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.

May 28,2020

I have not had a lot of new information to share over the past week. I am horrified about what is transpiring in our country today. I thought that I would share some resources with you so that you can have important conversations with students and families.

Talking about Race with Children

A friend posted this collection of resources: Your kids Aren't too Young to Talk about Racism

PBS:

It is Never too Early to Talk About Race

Season 1: How To Talk To Kids About Race

The Talk Race in America

NPR:

Why All Parents Should Talk With Their Kids About Social Identity

Talking Race with Young Children

Sesame Street:

I love my Hair Song 

Sesame Street Tackles Racism

COVID 22 May 19, 2020

Clarifying Expectations Some More

Please share examples of how you are communicating and providing all essential assignments for students on a weekly basis. From looking at Google Classroom and Seesaw I cannot see how we are accomplishing this communication and instructional expectation. 

This is an example of how one of the teachers at the Blackstone is accomplishing this task. Blackstone Weekly Communication.

Please share how you are doing this or maybe how your child's teacher is doing this. 

Preschool Expectations (Finally)

The state finally remembered that we educate three and four-year-olds! The Early Learning Team at DESE  has created this guide for use during the COVID-19 school building closures. It includes background information as well as prerequisite content standards for all content areas of the MA curriculum frameworks, including the Preschool and Kindergarten Social and Emotional Learning and Approached to Play and Learning Standards found below.

Connect and Share Sessions from The Telescope Network-District

Hello from the BPS/BTU Telescope Network!

Later this week, we are partnering with the BPS Tech team to organize a PD on May 21 and May 22 called “Connect and Share Spotlight Sessions.” In these 1-hour webinars, we’re gathering panels of “bright spot” educators from across BPS to share what they’re doing in their own classrooms and to engage in discussion with participants. May 21 is focused on grades K-5. May 22 is focused on grades 6-12

Our sessions are based on our needs assessment surveys. Right now, teachers want to learn about 1) Differentiation and Support for Special Education Students, 2) Student Engagement, 3) Support for ELL Students, and 4) Social-Emotional Learning. More than 95% of attendees at our previous sessions said they would recommend these sessions to a friend or colleague. 

The Topics/Schedule

Topic 1

May 21

8:00 to 9:00 a.m.

Students with Special Needs: How can we differentiate remote learning to help meet student’s individualized needs and goals?

Topic 2

May 21

1:00 to 2:00 p.m.

Engagement: How do we keep students (and their caregivers) engaged in remote learning? 

Topic 3

May 21 

2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

English Language Learners: How can we best support our EL students during remote learning?

Topic 4

May 21

2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

Social-Emotional Learning: How can we address our students’ emotional needs remotely?

Our ask: Please help us to spread the word about these sessions--and join us if you can. Here’s the RSVP link 

Illuminate Sign-On Video

One of the fabulous BPS teachers made a video to help families sign on to Illuminate. This may be helpful to our third-grade families.

Summer Learning-District

The following are the proposed criteria for summer programming and an ask for feedback by Thursday.

Below are the currently proposed criteria for student selection to participate in summer programming that was presented to the Superintendent. We have been asked for feedback by Thursday. I have bolded the ones that pertain to our students. Do not get too excited about the retention criteria

Students Prioritize

• Leverage Opportunity Index data to provide spots to highest needs school communities
• Have earned an Incomplete for any course (6-12)
• Have been identified by their school support team (K0-12)
• Are deficient in credits for June graduation, but eligible for August graduation (12th)
• ELD Levels 1-3, SLIFE, Compensatory Services
• ESY indicated in their IEP
• All students who are retained in any grade must participate in summer learning (at parental request)

COVID 21 5/15/20

Scheduling Update

You may notice that your schedules have been populated with some new information about your students with disabilities. Thank you, Alyce, for taking care of this compliance task for all of us!

Parent Meeting

We had our first family meeting this week. We had a small group of parents which was my fault for not publicizing more. Our equity roundtable will be very involved in planning our next session. I think that will make it a more valuable and robust experience for all involved. These are the questions that our families asked (thank you Keri!)

• Are there dos and don’ts for the Chromebooks? What tips would you have for safe chatting and online interactions?
• How will the end of the year look? When’s the last day? What will happen with remote access over the summer to apps like Zearn, Lexia, etc?
• Is it an option to withdraw from ESY if the online platform is not going to be the best fit for the student?
• Will teachers be able to do some kind of evaluation and let parents know what to work on over the summer?
• What support might be available after two months of free internet access runs out?
• What are the dos and don’ts of using the Chromebooks?
• How are attendance numbers being recorded/reported? Who’s looking at the data?
• If this continues in the fall, can we switch kindergarteners to Google Classroom? I don’t think the SeeSaw platform is user-friendly for kids.

