HSES Welcome Back Letter
School Year 20-21
Dear HSES Family,
We miss you! With all the barriers we face this year, the one constant is the amazing positivity and outstanding commitment of our HSES Staff. We may not be face-to-face. We may miss the energy and the comradery that we all feel when we join together on that first day back, but the constant that is always present is the knowledge that we are here for each other and that we can get through anything together. We faced similar challenges in the spring, and we were successful! We will do it again:) We got this!
Over the summer, the A-team worked with our amazing leadership team to plan for our virtual year. Together, we reviewed our school improvement plan and addressed how to implement it in a virtual world. Our visual below shows, as always, that children are at the heart of all that we do. We will share in detail our school improvement plan during our first day welcome back presentation. Through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, we will continue our journey with Restorative Justice, questioning and facilitation strategies, and how to use our collaborative planning to guide our instruction. The key to our success will be to ensure a healthy balance between work and home. Our top priority is your well-being and those of our families.
Remember, we don't expect perfection. We know there will be bumps along the way, but we know that our staff always give 100%! You are a staff of great heart and dedication. Our students and families are blessed to have you. The A-team is here for you and ready to work along side you in this new adventure.
In this newsletter, there is a LOT of information to process. Think about how you want to approach it so that it is less overwhelming. Know that we will be providing time for you to be able to reflect and digest new learning. We have tried to limit our meetings as much as possible. Sooooo, take a deep breath and find your happy place because you are not alone!
With fondness,
Amanda, Aaron and Erin
School Improvement Plans
Staff Roster
I am pleased to share that the following staff have been able to return from their surplus positions! Yay!
KK Brengle (2nd grade)
Alexa Chestnut (4th grade)
Also, please join us in welcoming new staff members to the HSES family:
Sandra Kleinberger, .5 K Paraeducator
Virginia Jarvis, 4th grade Paraeducator
Keisha Pendleton, .5 ESOL Teacher
Natalie Ricketts, .5 GT Teacher
Shelby Strasser, .2 SLP
PE .4 pending
Highlights from Virtual Office
Welcome Back Schedule (first two weeks)
HSES Calendar (contains staff meetings, IIT and ITL at this time -- will be updating)
FAQ - Included in the FAQ is the list of our recurring meeting codes, which are as follows:
Office Hours: ateam
Staff Meeting: hsesstaff
IIT: hsesiit
SST: hsessst
ITL: hsesitl
Staff Lunch: hsesstafflounge - Should you choose to eat in the staff lounge:)
*Click on the Virtual Office link to access any other information*
Opening Staff Weeks Expectations
The document is attached below. This was provided to administrators by central office, but all the information is relevant to you all. Know that we have met the requirements (and more as much as possible) for meeting-free times.
We are Area 3 so our keynote is August 26th at 10:30 - 11: 45. Elementary grade level teachers & special educators should attend.
Elementary related arts teachers, reading specialists, ESOL teachers, GT teachers: August 26th = 12:30-1:45 pm
I have updated the Welcome Back Schedule with the professional learning modules time frame.
Class Lists 20-21
What is the difference between Community Conversations, Orientation and BTSN?!
There have been questions about the different parent meetings, and we wanted to clarify.
Community Conversations: This is an idea that was generated at the leadership retreat. The main idea is for families to have an opportunity to meet with administration and available staff to provide another opportunity to connect. The idea being to build community with our families. It would be administration sharing student schedules, but mainly opening up for Q&A to provide a reduction of anxiety and stress they might have.
Orientation/ Open House - Think of this as you would a regular open house but with an opportunity to share a little about the virtual world they will be experiencing. What would you want to know as a parent? What would be some good virtual "ice-breakers" that might help you get to know one another? As a team, it would be good to develop a consistent content.
BTSN - This is our formal night of sharing curriculum, reviewing the schedules they have been engaged in, and I would think an opportunity to clarify any questions they have around virtual learning.
We hope this makes sense! We can answer any further questions when we "return."
Evaluations
We are waiting on more information from central office and the State, but it will be included in our PPT on Monday. Barbara Rumsey or administration will be your points of contact with any questions.
Howard County Parks and Rec
September 2nd - Distribution of Materials (and any drop offs)
Dear Staff,
On September 2nd, we are going to be distributing the Chromebooks to students who do not have them, curriculum materials (from C.O.) and anything else we need to distribute! Our schedule will be all day, and we have a list of folks who shared they could help. We just wanted to make you aware that the distribution will follow a similar (although more extensive) process as the one we conducted earlier in the summer. If your schedule allows, anyone is welcome to join. Unfortunately, the window was provided to us, and the days for teachers have a lot of professional development. :( The schedule will likely be as follows:
9:00 - 10:00 - Kindergarten
10:00 - 11:00 - 1st Grade
11:00 - 12:00 - 2nd Grade
12:30 - 1:30 - 3rd Grade
1:30 - 2:30 - 4th Grade
2:30 - 3:30 - 5th Grade
Details in the works!
Student Schedules - Differentiated for Reading & Math Groups
You may not be ready to wrap your head around this yet so don't review if you are feeling overloaded. These are schedules (created by our new .5 GT - Natalie Ricketts - wonderful person) that you will be able to send to your students based on their reading group (AB or C), and their math group (1 or 2). Once things have settled a bit, I think these will make more sense. We can also discuss at a Virtual Office Hour session. They are a great resource, and really show what a student's day will look like with their reading, math and independent work times. The intervention section is not for 2.5 reading specialists but could be a starting point.