Friday, August 6, 2021

Communications

For Central Office (and Non-School Buildings)

Please view your department’s pages on the website (which you should be able to find here), and let Mike Keener know if there’s anything that needs to be updated for the first day of school or for the beginning of the school year.

First Day of School

Does your. school have any big plans or activities for the first day of school?  If you do, please contact Sharita Hutton with your opening day plans so we can cover the stories for the day.

Teacher Wishlist Creation – T-Mobile Charitable Event

T-Mobile has launched an initiative to support and highlight Teachers’ efforts in the current educational climate. The initiative involves donating supplies to Teachers/Schools in need.

Kansas City Kansas Public Schools has been chosen as one of the three school districts to engage and assist with creating a Teacher Wishlist. This list will be used for T-Mobile Wholesale associates to purchase school supplies they have requested to help them in their classrooms.

So, this is our ask of you as the Principal: can you help us identify the most needed supplies and how much is needed for teachers in your school? We can’t make this possible without your assistance.

T-Mobile will need each school’s Wishlist back by Wednesday, August 18th. Please send responses to Edwin Birch via email.

Enough is Enough Sign-Up

Principals,  please share this pledge page with your staff – and ask them to share it with students and parents.

Curriculum & Instruction

Attn: K-5 Principals

Re: Amplify Reading K-5

I am excited to announce we will continue piloting Amplify Reading K-5 in all elementary schools at all grade levels this semester. For more information about this personalized adaptive digital literacy program, please click here. The pilot is already functioning and rostering through Clever so all students may access it as soon as teachers are ready. Please reach out to allison.rice@kckps.org with any questions. 

Attn:  6-12 Principals

Re:  myPerspectives Student Consumables Delivery

Student consumables should have arrived at buildings for the 2021-2022 school year.  Quantities for consumables were determined per site based on enrollment numbers in Infinite Campus (June 2021) and unused consumable inventories completed by textbook liaisons (late May).  

Textbook Liaisons are responsible for inventorying and distributing these to teachers.  Additional delivery information and procedures were shared directly with textbook liaisons at their first meeting earlier this week with Tresia Hassan, District Textbook Liaison.  If additional student workbooks or teacher editions are needed, the Textbook Liaison will need to make that request for the school.  Please contact Suzie Legg, suzie.legg@kckps.org and/or Tresia Hassan, tresia.hassan@kckps.org with any questions.

Attn: 9 – 12 Principals

Re:  Credit Recovery via Edgenuity Updates

We wanted to let you know that there will be one Edgenuity account for this school year instead of the two accounts (Special Education and General Education) that have been used in previous years.  All active student and educator accounts are in the process of being merged into that account.  Any active student enrollments remaining from summer school will also be merged into the account.

Please confirm Credit Recovery contacts for your building this school year by reviewing this list.  If any changes are needed, please email suzie.legg@kckps.org and wendy.elkins@kckps.org with that information.   

Please visit the Credit Recovery Handbook for Edgenuity to review the processes/practices to develop at the school, professional learning support available via the On-Demand Edgenuity Canvas Course, the list of available courses and any other needs for understanding and using the Edgenuity platform. Please pay special attention to the Beginning of the Year Account Management section (begins at bottom of page 6).

We plan to hold open office hours the last week of August to check-in with school teams.  In the meantime, please reach out to Wendy Elkins or Suzie Legg as needed for additional support. 

Thank you for all you do to make credit recovery successful for our students.

DERA

ALL School Administrators
District Comprehensive Assessment Plan 2021-22

The following link will direct you to the District Comprehensive Assessment Plan 2021-22. This link will also be posted on the KCKPS website under About Us > Calendars. The district’s comprehensive assessment plan is comprised of a variety of state and local assessments with a range of purposes designed to meet the needs of students in our district. In accordance with KCKPS’ commitment to implementing the MTSS framework, we have developed a schedule of assessments and cadence (timing) for the review of student results. Please note there are multiple tabs located on the bottom of the spreadsheet that organizes the assessments by schedule, purpose, cadence, and required FastBridge certifications. Please be sure to share this document with your staff during the Aug. 18th MTSS overview and FastBridge certification PD.

As a reminder, this document is live and may be updated based on our work with the Kansas MTSS team.

FastBridge

• Please have your FastBridge Assessment Coordinator be certified in all FastBridge assessments that are administered in your building.  Thank you!

Diploma+

Connector time is Here!

The Connector will be used in two ways this year:

1. To enhance their lessons, increase engagement and bring relevance to their learning targets. This is directly connected to the District Strategic Plan: Theme 2: Expand opportunities for college and career readiness at ALL grade levels.

• This will be done through live sessions either requested by the teacher or an industry chat shared with students.

Goal for this Year: 1 live session in the Fall and 1 live session in the Spring for all regular classroom K-5 teachers

2. Family Advocacy Time to teach students about the world of careers open to them by…..

• Recorded session from the Connector Library
• Live session requested by the teacher (starting Oct. 4^th)
• In person career speaker

We did not spend time last year on the recorded sessions because they did NOT count toward our goal.

With that in mind, your teachers will need the below information if they would like to use a recorded session on Aug. 23^rd, the 1^stDiploma+ Family Advocacy time.

Quick Refresher:

Website: Prepkc.nepris.com

• Click Sign-up (Top right corner)
• Save it as a bookmark
• Check you to be certain you have platinum  rights, no bronze. If you are still at bronze email bverrette@prepkc.org to have this corrected.

August 23 (The first Family Advocacy Session)

• Recorded sessions will be a great way to help your students learn about the world of careers during this first FA session because for Aug. 23^rd there is not enough time to request a live session.
• The Playlists that Nepris provides is a wonderful way to find some of the best grade level appropriate sessions. Directions are below…….

