Words from Grace
You did it!
It's very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.- Thich Nhat Hanh
Farewell
I'm so sad to see Megan Webb and Jason Meland leave us, but I am happy for them. I can't thank Karen Loughran enough for keeping the school running smoothly and closing out the year at the Hale. All three will be with us in coming weeks to closeout and prepare for transitions. Megan is heading to the one middle school in Wakefield, Jason to the one high school in Haverill, and Karen will transition to New Mission with Will Thomas as they expand. I wish them all the best as they begin a new chapter in their careers.
Welcome
Lauren Murdock, the current Orchard Gardens K-5 Director of Elementary was recommended by the board, and Dr. Cassellius appointed her, as interim principal. Here is the announcement to the community.
As previously announced, Candice Whitmore was appointed principal of the Hale in April. Announcement
I am working on searching for an interim for the Timilty in coming weeks.
Finally, wishing all fathers, uncles, brothers, men who care for our young people. Happy Fathers Day!
Important Dates
June 21 - Juneteenth Holiday Observed
July 6 - August 6 - Summer School
August 16-18 - August Leadership Institute
September 9 - First Day of School - Grades 1-12
Division of Academics
SY21-22 Assessment Memo and District Assessment Calendar
The SY21-22 Assessment Memo is the result of collaboration with the Assessment Task Force, all the educators who have offered feedback on assessments this year, and input from the School Leader Cabinet.
School Leader Cabinet Assessment Message
For SY21-22, district assessment expectations have been aligned to the district-wide Instructional Focus: Every student in every classroom has access to standards aligned, culturally and linguistically responsive equitable literacy in every classroom every day.
These expectations are a minimum for schools; school communities are encouraged to craft the assessment strategy that supports their own work towards grade-level, standards-aligned, culturally responsive instruction.
Additional tools and resources will be added to the memo throughout the summer to support schools in selecting, implementing and using these assessments.
SY21-22 District Assessment Calendar
Additional dates will be added to the assessment calendar as we receive updated information from DESE and other assessment providers.
For more information, please email formatives@bostonpublicschools.org
Panorama Weekly Update - Thank You for Making this Year a Success!
Thank you for closing plans as we reach the end of the school year! Since our last flier, staff have closed an additional 2,400 plans, which comprised 16% of the open plans in the platform (as of this past Monday – and we know staff continued to close out plans this week). The ongoing effort means that teachers next year will have access to important plan notes.
Highlights from this year include:
Staff created 25,000 tier 2 and 3 plans, reaching 25% of students
100% of schools have had at least one staff member logging in each month
As we plan for next year, we ground our work in the question:
“Are quality plans impacting student outcomes?”
Office of Leadership Development
The Office of Leadership is expanding the Administrative Team Members PD/Mentoring Team next year to 6 Lead Members. We will have 4 PLC Leads and 2 Lead Mentors. The job descriptions along with the applications are linked here, Lead Mentor and PLC Leads. Please apply by June 25, 2021.
For next year, all ATMs will have access to PLCs. To make this happen we need your feedback. Please complete the following survey by June 25, 2021.
In addition, we have partnered with the New Leaders organization to provide the Observation and Coaching Pathway PLC for BASAS members with instructional responsibilities not limited to Assistant Principals, Directors of Instructions and Program Directors. There will be 6-full day sessions along with coaching cycles and action planning. More information can be found here , and you can register here.
For school-based ATMs, we have created PD structures to support instructional and/or operational roles. For coherence, the document includes structures for Principals and ATMs. The Office of Leadership Development calendar is linked in the document (more dates will be added).
Division of Equity, Strategy, & Opportunity Gaps
OPPORTUNITY: School Based Equity Roundtable PD/Working Session
School Leaders are encouraged to attend this event as it is designed to provide support in the implementation of school based equity roundtables which will include:
providing context for the importance of consistent SBERT
sharing best practices
reviewing SBERT data sources
spending time crafting agendas
Please join ESOG for a 2 hour session on June 25th from 10am - 12pm at: Zoom Meeting -
https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/81277575836 Meeting ID: 812 7757 5836
Office of Recruitment, Cultivation and Diversity Programs (RCD)
Recruitment & Cultivation Team Updates & Events:
(TIME SENSITIVE) BPS Teaching Fellowship (BPSTF) Candidates This is an incredible opportunity to hire highly vetted candidates who will be Fellows in our BPSTF. Each Fellow will receive coaching and professional development throughout the entire 2021-2022 school from a veteran BPS Teacher/Coach. The Fellowship will support candidates in getting their Moderate Disabilities and/or ESL Licenses. Please see these candidates who are graduates of our ACTT and MTEL programs! View BPSTF Candidates and the benefits of hiring these candidates. If you hire 2 or more BPSTF candidates, RCD will prioritize admittance for your staff into the (highly successful) BPS MTEL prep courses for ESL (MTEL for ESL License) and Foundations of Reading (MTEL for Moderate Disabilities).
