Team Harwood;
As we work to cultivate and maintain a community where all students, staff and families feel safe - seen, heard, understood and respected our first action step is having an effective attendance system.
In order to continue to support us in strengthening this system please review the Q&A below in order to understand the WHY and your role in the HOW.
What is the purpose of attendance?
Upon entering Harwood everyday - our students become our responsibility. Taking attendance ensures the safety of our students so we know where they are at all times.
Attendance is often one of the first data points that helps us establish if a child needs additional support.
After we (Harwood staff) take attendance what happens?
Nancy reviews attendance and cross references it to the google absence doc. families complete to ensure all students are accounted for.
Nancy calls home for any students not accounted for.
Nancy sends Amanda and Tracy the updated absence COVID tracker so they can then follow up with each family quarantining, marked as ill, awaiting a test et al.
Chris reviews the attendance and informs athletes and families if they are not eligible to practice or play sports.
Melody reviews the attendance and identifies any new and concerning patterns. Assesses the need to follow up with teachers, case managers, school counselors (and appropriate next steps for truancy).
When do we (Harwood staff) need to take attendance?
What is my responsibility with attendance as a staff member?
To mark a student present if they are in front of you in class.
To mark a student absent if they are not in front of you in your class.
To check the attendance report Nancy and Liz send each morning and afternoon.
To call down to Nancy or Liz if a student is absent from your class after the second bell, but marked present in the attendance report.
What should we, (Harwood staff,) do if I can't get into my powerschool to take attendance?
Is ELO attendance in Adaptive Scheduler tracked in the same way as attendance?
What codes do I have access to as a staff member in powerschool?
P for present
UX for unexcused absent
TU - Unexcused tardy
TE - Excused tardy
Why do we, (Harwood staff) not have access to more codes like we have in the past?
What is an excused absence?
Is an unexcused absence a negative thing?
What is our athletic eligibility attendance policy?
Thank you for your ongoing partnership,
Laurie, Duane and Meg
Gratitudes for the week:
Nancy for her amazing responsiveness and follow through to calls of MIA students.
Ongoing candor and collaboration between the HUEA reps (Jon Potts, Jessica Dean, Kristine Caldwell and Lynda Cummings) and Meg, Duane and Laurie.
Chris Whalen for his never ending positivity, leadership and humor.
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Curious Topics | Information/Links | Tasks/Point people | More days on site Staff Survey | During our leadership meetings on Tuesday we clearly heard that we need to gather more voice from our staff and students as we ready for more days onsite. No matter when we return to more days on site - this feedback is invaluable to the planning.
Please click on the link below so we can hear everyone’s voice.
Please click here to take this important staff survey
We appreciate that the uncertainty of when we’ll be onsite more days is hard. And, again we want to acknowledge that every pivot we have made this year has been successful because of the amazing partnership and collaboration of the Harwood community. Let’s continue this work together! |
| SBAC assessments | Please note that the idea of reserving time to host SBAC’s this school is less than desirable. However, we are mandated by the AOE to follow through with our site administration. (who knows this might hopefully change) Please note that Curtis an Duane are the designated point people for both the set-up and overall coordination of this event for grades 7, 8, 9 and 11. Our testing widow will be:
Week of May 3, 10 and 17th. With an emphasis on the first two as our primary window. Curtis working behind the scenes (like the wizard of oz) to make sure the machinery is ready to be utilized by staff and students. Please direct questions or comments to Duane. Thank you |
| Hiring Update | This week we had: Chorus sample lessons that led to a final candidate put forth to the Superintendent for approval. Language candidate put forth to the Superintendent for approval Initial hiring committee meetings that led to initial interviews for English (MS and HS), Reading Interventionist and Science teachers. Initial SLP interviews
Next week we have: SLP onsite sample lesson Initial interviews for Science, English and additional SLP candidate 3rd round interview for Director of Student Support
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Caring Topics | Information/Links | Tasks/Point people | Teacher Advisory | Great Fun from Farm to School! Get ready for March (Maple) Madness! It's sugaring season, and March's "Harvest of the Month @ home" will feature Vermont maple syrup. Hopefully everyone picked up their sweet treats on Friday to share with their TA students next week. This month's festivities will run a bit differently - with two rounds of delicious competition. Brought to you by Harwood Farm to School.
