School Visitors & Presenters Memo to Staff

School Visitors/Presenters

West Warwick Public Schools Office of Educational Reform, Compliance & IT Interoffice Memorandum

To: WWPS Employees

From: James Monti, Director

Subject: School Visitors/Presenters

Date: Friday, February 26, 2016

CC:

In the last year alone we have seen an explosion in the number of visitors finding their way to the West Warwick Public Schools. We have had visitors from nearby districts, and from across the country. In an effort to provide the right supports to students and our employees Superintendent Tarasevich would like school employees to fill-out the following form whenever a visitor or presenter is coming to a WWPS school. This form will keep central office apprised of the good work taking place in the schools, and allow us to support your work. It really is a wonderful problem to have, and is directly related to the incredible teaching and learning taking place across the district. This form doesn't negate your responsibility to clear all visitors with building principals so please make sure they are in the communication loop. Thanks for your cooperation regarding this request.

Regards,

Jim

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Original Email to Staff

Q: Should I fill-out the form for past visitors?

A: It's not necessary to fill-out the form for past visitors, but the information will be helpful to have on hand. We will leave that completely up to you to decide.

Q: Does this pertain to parent volunteers/visitors or volunteers that visit my classroom on a regular basis?

A: No, you do not need to fill-out the form for parent volunteers or parent visitors. It is also not necessary to fill-out the form for classroom volunteers. Classroom volunteers have already gone through an approval process.

Q: Do teachers still have to go through their building level principal as the first step in the process for getting approval for a visitor or presenter?

A: Absolutely. Teachers should include the principal in the early stages of the discussion process. Teachers can fill-out the form, and their principal will get alerted to the request. Teachers should proceed to have a face to face discussion with their principal regarding the request.

Purchase of Lightbox Materials to Support Curriculum Units of Study

Lightbox Purchases

West Warwick Public Schools Office of Educational Reform, Compliance & IT Interoffice Memorandum

To: K-4 Teachers

From: James Monti, Director

Subject: Lightbox Resources

Date: Friday, January 15, 2016

CC:

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We have purchased some resources called "Lightboxes" from Follett. They are located in the digital bookshelf for teachers and students. These materials are a multimedia self-contained resource that can be used as a mini-unit or support a deeper unit of study. We just received these materials, and they've been placed in your schools Follett Bookshelf. You can use the directions from Kristen Mitchell to access those materials.

There is a Lightbox on MLK that you can use if you so choose.

You can use these directions:

Hi Teachers,

The library has acquired 29 Lightbox ebooks.  They incorporate videos, Google Maps, worksheets, audio, quizzes and other interactive features.  Multiple students can use them at the same time.

Topics vary by school, but could include:

To access these resources:

www.ricat.net

     Select Your School

            Click Catalog Tab

                  Click Follet Shelf (on left)

                       See Featured Collections (29 Lightbox Titles)

                              Click a book

                                    Click Open

Teacher Login:  WWAstaffID#

                        WWAstaffID#

 Student Login:  wwpsstudent#

                        wwps

Please contact your librarian if you have any questions or need any help.

Standards Based Report Card Directions

Standards Based Report Card Directions

West Warwick Public Schools Office of Educational Reform, Compliance & IT Interoffice Memorandum

To: K-8 Teachers

From: James Monti, Director

Subject: Standards Based Report Card Directions

Date: Sunday, December 6, 2015

CC:

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Teachers can use the print directions for Posting Standards Based Grade Book grades. If teachers are using the standards based grade book for assignments during the term they can use the directions for Updating Columns in the Grade Book to the Report Card.

Elementary School Teachers T1 Report Card Window

West Warwick Public Schools Office of Educational Reform, Compliance & IT Interoffice Memorandum

To: Elementary Teachers

From: James Monti, Director

Subject: Reporting Window Issue

Date: Wednesday, November 27, 2015

CC:

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The reporting window for elementary school teachers is now functioning properly. I neglected a step in the process to open the window in your schools. Your report cards should be accessible as of today. The appropriate NM's will be added to each column by Johnna on Monday of this week. If you have any issues accessing your Trimester 1 Progress Reports please submit a helpdesk ticket.

Trimester 1 Report Card Dates

West Warwick Public Schools Office of Educational Reform, Compliance & IT Interoffice Memorandum

To: K-8 Teachers

From: James Monti, Director

Subject: Trimester 1 Report Card Dates

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2015

CC:

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Please review the information below regarding Trimester 1 report card information. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me or your principal.

Description	Date
Trimester 1 Closes	Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Grade Reporting Opens	Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Grade Reporting Closes	Sunday, December 13, 2015 - 11:59 PM
Report Card Post Verification	Monday, December 14, 2015
Report Card Printing	Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Report Card Distribution	Thursday, December 17, 2015

Google Hangouts and Chats Closed for Elementary Students

Google Chat and Google Hangouts for Elementary Aged Students

As of November 11, 2015 I have turned off the Google Chat options for elementary aged students. We've had a handful of elementary school aged students that have been participating in inappropriate behavior. I would like to put my head together with a small team of elementary teachers and administrators to discuss the best way to move forward.  I am planning a Google Hangout On Air meeting to discuss this in greater detail. This also turns off the chat option in Google Docs. Students can continue to use the Comments Tool within a document to collaborate with their peers.

Teachers and students can continue to use Google Classroom to engage in an online streaming discussion if that's necessary for your instructional goals.

I would like to provide teachers with a few lessons for digital citizenship before we consider turning on the chat feature again.  If this adversely affects your classroom please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss alternative solutions.

Help Desk Chromebook Results since 09.01.2015

Chromebook Help Desk Tickets:

Please review the Helpdesk tickets associated with Chromebooks that have been submitted since 09.01.2015. Lester is working diligently to clear as many tickets as he can each day. This year Johnna has been logging a lot of the HelpDesk tickets, and providing processes for efficiency. This has been very helpful to Lester, and has allowed him to repair machines at a record pace. We have had 680 Chromebook issues reported during the first 53 days of school. The illustration below gives you a quick idea as to the most pressing issues that 

The illustration below illustrates the number of screens repaired in the first few months of the school year. The number of tickets in September and October were remarkably consistent. We are seeing a slight increase in the number of screen issues in the first week of November, and at this pace we may see a slight increase in screen repairs for the month of November. 

Please remind your child, or the students in your classroom to treat their Chromebook with care. This is also a good opportunity to remind students that we are charging them for Chromebook repairs. The memo that was distributed on our website can be viewed here.