Weekly update for 9/25/23

 Something Personal

Who will you become in the next five years? Even more significant, what choices do you make each day that propel you in a positive direction?

I came across this thought-provoking challenge, or rather, these questions, in a recent podcast. It squarely focuses on how every daily decision we make carries a compounding impact, ultimately shaping the trajectory of our lives. Our daily choices—our routines, habits, and the daily grind—determine what we manifest and who we evolve into. This notion is undeniably powerful but can also be intimidating when we consider its application to every facet of our personal and professional lives.

This concept is reminiscent of the idea of compounding interest. Think of the moments when we warmly greet children at the door each day or send those uplifting notes and make celebratory phone calls to families. These are emotional deposits. When we encourage a child or colleague, affirming their potential, we make yet another emotional deposit. These emotional deposits accumulate and form strong relationships that significantly enhance learning for our children.

As I stroll through the halls of QUEST, I witness these daily emotional deposits in action all the time. It's genuinely one of the most gratifying aspects of my job. However, let us all bear in mind that as we continue making these daily choices, we are actively shaping the future of our school and, on a personal level, determining who we become. We are the driving force behind the success of QUEST, and together, we will keep the momentum going!

Something Professional

Halloween 2024

• The 31st will be our parade. This is a half day of school.
• We will parade around the bus loop (remaining on the sidewalk so we don't all collapse on one another like last year). 
• The parade will begin at 9:30. Parents will be told about this in the blog for October. 
• If it rains, we will walk the halls one pole at a time. 
• Costumes should be appropriate for school. No weapons, no masks that are going to completely frighten our youngest kids, and nothing that is offensive as outlined by the code of conduct. 

SIT Decision: Adjust Family Pickup Time

SIT functions like management team and SIT combined. Recently, someone requested that we look at moving our parent pickup back five minutes to 3:25. After talking with Tara and SIT members, all felt like this would be helpful and doable. 

Starting October 16th, the parent pickup announcement will go off at 3:25. Please make sure students are ready and head right down. This will be communicated to parents via the blog ahead of time. 

We met our goal: Save the Date! 

Way to go, QUEST, and thank you for your hard work in promoting our Fundraiser. In celebration, the principal, and hopefully a few others, will take some pies to the face in a quick assembly on October 27th from 2:30-3. Please save the date!

MTSS Update: RtI Problem Solving Meetings

Next week at our Superintendent's Conference Day, MTSS coaches and the Office of Instruction will review the MTSS problem solving process (think RtI meetings). Our goal is to make these meetings proactive and highly responsive for our students. 

As a school, you can expect that we will begin to consult with staff members prior to any meetings to ensure you have all the supports that are needed within a classroom. When you express the need, we would look at these at CAP and someone would 

More to come, but we have officially started our problem solving meetings where we are focused on revisits. 

Google Meet? 

Did you know that we no longer have all of our Zoom licenses? Google Meet is the perfect replacement! If a parent says they can only meet virtually, this would be the option to use.

Need support with it? Check out below: 

Watch Google Meet Quick Start for Parent Teacher Conferences Video for visual guidance to

1. Create the Meeting Link - Select New Meeting - Create a Meeting for Later
2. Copy that link and send to parents. Be sure use the same link you sent out to parents to start your meeting the night of conferences.
3. Admit parents to the meeting.
4. Enjoy! 

If any individual need further assistance, see your friendly instructional tech.  For additional resources be sure to check out our comprehensive Google Meet Tutorial Library Located on our Instructional Tech Hub

Conferences

Conferences are officially allowed to begin after 10/10/23. With that being said, please be aware that security will be available at the school from 4-8 pm on 10/26 and 11/14 (these are the district scheduled nights that are on the school calendar). In addition, these are the two nights Derek will be in the building if you need additional support with your conference (although I can make time on other nights if you need me).  

If you decide to do conferences outside of these nights, 5 1/2 hours of available times outside of the school day, at various hours in order to be a convenience to families, should be scheduled. 

Please provide Derek with your conference schedule once you have it complete!

Back-to-School Night Feedback

Thank you for those that took the time to share your thoughts with me. Long story short, I learned: 

• Back-to-school night worked for us structure wise.
• It worked for us time-wise.
• It mostly aligns with our school values. 

The data is below for those interested. You can expect next year to be planned in a similar way (date, time, structure), with small tweaks here and there based on the anecdotal responses that made sense and are feasible.

From the Data Office

We have created a video to share with your teachers about the new Classroom Attendance function (that causes an error for us).  The video includes a one-step workaround.  

 

IC Tips and Trick Page: HCSD Reporting and Compliance Support - Infinite Campus Tips & Tricks (google.com)

 

 

Thank you!