(TIME SENSITIVE) High Priority & Priority Candidates These candidates have been vetted and assessed as the most talented candidates available. Please be sure to scan the list for potential candidates for your positions. Link to High Priority & Priority Candidates of Color. View Resumes and Talent Ed application in last column. You can find all of these candidates in Talent Ed (go to Closed jobs, and click on Early Hiring Pool 21-22)
(TIME SENSITIVE) Searching for Diverse Teacher candidates? Please complete this request form for leads to candidates for your open and difficult to fill positions. We will respond within 48 hours! Or search the Early Hiring Pool accessible through TalentEd, or this spreadsheet: Early Hiring Pool.
- UPDATED: Emergency Licenses DESE has extended Emergency licenses validity from June 30, 2021 to June 30, 2022. Any teachers you currently would like to retain on Emergency Licenses should apply in the Educator Licensure and Renewal (ELAR) system. Additionally teachers who do not have a current license, may apply for the Emergency License. See: Update on DESE Emergency Licensure - February 12, 2021 for additional information. NOTE: Principals that need Candidates to be dual licensed in Moderate Disabilities and their primary license such as elementary early childhood or secondary can apply for two emergency licenses as long as they do not hold a prior license. Candidates can apply for multiple emergency teacher licenses if they do not currently hold a Temporary, Provisional (Preliminary for Vocational), Initial, or Professional teacher license.
- Support Meeting your Diversity Hiring Goals We are very excited to see the results of your commitment to diverse hiring thus far. Preliminary numbers are showing a significant increase over last year!! Many of you are committed to using available RCD support to help you reach your goals. As a reminder, here they are. If you have not yet been able to meet your goals, please be sure to refer back to this sheet to access the tools and supports available to help you to find diverse candidates (see row 3 for links).
- Promising Candidates of Color Have a great teacher of color you can’t retain? Met a great candidate you didn’t hire, but think someone else should? Share their info using this form. See your colleagues’ recommendations on this sheet.
- Reminder: Signing Bonuses for Latinx (new to BPS) Teachers Through a grant with DESE, there are 50 $1000 Hiring Bonuses available for the hiring of new to BPS Latinx teacher candidates and BPS MTEL prep program completers. Complete this referral form for candidates you want to recommend to receive the bonus. Priority given to Latinx candidates (to close our largest teacher/student diversity gap), and our BPS MTEL prep completers. More information here.
BPS Teacher Pipeline Programs
BPS Teaching Fellowship: As you are considering new colleagues to join your school community, please consider our candidates who are graduates of our ACTT and MTEL programs! View BPSTF Candidates and the benefits of hiring these candidates. Retired BPS teacher and a friend to ACTT, Dr. Amika Kemmler-Ernst writes about one of our current candidates, Ayesha James, who is realizing a life-long dream of becoming a teacher.
We are committed to having all our candidates in the BPSTF hired as full time teachers. Our candidates started with us in July of 2021 and will continue through the end of next year, when they earn their Initial License in Elementary, Moderate Disabilities or ESL. This year, we provided them with MTEL support, and with a pre-practicum seminar that meets 2-3 Saturdays per month. We have expert BPS teachers providing them with support and coaching in CLSP and culturally responsive teaching, in partnership with the MIT Teaching Systems Lab. Once hired, we will provide CAP support and regularly scheduled practicum seminars and site based observational rounds conducted by school-based supervising practitioners, and our own BPSTF Specialist, Ailis Kiernan, and Dr. Abdi Ali, Director of Teacher Pipeline Programs.
If you hire 2 or more BPSTF candidates, RCD will prioritize admittance for your staff into the (highly successful) BPS MTEL prep courses for ESL (MTEL for ESL License) and Foundations of Reading (MTEL for Moderate Disabilities).
Teacher Cadet Program
We are excited to announce the launch of the Math Literacy Workers’ Math Design Lab at the William Monroe Trotter School this summer. Teacher Cadet and The Young People’s Project (YPP) will design and implement the Math Literacy Workers’ Design Lab, our accelerated summer learning program for rising 7th and 8th graders in partnership with Principal Sarita Thomas and the William Monroe Trotter Elementary School. A combined 20 middle school students from the Dr. Martin Luther King K-8 School, the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School and the Trotter School will participate in the MLW Design Lab. In addition to two BPS teachers, the core instructional team will be 10 Teacher Cadets. Our YPP trained TC MLWs will use their facilitation and mentoring skills to implement math literacy workshops and coaching for our middle school students. Using our “peer-to-peer” cascading model, we will work to achieve our goals to prepare our TC middle schoolers for Algebra 1 and our TC MLWs for college and careers in education. Additional training will be provided in Restorative Justice/Circle Practice by Dara Bayer, Brown University’s Community Dialogue Project, and STEM Content Learning by Kellyanne Mahoney at Autodesk/Tinkercad. Our instructional team will receive a total of 52 hours of training to support 100 hours of math/STEM instruction this summer.
