Summer Update (8/8/22)

 

Lee Academy Pilot School

25 Dunbar Avenue Boston, MA 02124

Alexandre Chery, Principal

Week of August 8, 2022

8/30 - 8/31 Summer Institute/PDs (@ 9:05)

 

“The program these young people participated in, the Educational Opportunity Program, normalized high academic achievement for students who were mainly African-American, all first-generation college students, some of whom before entering the program did not have the skills, behaviors, beliefs, or identities required for high academic achievement. [...] At these institutions, being working-class or poor, having parents who have not gone to college, being poorly prepared academically, being African-American—these variables are not impediments to academic achievement.”

 

Perry, Theresa; Steele, Claude. Young, Gifted and Black (p. 3). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.

 

“African-American students will achieve in school environments that have a leveling culture, a culture of achievement that extends to all of its members, and a strong sense of group membership, where the expectation that everyone achieve is explicit and is regularly communicated in public and group settings. African-American students will achieve in these environments, irrespective of class background, the cultural responsiveness of the setting, or prior level of preparation.”

 

Perry, Theresa; Steele, Claude. Young, Gifted and Black (p. 107). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.

 

How will WE affirm OUR students as achievers at Lee Academy this upcoming school year?

 

Greetings Team,

 

I hope all is well with you and that you are enjoying the remainder of your summer break. Wanted to take this opportunity and provide you all with some updates. 

 

New Staff Members to the Hive

 

Ms. Maudeline Aubourg

LAPS Inclusion Specialist. Ms. Aubourg was at the Jackson-Mann last year as a Strand Specialist. 

 

Ms. Amy Gebo

LAPS Grade 2 Inclusion Teacher. Ms. Gebo was at the Holmes Elementary School last year.

 

Ms. Sonia Hart 

LAPS Physical Education Teacher. Ms. Hart was most recently at the Mission Hill Pilot School. 

  

Nurse Marthe Jean-Jacques

LAPS Nurse. Ms. Jean-Jacques was most recently teaching at Madison Park. 

 

Mr. Matthew Lee

LAPS Cluster Substitute. Mr. Lee was with us last year as a district-funded cluster substitute and also spent time at the Grew Elementary School. 

 

Ms.Cassandra Rousseau

LAPS Grade 2 Inclusion Teacher. Ms. Cassie was with us last year as a long-term substitute teacher in K2. 

 

Instruction:

 

Literacy:

• All of the decodable text from FlyLeaf and Geodes have arrived and will be set up in room 201 by late September.  

• The rest of the Fundations materials will be available next week for pick up according to the Early Childhood Department.

• Focus materials will begin to be delivered on August 15. 

• AWESOME updates to MAPS fluency assessment. Take some time to explore! More information to come. 

 

Operations

 

Classroom Setup

The building will be open moving starting this week. Just let me know ahead of time (857-308-8836) if you plan on coming by the school as your card will not work to access the building. The building will close at 2 pm or when I leave because I have to set the alarm. This week I will be in but next week I will be at the principal training/meeting most of the week. Mr. Bill will be returning on the 16th from vacation. 

 

You will be able to begin setting up your classroom/office space but I want to manage expectations:

 

Please beware the hallways are currently being stripped down to expose the concrete in preparation for the floor to be polished and cleaned in a process called diamond cutting. Be careful when handling coffee or other dark-colored liquids that can permanently stain the hallway floors. Other than that, you may move about the hallway freely during this process. 

The process will take about two more weeks to be completed. My office floor is also concrete. Therefore, all my office furniture and items were moved into rooms 104, 105, and the main office. 

 

Furthermore, supplies and various items ordered have begun arriving at the school. These items are literally scattered throughout the building (first-floor classrooms, basement hallway, cafeteria, Mr. Bill’s office). Please do not touch or remove any items unless told to do so by Ms. Zoraida. Even if you are certain the items are the items you ordered. Ms. Zoraida needs to verify the delivery and receipt of the items and report to the Finance/Budget Department. Once the items are accounted for, they will either be delivered to your classroom or you will be asked to retrieve them from the main office. Also, movers should hopefully be coming in soon. If there are any large items that need to be removed or moved, please let me know. 

