Principal Update Attachments:

• The information shared in the Principal Update is for administrators.
• Items within the Principal Update that can be shared with staff will be clearly identified.
• Links to documents will not be shared with any staff requesting access from an outside TPS email address.
• Attached items can be located in a Shared Folder entitled PU 2021-22.
• If you have questions regarding the content, please email the appropriate supervisor of the department as stated in each section.
• Please download the banners to use on your school social media or to add to your school newsletter.

November Principal Meeting: Due to several schools having activities on Veteran's Day, the Principal meeting is being moved to Wednesday, November 10 from 8:00-10:00 with elementary, middle , and high school level meetings following.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://tps501.zoom.us/j/86776217737
Meeting ID: 867 7621 7737
Passcode: 401870

Evaluations Due: Evaluations are due Tuesday, November 9 for teachers in years 1-3. Double check to make sure you meet this deadline.

Ci3T Empower Session: The next Ci3T Empower Session is November 10th from 5-7 via zoom. You’ve Got This! Using Your Ci3T Structures to Support Positive Behavior will provide practical guidance for supporting students’ use of positive behaviors at school and at home. This session is available for your Ci3T leadership team or other staff. Please Click here to register. #SHARE

TPS-KU-KSU EL Grant: TPS is partnering in an EL grant with KU and KSU. The grant will help fund teachers in getting their ESOL endorsement. Please share this with all teachers. We do not have many ESOL endorsed teachers.

Title: Grant Funded ESOL Endorsement Q&A Zoom Meeting

Date: November 18, 2021

Time: 3:45-4:45 PM

Audience: Anyone in TPS interested in obtaining their ESOL Endorsement (and grant facilitators from KU and KSU to present)

Registration Link: Register here. #SHARE

After School Programs: Schools MUST take attendance for their after-school programs. This is a recently requested expectation of KSDE as it relates to the use of ESSER funds. They are also asking for disaggregated data based on subgroups.

Schools on Improvement: If you are one of the 12 TPS Schools on Improvement, KSDE has released the exit criteria. It is attached just below this section of the PU.

Sharefest: Sharefest will be held on April 30, 2022. This year, Sharefest will complete outside only projects. The schools participating are Quincy, HPHS, McEachron, Shaner, Whitson, Jardine Campus Pk-8, French, and the Avondale/Cap. City Campus. Schools need to complete their site plans by the end of January.

COVID Testing: Did you know that free Covid-19 testing is currently available in all school clinic offices and at the Service Center? Asymptomatic students and staff may test at their school clinic. Asymptomatic staff may choose to test at the Service Center. Antigen test results are available in about 15 minutes and PCR test results are available in about 30 minutes. Flu testing availability is also coming soon. For more information, see the brochure, Spanish brochure or contact your school nurse.

#SHARE

Performance Based Social Studies State Assessment: As a resource, please see the website developed to support and provide materials for the grade level SS State Assessment.

MANDT Training: The first semester Mandt training schedule is now available in Frontline. Classified staff may also sign up by emailing Stacey Kramer, but may only participate for professional development points. Trainers will also be coordinating building level training with principals to ensure identified staff on the Mandt training Needs Survey are trained. Questions? Please contact Stacey Kramer.

Climate Surveys: The surveys can be used to measure relationships and show growth over time for the district and by building. If you want to compare your building data from the last two to three years, Dr. Kipp and send you that data by school. The district uses it as part of our accreditation to measure the goal area of Relationships. It is critical that schools complete the surveys with students in grades 3-12, all staff, and parents. The window opens today and will close on November 1. The surveys are used as a measure

Test to Know, Test to Learn, Test to Play: Would you like to learn more about the Covid-19, Flu and Strep testing options available in our district for staff and students? A short presentation with time for questions will be held at 7:00 Wednesday via zoom. Please register in advance for this meeting:
https://tps501.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qd-moqTorHtTdKNsJ6gXhpajcLXPk2AGO
Questions? Contact Lori Vawter or Stacey Kramer.

Principal for a Day - November 18: As we prepare to invite community members to participate in Principal for a Day. We want to ask you, the building leaders if there are donors or community members you would like us to invite to participate. Please share those with Phoebe Nordyke by Friday, September 24.

