HOS Highlights
January 6th, 2016
“We succeed only when students succeed. That is our goal. That is our passion. That is our work.” Nate Davis
What's New!
- The HOS Summit is next week! We look forward to seeing you all face to face for a week of connecting and sharing with leaders from across the country. Safe travels to all! If you need additional details--please check out our special HOS Highlights newsletter dedicated to Summit Details sent 12/22/15.
- Pre-work for HOS Summit: Click here to open the primary pre-work assignment for the HOS Summit. Note: HOSs will submit their pre-work assignment to RVPs by January 8th. *Please note: Student technology revised their document and Government affairs and Finance have added their value add statements to the shared folder.
- There are many reasons we lead. Please reflect on why you chose to serve as a school leader prior to arriving at the Summit. You will have an opportunity at the Summit to share your reflections in a unique way!
- If you need a shuttle to the airport, one will leave from the K12 offices on Friday at 11:15am. You must sign up by 1/11/16 to reserve a space on the free shuttle.
- Final Agenda: Please checkout the final HOS Summit Agenda below. The link will take you to the agenda within the K12 Intranet.
Head of School in the Spotlight
David Crook
School: Cyber Academy of South Carolina
Began: July 2011
Superpower: I look objectively at situations to find the underlying principles that should inform my decisions
Fun fact: You probably recognize me because I used to play lead guitar in THE 80's cover band "VICTIMS OF POP CULTURE" *We were huge! (In one town in north Louisiana) (for about 6 months)
Advice To Leaders: Remember your core values when making any decision.
*David will be signing autographs at the HOS Summit
Leadership Video: A Conference Call in Real Life
School Services/Department Updates
January Operational Guidelines and Procedures Focus: State Reporting and Accountability; Student Data Systems Management- Student Withdrawals and Next Placement Tracking
As shared during the last HOS call in August, we announced a year-long review and professional development surrounding a new table of contents for the Operations Manual. Schools have been asked to move their old operations manual gradually over to a more dynamic school specific operational guidelines and procedures sub-site built within your school’s SharePoint site. Starting in October, a specific focus has been given to a portion of the new table of contents. The idea is that operations managers will follow the year-long review process and update portions of their current operations manual as dictated by the calendar and move all processes and guidelines to the more robust school SharePoint sub-site. Noted below are the trainings as well portions of the table of contents covered each month since October.
October:
· Table of Contents Section Reviewed: State Testing (State Testing Manual and State Testing Plan)
November:
· Trainings Offered: Well Written Procedures; How to Set-Up a SharePoint Sub-site
· Table of Contents Section Reviewed: Student Records
December:
· Table of Contents Section Reviewed: Student Data and Systems Management (Part 1 of 3)
A portion of the Operations Call held on January 14th will focus on state reporting and accountability. Following the Operations Call, schools will break up into regional breakout rooms to share and discuss how state reporting works at their school and will be provided the following questions to help identify areas in need of better documentation or procedures:
• Are all reporting submissions managed by the same person or team? Or are some managed by other departments?
• How many systems are used at your school to store student information (not counting TV) that have to be reconciled with one another for accurate state reporting submissions?
• How do you ensure you’re aware of and stay on top of the most recent state reporting submission requirements? Have you joined your state list-serve? How do you get training from your state?
• How soon does validation begin before a submission window or deadline? Who is responsible?
• What is the process for ‘catching’ and removing students who should not be counted on funding submissions (truancy, withdrawals, non-starts, etc.)?
• What procedures are completed before submitting to the Internal Review team to make sure that the submissions are as accurate as possible? (Do your funding validation procedures listed previously cover this in depth?)
• How are errors or anomalies reconciled? Who reconciles them? What is the process if an error trend is discovered during validation?
• How do you communicate known anomalies to the review team upon submission? How do you document the manual changes made to the data so that the review team can be aware of these changes during validation? What supporting documentation would you need to submit to support these changes?
A portion of the Operations Call held on January 22nd will focus on student withdrawals as well as next placement tracking. Following the Operations Call, schools will break up into regional breakout rooms to share and discuss how withdrawals are processed and tracked as well as review the following questions to help identify areas in need of better documentation or procedures:
• What steps are required to verify that a withdrawal was requested? To verify the student’s last day at the school?
