Contents
New Items
Information for Monthly PL and C&I Webpage Information – for Principals and Instructional Coaches
Guidelines for Dropping ‘No Shows’ and Students Due to Non-Attendance – for All Administrators
Breaks for Paraprofessionals – for Principals
Previous Items
5th Grade Career Exploration Opportunity: Math in Careers – for Elementary Administrators
CPI Dates and Registration – for All Administrators
Extra English Code of Conducts / Parent Handbooks – for Principals
Outlook Upgrade – for All Administrators
IMPORTANT SYSTEM CHANGES: AESOP & PROFESSIONAL GROWTH SOLUTIONS – for All Administrators
Presidential Scholars Program – for All Administrators
September is Attendance Awareness Month! Let???s Celebrate!
– for All Administrators
Student Counts – for All Administrators
HR Assignments – for All Administrators
Do You Have a Story You Want to Share? – for All Administrators
EC-5 Reading Curriculum Refinement and Resource Refresh – for EC-5 Administrators
New Items
Information for Monthly PL and C&I Webpage Information
From Alan King
We are changing how we are sharing information for locations for monthly professional learning (both Content Wednesdays and Quarter District Inservice Days). In the past, we sent emails to every teacher in the district with this information. We had difficulty with accessing everyone???s email and getting the correct information to everyone who needed it.
We are moving the responsibility for accessing the information to the user who can access it when they are ready for it. The information will be stored on the Curriculum and Instruction webpage on the Staff Intranet. We will update the information each month after the previous month???s professional learning has finished.
Click on the attached document to view guidance for accessing the location of monthly PL document and guidance for navigating the document as well as highlights of the Curriculum and Instruction webpage.
We will email this information to teachers today. From this point forward, teachers can access the monthly locations by accessing the correct page on the Staff Intranet.
Access to Professional Learning Information PDF
Guidelines for Dropping ‘No Shows’ and Students Due to Non-Attendance
From David Rand
Please read and forward to all applicable staff the attached guidelines for dropping ‘no shows’ and students due to non-attendance for the 2017-2018 school year.
After you have reviewed the document, we ask that you please complete a short (4-5 question) survey to help us determine potential training needs for the system (links below).
If you have any questions regarding this issue, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you very much!!!!
Administrator Survey – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M5C5RXZ
Survey for SILK Users – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MF5299M
Breaks for Paraprofessionals
From Michelle Colvin
Rest periods of short duration, usually of 15 minutes, promote the efficiency of paraprofessionals and every effort should be made to provide rest periods of 15 minutes or less twice each school day. The breaks are NOT mandatory and should not come at the expense of services to students with disabilities. The paraprofessionals break period shall be established at a time determined by the building principal, supervisor, or lead teacher.
Previous Items
5th Grade Career Exploration Opportunity: Math in Careers
From Matthew Andersen
Elementary Curriculum and Instruction is providing a Stepping Stones to Diploma+ opportunity for 5th grade students. This Career Exploration will allow students to see how mathematics and employability skills are used in a real-life career setting. We are looking for 5th grade teachers who would be interested in applying. Please share this informational flyer with your 5th grade teachers.
Flyer PDF
CPI Dates and Registration
From Melanie French
Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) Training focuses on prevention and deceleration strategies, decision making, disengagement/holding skills and postvention approaches to ensure a safe and productive learning environment.
Please see the attached calendar for this years CPI training opportunities. To register staff in your building, please use the following link. If you have questions or would like to know the team who is trained in your building, please email Melanie French.
Registration Link:
https://goo.gl/forms/Y1zmddwCNSnDmMYn2
Training Type:
??? Initial Training ??? full day training for staff who have never attended CPI training or for staff who were not trained within the past school year.
??? Refresher Training ??? half day training for staff who have attended training within the last school year.
Key Learning Objectives:
Prevention and Deceleration Strategies
Identify behavior that indicates an escalation toward aggressive and violent behavior and take appropriate measures to avoid, decelerate, and/or de-escalate crisis situations.
