Words from Grace
Happy Friday! This time of year is always the most challenging with evaluations, budget, probable org, planning for next year while also getting ready for a February 1 HIPP reopening. We no longer have whiplash - our necks are now made of rubber! (Whiplash "is a neck injury due to forceful, rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck, like the cracking of a whip." đ) Thank you for your flexibility during these uncertain times.
Due today: If you haven't already completed it, please use this standard template to provide your staffing information for HIPP reopening and share your completed template to Tess Yates, and me. Keep this simple; call me if you have questions.
Next Region Meeting: will be on Tuesday, January 26; due to a budget collab, we will not meet this coming Tuesday. Please work with your triad to choose a grade level you where you will bring a task to analyze using the TNTP rubric.
One of our district goals is to leverage the investment in Panorama to monitor student progress. Another goal is to use data in a consistent manner. Right now, the data we have across the district are: attendance and grades. Please know that I understand your school's context and the story beneath these percentages. This is an overview on the alignment between our chronic absenteeism and success plans. This is NOT an indicator that action isn't being taken and what is happening with students and families is most important. However, one way to monitor the effectiveness of actions being taken is through Panorama. Our Operational Leaders, Attendance Officers, and other district offices are becoming familiar with Panorama so we can maximize its use in support of students, families, and schools.
This report will be generated every two weeks.
January 18 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday - No School
February 15 - Presidentâs Day - No School
February 16-19 - Winter Recess - No School
April 2 - Good Friday - No School
Office of the Superintendent
Housing Stability & Assistance in the City of Boston
The link above provides access to a folder with letters to families in our ten primary home languages regarding the January 31, 2021 expiration of the Centers for Disease Controlâs (CDC) federal eviction moratorium. The City of Boston Rental Relief Fund is available and accepting applications for residents who need assistance.
Talking Points for BPS Staff regarding the Housing Stability & Assistance in the City of Boston
Letter to Families From the Superintendent Regarding Violence in DC on January 6, 2021
School Building Access
No additional students beyond those approved by BPHC should be in buildings right now. If a School Leader wishes to have students return for an assessment (not including district or state sponsored assessments such as IEP testing, MCAS, ACCESS, or MAP) or other event(s), s/he must receive approval first by working with staff in the Superintendentâs Office. It is vital that all School Leaders adhere to this expectation.
Division of Academics
Boston Citywide/Region VI Science Fair
On Wednesday-Friday, March 3rd - 5th, 2021, Boston Public Schools will conduct the 75th annual BPS Citywide/Massachusetts State Region VI Science Fair. This year the event will be hosted virtually. We know the Science Fair provides an opportunity for our students to demonstrate and celebrate their accomplishments in the fields of science and engineering. Thus, your support of this event is essential. More information can be found in this memo.
Professional Development Opportunity for Sexual Health Education: Middle and High School
This six-session training will provide instruction in and access to updated lessons and powerpoints, engaging technologies and learning strategies, and skills-based assessments to deliver the Rights, Respect, Responsibility Curriculum remotely. The 3Rs curriculum is LGBTQ+ inclusive and empowers young people with the necessary skills and functional knowledge that contribute to health-promoting decisions and behaviors for healthy and safe relationships, interpersonal communications, growth and development, and accessing sexual health resources. For more information on the dates and how to sign up please see the flyer. Questions? Contact Cheryl Todisco, Director of Health Education, ctodisco@bostonpublicschools.org
Wellness Action Plans - PAST DUE
Schoolsâ Wellness Action Plans were due on December 4th. If your Wellness Action Plan has not been completed, please contact Michelle Grohe (mgrohe@bostonpublicschools.org) for support or for access to your schoolâs customized template. For more information please visit our website: https://www.bostonpublicschools.org/Page/6448
January SEL Signature Practices Calendar resource is now available!
