Friday Memo - 9/30/21

Important dates
October 1 - Mayes is out of the building
October 4 - Picture retake/make up day
October 4 - Mayes at District Admin Cabinet meeting 9:00 am until --
October 6 - Installation of coffee and water machine in faculty lounge
October 8 - Flu Shots + Atterberry out of the building
October 9 - Staff visit to EarthDance Farms
October 11 - Mayes at District Admin Cabinet meeting 9:00 am until --
October 13 - Panorama window opens
October 14 - PTO meeting, Hixson Library, 5:15 pm
October 15 - Vogt out of the building
October 18 - Mayes at District Admin Cabinet meeting 9:00 am until --
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 9am - 4pm; NO SCHOOL for students
October 21 - Admin at DLT, 8:45 am - 9:45 am
October 21 - Mayes at New Admin meeting, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
October 22 - NO SCHOOL (comp day)
October 25 - Mayes at District Admin Cabinet meeting 9:00 am until --
November 1 - Hixson staff at Camp Wyman
November 8 - School Improvement Team meeting
November 24 - 26 - Thanksgiving Break

88th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to read the most recent Hixson Happenings!

The last normal school year...

I believe we will be dealing with the effects of the pandemic for several years. Currently, we are hearing how much our students are struggling with "how to do school", which includes but is not limited to organizational skills, study skills, appropriate school behaviors, social cues and prompts etc. The graphic below might help explain some of what we are seeing.

If you/your team/department is feeling the need to teach organizational skills to your students, please feel free to use time during your classes do so! If you/your team/department is feeling the need to set aside time to plan more targeted relationship building activities/learning experiences for your students (ie: restorative circles, team picnic, etc.), please feel free to do so! Remember, the core of our work as educators is about meeting the needs of students by doing what is best for them. Do not hesitate to set aside time for these important topics. The admin team will support you. This is what middle school is about.

Panorama

The window for the first Panorama survey will open on October 13 and close on October 20. The survey will be no more than ten questions and should be completed in one sitting during Statesman Time. You will receive a schedule and instructions sometime next week of when your Statesman Time should take the survey. The purpose of this is to avoid network issues or system overload. 

Principal's Council

Throughout the summer and into this school year, it has been on my mind to start a Principal's Council at Hixson. This will be a group of students who meet with me once per month to share ideas, discuss issues within the school, and give feedback on how to make our school an awesome place for all. This group would help to include student voice in important school matters, foster leadership skills and a sense of belonging in the students who participate. The administrators will be asking you to recommend students for Principal's Council. My goal is to work with a very diverse group of students to represent Hixson Middle School. Once I have names, I will distribute the invitations. My goal is to have the first meeting before the end of October, and then meet every month through April. We will meet during a different class each month to avoid students missing the same class repeatedly. Thank you in advance for recommending students for Principal's Council!

Care Team

Next week, a member of the care team will join your team meetings to re-introduce the care team process. A care team member will reach out to elective teachers to schedule a time to discuss care team with them at a different time. Here is a link to the form they will review when we meet. Please save a copy into your specific team folder so that it is available during team meetings to everyone.

Flu Shots - October 8, 7:15 am - 8:45 am
Flu vaccines are scheduled at Hixson for Friday, October 8 from 7:15 am to 8:45 am in the faculty lounge.

• WGSD staff insured by Anthem need to bring their insurance card so that the member ID can be documented on the consent form. 
• SSD staff insured by Coventry need to do the same.
• If you are pregnant, please let Amy Hensley know so they can bring the preservative free vaccine for you. 
• If you do not have the district health insurance, they will submit to your insurance.  However you will have to fill out some paperwork and you will need to bring a copy of the front and back of your insurance card along with a copy of your driver’s license.  Accepted insurances include Aetna, Cigna, Essence, Humana, HealthLink, Medicare and United HealthCare. 
• If you don’t have insurance the cost is $30 (cash or check payable to VNA) for the Quadrivalent shot, $32 for preservative free and $55 for the high dose (for persons 65 years and older).
• Just a reminder, there is no live flu virus in flu shots. FLU SHOTS CAN NOT GIVE YOU THE FLU. 

