OCTOBER 16, 2020
FPS Family Newsletter | 20-21 Issue 14
Micro-Teaching & COVID-19 Updates
As a school district committed to getting better, I wanted to share with you one way we are working to get better academically and some data from our COVID-19 tracking so that as a community, we can all work to be better.
In Franklin Public Schools, we base our instructional design on research-based methodology. For the last several years, the high-leverage instructional practices we focus on come from Dr. John Hattie’s work. Dr. Hattie has nearly 30 years of experience examining what works best in student learning and achievement. His research, better known as Visible Learning, is a culmination of almost 30 years synthesizing more than 1,500 meta-analyses comprising more than 90,000 studies involving over 300 million students worldwide.
One of the high-leverage instructional practices Dr. Hattie’s research identifies is the use of Micro-teaching. Micro-teaching refers to planning small-scale lessons in a group and analyzing and discussing them with the help of video. While working in-person or virtually, our teaching staff has increased their use of video not only to convey instruction effectively but to learn more about the impact of their teaching. I am so proud to see how our teachers are innovating during this time and I wanted to share this with you.
Finally, I want to take this opportunity to share some updated details and information with you about how our metrics around COVID-19 will look for this week. As you recall from the August 25th release of our Metrics & Transition plan (linked here for your reference), one of our four trigger points we monitor on our dashboard was defined as "a significant community outbreak is occurring or has recently occurred, and is impacting multiple staff, students, and families within the community." On our weekly dashboard, this is represented by the Community Burden Rate. Generally speaking, burden rate reflects the level of disease spread within the community. The higher the burden rate, the higher the level of disease prevalence. You’ll see for the first time since we have published our dashboard that the Franklin Community Burden Rate has increased to red.
While the burden rate for the Franklin community is red, we have made the decision not to close schools at this time. At present, the increase in community numbers has yet to directly impact our schools. We continue to see low rates of cases in our schools and we are continuing to safely manage those cases and close contacts.
That said, if community spread continues, it will impact our schools. For that reason, Courtney Day, the Director of Health and Human Services for Franklin, and I have drafted this joint release that we ask you to please read. We all are working very hard to help our community to get better and we are asking for your help.
JFK once said, "Things do not happen. Things are made to happen."
As we enter our 7th week of school, we continue to look for opportunities to improve our practice and become a Better Place to Learn, Better Place to Work, and Part of a Better Community.
Have a great weekend,
Dr. Judy Mueller
District Administrator
MONITORING & TRANSITION DASHBOARD UPDATE
We continue to update our COVID-19 Monitor & Transition Dashboard weekly on Fridays as we ready our Friday newsletter for parents and families. Below is a screenshot of this week's update. You can click or tap on the screenshot to see a larger version on your device.
If you are looking for more details around this data, please view our Monitor & Transition Plan
UPCOMING DISTRICT DATES
As a reminder, the District Calendar and all building calendars can be found here.
All of our calendars are able to be subscribed to! Follow the steps at the top of the District Calendar for how to subscribe.
FOOD SERVICE INFORMATION
VIRTUAL FAMILIES ONLY - PLEASE COMPLETE FOOD FORM
If you have a virtual student and you are planning on ordering a lunch during the week of October 26th, we ask that you complete this meal interest survey indicating your lunch preferences by 11:59pm this coming Tuesday, October 20. Filling this out a week ahead of when needed helps our food services team to better plan for the upcoming weeks and improve the lunch experience for your child. The pick-up time for meals remains 8:30 to 9:00 Monday thru Friday at FPMS.
WHAT TO DO IF QUARANTINED/ISOLATED CHILD AT HOME?
If you have a child at home that has recently been quarantined as a close contact or isolated as a positive COVID-19 case, please contact your home school’s head cook (contact information here) and you can arrange for lunch pickup for the days your child(ren) is/are at home.
UPDATE: USDA EXTENDS FREE MEALS UNTIL END OF SCHOOL YEAR
As we shared earlier in the school year, per the USDA, Franklin Public Schools is part of the program to make lunch meals available at no cost to all children age 18 and younger regardless of free/reduced lunch status. Originally this program was to run until December 31, 2020 or until funds were exhausted. The USDA has extended these free meal offerings until the end of the school year.
Some reminders about this program:
The USDA program will provide one free meal per student per day.
Student allergen information will not be available at the point of distribution of the meals
If you have allergen concerns, please view the online menu and discuss with your child(ren) the allergens in that day's meals.
Students at the high school and middle school can still purchase an additional entree if they choose
Individual milk purchases, separate from a meal, are not free under this program, so the student’s lunch account will be charged.
We are happy we can continue to provide this service to the children of Franklin!
NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCHES WEEK
Did you know that the National School Lunch Program serves nearly 30 million children every school day? President John F. Kennedy created National School Lunch Week in 1962 to promote the importance of a healthy school lunch in a child’s life and the impact it has inside and outside of the classroom. As we celebrate National School Lunch Week this week, we share with you some photos of the happenings around our lunch program and the people that help to make sure our students are fueled up and ready to go!FACILITIES & EVENTS UPDATE
When we shared our Reopening Doors plans in July, we put a limit on the use of our facilities for any events through at least November 1st. With November 1st fast approaching, we are communicating now that we are extending this until further notice. We will not be allowing the use of our facilities for outside groups. Our facilities may not be reserved, rented, or utilized for any group meetings, performances, or other events. We will communicate in the future when we feel we can safely allow the use of our facilities again for events.
REMINDER: VIRTUAL PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES & TECH SUGGESTIONS
Parent-teacher conferences across all buildings this year will be virtual. Each building will be communicating the process for how to sign up for conferences so please look to your Monday “Weekly Bulletin” newsletter from your school for more information.
Teachers will be using Google Meet (video conferencing service) for the conferences. After signing up for a conference time slot, you will receive an invite from the classroom teacher with the information you will need to join the Google Meet at your scheduled time.
Please note that if your email address is not a Google account, you will need to log in with your child’s district Google account to participate in the Google Meet video conference. If you need to attend the conference via audio only, a call-in phone number along with a pin code can be provided by the classroom teacher for the Google Meet.
TRICK-OR-TREATING EVENT TOMORROW!
FIRST CITY FLU SHOT CLINIC COMING UP NEXT WEEK!
The Franklin Health Department will be having flu vaccination clinics for parents and kids. Flu vaccination is recommended for anyone 6 months of age and older. Call 414-425-9101 to make an appointment. See the flyer below for more details.
Franklin Public Schools
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We pride ourselves on being...
- A Better Place to Learn
- A Better Place to Work
- Part of a Better Community
Email: communications@franklin.k12.wi.us
Website: http://www.franklin.k12.wi.us
Location: 8255 West Forest Hill Avenue, Franklin, WI, USA
Phone: 414-529-8220
Facebook: facebook.com/franklinpublicschools
Twitter: @fpsdistrictwi