Warrior Beat

I know that all of us have loved the relaxation and rest of summer! Time off helps us all rejuvenate and find clarity. It is my hope that all of you took time for yourself and found some time to experience the peace that you deserve.

It's time! In many ways I feel like it is the day before Christmas! The excitement of being back with "our tribe" tomorrow makes me excited, hopeful and energized! Another school year is just a week away and as I always say, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

As we approach the year, let's remember and celebrate that we are not in this alone! We are a family and families stick together.

Please take a minute to watch the clip below. While humorous, I think it DOES speak to the creative and collective power of individuals who succeed against a variety of challenges and threats when they stick TOGETHER!

Proud to be a Warrior,

Holly

Monday, July 25th (Casual Dress)

JSMS Welcome Back Breakfast-7:30-8:00

JSMS-Faculty Meeting 8:00-12:00

Lunch on Own-12:00-1:00

Departmental and grade level meetings-1:00-3:00

Tuesday, July 26 (JSMS T-Shirt---NO JEANS)

KCS District Opening--PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO CARPOOL. PARKING WILL BE TIGHT.

All JSMS staff, please sit up front to the right of the stage (if you are looking at the stage) together. Please wear your JSMS T-Shirts (no jeans).

• Toy F. Reid Employee Center, Eastman Chemical Co. (400 South Wilcox Drive)
• 7:45 a.m. Breakfast (provided by KCS Administration & Board of Education)
• 8:30 a.m. Convocation Begins
• 10:00 a.m. Keynote Address – Dr. Candice McQueen, Commissioner, TDOE
• 11:00 a.m. KCS Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
• 11:30 a.m. Lunch (on your own)
• 1:00 p.m. Professional Learning (at home school)

Wednesday, July 27 (Business Casual)

• See table below for specific information...

Thursday, July 28 (Casual)

• Administrative Work Days (at JSMS)
  

• City-Wide Coaches Meeting 7:30-11:00 am-DB Fieldhouse

• Back-to-School Bash (6:00-8:00)-JSMS Track
  

Friday, July 29 (Casual)

• Administrative Work Days (at JSMS)

• Media Day - DB (for those who coach at DB)

August 25-JSMS Open House (4:30-6:00)

PLEASE ADD THESE DATES TO YOUR CALENDAR

August 8th-Faculty Meeting

August 22nd-Leadership Team

September 12th-Faculty Meeting

September 26th-Leadership Team

October 17th-Faculty Meeting

October 24th-Leadership Team

November 14th-Faculty Meeting

November 28th-Leadership Team

December 12th-Faculty Meeting

January 9th-Faculty Meeting

January 23rd-Leadership Team

February 13th-Faculty Meeting

February 27th-Leadership Team

March 13th-Faculty Meeting

March 20th-Leadership Team

April 10th-Faculty Meeting

April 24th-Leadership Team

May 8th-Faculty Meeting

May 15th-Leadership Team

• We want to give a shout out to all of the new additions to our Warrior Family!
  

Welcome to:

Rachel Hayes-6th Grade LA

Karen Bear-6th Grade LA

Emily Blevins-7th Grade Math

Hunter Graybeal-7th Grade LA

Luke Holt-8th Grade Social Studies

Paul Blair-8th Grade Science

Jesse McCormick-8th Grade Science

Sharon Ware-Math Interventionist

Sean Golden-Special Education

Hunter Hilton-Art

Amanda Cole-IDS for JSMS and RNR

Tracy Bowen-Nurse

Jennifer Cheek-Instructional Assistant

Christy Cleek-ASAP Assistant

*We will be hiring three additional IAs. If you know anyone interested who would work well with the students of JSMS, please encourage them to apply and let us know who they are.

• Check Your Address in Skyward: The start of a new school year is a great time to make sure KCS has current address information on file. Please ask each employee to logon to Skyward, EMPLOYEE INFORMATION, PERSONAL INFORMATION, and ADDRESS to verify that information is up-to-date. Requests to change address or phone numbers can be made in Skyward.

  Why do all employees need to check on this? Because address information feeds multiple behind-the-scenes sites within KCS, it's important that it be correct in Skyward.

• Leadership Team--Last summer, you nominated representatives from every department in every grade level to serve on the JSMS Leadership Team. In order to have consistency, I have asked those same people to serve as second year on the Leadership Team. Next year, we will begin cycling people off of the Leadership Team so that we have a yearly rotation of about 1/3 going off so that we have new ideas and perspectives joining our team each year.

• If you are a coach of a fall sport, please send me your schedules asap. Also, please send those schedules to Debbie Hash and Michelle Loudermilk so that we can get those dates on our calendars. Thanks!

• Make sure you are reading Elements of Grading by Doug Reeves. Our instructional faculty meetings will be based on this work throughout the year. Also, remember to take your Strengths Finder test and add your top five strengths to our Google doc. We will do some pre-service work using your results during our opening faculty meeting.

Online Trainings

DEADLINE APPROACHING

Required Training

Please remind all staff to complete the required online training and provide proof of completion prior to August 1. This training may be found on the KCS website under STAFF and MOODLE. The Moodle login information will be the same as used for staff webmail.

Note that suicide awareness and prevention training must be completed by ALL employees prior to September 1.

Please contact Human Resources if difficulty is encountered with training modules or logistics.

• Thank you to Debbie Hash for filling in for us in the front office this summer! She has been a smiling face and has been working tirelessly in all the behind the scenes details to help us start the school year off with a bang! Thank you, Debbie!
• Again, our custodians deserve a BIG round of applause for all of their hard work and helpful hands! I am not sure how they have done all that they have done! Please take a minute to extend a hand of thanks to them!
• Thank you to all of you who sat in on interview teams this summer! We have interviewed over 75 candidates this summer! That is a LOT of time and effort well spent by JSMS staff in order to invite the best possible candidates to join our Warrior Family!
• Thank you to the following people for spending time with us this summer to plan for Jr. Tribe Time! This is an exciting opportunity we have and we appreciate the think tank of Kristen Duncan, Rachel Hayes, Sara Gourley, Kathleen Donnellan, Rachael Wagner, Norie-Anne Young and Hunter Graybeal! These teachers will be leading grade level meetings on Monday afternoon for your grade level to determine your beginning of the year plan. We are starting very slow.
• Congratulations to Brian Winstead for his participation and completion of the Eastman Scholar MathElites!