Scoop

TRANSFORM 24

High School

• Increase graduation rate from 79.2% to 80% by spring of 2024. ​
  
• Increase proficiency on the ELA state assessment from 12.26% to 17.00% for the class of 2026.​
  
• Increase Graduation+ percentage from 36.42% to 45.00% by spring of 2024.
  

Middle School

• Increase grade level proficiency on the ELA state assessment from 21.42% to 25.00% for the class of 2030, 18.34% to 22.00% for the class of 2029, and 19.46% to 23.00% for the class of 2028. ​
  
• Decrease percentage of outgoing 8th graders who qualify for Foundations of Algebra from 21.63% to 18.00% by spring of 2024.​
  

WICHITA HIGH SCHOOL EAST

WICHITA HIGH SCHOOL HEIGHTS

WICHITA HIGH SCHOOL SOUTH

WICHITA HIGH SCHOOL WEST

WICHITA HIGH SCHOOL NORTH

All principals, please fill out THIS form before May 29th, 2024. Should take you no more than a couple of minutes.

Thank you to the schools that have already participated in the student safety and belonging survey. This survey should be given to students that received parent opt-in permission by May 10th. We are currently up to 4,111 responses. Elementary has 1,295 responses (31.5%), Middle School has 1,710 responses (41.6%), and High School has 1,106 responses (26.9%). The following schools do not yet have responses recorded for the safety and belonging survey:

• Elementary – Adams, Chisholm Trail, Cloud, College Hill, Dodge, Enterprise, Horace Mann Elementary, Kensler, Ortiz, Stanley and Woodland
  
• Middle School – EIA MS, Gateway, Mayberry, Stucky
  
• High School – Levy and Towne East Learning Center
  

There is still time to conduct the survey. The survey deadline is Friday, May 10th. Thank you for participating in this survey that will provide the baseline for goal #3 on our Every Student, Future Ready Strategic Plan.

As you know graduating seniors in all public-school districts are to complete a senior exit survey before leaving high school. Starting with the Class of 2028 the Senior Survey will count as one of the post-secondary assets. In anticipation of that a common senior survey has been created then approved by the Secondary Office to be completed by all seniors in each WPS high school. The below survey takes priority over all building and program specific surveys conducted at each building. Building principals have the discretion to determine when and where the survey is conducted as long as it is done prior to the dismissal of the seniors.

Attached is a QR code if teachers wish to post in their rooms and a direct link is below.

Senior Survey Link

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECORDING.

The Strategic Plan update powerpoint is attached HERE.

As we approach April 8, there have been several questions about policy or procedure for the eclipse. First, please use the article from NASA website to understand what safety measures should be used. We will not require a permission slip should you have classes and/or your entire school go outside in the afternoon. However, it is critical that the safety guidelines are communicated to all participants and anyone wanting to participate must have the proper eye protection.

NASA Webpage

If a parent calls their student in absent to travel to watch the eclipse, please code those as excused - Principal Approval.

KansaStar is now our one stop shop for all of our School Improvement goals, work and documentation. Whether you are new to the system and need guidance, answers to questions or more information on the work, we are here for you! Our last office hours via Teams so you or anyone from your team can come for help! Office hours dates and times are as follows:

April 19th – 8 – 8:45a

Reminders as we approach the end of the year:

BLT Data dive

End of April/Early May – Review and complete CCI and make sure that KansaStar indicators are assessed and reviewed

KansaStar indicators should be updated and completed by May 10, 2024

Denise Fuoco is also available any time for questions pertaining to KansaStar. You can contact her at dfuoco@usd259.net or 973-4624.

Please click on the date to access the Teams meeting link.

If a MS student who will be a freshman the 24-25 school year would like to take PE over the summer they will need to sign up and pay with their base HS. The application opens April 8th.

