Friday Flyer - June 24, 2022

 

I am imagining you are feeling like you ran
several marathons. I think you are all winners!
Congratulations for making it through the finish line.

I have shared this graph with in the past - it is a graph of a first year teacher's attitudes toward teaching in their first year. I have often observed that first year leaders also experience this roller coaster, and as we become more experienced, we continue to experience it, but the peaks and valleys are less extreme. 

I also imagine the "disillusionment" phase was probably much longer this past year and as a result rejuvenation will also take more time. Please, please disconnect so you find joy in anticipation of starting a new year in September.

Gratitude

It has been my honor to lead in Boston these past five years and to have been school superintendent of Region 6, in East Boston, and other schools in the city. I'm also grateful to you all for your patience these past two years - first when the task force work was underway, and this year with the addition of Mission Hill. I appreciate that regardless of the noise, you continued to persevere and do the right thing for students.

Best of Luck!

I wish the best to Mike, who is moving on to the Guild to work with Karen McCarthy and Sean Brooks to focus on mathematics coaching (and all the things Karen will be able to ask him to do - 😂😂😂 - don't get me wrong, I love Karen). To Marvin, thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking on closing the Timilty. He accomplished the three things I asked of him - thank you! I marveled at his tenacity, commitment and creativity. Marvin is heading to Milton Academy in a newly created role that will allow him to continue to use his creativity and logical mathematics mind to build something great.

Transitions

Each of you remaining will have a new supervisor next year, and yes, there will be a transition, but I know you will be fine because of the strong systems and structures you have in place and because you are focused on improving outcomes and closing opportunity gaps for multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and our beautiful full-of-genius black and brown children. As a leader, you are their advocate; you can change the trajectories of children's lives.

I trust that next year will be more predictable cadence that will allow you to get traction on the instructional plans you have in place. Be patient with the new region structure while the support is deployed; it will take time for everyone to adjust to working together. Remember that everyone has the best intentions and when that doesn't seem so, ask questions. 

Summer

I will continue to be available over the summer and will share my personal number and email prior to my retirement date when I turn in my laptop and phone. 

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Friday Flyer - June 17, 2022

 

I hated it when staff started counting down the days to the end of the year,
but THIS YEAR, I join them on the countdown for the first time in 33 years! 
(With 5 days to go)... 

This week, I had the pleasure of seeing first year leaders gain increased confidence as a result of completing their first year as a principal. Over the years, I've learned that any new job requires one to experience the first year in order to start the new one with fresh eyes. In my personal experience, this is true as a teacher, principal, and district leader. In the second year, figuring out "how things work" will take less working memory. 

All of you have had to adjust your teams based on having full time nurses, social workers, and family liaisons. Those of you who are in the first round of establishing libraries at each school will also be managing that addition. These additions require you to shift roles and responsibilities, and that can be challenging for staff. The technical part was adding support, the adaptive work was the change at your site to maximize each role's contribution - someone on the previous team has to let go and that someone might be YOU.

I attended the final Orchard Gardens' and Murphy's final ILT this week. At Orchard Gardens, Lauren worked with staff to refine their instructional focus. Part of their focus is to continue to elevate student thinking through discussion that results in writing. The Murphy ILT had an opportunity to review released computer based MCAS items to analyze their most successful and least successful standards by grade level. Next week, open response scores will be available. Know that these data are embargoed to the public, but can be used to reflect and plan next steps. 

ELA MCAS Computer Based Multiple Choice: This is the link to school/grade level results by grade level and standard. (Only accessible by school leaders at this time.). The Murphy downloaded the data by standard. This is the link to the MCAS released questions on Pearson. 

From last week.... Please complete this survey!

Many thanks to the Everett, who completed this survey last week. Please complete this survey to copy/paste your instructional focus to help align support the district may be able to offer. Thank you!

👉 👉 👉 Instructional Focus Support Requests for SY23 IMPORTANT - PLEASE COMPLETE!!!

School Leaders - What instructional supports do you need this summer and through SY23 from Academics? Please complete this short (10-15 minute) form by June 15 to let us know in as much detail as you have so that we can plan for liaison support accordingly.  Questions: Christine Landry, clandry@bostonpublicschools.org  IMPORTANT - PLEASE COMPLETE!!!