These may be some good questions to address in your regular communications with families. 

Clarifying Expectations

We will talk more about what our practice looks like when we meet on Wednesday but here are a few things that I want to make sure are happening in EVERY classroom.

• Have a clear, quick way for families to identify essential classroom activities. 
• There should be at least 1 essential activity aligned to priority standards in ELA and 1 Essential Activity Aligned to priority standards in math each day                        
• Weekly individual check-in calls or texts to families should be continuing even though we are no longer tracking. 
• The district expectation for this contact is every 3 days. Once a week should be sufficient
• Communication should be streamlined.
• Plan and communicate remote learning content in weekly doses. 
• Planning and organizing lessons, assignments, and meetings one week at a time instead of day-by-day will allow students and families to plan time for schoolwork within their own daily routines and needs.
• Send out one communication with assignments and meeting times by the start of the school week.
• Support students and families in finding to-do lists in remote in Google Classroom or SeeSaw for tracking assignment completion. 

View from The District

The following was cut and pasted from a newsletter sent to principals from the office of academics:

Academic Acceleration in COVID Summer 2020: Summer needs to look very different this year, and needs to focus on rigorous, fun, academic acceleration. We want to engage you in finding the best solutions for our students and as such we are asking you to fill out a brief survey to help us in the planning process. As usual, there will be multiple programs running, but we are taking a much more district-wide, academically focused approach this year. Andrea Zayas looking to school leaders to help identify both teachers and students for summer learning. In terms of selecting/identifying students for the summer, please continue working your usual SST processes, and identifying students who will absolutely need to be invited to summer learning. Specifics and more information are forthcoming for all programs.

• I will fill out the survey but I am curious about your thoughts on the questions. Please share your thoughts with me by Thursday 5/21/20 so that I can complete the survey. 

High-Quality Instructional Materials as a Key Equity Move: I'm thrilled to announce that the incredible work done by the Selection Committee to reach a recommendation for literacy curriculum was approved and is moving forward. Please see this memo for details. This decision impacts transformation schools initially. If you serve grades K0-8 and are not in transformation, we welcome you to join us in this adoption process, as we are absolutely certain that with top-notch training, ongoing support and coaching, and these high-quality materials (standards and CLSP aligned), we can make a remarkable impact in teaching and learning. HUGE gratitude to all who put their eyes and hands-on materials, talked with vendors, reviewed units and modules and rubrics, and particular thanks to the Selection Committee who invested countless hours across many months bringing this important equity work to fruition.

• This really has no impact on us. Some of us may want to look at Wit and Wisdom just to stay on top of what the District is looking at for best practices. 

One8 Foundation grant opportunity to implement the DESE supported ST Math platform:
Excited to share this amazing opportunity with you. The One8 Foundation, in partnership with DESE, is offering us access to, and professional learning for, ST Math during summer 2020 and school year 20/21 at no cost.

Our district will apply together for all interested schools by the One8 Foundation’s deadline - no later than 5/22 (next Friday!). If your school is interested, please fill out this simple google form, which includes identifying school leads and committing to summer and 2020‐21 implementation.  For more information about implementation, and grant expectations, please see this information sheet.

ST Math is already used in many of our schools with promising results. It provides a highly-visual, game-based platform that can be easily aligned with Investigations or Eureka pacing. Andrea Zayas used it as a school leader when she implemented a whole school blended learning model, and saw sustained math gains across grade levels.

• Brian LoBue and team please review this information and make a recommendation to me by Wednesday 5/20/20 if we should participate. 

Appreciation

Even though we are not in our physical classrooms and building this poem continues to apply. Thank you!

COVID 20 5/11/20

Some Awesomeness 

Meghan shared a couple of really fun things with me today. She has created a clickable visual schedule for her students. Then she created a virtual classroom. I found the classroom so enticing that it kept distracting me from work. I would stop and click on something new. I played in the room a lot today. Meghan has offered to show any of us how to make our own virtual classrooms. 

Attendance Update

Thank you for remembering to post attendance. Please continue to post every day. We now have until 3:00 on Fridays to post Friday's attendance. If you make an error on attendance please let Keri know she can go in and fix it. 

Student Success Plans

Student Success Plan Overview

Overview: Access Family Needs Survey Results & Create SSPs

Panorama's Default Interventions

There are a lot of documents here! We will work through the process together during our weekly grade-level check-ins. The staff has not been added yet but I am trying to get a jump on the work. The process of completing the plan is simple and we will walk through it together during our check-in. 

Appreciation Hive 5.8,20

Appreciation

Rose: I appreciate your incredible organization. You always have what your kids need right at your fingertips.