Friday Memo - 9/24/21

Important dates
September 24 - end of secret mission #1
September 28 - Growth plans due
October 1 - Mayes is out of the building
October 4 - Picture retake/make up day
October 6 - Installation of coffee and water machine in faculty lounge
October 8 - Flu Shots + Atterberry out of the building
October 9 - Staff visit to EarthDance Farms
October 14 - PTO meeting, Hixson Library, 5:15 pm
October 15 - Vogt out of the building
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 9am - 4pm; NO SCHOOL for students
October 21 - Admin at DLT, 8:45 am - 9:45 am
October 21 - Mayes at New Admin meeting, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
October 22 - NO SCHOOL (comp day)
November 1 - Hixson staff at Camp Wyman
November 8 - School Improvement Team meeting
November 24 - 26 - Thanksgiving Break

87th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to read the most recent Hixson Happenings!

Masks
As you know, the Webster Groves School District has a mask mandate. All students and staff should wear their masks covering the nose and mouth at all times while in the building. Students should not be sitting in classrooms with their masks below their noses. If you see a student wearing a mask improperly, please prompt the student to fix it. If the student refuses, please notify the grade level principal as soon as possible. If you observe students who are not wearing their masks properly in the halls, please prompt them to fix it. If I see a student not wearing their mask properly, I make eye contact with the student and firmly instruct the student to pull the mask up. There are other times when I make eye contact and point to my mask, which prompts them to pull it back up. The bottom line is, if you see it, address it. If the student gives you a problem, let us know so we can address it. Our desire is to make sure all students and staff feel safe at school. This is going to take effort from all of us. Thank you for helping to ensure mask wearing is taken seriously at Hixson!

Reimbursements

Requests for reimbursements need to be approved by me before the purchase is made. I cannot be blindsided by expenses that I didn't know about because I've had no opportunity to budget for them. I will not approve reimbursement requests if I was not previously notified of the expense. Your purchases should go through your department chair(s).

Where should you enter your grades?
It slipped our minds to address this directly at the opening faculty meeting. You are only required to enter grades in SIS. You do not need to enter grades in both SIS and Canvas. SIS is our official system for reporting. If you choose to enter grades into Canvas, then yes, Canvas and SIS need to match. This is the same thing we did last year. If you have a question or issue, please reach out to Hixson administration directly. 

SEL, Equity and Panorama

Many of you have probably heard about the walk out that occurred yesterday at Parkway Central High School. It was very tough to watch. I was an assistant principal there when they had their first walk out in April of 2019. To be frank, that was one of the worst days of my career. I didn't sleep for at least three weeks after that walk out. It was a tough end to the 2018-2019 school year. 

Regardless of what people think or say, two things that are consistent across both walk-outs is this - there are so many students and adults who are hurting because of hate speech and other forms of racism and bigotry AND students are crying out for an opportunity to be heard. Hixson Middle School is no exception to this. There are many similarities between what I heard in the Central students' speeches yesterday and what I have heard our students express here at Hixson. As educators, events like these should cause us to pause and ask, how do we create a school environment where all students and staff feel safe and respected? How do we consistently provide authentic opportunities for all students to be seen and heard? 

The first step is to get feedback from students on how they are experiencing our school. This will be the purpose of our Panorama surveys. We will administer the same survey to all students three times per year through Statesman Time. The survey will ask our students approximately ten SEL/Equity/School Culture related questions. We will review the data and determine what our next steps need to be. Our goal is to see improvement throughout the school year.

We will also ask staff about their experiences here at Hixson as well. As I mentioned in our development on September 17, it is important for staff to have a voice as well so that we can make sure you feel like a valued and respected member of the Hixson staff. The staff survey will be anonymous.

The window for the Panorama surveys will most likely open in mid-October. I will confirm the dates with you early next week. 

Religious Holidays

There are several religious holidays that come up throughout the school year that are observed by many of our students and families. Please note, absences due to religious observances are excused absences. We will not penalize students for missing class work or not completing homework while they are away from school for religious reasons. There are times when a religious observance could mean no access to technology or engaging in school work. If a student is absent due to a religious observance, please be flexible with the student as needed. The student may need extra time to complete assignments.

Bus Transportation Update
First Student has made changes to the bus routes and pick up/drop off times to ensure students get to school on time. The new arrival time for all buses except bus 3 is now 8:05 am. Bus 3's arrival time is now 8:10 am. We are hoping to see our late bus situation improve with these changes.

Flu Shots - October 8, 7:15 am - 8:45 am
Flu vaccines are scheduled at Hixson for Friday, October 8 from 7:15 am to 8:45 am in the faculty lounge.

