Administrators' Notice

Contents

Moving Student Grades in Pinnacle Caused by Staff Reductions – for Elementary Administrators

Moving Student Grades in Pinnacle Caused by Staff Reductions

From Alan King
Elementary teachers who were moved based on student numbers were switched right around the end of the quarter, which is unfortunate for grading purposes. An added problem is that each quarter’s grades in Pinnacle are calculated from the beginning of the year to the end of the current quarter (thus first quarter grades are important for each quarter). Because of this calculation, we will need to move the student grades for those students who switched classes because a teacher was added or taken away. We will take care of this issue for you, but we will need accurate information from the affected elementary schools. Please send to Alan King the names of students who were moved, along with the name of teacher they were moving from, and the name of the teacher they were moving to. Contact Alan if you have any questions.

Contents

Moving Student Grades in Pinnacle Caused by Staff Reductions – for Elementary Administrators
Action Needed Regarding Health Benefits – for All Administrators
Battle of the Brains Preview – for Elementary Administrators and All District Administrators

Moving Student Grades in Pinnacle Caused by Staff Reductions

From Alan King
Elementary teachers who were moved based on student numbers were switched right around the end of the quarter, which is unfortunate for grading purposes. An added problem is that each quarter’s grades in Pinnacle are calculated from the beginning of the year to the end of the current quarter (thus first quarter grades are important for each quarter). Because of this calculation, we will need to move the student grades for those students who switched classes because a teacher was added or taken away. We will take care of this issue for you, but we will need accurate information from the affected elementary schools. Please send to Alan King the names of students who were moved, along with the name of teacher they were moving from, and the name of the teacher they were moving to. Contact Alan if you have any questions.

Action Needed Regarding Health Benefits

From Stephanie Connor
Please print out and share this flyer with all staff who do not have regular access to e-mail. It is important that all employees understand that ALL employees MUST renew their benefits coverage by November 13, 2015, in order to have health insurance coverage for 2016.

Battle of the Brains Preview

From Mary Barron
Six teams of students from the Quest Elementary Gifted Program will be presenting their Battle of the Brains submissions for an outside exhibit @ Science City. This preview of their work can be seen on Friday, October 30th at Central Office from 5:30-6:30PM. The Battle of the Brains is one of the nation’s most robust STEM competitions, sponsored by Burns & McDonnell, with the winning team awarded part of a $150,000 grant.

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Update on Evaluations in iObservation – for All Administrators
Moving Student Grades in Pinnacle Caused by Staff Reductions – for Elementary Administrators

Update on Evaluations in iObservation

From Shelly Beech
We know the November 6 evaluation due date is fast approaching. We want to give you an update on the Evaluation form in iObservation. The Evaluation tab is on the website. It was placed there prematurely and we want to review the format carefully before sending it out to the system. We are going to have the tab taken down until it can be reviewed; however, the plan will be to have it back up by Wednesday, October 28. We would ask that you not go in to the system to complete an evaluation as the format may change. We will send out another notice with directions for completing the evaluation to you next week.
Thank you for your patience with this process.

Moving Student Grades in Pinnacle Caused by Staff Reductions

From Alan King
Elementary teachers who were moved based on student numbers were switched right around the end of the quarter, which is unfortunate for grading purposes. An added problem is that each quarter’s grades in Pinnacle are calculated from the beginning of the year to the end of the current quarter (thus first quarter grades are important for each quarter). Because of this calculation, we will need to move the student grades for those students who switched classes because a teacher was added or taken away. We will take care of this issue for you, but we will need accurate information from the affected elementary schools. Please send to Alan King the names of students who were moved, along with the name of teacher they were moving from, and the name of the teacher they were moving to. Contact Alan if you have any questions.

Contents

Update on Evaluations in iObservation – for All Administrators

Update on Evaluations in iObservation

From Shelly Beech
We know the November 6 evaluation due date is fast approaching. We want to give you an update on the Evaluation form in iObservation. The Evaluation tab is on the website. It was placed there prematurely and we want to review the format carefully before sending it out to the system. We are going to have the tab taken down until it can be reviewed; however, the plan will be to have it back up by Wednesday, October 28. We would ask that you not go in to the system to complete an evaluation as the format may change. We will send out another notice with directions for completing the evaluation to you next week.
Thank you for your patience with this process.

Contents

New Directions Employee Assistance Program – Stress Tool – for All Administrators
Elementary GVC Feedback Survey for Instructional Window 1 – for Elementary Administrators (please share with all teachers)

New Directions Employee Assistance Program – Stress Tool

From Bob Wilcox
New Directions Behavioral Health provides assistance to Kansas City, Kansas School District employees. New Directions, our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), is dedicated to helping people find a healthy balance and improve health through positive change. They offer managed behavioral healthcare, employee assistance, organizational consulting, and health coaching programs. As you know, the forthcoming winter months and holidays may be stressful time period for some of our employees. Please consider sharing information regarding the new ???Stress Toolkit??? from New Directions with your employees.
Help Your Employees Reduce Stress This Quarter:
This quarter, help your employees assess their stress and improve their health by promoting the New Directions Stress Toolkit. Engaging with the online tool can help employees understand the impact of stress on their happiness and productivity at work or home. In the toolkit, employees can find:
??? Stress Assessment: understand your levels of stress and its impact on your life with an online assessment.
??? Personal stress resources: learn to make improvements in your daily life around communication, finances, mind, body, parenting, relaxation and resiliency.
??? Stress apps: download apps designed to reduce your stress, including breathing methods, deep relaxation, meditation tools and a stress tracker.
??? Professional stress tools: discover strategies for better managing your stress at work with focus on conflict resolution, navigating change, time management and balancing work
and life.
Visit ndbh.com for more information on New Directions or a direct link to the Stress Toolkit for employees is www.ndbh.com/eap?il=kckps
Employees wanting more information about New Directions or wanting to connect with resources may also call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – (800) 624-5544 or (816)237-2352.

Elementary GVC Feedback Survey for Instructional Window 1

From Suzie Legg
The Curriculum Department is seeking your feedback around our current Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC), specifically the Unit Learning Goals and Performance Tasks. This feedback will be requested at the conclusion of each instructional window and will be used to inform the future design of these elements within the GVC.

This survey will take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Specific feedback versus general will be most helpful. Thank you for your thoughtful feedback.

You can access the feedback form via this link – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/1516iw1

The form will be open through Friday, October 23rd.