ISSUE 452 / APRIL 15, 2021 |
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Incident Response Team (IRT) Updates |
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What is the Incident Reponse Team (IRT)? This team meets regularly to review data and makes decisions about changes to the learning model. IRT Members are: Ted Anderson, Executive Director; Julie Alkatout, TCGIS Board Chair; Ashley Weston Miller, Dir. of HR and Operations; Monika Avery, Health Services Associate.
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Consultation with Regional Support Team |
Today, TCGIS consulted with our Regional Support Team which consists of public health experts from Ramsey County and Minnesota Department of Health who work primarily with schools. Currently, our mitigation efforts are working: our students remain in cohorts; families remain mostly compliant; we’ve had minimal school spread; all staff who would like to be vaccinated are currently vaccinated. In addition, current guidance emphasizes school cases/data over community cases. This is reassuring and we have no indication that our school will be closing or should be closing.
In addition, despite a recent positive case in our school community there was no known spread . All known close contacts have received negative COVID test results.
We continue to closely monitor our individual school situation and plan to meet with our Regional Support Team more frequently due to the increase in COVID case rates.
As a reminder, TCGIS continues to allow changes in learning models on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us if you would like to request a change.
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COVID-19 Testing for Kids and Families |
Teachers, school staff, and coaches are already getting tested regularly. We owe it to them to do the same. The new MDH recommendation is for all school-age youth returning to school, youth sports, or extracurricular activities, and their families, to get tested every two weeks through the end of the school year. While it is not a requirement, regular testing complements other safety measures already in place, such as masking and social distancing.
It has never been easier to get tested. Testing is provided at no cost to you.
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As always, please keep your student home when they are sick. If any member of your family tests positive for Covid-19, please contact Monika Avery and/or Ashley Weston Miller to review the MDH Decision Tree and support in contact tracing if necessary.
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Note: If you don't see the calendar at the end of your Elternbrief, the message has been clipped and you must click "View entire message" to see the full Elternbrief. Danke!
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Announcing: The TCGIS Lesemarathon
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Our school will be participating in a Lesemarathon (Read-a-thon) from May 3-16. Put on by our library, the purpose of our Lesemarathon is to encourage our students' love of reading while exploring German books and authors. In-class and at-home minutes will be tracked on their minute tracker (given out in class on April 23), and are to be submitted on between May 16-18.
The Lesemarathon is a fun part of our spring fundraising initiative for the TCGIS Annual Fund. The library is one of our school's valuable resources that's supported by the Annual Fund.
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TCGIS Used German Book Fair |
Right before our school Lesemarathon we will be having a socially-distanced, used German book fair on Friday April 30 from 3-5pm. The fair will be outside in our West entrance parking lot (rain site: cafeteria). The books and CDs are for all ages and will be sorted by suggested donation.
Do you have German books that you would like to donate to our fair? Please contact our library coordinator before April 28 to arrange a drop-off at our library. |
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Lost and Found Items Retrieval Day |
Are there items that your student(s) lost at school? During our used book fair on Friday April 30 from 3-5pm, items from our school's lost and found will be set out for parents to look through. Items will be set out at the west entrance parking lot (rain site: lobby). If you would like to look through items before April 30, the lost and found is at the bottom of the stairs at the West parking lot entrance. After this date the remaining items will be donated. |
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Join the PTO meeting tonight at 6:30! |
Apr 15, 2021 06:30 PM Central Time
Meeting ID: 885 7165 3340 Passcode: 150032
The PTO is looking for a Treasurer! Time commitment is low and you get to work with a great team. You'll be working with Quickbooks, but it's easy to learn if you are unfamiliar!
Please email us if you have questions or are interested in the position!
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Your TCGIS PTO and Track & Field present: The TCGIS Scavenger Hunt 2021 |
Step 2: Open up your email Saturday, May 15th for your first clue and hop into the car with your family team for some fun! Use your sleuthing skills to solve the riddles.
Step 3: Have a great time, take pictures, and send us photos of your family at the stops to celebrate your success.
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Survey: Your Input Needed! |
TCGIS families are asked to help the administration plan for school, post-COVID. We need your input to help us set priorities and guide our decision making. Please fill out our survey by Friday, April 23!
Similar surveys will be sent to staff and students in the coming week. Danke!
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The Parent Council (PC) met on Monday, 4/12/2021 via Zoom.
To begin, we heard from board chair Julie Alkatout about how the hiring process for a new Executive Director will proceed. The first round of interviews will occur this week and in person interviews with the Board, Admin, Staff and Parent Stakeholder groups will occur next week. Ted provided an update from the Administration and let us know that sex education will be beginning in the Middle School this week and that distance learning students will be coming to school on Wednesdays to take the MCAs. The Incidence Response Team (IRT) continues to meet and keep an eye on COVID-19 numbers especially as the new strain seems to be more transmissible among children - they are hoping to meet with the Regional Support Team’s public health professionals soon and will ask for advice specifically on this topic.
The PC then went into closed session and discussed the spring parent feedback survey, feedback to the board regarding the new strategic plan, the ongoing search for an executive director, and co-hosting the board candidates forum on May 5th. We also discussed a potential spring event welcoming next year’s kindergarten families and possibly other new enrollees as well.
We appreciate all of your thoughtful feedback on the Strategic Plan survey, thank you for your responses - our Survey team is busy distilling the feedback to deliver to the board next week. This week we are seeking your feedback on the lessons learned from a year of many learning models, please let us know your thoughts on the new survey included in this week’s Elternbrief.
As always, if you have anything you’d like the Parent Council to address, please email your class representative or the PC.
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Re-Enrollment Survey for All Current TCGIS Families |
Help us prepare for the 2021-2022 school year by completing our re-enrollment
survey! Please click here to fill out the survey by April 23. If you have more than one student at TCGIS, please submit one form for every child in your family who is currently in grades K-7.
