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| BCSD Staff Newsletter |
March 2018 |
Superintendent Letter to Staff
March 2018
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you for clarifying the expected learning outcomes for our students. This incredible work has led to clarity not only for ourselves but also for our students. It has included:
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Teams of educators have examined the standards and exemplars of assessment items that measure these standards to better understand what students are to know and be able to do.
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Teachers have explicitly worked with students to help them understand what they are to learn and how they will demonstrate that learning.
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Increasingly we see that students have the ability to talk about what they are learning and therefore own their learning.
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Educator for a Day participants have commented on how students are able to articulate what they are learning and that
I Can
statements are posted in classrooms.
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K, 1st, and 2nd grade teachers have been working to increase explicit reading instruction for students. Our mid-winter IRI results indicated that more students are meeting the benchmark than last year at this time.
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70% of respondents to the Continuous Improvement Survey indicate that they are actively using SLOs (Student Learning Outcomes) in their classrooms.
This progress does not happen by accident, but rather is the result of educators in each building and across the district working together to improve outcomes for our children. Thank you.
I also want to thank those who took time to respond to the Continuous Improvement Survey. We appreciate your thoughtful answers to how we might continue to improve outcomes for our students, especially in elementary reading, elementary math, secondary math, and student engagement (clarity, challenge, and relationships). Participants also responded to the question: What helps you the most to improve your instructional practices? Top three ways are:
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Observing exemplary classrooms/teachers - 56.2%
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Team planning and data analysis of common assessments - 50.6%
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Small group workshops (grouped by teaching assignment or school) - 47.2%
I am grateful for a team that is working together from Carey to Hemingway to improve outcomes for our students and to ensure every student, at a minimum, meets the standards. Together, we make the difference.
With gratitude,
GwenCarol
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Communications
Thank you for reading the BCSD Staff Connection!
62%
- of staff open the BCSD Staff Connection
Did you know that hard copies of the BCSD Staff Connection are sent to all schools and departments for the staff break rooms? Look for the BCSD Staff Connection on your next lunch break!
Thank you to the educators who volunteered for Educator for a Day. Here's what our guests had to say about our schools and educators:
What a wonderful experience to be there today. It was a learning experience for me, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Each day you are there making a positive impact on the lives of these young people. As an outsider, from a very different generation than you, I can honestly say that these young people are really fortunate.
Nelda, Educator for a Day at Wood River High School
I want to thank you all very much for providing this valuable experience to interested people like myself. I am very grateful to live in this community with such a high quality school district.
Francie, Educator for a Day at Hemingway STEAM School
It reaffirmed so many positive feelings I have had about our schools over the years. It was good to see that Carey is fully part of our district and thriving as much as any other school. I love that they have weekly assemblies, a weekly school paper, and everyone seems supportive of the athletic teams and school happenings.
Lia, Educator for a Day at Carey School
Thank you Educators!
Larry Barnes
Michelle Randall
Geoff Gardner
Sheila Naghsh
Beth Andrews
Kevin Lupton
Carla Scanlon
Jan Morey
Susan Coon
Heidi Husbands
Tim Richards
Scott Slonim
Tish Short
Howard Royal
Thad Biggers
Bill Cantrell
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Teaching & Learning
What are Literacies within the Disciplines?
Have you asked yourself: What
is
the academic language of my discipline? How do I support my students to read, write, and think like a scientist, mathematician, historian ...?
Click on the above image (Lent, 2016) to help identify ways to get started in answering these questions (download resource). To read the full article from ACSD Express," Disciplinary Literacy: A Shift That Makes Sense" by ReLeah Lent.
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Technology
Netflix in the Classroom
Teachers lament, "
Why is Netflix unavailable?
" Netflix is a paid service providing TV and movies including some original documentaries only available on Netflix. There are a couple factors which may limit our ability to access Netflix in the classroom.
