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School No. 4 teacher Mrs. Winfrey and students greet Shirley Green.
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School No. 17 opens the school year with the Superintendent and Mayor.
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Mrs. Little welcomes her Hollywood stars to a new school year at School No. 42.
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First recess of the school year at World of Inquiry School No. 58.
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Important Dates
September 15:
Deadline to send SCEPs to your School Chief, Wanda Pedraza-Santos, and Michele Alberti.
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Updates from the Chiefs
Resource – Marshall Memo
The Marshall Memo
by Kim Marshall. The Marshall Memo has been published since 2003 and is designed to keep Principals, teachers, superintendents, and other educators very well-informed on current research and best practices in the field. Kim Marshall, drawing on his experience as a teacher, Principal, central office administrator, consultant, and writer, lightens the load of busy educators by serving as their "designated reader."
To produce
The Marshall Memo, Kim subscribes to 64 carefully chosen publications, looks through scores of articles each week, and selects 5-10 that have the greatest potential to improve teaching, leadership, and learning. He then writes a brief summary of each article, provides e-links to full articles if they are available, and highlights a few striking quotes. Please enjoy this edition of
The Marshall Memo, 700
.
Principal Meeting Agenda
Thursday, September 14, 8 am-12 pm @ Hart Street.
Communication of Emergencies
Please contact your School Chief immediately regarding any emergencies. Emergencies include but are not limited to misplaced students on buses, medical emergencies, fights, and major personnel issues. Your School Chief should be able to contact you via your District cell phone.
Principal Meetings
Substitutes for Principal meetings should not be used. If you have a unique situation, please discuss the need with your School Chief.
Code of Conduct PD
Universal Precautions - FYI
Teacher APPR Scores and Improvement Plans
Teacher APPR composite scores were provided to teachers last week, and the District has now created Teacher Improvement Plans. Teachers who received a Transition Rating will require a Development or Teacher Improvement Plan if their Transition Rating is Developing or Ineffective. If a teacher did not receive a Transition Rating, their Composite Rating is used to determine whether a TIP is needed.
These plans must be completed by
October 1.
- Attached you will find a blank TIP word document for your use in creating an individual plan for each impacted teacher.
- As in past years, we have created placeholders within PeopleSoft for Principals to attach the TIP once the document has been completed. These placeholders have already been loaded for all teachers requiring a TIP. Please move the document to Complete in PeopleSoft once it is uploaded. Please transfer the TIP or contact the APPR mailbox if you have any TIP placeholders loaded for teachers you do not show in your schools.
Please contact your Chiefs or the APPR mailbox (
[email protected]
) with any questions. Thank you for your support.
RCSD Link App
The
attached poster is being printed and shipped to schools. Elementary Schools will receive 10 posters; Secondary Schools will receive 15 posters. Please display them in your schools in order to promote our new app.
Professional Development Plans
Many of you are in the final stages of SCEP development. As part of that plan, teams are asked to develop a professional development plan to be included in the SCEP. Along with SCEP plans being due on September 14, all Principals should submit their professional development for the year to their School Chief, Wanda Pedraza-Santos, and Michele Alberti.
Transportation Exemption
Every year our District has a number of families who request transportation exemptions. A transportation exemption is any student who lives less than 1.5 miles away from school and receives transportation. The request starts with the Principals. The message that Principals should give to families is the following: all students who require transportation must be routed first, and transportation exemptions will be accommodated as space becomes available. Transportation exemptions will not be considered until the third week of September to allow for the routing of all students who require transportation first. Please note that 100% of the students in “swing space” will receive transportation; no transportation exemption requests are needed.
An exemption is for one school year only; the request must be made every year if need is still there.
2017-18 DTSDE Review Schedule
The 2017-18 DTSDE Review Schedule has been finalized, and we are in the process of creating and filling review teams for both NYSED Led and District Led Reviews. All Principals should have received a calendar invite via Outlook this week and can expect an informational letter next week. Please find the
attached schedule for 2017-18. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to
Brennen Colwell via e mail or phone 262-8111.
Save the Date
As part of the Path Forward High School Redesign, we will be asking each Principal to select 30 students to participate in an event on
September 29, which is a half day. The Path Forward Team is meeting late in the week, and the information will not be able to be included in
Leadership Link; therefore, more information will be coming in a separate email.
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Updates from the Specialized Services Department
Dear Colleagues,
Our CASEs and Directors, Executive Director, and I have visited our schools this week with intent and purpose to listen to your concerns and to see our special education programs, including many new staff. We have collected your concerns, problem solved through a variety of student issues, and know there is much work left to be done. This shift in our system is a work in progress, and we thank the many staff at multiple levels who are working through this with our department. Our team is putting together a building guide, which will include many of the things you have asked for, including the basic need of “who to go to.” With a number of personnel changes, it would have been ideal to have had this completed in August prior to school opening, but it was not possible. Going forward it will be easier to have it updated once the structure is compete. A reminder that the Special Education Handbook is available on our District website and through Google Docs.
Our team is meeting additional evenings this week to get the most important issues addressed that Principals have brought to our attention. We are committed to working closely with our School Chiefs, Principals, and staff, and we will do our best to improve communications.
