Important Dates:

August 9-11:  Materials Pick Up

August 15:  First Day of School

August 18:  Required Parent/Guardian

Athletics Meeting/Dinner 5:00 p.m.

Call Miss Mari and Miss Celeste for help!

Dear AVU JR./SR. High Staff,

I am so delighted to be working daily with you all. I am equally happy and excited to have my “wing persons” Stefani Ewing and Vero Barragan to support me in the new dual role, along with the expertise of Mari and Celeste!   With all of the bond construction and financing there is too much for me to do on the plate. Therefore, we have divided the duties to provide maximum coverage for the students, staff and site. I know that it can be confusing, as we embark on our new year, so I wanted to give you an at-a-glance look about who to go to for what.

Discipline:

Vero has been designated as our Behavior Liaison. This is wonderful because she has relationships throughout the community and also the bilingual skills. She will be handling the orange sheets in the low-level discipline matters along with Soledad for walkarounds, and work with me for the higher-level discipline. Stefani will still be hosting the detentions that will come as a result of the discipline enforcement. We are going to be exceptionally strict on dress code. What I saw last year will not continue. That starts at the front line with the teachers and other staff, so if you see a student that is inappropriate, I want you to forward them to Vero immediately.  

Stefani’s Role

Stefani has been, for all intents and purposes, acting in her TOSA role with many of the functions of an assistant principal. This will continue, and she will be  hosting the detentions, independent study, scheduling coverages for missed periods along with the office, and participating as an admin at the special ed meetings. She is an awesome test coordinator, and while that will change and how that looks in the coming year, she will continue in that function as well. Scheduling work with Chris and I, will also be part of the role.  She will handle other duties as assigned and step in with me to cover the site when I have to do my superintendent duties related to the county or to support the elementary. This is a fluid position and I'm delighted to welcome her on board formally. One of my greatest Joys is to grow people. I am excited that Stefani has this opportunity.

My Role:

I am your instructional leader, and I am responsible for the overall achievement and performance at this site. I have very, very high expectations that include dress code for students and  appropriate decorum in staff address, and so much more. Our students deserve the best. I do ask that all staff are dressed professionally as appropriate to the job.  You all work so hard and I can't wait to see where we go in the coming year. I'm also integrally involved in the WASC process with Julie Honegger. We have been holding meetings over the summer.  Thank the stars for Julie on this written report. WASC  is an important and necessary process and we need to give it our best effort. I don't want to have to have to revisit a one year report. My goal is to put good time and effort into the first part of every collaboration meeting  in the Fall, so that we have a collaborative and fully defensible report that tells the truth and looks forward to tomorrow, so that we can get a six-year designation with a mid-cycle update. My job is to implement. I am a good implementer. I know you've had a lot of trauma in the past with a bunch of crazy s*** from Superintendents. My door is always open. My cell phone is always on. Don't let a small problem grow into a big problem. Let's work together to solve it. However, today, I ask you to just let me do my job. We don’t need to discuss everything to death. I respect your time. I want our staff meetings to be quick and purposeful.  Sometimes, you just have to trust me and I'm going to go for it. I'm a results-oriented person. I hope what you see around you in just one year gives you comfort that I have your best interest and the students’ best interests at heart.  Some parts of what we are doing now aren't working…  We can make mighty changes. I just need you to let me do my job. I am always open to input, but sometimes I have to make a hard decision. I do have incredibly high standards for image and performance. I urge you as a first step to critically look at your room and think about what image and expectation you are delivering to students.

Some of you are going to ask who the hell is Jim Frost and Bill Toledo? Well, one of the things I've heard on the downlow is that people think that I don't have experience in high school. Well, I might not know high school but I know great instruction. I have seen amazing things in this District. I've seen things that need to change in this District. I also know we have an important WASC visit post-Covid, and I want to create a safe place where I can bring in some outside eyes that are very well-versed in high school that can just simply visit classrooms and give you direct feedback that I never see. You can do what you like with that feedback. Jim and Bill will be talking to me about broad themes. This is incredibly valuable as we go for a metamorphosis.  They have both served at large and small high schools as principals and Jim brings extensive superintendency experience in multiple districts to the table as well.  They are dynamic.

As a first start in your lessons, please set the goal with the students for the day.  Tell them:

• What’s the goal of the lesson?

• What skill will you have by the end of this lesson and why is it important?

• How will I know I am successful in this lesson?

Another area I am extremely excited about is our curriculum pilots. We are piloting curriculum in math, science, and ag science. Having a curriculum-based framework is incredibly important to achieve. I value teacher Innovation, but I also value a framework for students to learn in a sequential manner. I thank the teachers in these domains for participating in the process!

 I also want to thank Amy Burger for taking on the computer learning lab. This is not the best solution for upper division math, but it is the best solution that we have, and Amy is tremendous for taking it on. The license also has a variety of other computerized courses without teacher support that you can assign as a teacher within your classroom domain. I urge  you to look at this as it unrolls. It is a valuable assignment library resource to supplement in class instruction.

Teresa Malfavon will be the sped teacher in Georgette’s place with Jill Rathe’s document and IEP support.  Kira Brennan will be providing some workability support for the students as well.  We are grateful! Ernie, Eric, David and welcome our new sped aide Maryanne Grezenda will provide additional support!

JUNIOR HIGH CHROMEBOOKS AND CELL PHONES

We have some new policies for the Junior/Senior High that we will be rolling out. First of all, there will be no cell phones during the school day at the Junior High at all including break. The students will put their phones in a locked Yonder pouch at the start of the day, and will keep it with them to be unlocked at the end of the day when they return their Chromebook to the library. This system is used in many school districts. The beauty is the student keeps the phone but it is inactive.  Parents can reach the students through the office. In an emergency situation the device to unlock will be available in several classrooms, in case it is needed.

