Weekly Update

Team,

Notices

What an awesome week at QUEST. We continue to do right by kids, and our values of collaboration and caring continue to be a real strength. This week, I'm grateful for witnessing:  

• A few different students getting to ring the bell to celebrate their goals! 
• A few classrooms unpacking student goals with their children. I even was able to see Kindergarten students discussing goals as a class!
• A teacher's aide getting down to the student's level and reminding them to go back to their breathing when they were upset! 
• An observation where connections across the grade-level were occurring. 
• A teacher reminding a student of what they are capable of in a way that was away from the child's peers. Warm demander approach! 
• Two "local experts" sharing all the potential found in MAP reports to their colleagues. 
• A teacher having a student sit next to them during guided reading time as a way to produce more work. A sacrifice by the teacher in order to push the student as a learner.
• A custodial team going above and beyond despite absences, doing some last minute work to prepare for picture day. 
• An IB Coordinator working with graduates to provide them with plenty of background support for exhibition! 
• A mental health team member meeting with teams informally to problem solve for our learners.

Building Subs and the Library

We now have two building subs: Kennedy and Jacqueline Sloan. Because we have been unable to secure a librarian, Kennedy is working out of the library on days she is not assigned to a classroom. This is why we were able to get a second building sub. 

As much as we appreciate our building subs and like them working with our classes when we are away, anytime you need to be out,  please continue to request a sub (if your job requires one). The building subs get assigned each morning by the main office. Thanks for understanding! 

The librarian opening is still posted, but kudos to Lisa, Lyza (now library clerical support), and Kennedy for keeping our library as a great place for kids and staff while we search for our next librarian. 

Surveys

I hope that you will take the time to participate in our strategic plan survey located at the bottom of this email.  I want you to know that the Board of Education and administration value your feedback and ideas and will use this data to improve our district.  Please know that the survey is anonymous and the data shared with the district will not have any personal identifiers.  We also ask that feedback is constructive.  We believe that this is the most transparent and vulnerable strategic plan process that the district has participated in. 

 The process will involve voluntary input from students in grades 4-12, parents, staff, board members, alumni, and community members gathered through surveys and focus groups. Please view the following video at https://youtu.be/fm9jzuf1cSU to learn more about the overall process.

 The surveys will be open from today until 11/1.

Teachers, please use: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/hilton_instruct 

Support Staff, please use: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/hilton_non-instruct

 

Student Processing

The brain is quite a complex organ, and our jobs as educators is to provide learning that sticks. This often means breaking the learning down into very small, tight chunks of information. As we learned about warm demanders in the staff meeting, we followed an ignite, chunk, chew, review process. For those looking to try this information processing approach with kids, or for those not able to join the staff meeting, check out below. 

A visual: 

Overview of the strategy. 

CIA for 10/25

As you will recall, we have three staff meetings that are community circles with the focus on Welcoming and Affirming environments. The prompts were developed by DIT. Please find your name and report directly to your assigned location on Tuesday. 

	Quest Elementary Community Circles:  Start-7:50 am, End-8:30 am
	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
25-Oct	Facilitator	Facilitator	Facilitator	Facilitator
	Derek	Liz Thornton	Julie Forgione	Kristy Shafer
	Location	Location	Location	Location
	Cafe	Library	Greg's Room	Gym
	Staff Members	Staff Members	Staff Members	Staff Members
	Julie Blandford	Bre Stanford	Nicole DiBattisto	Alicia Francesca
	Annie Yensan	Kelsey Bitetto	Ashley Pierri	Amy Firkins
	Emily Tracey	Katie PJ	Karen Velyk	LaDonna Howell
	Paige Langswager	Carol Jones	Barb Jones	Mary Elias
	Kennedy Johannes	Emma Monfiletto	Danielle Duffy	Dave Moore
	Loni Butlin	Brenda Carpenter	Nate Gibbs	Brenna Healey
	John Weingart	Anna Kingdollar	Heidi Lancia	Shalyn Pestilli
		Jim DePrez		Shana Kohler
	Cathy Lippincott	Judy Fuller	Greg Booth	Rebecca Bauman
	Elizabeth Hardie	Valerie McCormick	Lance Trott
	L	Jennifer Donovan	Candace Henry	Sarah Butler