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)

UAI Committee Updates.  Please see updated dates for Spring 2021 Staff Meetings.

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.

• Complete Both Surveys.  Please ask all families to complete the Family Programming Survey and please complete the Student Programming Survey in advisory this week.

>>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

https://zoom.us/j/96710052282

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)

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