Principal's Newsletter
October 28th, 2016
WOWs
WOW to our SPED department! The whole department is fabulous. This year I have worked closely with Mrs. Applebaum, Mrs. Carr, and Mrs. McCoy – an amazing team , doing amazing things for kids! --Shelly Gotsch
WOW to Nikki Lovelace for her help with a tough testing referral.--Shelly Gotsch
WOW to Ms. Baker for all of the help and interventions she has provided to the kiddos in room 57. --Shelly Gotsch
WOW to Denise Ayers for cleaning all of our drinking fountains to a sparkling shine! Her willingness to get the job done as soon as possible is always appreciated!--Kelly Edwards
WOW to special area teachers for great conversations about students today. Thanks for all that you are doing to help our students be successful!--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Drew Button for volunteering to fix the jammed copy machine for me AND finish making my copies so I could pick my class up from recess. You may have saved a life. --Kim Whitworth
WOW to Tessa for taking pictures at Trunk or Treat. They turned out great. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Kody and Cheri for organizing a great spirit week.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Lindsey Stark for speaking to our students. You are an inspiration!--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Tony Beer and Kevin Hollinger for helping Tyler prepare a presentation for his speech.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Becca Lewis for her patience and flexibility!-- Dr. DeWeese
Recess Update
Parent Survey Results
The parent survey results are in! We had 296 parents take the survey. Below you can see the statements that appear on the survey and the percentages. Special thanks to our special area teacher and Angie Regan for stopping parents during conferences to take the survey. We will be sharing some of the comments in the future to help make improvements with our parents.
- 97.3% Strongly Agree or Agree
- 2.7% Disagree
This school is a supportive and inviting place for parents/students/guardians.
- 97.22% Strongly Agree or Agree
- 2.78% Disagree
My school provides communication from school to home and the opportunity for communication from home to school.
- 97.18% Strongly Agree or Agree
- 2.83% Disagree
My child feels safe at school.
- 98.58% Strongly Agree or Agree
- 1.07% Disagree
- .36% Strongly Disagree
As a parent, I feel connected to my school.
- 91.79% Strongly Agree or Agree
- 7.50% Disagree
- .71% Strongly Disagree
Office Update
In an effort to make sure our fabulous office staff is getting their uninterrupted breaks we have asked them to come up with a consistent break schedule. Please make sure you are not asking for items when the office staff is on their scheduled break. The break schedule is below. Please see an administrator if you have any questions.
Ruth- 12:00-1:00
Jane- 1:00-2:00
What Are Your Administrators Learning?
Over fall break Angeline and I attend two days of a conference title Adaptive Schools. The overall goal of this training is to learn how to develop the collective identity and capacity or members of an organization as collaborators and inquirers. We have been spending the time learning strategies that help groups of people be more collaborative and be better equipped to solve complex problems. It's all about exploring what makes teams effective and how to develop the skills to be more effective. There are still two more days of training left that we will attend on November 3rd and 4th. We are both looking forward to exploring ways to bring this training to The Ridge.
Coming up on November 10th the entire administrative team will be attending a workshop titled "School Culture Rewired: How to Define, Assess, and Transform It with Dr. Todd Whitaker and Dr. Steve Gruenert." Attending this workshop is part of our professional development plan with other administrators in the district. We are also participating in a book study with our colleagues from other buildings using the book written by Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired: How to Define, Assess, and Transform It.
We are also fortunate enough to be offered a quarterly book study and participate in Twitter Chats with administrators across the district. This quarter we are reading Hard Conversations Unpacked: The Whos, the Whens, and the What -Ifs.
We are looking forward to using and sharing all of our new learning this year in an effort to implement great things at The Ridge!
Committee Minutes
Data Team
Character Committee
Parent Involvement
FHEA
October PD Survey Results
https://drive.google.com/a/g.fhsdschools.org/file/d/0B55nQpj4PAvLcV9Ua3g0Yi1yN3M/view?usp=sharing
Veteran's Day
- Memorial Wall- students can bring in pictures to place on the posters that have been sent home. We are going to create a Memorial Wall in the foyer.
- Pictures- we will be creating a back drop for Veteran's to get their picture taken with the student they came to visit.
- Artwork for the halls- You should have received an email from Shelly Gotsch regarding this artwork.
- Lunch- We will be serving lunch to our guests following the assembly. Further details are coming from Debbie Pryor. We will need some help with set up, serving, and clean up.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the events for that day.
Faculty Meeting
Behavior Resource- Restorative Practices
Below is a link to a great article on restorative practices. We haven't started PD in this area yet, however it is part of our plan in the future. Thanks Makenzie for sharing the article.
CITW Walks with the Trainers
Our PD on November 8th will focus on reviewing the learning that we have had so far with the strategies in component 1. We will also look at CITW data with each PLC to look at strengths and develop action plans for next steps.
Oops Box
Entry #1
Because of some of the behavior issues that we have this year at Harvest Ridge, is it possible for there to be an In-School-Suspension room that is monitored by 2 paras? This way kids who are not following the code of conduct or behaving in a way that keeps the other 20+ children from learning can have a place to go with adult supervision; a place to calm down where the rest of kid's aren't staring at them, and a place where maybe they may get some sort of work done in a smaller setting. At some point it only seems fair to the other students who are not able to fulfill the mission "Everyone Learning Everyday" because their days are continuously interrupted because of their peer's actions. This suggestion is truly given with the best of intentions so everyone can learn everyday.
Entry #1 Response
Great question! We are going to address the answer to this in the faculty meeting on November 1st because it is not a simple answer.
Entry #2
My Life!
Entry #2 Response
We are not sure what that is supposed to mean....
Book Recommendation
Trunk or Treat
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B55nQpj4PAvLakJFZFVBei1kdnM?usp=sharing