Principal’s Report to the LSC – 4/15

Purpose

To provide updates at Kelvyn Park School from Instruction, Culture & Climate, Parents & Community, and Operations lenses to provide the LSC with a holistic understanding of the organizational improvement efforts.

Instruction

• The district released guidance on Remote Learning at Schools. Their guidance came in the form of 6 Commitments. They are: a) Provide daily remote learning materials equitably to all students that reinforce critical grade-level standards and prioritize social and emotional needs, b) Ensure all educators are virtually available and engaged with their students every school day, c) Ensure your school community is virtually available to students and families during regular school day hours through the use of “virtual office hours”, d) Monitor and track student engagement on a weekly basis, e) Maintain established structures to facilitate staff collaboration, planning, and development regarding the implementation of remote learning plans and to support long-term planning, and f) Support the continued development of all educators to meet the demands of remote learning. Because the school had a few elements of this in place before the district’s guidance, there was a need to identify where what we were currently doing needed to be modified. This comparison between the 6 Commitments, our previous plan, and our current plan can be found at the link. Our updated 10 Expectations for Remote Learning at Kelvyn Park are listed below. Staff received these via email on 4/2, and principal held virtual staff meeting on 4/3 to review. It went into effect on Monday, 4/13. 
  • 1. Continue providing work to students so that there is minimum engagement time (defined below): 
    • 7th & 8th graders have ~180 minutes of engagement per day, which is ~26 minutes per class per day 
    • 9th-12th graders have ~270 minutes of engagement per day, which is ~39 minutes per class per day 
    • Definitions: 
      • Minimum Engagement Time: Includes both digital interaction and assigned work; should reflect a balance of the varied engagement activities: skills practice, projects, enrichment activities, reading 
      • Skill Practice: Skill practice opportunities that are grade level and developmentally appropriate and easily student-driven. 
      • Projects: Activities allow students to develop their understanding of concepts taught throughout the school year and apply their knowledge in new and interesting ways. 
      • Enrichment Activities: Games, puzzles, movement activities, and other opportunities to explore areas of interest support students in developing their general cognitive and life skills. 
      • Reading: Students should have daily opportunities to read diverse, engaging texts of their choice. In the primary grades, this may mean students are reading with an older family member or caregiver. 
  • 2. Continue updating the Assignments & Communication Tracker to be completed every Friday, end of day. 
    • This is an electronic document where teachers keep a log of how they are communicating with their students and when 
    • A sample is found here 
  • 3. Be digitally available during new Virtual School Hours: 9:00am-2:00pm (1 hour lunch built-in). 
  • 4. Directly engage with students for at least two hours per day. One of those hours will be daily Virtual Office Hours. 
  • 5. Provide students with feedback at least once per week. 
    • Utilize Google Classroom, Hangouts, Meet or any approved platform to share feedback with students. 
    • Update your Assignments & Communication Tracker to include when and how feedback was shared. 
  • 6. Clerks (Ms. Vega and Ms. Ramirez) will be available between virtual school hours, 9am-2pm to address family concerns or questions. 
    • Call in to Main Office, check voicemails, and follow up by dialing *67 from personal phones. Log calls made here 
    • Emails of clerks provided in parent communication 
  • 7. Continue entering grades only for assignments that improve a student’s grade. 
    • Should not lower a student’s grade 
    • “Incompletes” can be used if students show no engagement, but they must be provided with the opportunity to make up the incomplete assignments when school re-opens. 
  • 8. Continue providing tailored supports for student subgroups. 
    • Failing students → Lead: Andrick 
    • Students without technology → Lead: Adams 
    • Diverse Learners → Lead: Hopp 
    • English Language Learners → Lead: Jara 
    • STLS Students → Lead: Andrick 
    • Seniors → Lead: Andrick 
    • 8th Graders → Lead: McGregory 
  • 9. Continue meeting in designated teams via Google Hangout per the schedule emailed during the week of 3/23. 
    • Use the Virtual Team Meetings schedule document for a list of when teams meet as well as their respective Google Hangout links. For questions, reach out to the “Lead” of each respective team listed on the “KP Team List” tab. 
    • Collaborate to develop long-term Scope & Sequence planning from 7th through 12th grades within teams. 
    • Minimum of 1 hour per week. 
  • 10. Administration will continue to support teachers and teams to meet the demands of Remote Learning. 
    • Provide resources such as the list of teacher virtual learning topics on Learning Hub to identify the most relevant PD for the departments 
    • ODLSS Professional Development Opportunities during the COVID-19 School Closure 
    • Infinitec Webinars from ODLSS 3.30.2020 
    • Free college-level online classes at Coursera 
    • Provide feedback to teams on team learning goals. 
    • Regularly communicate with staff when expectations evolve during virtual school hours. 
• Vacancies: 
  • 1. Technology Coordinator – Abenicio Casias is our new, fulltime Technology Coordinator. He was with us for 3 days before the school closure. However, the technology rooms were completely reorganized and cleaned during the closure. This action helped school leadership understand 
  • 2. Diverse Learners Teacher – Conducted interviews for candidates for the SY21 year. CPS officials said they would not prioritize hires right now due to the COVID-19 closure. Tentative offer to a candidate for SY21, pending her graduation in June 2020 and CPS staffing services for SY21. 

Culture & Climate: 

• Hosting weekly or biweekly (depending on need) virtual meetings with staff to keep everyone informed and united
• School logo is complete, website is in final stages of content development. Student hoodies with new logo has been delayed due to COVID-19 closure, but we have pop sockets, stickers, and staff t-shirts. If school closure is extended past 4/30, then logo will be unveiled to staff in a virtual meeting. 
• Vacancies: 
  • Student Advocate – Converting this position to a Culture & Climate Coordinator. Conducted interviews and have a final candidate who verbally committed for the SY21 school year, tentatively beginning June 2020. 

Parents & Community: 

• Remote Learning Message to parents (emailed to all students, Remind texts sent, posted on school’s website). The linked message, also found in our LSC Folder, explained the expectations for student learning, what to expect, and how to access the materials during the school closure. It is provided in English and Spanish. 
• The school remains a CPS food distribution site. 
• Laptop distribution > On Tuesday, 4/14, Wednesday, 4/15, and Thursday, 4/16, from 9am-12pm laptops will be distributed to our students and parents who need them for Remote Learning. The full plan can be found here. These are some high-level points about the distribution. For more details, click the link to the full plan 
  • Assigned days (Teachers posted this in their Google Classrooms) 
    • Tuesday, 4/14 – Students with last name that starts A-H 
    • Wednesday, 4/15 – Students with last name that starts I-P 
    • Thursday, 4/16 – Students with last name that starts Q-Z 
  • Communication: Families have been notified in the following ways 
    • Phone calls to all STLS, 12th, 8th, DL, ELL, and students identified on the document teachers added student names to who needed devices. 
    • Our website has the information posted in English & Spanish
    • An email in English & Spanish was sent to all students with this information and a message to inform their parents. 
    • Remind messages are sent to parents who signed up for students 7th-12th grades 
    • External partners have been informed 
    • Teachers, please post the Assigned Days information above in your Google Classroom. 
  • General Logistics: 
    • All staff will be provided with personal protection equipment (PPE) during distribution 
    • We will use Door 9, the entrance on Kostner Street by Room 109 
    • Blue tape will be used to maintain social distancing while picking up laptops 
    • Parent will confirm student’s information and present ID 
    • Staff will assign a laptop # to the student, and ask parents to fill out equipment form