Principals' Newsletter

(submitted by Brandy J. Baker)

This document serves as guidance. This guidance should be used in collaboration with Human Resources personnel and Area Executive Directors. Many variables should be considered when determining the most appropriate action regarding class sizes—PfISD’s priority to maintain on-campus classroom sizes to 10-14 students for as long as possible. PfISD also understands that as more students return to on-campus learning, class sizes may need to return to pre-COVID-19 ratios.

Despite the proliferation of online courses, the research on the optimal size for virtual classes is mostly anecdotal and far from conclusive. Additionally, virtually all of the studies have focused on the collegiate undergraduate or graduate courses. Even among the handful that purport to address K-12 settings, none have disaggregated findings by primary, upper elementary, or secondary levels.

There is at present no consensus among researchers concerning an optimal student-teacher ratio for online classes, with findings ranging from as low as 12:1 to as high as 45:1. This guidance is based on the best information available.

(submitted by Brandy J. Baker)

EDP will need:

• List of 25% of students so they can plan for these students as well. Please make sure your Principals communicate this list with Jeremy.
• If the campus locations that EDP has used in the past are going to be impacted by new campus procedures (i.e., staging), please ask your principals to communicate these changes with Jeremy as well. EDP is being told that the areas they have used in the past may no longer be available to them. They need this information sooner than later to prepare for students.

(submitted by Communications Relations)

As we prepare to welcome our students back to the classroom, the Communications Department has crafted two letters for Principals to utilize: one to inform families if their student is eligible to start on Sept. 14 and one to inform them if their student has not been selected to return, despite choosing on-campus learning. Please use this link for access to both letters. Thank you.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1shy5Pxt46GDcDCGqjzLvajhQ627PJBfN?usp=sharing

(submitted by Deborah Reeder)

Campus Administrators: This link 20-21 Virtual Learning Plan for Students with Disabilities takes you to the virtual plan with expectations for both special education teachers and educational associates. It is important that students with IEPs have their minutes met to the maximum extent during virtual learning. Educational associates need to be in class with the students providing the supports and services outlined in the IEP. Please contact Deborah Reeder prior to changing any duties outside of the special education assignment.

(submitted by Nwando Clyburn)

For the 2020-2021 school year Pflugerville ISD will launch the HB3 Reading Academies on October 12, 2020. Information and details about the Reading Academies can be found in the Pflugerville ISD Reading Academy Smore. More information will be provided to each participant over the next several weeks. Contact Nwando Clyburn if have any questions.

(submitted by Valerie Sosa)

A fillable Excel version of Kindergarten and 1st Grade report cards will be available for teachers to use this school year. The report cards last year included the 2009 ELA and SLA TEKS language however, with the implementation of the 2017 ELA and SLA TEKS, the language has been updated on the report cards to reflect the change. Some of the language may look a little different due to the specificity of our new ELA TEKS, however the skill ideas remain the same. All other skills on the report card is the same as last year.

In addition, a K-1 Report Card Committee will convene this semester to make changes to the Kindergarten and 1st Grade report cards. The committee will meet four times this semester (September 24, October 15, November 12 and December 10) and meetings will be held outside of your school day (4:00 p.m.). The committee will consider new report card content and rubrics. The recommendation from the committee will be available in early spring.

If you would like to self nominate or recommend a staff member to volunteer to serve on the K-1 Report Card Committee, please complete the survey attached here. Teachers will receive this communication on Monday, September 7 7, 2020 with a self-nomination form to serve on the committee. It is our goal to have a diverse representation of members on the committee, so all applicants will not be selected to serve on the committee. All survey forms are due by Wednesday, September 9 and notifications will be emailed to all applicants on Monday, September 14.

(submitted by Sue Ann DeCuir)

If you have not already done so, please submit names for the 2020-21 Elementary Science Writing PD at the attached link by Friday, September 18.

• One K – 2 teacher
• One 3 – 5 teacher
• One additional teacher (either K-2 or 3-5)
• Any new instructional coaches

Learning Outcomes: develop student skills: literacy, data analysis, write explanations supported with evidence and reasoning.

Training Schedule: Substitutes cost covered by the Title II funding

Grades 3 – 5:

• Sept. 23: Initial Training (½ day – PM)
• Oct. 21: Study Group (1-3 PM)
• Nov. 18: Study Group (1-3 PM)
• Jan. 12: Study Group (1-3 PM)
• *Feb. 5: Insightful Use – Next Steps (½ day)

Grades K – 2:

• Oct. 6: Initial Training (½ day – PM)
• Oct. 21: Study Group (1-3 PM)
• Nov. 18: Study Group (1-3 PM)
• Jan. 12: Study Group (1-3 PM)
• *Feb. 3: Insightful Use – Next Steps (½ day) If in person, will move to Feb. 5.

