LS Weekly Memo Week 2, August 15-19, 2016

The building is a busy place these days as many of you have begun exploring setting up your room. Lyn and Kathy are well on their way to setting up the LS Office. Kirstin, Chris and I have been working on hiring, scheduling and figuring out how we will move in, out and through the building.  Note that this memo contains several links with a great deal of information. Take you time to review.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATES

Classroom Setup

VERY IMPORTANT: PLEASE VIEW THE CLASSROOM SETUP GUIDELINES BEFORE SETTING UP YOUR CLASSROOM! This document contains important information you need to know about safety before you purchase new items or set up your space.

The Move-in Plan -

• Monday, August 15 - teachers may continue to move in. See details below.
• Access to the building has begun
• Think safety first as construction is ongoing. Hard hats not required.
• Enter only through the main entrance to the building
• Building will be open from 7:00am - 5:00pm on weekdays until further notice.
• We hope to have card keys for you by the end of the week so you can gain access to the building on your own schedule.  We will lt you know once keycards are ready.
• Again 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.
• The swap meet has begun. Rod and crew have organized extra furniture in the Old LS Building 1st/2nd classrooms and commons; tables, desks, chairs, bookcases, storage, file cabinets.
• 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 has been moved to new spaces.
• 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.

• August 12 - furniture swap begins in Old LS Building 1st/2nd Common and classrooms
• 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

Unpacking

• Any unneeded materials or furniture should be set aside within your classroom for the time being and labeled ‘discard.’ You can also talk to Rod if you have a piece you think someone else might want so he can add it to the furniture swap.
• Please remember to check the labels on your boxes before unpacking; a number of people are missing boxes or other items. Tracy in particular is looking for a large plywood box labeled “treasures;” contact him if you locate it.

Trash and Recycling

Ben and the custodial crew are working to take out the trash and recycling at the end of each day.  You can help by being clear about what is trash and recycling and what is not.

Large trash and recycling containers are located in the Affinity Commons.

COMMUNITY

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

OES Employees Photos

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, head to the OES Employees Photos.

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

Chaplain Search

Search committee to meet on Monday for decision.

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 .

Assistant Teachers

Here are the Assistant Teachers and their assignments

Pre-K	Jeanna Bennett-Schultz
K - Breiten	Megan Graham
K - Bridgnell	Paul Wild
K - Burton	Anna Halpin
Primary	Shelley Weiller
1st - Kucera	Donna Komitor
1st - Petke	Julie Mulley
1st - Whitmore	Juidi Alongi
2nd LLI	Shelley Weiller
2nd shared assistants	Donna and Juidi
3rd - 5th	Kate McClellan

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)

People Of Color Conference (POCC) PGD

PoCC registration opens on August 29, 2016.  Let me know if you are interested. It is best to register on this date to ensure being at the closest hotel to the conference.   

Dori is planning to meet with Affinity Group facilitators as they process the information they receive to help support facilitating their groups (they usually meet four times between October and November).  She will also coordinate a pre-meeting (November 30th 3:30 - 4:15 p.m.) and post-meeting for adult attendees (December 13th 3:30 - 4:15 p.m.).  

Calendars

Chris and Jeffrey are working on a Google Calendars solution so that our calendars can include:

• Letter day for each day of the school year
• Each teacher’s schedule
• Specialist intensive rotating schedule
• Faculty meeting schedule
• Community time schedule
• LS Faculty Calendar

In the meantime, use the tools below to guide your planning.  Know we will have a Google Calendar solution coming your way soon.

New Lower School Schedule

Here are several useful links for the schedule

LS Schedules - note the tabs at the bottom, one for each class and specialist

Year Long 6 Day Rotation Calendar

Year Long Intensive Specialist Calendar

Playground Design

We are moving forward with a plan for intensive student involved playground design this fall, with possible leadership from some 5th graders. Winter will be spent converting ideas to plans so we can build it out next summer.

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

Class lists are finalized. 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

Transitions, Arrival and Dismissal

Please visit the Transitions Document for important information about transitions, arrival and dismissal procedures in the new building.  Feedback can be sent to Kirstin.

2016-17 Calendar

OES All School Calendar is updated.  

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

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!

These are the 2 main LS Calendars:

1. LS FACULTY CALENDAR (also known by some of you as the LS Faculty Google Docs calendar). This is our internal calendar and is not visible to the public or to the families.

Type of events that are posted on our LS Faculty calendar - all events or activities happening in your grade or department not requiring parents/families attendance and all divisional meetings.

2. LS EVENTS WEB CALENDAR (technically known as "Final Site" calendar) - this is the calendar on our main OES website: LS Events Web Calendar  - this calendar is visible to the public or to our families! All events submitted to this calendar are reviewed and approved by the Head of School Executive Assistant.

Type of events that are posted on the LS Events Web calendar – events or activities in your grade or department requiring or inviting our parents’ attendance, and events like trips* for information purposes.

* For security reasons - when submitting a trip event, don't mention the specific location of the trip, rather post it as "2nd grade field trip", etc... you can mention the location of your trip in your classroom website or in your email to the parents.

IMPORTANT: Faculty or Staff hosting an event is responsible for submitting request for posting an event into the LS Web Calendar. This is to ensure accurate event information.

NOTE: this calendar information can also be found in the LS IMPORTANT DOCS.

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.

Archive

Utilize the archive for previous Weekly Memos.