ESS Announcements for 2021/22
Date: 07/16/2021
Author: Jennie Snyder
As we get ready to welcome everyone back for the 2021/22 school year, we wanted to send out a variety of announcements about what this new year holds and some of the plans.
SUMMER INSTITUTE: We’ll be kicking the year off with our annual Summer Institute, scheduled for July 27-29. I know many of you will either be presenting or assisting as virtual room hosts - thank you in advance for your work on this! The entire TLC building has been booked as a space for event staff to be centrally located with appropriate social distancing, so our department might feel a little empty these 3 days. If you have any questions about the Summer Institute, please check in with Dan or Elizabeth.
WORK FROM HOME: As of August 1, all ongoing work from home (WFH) arrangements will end, as will the $50 technology stipend that was applicable for those with at least 5 WFH days a month. All staff are expected to be full-time in the office past this point, though occasional, one-time work from home days will be a possibility depending on circumstances. Directors needing a one-time WFH day should contact Jennie for approval, all other staff should contact Dan with a CC to their direct supervisor. This is to ensure consistency and fairness in reviewing such requests.
WORKSPACES: We’ll be returning to our normal desk/office assignments on August 1. All shared spaces have been set up to ensure 6-foot distancing between chairs. We’ve also reconfigured some of the printers - a new list of printers, and info on how to access them can be found here.
We encourage you to bring your headphones for Zooms! This helps cut down on noise through the space and prevents noise from traveling through the AC ducting.
Our new desk spaces have been set up in “ESS West” (the previous CTE lounge). Our department areas now include ESS Main, ESS “West” (previous CTE lounge), and ESS “East” (the space across from the staff kitchen). We also have our CCPC group in ESS “South” (on the opposite end of the building by Alt Ed). Feel free to visit the spaces to say hi to your colleagues!
Staff impacted by the upcoming wall remodel (starting Aug 23) have been contacted and maybe working from home during the construction phase.
Masking is still required in common hallways, staff rooms such as the staff kitchen and break lounge, and the lobby.
UPCOMING RETREATS: As we welcome each other back, we wanted to ensure some team time to kick off the year. The Directors' team will meet for a half-day retreat on August 24, and our whole department (including our Teacher on Loan group!) will meet for a half-day retreat on August 31. These meetings should already show in your calendar.
TUESDAY TEAM CHECK-INS: As our team decided last Spring, we will hold a department check-in every other Tuesday from 8:45 am-9:30 am. We will be conducting these check-ins via Zoom for now and will reassess that structure as the year progresses.
UPCOMING OFFERINGS BY ESS: All of the upcoming offerings we’re hosting, and event planner assignments, can be found on this listing, which is also posted on the ISD Newspage.
STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ALLOCATIONS: As we transition back to a more “normal” year, I wanted to remind everyone about the structure that’s been agreed upon for staff professional development opportunities. All staff have up to $2500 to use towards attending professional development activities (such as conferences, etc.) that are “self-choice” and approved in advance.
In addition, the certificated team also attends one professional development activity together that is not included in that $2500 max per individual. In the past, this group activity has been either the CISC Symposium or the Carnegie Improvement Science event. Once we have more details on those two offerings, we’ll poll the certificated team to make a decision.
I also want to point out that California has some guidance in place around not allowing travel to certain states (you can read more about this here). Please be mindful of this when considering professional development options. The “banned” states include Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
NEW HOLIDAY: As you know, a new federal holiday was enacted: Juneteenth. This holiday will be observed on June 20, 2022, which means that date is no longer a possible workday. Any certificated staff that had initially selected that date as a workday will need to revise their calendar, and have been directly contacted with instructions on how to do that.
If you have any questions on these items, please feel free to reach out to me, Dan, or Stacie.
Thanks!
Jennie