 

Starting sometime this week (Wednesday/Thursday), repairs on the walls in nearly every classroom and office space due to the water damage will begin. About 2-3 rooms may have their ceiling repainted if there is significant chipping occurring. Due to time constraints, the current paint color in the given space will remain the same. Only affected areas will be painted, not the whole classroom. Although you will be able to start setting up your classroom, expect to see dust particles on the desks and throughout the room. When the crew is done with the plastering and painting, they are expected to clean the classroom before they leave but the focus will be on the floors and not so much on the other surfaces. Once the job has commenced at the school, they anticipate it will take about 10 calendar days to complete. They will also work through the weekend. 

 

Pests/Mice

Pest control will be coming by to set up a significant amount of traps and bait throughout the school. Traps and bait will be removed and/or reduced before the start of the school year. There were several entry points found in the closets but difficult to get to due to the amount of stuff stored away. Reminder: Please throw out anything that is not being used.  In particular, the room in the basement needs to be cleared out. 

 

Electrical Outlets

We are slated for an upgrade possibly in October/November for the AC units. In the meantime, the Facilities Department says they will work to add more outlets in the classrooms, particularly in the front of classrooms underneath the whiteboards. I honestly 

 

Interviews/Positions 

Para:

Ms. G will no longer be with us. A 2nd-grade para position has been posted since last Tuesday. Interviews will be held on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. If you are interested in partaking, please let me know.

 

Kitchen:

We need a full-time SafeServ certified cook in the kitchen. There is a district wide-shortage of kitchen staff. Please reach out to your network. In order for us to bring back “My Way Cafe,” this position needs to be filled. 

 

August PD/Summer Institute 

All teachers and paraprofessionals will be expected to attend on Tuesday, Aug 30, 2022, and Wednesday, Aug 31, 2022. More information to come. 

 

More information to come:

-Family Visit Guidelines and Reading

-Welcome back Session 

-Classroom assignments/grade level teams for SY 23

-Teachers Pay Teachers Subscription

-Beehive installation in the science room

The Hive 1/17/2021

 

 

 

"Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."  

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Shared by Grace Wai, our School Superintendent

 

MAPS ASSESSMENT and PALS (PM)

Assessments are expected to be administered this week. MAPS is designed to take no more than 30 minutes to complete but we can anticipate it will take students a little longer since they have not interacted with the assessment/platform since the beginning of the year. I have headphones in my office should you need more. Please be sure to wipe down headphones before passing them off to the next student. 

 

I understand the challenges we have faced the past couple of weeks and assessments are the last thing on people’s minds. However, it is important to know where students are currently in order to make informed decisions on what we need to do as a school to move the work and students forward. Please let administration know how we can best support with the MAPS/PALS (PM) this week. 

 

Tae Kwon Do

Urbanity dance P&Ds are wrapping up at the end of the month for grades K0/K1 through 1st. Tae kwon do P&Ds will start up the week of February 1st to take their place. Our instructor from Swaby Tae Kwon Do will be Phil. He was here with us in a previous year. A notice is going home to families about the option to purchase uniforms. Please send any orders/payments to Keri Purple. Due to covid, we will not be allowing students to borrow/share uniforms this year. 

 

CSR Counseling

Children’s Services of Roxbury has directed their clinicians to move to remote services for the time being. Tabianna, who has taken over for Diana while she’s on maternity leave, will be reaching out to families to let them know. Tabianna will also be reaching out to classroom teachers to coordinate zoom opportunities for students currently receiving services. 

 

1/21 Coffee Cake orders and payment due for fundraiser

 

COVID Flowchart

Please see the flowchart that explains next steps for both staff and students who have either tested positive or been in close contact. 

