Learning Together

Message from Troy D. Olin, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction

Welcome back, Spartans!

It has been a fantastic start to the school year, and I’m grateful for the energy and dedication you’ve shown in welcoming our students and creating a foundation for strong relationships. These meaningful connections will pave the way for rigorous teaching and learning, fostering a year of growth and success for all!

For those of you who are new to Gates Chili this year, welcome to our first Learning Together newsletter of the year. Each month, this newsletter will serve to provide updates, resources and highlights from the Office of Instruction.

Heather is a dedicated educator with a proven track record of success in both classroom and administrative roles. Starting her career as a secondary ELA teacher, Heather earned her Ed.M. in Literacy and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration. Throughout her career, she has worked with students from diverse backgrounds, ensuring that each individual receives the support they need.

Beyond her day-to-day responsibilities, Heather is actively involved in the broader educational community, serving as an adjunct professor, consultant, and author. Heather maintains a weekly blog, has published three books, and is a proud wife and mother of three--Nolan (18), Lilia (16), and Oliver (almost 14).

We want to take a moment to recognize the incredible work our teacher leaders have done over the summer to prepare for the new school year.

These dedicated individuals have led curriculum development efforts, facilitated and participated in professional learning sessions, and taken on key roles in both district and building committees. They’ve also spent significant time meeting and planning with building and district leaders, all with the goal of ensuring that we start the school year in a positive and proactive way. Their hard work and commitment behind the scenes will benefit all of us as we begin this new year, and we want to extend our collective thanks for their dedication and leadership.

Attached below is a districtwide list of our teacher leaders at every level for your reference.

As we continue into the 2024-25 school year, we remain committed to our instructional areas of focus: Responsive Tier 1 Instruction, Active Student Engagement, and Empowering Student Ownership through Learning Targets and Success Criteria. These priorities guide our efforts as we continue to make enhancements to our instructional programs K-12. You can read more about these focus areas in last year's newsletters.

To build on our work from the 2023-24 school year, we are implementing a framework for consistent Tier 1 meetings across the district and have established dedicated data review days to strengthen our support in these areas.

Tier 1 Meetings:

This year all levels and departments are participating in Tier 1 meetings. These meetings are important for fostering collaborative conversations focused on curriculum, assessment, and instruction. Tier 1 meetings directly align with our focus on consistent and responsive Tier 1 instruction, ensuring that all students receive high-quality learning experiences that meet their needs.

Data Review and Action:

This year we are excited to continue our “Walk and Talks." These are monthly visits to each building, bringing together members of our team, building administrators, teacher leaders, and coaches to see students engaging and responding to the curriculum. By seeing our curriculum in action, we can better understand how it aligns with our instructional areas of focus, allowing us to support teachers and students. These visits help us to anchor our goals and guide our continued instructional growth. We are looking forward to stopping in to see you and your students!

This summer, the newly formed Equitable Grading Task Force met to begin their important work. The task force has been established to explore, understand, and address the complexities of grading and assessment practices within Gates Chili. This group is made up of middle and high school teachers, counselors and administrators from a variety of content areas. Their goal is to recommend and implement grading practices that are consistent, equitable, inclusive, and supportive of all students' academic success and well-being.

The team will engage in professional learning to deepen their understanding of equitable grading and assessment practices. They will analyze current practices within the district, research best practices and investigate successful strategies from other districts. The task force will develop actionable recommendations for Gates Chili, with a focus on consistency, equity and support for the diverse needs of all students.

The task force will continue to meet every other month throughout the school year, and we look forward to sharing updates and progress as they develop recommendations that will positively impact our students and learning community.

Attached below is a list of task force members for your reference.

As we begin the new school year, it is important to revisit professional learning processes, and ways to get help!

The Staff Intranet is a great place to find guidance for professional learning procedures, answers to your CTLE questions, and more! Look for the Staff Intranet icon in ClassLink to sign in, then look for the Professional Learning page. Still have questions after reviewing the information, please email Teri Marsh and Joan Salandy or call ext. 12107.

Please note that there are several ways to register to attend professional learning opportunities:

You can sign up through our own district or BOCES Frontline catalogs, or submit an "Out of District Conference/Workshop Request Form." You must receive approval prior to attending. Approvals may take several weeks, so plan ahead as much as possible, and check back into Frontline to verify approval status. You will see it under the "Approved and/or In Progress" section of your learning plan when you have received all levels of approval needed. Final approval doesn't occur until after you attend the activity.

Once you have completed your approved professional learning opportunity, please be sure to manage things on your end by submitting the conference/evaluation form, and marking complete. This allows the professional learning office to process any pay, purchase orders or professional learning hours. If there are reimbursements needed, please submit a Conference Expense Form (available on the Staff Intranet under Business Office, Purchasing) with original documentation as well. All finalizing processes should be completed within 30 days.

Sharing best practices and the great things happening at Gates Chili are important, and presenting at a conference is one way staff and administrators do this. In order for us to review the content and costs associated with a request to present at a conference, we have developed a new form that can be found in Frontline. Each request will go through an approval process and can take several weeks, so please submit as far in advance as possible. Presenting at a conference will be considered part of the new rotation plan for conference attendance.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday, Oct. 11 for our first Superintendent's Conference Day of the year. Again this year, we will all have opportunities to learn and collaborate together.

Please plan to begin at 8 a.m. and end by 3 p.m. Keep an eye out for an email and in your mailboxes for more details soon!

If you know the answer to this month's riddle, click HERE to submit your answer. The first three (3) people who answer the riddle correctly will receive a special prize in their mailbox next week!

Good luck!

September Riddle: You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?