PDF LINK HERE: https://usd259net-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/dcadenawright_usd259_net/EV_nQ8JW8aJLuWIlrG_Fat4BifsD0Rml4W3GV8DhpBv-Nw?e=wSd2UX

LINK HERE

LINK HERE

For the month of February, the Office of Innovation and Implementation would like to give a Shout Out to Pleasant Valley Middle School. Their hard work and dedication stood out by making a difference by decreasing their Chronic Absenteeism rate by 1.75%! Great job PVM keep up all the hard work, you’re making a difference!

Previous Month CA Rate: – 35.94%

Current Month CA Rate: – 34.19%

In order to accommodate families as they consider their attendance options for next school year, the WPS Magnet Department has extended the application deadline to March 22, 2024.

Additionally, families who have not had the opportunity to visit magnet schools that they are interested in will be able to do so on March 19th and 20th by calling the school to schedule an appointment.

If families are not able to schedule an appointment during the school day, elementary magnet schools will be open for visitors from 4:30 – 5:00 p.m. on March 20th and from 8:15 – 8:45 a.m. on March 21st . Elementary visitations within these timeframes do not require an appointment. Middle Magnet Schools will be open for visitation on March 20th from 2:30 – 3:30. Middle School visitations within these timeframes do not require an appointment.

The additional opportunities will be shared with impacted families in parent link communication later today.

Please forward this communication to anyone else in your building who may need it.

PLEASE CLICK THE LINKS BELOW FOR THE BLOCK SCHEDULES FOR EACH SCHOOL:

• DISTRICT
  
• WEST
  
• CHET
  
• FURURE READY
  
• HEIGHT
  
• NORTH
  
• NORTWEST
  
• SOUTH
  
• SOUTHEAST
  

Dear School and District Leaders,

We’re pleased to announce the revised course and exam descriptions (CEDs) for all four AP® Physics courses are available for the 2024-25 school year.

What to Do

1.Confirm that your AP Physics teachers are aware of the revisions for the 2024-25 school year.

2.Confirm that your AP Physics teachers have downloaded their revised CEDs and will be using them to plan for the 2024-25 school year.

3.Ensure your AP Physics teachers are aware that they’ll need to reauthorize their courses for 2024-25 via the Course Audit by January 31, 2025

Attachment: Flier

Applications are due on Friday March 1st. I would love for you to remind students and your staff about this opportunity. We have a lot of students that will apply within the last two weeks historically.

We are currently sitting at 80 students from 52 high schools. I have attached a few things I would love for you to pass along.

For more information, students can visit www.emporia.edu/kfta where the application is located along with a short video.

Students do not have to be in the Teach and Train or Early Childhood pathway either.

I appreciate all of your assistance to increase attendance and grow future educators of Kansas.

Attachment: APSI Flier

AP Summer institute registration has started.

Principals, we will only have 15 slots available this school year and it will be first come first serve. The secondary office will pay for registration fees and travel. Please ask your AP Teachers to email Denisse Wright (dcadenawright@usd259.net) directly if they are interested in participating. Denisse will then send each participant instructions on what to do from there. Thank you!

Your principal and AP headshots are ready to view. Click HERE to access the folder.

• February 13- March 22, 2024: Middle & Elementary Applications - extended application window March 22nd deadline
• March 25- April 4, 2024: Middle & Elementary Application Processing and Lottery Selection.
  
• April 5, 2024: Middle & Elementary Notifications Delivered (email and text; offers are also mailed)
  
• April 8-19, 2024: (INTERNAL NOTE) MS & Elem Accepted Placements in Synergy (additional as they accept) which update every Friday
  
• April 19, 2024: Middle & Elementary Acceptance deadline
  
• April 22-30, 2024: (INTERNAL NOTE) waitlist students and make replacement offers
  

KansaStar is now our one stop shop for all of our School Improvement goals, work and documentation. Whether you are new to the system and need guidance, answers to questions or more information on the work, we are here for you! We will be hosting monthly office hours via Teams so you or anyone from your team can come for help! Office hours dates and times are as follows:

February 12th – 2 – 3p

March 22nd – 11 – 11:30a

April 19th – 8 – 8:45a

Denise Fuoco is also available any time for questions pertaining to KansaStar. You can contact her at dfuoco@usd259.net or 973-4624.

