Sunday, March 21, 2021

Week of March 22nd

 UAI Staff News

Volume VIII
Issue 34
March 22nd, 2021

Principal's Message

Spring Awakening & Thinking

Spring is finally here.  Winter in a global pandemic is particularly depressing and distressing, so the welcome daylight and warmer temperatures are extra welcome this year.  Tomorrow, we take another step forward in awakening from the winter of our school closures.  High school students and staff report to school tomorrow, and while there is no shortage of anxiety and uncertainty.  That said, it is also the next step towards re-awakening our school to in-person learning.

Looking ahead, summer school and the fall hold increasing promise of opening & awakening....and rethinking.  

I've been thinking a lot lately of what it means to hold high standards and what exactly learning loss is.  The shake up into remote learning has definitely put a spotlight on what we prioritize in our teaching and learning and why we do what we choose to do.  Coupling this with the work we are doing around equity and inclusion as a school community, the potential of what our school could be when we reopen is an exciting and inspiring question.

That said, we have work to do.  There are many who feel that we lower standards for our black and brown students in the hopes of doing "right".  We are far from being clear and in agreement what "standards" we are holding and/or lowering, and we have much work to get into alignment around what is "right" for our students.  Here are some of my thinkings and wonderings about the work we need to do as we prepare for reopening tomorrow, this summer, and next fall.

Academic Standards.  When we are holding standards, are we looking at an external expectation (e.g. state standards), and are those standards truly reflecting and including the stories (not just the ancient histories of feudal Japan or the Mayan empire) and accomplishments of black and brown people beyond how they fall into the dominant narrative of a white, European experience.   Who is setting the standards for our black and brown students, and which of these standards will empower our students and which will act to continue the systems of racism?  If our course offerings de-centered whiteness and heterosexuality in exchange for delving deep into black and brown cultures and LGBTQ histories & achievements, we would not only be holding students to high academic standards BUT ALSO engaging them in content that is more reflective of who they are.  So, if in order to create the space in our curriculum to achieve this, we have to release the yoke of NYS Middle School and High School exams, is that lowering standards?  In my mind, no.  In others, maybe?  In others, yes.  This is work we need to do.

Standards for Academic Behaviors.  When we are holding standards for how we think students should act and behave....where are these expectations coming from?  We don't have a collectively established idea of what kids should or shouldn't be able to do at various ages.  I frequently hear the refrain, "When they get to the real world...they won't be able to...", but I also hear this refrain at ALL 7 of our grade levels.  So, if we're all thinking about what will happen to our students when they get to the real world, who is thinking about what should be happening within our four walls to get them prepared?  When do we teach them the skills we expect them to show us?  How do we, as a community, create the time to teach them how to self-advocate, self-manage, and set goals so that they are able to submit work on time, ask for feedback, and pursue high quality vs. completion.  We all expect students to show us these skills, but I am not sure where we teach them in each of our classrooms.  So, together as a community, we need to figure out how & when we are teaching the SEL and Executive Functioning skills required for academic success.  Without it, we our biases of what should be will govern our students, leading to questions of who is doing what in terms of holding students to high standards.  This is also work we need to do. 

Focus on Competency and Excellence.  Recently, I joined the Equity Team when Joy from the  Mastery Collaborative joined them to talk more about grading.   All of us are entrenched in our assumptions about grades, because all of us have experienced a form of traditional grading for a significant part of our lives.  However, there's nothing like a global pandemic to shake us out of our routines.  What shook me most about this experience was Joy's simple posing of a question.  Why do we spend time or energy detailing failure (e.g. the Level 1 or 2 or the Ineffective of Developing) in rubrics.  If we are laser focused on competencies & excellence (Level 3/4 or Effective/Highly Effective), then the failures become tools for learning in pursuit of the desired outcomes (competencies & excellence).  For me, this simple question shook my thinking around teacher evaluation.  I don't want to focus on failure for failure sake.  I want to use failure as a learning tool to help teachers better understand what to shift and change to improve practice.  I want all teachers to do the same for our students, and this means, we have to figure out what teachers need to be able to do this effectively.  This, too, is work we need to do.

