BARBER BULLETIN
May 20-24, 2019 Creating Joyful Leaders and Learners
Congratulations to our school counselor, JULIE WHITNEY!
Special thanks go to our Nomination Review Committee, which consisted of representatives from each of the Five LSS professions. Thanks to these LSS leaders who carefully reviewed the information presented in the nominations. Reviewers were:
Brenda Creighton, School Social Worker at Keels and Jackson Creek
Sandra Manning, School Psychologist at Blythewood Academy
Betsy Salcedo, School Nurse at Polo Road Elementary
Jennifer Wilson, Family Intervention Counselor at Family Intervention Services
Leroy York, Director of School Counseling at Kelly Mill Middle School
And the Finalists are:
Sandra Grant, School Counselor, Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary
Dr. Grant is passionate about all of the students that she works with...She readily works with staff members to help them develop strategies that can be used to support students. She shares pointers from guidance lessons, she visits classrooms, and she does classroom observations to provide feedback to teachers to help them identify antecedents that may keep students from performing at their best level. ... Dr. Grant simply loves the students at Lonnie B. Nelson and ALWAYS tries to think of ways to help them grow. Her empathy and compassion are unparalleled. She is the epitome of a school counselor!
LaVernda Ragins, School Social Worker, Ridge View High
Mrs. Ragins has redefined the role of School Social Worker. She does absolutely whatever is needed to help students and families meet their goals. ... Ms. Ragins is always available to Ridge View staff. ..Ms. Ragins began working in the summer. On the first day of school, she was rushing through the halls to meet with students on her caseload. ....She provided empathy for the student and their family while supporting the best interest of the child. Ridge View is blessed to have a caring social worker who is committed to the students and the needs of the school. She is an absolute rock star!!!
Connie Taylor, School Nurse, Blythewood High
Mrs. Taylor always makes herself available to meet with students and assess their individual needs and challenges. ... Connie works tirelessly to support the medical, physical, and mental health needs of our students. ...Connie is an integral member or our LSS team. She works well with administrators, counselors, teachers, and other support staff to coordinate and implement support plans for our students.....The simple and UTMOST IMPORTANT factor that separates Mrs. Taylor apart from others, is the fact that she is supportive, caring, engaging and ALWAYS willing to go above and beyond to help others.
Julie Whitney, School Counselor, Pontiac Elementary School
Mrs. Whitney goes above and beyond the scope of her role to identify challenges that students experience and provide support to students as they work towards accomplishing their goals.... The sensitivity and empathy that Mrs. Whitney demonstrates when working alongside parents is appreciated and applauded.... She has a genuine compassion for students that have experienced trauma. Mrs. Whitney handles delicate issues with careful attention to the child’s well-being while at the same time ensuring she maintains confidentiality and offers resources that will benefit the family structure. ...Julie Whitney is absolutely a treasure among LSS staff.
Congratulations to our Finalists!
Stay tuned for an announcement of the 2019 LSS Staff Person of the Year later this month.
UNDERGRADUATE LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM THROUGH CERRA
The Undergraduate Loan Forgiveness Program is available to all classroom teachers in districts eligible to participate in the Rural Teacher Recruitment and Retention Initiative (RRI) pursuant to FY19 Proviso 1A.55. The Program gives classroom teachers the opportunity to apply for up to $5,000 to be used to help pay down undergraduate loan balances.
If this is of interest to you, please notify K.Barber and she will share a Program Packet with you. Please note that guidance counselors, media specialists, and speech therapists are not eligible to participate. The Packet should explain in full the application process and provide all the necessary forms for classroom teachers to complete and submit.
All interested classroom teachers are encouraged to review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document in the Packet, and to view the explanatory video at https://www.cerra.org/rriloan.html. Classroom teachers who wish to apply should remember that the completed application and all required documentation must be delivered to CERRA between June 17, 2019 and August 2, 2019. Applications and required documentation delivered before June 17, 2019, or after August 2, 2019, will not be considered.
If teachers have questions about the application process or their specific situation, they should refer to the FAQ document, the explanatory video, or ask them to send in their question(s) to loanforgiveness@cerra.org.
FINE ARTS OPPORTUNITIES for the 2019-2020 school year
Dr. Anne Richardson is the Theatre teacher and Renaissance Faire committee co-chair at Westwood High School.
I know most of you are closing out this year and thinking about summer but many of you are also planning your 2019-2020 student field trips now. Most of our shows and presentations at Westwood $1 per student but some are free!
Next year, you can be one of two schools to sign up for our Hispanic Heritage performance or Black History presentation. We will come to your school to perform. These performances are free and paid for by our DAP and ABC grants. We also have our spring musical, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown! at Westwood that you may bring your students to attend.
Each year, our Renaissance Faire gets bigger and better and we would love to have your students and chaperons come and experience the fun and learning.
Renaissance Faire 2020 poster.pdf
Please look over the attachments to see what might be of interest. Contact me with any questions and I will be happy to assist you.
Best wishes for a wonderful summer!
Dr. Anne Richardson
PLAN AHEAD IF THIS WILL AFFECT YOUR TRAVEL:
A LOOK AT OUR WEEK TOGETHER:
Military Monday - wear red, white, and blue (jeans!)
3:30pm Brief staff meeting in media center
4:00pm LIghthouse meeting following staff meeting
Tuesday:
SC PASS (Science/Social Studies) 4th and 5th grade students will be testing.
3:30pm Amanda Smith's bridal shower in media center
6pm Montessori Advisory Council
Wednesday:
3:30pm AVID site team meeting - 2nd grade teachers, please join us!
Thursday:
7:45am SIC meeting
9:30am Montessori community meeting
RTI Graduation program
Friday:
FIELD DAY!
Transitioning from PD Express - IMPORTANT INFORMATION
This summer, Richland 2 will transition away from PDExpress as our platform for professional learning management. Our district has used this system for nearly two decades, so this is a big change- but it's an exciting one as we transition to a new platform that promises to be far more user-friendly.
Information about the new system will be coming in the near future, but during the transition, there is an important step you can take to ensure you have everything you need from PDExpress. PDExpress currently stores all your information about in-district professional learning activities related to recertification. The transcript of this information will migrate to the new system, but the certificates for your past activities will not transfer- and typically speaking, the South Carolina Department of Education requires certificates to award hours toward recertification.
This means, whether you will be in Richland 2 or not next year, you want to print off your certificates (like the one on the left) from PDExpress before you leave for the summer. For recertification, you technically don't need certificates for any course that is more than 5 years old. However, if you really want to have your certificate for "SASI- Beginning Query" from 2008 (yup- that course is on my transcript!), make sure to print it prior to July 1st because you won't be able to do so next school year.
For information on how to print off your certificates, you can use this great list of instructions or this how-to video (huge thanks to Norm Ivey for creating these tools!)