Paper Staff Call September 21, 2018
Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy
Praise Report
Shout out to the Special Programs Department
Head of School
Happy Friday!
We had our Charter Renewal Site visit on Wednesday. As Ms. Hill referenced in her shout-out, major kudos to LaRita Scott who prepped the file room, and ALL of the SPED staff for a job well done. Our Regional Turnaround Support Manager said and I quote, "This department has done a complete turn-around." She said, "whomever is leading this team, is very passionate about the work they are doing for special education students."
Meshell Hill, we appreciate you, and your hard work DIDN"T go unnoticed. #LAVCAproud
Major kudos to Kristy Davis for ensuring that the policy and procedural documents were in place, and for making sure our building inspections were compliant.
I want each and every one of you to know that I truly appreciate your dedication to LAVCA and the students that we serve. In our leadership discussion, there was solid evidence that your work each day isn't easy, but from what we observed you've embraced the challenges and are working to WIN! Personally, Wednesday was a huge booster for me as your leader, and allowed me to develop an even deeper and greater appreciation for each of you.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The leadership team will be traveling this week to K12 Regional Summit in South Carolina. For those of you who remember, we will be meeting and working at David Crook's school (former LAVCA staff). We have worked to prepare pre-work on LAVCA's data, and look forward to returning with great take- a-ways. If there are any urgent issues, don't hesitate to reach out.
Here's who will be attending, and our location:
- Head of School
- Academic Administrator
- Special Programs Manager
- FAST Leads
- Operations Manager
WHERE:
South Carolina Virtual Charter School
Columbia, South Carolina
Special Programs
- SPED Student Attendance - Liz and I are collaborating on a document with steps for referring SPED students to FAST. One of the changes: Only SPED teachers will refer SPED students to FAST. Be on the look out for updated attendance document.
- iXL Webinars - These are mandatory, if you didn't sign up, please check your email and the Launch Pad for the link.
- September 24-26 - I will be attending the K12 Southern Region Leadership Summit. If you have an emergency.
- October 3 - Special Program Virtual Town Hall Meeting.
- SOLO Trainings - Teachers please see the information under K-5 and 6-12 directions. Please email if you have questions.
K-5 Instruction
A few items for this week:
Here is your launch pad for next week. Click here.
1. SOLO Trainings:
K12 SOLO trainings are required. After viewing the completion report, it seems as if a lot of you have started these trainings and/or completed them last year. If you have completed all 4, then you are fully complete. The completion report will be housed in the LAVCA Brain, under “training”, so you can view what you have/have not completed. Expected by COB today: Complete numbers 3. (All 4 are due by next Friday - feel free to get ahead.)
Targeted Instruction (formerly known as Introduction to Targeted Instruction)
Specific Techniques for Targeted Instruction
Specific Techniques for Targeted Instruction Relational Structures
Specific Techniques for Targeted Instruction Abstract Structures
2. Professional Development Date Changes:
Friday, September 21st is Paper Staff Call (This has been changed based on the Back to School Bashes conflicting)
Friday, September 28th is a Virtual Professional Development (This will not interfere with the NOLA Back to School Bash)
What to expect at Virtual PD? Reflection activities, content PLC, grade band PLC, and best practice share outs
The schedule for VPD is as follows (tentatively):
9:00 - 10:00: Whole Staff
10:00 - 11:00 PLC Rotation
11:00 - 12:00 K5/ MS & HS Breakouts
3. 3-5 Boss Expectations for 3-5 grade tested teachers.
Please make sure that you have gone through and read the BOSS expectations for the 18-19 SY. Click here to review. Remember to email me your reply that you have read the expectations by 4pm September 21.
6-12 Instruction
Another week down! The countdown is on already….
7 "instructional weeks" until the first Interim Assessment
23 "instructional weeks" until LEAP 2025 testing
25 "instructional weeks" until EOC testing
Doesn’t sound like a lot right? Make sure the little time we have with students is effectively spent!
A few items for this week:
1. SOLO Trainings:
K12 SOLO trainings are required. After viewing the completion report, it seems as if a lot of you have started these trainings and/or completed them last year. If you have completed all 4, then you are fully complete. The completion report will be housed in the LAVCA Brain, under “training”, so you can view what you have/have not completed. Expected by COB today: Complete numbers 3. (All 4 are due by next Friday - feel free to get ahead.)
