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a message from Superintendent Dr. Curtis Jones
Happy MLK Day! I sincerely hope you enjoy this three-day weekend and that you spend time with family and friends remembering the man, the accomplishments and reflecting on the advancements we have made. As for me, I will be in the MLK parade here in Griffin on Monday. Parade time is 3 pm. I am the grand marshal. It is an honor and privilege. Thanks to forward thinking by Joanie Mullins there will be a sign on the side of the car saying GSCS celebrating 60 years in Griffin and Spalding County, grand marshal. It's a continuing roll out of our 60th anniversary celebration of the consolidation of the Griffin and Spalding school systems on January 1, 1953. I hope to see some of you there. On another note, earlier this week I met with administrators to discuss where we are and where we are going this year. We began with a Superintendent Snap Poll. I shared with them that the Georgia Legislature is back in session and one of the hotly debated topics is school shootings. At the national and state levels there is consideration for new laws that address this topic. Before I am asked my opinion on any potential new laws, I wanted to get the opinion of our administrators. I asked "how comfortable are you speaking for your school's community about new legislation regarding guns." They felt pretty comfortable. I then asked "do you support legislation that would put more police in schools." Overwhelming they said "yes." I followed that up with "do you support legislation that would allow the school board to authorize the principal or designee to have a weapon in the school." Overwhelmingly they said "no" but there was a group that indicated they needed more information about a training program before they voted. In truth, I think some just wanted to know more about the subject and the idea. Principals are to share this information with you to get your opinion as well. This is an opportunity for you to share with them your thoughts about the very important subject of school safety. Another topic we discussed was the length of next school year's school day. We added 20 minutes to the day this year because of a shortened calendar. At this time we are proposing a regular school calendar of 180 days for students and 190 days for teachers. The question is "should we continue with the added 20 minutes or revert to the past schedule." There was a good conversation about this as principals discussed the question in their professional learning communities (PLCs) where they meet by grade level. They wanted to come back and share this with you. I ask you think about the subject with its pros and cons about keeping the 20 minutes and not keeping the 20 minutes. I look forward to getting feedback from principals. Lastly, I believe there is a game changer that we discussed yesterday. This game changer is as important or as critical to our continued success as Performance Matters was four years ago. A topic Ashley Crawford shared with principals was learning targets. Learning targets were first discussed by the administrative team last summer as we talked about how to align the school district as professional learning communities. We came to consensus that we wanted a guaranteed and viable curriculum. One step toward that is to ensure that we have learning targets in place that are the same across the school district. We realize we didn't know a lot about learning targets and there was a lot of work to be done. This past fall as part of Leader Keys one goal that every principal has is to conduct professional learning communities with you to introduce this subject of learning targets. At the end of yesterday's sessions, I think principals were somewhat surprised by the depth and potential impact that learning targets can have. There was lively conversation on the topic. Learning targets will go on for a number of years. The next step is for principals to share with you to increase your level of awareness of what learning targets are so you will know what they mean to your practice and education in general for GSCS. If we implement learning targets effectively they will change what students do in the classroom. They will change the conversation you have with students about their learning and they will change what administrators look for when they walk through classrooms. They will change the way we even think about how students learn. I am very excited about the continuing progress we are making with this idea of learning targets. I look forward to your learning more and sharing with your colleagues as we continue to dare to do better. Have a good weekend and enjoy your three days and I'll see you next week. Curtis |
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Teacher Keys Update
Teacher Keys surveys are part of our Race to the Top grant and will be administered between February 1 and March 15 in the Griffin-Spalding School System. Students in classes with 15 or more will be surveyed about their teacher. Each student can participate in surveying two teachers with 20 questions established by the Georgia Department of Education. Teachers cannot oversee the survey by their own students.
Data entry is currently underway to ensure that every student has an anonymous password issued for the surveys. This data entry will be completed by January 22.
Each principal has identified specific days for survey administration in their school as well as any staff to be trained in the administration of the surveys. (All surveys must be administered by someone certificated.) On January 23 and 24, identified staff and certificated substitutes will be trained in the administration of the surveys.
Classes with 30 or more students being surveyed must also have a monitor who does not have to be certified. Each school has an individual plan but the basic premise is that the survey administrator will bring a classroom of students to a computer area/lab. The administrator will read a script aloud to all students who then log on and answer the questions that are listed below. Grades 3-5 must have each question read aloud by the survey administrator and answer "Yes" "Sometimes" or "No." The administrator for grades 6-12 can read the questions aloud or allow students to complete the survey at his/her own pace and answer "Strongly Agree" "Agree" Disagree" or "Strongly Disagree."
