Thursday Thriller
May 27, 2021

Jose's last day was Friday the 21st.  His students bought him this 'swaggy' shirt! :)  He gets to be home with Limairy for the remainder of the school year.  Jose said he would sneak her in for a visit. :D

Donnetta's 7th grade SST Class released the salmon on Monday.  It was so cool!! Students have raised their salmon since the egg stage as part of the “Salmon in Schools” program hosted by Tri-State Steelheaders.  Thank you, Donnetta, for sharing throughout the year!  As noted, we were the only school to partner and participate with Tri-State Steelheaders.

NUTS-n-BOLTS

1. Thank you to Carina, Steve, Shannon and Nick.  Carina and Steve presented to 7th grade students  their options for electives as well as the 'perks' of being an 8th grader on Tuesday.  Shannon and Nick gave up class time Tuesday and today to help get students registered.  TEAM WORK!!!

2. Next Wednesday is an extended staff meeting time; 3:30-4:30.  If there are nuts-n-bolts items that need to be shared with everyone, please send me an email and I will make sure and put them on the agenda. 

3.   WELCOME TO YAZMIN BAHENA!! Yazmin will be our new Dual/SST teacher.  Yaz comes to us from Edison Elementary; she is the 3rd teacher we have swiped from Edison. :D  Welcome, Yaz!

4.  As communicated, personal/incentive/longevity days need to be requested AND approved 2 days prior to the requested dates.  We are in a time when we have no subs.  I do not want to have to call you up and recall your days if we can't find coverage.  This would happen if you did not get the signed approval.  Armida has the form. 

THANK YOU to all of you for jumping in to cover classes !!! You're AWESOME!!!!

5.  Shout out to AMY KASENGA!  She is obtaining her admin credentials and doesn't 'officially' begin until next fall.  HOWEVER, she has jumped in to head up 8th grade recognition, field day and anything else we need.  THANKS, AMY!!!!

6.  I'm finalizing room and office movements, which there won't be many, for the fall of 2021 to accommodate new hires.  In addition, Summer Sol and Rock Camp will be taking place here at Garrison -WHOOP!! WHOOP!!  Our classrooms will not be 'deep cleaned' this summer because of the usage of our building AND because they are cleaned and sprayed each night.  This routine will continue through the summer.

7. COVID Relief funding to schools over the course of the next three years is affording us the opportunity to put into place supports for staff and students.  The hiring of an additional ELA and Math teacher, additional Intervention/Home Visit Liaison Person, Sources of Strength paid Advisor and paid stipend for an SEL Team. All of these additional staff and stipends are not 'added' things.  These are initiatives put into place to support our district goals which we now have funding to pay people!  

New ELA and Math hires - ELA TBD and Math is Robin Brown (Robin is coming to us from Eatonville with 8 years of MS math teaching experience)
Additional IS/Home Visit Liaison -Yaneth Hernandez
Sources of Strength Advisor -Angie Gardea
SEL Team of 4 Certs (this too is a paid stipend with training in August.  More info to come) -TBD

8.  Great job on the fire drill today!!!

Something to Ponder

The title of this blog hooked me!  For my 16 years in the classroom, I would always experiment with ideas I wanted to try for next year at the end of the school year; why not try and work kinks out now? As an administrator, thinking, working and planning for next year must be done early or let's face it a real sh*t show would happen in the fall!  Thinking of next school year, planning AND staying present is something I'm not really good at. I'm trying to practice last week's quote:  "Be where your feet are."

Learning gaps, lost learning, lost opportunities have all crossed our minds.  It's hard not to think of what next year will bring.  Beyond learning, most of our students have done really well!  Focusing on their well-being has superseded some of the academics and rightfully so.  

Dave Stuart's blog, "I'm Already Stressing About Next Year. What Can I Do?" has a powerful message, 

Do you see it? Though gaps exist, the fundamentals don't change. And it's those fundamentals — the arts and sciences of the head and the heart — that hold the keys to remedying gaps in preparation.

Hope you find a gold nugget in this article/blog.  Next year will come and we will be ready because we are in this profession for kids; we are already using our heads and hearts.

QUOTE

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." -Mother Teresa

LITTLE HUMOR

Here is one way to get your students to worker this spring. Not recommended but a fleeting thought. Just saying 😆

CALENDAR DATES

Friday, May 28th                No subs and at 3:30 a THREE DAY WEEKEND!!!!
Monday, May 31st             Memorial Day
Tuesday, June 1st               Grading for Equity Team meeting in the Library @ 7:30, Students running
                                           for ASB offices will be recording their speeches which will be shown during
                                           1st period next week

Wednesday, June 2nd         Presentations in 6th grade science classes, "How to be a 7th grader."
                                              Collaboration 2:50-3:30, Extended staff meeting 3:30-4:30
Thursday, June 3rd            Guiding Coalition Meeting @ 7:30 in Agnes' room