These are the three chunks of focus as we step into our next step toward our return to school.  The first was taken by our brave middle school staff and students; the next will be to welcome our high school staff and students.  Soon enough, we will all be back, and along the way, we will be doing a lot of work and thinking so that when we reopen next fall, we are ready to offer something more and better than what we left in March of 2020.  We are ready to offer a school that our staff, students and families will need and love. 




Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

Happy Birthday Kristina (25MAR)!!

If you have a Bday this week, I don't have it on my calendar!
Send me an email So I can Add it!

Student Birthdays
Sunday, 21MAR21:  Aleena E (8)
Tuesday, 23MAR21: Lavina (10), Shania R(10)
Wednesday, 24MAR21: Laila G(11)
Thursday, 25MAR21: Syeda (9), Milan (6)
Friday, 26MAR21: Sanai T (9)
Spring Break Birthdays:  28MAR (Seani, Alizett); 31MAR (Mychelle, Lakaya), 03APR (Calandra)




Staff Circles Committee  (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita)
On Friday, we departed from our originally planned Circle to hold space for our staff amid the Anti-Asian violence against the AAPI community. Our decision for this Circle was based on doing what was best and necessary for our school; we hope we accomplished that. The conversation about Anti-Asian violence does not begin or end in the Circles; the work must continue in all the spaces we are in. We will pick up our book club reading in our next Circle (April 16) focusing on excerpts from chapter two.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC agendas & minutes are always open for staff access.  Last week we reviewed the Mental Health & Social Emotional information gathered in Focus groups, and this week the SRC will set next steps for supporting staff development in SPED/ENL support and in the areas of Mental Health and SEL.

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  Equity Team meeting notes and agenda draft. This week the Equity Team met to brainstorm and draft a statement condemning the most recent Atlanta terrorist acts and the racism against Asian Americans as of recent and throughout our country's history.  We are committed to further discussing how to build a more inclusive school for our entire school community.

Also, we reviewed feedback from last week's staff PD.  We will continue our discussion of addressing the participation grade, revising the grading policy, and the 50% grade floor. 

 

Dr. Bettina Love Joins UAI.  Dr. Bettina Love joins our community at 8:30AM on Friday to discuss her vision around schools, grading, working with black and brown girls in particular, and any of your questions that you want to share (Here's the link to submit questions to Dr. Love.).  Here quotes from Dr. Love to get you hyped and inspired for Friday!  Brandon Frame, The Urban Assembly's Director of Social Emotional Learning will be joining us to facilitate!

What does abolitionist teaching and pedagogy look like?
Abolitionist teaching looks different in every school. It comes from a critical race lens and applies methods like protest, boycotting, and calling out other teachers who are racist, homophobic, or Islamophobic. It's also about Black joy and always putting love at the center of what we're doing. [Abolitionist] teachers know how to talk about racism and homophobia in their classrooms; they organize marches and boycotts. So often, people are waiting for a leader to come along. You don't have to wait for someone else. 
What is your vision for schools?
My vision for schooling would be a school where there's no standardized testing. Yes, there are tests, but they are not high-stakes and have nothing to do with a billion-dollar industry. Second, no police, no dogs, no metal detectors. Children walk into beautiful, bright buildings that look like someone is ready to love them in that space. There would be as many therapists and healers and counselors as teachers, because what we don't talk about is the generational and everyday trauma, regardless of race and nationality, that children are dealing with. We wouldn't suspend kids. Teachers would be skillful in their content and in Latinx, Native American, and African-American culture. Teachers would live in the school's community and be paid more than they're paid now. We'd be recruiting kids to be teachers and mentoring them throughout high school and into college and paying for their schooling.