• WGSD staff insured by Anthem need to bring their insurance card so that the member ID can be documented on the consent form. 
• SSD staff insured by Coventry need to do the same.
• If you are pregnant, please let Amy Hensley know so they can bring the preservative free vaccine for you. 
• If you do not have the district health insurance, they will submit to your insurance.  However you will have to fill out some paperwork and you will need to bring a copy of the front and back of your insurance card along with a copy of your driver’s license.  Accepted insurances include Aetna, Cigna, Essence, Humana, HealthLink, Medicare and United HealthCare. 
• If you don’t have insurance the cost is $30 (cash or check payable to VNA) for the Quadrivalent shot, $32 for preservative free and $55 for the high dose (for persons 65 years and older).
• Just a reminder, there is no live flu virus in flu shots. FLU SHOTS CAN NOT GIVE YOU THE FLU. 

WGSD Foundation Grants are back!

The Webster Groves School District Foundation will be awarding grants again for the 2021-22 academic year!  Grants are available to any teacher, staff, parent or student with an innovative idea to be implemented in the WGSD schools.  To be awarded a grant there are a few important steps and deadlines that you don't want to miss:

1. Everyone that wants to apply for a grant must fill out a preliminary application before October 15.  This application is a few simple questions to get an overview of your grant concept to determine if it meets the Foundation's standard of innovation.  Once this preliminary application is filled out you will receive a response within a few days.
2. Once the concept for the grant has been approved, the mini or major grant application must be completed by November 24th.  A mini grant is up to $1,000 and a major grant is $1,001-$15,000.
3. All grants must include a detailed budget on how funds will be used.  Don't worry, we provide a budget template here.
4. Approved grants will be awarded at the beginning of February 2022.
5. More details about the application process can be found on our website.

Do you have a great idea but writing a grant overwhelms you?  It really is simple and we are here to help!  On Tuesday, September 28th at 7pm Central the Foundation will host a zoom meeting to answer any questions. If you are interested in attending the meeting please email me for details.

The Foundation watched each of you innovate your way through 2020-21 and we are grateful for all you do for all our students. Raising money to award grants so you can continue to lead the way in teaching at WGSD is an honor.  

Reach out with any questions, thoughts or feedback.

Kristina Stuber
Executive Director
Webster Groves School District Foundation
400 E. Lockwood Avenue
Webster Groves, MO 63119
Cell: 314-518-3389
kristinastuber.wgsdf@gmail.com

Friday Memo - 9/17/21

Important dates
September 19 - Hixson Community Open House, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
September 24 - end of secret mission #1
September 28 - Growth plans due
October 4 - Picture retake/make up day
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 9am - 4pm; NO SCHOOL for students
October 22 - NO SCHOOL (comp day)
November 1 - Hixson staff at Camp Wyman

86th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to read the most recent Hixson Happenings!

Webster-Kirkwood Times article
Please click the link below to read an article about the new additions/renovations to our wonderful school.

Tour New Hixson Additions on Sunday, Sept. 19

School Improvement Team update
We had a great School Improvement Team meeting on Monday afternoon. We had an opportunity to get together to talk about our three focus areas from our CSIP (Equity, Progress Monitoring, Relationships) and the strengths and areas of improvement for each. Thank you to all staff members who have agreed to be a part of this team! I've included the members of the work groups below. 

Character Education/SEL - Jeff Atterberry, Nick Pingel, Lisa Rodriguez, Sara Mangrich

Equity/Social Justice - Mike Hazelton, Shalay Hudson, Katie Kraushaar, Sean Cahn, Bridget Finnochiaro, Emily Kenney, Sheri Wells, Sherri Rachal, Wardell Ward, Amirah Garwood, Bianca James, Leslie Creath

Progress Monitoring, Intervention, Grading, and Assessment - Aimee Vogt, Liz Goosen, Liz Oliver, Kendra Day, Jill Right, Terrie Hobold, Adam Vorel, Kelly Williams

If you are still interested in joining, please send me an email! The more voices we have represented, the better.

Visit to Earth Dance Farms-Faculty Outing

Over the summer, I discovered a very cool place called EarthDance Farms! It is a farm located in Ferguson, MO. I first came across this farm when I read an article about their Pay What You Can Farm Stand. I decided to try to connect with EarthDance given the fact that we are starting a community garden at our school through our Sustainability class, and I'm certain there's a lot we can learn from them. I reached out to see if they offer tours of their farm. Turns out, they do!

