Harwood Staff Blog update, March 12, 2021

Everyone happy with the weather?  
Well.... here's the reality... suck it up buttercups.
Get your boots and coats ready...it ain't over yet people.  
 

Team Harwood; 

The national and state narrative around the pandemic continues to focus on the devastating social emotional and academic impact on our students and children.

As our Governor challenges us to start looking towards the recovery stage of COVID - let’s challenge ourselves to consider:

 What is our COVID narrative?

And, how is that narrative impacting our students?

As educators we know the power of words and framing.  We work tirelessly to inspire and motivate so when Joelle van Lent, a Vermont based clinical psychologist - posed these questions to us earlier this week we humbly reflected on the importance of positive framing.

The message from our Governor that we must get creative about how to return to in person learning continues.  In the best interest of our students, we must proactively begin preparing for this reality so that, whenever it occurs, we are ready.  

We will approach this planning in the same way we have the entire year, by prioritizing our social emotional wellness.  Next week, we will begin this consideration with our Department heads.  As we know more, we will continue to share, and as always will welcome feedback and questions.

In continued partnership and with gratitude,

Meg, Laurie and Duane

Shout outs from this week:

• To Cullen and Bean for their continued quality recent leaky repair work.  

• To Ray Daigle and Rick for their continued nighttime support to keep our building systems running and ready for the school day. 

• For Liz Hepp for her willingness to be flexible and available to get much needed supplies for our HUMS teaching staff 

• For the whole HUMS staff for their continued resilience and positivity in light of all of the decisions that have been made with regards to their program.  

• To Harwood Food Staff for their continued and quality work in providing food to our school community.  

• To Shannon Tremblay for taking on the role of the "moonshine" team(AKA sunshine team)  team to support our staff during rough times. 

• To Bernadetter for walking into a huge role in the middle of the school year with positivity, humor and curiousity.

Curious  

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
Announcing our new PBL coordinator	We are excited to announce that Jess Deane (not Justine :))  will be our new PBL coordinator starting July 1st.     Jess is excited, passionate and prepared to support our community in taking the next steps to drive Proficiency Based Learning at Harwood!	Please share your congratulations with her ;)
Flex Block reminders and scoring	Round 1 of Flex Block ends next Friday, 3/19.   Don’t forget to allocate some time for students to complete their self-assessments next week.   TAs - Please take a couple minutes to have students check their change in schedule for the week of 3/22.   Scoring sheets are due back to Lisa by 3/29 (although sooner is always appreciated!).  Look for the BRIGHT ORANGE score sheet that was in your mailbox on 2/1.  If you need to make any roster adjustments, feel free.   Attendance: As always, the most important reason to make sure you have accurately recorded attendance in Adaptive Scheduler each day is to make sure our students are safe and well. Secondly, as you know, each student’s participation in Flex Block will be transcribed as an Elective experience.  Attendance (in all 3 rounds) is one part of the evidence that will be used to complete this experience and will be considered over the semester as a whole.	Lisa
Hiring Process	Hiring for 2021-2022 is underway. Please find the process we are using here and reach out with any questions or wonders.    Thank you to those who have graciously volunteered their time and energy to participate in this VERY important process.	Meg, Laurie and Duane
Interested in being on a Leadership team next year?	As we continue to plan for next year and begin to dig into the 5 year plan and create our work plan we are excited to solidify our leadership teams for next year.   If you are interested in this distributive leadership opportunity please complete this survey here.	Laurie, Meg and Duane

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

Announcing our new PBL coordinator 

We are excited to announce that Jess Deane (not Justine :))  will be our new PBL coordinator starting July 1st.  

 

Jess is excited, passionate and prepared to support our community in taking the next steps to drive Proficiency Based Learning at Harwood!

Please share your congratulations with her ;)

Flex Block reminders and scoring 

Round 1 of Flex Block ends next Friday, 3/19.  

Don’t forget to allocate some time for students to complete their self-assessments next week.

 

TAs - Please take a couple minutes to have students check their change in schedule for the week of 3/22.

 

Scoring sheets are due back to Lisa by 3/29 (although sooner is always appreciated!).  Look for the BRIGHT ORANGE score sheet that was in your mailbox on 2/1.  If you need to make any roster adjustments, feel free.

 

Attendance:

As always, the most important reason to make sure you have accurately recorded attendance in Adaptive Scheduler each day is to make sure our students are safe and well.

Secondly, as you know, each student’s participation in Flex Block will be transcribed as an Elective experience.  Attendance (in all 3 rounds) is one part of the evidence that will be used to complete this experience and will be considered over the semester as a whole.  

Lisa 

Hiring Process 

Hiring for 2021-2022 is underway.

Please find the process we are using here and reach out with any questions or wonders. 