 

Formative Evaluations

Please be advised that anyone on a 1-year plan, the deadline for your formative evaluation has been extended to February 15th. You can expect more details from your evaluator. If you have questions, please reach out.

 

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr

 

This quote resonates with me now more than ever. We are literally in the midst of challenge and controversy. And I am so proud of the way teachers and staff have stood up for our school, students and community the last couple of weeks. Thank you. 

 

 Important Dates:

1/18-1/21 MAP Assessment (K2-3), PALS (K1)

1/19 Professional Development @ 4 (more info to come via email)

1/20 ILT @ 8 

1/21 Coffee Cake Fundraiser

1/26 Wellness Team @ 8:15 

1/27 SST @ 8

1/28 Multicultural Children's Book Day

2/1 First Day of Black History Month

2/3 SST @ 8 

2/10 Winter Showcase @ 6pm via Zoom (subject to change)

2021.8.13 Summer Update 2

 Hiring

• So I should have known better than to write that we were done with hiring. Unfortunately, Helen Ani is no longer able to accept our third-grade position. 
• I would like to thank Rose and Sarah for reviving our hiring committee with little notice. 
• We have found another candidate that I am hoping to move through HR fairly quickly. Stay tuned. 

• I am sure that like me you are devastated that Sarah is moving on.
• We will be forming a large hiring committee to find our next literacy coach. This new hire will not be in place at the beginning of the year. Please let me know if you are interested in serving on the team. 
• I will be talking with the leadership team about how to best fill the void that will be left by Sarah's departure until we get a new person on board and up to speed 

Summer PD

• Here is our Draft Summer PD Schedule all 4 days of before-school PD are included. 
• I know not all of our co-educators read this so I am asking you to please make sure that your colleagues are aware of this. 
• The morning of September 8th is classroom set-up time. All co-educators will have a virtual PD on Equitable Literacy Strategies. See the following:
•    Intro to Equitable Literacy in BPS: BPS will be focusing on shifting how we teach children to read, make sense of, and write texts. In this session, paraprofessionals will learn what these shifts are and how they can support them in the classroom. To register for Equitable Literacy PD, click HERE.   

 Master Schedule

Here is our Master Schedule for the next school year!

Permission Click

Permission Click will be our new automated permission slip tool. We will be transitioning to this tool this upcoming school year. Our accounts are not yet active. I will let you know when they are. 

2021.8.9.21 Summer update 1

 Hiring

We have finished our hiring for this year.

Please join me in welcoming these new fantastic individuals to our LAPS Family

• Helen Ani- Teacher Grade 3
• Cassie Rousseau- Long Term Subsitute K2
• Alexa Holloway-Co-educator K2 with Ms. Lividini
• Libin Duale- Co-Educator K0/K1 with Ms. Lawlor
• Jasmin Torrejon-Chu- School Social Worker

The following individuals have been members of our team for a while now but will have new assignments this coming year

• Ana Medina- Co-Educator with Ms. Kelley
• Rakeea Gardner-Co-Educator with Ms. Anderson
• Govi Tovar- Family Liasion
• Neeberdotthe Louis- Co-Educator with Ms. Martinez through Ms. Lizbeth's maternity leave

Home Visits

Thanks to our ESSER funding we are able to fund each teaching team to conduct home visits to all of their students.

If both members of the teaching team are unable to go please reach out to Jen, Sam, Jasmin. Govi, Keri or me to go with you. These are the members of our family support team and will be good partners to have along

Please feel free to begin scheduling these important visits. 

Here is the form to fill out for each visit

Calendar

We have a Lee Academy Google Calendar. 

I think the invite to the calendar was lost in the craziness of the end of the year stuff for many people. 

Please subscribe to this calendar as it will have our dates and times for all staff and team activities on it. It will be the most comprehensive source for dates etc. 

Leadership team members you have editing access for the calendar. 

Before and After School Programing

I am excited to announce we have a new partner, Boston’s Bridge to Excellence.  