High School Reopening.  All HS staff should have received individualized notices about their programs.  This was a rapid announcement and turn around and we were in the middle of refining MS reopening.  That said, please expect that there will probably be some mistakes to fix and changes to adapt as we work through the first week of implementation.  I appreciate everyone's flexibility and understanding.  I am working day and night to make sure things are as streamlined and clear as possible.  Please, if anything is unclear, do not hesitate to reach out and ask.  Here are some key safety points to keep top of mind as you enter the building once more.

  • Avoid Close Contact & Use PPE and Safety Protocols.  "Close Contact" is a currently shifting definition by the CDC & the DOE.  Currently the DOE defines a close contact as someone who was within 6 feet for 10 or more minutes with someone who is COVID positive.  Contacts of contacts are not considered close contacts.  So, by maintaining 6' distance and with all staff and students using masks, hand sanitizer, and wiping down used surfaces with disinfectant wipes, we will hopefully be able to mitigate school or classroom closure as much as possible.
  • Ventilation and Air Purification.  All classrooms have an Air Purifier (Intellipure) & our building has MERV13 filters centrally installed to keep the air clean.  The temperatures are rising to comfortable levels, so teachers are welcome to open windows and doors to maximize circulation.
  • Screening & Mandatory Testing.  All students and staff must submit to a daily mandatory screening and agree to weekly COVID testing.


>>TO DO<<  Family Conference Wrap Up.  You have all done amazing work to connect with our families.  Thank you all for your hard work.  Our family ties are more important than ever, and your connection to our students' families is critical to their academic success and emotional well being.  To date, 326 of 495 students have had family conferences with their advisor.  We still have a couple more to complete.  Use your Advisor outreach time this week to connect with those remaining families and complete the Advisor Conference Form, by EOD Friday, 26MAR21.  

>>TO DO<<  Post Grades Weekly. Please review the UAI grading policy and make time in your week to grade and provide feedback to students each week.  Grades should be posted weekly, as a reminder.




Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  


Summer School Per Session Post.

We are currently preparing for summer school and looking for the following positions. 

We are planning to run summer school July 12th through 29th, Mondays thru Thursdays.

Hours are still TBD and precise program offerings are still being determined and will be

driven by student needs. We are looking for up to 10 positions. 

Planning & prep time in addition to teaching time will be paid for teaching staff. 

Please complete the per session interest form and email Kiri by March 23, 2021. 

  • 2 Administrators (Must have Admin certification)

  • 1 Teacher Coordinator of Summer School

  • 4-7 Teachers (subject to student enrollment)



Please CLICK HERE to indicate that you’ve read all the blogpost for this week.

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Sunday, March 14, 2021

Week of March 15th

 UAI Staff News

Volume VIII
Issue 33
March 15th, 2021

Principal's Message


One Year Ago.  

Breonna Taylor.  A year ago yesterday, Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville Police serving a no-knock warrant.  When the details of the night finally emerged, the blatant disregard for black lives which was (and has been) reiterated by repeated killings of too many more black people both before and after her death.  Breonna Taylor is a woman to be celebrated during this month of Women's History.  She was an independent and motivated woman in a career (an EMT) aimed at supporting others most in need of help and intervention.  Before she could put her mark on the world in her chosen path, she was killed by those charged to serve and protect.

Breonna Taylor left an indelible mark on the world nonetheless.  Because of her and too many other, our nation and the world finally rose up in unity to decry the killing of black people and to demand recognition and real political change that ensured that Black Lives do Matter (see Trevor Noah on Breonna Taylor).

While those protests did bring notice and attention to the cause, real change is still hard to instate.  The police involved in the no-knock warrant and death of Breonna Taylor were not charged for killing her, but rather for wantonly endangering her neighbors.  This was a tragic and heartbreaking reminder of how broken our criminal justice system is.  On the civil side, the Louisville Metro Government paid a $12 million settlement (one of the highest ever paid in America) for the wrongful death of Breona Taylor by police.  While recognized, the officers still held no culpability in her death.  On the other hand, Breonna's Law, passed by the Louisville City Council, eliminated no-knock warrants and as a result, cities and states across the country are pursuing and passing similar legislation.  

