Friday Memo - 10/29/21

Important dates
November 1 - Hixson Staff Retreat at Camp Wyman, 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
November 5 - Hixson Spirit Wear Store closes
November 8 - School Improvement Team meeting
November 11 - Principal's Council meeting, 2nd hr, Orchestra Concert, 6pm
November 17 - Choir Concert, 6:30 pm
November 24 - 26 - Thanksgiving Break
December 1 - School Play
December 5 - Hixson PTO Holiday House Tour
December 6 - Faculty Meeting, 3:35 pm to 4:35 pm
December 8 - 6 - 8 Band Concert, 6:00 pm
December 10 - Hixson Choir Tour
December 15 - Sounds of Hixson Concert, 6:30 pm
December 21 - Quarter 2 ends/end of 1st semester

Happy Halloween everyone!

91st issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to access the newest issue of Hixson Happenings.

6th grade camp
We have new dates for 6th grade camp. It is our goal to ensure that our 6th graders get the overnight camp experience. Therefore, we picked the latest dates we possibly could in order to get the best chance at attending overnight camp. However, this depends on the status of the pandemic. We will keep close tabs on this, and will have back up plans just in case we can't attend overnight camp due to the pandemic.

The new 6th grade camp dates are listed below.

• 6 Unity: April 11 - 15, 2022
• 6 Integrity: April 18 - 22, 2022
• 6 Bravery: May 2 - 6, 2022

Summer work requests
I am being asked to submit summer work requests. If there is work that needs to be done in your classroom, please let me know as soon as possible. I will be working on submitting our spreadsheet next Wednesday. Thanks!

Summer school
Please let me know if you are interested in being the summer school admin intern this summer. The position can be shared. The dates for summer school are June 9 - July 1, 2022. 

Hanging up signs in the building
Before hanging up a sign in the building, please get it approved by a Hixson administrator first. We will initial the sign in one of the bottom corners or on the back. Thanks!

Hixson Spirit Wear Store
Interested in purchasing Hixson spirit wear? Click HERE to order! When you place your order, you can choose to have your items shipped directly to your home for an additional fee, or you can choose to have your items shipped directly to Hixson for free. The spirit wear store will close on November 5!

Need a break?
As we approach Thanksgiving break, your admin and instructional support teams would like to give you some time to yourself. While we don't have the power to call school off for a day or make other changes to the calendar, we are in the position to give you some time off during the school day!

There may be times coming up in the next three weeks that you could use to take a break. Maybe your students are taking a test. Maybe they are having a work day on a project. Or, maybe there is an easy activity you can leave for someone else to facilitate. You may choose a 24 - 48 minute break. You could choose to use this as a mental health break or an extra plan period. It's up to you, but please take a break!

To ensure there is someone available to cover your break, please sign up HERE!

The Work of CLTs/SLOs

The work of a CLT is the same as choosing and documenting the Student Learning Objective (SLO), a requirement in the teacher evaluation process. As we become proficient in working with CLTs, we will get to a point where the work is creating SLOs throughout the entire year; once a CLT finishes a SLO, a new one will be started. 

In the 19-20 school year, the requirement at Hixson was for each CLT to do two SLOs. Before we were quarantined, the plan was for each teacher to then choose one SLO to submit for evaluation purposes. We will be returning to this requirement as many CLTs are still in the beginning stages of working together. Before the SLO due date of February 21, each CLT should have completed two SLOs. The members of the CLT may choose to submit the same SLO or different SLOs for their evaluation. Directions on how to submit the SLO and how the SLO will be scored may be found here. 

When the SLO process was first introduced to the district, elective and PE teachers were given the option to choose one class from which to collect SLO data. This has changed; all teachers should collect data on all students who are taught the objective. 

Principal's Council update
I am so excited to be launching Principal's Council on November 11, 2021! I think this will be a great opportunity to bring student voice to the forefront and involve them directly in improving our school! You can click HERE to read the Principal's Council letter that the students received yesterday. I've also included the list of meeting dates below. If you ever want to attend a Principal's Council meeting, you are more than welcome to do so! You can observe or get involved in the activities. It's up to you!

