Parkwood Staff Newsletter

Dear Parkwood Panthers,

I hope this message finds you well and enjoying the beautiful fall season together! As we continue to work in partnership for the success of our students, I wanted to take a moment to share some important updates and celebrations from our school community.

Important Announcements

• Monday, October 6th: KEA Staff Meeting from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
• Tuesday, October 7th: Rosecrans @ Principal Meeting from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
• Wednesday, October 8th: K-3 Math Data Meetings & District MTSS Meeting from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM @ Advia Credit Union
• Friday, October 10th: Panther Prowl Day and Movie in the Afternoon for reaching our fundraising goal!

Panther Prowl Schedule:

• 2nd Grade: 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM (Full Route)
• K-Modified Route & 5th Grade: 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM (5th graders can help Kindergartners at the beginning again this year)
• 1st-Modified Route: 10:35 AM - 11:05 AM (A few responsible 4th graders could assist)
• 4th-Full Route: 10:45 AM - 11:15 AM
• 3rd-Full Route: 11:25 AM - 11:50 AM

Please mark your calendars and join us for these important events!

Celebrations from the Week

Thank you to everyone who supported our ELA Benchmark Data Meetings and IEP Day. Your contributions help us foster a nurturing environment for our students.

We also want to extend our gratitude to everyone promoting our Panther Prowl and school-wide fundraiser.

Monday Oct 6th -Classrooms please plan a morning or afternoon extra recess since we hit our fundraising goals. If needed you could alternatively plan it for Tuesday.

Wednesday will be Teacher Wig/Hat Day! If you feel comfortable, we would love to see your silly looks on Wednesday!

Additional Information

Attached below is the Mentor Survey for those interested in having a WMU intern next year. Mentoring adults as well as children is a lovely part of our Parkwood culture and climate! Our teachers are strong mentors and coaches. Thank you for supporting our community and young adults going into teaching!

We are grateful for your ongoing support in creating a thriving school community. Together, we can make a significant impact on our students' lives.

Thank you for your continued partnership, and we look forward to more exciting events and collaborations in the coming weeks!

Jessica Rosecrans

Today's Shout Out: Farewell to Ms. Anna Page

Today, we celebrate the amazing Ms. Anna Page, our fabulous 1-on-1 paraprofessional. It’s bittersweet news as we prepare to say goodbye to her while she embarks on a new journey out of state in two weeks. Though we will deeply miss her support and dedication here at Parkwood, we wholeheartedly support her move to help her son receive the medical care he needs.

Anna, we are incredibly grateful for all the kindness, patience, and hard work you’ve shared with our Panthers. Remember, once a Parkwood Panther, always a Parkwood Panther! Please come back and visit — our doors will always be open to you.

Wishing you all the very best in this next chapter!

• Please be working on inputting your IDP and PGP's in Frontline. These have a due date of Oct 31st. If you are not being evaluated this year, you might decide to continue the goals you have previously worked on and can input that continuing information from last year's PGP.
• Once you put your PGP/IDP in Frontline, I will review it and finalize it.
• I will be starting official observations for those who are being evaluated this year, as well as continuing informal walkthroughs in all classrooms. These will continue throughout the rest of the year. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

• See Schedule Below

In continuous improvement, danger comes when we, as educators, feel out of control or don’t know how to support change. This often manifests by distancing ourselves from the feelings that are triggering a response by redirecting them onto someone or something else.

To interrupt deficit language, we first have to recognize the fears that are causing it. Examples of fear-based language that we’ve said or heard include:

• Those kids/teachers just don’t care.

• This group is impossible to work with.

• This would never work.

When we recognize this language creeping in, the following prompts can support reflection and help us to move out of a deficit stance:

• What is it I'm feeling?

• Why am I feeling this way?

• What do I need to feel more efficacious?

Reflecting on what is causing deficit language to show up in the first place helps us to recognize our emotions and move past a fear-based response to improve the culture of our teams.

Continuous improvement work is complex and involves many moving pieces and perspectives. When we look at data or discuss next steps, there’s often more that we don’t know than what we do. Leadership teams can help surface diverse perspectives, but no team can hold every perspective at once. Gaps in representation or understanding can still emerge—and when they do, they sometimes show up as deficit language. When this is the case, we need to more directly interrupt this deficit language, which can require a delicate balance: We don’t want to shut down the person who raised a concern, but we also need to take on the role of advocate for those whose voices may not be as fully represented in the room. To do this, we have found it most helpful to name the barrier, identify what is missing in a perspective, and then direct conversations toward solutions. This might look like:

Oct 6th- KEA Staff Meeting 4:00-5:00

Oct 8th- K-3 Math Benchmark Data Meetings, District MTSS Meeting 4:30-5:30

Oct 10th- Panther Prowl

Oct 16th- Staff Soup Cook Off

Oct. 22- PreK-12; no students, PreK-12 No Students; DISTRICT PD (6.0 hours)

Oct. 31- PreK-12 half day; records day 12:06 Dismissal, Literacy Parade

Nov 3rd- Elementary Conference 4:00-8:00

Nov 5th- Elementary Conference 4:00-8:00

Nov. 6-K-8 half day 12:06 Dismissal Conference 12:00-4:00

Nov. 7-K-5 half day 12:06 Dismissal

Nov 10th- KEA Staff Meeting 4:00-5:00

Nov. 14 PreK-5; no students

Nov. 26 Nov. 27 & 28 Thanksgiving Break; all buildings closed

Dec 8th- KEA Staff Meeting 4:00-5:00

Dec. 10 PreK-12; no students

Dec 19th- Staff Holiday Breakfast

Dec. 22 - Jan. 2 Winter Break