Dean's Desk
September 11, 2026
September Staff of Month
Please take a moment to vote for the Staff Member of the Month for September. We are looking for who most exemplifies our core values of Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity.
Discovery Education Webinar Series
ESC Region 12 is pleased to announce our partnership with Discovery Education and bring you the following webinar events, free to all Region 12 districts. Registration is now open for seven virtual sessions running September through March, led by Discovery Education's training partners. Each session meets from 4:30 to 5:30 pm, and CPE credit is available for each event.
September 17 — Back to School with Experience
October 8 — Top 5 Things You Should Know About Experience
November 5 — Quick Check, Clear Insight: Quiz
December 3 — Amplifying Student Learning with Immersive Learning Experiences
January 28 — Careers Hub: Real-World Connections for Every Classroom
February 11 — Build, Share, and Spark Collaboration with Studio
March 4 — Plan with Purpose using Spotlight on Strategies
Our first date is September 17, and that session is all about Back to School and the newest enhancements to Discovery Education Experience. It is a good way for teachers to get back into the swing of things as the year gets going.
Session descriptions and registration links are all on one page:
https://esc12-de-webinars.netlify.app/
Staff are welcome to attend one session or all seven, whichever works best for their schedule. The sessions are a good fit for teachers, librarians, administrators, and instructional technology leaders, along with anyone who is simply curious about what Discovery Education offers.
The flyer below also offers some more detail.
Coffee Coffee Coffee!!!!!
Delivery will be at 2pm. There must be at least 10 orders or more!!!!!!!!!!!!
Upcoming Events
Celebrate Freedom Week!!
Monday - September 14th
- HS Club Day at 1pm
- Gator Bites - 6pm
- Staff attending need to be prepared to mingle and talk with our guests about what brought them to Gator Bites that night.
- MS Volleyball vs Lago Vista (away)
Tuesday - September 15th
- HS Volleyball vs St Michael's (home)
Wednesday - September 16th
- Send out NW 1 Progress Reports (see email from Mrs. Camp)
- AVID Focused Note-taking Training 4:15-5:45pm
Thursday - September 17th
- Constitution Day
- Kinder and First Grade Vision Screenings
- ASBC Meeting, Gym Classroom at 6pm
Friday - September 18th
- HS Volleyball vs Valor (home)
Monday, Sept 21 is Professional Development Day. Schedule coming soon!!!
Get Ready for the 2nd annual Queso Competition!!!!!!!!!!!!
This and That
Raptor
Please take care of the following immediately:
1. Sign into Raptor through Classlink and on your cell phone.
2. Allow push notifications.
3. Allow desktop notifications.
NOTE: Mrs. Williams shared a spreadsheet with me that shows almost no one having taken care of these things. If you do not want to download Raptor to your cell phone, then you MUST log in on your laptop and have it open with notifications allowed during the school day.
Students Signing Out
The Front Office staff will call YOU to send students who are being signed out. Please do NOT just allow students to come down, even if they say their parent has already emailed them. Students who just show up on the front office will be sent back to class.
Lunches and the Student Union Lobby
Please help make sure students are not loitering in the lobby of the Student Union. They are opening the SU doors for Door Dash and other arrivals, creating a significant safety concern. Also, please direct students to enter through the patio doors directly into the cafeteria. They should not enter through the SU Foyer.
Club Consent Forms
You must have this on file for EACH student participating in your club BEFORE they start participating. I have added a link for the spreadsheet of responses to the GCPS Resource HUBS on the Campuswide Tab. The link to the form itself is on our website under the student tab and also on the HUB.
Voicemails
Please update your voicemail. The default password is 771773. Please doublecheck that your inboxes all have accurate names and caller ID is accurate. With the room and staff changes, parents are being sent to various extension yet thinking they have the wrong staff member.
Stipends
Did you know that GCPS pays more than $200,000 in stipends??!!?!! Please make sure you are keeping up with your required documentation. Sonia has created the stipend folders for this year and shared them. Please get started uploading what is required so that you are not delayed in receiving your stipends in July!
Air Purifyers
We are no longer receiving Federal funding for the air purifyer filters. If you would like to continue using them in your classrooms, you will have to buy the filters through your classroom budgets.
Student Devices
Please remember that students may NOT have personal communication devices, which includes tablets, smart watches, and bluetooth earbuds. ALSO, students should NOT be mesaging on their computers/laptops! I have watched several doing so this week. How do you get it to stop? Make sure the students are ONLY logged into their Orenda gmail accounts!!!!!! Please take a few minutes to double check that eveyone is logged in through their Orenda gmail account AND is using Classlink. THis will greatly help provide you with a lot more structure in your classrooms. Go Guardian is your best friend to help you with monitoring. While no one is able to be everywhere all the time, Go Guardian will provide a record of the student's history and actions. I am happy to help you set yours up if needed!