RMHS Staff Update

2023-24 School Year Calendar (format 1)

• 1/12 - Close of Q2

• 1/15 - MLK Jr Day - No School
  

• 1/16 - 1/19 - Midyear Exams

• A/B

• C/D

• E/F

• G/ Make Up

• 1/17 - School Council Meeting (4:15 pm)

• 1/17 - Gap Year Fair (6 pm)

• 1/17 - PTO Meeting (Fidelity PD - 7 pm)

• 1/18 - New Principal Meet and Greet (6 pm)

• 1/18 - School Committee Meeting

• 1/22 - 2/16 - new schedule pilot

• 1/22 - Q3 starts / Start of Pilot Schedule

• 1/23 & 1/25 - Fidelity Sessions for all seniors in flex

• 1/23 - Future Freshman Night (6:30pm)

• 1/24 - Dept. Meetings

• 1/26 - Q2 Grade Report Due (Q2 and mid-years)

• 1/29 - Report Cards Published

Students are only required to report to school to take mid-year exams the week of Jan. 16. Please take attendance each period / exam. If students miss an exam with you, they must contact you to set up another time, preferably during the make-up exam session. If parents report that a student has an excused absence this will be reflected as usual in their attendance and attendance report. Buses will arrive earlier in the afternoon during exam week. Breakfast will be served at regular time and lunch will be served from 11-12. If students are in the school to study during or between exams they should be in the library or on Main St.

If there is a snow day any day next week exams will be pushed by a day. Ex. If there is a snow day on Tues. then exams will begin on Wed. w/ A and B. We would then start the pilot schedule the following Tues. and begin w/ a 2-day instead of a 1-day.

Beginning next week the food services department will begin serving cold breakfast items from a mobile breakfast cart on Main St. Food will be served from 8:00-8:30 am. *This time will be extended next week to match up with the start of morning exams at 9 am.

The Embarc Program is also going to assist in keeping the cart stocked daily. We are very excited for this collaboration between our food services department and our students and hope that this is another step forward in making sure students have food in their bellies before the start of the school day.

Thank you to Ms. Franzetti, Food Services Director, and Ms. Lecesse, Special Education Department Chair, for having the vision to make this happen.

Please register to attend here. The flyer is attached (and pasted below for quick viewing). We hope to see you there! If you have questions about this opportunity please contact Audra Williams.

All are welcome at the Reading MLK Event this Monday, Jan. 15 at the RMHS PAC to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thank you to all those that made the District-Wide Art Project happen this week in flex as well. It was a big ask with a short turn around and I sincerely thank those that were able to carry out the activity. In the future I will see if RMHS can have more participation in the planning of this event or art projects related to ensure it ties to our work at RMHS in classes and within clubs and activities.

From January 22 - February 16, 2024 RMHS will test a pilot schedule, as discussed in the staff meeting on December 20. At this time all staff with a teaching schedule should have received daily schedules from Chuck Strout. If you have not please reach out to Chuck ASAP.

Students will be emailed their schedules this Tuesday before flex. Please take a few minutes to review the schedules with students in flex on Tuesday and / or Thursday. I will send a presentation to everyone on Monday covering the main talking points and possible Q & A's.

During the pilot schedule staff will not be expected to carry out assigned duties if it creates a day without a prep. Coverage will be provided for all studies by having students move to the cafeteria or library during studies rather than classrooms.

Flex will still take place when in the schedule. If there is a day when you do not have a prep, but flex is taking place and you have it, you can request coverage from Kathy Kinney. Please do this early each week.

There are two early release days during the pilot schedule, Feb. 1 and Feb 16. There will be PD tracks and a staff meeting on Feb. 2, and on Feb. 16 staff will be allowed to leave 30-min after students per the RTA contract when an early release falls on a day before a break. The 16th is the Friday before February break.

The first day of the schedule is a Day 1, which is the same schedule we have now in a Day 1.

If you have a day without a prep, and do not want coverage, you can elect to teach through and be provided compensation for one of the periods at the hourly rate (this applies to classroom teachers). You can receive compensation by filling out a timesheet as usual.

I think that is it for now, but as questions arise please let me know. I will hold a brief staff meeting on Jan. 12 prior to PD track time to address any outstanding concerns and / or questions about the end of terms, mid-terms, etc.

During the pilot flex is happening on Day 2 and Day 4. For planning purposes, Day 2 is for Tues. and Day 4 is for Thurs. flex teachers.

If this is confusing, please see me or one of the Assistant Principals next week (me - Jess C.)

When the regular schedule begins again after Feb. break we will pick up with the regular calendar. We will start with a Day 6 on the day after Feb. break.

There will be a Meet and Greet with yours truly on January 18th at 6:00pm in the RMHS library. This is predominantly parents / caregivers and community members, but all are welcome.

To date this school year those covering flex periods were compensated for 1-hour. Since the time is actually 45-min, moving forward the compensation on time-sheets will be 45-min rather than 1-hr.

Professional Development Opportunity: Jan 31st - Feb 28th

In this 15-hour PD course educators (teachers and administrators) of Multilingual Learners (MLs) will refresh their knowledge of SEI and explore the ever-changing ML landscape. There will be a focus on the influx of newly arrived families and how to best support them. In this course we will review SEI practices and how they can be tailored to specific situations. We will closely examine the differences in cultural school expectations that can become barriers to family engagement and student academic success. We will read about and discuss the socioemotional challenges our newcomers often experience, and ways to support these students in the classroom. Participants will study current practices and strategies to support newcomer MLs in the classroom, examine the Newcomer Toolkit, and complete a reflective Newcomer Support Plan. The structure of this course consists of a total of three in person course sessions, via Zoom, totaling 6 hours, with participants completing 9 hours of independent assignments.

Contact: Catherine Hindle at chindle@seemcollaborative.org with questions.

Cost is: $250 for non-members and $225 for members.

Sign Up: Browse Courses (gosignmeup.com)

Karen Hall, RPS ML Director, is available to assist in classroom with teachers of ML students through a coaching model. If you would like her assistance or perspective please complete the following google form: MLL Coaching - Coaching