Regards,
Sandra A. Simpson
New Organizational Structure 2017-2018
Chief: Sandra Simpson
Executive Director: Dr. Mary Pauly can be reached at 585-369-5609
Director Petrina Johnson – Chief Toyia Wilson – SSA Lenore Gilmore – Clerk Carmen Hernandez
CASE: Andrew Rosenhack, Tiffany Anderson, Christine Richter, Abby Martino
Questions can be sent to Petrina Johnson at 585-698-4398
Director Kisha Morgan – Chief Linus Guillory – SSA Barb Alborano – Clerk Diane Bachman
CASE: Ben Rhodes, Pamela Carlton-Ferris, Melissa Pittman, Tabitha Woody
Questions about Related Services (Speech, Hearing, Vision, OT, PT, MATCH, TOD) can be sent to Kisha Morgan at 585-469-1630
Director Dan Fontanez – Chief Shirley Green – SSA Peggy Calcagno – Clerk Sandy Schickler
CASE: Kariann Kittelberger, Stephanie Thomas, Colleen Multer, Catherine Accordo
Questions about Psychologists & Bilingual can be sent to Dan Fontanez at 585-262-8344
Director Teresa Root – Chief Elizabeth Mascitti-Miller – SSA Joyce Martorana – Clerk Olivia Dorsey
CASE: Jamesha Wilson-Snider, Kathleen Garcia
Questions about Behavior Specialists, Disproportionality & Corrective Action Plans, Self- Review can be sent to Teresa Root at 585-683-7628
News Updates
- Frontline IEP Training will be offered on Sept. 14 from 1-3 pm at 30 Hart Street, Room 310. Individuals who need substitutes should plan to attend other training opportunities listed below.
- Each Director’s Network Team will offer Frontline IEP Training before school (7:30-8:30 am) and after school (3:30 – 4:30 pm).
Specialized Services Professional Development Update
Professional Development for Disproportionality will be provided to identified schools according to the
attached schedule.
Exemplar from School No. 8
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Kindergarten Screening Information
Please share this information with all reading and kindergarten teachers. In addition to vision, hearing, and motor skills screening, our District provides Brigance screening to all kindergarten students. The Brigance Screen III is an easy to administer standardized tool widely used by schools for students in Pre-K, K, and grade 1. Results of the screening assist teachers by accurately assessing key developmental and early academic skills. Children in our District are screened during the first month of kindergarten to help teachers plan appropriate instruction for children. The basic screening is done in a 1:1 setting and completed in 15 minutes.
There will be a Brigance screening training facilitated by Dr. Robin Hooper on September 12, from 9 – 11 a.m. at C.O. in conference room 3A/B for all new reading teachers. Please bring a Brigance 3-5 kit from your building to the training. They will receive a calendar invitation from Dr. Hooper’s office this week.
Thank you for sharing with your staff.
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2017 HBCU College Fair, Oct. 23, 2017
Tis the season for the
HBCU College Fair
.
We are looking for alumni to represent their school at the event on Monday, October 23, from 12:00 - 1:00 pm. We hope that you can support this impactful endeavor. Please email
Kimberly Huffman
or call 262-8403 to let her know if you are available.
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2017-18 Afterschool Snack Application
What is the Afterschool Snack Program?
The Afterschool Snack Program is a federally assisted snack program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential childcare institutions. The Afterschool Snack Program is administered at the Federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service. At the State level, the program is usually administered by State education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with local school food authorities (SFA). That is the RCSD Food Service Department.
How does the Afterschool Snack Program work?
The Afterschool Program operates similar to the National School Lunch Program. Generally, public or nonprofit private schools may participate in the Afterschool Snack Program. School districts and independent schools that choose to take part in the snack program receive cash subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for each snack they serve. In return, they must serve snacks that meet Federal requirements.
What sites are eligible to participate in the school-based Afterschool Snack Program?
In order for a site to participate, a school district must run the National School Lunch Program and sponsor or operate an afterschool care program. This afterschool care program must provide children with organized, regularly scheduled educational or enrichment activities in a supervised environment.
Examples of eligible activities include homework assistance, tutoring, extended day programs, drama activities, and arts and crafts programs.
Organized interscholastic programs or community-level competitive sports programs are not eligible to participate.
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Department of Assessment & Testing
3-8 ELA and Math Fall 2017 Pre-Assessments:
The administration window for Pre-assessments is September 6 – October 5. A guidance document on important information concerning scheduling, storing, scoring, and dropping off pre-assessment materials can be found on the Department of Assessment and Testing
SharePoint site.
- Please remember to treat the pre-assessment administration period with the same level of security and integrity that you would any state-testing event. The same general rules and guidelines for proctoring, security, and confidentiality apply.
NWEA MAP Training:
There is a training right after the Principal’s meeting, presented by NWEA, on
September 14 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. for Principals, Assistant Principals, or a designated school representative. They will be presenting on the new reports in NWEA, how to use the reports to drive conversations with your teachers concerning the data, and answer questions that you have concerning NWEA. Please remember that there are no funds for substitutes available, so your school’s designated representative cannot be a classroom teacher. Please email
Nancy Eichner the name of the person representing your school for this presentation by Tuesday, September 12.
NWEA CPAA Training:
In conjunction with the Department of Multilingual Education, there is a NWEA CPAA training that will be occurring on Saturday, September 16 from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at 30 Hart Street for schools that are participating in this testing program. The training will be an extension of the original PD that was done in the spring of last school year. Teachers who are interested in attending can sign up in True North Logic. Administrators who are interested can email
Nancy Eichner
that they are planning on attending.
Please contact
Nancy Eichner if you have any questions. Check every week for critical updates from the Department of Assessment and Testing.
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RCSD Headlines
Check out the latest RCSD Headlines:
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September 21:
Attendance Blitz
September 28:
Board Meeting
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