The Knight Times

What an amazing time to be a Thomas Dale Knight! The energy is picking up, and there is an excitement in the air that is almost palpable. This is the time of year when dreams and goals begin to surface, and the anticipation of a new school year fills our spirits with possibilities. I have enjoyed my transition into this new position, and you each have played a vital role in making this transition smooth. I appreciate you, and I am honored to call myself your colleague.

Welcome to our weekly staff newsletter, The Knight Times! I am excited and thrilled to present the first issue. Ta-Dah!!! The Knight Times will be one of our key communication devices in our plan to share information throughout the entire faculty. I believe that effective communication is a critical component to a high-quality organization, and it is my intention to remain focused on clear, consistent, and open communication. Our weekly newsletter will serve as the hub for information. My expectation is that you will stay informed by reading The Knight Times and will share relevant information with the faculty and staff through The Knight Times.

The use of faculty meetings to share information will be limited; this will be a time for celebration, appreciation, recognition, building community, and professional development. The use of "All Staff" emails will also be limited, so as to keep your email inbox as clear as possible and to ensure direct communication with relevant personnel. We will also share leadership throughout the organization with several leadership structures to ensure communication is a two-way process that also provides multiple avenues for input with decision-making and commitment to a shared vision and understanding. For example, the Instructional Leadership Team, Principal's Advisory Council, Student Advisory Council, and Culture by Design Team are just a few of our leadership groups who will share the responsibility of leading Thomas Dale forward.

Please enjoy this first issue of The Knight Times. It is my intention for the newsletter to go out each Friday for the rest of the school year. Although I cannot promise I will publish each Friday, I ensure you each issue will go out before Monday.

Every Knight.
Every Day.

No matter what.

Let's DO this!

The I Make A Difference award is a weekly recognition for a staff member going above and beyond the requirements of the job. Each week, the previous I Make A Difference award winner will select one member of the faculty/staff who displays excellence, goes the extra mile, and makes a difference and "pass" it on.

The first recipient of the I Make A Difference award is someone who definitely exceeds expectations. He works tirelessly to ensure our clubs, activities, and sports teams have exactly what they need to be successful. He organizes events, maintains an organized calendar, works with community members, coordinates field trips and transportation, takes staff members on a tour of Chester, and even cuts the grass! This person in many ways is the glue holding our family together. Steve Davies, YOU make a difference!

The purpose of our weekly KUDOS is to give public affirmation to a faculty/staff member for a job well done. Anytime you witness something that you think deserves KUDOS, you are invited to fill out THIS FORM with the staff member's name and a little about why he/she deserves KUDOS. The list of teacher names and valiant acts will be published in The Knight Times. At each faculty meeting, those nominated for KUDOS will be entered into a drawing for a special prize! Be alert to the wonderful actions of your colleagues and give a shout out when you see something awesome!

Just to refresh your memory, HERE is the last set of KUDOS from the 2017-2018 school year. Enjoy!

• Date Change! Our Back-to-School Night will be on September 17. Originally, I scheduled it for September 10, and this is during Rash Hashana. I apologize for this oversight and appreciate your flexibility.
• The Admin Team will host a Meet-and-Greet for all staff on Monday, August 20, from 1-2pm. Join us in the Main Campus Commons!
• We will host a Focus Group on Tuesday, August 14, from 3:30-4:30pm to further develop our plans for the 19 Monday Enrichment Morning Meetings throughout the year. We would love your feedback and to hear your ideas. If you are available and interested, we will meet at West Campus; location depends on number of folks who come out.
• Please bookmark the Thomas Dale Essentials Folder 2018-2019 for convenient access. We will use this folder for all documents. It's currently quite empty and is growing rapidly. We will also post the daily News Clips here. Enjoy!
• For our School Improvement and Innovation Plan, we will focus on three long-term goals: Increasing our On-Time Graduation (OTG) Rate, Improving Math Proficiency for our Students with Disabilities (SWD), and Increasing our Attendance Rate. To do so, TDHS will have 5 key areas: Culture, Collaborative Processes, High-Quality Instruction, Student Voice and Leadership, and Community Engagement.
• Our School Website is undergoing construction! Chris Kelly has been working diligently to improve the quality of our website, and it looks AWESOME! Stay tuned for how we will ensure our website continues to put our best foot forward in the public eye!
• Target Field Trip Grant applications are open until October 1st. Submit a proposal and get $700 from Target! Click HERE for more information.
• NASCAR Fans click HERE for a discount on the Richmond Speedway race on September 22.

During the week of August 27, we will engage in final preparations for the 2018-2019 school year! This is a week to connect and re-connect, to celebrate, to inspire, and to set direction for the journey ahead. Below is our tentative schedule, so that you can begin making preparations. Further details will be shared in an In-Service Edition of The Knight Times next week in Volume 1, Issue 2.

