CSD Staff Scoop
August 2019: Get the Inside Scoop on all CSD news!
About the CSD Staff Scoop
The Staff Scoop is a blend of information including updates from the Wilson School Support Center and news from around the district. It includes a section for shout-outs about our wonderful staff and a section where we can recognize the students' incredible achievements.
If you would like to share good news, a shout out or a student or staff recognition, please submit it here. Also, we love photos! Please share your photos with Sarah Jones at sjones1@csdecatur.net and we will share them with the district here and on CSD’s social media pages.
An archive of these newsletters will be found in the staff section of the website. For more information on how to log into the staff section of the website, scroll down to the staff support section of this newsletter.
District News:
What’s in a name?
Did you know that the CSD Central Office at Beacon Hill has recently been renamed the Elizabeth Wilson School Support Center?
In December 2018, the Board approved renaming the Central Office of the City Schools of Decatur after the city’s first woman and, to date, only African-American mayor, Elizabeth Wilson.
Mayor Wilson served our city as Mayor between 1993 and 1998. Prior to serving as mayor, she served on the Decatur City Commission and played a key role in the desegregation of the Decatur public schools and libraries during the 1960’s. Driven by principle and a mother of four, Ms. Wilson has been relentless in her non-violent protest against injustice and inequity in her community. In fact, she was one of the first African-Americans to get a library card at the Decatur library and her oldest son, Richard, is distinguished by being one of the first African-American students to attend the then newly-integrated Decatur High School. Elizabeth Wilson’s actions changed the course of Decatur history and ensured that every child in the City of Decatur has an equal opportunity to receive a quality education.
We thank Mayor Wilson for her service to our community by renaming our Central Office building the Elizabeth Wilson School Support Center. For brevity, you may also use the Wilson School Support Center or WSSC.
A New Name means a New Logo for the Central Office
Wilson School Support Center Synopsis:
Brief Updates from Departments at the Wilson Center.
Update from the Superintendent's Office: Calendar Planning Survey
We need your input on the calendar planning process. Please visit the link below for the survey with complete video explanations. Please note, this survey will close September 5. Thank you for your input!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CSD-calendar-input-2019
This survey will also be shared with parents and the community.
Curriculum and Instruction:
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) UPDATE 2019-2020 Structure
City Schools of Decatur is a member of the first Georgia cohort to implement MTSS. MTSS, which replaced the RTI process last year, is the academic and behavioral support framework that provides interventions and supports for all students. As we enter the second year of this implementation, we have transitioned the name of school-based RTI Coordinators to MTSS Leads. The school-based role, responsibilities, and stipends (if applicable) remain the same; only the title changes to align with the transition from RTI to MTSS.
Maima Simmons is the District Literacy & MTSS Coordinator. For literacy work, Maima works with the entire district (birth to grade 12). For MTSS coordination, Maima is the point person for birth to grade 5.
Madge Willis is the District Math & MTSS Coordinator. For math work, Madge works with the entire district (birth to grade 12). For MTSS coordination, Madge is the point person for grades 6 to grade 12.
We are thrilled to deepen our literacy and math support in all tiers and to provide targeted MTSS support at the grade bands.
For more information about MTSS, visit: https://www.csdecatur.net/Page/4015. If you have any questions, please contact Daryl Campbell at dcampbell@csdecatur.net.
Equity and Student Support:
Greetings! I am Dr. Mari Ann Banks, the new Equity Coordinator for the City Schools of Decatur. Our Equity and Student Support department, led by Dr. Lillie Huddleston, provides input on district policy, practice, and pedagogy; engages faculty and staff in cultural awareness and cultural proficiency professional learning activities; and works to strengthen and maintain partnerships with families and community. One example of our work is providing the Courageous Conversations about Race - Beyond Diversity seminars that over 80% of our teachers and 100% of our administrators have attended.
Our department and the Equity Team members at each school are doing exciting work this year, and much of that work involves caretakers and the community. We invite you to partake whenever possible. One of our first events was the Decatur Dinners, where CSD joined over 100 groups across the city breaking bread with one another while discussing race and equity. Three dinners were scheduled at the Elizabeth Wilson School Support Center and others at various schools in the district. The dinners were a great success and I hope to see you at future events.
Finance:
The Finance Department wants to remind you of how to access your pay stubs and tax documents.
We use Doc e Fill, available to staff at https://findocs.csdecatur.net. This site is also available from the “Essential Links” page of the Staff section of the CSD website.
Doc e Fill hosts several years of W-2s, pay stubs, and 1095-Cs (insurance verification forms).
