2020-21 Administrative Bulletin XII-17 12-18-20

SPECIAL NOTES:

• The next bulletin will be sent Friday, January 8, 2021!

• Thank YOU! The EACS United Way campaign raised $6,700.67 to help individuals and families in Allen County! YOU ROCK!

1. ADMINISTRATION BUILDING HOLIDAY HOURS

Enclosure #1 is the schedule of holiday hours for the Administration Building.

Tamyra Kelly, ext. 1050 2. FREE PGP’S WITH REGION 8

We know it has been a busy first half of the year and time for professional development has been minimal. Region 8 would like to provide you an opportunity to earn some PGP points over the upcoming holiday break, if you wish. All you need to do is spend 7 hours in the next month for 7 PGP Points. Read Enclosure #2 to learn how. Marilyn Hissong, ext. 1001

3. TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER See Enclosure #3 to read this week’s technology newsletter! Teresa Knoblauch, ext. 3124

4. ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM CONNECTION

The Curriculum Connection contains upcoming information regarding assessments, curriculum updates, video clips, instructional websites, and more. Please see Enclosure #4 for specific elementary school information. Teresa Knoblauch, ext. 3124

5. SECONDARY CURRICULUM CONNECTION The Curriculum Connection contains upcoming information regarding assessments, curriculum updates, video clips, instructional websites, and more. Please see Enclosure #5 for specific middle and high school information. Deborah Watson, ext. 3151

6. NEW! CREATIVE SUPERSTAR SPOTLIGHT Weekly, we will spotlight Creative Superstar Teachers. See Enclosure #6 to meet some of our superstars! Tamyra Kelly, ext. 1050

7. REMINDER: BOARD MEETING - TIME AND LOCATION CHANGE

Due to current restrictions, the board meetings on January 19 (originally at Leo Jr./Sr. High School) and February 16 (originally at New Haven Jr./Sr. High School), scheduled for 12:30 PM, are being changed.

The meetings will now be held (1/19 and 2/16) at the Administration Building in the Board Room, at 6:30 p.m.

Marilyn Hissong, ext. 1001 8. REMINDER: HAVE YOU MOVED THIS YEAR?

If you have moved and not notified Human Resources, please do so immediately. Your W-2 will not be forwarded to a different address than what we have on file. Please contact Karen Best at ext. 1024 or e-mail @ kbest@eacs.k12.in.us with your new address. You can also submit this information through Employee Access in the Forms section. Kirby Stahly, ext. 1005

9. REMINDER: PAYROLL REMINDER – 1ST PAY IN 2021

As a reminder, the first pay in January 2021 is scheduled for Monday, January 4th. This will occur since January 1st is a Holiday and Financial Institutions are closed. The last time this occurred was January 4, 2016. The Pay Date Schedule for this school year is attached as Enclosure #7. The Pay Date Schedules for the district can also be found at: https://www.eacs.k12.in.us/departments/business_office/payroll_information

Kirby Stahly, ext. 1005

10. CPR/AED TRAINING

Classes are offered free of charge twice a month through the end of the school year January classes will be held in the Leo area and February classes will be held in the Heritage area. All classes will start at 4:15 PM, class size is limited and requires pre-registration. If you need this certification for your license renewal, email or call (ext. 7008) Abby Koroncevicius, Health Services Coordinator.

January & February 2021 Class Schedule:

January 12 (Tuesday LEEL) January 28 (Thursday LEEL) February 11 (Thursday HEHS) February 23 (Tuesday HEHS) Certification is through the American Heart Association and lasts for two years. Any employee interested in or needing certification renewal may also participate in this training.

Abby Koroncevicius, ext. 7008

Wash your Hands!

Wear a Mask!

Watch your Distance!

IN OBSERVANCE OF THE

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR’S HOLIDAY

The district’s administration offices will be OPEN

on December 21st, 22nd 23rd, 28th, 29th, and 30th from

8:00 a.m. until noon.

The offices will be CLOSED December 24th, 25th, 31st, and January 1st

Normal business hours will resume Monday, January 4, 2021 @ 7:30 am.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dec. 2020

Issue

Self-Paced on Your Time… Asynchronous, and 7-35 Professional

Growth Points…

Free to all Educators… Plus Opportunities for Free Resources, Books,

and Tools

Sign Up as an Individual, a Team, a Department, or an Entire School

Spend 7 hours over the holiday

break to earn 7 PGP Points… and

come away with new classroom

ideas you can use in 2021!

