Yes, Bees was our theme going into this year, however, they took it a little too serious. Lately, with the weather warming, we've had several bees join our learning community in hopes to be part of all these fun end-of-year events!
Action:
In my office, several bees got in because my screen was somewhat open (sliding parts you have to open to open the window). Please make sure these stay closed so our bee friends can go outside and thrive in their natural environement.
GoGuardian
As we look to continually develop digital citizens and teach students about online safety, a new feature of GoGuardian is being rolled out. This new layer of monitoring will be send building leadership an alert anytime a student searches for explicit material on a school-issued device--both during the day and outside of the instructional day. Although our filtering system blocks such searches, this new layer of information will be communicated with the student's family, by the school administrator, as necessary when an alert comes through.
Parents will be notified of this shift in the near future once it is all up and running, however, please be aware of this shift and continue to foster environments that promote internet safey and digital citizenship. Once this new system is up, running, and communicated to families, you will be notified.
From the Libary:
Important dates for the end of year library operations
Interlibrary Loan (for faculty/staff to request books from other school libraries) Last Day to request ILL: Thursday, May 23 Return ILL: Friday, June 7, 2024
Students:
Last day to checkout books: Friday, June 7 Start to return your books on Monday, June 10 Last day for K-4 classes: Friday, June 14
Faculty Faculty can continue to borrow books from the QUEST library until the last day of classes.
The library staff will communicate with students and faculty/staff about any books or other equipment that has not been returned. Q? Contact Michelle or Mindy
If you haven't done so yet, check out the budget presentation!
Something Professional
Safety Reminders
Please be sure to lock and close windows and your door when you leave for the day.
Immediately report any propped doors, or doors presenting issues with the badge swipe, to Derek and Mike.
Please close your door when leaving your workspace.
Building Schedule for 24-25:
Please check out the most up-to-date version of the schedule for next year. Reach out with any questions. CLICK HERE!
From the Data Office
Communication Plan for
Staff and Families
Starting Monday, May 20, parents/guardians will have an
additional option to notify the attendance office of their child's absence via
Campus Parent (IC Parent Portal). The Campus Parent Attendance Feature is
available for all HCSD parents/guardians to enter absences for their
children.
Campus Parent
Attendance has a user-friendly interface, making it easy for parents to
navigate and submit absence requests through Infinite Campus. Upon submission
of an absence request, parents/guardians will receive confirmation that their
request has been submitted. The primary goal of this tool is to provide an
additional absence notification option for families. As always, phone and
email will remain options to report absences.
Important dates for the end of year library operations
Interlibrary Loan (for faculty/staff to request books from other
school libraries)
Last Day to request ILL: Thursday, May 23
Return ILL: Friday, June 7, 2024
Students:
Last day to checkout books: Friday, June 7 Start to return your books on Monday, June 10 Last day for K-4 classes: Friday, June 14
Faculty
Faculty can continue to borrow books from the QUEST library until the
last day of classes.
The library staff will communicate with students and faculty/staff
about any books or other equipment that has not been returned. Q? Contact
Michelle or Mindy
From Tech:
PANORAMA: Panorama is a survey platform the district has
established as a resource that will be utilized in mid-June for an annual
Strategic Plan Survey beginning this year. In the future, this platform
will be a resource for Social Emotional Learning in terms of screeners and
a playbook to support SEL instruction. Look for the strategic plan survey
in June.
TECH INCENTIVES 24-25:Looking ahead to 24-25, a new tech
incentive option will be added to the two that already exist. Pre-planned
tech incentive projects and self-created projects will continue, while
district pilot tech incentive projects will be added. Additionally, for
pre-planned projects, a meeting in the fall with a supervisor will not be
required. Further details to follow!
LUMIO PILOT UPDATE: This year, the district engaged in
a limited pilot of Lumio given that SMART Notebook eventually will not be
available as a platform. The pilot was not conclusive, and the tech
department continues to explore next steps. A survey will be shared soon
to gauge how much SMART Notebook is utilized. Feedback from teachers
regarding SMART Notebook usage will be important to help the tech team
make informed plans.
Due to the districtwide adoption of MagicSchool for the 2024-25 school year, your MagicSchool pro accounts are active now! Access the website here, and utilize "Sign in with Google" to login.
The Instructional Techs are offering an optional opportunity for an overview of Magic Scho and how to use the tools to start streamlining your workflow on May 23rd at 1pm, with a 2 PM offering also for Elementary (Location(s) TBD depending on responses).
A huge shout out to all of the QUEST mothers and those that serve as mom in some capacity. You are appreciated; here's hoping for a beautiful weekend!
Something Professional
Vertical Teams (final staff meeting of the year!)
When: 5/14, 8 am
Where: Cafe
What: Vertical team final meetings
Moving Up Day Rescheduled
Moving up day: June 18th at 9:05 am!
