STAFF NEWSLETTER
January 2019
In This Issue
Upcoming Dates
Feb. 18 
Presidents' Day Holiday - No School  
 
March 21
End of Elementary Trimester 2  
 
March 22
Early Release - All Students
 
March 27-29
Elementary Conferences - Elementary Early Release
 
March 29
End of High School/ Middle School Quarter 3
Staff Voices Schedule
Superintendent Sweeting would like your feedback and thoughts about what is working well, what needs improving, as well as any suggestions you may have for your school or the district. You can meet with her at your school at the days and times listed below.
 
Feb. 13 , 8:00-9:00 a.m., Pioneer
Feb. 28 , 7:00-8:00 a.m., SVLC
March 8 , 9:30-10:30 a.m., Transportation
March 13 , 7:00-8:00 a.m., Weston HS
March 20 , 8:00-9:00 a.m., Kent Prairie
April 10 , 7:00-8:00 a.m., Haller MS
April 24 , 8:00-9:00 a.m., District Office
May 1 , 8:00-9:00 a.m., Eagle Creek  
Check out the winter edition of the Our Schools community newsletter!
The Arlington Public Schools community newsletter Our Schools is now available. The newsletter provides in-depth information about the February 2019 bond. Read the newsletter here. 
A message from Superintendent Sweeting  
Dear Amazing Arlington Staff,
 
January has quickly come to an end and it seems impossible that February is here. I want to thank you for your ongoing support of our students. I am proud of our dedicated team.  
 
As we approach the Feb. 12 bond vote, I want to encourage you to vote and to remind others to do the same. If you or others have questions, please ca ll me, Brian Lewis, or check out the information on the district website under the bond tab. There is a tax calculator, various videos and other informational documents on the site.  
 
Thank you for putting students first and cultivating their learning every day!   
 
Chrys
Presentation and video now available from the State of the District Address!  
Arlington Public Schools' State of the District Address took place on Jan. 24 at Post Middle School. Nearly 170 parents, students, staff and community members attended the event. A tour of Post took place before the presentation. The Arlington High School (AHS) Air Force JROTC presented the flags, Kent Prairie Elementary's "Choir on Fire" sang songs during the event, and the AHS Culinary Arts students prepared and served desserts to guests. A panel of middle school students answered questions from Superintendent Sweeting about what is working well, what needs improving, and suggestions they have to continue making Arlington Public Schools the best place to learn. A copy of the presentation is available here.
 
2019 State of the District Address
2019 State of the District Address
 
Middle schoolers work with Arlington High School calculus students to improve math skills    
Nearly 30 Stillaguamish Valley Learning Center middle schoolers visited Arlington High School on Jan. 15 to work with calculus students to improve their math skills. The skills the middle schoolers needed to work on were identified through their assessment scores. Read more here
32 Arlington DECA students qualify for state competition
Thirty-two Arlington High School DECA students qualified to move on to the state DECA competition after competing on Jan. 12 at the Area 1 DECA Competition at Monroe High School. Sixty-two percent of all AHS DECA students who competed will move on to state. Forty-two medals were received at the Area Competition, the most awards the program has ever received at the area competition. More information here   
Arlington Schools awarded Student Sustainability Awareness Grant
Arlington Public Schools has been awarded a Healthy Kids-Healthy Schools grant from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The $14,190 grant will be used for Student Sustainability Awareness. The Student Sustainability Awareness grant is used for the purchase of equipment that generates student awareness of sustainability in schools. In Arlington, the funds were used to purchase a heavy duty tow-behind chipper to dispose of yard waste which is currently stored at several sites in the district. Read more here.  
First-year teachers can attend the Northwest Council for Computer Education conference for free
OSPI is inviting first-year teachers to attend the largest education/technology event in the Northwest on Feb. 26-28. This three-day conference provides 250+ sessions and workshops (WA clock hours available), featured speakers from across the country, and world-class keynote addresses. Join thought leaders, like-minded educators, ed-tech experts, and more at NCCE. Our 100+ vendor exhibit hall offers solutions for every classroom need.
 
To qualify:
  • Be a full-time pre-service teacher or first-year teacher.
  • Scholarship does not include housing or travel expenses
  • Application must be submitted before Feb. 15, 2019.
  • limited number of scholarships per school available
News from Operations
From the Central Safety Committee
Arlington Public Schools operates a Central Safety Committee comprised of staff members from all instructional and support buildings. Washington's Department of Labor and Industries requires employers with 10 or more employees to conduct monthly safety meetings. The committee meetings include a monthly review of student and staff accident reports to find preventable conditions that contribute to accidents and identify measures to mitigate those conditions. Last year, members of the committee completed Safety Awareness Walkthroughs (SAW) of their buildings to observe and document the same preventable conditions that lead to accidents or near misses.
 