• Who can perform withdrawals from Total View? Are they the responsibility of a specific team or person? How and when are withdrawals performed?
• Who can authorize involuntary withdrawals at your school?
• What due process is necessary before an involuntary withdrawal is performed? How is this verified before students are removed from the system?
• What communication timeline is followed? When are notices sent to families? How many notifications are required? Do they need to be sent via certified mail?
• What student records need to be generated and filed when a student is withdrawn? Have you cross referenced student record procedures to make sure that they align with the student withdrawal procedures? (ie- what should be kept on file, sent to the next school, etc…)
• Is there a connection between withdrawal tracking and the records request process to ensure that all new records requests are counted for withdrawn students? This includes verification of next placement within the state system.
• Does your school check the state-assigned dropout rate against your tracking records to ensure that they match? Is there a process to correct the dropout rate if your school has evidence that it is not right?
We are encouraging operations managers to reach out to school stakeholders to ensure the proper parties are included in the recording of the guidelines and procedures. Likewise, stakeholders are encouraged to join the Operations Call dedicated to the topic or area related to them.
Cheers to You!
Cheers to Insight Oregon Alternative, Insight Oregon Painted Hills, and Oregon Virtual Academy for coming together to motivate students to achieve academic excellent with a friendly competition!
This is recognition for Jim Sinnott, Academic Administrator to Insight School of Oregon Alternative and Painted Hills. Jim puts students, parents and staff first in everything he does. His first response to all inquiries is “How can I Help.” We appreciate Jim at Insight School of Oregon.
Cheers to Head of Friendship Online Public Charter School for navigating successfully through the first semester with a brand new partner in Washington DC. Great Job Tracy Sloane!
We would like to highlight your Cheers in the next HOS Highlights newsletter. Feel free to cheer for regional teams as well as your fellow HOS's. Please submit your cheers on the form below.
Past issues of the HOS Highlights
National HOS Summit Essential Information--Reoccurring Information
We are excited about this year's National HOS Summit and look forward to a meaningful week together in Herndon, VA! While we continue to build out details of our time together, below you will find essential information to assist you with travel plans. We will continue to update you via the HOS Highlights between now and the Summit. As always, please let us know if you have additional questions.
In Partnership,
School Leadership Development Team
Booking Travel & Accommodations
As you book travel for this event, please note that the Summit will officially kick off on Monday, January 11th with a social welcoming event that includes food, fun, and connecting! We will be joined by Allison Cleveland, Todd Goldthwaite, our CEO Nate Davis, and others to help welcome you all to Herndon! We will offer appetizers and drinks at our social event on Monday night. Summit sessions will begin early Tuesday morning, January 12th and will end mid-day on Friday, January 15th. Feel free to schedule return flights for Friday, January 15th afternoon after 1:30 PM EST.
Airport
It is recommended that you fly into Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) which is only a few miles from the K12 Corporate Offices.
Hotels
We have reserved a block of rooms at a hotel as we would like everyone stay at the same location. We have arranged for a social event at the Sheraton Reston on Monday evening from 6pm-9pm and this would save everyone the hassle of traveling to a different location. We have arranged shuttle service from the Sheraton to the offices and back each day and breakfast is provided.
· Sheraton Reston 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA, 20191
You will need to book your hotel no later than December 18th to get a discounted rate of $139 per night. Note: A call number will be provided in next week's newsletter so you can reserve your room with a credit card. Please call the reservation line rather than booking through the K12 travel agent.
Meeting Location
The meeting will be held at the K12 corporate office. The address to the K12 corporate office is below. The rooms at K12 can get cool sometimes, so if you have a light jacket, bring that to be on the safe side. We will be meeting on the first floor. When you walk in the front doors, the meetings rooms will be behind the reception desk on the left side of the lobby.
K12 Inc.
