The Knight Times

Thomas Dale Faculty and Staff,

Please enjoy the second special edition of The Knight Times. It is the "tell-me-what-I-need-to-just-return-from-Spring-Break" issue.

I have been so impressed by our faculty, staff, students, and community during my first 9 months as your principal. I've heard of schools that say they do "Whatever It Takes." To see one first hand inspires me to be my best every single day and to get better as your principal every day.

Engaging in the selection process of my first Teacher of the Year as a principal has been one of the most rewarding experiences as an educator. It was an honor to witness greatness in action and equally difficult to select just one.

Spring Break comes once a year as a gift to rest, rejuvenate, and catch our collective breath before the push to the end of the year. Wherever your break takes you, whatever your break has you doing...do it like you mean it! I love you, appreciate you, and care deeply about you. I'll see you on the other side of Spring Break 2019!

Enjoy!

Up-Front Summary (by day):

Monday

• Morning Meeting during Enrichment (VIDEO and FACILITATION GUIDE)

Tuesday

• Normal Day

Wednesday

• Senior Class Meeting during Enrichment

Thursday

• No Texting While Driving Campaign during Lunches

Friday

• Normal Day, except we will probably be missing about half the student body :)
• Prom (VSU, 7-11pm)

Links shared in this issue:

• TD Staff Dashboard
• KUDOS
• Tech Integrator - Janice Skipwith
  
• Grade Change Form
• Knight's Cafe Order Form
  

#EveryKnightEveryDay

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.

From Miriam Bonner:

First, I would like to thank Barbara Cox for her kind words. I was truly humbled. It is a wonderful feeling to have someone you respect fill your bucket. Now, I am honored to pay it forward to my dear colleague, Erin White, who makes a difference.

Erin White is the epitome of what a caring, professional educator should be. While being known for her immense skill in developing challenging and rigorous lessons for honor level classes, Erin shows the same commitment in developing differentiated lessons for co-taught classes. She is never satisfied with any one lesson; she works to make improvements from year to year, week to week and, if necessary, class to class.

What makes Erin so successful in her classroom is the uncompromising commitment to building relationships first. She takes the time to get to know each of her students. She knows not only their interests and aspirations, but she takes the time to reach out to meet their personal needs. For years, Erin’s classroom has been seen by students as a hub of safety, where everyone is welcome and a place to go when they find themselves in need of love and direction. If she does not have the answer or resource, Erin seeks it out. I have seen her assist students or connect them to resources to meet needs from food, clothing, utility payments to scholarships. Every spring you can bet she is busy typing letters of recommendations for a multitude of students. All the while, Erin is busy supporting the dance team and taking on leadership roles within her department.

Erin is continually improving her craft. She is always willing to attend seminars and trainings such as both the ESOL and SIOP programs, Project CRISS, as well as presenting and working as a trainer in programs at the school and county level. Erin continues to serve as a mentor or colleague to our newest Knights, always with an energetic willingness. Well after this commitment is met, Erin continues to be a resource to her colleagues. I am proud to call her one of my most cherished colleagues and friend.

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. You will notice a difference in the form. We have added a layer that will send each individual recipient an email with attachment shortly after the KUDOS has been submitted! 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!

Please enjoy this week's KUDOS by clicking HERE!

Each month, we will celebrate and recognize one teacher as the Teacher of the Month and one staff member as the Staff Member of the Month. We were so excited to celebrate our Teacher and Staff Member of the Month recipients so far!

• September: Jamie Barrack and Michelle Kimenhour
• October: Rachel Langston and Steve Davies
• November: James Thompson and Bridget Lehman
• December: Heather Walker and Lisa Neal
• January: Laurie Gholson and Jason Owen
• February: Kim Young and Barbara Harris
• March: Chris Johnston and Brenda Manson

Submit your nomination for April's Teacher and Staff Member of the Month by clicking HERE.

Each month, we will celebrate and recognize one student from each grade level as the Student of the Month. This student will be publicly recognized in front of classmates and on social media. Additionally, we will place a yard sign at each student's place of residency indicating that they are a Student of the Month for the appropriate grade level. Each student will be able to keep the yard sign. Each student who is nominated but not selected will also be recognized publicly.

Please think of a student you feel is deserving of April's Student of the Month and submit that student's name HERE.

The Culture by Design team has come up with several ways for us to celebrate our awesome knight students, as they exemplify the pillars of the Knight Code. Please take a moment to read through the awards and methods of nomination.

Additionally, we would like to ask that all Homeroom teachers encourage their students to come up with spirit-oriented Genius hour sessions. Ideas to jump start the conversation include: poster painting, face painting, relay races or candid photos... but we'd love to make their ideas come into reality.

