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YG Staff Newsletter – May 2, 2022

YG Staff Newsletter – May 2, 2022

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Dear YG staff,

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize our dedicated, professional, and just plain awesome teachers. To show their appreciation, our EAs will be providing edibles on Monday. I will bring some treats on Tuesday. The PTO will provide lunch on Wednesday, and snacks/treats on Friday. While this week is dedicated to honoring our teachers, let’s celebrate all staff. Thank you all for being there for the kids and their families.

EXPO Update – McKenzie was offered and she accepted the first grade teaching position. She will officially be a regular (probationary) teacher starting in the fall.

ACE Nomination – In case you haven’t seen it, there’s a Facebook post recognizing Naoko and her nomination for an ACE award.

Items of Note

Frequently Used Links

Staff have been asking me for links to various documents, so I thought it would be a good idea to share the YG Dashboard with you.

North Region Meeting Debrief and May 6th Meeting

Takako, Scott, and I met with the North Region Vision Team for a short meeting. Among the items discussed were:

A meeting for YG staff only – Brooke Wagner and Cyd Vandercar will be meeting with us on Friday, May 6th, from 2:30-3:30. We are tentatively scheduled to meet in the cafeteria, but I will ask John if the Kelly Library would be available, as it is a more suitable space. Classified staff are welcome to attend. Please adjust your hours, or see me about adding the time on a time sheet if you would like to attend.

A meeting for Kelly staff only – Brooke and Cyd will meet with Kelly staff on May 13.

A combined YG and Kelly meeting – Brooke and Cyd will meet with our combined K-8 staff on May 20, from 3:00-4:00 pm.

A meeting for YG and Kelly parents – The superintendent’s office is looking at Cyd’s schedule and will schedule a time in late May or early June to hold an informational meeting for the community. Stay tuned for more details to come.

Brooke and Cyd visiting during the school day – Teachers asked Brooke and Cyd to tour the school while students were present so they could get a first-hand look at how the two programs are working together and areas that need improvement or additional resources.

Access to the building over the summer – Ryan Spain, facilities director, informed us at the meeting that the building will be closed for most, if not all staff, during the summer, starting with the day after our last work day, and potentially all the way to our first day back in August. He will work with the contractors to determine if YG staff can return earlier in August since the work being done on the inner gym will impact the other side of the building from where we are located. More information to follow as I get more information.

Mural project

I received feedback from the 2nd grade team that they do not have the time to do a mural this spring, considering they have a play and the bilingual store to plan. 5th grade will not not have time until after June 4th (and even then they will have to hold space for students who want to test for accelerated math). 4th grade says they are up for it though.

I sent an email to the muralist asking to meet on site Monday, but I don’t know if it would be a good idea to do this now or wait until next fall, since some teams don’t have the time and we have bilingual store and plays for the primary students in mid-late May.

This year, Bayne was not available to do a mural with kids due to his busy schedule, but if we postpone until the fall, or next spring, he might be available. Let me know if you would prefer to wait to see if Bayne is available next year.

3/4/5 Annual PBIS Student Climate Survey

Traditionally the climate survey has been administered to 3rd-5th grade in early spring. However, this year the Instruction Department revamped the survey to administer to all students in grades 3rd-12th and it is almost ready to share all the details, including the link. 3rd-5th grade teachers will need to pick a date and time to administer the survey during the month of May. Be on the lookout for additional details, coming out soon.

Master Schedule Planning

2022-2023 Elem Content Minutes Schedule Guide – the Instruction Department made a 2022-2023 Elementary Content Minutes Schedule Guide, which has the suggested (not required) amount of minutes for each content area for when schools develop their master schedules. The guide has a 15 minute morning recess instead of 10 minutes, and it is different from 4J’s Standard School Schedule. Elementary directors said we can continue with our current practice of holding up to 60 minutes of recess/lunch each day (except for Fridays).

Staff Input on Schedules for 2022-2023

I’m seeking your feedback on some matters regarding schedules and staffing for the 2022-2023 school year. Please respond to the Staff Poll – Schedules and Staffing. I will be sharing the results of this poll at our next staff meeting.

Library Connection

Library Media Services Info – District Librarian, Amy Page, shared the linked Library Media Services Slide Show with principals, which links out to a wealth of resources for teachers, including safe search engines, the district digital book collection Sora (USER: 4J username, PASS: 4J email password), and the underused research website PebbleGo (USER: ygsch, PASS: school).  She also shared that she is available to create curated research sites, such as the one on slide #4 about Exploring Penguins. Just contact her at page_a@4j.lane.edu

PD on the Fly

Here is the link for this week’s PD on the Fly.