• Thursday, November 11, 2021, 2nd hour (9:17 am - 10:05 am) in Library Classroom

• Thursday, December 9, 2021, 3rd hour (10:09 am - 10:57 am) in Library Classroom

• Thursday, January 13, 2022, 4th hour (11:01 am - 11:49 am) in Library Classroom
  Lunch will be provided for Principal’s Council this day. 6th graders should report to Principal’s Council instead of the Cafeteria for lunch. When Principal’s Council is over, 6th graders will report to their 4th hour class (ends at 12:21 pm, 7th graders will report to lunch, and 8th graders will report to 5th hour).

• Thursday, February 10, 2022, 5th hour (12:25 pm - 1:13 pm) in Library Classroom

Lunch will be provided for Principal’s Council this day. 8th graders will leave their 5th hour class and report to Principal’s Council by 12:25 pm. When Principal’s Council is over, all students will report to their 6th hour class. 

• Thursday, March 10, 2022, 6th hour (1:17 pm - 2:05 pm) in Library Classroom

• Thursday, April 7, 2022, 7th hour (2:09 pm - 2:57 pm) in Library Classroom

Here is the list of students who received an invitation to Principal's Council yesterday. Thank you so much for your recommendations!

6th grade (9)

Rahmon Johnson

Morgan Hall

Chase Williams

Natalia Frisella

Ethan Rahmoeller

Xavier Kirksey

Elsa Hoyer

Patrick Magee

Tobin Crawford

7th grade (11)

Kareem Saffaf

Sania Hill

Daniel Sullivan

Zariah Brandon-Thomas

Makayla Beasley

Timothy Kelly

William Johnson

Alexandria (Zan) Smith

Dianna Nguyen

Myles Thompson

Kareema Ali

8th grade (10)

Lia Fairbanks

Kiran Bergfeld

Khobie Hicks

Nylla Trevino

Ruby Bond

Harry McGuire

Kaden Williams

Joanna Funk

Ciziayah Lang

D’Alva Ingram

Friday Memo - 10/15/21

Important dates
October 18 - Panorama window opens; Grading window opens
October 18 - Mayes at District Admin Cabinet meeting 9:00 am until --
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 20 - Book Fair ends, end of Quarter 1, Mayes having Virtual Coffee with the Mayor of Rock Hill at 9:00 am
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 --
October 27 - Panorama window closes; Grading window closes
October 28 - 6th grade day at the park
October 29 - End of Secret Mission #2
November 1 - Hixson Staff Retreat at Camp Wyman
November 8 - School Improvement Team meeting
November 24 - 26 - Thanksgiving Break

90th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to access the newest issue of Hixson Happenings.

In full transparency...
Being a building principal of a school of approximately 1,200 students and staff is challenging to say the least. Simply put, the volume of work is tremendous and I sometimes feel like I am drowning. I'm sure many of you can relate to this in different ways. I have very important tasks pending in my queue of work that need to get done, and I am having a hard time finding time to complete these tasks. Someone suggested to me several months ago that I set aside regular chunks of uninterrupted time to complete the types of tasks that are currently pending in my queue. At this point, I have backed myself in a corner and I have no choice but to do exactly that.

Starting next Wednesday, October 20, and on Wednesdays thereafter, I will set aside three to four hours of "off campus work time" either in the morning or afternoon to power through tasks such as progress monitoring, intervention, & data analysis, grant writing, community engagement & partnerships, budgeting, planning professional development, strategic planning, planning Principal's Council etc. During this time, I will be unavailable but accessible by the assistant principals or Sarah Magruder in case of an emergency. I will likely be working out of Givens Elementary since I know they have space! I do believe that having dedicated time for these things each week will positively impact our school. Thank you in advance for your support.

Newsletters during the week of Parent Teacher Conferences
You do not need to publish a newsletter for the week of 10/18 - 10/22. I will not be sending a Hixson Happenings on Friday, October 22. The next newsletter you will need to publish is on November 5, 2021. 

Staffing updates
Please welcome...

• Kelsey Brock who is the long term sub for Chantell Mason (Computer Science), who is on maternity leave.
• Cindy Delaney who is replacing Karen Finn (receptionist).
• Laurie Forsythe who is replacing Clifton Price (counseling aide).

WELCOME TO HIXSON!

