Week of September 8th, 2020

UAI Staff Summer News

Volume VIII

Issue 7

September 8th, 2020

Principal's Message

It's been years since I've been on an actual roller coaster.  My last ride was on the Cyclone.  But I can still remember the pit in my stomach and the flutter of anxiety in my chest as I moved one step closer to the front of the line.  I remember stepping into the questionable security of the metal car with all the horror stories I've heard of the Cyclone's history flooding through my memory.  As I triple checked all the "safety" equipment...I asked myself "What the fudge am I doing?"

These last 6 months have been a roller coaster of stress, non-stop work, and wide-ranging emotions and anxiety.  I wish I could say there were as many thrills as chills, but this isn't entertainment, and I'm not paying to be on this ride.

Despite this, today, I feel a sense of calm and intense focus.  Yes, I could be on that part of the ride that is flat and designed to calm you before the next ridiculous hill or spiral.  But if I've learned anything since March, it's that you need to be present and savor the good moments when they happen.  

Today, I feel good about our school launch, because we have all come together to do what we can to be ready.  Here's a recap:

Professional Development.  Last week, our team came together to offer and participate in a range of PDs aimed at getting everyone ready to welcome and engage our students back to school next week.  Many thanks to Jen for leading the summer PD subcommittee and many thanks to the entire committee (Phillan, Damon, Annie) and all the staff who helped plan each PD

• Circles & Relationship Building:  Lauren, Natalie, Suzannah, & Jen
• Technology Support:  Brodie, Tom, & Rachel
• Supporting Student Engagement:  Alison & Nina
• Supporting ENL & SPED students:  Laura, Rebecca, and Nadine

COVID Readiness.  Last week the DOE finally gave us the time and space we needed to ensure that our building is safe and we have the appropriate equipment and protocols in place to maximally mitigate COVID transmission.  We are rapidly moving through our campus checklist and are ready to welcome staff and students back to the building.

Connections, Learning, and Phasing In.  With our added time, we have been able to use the extra time to make time to reconnect as a community, provide more support and training so that teachers are ready to plan for remote learning, and we have three days to phase in students and staff so that we can stress test our safety protocols before launching the first day of school.  

In a normal school year, each year is a little bit of a ride.  This year will definitely amplify that.  However, I've seen what we can do when we come together as a community to work towards our common goals.   So, I am taking some time to pause and relish this moment of calm and peace.  I am taking the time to examine and appreciate how I arrived here.  

I know you must all be feeling a little bit of that roller coast anticipation as we prep for the new year.  I encourage you to remember that you do have the power and the help of your colleagues to do the work needed to create your own moments of calm and peace.  When you do, make sure to take a beat and remind yourself how you got there.  When you do, you'll have the safety and security you need to weather the hills, loops and thrills that are yet to come!

 

Happy Birthday This Week

Jennifer (Guidance Counselor) Thursday 10SEP20

Junior (Building Custodian) Friday 11SEP20

To Do This Week

Get Tested. Frequent testing is key to mitigating COVID transmission. All DOE Employees MUST be tested prior to entering DOE buildings. COVID Testing is available throughout the city and it is free. You can also choose one of the DOE Prioritized locations for expedited testing and results. All staff must also complete this HEALTH SCREENING each day you are scheduled to be in the building prior to entering school. If you have a positive result, please contact me immediately. When we all get tested, we work to protect one another.

Remote Prep. Next week, all meetings, professional development and co-planning time will be virtual and all staff will be working from home. If you would like to come in to do classroom set-up, please let Annie know. Please continue to check out the UAI Staff PD & School Opening Calendar for more detail.

In-Person Work Begins. All In-Person staff are required to begin reporting on Monday, 14SEP20. Remote Only staff remain working from home. That week will have a mix of In-Person and Remote Only PD that will continue the training and provide the time needed to be ready for the first day of school on Monday, 21SEP20.

Planning Materials Due. Over the next two weeks, you will have training and time to prepare for school opening and to connect with your advisees. By next Friday, three main tasks are due:

Pacing Guide with Linked Lessons. All members of your planning team need to have editing access to a shared pacing guide with linked lessons. Please make sure you share EDITING rights with your planning team. Upload your pacing guide to THIS FOLDER withe the naming convention "COURSE NAME_TEACHERs" If needed, you can use this Pacing Guide Template  

Course Syllabus with Zoom Links. Please use this Template to create your Course Syllabus. You'll see clarifications on the Attendance and Grading Policies that will be in place school wide this year. We'll be reviewing all school policies during Friday's staff meeting. Please make sure to also include the Zoom Links for each class on the syllabus. 

