College & Career Readiness
Please join me in congratulating Monica Randle and her team at Eugene Ware Elementary. They hit home runs the entire math week by accumulating MORE hours using the math learning games than any other elementary school across the nation! Yes, I said nation. Heather Calvert and her team at Grant Elementary did a fine job, as well, coming in second place. Way to go!!
Communications
KCKPS Notification System Strategic Plan: Engaging all Families Across All Teams with One Plan
KCKPS communicates to students, parents, staff and the community at large in various ways and through different communications platforms. One common platform in particular is through the BrightArrow automated notification system. This system is designed for emergency notifications, attendance calls, informational messages and a variety of other school related alerts and messages.
The District added Flyer Connect during the 2020-21 school year to improve engagement with parents. Flyer Connect is a two-way translated communication app designed to be accessible and easy for all families to use. Flyer Connect syncs with IC to keep families in their sections and in touch with all District and school academic apps and SEL Resources.
Since implementing this second notification system, we had to ask the question. Are we overcommunicating to our parents? And is so…
“How do we streamline communication across a large district without overwhelming our families?”
Flyer Connect has heard this question from large and small districts nationwide. Schools want to share regular updates from teachers, school offices, district, social workers, nutrition, transportation, counselors and the list continues to grow. There is some truth in the wisdom that it is better to overcommunicate than undercommunicate. However, if families inundated, they feel overwhelmed and may tune out important information. Sometimes our communication can become more districting than useful.
This is why we have created a strategic plan to help us as an organization to be more strategic and make better decisions on how we communicate with our internal and external audiences.
End of the Year Plans
If any school has end of the year activities plans, please email Sharita Hutton with the location, date, time and what is being planned.
Re-Enrollment Information
Principals, please share this very important re-enrollment information with parents and students:
Enrollment Flyer – English PDF
Enrollment Flyer – Spanish PDF
Enrollment Flyer – Burmese PDF
Enrollment Flyer – Kinyarwandan PDF
Enrollment Flyer – Swahili PDF
Also – we have video instructions for parents at this public link, which can also be shared.
COVID Guidelines for Gatherings
Hello Everyone,
As we prepare to close out the school year, we know that some of you are planning activities at your school campuses for your students and their families. Many of you may have questions about what are the most updated restrictions and guidelines for planning events.
We have provided a list of guidelines that will need to be followed to help ensure that we mitigate the spread of COVID-19 during these gatherings as much as possible.
Indoor Activities/Events
- Limited to students only
- Masks required
- Social Distancing Required
- Soloists only for choir and woodwind performances
- Can be held during or After school hours
Outdoor Activities/Events
- Can be held during or after school hours
- May include family spectators (Limit 2 per student)
- Masks Required
- Social Distancing Required
- Band and Choir may perform with social distancing
If you have any questions, please contact your Instructional Improvement Officer.
Enough is Enough Sign-Up
Principals, please share this pledge page with your staff – and ask them to share it with students and parents.
Human Resources
Board Agenda – Summer Staff
In an effort to ensure that all summer staff are submitted for board approval I ask that you complete the Excel document “Summer Employment – Board Agenda” if you have not already done so. Email this completed file to Jared.Alexander@kckps.org.
Attachments: Summer Employment – Board Agenda Excel File
Blackout Days
The Last 8 Days Based off of your Duty Days are considered Blackout Days
186 Day – May 19th – May 28th
196 Day – May 26th – June 4th
211 Day – May 26th – June 4th
216 Day – June 2nd – June 11th
221 Day – June 9th – June 18th
226 Day – June 16th – June 25th
231 Day – June 14th – June 23rd
To receive a paid absence you would have to provide a doctor’s note, jury duty summons, military leave notice or an obituary. Any other absence would be considered an unpaid absence.
If you have any questions please email HRLeave@kckps.org
Retirement Celebration
Save the Date: As KCKPS gets ready to say goodbye to those men and women that have done so much for this school district, we ask that you save the date for our upcoming Retirement Celebration. The event is set to take place on Thursday, July 8th in front of Schlagle High School from 2:30 to 4pm. More details to come soon.
Certified Salary Adjustment Window May 1 – July 31, 2021
Leaders –
This year’s Certified Salary Adjustment window is open from May 1st – July 31st. The electronic form is used to request a salary adjustment based upon the following; completion of additional college hours, a combination of college hours and PD points, and/or add a National Board Certification Stipend. The Certified Staff Salary Adjustment Request form can be found in TalentEd Records under Available Forms. If approved for salary adjustment, a salary increase would go into effect beginning with the August 15, 2021 paycheck and onward.
Official transcripts and/or proof of National Board Certification can be uploaded directly to the submission form or sent to transcripts@kckps.org. All Official documents are due to Human Resources by July 31, 2021. If you or your staff have any questions, encourage them to reach out individually to Shaunteh Jones at shaunteh.jones@kckps.org or Ana Perez-Sievert ana.perez-sievert@kckps.org. Please share this information with all of your Certified staff.