Here are some resources to help you use this tool:
Doc e Fill user guide – information on setting up your account, using the tool, and a Q&A.
Request your employee ID number – you need your employee ID to log into Doc e Fill. If you don't know, ask for it here.
For more information or if you have any questions, please contact Cathy Karmakar at Ckarmakar@csdecatur.net.
Information Services:
New Decatur Fiber Optic Network!
Have you heard about CSD’s other construction project? Information Services is partnering with the City of Decatur to create a municipal fiber optic network. This network will provide CSD and the city with high-speed connectivity for our respective buildings, and it is intended to provide service for the next 20 years. The capital investment is expected to save CSD about $1 million over the lifetime of the network. Construction is beginning in the northwest quadrant of the city in August and will take 12-14 months. For more information about this project, contact Jason Wade (jwade@csdecatur.net).
New IT Ticketing System
This fall, Information Services will replace the Freshdesk IT ticket system with a new product. The new platform allows us to better track customers and equipment and has strong reporting tools. Staff will use their CSD G Suite account to access the tool. We’re grateful to a couple dozen teachers, media specialists, and classified staff who tested the tool and provided feedback this summer. We will send additional information about the changeover via email, and your school or office’s technology support specialist will provide additional information as the transition near. For more information about this change, please contact Lisa Jones (ljones@csdecatur.net).Operations Update:
The Operations Division provides support for the daily activities and operation of the City Schools of Decatur. We have over 140 employees serving the district in our departments. Please reach out to us if you have questions about the work we do or suggestions in how we can better support your work.
Sincerely,
Noel Maloof
If you have any questions, please contact Noel Maloof at nmaloof@csdecatur.net.
Operations Reminders and News
Maintenance Requests...
As a reminder, if you have a maintenance request, please ask your building's administrative assistant to submit a work order for our team. We prioritize our work orders by safety and severity but please expect your work order to be taken care of in a timely manner. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Sergio Perez at sperez@sdecatur.net. For more immediate maintenance, issues you may call 404-371-6667.
Talley is Open!
Many of you already know that Talley Street Upper Elementary opened on the first day of school but did you know that it is the first fully LEED Certified school in the City of Decatur? LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world.
For Talley, a LEED certification means that our design and construction team has put an emphasis on creating an energy efficient building that also provides a healthy and safe environment for teaching and learning. Our team worked to reduce indoor contaminants, build healthy learning spaces and increase well-being through LEED design and construction practices. This design placed an emphasis on CSD instructional practices, and learning needs. Overall, LEED has guided us through a process of building the best school environment for our children and staff. For more information about LEED and k-12 school, click here. https://tinyurl.com/LEEDinschools
Use Caution During Your Commute...
Please take extra caution if you commute to or around the Columbia, Talley, or New street area. Opening a new school can provide us with new challenges and one of which has been new traffic patterns in this neighborhood. With the new stop sign, which will soon be a stop light, at Colombia and Talley, traffic patterns appear to be shifting and we advise our staff to take extra caution with school children now walking or riding their bikes in that area. We appreciate all the work that the city has done and continues to do to get this area more pedestrian friendly for our new school and we appreciate all our Talley Street Staff for your patience and flexibility during the start of the school year.
Transportation Update
Thank you for your patience as we work through our bus issues and adjustments. Each year our routes need a little adjusting but with the opening of a new school and more construction around our city, our adjustments have taken a little more time than normal and we really appreciate your patience as we work through these issues.
Staff Support Update:
Updates and Reminders from Staff Support:
- Frontline Absence Management System
As a reminder, you now use your CSD G Suite account to log into the Frontline Aesop absence/substitute management system online. Click here for updated login directions. Staff can access Aesop through either 1) their existing bookmarked Aesop page and clicking the Sign in with organization SSO button or 2) accessing a new website (https://login.frontlineeducation.com/sso/csdecatur, which redirects to a Google single sign-on page). - Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment for your CSD benefits is coming in October. Be thinking of any changes to your plans you might want to make. The portal to access employee benefits information can be found at www.csdbenefits.com.
- Employee Self Service (ESS)
Have you recently moved? You can update your information, your direct deposit information, your W4, or your G4 tax allowances through our Employee Self Service(ESS) site. Simply visit https://www.ess.csdecatur.net and log in. More detailed instructions about how to use ESS can be found by visiting this link (https://tinyurl.com/csdessinfo.) - Staff Website:
You can find much of the information above and other useful items on the staff section of the CSD website. Simply visit https://www.csdecatur.net/domain/96 and sign on with your Google ID. Then click the staff tab that should appear on the blue bar at the top of the webpage. Contact your school's webmaster if you have difficulty logging in.