Staff Bio and Headshot.  Please submit your headshot and updated bio so that we can post this up in our website so families and students can see.  This year, with so many students and families remote, we need to go the extra mile to connect and let our students and staff know who we are.  Please submit your headshot and bio in THIS FOLDER

School Calendar. The DOE finally released the school calendar and the UAI calendar (see below) is finally out. Please see below!

Per Session Activities

School Culture and Student Activities Committee. We are recruiting staff to join our new Student Activities Committee. We are looking for 4-5 staff members to join Jen, parents, and students in planning and executing all senior activities for 8th and 12th grade, assemblies for all grades, parent events, and other student activities as determined by the committee throughout the year. Please note, this is a new committee and will replace senior activities coordinator and assembly coordinator positions. Members on this committee will report directly to Jen. Jen will select the committee members to equitably represent grades, skills and interests. Please complete this Per Session Interest Form and send an email to Jen in order to apply for this committee. Hours will range depending on activities and needs. Deadline to Apply is Friday 20SEP20.

Equity Team. Rebecca C has introduced the idea of the equity team and will re-introduce it on Tuesday to staff. Equity team members will have at least 3 hours per month of per session to meet. If you are interested in joining the team, you must complete the Per Session Interest Form.  NOTE:  completing the form does not mean you are on the team.  Team members will be selected by a specific process that Rebecca will review on Tuesday.  Deadline to apply is 20SEP20.

Week of August 31st

    

 

 UAI Staff Summer News

Volume VIII

Issue 6

August 31st, 2020

Principal's Message

Next week, staff and students return to school (presumably).  There are so many unknown answers and an endless array of questions coming from each and every one of us.

Many of you are now dealing with the very difficult decision that if our Mayor and Chancellor continue with the calendar and school opening plans as is, you may be the first NYC teachers to strike in over 50 years.  The opacity of what actually happens to you if you violate the Taylor law does not make the decision any easier.

However you decide, please know that Annie & I will always have your back and always support you.  It is remarkable to me that the mayor continues to parade individual school leaders as exemplars of the "can do it" attitude that he consistently champions as the bedrock of all New Yorkers.  At the same time, he continues to ignore the requests from the unions, school leaders, teachers, and central staff to slow down and give more time to safely opening our doors to 1.1 millions students, 175,000 teachers in over 1500 school buildings.   Striking is never an easy option.  But when confronted with such a deep refusal to listen (or even acknowledge) the concerns of so many of those in your charge, sometimes job-action is precisely what is needed.  

The media and mayor will likely rail against you.  He is quite the spinner, and the media has never really been that great of a friend to teachers in general.  However, as your school leaders, we DO know you. We honor you, we support your decision, and we know that however you decide, you are doing so with the love and commitment that each of you have to the success, health and safety of our students, their families, and yourselves.   

Announcements

Schedule Release & Program Look Up. The Program Look Up tool is not as intuitive as I would have hoped (You win some, you lose some). I cannot upload schedules into STARS and Skedula yet because every day more and more kids are continuing to opt out of Blended and into Remote Only. As a result, to keep advisories balanced, it is a constant game of whack-a-mole. My plan it run the programs on Friday, and run with the numbers that we have. Until then we have to use the Program Look Up tool and Student Program Tab with student. If students reach out to you, will you please help them to try to understand how to use it? The biggest problem happens, I think when multiple people are using the doc at once. The way out of that is to just wait a minute, THEN enter the ID number. Being patient is a learned skill (I'm still working on that one!), so our students will definitely need some support there.

Town Halls. Students and Parents have been invited to a series of Town Halls.  Just as with staff, we are asking that they complete THIS FORM to submit their questions.

• Thursday, August 27th at 10AM:  UAI Staff & Partner Staff Town Hall (Click Link for Video)
• Zoom Links for Upcoming Town Halls
• Monday, August 31st at 2:30PM:  11th & 12th Grade Student Town Hall
• Monday, August 31st at 3:30PM:  9th & 10th Grade Student Town Hall
• Tuesday, September 1st at 2:30 PM:  Middle School Student Town Hall
• Tuesday, September 1st at 5:00PM:  UAI Parent Town Hall 

Instructional Planning. You will learn more about this in PD this week, but here's some quick notes to answer a frequent  question. "How many lessons should I plan for in this new program of blended learning?"

