Cool Cats Update
Sunset Valley Elementary
November 7, 2016
Bobcat Gatherings & Committee Meetings
11/7 - CEIC meeting at 4:00 pm
11/10 - Bobcat Gathering - GT Overview & Differentiation Strategies
11/15 - PTA Executive Board meeting @ 5:30 pm
11/17 - Bobcat Gathering
The Principal's Den- from One Cool Cat to Another
Is it really November? CRAZY but true! Let's celebrate the eleventh month by having some EXTRA JEAN DAYS!!!! Feel free to wear jeans on the following days!
November 7
November 9
November 14 - Jeans (Red, White & Blue)
November 15 - 18 Yes....that's a full week of jeans. :)
ASW -
I enjoyed listening to your conversations on Thursday at our Bobcat Gathering. Remember the purpose of using an ASW protocol is to analyze your students performance and most importantly find out WHY they missed what they missed. Although you are not expected to use this particular form when analyzing student work, you do need to continue to analyze it. I also want to remind you that when you place your students in groups, you should NOT just sort by the grade. Sort by the performance.
District of Innovation -
Many of you are aware that the district is in the process of considering the merits of becoming a District of Innovation (DOI), which is a designation that enables districts to have local control in some areas. The DOI process and designation was established in the last legislative session in an effort to provide traditional public school settings the same opportunities charter schools have for local control as both are sustained by public tax dollars. A DOI committee of 80+ people (parents, teachers, administrators, and central admin folks) began meeting nearly two months ago. This group of people were placed on sub-committees, each of which is analyzing two or three laws to determine if KISD should consider seeking relief from state regulation in the area the law applies. Every DOI committee meeting is publicly held and may be attended by anybody. The following represents my understanding of where we are in the process.
- A minimum of 75% of the committee must be in consensus in order to move forward in recommending a change; however, Dr. Reid is really wanting the consensus to be in the 90% range.
- If there is substantial disagreement within a certain category of members (ie.-parents or teachers) even though the overall consensus is strong, the topic is being tabled and brought back for discussion at the next meeting. Dr. Reid is adamant that any potential change NOT result in divisiveness.
- The process is as follows: Sub-committees evaluate laws and determine what if any relief the district would like to recommend. This work is taken to the DOI committee at which time a vote is held to approve or decline the sub-committee's recommendation. All DOI committee approved recommendations will go to the board for consideration. The board will vote on the recommendations the following board meeting. Any/all board approved recommendations for relief (local control) will go to the state. Then the district has to write the replacement policy to send to the state.
- 90% Rule - Exemption from this requirement will provide educational advantages to students by promoting engaged learning through innovative methods, locations, and times for instruction, thereby accommodating students with legitimate scheduling conflicts, reducing dropouts, and increasing the number of qualifying graduates. Committee results 52 FOR/ 0 Against - Awaiting Board Approval.
- Length of School Day - Exemption from this requirement will provide campuses with the ability to make creative decisions regarding professional development and teacher collaboration time. Committee results - 52 FOR/ 0 Against - Awaiting Board Approval
- Earliest Possible School Date - The current law that prohibits the district from starting school before the third Monday of August forces the district into a calendar that has minimal opportunity for teacher professional development, requires the semester to end after the winter break, and provides negligible time for summer school before state mandated assessment re-takes in the summer. Starting school even one week earlier can help minimize the negative impacts the district sees in these area. Starting early will allow for creative scheduling that allows for more intentional teacher professional development throughout the school year and also allows students to have a schedule that is more conducive to their learning.This is an item that will need to be expedited as next year's calendar is typically previewed by the board in December and voted on in January. As such, please do not make vacation plans for August until the new calendar comes out. I anticipate a strong potential for change in our typical calendar but don't know what it will look like just yet. Committee results - 51 FOR/ 1 Against - Awaiting Board Approval
- Planning & Preparation Periods - Exemption from this requirement will provide each campus with the local control needed to determine how best to use staff time, especially as it pertains to collaborative planning and best meeting the needs of the students. The number of minutes that a teacher receives for planning and preparation must not be reduced but the committee discussed the possibility of 900 minutes over a 20 day period. The committee did emphasize a minimum increment of no less than 30 minutes per day. The recommendation is that the amount and increment of time is to be consistently implemented throughout the district. 45 FOR/ 4 Against - Awaiting Board Approval
- Three Day Limitations on Suspensions - Because of the law’s three day limit for suspensions, campus staff is limited in the choices of discipline that can be applied to students for moderately serious offenses. Exemption from this requirement will provide campuses with the option of keeping students on campus and closer to their regular teachers during a disciplinary placement rather than always opting to send students to the disciplinary alternative educational placement. 49 FOR / 0 Against - Awaiting Board Approval
- 22:1 RATIO AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL - I've heard there is concern regarding this item. I don't know if there is misinformation floating around out there but wanted to share what I know. As I understand it and in a very abbreviated form, current law requires districts to file a waiver with the state if a K-4 classroom ratio exceeds 22:1. It allows the district to decide if it would rather add a teacher or just file a waiver. Many of the surrounding districts choose to do the latter. KISD has typically (maybe always...I can't say for certain) chosen to do the former if the class size average per grade level exceeded 22, particularly if it happened in the first half of the school year. All of this to say, if KISD were to seek relief from this law, the only true change would be eliminating the requirement to file for a waiver. As is currently the case, adding a teacher is and, under local control, would be the district's decision. Having said that, there would be a specific ratio cap written into any policy change that would be considered. Current status on this item as I understand it...this item was discussed again at the November 3rd sub-committee meeting. The consensus to approve recommending relief was ~86.5% but the twelve teachers on the sub-committee were still split six teachers for and six teachers opposed. Dr. Reid asked the sub-committee to table this item as he wasn't comfortable with the teacher vote being split.
