Principal's Newsletter
December 7th, 2018
WOWs
WOW to Miss Lovelace for rocking bus duty for two buses!!! – Mr. Mack
WOW to member of the safety committee for all your insight and ideas. Special thanks to the members who often fill in for classroom teachers as subs. Your insight has been very helpful to the team and to the building. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Gotsch for always stopping by to look for or give an encouraging word that puts my heart in the right perspective.-Mack
WOW to Highfill for knowing her kiddos schedules and making a mad dash to the classroom to check an email and assure accuracy!- Mack
WOW to Golden, Dillon, and Hepler for being awesome all of the time. Willing to do whatever to solve a problem and always providing an answer at a speedy time! So thankful to work with you!--Mack
WOW to Cuneo, McDowell, and Lovelace for being our Math tutors for first and second quarter. You have done an outstanding job and I am very thankful for you!--Mack
WOW to Lecea and Baeten for being willing to take Math groups after school if someone is unable to.--Mack
WOW to Arnold and Bostic for letting me pop in and visit your classrooms. You guys rock!
-Mack
WOW to Christina and Jodi for spending hours sorting and labeling the new books for kindergarten and first grade.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Linda, Cheryl, Rita, Ronna, Kathy, and Cyndy for being so welcoming and helpful to all of the subs and our student observer. Megan Dunavant
WOW to Nikki, Tony, Michelle, Stacey, Jaime, and Carrie for allowing my Lindenwood observer to see all parts of SPED! She was very thankful. Megan Dunavant
Wow to Emilie Bostic for persevering on a form for a kiddo. I know it ended up being time consuming but thank you! Megan Dunavant
WOW to Cherri Hosea! I love working with you in STUCO and appreciate all the work you put into making sure our STUCO events are a success. I am thankful to have you as my STUCO team member! -Drew Moersch
WOW to Angeline for all that you have done the past few years to guide and support 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade PLC teams. You have been a great leader in helping them align their instruction, understand standards better, and help them better prepare students for the MAP. --Dr. DeWeese
Thank you to Dr. OH for helping me deal with some very sticky 504 situations last week. You always take the time to listen to my concerns and try and find out the answers when you don’t know them. I feel very supported. –Sherry Reagan
WOW to my second grade team that have come together to make sure all students are learning and growing! We have done amazing work so far!! -Brandy Leffeler
WOW to Nikki who works with one of my students and helps her feel successful!!--Brandy Leffeler
WOW to Greg, Sherry and Cassie for being a team I feel proud to be part of. You all took great care of my sub while I was out and welcomed me back with tons of support. I can count on you three for anything big or small and it makes all the difference!--Tracy Lloyd
WOW to Kerri Tharp for helping with a difficult situation and checking in on those involved afterwards. You have been such a delight to work with and I always feel validated when you are around. You are really good at lifting people up.--Tracy Lloyd
WOW to Mr. Mack for the work he has done with his class. I subbed for an hour for him and the kids knew and followed every classroom expectation without skipping a beat. You can tell he works on building their character traits as much as he works on their core education.--Tracy Lloyd
WOW to Mrs. Bradley and Ms. Edwards for politely helping students who may be looking for me in my office when I am not there. I know she gets interrupted frequently yet she helps them with a smile. --Tracy Lloyd
WOW to our Student Care Team who share their expertise every week. It is a pleasure to problem solve with all of you.--Kerri
WOW to Sherry and Cassie who continue to impact our attendance data with their work with our Attendance Club students. Your relationships with students are making a difference!--Kerri
WOW to Greg Vest for creating a consistent plan for one of our students who is now experiencing success with self-regulation. Dr. OH and I are amazed by the influence you have on this student. --Kerri
WOW to Aeshya for coming into the new Behavior Specialist position. Your passion and drive for student success is exactly what students need.--Kerri
Thanks to Shanna and Kelly for doing STEM activities with our kids! The teachers and students are loving this time in the LC and it is a great way to support our math and science curriculumJ I encourage everyone to attend- there are activities for all ages and interests! Dr. OH
Thanks to the building for working so hard to prepare students for the MAP test. It is truly a team effort! Thanks to interventionists, Shanna, Kelly, coaches, and classroom teachers for working together to help our students be successful. I am so proud of all the work we did and the progress we made! Dr. OH
Thanks to Natalie for shifting my PLC leadership to grades 3-5 last year and this year. While I love working with all teams, I am most passionate about supporting teachers and students at the intermediate level. I love working with you all and you all have trusted me to help lead our teams in the area of standards based instruction, monitoring, and high-stakes assessment alignment. I appreciate the teamwork from everyone, your hard work, reflection, and feedback that has helped not only student achievement, but also helped me to become a better leader. Thank you all for everything you do! Dr. OH
Thank you to Rob and Ayesha for helping paint over Thanksgiving break! Dr. OH
Thank you to the office staff, Angie, Shelly, Susan, Kerri, Natalie, Deb, and custodians for helping with the holiday decorations! Dr. OH
Thanks to Coach Swope for helping keep my dog entertained while I painted over Thanksgiving break! Dr. OH