2300 Corporate Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20171
Food
Dinners - Please plan to attend a fun night out for dinner on Thursday, January 14th. HOSs will be able to join K12 executives at “group dinners” to be held at various restaurants in the Reston Town Center. HOSs can sign up for the group and restaurant of their choice. Restaurants and K12 executive table leads will be shared with our detailed agenda that is forthcoming. Note that dinner will be on your own Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
Breakfasts and Lunches – Breakfast will be on your own each day as the hotel offers various breakfast options. Lunch will be provided for you Tuesday-Thursday.
*Dietary Restrictions: Please send an email to Brandi Maynard if you have any dietary restrictions.
Leadership Academies and HOS meetings Dates
Leadership Academy #2
· October 9th
~October 23rd *HOS Call and Leadership Academy
· November 6th
~November 20th *HOS Call Only
~December 18th *HOS Call Only
~January 22nd *HOS Call Only
~February 12th *HOS Call Only
Leadership Academy #3
· February 26th
~March 11th *HOS Call and Leadership Academy
· March 25th
Leadership Academy #4
· April 15th
~April 29th **HOS Call and Leadership Academy
· May 13th
~May 27th *HOS Call Only
Leadership Academy #5
· June 10th
~ June 24th *HOS Call and Leadership Academy
· July 8th
~July 29th- *HOS Call Only
Reoccurring Information Below
Leadership Academy Titan Pads
Amanda Conley,
Cassie Barton,
Josh Williams,
Katrina Abston,
Lynn Barr,
Mark Christiano,
Matt Arkin
Faith Shanholtzer,
Kelly Van Sande,
Kendall Schroeder,
Josh Williams,
Marcus Moore,
Nicholaus Sutherland,
Nicole Tiley,
Lynn Barr,
Sara Baker
Pam Jonidis,
Beth Lorigan,
Caroline McIntosh,
David Crook,
Ryan Clepper,
Stacey Hutchings,
Steven Hoff
Laurie Erdman,
Brandy Osborn,
Byron Ernest,
Elizabeth Roth,
JD McMahan
Joel Medley,
Theresa Gallagher
Scott Sides,
Sheryl Tatum
Sheila Sheibler,Cherry Daniel,
Jeffrey Bush,
Jessie Thoman,
John Huber,
Kelly Edginton,
Monti Pittman,
Theresa Gallagher
Suzanne Sloane,
Theresa Gallagher,
Veronica Clemons
The Leadership Academy Basics
- Weekly Leadership Academies begin at Noon EST every Friday afternoon and run for 90 minutes
- Here is the participant link.
- It is highly recommended that you participate in the weekly academies via BBC because the classes are going to be interactive. Your experience will not be as rich if you join via phone only
- Pertinent school services information that was typically presented during Friday HOS calls will be shared via regional calls, the weekly HOS newsletter, or monthly national HOS calls
- This newsletter will have all of the information you need for the upcoming training and will arrive in your inbox every Wednesday morning
iLead@K12/School Leadership Development & Support Team
2015/16 Leadership Academy Content and Focus
2015-2016 Leadership Standards and Practices
Leadership Academy #1- "Explore U": YOU are the focus of Leadership Academy #1 entitled, Explore "U". Throughout the first seven weeks we will focus on your strengths as indicated in the Myers-Briggs assessment most of you took in January, 2015. Throughout the cycle you will build upon your strengths and learn to leverage those strengths to minimize weaknesses.
Leadership Academy #2- "Build It and They Will Come": Your knowledge and expertise will be leveraged to build out content for one of the leadership strands. Each School leader chooses one standard to work with over the course of the 7 week cycle. The goal will be to codify your expertise within the leadership strand to build a complete leadership Academy cycle in your area chosen area.
Leadership Academies #3-5-: Once the content is built, you will choose one strand to focus on for the remaining cycles. Choice is built into the process and we would like you to choose two standards. We suggest you work with your RVP/DRVP to choose one leadership strand that you would like additional support in. The strands include: Strategic Leadership, Instructional Leadership, Community, Human Resources, and Organizational Management.
iLead@K12 Team
The iLEAD team leads the design, development, execution, and evaluation of national programs that build exceptional school leadership across K12’s network of managed schools. The team coordinates school, regional and national efforts to improve leadership practice and school outcomes.
Mike Kazek
Board and Partner Relations