The SAW's and the review of accident reports identified several preventable conditions and the Safety Committee used that information to apply for a grant from the ESD 113 Workers Compensation Trust to help address those conditions. The grant application requested funding for three initiatives:
  • Protective gear for special education para-educators and teachers.
  • Folding step ladders for placement in classrooms so staff can reach higher places without standing on chairs, tables, or desks; many fall type accidents are due to improper use of chairs, tables, and desks in place of ladders or stools.
  • Torsion bars for folding cafeteria tables; the torsion bars ease lowering and lifting of the tables and help prevent repetitive motion injury.
Grant funds will be awarded in February 2019.
 
Other activities of the Safety Committee include distribution of information to help prevent accidents. Maureen Skomerza, Pioneer Elementary teacher and Safety Committee Chair for 2019, copied and distributed graphics to help people understand a safer way to walk on sidewalks made slippery from ice (below). If you discover icy conditions around your school that haven't been addressed, please notify your building principal, secretary, or custodian so they can take steps to resolve the problem.
We thank the Safety Committee members for their leadership in making our schools a safer place for all. 2018-19 Safety Committee members are:
  • Asa Abbott, BPAC
  • Ed Aylesworth, Support Services
  • Ryan Barci, Eagle Creek Elementary
  • Krissa Cramer, District Nurse
  • Holly Christmas-Harris, Haller Middle School
  • Eric DeJong, District Office
  • Andrea Dixon, Stillaguamish Valley Learning Center/Weston High School
  • Paul Dobberfuhl, Post Middle School
  • Jeff Forney, Presidents Elementary
  • Kevin Knutson, Technology
  • Allen Larson, Kent Prairie Elementary
  • Brian Lewis, District Office
  • Charity Prueher, Transportation
  • Katherine Ray, District Office
  • Niki Roskelley, Arlington High School
  • Carrie Saunders, APPLE Preschool
  • Maureen Skomerza, Chair, Pioneer Elementary
News from Finance 
W2s    
Employees may now access their W-2 for the 2018 calendar year by viewing it through Employee Access in Skyward. (Go to Employee Access, Employee Information, Payroll, W2 Information, View W2 Form) Those who did not select the option to receive their W-2 form electronically will still have a paper copy mailed to the home address we have on record for them. 
Department of Retirement Systems releases updated webinar schedule
The Department of Retirement Systems' Education & Outreach team has just released the new webinar schedule for January-March, 2019. Topics include: Deferred Compensation Program (DCP); Investment Basics; DCP Distributions; Plan Choice (PERS, SERS, TRS); Online Resources; Plan 2: PERS, TRS, SERS; Plan 2: LEOFF, WSPRS, PSERS; Plan 3: PERS, TRS, SERS; Plan 3 Distributions; Purchasing an Additional Benefit; Early Retirement (PERS, SERS, TRS); Getting Ready for Retirement (within two years); Applying for Retirement (online tutorial); Benefit Payment Options at Retirement; Returning to Work After Retirement (PERS, SERS, TRS); Medicare; Social Security Basics; and Identity Theft/Protection.
 
It's recommended that you log into the webinar 10-15 minutes in advance to test connection and sound. Please review how to join a DRS Webinar for tips on accessing the webinar, audio, and sending questions. The webinars are not recorded.
 
If you are unable to attend a webinar because of your work schedule, check out the video recordings of live presentations you can watch at your convenience. Please select Videos and scroll down to see the full list of videos. If you are a member of PERS 1 or TRS 1, you will find a video covering your plan.
 
News from Human Resources 
School Calendar
As a reminder, in October the school board approved a change to the 2018-19 calendar to include an additional in-service day for certificated staff on May 3, 2019. This change moves the last day of school to Friday, June 14, 2019. However, if there happens to be a day of school canceled prior to May 3 (snow/flood/power outage, etc.), it will revert to a student day and the in-service day will happen on Monday, June 17. If more than one day is canceled, additional school days will be added to the school calendar after June 14 and the in-service day will happen following the last student day. Having school days canceled and added to the end of the year is always a possibility and staff should always keep this in mind when making summer plans. If you have any questions about this change, please speak with your supervisor. Thank you.
News from Teaching and Learning  
Email scam warning
The following email scam has been seen by a number of school districts in the area.
 
1. Scammer finds principal's name and list of staff from school website
 
2. They create an account on gmail.com or some other major provider using principal's name (e.g. Principal Name <uid.asd@gmail.com>).
 
3. They email all staff at school with a simple:
 
Are you available? I need a favor from you,email me back as soon as possible
 
When the staff responds, the staff member gets a badly written spam email. In some cases the email asks for assistance purchasing gift cards.
 
Please be cautious of emails sent from outside sources!
District administrators recognized the Arlington School Board Jan. 28 for School Board Recognition Month. Thank you board members for all you do for students!
Remember to vote by Feb. 12!
Arlington Public Schools | | gsabol@asd.wednet.edu | 315 N FRENCH AVE
Arlington, WA 98223