Thanks to everyone for taking the climate survey! I am excited about the growth that we have made in this area of our SIP and appreciate all you do each and every day! PS- thanks to a certain staff member who was encouraging others not to wait to take it so that we could wear jeans soonerJ Dr. OH
Thanks to everyone who is participating in the math book study! This is great learning and I am excited to hear your thoughts each month. Thanks to Nathan for leading this out J Dr. OH
Thanks to the math data team, current math tutors, and future math tutors! I am hopeful we will be able to support additional students second semester with the additional staff. This is important work and it is nice to see people from across all grade levels getting involved. Thank you! Dr. OH
Thanks to Megan and Carrie! You have been short staffed and never let it affect the services provided to our kiddos. Thanks to the sped paras who have been so flexible with their schedules and have worked together everyday to make sure that every kids is getting everything they need to be successful. I am so proud of all the work you have done and the progress our kids have made. Welcome to our new sped paras, Kathy, Brittany, and Mike! We are so happy to have you at The RidgeJ Dr. OH
Thank you to the care team! Greg shared stats and encouragement with our team this month and I thought it would be powerful to share them with all our staff-
Thus far, Student Care Team has:
- met with 26 of 30 classroom teachers
- Discussed plans for 44 different students
- Met 144 times for those 44 students (on 14 Tuesdays this year)
I wanted to share the numbers for the work we've accomplished together. Thank you all for your insight, dedication and flexibility in determining the best supports for students!- Dr. OH
WOW to Greg Vest for saving the 5th grade experiment today! When the team discovered the worms had all died he ran to Bobby T's Beer, Bait, n Bullets to pick up 200 worms for our students. Way to go! --Dr. OH
WOW to Shanna and Kelly for all your hard work on the Makers Space activities. The kids love them! --Dr. DeWeese
WOW Drew Button for letting me take some time during music to meet with a class at the last minute.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW Sherry Reagan for handling a couple of touch 504 meetings today. You are a ROCK STAR!--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Jennifer Dillon for sorting all the student MAP scores for teachers.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to our SPED Team on a great file review! It is a lot of work to keep all the deadlines and information accurate for your SPED files. I appreciate all that you have done the last few years to improve. - Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Cassie, Sherry, and Kerri for all your work with attendance. The interventions are working. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Nurse Deb and Nurse Ali. You ladies are true super stars. --Dr. DeWeese
Meeting Minutes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aT4gIVXnb_Tu8CEUzqNNIno5EAD-NYUXgZyUUTfXV2g/edit?usp=sharing
Math Data Team
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uQ1K_w6Wl68wDYyMEpaos-m61WCPMiiZzfdPhkK-KPs/edit?usp=sharing
FHEA
There are no official minutes for FHEA this month as there wasn't a meeting held. Nikki shared that there was one concern around communication, but she felt like that was already being addressed with the Communication Task Force.
Climate
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SEyWcflV_qLqQJvpUXxHWzM26kKlh2BIdpYNSVXuQIM/edit?usp=sharing
Progress Monitoring Meetings
Our first round of literacy intervention progress monitoring meetings are coming up in January. Members of the data team have started working on the agendas and will finish those up as soon as we receive the data trigger sheet. Agendas will be sent to PLC teams ahead of time. Please make sure you review the agenda prior to the meeting for any materials you need to bring to the meeting. Let me know if you have any questions about these meetings. Please go ahead and secure your sub. Per our building policy if a teacher has not put in for a sub at least one week prior to the meeting and the position is unfilled then the teacher will not be able to attend the meeting.
January 22nd
2nd grade- 8:45- 12:30
1st grade- 12:35 - 4:00
January 28th
4th grade-8:45-12;30
5th grade- 12:35-4:00
January 29th
3rd grade- 8:45-12:00
Looking Ahead to January PD
January 3rd - 8:30-11:30
- Opportunities to Respond
- School Improvement Updates
- Planning for One Book, One School
Climate Survey Results and Next Steps
I am putting together a communication task force. The goal of this group will be to review our processes for internal and external communication. We will determine what is working well, what needs to be stopped, and what needs to be tweaked when it comes to the ways in which we handle communication. To ensure all voices are heard and that decisions are made through a shared decision making process it will be best to have representation from all areas. There is information below regarding this task force and how to sign up.
There were mostly positive comments left regarding the new Care Team meetings. A few comments indicated that teachers are not being heard during those meetings and that teachers would prefer that people who are not classroom teachers not help with behavior plans since they do not deal with the student all day. In response the Care Team will develop a quick survey that will be given only to teachers who have attended a care team meeting. The team wants to ensure that they are providing the best support to teachers and to students and would appreciate any constructive feedback to make the meetings better. We will continue to have a team approach around students, but any suggestions for improvement are welcome. Below are just some quick stats on the Care Team so far.