Celebrating Inclusive Mother’s Day & Father’s Day

As we celebrate and honor caregivers in schools, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be opportunities to recognize the diversity of family structures. See this Welcoming Schools Article for how to inclusively celebrate these holidays.

Teacher Appreciation Week Freebies

Check these RetailMeNot and WeAreTeachers articles containing lists of all the freebies and discounts educators can get this week. Applebee’s free lunch or dinner, 20% off at Buffalo Wild Wings, 15% off J.Crew, 15% off at Michaels, 20% off at Pieology Pizza, or a free cheeseburger with any purchase at Sonic! I’m bummed Insomnia Cookies isn’t on there, but there’s some good stuff here. Also, McDonald’s has free coffee or soda if you show your ID, but wasn’t on either list.

4J Summer Seal Program Updates

Instruction is hoping to add an incentive to get more staff to fill summer school vacancies. Class sizes will be increased if they do not have enough staffing and the Sheldon/North regions will be combined. I volunteered Holt to NOT host the SEAL program and to instead host Migrant Ed, which end earlier and operated fewer days in the building.

Guest Teachers and Substitutes

Monday – Scott will be attending a meeting in the morning. Ann Gilles will be subbing for him.

Wednesday – Mike will be taking a personal day, and Michi Okuda will substitute for him.

Thursday – Mike will be taking a personal day, and Michi Okuda will substitute for him. Michelle Lampe is also taking leave, and Susan Chubb will substitute for her.

Friday – Mike will be taking a personal day, and Michi Okuda will substitute for him.

Personal Leave

In the past week, 4J faced shortages of substitutes. Karen Hardin sent an email to principals and shared the contract language regarding personal leave. If you are planning to take personal leave, be sure to review the information below:

  1. Use of Personal Leave (Article 8.3) – The use of personal leave is causing some of our teachers and administrators stress.  Below you will find the contract language on using personal leave.  This will be a topic of conversation at our next JCAC meeting on May 5th.  We will have more information to share after that meeting.  Please try to avoid any conflict over this in the short term and call if you need to discuss.

8.3 PERSONAL LEAVE: Unit members may take two days of personal leave per year with pay.

  • 8.3.1 This leave is accumulative under the terms of Section 8.3.5.
  • 8.3.2 This leave must be scheduled with the unit member’s supervisor twenty-four (24) hours in advance unless the incident giving rise to the need for the leave is of such emergency nature that advance scheduling is not feasible.
  • 8.3.3 Personal leave may be used on a day adjacent to a holiday or vacation if the leave is otherwise permitted under this provision. However, in no case may personal leave be taken on a day adjacent to a holiday or vacation for the purpose of extending the activities of the holiday or vacation.
  • 8.3.4 Unit members returning to work following a holiday or vacation period who have had their travel curtailed due to a strike, cancellation, or hazardous weather conditions may use personal leave.
  • 8.3.5 Unit members may carry over unused personal leave days up to the total of three (3) accumulated personal leave days. All provisions of Section 8.3 related to the use of personal leave apply to the use of such accumulated leave.

EA Meeting – Friday, 9:00-9:30

EAs will be meeting with Tom in the staff room from 9:00-9:30.

Upcoming Events

May 2 (M) – Start of Teacher Appreciation Week
Treats Provided by EAs
No Admin Initiated Meetings
4:00, Tom leaving for doctor’s appointment

May 3 (T) – Teacher Appreciation Day
Treats Provided by Tom
3:15-3:45, 3rd Grade Team Meeting

May 4 (W) – PTO Sponsored Lunch
9:00-11:00, Tom to Elementary Principals Meeting
3:15-4:00, iPBS Meeting in Conference Room
7:00pm, School Board Meeting. Location: (Zoom)

May 5 (Th)
9:45-10:30, Jennie, Mary, and Tom meeting to plan intervention schedule

May 6 (F) – PTO Sponsored Snacks/Pastries
9:00-9:30, EA Meeting in Staff Room
2:00-3:00, Meeting with Brooke and Cydney

May 9 (M) – Send home math acceleration letters to 5th grade

May 10 (T)
3:15-4:00, Staff Meeting
5:30pm, ACE Awards. Location: Broadcast live on 4J’s Facebook page

May 11 (W)
9:00-11:00, Tom to Elementary Principal Mtg – Anti-Racism & Anti-Bias

May 12 (Th)

May 13 (F)
2:00-3:00, PLC/PD

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