- Duty Free Lunch - Under currently law, teachers are provided with a 30 minute duty free lunch during the regular school day. Exemption from this requirement would provide flexibility under special circumstances, i.e. field trips, special activities/occasions on campus. Current status on this item at the November 3rd sub committee meeting was 30 FOR / 9 Against. The Consensus to approve was 80% but it too has been tabled for further discussion due to a lack of consensus
There is a more detailed description of each area that is moving forward to the board on the Keller ISD DOI website or you can just click on the following link - http://www.kellerisd.net/district/DOI/Documents/DOI_LocalInnovationPlan.pdf
For a variety of reasons, rumors about the intent of becoming a DOI have begun to run a muck. In the absence of information, the void is often filled with supposition. Like a sack of feathers released into the air, once released rumors are nearly impossible to retrieve. So, here's my appeal to you. If you've heard something that is concerning you, please come to Anna or I for clarification. If we don't know the answer, we will find out.
Genius Bar Opportunities
Join us Tuesday, November 8 from 4:30 to 6:30 at the Genius Bar. The Genius Bar is located at 10310 Old Denton Road Fort Worth, 76244.
We are excited to teach you about some fast, FUN, formative assessment digitools! Here is a great article on Edutopia about some of these tools.
Our geniuses can teach you about:
- Kahoot
- Plickers
- Padlet
- Socrative
- And others
We hope that you can make it to the Genius Bar and learn some fun new ways to assess your students.
Check out this smore on formative assessment digitools.
We will see you at the Genius Bar on Tuesday, November 8.
November Dates to Remember
- 11/8 - ELECTION DAY
- 11/9 - Watch Dog Dad Kick-off @ 6:00 pm
- 11/9 - Principles in Action book study @ 3:30 (if interested, sign up in Eduphoria)
11/10 - End of 2nd 6 weeks
11/10 - Spelling Bee Qualifying Round
11/11 - District PD Day (no school for students)
11/14 - Veteran's Day assembly @ 8:15 am
11/14 - Keller ISD Community Ambassador's Program @ 6:00 pm
11/17-11/8 - Vision & Hearing Screening for Kinder, 1st, 3rd, 5th & any new KISD students
11/18 - 2nd six weeks PRIDE Rally
11/21 - 11/25 - Thanksgiving Break
November 11 PD - planning ahead
K-4 teachers, you will have most of the day to plan together with your team. 5-6 teachers, you will be able to plan with other content teachers from other campuses. You will have to sign in at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day so you will not have the option to return to Sunset Valley.
You are scheduled to be in a unit overview until 10:00 am. You will have an hour lunch from 11:30 - 12:30 and then you will plan for the rest of the day.
"Principles in Action" Book Study
Please let me know if you have signed up for this course.
Keller ISD principals began a book study this week. We are reading the book, "Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success to All" NCTM has undertaken a major initiative to define and describe the principles and actions, including specific teaching practices, that are essential for a high-quality mathematics education for all students. Our learning coach, Ashlee Smith, has offered to facilitate a book study with all of us too! Anyone is welcome to participate! We are planning to meet four times to discuss the book and share ideas. If you are interested, please sign up in Eduphoria on the following dates:
Nov. 9 - Course ID 27936
Jan. 11 - Course ID 27937
Mar. 1 - Course ID 27938
May 3 - Course ID 27939
We will also be reflecting on our new learning through Twitter and/or Google.
Where in the World are Anna & Kristen?
- Kristen will be at Instructional Rounds on November 8th
- Kristen will be at a Principal's meeting on Nov. 9th
- Anna will be off campus on Nov 10-11 for CPI training
- Kristen will be off on Friday, Nov 18 to watch Nic in a state qualifying swim meet