Netflix terms and conditions state "service and any content viewed through our service are for your personal and non-commercial use only." This restricts schools from using the service to show content to groups of students. There are some exceptions for documentary viewing as noted from their website:
Netflix is proud to present original documentaries that speak to our users in a meaningful way. We know that many of you are as excited about these films as we are; and because of their informational aspects, you'd like to show them in an educational setting -- e.g., in the classroom, at the next meeting of your community group, with your book club, etc. Consequently, we will permit one-time educational screenings, "one-time screening" means that you can't hold screenings several times in one day or one week - but if, for example, you're an educator who wants to show the film once a semester over multiple semesters, that's okay,
Another factor limiting Netflix within BCSD's network is the Internet filtering service, SecURLy. This is known as a proxy based service which some cloud providers restrict. Also, for HTTPS connections, packets are decrypted for inspection. You may see a message like this:
This site can't provide a secure connection
help.netflix.com
sent an invalid response.
Try running Windows Network Diagnostics
.
ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR
Another laments, "Why do we even have Internet filtering? Kids just use their own device to get around it." The main reason school districts employ Internet filters is to comply with CIPA, Children's Internet Protection Act. By law, when a school district accepts federal funds from any source, we must attempt to protect students from harmful content over the Internet.
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In an effort to provide more services to the staff and students of the District, the Buildings and Grounds Department has modified its schedule. The majority of the crew will begin the day at 7am, with at least one person arriving at 8am. This will allow the maintenance persons to take care of items in student occupied areas before they arrive, while keeping a technician back to take care of any items that come up at the end of the day. The majority of the crew will still come in early (4am) on snow days, which leaves us short handed in the afternoon. There have been many occasions this past year that have necessitated coming in between midnight and 5am to shut down a building to repair a backflow device, make electrical repairs, or install isolation valves.
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Human Resources
PERSI Meetings:
A representative from PERSI is hosting two information sessions on Tuesday, March 13 at Wood River High School in the Distant Learning Lab.
At 3:30 PM we will be offering SET!.
This course is designed for those that are mid-career or late who are now starting to consider what retirement means to them and the benefits PERSI offers.
At 4:30 PM we will be offering GO!.
This course is great for employees who are close to retirement. This will assist them in understanding their options and the retirement process.
Employee Assistance Program:
Provides short-term, confidential counseling, family care giving, legal and financial services for you and your family members at no out-of-pocket expense.
Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including holidays.
Company Code: eapnow
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Finance
The Finance Handbook is complete and ready for your perusal. Please take some time to review this material as some of the procedures have changed, and may impact how you apply for reimbursements and travel. The procedures are the updated versions and are applicable as of 9/1/17.
You can access the Finance Handbook via the Employee Staff Portal
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Click Sign In on the top right hand corner and enter your user name and password
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Staff Portal
will appear on the blue menu bar at the top of the page once you are signed in. Click.
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You can now access the Guidelines to Finance document and related Finance Forms from this page
Finance Handbook Shortcut
Finance Forms Shortcut:
The following In-District Mileage Guidance information is taken from the Finance Handbook, and presented here for your reading enjoyment.
- It is recommended that mileage reimbursements are submitted on a monthly basis.
- In-District travel beyond 90 calendar days will not be reimbursed.
- Only miles that have been pre-approved by your administrator or supervisor are eligible for reimbursement.
- Mileage that is NOT reimbursable:
- Mileage to and from home
- Non-District/School related travel
- Reimbursement based upon gas receipts
- In-District travel related to any type of additional duty or stipend assignment
Interesting Trivia
Since the winter Olympics are upon us I thought maybe a tryst through some winter Olympics trivia might be worthy of a medal.
The Winter Olympics were first held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. As a side note the modern Summer Olympics began in Athens in
1896
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Lake Placid is the only American city to host the winter Olympics twice.
No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Games. (probably not a surprise.)
In 2014, two gold medals, to
Dominique Gisin
of Switzerland and
Tina Maze
of Slovenia, were awarded for a first-place tie in the Women's downhill event in alpine skiing, the first gold medal tie ever for an Olympic alpine skiing event. No silver medal was awarded.