Stay Well!
IIOs
’21-’22 School Supplies
Building Principals: Please be advised that student/teacher supply kits WILL NOT be provided by the District for the ‘21/’22 school year. This means that you will be responsible for purchasing school supplies for both students and teachers from your building from your ‘21/’22 budget. No supplemental or additional funding will be provided by the District. You are to use the instructional supply budget that is allocated to your building. As a reminder, we are NOT to ask students or their parents to buy school supplies.
Supplies for students and teachers may be purchased from: Staples, Office Products Alliance, Amazon, Sam’s Club, or any other vendor that is registered with the District. Budgets will be open to begin ordering when administrators return on July 12th.
Professional Development
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May 20, 2021, Presentation: Copy of Presentation Slides
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Feedback and Questions: Feedback and Questions Form
21-22 District PD Calendar
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Calendar Information: Information for 21-22 KCKPS District PD Calendar
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Calendar: 21-22 KCKPS District PD Calendar
Summer Conference Action Item:
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Summer Conference Information: Building Expertise Educators Summer 2021 Conference
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Send to team members: Registration for Building Expertise Educator’s National Summer Conference
Mentor Program Action Item:
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Mentor Program Information: New Teachers and Mentor Program Goals and Priorities 2021-22
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Send to potential Mentors: Mentor Interest Survey 2021-22
Summer District PD Calendar
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Summer Calendar Information: June and July 2021 KCKPS PD Calendar
Please note, changes to the 21-22 PD Calendar
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Dec 17 has been corrected to reflect changes made to the District Calendar. Dec 17 is a .5 day for teachers to complete Records prep; no District Content PD will be scheduled for this day.
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Elementary schools – Dates for 8:30 and 9:00 elementary schools’ ‘Building PD’ and ‘District Content PD’ have been switched. This change will allow for more effective facilitation of our K-12 content areas. The amount of time/days remains consistent.
Purchasing
Reminder about upcoming financial deadlines from Finance:
The last date to encumber funds for the current school year was April 10. Purchase requisitions will now be denied.
All funds encumbered under PO’s that are not PAID on or before June 15, 2021 will be disencumbered, and funds will return to the District to use for districtwide projects.
“Paid” means that a check has been printed and mailed by Accounts Payable, receiving a PO in BusinessPLUS (POUPRC) DOES NOT pay an invoice. Please review the status of all open POs in your budget regularly to ensure invoices are received so payment can be made no later than the last board meeting in May.
THE LAST DAY TO SUBMIT INVOICES TO AP FOR PAYMENT WILL BE JUNE 15, 2021 (NOON)!
If invoices are not received, it is the responsibility of the school/department to contact the vendor to get the invoice to AP before the June 15 deadline. If you miss this deadline, invoices presented late must be paid from your FY2021-22 funds.
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PO’s CLOSING
In order to help you get prepared for upcoming check out, we have some helpful things for you to be addressing now:
• Run your KCPO5001 Open PO Report in Business Plus. This is a list of all PO’s in PP (partial paid) or PO (not used) status.
• On each of those PO’s listed, you can drill down into the PO number and see your PO3001 Purchase Order Status Inquiry. Look under the ‘Open Hold Activity’ section to see all the payments made on this PO.
• If you find this is all correct, we’ll talk at checkout about closing these.
• If you find you have an invoice/s that is NOT listed here, please contact the vendor for a copy of that missing invoice and address during check out.
Reminder: By following this process every couple of months, it will eliminate this big push at the end of the year; it will free up $$’s earlier for you to spend before the end of the year; it will find missing invoices earlier keeping our vendors happy and it will eliminate searching old items when there is a change in the Treasurer’s position.
Student Services
- Responsive Classrooms is having a SALE! Use the code INSPIRE21 on Responsive Classroom or Fly Five websites from May 24 – 31 and receive 25% off any Responsive Classroom publication or Fly Five’s The Mindful Student lessons!
Recommended books:
Yardsticks (HIGHLY Recommend)
The First Six Weeks of School (Elementary)
Building an Academic Community (Middle)
The Power of Our Words
The Morning Meeting Book
The Responsive Advisory Meeting Book
Morning Meetings
Closing Circles
- Universal Trauma Training
Thank you all so much for your hard work in getting this training completed! If you are still having trouble accessing the evaluation, please use the tutorial below or contact me: brittany.talley@kckps.org. We still have a few folks left who need to complete the training, or who just have to finish the evaluation.
Here’s a short video tutorial on how to access the evaluation.
Each school has their own Frontline Activity. If staff have already completed the training (either in-person or live-virtually) they should have a certificate. If anyone is experiencing issues with these trainings, or locating their certificate, please contact Brittany Talley: brittany.talley@kckps.org.