Sunday Memo 10/29/17

October 29, 2017

Aesop and SUBS
In the past couple of weeks we have experienced a shortage of subs and had to use folks in house to cover. Thank you to everyone who subbed while we were in a pinch and for all the offers from across the building to sub during planning periods.  We appreciate it!

While the district has hired a lot more subs and in the process of hiring more, it's important to remember that many of the district subs do not work on Fridays and/or sub in multiple districts. Our chances of getting sub coverage are greater when the request is put in the night before rather that the morning of.   Please put in your sub request as early as possible so that we may have the best possibility of getting coverage.

For personal days, I was just informed that they need to be placed into Aesop 10 school days before the request.  I've approved them up to this point not following the 10 day rule but moving forward, I will honor the district protocol.  However, if there is an emergency, please don't hesitate to let me know.

For District PD days, it's been shared that it is not possible to make these days up.  If you must miss a District PD day, please place it into Aesop as personal business.  If you have any questions about PD days, please talk with me or Dr. Denbow.  Session attendance from these days are sent to me at the end of each PD day.

WG Tackles T-shirts
WG Tackles t-shirts are available in the main office for $15.  If you were unable to get a shirt during the game, please stop by and pick one up.

Furniture
Please hold on getting furniture from the Service Center at this time.  Ms. Hunter is working to find storage for all the desks that are moving out of the classrooms.  At this time, we are not able to send our desks to the Service Center for storage either because they are at capacity as well. 

GEMS Classes
What a week of confusion as we attempted to make some changes to GEMS.  On Monday, an email will be sent to GEMS parents providing an option for students who do not want to participate in the current structure.  We don't anticipate as many schedule changes but it will impact an estimated 10-15 7th and 8th graders.  Once I email the parents the letter, I will also share it with everyone.

Red Alert Dance
Thank you to Jason, Hope and Emily for supporting the Student Council kids plan their first dance.  Thank you to all the family members who volunteered and chaperoned the first school dance of the year!  The kids had a lot of fun and couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise.

Out This Week
I'll be out this Thursday and Friday.  Thursday, I'll be in the building in the morning until 11:30am.  As always, I'll be available by phone or email if you need anything.

Have a great week!

With Gratitude,
Grace

Sunday Memo 10/15 and 10/22

October 15, 2017

WGSD Foundation
Just a reminder about the changes to the WGSD Foundation awards.  The Foundation now awards major grants two times a year, November and April.  The major grants are $5,000.  The mini grants are awarded in September, October, January, February and March for $1,000.  This is an incredible resource for us and one to definitely take advantage of.  If you have any dreams and want a sounding board, please don't hesitate to reach out.  I'd love to share a conversation about applying for a grant to support our kids.

The Ivory Crockett Run is coming up this Saturday.  If you are able, this would be a great way to support the Foundation either by participating in it or volunteering.  It's not too late to join in either way so if you are able, please contact the Foundation to see where volunteers are still needed or register to run.

SLT Meeting
This week, the SLT will be meeting at 3:30pm in the Library.

PLC Meeting
PLC meetings will be held on Monday, October 23rd with your departments.

State of the District Meeting
The district is hosting a community meeting on Tuesday, October 17th at 7:00pm in the HS Auditorium to discuss the current happenings in our district.  Childcare will also be provided.

Faculty Meetings 
The remainder of the faculty meetings for this year will be based on which PD session you choose.  A PD handout will be in your mailboxes on Wednesday.  Please fill out the form, indicating which PD strand you wish to participate in and return it to Kathy Edwards by Thursday, October 26th.

Red Ribbon Week
Red Ribbon Week will be celebrated during the week of October 23rd.  Festivities are being planned and led by Student Council student leaders.  Be on the lookout for announcements and information about each day.  The week long celebration will end with an all school after school dance on Thursday, October 26th.

Grading Period
1st quarter ends Thursday!

Beyond Measure
The district is hosting and showing the documentary Beyond Measure on Wednesday, 10/25 in our auditorium at 7:00pm.  If you are able, please come out and watch this documentary.  As we begin to rethink the way we approach schooling and transform our practices, I believe this documentary will be a great platform to launch the conversation about Hixson as we begin to dream about our future landscape.

Out of Building
The admin team will be out this Thursday, 10/19 for a district leaders team (DLT) meeting.  Please email or text if you need anything.

I will be out of the building next Monday (10/23) and Tuesday (10/24) for a conference.  I will be back on Wednesday.

This week's Sunday Memo will serve as next week's as well since I'll be out of town.  However, if you need anything, please don't hesitate to email or call.

Have a great week everyone!

With Gratitude,
Grace

Sunday Night Memo 10/7/17

Parent Teacher Conferences and Extra A Day
Just a reminder that meals will be served during all three conference days in the cafeteria. 

Also, a reminder that this Wednesday, 10/11 will be an A day.

Gradebooks
It was shared this week that the updated 360 version makes the "comments" field less obvious through the website and the app.  Please communicate this change to families through your team website or during conferences.  Parents will need to click on assignments for more details to see teacher comments.  I'll also share out in the next parent communication this week.

Hallway Passes

When you send a student to the tech lab, please write the reason the student is bringing in their tech on the back of the new passes. This will help our tech folks know how to support kids and send them back to class as quickly as possible.