Targeted Instruction (formerly known as Introduction to Targeted Instruction)
Specific Techniques for Targeted Instruction
Specific Techniques for Targeted Instruction Relational Structures
Specific Techniques for Targeted Instruction Abstract Structures
2. Professional Development Date Changes:
Friday, September 21st is Paper Staff Call (This has been changed based on the Back to School Bashes conflicting)
Friday, September 28th is a Virtual Professional Development (This will not interfere with the NOLA Back to School Bash)
What to expect at Virtual PD? Reflection activities, content PLC, grade band PLC, and best practice share outs
The schedule for VPD is as follows (tentatively):
9:00 - 10:00: Whole Staff
10:00 - 11:00 PLC Rotation
11:00 - 12:00 K5/ MS & HS Breakouts
3. Accountability Partnerships
Thank you to all tested teachers for getting their Targeted Instruction groupings in the shared documents so quickly! Everyone has reported and there was no need to contact teachers individually - great job!
The accountability lists will be distributed (hopefully) by the end of the day today. This will follow in a separate email with protocol and QRGs. Stay tuned, more information to come on dates of the “roll out” and “how to’s”.
4. 1:1 Meetings
THANK YOU to all teachers! Every single one of us have officially met, as of today! Great reflections upon data, coursework, resources and more have been made - with ideas leading towards the future.
Future Item: Next week sometime (hopefully) you will receive a “standing appointment” for meetings with me, on a monthly basis. If the time does not work, simply “decline” the invite or “propose a new time” via Outlook calendar invite.
5. Upcoming Dates:
Monday, September 24 - Wednesday September 26 I will be out of the office/state, attending K12’s Southern Region Summit for School leaders. Please default to Anthony for your questions and/or concerns if you need immediate assistance, as I will have limited availability during those days. I look forward to bringing back a plethora of great information!
Monday, October 8th: Promising Practices via K12 Training (Thank you Natalie McClurg for reminding me of this very important date.) You may want to register via K12training.com and attend these great sessions around your live CC schedule. These sessions will not be recorded, but are an encore presentation from the Spring’s most popular Promising Practices sessions. All decks and materials are housed in K12 Training by searching “PP2018”.
Friday, September 28 is Virtual Professional Development and “Back to School Bash” in NOLA. Remember you can wear jeans (no tears/holes) and a LAVCA or purple shirt for school spirit to this event.
Friday, October 5 is Face to Face PD in Baton Rouge.
6. Reminders:
As you get new students, remember to exempt them from assignments up until their start date.
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Lisa Kliebert
Before you go, here are a few best practices to spotlight .....
Way to collaborate 6th grade team!
6th grade teachers taking advantage of the PLC collaboration space in the LAVCA Brain to keep notes on students that they are tracking!
Using tested criteria in electives!
Nikki using rigorous ELA content in her elective classes, to setup expectations and help prepare these students for assessment success! She even has a library of the criteria, content and more in her course - exemplar of "all hands on deck" mentality of our school this year! Way to go!!!!
Invitations to entice Enduring Relation MMM Sessions
Loretta sending out invitations during the Family Support sessions to LC's, enticing them to attend the Enduring Relations MMM sessions... creative!
Operations
Hi Team!
Reminders:
***PD is coming up on October 5, 2018. Please use the link below to complete the lodging and lunch surveys. All surveys will close on Thursday, September 27, 2018.
***Please remember to complete the staff withdrawal request form when parent request a withdrawal.
***Please note that changes you make to your profile in the platform is not internal use only. Students and parents can see your contact information. If you have any issues or concerns, please reach out.
***Please, please, please do not provide families with staff's cell phone numbers. Only share staff extensions listed on the LAVCA Staff Contact List.
Lunch:
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Best,
Kristy Davis
FAST Team
ALL staff members with Enduring Connections/Family Support rooms, please make sure all students have a call, noted with the Enduring Connections template in TVS, before the September 30th.
The FAST team is making Connection Calls to all new students.
Data
- There is now a direct link to the BOSS folder on Sharepoint. The date in this link will reflect the last time your student list was updated.
- There is also a link to the latest Data Byte. This is a smore developed by K12 to encourage all staff to learn more about data. It is organized to denote information for data viewers (YOU!) or data manipulators (Mindi) so that you can focus only on what applies to you!
- And of course, there are the oldies. Remind yourself by reviewing the chart below so that you know what's coming to your Inbox a few times a week.