Happy Tuesday!

Calendar:

Wednesday, 9/18   Fire Drill @ 9:02 am

                            PLC meeting @ Salem

Wednesday, 9/25   One hour PD 

Thursday, 9/26      Late Start for Students - 1 hour PD for Staff

Friday, 9/27          Pep Rally - shortened classes** See schedule at the end 

1) New APAA: Please join me in congratulating Ray Miller on accepting the position of Assistant Principal of Activities and Athletics at Plymouth High School. We are super excited to welcome him, pending board approval, onto our PHS administrative team! Ray has immersed himself in the areas of athletics and activities with his work as Head Lacrosse coach, Event Manager, and Athletic Department Intern - just to name a few! Again, please give him a "congratulations" when you see him!

2) Learning Walks: The PHS administrative team will be starting learning walks this week. Remember that these learning walks serve as a valuable tool for us to dialogue about instruction, progress monitor our school improvement plan, and interact with students/staff - they are NOT evaluative - they're for our growth and learning! 

3) Internet: If you are experiencing problems with the internet, please complete a tech request. The problems have not been school-wide and so technology will reach out individually to those individuals who are affected. You may also call 4-HELP (4-4357) with any urgent technology needs.  

4) SafeSchools Training: Each of you should have received an email from P-CCS safeschools online training with a link to the training module. This website is https://pccs-mi.safeschools.com/ and your district email is the username. All training is due by October 1st. Please make note of this because it is earlier than past years.

Pep Rally Schedule
1st hour 7:10-7:53
2nd hour 8:03-8:46
3rd hour 8:56-9:39
5th hour 9:49-10:32
4th hour 10:42-12:15 ** See lunch schedules below
6th hour 12:25-1:08
Pep rally 1:18-2:08

A lunch
Lunch 10:32-11:16
Class time 11:16-12:15

B lunch
Lunch 11:11-11:51
Class time 10:42-11:11 and 11:51-12:15

C lunch
Lunch 11:35-12:15
Class time 10:42-11:35

Happy Tuesday!

How is it possible that it's already the second week of September? I hope that you had a great first week of school. We are getting settled and trying to fill some remaining vacancies. This week, we are continuing to interview for the open APAA and Security Supervisor positions. 

Thank you for your continued patience with the doors. When they get up and running it will totally be worth it (i.e. more doors on the system), but it is a big inconvenience in the short term.  

Calendar:
Tuesday, 9/10        Drill @ 7:59 am
Wednesday, 9/11   PLC meetings @ Salem
Thursday, 9/12      Fall Activities Fair during lunch in the bus loop
                            Senior Meetings
                           Canton: Little Theater, Plymouth: Cafeteria/401, Salem: Auditorium
                               1st Hour: Last names A-G
                        2nd Hour: Last names H-O
                        3rd Hour - Last names P-Z
                                 Students should report directly to their Senior Meeting 
Friday, 9/13        Football Game vs Canton @ 7 pm 

Upcoming 

Wednesday, 9/25 & Thursday, 9/26 - 1 hour PD/Late Start 

                           Informational Evaluation Meeting 

Friday, 9/27          Pep Rally

Thursday, 11/14    Parent Teacher Conferences (Time TBD)

1.  Attendance:  Attendance needs to be taken for each period every day. Please be sure you are completing your professional responsibility and doing this in a timely manner. I know it's hard getting back into the swing of things, but I know you can do it! 

2. Infinite College Fair: P-CEP is hosting a free scholarship fair on Wednesday, October 9, 2019. Some colleges will be accepting students and notifying about scholarships on the spot. The fair runs from 4-8 pm. Students need to bring copies of transcripts, ACT/SAT scores, letters of recommendation, an essay titled "Why I want to go to college," and a resume. Here is a link to a flyer

3. Fall Activities Fair: Joining a club or activity at the start of the school year is a perfect way for students to meet friends who are interested in some of the same things. Our P-CEP Congresses are sponsoring a "Fall Activities Fair" during lunch in the bus loop on Thursday, September 12th, for students to check out many of the clubs/activities on campus. Please promote this event to your students. Click HERE for a list of clubs/activities.

4.  Schooldude: Please remember to submit Schooldude requests for any custodial or maintenance needs that you may have. The New User Maintenance Direct Requester Guide is linked HERE with directions on how to log in and submit requests. If you are a new user, you can use the link at the top of this Guide or enter the account number manually. The account number is 907105809. 

5.  Last call for staff shirts: If you haven't picked up your staff shirt yet, then please do so today. Come on down to Tracy's office and she'll give you one. 