Please click on the date to access the Teams meeting link.

• Please click HERE for the approved Parent Teacher Conference Recommendations.
  

Attachments: FIELD TRIP FORM SYNERGY.PDF

Schools can have their field trip forms uploaded to Synergy for families to sign electronically!

Process:

• Create a workorder in FreshService on the ClassLink portal and attach the permission slips. (Please have them already translated into necessary languages for your school.)
  
• Include in the work order:
  
• The date the form needs to be available to families
  
• What grade level the trip pertains to
  
• The deadline for the form to be acknowledged for transportation and meal needs, if applicable.
  
• Include if there is a fee associated with the field trip.
  
• IST will notify your school, when the field trip form is ready for families to see and sign.
  

Once the permission slip is received, it will be uploaded into ParentVue and set it by either grade level or student groups so the correct set of families will be able to view/acknowledge the form. Families will see the Parent Acknowledgements screen when they first login to ParentVue. Details of the field trip can be seen by clicking on the hyperlink to open the permission slip. Families can then acknowledge the form by choosing either Yes or No and electronically signing their name. Families can use either the web version of ParentVue or the app on their iOS or Android device.

Schools will need to notify families by sending a ParentLink message out to the appropriate group of parents to inform them a field trip permission slip is available through ParentVue for their information and consent.

Schools will be able to run a report U-STUD60 through Synergy to check on which parents have signed off on the permission slip. The report can then be exported into Excel and be modified as needed.

• The following BOE policies have been approved and updated to align with the new graduation requirements. Linked below:
  
• P6326
  
• P6327
  
• P6334
  
• P6725
  
• P6791
  
• P6800
  

Graduation Requirement One Pagers Linked below.

• English
  
• Spanish
  
• Vietnamese
  

Please click below for Data Dive Powerpoints:

• HS
  
• MS
  

Graduation Requirement Changes presentation HERE.

Policy P6333 Credit Options

KansaStar is now our one stop shop for all of our School Improvement goals, work and documentation. Whether you are new to the system and need guidance, answers to questions or more information on the work, we are here for you! We will be hosting monthly office hours via Teams so you or anyone from your team can come for help! Office hours dates and times are as follows:

January 9th – 4:15 – 4:45p

February 12th – 2 – 3p

March 22nd – 11 – 11:30a

April 19th – 8 – 8:45a

Due in December: BLT reviews data and prepares for semester presentation to ALL staff at January inservice.

Due in January: BLT presents to all staff (data dive) at January inservice.

Timeline reminder: All BLT agenda and minutes should be entered and up to date in KansaStar.

Denise Fuoco is also available any time for questions pertaining to KansaStar. You can contact her at dfuoco@usd259.net or 973-4624.

Please click on the date to access the Teams meeting link.

Attachment:https://usd259net-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/dcadenawright_usd259_net/ERBjkfhYp85Jtaae1u6xoA4BBiDPcJW67gSMLP_eLBqwPQ?e=PUXykb

I am excited to bring you information about our district’s initiative to recruit elementary and secondary building leaders. The WPS Aspiring Building Leader Program will serve as an entry point for staff who are interested in obtaining a position with Wichita Public Schools as a building assistant principal or principal. This program will provide learning that supports the creation of a pool with highly qualified and well-trained instructional and relational leaders that stand ready to apply for consideration for any future building leader vacancies. The WPS Aspiring Building Leader Program will also help ensure a sustainable pipeline for building level leaders at all levels.