David: I appreciate your no-nonsense approach with the kids. You say what you mean and mean what you say.

Marc: I appreciate your patience with the chaos and how you advocate for your students through the chaos. I also appreciate how you buy lots of Goldfish for your friends.

Sylvia: I appreciate your positivity and willingness to stick with it even when the behavior students are exhibiting makes it hard.

Ben: I appreciate your positive energy and excitement for your subject. It is contagious and many of our students catch the excitement of scientific discovery.

Seth: I appreciate your ability to get creative in a hallway and make students' heartbeats go up even in a confined space.

Abby: I appreciate your calm gentleness as you guide our students in making beautiful artwork.

Charlotte: I appreciate how you are always willing to draw whatever character the students ask for.

Brian: I appreciate how you are always learning and applying that learning to your practice.

Sarah: I appreciate how you organize ideas into a way that they are relevant and purposeful for all. You never stop thinking.

Kathryn: I appreciate your advocacy for Reading Recovery and how you know all of our first-grade readers so well.

Paula: I appreciate how you advocate for the whole child. You work to make sure that students are safe and taken care of in all aspects of their lives.

Alyce: I appreciate how you love all LAPS students. You go to their homes to bring the gift of school supplies and literacy. You are constantly thinking about how to improve conditions for our students and staff. You also have kept us in 100% compliance with crazy special education mandates.

The Hive's Hub

Keri: I appreciate that you are the person that helps to organize me and keep me grounded. You are the best partner in the work. I do not think I could do this if I did not have you!

Lindsay and I were debriefing Faculty Senate today and she said that the team had asked for a hub to organize all of the crazy documents etc. The amazing Miss Purple has already created such a place that I visit 20 times a day. Here is the Lee Academy Hub. I was remiss in not sharing it earlier!  It is a lifesaver. THANK YOU KERI!

COVID 19 5/7/20

Appreciation

Lindsay: I appreciate your keeping me out of hot water with the union. I have come to look forward to our faculty senate debriefs because we are partners trying to solve a problem.
Anthony: I appreciate your honesty and integrity and willingness to help our boys on their journey to manhood.
Danielle: I appreciate your ability to take kids where they are and focus on their positive growth. You stay unruffled even when they are pushing your buttons. 
Jackie: I appreciate your take-charge attitude and how you face problems head-on.
Meredith: I appreciate your ability to plan a fundraiser that has a great cocktail involved. Seriously, I appreciate how your heart and soul goes into your work and how you feel for your students.
Ms. G: I appreciate how steady you are. When something needs to get done you do it. You work long days with our kids but you do it with love.
Eleanor: I appreciate how you have balanced motherhood and this demanding work. I know that it is not easy but you somehow have made it work.
Lizbeth: I appreciate how calm you stay even when our friends make it difficult, you are there next to them. They know you are on their side.

District Messages:

Expectations for teachers and staff interested in providing testimony @ City Council: 

A well-informed dialogue around the district’s budget benefits our students and schools within a process that includes all voices. I understand that some educators are interested in testifying and want to respect their choice to do so through the public debate process. The gist of the message below is that teachers must take personal time from work if they provide testimony during teaching time.

Our first priority is our students and delivering remote instruction to them during this difficult and unpredictable time. Ensuring predictability and remaining consistent with expectations we have set will provide stability to our students.  Accordingly, provided the City Council's public hearings do not conflict with the employee’s remote work expectations, teachers may attend and participate in those hearings. Consistent with the parties’ Paid Leave provision in the collective bargaining agreement and how the district has responded in prior years, if a teacher would like to attend and/or participate in a public hearing that conflicts with their workday, they may request to use accrued personal time to excuse their absence.

 As a reminder, if a teacher does not have accrued personal time, or does not want to use personal time, the teacher may still participate in the process by submitting written testimony for the record or attending the hearing scheduled for May 26, 2020, at 6 pm, which is specifically dedicated to public testimony as well as a May 28, 2020 hearing at 6 pm, which is also specifically dedicated for public testimony for any City of Boston department.  

Parent Meeting

As you know we are planning a family support meeting so parents do not feel so isolated or alone as they try to navigate our current reality. I am asking that you post the following message on the platforms that you use to communicate with families either today or tomorrow:

Dear Families, 

As parents and teachers, the Lee Academy family understands how stressful this time may be for you. We would like to offer the adults in our families some time and space to share concerns, successes, and to have questions answered. Lee Academy will be hosting a virtual meeting on May 14th at 4:00pm so that our families can come together. We hope that you can join us at this link on Thursday, May 14th at 4:00pm. If you would like to submit questions or concerns ahead of time to be sure that they are addressed please email Dr. Jodi at jfortuna@bostonpublicschools.org. 

