Communications
Principals, please be sure to share this with staff and families.
Curriculum & Instruction
Elementary Principals/Counselors/3rd Grade Teachers/Instructional Coaches
Re: HGSS GVC Revisions, grading, and assessment
Third grade teachers attended training around the revisions in the social studies GVC and classroom based state assessment on Monday. Please see the linked slide presentation and Zoom recording for your reference. Feel free to access this Canvas course for more learning around Inquiry Design Models and the HGSS Classroom Based State Assessment. Also, for grading purposes in Infinite Campus, standards will not be completely updated until the 2021-2022 year. This year, 3rd grade teachers will enter their scores under Geography (for 3rd quarter) and under standard #3, Focus Standard: 3G3. Societies are shaped by beliefs, ideas, and diversity. Fourth quarter grades will be entered for this same standard, but under Economics. Third grade teachers will not enter grades for any of the other 4 social studies standards under these quarters. For questions and support contact Cheryl Beyer cheryl.beyer@kckps.org.
ESOL
KELPA testing window is February 15th through March 31st and must be administered on site. Testing Plan templates and all information regarding KELPA testing can be found on the KCKPS KELPA Site. Deadlines and training can be found on the KELPA. The KELPA testing plans are due January 29th.
**Transportation and Nutritional Services for testing: Please provide a two week notice to allow for set up of both Transportation and Nutritional Services. Transportation will only be provided to students who would receive this during a normal school year. Transportation requires headcount and exact dates that students are riding the buses. Nutritional Services requires a headcount and any dietary restrictions that students may have the days of testing.
Federal Programs
ALL SCHOOLS
SUBJECT: Family Surveys for KESA, District Strategic Plan, School Improvement Plans
Want an EXTRA $1,000.00 in your general supply budget to use for staff and student engagement incentives??? FOUR Schools will be awarded this amount for having the highest % of parent participation rates in our 2020-21 family survey!
LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!
We’re PUSHING OUT our annual family survey between 2/1/21 and 2/28/21 to gather data on culture, climate, equity & inclusion, and instructional programs. Surveys are for ALL SCHOOLS. DATA will be used for KESA, District Strategic Plan, and in your School Improvement Plans. It’s important for all schools to have strong participation rates in order for the responses to be a valid data source.
Surveys will be made available through the following measures:
- Principals should provide structured opportunities at virtual Family Advocacy conferences that will result in a strong response rate of families completing the survey. (School Newsletter, classroom or department weekly/daily posts for parents can include the survey links. Please note there is ONE link for 8 languages and a SEPARATE LINK for the Karen translation.)
- Survey links will be posted on the district website.
- The Communications Department will send out the survey link to all families through Flyer Connect and Bright Arrow messages.
A PDF that includes a short message (9 different translations) inviting families to complete the survey, followed by the survey link, is located in the Federal Programs shared drive. A copy of the Survey is also in the folder.
Title I Principals
Subject: Parents-Right-To-Know Letters for Long-Term Substitutes
A reminder that Federal Program guidelines require buildings receiving Title I funds to notify parents any time their child receives instruction for four weeks or more without a highly qualified teacher in the classroom. Templates (English and Spanish versions) for these individual classroom situations are located in the Elementary/Middle Title I Schools – Required Documents 20-21 folder in the Federal Programs shared drive.
If you are starting the 2nd semester with a long-term substitute in any of your classrooms, you will need to provide a letter to your families. Please provide Bridgette DeSmet with a signed copy on your school letterhead to retain for the 2021 SY compliance report.
As these situations occur during remainder of 2021 SY, please use these Parents-Right-To-Know templates to inform families of long-term substitutes and provide a signed copy to Bridgette DeSmet. Thanks for your help and let us know if there are questions.
Subject: Kauffman Grants for K-8 Buildings
Kauffman Foundation has a current grant opportunity for KC Metro individual schools.
- Grants up to $125,000 per year, up to 2 years ($250,00 total)
- Supporting projects for students in K-8
- Project timeline can be 6-24 months, beginning July 2021
- Designed to support improvement and/or enhancement, build/scale existing program, launch a new program, explore a strategic idea
- Projects must be led by school level leader and their team (principal)
- School principal must be the lead applicant
- Past recipients include instructional tech integration, trauma informed restorative justice, STEM smart labs, redesigning teacher and learning process, increasing support in K and 1st with family-centered approach, Project Lead the Way
- DEADLINE – February 12, 2021
- Notification – March 21, 2021
- Funds Distributed – July, 2021
Link to the rfp and application
Link to Information Session Slides
The application is straightforward and not as harrowing as others if you have a specific program or idea with clear goals in mind.
