9.29.23 Staff Blog

 Thank you for a wonderful Curriculum Night.   It was great to see all of your hard work showcased at curriculum night, and I hope you got to enjoy some positive feedback from families.  I know I heard from MULTIPLE families that their students have really enjoyed the time they have had so far in school and that they “love school”.  What a gift!  I appreciate you for making that a reality for our community members, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Quick Look:

Thursday October 5	Staff Meeting- 8:05 in the library
Wednesday October 4	Early Release- Individual Time
Wednesday October 11	Early Release- Principal Time
Wednesday October 18	Early Release-Individual Time
Tuesday October 24	Picture Retakes
Wednesday October 25	Early Release- District Time
Wednesday November 1	Individual Afternoon (conference schedule)
October 30-November 3	Fall Conferences DRAFT/PROPOSED SCHEDULE- Student dismissal is at 11:55.  Students will be served lunch starting at 11:10. 11:10-11:25-K-3 Eat 11:25-11:45-K-3 Play 11:45-11:55-K-3 Circle up and pack up for departure 11:10-11:25- 4-5 Play 11:25-11:45-4-5 Eat 11:45-11:55-4-5 Circle up and pack up for departure 11:15-11:30- Journey Eat 11:30-11:50-Journey Play 11:50-11:55-Journey pack up for dismissal. **Journey teachers, please let me know if you would prefer to be dismissed directly from the playground.

SAFE SCHOOLS: ACTION

The mandatory annual SafeSchools training sessions for the 23-24 School Year are active.

The completion deadline is November 30, 2023.

You may log-in here to get started.  You can also find this link on the Human Resources-Links page of the District website.

Please log-in using your firstname.lastname (Ex: mary.smith), as it appears on Employee Access.

Let Marie McCluskey know if you have questions.

LUNCH PERIOD SCHEDULE: HELPFUL

This document is linked in our systems and procedures document, but I am including it here in case.  

CK-8 SYSTEMS/STAFF HANDBOOK DOCUMENT (DRAFT): HELPFUL

This document is in progress, and will be updated as we all learn/refresh our memories on the systems and structures in place at CK-8.  If you see an area that could use an addition,  or if something is not correct, please email me the correction ( rebbecah.emanuel@ssd412.org)

STAFF SHOUT OUTS: HELPFUL

Thank you so much for filling out a staff shout out! If you would like to recognize a colleague, please use the link at the top of the blog.  Here are this week’s shout outs!!

Sheryl is such a blessing to work with. She is always kind, cheerful, and patient with both her students and her colleagues. I am so thankful to get to work with her!

Julie is a rock star! She is always calm, caring, and student-centered. She is such an asset for our community.

DISTRICT INFORMATION: HELPFUL

FROM INSTRUCTION: 

As we shared in the spring, due to our budget reductions, we were unable to purchase student licenses for our digital social studies curriculum this year. In addition, at the elementary level, we did not purchase teacher licenses. Mike VanOrden is working with teachers to review options to support our students, including the potential purchase of a limited number of student licenses for students served by our MLL, Special Education, and 504 programs, and refinements to curriculum materials we do have. We are also working with the publisher of the curriculum to determine if there may be options for elementary teachers. We will share updates with teachers and administrators as we have more information.\

DIMC:

This year, we have a number of openings on our District Instructional Materials Committee.Certificated staff members serving on the committee are paid for their time.  If you are interested in serving on DIMC, please complete this short application. 

Shoreline's District Instructional Materials Committee, consisting of  classroom teachers, teacher-librarians, administrators, and community members, reviews proposed basic and supplemental instructional materials requested for use by teachers, curriculum teams, and administrators at monthly meetings. More information about the committee can be found here.

FROM EQUITY AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT:

Anti Racist Book Kits are now available! Each kit comes with 6-8 books and a discussion guide. Perfect for school teams, committees or departments.  Please reach out to equity@ssd412.org for more information.

Ethnic Studies cohort 4 has been re-opened for applications!  Deadline for application is October 6th at noon.  To apply, please complete this form. More information about the Fellows can be found here.

FROM STUDENT SERVICES:

Schools are required to document whether an interpreter is requested and provided for 1) IEP meetings and 2) reengagement meetings following an exclusionary plan. For every IEP meeting or reengagement meeting with a multilingual family, OFFICE MANAGERS will complete each field on your buildings tab on this spreadsheet. See District Policy 4218 for details about this requirement.

NEW FOR 2023-24: Language Line DOES qualify as use of an interpreter for this purpose.

TECH TIPS:

Here is an archive of all tech tips provided by the district technology team.

WEBSITE CHANGEOVER:

As you know, our district is using a new website and platform.  As part of that change, some of our district resources that used to be accessed using a department page have been moved into Canvas Courses. I am sure we will find more of these as we use the new platform, but please know that mandated reporting forms can be accessed by enrolling in the Canvas course linked below. This course will contain many resources that used to be accessed under Student Services. CPS forms are also linked in our systems and procedures document.

Here are two shortcuts to help people find the course and self enroll:

• self-enroll link is https://shorelineschools.instructure.com/enroll/FHE7LM. 

• or use the code FHE7LM at https://shorelineschools.instructure.com/register.