• Senior Spring Events Assembly (Information). In order to begin preparing the seniors for the pending spring season senior events, on April 10 there will be a senior assembly during Enrichment. Contact Laura Deck with any questions or concerns.
• Tech Integrator (Information). Janice Skipwith is a wonderful resource for high-quality instruction. Please see her weekly newsletter HERE.
• Historians are always looking for cool stuff (Information). With Spring Break upon us, if anyone is doing some Spring Cleaning, please keep DA and I (James) in mind. We always accept pretty much all artifacts and old items to use in our classrooms. We are currently looking especially for more newspapers. If you come across anything you think we may be interested in, please shoot us an email. Jamesm_Thompson@ccpsnet.net and Richard_Anthony@ccpsnet.net. Thank you and enjoy Spring Break! James and DA

It's grade sending time again! The posting window is now open! Should you need help with grade sending, please refer to the directions for grade sending that are available on CNet, under Synergy Report Cards. Please follow the regular MP3 grade sending procedures. Just a few quick reminders:

• Grades can be sent from anywhere that you have an internet connection - grades do not have to be sent while on the CCPS network.
• All assignments must have a non-zero Points value.
• If you override the calculated grade for the marking period, please do so using a numeric value, NOT a letter grade.
  
• To override a grade, there must be a numeric average in the grade book. Now is a good time to go back to MP1, MP2, and Sem1 to be sure you have changed any INCOMPLETES to GRADES through a grade change form submitted to Bridget Lehman.
• Any calculated grade above 100 MUST be overwritten with a 100 for the report card (the calculated grade will continue to be used in semester/final year calculations).
• All grades must be submitted by midnight March 29, 2019. PLEASE check your email to see that Jill has not requested action on your part. Once ALL grades are in, she will notify Dr. Jones, who will let you know we are complete. Until that time, Jill will send individual emails to teachers who have errors.
  
• Jill Seal is happy to help you with any grade sending issue that might arise. Please feel free to contact her. She can be reached at her school Ext 6656 or by cell at 804-980-1323.

Once you have sent grades for all classes, please run the U-GBK407 - Secondary Teacher Posted Mark Verification Report - it can be found under Reports in the seating chart sub-menu. Due to state reporting requirements, ALL students must have a grade (even if that grade is an "N"). This report catches MOST, but not all errors. Remember to check your email for requests from Jill.

Do you have old or broken jewelry lying around and you just don't know what to do with it? Ms. Knott would like it! You can send anything...earrings, necklaces, bracelets, beads, buttons or even jewelry findings like clasps and thread. Just bring it to either library anytime.

April is National Poetry Month. In celebration the libraries are growing Poe Trees at the front of each library. We would like faculty and students to write a short poem on one of the leaves provided, and send them to a librarian to add to the tree. Have students write their names and teacher's names on the back, and they will be returned to you. Here is a sample. Leaves are located in both libraries.

This week the Knights Cafe is offering Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate KIND bars, Caramel Almond & Sea Salt KIND bars, Cinnamon Streusel Muffins, Banana Nut Muffins and Graham’s Chocolate Pound Cake. Click HERE for the order form.

As part of our intentionality to strengthen trust, communication, and relationships, we will include agendas and minutes from our meetings in this section of the newsletter.

• Admin Team: March 19
  
• ILT: March 1
  
• Instructional Admin: March 19
  
• Community Partners Meeting: March 12
• Principal's Advisory Council: March 20
• Student Advisory Council: February 27 (Minutes forthcoming)
• ACTS Notes (from Cindy Waters): November
• English: March 19
• Math: Minutes Folder

Gregg Whisler - April 2

Carrie May - April 3

Tracy Longworth - April 5

Dione Brown - April 5

Emily Castle-Dunn - April 13

Enjoy your day!!!

Stay connected to OUR CALENDAR and mark yours!

Click HERE for our 2018-2019 meeting dates.

March 29 - Early Release for Students (BELL SCHEDULE)

March 29 - Brief Faculty Meeting to announce 2020 TOY (Main, Commons)

March 29 - Grades are due at midnight

April 1-5 - Spring Break!

April 8 - Morning Meeting in Homeroom during Enrichment

April 9 - Culture by Design Meeting (Main Library, after school)

April 10 - Senior Class Assembly during Enrichment

April 10 - PTSA Reflections Awards Banquet

April 11 - No Texting While Driving Campaign during Lunches

April 12 - Prom (VSU, 7pm)

April 13 - VASCD New Teacher Forum (Main Library, 8am)

CLICK HERE for all things April

Click below to access previous issues of The Knight Times, our weekly staff newsletter:

• Week of August 13
• Week of August 20
• Week of August 27
• Week of September 3
• Week of September 10
• Week of September 17
• Week of September 24
• Week of October 1
• Week October 8
• Week of October 15
• Week of October 22
• Week of October 29
• Week of November 5
• Week of November 12
• Weeks of November 19 and 26
• Week of December 3
• Week of December 10
• Week of December 31
• Week of January 7
  
• Week of January 14
• Week of January 21
• Week of January 28
• Week of February 4
• Week of February 11
• Week of February 18
• Week of February 25
• Week of March 4
• Week of March 11
• Week of March 18

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

• August 2018
• September 2018
• October 2018
• November 2018
• December 2018
• January 2019
• February 2019
• March 2019

If you have information you need to share, input you seek, or dates you need to communicate, please send it to me. As we improve our communication structure, The Knight Times will become an increasingly collaborative document.

Please email me what you'd like to share - just ensure you have The Knight Times as part of your subject line. I will just need a title, body of text to include, and a picture attachment (if you have one to add to your piece).

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