6.  Grant Opportunities: There are a couple of grant opportunities from Teaching Tolerance. Awards range from $500-10,000. There are two categories: Classroom level and School level. Classroom-Level -These grants will help teachers promote empathy and kindness, positive identity development, perspective taking, critical thinking about injustice and collective action. These projects offer teachers the resources necessary to create safe and welcoming classrooms that reflect the outcomes described in the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards. Preference is given to projects that emphasize student action and promote student voice. School Level - These projects will focus on improving school climate, responding to and preventing incidents of hate, or embedding the concepts found in the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards into the school- or district-wide curriculum. teachers’ capacities to adopt the practices articulated in Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education and in our school climate resources, or to promote dialogue among school and district community members about anti-bias issues at school. Links are below: 

https://grants.tolerance.org/submit
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/teaching-tolerance-educator-grant-writing-for-beginners

Happy Thursday that's really like Friday!

Whew, that's a wrap on the testing. Well, almost, since the make-up testing begins next week. A huge thank you to Joyce Bauder and Danielle Ramos for their tireless work on the SAT/MME/M-STEP, Lisa Grzeskiewicz and Amy Willacker-Brown for the coordination of the PSAT 10, and Bobbi Hejka and Ted Younglas for the planning of the PSAT 9.  In addition to our general education testing, a shout-out to Rachel Henning and Elena Girolamo who organized all of our accommodated testing. Last, but not least, thank you to our teachers, counselors, and support staff who proctored, supervised, and helped throughout the past weeks. 

Upcoming events/dates
Tuesday, 4/23 - Show "Closing Credits" to 3rd hour class
Wednesday, 5/1- Decision Day for seniors during 5th hour
Thursday, 5/9 -  Mock Accident for 11th and 12th graders during 3rd hour. 
Tuesday, 5/28 & Wednesday, 5/29 - Senior Final Exams
Thursday, 5/30 - Senior breakfast and checkout

1. Show Closing Credits video to 3rd hour class on Tuesday, 4/23. To address some of the mental health issues that face our students, two advanced video seniors produced a 20 min documentary entitled "Closing Credits." This was completed initially for the counseling department's mental health week in January. The video discusses suicide and includes testimonials from current and former students who faced very difficult life circumstances but persevered. The video incorporates facts, research, suggestions and personal stories. It has been approved by Monica Merritt for our students. This is an additional resource for our students who may face life challenges. Here is the link http://links.pccsk12.com/closingcredits

2. Evaluation information: If you haven't received an evaluation update email from your evaluating administrator, then you likely will very soon. Below are a couple of clarifying points:

• Form C needs to be completed after each observation AND walk through. You can access the second Form C under the "observation 2" tab. 
• Form D and SLO data are due 5/15 (or earlier)
• Data may be submitted electronically or as a hard copy
• When compiling your data, even for the team SLO, you are to only use students in your specific classes in the data set for your specific SLO scoring.
• You can click HERE to access the Rubric Tables for SLO Scoring

3.  Guests/Former Students: A reminder that if you expect any guests during the school day to please alert the general office. College semesters are wrapping up soon and former students often like to come and visit the staff. When Debbie and Teri know to expect someone then it eliminates a few time consuming steps to verify that you, in fact, are expecting the visitor and want to see them on your prep or lunch.  

Odds and Ends

Last year, I attended a workshop where the presenter asked us to take out our phones and scroll through our contact list to find someone who we cared about, but hadn't communicated with in awhile. He gave us approximately 20 seconds to look through our phones then another minute to actually send the person a text message. I chose to send a message to my aunt. By the end of the day many of us had heard back from the person we texted. Is texting the best way? Eh, probably not. Is it the most personal? Nope. It was something though and the experience was a nice reminder that we only need a minute in our day to make a connection.

Calendar: 

3/6 -  PLC meeting 

3/7 -  Tornado drill 12:12 pm 

3/12 - Student of the Month @ PHS

          Parent Forum @ PHS

3/13 - 1/2 day am - PD pm (school based school improvement)

3/14 - 1/2 day am - PD pm (i3 Conference)

1) Testing Center Coverage: As you know, the testing center has lacked coverage for 5th and 6th hour since the start of the year. The temporary solution to utilize copy room paraprofessionals on a rotating basis is just that - temporary. Paula will cover 5th and 6th hour in the testing center for 4 rotating weeks beginning the week of 3/4.  Additionally, she'll cover in the testing center during the weeks of 4/8, 5/6, and 6/3. During these weeks, the PHS administrative team will cover lunch in the media center so that Paula isn't pulled from the copy center for 3 hours on those days. Where do you come in?  It's always important to give ample time to make copies; however, it will be critical that copies are submitted in advance during these weeks. Many thanks to Paula for her positive attitude, problem-solving, and flexibility. This temporary solution gets us through the end of the year and allows us to meet the needs of our students who utilize the testing center.

