CWCS March 2007 ES Agenda

CWCS March 2007 ES Agenda

Please read the agenda, along with each of its links (all links available in ES Manual for future reference).

The agenda quiz must be completed in your ES WEBfiles BEFORE 3:00 pm the day before your ES meeting.

1) Dates to Remember and Dated Duties

PLEASE BRING YOUR HQT STUDENT AGREEMENT ADDENDUMS TO YOUR ES MEETING FOR YOUR AF TO COLLECT. THANK YOU!!

a) March 6 & 7, 2007: 4th and 7th Grade Writing Test

b) March 9, 2007: March 9, 2007 is the last date that students can enroll for the 2006/2007 school year. No enrollment paperwork can be signed after this date.

(Enrollment Applications for 2008 are now being accepted. There is a box at the top right hand corner of the enrollment application to mark an option for school year and semester. If the student will turn 5 on or before December 2, 2007, then they may enroll for the 2008 school year.)

c) STAR Testing begins March 22, 2007.

d) April 20, 2007:

Cut-off date for POs using this school year’s funding.

NEW this year, this date will also be the cut off for any Instructional Fund transfer requests. Please check your budgets now to be sure that all of your accounts are in the black by that date.

e) May Graduates: Reminder Dates for May Graduates

(If you haven't done so already, remember to administer the Post-Scantron to each of your graduates.)

April 16, 2007- submit 2nd semester estimated grades

April 27, 2007- submit Graduation Packet to ES advisor as described in Graduation Packet Paperwork. Please note that the Graduation Requirements Worksheet is no longer a part of the Grad Packet Paperwork and is to be used instead as a worksheet throughout the student's high school years.

-E-mail stuassign@ieminc.org with a list of the names and student numbers of your planned drops and/or grads so that you can be assigned prospectives for next year.

Graduation Ceremony Information: Please show your grads the following Graduation News.

f) May 8^th and 9^th: CAHSEE for 10, 11, and 12^th graders. All 10th grade students that didn't test in February MUST test in May... no exceptions.

g) Tuesday, August 14, 2007: Fall All ES meeting. New Location Modesto Centre Plaza. Mark your calendars now for this mandatory all-day meeting! There will be a two-day all ES meeting in February of next year.

h) Scantron Testing: Newly enrolled students who completed their initial Scantron exam after the date of December 20^th (based on this chart) will do their post testing within the first two weeks of May. All students enrolling late in the school year must post test before the last day of school even though there will not be 12 weeks between the pre and post test. Please make appointments with these students now so that the testing will be expected.

Here are some additional Scantron Appointments for the Modesto Learning Center:

Wednesday, March 7th

Friday, March 9th

Monday, March 12th

Wednesday, March 14th

Friday, March 16th

TIMES: 9:00; 10:30; 12:30; 2:00

2) Things to Do

a) Parent Council Nomination: Please nominate any parent that you think would be true to the role of the parent council member. You may nominate someone and/or give the parent the nomination form for submission to Sherri Nelson at the Waterford Office by April 6th. Having a parent council is essential for charter compliance!

b) Technology Plan
Please take a few minutes to fill out the technology survey that will help IT develop a technology plan for CWCS. It will be located on your ES Welcome Page and ready for your input on Friday, March 9th. Your input is an integral part of the tech plan to meet the criteria for a CDE approval.
Complete the survey by Friday, March 16th. Thank you!

c) 2008 Student Count: -Now is the time to start thinking about your student count for next year. If you would like to increase your student count, e-mail your advisor. If you would like to drop your student count, e-mail stuassign@ieminc.org.