For the Junior High, Chromebooks will be checked out and in on a daily basis in the library. Chromebooks will not be permitted to go home in the Junior High.  Amy and Marcela will be in the library every morning and Junior High students will be required to come in and check out their Chromebook. Teachers that have JR High classes in the last period of the day will use the final 5 minutes of class to take students to the library to turn in their Chromebooks, unlock their phone pouches, and return to the classroom. This is going to be a difficult learning expectation for students, and we need all Junior High Staff to accompany their classes initially so students understand the procedures. We have been spending an inordinate amount of money on damaged Chromebooks. This will also give a visual inspection for select units on a daily basis. This is new. This will be different. We can do it. More logistics will follow on how it looks.

It is also important to know that if a student is late to school,  they will check in at the office and a Chromebook will be brought to them. If a student has a non-functioning Chromebook during the day, they are to go to the library and Marcela will help them fill out a form that requests troubleshooting or repair. They will leave the damaged Chromebook at the library and Marcela will check them out with a daily loaner that is for the day only. Wynne will visit with the student when he is on site and resolve their issues on their existing Chromebook and make the swap. Wynne has ordered 300 beautiful new larger Chromebooks, but these are a privilege. If there has been any damage to the new one, the student will be given a prior generation Chromebook for the rest of the year. The intentional abuse of technology must not continue, we simply can’t afford it.

ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS MUST CARRY THEIR CHROMEBOOKS IN THE COMPUTER BAG.  

JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS WILL CARRY THEIR LAPTOP (NOT PUTTING IT IN THEIR BOOK BAG), AND LOCK THEIR CHROMEBOOKS IN THEIR LOCKER DURING BREAK AND LUNCH.

PLEASE ENFORCE THIS RULE WITH ALL GRADES.

High School Cell Phone Restrictions:  All teachers please enforce CONSISTENTLY the use of no phones within the classroom setting UNLESS it is an instructional activity.  Use the Chromebook, not the phone whenever possible.  The lack of consistency makes kids fuzzy with gray and that is not good for navigation and implementation of expectations.

Wynne will meet with all students on the first day (Stefani will develop the schedule) to review Chromebook rules and check them out.  There will also be behavior expectation stations on the first day of school.  More info to follow from the PBIS Team.

BEHAVIOR CONTRACTS

We have a few students with some significant behaviors that will be coming back and placed on a contract. I will be meeting with those families and students prior to school start. Those students will have daily check-ins. They will also have a restricted backpack used with a loaner backpack that is kept at the office and checked daily. We are doing everything possible to ensure that there are no illegal activities occurring on the site.

DRUG EDUCATION

A highly recommended trainer from MCOE will be joining us as a contractor. His name is Mark Fierro and he's done a great deal of work throughout the county. This will be disruptive and I apologize. It is important. He will be meeting with every single student group three times in the first few weeks of school. I recognize this disrupts your instruction. But stoned students can't learn, so it's a money and time investment I'm willing to make. Stefani and Chris have developed the schedule. Your  flexibility with implementing the schedule as written is appreciated, as it was difficult to coordinate.  Thank you Chris!

CLASS CHANGES

Please remember that no class changes will be permitted the first week of school. We need to develop a culture that students are taking required classes and not making changes to be with friends. Chris has developed a new form and we will be implementing that in the fall semester. It does require all teachers to sign off on the change. A copy will be placed in your box.

Please mark your calendar for the PD day. This is required on August 11th for certificated staff and classified are encouraged to attend. Here is the schedule.

ANDERSON VALLEY UNIFIED 

Professional Development Day–AVHS Gym

Thursday, August 11 

 CERTIFICATED STAFF REQUIRED TO ATTEND

CLASSIFIED STAFF HIGHLY ENCOURAGED AND PAID ON TIME SHEET!

HIGH SCHOOL:

7:45-8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:10-8:20 a.m. Welcome and Service Pins and Elizabeth Wyant Panther Pals

8:30-10:15 a.m. Jennifer Johnson Part 1

10:15-10:30 a.m. Break

10:30-11:45 a.m. Jennifer Johnson Part 2

11:45 - 12:00 p.m. District Office Staff Paperwork Updates

12:00-1:00 p.m. District Provided Lunch

1:15-2:15 p.m. Certificated Staff Meetings on Site

2:15-End of Day Opportunity for Computerized Required Training Completion

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:

Same schedule as above except 1:15 will be Certificated Staff Meetings on Site.  Make up time for Keenan training will be scheduled at an alternate time.

CERTIFICATED KEENAN TRAININGS:

Sara is going to send out the links for the Keenan mandatory training. I am going to give you opportunities for free time at CPT  to complete these training sessions rather than doing them as a group. If you would prefer to complete them on your own time at home and then not attend the CPT after the WASC portion of the meeting, that is fine too. I want you to have flexibility on how you use your time, but we do need to get the mandated training completed.  Classified Staff training will be completed the Friday before school as a group.

SYLLABUS

Please make sure you turn in your CONTENT SYLLABUS (not just your behavior expectation) to me. I am looking forward to working with you!

Thank you for all you do as you prepare to welcome students back to school!  My door is always open!

Take care,

Louise

Fechas Importantes:

9-11 de agosto: Recogida de materiales

15 de agosto: primer día de clases

18 de agosto: padre/tutor obligatorio

Reunión/Cena de Atletismo 17:00 h.