Birdneck Briefing
Week of Nov. 19
Week of Nov. 19
Nov. 21 – Adjusted dismissal
Wednesday, Nov. 21 all school and administrative offices will have an adjusted dismissal. Visit vbschools.com for the list of hours.
Nov. 21 - Eagle Bowl 8:30 am Back Field
Nov. 22-23 – Thanksgiving
All schools and administrative offices will be closed in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Nov. 26 - Grade 1 Half Day Planning 8:00-11:15
Nov. 26 - Kindergarten Half Day Planning 11:45-3:00
Nov. 27 - Parent Computational Fluency Workshop 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Nov. 28 - Parent Computational Fluency Workshop 9:00-10:00
Nov. 30 Fall Make up pictures.
*** Some changes will be made to the half-day planning days for grades 2-5. More info to be shared on Monday. ***
ADDITIONAL OPERATIONAL DETAILS for ADJUSTED DATES
□ Administrators at all school levels will assure adequate supervision of students.
□ Please remind parents about the adjusted dismissal schedule via school newsletters and announcements in advance.
□ Parks and Recreation will be sent a copy of the early dismissal schedules.
□ After-school activity bus runs will be canceled.
□ Transportation has verified the feasibility of this schedule for adjusted dismissal.
□ Speech bus runs will be canceled.
□ A modified lunch schedule will be available prior to dismissal at all schools.
□ The Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) will not be in session Wednesday, Nov. 21 and Friday, Dec. 21.
□ Teacher assistants who are a .5 allocation (half-time) will be required to work two hours 20 minutes exclusive of lunch.
□ Cafeteria employees are to be released after their duties have been completed.
□ Bus drivers and bus assistants are to be released at the completion of their runs.
□ The department head or director may adjust the starting time for night custodians. Night custodians will work the appropriate number of hours according to the above-adjusted work schedule.
□ The department head or director may adjust the starting and ending times for non-instructional employees to ensure that operational requirements are met.
□ The School Administration Building will remain open until 2 p.m.
□ Leave requests for days when the adjusted work schedule is observed will be deducted based upon the regular work schedule. Leave requests will not be prorated due to the early release schedule.
This is your Captain Speaking!
Hello Birdneck Family,
Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break and please take some time to relax and enjoy your families! I don't thank you all enough for what you do for our school and our students. I'm thankful that you are a part of our Birdneck Family and can't wait to hear about your adventures from your travels and/or your stay-cation.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Captain out,
RV
BIRDNECK MISSION
Mission: We build relationships to encourage, inspire and empower students and each other to meet the challenges of today and to foster the love of learning.
BIRDNECK VISION
Vision: We are dedicated to nurturing an inclusive environment to ensure engaging, student-centered learning resulting in confident independent learners.
Shout Outs!
If you would like to give a SHOUT OUT to a colleague, it is as simple as sending an email to RV to be added to our Shout Outs each week!
Shout out to Nancy Bishop, Erica Leidel, Brianica Thomas (PTA president), Amy White, Vicky Duckworth for joining us at Haygood Skate Night.
Shout out to our math and reading coaches for filling in when our teachers were out and their subs had to leave early.
· I’d like to give a shout out to the special angel who left chocolates in the mailroom Thursday. What a special treat! J
· Shout out to Megan Petermann for the awesome job organizing everything Friday for the 3-5 field trip!
I’m very thankful for Mrs. Thoms and Mrs. Wilson. They do a wonderful job working together in the Kindergarten inclusion classroom. They both go above and beyond when working with students with disabilities.
Shout out to Mrs. Duckworth for taking extra time to work with a student who was having an extremely tough day.
You Make a Difference
Whenever you see PJ Davis, the first thing you notice is his smile. He is an enthusiastic, and fun teacher when working and playing with all of our students. PJ is like a Ninja, you never know where he is going to show up. It might be in Pre-K through Fifth Grade, the Front Office, or even in one of our Specialty Classes. He is currently working on his degree and wants to become a teacher one day. Thank you, PJ, for all you do for our Birdneck Family. You truly do make a difference in our school!
American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and What Can Go Home to Our Students and Families
- Many programs, including Adobe, can run accessibility checks on documents to see if there are any problems.
- Do not use pictures which are not necessary to the content of your writing (i.e. streamers, balloons, seasonal icons).
- Using Microsoft Word (either through Office 365 Online or Windows laptop) when creating such media can limit the number of issues assistive technology runs into.
- Using 3rd party software or programs (such as this Smore) is not held to the same governmental standard with ADA requirements. Many of these programs are already designed to be compliant.
If you are unsure, please email your ITS, Nick Dzendzel (nadzendz@vbschools.com).
Mathnasium
Our 1st math night will be Jan 17th from 6 – 7:30. Mathnasium will be putting this event on – all we need is to provide volunteers. We will need about 20 volunteers to arrive at 5:30 to get directions for your game station. Please let me know if you can volunteer for this event. Thank you in advance for your support.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Multiple staff have family members, who have been struggling with health concerns recently. Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers.
It was shared that Raymarie Sarsfield, one of pur previous teachers and Birdneck Family members has passed away. Please keep her loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.
Annual Mandatory Employee Traning: AMET
Training is now open and the deadline for training will be February 15, 2019.