-Any Grads or Drops? Please e-mail stuassign@ieminc.org with a list of the names and student numbers of your planned drops and/or grads so that you can be assigned prospectives for next year.

d) CWCS 2008 Calendar: Our calendar is currently being developed. We are planning to have our first day of school as Monday, August 13th, and the last day as Friday, May 16th. Please share these dates with your parents.

e) Summer School: For Summer School 2007, both Regular and Summer School ESs should read about summer school, both to inform their students, but also to complete required duties if their students enroll. The Summer School Request form should be received by the office by Friday, April 20th. Remember if ordering Summer School POs from this year's IF, it must be done by April 20.

f) ES Checkout Paperwork in WEBfiles. Just a reminder, since there isn’t an April Agenda. To find your ES Checkout Paperwork, Go to "View" ES Detail, and click on the button on the bottom left that says "Print ES Checkout". This button will prompt your computer to print two pages. You will need to "OK" both print windows. Please staple the two pages together when you turn them in for checkout in May.

g) CWCS March Newsletter: Please read and remind your parents that have web access to read it too. For those that don't, please print a copy for them to view.

h) Transfer Notification: Note that the notification of parent regarding a student transfer is the responsibility of the transferring ES. This has been added to the Transfer/Drop Checklist.

i) Personal Professor Training: Here is a link to information on Personal Professors. Personal Professors will provide four live, online training sessions for Connecting Waters ESs in order to familiarize them with the learning model and to guide them in its effective use. Dates and times for training sessions, as well as log on information, will be distributed to the ESs by all ES email. All ESs that serve high school students must attend one of the sessions.

3) Training Items

a) Portfolios Due

-April is our Portfolio Collection Month and the ES meeting will be spent on peer review of portfolios. Print a Portfolio Review, and bring it with your completed portfolios to your ES meeting. Follow the Portfolio Procedure.

-If you have a transfer student, and the transferring ES did not include a first semester checklist with their portfolio samples, please contact the transferring ES to request the checklist.

-All portfolios must be completed before turning them in to your AF. Do not turn in half or any fraction of the portfolios on your portfolio checklist, all must be present before submitting them. If, due to an unusual and unavoidable situation, you don’t have all of them ready by your ES meeting, bring what you have at that time for the peer review.

-After your peer ES checks your portfolios, make any corrections as indicated on the peer review. If possible, make the corrections during the meeting and turn the portfolios in to your AF with the ES Portfolio Checklist and the signed Portfolio Review before leaving the meeting. If you need to make corrections, your AF will supply your group with a time before May 1st to bring the portfolios to the place of her choosing. Remember, do NOT turn in only part of your portfolios, ONLY turn them in to your AF when all are complete.

b) Spring and Summer PO Requests: Please note the deadline for orders coming from this year’s budget!

c) Fall Student Agreements and Assessment Confirmation forms will be signed after STAR testing. There will be a new Assessment Confirmation form that will reflect the 3-4 day test period and test prep materials. Student Agreements will be available by March 30th for those students that have completed STAR testing. We would like all Student Agreements mailed to the IEM Office by May 11th. However, we understand that those families that test at the Manteca site at the last week of testing, may not be able to meet that deadline. We do not expect you to plan an extra meeting in order to meet the deadline. Late Reports will be run on May 14th as a courtesy reminder.

DO NOT COMPLETE STUDENT AGREEMENTS AND ASSESSMENT CONFIRMATION FORMS WITH YOUR STUDENTS UNTIL AFTER THEY HAVE COMPLETED ALL DAYS OF THEIR STAR TESTING AS THEY MAY NOT BE RETURNING NEXT YEAR IF THEY ARE DROPPED DUE TO TRUANCY.

-If you have a student that you feel may not be suited for Independent Study or one that is a high school student that is not working towards completing 25 credits this semester (late enrollees are the exception), contact your Advisor before discussing enrollment for next year. Please contact your advisor by March 30th.

d) Rollsheets:

-Rollsheets signed for last attendance period can be dated for up to one week after the last day of school. Or some ESs prefer on the second to the last meeting to project what the student would do for the next few weeks so that the ES can do a learning record. The ES then has a party on the last day of school (meeting all parents as a group in a public location) and just checks what was done with what was projected and signs the rollsheet.

e) Student Enrollment/ Special Ed: If a parent puts “no” to special ed on their enrollment application, and it is later determined either via ES or cume that the student had previously been in special ed, the student will be dis-enrolled for falsifying the application. If they wish to re-apply, they may due so by submitting their IEP to special ed.

If a parent mentions that a student had previously been in Special Ed, and the ES or the school are unaware of it, then the ES should contact Sherri Nelson.

f) Professionalism: Here is a reminder on professionalism from the CWCS Employee Handbook (pg. 23)

If you have a nursing infant, please make arrangements with the Executive Director prior to the event.

