Clark High School
Monday Memo
Happy Birthday!
September 8th-Christy Keel
Clark Cougars Wow at Last Wednesday’s Football Games!
Help Support United Way
It’s time for the annual United Way Campaign drive. The campaign runs September 8 – 18, and the goal this year for Clark High School is $2,580.00. In your box you will find the United Way Contribution form. United Way makes it very easy to donate with several different ways.
We would love to meet our goal. Random drawings will be done throughout the week for the participants who turn in their forms to Tracy Helms in the front office. The winners will be emailed to come and pick a prize.
Please fill out a form and turn it in even if you do not contribute. If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Helms.
Time to start preparing for Open House on September 16th!
Our Fall Open House will be next Wednesday, September 16th from 6:00-8:10. Please be sure to have your rooms “showcase” ready with student work displayed if available. All staff needs to be in their most professional attire for the event. I highly encourage tie and/or jacket for men. The Open House will begin in the cafeteria at 6:00 with a brief welcome and introduction of administrators, counselors, department chairs, and team leaders. Teachers do not need to be in the cafeteria and may leave after school as long as they are in their classrooms by 6:15. Starting at 6:30, parents will follow their child’s bell schedule to visit each class. Each period will last 10 minutes, and there will be a 5-minute passing period between classes. First period will begin promptly at 6:30. Teachers should have a copy of the current calendar or syllabus for parents to pick up during their classroom visit, as well as a copy of their tutoring schedule. I would recommend you have a note card or quick form for parents to fill out with their most current contact information and any other information they would like for you to know about their child. Additionally, I would suggest that teachers prepare a Power Point or Prezi to use during Open House. Some points you may want to include are as follows: information about you, an overview of what students will be learning in your course, your grading policy, and your tutorial schedule. Please remember that first impressions are powerful, so your presentation needs to be positive and student- centered. We want parents to leave Open House knowing that part of our campus culture is to not only welcome parents, but to also encourage parents to partner with us in their child’s high school experience. I fully expect this open house to be huge, so please be sure to arrive early because parking will certainly be a challenge.
Progress Reports are Right Around the Corner
All grades need to be updated and entered by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, September 14th. Progress reports will be run sharply at 9:00 a.m. on September 14th. Members of the counseling department will deliver the progress reports to your classroom. They are to be distributed during 4th period study hall. Please note that students are encouraged to get their progress reports signed by a parent or guardian and returned to their 4th period teachers. However, all teachers are expected to contact parents via email or phone by Friday, September 18th for any child earning below a 70 for the three-week progress-reporting period. Be sure to keep documentation of these parent contacts.
Library Corner
Whew! What a whirlwind these two weeks have been! The first week of school I conducted book talks to ALL the English I and English II students who are required to read a book for SSR (Silent Sustained Reading). Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I spoke to all the AVID students about Google Classroom, showing them what the workflow looks like when they get, and complete, assignments. We also did a lot of trouble-shooting with the help desk AND discussed appropriate writing styles and behavior when working in online environments. Did you know that some universities and employers are now looking into applicant’s social media accounts to make sure they are a good fit? It is important our students are aware that they should be putting their “best selves” out there on the web!
A few library reminders: students should ALWAYS come to the library with an official pass. During study hall you can send up to five students per class. We will stamp their pass when they return to class. Passes were placed in all teacher’s boxes at the start of the year-if you run out let us know and we will get you some. Please know that you can call us for help any time at 469-752-7227 or email me (christine.lynd@pisd.edu) or Reeta Shah library asst. (reeta.shah@pisd.edu) . We are here to support students AND teachers in whatever way we can.
Only Water is allowed in Classrooms
Please do not allow your students to bring any food or drinks into your classroom besides water bottles. This has always been the campus guideline, but our new students need to be taught this and our returning students are just testing the boundaries, especially with Starbucks and Sonic drinks.These are not allowed. If you are doing hall duty and see a student with any drink besides water or any food, please ask him or her to put it in the trash before entering class. Naturally, there are a few students who have an accommodation allowing snacks in class, but this is very rare.
Drinks other than water and food items are only allowed in the cafeteria. Thank you in advance for helping to enforce this campus guideline.
We need teachers help...It’s time to start enforcing the tardy and dress code policy.
Some of you have already started counting tardies, but if you haven’t, please start doing so today. Students did an excellent job of moving quickly through the halls the first few weeks of school, and they will continue to do so if they know you are going to enforce the school tardy policy. Enforcing this policy is not an option. It is an expectation. Please review the tardy policy with your students, which can be found in the staff handbook. Remember, we must manage what matters, and students arriving on time to class matters. It is up to you to enforce the policy, document the tardies, and send a referral to the student’s alpha admin on the third tardy. Teachers are to contact the parent on the second tardy, so the parents shouldn’t be surprised when a student gets assigned a consequence by admin on the third tardy. Remember, we must communicate tardy concerns to parents because students can eventually end up in truancy court due to tardies, and parents don’t like surprises! Please send a student to room 116 (the ISS room) if he or she is out of dress code.
Upcoming Dates to Note
Administrative Reminders
- Be sure to check your voice mail daily and respond to parent voice messages and emails within 24 hours. Please note that deleting a voice message in your Outlook box does not delete it from the phone system.
- All teachers are expected to have the learning targets for the day clearly posted in their classroom. The learning targets should be reviewed with students on a daily basis.
- SPED, CMIT, 504, ESL-As you are getting to know your students, please be sure to closely review all ESL, special education/CMIT/504 students’ accommodations and modifications. Please let Monica Luckey, Lori Nicks, or Natalie Bauerkemper know if you have ANY questions.
- Please be mindful that each teacher’s instruction time is extremely important, and when you release your students late from your class, it takes away from another colleague’s instruction time.
- If you are the coach, sponsor, or teacher of a group of students who are going to miss part or all of a school day due to a field trip, game, or other activity, please send out the list of students at least one week in advance. This allows teachers to plan accordingly based upon how many students will be missing their classes.
- If you ever need your employee ID number, it can be found at: https://is.pisd.edu/PTSWebF/MyEmpID
- Petty Cash guidelines-Please remember that the maximum amount for petty cash is 75.00. ALL petty cash purchases must be preapproved by Janis Williams.
- Film Usage Guidelines-Educational film use during instructional time will be limited to those movies or clips which are currently included as part of the district curriculum, or those obtained from the video steaming library available to Plano ISD teachers.
- Hall duty-Please be in the halls during every passing period to make sure students “walk and talk.” Students should not be standing idly in the halls when they only have 5 minutes between passing periods.
- Moving classroom to another location for the day? If you move your students to a different location for the day, please be sure to place a large note on your door indicating where your classes can be found. Also, please email Sandi Welsh, Tracy Helms, Anita Stephens, and Carmen Ericksson in case someone comes to pick up a student. You do not need to send out a Clark staff email.
- Information for daily announcements-All information needs to be sent to Melissa Wegleitner by 3:00 the day before.
- Study Hall- Please be sure to allow students the full use of their study halls. Several concerns have been brought forward regarding teachers using the study hall period for instructional time. Please remember that many of our students are involved in extracurricular activities and/or work; therefore, all teacher must allow students this valuable study time.
Janis Williams, Clark Principal
Email: janis.williams@pisd.edu
Phone: 469-752-7210
Twitter: @JanisWilliams13