Farewell to the 2019-2020 School Year

Farewell to the 2019-2020 School Year

I hope that you have spent the past two days just taking deep breaths and enjoying life. I could not write this immediately because I needed to take time and process what we went through, together, this year. I do not think that I have fully done that yet but I did not want another day to go by without saying "Thank-you". 

Last year right around this time I was trying to figure out how I was going to lead a school again. I was scared that I was coming into a school where you had no reason to trust me or believe that I could do this job. The fact that I was a white woman who ran the search for your principal and I only wanted to present a slate of BIPOC candidates was hugely discouraging to me. I truly did not think I was the right person for this role. I assume many of you were thinking about how were you going to put up with a new leader that you did not know, had not met, and certainly did not choose. I assume many of you did not think I was the right person for this role as well. Then I got to know you and I hope you got to know me. 

We opened the school year and I met you, our students, and our families. I knew there was no other place that I would rather be. I was humbled because once again the universe had shown me that my plans for myself were not always what I needed or what should be. Together we were part of a community that could best be described by the words Love and Respect. In 29 years in education, I have NEVER been part of a community like ours. It is magical and inspiring. We had our challenging students but we persevered and always did what was right for every student. We worked on units and took a learning stance when it came to improving our own craft. Then with 48 hours notice, our world tilted on its axis. 

We were all fledgling students in the digital universe. We were teaching in a way that we could not have conceived of a few weeks before. We were providing technical support, delivering laptops, school supplies, and food. We were giving 150% so that our students would continue learning. We taught ourselves and each other new digital tricks and strategies so that we could continue being the best we could be for the children and families who needed us. We did all this while balancing the new realities of our own lives taking care of our children and families. You did all of this with the grace and humor that I have come to know defines our Lee Academy Family. You turned in an instant and learned new ways of doing things always striving to be better for our students. What you have done in these past months cannot be captured in writing. To me,  each of you is a hero, a champion for all students. 

In the midst of all of the above, together we are facing systemic racism and acknowledging that we have work to do in this area. We will make substantial changes in confronting those practices that perpetuate inequalities and in improving the strong systems, structures, and practices we already have in place. I want to thank those of you that have enough faith and trust in me to reach out when I made missteps in this area. It is through mistakes that we learn and grow. Thank you for trusting me enough to know that I would listen and learn. 

I am looking forward to next year and continuing to learn and grow. I am not afraid of the challenges because I know that we will face them and overcome them together. I am happy that the universe was smarter than I. I am honored to lead this community alongside each of you. 

I hope, despite the uncertainty of what next year will bring, that you are looking forward to it with a sense of joy and hope. I hope you feel confident that as long as we are working together we can work through anything and do what is right for children and families. 

It is an honor to work with each of you. Thank you for always putting the students at the center.

With You and With Love,

Jodi

June 15, 2020

End of the Year Celebration

We will be holding our end of the year drive-by celebration for our students on Monday, June 22 from 11:30-1:00. Grade levels have expressed an interest in putting together small care packages for students. You are more than welcome to do this. It is not an expectation but the cost of the care packages should not be more than $5.00

Please share and promote the time of the drive-through celebration with your students and families through whatever platform you feel is best. Monday, June 22 from 11:30-1:00.

Coming into The Building

The building will be open from 10-5 tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday. Here is the sign-up sheet. 

Summer Learning Outreach

We have been asked to personally reach out to each family that has a student eligible for summer learning. I need your help doing this. 

When you open this sheet. Click on the filter and open filter view "Eligible Summer School Students" you will see that the students that show all have 1's in column J. These students are eligible for summer programming.

Programs Offered to Our Students

Students with ELD levels 1-3 are eligible for the ELD Summer Program offered through OELL. This is the District provided description of that program. 