District Grant Writer Juli O’Mealey Simmons (juli.omealeysimmons@kckps.org) is available to offer support. However, these next few weeks she is occupied heavily with large program grants with impending deadlines, so this support is limited.
Additionally, Kauffman Program Director Lia McIntosh is available to assist applicants with questions at lmcintosh@kauffman.org.
Human Resources
Power Hour
We will be having our next zoom session February 11, 2020 from 9:30am – 10:30am. During this time any questions that Building Administrators or IIO’s may have they can ask our HR Staff. Also, from an HR Standpoint, we will share any announcements or updates we may have. We also have notes available from our last meeting on Thursday, January 28th here.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82283481476?pwd=U1V2b3BGSTZlc1ZSbmR2M2J0LzNGZz09
Meeting ID: 822 8348 1476
Passcode: qR19G0
Evaluations
This is just a reminder that the following evaluations are due February 15, 2021:
*Administrator Evaluation Year
*Teacher – Year 3
*Teacher – Evaluation Year
*Teacher – Off Cycle Evaluation
Please make sure that you get these completed in both iObservation and in TalentEd. If you have any issues please reach out to Jared Alexander for iObservation and DeAndre Tuggle for TalentEd.
Student Services
We are looking forward to supporting some students returning to buildings on February 22. Below is information that will be helpful as we consider additional resources or barriers that may prevent some students from returning on February 22. Kidzone provides before and after care services for students in kindergarten through 5th grade. Please be sure and read the important information below.
Kidzone Before & After school services will be available for students returning in person February 22nd, 2021.
· Services include: homework help, tutoring, academic and character development activities in a safe and friendly childcare setting. Students MUST be on the return list for February 22 in order to enroll in Kidzone.
· Applications will be at the Kidzone sites (see the Site Director) and accepted until February 19th.
· We will adhere to the KCKPS Student Return – Safety plan.
· All 28 elementary schools will be served through our 8 Kidzone sites via district transportation.
· The Kidzone sites are: Emerson (AM/PM), Frank Rushton (PM only), Hazel Grove (AM/PM), New Chelsea (PM only), New Stanley (PM only), Silver City (PM only), West Park (AM/PM), Whittier (AM/PM).
· There will be NO Kidzone services on Wednesdays at any site.
· The fee structure for services are: $40 per week per child for both morning and afternoon services and $20 per week per child for either morning only or afternoon only. *scholarships and DCF assistance are available for qualifying families requesting assistance with fee.
Please contact Mechelle.Wortham@kckps.org and at (913)669-0235 or Lia.McLoughlin@kckps.org with questions.
First Call Video Resources- please share with your counselors, social workers
In conjunction with our amazing communications department, First Call has created videos for our parents, caregivers and community members. These videos provide information on substance use, tips for speaking with youth, as well as resources. I encourage you to share these videos and use them to support our families and communities. These videos can be found under the Student Services tab on your website and the direct link is here: https://kckps.org/first-call/
Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Week and Day –
RAK Week is February 14th-20th and RAK Day is February 17th
We encourage you to share this with your staff and participate in RAK Week/Day this February within your school communities. Even the smallest act of kindness can change a life! To sign up, access lesson plans, activities, and tools kits please visit: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org
International SEL Day- March 26th
The Urban Assembly and SEL4US invite communities across the globe to celebrate the importance of social emotional learning (SEL) on the second annual International SEL Day on March 26, 2021. The theme this year is Building Bonds, Reimagining Community. To sign up to have your school community participate, receive toolkits and ideas go to: https://selday.org
Connect with @SELKCKPS and selkck.com – please share with staff
One of the ways in which Student Services highlights the great things happening in our KCKPS community is through our social media (@SELKCKPS ) and website (selkck.com). We not only regularly share resources, events, and activities, but also highlight and feature what is happening in our schools. Please tag us on your social media and/or email tracie.chauvin@kckps.org with activities you would like to be featured.
FA Language Support – 2nd reminder
KCKPS Administrators and Staff,
Family Advocacy is rapidly approaching and we are pleased to announce that we will continue to provide interpreter support during Family Advocacy scheduled for Friday, February 12. Due to COVID-19, we are still unable to provide schools with student volunteers and/or on-site interpreters. However, we will be providing interpretation services via over-the-phone, and interpreters will be available for video calls upon request.
Please share these instructions to utilize Propio over-the-phone services with your building staff. We want to highlight that staff can add a propio interpreter to a Zoom, Skype, or Webinar Meeting (audio only). I have included the instructions on how to that.
We understand some conferences might happen outside of the designated date, so please know that the propio code will be active all FA week for additional support. For all video/zoom call requests be sure to fill out this Interpreter Request Form. It is imperative that interpreters are provided with the zoom information, Link and password prior to the meeting. Please make sure all interpreter requests for video calls are submitted by Friday, February 5th.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.