Ed Briefs

In this episode of Coffee with Calvin, Dr. Watts hops aboard the GCPS Book Mobile to make the rounds with its intrepid crew of book lovers.

Thank you to those who were able to shop at the ISC Book Fair in December to support the GCPS Book Mobile program. Profits from your purchases allowed us to select 391 new books to add to the shelves of the Book Mobile. Thanks for supporting our mission to put books into kids' hands!

The CTAE Magazine is now available for all students, staff and families. This Career Guide is a great resource to support our students and families in understanding Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education Programs and the many benefits they afford our students.

Each month of the 2023-24 school year, we will spotlight one of our strategic priorities or Portrait of a Graduate competencies by sharing the stories of two clusters—highlighting their classrooms, notable events, community insights, achievements, community service projects, student organizations, volunteer efforts, and more.

Collaborative Leadership

GCPS students build relationships with trust and compassion by making principled choices. They have a win-win mindset, and strive to listen and encourage diverse perspectives to collaborate towards a common goal. Working together, they can take risks and manage new technologies or opportunities to positively impact their communities.

In January, we'll focus on Collaborative Leadership in the Parkview and Peachtree Ridge clusters.

The GCPS Media Clerk of the Year award recognizes a media clerk, who through individual leadership and sustained effort, has made exceptional contributions to the operation of an effective school library media program.

Steven Blagg is the media clerk at Osborne Middle School and has an unwavering dedication that significantly impacts the students and staff each day. He believes that a welcoming and engaging media center is crucial for fostering a love for learning and exploration. “I always greet students with a warm smile and engage them in conversation about the book they are currently reading,” Blagg said. Like his students, he reads young adult books so that he can recommend titles as well as build connections with students through conversations.

Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) is excited to announce that after a year of planning, a redesigned version of the website, www.gcpsk12.org, will launch in January 2024.

The new and improved website has a cleaner, more attractive design, and it prioritizes the most frequently used content from the old site. The new site is mobile responsive, meaning the layout adapts to different devices and multiple web browsers. The new district website has been designed to fulfill web accessibility requirements under the American Disabilities Act, enabling individuals with vision, hearing, and physical disabilities to more easily access the site. Additionally, with the help of Weglot, users can translate the entire site into another language.

GCPS strives to make information about our district accessible to all members of our community. We hope everyone finds the newly designed district website to be a valuable resource for learning more about our school district. We look forward to your feedback on the new website after it is launched later this month.

GCPS invites parents and community members to apply for the district’s Instructional Resources Review Committee (IRRC), a group charged with evaluating print and digital instructional resources. Feedback from the IRRC and teacher reviews will be considered in the selection of resources to pilot in the district. This year’s IRRC will convene on Thursday, February 29, at the J. Alvin Wilbanks Instructional Support Center. Instructional resources will be reviewed for courses in the areas of Sex Education (grades 5-9) and Career and Technical Education (select courses in grades 9-12). Learn more about the IRRC and complete the application online. The deadline to submit completed applications is Thursday, February 1.

Monday, January 15 is a federal holiday marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a day of service. All GCPS schools and facilities are closed.

January 16 marks the eighth annual National Day of Racial Healing. On this day, individuals, organizations, and communities across the U.S. come together to explore their common humanity and build the relationships necessary to create a more just and equitable world. It falls the day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Racial healing is at the heart of racial equity—and one of the pillars of our Blueprint—as the “people work” that leads to community, organizational, and systems transformation. You can find Action Kits for your students here.

How is your school celebrating being 100 days smarter? Here are some ideas to support your creativity. We would love to see your pictures and share them on our social media. Tag us @GwinnettSchools and use the hashtags: #TeamGCPS, #GCPS100Days, and #GCPSBlueprintInAction.

The Gwinnett County Board of Education will meet on Thursday, February 8 instead of the third Thursday of the month as February 15 is a student and 180-, 181-, 190-, 193, and 200-day staff holiday.

Save these dates for upcoming Area Board Meetings! Meeting details coming soon!

• March 12 – District III (Dr. Mary Kay Murphy)
• March 14 – District IV (Dr. Adrienne Simmons)
• March 19 – District V (Dr. Tarece Johnson-Morgan)
• March 26 – District I (Karen Watkins)
• April 8 – District II (Steven B. Knudsen)

This episode from GCPS Tech Tips gives tips and tricks on organizing, sharing, and searching for files in your GCPS Google Drive.

Passwords are the most common way to prove our digital identity, but if your passwords are not strong enough, you leave systems and data vulnerable to attack. In fact, compromised passwords are the leading cause of security breaches.

