November 22, 2024
Friday Focus - Thanksgiving Edition
Thanksgiving Gratitude
I hope everyone had a wonderful week! As we head into Thanksgiving break, I want to express my deepest gratitude to our incredible staff. Your passion and dedication continue to amaze me daily. I hope each of you – whether you're a teacher, aide, custodian, cook, or counselor – can truly disconnect during this break and enjoy quality time with your loved ones.
Academic Calendar Update
When we return, we'll have:
- 12 days of regular classes
- 3 days of semester tests
- Important deadline: Grades and pass plan summaries due December 20th
PASS Plans and Incomplete Procedures ⚠️
Students with Existing PASS Plans:
- If a student with a PASS Plan did not pass your class: complete and submit the PASS Plan summary form - You can email or turn in a print copy. Please use this form so I have a form for each student.
- If the student passed, then nothing needs to be submitted.
- Issue an incomplete grade
- Communicate this status to both parents and student
- Submit the incomplete form to the office. Please use this form so I have a form for each student.
This documentation is crucial for our academic records and student support systems.
Iowa Performance Profile Update
Our latest school performance results have been released. While we've been designated as "targeted year 1" again for our students with disabilities subgroup, I want to share some important context:
- This would have been our year 3 if the state hadn't reset ESSA designations.
- During year 2, we had not implemented any of our changes.
- We're now implementing changes planned from our initial designation.
- Our focus areas:
- Improving proficiency rates
- Accelerating growth rates (our primary opportunity for impact)
- Monitoring progress of our revised math and English special education courses
Schedule Changes & Course Updates
Semester Schedule Adjustments
To better accommodate student course requests, we've implemented a new approach this year by splitting certain year-long classes that don't require specific period assignments. This flexibility has allowed us to fulfill more student preferences.
Exciting New Healthcare Partnership
I'm thrilled to announce our new collaboration with Floyd Valley Hospital for the next school year. They will provide instruction for:
- Exploring Health Career and Teams
- Medical Terminology
- Pharmacology
An informational meeting will be held during January advisory for students interested in healthcare career paths.
Important Dates
- December 1: New Course Proposals Due
- December 18: Semester Tests (Odd Periods)
- December 19: Semester Tests (Even Periods)
- December 20: Make-up Tests, Grades Due, PASS Plan Summaries Due, and Incomplete Forms Due.
Remember to return Monday and Tuesday next week! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break with your families.
Mark
Assistant Principal's Happenings
Things to Update All Y'all:
*On Wednesday evening I restricted the opens of 27 10th-12th grade students due to low grades. A special shout-out to Shay Plueger and our other teacher study halls who bear the brunt of unhappy children. I think it is important, however, since this is one of the best ways to get their attention that grades are of first importance.
*Please announce to your classes that the semester will rapidly finish when we return from Thanksgiving break. If you have freshmen or new students, please start educating them on how semester tests work -- studying, grading, how semester grades are calculated, testing schedule and open lunch, etc. -- they have not been through semester tests yet in their educational careers.
*Attendance law update:
So far this year, we have had 97 students reach 5% absences, 33 reach 10% absences, 15 reach 15% absences with a school engagement meeting, and 6 reach the 20% chronic truancy threshold when the case is turned over to the county attorney. Of these students, 22 are from the Alternative School and 75 are from LCHS.
*Boys Town update:
Personally, I've been teaching (and re-teaching) the skills of
"Disagreeing Appropriately" and "Accepting Decisions" more frequently as of late. Thank you for all your work with the BT methods as well. If you have forgotten to exercise your BT skills lately, this is an excellent window to refresh your skills as we head into the home stretch of Semester 1.
Grateful for our team,
Moss
Upcoming Activities
5:30 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball @ Sioux City East Middle
Comments
Post a Comment