WELCOME BACK!
August 25, 2020
~~~~~culture.relationships.future ready~~~~~
Good Afternoon Staff,
I hope this welcome back letter finds you all healthy and safe. I hope that you have all had time to spend with family and friends. Even though the past six months have been unimaginable, my hope is that you have all learned the importance of self care. If there is something that I have learned since March, it is how important my time is with my kids and grandchildren. I just love how they can all make me laugh and make a difference in how I feel.
Attached you will find our schedule for in-service. As you are all aware, we will be having two weeks to prepare for students to begin Comprehensive Distance Learning. There are things on the schedule that are district level training, such as Canvas. There are building level trainings that we will be doing as well, around Restorative Practices, AVID and RULER. As many of you are aware, there are also mandatory trainings through Teachpoint, Safe Schools and specific medical training on the schedule. If you have a student in your class that has a specific need, you will be hearing from the nurses.
Please know that we will be going through our school blueprint that has been developed over the summer. The blueprint is what we had to submit to the school board and ODE in order to demonstrate that we have a plan for re-opening when that time comes. It also contains cleaning and disinfecting guidelines as well as requirements for return to school.
Classified Staff: The schedules for classified staff are still being worked on. Monday, August 31, you will be with all of us going over our building procedures, safety measures and the blueprint for Return to School. We are still determining the best use of your time on Tuesday. You will need to complete your Safe Schools training on this day but will also be assisting teachers OR doing some Canvas training depending on the need.
Many of you have already been into our new google classroom for the 20-21 school year. In there you will find an FAQ document. That is a great place to ask questions if you have any. I will bullet a few items that you all need to be aware of in terms of planning;
SBAC Interim Assessments will be available for the 2020-21 school year.
AR/STAR has been renewed and is ready to go.
Chromebook checkout for students will be September 8th through the 10th.
Materials distribution (Planners, math books, reading books, so on) will be at the same time. I have been brainstorming this with Matt and Wendy and believe we have a solid plan. We will explain it on Monday, August 31, during our time together.
When in the building, you must wear a mask in all common areas. If you are in your room alone, you don’t have to. If someone walks in, you must put it on.
I know that you have been told that during the two in-service weeks, that you may do those from home. However, in order for Comprehensive Distance Learning to meet our students needs at the highest levels, materials will need to be distributed to our students. In order for that to happen, work will need to be done prior to chromebook distribution occurring. Mrs. Nau is ordering bags for each student's materials. It is the plan at this time to be able to issue those materials at the same time we distribute chromebooks. Much of that work will obviously need to be done on campus. We will have classified staff prepared to assist teachers on September 1 from 12:30-3:30 pm. The goal will be to assemble all materials and textbooks into one bag per student to be checked out by parents the following week. We will go over these details on Monday, August 31. If you would like to have some help in building these bags, please plan to be on campus during the above time. If you do not feel comfortable being on campus on September 1 from 12:30-3:30 pm then you will need to ensure that your materials are placed in bags on your own time when you feel more comfortable being on campus. We plan to hand out these bags beginning September 8 at 2:00 pm for 4/5/6 and September 9 at 2:00 pm for 7/8.
I know this is a lot of information. Please know that I am only going to share with you the stuff you need to be concerned with. We all learned a great deal about distance learning in the spring. We know what works and what doesn’t. We know that engagement is crucial and that keeping students interested in content is an amazing craft that educators possess. You all have that gift and I know that our students are excited to see you, even though it’s virtual. We will do everything within our power to make sure students' needs are being met.
Be ready to bring a ton of energy and enthusiasm. We will continue to build on our culture and live our vision statement virtually. We can do this and we will be a stronger group of educators because of it. I love our school! I love my staff and students!!! I can’t wait to see you all even though it is virtually.
Culture….Relationships….Future Ready
See you soon,
Mike
Stayton Intermediate/Middle School
Email: michael.proctor@nsantiam.k12.or.us
Website: http://sms.nsantiam.k12.or.us/
Location: 1021 Shaff Rd, Stayton OR 97383
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/staytonintermediatemiddleschool
Twitter: @SIMSPrincipal