La Follette High School proudly celebrates Latinx Heritage and community all year long, and particularly during Latinx Heritage Month from September 15-October 15. They created this physical display of the flags of Latin American countries outside the school, which will fly through mid-October. |
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The staff newsletter is now distributed biweekly. The next edition will be sent on Friday, Oct. 16. Got feedback?
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IMPORTANT DATES
September 15 - October 15
October
National Bullying
Prevention Month
Stay tuned for updated training on the MMSD Anti-Bullying policy and
how to prevent and respond
to bullying.
October 1
October 2
National Custodial Staff Recognition Day
October 5-9
Free wellness events from the UW-Madison Center for Healthy Minds
October 6
October 11
October 12
October 12 - 16
October 15-17
27 authors at 16 online events over 3 days!
October 15 - November 15
October 27
November 3
Election Day
DISTRICT
RESOURCES
OTHER RESOURCES
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Dear Staff,
I know we all have been working hard through virtual instruction, as many of us are focused on supporting our students and families, while also juggling our personal lives outside of work. We must continue to remind ourselves that we also need to consider our personal health and wellbeing.
When I joined a meeting with our School Nurses recently, we talked about the current health crisis, and the importance of caring for each other, especially when we cannot be together. I encourage you to continue to seek out ways to take care of yourselves, and each other. In this edition of the staff newsletter, you’ll find a number of resources and opportunities that I hope will help.
I also want to remind you that the Benefits Open Enrollment period is coming up, October 15th - November 15th. You’ll receive an email on October 15th that will include more information and instructions.
I am grateful for all of your hard work, and we look forward to that day when we can be in buildings together again.
Sincerely,
Carlton D. Jenkins, Ph.D.
Superintendent
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Thank you, MMSD Custodial Team! |
Today is National Custodial Staff Recognition Day and we want to extend a special thank you and sincere appreciation to all members of our custodial unit. Since mid-March everyone has been working hard to keep our schools clean and safe.
Shout out to all of our BC I, II, and III's, CW I, II, and III's, our High School, Food Services, and District-Wide Maintenance Workers, Equipment Operators and Food Truck Delivery Drivers, Grounds Crew, Small Engines Mechanic, Warehouse/Fleet Mechanic, Subs, Trainees and Mail Driver.
The whole team has been working to keep the insides and outsides of our buildings looking great. At schools that are MSCR Cares sites, they are working hard to keep those schools open and disinfected. At other schools, deferred maintenance and special projects have been taking place.
Again, thanks to all of our custodial unit for their service and hard work for the last six months - keeping our buildings safe and clean!
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Healthy food,
healthy minds
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MMSD Head Chef Irene Pawlisch understands the importance of taking the stigma out of picking up free meals, and the team has gone out of their way to make the experience a fun, welcoming one for students to enjoy. As a staff member assigned to the central kitchen with no student contact, she embraced the opportunity to connect with families and students.
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Live Well, Work Well
Employee Wellness Newsletter
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The MMSD Employee Wellness vision is that all staff are and feel healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and balanced. The importance of our personal and collective wellbeing has been ever-so highlighted in this past year with the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing effects of systemic racism and oppression.
As we continue to adapt to new ways of maintaining a work-life balance, it is important to take time for self-care. Check out the first edition of the Live Well, Work Well newsletter for the 20-21 school year. Topics/resources within include: MMSD Virtual Employee Wellness Room, 2020 Employee Wellness Fair, Mindfulness in MMSD offerings and programming, working from home work/life balance, mental health, EAP resources, and a recipe for Potato and Egg Skillet with Ham.
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Needing support for parenting while working virtually? Wanting to rest deeper into an established mindfulness practice, or explore awareness and connections to wellbeing and racial justice in new ways? Everyone in our MMSD community of educators and employees are invited into these offerings to create a pause from our challenging and dynamic work and find some steady ground:
And, finally, the learning can come to you! Requests for school or department based professional learning, or consultation to develop your own supports for staff wellbeing are welcome: request here.
The World We Make 2020: October 5 - 9
The Center for Healthy Minds (CHM) hosts a free week-long series of online events with well-being tips and the chance to hear from mental health experts and special guests. MMSD has a long partnership with the CHM focused on supporting the social emotional wellbeing of our students and staff. A panel of our staff are featured on the session “Well at Work: Strategies from Research to the Real World” on Oct 7 at 7 PM.
Tamar Jacobsohn, Early Childhood Program Support Teacher, Sylla Zarov, Principal at Franklin, Ana Salico, Bilingual Teach Leader and Jenny Jones, Physical Therapist, discuss their connection with the free Healthy Minds Program App which so many of MMSD employees have found supportive over the past two years.
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Food for our families
Information to share and ways to get involved.
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Food & Nutrition Virtual Learning Meal Plan |
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During Virtual Learning, Food & Nutrition is offering once per week pickup of Market Box meals at 40 school sites. The response to changing to once per week pickup vs. the daily breakfast/lunch meal pickup offered in the spring has been very positive.