• Every course at UAI will have a mix of Live (Synchronous) and Independent (Asynchronous) learning. ACADEMIC COURSES: For all academic courses (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Language), students should receive two synchronous (aka live zooms) lessons per week and two asynchronous lessons (e.g. recorded flipped lesson (like the video I did for ordering NYSTL stuff), other videos, and independent work activities). Each day you are in-person, you have a "RL (remote learning) prep" to complete this. I understand that this may run counter to what you are hearing in the media and from the union, but then again, so does our entire program. It can't be easy navigating all these mixed messages, so keep the questions coming!! In addtion, teachers should rely on student class data and coordinate with grade teams to form targeted small groups and meet with students during office hours and small group Fridays to provide feedback, and additional intervention or enrichment support as needed. ALL OTHER COURSES: For all other courses Theater: Two Live zooms per week (plus office hours - no small groups) PE & Health: 1 live zoom & 1 async lesson per week (+ office hours, no small grp) SMALL GROUP TUTORING: If you have small group tutoring on your program, you are doing reading/writing intervention for that grade. Work with grade teams and individual students to pull kids into small group work as needed.

PD Kicks Off Today. As a reminder, next week kicks off a series of PD and planning time to prepare for the upcoming school year. Please CLICK HERE to register by (Training rate per session will be paid to all registered participants!)

Week of August 24th

 UAI Staff Summer News

Volume VIII

Issue 5

August 24th, 2020

Principal's Message

Today, we are 10 work days from the first day teachers are to report to school and 12 work day from the first day of instruction (maybe).   I have to say "maybe" because we are still awaiting an official calendar for the school year.  However, we do know that soon, school will begin, and our students and families will be looking to each of us to provide structure, consistency and inspiration in the months to come.

Before diving into this weeks barrage of announcements and updates, I want to share a story.  These last few months have been exceptionally trying for all of us.  For me, when I pause to look ahead to the year that is to come, that stress and anxiety that has grown in me since March, flares up into something nearly uncontrollable.  Sprinkle on some hefty splashes of agita from from the mayor's and chancellor's offices, and my own state of mind is stretched thin, and I am pushed to my own brink.

But then a couple of weeks ago, a teacher asked me for some time to plan with her.  She was thinking about her first unit, and was looking for some ideas about how to proceed.  We sat and chatted for quite awhile and before I knew it, I was smiling and excited to be thinking about all the cool and different things that could get kids excited about learning at home.  During that conversation, I allowed myself to think alongside this teacher and move my thinking from the chaos of my current work to the joy of figuring out how to make learning fun and meaningful for our students.  The conversation was fun, refreshing, and inspiring, and I found myself for the first time all summer, truly excited to begin school again.

In the months to come, the world, the media, the impending election...so many factors will be beating away at us relentlessly as we all survive this pandemic and current socio-policital state of our country.  What I learned as I planned with Sarah is that we, as pedagogues, have a precious resource - we can always tap into the joy of working with our students and their families.  

I want to say thank you to Sarah R for reminding me about why I actually chose to do this job each and everyday.  I love working with kids, I love working with people who love working with kids, I love thinking about cool and better ways to challenge and push kids to realizing their greatest potential, and I love working with their teachers & leaders to do the same!  Thank you Sarah, for reaching out to me for help, because in so doing, you helped me more than you can know!

I also want to charge you all to reach out to your planning partners, and create an agreement to hold each other up and push each other to remember to find or create the joy in your jobs. That happiness is always there - we just need to lift it up!  However it works for your team, make sure you prioritize naming the things that make you feel joy in your jobs.  If you are struggling to find those words, that's normal, but that is exactly the sign that says you need to reach out to your colleagues or your school leaders.  We cannot do this alone, particularly this year.  We need each other (like I needed Sarah to remember the joy and she needed me to think through some planning).  

When we reach out to connect with each other, doing the level of work that inspires us, that is when we will be able channel the joy and fulfillment that will carry us through this crazy year.

So let's do this UAI, and let's know the socks off COVID School year 2020-2021!!!