Please find attached the document above that outlines the program in more detail and the applicant requirements needed for consideration. Should you be interested in applying, you may do so now by clicking here. Please make sure to scroll to the current employee’s section and choose administration in Taleo. The program is titled Aspiring Leader. The application will remain open through Friday, February 9th You may also find more information about this program by reviewing our web-page by clicking here. If you have any questions regarding this program or the processes involved, please reach out to me or Dr. Christie Meyer, Executive Director of Secondary Schools.

Finally, on behalf of the elementary and secondary offices, we would like to thank each of you for your dedication to the continued academic and social growth of our students. We appreciate you and wish you a successful rest of your year.

Attachments: Info Sheet, Schedule

Our third cohort of Preparing New Principals is now accepting applications. The window for applications to be accepted is now until December 1st. The application can be found in Taleo. Please find more information on the program in the attachments. If you have any questions, please call or email Christie Meyer.

The Board of Education approves the following policy revisions. Attached are the policy revisions the Board reviewed, publication versions, updated Policy Index by Number, and Index by Subject.

All policies are available on the BOE policies page at www.usd259.org/boe.

Two weeks away and we will be slinging turkeys!! Attached are the following:

-Tally sheet - please complete for your school and bring to the Waterwalk on Friday, November 17, between 7 and 9:30 am

-Map of Waterwalk and route to drop off turkeys, canned items, and cash/check (made out to UMOD) donations - parking and staging for presentations can be done in the parking garage next to Kellogg

-Turkey Drive flyer - English and Spanish

-Shopping list - English and Spanish - please put all canned items in the one box and all soft items in another box and NO GLASS

-Turkey Drive talking points 2023

-Flyer for parents wanting to know how to get turkeys and side items from UMOD - both English and Spanish

-UMOD 33rd Annual Turkey Drive information sheet - please read through as there is a deadline for bulk orders

Any questions, please contact Patty Stuever.

Any school interested in sending a team to the Summer Elevate Leadership Summer program during the June 11-13 Wichita session, please let Christie Meyer know by November 10. We will work with USA Kansas to reduce the cost depending on the number of schools participating.

The 2023 annual turkey drive benefiting United Methodist Open Door will be here in less than a month! Has your school made plans for donating turkeys and/or side items to the drive which will happen on Friday, November 17, 2023 from 7-9:30 am at the Waterwalk? Trophies will be awarded in the following categories (If you have a trophy or plaque from the 2022 turkey drive, please bring it to the November principal's meeting):

-High School - first big school, first small school, presentation

-MIddle School - first big school, first small school, first K-8 school, presentation middle school and K-8

-Elementary - first big school, first middle school, first small school, presentation

-Special Schools - first, presentation

-Non-Attendance Centers - first, presentation.

Who will surpass Jefferson Elementary's donation of 200 actual turkeys and 4880 side items last year? Let the trash talking begin!! Any questions, contact Patty Stuever at pstuever@usd259.net.

Are you interested in refreshing your knowledge on the MDR process or just want to have the PPT slides on your desktop for reference? Please download THIS attachment and references it when needed.

Attachment: Cleanup Instructions, September Cleanup

There is a new tab called SigDis (Significant Disproportion). The main thing to remember when entering a number in the DAYS field in Synergy when you assign a suspension, is that you are counting SCHOOL CALENDAR days. I put a screen shot of the school calendar on that tab for reference. Make sure you are only counting days where students are actually in school. Your count may be correct, but the report pulls anything over 10 days. Please double check your number if it is on that tab. A lot of them are way more than the date range that is entered.

As always, please reach out if you have any questions. I am not able to “go back and double check” that you have corrected all of your data, so please be thorough when looking at this spreadsheet.

Emily Vickery

District Leaders,

The November PLA falls on Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) this year (November 2nd). Because of that, we are planning a culturally relevant, relationship-building celebration during the first part of the agenda to honor those whom have passed and helped us to become the education leaders we are today. A big part of Día de los Muertos, in the Mexican tradition, is creating the “ofrenda” (altar) and our hope is to do something similar by incorporating pictures from those that have passed and inspired YOUR journey to become the leader you are today. Basically, create our very own community “ofrenda” to foster belonging while honoring those that are important to us. In order to do that, we need your help by sending us a digital picture of someone you want to celebrate/honor.

