Important Information!
4.3.20
Hello,
Day five of distance learning is almost done and there have been over 7,000 Schoology engagement by students this week. Thank you for your hard work, adaptability, and flexibility as we navigate distance learning together. Other than some technological hiccups with Schoology, I believe each of you is going above and beyond to make your environments one that is filled with high-quality instruction.
As you go into week two of distance learning be sure to continue to provide opportunities for students to feel connected with you as educators. In this topsy turvy new world, they are relying on you to provide a semblance of normalcy. This is especially true for our most marginalized students. Consider taking some time to review the article found here for more information on this. Thank you again for your great work in meeting the needs of our students.
Please make sure you review all the info below, and if ever you need to access previous important information emails, please click here. This link will take you to a Google Doc that contains previous information. Enjoy your day, please wash your hands, take of each other, and don't forget to exercise.
For All
FAQ
Question- Where did the Chromebooks that did not get picked up last Friday end up?
Answer- They are all at the district office. If families want to pick them up they can email the helpdesk – helpdesk@district279.org or call them at 763-391-7180 and they will arrange a time for pick up.
New Staff
Please help me welcome two new staff to our virtual school community. Please be sure to give them a virtual NVMS welcome, and include them on school-wide emails in the future.
Ms. Brenda Burdick-LeVang has joined us as a Resource Teacher.
Ms. Rachel Anderson has joined us as Ms. Herlofsky's long term substitute counselor.
Family/Community Newsletter
In this month’s issue our families will be provided with:
Resources to support our students and their families.
Who to contact for support.
Information about attendance.
A Kare11 cameo by Mr. Hassan*
*If you ever receive media inquiries, please let me know before agreeing to be featured. Our district’s community relations director and our area assistant superintendent request that I give them a heads up about all media requests related to North View.
Reply All Reminder
Please do not “reply all” unless absolutely necessary. Everyone is getting a lot of emails and I do not want to bog down the servers with too many emails.
Reminders
Reporting Expectations:
- During this time, as long as you report a summary of your daily work using the form found here by the end of your duty day, you will be paid your regular salary or hourly wage according to your regular work schedule. This will require you to be logged into your Osseo Area Schools apps account.
- Licensed staff- your duty day will be from 8 am to 3:10 pm.
- Non-Licensed- staff your duty day will be communicated to you by Ann Dale.
- As a reminder, you are required to be available and accessible for either on-site or remote work during your regular work hours. You must be ready to report to work on-site or remotely at any time.
Mandated Reporting:
- We are all mandated reporters. If you suspect child abuse or neglect, you must continue to report this to Hennepin County Child Protective Services.
- You must make a verbal AND written (online) report within 24 hours. Step-by-step directions can be found here: https://reportchildmaltreatment.hennepin.us/.
- If a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
- If you know a student who is experiencing a mental health crisis:
- Notice
- Ask
- Report and Refer
- Try to get in contact with the parent, if you cannot get in touch with the parent, call local law enforcement, 911.
Flex Learning Resources & Supports
Reminders For Non Licensed Staff
During the closure the following is expected of all NVMS ESPs.
- Complete NVMS Daily Work Summary every day by 2:30 p.m. This will require you to be logged into your Osseo Area Schools apps account.
- Complete online professional development from HR and your union representative. I have included the instructions for Safe Schools Courses and Online Professional Development courses with this email. The instructional guide for accessing materials can be found here.
- Complete your performance evaluation form for your end-of-year meeting. Ms. Dale has sent out a copy.
Tech Tidbit
Schoology Course Analytics
The document at the hyperlink below will provide you with information on how to review your course analytics. Click Here to access the document.
Reminders For Licensed Staff
Student Attendance:
- We are currently using an opt-out process; this means that unless a parent calls in to report his/her child’s absence, we will assume they are in attendance. Mary Anne Maurer will be checking daily attendance calls and recording that information into Synergy. If you know that a student is absent due to illness or for another reason, please forward that information onto Mary Anne Maurer as well.
Teacher Expectation for Attendance Monitoring:
- Per the district's flex learning plan, licensed teachers are expected to be making daily contact with students. This can be done either via phone or through Schoology discussions or a Google Meets class session, etc. This does not have to be one-on-one contact and it does not have to be synchronous to your Google Meets office hours or your duty day. You just need to see students engaging with class materials at some point during the day. If you do not have contact with a student for two days in a row, please attempt to call the student and notify Mary Ann Maurer, your grade level SMS and counselor on the third day.
CONSCIOUSNESS DEVELOPMENT
Fitness with Ms. Gross
The Ultimate Shelter in Place Scavenger Hunt
- Exploratory ( Evolved Explorers) 36
- LSM ( SWEDYS) 35
- ADMIN ( You can unmute now) 33
- Social Studies ( Social Distant Scavengers) 32
- SPED ( The SPEDucators) 32
- EL (Champions) 28
- ELA ( Pandemics) 28
- Equity and building subs( Swizzle sticks) 24
Week Two Challenge:
Nice job last week! This scavenger hunt is going better than I expected. Here is today’s list, followed by some of the best submissions from this week. Remember, you don’t have to obtain everything, but the more that you do get, the more points you score!
- 20 points: A picture of you with a completed crossword puzzle. I’ll give partial points based upon how much you were able to complete.
- 2 points: Your favorite sentimental picture from December – February, with caption.
- 2 points: 3 book recommendations, with creative explanations of why you recommend them.