Queridas Familias:
Como padres y maestros, la familia de Lee Academy comprende lo estresante que puede ser este momento para ustedes. Nos gustaría ofrecerle a los adultos de nuestras familias algo de tiempo y espacio para poder compartir sus inquietudes, éxitos y tener respuestas a  sus preguntas. Lee Academy organizara unareunion virtual el 14 de Mayo a las 4:00 PM. Si desea enviar preguntas o inquietudes con anticipación para asegurarse de que aborden sus preocupaciones, pueden enviar un correo electronico a: Dr. Jodi:  jfortuna@bostonpublicschools.org. 

Equity Roundtable

I invited everyone to join our equity roundtable. This group will focus on the uneven distribution of school supplies, literacy, and math resources in our neighborhoods.  Your participation is VERY WELCOME but not mandatory. 

COVID 18 5/5/20

Appreciation

Chase: I appreciate your calm gentleness and how with a look or expression you just let me know you get it when some ridiculousness is happening in the hallway outside your room.  

Chris: I appreciate how you are always coming up with new plans and schemes to help our students. You always have ideas to support them beyond the school day in the forefront of your mind.

Lividini: I appreciate that it took me almost a full year to call you that! Seriously, I appreciate your "I've got this" and "Can do"attitude and how it is mixed with an irreverent sense of humor that just makes me laugh all the time!

Ms. G: I appreciate how calm and serene you always are even when following friends around the building. The first day I met you the first words you said were "Can I help?". I will always remember how welcome that made me feel. 

Building Open Thursday

The building will again be open on Thursday. Please sign up here if you need to come in to get things for the remainder of the year. I am not sure when or if the building will be open again. Please sign up here for a time if you intend to come in. 

I enjoyed seeing everyone today even if it was just behind your mask. It was nice knowing that people really do still have legs. 

Weeding the Garden

Given how much each of you is doing I am trying to take a few things off of your plate that may now be redundant as we have grown in our remote teaching and learning tracker.

Communication Tracker

Thank you for how faithfully you filled out the tracker. The purpose of the tracker was to know which families we had been in contact with, if the student had access to technology, and to troubleshoot any issues that the student or family may be having.  

Our technology dashboards now let us know who has technology and the internet and there is a hotline for families to call with technical issues. 

You are taking attendance so we know which families and students we have been in contact with. We have multiple contacts and a strong internal communication system within teams so we can intervene quickly when we have concerns. We will be able to document these interventions via our student success plans (More on these next week).

Therefore you are no longer required to complete the communication tracker! Thank you again for your hard work on this.

Website

Almost all of our families are now connecting directly through Google Classroom, Clever, or Seesaw. Most specialists are connecting directly with teachers to post content. Therefore the website has become redundant and will no longer be updated. 

Zooming Fun

Jen is heading up an effort to plan a fun night for our students on Zoom. This will be something like a dance party, yoga night, trivia party, etc. If you would like to help her plan this for our kids please let me know. 

Parent Support Night

We will be hosting a family support meeting Thursday, May 14th at 4:00 PM. We will invite families to come and share their thoughts questions and concerns about this challenging time for our students and families. For this first attempt, we will have Sam to answer health and community resource concerns, Jen to answer any social-emotional and mental health concerns, Paula (and 1 or 2 more volunteers) to discuss the challenges of parenting, working and homeschooling, and hopefully a representative from the technology department to help troubleshoot. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer for the panel as a fellow struggling parent. 

I will also be asking you to push out to your parents an invitation to this meeting and a document collecting questions ahead of the meeting if families choose to send them in. Thank you for your help! I will have this to you tomorrow. 

Time Off Requests

Today Zoraida went into the system and cancelled all requests for time off that was supposed to happen between March 16th and June 19th. If you do need time off from now until the end of the year please use ESS to request the time. I am sorry if today's unilateral actions resulted in you having to enter time again. 

COVID 17 5/4/20

Celebrating K0/K1

Each day this week. I will celebrate teachers at different grade levels. I could write volumes about how amazing each of you is! I am trying to limit myself to 1 or 2 statements. 