The staff at EarthDance is willing to give up to 20 Hixson staff members a tour of EarthDance Farms. They will talk with us about their work and how it relates to equity in the Ferguson community. They would love to have us visit on Saturday, October 9 at 10:00 am. The tour takes no longer than 2 hours. If you are interested in visiting EarthDance so that we can extend our learning in Sustainability and it's connection to equity, and use that learning to expand Hixson's sustainability efforts, please RSVP to Dr. Mayes directly via email. In addition, click on the link below to read all about EarthDance Farms. If there is a lot of interest, I will attempt to arrange a second tour.

EarthDance Farms

Late Buses
I was told today that there the district has working on re-routing our bus routes, and changes are coming soon that will hopefully help all of our buses get here on time. Thank you for your continued patience as the district office and First Student works through our bus issues.

New Course Proposals for the 2022-2023 School Year
Believe it or not, I received an email a few days ago regarding new course proposals for next school year. I've included the district's timeline below. If you have an idea for a new course that you would like to discuss with Hixson administration, please email me and let me know so we can set up a time to talk about it. After reading the timeline, you will see that I have to meet with Jason Adams regarding new courses in the next 20 days, so please respond to me soon, because I would like to wrap up all building conversations about new courses by September 24 so that I can meet with Dr. Adams sometime during the last week of September.

By September 30th: HX and WGHS Principal (or designee) meet with Jason to begin an initial discussion about new course ideas for their respective school.

By October 31st: HX and WGHS complete a new course proposal form for each new course that has been requested. 

By November 15th:  If there are staffing implications as a result of new course requests, Jason Adams will meet with Sandy Wiley and the respective Principal to discuss possibilities. 

December 6th: New course proposal details (and any course drops) are presented to the Curriculum Coordinating Council for feedback. 

December 9th: New course proposal descriptions (and any course drops) are presented to the Board of Education for approval. 

January - August:  Once approved, course curriculum templates need to be developed for each new course proposal.  The curriculum template must be complete and approved prior to teaching the course in the fall of 22-23.  Course development can occur either through release time or through summer stipend work. 

Friday Memo - 9/10/21

Important dates
September 13 - School Improvement Team meeting
September 17 - half day professional day (PLCs); dismissal at 12:32 pm
September 19 - Hixson Community Open House, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
October 4 - Picture retake/make up day
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 9am - 4pm; NO SCHOOL for students
October 22 - NO SCHOOL (comp day)

Fun Friday
We hope you enjoyed Fun Friday today! It is our goal to have at least one Fun Friday per month as one of the ways that we show appreciation to you...the amazing Hixson staff! Thank you for everything that you've done to make this school year a success so far. We are looking forward to an awesome year!

Aimee Vogt, Stephanie Berry, Shenita Mayes, Jeff Atterberry
(Unfortunately, Mike Hazelton was responding to a student issue and couldn't join us for the trolley service!)

85th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to read the most recent Hixson Happenings!

Classroom attendance

There have been some issues raised about students being marked absent from a class but they've been present for other classes no notification has been given to the main office. Please take a moment to read the following excerpt from the Hixson Middle School Attendance Procedures document. We went over this during our back to school meeting on August 16, 2021.

Classroom teachers are responsible for reporting accurate and timely attendance within the first five minutes of every class. Any discrepancies or mistakes in attendance should be reported to Ms. Hicks immediately so the issue can swiftly be resolved. If a child is not in your classroom and has not been marked absent throughout the day, please email Ms. Hicks and the grade level principal as soon as possible so they can start the process of locating the student. 

When a student is late to class, the classroom teacher should mark the student with a “T” for tardy.

Not following this protocol presents major safety issues for our school. Thank you so much for your cooperation and understanding.

Mr. Jarrod Jones's book signing!
If you didn't already know, Mr. Jarrod Jones, Hixson ELA teacher, wrote a book called, My Invisible Father! He will be having a book signing on Thursday, September 1, 2021 at The Novel Neighbor at 7:00 pm! I've included the link to register for the event below. Registration is recommended but not required. CONGRATULATIONS MR. JONES!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jaer-armstead-jones-in-person-book-signing-my-invisible-father-tickets-166971079995

Lunch Detention
We are currently developing a plan for lunch detentions to be supervised by our ISS/Restorative Center supervisor, Mr. Brookins. When the plan is developed, you will be able to sign your students up for lunch detention during the grade level lunch, and Mr. Brookins will be the supervisor. Please note, Mr. Brookins's classroom is not very big, and I will only allow him to take up to 10 students for lunch detention at a time.This is because he could also have students in ISS that day. Therefore, if there is a day that his classroom cannot accommodate the number of students he needs to have with him for lunch, we will have to move him to a different room located in the grade level hallway. We will work on a rotation so that is not the same room each time, and this will only be on an as needed basis.

