-A Bird's Eye View-
September 4, 2018
Our Tweetcher of the Week is......
Lauren used a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to get her students moving (watch her video here).
Lauren took a great video (in landscape mode!!) that really showcased her students engaged and having fun....we love how you can also hear Lauren's excitement and enthusiasm in the video!
Lauren's video reached over 3,000 people on Facebook.
Way to go Lauren!
****BELOW ARE JUST A FEW MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT!
REMEMBER TO SEND CLASSROOM/BUILDING HIGHLIGHTS TO ALAWSON@CLINTONCARDINALS.ORG OR POST ON YOUR TWITTER PAGE****
Students in Mrs. Munsterman's 5th grade class have been learning all about adjectives.
Last week they were tasked with finding adjectives for apples. To get their creative juices flowing, students enjoyed some apples themselves.
College acceptance letters are coming in for the CHS Class of 2019.
Congratulations to Katlyn Groom who has been accepted to the University of Missouri. Katlyn's plans are to pursue a degree in Biology and work in the healthcare field
Congratulations also to Madison Anderson who has been accepted into UMKC. Madison’s future plans are to work in the field of nursing.
Fun fact....both Madison and Katlyn are students in Mrs. Houk's Clinton Technical School's Health Occupations class!
Did You Know?
Eighth grade students at Clinton Middle School take advantage of the close proximity of Clinton Technical School and get hands-on experience in the Introduction to Career and Technical Education class.
Intro to Career and Technical Education is a semester-long class that all 8th grade students take part in. This class exposes them to all of the CTS programs, and empowers them to make an informed decision about their personal plan of study in high school.
Building a classroom and school community is vital to the success of our students' personal and academic growth.
Teachers across the district have been taking time to make connections with their students and providing opportunities for students to build relationships with one another.
In Mrs. Markham's 4th grade class, each student decorated a puzzle piece with their name and words that described them. Students then worked together to put the entire puzzle together. In the end students understood, “In Mrs. Markham's Class, We ALL Fit Together!”
1st graders in Mrs. Petry's class learned that it's hard to fix a broken heart. They talked about thinking before you speak, using kind words and being a friend to everyone.
And over at CHS, students have taken some time during their advisory period (Cardinal Time) to get to know each other by participating in various "Minute to Win It" activities.
Something so simple, inexpensive and fun teaches so many things.
Our littlest Cardinals are perfecting fine motor skills, patience, coordination and pride as they learn all about colors in Ms. Christy's class at the Clinton Early Childhood Center.
*SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORY-For those of you with a classroom Twitter/Facebook account, please go here to fill in your info. We will be creating a social media directory to provide to parents/staff. If you have a sports/club page, please add this info as well.
*WEBSITE LOG-IN-When was the last time you logged-on to our district website? If it's been a while, you might want to do so. If nothing else, please make sure you have an email, school phone number, and plan time listed on your teacher page.
To sign-in, go to www.clintoncardinals.org and click on "Sign-In" at the very top. Next, you will select Site Manager at the top and then you have the ability to update your page info (do this by clicking on Teacher Home and then Flex Editor App).
After signing-in, you will also see the "For Staff" tab on the homepage, where you will have access to a variety of information not available to the general public.
If you run into any issues, please email alawson@clintoncardinals.org for assistance.
*OPT-IN FOR TEXTS-All new staff members need to follow the directions found here to opt-in for text messages that are sent through our mass communication tool, SchoolMessenger. Opting-in to receive text messages must be done from the cell number the district has on file for you. If you are a returning staff member and have changed your cell number since last school year, please contact Central Office to provide this new number. You will then need to follow the directions above.
*ALL STAFF EMAILS-In an effort to reduce the amount of email received throughout the district, we are asking that all "everyone" emails be sent to alawson@clintoncardinals.org to share in the bi-weekly staff newsletter. If there is info you would like to send district-wide, please email it to the address above by the Friday before the next staff newsletter (newsletters will be sent 9/17, 10/1, 10/15, 10/29, 11/12, 11/26, and 12/10 during 1st semester). We would like to make the staff newsletter a central location for news, reminders and information, so we appreciate your help with this!
