Principal's Newsletter
August 31st, 2018
WOWs
WOW for Cassie Baughn and Sherry Reagan for beginning the challenging work with implementing Attendance Club. They have spent hours developing trusting relationships with some of our at-risk students while building up the importance of their attendance in school. Thank you so much!--Kerri Tharp
WOW to all the teachers at The Ridge for building trusting relationships with students. I'm so grateful for all of you who have the ability to calm students in distress. Mrs. Beerman, Mr. Beer, Mrs. Kelley, Mr. Moersch, and Mrs. Williams are just a few people who displayed superhero powers this week with dysregulated students. Thank you so much for being caring educators. --Kerri Tharp
WOW to Nurse Deb for working tirelessly to help so many students. She uses her knowledge and humor to hustle through a multitude of health concerns throughout the day. Within five minutes she manages to call a parent, take the temps of two students, ask another student about a vision test, listen to another student tell her about a bump on his head, AND remind another student to head back to class. #amazing--Kerri Tharp
WOW to Kim, Lisa, Katelyn, Brandy, Megan, Nikki, Natalie and Christina Pliske for being so flexible and coming together quickly to problem-solve the first FHSD writing unit. It's so great to work as a team as we tackle this new curriculum together. Together we can achieve anything. You all are appreciated! --Jodi
WOW to Natalie and Christina P. for jumping into classrooms and trying out one of the new writing lessons. It's great to "walk the walk" with the classroom teachers as we problem-solve and learn the new curriculum together this year. --Jodi
WOW to Megan S. and Brandy for letting me "crash" a writing lesson. I enjoyed being in your classrooms and learning with you. --Jodi
WOW to Dione and Christina R. for all of your hard work and time you spent teaching the HR testing team how to administer our new universal screener, FastBridge. I know it took many hours putting together the training that we received last week. Great teamwork! You two are both appreciated! --Jodi
WOW to the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers for administering the diagnostics (DRA & PSI) to your students as the Literacy Data Team gathers information for intervention placements 2nd quarter. You are appreciated! --Jodi
WOW to Brandy Leffeler for opening up your classroom to me at the last minute to try out a writing lesson. I loved to opportunity to test my teaching skills especially in the subject that I loved teaching the most. --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to second grade! Thanks for coming together at the last minute to problem solve the writing unit and for your willingness to start over! --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Sherry and Cassie for all your work on the Attendance Club. It's this kind of intentional work with building relationships with kids and supporting their needs that will pay off.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Christina Pliske for copying many student writing examples for our 1st grade writing workshop plans. --Angie Regan
WOW to Jamie McCoy for being the note taker at our meeting. I appreciate your help! Megan Brown
WOW to Christina Pliske for being my barista the other week! You serve great coffee! Megan Brown
WOW to everyone who has stopped to ask me how it is going! Thank you for checking in! Megan Brown
WOW to Carrie for spending hours on the phone after hours with me to problem solve and collaboratively get work done. I would be a pile of ashes if I had been baptized by fire! --Megan Brown
WOW to room 51 and 53 paras for persevering. Not everyone accepts change with grace but you are rocking it! --Megan Brown
WOW to Julie Myers for making sure I eat in the morning. I really appreciate my "safety plan!"-- Megan Brown
WOW to my first grade SQUAD for all of your hard work so far this year implementing the new curriculum and getting the year off to a great start. I am so proud of the great conversations we are having as a PLC! You ladies ROCK! ~Lindsey
WOW to Mr. Matt for always helping us out! It could be finding a lost lunch box, fixing our broken chairs, or stopping in to say Hi! We are thankful for you! ~Mrs. Crawford's Class
WOW to Jodi and Christina for helping us get things sorted out and organized for our new curriculum. ~First Grade
WOW to the reading teachers for always supporting our first graders! We appreciate you ladies!! ~ First Grade
Wow to Gabrielle Lecea for helping me when I was in a bind.--Betsy Arnold
Wow to Jordan McDowell for being so loving and patient with a student. His window of tolerance in the regular ed room is growing! Way to go!--Betsy Arnold
WOW to Julie Elder for leading an interesting, well thought-out speech and language lesson for two very special little boys. It was obvious that she put a lot of thought into the lesson, and her manner with the children was spot on!--Linda Appelbaum
We’d like to give a big WOW to Megan for organizing and ordering our STUCO shirts!!!! You are a true team player. Thanks for all you do for us each year, we truly appreciate you!!!!---Mrs. Hosea and Mrs. Moersch
WOW to Makenzie Oldham for testing so many first graders while we were out for FastBridge training. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to start teaching our Reading Recovery students this week. You are a fabulous teammate and are super appreciated! J Dione and Christina
WOW to Jaime Little for covering my bus duty repeatedly and joyfully while I was out of the building for FastBridge training.
J Dione
WOW to our FastBridge testing team for your positive attitudes and hard work to become certified to test our students. You’re awesome!
Dione, Christina, and Makenzie
WOW to Todd Swope for taking the time during PE class to find a bouncy “hip-hop” ball for one of our special needs students. And he even helped me try to figure out how to keep the air in it when a part of it was missing! Way to go Mr. Swope and duct tape!--Linda Appelbaum
WOW to Michele, Tony, Veronica and Jennifer for creating a fun working environment in Rooms 5 & 6, even when it is a bit hectic.--Julie Myers
WOW to Drew Moersch for stepping in to help keep an eye on our room when it was needed.--Julie Myers
WOW to Janice Beerman for helping with one of our little guys who just wanted to go home.--Julie Myers
WOW to Natalie, Angeline and Kerri for always being there to help with our students who are dyrsegulated or just need a break.--Julie Myers
WOW to Megan Brown and Carrie Alvernia for taking on the new schedules with a positive outlook and putting in all of the long hours to work out the kinks.--Julie Myers
WOW to All of the Paras in rooms 51 & 53 for working hard to ensure all of the students are happy and successful every day.--Julie Myers
Huge WOW to Angeline and Natalie for supporting us with FastBridge implementation by helping with technology prep and volunteers! Your efforts are so appreciated!-- The Reading Team
Faculty Meeting
Kick Off Meeting Results
So far 11 people have provided feedback on our August building level meetings. If you would still like to provide the team with input the survey is still open. You can use the link below. So far the results are extremely positive. Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. We know you have a ton going on!