Late Buses
So far this year, we have late buses every day. Bus 3 and bus 5 are our frequent flyers. Unfortunately, this issue probably won't improve much until First Student is able to hire more bus drivers. The admin team rode bus 5 in the afternoon last week on two separate occasions, and we were on the bus for at least an hour. Thank you for your patience during 1st hour as we try to get students to class as quickly as possible. It is our hope that this situation improves soon.

School Pictures
We should have picture proofs and packages next week to distribute to students. Wagner will provide me with a file today that includes the team and department photos that we took on August 18. My plan is to use those photos for our website. I am also happy to share your group's photo with you so that you can add it to your S'Mores newsletter. 

Faculty Lounge
We are slowly pulling the staff lounge together. A refrigerator was delivered yesterday afternoon. I would like to take some time to wipe it down today so it can be ready for you to use on Monday. We are also getting a water & ice machine, and a coffee machine for your enjoyment each day. The vending machines will be moved from the old staff lounge to the new staff lounge on September 27. We also plan to put a larger table in the staff lounge once things are a bit more situated so we have a better idea of the space we have to work with.

New Course Proposals for the 2022-2023 School Year
Believe it or not, I received an email a few days ago regarding new course proposals for next school year. I've included the district's timeline below. If you have an idea for a new course that you would like to discuss with Hixson administration, please email me and let me know so we can set up a time to talk about it. After reading the timeline, you will see that I have to meet with Jason Adams regarding new courses in the next 20 days, so please respond to me soon, because I would like to wrap up all building conversations about new courses by September 24 so that I can meet with Dr. Adams sometime during the last week of September.

By September 30th: HX and WGHS Principal (or designee) meet with Jason to begin an initial discussion about new course ideas for their respective school.

By October 31st: HX and WGHS complete a new course proposal form for each new course that has been requested. 

By November 15th:  If there are staffing implications as a result of new course requests, Jason Adams will meet with Sandy Wiley and the respective Principal to discuss possibilities. 

December 6th: New course proposal details (and any course drops) are presented to the Curriculum Coordinating Council for feedback. 

December 9th: New course proposal descriptions (and any course drops) are presented to the Board of Education for approval. 

January - August:  Once approved, course curriculum templates need to be developed for each new course proposal.  The curriculum template must be complete and approved prior to teaching the course in the fall of 22-23.  Course development can occur either through release time or through summer stipend work. 

Staff Picture Directory
Ready to start putting faces with names so that you can learn who your new colleagues are? Click the link below to access the Hixson Middle School Staff Picture Directory!

HXMS Staff Picture Directory

Parent Teacher Conferences
We will hold virtual Parent Teacher Conferences in the fall. Because the district is not offering alternate work locations this year (ie: work from home), you will need to hold your virtual parent teacher conferences from Hixson. Hixson Administration and PTO will work together to provide meals for you on conference days. 

We will revisit the idea of having in person parent teacher conferences in the spring, depending on the status of COVID-19. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.

Professional Learning Communities update
We will have development on Professional Learning Communities for all staff on Friday, September 17, which is a half day PD day. This will be our official kick off/re-launch, and it will be led by Hixson administration, Jill Right, Christy Cox, and Hope Strasser. We will no longer work with DCI. 

A foundational piece to establishing a strong Collaborative Learning Team is to understand each other's strengths from the beginning. In preparation for September 17, each member of your team needs to complete the High5Test (click on sign up with email; takes about 15 minutes), meet one time whenever you want during your CLT time, and discuss your results with your team. The purpose of this is to start getting to know each other's strengths, which will serve as a precursor for how you will work together as a team. This is the one and only task that you and your team are required to do between now and September 17. We will reference the quiz during our development, so please make sure you get it done.