The pursuit of racial equity and the end of systemic oppression of black people in America is a riddled with constant advances and steps back.  For example, in Kentucky, they are not considering violating first amendment rights by criminalizing simply insulting police officers.  This is happening just as we arrive at the one-year anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death.

However, despite the setback, the fight must continue.  The jury is currently being selected in Derek Chauvin's trial, and the criminal justice system has this opportunity to do for George Floyd what they failed to do for Breonna Taylor - deliver justice.  We are in a terrible position when we cannot trust our government to deliver what is right and just.  However, any failure of justice that happens in this case, will become yet another call to action for the nation and for ourselves.

We have no direct hand in the outcomes of cases of Breonna Taylor or George Floyd, but closer to home, we can take those lessons and apply them to our work of ensuring justice and equity for our black and brown students, their families, and our staff.  We have many steps to take and far to go, but as a community, we must all work to ensure that we do not repeat the failures of the American Justice system by taking steps back or keeping the status quo.  If we are to secure the changes we see and continue to grow into an equitable and just school, each individual at our school must have a hand in the work.

As we move forward this spring, to really solidify and deepen the work each of our committees are doing, we need every single member of the community to take on a piece of the work themselves. Read the minutes and be introspective about what's happening in those meetings and in our Friday afternoon sessions.  Each of us need to urge ourselves out of passive experiencing what's happening in our community and move into a stance of action.  That action can be what is happening in your classroom or with your planning team, it doesn't have to be sweeping or large.  However, just as Kiri, Annie and Jen have worked with staff on the SRC, Circles and Equity Team to secure justice and equity for the school through examining and adjusting our school wide policies and practices, each staff member is also charged with doing the same for their individual work realms.

As we move forward this spring, reflect on your choices and actions within your classes or work area.  Work with your planning partners or think aloud during your check ins with Kiri, Annie, or Jen to interrogate and uncover where possible biases might be at play.
  • When you create opportunities (counsel, assign tasks, connect to opportunities) ask yourself
    • Is there anyone who is unfairly privileged or disadvantaged with this offer?  If so, why or how?  Then, try to adjust your moves to fix it and make your opportunities more equitably accessible.

  • As you assess and evaluate student work or progress, ask yourself
    • Are my grades (or assessments, judgments, evaluations) equitably distributed across all races/socioeconomics of my students? If no, why not?  Are certain races over or under represented in certain categories?  If so, why is that?  What of your own biases could be at play?  How could you tweak your assessments to control for possible biases?

  • As you interact (call on, engage with, email, etc.) with students, are you doing so proportionally? 
    • Are there students who get more of your time because they seek you out?  If so, who is left out of that support loop and why?  What needs to change so that all students have equitable access to your one-on-one or small group support?
Our work to create a fully inclusive and anti-racist school is ongoing.  These questions are for your own individual reflection and growth, and you may not find the answers you seek immediately.  But in committing to the journey, your own personal growth is another key component (added to the work of the SRC, Circles, and Equity Team) to making sure that each step we take forward at UAI is not coupled with the steps back faced by Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.  In our own little bubble for our students we can create a model of justice and equity for our students, and in so doing, we will equip them with a model they will demand to be in place when they in turn become our leaders and teachers of the future.



Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

Happy Birthday Tom!!!! (Friday, 19MAR)
If you have a Bday this week, I don't have it on my calendar!
Send me an email So I can Add it!