Applications for parents and staff to serve on the District GT Advisory are being accepted through September 25, 2020.

Pflugerville ISD parents of gifted learners are encouraged to apply to represent their campus feeder pattern as a Parent Adviser for Gifted Education (PAGE). PAGE’s will:

• participate in district gifted advisory meetings
• learn more about gifted education in Pflugerville ISD
• share ideas to help continuously improve GT services districtwide

District teachers, administrators, counselors, and district staff as well as community members are also encouraged to apply. All interested stakeholders should apply here. Applications are due by Friday, September 25, 2020. Applicants will be contacted to serve on the committee by October 2, 2020.

Meeting dates for 2020-2021 are: October 26, December 7, February 22, and April 19. All meetings are from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Location of meetings will be emailed to selected applicants.

(submitted by Shirley Bachus)

The form to request an addition, deletion, or change to a course in the middle or high school district course guides for 2021-2021 is now available and the process for requests is explained here. Complete this form. All information must be filled in completely and the requestor must sign the form. In addition, the campus principal must approve the request and sign the form. Completed forms should be sent electronically to the district guidance and counseling coordinator, Stephen Polk, Stephen.Polk@pfisd.net, by October 1, 2020. The 2020-2021 Middle and High School Course Guides are located online here. Note: previously submitted courses that have been denied will need to have additional information not previously considered in order to be accepted for consideration.

(submitted by Stephen Polk)

Dear Colleagues,

The window for adding/deleting/updating/revising courses for the 2021-2022 Middle and High School Course Catalogs opens tomorrow, September 1, 2020.

The deadline for submitting requests is October 1, 2020.

Please find attached (and below) the approval/change process. This information can also be found at https://pfisd.net/Page/5554

Please notify your staff so that they can begin the process. Principal/Principal designee approval is required for level two review.

This year we are also seeking any suggested revisions to the current course offerings. This can be done using the form indicated.

I have attached the current MS & HS Course Catalog for your use during the process.

New this year: Courses that have been previously submitted, but not adopted, need to provide additional information not previously considered in order to be accepted for consideration.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

(submitted by Marie Felan)

1. Welcome back! If you haven’t had a chance to watch this brief welcome message from our new Board President, Kelly Daniel, you can watch it here.
2. The Pflugerville Education Foundation is gearing up to support our District with grants for teaching staff, and we are kicking off the year with Mini-grants. This year, we will award mini-grants (max of $500) from September-December. $12,000 will be given away; 6 winners each month for a total of 24 grants. Applications will be due on the 4th Friday of the month by noon. Winners will be notified and provided funding the following month. Please share this link to our short grant application form with your staff: https://forms.gle/oF5cb3eZx82Kb66C9
3. Our Campus Champions are ready to meet you! Each of our Board Members has chosen 1-2 schools to be a personal contact with and connection to the Pfoundation. If you haven’t already heard from someone, you will soon. Our goal is to partner with each campus to ensure access to the programs available to them and to exchange information. Here is the list of Campus Champions assigned to each campus. If you want to assign someone to be the contact at your campus, please let your Campus Champion know when they reach out to you.
4. Coming Soon! #MovingStudentsForward Employee Giving Campaign will kick off on September 15, 2020. This year, our donation forms will be digital. If there is an opportunity to participate in a staff zoom meeting, your Campus Champion can share this year’s exciting campaign information. Goals: 450 employees participating, 90% of campuses/departments participating, 2 new Luminary Leadership Giving Society Members ($83.33 per month), and a total financial goal of $52,000. We know we can do this together!
5. Employee Giving Half Back Checks will be announced at A-team on September 15 so stay tuned to find out how much you will be receiving! These half-back grants to campuses and departments can be used for whatever your staff needs or wants!

(submitted by Hutch Hill)

Attendance Specialists have received requests from some campuses to conduct home visits for students who have stopped engaging with the classroom teacher. In order to support the attendance specialists with their current 2 main tasks (recovering no shows & finding leavers), Student Affairs is asking that campuses encountering these students use campus staff (Social Workers, Asst. Principals, and any other support staff) first in an attempt to re-engage their student. Student Affairs will provide the home visits protocol for specific guidance and will answer any questions encountered as the attempted contacts are made.

Protocol: District Home Visits

(submitted by Hutch Hill)

This is a draft protocol for student violations of safety protective measures. The protocol gives campus administrators intervention methods and options on how to address certain behaviors. These outlined actions will be entered into a discipline guide for use in the near future to all campus behavior coordinators. At this time, we are requesting feedback from all campus administrators by Thursday, September 10, 2020. Once the link is opened, you will be able to provide comments to the draft. Student Affairs would like to provide this protocol to all campuses before students arrive on September 14, 2020.

