Lincoln Lion's Local Buzz
February 14, 2020
Happy Valentine's Day
Thank you so much to the Reading Committee for your planning and plotting to have another successful event in the building. It was an enjoyable time had by all who came to attend. WE will be continuing to plan meaningful events here at Lincoln that bring our community together and also furthers our commitment to informing parents of our vision for the school and our mission to ensure that parents are informed about the educational process and our academic expectations here at school. We have connected with many more families this year and continuing to keep them engaged and informed about how they can help their child with academic support will be to our benefit!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Anyone for Musical Chairs??
Guest Readers from DB!
CLIFFORD!!!
Literacy fun in 3rd grade!
Mr. Fulkerson IN THE HOUSE!
Jenga with a reading twist!
Focus Grants
Focus grants are small grants (under $500.00) for teachers (or teaching teams) focused on classroom programs or projects. Up to $4,000 is available annually. Grant applications are accepted any time throughout the school year (August through May). The Education Foundation aims to respond to each grant request within two weeks of receipt of each application.
The goal of the Focus Grant program is to provide funding for educational projects or program opportunities (when other funding sources are not available) that arise anytime during the school year. These educational projects and programs are typically somewhat smaller and less costly but have a broad impact. Focus Grant requests will be accepted and considered throughout the school year, as long as funds are available.
How To Apply
- Prepare a title page which includes your name, your principal's name, the name of your school, the name of your project, and the amount of funding you are requesting.
- Provide a brief narrative summarizing your project and the need the project addresses. Include mention of your project's specific educational goals and objectives. Briefly explain how you plan to implement your project and measure its success.
- Include a budget. Please indicate if partial funding is an option.
- Include any additional information such as photos, or price comparisons, etc., if you think doing so would be beneficial to the committee members as they review your request.
- Save your Focus Grant request as a PDF, make sure your principal has approved your request, and then email it to: info@kcseducationfoundation.org
The KCS Education Foundation meets monthly. The Foundation's next meeting is February 20, 2020. I'd highly recommend submitting a grant prior to this meeting if you desire!
New substitute company starting MONDAY
This information was in an email from Jennifer Guthrie earlier this week. It is important informatoin becuase not following these procedures to aquire subs (even for us Administrators) can result in jobs not getting filled and subs not getting paid. Please read over this informaton and make sure that you understand your responsibility for requesting a sub now that we are working with ESS.
From Jennifer Guthri's Email:
We are excited to partner with ESS as our new substitute agency. They will be the employer of record for our substitutes starting Monday, February 17, 2020.
What substitutes does this apply to?
This will include substitutes for the following positions:
- Teachers
- ECLC and Pre-K Assistants
- SPED IA's
- Secretaries
- School Administrators
*This change does NOT apply to nurses, SNS, custodians, maintenance, or transportation.
Will this change how I request a substitute?
NO- You will continue to request and select substitutes as you do now. If you need a substitute, you will enter the request in SFE and enter your absence in Skyward. Some staff may rely on secretaries to do this, that is a school preference, but employees are ultimately responsible for making sure their absences and substitute assignments are entered as needed.
For last minute issues, continue to communicate with your school as you do now- whether you enter it in SFE and call the secretary or notify your administrator, continue to use the same methods you use now.
Similarly for professional development days, continue to use the processes you have in place at your schools.
* One key process to keep in mind is that substitutes will only get paid based on what is in SFE. Our substitute staffing company will pull the working days from SFE in order to pay substitutes.
Can I still select specific substitutes?
YES- All of the current preferences remain in place. You can still select your subs. ESS will not be "requiring" substitutes to work in any particular positions. They will be using preferences that are already in place with KCS staff.
If I have a preferred substitute, how do I know she/he will still be available?
We are very pleased with the turnout for substitutes transitioning to ESS. Nearly all of our active substitutes have completed this process and we are glad to work with those who may have missed a sign up meeting. After February 17th, only those signed up with ESS will still be showing as an active substitute in SFE. You can check for your preferred substitute in SFE to be sure they are still in the system. If you have a question about anyone in particular or if you find out that your preferred substitute did not sign up with ESS, feel free to contact the KCS HR office and we will follow up with anyone remaining to be signed up.
Interim Assignments (more than 20 consecutive days)
Retired teachers with KCS will continue to be employed through KCS for an interim assignment. All other interim assignments worked by teachers who are not a KCS retiree will be hired through ESS.
(Retirees working day-to-day substitute jobs will work through ESS)
Substitute System
As noted above, we will continue to use SFE as our substitute system through the end of this school year. There are plans to transition to a new substitute system over the summer and to start using the new system in the fall of 2020 for the new school year. You will receive further information on that system and how to access and request substitutes. Again, preferences can remain in place and in fact we plan for the new system to provide even more options and ease of access than the current system. Stay tuned for more on this.
How do new substitutes apply to work in KCS?
Please direct them to our website under the employment link. There is information on our web page with directions to apply for positions through ESS.
How will this impact our substitutes?
- No change in pay, same rates apply (rates are set by KCS)
- Paid weekly (currently on by-weekly pay)
- No limit on days they are able to work (currently limited working days per month under Affordable Care Act regulations for part time employment)
- Health, vision and dental insurance is offered regardless of hours/days worked (no benefits currently available due to part time status)
- 401(k) available after 6 months (no retirement currently available)
- Referral bonuses
- Incentive programs for subs
- Incentive programs for particular hard to fill days
Week at A Glance
- CLUB Time--1:30-2:15--Various Classrooms
- Leadership Team Meetting--3:40-5:00--Conference Room
- Spark--3:30-5:00--Gym
Thursday, February 20, 2020
- RTI Data Meetings-Various Grade Level Planning Times--Conference
Friday, February 21, 2020
- Spark--3:30-5:00--Gym
Message from Ms. Kingsport
Hi everyone! As you may know, my social initiative for Miss Kingsport is Read to Lead. With that being said, I am trying to get in touch with those that may need my help.
I will be getting in touch with those that reply about any help I can provide with book donations for classrooms or anything along those lines. I would also love to come read to as many classes as I can, preferably to younger children as I hope to show them that reading is fun! I hope to reach a wide number of schools before state testing begins, so please do not hesitate to reply so that I may reach out to you!
Thank you all so much for helping me reach as many children as I can,
Taylor Hubbard, Miss Kingsport