Student Birthdays
Sunday, 14MAR21:  Ashlee R (9)
Monday, 15MAR21: Maelee J (6)
Tuesday, 16MAR21: Charlie KR (11)
Thursday, 18MAR21: Tiasia G (11), Nkirukah (8)
Friday, 19MAR21: Ereca GM (9)
Saturday, 20MAR21: Dalia A (11)




Staff Circles Committee  (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) At the end of February, we started our first Circles book club featuring We Want to do More Than Survive by Dr. Bettina Love. This week, the Circles Committee met to determine next steps based on staff feedback. We also decided on the next chapter from the book for the upcoming Circle. Our next Circle will be March 19, during our Grade Team meeting time because we have Family Conference time in the afternoon this Friday.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC agendas & minutes are always open for staff access.  SRC Subcommittees Scheduling and the Hiring Committee have launched into their work.  Last Monday, the SRC began articulating expected outcomes and deadlines for subcommittees (Scheduling and COVID Lessons Learned).  Additionally we reviewed the focus group data gathered by our Data Team last Friday.  Tomorrow, we will review the Mental Health & Social Emotional information gathered in Focus groups, and once complete with the Data Reviews, the SRC will set next steps for supporting staff development in SPED/ENL support and in the areas of Mental Health and SEL.

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  The Equity Team met several times this past week to plan for the staff PD on Friday 3/12.  We were eager to share our findings on how bias impacts our grading, particularly when grading a student's participation.  Thank you for your time and thoughtful discussion! We will review feedback from the PD this week.  We will continue to discuss how we might address bias by revising our current grading policy.  Members of the Equity Team will be the first teachers to test pilot any revisions.  Equity Team Meeting Minutes

 

>>TO DO<<  Family Conferences THIS Thursday & Friday.  Our Spring Family Conferences are this Thursday (5-8PM) and Friday (11:50-2:50PM).   We will have regular grade team meeting time for Circles on Friday at 8:30AM, but the rest of the morning, you should use flexibly in order to do whatever work necessary to hold high quality family conferences.  

  • By EOD, Monday 15MAR21.  Please schedule all conferences and record them in this Advisor Conference Scheduler by the end of Monday, 15MAR21.


  • Use this Spring 2021 Family Conference Checklist to structure your conferences.  Here are the main points:
    • Nurture Connections. Strong relationships with our students and their families are the core to our schools' success.  One key tool to nurturing those relationships is prioritizing time to create the personal connection before diving into the "work".  Check in and listen to how our students' families are doing.  Remember, you're not expected to fix everything, but we do want our families know that we will fix whatever we can, but ultimately, if we cannot fix it, we are here to be an empathetic and supportive listener.

    • Check in On the Nuts and Bolts. We definitely want to keep tabs on the logistics of remote learning (and the return to in-person learning). Please use this Spring Advisory Conference Info Form to walk families through all the data points.

    • Academic Glows and Grows.  Start the conversation with recognizing what each advisee has truly accomplished in this incredible school year.  There are so many things for all of us that didn't go well for all of us this year.  It's more important than ever for us to find, focus on and leverage strengths to maximize growth.


>>TO DO<<  Post Grades Weekly. Please review the UAI grading policy and make time in your week to grade and provide feedback to students each week.  Grades should be posted weekly, as a reminder.


Two New Periods for Celebrations.   Last Friday was the first celebrations share!  It was wonderful to hear so many great stories from everyone in the 8th/9th grade room!  We won't have time to do that this Friday because of Conferences and Circles, but please do use these periods this week to focus on finding celebrations of your students to share in family conferences.  If you find a nugget of glory from your courses, email the students' advisor so that they can share the good news with their families this week!

High School Reopening Prep.   This week to prepare for High School Reopening and to review ongoing updates to the Spring 2021 schedule, I need to cancel office hours for High School Advisors & their students on the following days to hold grade team meetings and work directly with grade teams to adapt reopening plans to their students' specific needs.  
  • 9th Grade Advisor Meeting.  Tuesday 16MAR21- Office Hours Canceled for 9th Grade Staff
  • 10th Grade Advisor Meeting.  Wednesday 17MAR21 - Office Hours Canceled for 10th Gd. Staff
  • 11th/12th Grade Advisor Meeting.  Thursday 18MAR21 - Office Hours Canceled for 11th/12th Staff
We'll use the grade team zoom link for all three meetings
Meeting ID: 967 1005 2282
Passcode: ZDS7eg

>>TO DO<<  2021-2022 Staff Preference Sheet.  The 2021-2022 Staff Preference Sheet is due on THIS Friday, March 19th.  Please submit the survey on time so the scheduling and hiring committees can engage in their work more effectively.



Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  


Summer School Per Session Post. We are currently preparing for summer school and looking for the following positions.  We are planning to run summer school July 12th through 29th, Mondays thru Thursdays. Hours are still TBD and precise program offerings are still being determined and will be driven by student needs. We are looking for up to 10 positions.  Planning & prep time in addition to teaching time will be paid for teaching staff.  Please complete the per session interest form and email Kiri by March 23, 2021. 

  • 2 Administrators (Must have Admin certification)

  • 1 Teacher Coordinator of Summer School

  • 4-7 Teachers (subject to student enrollment)



Please CLICK HERE to indicate that you’ve read all the blogpost for this week.

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Sunday, March 7, 2021

Week of March 8th

UAI Staff News

Volume VIII
Issue 32
March 8th, 2021

Principal's Message

Academic Reset and Rethinking Learning Loss.  Recently the Biden Administration sent a decision to states stating that state exams must still be given.  Purportedly, the federal approach is to require testing of in-person students only.  I still really don't know what that means.  The NYS Regents will be meeting on March 15th to provide clarification, but they are continuing to pursue full waivers of ALL regent exams in August and June.

For UAI, we will support and actively encourage middle school families to opt out of the Middle School exams which are slated to start in three weeks.  For both middle and high, only eligible in-person students will be allowed to take the exams (I'm still awaiting guidance on that one).  I wish I had concrete information to give you a definitive plan, but I can say definitively that NO UAI student will be required to take any state exam this year.  They will neither be prohibited nor mandated.

Much of the rationale for giving these exams is so that governments can have an assessment of COVID learning loss.    But perhaps instead of focusing on where we are NOT, this is a great time to begin to consider where we should be GOING.  Here's an article tweeted by Pedro Noguera, now Dean of the USC School of Education, but a person I have idolized since he was my professor in college. In  "It's Time for an Academic Reset", Professor Alan Schoenfeld speaks to the need of resisting a return to "normal" learning and a rethinking of what learning should be focused on upon our return to the school building.




Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

Birthdays This Week

No Birthdays this Week!
If you have a Bday this week, I don't have it on my calendar!
Shoot me an email so I can add it!

Student Birthdays
Sunday, 07MAR21:  Tamiya P (10)
Tuesday, 09MAR21: Tawanda (12), Tanae (09)
Wednesday, 10MAR21: Charlotte M(09) 
Thursday, 11MAR21: Louanna (12)
                                                   Friday, 12MAR21: Aleah J (12)




Staff Circles Committee  (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) No new updates this week.  The latest agenda and minutes from the last Circles committee meeting are here for your review.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC agendas & minutes are always open for staff access.  SRC Subcommittees Scheduling and the Hiring Committee have launched into their work.  On Monday, the SRC plans to review outcomes and deadlines for these two committees and for the COVID lessons learned committee.  

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  Equity Team Meeting Minutes. The Equity Team met with Joy Nolan of the Mastery Collaborative to learn more about mastery based grading.  She shared these resources


>>TO DO<< Family Conferences Next Thursday & Friday.  Our Spring Family Conferences are just around the corner.  These conferences are an opportunity to connect and check in.  Please review the Advisory Family Conference Checklist and begin to schedule your family conferences during Advisory Outreach this week.  You should have all of your family conferences scheduled in THIS DOCUMENT by next Monday, 15MAR21.

>>TO DO<<  Post Grades Weekly. Please review the UAI grading policy and make time in your week to grade and provide feedback to students each week.  Grades should be posted weekly, as a reminder.