Sketchnoting: A Strategy for Significant Engagement

Student Owned Inquiry: Quick, Easy, and Effective with Question Formulation Technique

Design Thinking in Every Subject: Creativity and the Design Process

It’s in the Bag: Transforming Maker/STEAM projects into the Blended/eLearning Environment

Welcome to a professional development program that provides educators with free, relevant, and productive resources, tools, and training with flexible time. Presently, there are four courses and educators can sign up for one, or all four. These courses are all self-paced, online, and dates are built around each individual participant’s schedule. Designed to fit the needs of busy educators, one can stop and start courses anytime during the open period. Participants can select one course, or all of them. This exciting new program also provides professional development that will allow for a state DOE/district’s requirements (example...Indiana PGPs), along with a Certificate of Completion to add to a portfolio. Take one course for 7 points, or all the courses for 28 points. After completing one course, educators can start another if they choose. Each point represents one hour of time spent in the course. All courses are designed so that concepts learned, and resources

introduced, can be applied the next day in any school setting.

Participants will discover ways to support face to face, eLearning, and

blended learning. Topics are current and cutting edge and facilitators

represent years of experience across a wide range of school curricula

and grade levels. This program, funded through the Olin B. and Desta

Schwab Foundation, really has a unique way of putting educators first.

Join us and become a member of an amazing Professional Learning

Community (PLC)!

Courses open on December 17, 2020 and run until

January 19, 2021.

Participants may take one or all, starting and stopping as they

wish based on their schedule.

How to Sign Up

(Click or Type URL)

https://tinyurl.com/makepdyourway

Sign Up Now… Space is

Limited

Be Watching: Coming in 2021

PBL and Blended Learning

Writers’ Workshop Hacks

Making Thinking Visible

PHET: Expand the Simulation

EACS Technology Newsletter December 18, 2020   

1. For all staff with an email: For security purposes, EACS will be upgrading computer password requirements for staff (this is not for students). The next time a user must change a password after January 11, 2021, users will need to change their old password by a minimum of a 3 character difference. This means that at least 3 of the letters, numbers, or special characters must change when creating the new password. Additionally, the word "password" is no longer available as a password. 1. Be a minimum of 8 characters, include at least one number. 2. Expire every 60 days. 3. Cannot be a password used within the previous year. 4. Cannot 

include the user's first or last name. 5. Cannot use the word "password" as a password. 6. At least 3 of the letters, numbers, or special characters must change when creating the new password. Questions? Please contact HELPdesk.    2. For teachers of reading in grades K-3: Have you heard of Unite For Literacy? Unite For Literacy offers one-click free access to digital children’s books. Unite For Literacy offers a full range of picture book creation, editorial, and graphic design services to organizations that have been historically underrepresented in the field of children’s book publishing. The content is intentionally curated to represent all genders, races, national origins, disabilities, and ages, in both text and images. primary-related. Unite For Literacy translates content into various languages. Unite for Literacy is free and the website is here.   3. For all teachers: In Skyward, Elementary and Secondary teachers now have Read access to 

Assessments under the Teacher Access feature. This means that once test scores are fully imported, teachers can view scores for the students in their classes right in Skyward. Currently, the import process of previous years’ test scores are not all imported, but as the district moves forward with assessments, the scores will become available. A teacher would click on Assessments>test scores. Then, choose a class, and in the drop-down, choose the assessment 

and the appropriate school year. More test scores will be included as the year progresses.    4. For all staff: Recently, Google announced that it was taking free, individual users down to 15 GB of storage for Google Drive content, (including Google Photos) effective on June 1, 2021, and some staff are asking about storage options. The EACS Tech Department confirmed that with our enterprise account, each district user has 5 TB of storage. That is a LOT! It will take an EACS user years to reach 5 terabytes of storage, so this change is not a concern for the district accounts. If you use Google heavily in your personal life for storage of photos/videos/content, then please go here to consider your options.   Fun technology fact: Electric vehicle company Aptera, founded in 2005, is soon coming out with an extraordinarily efficient 3-wheeled with a 1,000 range, and has made the audacious claim that most drivers will never need to charge the vehicle. Aptera’s new EV will have built-in solar panels to provide a minimum of 45 miles per day (not much), and will cost between 26K and 47K. Aptera opened preorders for its new EV, sharing details and pricing of the futuristic three-wheeler along with some ambitious promises about its performance. Read more of the article here.   

