Highland Meadows Elementary

Warm Greetings to you all,

I am so encouraged to be able to write to you again each week. I truly hope that you are all taking good care of yourselves, not only physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually as well.

I know that this is a very trying time and we are all most likely experiencing some form of stress, anxiety, or fear due to the uncertainties about the weeks to come. As we embark on this journey together, one thing I assure you of is that YOUR SAFETY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO US AND WE ARE NOT TAKING IT LIGHTLY!

Right now, very logically speaking, our schools may very well be one of the safest places you can be. The district has intensified the cleaning and safety procedures they are taking to ensure the safe return of all campus staff, and our building for the most part has been empty and clean for quite some time now.

Additionally, I want you to know that I am committed to ensuring that we implement all of the recommended safety measures with fidelity on our campus. In fact, the leadership team and I have spent ample time these last two weeks revisiting all campus protocols to ensure that they are updated, revised and in alignment with district safety measures and protocols in order that everyone's safety is a non-negotiable within our building at all times to the maximum extent possible.

As Habit 2 reminds us to "Begin with the End in Mind" our end this past week has been to create the pathways to a safe return for all of you.

I know that if we all work together to instill safe day to day practices, HME will be a safe place for every one to return to work and I cannot wait to have you back!

SIncerely,

Mrs. Bahena

I am pleased to inform you all that we have some new members that will be joining our Highland Meadows family this fall. Please help me welcome to our team and congratulate the following people.

Hello! My name is Laura Guerrero. I am from Guanajuato Mexico. I graduated from The University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in May 2020. I am very excited to continue being a Maverick at Highland Meadows and to start my teaching career as a 1st grade bilingual teacher.

Dear Teachers,

We hope that you will take the time to complete the teacher profile by following these simple steps. This will help us learn more about who you are personally and professionally.

STEP 1: Open the link

Click on the teacher profile link below. (You may view the example of profile prior to this step if you'd like)

STEP 2: Make a copy of the document

Click on File at the top right and selcet from the option menu "Make A Copy" Name your document with your name. Chose which folder you would like it to be in on your drive. Then click on "ok"

STEP 3: Complete the profile

Fill in the blanks by answering the questions.

STEP 4: Share

Once you have completed the profile share it with Ms. Lara (olomas@dallasisd.org)

Teacher Profile:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e7gbO8RgXDgg0jOQLkel2X93jBDw5_Mg2uXLAfZEmPo/edit?usp=sharing

Example of Profile:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_-ErMHf-mrlNLCxtzSQMZl95yEnO89pK_CrZHP_0j8I/edit?usp=sharing

Because so many of you have been reaching out about when you may get into your classroom, we have created a safe staggered schedule for teachers to come and move in and or start setting up your classroom for the school year. If you are interested in coming to campus to begin working in your room, you may come only on your assigned day/time.

Upon your arrival to campus:

Be sure to wear a mask, stop at the front desk and let Ms. Skinner take your temperature and stay in your room for the duration of your time on campus. If you are moving in, you may make trips from your car to your room. No roaming the halls, gathering or socializing will be allowed for safety reasons.

No changes to the schedule may be made without principal approval. Before requesting any changes to your time, you must find someone on your same hallway that is willing to switch times/day with you. Then you may request approval from principal only. This is to ensure there is only one person scheduled per hallway in the building at a time. At this time request for additional time will not be granted. Click on the button below to view the schedule.

**All teachers scheduled for Aug. 3 will actually be Monday Aug. 10th.**

Please read through the following information very carefully.

Purpose:

An alternative work arrangement (AWA) allows an employee to work off-site. An AWA allows for flexibility in the work location, based on the needs and resources of the District and the Department [See DK Local]. An AWA request form to work off-site must be approved in advance. An AWA request form must be submitted five business days prior to the requested commencement date of the arrangement.

There is an AWA Request form for central staff and a campus-based AWA Request Form. The central staff’s AWA request form must be approved by the employee’s supervisor and chief. A campus-based AWA Request Form must be approved by the employee’s supervisor, executive director, and chief. An AWA request form involving medical issues will be reviewed by the Benefits Department. An AWA implemented during a widespread crisis, government shutdown or other emergency will terminate upon the District’s ability to resume normal operations.

AWA Request Form:

The AWA request form is an electronic form that is submitted by the employee. Once submitted, the electronic workflow process will route the form to the appropriate approvers. At any stage in the approval workflow, an approver can approve, deny, or return to submitter the request thereby terminating the workflow approval process.

WHICH POSITIONS MAY NOT BE APPROVED FOR AN AWA?

The first criteria for approval is that 100% of the work must be able to be completed remotely. Campus-based staff and field staff may not be approved for an AWA. Examples of the positions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Student Calendar

Employee Start and End Dates

Instructional Calendar

In accordance with the new Board-approved instructional calendar for the 2020-2021 school year, the launch of the Reading Academies will be delayed for a few weeks. To assist you in planning, please note that the new dates will still include three pre-contract days to allow for the completion of the first few modules. An announcement will be made once new dates are approved. For additional information or questions, contact readingacademies@dallasisd.org.