Reopening Program Changes. The Middle School reopened for in-person learning on Thursday, 25FEB21, and resulting from that were several program changes.  I know that you have all weathered so many changes in this year of uncertainty.  Please know that changes are happening out of the need to have workloads equitably distributed and to address the idiosyncratic needs of individual students and their families.  Here are some of the factors that are in play right now
  • Opted into Blended. In November, the last chance for students to opt into blended learning occurred, but we never had a chance to make those final changes at that point because schools shut down.  As we reopen, we are now implementing those changes, resulting in shifts to advisories to honor students and family selections and rebalance advisory numbers as a result.  The shifts in relationships are challenging, but I am working directly with advisors to get input on those shifts to minimize those challenges.
  • Opted into Remote. Students who attended blended learning last week are changing their minds and moving to remote.  The closing of an advisory due to the positive COVID test may have additional impact this week, so more changes may follow.
  • Offering Four Day Instruction.  We are trying to offer four days of instruction to all students who want it, and we are actively encouraging students who are struggling in remote learning to take advantage of the offer.  At the same time, we must attend to COVID needs any find ways to minimize the number of different people these students are exposed to.  As as result, some staff program switches are being made.  I am working directly with those involved to put those into effect.
That said, I know that all these changes are rough on all of you.  I am trying to move a few pieces as possible to attend to student needs and maintain workload equity.  The Spring 2021 Program reflects these changes as they happen.  I do ask for your patience as I field changes coming from families and my work with individual staff.  The goal is for this program to be final, final by this Friday 12MAR, when all changes will be then uploaded into STARS and Skedula.

HS Reopening.  There has been no official word on HS Reopening from the DOE, but many rumors and news outlets are circulated Monday, March 22nd as the opening date.  Just as with Middle School Reopening, staff can expect some changes to occur in advisories and program assignments as we reopen the high school.  

Two New Periods for Celebrations.  Additionally, you will all see two new periods added to your program.  "Community Celebration" periods are directly aimed to support your mental health and well-being.  During these periods, take the time to reflect on the successes you have had in the week preceding your assigned periods.  You are not expected to produce anything, simply reflect and be ready to share your stories of celebration with your Grade Teams (at the Team meeting following your assigned periods) and/or during your check ins with Kiri/Annie.  This is your time to find the nuggets of achievement that definitely exist in many places in your work.  The challenge is to use this time to focus on the what went well only.  You have the rest of the week to consider what needs to grow, use these periods to expressly reflect on your glows of the week.   As a result of these program changes and because folks are returning to in-person teaching, you may lose your co-facilitators/co-facilitating assignment.  Please reach directly to Kiri if you have specific requests about changes!  

Hiring Committee and Demo Lessons. The Hiring Committee began their work in interviewing new candidates for the upcoming school year.  The committee will be reaching out to Advisors to host demo lessons the week of 15MAR21.  The demos will occur on NON Elevate coaching sessions.  If you have something particular happening on given advisory day, please reach out to Annie to let her know!  Otherwise, we will assume you are good to host a demo, and the committee will reach out to you directly to let you know when a demo lesson will happen in your advisory.

2021-2022 Staff Preference Sheet.  On Friday, the SRC Scheduling Subcommittee released next year's Preference Sheet which is due on next Friday, March 19th.  I just realized that we didn't actually ask the question "Do you plan to return?"  If you already completed the survey, we'll assume your answer is Yes.  If that is incorrect, please re-do the sheet with the appropriate responses.



Peer Mentoring Program.  As Laura mentioned in our Friday meeting, there were an outstanding number of applications from students to BE mentors, but they still need staff recommendations for students who could benefit from having a peer mentor. Please:

        • Please also talk o the student you are recommending. This is designed to be a supportive program and an encouraging one.  By communicating directly with the student about the program, you are helping lay the seeds of success.





Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

NO New Postings this week



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