We understand grief is challenging and we are all in different parts of the journey towards healing and peace. We want to be respectful of that and by no means is participation required nor is it meant to evoke sadness, but more celebrate and honor those that have contributed to this amazing education leadership community which we all belong to. If you choose to participate, we respectfully ask you to send us a picture of someone from your personal life or someone that has contributed/mentored/inspired you professionally. This could be a family member, past principal, teacher, leader etc.

In order to be ready, we need your digital picture sent to Maria Palacios or Denisse Wright by Friday, October 27th. We hope to create a meaningful activity for you and give you a glimpse into an important cultural celebration for a large number of students we serve.

As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions and/or need more information.

Thank you for the information below on freezing grades. Since the definition of freezing grades has been that the grade is frozen and it can’t go up or down, we would like to use the term “hold harmless” which means the student’s grade can only go up and not be penalized as a result of the hearing process. This will allow for clarity and distinguish between “freeze grades” and “hold harmless.”

The expectation is still for schools to provide assignments or homework during the school days leading up to the hearing AND once the hearing happens, students are provided additional assignments or homework until the reassignment decision occurs.

KansaStar is now our one stop shop for all of our School Improvement goals, work and documentation. Whether you are new to the system and need guidance, answers to questions or more information on the work, we are here for you! We will be hosting monthly office hours via Teams so you or anyone from your team can come for help! Office hours dates and times are as follows:

(THESE DATES ARE LINKED HERE)

• October 12th – 8 – 8:45a
  
• November 16th – 10 – 10:45a
  
• January 9th – 4:15 – 4:45p
  
• February 12th – 2 – 3p
  
• March 22nd – 11 – 11:30a
  
• April 19th – 8 – 8:45a
  

Due in October: Assess the final 2 indicators that align with our big rocks and CCI.

Timeline reminder: All BLT agenda and minutes should be entered and up to date in KansaStar.

Denise Fuoco is also available any time for questions pertaining to KansaStar. You can contact her at dfuoco@usd259.net or 973-4624.

Please click on the date to access the Teams meeting link.

Please make a note of the date and location change for the DGSR Workshop. October 17th, AMAC Room #505

Attention Registrars: DGSR Opens on October 2nd and will close on October 31st, 2023. PLEASE NOTE: THE SCHOOL REPORTING DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 23rd, 2023.

An in-person Workshop regarding DGSR will be held at AMAC (rm 505) October 17th 9:00 am- 3:00 pm. This is a required meeting; however, you are not required to attend all day and will be able to return to your building to continue to work on your DGSR. The classroom is available to complete your work until 3:00 pm. This is also a great time for troubleshooting with the IST-DGSR team.

Together registrars and/or data leaders will need access to Synergy and KSDE. https://apps.ksde.org/Authentication/login.aspx

Your data leader/data clerk will be included as he/she will have access to the KSDE Web Applications website. (Registrars have access effective September 2022).

Registrars should have their KSDE Web Application sign on and ability to access the DGSR data.

Please bring laptops to access the necessary data and websites.

You will pull reports on the DGSR from the KSDE website, to review and based on the review/research, the changes will be made through the KIDS system for the October 1, 2022- September 30, 2023, timeframe or you will make the changes through the state’s DGSR application- Special Circumstance to Remove from Cohort.

Actions Required:

Forward this email to your data leader or other DGSR team members at your building, if they are not included on this email.

KSDE Log-On-Registrars: Be sure you have the correct password or submit a password reset on the KSDE log on site. Please check that now, so that you have access during the DGSR reporting window.

