10/6/22
Team -
Yesterday during 10th grade TA meetings at our staff time I listened to the powerful reflections from the team and wanted to share them as I think they will likely resonate with many others. Specifically that:
setting goals can feel bad for some
consideration of flipping the narrative to consider a strength based approach - focusing on areas for celebration and continued growth can feel more empowering
the number of goals one sets is dependent on individual capacity and interest
with variability in mind - offering an option to visualize and capture goals differently is inclusive
With all of this in mind, we encourage everyone to take this into account as you prepare for TA goal setting and finalize your own goals for this year.
We look forward to prioritizing collective time to reflect on our goals, visualize our hopes and actively work towards continued growth.
In partnership,
Meg, Laurie and Duane
Calendar:
PLEASE NOTE our 4 day schedule for next week.
Appreciations:
Staff Member | Appreciations |
Dana and Bernedette | For their incredible patience, collaboration and repeated support of a student and family |
Randy | For diving in the deep end at Harwood as a new staff member and doing so with a calm and steady demeanor that instills confidence and competence to all! |
Ellen & Sarah | For your dedication to empowering our students to take action through the partnership with UP that you continue to prioritize and make time for. |
Lynda | For taking additional students on your caseload as a new Special Educator and in doing so reflecting to families your deep commitment to them and their children. |
Jenn Shaub, Magge Stone and Yvette | For your tireless efforts to support all our 12th graders in their registration so they could attend Mt. Day |
Safe - seen, heard, respected & understood:
Topics | Information/Links |
Health Office Updates
| Our first vaccine clinic is Friday, October 7th at Harwood. Waterbury ambulance is able to bring BOTH types of Covid bivalent vaccine for those who have asked. Also, the ambulance service is unable to administer flu vaccines to those 65 and older. Please sign up if you haven't already ASAP! October 7th (Inservice day) Location: Health OFFICE October 14th Location: Auditorium Lobby Forms: Please print and fill out forms (emailed out earlier this week) for the appropriate vaccine(s) that you are receiving BEFORE the clinic. |
Safety Team Update 
| PLEASE NOTE:
Next Fire Drill and Bus Evacuation Drill is planned for FRIDAY October 21 - 10:30. Information to follow Please keep outside doors closed for security reasons Please make sure your windows are closed at the end of the day Don’t forget to wear your good ole ID’s
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| Student Support Collective Update: Non-Negotiables: Working on follow up rolling out the process for Name Change! Including TA and assembly DESSA: We are discussing both teacher implementation, student self-report (HS) and integration in our systems Belonging Calendar: Please look out for a calendar each month (October will be on display during open house). Each month will illustrate all the events and offerings from our integrated team, how it ties to our goals and benchmarks, and things you can be excited about!
Attendance: We are continuing to think about and refine the system related to feedback. We recognize the time it takes at the beginning of class to take attendance and send the email. In an effort to reduce your time, we discussed the following: Teachers do not need to respond to an email if a student has returned to your classroom. Student support’s first step when following up will be to go to your classroom to see if they have returned, and if not, continuing looking for them.
Student Services Programs - Coming Soon: October 25th Staff Meeting: - Clarity and Introductions of Restorative Practices/Coordinator (Skylar Bradley), Mental Health Clinician (Christina Ehrenreich), Wellness Center (Jen Dreimiller)
In School Schedule of Support: When one of your students has an in-school support day (related to behavior issue), please sign up to meet with the student for 15minutes. Your time with the student is incredibly impactful in creating connections and building a community for a student working to learn and grow from mistakes and decisions.
Detention Reminders: Please remember to include the word “detention” in the subject for any log entries and detention wanted related to behaviors. Class cuts will automatically result in detention. Reminder to include full name. This Week: We had 15 detentions (Tuesday/Wednesday) Next Week:Detentions will be held for class cuts, behaviors, and any student with 3+ TUs. Thank YOU for your continued partnership in attendance taking and log entries. Once your student has served detention, you will receive an email with the updated status. |
TA update 
| Our priority for the upcoming weeks is November Conference Planning and continuing circles about our use of technology.
Meg’s comments above are a great guide for us as we consider how we navigate the goal or aspiration setting process with our students. The insights from my group were very helpful in creating a process that (we hope!) is meaningful for our students. An idea…Can we walk a parallel path with our students and share our own goal setting with them? This modeling can be powerful in establishing the importance of crafting a journey for continuous growth - which is what setting goals is really about! Slideshows: |
Rigorous & Robust Academic Program:
Topics | Information/Links |
Staff Meeting
 | Objectives:
Staff Meeting Calendar Where: Library When: 3:30 - 4:40 |
10/07 Inservice Schedule 
| Please find the Inservice schedule here. We are excited to Welcome Starling Collaborative to facilitate some of our work as we move forward. Check out their website to learn more. Our work with them will focus on the intersection and UDL and SEL and support us in our continued work towards our goals. |
Positive school climate and culture:
Topics | Information/Links |
| Harwood’s first ever Homecoming Dance will be taking place next weekend Oct. 15th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. With many hurdles to plan this! We have had to move our location of the dance. We will be now hosting the dance inside in the high school cafeteria and also using the outside area of Kate’s Garden where we will have access to the fire pit there as well. Please reach out with any questions! |
Friendly gum reminder | Facilities has noted an increase in chewed gum being left on walls and other inappropriate places.
When appropriate please remind students to throw gum away in the trash - thank you! |
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During the month of October, PATH participants who complete the survey will earn 10 additional points, 60pts total. After October 31st, participants will earn 50pts, through the end of March, 2023.
Just a reminder, that if you have ever participated in PATH before, you should NOT create a new PATH account if you're having trouble logging in. You can retrieve your username, password, and restore and update older accounts if necessary. Feel free to contact PATH through the "Contact Support" button on their website. |
Non-Union and Union Holiday schedule 2022-2023
*Please note this doesn’t apply to teachers |
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Staff Resource doc. 
| Have a question or need quick access to a doc - look no further than here. *Evaluation and Supervision rubrics now included.
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Open House Agenda  | We’re excited to welcome families back into the Harwood building. Please find the schedule for 10/13 here. Departments will be spending Tuesday Staff meeting time to prepare for this time.
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| A reminder to please complete all tasks for the start of the year! Start of Year Checklist
PLEASE NOTE - all Emergency plans are now due in your sub binder. Please make sure ALL attendances are in your binder, as well as your class schedule. Mandatory Trainings are due by December 15th.
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Suggestion Box 
| Sometimes the little things we need have the biggest impact on our mindset. So, while there is much outside our locus of control we will do our best to address that which we can!
PLEASE NOTE: In response to an ask from our Suggestion box. We recognize that some of our clocks are not reporting the right time. Given our facilities staff crisis please take inaccurate clocks down for now until we have the staff to support. |
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