Check your email for the attachment of information on how to use and access the VBCPS Annual Mandatory Employee Training Program. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Steve LePock in the Office of Risk Management (263-2460). Thank you.
Beach Girls Rock
The Beach Girls Rock! (BGR), a leadership empowerment series for girls in grades 5-8 in VirginiaBeach City Public Schools (VBCPS) since 2013, will host its first workshop of the year Saturday,Nov. 17, at Princess Anne High School from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The workshops are designed to give girlsthe opportunity to focus on leadership skills, college-career readiness and interpersonal skills as well as,elementary to middle and middle to high schools transitions. Parents or guardians are welcomed toparticipate in the parent-focused breakout sessions which occur concurrent to student breakout sessions.While there is no cost, it is recommended that elementary school principals limit fifth-grade girls’invitations up to 10 girls. There are several elementary schools and 14 middle schools. Staff wants to
ensure that we are able to accommodate all participants.
The student registration form and registration process as well as the BGR poster are attached. A printedcopy of the poster will be made available to each elementary and middle school and hosting high schoolfor display. Principals are asked to help publicize the event through the selection of students at theelementary level, recruitment of students at the middle school level, morning announcements, websites, school newsletter, Parent Teacher Association newsletter and other materials sent home to parents/legal
guardians.
Registration for the first BGR will open the week of Oct. 1. The registration link is only accessible to thefollowing school staff members: school administrators, office associates, school counselors and schoolactivity coordinators. Selected VBCPS school staff may register students for the workshop by inputtingthe registration form information using the Beach Girls Rock SharePoint link at: https://www.vbcps.com/sites/OTS/bgr/SitePages/Home.aspx. Once on the link, click on new item, add the student’s information, parent’s information (if applicable) and then save. Once the student is registeredonline, the process is complete. Student information on the online link will be used to prepare for the workshop.
Please direct questions about Beach Girls Rock Empowerment Series Workshops to Dr. LaQuiche Parrott at 263-1218 or LaQuiche.Parrott@vbschools.com. Thank you.
Join our PTA
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Join the PTA! Our goal is to have 100% Staff participation!!!!!!!!!
Support Birdneck Elementary students by joining the PTA. Don't miss out on the benefits from joining the PTA. Receive over $300 in savings... all for just $5 for a membership. Check out the PTA website at http://birdneckpta.weebly.com/
Beach Employee Wellness (BEWell) support services
To ensure all staff are knowledgeable of available Beach Employee Wellness (BEWell) support services, the Office of Consolidated Benefits requests education on Critical Incident Response services and Employee Assistance Program and Work-Life services.
Critical Incident Response (CIR) services are a highly specialized individual and group session services designed to minimize the negative emotional and psychological impact of traumatic events. A CIR can begin as soon as two hours after the initial request and are available to all school sites with approval by appropriate CIR contact list personnel. The goal of the CIR is to enhance participants’ ability to transcend workplace trauma and resume focused and productive work activities. Utilizing CIR services make an immense difference to employees’ recovery process in the face of a crisis. Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Work-Life Services (WL) through Humana, are available to provide FREE and CONFIDENTIAL support to ALL School employees (full-time, part-time and temporary). Services are available, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Employees are happier and more productive when personal needs are being met, and when work and personal lives are in balance.
-EAP offers short-term in-person and telephonic-based counseling with a licensed counselor. Up to five in-person sessions per concern per year. Referrals are issued for longer-term concerns and additional benefits as appropriate.-WL offers services and resources that help with everyday needs. Humana assess the employee’s needs and then researches to provide referrals and resources that meet budget and requests.
Senior Staff, All Principals/Assistant Principals, All Executive Directors
-Supervisor Referral – In addition to offering assistance to employees and members oftheir households, Humana offer services and resources that are specifically designed toaid directors, supervisors, and human resource professionals with employee-related andpersonal concerns. Please note: In the case of a referral, Humana will only report backto the referring supervisor that the employee attended the session(s). Please seeattachment for more information.
-Humana professionals are bound by confidentiality laws and professional ethics. They donot report to BEWell and/or Virginia Beach City Public Schools on individual cases.Personal information about employee and household members remains confidentialaccording to all applicable state and federal laws.
If further information and/or clarification is needed, please contact, Matt Herman, consolidated benefits office, BEWell program, 757-263-6918 or matthew.herman@vbschools.com. Many thanks for your assistance.
BIRDNECK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BIRDNECK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Twitter@BNESeagles
BIRDNECK MISSION
Mission: We build relationships to encourage, inspire and empower others to meet the challenges of today and to foster the love of learning.
BIRDNECK VISION
Vision: We are dedicated to nurturing an inclusive environment to ensure engaging, student-centered learning resulting in confident independent learners.
BIRDNECK BELIEFS
We believe in a collaborative community in which teachers, administrators, students, and parents work together for student success.
We believe in creating a safe, nurturing, and positive environment in which all students can strive for excellence and achieve their individual potential.
We believe we will prepare our students for success by providing 21st century learning and developing within our students critical thinking, effective communications and problem solving skills.
Website: http://www.birdneckes.vbschools.com/
Location: 957 South Birdneck Road, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
Phone: 757-648-2120