English Learner Summer

OEL

Faye Karp/Shirley Peng

9am-12pm, 3 hours of synchronous and asynchronous learning, 1 hour teacher prep per day

The goal is to provide a fun and rigorous summer remote learning program that is specifically targeted to support rising K2-12 ELs with English Language acquisition and content instruction connected to WIDA’s English Language Proficiency Standards through interdisciplinary thematic units.

Students with Disabilities are indicated in column G. These students are eligible for ESY services if it is indicated in their IEP. This is the District provided description of that program.

Extended School Year (ESY)

OSE

Cindie Neilson( before July 1), Ethan D'Ablemont-Burnes (after July 1)/ Porsche Paulding

9am - 12pm.  3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

The Extended School Year (ESY) is a summer program for students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Teams have identified are at risk of substantial regression of skills over the summer. For Summer 2020, learning will be remote only. During instructional hours, students will access ELA, Math, SEL, and also Related Services & Rules-based reading support as indicated by their IEP. Additionally, students will have access to various enrichment opportunities. Early Childhood: Project-based curriculum aligned with Early Childhood’s Focus Curriculum. Students in grades 1-8: virtual Math, ELA, SEL and Enrichment co-run by Catapult Learning and OSE.  High School: Aligned with Summer Learning Academy, Transition &  STRIVE.

ALL students eligible for summer learning are eligible for the following programs:

Thematic Based Early Childhood Programs
The BPS Department of Early Childhood works through a combination of curriculum, professional development, and coaching to improve instructional quality and prepare all students for a strong academic career at BPS during the school year and summer. We developed the Summer Early Focus (SEF) program and curricula for students who will be in K2-3. (Locations: Orchard Gardens, East Boston EEC, Ellison Parks, West Zone ELC)

Social Justice Academy
The Excellence For All School Without Walls initiative will run a Social Justice Academy this Summer from July 6 - August 7. The Academy provides social justice focused project-based learning classes to rising grade 3-12 students.

What I Need from You

1. I need you to reach out to your families on the list and explain to them what programs their child is eligible for. 
2. Note how you contacted families using columns Ag-Ak on this sheet. If you contacted them multiple times in multiple formats please note each contact. 
3. If parents are interested in summer learning opportunities please follow up with them by filling out this form (The Common Application) on the call with them or schedule a call with them to fill out the form. 
4. If language is an issue please provide the family with the common application in their home language
5. Record the parents' response or lack of response in columns AL and AM
6. Complete these tasks by the end of the school year

Most Recent Command from the District:

These fields should be updated every day. As part of our responsibility to coordinate and communicate citywide recovery efforts, this data will be reported to the City on a daily basis. Please do not add columns to this spreadsheet as it affects our ability to aggregate data.

I apologize. I know how hard you are all working and the timing of this is less than ideal. Unfortunately, it is one of those things that are out of my control as the district is filling a request from the mayor and city council. 

Class Lists

This week during our check-ins Keri will be facilitating the creation of our class lists for the enxt school year. 

Parent Survey

The Equity Roundtable will be asking you to provide a brief survey to your families regarding their perceptions of and experiences with remote learning during this time of closure. The following are the questions on the survey:

1. What worked well for you during remote learning?
2. What have you noticed/learned/observed about your child as a learner and about you as a parent?
3. What challenges did you encounter with remote learning and is there anything you would want to change?
4. What will be most useful to you heading into the summer in supporting your child’s learning? (ie providing learning resources, supplies)
5. Is there anything else you want us to know?

Summary Memos

Evaluations will be non-evaluative this year and take the form of summary memos. Keri and I are working diligently to get these done and entered into TeachPoint. They should be there by the last day of school. 

ST Math

We will be fully launching ST Math as an online learning platform for our students this fall. The State has provided money to launch the initiative and is excited about the research behind the program. It is also highly correlated to our Massachusetts math standards and even some mathematical practices. Brian is our school point person and I believe he has asked Meghan, Stephanie, Danielle, Meredith, and Rose to run point at grade levels for this. If you want to learn more about the program and play with it during the summer here is some additional info:

Thank you again for attending today’s webinar.  Below are some helpful resources you can share with teachers and families as you prepare for a summer launch with the Mass Math Initiative, or if you just want to learn more about the program. 

