Friday Focus - April 29, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Our middle school students did a great job presenting their science fair projects - during the day for elementary students and in the evening with a packed crowd in the commons. Kudos to Mrs. Penterman and Mrs. Neis for coordinating this event and to the middle school teachers for being flexible to have students set up in their classrooms during the day. I heard many great comments from elementary teachers and parents!
*We completed ACT Aspire testing in the high school...with teamwork to get everything coordinated and patience when things didn't go perfectly...you know, just what you do every day! I also appreciate all the feedback collected in rooms at the end of the day. It sounds like our students want to learn how to do even better next year!
*Students were writing individual goals for the last month on their Work Habits skills in advisory...what a great way to give ownership of their behaviors for the last stretch of the school year. 

Upcoming Events:
*MS Forward make-ups are done, but I still have ACT Aspire makeups so I will be pulling 9/10th graders to get those completed.
Wednesday - District wide all staff (certified/paras) meeting regarding end of the year (this one last until about 4:00)
*7:00 Juneau Lions Padeia to celebrate our high school students' achievements (we haven't had this event since pre-pendemic!)
Friday - I will be out of the building at CESA 6 until around 1
Saturday - Prom

Nuts & Bolts:

*MS Faculty - please let me know if you have a new Fun Friday choice to add to our final month's selection.
*The IEB/Advisory doc for next week is HERE.

*Scheduling update - Remember when I said we had a plan for scheduling to be done in March? It was a great plan...until other things started happening. ;) It's just like the schedule/to-do list that seems great until the day gets started, which I know you can relate to you. I know some of you are anxiously waiting to know what your classes will be next year, especially for budgeting purposes. 

 As you know, from Dr. Thompson's information that has been shared multiple times, being a declining enrollment school district means that our budget is challenging. We value our staff and want to keep everyone, but that does mean there are some shifts in positions being made.  With every challenge we encounter, also brings opportunity to look at our students' needs and the strengths of our staff to put the best-looking puzzle together. 

For most teachers, there won't be any drastic changes in courses. For some, there will be so I'm having individual conversations with the people who are most affected by change first and then I'm scheduling meetings to get into the details of which individual courses are running and hope to schedule all of those next week. 
Thank you for your patience with me. :)

*The hiring update on counselor and principal should be coming out next week. 

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:

End Your School Year with What Matters Most "Beginnings set the tone, but endings don't just come together on accident. There's something special about a narrative that ends really well."