Review the Dropout Report for your school from the KSDE KIDS application and compare to the Dropouts listed on the DGSR application. Log into the DGSR application, download and review the Unresolved Exits and Dropouts. (NOTE: This data is ever-changing as records are corrected etc. pull new data often).

Review the Graduate report from KSDE for your school. Notify Sonja Baughman of any graduate that should be included that is not listed on the KSDE report. Log into the DGSR application and review the cohort information for your school, this is crucial. (Specific lists are available by clicking on the Count total for each cohort year. Review those lists of students and submit corrections, as necessary).

Email Sonja Baughman & Mariellen Gipson with information on any current exits ( October 1, 2022 - September 30, 2023) that need re-sent with a different exit reason. Use the attached 22-23 DGSR – Exit Changes Document. Please use the following subject line in the email : DGSR Changes and your school’s name.

Note: The process of working the dropout and unresolved exits is ongoing. This report will be a moving target until the workshop, as we send up assignment and enrollment records and past exits. This report runs nightly at KSDE, so changes made during the workday will be reflected once this report ‘batches’ at KSDE in the evening.

Helpful Links: KSDE - Graduation and Dropouts, https://apps.ksde.org/Authentication/login.aspx,

• The survey window opens Sept 25th and will end the evening of Oct. 27th.
  

• If you have not created a plan or not have a date to administer of this survey for staff and parents, please make a plan. No extensions will be allowed. The notification should have come through to all authorized users (principals) from this address: techsupport@pacificnwpublish.com on Sept 18th, which contains the initial set-up instructions. BE SURE TO LOOK IN your junk folder as it often gets filtered as spam. Surveys are to be administered to Staff and Parents, NOT STUDENTS.
  

High Schools you need to submit at least one name, you can have more. Middle Schools it is optional this year as you received opportunities last year for this.

Restorative Circles are a process used to address conflicts, build community, and promote healing through open dialogue and active listening. If someone gets trained in facilitating Restorative Circles, they should be able to

1. Understand restorative justice principles and conflict resolution.
   
2. Develop active listening, empathy, and communication skills.
   
3. Master the Restorative Circle process and group dynamics.
   
4. Maintain neutrality, ethics, and confidentiality.
   
5. Prioritize self-care and ongoing education.
   

Facilitating Restorative Circles is a challenging and rewarding role that requires a combination of skills, knowledge, and a commitment to promoting healing and reconciliation in communities. Training and experience are essential for becoming an effective Restorative Circle facilitator.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_1-OTDmD8USMWnz15Tfm2naLpvd1iNBKvcm5OBLPVPlUQ1ZPRTlWVUNSOEE5Uk05UkJTSVdMUkU3Ri4u

The yearly DGSR (Dropout Graduation Summary Report) workshop will be held at IST in the Large Classroom on October 11th, from 9:00 am- 3:00 pm.

High School Registrars have their own KSDE DGSR sign-on. They need to bring a laptop and plan to attend the first part of the meeting (at least 9:00am to 10:00am). Once they are confident about the clean-up process for the data they can return to their buildings or stay to clean up data and ask questions, as needed. Often the Data Leader from the building will attend and/or help research the details for their building.

Registrars will receive a My Learning Plan (Frontline) link so that they may earn professional growth credits.

THIS attachment has been updated to reflect accurate lunch expectations. Staff should take their duty free lunch during a break in the conference schedule, but buildings should not close during published conference times.

As the Safe and Civil Survey window approaches, please be on the lookout for an email from techsupport@pacificnwpublish.com that provides information you need to administer the surveys and gain access to the dashboard. If you have not received this email, please check your deleted folder and junk mail folder. PLEASE NOTE: We WILL NOT be conducting student surveys again this year, only parent and staff surveys will be conducted. Additional information include:

Title: Safe and Civil School Climate Surveys SY23-24

Due Date/ Important Date: The survey window will open on Sept 25th and end the evening of Oct. 27th. Please have a plan in place. No extensions will be allowed.

