EV NEXT WEEK - February 28
East Vincent Elementary School
NEXT WEEK'S MEETING SCHEDULE
MARCH
*All meetings take place in the Innovation Center unless otherwise noted
Monday, March 2: Day 3
7:50 No meetings
Tuesday, March 3: Day 4
AM only IEP and IST meetings in Conference Room
7:50 No meetings
Wednesday, March 4: Day 5
7:50 Special Education Department meeting
9:00 Pupil Services meeting in room 207
1:00-3:00 Para PD meetings at OJRMS (see e-mail from Linda Swavely)
Thursday, March 5: Day 1
7:50 No meetings
12:30-3:00 Para PD online training (see e-mail from Linda Swavely)
Friday, March 6: Day 2
7:50 Update of the new "MLP/OASYS" with Dr. Kathy Soeder
STUDENT GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT
Technology Expectations
Last week, I shared a note about classroom device organization expectations. This week, please take note of how devices are being used. As a reminder, school devices should be used only for educational purposes and should be supervised at all times. Devices should not be used in the cubby areas, hallways, and during indoor recess when it would be more difficult to supervise student use.
A Look Ahead...
GLM will take place during the week of March 9. Be prepared to discuss students who are not making at least a year's growth according to reading and math assessment measures. I will be asking classroom teachers, case managers, and specialists for students' names who are of concern for not making a year's growth in a year's time in the area of math/reading.
SAFE AND CARING ENVIRONMENT
For SWPBS to work, we need to implement the approach with fidelity. Our current focus is the acknowledgement system.
See e-mail from Chrissie about Reading Phillies! and "March is Baseball Season" at EV e-mail. Let's acknowledge our students and staff for following Go CATS expectations!
CAT Cash acknowledgement explanation
Why do we "reward" students for doing what is expected? Great question! Visit the Safe and Caring shared drive for more information or CLICK HERE to view slides 30-68 about the critical acknowledgement component of SWPBS
Hallway Class this week: Wednesday and Thursday from 11:50-12:30
CLIMATE AND CULTURE
No update from our building goal team... have a happy conference week!
BUT... Prize Patrol is back!!!!!
This week's theme is parent involvement!
Earn raffle tickets for prizes. The Prize Patrol will be in full force on Friday, March 6!
1 raffle ticket awarded for each parent who attends a conference with you
5 raffle tickets if you send a reminder about kindergarten registration between 3/1-3/5
2 raffle tickets for each TWEET between 3/1-3/5 that includes our trend #WeLoveEastVincent
10 raffle tickets if you set up a parent information "table" outside of your room for conferences
COMMUNICATION HIGHLIGHT
Thank you to those who shared the messages last week regarding spring conferences and kindergarten registration. The first two teachers who shared this message last week earned a jeans pass. Please continue to share messages that I post in the WOW or on here with our families. It is important to repeat some of our messages multiple times and via multiple avenues.
For your communication at conferences and in your next weekly communicator, please remind parents that if they have questions or concerns, then they should be contacting you first. I'm getting an increasing number of parents (just recently) contacting me before they contact you regarding classroom-based incidents, instruction, and classroom management. Parents should be giving you the opportunity to address their questions first, and then I'd be happy to follow-up if they seek more information or clarification. My priority is to support our students and you, and it is fair to allow you to respond to a parent before it escalates to me.
TRANSFER REQUEST - MARCH 1st
It's the start of staffing season for 2020-2021 (already)... If you plan to request a change in building assignment, please send a letter or email to Dr. Soeder and carbon-copy me no later than March 1. I'd be happy to discuss your thoughts with you prior to sending correspondence.
If you'd like to be considered for another assignment at EV, please let me know by March 1 as well. You only need to include me for this consideration and not Dr. Soeder.
Update: I have one building transfer request and one EV assignment preference. Requests must be submitted and received by this Sunday, March 1 to Dr. Soeder and me (building transfer request) or to me (assignment change at EV).
PRINCIPAL'S GOALS
Area 1. The perception of micromanagement, and
Area 2. The perception of excluding others in decision making.
Area 1 Feedback
"There is an intensity to do everything really well all the time (ex. number of committees). There are so many different initiatives that all end up needing to check in with Christine often, allows for more micromanagement. Suggestion to pull back so there’s less to manage and in turn, less to micromanage. "
Area 1 Response
What I find is that we all deeply care about what we do each and every day... which is a good thing! When I have conversations with colleagues, some of this intensity (actually a lot of this intensity) is self-imposed because 1. We care so much and take our jobs seriously, approach our craft passionately, and deeply care about our students, and 2. That is the nature of the teaching profession at EV and beyond. Do I share in the responsibility of setting high expectations for you... absolutely! I have to meet our building goals and report on them too to Dr. Lloyd and to our Board of School Directors. I set high expectations for us as a building just as I would expect that you set high expectations for our students.
The second part of the feedback regarding initiatives and pulling back contradicts what we need to do from a bigger picture perspective. On one hand, some staff want me to lead WFSG and not include teachers on building committees because it is one.more.thing, but one the other hand, some staff want to be included in decision making and learn from teacher leaders... as they should. A great organization does not lead from the top down or have one person dictating and doing all of the work. A great organization includes a collective invested approach where all are empowered and actively contribute to the goals.
I would be really interested in discussing this more with those who provided feedback via one of the drop-in sessions, so I can learn more of your "why."
Feel free to stop by a drop-in session scheduled for next week:
AM session Monday CLICK HERE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT
PM session Thursday CLICK HERE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT
*This appointment scheduling is new to me. Need help? I do too! Ask Danielle :)
A NOTE FROM THE MAIN OFFICE
It is getting to that time of year when more staff will be using personal days.
Forms are in the office that need to be filled out and placed in Christine's mailbox.
Once approved Deb will make a copy and place in your mailbox.
Please make sure you add your personal day to ESS to have a sub pick it up.
If you have secured a sub on your own, please let Debbie know to add this to ESS with the name of your sub.
SPREAD THE NEWS
Do you have exciting, sad, or something new to share about YOU? Share with Christine at cseeley@ojrsd.net to add to our EV Next Week newsletters. Pictures welcome!
East Vincent Elementary School
Email: evoffice@ojrsd.net
Website: www.ojrsd.com/ev
Location: 340 Ridge Rd, Spring City, PA 19475, USA
Phone: 610-469-5106
Facebook: facebook.com/EastVincentElementarySchool
Twitter: @OwenJRobertsEV