D91 Employee News

Our Employee Newsletter is designed to share important tips to help all of us support our students, keep you updated on district initiatives, and share information that will help you use your benefits well and thrive at work.

You will also see shout outs to our teachers, staff, and students each week for their excellent work. Celebrating the goodness of D91 always brings a smile to my face! This first edition includes some fabulous grant opportunities that will help enrich your students’ learning experiences.

Our parent and employee newsletters wouldn’t be possible without Margaret Wimborne. Her endless help, support, and edits make our newsletters possible. Thank you, Margaret!

I am excited to share our first edition of the D91 Employee Newsletter! Enjoy!

We are launching a series of job-embedded staff development sessions this month, and we hope you'll join us whenever the time and place works for you. The first topic is “Effective Grading Practices K-12 & D91 Structures of Teaching & Learning," which will review the HRS model, the New Art and Science of Teaching model, and the Teach Like a Champion.

These sessions are designed to support deliberate teaching, which advocates a "Hunting, Not Fishing" approach -- hunting for productive student engagement, rather than fishing for random answers. This approach creates an environment that lets students do more of the cognitive work, and builds a culture that highlights our students' thinking and strengths.

This first session of the course will set you up for upcoming, try-it-out-tomorrow topics. You may purchase credit through NNU after 16 documented hours of instruction. The classes will be taught by Shelly Smede, with guest instructors Todd Brown, Andrea Williams, and Thomas Kennedy.

Session 1: “Effective Grading Practice K-12 & D91 Structures of Teaching & Learning”

Dates -- (Attend any one of the following sessions:)

• 6 November | 4:00-6:00 pm | Taylorview Middle School Library
• 13 November | 3:30-5:30 pm | Bush Elementary Library
• 29 November | 3:30-5:30 pm | Erickson Elementary Library
• 6 December | 4:30-6:30 pm | Compass Academy Room 204

Are you ready for the next iReady assessment window? There are just seven weeks before the next iReady assessment window opens on Jan. 8 so we wanted to share some great iReady resources that are available to help support instruction and learning. These resources can help you prepare for administration of the second diagnostic. They can be downloaded from iReady Central.

• Prerequisite Reports (K-8)

• Reference Sheet: Prerequisites (Class) Report

• Using the Prerequisites Report to Inform Instruction
  

• Personalized Online Instruction: Online Instruction needs to be actively monitored (K-6)

• Reference Sheet: Personalized Instruction (Individual Student)
  

• Diagnostic Results (K-8)

• Reference Sheet: Diagnostic Results (Class)

• Reference Sheet: Diagnostic Results (Student)

If you have any questions on iReady or other assessment platforms, please reach out to Renee Nelson at nelsrene@sd91.org)

Idaho National Laboratory just opened the application period for its STEM grants, which seek to align future workforce needs with STEM education in Idaho.

There are five different grant categories, including: the $15,000 Gov. C.L. ‘Butch’ and First Lady Lori Otter INL/BEA STEM Impact Grant, Classroom Grants, Family and Community Engagement Grants, STEM Equity Grants and Innovation in STEM Requests for Proposals.

The application period is open through Jan. 8, 2024. More details and grant applications can be found at stem.inl.gov. Over the past decade, the INL has awarded nearly $5 million to support STEM education in Idaho.

This summer, the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office raised money for D91 and presented us with an $8,000 check to benefit D91 students. We've decided to use that money to fund mini grants for teachers cross the district.

Teachers can now apply for mini grants of up to $200 by completing this application by Friday, November 10, 2023. The instructions and criteria for the grant are explained in the application.

You will need to be signed into your district Google Account to fill out this survey. There is a limit of one application per person. We are so grateful for the generosity of the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office and for all you do to support our students every day.

• Oct. 10-Feb. 23: ISAT interim Assessments, Optional Benchmark Assessments
  (To learn more, contact Thomas Kennedy, D91's Director of Intervention & Support)
• Nov. 7: School Board Election, Polls are open from 8 am to 8 pm
• Nov. 8: School Board Business Meeting, 5:30 pm, IFHS Library
• Nov. 17: End of the 1st Trimester
• Nov. 20: Teacher Work Day
• Nov. 20-24: Thanksgiving Break
• Nov. 30 & Dec 1: ES Parent-Teacher Conferences (Online learning day on Dec. 1)
• Dec. 1-8: iStation District Universal Screener window
  
• Dec. 13: School Board Business Meeting, 5:30 pm, IFHS Library
• Dec. 21: First Teacher Evaluations Due

D91 is currently looking for roving custodians to join our maintenance team and help take care of our schools and buildings. This is a key position with a guarantee of at least 24 hours a week in varying shifts. The starting pay ranges from $15.32 to $16.08 per hour depending on experience. If you know anyone who is interested, have them fill out an application.

Eight candidates are running for Idaho Falls School District 91's three open school board seats in Zone 3, Zone 4 and Zone 5.

• Zone 3 Seat: Patrick Jackson, Jordan Oseen and Jeremy Westwood are facing off in this zone. It includes the Theresa Bunker, Edgemont, Longfellow, Linden Park and Sunnyside school areas.
• Zone 4 Seat: Elizabeth Cogliati and Shay Ricks are vying for this seat. Zone 4 includes Erickson, Linden Park and part of Hawthorne school areas.
• Zone 5 Seat: Melissa LaPray, Hillary Radcliffe and Kari Vogel are competing in this zone. It includes Hawthorne, Longfellow, Sunnyside and Taylorview school areas. Jamie Lea Braithwaite has withdrawn from the race.

Big things are happening in the New Year! D91 will be moving to the Infinite Visions business system. Infinite Visions, which will replace Skyward, is better and more modern. It also will provide our employees with more customer-friendly features like an employee dashboard featuring pay, benefits, time off, etc.

This will be a big shift for the district because all D91’s HR, payroll, purchasing, accounts payable and budgeting functions are currently done in Skyward. Payroll, HR and business office staff started training on the new system a few weeks ago. Those trainings will continue through the end of the year. In December, training will begin for school administrators and staff.

The current implementation plan is for Phase 1 of Infinite Visions to go LIVE on Jan 1, which will include all business functions and most payroll functions.Then, Phase 2, which will move us from Skyward’s True Time system to Infinite Vision’s version, will take place on March 1.

A big shoutout to all our staff – HR, payroll, IT and business office – who are working behind the scenes to try and ensure the smoothest transition possible. Watch for more details on this conversion in the coming weeks!

Most, if not all, of these sites can still be used by creating an account with your email address, thus avoiding the "login with Google" issue. One of the benefits of creating accounts this way is that if you ever leave the district, you can take your data with you.

This change wasn't unique to D91, but something Google implemented across the country. Some of the reasons Google made the change was to ensure it was safeguarding student data and privacy.

Need help creating alternative logins or accessing apps? Call the Help Desk at ext. 50556.

After months of preparation, we are excited to roll out the Tyler Drive System, which will enhance the safety and security of D91's school bus system.

With the software, students who opt into the program, will scan a card when they board a bus, and then scan a card when they exit the bus, which will make it easier for transportation staff to monitor the status of students. When the system is fully functional, parents will be able to use the Tyler Drive app to track their students and get real-time updates on pickup time, drop-off times and potential delays.

We are piloting the program at Theresa Bunker Elementary School. Parents will have the chance to start signing up for the program next week. We will officially kick it off, and students will start using cards, after Thanksgiving Break.