THE STALLION STAR
December 6, 2015
IN THE NEWS...
NO TUTORING FOR THE REST OF 2015/LEAVE EARLY PASS
Please make sure you check with your students first thing on Monday that they remembered there is no tutoring. This will prevent a flood of late pickups in the office on all days remaining (see below if you or the students forget).
We do wish to give you some time to tackle some of the extra holiday tasks so, as long as our jobs and tasks are still getting done, please do feel free to leave when the kids leave, for the rest of the year. One exception will be if you have kids picked up late because they forgot about no tutoring -- you will need to wait with your kids in the office if they are picked up late from no tutoring -- so check with your class EARLY so phone calls can be made ahead of time!
GRADES IN FOCUS
Good news -- We are receiving positive feedback from a handful of parents regarding the parent ability to check student grades on Focus. It is wonderful to see parents investing time into their children's education! Thank you to everyone for getting grades updated in FOCUS! Sustaining the progress of student performance is pertinent in increasing parent buy-in in utilizing the Parent Portal of Focus. The more informed parents can be, the better the support we can get from them. Please continue to be dependable and maintain updated records in Focus -- this will increase consistent participation from parents, as parents will know they can depend on being informed when they log in.
AESOP SUB SYSTEM
By this time, all staff should have taken the training videos that were emailed out before the Thanksgiving break and should have signed off on it in the office.
Teachers and Substitutes should have also received last week an Aesop email Welcome notification with their login credentials (e.g. username and password) for the Aesop system. They will be prompted to login to the Aesop system. You must register and log in. The district is monitoring and will contact those staff members who do not comply.
PRINTING IN THE LAB
Staff, we do not want to micro-manage however our usage of the printer ink in the lab is depleting faster than we can afford. A print cartridge costs $160 each, and we have used up 3 cartridges in 3 weeks. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE refrain from printing off class sets of anything. We are aware of a few grade levels who are doing so. Using your copy counts is the more affordable method - and if you're worried about running out of copies, please see Mike or Rachel, we will find ways to accommodate your copies. It is more affordable to accommodate copies than it is to purchase print cartridges.
ATTENDANCE
Classroom teachers, while we have definitely increased our efficiency at taking attendance (thank you!), we cannot stress enough how important it is to report attendance on time (before 9:30) and to report attendance accurately. Again, daily attendance rates impact our funding, and it also obviously has an impact on our truancy procedures -- which can lead to some logistical nightmares from an operational standpoint.
For example; A family of three students arrive late to school at 10 AM. Teacher One, who took attendance earlier, emails the SDS to have the attendance record adjusted from Absent to Late; Teacher Two, who had not taken attendance yet, records the second sibling as Present; and Teacher Three, who took attendance earlier, does nothing to adjust the record from Absent to Late. So we have one family with a late student, a present student, and an absent student. Discrepancies like this cause our student services/truancy department to investigate, which leads to individual teacher's attendance records to be audited.
You can avoid future problems by making sure you have consistent and efficient procedures to take attendance no later than 9:30, and have hard records of when students are present, absent, or late. The state holds you accountable each time you sign the attendance verification sheet at the end of a grading period. The attendance procedures and records that teachers utilize have proven beneficial during teacher attendance audits.
ISTATION HEADPHONES AND ISIP
All classroom teachers should have received a set of 6 headphones that students may utilize with their iPads when using IStation. We want to thank our PTA for generously purchasing the headphones for us! As they are a donation, teachers, please put expectations in place on how the headphones should be cared for, as once they are not working or broken, they will not be able to be replaced.
December started which means the next round of progress monitoring is occurring on IStation. We notice several students were not able to access Istation last week so did not get progress monitored. Please make sure your kids have time to work with Istation this week and remember that if it is the first time this month the student is on it, IStation will need about 30 minutes to administer the ISIP progress monitoring assessment.
