Friday Memo - 2/25/22

Important dates
February 28 - last day for yearbook sales
March - Women's History Month & Middle Level Education Month
March 2 - Probationary Teachers growth plan due
March 7 - Faculty Meeting
March 7 - 11 - School Board Recognition Week
March 11 - end of 3rd quarter
March 15 - Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
March 16 - Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences, 4pm - 8pm
March 18 - 25 - Spring Break

104th issue of Hixson Happenings

WGSD Plan for School Closings due to Inclement Weather

List of 2nd Semester After School Activities

March is Middle Level Education Month!
March has officially been declared Middle Level Education Month by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the Association of Middle Level Education (AMLE), and other notable national organizations that focus on middle level education!

Middle Level Education Month is an opportunity to collectively share what makes young adolescents great. Here are three important facts about middle level education:

• The scope and speed of human development in early adolescence is second only to the period from birth to age three. These years represent the greatest inflection point and opportunity to develop young people as critical thinkers and leaders.
• Young adolescents have so much to offer our communities. They are looking for a place to belong and, when the opportunities are present, are capable of making significant contributions to our communities. Tap into their energy and leadership potential!
• For our students to be academically and personally successful, a supportive environment both at home and at school is required. Our communities must work together to support our young adolescents!

Research tells us that young adolescents thrive when they are provided with learning environments that are responsive, challenging, empowering, equitable, and engaging. Take some time to reflect on how we ensure this type of environment for all Hixson students. We have a lot of good work happening here that should be celebrated! 

Transitioning to Masks Recommended
The following recommendation (from Dr. Simpson's email on February 23) was approved by the BOE last night:

"Starting on Monday, March 7, we would move from mask required to mask recommended in K-12.  If over 1.5% of any school's population (students and staff combined) is COVID positive on any one day, the entire school population would be required to wear masks for the next 14 days.  Given the majority of our preschool children are not vaccine eligible, masks will still be required at the WAFC. If not in the company of preschool children, WAFC staff will not be required to wear a mask."

While the concept of the transition is pretty straight forward, it will be in our best interest to touch base with our students to see if they have any questions or concerns about moving to masks recommended. We will likely ask you to touch base with your students about this during Statesman Time towards the end of next week. We will push out some ideas/talking points for facilitating a brief conversation with students in the Statesman Time calendar. You will hear more about this from Hixson admin next week. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know!

Late Start Days approved by the BOE for 22-23 SY
Last night, the BOE approved the implementation of late start days starting with the 22-23 school year. The purpose of late start days is to create space and time for continued collaboration and student data analysis in team/department CLT/PLC meetings, which will open up more time during the school day for individual plan time. These changes were decided after reviewing previous teacher survey data requesting additional time and based on multiple conversations and recommendations from the district Calendar Committee and Issues Committee. 

Now that late start days are approved, we will need to make some important decisions as a school that include but are not limited to:

1. We need to consider how we want to structure the school day on late start days, and create a bell schedule that facilitates that structure.
2. We need to solidify our CLT groups (who is in what group). Most CLTs will not change.
3. We need to identify CLT leaders and submit names to Jason Adams by April 1. Starting next school year, this will be a paid position. CLT Leaders will be required to attend a summer institute. Please see detailed information about the CLT Leader position below.

CLT Teacher Leader Responsibilities:

• Come to the meeting on time and prepared to follow norms

• Set the agenda

• Communicate with the entire group

• Facilitate the meeting

• Support disaggregation of data (by race, FRL, students with IEPs) to identify the needs of all students

• Challenge internal and external bias

• Keep student learning the priority

• Observe from a systemic lens 

• Identify areas of celebration and improvement

• Participate in ongoing professional learning associated with facilitating CLT work (2-day summer institute, 1 day of summer planning, 3-5 meetings throughout the year)
• Invite support staff and coordinators to attend if needed

Summer Institute Dates: 

Grades 6-12

June 9 & 10, 2022

Facilitator: Jason Adams and Outside Consultant

Participants: Principals, Assistant Principals, Teacher Leaders

6-12 Leadership Institute: Leading for Equity & Excellence through Professional Learning Communities 

• Overview of the PLC Model/CLT Process

• WGSD Expectations for PLC/CLT Work

• Leading through Change

• Leadership and Facilitation Strategies for Principals and Teacher Leaders

Compensation:  

CLT Teacher Leaders will be paid $15 per hour for all district professional learning experiences that are offered outside the school day. 

We will talk more about late start days, CLT set up, and structures/schedules for next year in upcoming faculty meetings. Stay tuned!