*WHERE ARE THEY NOW?-If you know of CSD alumni who would be a great feature for our "Where Are They Now?" spotlights, please email their name to alawson@clintoncardinals.org.
*JEAN DAYS-Don't forget about the monthly Bright Futures Jean Days! For $2, staff can wear jeans and a Bright Futures shirt (or other bright shirt) to show their support of this organization. All donations stay here locally in Clinton to help and support Clinton students. Bright Futures shirts can be purchased at the downtown Chamber office. The following are the designated Bright Futures Jean Days for this school year: 9/12, 10/3, 11/7, 12/12, 1/9, 2/13, 3/13, 4/10 and 5/1.
*CARDINAL HOLIDAY MART-Clinton Intermediate School will hold their 2nd annual Cardinal Holiday Mart on November 17th from 9:00-2:00 at Clinton Intermediate School. Not only are you encouraged to come and do some holiday shopping, but they are also looking for vendors (if interested in having a booth, please let Pam Mifflin know by 9/14). Go here to read more info. Contact Pam Mifflin (pmifflin@clintoncardinals.org) with questions or to sign up to be a vendor!
********FROM THE DESK OF THE SUPERINTENDENT********
My first two months in Clinton have been quite a whirlwind. My learning curve has been very steep. I have done pretty well learning everyone’s names, but did not quite meet my goal of knowing everyone by Labor Day. Thank you for being so patient with me as I have asked some of you several times what your name is. As I have learned about many of the district's processes and traditions, I have a couple that I would like to discuss with Team Cardinal that affect the staff.
The one that causes me the most concern is the procedures and policies involving leave for staff. As I share my thoughts about this, please know that I will not recommend any changes to the Board without first getting your input. As I told you at our opening ceremony, we need to create a positive working environment that is sensitive to the needs of our people. Please understand that my thoughts and questions are in no way meant to be critical of the decisions made in the past.
One of the first items on my thought list is the protected days. Why do we need to “protect” days? I know that in my family life tends to happen. When we have children moving away to college for the first time, or when our parents become ill and need our help, or we need to go to our own doctor’s appointment, I do not believe that you should have to ask special permission to be gone for fear of being docked in pay. Building principals have the ability and know-how to make these decisions and deal with those who abuse it appropriately.
Second, for those of you who have been with the district for a while, you have a separate number of leave days to be used if you run out of the annual leave. I am not sure why they are kept separately, but it seems to me that they should be combined. It creates a separate accounting issue for Emily, our payroll specialist. Anyway, I would like to know if any of you have any concerns about combining them all into annual leave.
My third thought may really be out there but I believe in it pretty strongly. As I said earlier, life happens and it doesn’t usually take into account whether we are in our first year or our thirtieth year in our job. But, sometimes medical circumstances require that we are gone for extended periods of time. Currently, if you use all of your annual leave, then you would be docked pay after that. My thought is that the last thing you need to worry about if you are ill is whether you are going to be docked. I have heard that there used to be a sick leave pool for employees but that it was dissolved because of some reasons with discrimination or something along those lines. I believe that there are ways to design a system that would be equally accessible to everyone and meet the demands of some of the legal concerns. Again, I am thinking out loud, but would love to hear your thoughts.
Our first Team Cardinal meeting will be held sometime towards the middle of September. I would like to discuss these topics as part of that meeting. You may share your thoughts with me or with your Team Cardinal representative prior to that time. The representatives for this year are:
John Glenn – CTS, Lisa Allen – CMS, Pam Jones – Aides and Paras, Angie Wishard – CECC, Lori Watson – Secretaries, Carrie Munsterman – CIS, Jarrod Boyles – Admin, Trista Himes – HE, Marilyn Parratt – BOE, and Emily Brown – CO and Tech Staff.
Thank you for a great beginning to our school year. You are amazing!
Destry
********FROM THE BUSINESS OFFICE********
September’s pay date falls on Friday, September 7, 2018 and is the first pay most of you will receive for the new 2018-19 school year. Please log onto the SISFin HR Portal to review your paystub.