Collaborative Team  List + Weekly Schedule

Community Open House - September 19, 2021
Hixson will host a community Open House and ribbon cutting on Sunday, September 19 from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm. During this time, community members will have the opportunity to tour the building, view the ribbon cutting, listen to a few short speeches (Dr. Simpson, BOE, etc), hear Cbabi Bayoc conduct "artist talks" about our murals, enjoy refreshments, take fun pictures at a Hixson photo booth, and more! 

Since this is a Sunday, your attendance is not required. However, please consider attending because we have been asked to offer teacher-led activities around the building such as games in the gym, STEAM activities, music (band/orchestra/choir) etc. More details on the community open house will be forthcoming. 

Friday Memo - 9/3/21

Important dates
September 6 - NO SCHOOL - Labor Day!
September 13 - School Improvement Team meeting
September 17 - half day professional day (PLCs); dismissal at 12:32 pm
September 19 - Hixson Community Open House, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
October 4 - Picture retake/make up day
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 9am - 4pm; NO SCHOOL for students
October 22 - NO SCHOOL (comp day)

84th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to read the most recent Hixson Happenings!

Staff Picture Directory
Ready to start putting faces with names so that you can learn who your new colleagues are? Click the link below to access the Hixson Middle School Staff Picture Directory!

HXMS Staff Picture Directory

Secret Mission
To help with our efforts to build relationships and establish a positive school community, I will share a "Secret Mission" every once in a while throughout the school year. You won't know when it's coming. You won't know what it is. Just watch for an email that says "Secret Mission" in the subject line, read the email, and do what it says. Participation in the Secret Mission is encouraged, not required. 

I am being vague on purpose. Keep an eye out for Secret Mission #1! It's coming soon!

Parent Teacher Conferences
We will hold virtual Parent Teacher Conferences in the fall. We will revisit the idea of having in person parent teacher conferences in the spring, depending on the status of COVID-19. Please let me know if you have any questions about this. 

Newsletters
This is a reminder that today is the last day that Sarah Magruder will assist with updating team/department newsletters. We are now fully transitioned to teams/departments updating their own newsletter. Moving forward, Sarah and I will just check newsletters every Thursday/Friday morning to make sure they are updated before I hit send on the Hixson Happenings. Here are two reminders about updating your newsletter each week.

• Please make sure you hit "Publish changes" after you make changes. If you don't, it will lock your newsletter.
• Please update the same newsletter each week. By doing this, we can avoid having to re-link eighteen different newsletters each week. 

Professional Learning Communities update
We will have development on Professional Learning Communities for all staff on Friday, September 17, which is a half day PD day. This will be our official kick off/re-launch, and it will be led by Hixson administration, Jill Right, Christy Cox, and Hope Strasser. We will no longer work with DCI. 

For those of you who have never been a part of a PLC before, you may be wondering what it is. I prefer the following definition from Solution Tree:

It is the way the adults in a school decide to act and work together to ensure high levels of learning for all students. It is a commitment to continuous improvement that requires a shared vision of the kind of school we want to create, along with a clear understanding of the mission or reason we exist. 

Solution Tree explains that the entire school is the PLC. Collaborative Learning Teams are the engines that drive the work of the PLC. You have all been placed in Collaborative Learning Teams. Some of you have worked together before, and some of you have not. Some of you have experience with CLTs, and some of you do not. This is all okay. We are going to work very hard to get everyone on a productive path towards establishing a strong Professional Learning Community at Hixson.

A foundational piece to establishing a strong Collaborative Learning Team is to understand each other's strengths from the beginning. In preparation for September 17, each member of your team needs to complete the High5Test (click on sign up with email; takes about 15 minutes), meet one time whenever you want during your CLT time, and discuss your results with your team. The purpose of this is to start getting to know each other's strengths, which will serve as a precursor for how you will work together as a team. This is the one and only task that you and your team are required to do between now and September 17. We will reference the quiz during our development, so please make sure you get it done.

Collaborative Team  List + Weekly Schedule

Community Open House - September 19, 2021
Hixson will host a community Open House and ribbon cutting on Sunday, September 19 from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm. During this time, community members will have the opportunity to tour the building, view the ribbon cutting, listen to a few short speeches (Dr. Simpson, BOE, etc), hear Cbabi Bayoc conduct "artist talks" about our murals, enjoy refreshments, take fun pictures at a Hixson photo booth, and more! 

Since this is a Sunday, your attendance is not required. However, please consider attending because we have been asked to offer teacher-led activities around the building such as games in the gym, STEAM activities, music (band/orchestra/choir) etc. More details on the community open house will be forthcoming.