PKM HIGHLIGHTS
May 26-29, 2020
Dear Bill, Darin, Michelle, Todd & Pat
Graduations Celebrations this Week - Martinsburg, Hedgesville and Spring Mills High Schools
· A “BIG” thank you to all those who made the graduation celebrations this week successful. We were blessed with wonderful weather, positively charged ceremonies and very appreciative students and families for how school principals and staff were able to recognize and honor our graduates. The expressions, body language and signs of appreciation were rewarding to see across all of our schools. Students in their actions felt good about their achievements as well as appreciative of the adults in their lives and how all of us played a part in their success. I want to also acknowledge our PreK, elementary, intermediate and middle school leaders, teachers, school counselors and staff who also played a part with this graduating class. Finally, while the circumstances have not been ideal, all of us have taken on the responsibility of calling students, encouraging them to do their work and helping them achieve. I believe the consequence of that positive energy resulted in the 97% graduation rate that we achieved this year. Thank you for that extra energy and making the difference in the life of a child!
Service and Professional Staff Weekly Conference Calls
On Wednesday, May 27, 2020, a meeting of service and professional representatives was held that included - Jana Woofter, Justin Mauck, Jessica Salfia, Debbie Sloat, Georgiana Lang, and Mark Weisenburg along with the Human Resources team of Dr. Justin Schooley, Karen Hensell and Lewis Mullenax. Dr. Murphy started the conversation with acknowledging the fact that a burning question that he is hearing is what is happening regarding the start of next school year and the return to school. He asked the group to think about what they believe would be reasonable communication with staff throughout the summer months to be shared at the end of meeting Dr. Schooley highlighted some of the recent updates from WVDE and BCS regarding evaluation of both professional and service personnel, updates regarding incentive bonuses, along with items that were included from the FY21 budget process for staff. Mr. Mullenax highlighted the need for everyone to continue to be recruiters for BCS. Recruitment efforts across the country has been adapted and challenged in the new environment. Additionally, Mr. Mullenax has been serving on a county PD team to address track of offerings for current and new employees along with permanent substitutes. Mrs. Hensell requested feedback from association representatives in the development of the 2020-2021 240-day custodian. Overwhelming is seems that our custodial staff is ready to return to the buildings to re-sanitize and start summer cleaning operations. The next meeting of the group is June 3, 2020 at 12pm.
Strategic Planning Team Planning Meetings
I want to recognize Robyn Lopez and Betty Anne Powell and the many principals and staff involved in the strategic planning process this year that has occurred over the past two weeks. As we all know the timing of the training has brought about many changes that have presented us with opportunities to stretch our thinking and approach to strategic planning at the district and school level. It has been rewarding and interesting to see folks stepping outside of their comfort zone to challenge our thinking and approaches to our work.
One specific area of change is in our approach to strategic planning at the school and district level. In order to strengthen the process, we have created collaborative school teams that are meeting in small groups facilitated by colleagues. This framework has opened lines of communication and provided a platform for rich dialogue which includes analyzing various data sources and sharing multiple perspectives. The schools have been organized by programmatic or regional teams. This was done purposefully to ensure school plans provide a connection among the schools and give them the opportunity to identify commonalities and share strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT.) From this information, they were able to construct regional school goals to guide the completion of their strategic plan.
As we began the process, teams embraced the idea of collaboration with their peers and used the time to structure goals centered around academic excellence, health and well-being and operational excellence to support and improve system wide operations to meet the needs of the district’s growing and changing community. The teams have supported one another through this new endeavor, and their conversations have led to greater alignment of goals, strategies, and action steps to produce a more cohesive plan that will have a direct impact on student success. All of this planning is also helpful with how students are transitioning from grade-to-grade within their schools and also across the district Pre-K, elementary, intermediate, middle and high school.
Sr. Staff Plus Pandemic Meeting-May 28th
· District leaders in the Senior Staff Pandemic stakeholder group met this week to discuss on going efforts in the district as related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Discussions were held about the return of central office staff to return to work under the safety guidelines that have been established by the health department. In addition, the district is not encouraging any large group indoor meetings or trainings to be held during this time. The health department continues to issue social distancing mandates, wearing of masks and keeping contact of 6 or more feet from each other. This week marked the official end of the school year with schools scheduling time for the exchange of materials and all seniors participating in a graduation ceremony. We are thankful for our school nursing staff who has been present at all functions to conduct a health screening. This practice will continue as we move into the summer lunch schedule. Weekly meals will continue to be distributed throughout the summer, beginning June 8 and continue through August 3. These meals will be distribute on Mondays at South Middle School, Mill Creek Intermediate, Spring Mills Primary and Hedgesville Elementary. The district is pleased to be offering multiple summer programs for students to participate remotely. This is to offer students the opportunity to continue their learning and avoid summer learning loss. There will also be opportunities for teachers to participate in technology trainings to provide support for the future impact of remote learning. Plans for the 2021 school year are ongoing and involve a variety of stakeholder input. West Virginia has received a federal grant, Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund (ESSERF) that will offer school systems financial support while navigating through the Covid-19 Pandemic. District leaders and committee members are working through the process of allocating funding toward areas such as , physical and mental health, academic needs, technology and remote learning needs, extended educational programming for after-school and summer. This is a fluid project that will continue throughout the 2021 school year.