"You may not bring your own children to school events (learning record meetings, STAR testing, ES meetings, etc) unless they are participants in the events or it is a general school event open to all students. The Executive Director may grant an exception for employees with Nursing Infants."

g) Employment for 2008 School Year: We are already making plans for next year. If your position as an ES is not working out for you and you will not be returning next year, please notify the Executive Director as soon as possible. If this is your part-time job and you have another full time position, please remember that you will be required to work your equitable share of testing days (min. of 4 days) and attend 3 days of all ES meetings next year.

h) HQT Tentative Fall Schedules: Here are the HQT tentative courses and curriculum for next year.

Tentative English Fall 08

Tentative Math Fall 08

Tentative Science Fall 08

Tentative Social Science Fall 08

Each course will be accompanied with a Pacing guide that can be used by the parent and ES of record. These courses will be free to the student budget. Course sign ups for next year are not yet available in Filemaker. Students who enroll in a HQT course must use the materials listed for the course.

i) HQT Elluminate Instructions: Thank you ES Shoni Johnson for creating and sharing these easy to follow directions for your students' reference after the ES has demonstrated the process. Nicenet to Elluminate .

j) Beginning Reading Website: Thank you ES Shoni Johnson for suggesting Starfall.

l) Computer Link Website: Thank you Jamie Tinley for sharing this website that allows you to log on to your home computer from a remote site. www.logmein.com. The account is a trial but after a month becomes a free account with about 8 computers you can log into for free.

4) Messages from School Departments

a) ASSESSMENT- Assessment News from Leita Barlow and Glenna Miller

There have been several updates sent out this past month, the most pertinent of which are included in this agenda's Assessment News. However, please use the information provided on the Assessment page found online on the CWCS website. Look under STAR to find and review:

*ES work schedules (Email Leita, asap, with discrepancies)
* A calendar showing all test site dates (Please note-each test site is
different)

*A listing of all test site locations

*Information for parents regarding testing (indicated with blue text on the site) including:

*EOC and EAP information
* Test chart by grade level

*Other STAR resources

b) CURRICULUM- Curriculum News from Lori Freeman

-Global Student Network Information

c) GUIDANCE- Guidance News from Mary Halter

Colleges Open Doors to Homeschoolers. The full article will be available on the web for a limited time.

d) HUMAN RESOURCES

-Please review ES's Responsibility to Report Child Abuse

e) PAYROLL

-ES payroll issues will go to the advisor first. If it is a computer error then the advisor would consult with the director of IT

f) IT

-Adobe Reader has a new update, Adobe 8. Thank you ES Lisa Bender for sharing this info.

Computer survey request for all school owned computers:

-A reminder regarding an all ES email that had a deadline of March 2^nd.

“Please click on the button on your Welcome Screen in WEBfiles: ‘Click here to review your materials list and answer the software related questions for all computers.’If an item is a computer, click the code # to view the details, and answer the question, ‘Is this item a computer?’ After marking ‘yes’, click on the ‘Go’ button to answer computer related software questions.”

Heather Dawson, IT assistant to Gary Clark, has been busy working on many database changes to aid ESs.

- The ES request for K-8 Report Cards has been completed: Default with the students current grade level, all of the 7 growth areas listed, “at grade level” automatically selected for each growth area, (can change or delete any of these items if necessary).

-New “print” buttons for printing individual IF accounts and list of all parents accounts in WEBfiles.

-Addition of content standards for Career/ Technical standards

-New button on ES detail screen to print ES goals

-New buttons for printing yearly standards for each student for each growth area. Coming soon, benchmark standards noted with an asterisk!

g) VENDOR RELATIONS

-Backordered items: Before marking a PO as complete, please remember to mark all backordered items that have come in as “received”.

-Educational Activity POs: An addition has been made to the Educational Activity Policy regarding a student who drops prior to the ending date of the PO. “Please send a Vendor Inquiry if you have a student that needs to drop from an educational activity prior to the ending date of the PO, making sure you indicate how many lessons have taken place.”