Monday Memo
Week of March 30th, 2020
Welcome to our new world....week 2!
I’ve been debating back and forth about doing a Monday Memo this week, as I’m worried that information will change before I can even send this out to you! However there are a few things that are informational that I think you’ll find helpful, so this may just be a shortened version of what you normally see.
A big thank you to all of you for posting on Edsby to your families. I’ve been in contact with many of them over the past several days once our technology survey went out and they are so appreciative of any contact at this point. Please continue to post from time to time while we work on getting this new world of “distance learning” up and running.
Speaking of which - we were informed yesterday that we will be opening the school for resource pick up only, this week instead of next week as expected. I’ve just posted specific information in Edsby, so please make sure you check our Staff Room folder for critical information. I expect we will have many updates this week as we await information from both the Ministry of Education and the board on steps moving forward.
I think that‘s it for now....please take care of yourself and each other,
Jenn
What's keeping you busy?
A new backyard friend......
And then there's gardening.....
Keeping up to date from KPR....
In case you didn’t see it on Social Media, every KPR School has now been designated a wifi hotspot. Families without internet are being encouraged to use our parking lots (while in their cars and practicing physical distancing) should they need access to the internet and don’t have it at home.
A few other bits of information.....
Technology and Edsby Survey
As you are aware, I was asked by the board last Friday to send home an email and phone message to every Kawartha Heights family, surveying if they have technology at home and/or use of the internet. The calls and emails have been overwhelming (many families letting me know they DO have what they need thankfully!). I’ll be making calls to all the families we are concerned about and have not yet heard from (thanks for your support in compiling this information) before submitting to the board on Wednesday. I’ll post the information for you to see as well.....I’m not sure yet what the next steps will be. At this point the board needs to have a full understanding of what the needs are before the full plan can be put into action.
Microsoft teams
I apologize for the failed first attempt at a staff chat through Microsoft Teams last week! I’ve been doing a lot of reading from educators from China who have been in our situation longer than we have and the common message to us all is be prepared to fail ...a lot! We are all in this new learning together....so I learned the hard way that we also need to be kind to ourselves when things don’t go our way. I’m hoping to be able to have worked out a few kinks, and host another chat on Wednesday later in the afternoon. Please wait for an invite from me, to ensure we all end up in the same “meeting”. I highly encourage you to join us if you can as I anticipate we’ll have regular electronic staff meetings through this platform moving forward.
Staffing
It’s hard to get our heads around (at least I’m finding this the case), but much of the planning for next year is still moving forward. As I write this to you we are anticipating that staffing, postings, interviews and hiring are all still going ahead. The first round of postings is expected to come out this Friday. Although as Principals we are not required to let you know of tentative teaching assignments until April 22nd, my past practice out of respect for you is to attempt to let you know before the postings come out. This is ALWAYS something I’ve done in person :(. Should it be clear by mid-end of the week that the staffing process is continuing on the same timelines, I will find a time to connect with each of you about your tentative assignments.
EA/CYW Allocations
Heather and I will be video conferencing with Michael Kerr and Joanne Grasswell on Thursday afternoon for several hours, making our case for continued support of 5 EA’s and 1 CYW for next year. I thought you might be interested to see the graphic below - updated since our last staff meeting in early November. You should all be extremely proud of all that has been put in place this past year to meet the needs of some, all and few of our students. No wonder there were days we felt tired!
Just one more thing....
Jennifer Sampson
Email: Jennifer_sampson@kprdsb.ca
Website: KawarthaHeights.kprdsb.ca
Location: 11 Kawartha Heights Blvd, Peterborough, ON, Canada
Phone: (705)742-7521
Twitter: @KawarthaHPS