 

Thank you to those who have graciously volunteered their time and energy to participate in this VERY important process.

Meg, Laurie and Duane 

Interested in being on a Leadership team next year?

As we continue to plan for next year and begin to dig into the 5 year plan and create our work plan we are excited to solidify our leadership teams for next year.

 

If you are interested in this distributive leadership opportunity please complete this survey here.

Laurie, Meg and Duane 

Caring 

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
3/13 Trivia	Saturday, March 13 5:30 pm Harwood Union's National Honor Society presents Virtual Trivia Night This event supports our efforts to aid homeless families in our community. Look forward to seeing you there! Make a team or play solo, download the Kahoots app, and join the fun.  Prizes from local businesses including Red Hen Bakery, Cold Hollow Cider Mill, Blackback Pub, and more!   For the Zoom link, email ccook2021@huusd.org or follow the link on Instagram @harwood_nhs	Kate Stauss
Health Office Update	THE COVID-19 VACCINE Teachers and school personnel now qualify to receive a vaccine through the Walgreens federal program. If you were unable to attend the clinic on March 10th, you may register now for a vaccine at any Walgreens.  ** You will need your school code that was emailed to you from Superintendent Nease on March 6th.These codes are for use by your eligible school staff only and should not be shared with friends, family or other members of the community**   Who is eligible to receive the vaccine?  In Vermont, as of Friday March 12, 2021 Vermont residents age 65+ K-12 teachers and onsite staff child care workers expanded public safety personnel people 16+ with certain high-risk health conditions outlined below: Current cancer Chronic kidney disease COPD, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis Heart disease, including heart attack, heart failure, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease (angina, acute and chronic ischemic heart disease), cardiomyopathies, and pulmonary hypertension. Does NOT include high blood pressure. Immunocompromised (weakened immune system), due to solid organ transplant, blood, or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, or other causes; or HIV with a low CD4 cell count or not on HIV treatment; prolonged use of corticosteroids or other immune suppressing drugs. Severe obesity (BMI of 40 or above) Pregnancy Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes Disabilities including chromosomal disorders, such as Down syndrome; intellectual disabilities (IQ of 70 or below); disabilities that compromise lung function (neurologic and muscular conditions such as muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, and multiple sclerosis). Sickle cell disease Vermont Department of Health COVID-19 Call Center at (802) 863-7240 Make an appointment here: https://vermont.force.com/events/s/selfregistration You can also get an appointment at Kinney Drugs https://kinneydrugs.com/pharmacy/covid-19/vaccination-scheduling/vt/ or Walgreens  https://www.walgreens.com/findcare/vaccination/covid-19 Tracy & Amanda	Tracy & Amanda
Teacher Advisory	Grade Check Ins Over the next two weeks we should be supporting grade check ins with our students. (I know that the current 9th grade will be focusing on their work readying students for their scheduling meetings with school counselors for scheduling). If you are seeking a resource for students to complete some written reflection prior to meeting with you, here is a document to support this process. Feel free to make a copy and adapt for your own use. You are not expected to use this tool...it is here, if it is helpful! For the remainder of the month we will embark on the first level of reflection with our TA in revisiting our WOOP Wellness goals. Here is the link to the short article if you would like it for your review. Rediscovering the Power of Reflection. Here is the outline of the Process for reflecting on the Wellness goal.  ~Return to the WOOP Wellness Goal developed from November conferences: Revisit Goal with guiding questions  Have you made progress toward your goal or achieved it? How do you know?  OR ~Is this goal no longer relevant? Did you work toward something else this year that supported your wellbeing? If so, what was it?  How did it help you? How do you know? Celebrate successes!!! ~What might be a goal to consider for the remainder of the year? Resource: Wellness Wheel Reality Check! We know that we have not explicitly checked in on this goal with regularity; which would be best practice. However, it is important to honor this work and reflect on wellbeing. If students can’t find or don’t remember their goal, the second set of questions is relevant for this process.  Please let me know if I can support you in any way! And now...Questions of the Week: What have you been doing when you have not been doing schoolwork this week? What challenged you this week? What are three things that are interesting, important or insightful for you? What are you doing to connect with others? What song on your playlist best represents how you are feeling this week? Finally...Be on the lookout for the communication from Taggert in order to support the Tech Departments work to inventory devices.	Ellen Berrings

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

3/13 Trivia

Saturday, March 13 5:30 pm

Harwood Union's National Honor Society presents

Virtual Trivia Night

This event supports our efforts to aid homeless families in our community. Look forward to seeing you there!

Make a team or play solo, download the Kahoots app, and join the fun.  Prizes from local businesses including Red Hen Bakery, Cold Hollow Cider Mill, Blackback Pub, and more!

