LS Weekly Memo Welcome Back

August 16, 2012

Dear Lower School Faculty,

Over the past several days I have had several inspiring conversations about the year ahead, helping me look forward all the more to the start of a new school year; an animated conversation with Deborah Bridgnell about her summer courses, discussions with John Holloran about the “Inquiry into Inquiry” the school will be taking on this year, talking with Chris about her summer reading, hearing from Alysa about her Team Leader ideas, and of course the many cheery “Hi Mr. Lowell” from the scattering of students who are around campus sharing stories of their summer. I hope you are finding your owns ways to get ready.

As promised here are many more details about the year:

New Faculty
Please join me in welcoming the new faculty to the Lower School.   See the attached autobiographies for additional information about each teacher.  Please seek them out and introduce yourself when you are back on campus.

Carole Burton Kindergarten
Claire Kucera 1st Grade
Erin Baker 3rd Grade
Tina Akehurst 5th Grade

Faculty with New Responsibilities
We also have several faculty members who are taking on new responsibilities this year.

Tracy Arensberg - 50% Lower School Math Specialist, 50% Math Teacher
Laura Foster Flynn - Beginning School Studio Art Specialist
Alysa Williams - Team Leader for 4th and 5th grades, as well as continuing on as a 5th grade teacher.
Chris O’Toole - Team Leader for Beginning School, as well as continuing on as Assistant Head of Lower School

Additional Faculty and Staff News
Congratulations to Ari Sternberg, Academic Specialist, on the birth of his daughter Celia Lou.
Welcome back to Lauren Erickson, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher, after the birth of her daughter Rosalie.
Our condolences to Shirley Feuz, Kitchen Staff, on the loss of her husband David Feuz.
Best wishes to Heidi Hackenjos, Library Assistant, as she prepares for the arrival of her first child due September 20.

Marty Eastman Brown, 1st Grade Teacher, will miss the first 8 weeks of school as she recovers from surgery scheduled for August 31.  She would like you to know that this second surgery not because her situation is more serious, rather it is so the surgeon can be more thorough. We are in the process of hiring a long-term substitute to teach the class. We will announce this to parents once we have hired the substitute. In the mean time please keep this confidential.

Schedules, Lists and Calendars
Look for an emial from Lyn Zensiek that will include Class Schedule and Duty Schedule.  The Lower School Faculty Calendar is accessible through the Weekly Memo Blog or as a Google Calendar.

Classroom Schedules
Minor changes were made to the classroom schedules, all based on the feedback received from Lower School Leadership Team and the Schedule Feedback document. As we agreed in Leadership Team last spring, we have moved Friday Chapel and Assembly from the afternoon to the morning, a better time for children to attend and learn from the experiences.

Before making any changes to the classroom schedules talk with David and then report the changes to Lyn. Only Lyn will make changes to the schedule to ensure we can accurately account for everyone during the school day.

Duty Schedule
Chris revised the duty schedule based on the input received from the duty schedule survey.  She attempted to honor people’s preferences, coordinate duties with teaching schedules and provide collaborative team time during lunch, while at the same time ensuring equitable distribution of duties.  

Before making any changes to the classroom schedules talk with Chris and then report the changes to Lyn. Only Lyn will make changes to the schedule to ensure we can accurately account for everyone during the school day.

Lower School Duty Schedule- How It Was Designed
 
David and I looked at the duty schedule and decided to eliminate a few duties. Second and Third and Fourth and Fifth Grade pm recesses now have 2 people instead of 3. This will mean teachers on duty will need to rove and be vigilant, to ensure adequate supervision.  We will give this a try and see how it works. If it turns out to be inadequate, we will rethink the duty schedule.

As I assigned duties I kept a number of priorities in mind:
-Sacred weekly common planning time
-A duty-free lunch and recess time each week for your team
-A new exciting duty-free team planning time (not new to the Beginning School and First and Second Grades) with Team Leaders
Beginning School Team Meeting with Chris- Wednesday 10:50-11:50
First through Third Grade Team Meeting with David- Friday 10:50-11:50
Fourth and Fifth Grade Team Meeting with Alysa- Wednesday 10:50-11
-CORE meetings on Thursdays at lunch/recess to meet with teachers, not after school
-Days when you have few specials you have little or no duties

Our thanks to Angela, once again, for coming up with a technological tool that makes our lives easier and smarter.

Calendars
In an effort to improve the accuracy and accessibility of our calendars we will be maintaining 3 calendars in Lower School.  Chris O’Toole and the LSLT members will be responsible for the accuracy of the Lower School Faculty Calendar, visible on the Weekly Memo Blog, and the Lower School Events Calendar (for parents), visible on the faculty websites.  Lyn Zenisek, Chris O’Toole and Angela Hancock will be responsible for maintaining the OES Calendar on the OES website.

Angela is working on getting the LS Faculty and LS Events calendar to talk with the OES Calendar on the web.
        
Class Lists and Letters
Thank you for all your work to create well balanced learning communities in each classroom.  Due to recent enrollment changes the class lists will be sent to faculty and staff on Monday, August 20.  The lists will be emailed to families on Friday, August 24.  Keep the class lists confidential until after August 24.

Student Letters
Please mail your student letters after 8/24 and before 8/31 so students receive your letter before Open Classroom on September 4.  Coordinate a mailing date as a grade level team so all students at a particular grade receive a letter at approximately the same date. Student addresses can be found in online directory within the Teacher Portal.

Room Access
A tremendous thanks to Jon von Behren and his crew.  Classrooms are available to be set up.  Contact Bill People, Head Custodian, if you need help rearranging your furniture.

The seismic retrofitting is complete.  Several classrooms lost one or two windows in the retrofit.  If your room seems too dark due to landscape shading of the remaining windows, contact Jon to discuss trimming possibilities.

The Items You Ordered are Arriving!
Remember all of the items you ordered before you left last June? Well, they are arriving and can be found in the Lower School Faculty Room. Please come by and collect your new treasures.  Classroom supplies are coming, beginning next week, and can be collected from Room 10.

Garden Bed Request from Mark Henningsen, Grounds Keeper
Mark and Scott Corris put in about 8 man-hours of labor weeding Beginning and Lower School garden beds.  Mark has two requests:
1. If you want to grow a summer crop, which students will harvest in the fall, keep beds weeded over the summer. He thought that a bit of weeding every two weeks or so would make a difference and keep weeds down.
2.  If you are not around to keep beds weeded, clean your beds before you leave in June. Start new crops when you return in the fall. Things really got unsightly.  People visiting campus notice the lack of care.
Mark and the groundskeepers are trying to keep weeds down so they can avoid using chemicals and extra labor to control unwanted weeds.
                               
Opening Week, August 27 - 31 Schedule

Monday, August 27
TBA Committee Meetings
5:00 p.m.                        Opening All School Family Barbeque

Tuesday, August 28         
7:30 a.m.                        Eucharist (Chapel, optional)
8:00                                 Continental Breakfast (Dining Hall)
9:00                                 All School Opening Chapel (Chapel)
10:15                              All School Meeting (Dining Hall)    
12:00                              All School Lunch (Dining Hall)
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.             Teacher Work Session

Wednesday, August 29
8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.        LS Divisional Meetings
1:00 - 4:00 p.m. LS Teacher Work Session

Thursday, August 30
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.       LS Divisional Faculty Meetings
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.                Department Meetings
1:00 - 4:00 p.m. LS Teacher Work Session

Friday, August 31
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.         Teacher Work Session