Monday: Breakfast (sponsored by PTSA), Welcome Back Faculty Meeting, Instructional Planning (Lunch on your own)

Tuesday: Breakfast (sponsored by Kiwanis Key Club and Keyettes), Nuts and Bolts Rotations, Department Meetings, Coach and Sponsor Meeting and Luncheon, ILT Meeting, Instructional Planning (Lunch on your own)

Wednesday: Professional Development Day across the division. No school-based activities are planned for this day.

Thursday: Breakfast (sponsored by SCA), Know Your Kids and Morning Meeting Preparation Session, Freshman Orientation and Dale-gate, Classroom Expectations/Syllabus due to supervising administrators, Instructional Planning (Lunch on your own)

Friday: Instructional Planning, Department Appointments with Janice Skipwith for Gradebook Set-up, Faculty Meeting and Luncheon (sponsored by Herff-Jones)

To celebrate you and to connect with each other, Beth Clark will put a slideshow together of your summer travels and activities. Please email her a picture or two and a brief description of what you were up to over the summer.

Shared leadership and effective communication are important aspects for our school. I intend to form a Principal's Advisory Council (PAC) focused on communication, climate, and morale. I invite you to review THIS DOCUMENT that explains PAC, outlines expectations, and provides an opportunity for each of you to express interest in serving in this leadership capacity as a key communicator for our school.

We have 15 folks who expressed interest when I introduced this structure in May. I would like to open it back up now that we are closer to the start of the school year. I look forward to the leadership this group will provide our school and the opportunity to open another avenue of our communication structure!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Our clubs, activities, and sports teams are the heartbeat of our school. A student's success in school and in life can largely be attributed to involvement in the school community and their connection to it. We intend for our graduates to not only gain the knowledge needed for the future through the K-12 curriculum, but also the skills (Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Citizenship) and dispositions (Grit, Adaptability, Resilience, Risk Taking, Compassion, Gratitude, Humility, and Service) that are necessary for success in whatever path they choose. The most utilized way for this to happen is through extra-curricular activities. You definitely want to be a part of this aspect of the Thomas Dale experience! We are looking for great people who want to make a difference in the lives of our students.

Club Sponsors Needed:

Debate

Forensics

Interact

Sophomore Class

Junior Class

English Honor Society

Coaches Needed:

JV Girls' Soccer

Boys' Tennis

Please contact Steve Davies if you are interested, available, and/or willing to answer the call!

In a blog post last summer, I shared my thoughts on building relationships, community, establishing routines and procedures, and gathering baseline data during the first week of school.

If you are interested in my thoughts about the importance of knowing your students and dedicating time at the beginning of the school year to do so, click HERE. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts and engage in dialogue regarding trust, communication, and relationships!

This year we will be blessed with the integration of ESOL here at Thomas Dale.

Are you ready? Do you know the difference between BICS and CALP?

Learn this information and so much more at SIOP training.

If you were unable to attend the training held here at Dale in June, there is one more

session offered at Meadowbrook High School August 21-August 23. Sign up in SDRWeb and the course code is SU8198-3.

During the week of August 20, new teachers will engage in various activities that will serve as a transition and preparation period for those who are new to CCPS, new to TDHS, and new to teaching.

• On Monday, new teachers will be at Thomas Dale for a welcome breakfast, meet-and-greet, relationship and community building, keys and tech package, etc. The session at Thomas Dale will be from 8-11am, and then teachers will report to various locations in the division.
  
• On Tuesday and Wednesday, you will have assigned locations by your curriculum coordinators.
• On Thursday, we will go over school information and take a bus tour of Chester led by our Director of Student Activities, Steve Davies. We will take a first-hand look at where our students live. Our day will begin on Main Campus at 8am.

More information with specific details from Beth Clark is forthcoming. We look forward to an AWESOME kick-off for our new teachers!

Laura Deck - August 1 (Belated)

Catherine Craft - August 2 (Belated)

Austin McGhee - August 3 (Belated)

Debbie Short - August 5 (Belated)

Gonjoe Winn - August 8 (Belated)

Amy Rawls - August 10

Elle Kotowski - August 14

Bridget Lehman - August 14

Enjoy your day!!!

Stay connected to OUR CALENDAR and mark yours!

Click HERE for our 2018-2019 meeting dates.

August 14 - Morning Meeting Focus Group (3:30-4:30pm, West Campus)

August 17 - Next issue of The Knight Times

August 20-23 - New Teacher Indoctrination Program

August 27 (DATE CHANGE) - Admin Team Meet-and-Greet (12:30-1:30pm, Main Commons)

August 27-31 - Teacher In-Service Week

August 30 - Freshman Orientation

September 4 - First Day of School

September 17 - Back-to-School Night (6:30-8pm)

Click below to access previous issues of From the Castle, our monthly parent and community newsletter:

• August 2018

Email: christopherm_jones@ccpsnet.net
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/ccpsnet.net/tdhs/
Location: 3626 W. Hundred Rd. Chester, VA 23831
Phone: (804) 768-6245
Facebook: facebook.com/ThomasDale
Twitter: @GoTDKnights