Monday Message
Week of February 5th- February 9th
I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Here is a look at our week ahead:
9:25 ARD (Kelly)
10:30 504 Meeting (Traci)
11:30 Budget Meeting (Kelly & Traci)
Tuesday, February 6th:
*4th Grade Writing Benchmark*
8:35 3rd PLC
10:00 I will be off campus the rest of the day at the District Furniture Standards Committee Meeting
10:30 504 Meeting (Traci)
3:10 504 Meeting (Traci)
Wednesday, February 7th:
*5th Grade Math Benchmark*
8:35 4th Grade PLC
10:30 504 Meeting (Traci)
11:05 ARD (Kelly)
1:15 ARD (Kelly)
Thursday, February 8th:
*5th Grade Reading Benchmark*
8:35 5th Grade PLC
10:15 ARD (Kelly)
11:05 ARD (Kelly)
1:15 ARD (Kelly)
3:20 CREW Meeting - Room 208
Friday, February 9th:
*100th Day of School!*
7:45 Morning Assembly
8:30 Traci will be off campus this morning at an AP Meeting.
9:25 ARD (Kelly)
1:30 Mid-Year Conference (Kelly)
Box Tops Due today!
LAST DAY!!!
Monday, February 5th is the last day to register to vote! Click HERE to find out if you are registered!
Lock-Down Scheduled
A Peek At Last Week
No More Traditional Morning Work in 1st Grade!
FMHS a cappella Group
Author visit
Auction/Watchdog Update
Thanks to all of you for sharing your input and concerns regarding the teacher auction and how this has been done in the past. We also received input and feedback from our PTA in order to ensure we are honoring all parties involved while also being mindful of the PTA financial and manpower perspectives. After much discussion, Traci and I feel we have arrived at a happy medium that will hopefully be as close to perfect as we can get!
For the teacher auction, we are going to go the raffle ticket route, with students being able to purchase tickets for a grade level activity. All tickets will be placed into the grade level bin, for a total of 6 bins, and the number of winners drawn will correspond to the number of teachers on the specific grade level. I know many of you had expressed a desire for individual teacher activities, but it really becomes a logistical challenge for our PTA to manage 30 additional items. Thank you for understanding as we seek to provide successful alternatives while honoring all parties.
With the potential financial impact our PTA will experience with the removal of the Write A Check campaign (approximately $7000), we have been brainstorming ways to compensate for it within the PTA budget. One big budget item is the teacher stipend PTA provides and that many of you have expressed you would be happy to give up. This chunk of money alone almost covers the entire $7000 that will be lost. Therefore, to soften this loss, I will be increasing the amount of grade level money you receive in the yearly budget. This realignment of funds in no way reflects on our PTA as them "pulling back" the support they so graciously give us every day! I want to express that our PTA is very appreciative of you and fully supports the OSE teachers and staff. It is strictly a financial decision to help offset the Write A Check because we do value them so much and all the things they do for us. That’s why I want to be extra clear on how and why this realignment of the stipends is occurring.
Our PTA provides us so many wonderful opportunities and we always want to be sure we are nurturing our relationship with them - building bridges, not walls - as we never want them to think of our relationship as anything other than a partnership. As you are aware, we requested that the Watchdogs drop off Monday and Friday, and go to half day schedules this school year. The feedback we have received is that our families / dads really prefer the full day so that they can experience all the incredible teaching and learning that goes on at OSE. We also lost a bit of the program’s enthusiastic embrace by the dads when we scaled it back to 3 days. Where we used to get compliments and other feedback from the surveys, which we would compile and share with you, now dads are not even completing the survey. The program just isn’t the same positive experience as it was before and we want to ensure that our community knows how much we value them and welcome them into our school. After discussing with the PTA Watchdog Coordinator, the decision was made to return to the full week, full day Watch Dog program that was established originally. I know everyone will be supportive as we strive to build, foster, and maintain positive relationships with all people and things PTA.
*Full week/Full Day schedule resumes the week of February 19th*
That's all I have - let me know if anything has been left out and I will be happy to add it. Have a fabulous week!
Kelly