3.8.24 Staff Blog
Thank you all for welcoming me so warmly back to Cascade. Elizabeth was happy to have the opportunity to work with you, and commented a number of times on what a great experience she was having. I was not surprised at all, but am once again grateful for all you have done for me and my family (including welcoming my substitute while I was out). I appreciate you!
A big congratulations to Fergus and our amazing art students for a successful art show at the Shoreline Center. What a night!
Quick Look:
**As always, please check the IEP/SST Calendar for updates.
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 is our shout out for this week!
Kim and Becca are running a fantastic Journey program inside and outside the walls of their classrooms with a field trip to the Hibulb Cultural Center, TSA preparations for the upcoming conference, and 8th-grade camp. However; I’m particularly grateful for all the energy they’re putting into getting me oriented and integrated to this wonderful CascadeK8 community. Thank you! —Mark B.
LANGUAGE ACCESS- NEW DISTRICT STAFF SUPPORT: HELPFUL
Language Access Bill E2SHB 1153 passed in 2022, which included new requirements for districts around Language Access for multilingual families, including the requirement that each district designate a Language Access Coordinator to spearhead this work.
Districts, including Shoreline, with more than 75 languages spoken were provided with a 2023-24 grant to fund a Language Access Coordinator position. Sarah Muchinski has been hired and will start in this role after midwinter break. We are excited to have Sarah join Shoreline to help us with this important work, more details to follow soon.
AIR PURIFIERS:ACTION
In cooperation with PTSA, air filters in the classroom air purifiers are periodically replaced. If you have gotten out of the habit of turning on your classroom air purifiers, please plan on turning them on each morning. That way, we can maximize the air filter resource and hopefully make it through this cold and flu season with fewer impacts to us and our students. I will turn them on if I see they are off as I am in classrooms. Please help by turning on your air purifiers each day.
ELLISON FOUNDATION GRANTS: HELPFUL (Due April 1, 2024)
The Ellison Foundation is awarding multiple grants in the Spring of 2024 for the 2024 – 2025 school year. Grant amounts range between $1,000 and $10,000. The Ellison Education Grants were created to empower and support Washington State’s most effective, innovative and inspirational K- 12 public school teachers. The Ellison Foundation offers Academic Enrichment grants to individuals and teams of teachers supporting the development of innovative and engaging classroom or extracurricular programs that improve student learning. Professional Learning grants are offered to teams of teachers only (e.g.,grade level or subject matter) who are dedicated to improving their instructional practice through self-designed and collaborative professional learning plan. Application information can be found here.
NEW DANIELSON RUBRIC AND COMPONENTS: HELPFUL
This year, the Shoreline Joint Evaluation Committee is meeting to review and make recommendations about the transition to the new Danielson Teacher Evaluation Framework and student growth goals that we are required to implement starting next school year.
The Joint Evaluation Committee is a partnership between the District and Association to implement evaluation tools and to facilitate professional growth through the evaluation process. Committee members understand and represent the interests of administrators and SEA members who work across multiple subjects, grade levels and school buildings, and communicate the work of the committee to that broader audience.
This year, committee members will make recommendations regarding the following:
Resources and forms to support the new evaluation processes
Professional development to ensure successful implementation of a growth oriented evaluation process
Outcomes of any mutually agreed upon evaluation pilots
Expectations around scoring practices
Scoring tools
Other issues as mutually agreed
On November 16, the committee held its first meeting of the year to review the changes and requirements that come with the new framework and student growth goals, and to begin identifying the topics and questions we’ll need to address as a district as we transition to the new evaluation framework.
The committee is scheduled to meet again on December 11, January 18, February 15, and March 14. We will be providing additional information and updates following each of the meetings.
More information about the new framework and growth goals can be found on OSPI’s Teacher/Principal Evaluation Program page.
REMINDERS: HELPFUL
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)
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 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.
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