Elementary Curriculum Connection December 18, 2020

What do book clubs look like? Book clubs bring a small group of students together to

talk about a book each has chose (from a limited selection). Students may sit in a circle of chairs or on the

rug, but without a table between them. There are no barriers to communications. The teacher facilitates the

group to support development of effective discussion skills, to lift the level of discussion, and to promote a deep understanding of the writer’s and illustrator’s

craft.

Why are book clubs important? • Deepen readers’ appreciation and

understanding of a common text • Extend students’ thinking as they process and

interpret the perspectives and opinions of their peers

• Expand students’ ability to express their ideas orally using academic language

• Provide an authentic context for applying norms for listening and speaking

EL Corner How to Support ELLs During E-Learning

What’s New in Edge? Personality begins where

comparison leaves off. Be unique. Be memorable. Be confident. Be

proud.”

― Shannon L. Alder

Visible Thinking Strategies to help engage and keep all of our

students engaged and talking about their own thinking. The link below takes you through some fantastic thinking routines that are a great tool for all teachers to use. https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines Thinking is a broad and flexible framework for enriching classroom learning in the content areas and fostering students' intellectual development at the same time. Here are some of its key goals:

• Deeper understanding of content • Greater motivation for learning

• Development of learners' thinking and learning abilities.

• Development of learners' attitudes toward thinking and learning and their

alertness to opportunities for thinking and learning (the "dispositional" side of

thinking). • A shift in classroom culture toward a community of enthusiastically engaged

thinkers and learners.

Please feel free to contact Staci at ssalzbrenner@eacs.k12.in.us or 446-0100 x31 that you may

have!

“As students bring together much of their learning during book clubs, they find themselves in control.”

Irene C. Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell

Important Dates • MOY NWEA 11/30 – 1/24 • Scantron B4 12/7 – 12/18 (can be done instructionally) • MOY MClass Reading 12/7 – 1/15 • Winter Break 12/21 – 1/1

Secondary CurriculumConnection Dec. 18, 2020

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Resource Link Click Here

“Personality begins where comparison leaves off. Be unique. Be memorable. Be confident. Be proud.” ―

https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines

TEACHER SPOTLIGHT ‘Creative Superstar’

Meet – BROOKE PRESSLEY School and grade/subject teaching: Prince Chapman Academy - 5th Grade Gen Ed

Years teaching: 8

How were your preparations for this academic year different than in past years? I believe navigating teaching online as well as in class has been such a learning curve. As well as navigating students not being able to help with classroom jobs or move around the room as frequently has been a struggle as well.

What is the most creative thing you’ve done this year to help students succeed? I think most teachers are probably all doing exactly what I am, trying to figure out how to turn an assignment into an online source for students through multiple sites and apps has been my level of creativity. I try to make it as exciting as possible whether the students are at home or in my classroom learning, and work on more project-based style learning than daily individual assignments.

What do you hope your students take away from this unprecedented school year? Fifth grade was the best grade!

How has this year helped you grow professionally? I've been pushed to be more tech savvy this year than any other year, which has helped me grow immensely.

TEACHER SPOTLIGHT ‘Creative Superstar’

Meet: Jessica Hancock School and grade/subject teaching: Leo Junior High/ 8th grade language arts

Years teaching: This is my 19th year, all in East Allen

How were your preparations for this academic year different than in past years? I typically do a lot of small group work, and I knew this year could not include that, so I had to find other engaging ways for students to learn. We wrap up each major skill/ unit with a review game, which has helped. I also have always placed a huge emphasis on relationships with students and parents. I thought that it would be significantly harder to do that this year, but it hasn't been. By keeping in contact with parents when students are struggling and by emailing parents when students are doing well, I've found some success in building those connections with parents. By sharing my interests and interacting with students, I've built the relationships with them in class as well. We laugh a lot, too. Laughter is good.