Message: The notification should have come through to all authorized users (principals) from this address: techsupport@pacificnwpublish.com on Sept 18th, which contains the initial set-up instructions. BE SURE TO LOOK IN your junk folder as it often gets filtered as spam. Surveys are to be administered to Staff and Parents, NOT STUDENTS.

Please be sure to fill out the questionnaire linked below as soon as possible.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_1-OTDmD8USMWnz15Tfm2qJDpcXZ0FJOkAnGSYs1IElUQUQ0MDlCTlBURkhPVDRRUk1GM1RDUDZGQy4u

Wednesday, October 11 is the WorkKeys/PSAT/Pre-ACT testing day at all of our high schools. All seniors will take the WorkKeys. Sophomores and juniors who sign up will take the PSAT. All freshmen will take the Pre-ACT. Buses will run at 12:30 for students who do not receive additional time and 3:10 for students who do receive additional time during our fall testing day. Tier 1 and Tier 3 schools should adjust the run times by 1 hour.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE PLA SURVEY!

Please review this spreadsheet (sent by Emily Vickery via email) and make the corrections in Synergy.

Attachments: August 23 Discipline Cleanup.xlsx

A quick reminder that your SIP updates for August were due last Friday Sept 2. This included adding your building mission and vision and core beliefs to KansaStar. Thank you also for uploading your BLT notes every two weeks. At PLA, we will review September requirements for the SIP as well as discuss the foundational needs assessment. Enjoy your Friday creating a brighter future for your students. And do something for you on this long weekend. You’ve earned it!

Each buildings WIG(s) and Lead(s) need to be created by the people that are doing the work and uploaded into KansaStar by September 30

Foundational Needs Assessment should be completed by your BLT no later than September 30, 2023

Wichita Public Schools Foundational Needs Assessment

It is almost Turkey Drive time!

SAVE THE DATE

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Attachments:

• Shopping list
• Flyer
  

Please make sure mileage is entered into Oracle by

Monday, September 11th.

Your delegated office staff will need your mileage book or spreadsheet to add to the system.

If you have any questions, please ask Denisse!

There were two BOE policies updated on Monday, August 28 we’d like to draw your attention to.

• LINK: P1806 Report to Parents on Student Progress – updates to reporting schedule, teacher/school obligations, and grading metrics
  
• LINK: P7350 School Trips and Transportation – additional eligibility statement for student attendance on field trips
  

Remember, 5 walkthroughs a week (1.87% of your time)! We will begin pulling this data starting next week as we were giving everyone two weeks to settle in.

Email notifications containing initial set-up details will go out on Sept 18th to all authorized users (principals). The communication from Ancora will come from this address: techsupport@pacificnwpublish.com. Watch your junk folder closely as it may get filtered as spam.

Please set up by September 22.

Please mark all students that attend the FRC in the afternoon present for Advocacy unless you get an email from the FRC saying that a kid is absent.

Please email Eric Shipman who his team should email at your school to update any kid that is absent from the FRC.

The first point of contact for parents being sent to speak to someone at AMAC should be PACSN (Parent and Community Support Network) at 973-4668. Please do not send them to the Secondary Office or give them the Secondary Office number as this often makes it more difficult for the parents to agree to speak to PACSN. It is important that we route all parents/guardians through PACSN for data tracking purposes.

Please advise that if they would like to come in person they should make an appointment with PACSN and if they are not able to reach someone they should leave a voicemail.

We need to ensure all building leaders are all consistent this election season. If in doubt about anything below please contact Zack Hood at zhood@usd259.net

If you have a BOE candidate who is wanting to visit with you or take tour of your buildings please do the following:

• Have the candidate contact Zack @ zhood@usd259.net
  
• Tours will be coordinated and escorted by Zack
  
• Zack will take requests for building tours from candidates for sites within their district
  
• If you have invited candidates to your school event, please contact Zack, as we can not invite one and not all.
  