Review what is listed at the top under ‘Job Duty.’ This section will include your main teaching role along with any other sponsors or coaching gigs you may have. Also review your deductions listed in the middle of your paystub. Some of the codes might seem cryptic but they refer to the amount you are responsible to pay for Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Aflac, Dental/Vision, Retirement, and so on. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or feel something doesn’t look like what you expected.
Also review your Federal and State tax withholdings to make sure you do not need to submit updated W-4’s.
I hope you all have had a great start to your year and holler if you need anything!
-Emily Brown
Only events that appear on the district calendar are listed here. ALWAYS REFER TO THE DISTRICT WEBSITE CALENDAR FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION!
GET TO KNOW......ERIC SILKWOOD
*Tell us what you do in the CSD, how long you have been here and why you enjoy being a Cardinal.
I am going on my third year in the Art Department at Clinton High School. I am also the Assistant Softball Coach and Head Baseball Coach. I enjoy being a Cardinal because of the amazing teachers I get to work with everyday. Also, the level of creativity/originality I get to see everyday in the Art room blows me away. The students are willing to step outside of their comfort zone and try new things with materials, ideas, and imagery in their work.
*Tell us a little bit about your family/where you are from.
I was born and raised in Blue Springs, MO. My wife and I met in elementary school and have been married for 6 years. We have a 5 year old black lab named Hudson. We built our home in Osceola, MO and have lived here for 2 years.
*What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Being a teacher was always in my mind growing up. But, as I got older, I battled this idea because I wasn’t very interested in the core classes. I dabbled in Physical Education, Sociology, Radio Production, and Athletic Training before switching over to Art Ed my Junior year of college. It ended up being a great fit because every day I get to see something new. Even if I do the same “projects” every year, the results are always different and original.
*What has been your favorite vacation and why?
It’s a tie between Estes Park, Colorado and Alaska. I love places with mountains and trails to hike. The views are surreal and can’t be mimicked in a photograph, video, or any other location. Oh, and the weather was phenomenal!
*What are a few things people would be surprised to know about you?
My wife and I grow and sell mums......1,200 of them this year!
I am a colorblind Art Teacher.
Same Girl, New Name
Carrie and Brad were married on May 26th. Carrie and Brad have a full house with 5 kids! Brady is a welder for Pipefitter Local 441, Tracy is a senior at Lakeland, Alana is a sophomore at CHS, Blake is a freshman at Lakeland and Mitchell is an 8th grader at CMS.
Congrats Carrie!
#HappilyHarrelson
Congrats to CMS secretary, Shelly Harrelson who gained a daughter-in-law last month.
The wedding of Preston and Hailee took place on August 18th.
Preston is a 2013 graduate of CHS and the son of Jeff and Shelley Harrelson.
Sandy's Summer Vacation
CMS special education teacher, Sandy Halbrook did some traveling this summer!
Sandy traveled to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala where she attended language school and studied Spanish. This is her second summer to study in Guatemala.
Each day Sandy had class from 8:00-1:00, and in the afternoons went on "mini-field trips." She enjoyed visiting the markets, churches, schools, coffee processing plants, textile cooperatives, farms, and more.
Prior to leaving for Guatemala, Sandy had heard about the eruption of Volcano Fuego, and wanted to do something to help the victims of the volcano. She posted an announcement on Facebook about her trip and the volcano eruption, and was fortunate to raise over $1,250 for volcano relief! Once in Guatemala, Sandy was able to purchase tables and chairs, dishes and glasses, cookware, powdered milk, diapers, and toys for 16 families with the funds from her Facebook friends.
Sandy says, "I found the people of Guatemala to be very friendly and welcoming, and someday I hope to return again."
About Us
Communication and Community Relations Department
Email: alawson@clintoncardinals.org
Website: http://clintoncardinals.org
Location: 701 South 8th Street, Clinton, MO, United States
Phone: 660-885-5585
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clinton-Schools-257810614245734/?fref=ts
Twitter: @ClintonMoCards