Wildcat Weekly
June 1, 2020
Our Promise
Every student in Dallas School District is known by name, strength, and need, and graduates ready for career, college, and community.
We're Gonna Be OK👍
We are ok!
This past week was nice to see our temperature checks up and our staff finding reasons to smile. I really appreciate your efforts in these weird times. I know it's not the same, but we have just about done it! Let's finish strong!
I have a lot of information in this week's wipe so enjoy. Let me know if you need anything!
Glad you're here!
8th Grade Recognition Drive Through Ceremony June 10th!
Celebrating the class of 2024 😢
Recognition:
We will hold an 8th Grade Recognition Ceremony, drive-through style on June 10th beginning at 6 PM at Dallas High School, see map.
All staff are welcome to attend and spread out along the path families will drive through in the Dallas High School parking lot. Please ensure safe distancing. We will have masks available to model safe behaviors. Hope to see you there!
Recognition Ceremony Video:
Thanks all who contributed to putting together this year's Recognition Ceremony! Thank you so much to Doug for his creative touch in helping us honor our kids! This turned out really awesome!
Caution: tears ahead!
Welcoming our incoming 6th Graders!
6th Grade Welcome Drive Through - June 10th
We will take part in a Welcome Drive Through on June 10th for our new Wildcats. They will be driving through Whitworth to say goodbye to their teachers and we are looking for a team of staff to be available to welcome our new 6th graders as they drive through our parking lot. Please consider coming down and give our new kids something to look forward to!
At this point here are the details:
Date: June 10th
Time: 2:30
I will let you know if anything changes!
Coming Up on the Calendar & PLC
Tuesday 6/2: Elective/Wheel and PE: 10:30 via Zoom
Thursday 6/4: 7th Grade: 11:30 via Zoom
Thursday 6/4: 8th Grade: 12:30 via Zoom
Thursday 6/4: 6th Grade 1:30 via Zoom
Wednesday 6/10: 6th Grade Welcome Drive Through - 2:30 @ LaCreole
Wednesday 6/10: 8th Grade Recognition, 6 PM @ Dallas High School
Thursday 6/11: All District Staff Celebration - TBA
Checkout procedure
Please let us know when you would like to come into the school to organize your rooms. Heather has developed a handy dandy schedule (linked below) so we can ensure safety for all!
TalentEd Update
Contracted teachers, need only take care of your PDU activities form.
Probationary Teachers: need to complete, End of the year self-assessment & PDU activities.
District Re-entry Team Interest?
We are putting together a DSD Re-entry Team that will be tasked with creating district-level guidance for the operation of Dallas schools for the 2020-21 school year. This team must contain representation from all DSD sites and from all staffing levels (administration, licensed, and classified). It also must contain representation from our various departments (General Education, Special Education, Facilities, Nursing, etc.). The district-level team will not contain parents, students, or community members, but the team will be tasked with accessing those voices and making sure our various stakeholders are heard.
The Re-Entry Team will meet multiple times throughout June, July, and into August, as often as once per week, until the guidance is complete. There will also be sub-teams, designed for specific sites and/or departments.
The District Collaboration Team (DCT) suggested that we combine a general Call for Interest with administrative selection in order to form the Re-entry Team. We need to keep the Re-Entry Team at a manageable size, so if you don’t make it onto the District-Level Re-Entry Team, keep an eye out for participation on site-level and department-level sub-teams.
If you are willing and able to serve on the DSD Re-entry Team, please respond to this email Shannon Ritter with the following information:
Name:
Position:
Primary Site:
Budget information
A message from Andy, if you missed his recent email.
Good morning Team Dallas --
This is a bit lengthy but it contains timely information about our current budget picture and discussions about possible budget reductions. Administrators, the district collaboration team, union leadership and those joining me on "Wednesdays at 3" have seen/heard this information. Each of the groups have also provided input about these efforts. I am asking the same from each of you.
First, our funding picture continues to evolve, very slowly. Last week we received word from ODE that the economic forecast for Oregon was projected to be better than anticipated. Just one month ago, we heard that school budgets could be reduced as much at 8.5% as a result of COVID 19. The news last week estimates the reduction to be closer to 4%. The 4% impact on Dallas School District is equivalent to $2,133,255. That's a lot of money. IF we had to fully absorb this reduction, it would equal about 22 teachers, or about 33 full time classified employees, or about 19 budget reduction days, or a combination of all three. These options are not acceptable to me.
Some guarded optimism --
Take a look at the two attachments. I encourage you to look first at the Budgeting Value Statements. These are not ranked. I asked the administrative team to help me form the first draft. This is the third draft. The list is a compilation based upon our current district efforts and some influence by ODE. It is important to remind everyone about our values during any discussion of budget reductions. These have been reviewed by the groups listed above and have been modified based upon their feedback. Feel free to share any feedback with me.
The attached Budget Process document is what I've also shared with the groups. It summarizes our current budgeting position (estimated) and the lastest funding information from ODE. Here is my guarded optimism -- There are pathways for us (and all Oregon school districts) to remain whole even with our current economic hit. Note the estimated funding of our Student Investment Account -- fourth bullet on the first page. If realized, these funds could backfill our general fund budget as long as the revenue is used for positions which meet the requirements of our SIA plan. Also, note the Legislative information on the top of the second page. There is a healthy level of reserves ($1.75 billion) available for education, if approved by the Legislature. Use of one or both of these funding sources could significantly reduce or even eliminate the estimated deficit. Again, I am guarded about my optimism but it is important for you to know this information. We may still experience reductions but we may also realize adequate revenue to minimize or even eliminate them.
I am hopeful to hear more information soon about Legislative work groups and about an estimated timeline for the Legislature to meet. Often, Legislative work groups provide an indication of solutions for consideration by the Legislature. I also encourage you to work with your unions and other professional organizations to advocate with the Legislature to obtain adequate funding for schools.
Please know that we are not discussing layoffs or specific program/position cuts at this time. I want to avoid these. Many of the current vacancies from resignations/retirements will remain open for now. A few are being filled simply due to the need and the timeliness of finding a qualified candidate.
I will keep you informed as we move ahead. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you again for everything you do in support of our kiddos and each other.
Andy
Links to Previous Wildcat Weeklys
No February 17, 2020