Progressive Misconduct Matrix - PPE

(submitted by Christy Fox)

This is advanced notice that the Annual Title I Parent Meeting must be held virtually by October 2 (extended from Sept 25) following the timeline of required activities. Again, this meeting can be held in conjunction with your required public meeting to share your campus accountability ratings, academic performance, CIP Performance Objectives, and your ESF Targeted Improvement Plan (TIP) (if applicable).

TEA requires that campuses must offer the Annual Title I Parent Meeting more than one time to ensure access for the greatest number of parents/families. The meetings must be held at different times; for example, if you hold an Annual Title I Parent Meeting on a weekday evening you would also offer a repeat of the Annual Title I Parent Meeting at an alternate time, such as during the school day and/or on the weekend. At least one offering of this meeting must be held by October 2.

• Resources including a sample Title I annual meeting agenda & PowerPoint are located on the Federal & State Programs website here. Once meetings have been held (each campus must offer at least two meetings), your associate can save the sign-in sheets, agenda, PowerPoint, and any handouts to your Title1Crate account and to your campus folder on the S:\ATeam\Title I Administrators\2020-2021 Campus Folders.

• Our Federal & State Programs website has a Forms & FAQs area with a review of Title1Crate.

• An additional best practice includes discussing the campus Title I plan and progress at each CAAC meeting during which formative assessments for your Campus Improvement Plan are completed. This provides a forum by which to evaluate the Title I program regularly throughout the school year.

(submitted by Christy Fox)

Depending on the length of your agenda for the required September public meeting, you may also choose to begin to collaborate with your parents, families, and other stakeholders to develop your school’s 2020-2021 Parent & Family Engagement Plan and the 2020-2021 School-Family Compact at that time. Again, for Title I campuses that are also part of the Effective Schools Cohort, it is recommended that you hold a separate meeting in October to begin the development of the Parent & Family Engagement Plan and the School-Family Compact to ensure that enough time is dedicated. These two separate plans must be developed in meaningful consultation alongside your school’s parents, families, and other stakeholders. It is not acceptable to simply change the date on a prior year’s plan and provide copies to families.

• All campuses are required to share and explain the School-Family Compact at their October parent-teacher conferences. Teachers will share the document with each of their families as they meet.

• Another way to meet the requirement to share & explain the School-Family Compact is to create an asynchronous video that parents and families can view on their own to understand the School-Family Compact, and publish the video through the campus’ typical communication methods, through teachers’ virtual classrooms, and posted on your campus website.

• Sample resources are located on the Federal & State Programs Title I page to assist you in planning. Once the two plans are completed, your associate can save them to your Title1Crate account and to your campus folder on the S: drive. Both the Parent & Family Engagement Plan and the School-Family Compact are due by October 30 and required to be posted to your campus website. PDF or printed copies should also be made available at your parent and family engagement activities throughout the year whether held virtually or in-person. Translated documents should also be available and posted for your families.

Resources at the Statewide Parent and Family Engagement Initiative website are available to support you and your parent liaison (if applicable) in your campus outreach to families and parents.

(submitted by Kelly Bertholf)

If you don’t already know how to use =vlookup to find information on one Excel worksheet and add it to another worksheet, let me show you how. I can teach you how to use this formula in less than 30 minutes, and it can save you hours of time. Everyone is invited. If the scheduled time doesn’t work for you, send me a Zoom link for another time!

Join Zoom Meeting, Wednesday, September 9 at 10:00am.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87142675830?pwd=N1p5UzVNMUl1SEJ3UlIvZUlsMWkvQT09

Meeting ID: 871 4267 5830

Passcode: 4Ec9Mq

(submitted by Denise Kablaitis)

I know that when we talked on a recent zoom meeting there was a question regarding the thermometers and the ability to take more than three temperatures in 10 minutes. Please see below for a work around to this concern. Know that the thermometer will self-shut off in less than a minute (30 seconds). Yes this can be a pain and will delay us a bit but it is minor in comparison to not being able to use for 10 minutes.

They can set it down and it will auto shut down after about 30 seconds. In the meantime they can use another thermometer, do two screens and just rotate back and forth between the two thermometers. This should not delay the process at all.

Temperatures will be taken on students. At this time, we are not doing a screening on students, only temperatures. Temperatures should not be taken outside or taken as they walk in the doors. They need a minute or two to be inside the AC before a temp is taking. If they are high, ask them sit to the side for a few minutes and retake the temp.

Screenings for students are the responsibility of the parent before sending the student to school each day.

Staff temps should also be taken. Best practice is to have one person to take these temps so there is consistency in the practice.

For both staff and students, we are not writing down a temperature. We are just noting that they are below 100.0.

As the numbers of students on campuses increase, we will look at ordering additional thermometers. At this time each HS campus received 28 thermometers, each MS received 20 thermometers, and each ES received 15 thermometers.