ROUND 1 From 3/15 - 3/31, compete to become your TA's maple master. Source some local maple syrup, create a tasty dish, and snap a photo of the results. Make sure to rep your local syrup producer in the pic. Vote to determine who will represent your TA is the school-wide competition during remote TA on Wed, 3/31
ROUND 2 Each TA must submit their winning entry into the school-wide competition by Sunday, 4/4. An entry form will be sent out to TA teachers in the coming week. The FTS Club will select the winner at the April 7th meeting. The slide show and winner will be shared at the April assembly.
Thank you to everyone who shared feedback following the faculty meeting. Meg, Laurie and I met this week to review them and will be forthcoming with responses soon.
Grade Check Ins Hopefully, you have had time to check in and had conversations regarding quarter three grades with your students. Quarter 3 this comning week - April 9th - (this is hard to believe)
Wellness Goal Check In
This process should be completed by the end of March. Here is the outline of the Process, if needed.: ~Return to the WOOP Wellness Goal developed from November conferences: Revisit Goal with guiding questions 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
And now...Questions of the Week: What do you wish you had learned 5 years before you did? Do you have a dream job in mind? What would it be? What do you hope to be an expert about at some point in your life? What is your definition of success? Has it changed over time? What makes you feel grateful? What has been the most enjoyable part of the week so far?
| Ellen Berrings | Health Office Update | CHANGES TO THE STAFF SCREENING FORM
The staff screening form will allow you to receive a different set of questions based on your vaccination status and the state's current guidance for those who are fully vaccinated. Your choices will be:
I am fully vaccinated, I am not fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, or I prefer not to answer.
Fully vaccinated means that 14 days have passed since your final COVID-19 vaccine. For Pfizer and Moderna, that would be 14 days after your second shot and for Johnson and Johnson's Janssen, 14 days after the single shot. If you received your second dose on March 31, you should continue to choose "I am not fully vaccinated or unvaccinated" or "I prefer not to answer" until April 14. If you choose not to share your vaccination status, you must select "I prefer not to answer" and continue to fill out the entire form.
Regardless of vaccination status, all staff will still be required to answer questions about COVID-19 symptoms, should continue to stay home if they have symptoms, and seek guidance from their primary care provider on testing and return to work.
For more about what you can do once you have waited the 14 day period after your final dose, please check the VDH FAQ website.
Please let the nurse team know if you have any questions. Tracy & Amanda
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Connected Topics | Information/Links | Tasks/Point people | Student Support Team Update | The Team: Bernadette, John, Eric, Melody, Laurie, Meg, Duane We had 1 restorative dialogue this week (HS). **As we think about having more students and increased social interactions, please don’t hesitate to reach out regarding restorative approaches in the classroom, or between peers. **One student returned to the building from HURA, and expressed feeling relieved and genuinely excited about being at school. A function of the hard work by all to make this an environment students want to be in.
We continue to hold CSP (Cordinated Service Plan) meetings once a student hits 10UX, and are regularly scheduling new ones. Teacher Advisors are vital members of a students team, and you will be receiving invitations for these meetings. We recognize your time is limited and it may not be possible to attend. As such, we are constantly working to improve our feedback and communication to TA leaders and educational teams following these meetings. Please, don’t hesitate to reach out to Melody if you have any questions. This process continues to be one in which we support students and families to get connected to the resources necessary to improve health, wellbeing, and access to education. Your vigilance around daily attendance has allowed us to monitor and connect with these students and families. Thank you!!
This week: HS - Four (4) PowerSchool log entries; and MS was (0) . We will be providing an update of the year to date log entries that specifically focus on behavior in the coming weeks.
Bernadette - 8th, 9th, 10th John - 7th, 11th, 12th, HCLC | Melody | Upcoming Dates | 04/09 - End of Quarter 3 4/19 - 4/23 - April Vacation - NO School 06/04 - All Summatives for S2/Q4 need to be complete 06/11 - Last day of school 06/12 - Harwood Graduation *details forthcoming
Staff Meeting Calendar | Duane and Laurie, Meg
| 4/7 Staff Meeting 8-9am | Objective: Running Agenda Zoom Information: Meeting ID: 858 1626 1603 Passcode: 9M1Hus | Laurie, and Wellness team | 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 |
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