Most schools can complete all the required surveys in about three days.
Survey results will be compiled within the state's electronic platform and must be utilized as documentation to support annual performance ratings for each teacher.
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Teacher Keys Questions
Standard 3: Instructional Strategies
- My teacher wants me to ask questions about what we are learning.
- My teacher gives us different kinds of activities to make class more interesting.
- If I don't understanding something, my teacher explains it in a different way.
- My teacher helps me understand what I still need to work on at school.
- My teacher shows me how I can use what I learn at home and in the community.
Standard 4: Differentiated Instruction
- The work my teacher gives me is at the right level for me.
- My teacher understands where I need to improve.
- My teacher has me working in class with different groups of students.
- My teacher gives students as much individual help as they need.
- My teacher wants us to share our own ideas in class.
Standard 7: Positive Learning Environment
- My teacher cares about my learning.
- My teacher is good at getting students to behave well in class.
- My teacher explains the instructions if I don't understand them.
- I feel comfortable asking my teacher questions.
- My teacher treats all students with respect.
Standard 8: Academically Challenging Environment
- The work I am assigned in this class challenges me.
- My teacher encourages me to do the work even when it is hard for me.
- My teacher doesn't let me give up when the work gets hard.
- My teacher says it is OK for me to make mistakes, as long as I try my best.
- My teacher wants me to try new things, even if they are hard for me.
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Flu Can Be Serious
Influenza, commonly called the "flu," is a contagious viral infection that affects the respiratory system - your nose, throat and lungs. Symptoms of the flu can include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people may also have vomiting and diarrhea.
Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Every flu season is different, and influenza infection can affect people differently.
Everyday preventive actions are steps that people can take to help slow the spread of germs that cause respiratory illness, like flu. They are not a substitute for vaccination. These include the following personal and community actions:
- Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
- If you or your child gets sick with a respiratory illness, like flu, limit contact with others as much as possible to help prevent spreading illness. Stay home (or keep your child home) for at least 24 hours after fever is gone except to seek medical care or for other necessities. Fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.
- If an outbreak of flu or another illness occurs, follow public health advice. This may include information about how to increase distance between people and other measures.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. This will block the spread of droplets from your mouth or nose that could contain germs.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
Since Christmas holidays, GSCS has few reported cases of the flu. Let's keep it that way! | |
The Spalding County Health Department are still giving flu shots at no cost and they have plenty of vaccine. They do accept walk-ins if someone wants to be vaccinated. School nurses encourage everyone to do so. Also, the school nurses along with Health Department nurses vaccinated over 1220 staff and students during our school flu clinics in October. |
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Spelling Bee Winners
Congratulations to Abigail Norton, Futral Road, who won the district spelling bee. Devin Woolfe of Rehoboth Road was runner-up. | |
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Thank You!
Dr. Jones received this letter of thanks after our GHS culinary students catered the Chamber Busines After Hours
Dear Dr. Jones,
This past Tuesday, January 15, the board at Main Street Players hosted "Business After Hours." As part of this event, members of the school system spoke about upcoming activities celebrating the 60th anniversary of the merging of the Spalding County Schools and Griffin City Schools.
As I am on the board of Main Street Players, I thought it would be a terrific idea to involve some of our students in the event. So we asked the GHS Culinary School to cater. Leigh Jackson and her students were a smashing success! Not only were the finger foods scrumptious, the presentation was first class.
The students who worked the event (Elijah Barksdale, Breanna Chaney, Rittie Poole, Kaytein Hobbs, Jada Johnson, Dalton Sealty, Fajar Humayun, Fatima Humayun and Justin Serna) were pleasant and very professional. They served almost 100 Chamber of Commerce members and were organized and calm throughout the affair. There were many compliments about their demeanor and service throughout the festivities, not to mention that the food was devoured!
As I watched Mrs. Jackson preparing with the students backstage, I realized that much credit for the success of the evening should go to her. The relationship she had built with the students was obvious as she became the facilitator and they carried out the various roles involved in catering. This was education at its best, because there was a real link between the classroom and real life. What a marvelous opportunity for all involved! Congratulations to Mrs. Jackson and all her students. They represented Mr. Simmons and the entire GHS staff well.