TPS Distinguished Staff Awards: Nominations are being sought for the Annual TPS Distinguished Staff Awards! Consider nominating a colleague who continuously goes above and beyond for the students and/or staff of Topeka Public Schools. Nominations are due electronically by December 1, 2021 using the following form: DSA Nomination Form Categories include: district administrator, building leader, operations, office personnel, food service, custodial, classified support staff, certified support staff, paraprofessional, elementary first year teacher, secondary first year teacher, elementary school teacher, middle school teacher, and high school teacher. Those nominated will be contacted directly by our team and provided a nominee application form.

Volunteer List: The following link is the most current list of background checked volunteers as of this morning. The first sheet is all the volunteers - there are individual pages for each school so they don't have to hunt the full list. 2021/2022 Volunteer List

Ci3T Observations & Survey: This year we are asking that building principals send the Ci3T survey emails to staff. This will help ensure the staff know it is important to complete and that we truly value the feedback. If you haven’t already, please complete this google form to let the Ci3T leadership team know when you plan to send the surveys so we can send you the email narrative. Once the PIRS/TSR survey has been sent to staff, Ci3T observations will begin. Observations will be done by a team of observers, including some of your staff, over several days. You will be notified when the team begins observations and who is on the team. Please contact Stacey Kramer with any questions.

Grants: Are you interested in applying for a new grant or renewing an existing grant? Please complete this google doc to submit your grant application to the Grant Oversight Committee for review/approval. For questions about the grant writing or approval process, please contact Stacey Kramer.

Data Consult Schedule: See here. The blank DC form has been dropped into the Administrator Shared Drive. It is also here.

Avondale's Data Consult will be Thursday, October 21st at 8:45 a.m.

Elementary Virtual Data Consult will be Monday, October 25th at 8:45 a.m.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://tps501.zoom.us/j/88609696181
Passcode: 446261

Living the Dream: Living the Dream is back and excited to announce the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Art, Essay, and Poetry Competition in 2022! Our theme for the 2022 Living the Dream Week (January 10 - January 17, 2022) is: "We Must Accept Finite Disappointment, But Never Lose Infinite Hope."

Attached are the three 2022 Competition entry forms. Please note the deadline date for students to submit their electronic entry form along with their artwork, essay or poem is Monday, December 6, 2021 at 4:30 pm. For more detailed information regarding the guidelines and criteria for each Competition, please review each of the attached documents.

In light of safety and health concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Living the Dream, Inc. will be hosting a virtual Student Recognition Program on the King Holiday, Monday, January 17, 2022. Gift cards and certificates will be awarded to the first, second, and third place winner in each grade category for all three Competitions.

• Essay Competition
• Art Competition
• Poetry Competition

Trip Requests: Please see the attached directions when you want to make a request for busses. This includes requesting busses for field trips.

COVID Incidents Reporting 2021-2022 for staff reporting: COVID Incidents Reporting 2021-2022

Report Card Distribution Schedule: See attachment.

TSCPL Information: See the attachment below and share with families as they work to communicate with our Spanish speaking community members.

If you have questions related to any items in this section, please contact Billie Wallace, Assistant Superintendent.

Accreditation: TPS is in its fifth year of a five year accreditation cycle.

TPS Process Goal Areas: Relationships and Relevance

KSDE Outcomes:

• Kindergarten Readiness
• Social Emotional Learning
• Individual Plans of Study
• Post Secondary Education
• Graduation Rate

Accreditation Survey: Please have your BLT complete the process goal area rubrics. If you want to see your rubric responses from the fall of 2019, please reach out to Dr. Kipp. I recommend that schools review their previous responses and adjust responses from that data point. One measure of growth in each area is how as a district are showing growth on the rubrics.

The surveys should be completed by the BLT between now and December 17.

Relevance Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TPSRELEV21
Relationships Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TPSRELAT21

Conferences: Travel is not approved at this time for conferences.

Education Weekly: Head Principals and Coaches are receiving a subscription to Education Week (both Digital and Print). All subscriptions have gone "LIVE".

Each recipient should have received two emails.

1) "Thank You For Subscribing" in the subject line.

2) "Welcome to Education Week" in the subject line.

Please review the attached for an account of the information this communication contains.

