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Through innovation, determination, pride, heart, and soul, Shelby County Schools continues to transform the landscape of education. We are accelerating the implementation of our vision to REIMAGINE education, communities, and schools in the 901. Superintendent Ray will deliver his second annual State of the District address at 9:01 A.M. THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 16. During this special VIRTUAL event, we will reflect on an unprecedented year and its impact, delve deeper into the District's resiliency plan, and outline how stakeholders can serve as educational change agents in Shelby County. Click here to watch live!

To ensure all teachers and staff can watch Dr. Ray's important State of the District address, the agenda for District Learning Day has been adjusted. During the morning portion of the day, teachers will work to complete the last required Microsoft Teams course, CADRE966 – “Teams for Insights and Analytics to Support the Shift towards Blended Learning in Canvas,” and Cyber Security self-paced course. After lunch, teachers will join their live content/department sessions. View the full adjusted DLD agenda here. 

4/14: DLD Course Registration Due

4/16: State of the District Address

4/16: District Learning Day

4/20: K-5 InSync/Affirm Session (NEW)

4/22: 6-9 InSync/Affirm Session (NEW)

4/22: Equity Town Hall Summit

4/23: Summer School Positions Close (NEW)

4/23: TN Educator Survey Closes (NEW)

4/28: Prof. Artifacts & Self-Scores Due

4/29: Virtual ACT Family Night

5/30: Summer Academy Positions Close (NEW)

Check out the April edition of CAO Digest from Dr. Antonio Burt & the Office of Academics! (NEW)

Please take a few moments to review the April edition of CAO Digest before April 16. Inside, you'll find required actions for April, spotlights from March, and Equity in Action connections for each academic department. 

The new school year starts August 9! Check out all the important dates on the newly approved 2021-22 instructional calendar! (NEW)

The new calendar is here! After in-depth research and review by District staff, along with multiple layers of input and feedback from community stakeholders, the School Board approved Superintendent Ray's recommended 2021-22 instructional calendar during last Tuesday's Business Meeting. Thousands of people provided input on the calendar via survey and stakeholder groups, which included teachers, principals, central office staff, education association representatives, Board Members, students, and parents. The majority of responses align with the District's recommendation. Based on the newly approved calendar, the 2021-22 school year will begin August 9 and end May 27. Be on the lookout next week for printable designed versions of the new calendar.

NOW HIRING: Positions for Promotional Summer School & the Summer Learning Academy are open! (NEW)

Click here to apply for positions in Promotional Summer School by April 23. Positions are open for teachers, site administrators, school counselors, educational assistants and school clerks. Visit scssummerschool.com to learn more.

Apply for Summer Learning Academy 2021 positions by May 30 on the Choose SCS Careers site. Positions are open for elementary and middle school regular education, special education, ESL teachers, clerks, guidance counselors, teacher assistants, bilingual mentors, and site administrators. Summer Learning Academy employees will receive a $3.00 hourly bonus paid at the end of the program.

The TDOE is offering Reading 360 Early Literacy Training! (NEW)

The Tennessee Department of Education is offering early literacy training as part of the Reading 360 Initiative. The summer training will consist of an asynchronous week 1 session and an in-person week 2 session at the Teaching & Learning Academy. Click here to see the course overview for both sessions. Currently, elementary and K-8 principals are working with staff to identify their K- 2 teachers who will participate in both weeks. Please contact Joyce Harrison, Raquel Darling-Greer or Pamela Harris-Giles if you have questions.

K-12 Science teachers, mark your calendars on April 20 for a valuable virtual meeting! (NEW)

The Curriculum & Instruction Science Department will host a virtual meeting on Tuesday, April 20, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. for all K-12 Science teachers. This session will cover ways to use the Science curriculum to address instructional practice for grades K-12. Register in PLZ (#26345) by Friday, April 16. Get more information here.

K-5 teachers, are you looking for curriculum opportunities on practice items that align with standardized tests?(NEW) 

Your ELA curriculum, Wonders, provides a resource called the Tennessee Benchmark Assessment. This resource (located in the Supporting Documents Folder under Assessments on the C&I SharePoint and found here) is designed to measure how well children acquire the reading and language arts knowledge and skills assessed on a standardized test. The focus of the Tennessee Benchmark Assessment resource is on critical areas of English Language Arts:

Fitness in the park @ Shelby Farms is back! Don't miss out on these prizes! (NEW)

Coordinated School Health and Human Resources are partnering to help SCS employees stay active and healthy this spring. Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, employees can sign up for a variety of FREE group fitness classes, like yoga, zumba and bootcamp/full body workouts. All workouts are held at Shelby Farms!

The first 10 employees to arrive each day the week of April 19, will receive a fitness in the park backpack and workout accessories. Register here!

i-Ready: Awarding April trophies soon! (NEW)

Keep up the great usage as you strive for those April trophies! Research shows the most robust growth comes from 30+ minutes of online instruction per week (per subject) and 70% or greater lesson pass rates. Don’t forget that the Teacher Toolbox will continue to provide teacher-led instructional resources as well. Reach out to your i-Ready team with any questions.

 

A special PD collaboration with the Tennessee Shakespeare Company for teachers in grades 4-5 is coming in May! (NEW)

SCS 4th and 5th grade ELA teachers can participate in a two-part professional learning series focused on poetry, literary elements and techniques that will be highlighted during 4th quarter poetry lessons in the Wonders curriculum. Additionally, participants in the two-part professional learning series will have an opportunity to sign-up for a virtual field trip. A TSC Teaching Artist will visit their class (live virtually) to engage students in exciting poetry activities. Click this link to register for the two-part professional learning series. For additional information about this collaboration with TSC, click here.  

 Connect with SCS on social media! #SCSis901