LS Weekly Memo Week 1, August 8-12, 2016

You have received the letter from Mo. Seems only right that the first Weekly Memo should follow close behind.  Chris, Kirstin and I are here. Lyn returns on Monday. You all will have access to teh new building on Tuesday.

I hope you are enjoying your summer. Read this when you are ready or by 8/22.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATES

The building is almost complete and looks great.  The finishing touches help bring it to life.

• The Move-in Plan -
• Tuesday, August 9 - teachers may begin to move in. See details below.
• Access to the building will begin on Tuesday, August 9
• Think safety first as some construction is ongoing. Hard hats not required.
• Enter only through the main entrance to the building
• Building will be open from 7:00am - 3:00pm on weekdays until further notice. Eventually your keycard will provide access.
• For this week you may work in your classroom and must keep all materials in the classroom.  Do not put extra stuff in the commons.
• If you have excess furniture or materials, Purple Sticker it for the Swap Meet on 8/12 but keep it in your room for now
• The new “Room 10”storage area is not available at this time
• Jon von Behren, Rod Maynard and his crew are scrambling to get us moved in and our former spaces cleaned out.  Please do not contact them with requests.  Please do add your request to the New LS Building Maintenance Request Log
• Some furniture orders have arrived, some still to come.  All current furniture will be moved by Tuesday.
• We will have a building use/operation training during opening faculty meetings
• Lighting - the new lights are energy efficient, daylight harvesting and adjustable. Please work with the new lights before installing area lights.
• If you need extensions cords, put it on the Maintenance Request Log
• Hanging things - We will need to develop guidelines and be aware of basic safety issues
• No hung fabric - fire hazard
• Sprinklers must remain free of obstacles
• Use ladder to hang materials from ceiling trusses

• August 12 - furniture swap begins in each of current LS Building Common areas
• August 22nd -  the official move-in week with the LS Cafe open each morning
• August 22nd - MS/ US faculty moving help day
• September 9 - Community Building Tours, 8:30 - 10:30am
• LS Office - We will begin setting up the LS Office on Monday, 8/8. At this time we are office-less and phone-less.

Room Assignments:

As you look to reconnect with colleagues or return things that made their way to the wrong room, we thought you’d like to know where everyone is!

First Floor, West Wing:

Room 10: Science Classroom, Jane Kenney-Norberg

Room 11: Kindergarten: Carole Burton

Room 12: Kindergarten: Deborah Bridgnell

Room 13: Kindergarten: Beth Breiten and Megan Graham

Room 14: PreK: Colesie Tharp and Lauren Endicott

Room 15: Primary: Chris O’Toole and Shelley Weiller

Production Room: EC Office, Shelley Weiller’s desk, Kelola and Alfredo’s offices, Kirstin’s office, copy machine

Room 16:  Art Studio:  Laura Foster-Flynn

Second Floor, West Wing:

Lower School Office: Lyn Zenicek, Kathy Finn-Brennan, David Lowell

Room 20: 2nd Grade, Natalie Simms

Room 21: 1st Grade, Katherine McCall Petke and Julie Mulley

Room 22: 1st Grade, Doug Whitmore and Juidi Alongi

Room 23: 1st Grade, Claire Kucera and Donna Komitor

Room 24: 2nd Grade, Jackie Blake

Room 25: 2nd Grade, Janet Schilling

Room 26: Spanish Room, Alfredo Peche and Kelola McCrary

Second Floor, East Wing:

Room 27: 5th Grade, Alysa Williams

Room 28: 5th Grade, Tina Akehurst

Room 29: 5th Grade, Natasha Busick

Technology Office: Jeffrey Sprague and Debra Thomas

Library: Lara Ingham and Heidi Hackenjos

Third Floor:

Room 30: 4th Grade, Asha Sathyaraj

Room 31: 4th Grade, Tracy Arensberg

Room 32: 3rd Grade, Erin Moulton

Room 33: 3rd Grade, Kiah Johnson Mounsey

Room 34: 3rd Grade, Tonya Griffin

Room 35: 4th Grade, Rachel Taylor

Student Support Bank: Chris Thompson, Ari Sternberg, Melanie Clark, Chaplain

Alternate Spaces:

Art Room in the US:  Art, Margaret Synan Russell

Rooms 35 and 36 in the former LS : Music, Amy Rhinegans and Kristen Haferbecker

Gym: PE, Scott Corris, Stephanie Rankin and Jessica Wolfram

If you’re new or just need a review of the many people who work at OES, including the all-important custodial and maintenance staff helping us get everything ready for the start of school, try this trick:

Visit www.oes.edu

At the bottom of the page, click “Administration & Staff” under the “Employees” heading.

In the right sidebar, click “Employee Photos.” Voilá!

COMMUNITY

Chaplain Search

The Lower School Chaplain search is still in progress.  Stay tuned!

Sub Hiring

We are starting to look for substitute teachers for the upcoming year. If you know of someone who you think would be a good addition to our sub team, please invite them to send their resume to lsteacher@oes.edu .

New Employees to Lower School

Please welcome:

Katherine McCall Petke - 1st Grade:  mccallpetkek@oes.edu

Natalie Simms - 2nd Grade:  simmsn@oes.edu

Kathy Finn-Brennan - Lower School Office

Assistant Teachers

Many assistant teacher assignments are still pending--some of the steps involved with their contracts require approval from people who are still on vacation. Check with Kirstin or Chris if you have questions about assistant teacher status at your grade level.

PROGRAM

Opening Faculty Meetings

Just a note that because of the change to a new space, new schedule and so many new teams, we have a lot to work out together. The more classroom setup/prep you can do before our meetings begin on 8/30, the better focus and productivity we may have together as we work out these important details.

Tuesday - 8/30 - All School am, Classroom Set-up pm

Wednesday - 8/31 - LS Faculty Meeting,  8:00 - 4:00 (note the longer time)

Thursday - 9/1 - LS Team Meetings/ Department Meetings, 8:00 -12:00 pm, Classroom Set-Up or grade level meetings 12-3

Friday - 9/2 - Faculty work day (anticipate work with your team on schedule, shared spaces and logistics)

Calendar Event Updates

Please add all important dates for your class/team (learning celebrations, field trips, etc.) to the LS Faculty Calendar before August 25th. Thank you!

New Lower School Schedule

The next WM will contain the updated schedules, general notes on the schedule and digital tools for putting the schedule in your calendar.

Playground Design

We met again with Michelle Mathis of Learning Landscapes about playground design opportunities with students and our greater community. We are exploring the idea of having a small group of students serve as student leaders to run workshops with classes and gather data for the playground architects.  Jon continues to explore what our funding and timeline will look like.

Summer Stipends

Please inform DAvid and your Assistant Head about any remaining dates you will be meeting for your summer stipends. When your stipend has concluded, submit your Summer Stipend Completion Forms and Stipend Follow-Up Reports to Lyn.

Class Placement

We will be finalizing class lists this week. They will be sent out to teachers on 8/19 and will be released to families on 8/26. Mailing labels should be available by 8/26; please send out your welcome letters to families by Tuesday, August 30th (but not before 8/26).

OPERATIONS

LS Office

We will be unpacking and setting up this week.

2016-17 Calendar

OES All School Calendar is updated.  

Please submit changes to the LS Faculty Calendar by 8/25.

Your Announcements

Send any announcements you have for faculty to Kirstin, Chris or me by Thursday each week and we will include them in the Weekly Memo.  This should help reduce the number of emails we are receiving, and maximize our time to collaborate during meetings.