 

For the Zoom link, email ccook2021@huusd.org or follow the link on Instagram @harwood_nhs

 

Kate Stauss

Health Office Update

THE COVID-19 VACCINE

Teachers and school personnel now qualify to receive a vaccine through the Walgreens federal program. If you were unable to attend the clinic on March 10th, you may register now for a vaccine at any Walgreens. 

** You will need your school code that was emailed to you from Superintendent Nease on March 6th.These codes are for use by your eligible school staff only and should not be shared with friends, family or other members of the community**

 

Who is eligible to receive the vaccine? 

In Vermont, as of Friday March 12, 2021

• Vermont residents age 65+

• K-12 teachers and onsite staff

• child care workers

• expanded public safety personnel

• people 16+ with certain high-risk health conditions outlined below:

• Current cancer

• Chronic kidney disease

• COPD, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis

• Heart disease, including heart attack, heart failure, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease (angina, acute and chronic ischemic heart disease), cardiomyopathies, and pulmonary hypertension. Does NOT include high blood pressure.

• Immunocompromised (weakened immune system), due to solid organ transplant, blood, or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, or other causes; or HIV with a low CD4 cell count or not on HIV treatment; prolonged use of corticosteroids or other immune suppressing drugs.

• Severe obesity (BMI of 40 or above)

• Pregnancy

• Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

• Disabilities including chromosomal disorders, such as Down syndrome; intellectual disabilities (IQ of 70 or below); disabilities that compromise lung function (neurologic and muscular conditions such as muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, and multiple sclerosis).

• Sickle cell disease

Vermont Department of Health

COVID-19 Call Center at (802) 863-7240

Make an appointment here:

https://vermont.force.com/events/s/selfregistration

You can also get an appointment at Kinney Drugs

https://kinneydrugs.com/pharmacy/covid-19/vaccination-scheduling/vt/

or Walgreens 

https://www.walgreens.com/findcare/vaccination/covid-19

Tracy & Amanda

Tracy & Amanda

Teacher Advisory

Grade Check Ins

Over the next two weeks we should be supporting grade check ins with our students. (I know that the current 9th grade will be focusing on their work readying students for their scheduling meetings with school counselors for scheduling). If you are seeking a resource for students to complete some written reflection prior to meeting with you, here is a document to support this process. Feel free to make a copy and adapt for your own use. You are not expected to use this tool...it is here, if it is helpful!

For the remainder of the month we will embark on the first level of reflection with our TA in revisiting our WOOP Wellness goals. Here is the link to the short article if you would like it for your review.

Rediscovering the Power of Reflection.

Here is the outline of the Process for reflecting on the Wellness goal. 

~Return to the WOOP Wellness Goal developed from November conferences:

Revisit Goal with guiding questions 

• Have you made progress toward your goal or achieved it?

• How do you know?

 OR

~Is this goal no longer relevant? Did you work toward something else this year that supported your wellbeing?

• If so, what was it? 

• How did it help you?

• How do you know?

Celebrate successes!!!

~What might be a goal to consider for the remainder of the year?

Resource: Wellness Wheel

Reality Check! We know that we have not explicitly checked in on this goal with regularity; which would be best practice. However, it is important to honor this work and reflect on wellbeing. If students can’t find or don’t remember their goal, the second set of questions is relevant for this process. 

Please let me know if I can support you in any way!

And now...Questions of the Week:

1. What have you been doing when you have not been doing schoolwork this week?

2. What challenged you this week?

3. What are three things that are interesting, important or insightful for you?

4. What are you doing to connect with others?

5. What song on your playlist best represents how you are feeling this week?

Finally...Be on the lookout for the communication from Taggert in order to support the Tech Departments work to inventory devices. 

