Principal's Newsletter
January 18th, 2019
WOWs
WOW to Drew Button for taking the time to meet with the Care Team and share thoughts and ideas about special area. You helped give the team ideas on ways to help students. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Jane, Tessa, and Jennifer for handling the craziness of a early snow day like rockstars!--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to the Literacy Data Team. Thanks for all the work you did this week to analyze the trigger sheet and get the PM meeting agendas ready. This makes things so much easier for teachers to have effective meetings. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Kathy Barry and Brittany Huck for stepping up to fill in the last few slots on the SPED buses. It is appreciated. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW everyone on doing a great job during the SURPRISE intruder drill. I saw a number of staff members in the kindergarten hallway getting kids that were in the hallway into classrooms.---Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Nikki Lovelace. I appreciate all the support your provide teachers.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to the SPED team for taking time to really think about the best way to see growth in students. I appreciate you thinking outside the box to make sure we really meet the needs of our students. ---Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Megan Sullivan for your quickness in getting a student who was fleeing the building. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Cassie Baughn for making new folders for my new kiddos and getting them to the teachers. It’s awesome having you at The Ridge and I am grateful for your willingness to help me out when I couldn’t be there to do it myself. It was a huge relief for me.--Tracy
WOW to Lindsey Crawford for her perseverance with multiple challenging students. The other WOW is for always showing gratitude to those who are helping her or her students. Even in the most frustrating moments, she sincerely thanks you for listening, helping, or even just validating her by also not knowing what to do. J Keep it up, you are making a difference.--Tracy
WOW to Kristy for all your work to get Access Testing scheduled! You are amazing.--Dr. DeWeese
I wanted to thank all the ladies in the administration and office department for being supportive to me during the month of December. It was a hard month for my family, and they checked on me frequently and lifted my spirits. It was such a thoughtful gesture and I greatly appreciated it. -Jordan
I would like to thank Dr.Oh for being so thoughtful and adamant that her custodial crew got home safe like everyone else at the Ridge, that she got it done. It’s so nice to be appreciated and supported. We are so thankful to work along side such a caring person. --Jordan
I want to say wow to my wonderful team that came in and finished clearing the sidewalks and walkways over the weekend. We were down a machine and did it all by hand. Rob even came in during his 3 day weekend, and a five hour drive back home. That’s dedication to the school! Thank you team, couldn’t pull it off without any of you! Always amazed at how well we all work together and forever proud!
WOW to ALL Student Care Team members! Things are rolling nicely this year and action steps are working for my kiddos. I truly appreciate all of your time and continual support. You ROCKJ-- Angie Regan
WOW…..to Janice Beerman. Thanks for always making our weekly notes and getting them out to us, they are so helpful for keeping everything organized.--Cheri
WOW….to Kelley Stille. Thanks for going to the PTO meeting for our team, you ROCK!--Cheri
WOW to Nikki Lovelace for attending the PTO meeting for SPED! You are appreciated! Megan Dunavant
WOW to our Administrative Team! Thanks for all you do for our students and school!- Nurse Deb
As always -WOW to our Office Staff! Thanks so much ladies for all you do each and every day! --Nurse Deb
WOW to Shanna Bradley and Kelly Edwards – thanks for helping with the overflow of kiddos in the nurse office who cannot go to recess or PE – it’s a big help!--Nurse Deb
WOW to Linda Carr, Todd Swope and Kristen Schrameyer for donating some blankets for the Nurse Office!--Nurse Deb
WOW to Nurse Ali ! Thanks for all you do each and every day! You are a GREAT addition to the Ridge!--Nurse Deb
WOW to Julie Coombs for donating blankets – Thanks so much!--Nurse Deb
WOW to the Harvest Ridge custodial team for shoveling all the snow around the building by HAND! - Button
WOW to Sarah, Todd, Chris, and anyone else who covered my class last week. Thanks! - Button
WOW to Stacey Schuette for your creative way to help us get a friend to hydrate more! Megan Dunavant
WOW to paras in RM 51/53:Rita, Cheryl, Ronna, Brittany, Kathy, Cyndy, Linda, and Rita, you all are so helpful!!! Megan and Carrie
WOW to Julie Myers! Thank you for being an awesome friend! Megan Dunavant
WOW to Angeline for always working hard on schedules! Especially when you have to adapt the entire school’s schedule for an extra 45 minutes for 1 day while you are at home! You are appreciated! Megan Dunavant
WOW to Floyd Williams! Thank you for being such a gentlemen on our snowy Friday. He stood outside in the cold and sprinkled salt next to many peoples cars in an effort to keep us all safe while walking to our cars. Thanks for spreading KINDNESS Floyd!! ~ Kristy
WOW and thank you to Kelly Edwards! When my class was in the learning commons for the lesson, I mentioned my computer/smartboard problem and she came right to my room and fixed it for me. I am so appreciative!--Julie Coombs
WOW to Laura, Lindsey and Floyd for being so flexible. With ESOL testing going on we needed a room for a tester to test in. Laura and Lindsey very kindly and willingly offered to share their room so testing could take place in Floyds room. Floyd was so flexible to move into their room and give up his own room whenever needed. Thank you all for being so kind and flexible! ~ Kristy
WOW!!! Thank you to my amazing Office Team and Principals! You ladies really made me smile on my big 40!--Tessa
Thank you to Mrs. Gotsch and Mrs. Pryor! Having your students sing to me on my birthday that was super sweet!--Tessa
WOW! To all that stopped by and wished me a Happy Birthday it is so nice to work with such caring and fun people! I love my job!! --Tessa
WOW to Cheryl Gerloff for being a constant support throughout the day!