(Hat Tip to Phillan for giving me the words to express what I was feeling.  In her end-of-the-year conference, we spoke a lot about finding the joy in her work.  That convo hung with me all summer, and it wasn't until I worked again with Sarah that I was able to connect the idea to reality).

Announcements

Happy Summer Birthdays!!!

Doris (26AUG)

COVID Updates. I have been constantly working with Carlos, our Custodial Engineer, and our District Director of Facilities to make sure our building is safe for reopening. In addition, Annie has been working hard to implement DOE guidance to implement protocols and procedures to maximize our ability to mitigate COVID transmission for in-person staff and students.

As a reminder, we are instituting layers of strategies to mitigate COVID transmission and protect students and staff from infection. For example, we are mandating that all in-person people where masks AND remain socially distant AND work in well-ventilated spaces AND have access to hand sanitizer/gloves/washing AND screen for symptoms. Our goal is to maintain all strategies all the time. At times, however, some strategies might have isolated points of failure (e.g. this student's mask breaks or those people are too close on the stairwells). It will not be perfect, but the temporary fail of one strategy does not erase the others. There is redundancy built into our systems for this precise reasons. That said, we will relentlessly work to maximization implementation of all of our COVID strategies.

That said, here's our current status on preparations for securing a safe & healthy school opening:

• PPE and Health & Safety Protocols.  The NYCDOE Back to School Pledge promises to secure the health and safety of our staff and students.  As your leader, I will not open the building if we do not have sufficient PPE and protocols in place to ensure the health and safety for all of our in-person staff and students.  Currently, I am working with Carlos and the principal's COVID Supplies hotline to make sure we are ready.  There is definite forward movement, and we are aiming to be able to open on September 10th.  Please review our UAI Health and Safety Checklist to see our status on the checklist of items we will need to meet in order to open.  

• Preparing for In-Person Work.  This week the DOE is piloting prioritized COVID testing for select DOE personnel (principals and APs).  They will be opening this Prioritized Testing Plan promises 24-48 hour turnaround of results, and it will be integral in maximizing our ability to mitigate COVID transmission.  As a reminder, here is the citywide COVID-19 DOE School Health Policy

Classroom Setup. Last week, I asked for volunteers to come in and set up our classrooms for social distancing (see a Model Classroom).  Many thanks to Jen, Elena, Phil, Kelly (and Dashiel) for helping to set up our classrooms for the upcoming school year. They were so efficient that I had to call our other volunteers Rachel, Damon, and Nina to say we were going to finish before they arrived! Thank you everyone for volunteering!!

This year, you will not be able to move any furniture in your rooms. Each chair is 6' apart from all other chairs, and there is space set aside for teachers and paraprofessionals. Teachers will not have work space in classrooms when they are not teaching. All teachers will be assigned a work space and desk in an unused classroom or windowed and ventilated office space. In addition, this year, interior classrooms (and classrooms without windows) have been closed for use. All extra desks and furniture have been removed from instructional classrooms and all excess furniture is being stored in rooms without windows (so like 304, 302, 402, 404, locker room, B53, and B57. About four - six teachers will be assigned (and socially distanced) to unused classrooms, and we will try to make sure that planning teams are rooming together as much as possible.

Student Movement & Main Office Access. We are implementing new directional movement policies in halls and stairways and the main office will be closed to public access for the year (so no students are to be sent down to the main office for any reason). The particulars of those policies are still being finalized, but in general, students should remain in their rooms for all periods (except if they need to use the bathroom). If a student must be removed, an adult will come to get them.

Building Access. Beginning August 31st, staff & students will be able to access the building to collect personal belongings only. Unfortunately, we will not be able to grant full staff access until we receive further guidance, but students and staff may come to collect personal items from classrooms or lockers. Please use THIS FORM to register for an appointment time. No access will be granted without first registering.

Student Programming Look-Up. Starting later today, students and families will be able to use this Student Program Look-Up Tool to find out what their in-person days will be and what program they will be following. For seniors, their specific courses selections are still being chosen. Seniors should use this Senior Course Selection Form to submit their preferences.

PD Next Week. As a reminder, next week kicks off a series of PD and planning time to prepare for the upcoming school year. Please CLICK HERE to register by Friday, August 28th (Training rate per session will be paid to all registered participants!)

