August.  I do know that we are going to be facing THE most challenging year we have ever faced as a community.  We all need to have a full well, and we all need to be our strongest versions come September.  

So...if you're reading this and you're supposed to be relaxing - stop.  There's nothing in this that can't wait.  If you still can't stop, well then promise yourself and name for yourself the time you will create for you to unplug, recharge, and relax.  The work will always be there.  This time to relax will not!  So take it now!

Enjoy yourself, take in the sun, stay safe & healthy, and have fun with your family, friends, & loved ones!

Announcements

Happy Summer Birthdays!!!

Matthew (19AUG); Rebecca F(21AUG); Doris (26AUG)

Blended Learning Mock Up.   The SLT made the final decision to select the Chancellor's recommended model of Alternating Days.  Through some ingenuity and inspiration from our friends at SLJ, we may be able to keep some type of alternating weeks model for staff while having our students still come to school each week.  CLICK HERE for the Mock Up. This is still very much in draft form....so there will be inconsistencies and lots of room for feedback!  Once you review the Mock Up, please share your feedback on this SURVEY.

Budget Overview.  I led the Summer Restructuring Committee through a workshop around our budget and fiscal standing for next year.  CLICK HERE for the document and explanations I shared with the committee.  CLICK HERE for the first half of the video recording (thank you Nina! - I messed up the second half when we switched over - sorry!).  Long story short - we have enough to keep everyone on staff, BUT that doesn't leave us with a whole lot of funds for much of anything else!

Summer Restructuring Committee (SRC) Work.  The Summer Restructuring Committee held its first meeting on 16JUL20.  That meeting focused on identifying the work and structures for the summer.  The Committee decided to break into three sub-committees to achieve the work:  Programming (goal is to create blended learning schedule); Professional Development (goal is to create PD plan for staff); Grading (goal is to create equitable grading policy).  You can CLICK HERE to see agenda and notes.  Our next meeting is this Thursday to review the work of the sub-committees, provide feedback and next steps.  In addition, the committee will discuss how to establish an UAI Equity Team using the training from the DOE Office of Equity's Launching Equity Teams PD that I attended with Rebecca C.   

Per Session Delay.  Apologies to all for the 01-15JUL pay period.  Those hours will be processed at the next pay period (ending 31JUL2).  We ran into some budget technical difficulties.  We could not process any per session until my budget was formally approved by our BCO budget director.  I just had my budget meeting with our budget director last week & all was approved, but we missed the closing date for submitting per session.  Now that the budget is approved, the budget lines are released for use.  So, we'll be able to process all July pay periods on 31JUL.