Decision Making
Assess the level of risk associated with crisis behavior and make appropriate decisions related to the management of such risks.
Managing Behavioral Risk Using Disengagement and/or Holding Skills
Use suitable and acceptable physical interventions to reduce or manage risk behavior.
Postvention Approaches
Identify the impact of crisis events and describe post-crisis responses that can be used to reestablish communication, maintain relationships, and prevent future risk behavior.
CPI Calendar PDF
Extra English Code of Conducts / Parent Handbooks
From Valerie Anzicek
Please return any extra English Code of Conducts or Parent Handbooks to the Print Shop to the attention of Mike Stone.
This request will assist in fulfilling requests for schools needing English Code of Conducts and Parent Handbooks.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Outlook Upgrade
From Joe Fives
Outlook Upgrade Information PDF
IMPORTANT SYSTEM CHANGES: AESOP & PROFESSIONAL GROWTH SOLUTIONS
From Shelly Beech
On Wednesday, August 30th all staff will receive an email explaining to them the change in the sign-on process for the AESOP system. This change is occurring because we are adding an additional FRONTLINE System called Professional Growth (formally known as My Learning Plan). This system will be our new system for tracking and monitoring our professional development activities in the district (no more blue sheets!) These activities will now be tracked for all staff including classified.
These two systems, AESOP and Professional Growth, are all under the FRONTLINE Platform and will be merged together for each employee to have access through a single sign-on: Username and Password.
Please share this email with your staff in order to make them aware of the upcoming change and the information being sent to their school district email about this matter. That email will provide instructions on how to create their new single sign-on Username and Password. This task will need to be completed by each employee. If at all possible, we highly recommend you provide ALL your staff with time to view the Simulation Course (Approx. 10mins) and How-To-Guide on Wednesday, August 30th during afternoon PD. Please be advised, the single sign-on transition will not be available until AFTER 1pm on Friday, September 1st.
Please be advised, this transition could impact the placement of substitutes for teacher absences. Because of this transition it is imperative that all staff make this single sign-on change in their AESOP accounts
We realize some employees may not have access to the technology to complete this necessary change.
Therefore, in order to help employees with these changes, Support Sessions will be held in the Central Office on the following dates from 11am-1pm and 3pm-5pm:
??? Tuesday, September 5th- Room 135
??? Wednesday, September 6th- Computer Lab- Room 268
??? Thursday, September 7th- Room 132
??? Friday, September 8th- Room 273
Presidential Scholars Program
From David A. Smith
The Presidential Scholars Program recognizes and honors high school seniors who have demonstrated high achievements academically or in the arts ??? some having to overcome special challenges or hurdles to do so.
High-achieving students who demonstrated excellence in career and technical education also can now be recognized through the Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education Program. This new program started in 2016.
These are two separate programs and require separate nomination forms.
To nominate a student for the Presidential Scholars program or the Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education program, a nomination form must be completed and submitted to the address indicated. Nomination forms may be accessed here:
http://www.ksde.org/Agency/Fiscal-and-Administrative-Services/Communications-and-Recognition-Programs/Presidential-Scholars-Program
Schools may only nominate four students from their school, two for each program.
Nominations must be postmarked by Oct. 6, 2017.
We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to recognize students in your school. For more information about the program, please call Tamla Miller at (785) 296-4950 or email her at tmiller@ksde.org.
September is Attendance Awareness Month! Let???s Celebrate!
From Rosie Rodriguez
September is Attendance Awareness Month. We would like to celebrate and recognize the work that you do everyday to achieve attendance success with our students and families. During Attendance Awareness Month, we will be working together and finding out ways to maintain or increase school attendance rates.
Diploma+ and Student Services are working together to support and assist your school in any way that we can. Together we can achieve our goals.
Inspiring Excellence, Every Grownup, Every Child, Every Day.