OFFICE REFERRALS
Please check your records. There are a handful of students who have been referred to the office 3+ times with no Student Concerns Committee meeting scheduled. Teachers are responsible for initiating the process, and this applies to special area teachers as well. SCC forms can be found in the office or from the counselor.
As stated in our staff handbook (page 14):
After three office referrals in a four week period, the student is referred to a Student Concern Committee (SCC) meeting to make a plan for success. The teacher should complete an SCC slip from the office and submit to the counselor who will make arrangements for the meeting.
Student Concern Committee (SCC): When a student earns his/her third office referral for behavioral issues, a Student Concern Committee meeting is held. This meeting includes the parent, student, teacher, counselor, administrator, and possibly the liaison. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss student behavioral concerns, review current behavior plans, and set new goals, expectations, and timelines. At times, an individual student behavior plan will be developed with goals to improve behavior and an alternative plan for disciplinary action if the behavior persists.
MOVIE FOR DECEMBER 18TH
Don't forget to get your movie approved by Mike and/or Rachel prior to 12/18. Please refer to the staff handbook, page 8, for guidelines:
AUDIO VISUAL – VIDEOS/MOVIES/MUSIC
Videos shown during classroom instruction should have a connection to curriculum content, even when used as a reward. Only films secured by the audio-visual library of the Richardson ISD or Audelia Creek Elementary are considered automatically approved for use. See the building librarian for the list of approved films and materials. The principal or assistant principal must approve all other videos/movies shown in the school building. Movies should only be rated G. All music used should be previewed before using to determine appropriate content and language.
Adjustments to the expectations above can be adjusted with appropriate planning and pre-approval from Mike and Rachel. Please just plan ahead.
JOLLY JOLLY CALENDAR - MIRROR, MIRROR...
We hope you enjoy the special treats, privileges, and activities built into the month of December. For the second year in a row, principals were cautioned about giving too much leniency with professional dress during this time of year. We however feel that it's the little things that can go a long way, plus our staff has been overall very respectful and responsible with casual dress so far, thus we went forward with the dress-down days. However, please continue with the mantra of keeping it polished and clean when wearing jeans this month. Jeans should be paired with a professional shirt or top. As always, we will continue to have district personnel visiting our campus for a variety of reasons -- doing our due diligence of not "standing out" with un-professionalism would be much appreciated!
Thank you to all staff who participated in the fun pajama wearing day on Thursday! We were very appropriate for the reading theme of the day/night, and we received many compliments about the good spirit everyone brought!
SUBSTITUTES
If you have had a substitute in your classroom or for a fellow teammate that you thought highly of, please help us build our Substitute List by submitting that sub's name to Carlene so that she can add to our priority list.
SUBMISSIONS TO THE STALLION STAR
Anyone is welcome to submit entries to our weekly staff newsletter. Please email any submission requests to Carlene by the Thursday before publishing.
RISD CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY -- ALL STAFF MUST COMPLETE
The annual campus climate survey was emailed to ALL RISD STAFF on Monday, November 30th. Please read the message below from Superintendent Dr. Waggoner, as was posted in RISD NOTES before the Thanksgiving Break. The survey platform is linked to your specific email and tracks your individual participation -- you cannot forward the link. If you do not receive the survey link on Monday or have any questions, please see the link to the survey FAQ's at the bottom of this posting.
ALL AUDELIA CREEK STAFF will be required to complete the survey by end of day, December 18th. It should take between 15-30 minutes to complete. THIS WILL BE YOUR EXIT TICKET TO LEAVE FOR WINTER BREAK. Please email a screenshot of your survey completion or submit a printout of your survey completion to Carlene before leaving for break and she will check your name off. Thank you in advance!
Message for Campus Staff from Dr. Waggoner:
I’m writing to ask you to participate in the district’s Campus Climate Survey that will open at the end of the month. The purpose of the survey is to solicit your input regarding academic preparation, student support, leadership, safety, and other issues.
On Monday, November 30, you will receive an email invitation to participate in the survey. All responses are confidential, so please feel comfortable answering candidly. After the survey closes on Friday, December 18, we will share districtwide results with the Board of Trustees, staff, and the RISD community.
