D91 Employee News:

August 16, 2024

From The Superintendent's Desk

A Summer of Learning Part 2

As summer is winding down, we are celebrating two more summer school opportunities. Our students participated in two essential summer programs that extended learning through engaging learning opportunities. I’m excited to share both programs with you.

The Extended School Year summer program is a personalized program that helps students maintain their skills over the summer. Led by teachers Sarah Braga and Sarah Carsten, students worked on individual goals to help each child continue to learn during the summer months. Classrooms were filled with laughter and excitement as students worked in groups and used technology to sharpen their reading, math, and communication skills. Watching our students learn is always exciting!

The Work-Based Learning program is part of an innovative partnership between Idaho Falls School District and Vocational Rehabilitation. Katie Williams, principal, and teachers Amy Young, April Stromberg, and Michelle Ward facilitated the Work-Based Learning summer school program. Students attend classes in the morning to learn critical work skills such as customer service and workplace protocols. In the afternoon, students applied the skills they learned in a work setting. Some students helped the district with painting projects at Idaho Falls High School. All students were paid for their work through Vocational Rehabilitation.

The Work-Based Learning program is an exciting opportunity for our students and reflects the incredible learning opportunities available to them. Thank you to an incredible team of educators and Vocational Rehabilitation for bringing this opportunity to our students!

Karla LaOrange

Superintendent, Idaho Falls School District 91

Instructional Paraprofessional Training

Welcome back! We hope you had a wonderful summer and that you were able to reset and recharge. We hope you are ready to tackle the new school year. Please join us for the annual paraprofessional training Friday August 23 at Compass Academy.

8:30 am to 12 pm: Special Education Paras, EL Tutors, and Special Teachers

8:30 am to 4 pm: Title I Tutors (There will be a break for lunch from 12pm to 1 pm)

Upcoming Dates

Aug 21: All staff Opening Meeting 8:30 am at Skyline High School.
Aug 22: Staff Development/Teacher Workday
Aug 23: Workday for all certified staff
Aug 26: Staff Development
Aug 27: First day of school for K-6th, 7th, 9th, and Emerson Students
Aug 28: First day of school for 8th, 10th, and 12th
Sept 2: Labor Day, No School
Sept 3: First day of school for Pre-K

Let's celebrate the start of a new school year together!

The Welcome Back All Staff Picnic will be August 21 at The Waterfront from 5:30pm to 7 pm. It is for all D91 employees and their families. Bring your camp chairs and blankets. There will be food. There will be fun. There will be prizes. All we need is you and your family. See you there!!

Happening In D91!

State Superintendent Visits D91 Teachers

A visit from State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield this week caps off a busy couple of weeks of trainings and meetings. She helped welcome new teachers to the Idaho Falls Education Association and to D91. Thank you Superintendent Critchfield for recognizing the hard work are teachers and staff are doing. Come back anytime!!

Summer Project in Mozambique

Sunnyside 6th grade teacher Lisa Tabereaux will be using her experience this summer in Mozambique to teach her students here at home. In June, Lisa traveled to Africa as part of a project through Boise State University. There she worked with Greg Carr of Idaho Falls who helped restore much of the native population of animals in Gorongosa National Park. Lisa also collaborated with teachers and students there to perform service projects. She will use here work this summer to teach her Sunnyside students about community building. Our teachers go to great lengths to enrich our students. Amazing work!!

Teton Toyota Car Giveaway

We are excited and so grateful for Teton Toyota donating a car to D91 this year. School clubs, teams, and organizations will have the chance to see raffle tickets during the school year to win the car. ALL the money raised goes directly to the club that sold the tickets. The drawing for the car will be held in April during the Tiger-Grizz Invitational track meet at Ravsten Stadium. Tickets to sell will be distributed to each school next week. Contact Dylan Barfuss at the District Office if you would like to have the car on display at an event.

Highlights From HR & Payroll

New Way to Clock in/out, Submit Time-Off Requests

D91 is now using TimeClockPlus (TCP) for clocking in and out of work. Each building will have two TCP devices hanging on the wall, typically in a centralized office location or kitchen area. They are black, about a foot wide with a badge reader and a large screen.

Please see the TCP training within SafeSchools, located within Single Sign On, to learn more about submitting time-off requests in TCP. They will no longer be submitted through Skyward.

Reach out to the IT department help desk at 208 525- 7556 ext. 50556 or submit a help ticket with your SSO with any questions or issues you may have.

Upgrade to Windows 11

The District is upgrading to Windows 11 on all student and lab devices. We are encouraging all staff members to also upgrade to Windows 11 so everyone can be on the same page.

Staff members have the option to either do an in-place upgrade from their software center, or they can submit a help ticket to IT for a FIT member to come to them.

We would like all staff members to upgraded to Windows 11 by the end of September.