Week of 17AUG20

 

Staff PD

UAI Staff Summer News

Volume VIII

Issue 4

August 17th, 2020

Principal's Message

As I emailed earlier this week, a collaboration of principals, parents, school staff, and school community members are coming together to call for a Phased Reopening of NYCDOE schools in the Fall.  I do not yet know whether these efforts will be impactful, but I want to give a huge shout out to Annie's wife, and my friend and colleague, Emily Paige, principal of the UA Unison school, who has led this charge with a plan that is thoughtfully and intentionally put together with input and feedback from her colleagues throughout District 13.  The plan draws from another colleague's proposal, Principal Luke Bauer of the UA Maker Academy.

I have joined my colleague's in their call.  In March, we were thrown into a situation that arrived unexpectedly.  However, the opening of schools is not unexpected and both NY State and NY City implemented a phased in approach to ensure a safe recovery from COVID.  We only ask the same.

It is important to leverage whatever we can to create a strong foundation to opening a school year like no other.  I encourage you all to review the District 13 proposal and to share it far and wide with those who you feel would like to know more and/or support.    

Announcements

Happy Summer Birthdays!!!

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

Introducing Nakita & Jean Necole. I would like to warmly welcome our newest staff members Nakita Van Biene (Earth Science Teacher) and Jean Necole Longmore (ICT Earth Science & AP Environmental) to UAI for the upcoming school year. Just as I have with all of you, I've asked both Nakita and Jean Necole to give me their pictures and bios so that we can all get to know each other a little bit better! If you have Nakita or Jean Necole on your planning teams, please reach out to them and give them a warm UAI welcome to your planning team! Phil has already set them up with UAI emails! Nakita: nakitav@uainstitute.org Jean Necole: jeanl@uainstitute.org

(Nakita & Jean Necole - all UAI staff bios and pics will be coming soon - so you'll be able to catch up with everyone too!)

Nakita VanBiene (pronouns: they/them/theirs) is excited to join the UAI community this year as an Earth Science teacher. They studied Geosciences at Williams College in Massachusetts before moving to New York City, where they assistant taught geometry. They then pursued their Masters in Teaching Earth Science at the American Museum of Natural History, where they were able to make many connections between Earth Science and New York City. This shaped how Nakita views education--they want their students to be able to look around and see science anywhere and everywhere. Nakita wants their students to see themselves as scientists, who can one day expand the field of science to include and celebrate more diverse voices and experiences.

Jean Necole Longmore.  I attended Cortland University where I received my Bachelor's Degree in Childhood Education. I later earned my Master's Degree for Students with Disabilities. I became a middle school teacher for 5 years where I taught Science and Mathematics. I am now eager and excited to be joining the UAI team!

Summer Departures. As we knew, Joanna & Amanda have moved on. During the first week of August, I received calls from both Nick and Giselle that they, too, were leaving UAI. Nick is transferring to the High School for Health Professions, and Giselle is transferring to Laguardia High School. We thank them for all of the work and commitment that they gave to our girls and our community while they were with us, and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors!

Updates from the Summer Restructuring Committee. The Summer Restructuring Committee has been working tirelessly to rethink our systems and structures that obstructed equity at UAI. Here are some updates from the committee. This summer, the Summer Restructuring Committee divided into three main subcommittees:

• Programming: The goal of the Programming Subcommittee was to create a program that incorporates teacher voice, maximally mitigates COVID transmission, addresses the needs of ENL and SPED learners, and enhances the capacity for co-teachers to work effectively. Nadine, Laura, Doris, Rachel worked collaboratively with school leadership (Kiri & Annie) to gather feedback from staff (via union meetings, SLT meetings, phone calls, surveys, etc.) and build a program that achieves these goals. Ultimately, the work of the committee resulted in The 2020-2021 Schedule

• Grading: The Grading Subcommittee (Cherry, Nina, Danielle R, Tiffany, Annie, & Kiri) has been working on revamping our current grading policy, and has met with Darnese Olivieri, Ruben Mina, and Marilyn Stotts from the DOE Office of Equity to create a policy that it is rooted in equity, is consistent and transparent, promotes student accountability, increases student motivation, and encourages teachers to increase both rigor and have high expectations for student success and growth. To do this, we have decided to implement some aspects of the Mastery Collaborative that call for ongoing formative assessment that lead to "clear, timely and actionable" feedback for students, and drive them toward mastery. We are in the process of developing a draft, and will share out with the staff for feedback. Additionally, we aim to get feedback from staff on the support needed to effectively and consistently implement the new grading policy.

