Sunday Night Memo, 3/29/2020

March 29, 2020

Friday night, my husband looked at me and asked “what do you want to do this weekend?”.  He was half joking, half serious as we talked about things that have been on our to do list for years.  The days run together now and thankfully, the structure of school for me, work for him, provide some sense of normalcy.  However, we both agree that we are not homeschoolers.  Charlotte is starting to miss her friends and learning how to have a conversation with her classmates via FaceTime.  Teaching 5 year olds how to talk on the phone is interesting. So much change in the new normal.  Yet, we have just begun on this journey and the impact of the virus is being felt.  A former Ambrose teacher who we had the opportunity to know through Charlotte passed this week from Covid-19.  An 8^th grade student also felt the sting of this virus as her family is mourning the loss of their grandpa who passed from Covid-19 as well this week.  Unfortunately, the impact is just starting which can be absolutely terrifying.  During this time, staying connected while we are physically disconnected is important.  I hope you are finding ways to stay connected to the folks who provide laughter and comfort to you as well as still take the time to take care of yourself.  You will hear that a lot and it is important.  My self-care this weekend has been found in pints of ice cream and binge watching Tiger King and the 3^rd season of Ozarks.  I think the kindest thing I did for myself was finally admit that I am absolutely terrified.  Terrified for my brother who is an anesthesiologist in Atlanta who is working in crisis mode, caring for countless patients.  Terrified for my friends who run EDs and are finalizing their wills and separating from their families to protect them. Terrified for my girlfriends who are answering the call to duty and voluntarily leaving their private practices and going into hospitals to mitigate the upcoming predicted shortage.  Terrified about how many people will be impacted and the cost to all our lives.  Be safe everyone.  It’s a scary time but I’m hopeful we will come out of this and we will be able to see each other in person and not just on a screen.

We will have weekly Zoom faculty meetings but we won’t always have a ton of things to discuss.  I still don’t enjoy meeting to meet but think a consistent time is important because we are physically disconnected.  If you can’t make a meeting, don’t worry.  Life happens and it will be recorded.  I’ll still send out a Sunday Night memo each week to in order to maintain our normalcy.  I hope you had a great “first day” on Friday! 

Have a good week and see you on Zoom!

With gratitude,

Grace

Faculty Meeting CHANGE to Monday, 3/30 @ 9:30am

This week our meeting has changed to Monday.  We are competing with numerous Zoom meetings around the district and on Tuesday, the district is holding first round interviews for the principal position.  Therefore, we are shifting to tomorrow @ 9:30am.  Here is the link:

Grace Lee is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Faculty Gathering

Time: Mar 30, 2020 09:30 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/141128927

Meeting ID: 141 128 927

At the meeting, we will talk about:

·       Grading

·       Zoom for teachers

·       Chromebook requests from students

·       DCI Survey

Survey from the State, 4/6

Kris Denbow has asked us to share and request that all teachers take the following survey:

·       CWIS survey - http://cwis.missouripd.org/cwis_surveys - by April 6th for all K-12 certified staff

o   Communicate the why - required as part of DCI participation

o   10 Days to complete

Please take 10 minutes to complete this survey this week.  If you do not complete it, the district will begin sending you emails asking you to complete.