End of Year Staff Celebration
I recognize that before school isn't ideal, however, with the schedules of k-2 teachers and staff all not working on the 24th-26th, this is the one time that would work for all.
What: Staff Breakfast and Retirement/Years of Service Celebration
The Office of
Instruction has created a Reading Shifts Roadmap to share the district's direction
with shifting reading instruction to align with the newly published NYS
Literacy Briefs. This roadmap builds on our work with Jan Burkins and Kari
Yates' book, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to bring the Science of Reading
into the Balanced Literacy Classroom. Please take a few minutes to listen
to this
video, explaining the roadmap. A pdf of the roadmap is attached to this
message for your reference. More information will be forthcoming from Grade
Level Leaders and Staff Development in
the coming weeks.
Science Testing
Our 5th grade students have science testing on Tuesday at 9 am. Please be aware that they will be testing in Reese/Healey/Moore's room, with the office/discovery center/reading center being used for testing modifications. There is no change in schedule, but please be aware of the noise factor.
From PTSO:
It
has been awesome seeing so many endeavors funded by the PTSO surplus funds! We
were able to honor nearly all surplus requests, and in doing so, we have
reduced our funds significantly. Per the bylaws, we must maintain a working
budget of $6k to carry over into the 24-25 school year.
To
ensure we remain in good working order, please submit any outstanding
out-of-pocket expenses you may have asap. You may continue to use your classroom budgets
accordingly as well 😊We will need to be extra
cautious approving funding requests above the defined budgets through
the end of the year to ensure our compliance and set PTSO up well for the 24-25
school year.
Feel
free to direct any questions/concerns via email to me.
Thanks
for all you do!
Molly
Arnold, Quest PTSO Co-chair”
From Tech:
As shared previously, a
group of teachers and staff piloted MagicSchool AI beginning in January 2024.
After reviewing the feedback from check in surveys throughout the pilot and the
end of pilot survey, the decision has been made that for the 2024-2025 school
year, we will be purchasing MagicSchool AI for all staff. Keep your eyes out
for further information and training opportunities in the future.
Anyone else feeling the love from May? I promise I am with you and can walk in your shoes...this time of year always gets a bit crazy, extra stressful, and quite frankly...hard!
One of your colleagues reminded me about the Covey's four quandrants, and right now is the perfect time to organize and audit our time--I believe looking at how you spend your time through the four quandrants can help conquer that end-of-year grind.
Check it out, and as we were reminded from the musical this year...just keep swimming!
Something Professional
SIT Update
Below is the teacher and parent
survey that were taken earlier in the year about communication and
volunteerism. This is to provide you with feedback to help you best
plan how you would like to communicate with families in the future.
Please take a few minutes to review it. If you have any questions you can
reach out to SIT (Cathy, Brenda, Nicole, Katie, John, Amanda, and Derek)
SIT’s action this year is to create a working document for
parents to have all the information in one spot (a simplified version of the
HUB). The document will be organized into months with what events are
happening, days off, anything that might be due (ex: Kindergarten
applications), report card availability, and so on...think of it as a communication reminder. There will also be
links available for parents on where to go to get more information. We
will send this out at the beginning of the school year for you to share with
families (or perhaps link it to below your signature on your emails).
It’s hard to believe but our
grads are quickly closing in on their final week of their Exhibition and are
starting to prepare for how they will share their learning to the school
community next Friday morning (May 10th). See below for the
tentative Exhibition 2024 Presentation Schedule. The official schedule with
room assignments and student sign-ups will be shared out on Monday morning. All
classes will meet in the auditorium for a 30 minute kick-off assembly at 8:55
and will then head back to their poles for the start of student presentations
which will start at 9:30. Most of the classrooms will have students sharing in
them during Sessions 1-4 (9:30-10:45). Teachers will be assigned to classrooms
for classroom management purposes and to help are grads with any technical
needs.
Date: Friday, May 10th
8:55-9:25
Auditorium
Kick off Welcome, Exhibition Video,
Student Presentation
9:30-9:45
ClassroomsSession
#1 of Student Presentations
9:50-10:05
ClassroomsSession
#2 of Student Presentations
10:10-10:25
ClassroomsSession
#3 of Student Presentations
10:30-10:45
ClassroomsSession
#4 of Student Presentations
As mentioned at a previous
staff meeting, we are keeping the rotation of student presentations within the
poles this year. For example, students in the south pole will only attend
Exhibition presentations of Brenda and Jacquelynn’s students and those
presentations will all take place in south pole classrooms.
There will be no
specials next Friday and lunches will follow the usual schedule. Please see the
Exhibition
Planning Schedule that Derek made for the afternoon so all can get a
planning period.
I just wanted to
make sure all of you were aware of the specific times of the event so you can
get them on your calendars and plan accordingly.