A passphrase is a sentence-like string of words longer than a traditional password, easy to remember, and difficult to guess. A passphrase could be several meaningful but seemingly unrelated words, such as blue, apple, tailgate, and mountain. This has meaning to you and is easy to remember, but it would take years for a cybercriminal to guess, even with technology designed to guess and test potential passwords.

Why use a passphrase? Cybercriminals have perfected the art of figuring out passwords, even with special characters or numbers. A password like Bulld0gz! takes a cybercriminal approximately 3 seconds to guess.

Here are some best practices when creating a strong passphrase:

• Pick a phrase or series of random words that are meaningful to you, like blue, apple, tailgate, and mountain.
• Add uppercase and lowercase and a special character: BlueAppleTailgateMountain!
• Add a dash in between each word: Blue-Apple-Tailgate-Mountain!
• Don’t use the name or nickname of a pet or relative.
• Don’t use information easily obtained about you, such as your street, phone number, or hometown.
• Don’t use a commonly used password such as P@ssw0rd, qwerty, or 123456.
• Don’t use a password of all numbers or a password composed of just alphabet characters.

GCPS is piloting a new tool, Securly Classroom, to help students focus on learning while using their GCPS-issued student device in class. Learn more about the pilot!

If you request interpreters for your school, or are an approver or a bookkeeper, the Guidelines for Effective use of Interpretation Services workshop is for you! We can show you how to manage scheduling and budgeting for these services, and we are committed to providing you with support to help you save time and money, while still providing your parents with the services they need.

The workshop is held in person at the International Newcomer Center at 495 Maltbie Street in Lawrenceville. Please email Vesna.Vujinovic@gcpsk12.org or call 770-277-4424 to register. Workshops are scheduled January 11 from 1-3:30 p.m., February 1 from 8:30-11 a.m., and March 28 from 1-3:30 p.m.

Remember to sign up to receive tax forms online: Don’t take chances with your important tax forms! Accessing tax forms via the Employee Portal is fast, secure, and environmentally friendly! Visit the Portal and click on “About Me.” Under the Payroll section (left column), select the two consent forms—W-2 and 1095-C Healthcare Tax Statement—and follow the directions. You will receive an email receipt confirming the change. Once posted, you will have secure access to your tax forms 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Both your W-2 and 1095-C will be available online prior to the IRS’ required mailing dates.

Keep an eye on your mailbox: If you choose to receive your tax forms via the mail rather than online, your Tax Year 2023 W-2 will be mailed during the week of January 29, 2024. If you do not have access to the GCPS Employee Portal and you do not receive your W-2 by February 14, you may request a duplicate tax form by sending an email with your name, employee ID number, and current address to payroll.support@gcpsk12.org or by sending a fax to 678-301-6310. For those who do not enroll for access to their 1095-C online, the forms will be mailed in accordance with IRS guidelines in late February.

Verify contact information: If you choose not to enroll for online receipt of your W-2 and 1095-C, be sure to verify your address and telephone information before the end of the year. For changes, go to the About Me tab in the Employee Portal and select Employee Contact Information. Follow the instructions to make changes.

This year, let's make a difference close to home for Gwinnett's next generation. Donate to the GCPS Foundation and invest in brighter futures for our students! Your generosity, alongside your fellow staff members, fuels innovation, resources, and support across the system. Imagine equipping classrooms with modern technology, providing scholarships for deserving students, and enriching learning experiences for all. Every gift, big or small, makes a world of difference.

Show your Team GCPS spirit and donate today through the GCPS Foundation website or add a payroll deduction through the Staff Portal!

When you are preparing to retire, it is important to contact the Retirement Services Department at 678-301-6100 to schedule an appointment as soon as possible prior to the date your pension is to begin. You must file a written application with the Gwinnett Retirement System for benefits no later than seventy-five (75) days before retirement benefits are to begin.

Want to share a success story about your school or department with the entire GCPS community?

Are you looking for a way to celebrate an honor and recognize a teacher, student, or team member for their work? Do you want to share an achievement, upcoming event, or opportunity?

Do you have GCPS Good News to share? Let us know through this online form.

• Board meeting and work session (December 14)
  
• Connected (December 7)
  
• GCPS Links (December 14)
  
• Coffee with Calvin (November 30)
  
• News Releases
  
• Student Calendars
  
• News You Can Use
  

• Keep Connected with news from GCPS TV… the next episode airs January 11!
• The next regular Board meeting is January 18. (Online, find links to sign up for the public comment sections of the meeting.)
  
• Watch for the next issue of GCPS Links on January 18!