TEA Staff News
Taylor Exemplar Academy Week of Dec. 12-16, 2022
This Month's Staff Calendar
A Note from Ms. Marrugi
Hello TEA Staff,
Our staff meeting last week was a lot of fun. I always love learning random things about each of you and the bingo game we played was a lot of fun. Shoutout to Mrs. Campeau for being the first to fill out her entire bingo board. It was a close call because a few of you almost had it!
I want to thank the staff that stayed after school on Friday to help out with the Family Holiday Movie Night. We had about one hundred fifty people attend the movie night. Students came to the event with their holiday pajamas, enjoyed some yummy hot coco and cookies while watching a holiday class, Home Alone. I received so many nice comments from parents on how they had such a good time. Thanks to the Deans for putting up such a cool and cozy looking photo backdrop. Also, thanks to Mrs. Palovich and the NJHS students for volunteering throughout the night to meet their community service hours and the Taylor Prep High School volunteers that served treat and popcorn to the guests. It was a wonderful event thanks to everyone that was involved in making it happen for our school-community. Events like this are what makes families stay at TEA.
I also attended a great basketball games. I am always so proud of our TEA Eagles for always demonstrating strong sportsmanship during our games and having such a strong athletic abilities. They are way more active than I was at their age and I am always in awe at the amazing parent turnout we have at our games.
We have quite a busy week ahead of us!
All report cards must be printed by homeroom teacher and sent home on Monday. If parents reach out to you with questions regarding their child's grades, please remember to answer their emails or calls within 24-hours. Naturally, a few parents will reach out to you with questions regarding their child's report cards. Please do not discuss retention with parents. Deans make retention calls. If you are a special education or at-risk provider, please make sure to give each homeroom teacher a progress report on your student to attach to their report card.
On Tuesday, we will be visited by our DSQ and members of the C&I team for our accountability check up. The team's goal will be to see consistency across the building with instructional delivery and to see how many classes have implemented the feedback that was provided last month to the TEA team. Please make sure you have the items we discussed during our October staff meeting visible in your room as instructional evidence.
A few of you have expressed interest in being on my Principal Advisory Group. I will conduct the first meeting on Tuesday from 4:00-5:00 p.m. If you are still interested in joining the discussion, please let me know so that I can plan accordingly.
On Wednesday, your Deans will host wing meetings from 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Coffee with the Principal will be in the staff lounge on Thursday for parents and guardians from 9:00-10:00 a.m.
On Friday, a representative from Capturing Kids' Heart will be on campus to do a campus evaluation. This will be a follow up to the training we completed as a team during our Back to School PD in August. The goal of this visit is to see how much has the school implemented the resources we talked about during the PD.
Let's work together to make this a productive week for the entire school. We've got this!
Sincerely,
Ms. Marrugi
Vote for November Employee of the Month
Click here to vote for our Staff of the Month for November. Be sure to complete the form by the end of the day on Tuesday December 13th.
Congratulations to Mrs. Phillips (At-Risk Social Worker) for being awarded as our TEA October Employee of the Month! She earned the TEA Golden Stapler!
Fun Times at the Holiday Movie Night
Competitive Staff Bingo Game
January is Board Appreciation Month
January is School Board Recognition Month, and I need your help to thank our TEA Board for its service. While it’s important to show appreciation for our Board members throughout the year, we want to make them feel extra special during this time. Involving your students in this recognition helps remind our Board members why they volunteer their service and time. During my Principal Report at our January Board meeting, I would like to include a “thank you” from our TEA students and staff.
Below are some ideas for your consideration:
- A thank you card to each Board member or the Board from a student(s)
- A student-created piece of artwork thanking Board members
Feel free to be creative. For additional ideas, I’ve attached some highlights from last year’s School Board Recognition Month. TEA was featured by NHA last year for making the Board feel extra special by the TEA staff and students' projects.
If your students will participate, please have your project submitted to me by Monday, January 23rd, 2023.
Here are the names of our Board members in case you want to personalize anything to them:
Cheryl Schiebold, President
Suzan Gentry, VP/Treasurer
Rebecca Peters, Secretary
Blaine Honeycutt, Director
Please let me know if you have any questions or need my assistance.
Information from Previous Newsletter
December Staff Birthdays
December 4: Ms. Cardinal, Art Teacher
December 4: Ms. Dandridge, 5th Grade Teacher
December 9: Ms. Taplin, 2nd Grade Teacher
December 10: Ms. Swanson, 6th Grade Math Teacher
December 19: Ms. Lowman, Y5 Teacher
December 19: Mrs. Kinnison, Office Registrar
December 31: Mrs. Phillips, At-Risk Social Worker
’22-23 Moral Focus Writing & Art Contest
Highlight the Magic in Your Classroom
Unpaid PTO Days
Principal Advisory Group
- Maintain a school-wide perspective on issues
- Act as a link between the school and the community
- Encourage the engagement of parents and other stakeholders within the school community
- Work to increase student achievement and performance through transparent operations and shared best practices.
The Principal Advisory Group will operate under the control and management of Principal Marrugi, and will provide advice and recommendations to Ms. Marrugi on matters related to school climate/culture, student achievement, and community partnership.
I will share meeting date in the upcoming weeks for when this group will meet. I am not selecting members to join this group. Any staff member is interested in joining the Principal Advisory Group will be permitted to do so. If you are interested in joining my Principal Advisory Group, please email me your interest.
Student Behavior Alert
Some signs and symptoms to be mindful of and on the lookout for:
- an increase in power struggles (arguments, backtalk, back-and-forth) amongst kids and adults;
- an increase in inappropriate physical contact, from fighting to public displays of affection and indecency; and/or
- an increase in students bringing items to school that are not allowed, from toys and candy to weapons.
Read on for some quick tips, strategies, ideas, and resources to help you be proactive and positive in working through the next few days/weeks.
- Deans – Plan refresher/reteach opportunities with your wing around expectations. Enjoy celebrations of progress, engage in some fun and healthy competition, count down the days until your next schoolwide event or the next time you will all be together again as a school community.
- ABSS – Plan mid-week or mid-month energizer(s) to do with your wing, and an opportunity for the whole staff to engage with each other around schoolwide procedures. Teachers love celebrating progress, fun and healthy competition, and count downs too. Click on the Teambuilding Activities – BwC booklet has some fun and easy-to-do ideas.
Teachers – Plan a planned refresher and/or reteach lessons with your students on the expectations and procedures around the school and in your class. Break up the monotony, have fun with your kids and the lesson(s), and check out this PBISApps - Teach By Design article for simple yet powerful suggestions and tips. Plan games, activities, lessons and “at school” field trips outside of your four classroom walls. Also check out www.GoNoodle.com for completely FREE movement and mindfulness videos that “benefit kids’ physical wellness, academic success, and social-emotional health.”
Bullying & Harassment Reporting Form
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