Majors and Minors
Special Education Students
Heather Forbes Link
As we continue or work on using trauma informed practices below are two video links from Heather Forbes. The first one of her talking about the difference between regulation and dysregulation. The second link is about window of tolerance.
SMART Goals
Message from the Superintendent
A few staff members shared that the message below from Dr. Hendricks-Harris went to their clutter or junk. The following message was sent to all FHSD Employees yesterday morning:
Earlier this year the FHSD Board of Education and FHEA were unable to come to an agreement on the salary increase for our certified staff. As a result, some teachers are “working to contract” to express their displeasure. The administration and board respect our teachers’ right both to work to contract and not to work to contract. We want our schools to be welcoming and positive places to work for all of our staff members, regardless of their decision. Employees should not bully, intimidate, or call other employees names. Teachers are to maintain cooperative working relationships with their co-workers, as stated in policy 4640. It is our expectation that this policy will be followed; this will allow our staff to stay focused on our united pursuit of excellent services for our students. If any teacher has been subjected to inappropriate actions or comments, regardless of your stance on work to contract, please contact your building principal or the Human Resources Department.
Recess Para and Classroom Teacher Communication
The following communication was shared Thursday morning regarding a change in communication procedures for recess. I have included the link for the communication log that the recess paras began using on Thursday.
This morning administration and FHEA met and discussed the concern regarding communication between recess paras and classroom teachers regarding the location of students who leave the playground during recess. The concern is about classroom teachers knowing where students are located if they leave the playground during recess to go to the office, nurse, home, etc. Together we brainstormed a viable solution that can also be found in the FHEA minutes and in the Principal’s Newsletter.
Mrs. Tharp is working on creating a log that can be used by the recess paras to track which students left recess, where they went, and their classroom teacher. When teachers arrive to pick up their students it is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to complete a head count to ensure all students are accounted for. If the classroom teacher is missing a student then the teacher can ask the recess paras. The recess paras will then use the walkie to double check that the student is still in the location that has been logged. This should be an immediate answer to the classroom teacher knowing the location of the missing student before they return to the classroom.
Mrs. Tharp will communicate to the recess paras the new procedure for this communication. The log will be shared in the Principal’s Newsletter so that all staff members are aware of what it looks like.
Thanks for bringing the concern to our attention so that we could problem solve around student safety. Please let me know if you have any other questions about the communication process we will use for the playground.
Recess Communication Log
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CFrs7l1TIccA4N8kBH4c_jFOd-8fpKTNQponDUGIBu4/edit
Cafeteria Reminder
Fastbridge and Dyslexia Training
Please use the link below to check dates for fastbridge training and dyslexia training. It is mandatory for all certified staff members to be trained.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15XpMXaLDULDswzwrHw7jLiOozzuqS212PP_Bjss7hfw/edit
Shout Outs from Parents
I think the best compliments you can get in education come from our parents. As a principal it's no secret that I hear about a lot of negative things. Not this week though! This week alone I have received three emails about three different staff members complimenting the great work going on with their child. Kudos to Betsy Arnold, Nurse Deb, and Joyce Highfill!
Shout Out to Mrs. Arnold
Hi!
I wanted to let you know that Leah could have had a really crappy day after having fruit punch spilled on her clothes and her lunch today but Mrs. Arnold to the rescue! She bought her lunch from Panera and made her feel better. I wanted to let you know in case you had some staff shout outs or something. I already reached out to her my appreciation and I couldn’t ask for a better “school mama” for Leah.
Thanks for all you do!
Shout Out to Mrs. Highfill
Mrs. Highfill,
I just wanted to send a little note and thank you for the great job you are doing in your class and with Paxton.
He told me today he really liked school and that you were a jokester and liked you as a teacher. :) He told me he has 2 books from your classroom library in his bin to read and he is excited about it. These comments made me tear up and made me so happy!
I am not sure what you are doing but keep up the good work!
I know he still has a long way of making the right decisions on the playground or in the classroom, but I really feel you are pushing him in the right direction.
Shout Out to Nurse Deb
Hello Dr DeWeese,
We are now mid way through our third week at school and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for every thing you did for us to enable Aria's transition to HR to go as smoothly as possible. Thank you for all of the advanced information you gave me with regards to time tabling and bus schedules. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me as well. That visit and our subsequent correspondence has been so useful in achieving our aim of allowing Aria to enjoy her time at HR, which she is doing!
I know that so many parents only contact the school when there's a problem so I wanted to be sure I contacted you and thanked you for all of your efforts and very importantly, to sing the praises of the wonderful Nurse Deb, who just "gets it". She knows so much about caring for these T1D littles and her experience and knowledge in this field is evident every single day. She does an amazing job and I wanted to ensure I communicated to you how thankful we are for all of her hard work and dedication. I get so stressed dealing with Aria's diabetes and she deals with three such kids, with good humor and grace. She's a credit to your school and her profession, as I'm sure you do not need me to tell you! I feel so lucky that Aria has her to look after her. I can tell you, we have utmost confidence in her abilities and capabilities and feel so fortunate she works at HR.
Thank you once again for everything you have done to help us. I hope your first few weeks with the kids back at school have gone well.
With kindest regards and much appreciation.