Exhibition is
an opportunity for these students to demonstrate how they have developed the
attributes of the IB Learner Profile while sharing their learning with the
school community. Thank you
all for being flexible with your schedules once again and for supporting our
grads as they prepare for this significant event in their QUEST journey.
NEW Fri 5/17 Deadline to Sign Up to Participate in Graduation
Please consider signing up to participate in the 2024 Commencement
Ceremony, which will take place at the Brockport SERC on Saturday, June 29th at
1:30 PM. Graduation is a great opportunity to celebrate the success of
our Cadets and all of the hard work that staff, families, and the community
have invested in our graduates.
Please sign up to participate as a line leader in graduation by
Friday, May 17th by using this link. Attending a graduation rehearsal will not be
expected. Graduation volunteers will receive a video with instructions in
advance of the ceremony.
We are incredibly proud of the accomplishments of the Class of
2024 and hope that you will help them celebrate this momentous occasion.
Thank you,
High School Administrative Team+
IB Profile of the Month
The sun is shining and the
birds are singing! The month of May is finally here and the end is in sight.
The IB Learner Profile for
the month of May is Communicator.
Please continue to keep the
IB learner profile attributes in the forefront of our day to day interactions
with our students. See below for our kid friendly definition of Communicator.
Communicator – I can express myself in lots of different ways. I
like to share my ideas with others.
Tech Incentives
Don't forget to turn in your data, do your reflection, and meet with Derek for a brief meeting if you did a tech. incentive.
It is almost May meaning it is almost QUESTival!! QUESTival will take place this year on Thursday – May 30th from 5:30-7:00pm. It takes place on the front lawn of QUEST.
If you have any questions or need funds to purchase supplies, please let us know. Thanks so much for helping to keep this QUEST tradition alive!
Use the link below to sign up for a booth or game 😊
It's
important to note that our classrooms are transitioning towards the science of
reading. This shift doesn't negate all the practices we once considered
tried-and-true. Instead, it emphasizes the need for language-rich learning
environments. Even if we don't explicitly teach reading, we all play a role in
immersing our learners in rich literacy experiences.
As we evolve in our approach to
teaching reading, our district is embracing the work of Jan Burkins and Kari
Yates. Explore their article on their blog and reflect on how you, regardless
of your role, can implement language development strategies.
When: Tuesday, April 30th at 8 am (done by 8:25 for testing)
Where: QUEST cafe
What: Suicide Prevention (please come see Derek if this content is triggering for you and you need to have the content delivered differently than large group)
Who: Liz T. is coming to present to us
caMp Update
At this time, we are closing the request form for our consultation and are only scheduling follow up meetings in the remaining weeks. If for some reason you need to have an emergency, last minute problem solving meeting on a student, please reach out to Derek to schedule.
Testing Reminder
Next week we begin our Math state testing on Monday and Tuesday. As a reminder:
Next week is the
NYS math test on Monday and Tuesday. Here are some quick need to knows.
Accommodation
groups are the same
Grade 6 Session 2, students should have exclusive use of a four-function
calculator with a square root key or a *scientific calculator
Graphing calculators are NOT permitted.
Note: For students testing on
computers in Grades 6–8, a calculator is provided as part of the computer
testing delivery system, but schools should continue to supply students
with exclusive use of the type of hand-held calculator mentioned
above.
When
you are ALL finished testing
email
or remind Kristyand can you also highlight your name on
the google doc below. This will allow Derek and I to know who and when to
move kids still testing. You cannot send kids still testing to the
library on their own, but if you are in a modification group, and the
class is finished and your student is finished you can send them back
once their class is finished ( highlighted)
It seems as
though the interior badge swipe (door near Mrs. Carpenter and Miss Smith’s
rooms) does not always work. I tested it with five different badges and only
one badge gave us an issue, but all others worked fine.
Solution: With that being said, I think it is
finicky and you have to grab it quickly. Mark Edwards will be working with
tech. to see if we are able to adjust the time on it so it stays unlocked
longer when you swipe. This will hopefully help.
Problem #2:
We have a lot of
students who are coming in mid-recess and knocking on that door (south pole
interior door with badge swipe) while the students in the intermediate classes
are working in order to be let in for the bathroom or the nurse. This happens
many times throughout a day. Please be sure to let the students in at the equator door so they are not banging on that door.
Solution: Please encourage students to use the
bathroom prior to recess, but more than that, if they do need to be let in,
please swipe any student in by the equator door and have them use those
bathrooms near that door. If they need to use the nurse, please also have them
go through the equator door as well.
From District Communications
We would like to begin
gathering footage for the year end video centering on our Cadet Cornerstones
(Intentional values.) We are planning on visiting each building during the
school day on Wednesday (5/1). We wouldn't be in the building too long, maybe a
half hour. If this doesn't work for you, please let me know and we can try to
find a better time. Also, is there is something that you are aware of that will
be taking place in any of your classrooms on that day let us know and we will
try to plan our visit accordingly.