WOW to Shanna and Kelly for working to help morning transitions be more successful for my student!
Special WOW to our Custodial Crew
BIG Celebration
I received GREAT news a few weeks ago regarding our ELL students. Harvest Ridge is in the top 5% of all K-12 schools in Missouri for our growth on the ACCESS assessment. For two consecutive years we have shown steady growth and our ELL students are out performing other ELL students across the state on this assessment. Henderson and Warren are also in the top 5% with Warren being #1 in the state.
This is an amazing celebration has DESE has made some changes in the past few years on how they monitor students progress on a newer, more rigourous ACCESS assessment.
On February 6th, Ryan Rumpf, the Director of Curriculum for English Learners at DESE will be visiting Harvest Ridge to speak with administration, our ESOL teachers, and possibly some classroom teachers. He is interested to hear what systems and supports we have put in place for our ELL students to see these results.
I am excited about this news for many reasons. We have spent a lot of time in the last 4 years working closely with the district, our ESOL teachers, reading teachers, classroom teachers, and the data team to ensure our ELL students make growth and get the supports that they need. There is no doubt there has been very intentional work, collaboration, and planning to help make that happen.
Thanks for all the hard work you do day in and day out to make things like this happen. Special thanks to Kristy, Kelly, and Stefanie McCoy for all your work with ELL students and with classroom teachers to align instruction and support kids. You are all ROCK STARS and I can't wait to share with DESE all the great things happening at The Ridge.
Meeting Minutes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YWfGaPzxmLGymxVjc-evUE9BIb5MipCF2tTeYsaVSjQ/edit
Student Care Team
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17LuNexwczvndbtLIYDFTe9Ahd0GCqqaWID3R0EBKm5Y/edit
Family Engagement
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SmyeTJ8PLadF-w03NRVf52LsIs-X5F1nyGbrWV1vI-k/edit
Climate
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aC9LTaMifhVtbxy6Zett0VNtO2d8VOGD9cN9C5g2F74/edit?usp=sharing
Staffing Timeline
Certified Staffing Timeline
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/18JoirRse5jaYd-F0FFBpj7u72JNcnvV3
Harvest Ridge Staffing Plan
There is a voluntary faculty meeting scheduled for January 23rd at which time I will share the staffing plan for Harvest Ridge.
We will be sharing special area teachers with Becky David again next year. Kindergarten is the only grade level that will need all six special area teachers. Angeline is working with Becky David and John Weldon to determine the needs and to figure out how that will work. This means that we will need to create a master schedule that includes supporting Becky David.
Preference Forms
When preference forms are placed in your mailbox you will need to fill it out and return it by February 14th. You may only list placements on your form that you are certified to teach. If you put something on your form that you are not certified to teach then you will be asked to fill it out correctly. Administrative positions are board approved positions and may not be listed on preference forms either. Please ask questions if you have them!
Support Call Script and Reminders
Thanks for all your help in making sure help can get to you as soon as possible.
One Book, One School
PTO Trivia Night
Upcoming Events
- We LOVE to code- information should be coming soon on coding activities
- STUCO - candy grams - February 11th-15th
- Harvest Ridge- service learning project- more information coming soon
- Culture Night
- School Counseling Week- February 4th - 8th
It will be a busy month! Please reach out if you have any questions about any of the events or things taking place next month.
Staffing Decisions
Staffing decisions are an administrative decision. There are a lot of things that get considered when making decisions about staff placements. Below are the things that the Harvest Ridge Administrative Team thinks about and discusses when making decisions.
1. Sometimes there is not a choice other than for someone from a team to have to move. When the district plan is for there to be a reduction in a grade level due to enrollment, movement is inevitable.
2. Sometimes a staff member has the desire to teach a different grade level or to work on another team. Through open dialogue with administration staff sometimes shares those desires and administrations tries hard to honor those needs. The administrative teams works hard to support teachers in their professional growth and would consider an opportunity to work on a different team or with a different age group a chance for growth.
3. Data. Achievement data and anecdotal PLC data sometimes drives staffing decisions. It is not uncommon for teams to get complacent or for their to be a need to make changes in the team. This should not be seen as punitive. It can happen to the best of teams. The administrative team looks at the growth a PLC team is making or perhaps the growth a team is not making to help make staffing decisions. We also look at the way a team functions. It is always our goal to make sure we put people together that can value each other's differences for the good of our students.
Bottom line: Staffing decisions are always made with student and staff needs at the forefront. It is not my philosophy to make changes to staffing just for the sake of making changes. Any change I see fit for the overall good of the building will be handled with a professional, open, and honest conversation.
As we move through the staffing process it is important to always keep in mind that we have people on one year contracts. Staffing time can be very stressful for those that are in the process of interviewing and securing a position. I ask that you please be considerate of that and make sure you are supporting those people. Unless you have accurate information about a staffing decisions then you should not be sharing any information at all. Remember that open and honest communication works best. The administrative team is always willing to talk through ideas, growth opportunities, or needs of staff members. We can only help when we are aware of what you need.
Progress Monitoring Meetings
Meetings:
Monday, January 28th
- 8:35-10:35 1st Grade
- 12:00-2:00 4th Grade
- 2:00-4:00 5th Grade
Tuesday, January 29th
- 8:35-10:35 2nd Grade
- 10:40-12:35 3rd Grade