“It takes a big heart to help shape little minds.” Author Unknown

• Shandolyn: I appreciate all that you do to help your students grow. I enjoyed watching you do the reset on behavioral expectations and how your students responded and were becoming little scholars.
• Ana: I appreciate how you make all of our students feel welcome in our school. I love how you speak to the students in both of their languages and how motherly you are with them
• Meghan: I appreciate how you often fly under the radar doing good work for your families. You have very quietly delivered supplies and food to all of your families. 
• Nee: I appreciate how you think of our school globally. You worry about our students and their growth as human beings. 
• Noreen: I appreciate your steady calmness. You had quite the start to your school year and did not run screaming towards the door every day. You helped keep the rest of us calm.
• Govi: I appreciate how you "adopt"kids and become their person. You are always there and available to offer words of encouragement when they are needed for kids. 
• Priscilla: I appreciate how you gracefully educated a classroom of 3 and 4-year-olds while growing a little human yourself. Even when your little human was kicking your butt with morning sickness. Your help with technology has been so appreciated. 
• Melissa: I appreciate how you have helped me grow in my cultural awareness. You engage our little ones in music and movement that teaches them about their beautiful heritage. It is a wonder to observe. 
• Denise: I appreciate your calm and pleasant approach to each day. You are always willing to jump in when and where you are needed. 

Schedules

Your new schedules should have launched today. 

• Please complete the tab with your name in this document. If you are having trouble with the document please send me a copy of your schedule and I will work to get it in. It is important that all schedules are included in the document.  This is another accountability measure for the District. 
• In reviewing the schedules, my expectations, and the MOU I would like to make some clarifications.
• I appreciate you making the size of your legos developmentally appropriate. I think this is great for our students. A quick scan of schedules indicates that we need to have some more face to face time with students.  addition to the 8 blocks please add additional 1:1 time or small groups with students to bring us closer to the 15-hour synchronous time.  Some submitted schedules are reflecting synchronous teaching that is far below the 15 hours. 
• I really appreciate the approach that some people are taking of letting their parents schedule their children into available 1:1 or small group times. My hypothesis is that this will lead to increased attendance
• For your 1:1 and small groups. If you are serving students that are inclusion students please identify this by putting SWD next to their name in their schedule.  If the student in your small group is an EL student please indicate this next to their name. For example, 1:1 Hans Kissel (SWD) If a student is both an EL and an SWD indicate both. 
• I am also not sure that I made clear that you need to provide a copy of this schedule to your families. This schedule needs to be translated. 

Outstanding Free PD from DESE

The Department is pleased to offer a free workshop series, “Innovate Inside the [Remote Learning] Box with UDL,” focused on universally designing remote instruction. Join George Couros and Katie Novak in an online workshop series that will introduce the key concepts of inclusive practice, innovation, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and give participants the knowledge they need to start using UDL in their lesson and assessment design while supporting remote learning. Attend live webinars the week of May 11, take the following week to unpack the virtual modules, and then join a final webinar on Wednesday, May 20 to share key takeaways and final projects. More information and registration are available online. These two presenters are amazing! I have learned a lot from both of them.

Opening the School

Dear staff,

Some of you are planning to go into our building this week to retrieve some of your teaching materials and/or belongings. We need to ensure the safety of all involved in this process, so on the day you are signed up to come to the building, you must review the checklist attached to this email. If you have any of the symptoms listed in #1 or #2, or do not agree to what is stated in #4, please reach out to me and we can discuss further. 

Thank you all for your attention to this.

Curiosity

Can you tell when I am sending out boilerplate language from the district vs. things written in my voice?

COVID 16 May 1, 2020

Thank You

As you can see I am not a pretty crier. Thank you for my slideshow and video trailer. I was so moved by the thought and care that went into these. It was so wonderful to see the kids' faces and hear their voices. This was one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received. I am so blessed to have landed here with you! I am happy that we have another year as partners on this crazy journey. 

Emotional Principal 

Educator Appreciation Week

I try to tell you frequently how much I appreciate you and all that you do for our students. I do not like to save my appreciation for a certain time. Life is to short; a lesson that I have learned over the past months. All that said, this coming week is Teacher Appreciation Week. You do wonderful work every day and the work that you are doing now is heroic. The whole fabric of our profession has shifted. I posted this on my Facebook page but I wanted to share it with all of you because I think it truly captures what you made happen overnight. 

I struggled with how to tangibly show my appreciation to each of you. What token would demonstrate how much I admire and appreciate all of you and your resiliency and dedication to students. Should I buy a small token that you would appreciate but eventually just gather dust? As I was pondering what to order I realized that my choice had to be deeply meaningful, reflect my admiration for each of you and your work and demonstrate that I recognize and understand what you value and is important to you. I hope that you like what I finally settled on. Last evening a $300 donation was made to the Boston Resiliency Fund in honor of the dedicated educators of Lee Academy Pilot School. I thought that this was the most fitting way to recognize each of you. You are dedicated to our community, you go the extra mile for our students and families and you never give up. I thought donating to assist the community that you serve so valiantly would be the best way to honor your dedication and work for that community. Thank you for all that you do and know that you are appreciated every day of the year.  Not just for one week. 