Teacher, Student, & Family Support: 

• Scope and Sequence
• Summer Learning Plan (Includes links to the Parent Page, Student Data Tracker, & Short PowerPoint Presentation to Intro ST Math-delete slides 11-13 as you are a Clever login)  OPTIONAL
• Clever Login Document 
• ST Math Logout Video

Demo Account 

• Website
• UN: mindmass
• PW: STMath2020

Support Email: massmath@mindresearch.org

ST Math Results:

• National Results
• MA Data

June 8,2020

The District Rules Regarding End of Year Celebrations

If you are inviting students to parade through the school parking area or other space, you must:

• Keep all school staff at least 6 feet apart at all times;
• Require all students/families to remain in their vehicles;
• Require all participants to wear appropriate face coverings;
• Obey all relevant traffic/parking rules and signage;
• If you are distributing anything to the student/family (diploma, certificate), you must:
• Wear gloves;
• Place the item on a table or other hard surface that is at least 6 feet wide;
• Have the student/family vehicle stop at the other side of the table/surface to retrieve the item; and 
• At no time during the exchange should there be less than 6 feet between people.
• Students/families should not be allowed to get out of their vehicle to take pictures, hug teachers, or otherwise come within 6 feet of school staff/others. No exceptions are allowed.   

Our End of the Year Celebration

Grade one was planning to conduct their own parade around Dorchester. Dropping off Celebration packages with the following components:

First Grade Package Components

• a book or two
• some bubbles
• a certificate (saying they are amazing or something like that)
• a treat
• a note from their teacher

I would like to do something similar with all of our grade levels at our School. 

I would love it if our students and families could drive by and connect with our entire school community one more time. 

I am thinking June 22nd would be the perfect day to do this. 

Is there a group of people that would like to logistically plan this super fun event to close out the craziest school year ever?!

Third Grade Moving on Ceremony

On behalf of the third-grade team I would like to invite you to make a 15-second video congratulating the students that are leaving us. Rose is going to compile all the videos into one amazing montage. Please text or email your video to Rose 1-617-512-4363. Rfrank@bostonpublicschools.org. The moving on ceremony is 6/18 so please get her your videos by 6/12. 

Summer School

Summer school planning at the district level is still a bit messy. Tomorrow I will be talking through where the district is and my current thoughts with the leadership team. We will spend some time as a full staff talking about summer school on Wednesday. Be prepared for some sort of ask (I am not even sure what it will be) coming either tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday. 

June 4, 2020

Appreciation and Action

Thank you for how you showed up yesterday. Your presence and voice were amazing. We formed two work teams at our Equity Roundtable. 

One to explore how we can offer professional development and implement an anti-racist curriculum that empowers our students. The initial leader of this team is Sarah Little. If you are interested in joining please let her know. 

The other is to explore how to empower families as true partners in the education of their children. We want to build from the assets that families bring and work together to set goals and assess together the learning of our students. Chris Wade is the leader of this group. If you are interested in joining please let Chris know.

Amplifying our Voices

Yesterday, Jovi created an amazing collage from our voices. I want to share this with you. Please take the time to hear our voices and listen to our call to action. We are going to make change. 

June 2, 2020

Opportunity

Kwame Alexander, Jason Reynolds, and Jacqueline Woodson have organized a Kidlit Rally for Black Lives. Honored that we will host it on The Brown Bookshelf's FaceBook Live. We invite you to join us on Thursday, June 4 and spread the word. People around the nation are hurting. This is a time to come together and stand up. Our kids need us, and we are here for them. (School-age kids welcome) I hope that you can join me. This seems like a good space to be in!

Help

How do we celebrate the closing of the year in this very strange time? What are your thoughts and ideas? Please share any ideas as you have them with our entire school community. I am unsure of the best way to honor the way our students and families have risen to this occasion.