Email Communication to new subscribers offer important instructions for Signing into the account, creating Passwords and a customer service contact number for help or questions. You will also find a general synopsis of all amenities an Education Week Subscription provides.

TPS-KU-KSU EL Grant: TPS is partnering in an EL grant with KU and KSU. The grant will help fund teachers in getting their ESOL endorsement. Please share this with all teachers. We do not have many ESOL endorsed teachers.

Title: Grant Funded ESOL Endorsement Q&A Zoom Meeting

Date: November 18, 2021

Time: 3:45-4:45 PM

Audience: Anyone in TPS interested in obtaining their ESOL Endorsement (and grant facilitators from KU and KSU to present)

Registration Link: Register here. #SHARE

Gateways to Success in STEM: Sketching and Spatial Visualization webinar is completely free! Register here! If you can’t make the live webinar on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EST, you can sign up to get the recording of the webinar here. #SHARE

MANDT Training: The first semester Mandt training schedule is now available in Frontline. Classified staff may also sign up by emailing Stacey Kramer, but may only participate for professional development points. Trainers will also be coordinating building level training with principals to ensure identified staff on the Mandt training Needs Survey are trained. Questions? Please contact Stacey Kramer. #SHARE

Apple Teacher Tuesdays: We’re excited to announce the Fall/Winter Apple Teacher Tuesdays series! The series is designed to help you make the most of your Apple products and amplify learning and teaching. Join your colleagues and local Apple team members as we sign up for Apple Teacher, explore the NEW and updated resources, and work towards earning Apple Teacher professional learning badges.

Join us via Webex Tuesday afternoons from 4:00pm-5:00pm CST. Working together, we’ll learn new skills, discuss ideas for application, and work towards earning your Apple Teacher recognition! Plan on joining on a separate device then the iPad you’ll participate with.

If you plan to join us, please create a calendar invite with the link below to access each session. We are using WebEx so you might want to download the app it before you join.

Schedule for Fall/Winter 2021

• Tuesday, October 26th

• Tuesday, November 2nd

• Tuesday, November 9th

• Tuesday, November 16th

• Tuesday, November 30th

• Tuesday, December 7th

• Tuesday, December 14th

Apple Teacher Tuesday Link (WebEX Link to join us for each series event) #SHARE

BSEL Training: MTSS is sponsoring a series of webinars on Behavioral Social Emotional Learning. See the attached flyer.

Tyler SIS Training: Do you have new teachers or substitutes that need to know more about usng Tyler SIS for attendance and grading? #SHARE

• TylerSIS Attendance
• TylerSIS Gradebook Elementary (Standards-Based Grading)
• TylerSIS Gradebook Secondary

EdPuzzle: Do you have teachers who are new to the platform?

• Here is a short video playlist of tutorials to get started.
  
• Google Classroom How to video playlist
  

Looking for innovative ways to utilize Edpuzzle in your classroom?

• -Check out our Live Mode feature!
  
• -Station rotation is a great way to maximize instruction

Be sure to check out the newest features, such as Audio Responses! These will completely change the way that students can interact with their teacher(s).

KSDE Webinar Series: Dean Ballard will present our fall 2021 webinar series. Dean is the Director of Mathematics at Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education (CORE). For the last decade, Dean has expanded his professional experience in education by working on curriculum development, state, and national test development, pioneering new products for professional development with organizations such as Lesson Lab, and working with teachers and school leaders in diverse settings throughout the country. Dean believes as much as there are untapped riches of learning in math there are infinite lessons to learn in helping other educators. #SHARE

Additional PD:

11/3/2021

Five Favorite Strategies for Making

#SHARE

Teachers Teaching Literacy: A partnership with K-State and KSDE has created Teachers Teaching Teachers Literacy Institute. Mondays in November from 4:30-5:30, K-2 educators may learn about Phonological Awareness or Oral Language. After a brief 15-minute lesson, teachers will discuss with other teachers the clarification needed to plan and implement. Please open the attachment below to register and know what specific lessons will be covered on November 8, 15, and 29. We look forward to learning with and from you! #SHARE

Software Approval Process: If there is a specific software that a teacher is requesting, please check the approved software list to see if it has been previously approved. If it is not an approved software, staff can complete the appropriate request form:

• Software & Website Approval Request

• iPad Apps Request Form
• Google Chrome Apps & Extension

Requests are reviewed by a committee that includes teachers, administrators, information technology staff, and teaching & learning staff. #SHARE

If you have questions about EL Services Updates, please contact Anita Curry, the Director of EL Services.