Filling out this form is not required in order to attend TCGIS next year but it is extremely helpful for the school. We gather information about returning and withdrawing students to plan our class compositions for the next year. We appreciate your participation; thank you in advance!
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Order the 20/21 Yearbook! |
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Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) are in progress |
The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) season is in full-swing for 3rd-8th graders. You can find more information about MCAs in previous Elternbriefs or on MDE's website. The TCGIS MCA calendar is available here.
On the day students take their MCAs, they should bring:
- Their fully charged school Chromebook (if they have one)
- A snack and water bottle
- Comfortable headphones
- 1-2 sharpened pencils
- A book or drawing/coloring materials in case they finish early (note that it must be a paper book, not a Kindle or other device)
Parents and guardians have the right to refuse participation in MCA testing by filling out this form, which can be submitted in hard copy or email. Please submit this form at least 24 hours before your child’s first assessment so we have time to process it.
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Would you like to check out library materials? Fill out this form to get new materials for next week! There is now the option for in-school students to have their books delivered to their classrooms on Fridays.
Live Story Time
Join us for our next Story Time on Wednesday, April 21 at 2:45pm. Follow this link to tune in! (Zoom passcode: 040736). See our full story time schedule here.
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TCGIS Sommercamp 2021: Register Now! |
Trying to find summer plans for your student? Look no further! This summer's camp themes include Circus, Sports, Art, Math, and more. It's a great way for them to practice their German over the summer! Click here for camp dates and descriptions.
Registration age is based on this school year. (i.e., If your child is currently in second grade, please register in the K-2 camps). Registration is also open to 2021-22 Kindergartners!
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Summer Teen Intensiv for ages 14-18 at the GAI
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This advanced full-day camp experience is for teens with level B1 German skills or graduates of TCGIS. We will dive into two important current topics in these week-long camps: Multiculturalism—what does racism looks like in Germany and how do young people deal with this topic, and Living the Sustainable Life—how does "Nachhaltigkeit" relate to nutrition, housing, education, and the digital world.
June 21–25: Multikulti? Multiculturalism and Racism in Germany
August 23–27: Living the Sustainable Life (#FridaysForFuture)
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Summer Music Lessons with Vienna Arts |
Vienna Community Arts will continue to provide music lessons throughout the summer for new and continuing students. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information.
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GAI Virtual Event this Sunday: Learning from the Germans Book Talk |
Sunday, April 18 | 12:30–1:30 PM
Author Susan Neiman directs Berlin's Einstein Forum, a public think tank for the state of Brandenburg. She has lived in Berlin for most of her adult life but was born and raised in the southern United States. For this book, she spent three years interviewing people in both Germany and the United States. In her book, she asks what we can learn from the Germans about confronting past evils, the concept of Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung, “working off the past”, and how communities can come together to remember and move forward.
Free admission. Register here.
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School Board Announcements |
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Executive Director Search Update |
On Tuesday (April 13), the board of directors convened for a special meeting during which the recommended applicants for executive director were presented by the School Exec Connect recruiters. The board voted unanimously to proceed with interviews of the 4 candidates. The recording of the 4/13 board meeting is linked here.
The hiring committee interviewed the 4 candidates yesterday (April 14) and selected two candidates as finalists. We are pleased to announce that the finalists are Elizabeth Zehnpfennig, TCGIS Middle School Dean, and Dr Kirsten Christensen, Professor of German at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. You can view profiles and biographies of Dean Zehnpfennig and Dr. Christensen here.
Finalists for the position of executive director are invited for in-person interviews next week. Dean Zehnpfennig will interview on Monday, April 20 and Dr Christensen on Tuesday, April 21.
Both candidates will meet with the TCGIS stakeholder groups throughout the day. Stakeholder representatives will conduct the interviews and ALL members of each stakeholder group are invited to attend and observe. The daily schedule for candidate interviews is available here. Interviews will be conducted in person with masking and social distancing.
Parents/all stakeholders may observe the parent interview live-streamed on YouTube during a special board meeting at 5:00 pm. The board’s interview during the special board meeting is viewable at 7:00 pm by all stakeholders. The board will make the final decision at the Tuesday board meeting in open session. Candidates will be notified of our decision immediately following the board meeting. Agendas with links are in the upcoming meeting section.
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Family Affinity Groups: Meet in May |
Family affinity groups will meet for the first time via Zoom. The groups are intended for TCGIS parents/guardians who identify with the affinity group, or whose children identify with the affinity group, and for those who are supporters and allies. The intention is to provide a supportive forum for affinity group members to foster relationships, discuss experiences unique to their families, to uplift and empower their voices, and equip families with the tools of courage, perseverance, and resilience as we work toward dismantling systems of injustice and inequity in education. Mark your calendar and join us.
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Please email the committee email addresses listed below for each meeting’s login details. You can find links to the new committee charters here. All are welcome to join committee meetings!
Diversity & Belonging Cmte: April meeting CANCELED; May meeting: Tues., May 18, 3:45pm; [email protected]
Special Board Meeting (Finalist interview): Monday, Apr. 19, 5:00 pm: Agenda - Join here
Special Board Meeting (Finalist interview & Decision): Tuesday, Apr. 20, 5:00 pm: Agenda - Join here
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German Tutors for TCGIS Students |
TCGIS has built a list of local university/college students interested in virtual private tutoring in German for TCGIS students. We update this Google spreadsheet of tutors regularly. Learn more here. |
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April 15: PTO meeting
April 18: GAI Learning from the Germans Book Talk
April 19, 20: Stakeholder Interviews
April 23: Student Re-enrollment Survey is Due
April 30: Used German Book Fair
May 3-16: Lesemarathon
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