Staff Weekly
Published June 17, 2020
Welcome New Staff!
Chris Jahn, 8th grade math teacher (including geometry and algebra)
Lauren Smith Clark, 7th grade social studies teacher
Kiki Puckett, art teacher
Jake Novak, special education teacher
Melissa Willman, instructional technology coordinator
TBD, special education teacher
Butch Hamm will be subbing for both Tia and Nikki during their maternity leaves this fall. Butch was a teacher and media specialist at Ryle and an instructional coach at both Cooper and Ryle.
Megan is not leaving. She is moving to 7th grade math in Miranda's spot.
Returning to School Email
The commissioner holds a weekly meeting with superintendents. It’s viewable by the public. Today they talked about conditions for reopening. There’s a lot that will be left to the districts to decide, but what I could glean from the presentation, these are some things I think we need to consider:
- This year will be some kind of hybrid learning model, whether it be by the day, week, month, or all year. Be prepared for students to be enrolled at Ballyshannon as fulltime online students, perhaps fulltime in-person students, or a blend of both.
- It could be possible for us to move to NTI, but not necessarily as we did last time. There are three options for NTI. Short term emergency closure (1-2 days), midterm closures (3-10 days), longterm closure (more than 10 days).
- In every instance of expected NTI, we should be prepared for:
- Assignments/work to be placed on an LMS so the work that is done in the building is also accessible online whether we need to be out of school for a day, you have some kids at home and some in seats, or we’re out for an extended amount of time. We use Canvas and only Canvas. We do not use Google Classroom.
- A clearer, more streamlined method of communication with families. We will use Bloomz this year for all of our communication with families. You will be trained.
- Asynchronous and synchronous online instruction should we have a long-term closure. This means that live lessons should be delivered to students, also recorded for viewing later by students, and office hours should be available for students who are struggling with concepts.
- Short term and midterm closures to focus on review/standards mastery. If long-term is necessary, as a staff we will decide if we will teach new instruction and how.
- As we prepare to return to the building with students we will be considering the Healthy at Work guidelines including:
- Stay 6 feet apart
- Wear a mask
i. They did mention that if kids are stationary in a room sitting 6 feet apart, they could take their masks off. We’ll continue to monitor CDC guidelines on that. All it takes is one kid to hop up and “just sharpen my pencil” with everyone’s masks off and there we go with the fun. But…there’s still 2 months before school starts so we’ll wait and see.
- Wash hands or sanitize frequently
i. Not all of our classrooms have sinks so we’ll definitely need hand sanitizer. We will also need sanitizing wipes. Kids’ chromebooks, their pens and pencils, all their “stuff” really needs to be wiped down periodically throughout each day. Their hands need to be cleaned often. If they touch their nose or mouth of eyes, they need to wash hands or sanitize. Solid surfaces in your rooms would need to be sanitized between students so if we changed classes this year, desks and chairs completely wiped down, doorknobs, anything a person would touch.
- Temperature checks daily. Persons with temps above 100.4 will not be permitted to attend school. Staff and students.
- Contact tracing
i. This one is really on my mind. We need to be able to keep track of who was where when. The idea is that whole schools would not shut down, rather we would quarantine single classes with an infected student or students with whom that child came in contact with (they mentioned not necessarily crossing paths in a hallway…but close contact for extended time). This means assigned seats pretty much all day long. This means keeping track of who is in the restroom when (no skirting around e-hallpass, even if they’re “just running somewhere”), assigned seats IF we send them to the lunchroom, which is not looking promising…but who knows. We will create a system for you so you don’t need to worry about this. Just something that we’re thinking of.
- At the end of the month, the governor is saying that groups of 50 will be allowed as long as people are following the above guidelines. The guidance was to “wait and see” how that rolls out and what additional allowances will be made after the end of June.
- No sports until sometime in July and my understanding is even when we return, it’s socially-distanced conditioning. No contact.
So I’m thinking of so many other things also and I’m sure you are as well. Keep a running list and we’ll have a meeting in July when I know a little more. Life’s going to change for a bit and we’ll change with it. Our goal is to keep you and the kids healthy and to fill their brains with knowledge.
Please fill out the survey the district sent AND the one KDE sent to your emails. Super important that they get your feedback.
That’s all I’ve got for now. We will get through this…together.
If you want to watch the webcast, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHyq86MHYtg&feature=youtu.be
SBDM Meeting
Bally Staff Site 20-21
- Opening Day page is updated
- Added Videos page
- Professional Development page is update
https://sites.google.com/boone.kyschools.us/ballystaffsite/home
Building Usage/Space
CHANGE: The entire 7th grade will move downstairs. The entire 8th grade will move upstairs. This is a change from the original plan and addresses some of the concerns that you had about stairway transitions, bathroom usage, etc. Exact room assignments will be communicated after the building is fully cleaned.
Professional Development Opportunitites
Adverse Childhood Experiences: https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/aces-training/#/#top
Teaching Tolerance would be a great place to learn more about racism and tolerance.
The evolution from standards-based to competency-based https://aurora-institute.org/our-work/competencyworks/competency-based-education/
Great Books We Recommend
https://www.thewritingrevolution.org/
https://nataliewexler.com/the-knowledge-gap/
https://www.coreknowledge.org/about-us/e-d-hirsch-jr/
August 10th Agenda
Focus: Mandatory Opening Day Info and Unit 1 Proficiency Scale and Unit Presentations
7:30-9:30 Time on your own to complete Opening Day tasks. Opening Day tasks can be found on the Bally Staff Site, 20.21 Opening Day page.
10:00 Mandatory Opening Day Information
- Evaluation Review
- Emergency Plan Review
- 1st "x" Days Tutorial Review and 1st Day Review
- Q and A from independent tasks
11:00 Office Staff and Nurses
12:00-1:00 Lunch on your own
1:00-2:45 Teams present their Unit 1's for full staff.
**Paras may choose to attend from 10-12 and may clock in and be paid. Do not attend full day.
August 11th Agenda
Focus: Bally SEL, Bally PBIS, District SBG Changes, Bloomz
7:30-8:30 (Breakfast and Get to Know You)
8:30-9:30 Rotation 1
9:45-10:45 Rotation 2
10:45-12:00 Lunch
12:10-1:10 Rotation 3
1:30-2:30 Rotation 4
2:30-2:45 Debrief and Evaluate
Clubs for 20-21
1. If you want to sponsor a club, the SBDM can pay for your sponsor fee. You need to be hired for this position through the district. The pay is approximately $250. The commitment is that you need to be CPR certified (I'd really prefer this not happen during a normal school day because if so I have to pay $130 for a sub) and agree to meet with your club at least monthly.
2. If you KNOW you have a club you want to sponsor, please let me know. Once I have the full list, we'll determine which ones SBDM is committing to for the upcoming year.
Thank you to everyone who hosted clubs last year. The kids love staying after school for fun.
PLANNED CLUBS THUS FAR
- Sign Language with Emily Edwards
- NJHS with Traci Barton
- Yearbook with Sarah Stamper
- Energy and Recycling with Jen White
- Creative Lettering with Erika Bowles
- StuCo with Erin Maley
- Books and Bites with Tia Wood
- Forensics --needs a sponsor (this is a larger stipend through district)
- MathCounts -- needs a sponsor (can use part of Academic Team sponsor fee to pay)
- Academic Team --needs a sponsor
- Is Board Game continuing with Max Llewellyn and Adrienne Kocin?
- Is Friendship Bracelet club continuing with April Kron?