Expectations for English Learner Development: Please take just a moment to look over this chart which illustrates what the expectations should be for ELs, it includes timeframes, and strategies. #SHARE this with all of the teachers in your building: Stages of Second-Lang Acquisition and Strategies

ESOL Endorsement Opportunity: TPS has been awarded a substantial grant which will provide PD, Praxis Prep, Praxis reimbursement, and reimbursement to add ESOL endorsements to teaching licenses. Candidates must have a valid Kansas teaching license to participate, and agree to add this ESOL Endorsement to their license. Participants will be asked to pay for their own books, but can apply for scholarships if needed . Please let all of your teachers know about this great opportunity and have them contact Anita Curry if they are interested at acurry@tps501.org. More info will be distributed district-wide soon. #SHARE

For Assistance from Spanish Interpreters (for IEP or 504 see below): If you need assistance from a Spanish/English interpreter please call the EL Department at one of these numbers: 785-295-3951, 256-661-0020, 785-295-3950, or 785-295-3741. #SHARE

IEP/504 Interpreter Services: If you need an interpreter for an IEP or 504 meeting, all requests must be submitted through the district’s IEP Interpreter Request Form . Spanish interpreters for an IEP or 504 meeting need an advanced notice of at least 2 weeks. Languages other than Spanish will need advanced notice of at least 4 weeks. #SHARE

If you have questions related to Special Education Services, please contact the General Director of Special Education, Dr. Jennifer Harrington.

Special Education Roving Nurse Update: The last day that Shayla Rottinghaus will be an employee of the district is November 5th. On November 8, Beth Spangler will be the new Roving RN for Special Education. Beth will take over the schools that Shayla was serving. Beth's phone number will be (785) 221-0981.

If you have any questions related to the Elementary Update, please contact Mrs. Sharp, General Director of Preschool and Elementary.

Second Step Magnets: Your Family Engagement Liaison will be receiving Second Step Magnets (200 each of three designs). These are intended to be used as a resource for a family night that focuses on social emotional learning. If your Family Engagement Liaison needs more clarity, please have them reach out to Mrs. Wallace. They were selected to support the Second Step Calming Down process, Problem Solving, and Bullying Prevention.

Winter FastBridge: Please identify the person at your school that will be the site coordinator for FastBridge testing. This person can be you, your instructional coach, or an interventionists.

Add the coordinator name on this document . Hannah Taylor and Robin Dixon will be reaching out to set up a meeting on how we will be organizing for the winter window as we learned a lot from our initial testing in the fall.

Postcards to Space Initiative: Teachers of grades 2-8 are being encouraged to have students write and send postcards to space. In return, students will get their card returned postmarked from outer space. Your school will be receiving the postcards in the pony mail from Teaching and Learning. Schools should package all the postcards and mail them to Club for the Future, PO Box 1552, Van Horn, TX 79855 or schools can send their postcards bundled back to Teachng and Learning and we will mail them.

Let's Play Learn: Your early child's teachers received professional development on Let's Play Learn this morning. You can view the presentation here. Please follow up to ensure this resource is being utilized in your EC classrooms.#SHARE

Footsteps 2 Brillance: Footsteps 2 Brillance was piloted during summer school. All schools have access to it and many are already using it. There will be sessions on October 12 for Pk-3 grade teachers as an added resource for tier two support. If you have questions or need support prior to Oct. 12, please reach out to Hannah Taylor. #SHARE

Second Step Bullying Prevention Resource: Second Step has created a bullying prevention program, Captain Compassion. It is a bullying prevention comic series. #SHARE

Remote Learning for Quarantine: Please utilize this letter beginning on Thursday, September 7th for students in quarantine who are wanting remote instruction.

4-H Enrichment Program: Please see the attached booklet and ordering form for the 4-H programs.#SHARE

If you have questions regarding the Secondary Update, please contact Billie Wallace, Assistant Superintendent, Teaching and Learning.