2) MiStar and Athletic/Activity Eligibility Check: MiStar should be updated weekly unless you have a long-term assignment that requires additional time to grade. To this end, our first Athletic/Activity eligibility check of 2nd semester is tomorrow (these dates are listed on the P-CEP Master Google calendar.) Please be sure that your grade books are accurate, up to date, and visible to parents/students. There are teachers who still have their grade books set to semester 1. Progress reports are no longer sent home, but parents are still notified and encouraged to login to MiStar and check their child’s grades at the mid-point of the quarter. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

3) Kalahari fundraiser for Smith Elementary: This fills up fast even though it's 10 months away. Support Smith Elementary and visit Kalahari waterpark on January 2, 2020 with their special rate for family and friends - $129 for the room and waterpark passes. See the flyer in the mailroom and HERE for details. 

4) The Sharing is Caring Dress Drive:  @ Discovery MS tomorrow from 9 am- 1 pm. They are looking for new or gently used "special occasion" dresses of all sizes-newborn to junior, homecoming and prom dresses. Special occasion shoes and accessories are also welcome. Please share with students. You can see HANDOUT for additional details. 

Happy mid-winter break

Happy Mid-Winter Break! 

With 6 snow/ice/sleet/cold days so far this year, it hardly feels like it's time for mid-winter break. Nonetheless, I hope you have a great 4 days. You deserve it. Rest, read, and relax. 

Calendar: 

2/19 - 9th grade course selection

2/20 - 10th grade course selection

          PLC meetings at Canton

2/21 - 11th grade course selection

          Instructional Team meeting

2/27 - 1 hour PD after school

2/28 - 1 hour morning PD - late start for classes

1) Belated welcomes: A belated welcome to Amy Willacker-Brown who is now an Assistant Principal at Plymouth High School. Amy will support a student caseload whose last names begin H-O. In addition, Amy will lead the Counseling and Growth Programs Departments. 

Also, welcome to Janelle Hudak. Janelle joins our math department and Plymouth High School. She's in room 109C. Janelle is a graduate of the Park and we're so excited to welcome her back as a teacher!

2) Schooldude: A reminder to please use the Schooldude Custodial System when requesting maintenance services. First-time users must use ‘schooldude’ (one word, lowercase) as their submittal password. There is a Schooldude ‘how to’ guide that can be viewed and/or downloaded here

3) Academic Dishonesty/Cheating/Plagiarism: Our K12 student handbook says that "cheating includes, but is not limited to: (1) use of any unauthorized assistance in taking quizzes, tests, or examinations; (2) dependence upon the aid of resources beyond those authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems, or carrying out other assignments; or (3) the acquisition, without permission, of tests, answer keys or other academic material intended for the exclusive use of an instructor; or (4) unauthorized acquisition of/or alteration of school records. 

Consequences: 

1. First offense - Individual classroom teacher will deal with the infraction and hold a conference with the student. Student may receive a zero (0) or grade reduction on the assignment or test. The teacher will notify parent/guardian upon each occurrence and document in the "visits" tab in MISTAR. 

2.  Second Offense - Parent contacted by teacher (and referral to administrator) for additional discipline up to and including suspension/expulsion from school. 

Happy New Year!

Happy Thursday! 

I hope each of you had a nice winter break and got a chance to get caught up on life, and maybe even kick your feet up and rest a bit. It's been quite awhile since the last odds and ends so I'm playing catch-up with a lot of reminders this time around.  

Upcoming calendar dates:

Wednesday, 1/16/19 - Department Meetings @ Plymouth

Thursday, 1/17/19 - Instructional Team & School Improvement meeting 

                             @ 2:30 in PHS DLL. 

Monday, 1/21/19 - Martin Luther King, Jr Day - NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, 1/23/19 - Final Exams 1st hour and 4th hour 

Thursday, 1/24/19 - Final Exams 2nd hour and 5th hour  

Friday, 1/25/19 - Final Exams 3rd hour and 6th hour 

1.  Maintenance requests: Please continue to use the Schooldude Custodial System when requesting maintenance services. First-time users must use ‘schooldude’ (one word, lowercase) as their password. There is a Schooldude ‘how to’ guide that can be viewed and/or downloaded here.

2. Attendance: I talked about this yesterday, but I can't stress it enough so it's going in here, too. Teachers are responsible for taking accurate attendance. Period. This means not just posting, but ensuring that what is posted is correct. Thank you. 