Opening the Building

I intend to open the building on May 5th from 10:00-1:00 so that you can get any materials needed for the remainder of the year. We are no longer allowed to do our one-off trips into the building so please plan to get everything you need on Tuesday. 

The "Rules of Engagement" for entering the building are:

• Staff members must sign up on the time slots available on the spreadsheet linked below
• Only1 staff member will be allowed to enter into 1 classroom during a single 30-minute appointment
• No more than 8 teachers can be in the building at a time.
• Staff members need to bring their own PPE. Including hand sanitizer/
• Mask or mouth/nose covering is required.
• Staff will enter and exit through the main door
• Only 1 staff member will be allowed in the upstairs and downstairs copy area. 
• A schedule will be posted based on your requests
• I will be the administrator present

Please use this sheet to sign up for a time slot to come into the building. If you absolutely cannot come on Tuesday we may be able to make arrangements for Thursday. 

New Guidance Released Today

The district released updated remote learning guidance today. Please read the document and become somewhat familiar with it. We will be doing a phased rollout at Lee Academy so that it makes sense for our students and families. 

Attendance

Here is how we are going to do attendance.

• Teachers will take attendance daily for students. This should be done later in the afternoon in the reverse of what we would do in the school building. I would suggest recording attendance no earlier than 3:30.
• Mark the student PRESENT if: Student has engaged in some or all remote learning opportunities, as directed by the teacher. Note: engagement during remote learning includes synchronous engagement, asynchronous engagement, submission of assignments, and responding to teacher feedback.
• If the student completed work between 3:30 and the resumption of learning the next day. Mark them present for the following day. 
• Mark the student ABSENT if: Student is absent from learning activities on this day.
• For example, Jacob logs into reflex math at 10PM on Tuesday but was not present for any other activities and did not do any other work on Tuesday. Jacob is marked absent on Tuesday but would be marked present on Wednesday. 
• Our attendance cycle is now a 24-hour cycle. 
• Attendance needs to be posted for the week by 11:00 am on Friday. 
• Here is where it gets really tricky. Any work or attendance completed after 11:00 am on Friday will count towards a present designation for Monday. 
• For example, if K.C completes 3 assignments over the weekend. He gets marked present on Monday. 
• Here is the final code you will ONLY use this code when you do attendance on Friday. 
• Mark the student NO CONTACT if: You been unable to make any contact with the student during this week. 
• Students with consecutive "No Contact" codes will be flagged for the SST and, if necessary, a safety/wellness check, so it is important to only use this code when you are unable to make contact with the student/family.

I know that it is confusing. Please reach out if you have any questions. 

LAPS Expectations for Remote Learning Week of 5/4-5/8

• Teachers will roll out their new schedules to families. Activities will be scheduled at consistent times for the remainder of the closure. Each teacher has the freedom to complete the schedule using their 8 blocks in the way that they think will be best for their students. 
• Teachers will complete or have a plan to soon complete their 5 hours of technology professional learning
• Teachers will shift instruction to focus on priority standards.
• We will try out this attendance thing
• Co-Educators will attend weekly grade-level check-ins with the teachers and me

Coming Attractions Week of 5/11 to 5/15

• Revised LAPS Learn from Home Expectations
• Student Success Plans and SST

COVID 15 ~ April 15, 2020

Expectations

Individual Student Goals

For the 4 to 5 students in your room that have not been signing on and completing assignments. Please email Keri and me with their names and a personalized goal. For example:

• Tiyreek:  Log on to Lexia for  40 minutes per week (half the recommended time).
• Larry: Log on and complete 1 Google Classroom assignment
• Zavion Log into Lexia for 40 minutes (half of the recommended time)
• Zaiden: Attend one-morning meeting
• Dante: Attend one-morning meeting

The goal should be both the next logical progression and a high leverage strategy for student success. Keri/I will call the family and support them in attaining the goal and try to mitigate any obstacles that they are meeting. Together as a community we will celebrate growth for our families and help them feel successful in this new world order.

MOU
I am anticipating that the MOU between the district and BTU will be released this afternoon at the union meeting. All school leaders have been told is to be prepared with a schedule that allows for three hours of synchronous teaching per day. After I have had a chance to review the MOU I will send out a plan for what this could look like for our students.

Data

Student Sign-in
ODA has created a school-facing dashboard summarizing Clever and Google Classroom usage by major student group. All school leaders in BPS were granted access today. To view the data, click on the link above. You will be prompted to authorize Google Data Studio to use their BPS email address to authenticate. This dashboard includes two summary data pages, as well as a page including a student-list that indicates the number of times a student has logged in to Clever or Google Classroom during school closure. I am not sure you will be able to access this dashboard however Clever now has analytics that you can see.