Postcards to Space Initiative: Middle school teachers are being to have students write and send postcards to space. This can be done from a core science or ELA class. In return, students will get their card returned postmarked from outer space. Your school will be receiving the postcards in the pony mail from Teaching and Learning. Schools should package all the postcards and mail them to Club for the Future, PO Box 1552, Van Horn, TX 79855 or schools can send their postcards bundled back to Teachng and Learning and we will mail them.

Secondary District Writing Assessment Window Expands! In the interest of allowing teachers more flexibility, the window for the District Writing Assessment will open November 12 and remain open until December 17. The DWA will be delivered and scored on NoRedInk. Links to the assessment assignments on NoRedInk will be available later this week.

Winter and Spring Administration of FastTrack Math and Reading: Only students who scored in the “Some Risk” or “High Risk” categories are required to be given the screeners during the winter and spring windows. Students who scored “Some Risk” or “High Risk” on one or more math tests (aMath or CBM Math Automaticity) will take FastTrack Math. Students who scored “Some Risk” or “High Risk” on one or more reading tests (aReading or AutoReading) will take FastTrack Reading. It is left to building or teacher discretion to decide if they will test all students or only those who scored in a risk category.

CBM Reading one-to-one testing

Buildings should prioritize students on IEP and in the GEI process for CBM Reading testing. The building dyslexia team (SpEd CT, Assistant Principal, Instructional Coach, and Reading Interventionist) can designate who will complete the one-to-one testing. The remaining students who tested in the "Some Risk" and "High Risk" categories should be further screened with CBM Reading unless the student is a non-English or limited-English speaker. This screening should be completed by the end of the school year. There is no one-to-one testing for Math.

Progress Monitoring

A criteria for entry into and exit out of specific Math and Reading interventions is being developed. Within this criteria will be the guidelines for progress monitoring. For this year, buildings will determine which student groups (e.g. students with IEPs or students on GEI) will be subject to progress monitoring as an initial step in our implementation process.

Communities That Care Survey: Our district has agreed to help with an important survey being conducted by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Behavioral Health Services Commission called the Kansas Communities That Care Student Survey. The purpose of this survey is to gather information needed to plan prevention strategies to address such problems as alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, bullying in our schools and community, and to measure the district’s social-emotional strengths and weaknesses. It will also help us judge the effectiveness of our current prevention efforts.

Between the dates of November 1, 2021 and January 31, 2022, our district’s 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students will be participating in the student survey. Contact Dr. Grimes for more information

TPS College Fine Arts Fair: Colleges and universities will be on hand to answer questions about pursuing, continuing, or participating in the fine arts during college. You do not need to be a major to take advantage of fine arts classes and scholarships are available for participation. Faculty members and admission counselors will be available for auditions, portfolio reviews or to answer any of your questions.

Students will need to complete the Interest Form and Permission Slip to attend. To be excused from class students must return their permission form to their music, theater, or art teacher by Monday, November 15th at 3:00 PM

November 17th, 2021 - TCLAC

• Session #1 9:30 - 11:30 (Seniors)
• Session #2 11:30 - 1:30 (Juniors)

2021 Graduates: TPS has until Oct. 29 to graduate any students that may be within a class to graduate. Please identify the students that need unit recovery to graduate. Hats off to TWHS for going the extra mile and visiting a student's employer and getting unit recovery completed. This extra effort increased their graduation rate to 95.4%.

Mid-Year Graduations: January 27 will be the mid-year graduation for students who are eligible. Graduations will occur at each school and will be live streamed. Please let student and families know if they are eligible.

Secondary FastBridge: See the following document for clarity on FastBridge for winter and spring administration.

If. you have questions related to items in this section, please contact the General Director of Assessment and Demographics, Dr. Aaron Kipp.

History/Gov/Social Studies State Assessment: #share The classroom-based HG/SS assessment will have a 95% participation threshold similar to the KAP online assessments.

TPS District Writing Assessment Change: #share The Fall District Writing window has been expanded. The window is now Nov 12 - Dec 17.

Fastbridge in Tyler Pulse: #share Check out our work in progress in Tyler Pulse. A new report in Pulse juxtaposes Scantron levels with Fastbridge risk levels in reading and math. Scores can be seen student by student and by teacher. Click Topeka Custom---> TPS Scantron-Fastbridge

Please contact Dr. Gray, Director of Instructional Services for questions concerning Communications.

