Weekly Forecast for March 20th-24th

Monday the 20th

DLI Team Meeting @ 3:30

Tuesday the 21st

Lock Down Drill 

Staff Meeting @ 3:30

PTA Meeting @ 6:00

Wednesday the 22nd

Ramadan Begins

Thursday the 23rd

Safety Meeting @ 8:00

Multicultural Night @ 6:00-7:30

Friday the 24th

3rd Grade Awards Assembly @ 10:00

Lunch Service-Jarvis, Flanagan, Kempster 

ELPA Testing all week

Whew. I am glad last week is over. I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the amazing weather on Saturday. I was able to get to the garden clean up for a bit. We had a fantastic turn out! Thank you Max and Lily for your work on this. 

• We were able to put forward several quality candidates for positions at both Clark and Harrison Park. Once these positions have been officially filled I will share out information. 

• I hope for everyone's sake this week flies by. Hold tight to your classroom routines and expectations and keep in mind many student's are not excited for a break from the consistency and care you all provide. Increase those positives and enjoy the week with your students. 

• We will have a Lockdown Drill on Tuesday. Please note we are not announcing the time. We do encourage you to let your students know it will happen at some point during the day. I also encourage you to discuss the importance of this drill and the need for them to take it seriously. If you need support with this prior to the drill, or after, please reach out to Leah, Dan, Kara or Jill. 

Lockdown Locks, Lights, Out of Sight Lockdown is activitated when there is a threat inside the school building.  Students: Immediately move away from the threat. Get to a safe area‐classroom or away from the school. Stay out of sight Maintain silence. Teachers: Immediately bring  students in to the classroom. Lock the classroom door. Cover interior windows, lights out. Move away from sight. Maintain silence Wait for First Responders to open the door.  Take attendance account for students.

• Ramadan begins this Wednesday. I have attached two resources that are helpful in regards to ways we can support our Muslim students. We will talk more about this at Tuesday's staff meeting. I anticipate that Thursday and Friday will be the most difficult days for students who will be fasting. In my experience the first few days are an adjustment for students.  We will have an table, or tables, available for students who are fasting in the cafeteria. Typically, we have very few students in K-3 who ask for this space. In 4th/5th there are more students. 6th-8th graders often are given a space to talk during lunch but they usually opt to remain with their friends. We will also provide a space for students requesting it. Our spaces will most likely be Emily's office for female students and Dan's office for male students. Non-Muslims should not be in these spaces. Prayers should take no more than 15-20 minutes in total, this includes time to cleanse. If students are praying a pass should be given and you should expect them to be gone for 15-20 minutes. We will work these out on a case by case basis. Please refer any questions around this to Emily or me. 

 https://www.weareteachers.com/support-students-during-ramadan/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/column-teachers-can-support-students-ramadan

• Multicultural Night is one of the two nights we ask for staff support. The first night is Open House and then staff can decide what other night to attend between Multicultural Night or 8th Grade Promotion/Recognition. This expectation is for PAT members only. This event will begin at 6:00, but we ask all staff supporting to be here by 5:15 for set up etc. The event ends at 7:30 and we should be done with clean up etc. by 8:00 putting us within three hours. We will have a sign up in the office by mid-day tomorrow. 

• Teachers/Classes who will have displays for Multicultural Night please let me know so we can begin our map for the evening.

• ELPA testing will continue, and hopefully wrap up, this week. 

• We have scheduled Multicultural Night on the Thursday before Spring Break for the past six years (okay COVID got in the way of at least two). Unfortunately, this year it coincides with Ramadan. We will have less of a food focus in order to be mindful. I know sunset is at 7:26 so we will work to ensure those fasting are included. 

• I have a lot of catching up to do after last week in terms of emails, etc. I want to thank Jill for her presence. Full attention will not be put on transitions for both Clark and Harrison Park. This week we will be continuing to ask about transportation, budgets, moving, etc. Please know this is the focus of my work for the duration. Again, our goal is to try to make both transitions smooth. In terms of administration at Clark we are still in a holding pattern. I am confident things will begin to move in the next few weeks as the principal hiring season is in full swing. 

• PAT members Emily, Jill or I will be reaching out to let you know an approximate week we hope to do your evaluations and which one of us will be doing yours.