LV Impact
Lakeview Staff Newsletter - March 13
Well this is something different ...
I've had to announce "Please ignore the helicopter that is about to land on the playground."
But this moment is just something far different than any of us have experienced in our lives. There is no doubt in my mind that the emotional, tearful reaction of so many of our students on Friday afternoon shows that Lakeview is a wonderful place for our students. That doesn't happen by accident - it happens because of the culture that we have built together.
Please watch your email for updates.
Here's what the sign in front of Lakeview says right now.
I offer it to all of you for the coming weeks:
Read a book
Play a game
See you soon
Site Visit
• Poplar Creek has a high percentage of special ed students, a rather transient population, is fairly diverse, and has some newer significant behavior challenges. They also have a dedicated staff and a clear vision of their work. Sound like any place we know? Co-serving is the right work to be engaged in, and we see colleagues in other districts working it out in real time, too. And they're not that far ahead of us that it seemed out of reach.
• We actually observed a co-planning session where two teachers (a GenEd and a SpEd teacher) sit together and plan their instruction for the week ahead. That was new for me - imagine 8 people watching you and one other teacher co-plan and converse. We came back with some solid ideas about how to make this work for us, because co-planning is really the basis of so much of this work.
• The PLC work that we are about to engage in next year is deeply tied to co-serving. We saw so many ways how PLC's overlap with co-planning and co-assessing on our site visit.
• There was a clearly developed framework for teacher-delivered classroom interventions with flexible groups that changed every 3 weeks. There's a conversation for a later time.
•Although full inclusion in the least restrictive environment is and has been the goal, there are a few students at other points along the journey to full inclusion.
BUT ... the educators at Poplar Creek were honest to say something like this: "We're not experts at this - we're working hard and we want to learn from you, too. We know it doesn't work perfectly all the time, but our vision/model for inclusion holds us together." It seemed like educators working really hard together and having really great conversations to meet a vision and do well for 100% of their students. Like Lakeview. Please talk to Sarah H or Bronwyn if you want to know more.
Culture Goal update
Looking [way] ahead
April 13 - hopefully return to school
Plan to reteach a lot of routines and procedures on the day we return
Structural Items
Hygiene reminders - Even after we return, please actually schedule times into your day where your entire class washes hands. This will take a few minutes using the one sink in your room, but it is for an obviously important reason.
School Supply List for 2020-21 - Here is the link to the school supply list for next year. The elementary principals collected input from anyone who responded with input when we asked. Sometimes lists were adjusted; other times not. As we did last year, if there is something that is not on your list that your grade level absolutely needs, let me know and we will consider purchasing with building funds. You will also be getting things that perhaps you have not been used to getting in the past. Those go into the lockers by the library for common usage. Are you running out of something right now? Go to the lockers and take what you need.
Link to this week's family newsletter
Personal Day Blackouts - here is a link to blackout days for elementary personal days.
Lakeview Elementary School
Email: csepersky@sdsm.k12.wi.us
Website: lakeview.sdsm.k12.wi.us
Location: 711 Marion Avenue, South Milwaukee, WI, USA
Phone: 414-766-5252
Twitter: @sepersky