Care Team Data
- Met with 26 out of 30 classroom teachers
- Collaborated about 44 different students
- Met 144 times for those 44 students on 14 different Tuesdays
Last year the Climate Committee sought input from the building regarding sending the climate survey comments to the entire staff. The building voted and decided to only make paper copies of the comments available for staff rather than sending them to everyone. Paper copies will be made available as soon as we close the survey on December 14th. An email will be sent out detailing where they are located. Please note that any comment made in the survey that would directly name a staff member other than administration will be removed and only shared with the staff member/members that it was written about. This is in an effort to protect those staff members, but to still make them aware that something was placed in the survey about them.
One Book, One School
Staff Updates
Mike Timmons will start next week as a special education para.
Joann Jeffreys will be out for foot surgery for the next few months. Stefanie McCoy will be filling in for her. This is also Stephanie's student teaching semester. We are excited to have Stefanie be able to fill in for Joann while she can still earn her credit for student teaching.
Jennifer Barry will also begin student teaching in the spring. She will be rotating through a number of classrooms as she finishes up her special education certification.
Kelly Harris is still on medical leave with an expected date to return in January.
- A few people have asked me if I know what staffing numbers look like for next year yet. At this time I have not been given that information. As soon as I have that information I will share it with staff. My plan is to use the exact same process we have used the past three years to share staffing information.
Congratulations
Teacher of the Year Nominees
- Jaime Little
- Drew Moersch
- Christina Pliske
- Nathan Mackiewicz
- Cassie Baughn
- Betsy Arnold
- Nikki Lovelace
- Michele Kelly
- Christina Rosenow
- Janice Beerman
- Kristen Schrameyer
Support Staff of the Year Nominees
- Ryan Sanders
- Julie Myers
- Jordan Fruit
- Colton Lindley
- Matt Faust
- Stefanie McCoy
- Lindsey Stark
- Marty Huskey
Future Events
January
- One Book One School
- Progress Monitoring Meetings
- Paul Andersen Science PD
- District PD
February
- Spelling Bee
- Culture Night
- District PD
- PTO Trivia Night
- Kona Ice
- Recorder Concert
- We Love to Code
March
- Boosterthon
- Conferences
- MAP Night
Visitors to the Building/Students Attending Events
At this time we are going to keep with our current practice of not allowing siblings to attend events during the school day if they a brother or sister performing or participating in something.
Restorative Practices Academy
Kristen Cuneo
Betsy Arnold
Shelly Gotsch
Lindsey Crawford
Cassie Baughn
Natalie DeWeese
Communication Task Force
Goals
- Keep, Tweak, or Toss- Monday Memo and Principal's Newsletter
- Faculty Meeting Formats
- Process for communicating school events internally and externally
- Parent Communication
Google Form to be a Member
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2CbmQH3NQuXi1h4Yp8ixbOtuL69F3DZal5w_qR-kcdIkU9A/viewform
PTO Grants
At the beginning of the year the following information was shared regarding PTO Grade Level Grants. PTO make changes this year to their process for requesting and spending funds. If your grade level is planning to submit a request please make sure you have reviewed the information below as well as filled out the form prior to attending the meeting in which someone from the team will request the funds. The December 11th PTO meeting has been cancelled. Their next meeting is January 15th.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EAHEojQH_S4ItjJExwCEaACu4qWy2UGm/view?usp=sharing
Grade Level Grant Request Form
Books, Books, and More Books
There was a great comment in the climate survey regarding ensuring that we are ordering books that are relevant to the cultures represented in our building. I wanted to share that we have been working on this for some time now. We just ordered $16,000 worth of new books for Kindergarten and First Grade using Title One Funds. Jodi worked diligently with the vendor to make sure they provided us books that represent our students. The vendor did a great job at exceeding our expectations. The books that we have received will be used in Kindergarten and First Grade for book shopping for independent reading and for small groups.
Dr. OH has also been working with Shanna to do the same thing when ordering new books for the Learning Commons. They have been working on selecting text using the same view with the goal to increase the number of books that represent the cultures in our building.
The administrative team, coaches, and department chairs have spent a considerable amount of time re-organizing the book room. The goal is to place the books back in classrooms so that they are more readily accessible for students. During the inventory we are also working to get a current reality of what we need to purchase. The elementary principals across the district have shared with Central Office the need for possible future funding for classroom library books and small group books.
Thanks to everyone for spending time in the effort to get our libraries updated. It is appreciated and I am excited about getting new materials for our students to read.
Rounding Interviews
- What is going well?
- What needs to be improved?
- What resources do you need?
- Who has been supportive?
My goal is to meet with 11 staff members before winter break. I plan to schedule more next quarter. The people interviewed will remain anonymous. The information collected is used to make improvements in the building. Please let me know if you have any questions.