We’ve added an additional pickup site with evening hours for families who are unable to attend during the workday. Tuesdays, from 4-6pm, families can pick up a meal box at the MMSD Food Production Center, 4711 Pflaum Rd.
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For the latest updates, follow Food and Nutrition on social media! |
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Goodman Community Center Thanksgiving Basket Drive |
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For the past 32 years, GCC’s Thanksgiving Basket Drive has been a tradition, with many long-serving staff, volunteers and their children returning year after year.
Each basket contains all the food needed to prepare a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner, including a frozen turkey, fruit and veggies, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and all the fixings.
This year they expect demand for baskets to be at an all-time high, so they plan to register 4,000 families — that’s 22,000 Dane County residents (including 10,000 children!). Here's how you can help.
MMSD school social workers are able to access early registration for MMSD families now through October 9th. Registration is open to the public October 12-23. Families can reach out to their school social worker to register.
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Standards of Professional Conduct
on Social Media
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Recently we shared guidelines for what staff can share (information) and not share (advocacy) around the upcoming referenda when representing the district.
As a reminder, there are standards that we must follow when discussing any part of the upcoming election when we are identified online as working for the district. We wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to review this section from the district's social media guidelines.
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Native American Education Fall Newsletter
MMSD American Indian/Title VI students are considered as Urban Natives, in contrast to Natives who reside on reservations. One issue for some Urban Native students is a sense of invisibility, often as a result of not seeing themselves in the media, in school curriculum, in the public sector, nor among their social circles, thus the special need for American Indian cultural and curricular programming available to ALL students. See the current Title VI brochure for more information.
East High School's Students Unlearning Racism Club is on Instagram. About the club: As students and allies we strive to unlearn systemic racism and educate ourselves and others while amplifying the voices of BIPOC. Every week our group chooses a topic to unlearn and relearn. Most recently we’ve been investigating and unlearning harmful stereotypes.
(Justified Anger)
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Join the Madison Public Schools Friends & Alumni Network today!
East side and west side; elementary, middle and high; we’re bringing everyone together to share our Madison public school pride! Connect with fellow alumni, support your alma mater and help develop future graduates of Madison’s public schools. Join the Madison Public Schools Friends & Alumni Network today – it’s free!
Get Certified to Teach Drivers Ed & Make A Difference
Thanks to a partnership with Dane County and CESA2, MSCR offers a driver education program. This unique and important program serves about 120 MMSD high school students annually and provides scholarships. Due to the pandemic, the class was able to continue virtually this year.
Many MMSD high school students are ready to complete their required Behind The Wheel driving instruction to be eligible to take their driving test. However, due to a lack of instructors, most of them are waiting. Without this special program, these teens would not receive this education.
CESA2 hires instructors and provides free training for certified MMSD teachers (certification follows DPI rules) to become driving instructors. You can help MMSD students be prepared to take their driving tests. If interested, please see job posting. The pay begins at $23 per hour. Make a difference in youth's lives and apply today.
Contact: christine.bergan@cesa2.org
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The first step in writing any grant in MMSD is to complete the Grant Inquiry Form. Questions? Marcie Pfeifer-Soderbloom, Resource Dev. Manager, mpfeifersode@
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$1000 AODA Student Mini-Grants
DPI AODA Student Mini-Grants up to $1,000 are available on a competitive basis for Wisconsin schools to support education, prevention, and intervention programs designed by students, targeting alcohol and other drug abuse (AODA) and other youth risk behaviors such as tobacco, traffic safety, violence, suicide, etc. A major funding priority is the involvement of youth in the planning and implementation of the project. Deadline: Oct. 9th.
Herb Kohl Teacher Fellowships:
$6K for Fellows, $6K for your school
Kohl Teacher Fellowship program recognizes and supports teaching excellence and innovation in Wisconsin. The goal is to support teachers' unrealized goals for their classrooms or professional development. Each Kohl Fellowship recipient receives a $6K grant and each recipient's school receives a $6K grant. PK-12 teachers can be nominated by students, parents, other teachers, community members, or administrators. Nomination deadline: October 13th. The Grant Inquiry Form is not required for this process.
Resist $4,000 Grassroots Action Grants
Note: MMSD is not eligible for this grant. Grassroots organizations with which you work may be eligible. This information is provided for you to disseminate to your networks as you see fit. Resist General Support Grants are available for up to $4,000 to support groups who are building movements for justice and liberation and resisting systemic oppression through grassroots/cultural organizing, art-making and resilience building. Deadline: Dec. 4th.
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Congrats to James Madison Memorial High School teacher David Olson (@davidjohnolson) on his recent selection to this year’s National Humanities Center Teacher Advisory Council.
A drive-through flu clinic at Alliant Energy Center is available for Dane County residents 6 months and older who do not have health insurance, and Dane County children 6 months and older who have BadgerCare or Medicaid.
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