Family Needs Survey
We are conducting a district-wide Family Needs Survey to understand the needs of families and provide connections to critical resources during this difficult time. For students whose parents or guardians have a contact email address in Aspen, families receive personalized links for each child. Given Chromebook distribution issues we know that our families do not always have accurate information in Aspen. Families are also able to complete the survey online by visiting surveys.panoramaed.com/bps/family2020. Could you please share this link with your families? Also, I am slightly concerned that families will choose the wrong Lee. So if you could stress that it is the Lee Academy. Both schools are right next to each other on the choice list.

Resources

Lexia Now in Clever
Lexia Core5 (K-5) and PowerUp (6 and up) licenses are available to all students beginning on 4/13. If you are choosing to use Lexia Core 5 with students please make sure that you have students use ot for the prescribed amount of time. Please see this document for access and training information.

FableVision
FableVision Studios has opened 3 platforms to BPS teachers & students. Animation-Ish, Get Published, & FabMaker Studio are creative platforms perfect for online learning.  FableVision is the company that is run by Peter H. Reynolds the author of "Dot" and "Ish". It allows students to bring their stories to life and maybe a  hook for those reluctant writers. I have not played with this so I am not sure of how appropriate it is for our students. Submit your intent to use by 4/15 to Karissa Goff, KGoff@bostonpublicschools.org. FableVision Website

Origo Scope and Sequence
These are lower-tech at home math ideas for kids.  They combine some literacy and many are available in Spanish and English. Consider matching some of these to your math objectives in using to supplement what you are currently doing. Origo Learn at Home Activities

COVID 14~ April 13, 2020

Teacher Facing Educational Resources

The district is curating additional grade level teacher resources in a site that can be found here. The hope is that you can take these assignments and easily import them into your platforms in a way that makes sense for your students. 

Communication

• Thank you for your notes and family outreach. You really are amazing!
• All communication should be updated through week 4 by the end of the day today. 
• This is our most important tracker. 
• Grade 3 remember that you are switching to the main tab this week. 
• Please remember to record your 1:1 sessions with students in the new column. 

Technology Updates

• Chromebook pick-ups are ramping up as deliveries are closing down; as long as a student is red on the dashboard, we’ll deploy a Chromebook to them.
• Please do not send anyone unexpectedly to Chromebook pick-up locations (including teachers) 
• Comcast Sign-up: Families do NOT need to provide a social security number 
• As soon as they have hotspots, Central Office will communicate the next steps to schools.
• A reminder was sent to teachers last week about Zoom accounts and Central Office will keep updating the Zoom list so the school leaders can see who has not established a BPS Zoom account. 
• The waiting room is enforced to prevent Zoom Bombing BUT teachers automatically skip the waiting room if they are signed up in the BPS account.

Engagement, Registration & Assignment, and Partnerships

• Round 1 assignments for grades K0, K1, 6, 7, and 9 for the 2020-2021 school year went out on 3/27 by email. Families can also call 617-635-9010 or email welcomeservices@bostonpublicschools.org. 
• Registration and other services are taking place for the current school year and next school year is taking place by phone. This includes change of address requests. Families can pre-register at sis.mybps.org, schedule a registration appointment at https://booknow.appointment-plus.com/8517n4dg/ or call the BPS Welcome Center at 617-635-9010.
• We may see new students on your rosters.  Please feel free to connect with them and engage them.  By our next call, we will have guidance on accepting them in the school.  Our usual process is not to accept students until they start attending school so that they are not counted as a withdrawal if they never attend.  
• For families who register in the second registration round (started Feb), we do not yet know when we will release assignments.  
• Families are asking about language testing, OEL is working on this.  More information and hopefully answers will be available in the coming weeks.
• If you have individuals or partners seeking to volunteer during this time, please direct them to www.bostoncares.org/bostoncovid19volunteers.
• If you have individuals or partners seeking to donate funds to support our COVID efforts, direct them to the Boston Resiliency Fund https://www.boston.gov/departments/treasury/boston-resiliency-fund

Supports for Families: 

• Families with needs such as groceries, etc, can email Margaret Farmer, mfarmer2@bostonpublicschools.org
• Families who need help with evictions and housing, Brian Marques, bmarques@bostonpublicschools.org
• All fundraising on behalf of BPS students, families and schools must be directed to the Boston Resiliency Fund.  As a result individual schools and departments cannot fundraise separately.  If you have families in need, please have them email mfarmer2@bostonpublicschools.org with Family Support Needed in the Subject line.  
• The central office is working to create a form that can be shared with families.
• BPS Resources for Students and Families one-pager

Resource

Time for Kids is now free. This may help you with lesson planning and access to materials. Visit this link if you are interested

COVID 13 4/7/20

Call for instructional videos for families and educators

A central instructional video hub has been created to share with families, students, teachers, & partners. Fill out the form & include a 10-25 minute video. It can run the spectrum of content and grades. The videos will be curated centrally and distributed across our networks. Contact: Jason Sachs
I think this would be a great opportunity for us to showcase the work that we are doing with our students as we move to this new world of virtual instruction.  I do believe we have the best teachers in our building!