Panorama update
The Panorama window will open next week starting on Monday. No one will test on Monday. We will use Monday to "test out" the survey to make sure it works and address any glitches, if needed. Statesman Time groups will start the survey on Tuesday. Click the link below to access the schedule so you know when your group is supposed to take the survey. The survey is 9 questions and is estimated to take 3 minutes to finish. I will send instructions on how students access the survey on Monday.

PANORAMA SURVEY SCHEDULE

Hixson Spirit Wear Store
Interested in purchasing Hixson spirit wear? Click HERE to order! When you place your order, you can choose to have your items shipped directly to your home for an additional fee, or you can choose to have your items shipped directly to Hixson for free. 

Meals for Parent Teacher Conferences
October 19 - Q'Doba provided by Hixson Administration
October 20 - Joe Boccardi's provided by Hixson PTO
October 21 - Steve's Hot Dogs provided by Hixson Administration and Social Courtesy

Dinner will be served at 3:30 pm on October 19 & 20. Lunch will be served at noon on October 21. 

Take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of this place
Thank you so much for your feedback on the idea of getting students involved with taking care of our school grounds. The feedback we received from staff was VERY positive, and some of you have expressed that your Statesman Time is ready to get started!

There were also questions about student accountability at lunch. A few thoughts on that...

• This idea is meant to be in addition to holding students accountable for cleaning up their trash during lunch...not in lieu of. Hixson students will continue to be held accountable for cleaning up.
• Remember, we now have 320+ students eating lunch at each lunch shift. It is not possible for every lunch supervisor to catch every student who does not throw their trash away. Lunch supervision is very much like a giant game of Whack a Mole.
• If we want students to take ownership of our school and care about the space that we share, then we must teach them how to do that. Engaging students in serving their school community is an effective way to reinforce our core values of positive relationships, respect, and teamwork. 

The admin team will likely move forward with creating a rotation for Statesman Time groups to help keep our campus clean. We will have our final discussions next week. One other change on the table for consideration is adding 30 seconds to passing time to make each one four minutes, including a longer passing time before Statesman Time so that students can pack up before the 3:25 pm bell, which would allow us to speed up dismissal. The goal is to start any changes during the week of October 25. If you have any questions or feedback about any of these changes, please share them with the admin team as soon as possible.

New Chromebook return protocol
To streamline and maximize our efficiency in getting repaired equipment returned to our students, Jason Heisel (technology specialist) will send an email directly to the student (who should have a loaner device until their device is repaired) once their device has been repaired and is ready for pick up in the library. 

Once the student receives the email, the teacher can choose the appropriate time to send their student to the library to pick up their repaired device. Please remind students to check their email at least once a day, if not more. We are hoping this process will decrease intrusions during instructional time as well as streamline the work of locating and getting students to come and get their equipment. We will begin this new process on October 25. We will assess how this new process works after one week of implementation.

Message from iDEAThe iDEA (professional development) committee met on September 7th to begin planning dynamic PD opportunities for the 2021-2022 school year. For more information about the mission and goals of iDEA, please visit our website: iDEA website.

For more information about iDEA at the building level, please reach out to your representative - Leslie Creath and Lisa Rodriguez.

Grant Opportunities:

The Webster Groves School District iDEA Committee has developed a grant to support professional learning that enables teachers to implement innovative practices designed to enhance learning for all students. The purpose is not to supplement available general operating funds, but to provide money for a worthwhile project that would not otherwise be funded by the Webster Groves School District. Please know that these grants can be used for virtual opportunities.

The grants can also be found on our iDEA (professional development) website

WGSD Grant Approval Form
Please be sure to complete THIS FORM  if you are planning to apply for a grant. The form must be complete and sent to Pam Frazier BEFORE you apply for the grant. This form is not required if you are planning to apply for a WGSD Foundation Grant and iDEA grant. For the WGSD Foundation grant, you simply need to let me know you're applying. No notification is required for the iDEA grant.  