Sincerely,
Marian Bolton Sorensen
Main Street Players, Board Member | |
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Changes to Infinite Campus
from Josh Griffis, Administrative Technology | |
An Infinite Campus software update will be installed over the weekend of January 18-21. Infinite Campus may be down for a few hours during this timeframe. Many enhancements and bug fixes will be included in the software update. When you come back to work on January 22, you may notice some new features or screens that look different. Most of the changes will be minor, but there are a few significant changes.
The most significant change included in the update affects the way administrators and some secretaries or clerks enter discipline referrals in Campus. Discipline data in Campus will move from a student-centered approach to an incident-based approach. Instead of entering discipline referrals on the student's behavior tab, referrals will be entered in a new tool called the "Behavior Management Tool." Administrators and secretaries/clerks that handle discipline have two opportunities to attend a training session on January 18 or January 25. Register on PDExpress if you are interested in attending.
For more information regarding this change, read the article on Campus Community as well as the release notification. As a result of these changes, there are also two new behavior reports. A "Behavior Removal Report" will also be added that lists resolutions assigned to students which have a resolution subtype of detention, suspension and/or expulsion. See the Behavior Removal Report article for more information. A new "Behavior Incident Report" will also be added which lists the number of incidents recorded based on the options selected in the report editor. See the Behavior Incident Report article for more information.
A second significant change included in the update affects the way ESOL data is entered into Campus by secretaries and clerks. Previously, all the ESOL data was entered on the student's enrollment tab. After the update, the student's primary home language will be entered on the Census -> People -> Demographics tab and all the remaining ESOL data will be entered in a new area of Campus specifically for ESOL. This new area will be found under Student Information -> Program Participation -> LEP. See the Georgia LEP Modifications article on Campus Community for more information.
A third significant change included in the update affects the design of the parent portal login screen. The "look and feel" of the parent portal login screen will now be very similar to the staff login screen.
A fourth significant change included in the update affects the way middle and high school student schedules are created for the upcoming school year. The Schedule Wizard has been updated with many new features that should make mass scheduling easier for school staff. Schedule Wizard training for administrators and secretaries/clerks that assist with scheduling will be held on February 20. For more information, review the Schedule Wizard documentation on Campus Community.
Many other changes will be included in the update, but the four listed above are the most significant changes.
The grade book will be changed significantly in a future release but there are no major changes to the grade book in the update scheduled for January 2013. Some school districts across the nation are beta testing the new grade book during the 2012-2013 school year. Once the new grade book becomes available to our district, training opportunities will be provided for teachers.
Finally, I wanted to make staff aware that Infinite Campus may be used in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari but Campus does not work properly in the Google Chrome browser. For more information, see the supported platforms article and the recommended browser settings article on Campus Community.
I've mentioned "Campus Community" throughout this article and some of you may be asking, "What is the Campus Community?" The "Campus Community" is a great resource for Infinite Campus users. It contains user guides, training videos and simulations, forums where you can ask other users questions, and much more. If you do not already have a Campus Community account, then watch this brief video that explains how to create your free account. You must have a Campus Community account to read any of the articles linked above.
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Employees of the Month
High Schools
A. Z. Kelsey Academy Tom Beat for his work in setting up the Friday Test Prep Schedule
AZKAC
Kristi Smith's
work in coordinating our step testing administration.
Griffin High
Talitha Roberson Ms. Roberson was nominated for employee of the month because of her consistent willingness to help students become successful here at Griffin High School. She spends countless hours helping others in our building. Often times you will find her at sporting events showing support for her students. It is because of teachers like Ms. Roberson that we are able to "Keep the Change" here at Griffin High.
Spalding High
Daniel Stansberry
bet his students that if they would all pass the Georgia High School Graduation Test in writing, he would dye his hair brown. All of his students passed the test! Mr. Stansberry paid up! Congratulations to Mr. Stansberry and his students for their accomplishments. Thank you Mr. Stansberry for being a good sport and motivating your students to do their best!
Nominations for Employee of the Month are submitted by principals. # # # # # # # #
Jackson Road's Stock Market team was declared the Spalding County regional winner of the 2012 Georgia Stock Market Game Program. Team members were Ted Harris, Joshua English, Shaniya Berry, Dillan Dixon, and Coach Beth Miller.
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Reminder to all staff!
With winter weather, we never know when school might be cancelled or delayed. Be sure that your phone number is updated with Human Resources so you can get a call for any changes in the work day.
Deadline Approaching!
The deadline to file your 2012 Wellness Appeal is January 31, 2013. All appeals received after this date will be denied.
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