Please check out the updated SEL Signature Practices Calendar on the SEL Instruction website! The purpose of the calendar is to provide a menu of SEL practices that can be modified and integrated into instructional planning each month for students to practice SEL skills while engaging in learning. Using these practices regularly provides opportunities for consistency, predictability, and relationship building.
For support or questions, please contact Carla Burley (cburley@bostonpublicschools.org).
Mass Literacy Webinar Series
This webinar series provided by DESE is a great opportunity to learn about evidenced-based early literacy.Division of Accountability
Transformation Strategy Update - January 15
Student, Teacher, and Family Survey Data - Office Hours
If you have any questions or need support as you dive into the Semester 1 survey data in Panorama, please sign up for Office Hours with the Office of Data and Accountability. ODA can help you utilize survey data to inform plans and adjustments, as well as support you to discuss this data with your School Site Council, School Parent Council, ILT, and other school and district teams.
In addition to Office Hours, you can watch this short video or review this guide to learn how to navigate your reports and take action. If you need any support, please donât hesitate to contact ODA (rc069@bostonpublicschools.org) or Panorama (support+bps@panoramaed.com).
Panorama Weekly Update - Thank you for using this new platform to take action:
Thank you to the school teams who are diving into Panorama Student Success, and learning how the platform can support our work with students.
3,167 BPS staff members used the platform in December, with a total of 26,791 log-ins!
4,169 students have an attendance success plan logged in the platform, as of this week.
As you continue to familiarize yourself with the platform, please take advantage of the resources below.
MAP Growth and Fluency Data Dive #2 Professional Development Session
For either MAP Growth or MAP Fluency, participants will learn how to access and analyze major reports and apply them to planning for instruction.
MAP Fluency:
Tuesday, January 26th, 4:00-5:30 PM
Tuesday, February 2nd, 7:30-9:00 AM
Monday, February 8th, 3:00-4:30 PM
MAP Growth:
Thursday, January 28th, 3:30-5:00 PM
Monday, February 1st, 4:00-5:30 PM
Thursday, February 4th, 7:30-9:00 AM
Wednesday, February 10th, 3:00-4:30 PM
Massachusetts Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL)
The Office of Leadership Development is seeking feedback from BPS educators who either have completed their Massachusetts Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL) or desire to complete the PAL within the next few years. Please fill out the linked survey to provide your reflections and suggestions relative to your experiences completing (or perhaps not completing) the PALs. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes of your time and will remain open until January 31, 2021. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences as we work to develop a new program for PAL support in BPS.
We are looking forward to First Year Leader Cohort Professional Learning on January 20th with a focus on Literacy and support in operational functions. To learn more about our induction programming for first and second year leaders, take a look at our website here.
Division of Equity, Strategy, and Opportunity Gaps
Diversity Programs & Retention Services
Executive Coaching Leadership Programs for Male and Women Educators
RCD offers both a Male Educators of Color (MEOC) Executive Coaching Leadership Program and a Women Educators of Color (WEOC) Executive Coaching Leadership Program. Each is a 9-month program designed to increase engagement, retention and leadership rates for the male staff of color or female staff of color within Boston Public Schools. Each program session is led and facilitated respectively by current and former male or female leaders of color from the Boston Public Schools. Participants will receive a valuable combination of executive coaching, research-based content as well as a natural balance between self-reflection and peer interactions. The programs will guide participants to focus on key levers of effective educational leadership and also support the development of innovative, research-based solutions to key problems of practice. This is an excellent professional development opportunity to support future leaders in your schools. The deadline has been extended until January 15, 2021
- Apply here: Male Educators of Color (MEOC) Executive Coaching Leadership Program - SY20-21 For more details, click here.
- Apply here: Women Educators of Color (WEOC) Executive Coaching Leadership Program - SY20-21 For more details, click here.
Division of Finance
Requisition Submission
Requisitions for all partners should have been submitted by this time. Ideally, these would have been completed by the end of September 2020, if they were not, please submit your requisitions as soon as possible.
