Friday Memo - 9/10/21

Important dates
September 13 - School Improvement Team meeting
September 17 - half day professional day (PLCs); dismissal at 12:32 pm
September 19 - Hixson Community Open House, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
October 4 - Picture retake/make up day
October 19 & 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
October 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 9am - 4pm; NO SCHOOL for students
October 22 - NO SCHOOL (comp day)

Fun Friday
We hope you enjoyed Fun Friday today! It is our goal to have at least one Fun Friday per month as one of the ways that we show appreciation to you...the amazing Hixson staff! Thank you for everything that you've done to make this school year a success so far. We are looking forward to an awesome year!

Aimee Vogt, Stephanie Berry, Shenita Mayes, Jeff Atterberry
(Unfortunately, Mike Hazelton was responding to a student issue and couldn't join us for the trolley service!)

85th issue of Hixson Happenings
Click HERE to read the most recent Hixson Happenings!

Classroom attendance

There have been some issues raised about students being marked absent from a class but they've been present for other classes no notification has been given to the main office. Please take a moment to read the following excerpt from the Hixson Middle School Attendance Procedures document. We went over this during our back to school meeting on August 16, 2021.

Classroom teachers are responsible for reporting accurate and timely attendance within the first five minutes of every class. Any discrepancies or mistakes in attendance should be reported to Ms. Hicks immediately so the issue can swiftly be resolved. If a child is not in your classroom and has not been marked absent throughout the day, please email Ms. Hicks and the grade level principal as soon as possible so they can start the process of locating the student. 

When a student is late to class, the classroom teacher should mark the student with a “T” for tardy.

Not following this protocol presents major safety issues for our school. Thank you so much for your cooperation and understanding.

Mr. Jarrod Jones's book signing!
If you didn't already know, Mr. Jarrod Jones, Hixson ELA teacher, wrote a book called, My Invisible Father! He will be having a book signing on Thursday, September 1, 2021 at The Novel Neighbor at 7:00 pm! I've included the link to register for the event below. Registration is recommended but not required. CONGRATULATIONS MR. JONES!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jaer-armstead-jones-in-person-book-signing-my-invisible-father-tickets-166971079995

Lunch Detention
We are currently developing a plan for lunch detentions to be supervised by our ISS/Restorative Center supervisor, Mr. Brookins. When the plan is developed, you will be able to sign your students up for lunch detention during the grade level lunch, and Mr. Brookins will be the supervisor. Please note, Mr. Brookins's classroom is not very big, and I will only allow him to take up to 10 students for lunch detention at a time.This is because he could also have students in ISS that day. Therefore, if there is a day that his classroom cannot accommodate the number of students he needs to have with him for lunch, we will have to move him to a different room located in the grade level hallway. We will work on a rotation so that is not the same room each time, and this will only be on an as needed basis.

Late Buses
So far this year, we have late buses every day. Bus 3 and bus 5 are our frequent flyers. Unfortunately, this issue probably won't improve much until First Student is able to hire more bus drivers. The admin team rode bus 5 in the afternoon last week on two separate occasions, and we were on the bus for at least an hour. Thank you for your patience during 1st hour as we try to get students to class as quickly as possible. It is our hope that this situation improves soon.

School Pictures
We should have picture proofs and packages next week to distribute to students. Wagner will provide me with a file today that includes the team and department photos that we took on August 18. My plan is to use those photos for our website. I am also happy to share your group's photo with you so that you can add it to your S'Mores newsletter. 

Faculty Lounge
We are slowly pulling the staff lounge together. A refrigerator was delivered yesterday afternoon. I would like to take some time to wipe it down today so it can be ready for you to use on Monday. We are also getting a water & ice machine, and a coffee machine for your enjoyment each day. The vending machines will be moved from the old staff lounge to the new staff lounge on September 27. We also plan to put a larger table in the staff lounge once things are a bit more situated so we have a better idea of the space we have to work with.

New Course Proposals for the 2022-2023 School Year
Believe it or not, I received an email a few days ago regarding new course proposals for next school year. I've included the district's timeline below. If you have an idea for a new course that you would like to discuss with Hixson administration, please email me and let me know so we can set up a time to talk about it. After reading the timeline, you will see that I have to meet with Jason Adams regarding new courses in the next 20 days, so please respond to me soon, because I would like to wrap up all building conversations about new courses by September 24 so that I can meet with Dr. Adams sometime during the last week of September.

By September 30th: HX and WGHS Principal (or designee) meet with Jason to begin an initial discussion about new course ideas for their respective school.

By October 31st: HX and WGHS complete a new course proposal form for each new course that has been requested. 

By November 15th:  If there are staffing implications as a result of new course requests, Jason Adams will meet with Sandy Wiley and the respective Principal to discuss possibilities. 

December 6th: New course proposal details (and any course drops) are presented to the Curriculum Coordinating Council for feedback. 

December 9th: New course proposal descriptions (and any course drops) are presented to the Board of Education for approval. 

January - August:  Once approved, course curriculum templates need to be developed for each new course proposal.  The curriculum template must be complete and approved prior to teaching the course in the fall of 22-23.  Course development can occur either through release time or through summer stipend work. 

Staff Picture Directory
Ready to start putting faces with names so that you can learn who your new colleagues are? Click the link below to access the Hixson Middle School Staff Picture Directory!

HXMS Staff Picture Directory

Parent Teacher Conferences
We will hold virtual Parent Teacher Conferences in the fall. Because the district is not offering alternate work locations this year (ie: work from home), you will need to hold your virtual parent teacher conferences from Hixson. Hixson Administration and PTO will work together to provide meals for you on conference days. 

We will revisit the idea of having in person parent teacher conferences in the spring, depending on the status of COVID-19. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.

Professional Learning Communities update
We will have development on Professional Learning Communities for all staff on Friday, September 17, which is a half day PD day. This will be our official kick off/re-launch, and it will be led by Hixson administration, Jill Right, Christy Cox, and Hope Strasser. We will no longer work with DCI. 

A foundational piece to establishing a strong Collaborative Learning Team is to understand each other's strengths from the beginning. In preparation for September 17, each member of your team needs to complete the High5Test (click on sign up with email; takes about 15 minutes), meet one time whenever you want during your CLT time, and discuss your results with your team. The purpose of this is to start getting to know each other's strengths, which will serve as a precursor for how you will work together as a team. This is the one and only task that you and your team are required to do between now and September 17. We will reference the quiz during our development, so please make sure you get it done.

Collaborative Team  List + Weekly Schedule

Community Open House - September 19, 2021
Hixson will host a community Open House and ribbon cutting on Sunday, September 19 from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm. During this time, community members will have the opportunity to tour the building, view the ribbon cutting, listen to a few short speeches (Dr. Simpson, BOE, etc), hear Cbabi Bayoc conduct "artist talks" about our murals, enjoy refreshments, take fun pictures at a Hixson photo booth, and more! 

Since this is a Sunday, your attendance is not required. However, please consider attending because we have been asked to offer teacher-led activities around the building such as games in the gym, STEAM activities, music (band/orchestra/choir) etc. More details on the community open house will be forthcoming.