Somerset ES Staff Bulletin
Week of December 21st
"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think." - Margaret Mead
Events This Week
Monday (12/21)
8:40-9:10 PTA Executive Board Meeting
3:45-4:45 PLC Meetings
Tuesday (12/22)
Wednesday (12/23)
10:30-11:45 Core Team
IEP/EMT -- Coverage
9:00 Robins -- Lambert-Williamson
Thursday (12/24)
Winter Break Begins
Upcoming Events
Monday (1/4) - Welcome Back! 3:45-4:45 Staff Meeting
Tuesday (1/5) - 7:00 PM Foundation Meeting
Friday (1/8) - 9:00-11:00 AM Highly Gifted Center Testing in Media Center (select 3rd graders)
Staff Recognition
Kudos to:
- Brooke for all her hard work developing the WIDA testing schedule!
- Susan for always going above and beyond to find coverage for teachers each morning!
- Gail Jones for covering Kathy yesterday afternoon when no sub picked up.
- The lunch/recess staff for their flexibility in shifting coverage.
- Michelle Gins for covering yesterday afternoon’s meetings solo.
Happy Birthday to:
12/26 Paula Traywick (Kindergarten)
12/27 Erica Yi (Grade 5)
Announcements and Important Information
§ The building will be open normal hours during winter break. Please check in with Jackie and/or Matt so that they know if you are planning on stopping by. (Closed on 12/24, 12/25 and 1/1)
§ With the holidays approaching, we have been asked to review the MCPS’s Ethics Policy for Employee Gifts with you. MCPS Teacher/Staff Gift Policy: Occasionally, staff members will receive gifts from parents during the holiday season, at the end of the year, or for special occasions such as wedding shower, baby shower, etc. Based on revisions of the MCPS Ethics Policy a few years ago, MCPS employees may not accept gifts that exceed $20 in value, which is a decrease from the $25 previously allowed. A friendly reminder that the school and MCPS policy for staff accepting gifts from parents/families is that the staff member cannot accept a gift exceeding $20 in value or a series of gifts exceeding $100 in value in a calendar year from any person or family. If parents/families decide to contribute to a class gift for the staff member, it must follow the MCPS policy and each parent/family contributing to the gift cannot exceed $20 in value. For example, if 15 parents contribute $10 each to make the class gift value of $150 or 10 parents contribute $20 each to make the class gift value $200, then this will be in accordance with the MCPS gift policy because it does not exceed $20 per person contributing to the class gift. http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/bbb.pdf
§ Remember to use COPY PLUS! http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/copyplus/
§ PLC Meetings – just a gentle reminder that attendance at PLC meetings is not voluntary.