Superintendent Finalist Schedule

Wednesday, June 22, 2022: Panel Discussions

(Via Zoom and livestreamed on Boston City TV)

• 10:30am-12:00pm: Community PartnersLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/88039840566
• 1:30-3:00pm: Educators and School LeadersLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/88691871696
• 3:30-5:00pm: Students and FamiliesLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/88691871696
• 5:30-7:30pm: Public interview with the Boston School CommitteeLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/83284548562

Thursday, June 23, 2022: Panel Discussions

(Via Zoom and livestreamed on Boston City TV)

• 10:30am-12:00pm: Community PartnersLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/85688851970
• 1:30-3:00pm: Educators and School LeadersLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/85055337710
• 3:30-5:00pm: Students and FamiliesLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/85055337710
• 5:30-7:30pm: Public interview with the Boston School CommitteeLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/88599171504

Friday, June 24, 2022: Panel Discussions

(Via Zoom and livestreamed on Boston City TV)

• 10:30am-12:00pm: Community PartnersLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/82653844987
• 1:30-3:00pm: Educators and School LeadersLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/81499255365
• 3:30-5:00pm: Students and FamiliesLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/81499255365
• 5:30-7:30pm: Public interview with the Boston School CommitteeLink: https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/86027020418

Following the interview process, the Boston School Committee will meet on Wednesday, June 29 at 5:00pm to vote on the candidate to offer the position of Superintendent of BPS.

For the full interview schedule and more information about the search process, visit bostonpublicschools.org/supt-search.

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Friday Flyer - June 10, 2022

 A highlight of this week was participating in an ABA Walkthrough at the Tynan with Zach Houstan, Greg Zara, and the program director. Ideally the process is conducted three times per year and includes related services staff. The process reminded me of an instructional focus review with specific program look-fors designed to support consistency and quality of program across the district. I learned a great deal about ABA as a result. I also learned that as the program evolves and improves, the look-fors also evolve. Thank you, Leslie, for allowing me to join in this important programmatic learning opportunity. I believe we should do the same for tier one standards aligned instruction (i.e. the five look-fors Jodi and I began the year with).

It was wonderful to attend Quincy's final PD where staff reflected on the year and continued to look at student writing through an SFL lens in grade level teams using a consultancy protocol. Ask Cynthia about their ILT and PD "year in review" padlets - incredible artifacts of the continuous learning that took place this year. Another highlight of the week was joining in on the Lee Academy's retreat to work on leading and managing the change process that is grounded in data and focused on students.

Thank you for administering MAP formally for grades five and seven - it was another big lift in the final weeks of school after MCAS. Remember these same students will formally take MAP again in the fall as sixth and eighth graders. Their best "score" will be used as a data point for exam school admissions. ODA is working on ensuring schools have access to the data - stay tuned.

The Next Ten Days

In the next ten days, I will finish up a second round of visits and then write evaluations on Tuesday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 22. I will schedule time to meet with you to review your write ups either in person or virtually. Please share your artifacts by Friday, June 17th. If you absolutely need the weekend, share on June 20th. Please keep your artifacts simple; remember, you can share one artifact for multiple standards. Here is a link to the template just in case you need it. Mike shared his artifacts Tuesday and Derrick on Thursday. Thank you!

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Please pay attention to the large print highlighted information below. The first is a survey to request support in your instructional focus, and the second is the long awaited for assessment calendar. 

Friday Flyer - June 3, 2022

 

It has been a pleasure visiting schools these past two weeks! Yesterday, at the Everett, I watched K classes perform versions of "The Three Little Pigs" and a first grade performance of "Stone Soup" written and developed in partnership with Boston Lyric Opera. Impressive!

Marvin is working hard at the Timilty to support students, families, and staff in their transitions. At the Mission Hill, families will receive their school assignments by June 10. Staff continue to seek positions. Consider attending the experienced educator fair on Monday, June 6.

The Russell has been having community meetings about merging with the Clap. The two schools will have time to design a two campus K-6 solution. The Hale's plan for next year is well underway; call Candice if you would like to learn more about their after school program partner - Champions. 

The Orchard Gardens and Murphy are working on engaging their school communities on their instructional foci for next year. The Lee Academy will have a retreat next week to plan a course of action for 22-23.

Next week, I will visit the Tynan to participate in a walk through of the ABA program, attend the Quincy's final PD of the year, join in on the Lee Academy's retreat, and attend Perry's Parent Coffee with Mike and Andrew.

Please send invites to culminating activities - I will try to join if I can.

Message from OHC 

Non-Renewal Letters:

To ensure that we have the most accurate reflection of provisional educators who are to be non-renewed prior to the contractual June 15th deadline, please submit any provisional teachers for hire by 11:59pm on Friday, June 10, 2022.

• Notifications to Provisional Teachers who have not yet secured positions for the SY22-23 school year will be sent on Wednesday, June 15th informing them that they are non renewed.
• If you are hiring a provisional teacher and the process is not completed fully in TalentEd by 11:59pm on Friday, June 10th, the employee will receive a non-renewal letter.

Lateral Transfers:

Additionally, as in years past, please note that lateral transfer deadline of July 1 is in effect to limit late additional vacancies for SY2223.

• No lateral transfers will be permitted after July 1.
• You will need to consider this when you are thinking about hiring for your open positions and prioritizing interviews and hires prior to July 1.

Friday Flyer

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