Thanks!
Dave
From the Office of Instruction
The Office of Instruction, in collaboration with the members
of Leadership Council, is seeking your feedback on Year 1 of MTSS
Implementation. Please take a few moments to complete this MTSS Feedback
Form to provide your input. We will use the feedback obtained in this
survey to reflect on and revise (where necessary) the action steps for 24-25.
The feedback form will be open for your input through May 10, 2024.
The school has been buzzing with students taking action through Exhibition. No matter how big or small the action is, the idea is all about agency. But agency itself is not limited to the big, grand moments of action tied to a particular planner at the end of intermediate. Rather, agency can, and should, be part of each classroom, each day.
Agency is about ownership, empowerment...keepin the student in the driver seat. I often tell parents that it is our job to help the student know who they are and what they need as a learner...that level of agency will transcend the walls of QUEST and provide each child with the tools to be successful for years to come. In my day-to-day travels, this has looked like:
Students having a choice in how they will show their learning.
Students working toward learning or AtL goals.
A teacher providing clarity around what success will look like but the student determining whether or not they've arrived and can demonstrate the learning goal.
Students sharing their ideas in class through routines like accountability talk (math talk).
Students using modifications and accomodations that help THEM as a learner...and initiating that.
Students taking action as a result of a planner.
Students determining what Zone they are in emotionally and what strategies they could use.
Students banging down my door to share, yet another, idea for the building.
Check out the two visuals below, and hats off to agency!
Something Professional
PTSO Surplus
As you've likely heard, almost all surplus projects were approved by the PTSO. We are at the end of their surplus funds, meaning that the PTSO will have to be extra cautious when approving anything extra. This does not include any allocated budget line, but just be aware that any extra funding that moves beyond your allocation is at risk for a potential no vote. If you read this entire paragraph, please pat yourself on the back! Proud of you.
Kudos for all of the thoughtful funding requests--they were great. We are extremely lucky as a small school to have such an incredibly hard working PTSO that supports our goals.
Vertical Teams Update!
Placement (repost from last week)
We are starting placement next week. The process has been revised this year, specifically what needs to be done by classroom teachers. Our goal is to align it with MTSS systems and make it fact based, while removing subjectivity. See the timeline below and check out the quick video to review how the process is different. Please note that each week you will get instructions as we move through this timeline, however, it is good to be on top of it and aware of the shifts.
The culture of QUEST is the sum of all the micro-cultures. Included in this are various teams and how they operate. Consider the team you are on...does your team align wiht the areas above? If not, what is holding you back? What does your team do well that can further be leveraged to grow?
I'm most impressed with the ability of QUEST to collaborate. Thank you for making the health of the school, and the health of the teams you are on, a priority. Appreciate you!
Something Professional
Testing Reminder
We begin NYS Computer Based Testing on Monday and Tuesday of next week. Some reminders:
During the state test, please remember to send any questions to
Kristy Shafer at Command Central either via email (kshafer@hilton.k12.ny.us) or by replying to the
text message you will receive in the morning from the QE 3-8
CBT Remind Class. If you are
a Remind user, please do not use the website or app to contact Kristy
during the simulation. Only reply to the text sent in the morning. If
you haven't yet joined the Remind class and would like to use it
to communicate with Kristy during testing, directions on how to do so can be
seen here. The code is @bd94fe7.
Placement
We are starting placement next week. The process has been revised this year, specifically what needs to be done by classroom teachers. Our goal is to align it with MTSS systems and make it fact based, while removing subjectivity. See the timeline below and check out the quick video to review how the process is different. Please note that each week you will get instructions as we move through this timeline, however, it is good to be on top of it and aware of the shifts.
What: Vertical team work! (done by 8:25 due to state testing)
Tutoring Interest?
At times, tutors are needed at the elementary level for district-provided tutoring. The district is looking to build a list of potential tutors that can be called on should a tutoring need arise, which can range from one day or longer.
Please complete the form below if you wish to be on the list of potential tutors. Know that in completing this form that there is no commitment on your part as you would be able to decline any tutoring requests you may receive in the future as needed.
Shared below is a video
from the Office of Instruction with updates from the Superintendent's
Conference Day kickoff on Shifting the Balance with Kari Yates. Please watch
this video for updates on Professional Learning offerings as well as next
steps. For those of you looking for early entry points to this work, you will
find two resources below.
The 2024 QUEST Spring Fitness Challenge starts next week! We will start the challenge on April 15th and end on May 3rd. Please remember to put your total number of steps into the spreadsheet at the end of your assigned day! You can find the link with team information and when you will be keeping steps here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ks3ojTNuk4M2E5rdlAWiyxd2mtnnlVDa811vhp-PASk/edit#gid=0