This flyer includes registration links and contact information. 

Before-school care for children will be offered from 7:30-9:30 am and after-school care from 3:30-6:00pm every day. 

The cost for the program is $14 a day for before-school care and $29 a day for after-school care. Parents also have the option to enroll their child in martial arts or cultural dance programming for $15 per week. 

Vouchers and private payments are accepted. If families need access to vouchers please have them Call Mass 211 or go to this State of Massachusetts link for Early Education and Care. 

If families have difficulty navigating this process they can also reach out via email to Ms. Govi in her role as family liaison. 

June 11, 2021- Almost There

Honey-Do List

6/14 Distribute One Grade, One Book Books

6/15 Let Jodi know when the majority of library forms are back. 

6/15 Let Jodi know of your interest and availability to serve on hiring committee

6/16 Complete Hive Survey

6/18 Return books to book room

6/18 Complete Report Cards and Progress Reports

Hive Survey

• This week's Hive Survey is the long-overdue teacher preference sheet.
• This should be done in December in a normal year (what's normal ?)
• Please complete the teacher preference form. 
• Make sure that all of your colleagues have seen and completed

Professional Learning for Next Year:

• We have identified PD Dates for SY 21-22. You can find those here. 
• The dates are color-coded by the events that are happening.  PD, ILT, etc.
• What is not finalized are the topics. We have a leadership meeting on Thursday to finalize the topics. 
• This can give you a general idea of what we (or at least I) are thinking about at the moment. 
• Our major focus areas will be: 
• Foundational Literacy Skills
• Play 
• Math

Hiring

• I am hoping that we can wrap up hiring the week of 6/21. 
• We were delayed because it took central a bit to post our grade 3 position
• I am waiting for the central office screening committee to approve some candidates that directly applied to our family liaison position
• We will be hiring Amelia's substitute later this summer. 
• If you are willing to serve on this team please let me know your availability for the week of 6/21 by 6/15.

Social Work Position

• Thank you to everyone that joined our interview team. 
• I am happy to announce that we have started the hiring process for Jasmin Torrejon Chu. 
• Jasmin is currently the family liaison at the Blackstone School. 
• I have included her on our staff email list!

Visioning For Family Support Team SY 21-22

Here is what was learned from our survey
As an educator at LAPS the family support team could help me be more impactful in my job by: 

• Connecting families with each other and resources and being responsive to situations as they arise. 
• Being a communication link between families, the school, and the teachers
• Owning and being responsible for the school-wide communication plan
• Supporting families with getting to school on time and issues leading to chronic absenteeism. 
• Organizing school-wide family events that families are interested in and want to attend. 

My vision for family support at LAPS is:

• Provide a team approach to case management and provide wrap-around support for families that make the school a "hub" and a place to be where families feel connected and supported.
• Conducting research with families to see what would increase family engagement and voice. So that what we are inclusive of every family voice at LAPS when making decisions
• Partnering with content area coaches to have meaningful interactions with families for what academic support at home can look like 
• Having a space in our community for families to come when they need support or to connect with other families.

Thank you for your input! We used it today in our planning meeting where we landed in a very good place. 

Here is where we are so far. 

Literacy Updates

• Reminder for K1-2nd grade teachers: Please fill out this spreadsheet with literacy info about your students to give next year's teachers a starting point. Thank you!
• Please return all guided reading books to the book room by the end of day on Friday, 6/18.  
• Sarah will be doing a full inventory and organization of the book room over the summer so would like to have the bins as complete as possible to get the most comprehensive inventory we can.  
• There will be boxes and baskets up in the book room starting Monday for you to dump your GR books in. You don't have to sort them by level - just drop them in the boxes.  Thank you! 

Library Cards

• Please let me know when the majority of your library applications are filled out. 