OFFICE Request

If you are taking your students outside, please contact the main office via phone call or email to let them know where your class will be.  This will help them when they are looking for students.

Equity Walkthroughs

On October 25th and 26th, there will be a team of folks conducting Equity Walkthroughs in our building from 9-11am.  The district team will be conducting the walkthroughs and providing us with feedback about our building.  They will use the tech lab to debrief each day.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

It's hard to believe that we are already in October.  This is one of those long weeks with conferences and I appreciate all the work each of you do every day.  I hope you enjoy your very well deserved break on Friday.

Have a great week!

With Gratitude,

Grace

Sunday Night Memo 10/1/17

Microaggressions

A friend shared an experience he wrote to share with his school team. As we continue our conversations around bias, I wanted to share his experience. I imagine this has probably happened to each of us at some point in our adult lives. I have certainly had my fair share of these types of moments. As adults, we are able to recognize it yet can still find it difficult to confront. Imagine what kids must feel when they are unsure of how to advocate for themselves:

This year, one of my projects is working with our incredible student leaders as they plan our faculty development sessions focusing on microaggressions. The implication is that I’m an expert on handling microaggressions. And yet, recently I was on the receiving end of two microaggressions within an hour and I did absolutely nothing.

We were at a birthday party for my friends’ daughter. My wife, Melissa, was talking to my friend. Melissa couldn’t remember which of his sisters-in-law were there. He pointed to one of them and then reminded us that the other one has the “Jewish nose.” He put his arm over my shoulder and said, “we’ve talked about that before, right?” I honestly don’t remember, but I said, “sure,” and changed the subject to asking about his kids.

A little while later, several of us were sitting around a table outside enjoying the weather. My older daughter, Maddie, went running by amidst a horde of children aged 3-6. She stopped and asked my wife a question about something and took off running again (can’t miss out on running in a horde!). My friend’s mother-in-law looked at her and said, “Is she Italian? She has to be… or Jewish? She’s Italian or Jewish, right?” My friend’s wife said, “she’s Jewish,” and the conversation ended. My wife and I just looked at each other.

When we got in the car to leave, Melissa and I were both stunned. Who asks that? Did that really happen?

Then, I started doing what I do so well. I played the events over in my mind and came up with different responses. I wasn’t as worried about the “Jewish nose” comment, because I know that I could have fixed that instantly. I didn’t, but I could have. The guy who said it was in my wedding… we go way back. But I ran the mother-in-law’s comment on a continuous loop in my mind’s eye. In this imaginary role play, I jumped to the “naive question,” as put forward by the Adaptive Schools training. The idea is to ask a question that is naive to get people to question their own thinking or assumptions, without sounding accusatory or obviously leading the conversation. “How do you know she’s Jewish?” “Do Jews and Italians look alike?”

Then, I moved to another imaginary tactic: lying to get a response. “No, she’s English.” “We adopted her from Egypt.” “Sure we’re Jewish, but we converted.” Just to see what the mother-in-law would say, you know?

My next mental exercise was to act indignant. “Excuse me? It’s none of your business.” “So what if she is Italian or Jewish? Who cares?” Or, my personal favorite, which involved a slew of curse words and epithets aimed back in her direction.

In reality, though, I did none of those things. In fact, I did nothing.

We were having a great time. They didn’t mean anything by it.

Those were the reasons I told myself, but really, I was afraid.

I was afraid to upset my friend by calling him out. I was afraid to cause a scene by calling out his mother-in-law. I was afraid to ruin a great party. I was afraid to be marked as a “social justice warrior” or “overly sensitive” or “politically correct.” I was afraid of embarrassing my wife. I was afraid of interrupting Maddie’s fun if the confrontation led to us leaving early.

Whatever the reason, though, I was afraid to confront it.

On the other hand, they had no problem making us uncomfortable. That’s what makes this work  so important. Doing nothing values the comfort of the offender at the expense of the comfort - or even the safety - of the offended.

As adults, we need to be sure that we are teaching our students not to remain silent in the face of inequity and injustice. And that means that we, as adults, need to learn the same.

I still haven’t said anything to my friend about it.

Attendance

Please make sure to take attendance at the start of class and submit it into SIS. It's important that we take accurate attendance every hour.

We've had a few students who have moved without officially checking out. This has resulted in a loss of 3 Chromebooks. If you hear a student talk about the possibility of moving, please let Ms. Banks know so she can make sure. Losing Chromebooks is a big hit to our budget and technology resources.

Grades in SIS

I've had a handful of parents share concerns regarding grades in the gradebook. Please make sure you are entering them in so parents are able to have conversations with their kids. We expect parents to use the portal to see what's going on in classes, so it is important we enter grades for them to see.

October 11th

October 11th is a half day and will also be an A DAY. We will make sure it starts going in the announcements so kids are not confused.

Custodian Appreciation Day

Monday, October 2nd is Custodian Appreciation Day. Ms. Hunter is not going to be in on Monday, so our custodial team will celebrate their day on Friday with a thank you lunch from the front office. Our building could not run without our amazing team and we are so appreciative of their dedication and hard work.

I hope you had a great weekend enjoying faller type temperatures. Have a great week!

With Gratitude, Grace