1/12

We ran an experiment with Offer Doyle this week. She brought a stranger (a police officer in street clothes) in and had him walking around the building without a badge. You may have seen him walking around in a black hoodie, with a clipboard, pretending to talk on his cell phone and looking up at the ceiling. It was an attempt to see if anyone would stop him or call down to the office to alert us of his presence. I was confident, maybe even cocky because we have had a few incidents this year when staff acted quickly and alerted us of unidentified central office personnel in and around the building. This drill though was not successful. After lapping the building twice and saying hello to several staff members we concluded the experiment in the office. My takeaway is that we haven't done a strong enough job of giving all guests red sticker badges so people are habituated to seeing workers who may not have checked into the office in the building. Moving forward, we will be more thorough in this area. I do ask though, that if you see an adult without the red badge, a CORI clip, or a staff ID, you either ask them why they are there and/or call down to the office to alert us right away. 

In a similar vein, we have started before-school tutoring for about a dozen students. I've never liked keeping the main entrance unlocked but now especially since we will have some kids in, we have begun locking the door in the morning. This will require you to hit the buzzer so Tracy or I can let you in. Thank you, Tracy! I know this further complicates your mornings. I have reached out to Mark Wilde to see where we are in the process of our security updates and providing teachers access control. 

Thank you to those who completed the PLTW staff meeting last week. Denise and I met afterward and we do have a few actions we agreed to move forward to support staff in its implementation. One of the things we did talk about was that donations in the STEAM lab are great and truly appreciated but should be science-related only. Please check with Denise before making a donation to the space. 

Max Acuto is home but is still commuting regularly for treatments. After speaking with the family, a friend started this meal train and I wanted to share it with all of you. 

Wednesday's staff meeting will be in the library. Teachers will be broken up into grade levels and move through the library to different centers. Our volunteers want to show everyone some of the opportunities in the room, gather information about the direction moving forward, and also showcase our new teacher resource section (thanks Jenn!) Specialists will be in my office with me to discuss the next steps in the library. No, they're not in trouble. 

I want it on your radar that we will have special presentations on bias and diversity for the students on 1/31. The same presenter will then lead staff development in the afternoon. Once I can nail down the presenter for the time frames I will send out a schedule for the presentations. 

A Few Notes from BethAnne

First I want to apologize for not being as present in the classrooms lately as I would like to be. January is a busy month of meetings, averaging close to two 504/IEP meetings each day.  I can’t wait for February! LOL. 

Officer Holly & Cruiser

It’s no surprise that I love escorting Officer Holly and Cruiser around when/if I am available. Officer Holly has expressed that she is feeling unsure of who welcomes a visit and who doesn’t. She wants to be a presence in the school and is very willing to be a part of your classroom, aside from sharing a few pets and snuggles with Cruiser.  Please take a few seconds to fill out this quick survey to better help her.  It’s okay to be honest. 

Reply All

I thought I would share this funny reply all meme as a reminder that reply all isn’t always fun for everyone’s email inboxes! LOL.  If you are sending a message to TPS (or the like), I suggest bcc’ing TPS so the replies only go to you.  There are definitely times when reply all is needed and quite necessary, but let’s be cognizant of when those moments are. It’s also a good practice of making sure we are only replying to the people that need to know the information.  I promise we’re doing each other a favor!

The week ahead:

• Monday (1/15) 
• No School - MLK Day
• Tuesday (1/16) Day B 
• Basketball Home Game 
• Wednesday (1/17) Day C 
• Staff meeting in the library
• Thursday (1/18) Day D
• PTA meeting
• Friday (1/19) Day A