Questions and requests for additional information, please email: diversity-ACTT@bostonpublicschools.org.
Sign up for our Teacher Pipeline Programs newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/BPSpipelinenews1
Retention Services Updates
Diversity Programs and Degree Completion
Anyone interested in the next cohort of the Male Educators of Color (MEOC) and Women Educators of Color (WEOC) Executive Coaching Leadership Program or interested in getting a degree through one of our higher education partnerships, please complete this form.
NEW MEASURES TO BOOST HOMEOWNERSHIP, WAGES, AND ECONOMIC EQUITY IN BOSTON
Mayor Kim Janey today announced a pair of measures to promote economic opportunity in the City as part of her agenda for Boston’s equitable recovery, reopening, and renewal. With $2.4 million committed to this program in the Mayor’s FY22 budget proposal, the Boston Home Center's first-time Homebuyer Program has been expanded to provide up to $40,000 in assistance to income-eligible, first-time homebuyers who seek to purchase a home in Boston. This change more than triples the average amount of assistance previously offered by the City. These homebuyers will also be informed earlier in the buying process about the amount of financing they are eligible to receive from the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) Boston Home Center. The Mayor has also issued an executive order today, guaranteeing the prevailing wage set by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards for workers on key City of Boston service contracts, starting July 1, 2021.
Exit Interviews for Educators of Color
We continue to offer an Exit Survey to any school-based educator or central office staff of color who has or will be leaving the district at the end of the SY20-21 with an optional virtual interview. If you know any educators of color who would like to participate in our exit interview process, please have them contact Rashaun Martin, at rmartin2@bostonpublicschools.org. They can complete the survey here.
In a recent interview, an ESL teacher who is departing the district due to a family move, had nothing but great things to say about the level of support she received from the school leadership at the EMK.
Division of Human Capital
Additional Program Area Closures
Effective 11:59pm on June 29th, the following additional program areas will close to external hiring: Special Education, Elementary, English as a Second Language, Early Childhood, Mathematics, English/ELA, and General Science. This includes any position that requires certification in these selected program areas, such as Inclusion Math or SEI Math. For these program areas effective 11:59pm on June 29th, as well as those previously closed effective June 8th (Physical Education, History, Guidance, Computer Science/Instructional Technology, Music, and Visual Art), only excessed teachers may be approved for hire.
What this means:
You have until 11:59pm on June 29th to recommend your hiring team’s chosen candidate for any vacancies within these additional program areas without restrictions on which applicants are available to you. Any incomplete requests for hire (ex. those missing waivers, interview competencies, etc.). Please review Hiring Approval Guidance here.
Beginning June 30th, we will only approve the hiring of excessed educators for positions at traditional schools for vacancies in these program areas.
Autonomous schools and those with hiring MOUs, e.g. Innovation, Pilot, Horace-Mann, and Level 5 turnaround schools will still be able to hire externally, though they are strongly encouraged to hire from our pool of strong excessed educators.
July 1 Deadline for Lateral Transfers
In a little over 2 weeks, BPS will stop approving the lateral transfer (hire) of BPS educators who hold current positions after July 1. By doing so, it is our intention to prevent unanticipated vacancies late in the hiring season.
New On-Line Resignation/Retirement Notification Form
We now have a new on-line notification form for resignations/retirements which is replacing the paper PS03 form. Please use if any School Leader or Supervisor receives resignations over the summer months.
Employees or their Supervisors/School Secretary can complete on employee's behalf
Complete the form
upload the employee's resignation letter
workflow approval sent to Supervisor and then to OHC.
A final notification will be sent out to Employee/Supervisor and OHC Staff
No paper PS03 required if this form is used
Division of Student, Family, and Community Advancement
Requisitions for Partners
As we close out the 2021 fiscal year, all requisitions for partners must be entered into BAIS Financial and completed at this time. Please take a moment and confirm all requisitions are submitted before June 30th, so we can complete payments to partners.
Back to School Events
In order to coordinate across multiple departments, we are asking all schools who are having a "Back to School Event" to complete this Google Form. We will share results of this with the STEM, Arts, Communications and Welcome Services Departments, so they can provide support and potential programming at your events.
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