The Home Visit Project’s partnership with Dallas ISD has grown over the past five years. The key supporters of the project in the district are Dr. Liliana Valadez (ED-Parent Advocacy and Support Services), Derek Little (Assistant Superintendent-Early Learning), and Yesenia Cardoza-Ramirez (Director- Family & Community Engagement, Early Learning). In partnership with them and others, we have worked to re-imagine family engagement in Dallas ISD. The district has also grown its financial support of home visits each year.

As of August 2020, Dallas ISD will assume all responsibility for training and compensation for home visits. A team of Dallas ISD family engagement coaches will coordinate and lead training for new participants, as well as assist with support at the campus level. This is exciting because Dallas ISD understands the importance of building trusting relationships with families and is taking up the home visit work at the district level where it can become a part of the fabric of the district’s work. The Home Visit Project staff (Stacey and Brandi) will continue to manage project registration and provide technical (HV App) support.

What does 2020-21 look like for the Home Visit Project and how do you fit in? With the health and wellness of educators and families as our primary consideration, the HVP has chosen to pivot from in-home visits to what we are calling “Home2HomeVisits” (H2H). A H2HVisit is a scheduled video call between a teacher and a student’s family, from the teacher’s home (not school) to the family’s home. The Dallas ISD supporters mentioned above have embraced this new model and we have agreed to partner for the 2020-21 school year.

Key updates to Dallas ISD eligibility requirements and next steps for 2020-21:

Eligibility Requirements for H2HVisits:

• Only core content teachers and Special Education teachers with a case load are eligible to participate
• Only 1 person will be compensated per visit.
• All visits must take place from the teacher’s home (not school)
• Each visit must last at least 30 minutes
• Elementary teachers: visit only students on homeroom roster
• Compensated $10/H2HVisit; no minimum number of visits required but homeroom roster only, 1 visit per student
• Secondary teachers: Which students are eligible for visits is to be determined
• Compensated $10/H2HVisit up to 25 students’ families
• Deadline: All visits must be recorded and validated by October 4, 2020 to be eligible for compensation
• Compensation: Compensation to be issued by Dallas ISD no later than January 2021
• The project is currently approved for fall 2020 and may or may not be extended to spring 2021

Next steps:

• Elementary LEAD Teachers who completed the HVP requirements for 2019-20 will receive a link from Survey Monkey in the coming days. If you are a CORE CONTENT teacher for 2020-21, then please register to participate by August 14th. (if you are no longer a core content teacher, please disregard the link) Returning participants do not need to attend training again. HVP staff will be in touch with next steps.
• If you were SUPPORT, the partner, in 2019-20, and will be a CORE CONTENT teacher in 2020-21, please email homevisitproject@stand.org.
• You may recruit other core content teachers from your campus who are new to the HVP, but they will need to wait for next steps.
• Training for new core content teachers will take place in August. Once training is complete, HVP staff will be in touch with next steps.
• Communication and support will be provided by HVP staff. We can be reached at homevisitproject@stand.org.

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  Stay healthy and be well,

  Stacey Vanhoy

  Dallas Executive Director | She/Her/Hers | Stand for Children |972-489-7870| www.homevisitproject.org

  
  

  
  

Join us for a day of live webinars on a diverse range of digital tools ranging from basics about Google Classroom to strategies to engage students in choice-based learning with G Suite Tools. These webinars will be presented by FriEDTechnology and supported by the PDL and PL departments. Sessions will happen during 3 blocks of time during the day, and participants will be able to choose between two sessions at a given time. The cap for each live webinar will be 400 participants. To view the schedule and register for each session, go to bit.ly/85cloudconf.

Ms. Read will be leading the House System initaitive on our campus this year. We are very excited about enhancing the climate and culture as well as academics on our campus as we embrace the house system. We know that this is an effective program that will tremendously impact our campus in a positive way and can hardly wait to get started!

Ms. Lara will be leading the Personalized Learning initiative on our campus this year. This will be part of our strategic plan to ensure that we are addressing all academic decline caused by the "COVID Slide" to ensure that every student receives quality personalized instruction. We are looking forward to seeing this proven effective model implemented on our campus and becoming a successul Personalized Learning Campus soon!

If you are ready to get back into the swing of things and would like to know what you can start doing to prepare yourselves for this school year, here are a few things that you can do:

1. Create a teacher website using the template:

https://sites.google.com/dallasisd.org/teacher-website-template/home

(See also the Sample from Ms. Whitlow still under construction: https://sites.google.com/dallasisd.org/whitlow/home

2. Familiarize yourself with google classroom. Every teacher will be using google classroom for virtual learning even if you serve face to face students.

Just getting a head start on these two items is a great way to be proactive!