TPS Staff Appreciation eCards: Brighten the day of a Topeka Public Schools staff member or a Veteran by sending an eCard to their inbox. Simply fill out the short form and your digital message will be delivered!

Living the Dream Competition: This year Topeka Public Schools is excited to participate in the Living the Dream Competition. The theme for the 2022 Living the Dream Week (January 10 - January 17, 2022) is: "We Must Accept Finite Disappointment, But Never Lose Infinite Hope." (Dr. King's Washington, DC Address - February 6, 1968). As the largest district and most diverse district, our participation is important and provides learning opportunities and soft skills experiences for our students. Each year we significantly increased our participation and look to even more students getting involved this year.

Please note the deadline date for students to submit their electronic entry form along with their artwork, essay or poem is Monday, December 6, 2021, at 4:30 pm. For more detailed information regarding the guidelines and criteria for each Competition, please review each of the attached documents.

In light of safety and health concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Living the Dream, Inc. will be hosting a virtual Student Recognition Program on the King Holiday, Monday, January 17, 2022. Gift cards and certificates will be awarded to the first, second, and third place winner in each grade category for all three Competitions.

If you should have further questions regarding the separate Competitions, please email Ms. Joan Wilson, Chairperson, Art Competition, Ms. Betty Young, Chairperson, Essay Competition or Mrs. Cindy White, Chairperson, Poetry Competition.

Mid-Year Graduate Ceremonies: Topeka Public Schools high schools will host mid-year graduate ceremonies on Thursday, January 27th, for those that were eligible to graduate at mid-year. Each school will hold a socially distanced ceremony to help celebrate their students' accomplishments. If you need assistance, please let the Communications team know.

Winter Holiday Plans/District Holiday Card Contest (IMPORTANT): Can you believe the winter holiday is just around the corner? Please let the Communications department know of any plans you have to celebrate the holiday season this year! Some ways schools have celebrated in the past include adopting an anonymous family or families in need, choral singers, gingerbread house competitions, hallway decorating contests etc.

If you would like to submit student holiday card art for our holiday card contest, please submit your cards by November 5th for judging and the winner will be announced in the following Cnews. We encourage the school to have a school based selection process and to send us the top 5 you want considered. This will help us as we look through hundreds of coloring sheets and card submissions. This year cards should be submitted as a single-sheet postcard (front & back) rather than on a bi-fold. Artwork should reflect a winter celebration theme (eg. gingerbread, snow, etc.) Here are examples of winners from last year's holiday card contest.

If you have questions regarding Information Technology Updates, please contact Mr. Scott Gowan, CIO.

College Board Disabled: Please be aware that we have disabled the College Board kiosk app on Chromebooks until further notice. Students throughout the nation have been using this secured browser app to search for inappropriate videos and other content without logging into their student accounts, which are filtered. If you are planning a College Board assessment event, please enter a Track-IT with the date and time planned for testing, and a list of students who will be testing.

Staff Filtering as Students: Please share with your teams that we are working with Lightspeed systems, our content filtering service, to correct an issue that causes some staff to randomly be filtered as students. This is an intermittent issue that seems to be mostly impacting people who are listed as a student in at least one Google Classroom instance.

October was Cybersecurity Awareness Month: If you haven't already done so, please use this opportunity to address username and password protection strategies with your students. If students express concern about someone accessing their account, help them change their password and for those students who are ready to do so, two-factor authentication is also an available option. Visit the following link for more information about national cybersecurity month.

Communications Reminders: Please share with your teams the reminder that recipients with Yahoo email addresses may not receive our communications, in the same way that users of other email service providers do. Yahoo does not subscribe to a third-party spam verification system, and as such, when a mass email triggers a concern, Yahoo will block its email recipients accordingly. We encourage you to request alternative email addresses from parents who use Yahoo for email. Also, School Messenger includes any staff member assigned to the school in TylerSIS as a staff member at that school for School Messenger.

Google Group Updates: Principals are encouraged to double-check the staff group in Google for your school. We have disabled the automated process because not all staff members are updating properly. As always if you want our team to update someone, please send that information to Track-IT and our team will be glad to help.