Student Counts
From Bridgette DeSmet
The Student Counts that we gather are critical for funding and staffing. These counts cannot be missed. Please be sure you have back up staff prepared to complete each count in case of illness, etc. Student Counts are required for the following dates:
08/30/17 Wednesday
09/01/17 Friday
09/06/17 Wednesday
09/08/17 Friday
09/13/17 Wednesday
09/15/17 Friday
09/20/17 Wednesday
I have had to add some dates as not all schools have turned in counts. Please contact me if you have any questions, concerns or if I can help in any way.
HR Assignments
From Jody Mitchell
Update from the Human Resources office:
As we continue to fill open positions in the Human Resources office, we want to ensure we provide the district with necessary information. Once all new staff is in place and/or transitioned, we will send out an updated organizational chart. In the interim, please continue to reach out the following individuals for your needs:
??? Recommendations for hire ??? Carlos Clay (Certified) and Angela Monroe (Classified)
??? Recruiting, Resumes, and ATF information ??? Cynthia Fulks
??? Investigations/Grievances ??? Amy Jo Troyer (Certified) and Jody Mitchell (Classified)
??? FMLA/Leave of Absence/Aesop ??? Stephanie Pepper and Dejanee Harris
??? Talent Ed Records/Perform ??? Andrea Ramirez
??? Classified CIS ??? Angela Monroe, Jody Mitchell, or Rashid Hoda
??? I-Observation/Licensure ??? Taneka Brown and Shelly Beech
??? Board Agenda Items ??? Amy Jo Troyer and Jody Mitchell (will change in the near future)
??? General HR questions can be answered by all staff
As always, any one of us are happy to assist you for any reason. Please reach out with your needs and we will direct you to the appropriate party.
Do You Have a Story You Want to Share?
From Grace Elmore
Do you have a story you want to share?
The Communications Department is always looking for stories to share.
Story ideas include, but are not limited to:
Classroom projects, grade/school projects, individual student/teacher projects, any stories related to Diploma+, individual students/staff you want to feature, school events, etc.
No story is too small. To share your story, email Grace Elmore, communications specialist.
EC-5 Reading Curriculum Refinement and Resource Refresh
From Suzie Legg
The Curriculum Department is excited to share with you that additional resources are coming soon to support literacy instruction!
As projected last Spring, over the course of the next three school years, the Curriculum Department is planning to refine reading curriculum and refresh reading resources. This refinement will support the continued understanding and implementation of the Model of Instruction through EC-5 Literacy. Currently we are able to share more specifics related to the approximate timeline for this work and the resources that will be provided*. The resources that have been identified to support reading are from the Fountas and Pinnell ClassroomTM components and include support for teacher planning. For this school year, Benchmark Assessment Systems (including Expanded Literacy Continuums) for grades EC-5 have already been distributed; resources to support Small Group Reading instruction for grades K-2 will be distributed by the end of the 1st Quarter to provide more resources in support of the ongoing small group instruction/guided reading that is already in place; resources to support Phonics and Word Study instruction for grades K-1 will be distributed during the 4th Quarter for initial implementation of a refined GVC during the 2018-19 school year; resources to support Whole Group Reading instruction for grades K-2 will be distributed during the 4th Quarter for initial implementation of a refined GVC during the 2018-19 school year. Please note the year of implementation*. More guidance will be forthcoming regarding professional development and implementation. While the emphasis is on primary grade levels this school year, intermediate grade levels will be impacted in a similar fashion over the course of the next two school years.
Teacher Cadres will be formed to refine the GVC for whole group reading and phonics/word study instruction. Please look for opportunities for EC-2nd grade teachers to be engaged in various aspects of the curriculum refinement work at different times across this school year. In subsequent years, 3rd-5th grade teachers will have similar Teacher Cadre opportunities. There will also be professional learning opportunities for instructional coaches, administrators, and teachers as it relates to the GVC refinement and accompanying resources. Additional details will continue to be provided.
*For a more detailed look at this approximate timeline for this work and the resources that will be provided, please visit this document.
As always, if you have questions please feel free to contact the Curriculum Department.