Staff Absences and Coverage

• I will continue to update you each afternoon on staff who is out and a coverage plan. 
• I am going to be honest, during the next few weeks it is going to be difficult to balance the competing demands of teachers receiving their allotment of time off and providing students with the education they deserve.
• I appreciate everyone working as hard as you do when you are in the building to make it all work!

Bring Computer Science to K-8 Students!

• Are you interested in incorporating coding into your classes? 
• Research shows that introducing students to computer science as early as elementary and middle school grades can encourage students to see themselves in this evolving industry. 
• As part of the DLCS@BPS initiative, BPSTechnology and Early Childhood departments are offering three initiatives to help schools and teachers bring computer science to K-8 students in the upcoming school year.
•  Attend our virtual session on June 7 from 5:30-6:30p to learn more or see our information page for more details and fill out the form to be considered. No coding experience necessary! 

Coming Up

• Rest and Relaxation
• 
  

June 4, 2020

Honey-Do List

6/7                       Volunteer to be in charge of the visioning board during dismissal

6/7 Morning        Provide ideas to Jodi  for getting library cards in the hands of our students  

6/9                       Let Jodi know any end of the year celebrations you intend on holding 

6/10                     Deadline for Completing Hive survey

6/11                     Complete calls to all your families re: Summer Plans

Field Day Friday June 11

Due to limited staffing and the desire to have fun! Next Friday (6/11) we will be having a Lee Academy Field Day

Thank you Mr. Baker for being incredibly flexible and willing to help out. 

The current schedule is 

9:45-10:45            K0/K1 Rooms 101 and 102 

10:45-11:45          Grades 1 & 2  

11:45-12:45          Grade 3

1:15-2:15              K2

2:15-3:15              K0/K1 Rooms 103 &104

• Paras will assist with their classes. At least 1 para will actively engage with Mr. Baker in activity facilitation. The other para will help monitor for behavior etc. 
• Field day will impact our existing schedule. Denise will support field day during the following times:
• 9:45-10:30
• 12:00-12:45
• 1:15-2:15

• Please let families know that their students may get wet as we will be doing sponge relays and other fun and exciting things that may involve water. 
• I will also send home a TalkingPoints Message about this next week

End of the Year Celebrations

Direct from Central Office:

• With the continuing spread of contagious virus variants and other unknown variables still in play, the Center for Disease Control and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health continue to urge organizations to take a cautious approach to event planning. 
• BPS consulted with the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), which has advised that BPS maintain the current masking and social distancing guidelines in place. 
• Through June 18, 2021, all BPS students and staff must wear face coverings during all indoor and outdoor activities, including recess and athletics. 
• Higher respiration activities pose a greater risk of spread. 
• Individuals and organizations should assume the continued need for inclusion of many of the standard public health protective measures that have been in place throughout the pandemic. 
• Some of those measures include:
• mask-wearing by all individuals at all times through June 18 (regardless of vaccination status)
• maintain social distancing indoors at all times, and as feasible when outdoors
• limit the number of people and duration of close contact with others
• monitor for and exclude symptomatic or quarantined individuals from gatherings - see CDC
• guidelines for what individuals should do if they are sick and a list of possible COVID-19 symptoms
• maintain strong hand hygiene by providing hand sanitizer stations for frequent cleaning
• signage and markings to remind individuals about the mitigation strategies in use and to assist with compliance
• The following outlines the current recommendations for all End-of-Year School Events:
• all events in the spring or summer 2021 must meet the COVID-19 safety standards outlined in this document issued by MDLS and DESE
• hold events outdoors, which provides the lowest-risk environment possible for attendees
• utilize larger outdoor spaces to allow for as much spacing as possible
• develop contingency plans for inclement weather by having one or more alternative “rain dates”
• plan virtual (recorded or live streamed) events for students in the remote learning model given that many families still have members in their family who are at higher risk for COVID-19
• students may not be excluded from participation (e.g. disciplinary, fees owed, etc.)
• ceremonies/events should be kept as brief as possible
• no food or drink shall be served
• As has been the policy, neither non-BPS employees nor students may access BPS facilities; thus, parent volunteers/visitors will not be permitted to enter BPS facilities
• depending on school enrollment and facility constraints, School Leaders may want to consider holding smaller ceremonies/events throughout the day or over the span of several days to limit crowds, allow for cleaning in between ceremonies, and to allow attendees to leave the venue before the next group arrives. 
• please plan for appropriate adult supervision to support adherence to Covid-19 safety standards and overall student safety
• BPS transportation will not be provided for remote students to attend End-of-Year events
• plan for medical emergencies, especially if you have students on campus who have been in the remote learning model (e.g. medication, asthma pump, EpiPen, etc.)
• work with your Nutrition Team to make sure breakfast/lunch times are coordinated and they have a sufficient number of meals available
• make sure you have sufficient PPE in supply; depending on the event, you may use more than on a normal day
• limit the mixing of student cohorts to the extent possible
• depending on the event, plan to address traffic flow and to address people who may choose to mingle around your campus
• consider the benefit vs. the required lift for each activity you plan