Past survey participation has been strong, with more than 90 percent of staff responding. We look forward to your continued feedback; consistent communication is a key to becoming a destination district. For questions about the survey, contact James Holland, director of research and evaluation, at james.holland@risd.org or 469.593.0562.
Sincerely,
Kay Waggoner, Ph.D.
Superintendent
FAQ's for Campus Climate Survey:
A Great Read from EDUTOPIA
DUTY TIME
December 7-11
Hutchison - Student Entrance @ 7:20 (Stop students to breakfast at 7:50-Give stop sign to last student.)
Hanson - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
A. Gonzales - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
Cafe -- 2 teachers monitoring cafeteria, 1 teacher in food line
Holloway - Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
Lee - Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
Brown - Expedite Food Line
Afternoon Duty: Reed (cones- stand by front cones @ 2:45 to let daycare buses and vans through); Newman and Tribble (daycare)
December 14-18
Farmer - Student Entrance @ 7:20 (Stop students to breakfast at 7:50-Give stop sign to last student.)
Saavedra - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
Syblik - Gym - Reading Corral @ 7:20 - Release students one grade level at a time at 7:50
Cafe -- 2 teachers monitoring cafeteria, 1 teacher in food line
Tanner- Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
D.Williams- Cafeteria @ 7:20 - monitoring students - release tables at 7:50 one at a time
Burke - Expedite Food Line
Afternoon Duty: Tribble (cones- stand by front cones @ 2:45 to let daycare buses and vans through); Hill and Holt (daycare)
ACE STAFF HOLIDAY PARTY
Please join us for the Holiday Party! Click this link to say “YES” you are coming J
KUDOS GOES TO!
Huge thanks to Taressa Anderson for excellent set up and operations of the book fair! It was a great, profitable success and a terrific promotion for reading! Your extra time and efforts, lack of lunches and bathroom breaks went a long way for our staff and students -- many of our Stallions walked away with some reading sparks!
*FAMILY READING NIGHT
It goes without saying that Thursday night was a fantabulous success! Thank you to everyone who contributed to the evening's success, both huge and small. The setting was beautifully decorated and set the tone for fun and happiness for all participants. It was amazing to have community partners support our cause, and watch our staff members collaborate so merrily. There's a long list of thank you's, so thank you to everyone, especially to our Parent Committee! Thank you more specifically to Maren Farmer and Jaqueline Burke for making the gorgeous banners and creative decorations, to Elsa and Donna Williams for the showcase of performers, to Taressa Anderson for holding down the book fair and securing the fabulous guest author, to Jennifer Blanton and Terry Harris for connecting us with talented community guest readers, and of course, to Kim Seeto for facilitating all the events into one spectacular night!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Upcoming Birthdays!! Happy 21st!!
Jared Oubre – 10th, and Roger Westbrook – 10thUPCOMING DATES:
Decembere 7-11 -- Data Meetings (please see schedule)
December 8 -- Staff Ice Cream Social @ 3:15
December 9 -- Rudolph visit
December 10 -- Sugar plum fairy visit; GLIMs today during planning; Staff meeting today
- December 11 -- Grade Posting Window Opens; ACE Holiday Party @ Taco Joint 7-9PM
- December 16 -- SMU visits ACE (more info to come); Report Card Drafts due
- December 17 -- GLIMs meet today during planning; NO Staff Meeting
- December 21-January 1 - No School - HOLIDAY BREAK
- January 4 - Staff Development Day
- January 5 - Students return; Report cards go home with students; Start of GP 4
- January 26 -- 4th grade SIM (Writing)
- February 2 -- 5th grade SIM (Math)
- February 3 -- 5th grade SIM (Reading)
AUDELIA CREEK ELEMENTARY
Email: rachel.sanjose@risd.org
Website: http://www.edline.net/pages/Audelia_Creek_Elementary
Location: 12600 Audelia Road, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 469-593-2900