What is the most creative thing you’ve done this year to help students succeed? After our tech coach and some of my colleagues showed us how to at our work day earlier this year, I created a one-stop homepage on Canvas for each of my classes. Students know they can go there for anything they need for class. It takes just moments for me to link assignments, lesson plans, and other important information.

What do you hope your students take away from this unprecedented school year? I hope they know that I love my job just as much this year as I have any other year. I know that it's a challenging year for everyone, but my love for this profession has never wavered. I hope they know that I am so incredibly proud of them. I tell them that often, but one day that really seemed to impact everyone was such a minor action on my part-- I stopped class and thanked my students for how well they have handled this school year. I told them that I knew it was challenging for them as well and that I was so proud of their good attitudes and their hard work. I hope they remember that. I hope they remember that in the face of adversity, they didn't shrink. They rose up to the challenge.

How has this year helped you grow professionally? How? I have learned so many skills that I honestly never knew existed. It's easy for me to Zoom with classes now. I can create a homepage on Canvas. I collaborate with peers far more than I ever have before. I have learned to be efficient and to prioritize. And like my students, I think that I have learned to be resilient.

EAST ALLEN COUNTY SCHOOLS BASIC PAY DATE SCHEDULE 2020-21 4140.1 PAY DATE NON-MANDATORY DEDUCTIONS SCHEDULED PAY PERIOD Friday, September 11, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 8-24 to 9-4 Friday, September 25, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 9-7 to 9-18 Friday, October 9, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 9-21 to 10-2 Friday, October 23, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 10-5 to 10-16 Friday, November 6, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 10-19 to 10-30 Friday, November 20, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 11-2 to 11-13 Friday, December 4, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 11-16 to 11-27 Friday, December 18, 2020 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 11-30 to 12-11 Monday, January 4, 2021 Only Mandatory Deductions** 12-14 to 12-25 Friday, January 15, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 12-28 to 1-8 Friday, January 29, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 1-11 to 1-22 Friday, February 12, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 1-25 to 2-5 Friday, February 26, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 2-8 to 2-19 Friday, March 12, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 2-22 to 3-5 Friday, March 26, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 3-8 to 3-19 Friday, April 9, 2021-Note Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 3-22 to 4-2 Friday, April 23, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 4-5 to 4-16 Friday, May 7, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 4-19 to 4-30 Friday, May 21, 2021 Section 125, Reliance, Dues, United Way, EACS Foundation 5-3 to 5-14 *Friday, June 4, 2021 Only Mandatory Deductions** 5-17 to 5-28 Friday, June 18, 2021 Only Mandatory Deductions** 5-31 to 6-11 ***Friday, June 25, 2021 One Week Pay for Hourly EE’s only [6-14 to 6-18 Hourly EE’s (5d)] 6-14 to 6-18 Only Mandatory Deductions** Wednesday, July 7, 2021 Only Mandatory Deductions** [6-21 to 6-30 Hourly EE’s (8d)] 6-14 to 6-30(13d) Friday, July 23, 2021 Only Mandatory Deductions** 7-1 to 7-16(12d) Friday, August 6, 2021 Only Mandatory Deductions** 7-26 to 8-6 Friday, August 20, 2021 Only Mandatory Deductions** 8-8 to 8-20 Friday, September 3, 2021*** Only Mandatory Deductions** 8-16 to 8-27 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Last pay for 20 pay teacher contracts **Only mandatory deductions will be taken this pay [FIT, SIT, COIT, FICA, MEDICARE, 403(b)/PENSION, CREDIT UNION] ***$1000 pay for new and 20 pay teachers Schedule for deductions are as follows: 18 Deductions (Beginning 9/11/20 – Ending 5/21/21). Section 125 Prem. For Health/Vision/ Dental/HSA/EACS LTD & STD/EACS Life Section 125 Flex (Medical Expenses and Childcare) Post-Tax: All Reliance Policies-Accident/CancerCritical/Disability/Supplemental Life Organization Dues and EACS Foundation Credit Union and 403(b)/Pension contributions are taken every pay. United Way - 18 Deductions (Beginning 1/15/21 – Ending 12/23/21). This is the only CALENDAR YEAR deduction. Note: Friday, April 9, 2021 – Spring Break. ALL checks (except last pay for coaches) will be MAILED on Thursday. Revised 12/06/18