- 2 points: Complete this sentence: You’d never believe me if I told you that I, _____________________, but it’s true and (insert NVMS staff member name here) can prove it.
- 3 points: A cute picture of you with a pet.
- 3 points: A written description of the most drastic thing you did to prepare for social distancing.
- 2 points: A written description of the silliest thing you did to prepare for social distancing.
- 5 points: Send someone not on your team a nice, digital, pick-me-up. It could be an e-card, virtual flowers, or something creative or custom you come up with yourself. Once complete, write up a description. The nicer and more creative it is, the more bonus points you’ll earn.
- 2 points: What should one of tomorrow’s scavenger hunt items be? Bonus points if it actually makes the cut.
That’s it for today! Be sure to have your team submissions in by Wednesday, April 15th at 11:59 pm. Yup, you have two weeks to make your submission great because of spring break. Let me share some of the best submissions from last week.
Best of the Last Week:
What is your best tip for other teachers during remote learning?
Don’t shoot your computer- it belongs to the district. Submitted by "Evolved Explorers", formerly known as the Exploratory team. (Sorry Social Studies. They submitted the winning answer first.)Team Name
"You Can Unmute Now" submitted by the team admin.
A picture of someone demonstrating your idea of “proper remote working work attire.
Did you know that technically a movie is a series of still photographs on film, projected in rapid succession onto a screen by means of light? Because of the optical phenomenon known as persistence of vision, this gives the illusion of actual, smooth, and continuous movement? This team did. Click here for the winning submission from the "Socially Distant Scavengers" formerly known as Social Studies.
Haiku
Submitted by "So What Exactly Do You Do? (SWEDYDs) Formerly known as the SDAS/TOSA/LMS Team.
Funny Photo
When your students hit their learning targets! Submitted by "Champions" formerly known as EL.
Sentimental Photo
Caption- "I just crop dusted Love and Ross". Submitted by "The SPEDucators" formerly known as Special Education.
Teams
More fun photos.
They didn't win, but they're pretty nifty.
Important Links
You can manually add the links below to your desktop. If you do not how to do manually add these links to your desktop, please watch the video found here.
Pacific Interpreters
- Interpreting services information can be found here.
If you have questions about:
- Your work responsibilities between now and May 4: contact your direct supervisor.
- Your pay: contact Payroll at payroll@district279.org.
- Your benefits: contact Human Resources at HR@district279.org.
- How to access confidential support during these challenging times: take advantage of our Employee Assistance Program.
Office Hours:
- Beginning March 30th all licensed staff are required to have a minimum of two office hours per day conducted through Google Meets during the duty days. Office hours are staggered by department during the duty hours and can be found here. If staff want to be available outside of these, they may.
- Administrative and Instructional Support office hours can also be found here. These times are for staff only, and should not be shared with students or their families. The below hyperlinks will take you to a document that outlines each individual's Google Meets information.
BrainPop Password:
The BrainPop user id and password are below and case sensitive.
- User Id: NVMSBRAINPOP
- PW: knights5
COVID-19 Resources
I am worried about COVID-19. What resources are available to me?
Here are some of the specific resources included in the HR FAQ (the most updated FAQ is posted on my279).
- District 279 website: https://www.district279.org/covid-19/
- Employee Assistance Program: https://www.district279.org/human-resources/51-services-departments/human-resources/573-employee-benefits?start=7 (24 hour, anonymous employee access for general needs or concerns)
- Tips for dealing with the Coronavirus: https://www.district279.org/human-resources/51-services-departments/human-resources/573-employee-benefits?start=7
- Education MN: Coronavirus resources
- National Education Association: http://neatoday.org/2020/01/06/schools-and-coronavirus/
- National Alliance on Mental Illness: https://www.nami.org/getattachment/Press-Media/Press-Releases/2020/COVID-19-and-Mental-Illness-NAMI-Releases-Importan/COVID-19-Updated-Guide-1.pdf?lang=en-US
- Minnesota Dept. of Health COVID-19 public hotline: 651-201-3920; open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mon-Fri.
Our Commitments:
We, the staff at North View Middle School, commit to…
- Providing challenging academic opportunities that are relevant, engaging, culturally responsive, and rigorous.
- Providing a meaningful, encouraging and safe environment that fosters the whole child, and focuses on student strengths.
- Including data driven best practices and instruction that meets the academic and individual needs of our students, improves student achievement, and promotes growth.
- Engaging in continued professional development to ensure that we are aware of our students’ racial perspectives, challenge our biases, and include practices that serve our diverse student population.
- Providing effective collaborative partnerships with the entire school community by ensuring that we encourage multiple opportunities for involvement, communication, and access.
- Modeling and implementing daily engaging multi-level reading and writing strategies within our classrooms.
- Accepting responsibility for each student’s success and celebrate that success with our school community.
Our Mission!
Committed to furthering the lives of each student by using the best practices available.
Email: bledsoed@district279.org
Website: http://schools.district279.org/nvms/
Phone: 763-585-7200
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nvmsknights/
Twitter: @NVMSPrincipal
Report Reminder
- From March 18-27, unless otherwise directed by your supervisor, you will work remotely.
- During this time period, as long as you report a summary of your daily work using the form found here by the end of your duty day, you will be paid your regular salary or hourly wage according to your regular work schedule. This will require you to be logged into your Osseo Area Schools apps account.
- You are required to be available and accessible for either on-site or remote work during your regular work hours. You must be ready to report to work on-site or remotely at any time.