Liechtenstein
is the only nation to win medals at the Winter Games but not at the Summer Games. (Maybe the tria question should be - where is Liechtenstein.)
Short track speed skater Apolo Ohno won the
most medals
for the U.S. A. at the Winter Games with a total of eight: two gold, two silver, and four bronze. Bonnie Blair is the most decorated female American Winter Olympian. Blair appeared in 4 Winter Olympics, she won 6 total medals including 1 gold (500m) and 1 bronze (1000m) in Calgary, 2 gold (500m and 1000m) in Albertville, and 2 gold (500m and 1000m) in Lillehammer. At the time of her retirement in 1994, she was the most decorated Winter Olympic woman from the United States.
The next winter games will be held in Beijing China in 2022. (The next Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.)
Email Karen Hoffman and provide her the correct answer to the following questions and you will be
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Kandy Blackburn |
entered
into a drawing for a $20 Amazon gift certificate (or Starbucks if you prefer). - Who is most decorated male
and the most decorated female winter Olympian who competed for the USA? If you are paid a stipend for extra work beyond your contract can you submit mileage for travel associated with this pay?
Congratulations to Kandice Blackburn for correctly answering all of the questions last month and being randomly selected to win the Amazon card drawing. Well done!!
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Community Campus
March Madness at the Community Campus:
Youth basketball is in full swing in the BCRD gym; Footlight Dance is ramping up for their spring dance performance after touring our schools with their recent performances celebrating Diversity, they have also recently inducted our high school dancers into the newly formed Dance Honors Society; the School of Music has over 80 students participating in their after school strings and vocal programs; CSI is halfway through their spring semester with many of our WRHS and SCHS students in their dual credit programs; WRHS and WRMS are performing Little Women for their spring play the week of February 26th; the Cafe is open Mondays - Thursdays until 7pm and Fridays until 1pm.
Upcoming Community Events:
- "Little Women": Tuesday, Feb 28th and Thursday, March 1st 6pm, Friday, March 2nd 7pm, Saturday, March 3rd 1pm matinee
- Wood River Community Orchestra:Sunday, March 11th 4pm concert
- March Elections: Tuesday, March 13th 8am - 8pm
- BCSD Board of Trustees March Meeting: Tuesday, March 13th 6pm
- Girls on the Run Movie "Wonder": Thursday, March 15th 5pm
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Trustees Ellen Mandeville (pictured above) and Kelly Green participated in Educator for a Day on Friday, February 23. Trustee Mandeville visited Alturas Elementary, tour the school, and spent time with Stephanie Snider and Daniela Anguita's classes. Trustee Green visited Hailey Elementary and spent time with both Principal Biggers and Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter. The Trustees joined other guests and teachers at Wood River High School for lunch and discussion about our schools.
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Attention 4th, 5th and 6th Grade Teachers
Message from Scott Slonim, Hemingway STEAM Technology and Design Teacher
Hi Everyone,
I found a drone training through the Idaho STEM Action Center that takes place in Boise
July 9 and 10th. For attending the training, you get:
$2,575 worth of drones and materials
$160 stipend
Up to $500 expense money based on where you live. This could pay for two nights hotel and food!
This training is for 4th, 5th and 6th grade teachers.
I really want to do this with my students next year and I'd also like it to be an elective for my middle school students. Unfortunately, I will be leaving on a family trip and can't make it.
If you are a 4th, 5th or 6th grade teacher or work with 4th, 5th or 6th grade students and would want to do drones with them and would like to attend, I will help you write the grant. It is not very long. We could do it in one sitting. My hope is that you will share the equipment with me so we can both use it at our schools.
This also applies to other organizations who serve these grades, so if you know of one, please let them or me know.
If you are interested, please let me know. The application is due
March 11. You can also bring someone and they get expenses and the stipend, too. The Idaho STEM Action Center wants as many people as possible to learn it so it is well used.
I trained with them for both 3D printing and virtual reality coding. They were two of the best trainings I have ever had.
Thank you!
Scott
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