Ellen Berrings 

Connected 

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
When contacting information please follow these directions:	Check powerschool for custody information.  There is a new icon to indicate if you should only be contacting a specific parent Use JumpRope for most up to date contact information *work is actively being done so that starting next year you will be able to use powerschool alone for this information.
Important Information regarding connecting with students via the web….	Inappropriate content of an electronic communication. Inappropriate content of an electronic communication between an Employee and a Student includes, but is not limited to: Communications of a sexual nature, sexual oriented humor or language, sexual advances, or content with a sexual overtone; Communications involving the use, encouraging the use, or promoting or advocating the use of alcohol or tobacco, the illegal use of prescription drugs or controlled dangerous substances, illegal gambling, or other illegal activities; Communications regarding the employees’ or student’s past or current romantic relationships; Communications which include the use of profanities, obscene language, lewd comments, or pornography; Communications that are harassing, intimidating, or demeaning; Communications requesting or trying to establish a personal relationship with a student beyond the employees’ professional responsibilities; Communications related to personal or confidential information regarding employee or student that isn’t academically focused; and Communications between an employee and a student between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. An Employee may, however, make public posts to a social network site, blog or similar application at any time.
Upcoming Dates	03/23 - 9th  grade virtual Transition night - more details forthcoming 03/26 - No School 04/09 - End of Quarter 3 4/19 - 4/23 - April Vacation - NO School 06/04 - All Summatives for S1/Q4 need to be complete  06/11 - Last day of school 06/12 - Harwood Graduation *details forthcoming Staff Meeting Calendar	Duane and Laurie, Meg
3/17   Staff Meeting 3-4 pm	Workshop with Rebecca Haslam Examining and Dismantling Anti-Blackness Goals of this session include identifying and excavating messages of anti-Blackness from our past, present, and futures; exploring connotations with Blackness, and inviting counter-narratives. Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83306091783?pwd=L3k1cXp3Z1VIZkNDdGUyRzcxSXNYUT09 Passcode: 0LLNEb   Phone-In: 888 788 0099 (Toll Free) or 877 853 5247 (Toll Free) Webinar ID: 833 0609 1783 Passcode: 545834   YouTube Live Overflow: If you try to join the Zoom meeting and it says that the meeting is full, you will need to watch on YouTube Live https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-1JIQ0-fvOg-aYvRJvUi-g/live This YouTube Live link MUST NOT be shared with anyone outside of HUUSD Resource Folder: Resource Folder	Meg, Laurie, and Duane
Tech Updates	The IT techs need to take a physical inventory of all students devices by getting the barcode on the bottom of their devices. We have a list of the students in each TA and will be stopping by to confirm it with the students. It will be a s easy as asking Billy - what does your barcode say? This will be a 5 minute or less process but is a necessary one. Thank you for your cooperation with this task.	Taggert and Justin

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

When contacting information please follow these directions:

• Check powerschool for custody information.  There is a new icon to indicate if you should only be contacting a specific parent

• Use JumpRope for most up to date contact information

*work is actively being done so that starting next year you will be able to use powerschool alone for this information.

Important Information regarding connecting with students via the web…. 

• Inappropriate content of an electronic communication. Inappropriate content of an electronic communication between an Employee and a Student includes, but is not limited to:

• Communications of a sexual nature, sexual oriented humor or language, sexual advances, or content with a sexual overtone;

• Communications involving the use, encouraging the use, or promoting or advocating the use of alcohol or tobacco, the illegal use of prescription drugs or controlled dangerous substances, illegal gambling, or other illegal activities;

• Communications regarding the employees’ or student’s past or current romantic relationships;

• Communications which include the use of profanities, obscene language, lewd comments, or pornography;

• Communications that are harassing, intimidating, or demeaning;

• Communications requesting or trying to establish a personal relationship with a student beyond the employees’ professional responsibilities;

• Communications related to personal or confidential information regarding employee or student that isn’t academically focused; and

• Communications between an employee and a student between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. An Employee may, however, make public posts to a social network site, blog or similar application at any time.

Upcoming Dates 

• 03/23 - 9th  grade virtual Transition night - more details forthcoming

• 03/26 - No School

• 04/09 - End of Quarter 3

• 4/19 - 4/23 - April Vacation - NO School

• 06/04 - All Summatives for S1/Q4 need to be complete 

• 06/11 - Last day of school

• 06/12 - Harwood Graduation *details forthcoming

Staff Meeting Calendar

Duane and Laurie, Meg

3/17  

Staff Meeting 3-4 pm

Workshop with Rebecca Haslam

Examining and Dismantling Anti-Blackness

Goals of this session include identifying and excavating messages of anti-Blackness from our past, present, and futures; exploring connotations with Blackness, and inviting counter-narratives.

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83306091783?pwd=L3k1cXp3Z1VIZkNDdGUyRzcxSXNYUT09

Passcode: 0LLNEb

 

Phone-In: 888 788 0099 (Toll Free) or 877 853 5247 (Toll Free)

Webinar ID: 833 0609 1783

Passcode: 545834

 

YouTube Live Overflow: If you try to join the Zoom meeting and it says that the meeting is full, you will need to watch on YouTube Live https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-1JIQ0-fvOg-aYvRJvUi-g/live

This YouTube Live link MUST NOT be shared with anyone outside of HUUSD

Resource Folder:

Resource Folder

Meg, Laurie, and Duane

Tech Updates

The IT techs need to take a physical inventory of all students devices by getting the barcode on the bottom of their devices. We have a list of the students in each TA and will be stopping by to confirm it with the students.

It will be a s easy as asking Billy - what does your barcode say?

This will be a 5 minute or less process but is a necessary one.

Thank you for your cooperation with this task.

Taggert and Justin