AM Announcements - April 06

AM Announcements
April 06, 2009

1. Today is Day 133.

2. It is the mission of Speas Elementary School to provide its students with the tools necessary to successfully meet the challenges they will face in a diverse world.

3. Calendar items for this week:

Monday: April 06
Teachers' Lunch Out - Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten

Tuesday: April 07
Teachers' Lunch Out - 1st and 2nd grades
Joint Principals' meeting - 7:30-12:00 - Reichert off-campus
AR Celebration - Grades 1-2 - 8:15-9:00
SIT - 2:40-4:00
A's and Bees Tutoring - 6:00-8:00 PM

Wednesday: April 08
Leadership Winston-Salem - Reichert off-campus all day
AR Celebration - 3-5 - 8:15-9:00
Field Trip - Ms. Taylor's class - 8:30-2:00

Thursday: April 09
UNCF Kickoff - Hawthorne Inn - 7:30-9:00
AR Celebration - K - 8:15-9:00
Classified staff members arrive at 7:30 AM and depart at 2:45 PM

Friday: April 10
No School - Good Friday/WSFCS Easter Holiday

4. At the end of each day, please do the following:
a. CLOSE ALL BLINDS
b. TURN OFF ALL MONITORS and COMPUTERS (CPU's)

5. The Out-of-Zone transfer period continues through this Thursday, April 09. Parents will receive notification of their child's placement by April 16. Parents desiring a form should see Ms. Rhodes in the office.

6. Upcoming dates for your calendar:
a. April 13 - Report Cards go home
b. April 14 - Picture Day
c. April 14 - Visit to Konnoak to see Positive Behavior Support in action (tentative)
c. April 15 - Cultural Fair
d. April 17 - Honor Roll Assembly
e. April 17 - Career Day

7. April 9 is the next early release day for classified employees. Classified employees should come to work at 7:30 and depart at 2:30 PM.

8. Completion of the Teacher Notification of Intent must be done prior to April 17. Go to the Employees page of the WS/FCS web site and follow these directions:
a. Under the “Administration” heading, click on the link for “WS/FCS Administrative Resources”
b. In the left hand column under “Employee Related Data Entry”, click on the 9th link down "Teacher Notification of Intent Decisions”
c. Log in like you would to register for a workshop
d. Click on “Enter/Edit Teacher Notification of Intent”

To date 17 of 32 individuals have responded regarding their intent for next year. If you intend to retire, resign or transfer you are also expected to respond.

9. We have not been notified by Child Nutrition as to which day NutriKids, the new Point of Sale system, will begin here at Speas. It could be today or one day later this week. Be prepared for possible delays as we implement this new procedure.

10. The following items are from Ms. Fletcher:

a. Night Beneath the Stars Tickets are on Sale. They are $35.00 per person and this year's theme is "A Night in Hollywood." The funds this year will go towards the PTA and Student Council. We are working towards teacher allotments for next school year; agenda's; beginning a fund towards items purchased once all the revisions are done to the building; and Student Council Service Projects.

b. Career Day is quickly approaching for our fifth grade students. We are working towards being able to have at least fifteen students participate in Career Day.

11. WS/FCS has been in the news regarding the elimination of 25 positions in schools. These positions were eliminated at schools with small enrollments according to new staffing formulas. The individuals in these jobs will be able to keep their positions until a vacancy for that posituion arises somewhere in the system. At that point they will be transferred to the school with the vacancy. In that way, no one will lose a job or face a demotion. Speas is not one of the schools effected by this. The positions eliminated were curriculum coordinators at some small elementary and middle schools along with media clerks at 10 high schools.

12. I need a teacher assistant to volunteer to supervise the computer lab tomorrow from 2:30-3:15 PM. I would like for this to be someone who has not done it yet.

13. We are entering the final quarter of the year and many of our students need all the help we can provide. I want all teachers in grades 3-5 to call two parents this afternoon whose children really need help and invite them to A's and Bees tomorrow night. Send me an e-mail once you have done this with the names of the students and whether or not the parents agreed to bring them.

14. Specialist should be in the gym at 8:00 AM Tuesday through Thursday, to assist with the AR celebrations.

15. Items SIT will be discussing tomorrow:

a. Summer programs for grades K, 1-5, (All K students, 10 level 1-2 students per grade level and all AG/Talent Pool students - Two weeks 7/13-24)

b. Summer Staff Development - Positive Behavior Support, Technology, Development of Common Assessments to be administered every 2-3 weeks

c. Technology options for 2009-2010

d. Employing Educational Resources LLC (Hope Reagan, Alice Oakley, Brenda Mickey) to provide observational and coaching services to all grade levels in teacher directed reading to insure consistency; the utilization of best practices; and focus our efforts.

16. Please take time this afternoon or tomorrow to discuss the types of staff developnment you believe you need individually, as a grade level or as a school. Write down your ideas. We will need it for SIT tomorrow afternoon.

17. AR Celebrations will take place as noted in the calendar above. K-2 will be tomorrow and 3-5 on Wednesday. Please arrive in the gym at your appointed time.

18. Now, in reality, the world have paid too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them to be men of much greater profundity than they really are.
Henry Fielding (1707 - 1754)

The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC)

Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.
Robert Orben

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.
Bob Thaves, "Frank and Ernest", 1982