• Professional Development. The programming subcommittee (Damon, Phillan, Jen) enlisted the help of many of you to plan and deliver a week of professional development experiences aimed at preparing everyone for the upcoming school year. Please check out their flyer below:

Launching an Equity Team. At the end of the year last year, UAI engaged in much overdue and very challenging conversations around race and equity. To carry through that work and to not let it die, Rebecca has been working hard to put together a thoughtful and well-researched plan for launching our first Equity Team. I know she presented this to staff at the last union meeting, but so far only FOUR people have shown interest. It's summer, so know that has a lot to do with it, but we do need your voices at the table. Please take a moment to complete this BRIEF SURVEY

Preparing for Next Year. Finally, please Archive Your Google Classrooms from 2019-20. As we wind up the summer to prepare for next year, we will want to start fresh and create an organized Google Classroom Environment for our students and families. Please attend the PD session on Google Classroom and Zoom to learn more!

Week of 03AUG20

UAI Staff Summer News

Volume VIII

Issue 3

August 3rd, 2020

Principal's Message

School Re-Opening and Your Value.  Almost daily, the press, social media, everyone is sharing their opinions about whether or not schools should open.  It should never be the case that we are pitting health and safety against learning and development, but here we are.  

We are all struggling with the tension between protecting our own (and our family's) health & safety and providing the quality instruction that our students deserve.  Again - an impossible dilemma - but here we are.

Throughout everything, please know that you are valued.  Whether blended with in-person work or working fully remotely, I know each of you will continue to bring your best efforts and creative thinking to providing our students with the learning they deserve.  For that I thank you, and I appreciate everything you do.

As we move forward in the planning processes for school re-opening, I know it will not be possible to find a solution that will perfectly satisfy everyone, but we will create systems and policies that represent our best efforts to educate, safeguard, and promote the intellectual, social-emotional, and physical well-being of our students and their families.  

Despite the external chaos, this fact is my beacon of hope for the upcoming school year.  We are a fantastic team of smart thinkers who are committed to social justice and equity for our young women.  When we all work together to bring our best, it is always our girls who win.  This will be a year unlike any other, but with our UAI team, I see a bright beam of wonderful possibilities shining through the cloud of COVID.

Announcements

Happy Summer Birthdays!!!

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

Advisory Model Blended Learning Mock Up.  Thank you to everyone who joined our first town hall to review your questions around the original blended learning mock up and the advisory model. The SRC (Summer Restructuring Committee) discussed your feedback and wanted a more official mock up.  We will be holding another town hall on 04AUG at 10:30 AM Please share any feedback, questions or concerns you have in  THIS SURVEY.   

School Re-Opening and the Last Chancellor Update.  Chancellor Carranza shared more information around school re-opening which you can watch here.  Here are some highlights:

• What Triggers a School Closure?  Both the CDC and the DOE are strongly encouraging cohort (or pod) programming for schools.  As a result, here are the plans for when schools will close in case of a COVID infection:
• 1 positive case in a class - If a person (staff or student) tests positive for COVID, that class (and any other person/class(es)) that the COVID positive person had close contact with will quarantine (staff and students) for 14 days and work in Remote Learning.  The rest of the school will remain open.  
• 2 or more positive cases in 2 or more classes - The school will close for a 14 day quarantine, and all teaching and learning will happen remotely.
• What About Testing? The DOE s asking all school community members who are participating in In-Person learning (staff and students) to take COVID tests at least 7 days prior to the start of school (which they still say is September - tho they are not saying which day in September, yet).  Additionally, they are encouraging staff and students to get tested every three weeks, and shared that DOE staff will have priority testing status for access and results.

Summer Restructuring Committee (SRC) Work.  The summer restructuring committee continues to meet and work on UAI school systems and structures for next year.  At any time, you can review notes and agendas HERE.

• Building out an Equity Team.  Rebecca & I attended a workshop from the DOE Department of Equity around how to Launch Equity Teams.  We discussed the our learnings with the SRC, and Rebecca C. is putting together a proposal of how to construct the team - which voices should be on the team.  The next step is for the SRC to decide the who those voices should be.  If you have ideas or suggestions that you would like to include, please email Rebecca at rebeccac@uainstitute.org!

