Friday-payday and snow on the way!
Gonna be cold-cold for the next little while, too. Probably ought to plan for indoor recess on both Monday and Tuesday mornings before school when temps will likely dip into negative numbers around sunrise. Hopefully things will warm up toward the afternoon both days so we can get our kids outside at lunchtime.
Holiday Gathering
Please make plans to attend our all-staff holiday shindig this coming Friday, 13 Dec. It's at Paulsen's house and should start around 4:00. You're asked to bring your "favorite beverage" and to sign up in the workroom if you're able to bring a food dish.
FHS Lockdown
We found ourselves conveniently able to announce "no morning recesses" at about 9:30 this morning and blamed it on the weather, but you should know: we actually did so because Flagstaff High School was on a lockdown at that time.
In response to the notification we received by phone from the FHS office staff at approximately 9:30 this morning, we went into a "soft lockdown" at that time (no lockdown announcement, checked exterior doors, suspended outdoor activity) and called FPD to confirm our status. They advised that they already had a person of interest in custody and that we did not need to go into a more formal lockdown.
Per the update we received afterward,
Flagstaff High School issued a Lockdown Emergency Procedure today at 932am to ensure the safety of students. This Emergency Procedure was enacted as a precautionary measure once an individual entered into the school building and began to make concerning statements to school staff. Flagstaff Police were immediately contacted and Police took the individual into custody. Once the individual was taken into custody and removed from campus, the Lockdown Procedure was lifted and Flagstaff High School was restored to a safe environment for our students.Odyssey Of The Mind
Flagstaff will host an Odyssey tournament on 08 March 2014 at Flagstaff High School and the organization is in need of judges for various events. Judges will be trained on 22 Feb. at DeMiguel from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Please correspond with John McCartney at 928 606 7065 or via email if you have an interest in participating.
Gradebook and Report Card Stuff
Thanks, McFall, for updating us this week about the end of the quarter gradebook dates:
Some of you have been wondering about the important dates for the 2nd Quarter Report Cards. The end of the grading period is Friday, December 20. If Special Area teachers could please have their grades in by 12:00 that afternoon, it will give regular classroom teachers time to work on report cards Friday during early release. Report cards will not be sent home until Friday, January 10, 2014.Regarding grading, I would add, per our Professional Expectations:
- You are required to use the online grade-book to keep track of your students' performance and progress toward mastery of the state standards (unless you teach kindergarten and/or SEI classes).
- As a bare-minimum expectation you must record at least one score per week per report-card subject area. You may continue to keep paper-pencil grade-books as well, but you must nevertheless meet the minimum requirement using the online grade-book.
- Recording and reporting of student grades is a legal, statutory requirement of your position.You are required to turn in your grade book to the school administrator at the end of the school year; it will not be returned to you.
Please remember, both pre- and post-conferencing are a part of the formal evaluation process. We collectively pre-conferenced in CTs at the beginning of the year when we reviewed the TPEC rubric together as grade-level groups.
A post-conference is likewise required as a part of your formal evaluation. It need not take long, and in many cases doesn't. Nevertheless, we should meet to discuss your evaluation.
You were notified at the beginning of the year that I would be available every Friday from 3:00-4:30 for post-conferences. It is up to you to show up at that time, or to schedule another time to meet with me during the week to talk about your evaluation. There are several components of your evaluation that I cannot complete without meeting with you.
Most of you already have post-conferenced with me. However, if we have not formally post-conferenced following your first formal evaluation, please see me ASAP to schedule a time during the week when we can meet to discuss it.
Snow Delay Schedules
For the record, whenever we are on snow delay, here's what'll happen:
- FACTS will open at 7:30 AM
- Co-op will open at 9:00 AM
- breakfast will not typically be served; lunches will occur at regular times
- the front doors will open at 10:00
- AM playground duty will begin at 10:15
- the first bell will ring at 10:35
- the tardy bell will ring at 10:40
- Tier 3 RTI will not take place
- Tier 2 RTI will take place at the regularly scheduled times
- 9:10-11:15 special classes will not take place
- attendance and lunch counts should be submitted no later than 11:00
Please remember to keep the Tax Credit campaign in front of your parents. So much depends on our ability to collect these funds each year.
Some of us have had a pretty good return of Tax Credit contributions to our school by sending this letter to some of our friends, neighbors, and various other Arizona relations.
 |
| Click image to download letter as a .doc file |
Please consider sending just such a letter to those you know. Any Arizona tax-payer can contribute their annual Tax Credit contribution to our school; they need not have students who attend here. Click here (or on the image above) to download a .doc copy of the letter that you can modify and send to your heart's content.
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
As I mentioned in the Blue Note last week: I suspect some of you have fallen a few chapters behind showing the videos to your classes, and that that's why lately there's been very little clamoring to sign up for upcoming chapters. Nevertheless, I'd sure love to come to read to your class! The video's aren't that long, about 15 minutes each on-average. If you're able to get your kids caught up soon, please let me know and we can schedule a time for me to pop into your class to read a chapter. The chapters I've read so far can be viewed at the following links:
Calendar
Week B
- Monday, 09 December
- Fire Drill, ~9:30
- Tuesday, 10 December
- Grand Canyon Univ. in Lounge (with food!), 10:30-2:30
- Science Council in the Science Lab, 4:00
- Site Council in the Library, 5:00
- Wednesday, 11 December
- Coe @ Elementary Admin at Puente 7:30-10:30
- Coe @ District Office 11:00-12:00
- Thursday, 12 December
- Coe @ Jury Duty (maybe), all day
- Cookie Walk, 6:00
- Friday, 13 December
- Festivus begins
- All-staff holiday party at Paulsen's, 4:00
Please acknowledge that you read this post.
