HRHS Faculty Newsletter
March 25-29
This Week's Calendar
Day 6
Tuesday 3/26:
Wednesday 3/27:
Thursday 3/28:
Day 5
Friday 3/29:
For Your Information & Action:
Club Advisor Stipends: If you are an advisor to a club, please be sure to fill out the payment request to process your stipend.
Walkie Talkies: We have new walkie talkies due to a grant received from MIIA (insurance)! YAY! If you go outside, sign out a walkie talkie from the main office. They are very clear and can be used all over our grounds. If you are typically assigned a walkie talkie, please see Alesia for your walkie and charger.
Discipline Referrals: Just a reminder that the major discipline referrals are for behaviors that you want admin to address. The minor discipline referrals are intended to track less egregious (but still problematic!) behaviors and address trends over time. Please fill out the majors if it's something where you are looking for admin intervention.
Subs/Coverage Process:
Admin has heard concerns about class coverage, so we’d like to explain the process to cover classes and the rationale we use for this process.
We have limited subs and some of them have conditions for when they come (ie. some take vacations parts of the year, some won’t do specific classes, some won’t do specific days). If given an assignment that doesn’t fit their request, they are unlikely to come back, so this is a delicate balance to fill all of our positions.
Process:
When a Leave Request is approved, it is listed on the Google OUT Today calendar. Full day requests and longer term requests have coverage arranged ahead of time with an outside sub if possible. Half day and SNLA requests are noted, but subs are reluctant to come in for a half day.
Voice messages for the next day or that same day via the sub line also have a sub called in from outside. Coverage is done by prioritizing classes by size and a few other factors (ie. if a sub can be in one classroom doing the same lesson plan all day, it is more likely that the sub will be successful by repeating the same lesson. Therefore, a sub is assigned to that class so volunteers can go into the class that has five different sub plans. Another example: if the teacher leaves a sub plan that requires specific skills, we try to assign the sub that can complete the plan effectively).
When outside subs are not available or booked up, we request volunteers on a first come first serve basis. If teachers do not volunteer to cover during their prep, then admin may pull paras from their assignments to cover classes. However, the priority goes to teachers since paras are assigned based on students’ IEP needs and should not be taken out unless as a last resort.
If you have questions about this process, please ask an admin.
Staff Shout Outs!
- Thank you to Tonya Aitken and Geoff Casey for handling a student medical crisis with grace and compassion! Geoff graciously and immediately accepted students from Tonya's class and provided support. Thank you both!
- Shout out to Bill Randolph, Tara Winters, Jason Threlfall, Bobbie Smith, Michele McHale, Michelle Tola, Gail Mailhott-Foster, Karen Milch, and Sue Bresnahan who have worked to get IEPs signed and amendments written in time for MCAS! It truly has been a team effort!
Collaboration and Engagement:
- Huge shout out to Tom Smith, Jesse Porter-Henry, Laurel Christoferson, Jon Letendre, Eric Frary, and Sue Tracy for an awesome science night! Kids were so well-spoken in explaining their projects and showed so much creativity and innovation.
- Thank you to Dara Adams-Smith and Rebecca Phelps for a wonderful production of Into the Woods last weekend!
Student Spotlight
Junior of the Week: Katelyn Meunier is always cheerful and smiling in her post as an office aide! Thanks for your positive attitude, Katelyn!
Sophomore of the Week: Jessie Paradis-Stern shows a deep commitment to serving her community. She helped organize the food drive earlier this year and is organizing the children's clothing drive that starts next week. Nice work, Jessie!
Freshmen of the Week:
- Caleb O'Malley has been working very hard in all subject areas! He used his skills to navigate some challenging and unexpected situations this week and was able to work with others and excel. He is always willing to help get the gym ready for class. Great job, Caleb!
- Vitsehla Kasom stayed cool and helped out in class when a classmate had a medical situation! Thank you, Vitsehla!