We appreciate everyone’s collective effort to keep our communities safe as we celebrate key milestones and create more opportunities for joy in our students’ and families’ lives.

Summer Plans for Families

• I was informed on my Thursday (6/3) School Leader Call that we need to know the summer plans that families have for each of their students and to record them on this spreadsheet in column I
• I need each of you to call every student in your class by 6/11 and ask what their plans are this summer.
• In Column I please indicate which program families are planning to enroll students 
• This is the same sheet that we used to prioritize students for the summer now we need to know where parents are intending to send their students. 
• When you call families choose from the drop-down menu what program families intend to send their students to there is even an option for outside BPS plans
• In order to enroll students in BPS summer programs parents will need to go to https://summer.bostonpublicschools.org/login
• It has been reported that this form is cumbersome for families to complete
• If families have trouble or report having trouble you can refer them to the parent hotline at 617-635-8873 for assistance

Library Cards

• One of our amazing parents Kim Parker has reintroduced us to Chris Strunk the children's librarian at the BPL Codman Square branch
• Chris has availability next week to get our students set up with library cards
• This is the request that Chris made from us in order to make the magic happen:
• I think all I would need is a table and an hour or two?     
• We have library card forms and barcodes where I can have the kids fill out a form and then give them the card then, and then I'll take the card numbers and info back to the library and activate their cards, so it's a pretty easy process.     
• I guess I could also do a quick storytime or something like that?
• I don't think that our younger kiddos are capable of filling out the form yet
• Please give me ideas of how we can get this done. It would be ideal if we could have the forms filled out and have Chris come do an outside story time for each grade level 

Staff Needs Assessment -Results

A community school builds partnerships and organizes resources (programs and services) to support the successful development of students. All young people must develop skills and strengths to navigate normal developmental tasks. Sometimes students face challenges that affect their healthy development. Schools, Communities and Families must work together to address the successful development of our youth. 

The following list is how you ranked priorities, for addressing student challenges, on last week's survey. I averaged the Likert scale responses to get the correct values. 

1.  Recreational programs and activities 8.38

2.  Organized Sports 8.15

3.  Academic Enrichment 8.08

4.  Crisis Intervention 7.53

5.  Life Skills 7.07

6.  Counseling and Therapy 6.84

7.  Relationships with Peers 6.69

8.  Communication Skills 6.53

8.  Hopes and Dreams for the Future 6.53

8.  Family Unity 6.53

8.  Bullying Prevention (Being an Ally) 6.53

9.  Nutrition Education and Practice 6.46

10. Academic Support: 6.41

10. Additional Support in math & reading 6.41

11. Leadership 6.3

12. Academic Remediation: 6.25 

13. Working in a group 6.23

14. Problem-Solving Skills 6.15

14. Regular Exercise 6.15

15. Health Services 6.07

16. Critical Thinking Skills 5.69

17. Strong Sense of Self  5.46

17. Ability to operate within clear and consistent boundaries 5.46

18. Relationships with Adults 5.30

19. High Expectations for Success 5.07

Some ideas that people had were:

I like the idea of some enrichment activities both during recess and after school or before school. I also think every grade level would benefit from a small group of students receiving additional math skills groups who are in need of remediation. These groups could focus on foundational skills that students are struggling with (i.e. in 2nd grade, finding combinations of 10 quickly, in 3rd grade, adding and subtracting multiples of 10 and 100). These are extremely important foundational skills that students need in order to access the grade-level curriculum, and I think there is a need for extra time. I would think this could be a "reading recovery" kind of model where the 4-5 students with the highest need across the grade level are chosen to be in the group and then students can rotate out after they meet the benchmark that is being focused on.

making instruction more systematic across the school; making intervention/referral more systematic across more grade levels; supporting students language skills in relation to both academics and functioning as a community member

social emotional development of children, developing our capacity as a staff (training for paras/teachers) in reading interventions/supports for ESL and Sp.Ed students, access to more programs for families

Please complete this week's Hive survey to provide more ideas of your vision for the top three priorities you identified

Building Visitor

On the morning of June 11th, Corey Harris, the District's new Chief of Schools, will be paying us a visit. We have 4 classroom teachers out that day so it will be a good day for him to see. It is also field day! He will be joining us for our visioning meeting (see below). Make sure you say hello if you see him and tell him about the great work we are doing!

Visioning For Family Support Team SY 21-22

• We are going to be truly lucky to have a robust amount of human support for our families next year.
• A full-time Family Liasion
• A full-time Social Worker
• A full-time program coordinator for our before and after school program.
• The amazing Sam Betti will continue to be with us
• The awesome Ms. Jen will continue to be with us and she will bring with her amazing interns
• Next Friday Sam, Jen, and I and anyone else who wants to join us will be doing a in school retreat to create a vision for family support at LAPS next year. 
• Please complete the Hive survey to give us your vision for family support and the roles the new positions we have in our school will play in supporting our students

Family Communication Plan- School Priorities

• Next week will mark the launch of a family communication plan to gather input on what our schoolwide priorities should be
• This process was initiated by ESSER but it is also the right ting to do. 
• On Monday a survey will go out to all families of K0-Grade 2 students asking them to provide some insight into obstacles families in our community may face and programs and activities that they would like to see that could potentially improve the school experience for our families. 
• This survey will be sent on the Survey Monkey platform and communicated through School Messenger and TalkingPoints.
• We will also have a visioning board outside at dismissal for parents to add thoughts to vis sticky notes. I need a volunteer to be in charge of these boards outback. 
• For families that do not respond to the survey, they will be contacted over the summer with a phone call using the survey as a script. This will also be true of our students entering the school year. 

Staff Absences and Coverage

• I will continue to update you each afternoon on staff who is out and a coverage plan. 
• I am going to be honest, during the next few weeks it is going to be difficult to balance the competing demands of teachers receiving their allotment of time off and providing students with the education they deserve.
• I appreciate everyone working as hard as you do when you are in the building to make it all work!

Bring Computer Science to K-8 Students!

• Are you interested in incorporating coding into your classes? 
• Research shows that introducing students to computer science as early as elementary and middle school grades can encourage students to see themselves in this evolving industry. 
• As part of the DLCS@BPS initiative, BPSTechnology and Early Childhood departments are offering three initiatives to help schools and teachers bring computer science to K-8 students in the upcoming school year.
•  Attend our virtual session on June 7 from 5:30-6:30p to learn more or see our information page for more details and fill out the form to be considered. No coding experience necessary! 

BPS Staff Language Fluency Survey

School leaders: please share the following memo with your staff for educators to report their language fluency as part of the implementation of the Language Opportunity for Our Kids Act (LOOK ACT) and the district’s Strategic Plan 2020-2025. 

The direct link to the survey is here. 

