Friday, March 18, 2022 – Administrators' Notice

Informational Item

For All Administrators

New Hire Orientation (revised)

from Human Resources
Beginning Friday, April 8th, the dates for new hire orientation will change. We will be providing the in-person orientation (day 1) on the Friday prior to the BOE meeting. Day 2 will be on Monday and day 3 will be on Tuesday. Days 2 and 3 will be Zooming for just the mornings. This change in schedule will allow the new employees to begin their actual job on site the Wednesday morning following the BOE approvals.

I would like to request that all supervisor/principals inform me of where you want any new hires to complete their Zoom trainings…at home or at the job site. I can then be specific in assisting the new hires where they should report. Additionally, I’d like to remind you that the other half the each of the three days will be at the location of your choice (likely at the job site). Again, I’m collecting that information to assist the new hires. Some of you have already given me this information, for which I am most appreciative.

NHO has been going quite well. I would love to have any feedback you may have or feedback from your new employee. Thanks again for your support and your patience as we strive to “perfect” the process!
NHO Schedule (Word document)

Reminders

Non-Renewal Timeline – Update

from Human Resources
Please review the Certified Contract NonRenewals Timeline for the 2021-2022 school year. The timeline will also be posted on the Administrators Guide. Feel free to reach out to Ana Perez-Matthews if you have any questions.

Important Information about Grades in Canvas

from Curriculum & Instruction

The following information about grades in Canvas needs to be shared with your staff:

1. Official grades are found in Infinite Campus. Grades within Canvas are grades of individual assignments. This information should be shared with teachers, students, and parents. This is what is in the grading policy document – “**Please note, final grades will always be in Infinite Campus. Students and families can monitor assignments in Canvas, but grades should be checked in Infinite Campus.”

2. If a teacher has a year-long course, grades in Canvas will NOT reset at the end of the semester. If a teacher, student, or family member looks at a total grade within Canvas, it will not match infinite campus.
a. Teachers can turn off/hide totals in student grade summary within their Canvas courses. Here is a link to step-sheets demonstrating the process.
An announcement will be shared on Thursday 3/9/22 in Canvas and included in the most recent mobile minutes.

Celebrate National Social Work Month

from Student Services

March is National Social Work Month!
Social Workers are essential in helping students through behavioral health issues that may impact learning. Social Workers at KCKPS play a unique and valuable role in crisis intervention, assessing and treating mental health symptoms, providing suicide assessments, linking families with needed resources and serving as a liaison between the school, home and community agencies.
This month, please take a moment to write a note of thanks, celebrate your social worker(s) at a PD, or leave a small token of appreciation on their desk. KCKPS is seen as a leader in the state for providing mental health supports in schools, and I am so thankful to have these incredible professionals in each building supporting our students.

Thank you!
Angela Dunn, LSCSW
Behavioral Health Coordinator
Kansas City Kansas Public Schools
(913)954-0219NEW Parents-Right-To-Know Letters for LAPSED CERTIFICATION Classroom Teacher Letters

Important Information for Employee Appreciation Week

from Human Resources

The district is hosting an appreciation week for all staff Monday, March 21st – Friday, March 25th. Your assistance is needed to make necessary arrangements for your building/department to make this a week special for your staff.

GENERAL INFORMATION –

When: Monday, March 21st – Friday, March 25th

Overall Theme: KCKPS Spirit (District Spirit and/or School Spirit). All staff are encouraged to wear their school colors/district swag and jeans all throughout the week.

Daily Themes:
Monday – Re-new your buildings with school/district spirit
Tuesday – Re-fresh yourself by focusing on your wellness
Wednesday – Re-lax it’s national chips and salsa day.
Thursday – Re-decorate – Each School/Department will submit a photo showing their best pride
Friday – Re-veal (Building/Department’s activity choice) – Building Administration will plan their own day of celebration for staff
Additional Information on this event:
District BINGO will run Monday, March 21st – Friday, March 25th
Thursday’s Re-decorate contact winner will have Pizza delivered on Friday
Random drawings for each department – all active employees are eligible
Snacks will be delivered to buildings for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
The Communications Department will be sending out multiple emails during Employee Appreciation Week
**Additional details, updates and staff communication will be distributed this week**

DETAILS AND YOUR ACTION NEEDED –

DETAIL – Daily staff snacks will be delivered to each building during the week of Spring Break – Monday, 3/21 (granola bars), Tuesday, 3/22 (fresh fruit), and Wednesday, 3/23 (TBD chips/salsa and/or chips/cheese dip). We are working with Physical properties to ensure this delivery from our Nutritional Services staff is received by the staff working over Spring Break (more information to come on these details).