Chromebooks or iPads Losing Connection: Please share with your teams that students throughout the district are reporting lost connections to our network. As a reminder, both Chromebooks and iPads do not travel well between access points and occasionally might hang on to the last access point used, whether or not it is still within the range. Students should be signing out at the end of class before closing the Chromebook and then signing back in at the beginning of the next class. Dr. Shyla Biju has graciously shared helpful hints used at Landon for students and staff troubleshoot these common issues.

Track-IT: Please share with your teams that all requests for IT support should go through Track-IT so that the IT Managers can assign your request to the person who is best prepared to solve that problem. This person may not always be the person you expect it to be, so please use the system we have in place to manage these requests. You are always welcome to follow up with us via email after the problem has been reported through Track-IT, but our team and their supervisors need that information in Track-IT in order to collaboratively solve this problem.

Contractor Accounts: As a reminder, contractor accounts are all set to automatically expire a year after they are requested. Each year, administrators need to request those accounts to be reset for the following year. Here is a link to request or to renew any district network and Google accounts. This link is for any temporary employee such as Contractors or Student Teachers.

FCC's Emergency Broadband Benefit: Please share with your teams that the district-provided internet services through Cox will be winding down. The FCC has announced the Emergency Broadband Benefit will provide eligible families who apply a credit of up to $50 per month to cover the cost of Broadband services with various providers, including Cox. Click here for information from Cox in either English or Spanish.

Hotspots: Please share with your teams that IT will be issuing hotspots to our libraries in preparation for students who may need to check one out for internet connectivity in the home, in the event the student must quarantine. As was the case previously, we are asking that administrators or librarians reach out to sgowan@tps501.org before issuing the hotspot.

If you have questions related to Human Resources Updates, please contact Deborah Ramberg, General Director of Human Resources.

Personal Leave Blackout Dates for November: The following dates cannot by paid with Personal Leave for the month of November:

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Monday, November 29, 2021

Performance Evaluations: The first semester Summative Conference for Teachers in their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd year need to be completed by November 9, 2021. Written Performance Improvement plans and notice of Job in Jeopardy or Non-renewal is due by December 1, 2021 for both probationary and non-probationary applicable teachers. A template for Performance Improvement Plans will be in the Administrative Notebook by November 10, 2021.

• October 28, 2021: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• October 29, 2021: French MS 7th Grade, Kanza Field Trip

• November 9, 2021: Summative Conference for Evaluation

• November 11, 2021: District Parent SEL Night, Virtual, 5:00-7:00 pm

• November 11, 2021: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• November 12-December 17, 2021: Writing Assessment Window Expanded

• December 1, 2021: Improvement Plans Due

• December 1-17, 2021: SRSS-IE Winter Screening Window

• December 9, 2021: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• January 3, 2022: Report Cards Due in Tyler SIS by 6:00 pm

• January 4, 2021: District - am/Building - pm Professional Development Day

• January 24-February 4, 2022: MyIGDIs Testing Window

• January 27, 2022: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• January 27, 2021: Mid-Year Graduation

• January 31, 2022: TPSF Major Saver Kickoff

• February 7-15, 2022: TPSF Major Saver Campaign Collections

• February 16, 2022: TPSF Major Saver Follow Up

• February 24, 2022: Fourth Grade Symphony Field Trip

• February 24, 2022: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• March 21, 2022: Report Cards Due in Tyler SIS by 6:00 pm

• March 30, - April 15, 2022: SRSS-IE Spring Screening Window

• March 31, 2022: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• April 5, 2022: District Funded ACT

• April 15, 2022: No School for Staff or Students

• April 18 - 29, 2022: MyIGDIs Testing Window

• April 28, 2022: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• May 4, 2022: Adaptive PE Field Day

• May 11, 2022: Adaptive PE Field Day - Rain Date

• May 14, 2022: High School Graduation

• May 12, 2022: Equity Council, 5:30-6:30, Zoom

• May 25, 2022: Report Cards Due in Tyler SIS by 6:00 pm

• June 2, 2022: Twenty-Eighth Annual Foundation Golf Tournament

• September 13, 2022: Thirteenth Annual Foundation Community Breakfast