For questions about the survey, contact Adriana Hernandez at ahernandez3@bostonpublicschools.org. 

To learn more about the LOOK Act and the initiatives this campaign will support, contact Ibrahim Byiringiro at ibyiringiro@bostonpublicschools.org.

Coming Up

• Professional Development Calendar- June 14th
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May 28, 2021

Simplifying Language

• Responses to last week's Hive survey indicate that I may have caused some unintentional upset regarding rewording our mission, vision and commitments. 
• I did not mean to convey a sense of disrespect or disregard for the work that had come before
• The fact that some people felt that way lets me know that I was not precise in my language. 
• The goal is to simplify our language so that it is accessible and understood by all members of our community including families. 
• This is not something we have to do. It is the right thing to do.
• I have been here two years. Granted they have been strange years, but I have never heard a family refer to our mission as to why they are here. Or candidates say that our mission as we explained it in an interview was why they chose to work here. 
• What we do here is special and we should have concise statements that we know and live when talking about our work, our community, and our goals. 
• A new practice that I have been doing is to check the readability level of everything that I am sending home to families as part of my personal accessible language goal. 
• I did this with our mission and covenant
• The readability level of our current mission and covenant is at a college graduate level. 
• I am hoping that by re-writing these key documents and being sure to have them translated who we are will be clearer to families. 
• I am also hoping that the precision of language will help as we write our school plan and gain the ESSER funds we need
• What I put out last week were drafts. The bold is because I should have bolded the word draft last week
• I often will use a draft to get an idea and then come back to that draft at a different time. 
• This is the very beginning of a process.
• We will not spend a lot of time wordsmithing our mission, vision, and agreements. I find that when people start wordsmithing they start choosing lots of words and the meaning starts to get lost in favor of having a "perfect" statement
• We will spend time unpacking any statements we adopt or are considering as we move forwards to see what it means, to build common understanding, and to truly live by it. 
• My intention was to check where people's minds were as we think about the future and the launch of next year. 

EOY Literacy Updates

• As a school, we will not be requiring the administration of end-of-year reading benchmark assessments.  
• Instead, we will have a spreadsheet for teachers to fill out that will list the approximate end-of-year text reading level (instructional) for your students and a space for listing some strengths and areas for growth for each student across all areas of literacy (not just reading!).  
• You can use an upcoming CLT to fill out the document or teachers can fill it out independently.  The estimated time for this task will be approx. 30-40 minutes total (vs. 20-30 minutes per kid for the BAS!) 
• This information will be used by teachers next year as a starting point for student instruction and further assessment. 
• Sarah will send the spreadsheet to teachers by Tuesday morning. 

Needs Assessment 

• This week's Hive Survey is a needs assessment for staff
• It is a longer survey than you will typically be asked to fill out
• This is an initial step in planning for our Quality School Plan and the possibility of ESSER funding. 
• Parents will also be asked to complete a parent version of the needs assessment via survey or phone call
• At dismissal next week, parents will also be asked to add to a visioning board that has the following question:
• A good school is designed to meet the learning and emotional needs of children in school.  Sometimes children have things in their lives that make school hard.  Please give us your thoughts about how we could help your child and/or other children in our community be more successful in and out of school? 

Masks Outside

• We will continue to follow all previous mask guidance per the district. 
• Masks must be worn at all times

Scheduling Evaluation Conversations

• I have identified all open blocks from now until 6/16 on my calendar as Evaluation Conversation Meetings.
• Everyone, please choose a time that works for you to schedule a conversation to discuss your evaluation and closing out the year. 
• Appointment Calendar

Building Visitor

On the morning of June 2nd, Corey Harris, the District's new Chief of Schools, will be paying us a visit.  Make sure you say hello if you see him and tell him about the great work we are doing!

End of the Year Celebrations

I am still waiting for district guidance on this topic

Coming Up

• ESSER Equity Roundtable
• Professional Development Calendar
• End of the Year Celebrations