January 15th-Thursday Edition

Honey-Do List- January

January 11-MAP Assessment Window Opens

January 15- Read the Hive. Tell your friends to read the Hive.

January 15 (Noon)- Complete shout out trackers

January 19-Let Jodi know of any changes to the staffing plan

January 29- MAP Assessment window closes

Pollinating Ideas 

From TNTP:

All students need regular opportunities to think critically and engage deeply with worthwhile content. These assignment and student work review tools are intended to help teachers, leaders, and others understand if an assignment is giving students the opportunity to meaningfully engage in worthwhile grade-level content. Using the protocols, you’ll first review the quality of the assignment and then analyze students’ performance on that assignment. 

From Jodi:

I will be using these in my weekly region meetings to look at tasks from the various grade levels. 

I like the tool and thought it might be something that you could find useful in CLT to insure the tasks we are asking our children to complete are at grade level and worthwhile. 

Reminder: Changes in Shout Outs

• We are going to be changing the way we are doing weekly shout outs starting next week in an attempt to make them shorter and more focused on both synchronous and asynchronous learning.
• We have a new tracker where we will award scholar of the week on a rotating basis 
• There are two tabs on the tracker one for students of the week and one for the content area of the week
• We are asking classroom teachers to shout out two students each week by filling in the appropriate place on the tracker with the student's name and a sentence about how they earned the shout out. Please complete this by 12:00 noon on Fridays
• The tracker also outlines what content area we are shouting out each week. We are starting out with the reader of the week for the week 1/11/21. 
• There is a sample shout out at the top of each page. 
• We will also continue to award certificates when students complete a level in Lexia. 
• I am trying to determine a way to do something similar as students finish each "objective" in STMath. 
• I will continue to do the shout outs via video and mail certificates to the students' homes. 

School Building Reopening

• True to form the planning for reopening is not as smooth or flawless as we would want it to be
• I will be available for an optional staff meeting on 1/19/21 at 4:00. If you would like to talk about this together. 

Where we are at Lee Academy:

• Zoraida called all families who had selected Hybrid or defaulted to Hybrid to see if they wanted to remain Hybrid or change to remote
• Sam is in the process of calling all families to see if they want to change from remote to hybrid
• This means that families will NOT have to complete the district form as we can make all the changes based on capacity here
• Once we have completed the process we will share updated class lists with you. 
• Here is our staffing plan for 2/1 When HIPP students return. Please review it and let me know of any changes by Tuesday, January 19th
• 4 Day-HIPP learners will not come 4 days until 3/1
• We cannot accommodate 4-day HIPP learners at K2 because of space constraints. All other grade levels will have 4-day students starting March 1st. 
• K0/K1 will be capped at 5 in-person learners in each Hybrid group due to the unique challenges of keeping our youngest learners socially distanced
• Today I sent texts using Talking Points to all families regarding the differences in our operations vs. the district.  

Information from the District:

• In preparation for schools reopening in Spring 2021, families have the opportunity to request a change to their learning model or cohort assignment. 
• To request a change, families can submit a central form posted on bostonpublicschools.org/reopening or contact their school directly. (We proactively contacted our families-see above)
• Families will receive an email on 1/15 reminding them of their current cohort and learning model. Families will be provided with instructions on how to request a change for each child they have enrolled in a BPS school. 
• Schools will receive a spreadsheet of requests submitted, updated nightly, and will need to review and approve changes by entering them into the “proposed cohort” field in Aspen. Please note that change requests will not be reviewed centrally until they are entered into the “Proposed Cohort” field.

Key Dates:

1/15	Families receive communication of current learning model/ cohort and instructions to request a change
1/19	Schools receive access to a spreadsheet of changes requested via the central form
1/25 @ 12pm	Deadline to submit SST nominations for students to return 2/1
1/29	Deadline for families to request changes via central form
2/1 @ 4pm	Deadline for schools to enter changes into Aspen to be effective March 1
3/1	Changes that can be accommodated will be effective March 1  (see capacity limitations below)

Capacity Limitations: there are a lot of unknowns in this process, as we do not know how many families will request a change. Therefore, it is important to adhere to the following guidelines:

School Capacity: 

• There is a possibility that we will not be able to accommodate all students within each school or classroom and may not be able to accommodate all change requests submitted

Transportation: 

• There is a possibility that we will not be able to accommodate all students on buses and may not be able to accommodate all change requests submitted
• Once all change requests that can be accommodated at the school level are submitted to Aspen (by 2/1), we will conduct a capacity analysis to determine transportation capacity. 
• You will receive communication in mid-February about potential transportation limitations

Family Communications: 

• Please do not communicate that a change request can be accommodated until capacity has been analyzed and confirmed on both the school level and the transportation level
• All transportation assignments for students returning 3/1 will be finalized and communicated to families no later than 2/27

Return Timeline:

	Currently in Hybrid Learning Model		Currently in Remote Learning Model (Dependent on Capacity)
Group	# Days In-Person	Start Date	# Days In-Person	Start Date
HIPP students, based on district criteria	4	2/1 LAPS=3/1	4	3/1 LAPS: K0/K1, 1,2,3
Students nominated by SST	2	A: 3/1 B: 3/4	2	A: 3/1 B: 3/4
All other students in grades K0-3	2	A: 3/1 B: 3/4	2	A: 3/1 B: 3/4
All other students in grades 4-8	2	A: 3/15 B: 3/18	2	A: 3/15 B: 3/18
All other students in grades 9-12	2	A: 3/29 B: 4/1	2	A: 3/29 B: 4/1

Reminder: COVID Protocol

Staff COVID testing: 

• Two different types of testing, the pilot program for 9-12schools that are open and K-8 sites. 
• Important to note this testing is NOT  for identified close contacts or symptomatic individuals. This testing is for those working in-person supporting students (directly or indirectly). 
• Health Services does not report results to positive staff members for either program. Staff members receive their results from a medical provider who can provide next steps and medical advice specific to their own healthcare concerns and their medical history.
• Health Services has access to results with consent from staff to perform contact tracing, only and does not release the names or share any other identifying information about those individuals to anyone. 

Protocol (regardless of the method of testing):

• Staff receive results & report to their direct supervisor  following the  OHC protocol
• Health Services receives information from the individual and begins an investigation. 
• Health Services relays all information to BPHC, to determine close contacts & provide next steps.
• Health Services informs each contact individually to provide the information & recommendations from the BPHC Infectious Disease Bureau
• Health Services informs Facilities & Communications
• Health Services provides a written letter from Comms, that is appropriate to the situation,  to the school leader to share with the school community.

NEW: BPSTech (OIIT) Zoom Office Hours

BPS teachers and staff are invited to drop in Monday - Friday mornings for targeted technology coaching and support hosted by BPSTechnology's Digital Learning Team. Join Office Hours

Contact: Rhianon Gutierrez