• On the dashboard of the Connector site
• Look at center of page for PLAYLISTS MADE FOR YOU
• And select either

K-2    or   3-5

o    Select a video to save by clicking the three dots to the right of SHARE.

o    The last option is: Bookmark for later-select this one😊

• Go to the gray Sessions button on the dashboard and scroll down to My Bookmarks
• You will find the video that you saved here.
• Click on the title of the video and it will give you an arrow that you can select to play the video
• Watch the video and be certain this is one you want
• Note the time stamp you want to show in class

By following these steps you will be ready for your first Family Advocacy time on Monday, Aug. 23. Your building administrators will let you know just what time that will be for you.

Save the date: Sept. 9^th from 4:00-5:00 we will be open office hours for you to voluntarily join us and ask questions.

Always remember – Brittany Verrette (bverrette@prepkc.org) and Dr. Renee Freers (renee.freers@kckps.org) are here to help!

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Federal Programs

All Principals

Subject: KCKPS Harassment & Discrimination Student Training Video 21-22SY

The KCKPS Harassment & Discrimination Student Training Video for 21-22SY (grades 4-12) is located in the Frontline professional development library.  THANKS to the KCKPS Communications and Human Resources Teams for the 21-22SY new and improved makeover!

Principals can determine how and when the video will be shown to 4th-12th grade students.  Facilitation options may include grade level or team meetings or at specified classroom times such as homeroom or Family Advocacy period.

Staff members can access the training video by going to the Frontline platform, searching the District Catalog and the All Events dropdown window, and selecting 2021-2022 Mandatory Trainings.  Once the KCKPS Harassment & Discrimination Student Training Video 21-22SY displays in the search results, the video can be selected and moved to the staff member’s Learning Plan. (Contact Jared.Alexander@kckps.org for Frontline questions.)

The student training video or age appropriate talks (EC-3rd grade) should occur preferably during the 1st week of school and no later than 8/27/21.

ALL Principals

Subject: Building Contact for September 20th Student Count

We will be scheduling Zoom training sessions for the September 20th Student Count.  Please go to the KCKPS Student Count Building Contact sheet and enter the name and email of the staff member who will serve as your school’s Student Count contact.  Your staff member’s information is needed by the end of business on Monday, August 9th.

If you have any questions, please contact Bridgette DeSmet at 627-2475.

All Principals, Department Directors, Building/Department Title IX Coordinators

Subject: Continuation of Supportive Measures from 2020-21 Title IX Incidents

Title IX regulations require school buildings and district departments to maintain supportive measures for complainants and respondents involved in Title IX incidents for as long as the individuals remain within the organization.

As the 21-22 school year begins, Building/Department Title IX Coordinators should reach out to parties involved in any previous Title IX incident to ensure supportive measures are appropriate or to make any adjustments that might be needed.   Building/Department Title IX Coordinators should document check-ins and make notes of any adjustments made for the 21-22 school year.

If building teams need additional support services from district departments for either students or staff, the principal or Building Title IX Coordinator should reach out to Lisa Walker, District Title IX Coordinator, to arrange for district-level supports.

Human Resources

New Hire Orientation – Revised (8.5.21) 

In response to several administrators regarding the new orientation schedule, I have revised the schedule.  It will now be a one-day in-person orientation on the Wednesday following a board meeting.  It will start at 8am at the central office and end by 4pm.  Because the first orientation would be scheduled for next Wednesday, I knew that having orientation on the first day of school is not a good idea.  So that orientation will be postponed until the following Wednesday, August 18^th.  So, the orientations for August will be on Aug. 18^th and August 25^th.

IMPORTANT:  Please be sure all of your new hires that missed all the mandatory and required trainings at your school/department, are aware that they must attend the training on August 18^th.

In order to fit all the trainings into one day, I had to take the Bundle 2 out.  Therefore, your IDP reps will need to make sure your new hires watch those videos.

Any questions?  Please contact Sherrie Piedimonte – sherrie.piedimonte@kckps.org OR 913.235.8902

IARC

All principals

Please use this link to view the integrated arts (music, art, PE and theatre) re-entry details.

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)

Student Services

Transportation

Request for Field Trip Buses 

All field trip requests must be submitted at least 2 weeks in advance prior to the field trip.  Field trip bus requests between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:45 pm, and after 4:30 pm have the best chance of being approved.

Submit field trip requests to: http://fs600-a.kckps.org/edulog/eFT/

*Reminder that all field trip requests must reflect an arrival time back to the school by 2:00 pm or after 4:30 pm, so that we may serve afternoon regular dismissal.

• Failure to comply with return times will result in an additional cost to the school and most likely impact other scheduled events and students.
• Requests for Overnight/Out of District Travel must first be School Board Approved (please provide the approval documents with request).
• Field trips not submitted within the 2-week window risk non approval.
• A request for a field trip bus is not a guarantee of schedule confirmation.
• The following steps ensure a successful schedule; Requestor submits the request via the web site listed above; the building approver approves the request; Transportation reviews the request and determines whether the request can be accommodated and determines the final approval or disapproval.
• All bus safety rules apply to a field trip bus outing.
• For log in concerns or the need for your password, please contact Shameka Brown in the Transportation Dept. for assistance.

Secondary Late Activity Buses 

As a reminder, last school year 2020-2021 brought us many challenges and Transportation had to eliminate all 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm late activity buses for all High School and Middle Schools to meet serve our regular transportation eligible riders.   

School year 2021-2022; those challenges continue resulting in us eliminating all 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm late activity buses for all High School and Middle Schools to serve our regular transportation eligible riders.  

Late activities buses are available after 5:00 pm.  If you may need additional buses due to the number of students staying after, please let us know so we can set it up for you. 

We apologize for any inconvenience.