(submitted by Denise Kablaitis)

An update came out this morning for Screen & Go. It now asks for a temperature. Many staff members may not have a thermometer at home. Therefore you can skip this question in the process. ALL staff temperatures will still be taken when they arrive at campus.

If staff members are having trouble with Screen & Go today, please ask them to clear out browse and cache history in their phone and start over with the QR code and that should resolve their issues.

(submitted by Denise Kablaitis)

I will share with you all a link on google to a ppt for the Professional Development on September 11, 2020. This ppt contains videos for staff to watch and learn additional information regarding COVID19 and their personal protection. There are also a few scenarios that you can run through with your campus staff to try to get them all thinking and maybe answer some additional questions they hadn’t thought of yet, before that first day.

Pam and I will be checking the links to make sure they are all still valid on Thursday the 10th (as CDC likes to change out videos).

This is just the beginning of Professional Day for you all. It is left empty at the end so you can add the campus specific information you would like to share that day as well.

Please make a copy for yourself and feel free to edit away.

Also in the folder is the trainings for teachers to use for students on September 14th. Please make copies for your campuses. You may switch out the videos if you would like to do so.

(submitted by Denise Kablaitis)

I will share a link to a google doc for Principals, AEDs and myself. Please use this to ask questions on Health and Safety plans and I will try to stay on top of it and answer the questions. I am finding that many of you have the same questions and rather than send the same answer multiple times, why not just allow you all to see the same answers 😊 This is why some of you may have noticed that I am including your AEDs on the responses so they can share the information as well with you all.

(submitted by Denise Kablaitis)

This will be all hands on deck when there is a need to contact trace. Just based on what we have seen this summer with the tracing on the HR side, it is not a job to be taken lightly or a job that one person can do on their own. The more the better!!

Please review the information in the sites below to get a better understanding of contact tracing. Please share with anyone who will be helping with this task.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/notification-of-exposure.html

https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing?

We will be sending letters home for all close contacts to a person that is lab confirmed cases. This will not be to the entire school/building, only to those with direct contact.

(submitted by Denise Kablaitis)

You may have already seen this through your AEDs this week, but just in case…..

The following group was created with Integral Care to provide support for our teachers. Since the start date of the group is this Tuesday, September 8th please forward the following to the Principals on your teams so they can share the information with their teachers.

Integral Care is offering a support group for teachers of PfISD. The focus is to process the social-emotional adjustment to returning to in-person learning. The initial session is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8th from 4-5:30pm. Teachers can contact Integral Care directly at schoolbasedservices@integralcare.org The services are confidential.

Plexiglas Dividers Available

We will have Plexiglas dividers for use in the classroom for students and teachers when we welcome students back to campuses next week. There is a limited number and not enough for every student, so we may need to place one on every other desk if necessary.

Teachers may request dividers for students through their principal. The warehouse will deliver campus allotted desk shields to campuses as requested.

A desk shield is not a substitution for the protection provided by the face coverings, physical distancing, and proper handwashing. Dividers will need to be cleaned in between each student's use.

Recommended Uses:

• Small groups used for Intervention, GT, Special Educations, etc. We also recommend that teachers wear a face shield and mask during these small group interactions.
• Students seated at tables and who cannot be seated facing the same direction and at least 6ft apart.
• Students who are eating at their desk.

The district has ordered a limited number of staff desk dividers. These desk Plexiglas dividers are to be used in work areas where social distancing cannot take place among employees or for employees approved to receive one through an ADA or AWA request from HR. These shields can be requested through the warehouse.

Leadership Academy

PfISD Leadership Academy.

Next week, PfISD will share with leadership staff members about the start of a pilot PfISD Leadership Academy which will start this fall. The leadership academy will consist of two groups. The PfISD Leadership Academy Level One group will be directed towards our mid-manager group (e.g., instructional coaches, supervisors, specialists, coordinators and assistant principals). Level two will be directed towards our upper management group (e.g., assistant directors, principals, directors).

The PfISD Mobile App is Coming Soon!

PfISD next week will be launching the ‘PfISD Insider’ mobile app! Information will be sent out to all district employees providing them instructions for downloading the application to their personal mobile devices. Important information will be provided on the mobile app such as employee benefits/insurance information and the PfISD Employee Handbook. The district will also use the mobile app to send out important notices to staff.

Potential Schedule/Class Shuffling

With some of our students returning to campus on Sept. 14, we are trying to allow for as much social distancing as possible in our classrooms. As a result of this, it may impact our class sizes, teacher assignments and schedules. Some of your students may see their teacher change or their schedule change in order for us to ensure we do not have crowded classrooms.

COVID-19 Close Contact Protocols

Please closely review the updates in this newsletter from Denise Kablaitis regarding COVID-19. We will be providing her information on procedures for notifying close contacts of confirmed positive COVID cases in next week’s staff update as well.

Holiday

9/11/20

PD Day