Chromebooks-Correction from Earlier

We want to make sure that Chromebooks are going to students with need. Our first indication will be who has not logged in etc.

Do not simply go to Campbell. We must schedule an important. 

They do not want staff picking up large numbers of Chromebooks to deliver at this point. 

New Students

We are registering new students. You could potentially get a new student.  Keri and I will be in contact if that happens. 

Equity Roundtable

I have been talking in our grade level meetings about Equity Roundtables that were going to be an expectation for each Equity Roundtable

I have been talking in our grade level meetings about Equity Roundtables that were going to be an expectation for each school community. I received the mandate and the description of the roundtable yesterday. 

The problem of practice that we are going to examine is: What are the barriers that are keeping students from accessing learning from home? What can we do as the Boston Community to remove those barriers? 

This will require all of you to continue tracking how many of your students are accessing learning. Members of the equity roundtable will develop a way to reach out to those families who are not accessing learning and take an inquiry stance into why. We will then formulate scaffolds to help our community.

We need people to join this roundtable.

 I need your recommendations on who you feel would be good community representatives. I am specifically not going to ask the parents that form the nucleus of our family council and governing board. I also would like representation from our Latinx and Vietnamese community members and families. Of course, all meetings will be virtual. With those guardrails, who do you think good family and community member representatives would be? Please send me your ideas by end of the day tomorrow. 

I would love to have you join the roundtable. Please let me know if you are interested by the end of the day tomorrow. 

Fundraising

All fundraising on behalf of BPS students, families and schools must be directed to the Boston Resiliency Fund.  As a result, individual schools and departments cannot fundraise separately.  This includes Donors Choose

If you have families in need, please have them email mfarmer2@bostonpublicschools.org with Family Support Needed in the Subject line. The district will create a form that can be shared with families.

Inspiration

I came across the following on Twitter. I thought that I would share it with all of you. I am spending a lot of time on Twiter but if you follow the right people you find some great links to real research and some awesome ideas teaching and learning. This is a message that I want each of you to take to heart. 

We are human and our humanity is what will get us through this. One of the most important things that we are teaching our students and their families is that we are there for them. We have their backs and we love them. We are living our Lee Academy Pledge. We are the embodiment of what is good in our world. We are the helpers and caretakers. People can turn to us when they need us. We believe in each other even when they might not believe in themselves.

Tweet:

I read this and it brought me to tears. I love it when people take a step back and focus on the good. Sometimes I find myself stressing out about what I can’t do and failing to see what I am already doing... this was a good reminder.

A parent wrote this for his local teachers about distance learning.

Here is the letter:

Hey teachers, 

I just wanted to let you know that however this week goes down - it's all good. We're on your team. This wasn't what you signed up for, and I sort of can't believe you're actually going to attempt to do this. Your life is about to become one giant conference call with two dozen nine-year-olds who have no set bedtime and are hopped up on Captain Crunch and whatever their parents have been stress-baking for the past 12 days. What could possibly go wrong?

In light of this, our family is giving you blanket permission to do this however the hell you want for the next two months.

Your kid wants to sit on your lap while you teach long division? That's great.

Need to stress eat half a bag of Cheetos while you're trying to explain how to calculate Experimental Error? Go for it.

Feel like having morning meeting in your pajamas - all month long? It's a judgement free zone here. Lord knows that's what I'll be wearing until at least noon.

Having a panic attack because you need to check in on your parents and wanna point that Zoom camera at three straight episodes of Sponge Bob for an English assignment? Excellent plan.

Want to just sit there and ask them how their days were for 40 minutes without mentioning a single thing about MLA formatting? Please God do that.

See, I don't care if you teach my kids one more thing this semester, and this is why: Just by showing up, by checking in, by caring enough to do this freaking IMPOSSIBLE job - you've already taught them the only things I really wanted them to get out of school.

You've taught them that people are flexible - they adapt to new things.

You've taught them that people will show up for them even when it's hard.

You've taught them that communities work together for the greater good.

You've taught them the world is a good place. That even when circumstances are scary, people are good.

You've loved them enough to be there - and that's all any of us can do, is love each other through this.

Our kids will be ok. Take care of yourselves too. We love you. You've got this - and if you don't, I'm not telling.