Friday Memo - 10/8/21

Important dates
October 8 - Book Fair starts
October 9 - Staff visit to EarthDance Farms, 10am
October 11 - Mayes at District Admin Cabinet meeting 9:00 am until --
October 14 - PTO meeting, Hixson Library, 5:15 pm
October 15 - Vogt out of the building
October 18 - Panorama window opens; Grading window opens
October 18 - Mayes at District Admin Cabinet meeting 9:00 am until --
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 20 - Book Fair ends
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 --
October 27 - Panorama window closes; Grading window closes
October 28 - 6th grade day at the park
November 1 - Hixson Staff Retreat at Camp Wyman
November 8 - School Improvement Team meeting
November 24 - 26 - Thanksgiving Break

89th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to read the most recent Hixson Happenings!

Missouri Green Schools - Sprout level recognition
On Tuesday, October 5, Hixson Middle School was been awarded Sprout level recognition by Missouri Green Schools (MGS) for taking steps towards making an impactful difference in the lives of our students, staff, and surrounding communities. We were being recognized specifically for the work that Eric Hayes is leading with our new Sustainability class and newly established community garden. Hixson was one of six schools recognized for their accomplishments. MGS announced the honorees on their website and in their social media. Please read the attached press release and click the links below to view the announcements!

https://meea.org/missouri-green-schools/honorees/

http://meea.org/missouri-green-schools/

Thank you Mr. Hayes for all of the amazing work that you have done so far to engage students in this important learning, including creating a Sustainability class/curriculum and our amazing garden. I am looking forward to all of the excitement and innovation that this course will generate from our students now and in the future. THANK YOU MR. HAYES!

Reflections on this week
This was a pretty challenging week. We had many issues with sub coverage and some pretty significant discipline issues that took up a lot of administrator time. Administrators most impacted by the discipline issues are Mike and myself. We ask that you please be patient as we desperately try to catch up to where we should be in our "work" early next week. The admin team will need to have longer than usual admin team meetings next week to help us recalibrate. Thank you so much for understanding!

On a positive note, I did have an opportunity to sit in on some of the 7th grade circles led by Jeff Atterberry and Lynne Reif this week. It was so refreshing to listen to our students talk about their experiences at Hixson so far, and share ideas for how to make things better. Many students seem to be enjoying the freedoms that come with being a student at Hixson (some a little too much), but many students also feel we need to increase passing time and improve our mask wearing. These are just some of the wonderful things they shared. I encourage you to make time for these conversations in your classroom as well whenever you feel it is necessary.

Extra duty opportunities (for pay)
Please let me know if you would be interested in being a bus monitor or our yearbook sponsor. Both positions carry a stipend. The stipend for yearbook is $2,080. I am waiting on HR to confirm the amount of the stipend for the bus monitor.

Panorama update
I missed my Panorama webinar twice this week due to the many challenges that I mentioned in the paragraph above. The purpose of the webinar was to help me finalize preparation for the survey. Because of this, I am pushing our Panorama survey window back to October 18 - 27. Instructions will be coming to you for having your students take the survey in Statesman Time. Thank you for your patience and flexibility.

Thank you!
There are so many teachers who have recently helped cover classes that didn't have a sub. I would like to publicly thank you all for helping us out. Your efforts are greatly appreciated! Also, thank you to the teachers who offered to help but didn't end up needing to cover a class!

Leslie Creath, Gail Tumminello, Hope Strasser, Jen Shaughnessy, Tracy Lee, Lauren Pleban, Polly Hake, Kendra Day, Megan O'Brien, Katie Kraushaar, Jacob Norman, Bianca James, Jessica Greenberg, Christy Cox, Sean Cahn, Eric Hayes, Ashley Cheney, Jodie Hintze

Also, I want to send a HUGE shout out to Sarah Magruder for coordinating our substitute teachers every day. This is not an easy task, especially these days, and she always does it with a smile on her face! 

Message from iDEAThe iDEA (professional development) committee met on September 7th to begin planning dynamic PD opportunities for the 2021-2022 school year. For more information about the mission and goals of iDEA, please visit our website: iDEA website.

For more information about iDEA at the building level, please reach out to your representative - Leslie Creath and Lisa Rodriguez.

Grant Opportunities:

The Webster Groves School District iDEA Committee has developed a grant to support professional learning that enables teachers to implement innovative practices designed to enhance learning for all students. The purpose is not to supplement available general operating funds, but to provide money for a worthwhile project that would not otherwise be funded by the Webster Groves School District. Please know that these grants can be used for virtual opportunities.

The grants can also be found on our iDEA (professional development) website