Staff Proclamation
August 23, 2019
Examples of Living Our Mission
- I am seeing a strong and concerted effort to apply the practices and philosophies of BIST in your classrooms. Many of you are problem solving using the approach to best support our students in an environment of grace and accountability. The collaboration amongst staff is a great example of how we support our colleagues and kids!
On the Docket
Monday, August 26, 2019
- BIST Reminder: Make sure you are making kids accountable for responding to greetings everytime!
- STAR Benchmarking continues. It should be completed by Friday.
- Fire Drill 8:30am. The Fire Department will be present
- DEA Rep meeting in the office 2:50pm
- BIST Reminder: Remember to make sure you are in the halls and greeting students at the start of the day or that you have a student greeter assigned. If you are available, be present in the halls in the morning for arrival!
- Shelter in Place/Severe Weather Drill at 10am. Please review tornado shelter locations prior to the drill with your class.
- 2nd Grade will be doing Fountas and Pinnell Book Leveling assessments with their students in the am. They will have a substitute in the morning. Please include your levels HERE
- K-2 PLCS: Intervention Planning Meetings. If you have questions regarding the district RTI process, you can read more HERE Classroom teachers should join Kate, Kristen, Kaiann, Rachel and Nicole in the resource room at the following times to review their STAR data and set any Tier II interventions or problem solve on any particular student needs at the following times:
Kindergarten 2:20-2:40pm
First Grade 2:40-3:00pm
Second Grade 3:00-3:20pm
- 3-5th Grade PLCS; Vertical PLC in Mikela's room. I have started an agenda that is linked HERE. Please discuss these topics as well as any additional items you may have. Designate a notetaker to put notes in the box below the agenda. The purpose of your vertical meeting is to discuss implementation strategies, resources, ideas and best practices related to the topics as well as problem solve and share any pertinent information across grade levels.
Thursday, August 29, 2019
- Evaluation Meeting 2:50pm in 2W. All teachers should attend as we are using a new system and will go over that information as well as timeline for evaluation dates.
Friday, August 30, 2019
- PeoriaPalooza
Evaluation Important Dates
Professional Growth Plans- September 15
Formal Observation #1 – September-October
Formal Observation #2 – November-December
Informal Observations – Throughout Year
Non-Tenured Evidence Submission – December 20
Non-Tenured Summative Evaluations due for Personnel Meeting Done- January 31
Non-Tenured Summative; March 2nd
Tenured Evidence Submission January 31
Summative Evaluations – April 15
Non-Certified Staff Evaluations Done- May 1
PGP’s Finished – May 15
Evaluation Dates
We will be using the Evaluise System this year. I will be placing copies of some resource guides in everyone's mailboxes. We will have a meeting on August 29th after school to review that information as well as go over the dates and expectations for evaluation. Since Evaluise is new to everyone, it will be important for you all to get the information at that meeting.
Some resources for you:
DGS Staff Resources and Dashboard
I would bookmark/star this so you can access it when you need it. Please note this has items like updated classroom fund balances, the daily transportation list, the master calendar and more.
Safety Review from First Lock Down
- When you leave your classrooms, please shut off the lights and shut the door. Ensuring that the hallways look uniform is a safety precaution. Doors should NOT be left open if there isn't anyone in the classroom.
- While you are teaching, I advise you to leave your doors shut. This would save time in the event of an emergency.
- As you initiate a lock down, all staff should be doing a sweep of the hallways. The officers would have liked to have seen staff looking into the hallways as they shut/locked doors to ensure students are not in the hallways or common spaces. This also includes bathrooms located near your classrooms.
- Nick Butterfield is available to come talk to individual classes and students should you want to invite him in to do so. His email is nbutterfield@dunlapcusd.net
- Audio announcements can be heard outside. If you are outside during a drill or event, please make your way to the fence area as you would in a fire drill. In the event of an actual emergency, you would take students all the way to the church.
- We will be having an unannounced drill in September. This will occur when one of the officers asks a staff member to initiate a lockdown by yelling in the hall. Each of you should have a whistle as well. If you initiate a lockdown, you will need to yell lockdown and blow the whistle. As you hear this, you should 'pass" the warning down the hall using the same strategy. This may be difficult with the long hallway, but we will work through that as well. Following the unannounced drill, we will debrief as a staff. If you have any questions between now and then, let me know!
- Finally, our focus is on "What I need Now." There is no perfect situation or scenario in an emergency situation. Your goal is to analyze the situation and make the best decision to keep yourself and students safe at that time. This can include evacuating the building , locking down in an alternative location, or other course of action.
End of the Day
As a reminder, please continue to walk your students out to the buses. This ensures safety and order. This was a commitment the staff made last year to help with the end of day routine. There are umbrellas located by the doors should there be inclement weather as well.
Please continue to check daily transportation changes. This is VITAL that you do this and ensure your classroom students get to the appropriate spot. HERE
Positive Office Referrals
You are welcome to celebrate the successes of students at any point this year. You can do so by filling out this FORM or by simply sending me an email that details they're specific success or positive behavior. They will get to ring the bell, sign the wall and have a selfie taken to be displayed outside the office. In most cases, I also call home to share the good news with their parents.
Bist Bytes
The BIST and Second Step timeline for 2019-2020 is HERE. I will also post updates and expectations for each week in the weekly update.
STAR Testing Information
Star Testing begins August 19th. Please plan on having all testing done by August 29th.
All testing can be done in your classrooms with the student Chromebooks.
Students can access Renaissance by going to the district website and clicking "students' at the top of the page. An icon will be there for them to click on. You can view this at https://www.dunlapcusd.net/students
TESTING REMINDERS:
- PERA changes will have evaluations tied to SGP growth between the fall and spring benchmark.
- Our school goal is to ensure our SGP is 66 or above. We will include this on our communications to parents as well on our school data center. SGP scores over 65 will constitute an excellent rating. Those scores between 35-65 will constitute a proficient rating.
- You must test students within the testing window to have your testing results included in district and building level data reports.
- Kristen Hawes or Kaiann Holt can assist you in student make ups
- Remember, that if a student needs to retake a test, you must do that the same day.
- Below are the pre-test instructions for each test. Please ensure you review these in your PLC and with your students.
- You can provide parents information in your newsletter or online platforms by providing the link to the parent's guide to STAR Assessments
- Thank you for proctoring and monitoring student testing during the test taking sessions. Please review the testing instructions with students and walk around and monitor students as they test. Your presence is important. We will use these results to analyze student growth. It is important to remind students of the importance of the assessment as well.
- I will print parent reports for you to send home with students with Progress Reports on September 13th.
The Chocolate Touch
You can view the schedule for reading HERE
Hard copies are also in mailboxes.
I encourage classroom teachers to work with their Royal Families or other grade levels across the district to coordinate reading times or book chats about the book!
I have also created a Google Site with resources for you that you can access HERE
Discipline Dashboard (Data will be maintained here)
Maintenance Requests
This helps George, Nancy, and Tom Grimm track building and district requests.
You can ask verbally for a request, but also be sure to send the email. It can be as simple as "Please move desk to stage in my classroom" or "Air Conditioning is leaking."