3. Evaluation update: The PHS administrators have completed 1st observations and will have all post-observations meetings done by this Friday, which is the recommended deadline. Yay! We will start walk-throughs and second round observations soon (full observation for probationary teachers and those pursuing HE). This second one can be scheduled so please feel free to reach out to us if there is a date/time you'd like for us to come in. 

4.  Grade Collection Procedure for PHS: As in previous years, your grade printouts should be turned into the secretary of your evaluating principal. Please see this handout for details. 

5. Dismissal:  There are still many students leaving class 2-3 minutes early each day. I suspect many of you don't even realize students have left the room, especially if you have a substitute in for you or kids line up at the door. Please be sure your students remain in your classroom until the 2:08 pm dismissal bell. Also, include in your sub plans the importance of kids remaining in their seats until the bell rings. Lastly, continue to communicate to students the importance of WALKING to the car. Thanks!  

6. Office Hours: For your planning, please be aware that the office will be closed during final exam week when there are no students in the building. If you have any student or parent meetings scheduled then you'll need to make arrangements to let them into the building. Thanks.

7.  Meet the Staff: Have you noticed I haven't been highlighting any "meet the staff" this year? That's because I need more of you to fill out the form. Seriously, I'm begging. It's nice to learn something about the people we work with each day. Please complete this Meet the Staff Form so you, too, can be included. 

8. Reimbursement reminder (again): You have seen this at least 4 times, but I'm adding it again as we head into the second part of the year and department budgets will be spent. Here are the Employee Reimbursement Guidelines. Also, here is a link to a Teacher’s Reference Guide to Receipts and Purchasing. Highlights include: 1) a receipt log and supporting documentation must accompany deposit slips, 2) Tally sheets, 3) All checks made payable to District (PCCS), including field trips, 4) No cash/checks are to be kept in classrooms overnight, 5) No cash/checks are to be taken home by district staff, 6) All collections must be deposited (no cash can be held back for transactions), 7) shipping address must be a district address if you are getting reimbursed, 8) reimbursements must be submitted within 60 days of purchase, and not later than year end (for teachers, it’s best to submit before school is out.) 

9. Emergency sub plans: As we approach the end of semester 1 and look to start semester 2, please take a look at your emergency sub plans. Are they current? We think we will never need them, but unfortunately, emergencies do happen and it's better for everyone involved (students, other teachers, and office staff) when there are emergency plans available.

10. Staff Hub: I'm sure there is a better name for this (feel free to send me suggestions), but for right now it's called the STAFF HUB. I started to work on this last August in the hopes of having a document that had references and forms in one place. I'm sharing it out even though it's a work in progress before it's June and needs to be edited all over again. 

Congratulations!

CONGRATULATIONS TO PLYMOUTH GIRLS GOLF

STATE RUNNER UPS

Girls Golf State 2nd Place
Rachel Stibel, Coach Dan Young, Shae Zydek, Grace Iacopelli, Maire Sullivan, Grace Boczar, Bridget Boczar

Upcoming events: 
10/31 - Halloween
11/1 -   Parent Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 8:30 pm 
11/6 -   District Professional Development 8 am - 3:30 pm 
            Sign up for sessions by this Friday (see links below) 
11/7 -   Building Meeting @ PHS in the cafeteria
11/8 -   Distracted Driving Assembly (for those signed up)
            Tornado Drill @ 9:17 am
            P-CEP Community Open House 6-8 pm 
11/9 -   End of 1st Quarter
            
     

Food before Parent-Teacher Conferences: There will be pizza, chips, and veggies before parent teacher conferences this Thursday, 11/1. Please plan on coming down to room 406 (staff break room off cafeteria) beginning at 2:45 to fill up before the long night. 

Safeschools: If you have not completed this mandatory training, please do so ASAP. I don't have access to see who has completed it and who hasn't, which is why everyone is getting all the reminders. Here is the link again - Thank you!

Teacher evaluation: SLO goals are to be approved in OASYS by this Friday. Please hit "submit" on your goals so that your evaluating administrator can view them and then finalize them.

Parent contact: Your PHS administrative team is trying hard to hold students accountable for getting to class on time, particularly when students have a parking passes and/or 18 year old waivers, but we need your help! We learned that the automatic attendance robo call does not call home for tardies. This makes it even more important that we connect with families so they are made aware of the issue. Please mark accurate attendance, including tardies, and reach out to the parents/guardians of any student who is excessively tardy. Thank you! 

District Professional Development: Next Tuesday is District Provided Professional Development from 8 am -3:30 pm @ Salem High School. Please 
click this link for Conference Descriptions and click this link to REGISTER

Danielle Ramos taking part in a learning activity during an instructional round! 

Supporting the Wildcats at the playoff football game in West Bloomfield

Student winners of the Lions ticket giveaway!