• Grading Subcommittee. The next meeting for the grading subcommittee will be facilitated by a member of the DOE Department of Equity who will help us do some root cause analysis around student performance, teacher expectations and equity.  The team is asking for teacher feedback in the survey below.  If you are interested to learn more, I've also attached the document that links to the team's research and data around UAI student performance.
• Readings and UAI School Data
• Survey

• Professional Development Subcommittee.  The PD Committee is working with teachers to plan a sequence of PD experiences aimed at preparing teachers for the upcoming school year.  Damon shared out a survey earlier.  If you can, please do reach out to the PD committee (Jen, Damon, Phillan, or Annie) with any suggestions or feedback!
• Damon shared a PD survey (I don't have that link- sorry!)

• Programming Subcommittee.  The Programming committee presented the Advisory Mock in this blog and planned the next Town Hall.  
• Advisory Mock Up
• Town Hall Meeting and Survey

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.  

Week of 13JUL

UAI Staff Summer News

Volume VIII

Issue 1

July 13, 2020

Principal's Message

Summer Blog Posts.    Summer blog posts will be much less frequent than school year posts.  I'll also be experimenting with how to more effectively share information in the blog so that you can more readily access it.  So please, do email me your feedback!

Announcements

Happy Summer Birthdays!!!

Ms. Aisha (30JUN); Ms. Cassandra (05JUL); Mr. Joey (13JUL); Ms. Joanna (16JUL); 

Natalie (20JUL); Marsha (24JUL); Matthew (19AUG); Rebecca F(21AUG); Doris (26AUG)

School Re-Opening in Fall 2020.   This summer, the Chancellor has set up regular meetings to discuss plans for school re-opening with principals.  All info points to an actual opening in September.  Until we hear otherwise, we have to move forward in planning for this to occur.  So far, we've had two of these meetings with the Chancellor.  More are forthcoming.  Here's what we know so far:

• UAI will possibly adopt an Alternate Days Model.  There are limited models available - Alternate Days or Alternate Weeks.  We must choose one as a community.  The Chancellor's preferred model is Alternate Days, as is true for our SLT parents and students.  CLICK HERE to learn more.

• Two Important Surveys are out on Wednesday, July 15th.  The DOE will release two surveys on 15JUL20.  For students and families, they will be able to indicate whether or not they want to be REMOTE ONLY for the start of the fall.  Staff will be able to request COVID accommodations in a survey to be released that day.  CLICK HERE to learn more.
  
  
• Schedules may not be available until August.  With the surveys not due until August 7th, we will not be able to produce a program until after we get back that information.  There are many unknowns as of yet.  Without all the information, we cannot fully program the school.  CLICK HERE to learn more.

• PPE and other COVID Mitigating Factors will be in place.  The DOE is centrally providing PPE to schools, and school facilities are currently undergoing enhancements to equip them with electrostatic disinfecting tools (the kind airplanes use to disinfect between flights), update HVACs to improve ventilation, and ship masks and sanitizer supplies to schools.  We will never reach a point where there is 0% risk of COVID transmission, but with a combination of prevention steps, the plan is to mitigate transmission as much as possible.  CLICK HERE to learn more.

Technical Training.  Our original goal was to be able to provide teachers with at least WHAT they will be teaching by July 15th.  However, without know who will be remote only (students and staff), we cannot really say for sure.  That said, course assignments are highest priority, and we're pushing to get that to staff as soon as we can.  We don't want to rush and tell you something now, only to have to shift it later when more facts are in play.  So please be patient as we try to gather all the necessary info for a final decision.

In the meantime, if you are itching to get a jump on next year, you can still use these next few weeks to deepen your skills in platforms that we know for sure we will be using:

• Google Classroom Tutorials
• Google Calendar Tutorials
• Zoom Tutorials
• Explore the Teach Hub

Personal Professional Development.  There are many, many options available to staff to explore new skills and learning.  Here are two you may wish to explore

• When Schools Cause Trauma
• Summer Workshops from the DOE Office of Equity

Summer Restructuring Committee Work.  The Summer Restructuring Committee will be continuing the work of the SCI and ACT committees as we prepare to open the school for the 2020-2021 school year.  This week, we will be working collectively as school leadership and school staff to co-create our goals for the summer and clearly articulate the work that needs to be done (and by whom and by when).  On the committee are Annie, Cherry, Jen, Kiri, Nadine, Nina, Rachel, Phillan, and Tiffany.  The committee will be deciding on how best to share our work, discussions and progress with the rest of the UAI community.