The Partnerships office has been encouraging partners to please submit an invoice for services rendered through December 2020 instead of one large, end of year invoice to ensure a smooth close of the fiscal year.
Division of Human Capital
Formative Assessment Deadline
Due to some misunderstandings around the deadlines for Formative Assessments (FAs), OHC has amended the deadlines to the following:
- Complete FAs for educators for whom there are performance concerns by the original 1/15 deadline.
- Complete FAs for ALL provisional educators by 2/1
- Complete FAs for remaining permanent educators by 2/15
For any formative assessment whose date is being moved from 1/15 to 2/1 or 2/15, advance written notice to the educator, including the new deadline (2 weeks prior) for Artifacts, is required and should be delivered prior to the Winter Recess.
Temporary Paras
Please remember that if you hired a para who you hired for a short period to cover a leave, they need to be terminated in the system at the time when the para on leave returns. Please send a complete PS03 to Monica Engermann (cc'ing your HC Manager and Coordinator) indicating their temporary assignment has ended.
Moving Staff at Probable Org
If you are interested in moving a staff member to a new position at your Probable Org meeting, please keep the following in mind:
We are able to move staff from a lateral type position in the same union at Probable Org, however, we are unable to move staff into positions that are in new unions (i.e. Managerial to BTU) or are in different salary grades (i.e. Regular Para to Surround Care Para). For those types of position moves, employees will need to apply to the post on TalentEd once posted.
If you are moving a teacher or para into a position that is outside of their PPA or if there is any overall change to the employeeâs PPA, we require a written agreement from the staff member to this change. Please forward all emails and agreements to your HC Manager and Coordinator.
Excess Deadline
Permanent teachers who do not have a future year position in your school will be marked âexcessed,â and they will receive notification from the district prior to March 1st (February 1st for autonomous schools). For those that you excess, please ensure you have conversations with them regarding their statuses prior to that date.
If a position opens up that the excessed teacher is eligible for in your building, their excess will be rescinded and they will be returned to your school.
If an excessed teacher earns their license for the role they were excessed from prior to the position being filled, their excess will be rescinded and they will be returned to their role.
Division of Operations
ID Card Access Policy.
Please read the updated ID Card Access Policy which outlines the process for securing new and replacement cards.
Division of Students, Families, & Community Advancement
Partner Connector Events
The Partnerships Office will be holding a series of "Partner Connector Events" to assist school leaders in learning about partner opportunities on Wednesdays starting January 13th through February 3rd. These events are in lieu of our Annual Partnership Event. This is an opportunity for schools to rethink their partnership strategy, and review options both in person and online partnerships while considering the needs of your school community.
The events will be on Zoom each week and will have 2 focus areas. The events will be broken down by grade level to ensure school leaders meet with partners that are a potential match. The full schedule is available on www.PartnerBPS.org and registration is on Eventbrite.
Exam School Eligible Students - Grades 6 & 8
This week we have sent out communication to the families of BPS grade 6 and 8 students that have met the eligibility criteria for exam schools for SY21-22. Students identified as eligible are not guaranteed an invitation to an exam school; however, all eligible students will be able to rank the three exam schools through the school choice forms. Please note, we are still working to determine the eligibility for a subset of students which may result in additional school choice forms throughout the month of January.
Families will be able to submit their school choice rankings through our online platform or by email to the child's current school or welcomeservices@bostonpublicschools.org.
We have also sent a list of eligible students to each school's school choice contact to ensure that every school has a list of students who are eligible for exam schools.
Partnership for Arts Programming
As you are exploring partnerships for SY21-22, if you need assistance with Arts Programming, Anthony (Tony) Beatrice, the Executive Director for the Arts here at BPS is happy to assist you. Tony can refer you to programs, as well as identify partners who can meet specific needs.
He can be reached at abeatrice2@bostonpublicschools.org
No comments:
Post a Comment