• Please contact Zack with any questions or concerns
  

Principals & AP's if you are sharing a document from the teams page with your staff, please download and then share. Some staff are requesting access to the teams page and these pages are for assistant principals/principals only.

Middle School Restorative Practices Update:

We hope that you took some time to build community intentionally with your faculty and staff and had fun with all those opportunities.

Each of you should have been contacted by your Restorative Practices coach. You have a total of 13 coaching days that have been planned out for Middle School support. Most of you used 8 days last year and should be scheduling out the remainder of the days with you, your BLT, classroom visits, professional learning, common area observations, and building out a long-term plan for implementing and practicing Restorative Practices in your school.

High School Restorative Practices Update:

PLEASE SEND DENISSE YOUR SIGN IN SHEETS FOR AUG3-4 & 7-8

Most of the feedback that we got from you and the restorative practices training during report week was positive. We had a few incidents of either the faculty and staff being a bit frustrated with the training or an incident of the trainer not connecting well or a combination of the two.

We will communicate with you the Coaching model for your building starting next week.

Survey Feedback:

Please share with your entire faculty and staff. Please have this completed no later than Friday August 18, 2023.

Thank you for participating in the restorative practices training during report week. We value your feedback and ideas for future planning and support. We will follow up with each building principal with the data from this survey to help inform them and to inform the district office on what we need to do to better support you, your team, students, and our community with restorative practices. https://forms.office.com/r/vTjhgtXBeH

We will once again be participating in the Safe and Civil School Survey for the 23-24 school year. However, just like last year, we WILL NOT be administering the survey to students. Staff and parents will be the groups to complete the survey. There are a couple of reasons why we will not administer to students:

1. We did not get opt-in approval during the enrollment process.
2. Safe and Civil does not allow for their survey questions to be uploaded to our website or enrollment platform.

In order to meet HB 2567 expectations, both items needed to be met but were not accomplished. So, the Safe and Civil will be similar to last year. Since we changed to district-wide common parent conference dates, you will not have to designate a 2-week period to conduct the survey. You will have a window from September 25th through October 27th to complete the staff and parent survey. There will be no extensions or re-opening of the survey window offered this year. It would be wise to schedule this survey within the window soon so you don’t forget to administer the survey. Please forward this message to any staff member responsible for administering the Safe and Civil Survey. Thank you!

Please remind staff that if they are attending a training at AMAC, they will need to enter through the south entrance with their bacge and wear their badge at all times. AMAC staff have been advised not to hold the door open to permit entry to others.

• Homework Hotline will continue throughout this school year (Mon – Thursday 3:30 – 7:30) for any student K-12 to call certified Wichita classroom teachers for homework help, to practice math or reading skills, or for tutorials in the content areas.
  
• The Homework Hotline for first semester will begin on August 28, 2023 and close on December 14, 2023.
  
• Students may call the Homework Hotline at 973-4411 on the phone or via Teams.
  
• We have USD259 licensed teachers for Elementary and for nearly all Secondary academic subjects: Social Studies, Science, English Language Arts, Math, Spanish, as well as Special Ed and ESOL – Our teacher team has taught all grade levels K-12 in USD259.
  
• Spanish and Arabic bilingual staff are available to help parents.
  
• We can do everything from help students with nightly read-aloud to working with groups of students on projects with monitored break-out rooms on Teams.
  
• If you have any questions about the Homework Hotline, please contact Jennifer Sinsel.
  

If a private, parochial, or home school student wants to participate in athletics only, not take a class at your school, the student does not need to enroll in Synergy. The student should be added to the athletic roster and we will count them for the team and school to KSHSAA. If the student is a private or parochial student they will also be counted in that school’s KSHSAA number. Home school students will only count at the participating school since they are otherwise not counted for KSHSAA purposes. [P1400, P1425, P5505]

Attachment: Senate Bill Guidelines