- Mentor Program:
We are excited to welcome the new faces to our district this year. All of our new teachers were assigned a mentor. Mentors provide guidance throughout the first weeks of school year. More details of these expectations will be shared with you as a part of the induction program we provide all teachers new to our district. If you have not already heard from your mentor, your principal will make arrangements for this contact during your induction time.
We are excited about a great start for the new school year and look forward to the expertise, creativity and energy you will provide our students, staff and community! We look forward to serving your needs and building a positive relationship in Staff Support.
For any questions related to Staff Support, please contact David Adams at davadams@csdecatur.net.
Research and Analytics
During this school year there will be testing activity almost every month in City Schools of Decatur. In August, we administer the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). Students in grades K-10 are given the MAP test to determine their instructional level and to measure academic growth throughout the school year. The test allows schools to monitor growth from year to year in the areas of Reading, English and Mathematics. K-1 will no longer take the MAP reading assessment but will continue to take the MAP mathematics assessment. MAP reading will be replaced by STAR Early Reading and the DIBEL (now called Acadience Reading). This change was made to provide more robust information about student's early reading skills in kindergarten and first grade.
See the Testing Calendar and Universal Screeners documents to find out about the testing that will occur at each grade level each month.
Infinite Campus Update:
Staff Lunch Account Issue Now Corrected
A recent update to Infinite Campus introduced an unfortunate side effect: staff lost the ability to use a credit card to add funds to their lunch accounts. Thankfully, on Monday, August 26, 2019, a new update corrected this issue.
To add money to your lunch balance, simply log into your Infinite Campus account, find the Employee Self Service link under the index section and then follow the instructions on this link. These instructions can also be found under that Staff tab of our website once you have logged in at the bottom of the csd home page.
For more information about this update, please contact Anthony Colbert (acolbert@csdecatur.net).
CSD staff snapshot
Did you just complete a training or program, have some exciting news to share or want to give a shout out to a fellow colleague? Send that over to sjones1@csdecatur.net and you will see that in this section in future newsletters.
Do you know the people in your neighborhood?
Spotlight on staff in the Wilson School Support Center and around the district
Did you know Benefits Specialist Jenny Wynne, can answer any question regarding CSD's vast array of employee benefits? This information will be particularly helpful when open enrollment begins in October.
Jenny has been with CSD for 12 years. Before moving to the Wilson Center in 2017, she worked at Clairemont and Glennwood Elementary. Jenny and her husband Frank have lived in Decatur for over 20 years where they raised their three children, all of who attended CIty Schools of Decatur.
To this role, Jenny brings her vast knowledge of employee benefits and human resources from the 10 years of experience she gained prior to staying home with her kids and working in the CSD schools. She is a true resource for our teachers and staff.
Jenny's favorite thing about her job is getting to visit the schools and talking with our teachers and staff. In her free time, Jenny enjoys tennis and hiking.
Stop by Jenny's desk on the first floor next time you are in the Wilson School Support Center.
A View from our Schools...
At the school board meetings each month, a different school's accomplishments are highlighted and celebrated. These have been anything from a recorder performance by 3rd grade, sharing about their celebrations of learning, or high school students sharing their trip to Japan. As we highlight #OurKids' accomplishments, we will share these with you here.
School Spotlight at the August 13 School Board Meeting: Glennwood Elementary
The August Spotlight celebrated the impressive Title I program at Clairemont Elementary. This presentation was given by Paris Hardnett, the Lead Title I Teacher, Gonzilee Upson, the Title I Intervention Paraprofessional, and Quonisha Jackson, Parent and Family Liaison. They presented an overview of their program. This included their instruction model and examples, their resources, their results, and how they increased parent and family engagement, all of which lead to their continuing success. Congratulations to Clairemont teachers and students on their outstanding work.
Administrative Regulations
We are continuing to create, review and accept feedback on the Administrative Regulations(ARs) that help govern our schools. We encourage all our staff to be familiar with the lifecycle of these ARs, which can be found at https://www.csdecatur.net/adminregs.
We would like the public's input -and in particular we'd like input from our teachers and staff- on these ARs during step three of the process.
Administrative Regulations Currently under Review:
You can see the ARs that are under consideration as well as the current ARs in place, by visiting the bottom of this page, https://www.csdecatur.net/adminregs.
Again, we value your input and we hope you will use this opportunity to voice your views on the ARs as they come up.
Wilson School Support Center
Email: sjones1@csdecatur.net
Website: csdecatur.net
Location: 125 Electric Avenue, Decatur, GA, USA
Phone: 404-371-3601
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cityschoolsofdecatur