ADMINISTRATION ACTION NEEDED – before leaving for Spring Break – Plan how you will distribute these snacks to your staff on Monday, 3/21 (granola bars), Tuesday, 3/22 (fresh fruit), and Wednesday, 3/23 (TBD chips/salsa and/or chips/cheese dip).
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DETAIL – On Monday, March 21st, staff will be invited to make posters, decorations, etc. (get creative!) and begin to decorate your buildings. This can be done on a break, plan time, etc. and not made to interfere with instructional time. Please use the supplies that you have in your locations, this is meant to be a no cost activity.

ADMINISTRATION ACTION NEEDED – before leaving for Spring Break – locate the creative space in your building and collect the art supplies that may be used.

ACTION NEEDED ON MONDAY, MARCH 21st – Monday’s all staff communication will state that each building administrator will announce where to find their supplies. Also, you will need to provide instructions to your staff on where to hang their creations and what to hang things with. Plan to provide this communication to your staff on Monday, March 21st.
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DETAIL – A building/department winner will be chosen on Thursday, March 24th for the photo showing the most creative spirit using the art from Monday, staff in building/district spirit and any other spirit decorations the building places in the photo. This photo will be due by Noon on Thursday, March 24th. Details will be provided in a later email regarding how to send your photo.

ACTION NEEDED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 24th – submit your spirit photo (details coming).
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DETAIL – On Friday, March 25th the activity and/or celebration is up to you! The Central Office is not providing funds for this day, but I know some buildings/departments have a small budget for this. There are many ways to celebrate staff without spending money. If you need assistance in planning, please reach out to Jody Mitchell no later than Thursday, March 10th.

ACTION NEEDED FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 25th – Communicate the activity to your staff in advance and celebrate accordingly.

Please note, there are details that may change, and you will be made aware of any adjustments before leaving for Spring Break. Please email Jody Mitchell or Jared Alexander with any questions or comments.

Instructional Technology Support

from Curriculum & Instruction
In an effort to be available to support staff on the use of the Canvas and other instructional technologies, Wendy Elkins is hosting open, drop-in office hours (via zoom) in March. These times occur on most Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can find the exact times and the zoom links on the mobile minutes. If you or your staff needs more personal assistance, they can schedule a time with Wendy Elkins using this Calendly Link. Please share this information with your staff.

NonRenewals Timeline

New Staff Intranet Launching Soon/Review of District Forms and Departmental Pages

from Communications

Due to new and ongoing issues with the old intranet system, we are launching a temporary (but more user-friendly and accessible) staff intranet for everyone’s use. The new, temporary intranet will also have a section titled “Administrators’ Corner,” with links to this newsletter’s homepage, admin-only form links, and more.

Before we launch this temporary intranet, however, we need a lot of old data updated or even removed. To start, there is a page that housed a number of all-purpose forms and manuals; if your department handles any of these forms (or used to), please visit this link and send any changes needed to forms or links directly to Mike Keener as soon as you can, as it will help speed along the live launch of this new intranet page. Additionally, let him know about any other content on either the live site (or old intranet) that needs to be edited for inclusion on the new site.

New District Letterhead

from Communications

Please use this letterhead template for district communications.

Spending Cutoff – April 1st

from Purchasing

Click here to view information via PDF about the April 1 spending cutoff.

Electronic Reporting Forms for Injuries and Incidents

From Communications & Marketing

Just a quick reminder that many of the forms you need when it comes to incidents are now electronic.

Student injury forms have now been included to the list.

To find the reporting form for students go to this link: https://form.jotform.com/212366215525047

To make the reporting of workman’s compensation accidents less time consuming, the Supervisors Accident Report is now an electronic form.

Regardless of severity, immediate supervisors & directors are required to report all work-related injuries within 48 hours to Risk Management.

To do so, please use the following link: https://form.jotform.com/212304621025035

The Incident Report helps document any incident involving non employees.

This includes our students, visitors, parents and guardians.

The incident form is to be filled out for a number of situations including: a child is missing, if a student is injured in a way that could require medical attention in the future, police have to be called during an incident, there is a fight, or even to report property damage.

An example of a fight that needs to be recorded- a fight that breaks out that others are around and it may have been recorded. A fight that someone may not realize they are injured immediately but could later on in the day. Fights that do NOT need to be recorded: two kids on the playground hit each other in the arm over a ball.

There may be other incidents that could also require use of this form.

If you have questions about whether an incident falls into this category, please reach out to your IIO.

Here is a link to the Incident Report form: https://kckps.org/incident-report/