Bedington Elementary School Staff Meeting
Martinsburg High School Facilities
Today, I joined Trent Sherman, principal of Martinsburg High along with members of group: Renee Haines Faculty Senate Chair; Student Council sponsor, Rhonda Foreman, faculty members, David Ryan, Katie Schramm, and Stephen Schramm, Maria Amores, new student council president; Megan Troppman, current student Xavier Jenkins and former student Tyler Jenkins former president and members of the central office – Don Mitchell, Don Dellinger, Michelle Martin, Jim Butts, Dave Banks and. The agenda include looking at a new approach to cleaning and training for the custodian that is planned for the next several weeks. We also received a very detailed report from the LSIC report of condition of the building and some of the mechanical issues that Mr. Mitchell is planning to follow-up related to maintenance. Michelle Martin who is leading the CEFP work for the Martinsburg Region is also considering the input from the faculty and staff regarding some of the facility requests that had been submitted. We also discussed how we could prioritize some of the facility requests and improvement that are being discussed coupled possible funding sources now and in the future. We also talked about student and staff involvement and revisited the concept of adopt a hallway which is continuing to be planned. Finally, there was discussion about larger capital improvements with expanding the fine art facilities. Don Mitchell and Jim Butts shared with the group how the bonding, designing and constructing timeline would play out over a 3 to 4 year period from initial concept to project completion. This was helpful for the group to recognize in prioritizing the issues and also managing expectations of the group. Mr. Sherman is planning to meet at the end of June to get updates and progress being made on cleaning the building. He will also continue to communicate out to the school community through updates on the working and progress being made.
Thought for the Week
This week has me reflecting on a number of observations, memories and imagining the future as we wrap-up the school year. How we might be conditioned and influenced in our lives has always fascinated me. Our neighbor several years ago, a man in his 90 suffered a stroke and went into a nursing home. Consequently, we need to help out and went over to clean up his kitchen pantry and refrigerator. What we found was most interesting. In the pantry were over 30 loaves of Wonder Bread. After he recovered and we visited with him in the nursing home we asked him why so much bread for a single person. He told us he vividly remembered the Depression and not having food and he said he would never again not be prepared. So, he wanted to always have bread on hand.
There are other examples of behaviors that once were not part of our lives and today have become or becoming common actions, such as wearing seat belts, using mobile phones, and now even washing our hands. We are shaped and conditioned by events in our environments – how we interpret and approach them is up to us. Remember how inconvenient is was to buckle up, today it is a normal and routine action.
Today, we are being presented with another opportunity for our behaviors to be shaped and conditioned. What will school look like in the future? How will students be able to continue to learn? How can we make sure all of us are safe and healthy? And, most of all how can we ensure equity for ALL students given the individual needs of their academic success and health and well-being. All these questions and more are being asked of us right now, and we are searching for and creating answers. It is a puzzle with many pieces and when it is done it will create our new picture. I am confident too that we will keep our priorities in focus and continue to do what we do best in supporting and caring for children and families. It will be different and that is ok. And you know what, it might even be better – look at the most recent graduation celebration that have many saying they might prefer these recognitions as the standard moving forward. Now think about it, if someone had suggested that idea back in September, we might have called them a little crazy.
PKM Calendar for upcoming week: June 1-5. 2020
Mon.June 1st
Staff Meeting
Hanover Debrief
Employee Eval.
Board Meeting
Tues., June 2nd
Strategic Planning
Routine Meetings
Wed., June 3rd
Pandemic Meeting
Routine meeting
Employee Eval
Service/Professional Rep Mtg
Thurs., June 4th
Principal Evaluations
Fri., June 5th
Legislative Wrap Up/Chamber Meeting
Advance Planning Mtg
Routine Mtg
JRTI Admin Council Mtg
Meal Count to date - 222,000
Week of March 16: 10,266
March 23rd: 31,354
April 1st: 34,810
April 13th: 20,510
April 20th: 22,670
April 27th: 23,520
May 4th: 21,210
May 11th: 19,520
May 18th: 20,440
May 26th: 17,700
Please view the following attachments and Pat's Picks:
Important Dates Impacted by Covid-19
Finance FAQ's 5/21/20
Highlights of Education Legislation
Orchard View Progress Pictures 5/18/20
Patrick K. Murphy, Ed.D., Superintendent
Email: patrick.murphy@k12.wv.us
Phone: 304-582-0880
Twitter: @PKMSupt