ES Specific Info

 

LAPTOP WARRANTIES: Do the laptops provided to the ESs have a warranty?

Call Technical Support at 1-800-926-9587 ext. 7266409

 

Would it be possible to maximize our laptops’ potential by providing a wireless card so we can be connected virtually everywhere? Perhaps Verizon would give the school a bulk discount?

Wireless connections are available at the school office and at both learning centers. A wireless card could be purchased by ESs who need it through their ES supply fund.

 

Can we have unused benefits amounts put into a 401k or into STRS?

No, but we have AFLAC as an option.

 

Do we have a Sick Leave Policy, Bereavement Policy. Pregnancy Leave Policy?

No

 

ESs were concerned that we have no way of knowing when an ES is going through an event that we could help with. Several ESs had deaths in their family and one had a Caesarean section two weeks ago. Many of us would be willing to help with their workload, bring meals, or whatever is needed, but didnt have a way to know that the event took place.

ESs should communicate with their advisor or their AF when significant events occur in their lives and they would like the support of their fellow teachers. They should be sure to give the AF and/or the advisor permission to share with the other ESs in their group. Due to new medical privacy laws, caution is needed when medical information is given out about an employee.

 

MLC Appointments: the Ceres Center has a sign-up sheet for the whole semester. This allows ESs to sign up for a particular table to meet with students for future learning record meetings. Not sure if MLC does this.”

Due to the large number of classes, special ed meetings, intake appointments, tutoring sessions, ES learning record meetings, school events, MLC would prefer that the ESs call or email a week or so in advance to see what is available.

The Salida Library is also available to meet with families.  Michelle Andres and Shanda Rickman have both used it.  It is close to the Modesto Learning Center.  There is also a 2 hour study room that can be used on a first come first serve basis.

 

We would like CWCS to consider increasing the ES mileage stipend. The stipend has remained stable while gas prices, despite the recent decrease, have risen considerably since the last stipend increase.

ESs have been receiving the IRS Mileage Rate.

 

We recalled talk of a van that might be coming to the remote areas.  We wondered who would be driving the van, would it be a monthly visit to the remote areas, could we coordinate it with our monthly ES meeting so we could drop off and pick up materials all in one location (you can imagine that parking lot scene!!).  We would love to use it for computer drop-offs and pick-ups for refreshing services, and for learning center materials delivery.

We’ve been waiting for someone to ask!  We thought that we had a part time driver but he is no longer available.  We will put out the feelers again for one of our ESs first. Is there anyone who is willing to drive to the remote areas a few days out of the month?

 

 

Educational Info

 

PLIPs: Would it be possible to post on the WEB sample LRs with PLIPs for K-8, high school and failed CAHSEE? We would like more guidance on what wording is expected/acceptable.

We will collect samples of acceptable wording and will make it part of the ES manual. They will be sent by listserve and placed in the November Agenda when complete.

 

MISSED APPOINTMENTS:

For missed Scantron appointments: once the proctor sends in the sign in sheet with “no show” for the missed appointments, can the office deduct the $50 instead of relying on the ES to do it? 

No, the ES must submit it as we want to make sure that the ES is aware and has informed the family. The $50 fee is for Scantron appointments only, please note, however, that CAHSEE prep courses, tutoring appointments, STAR, etc. are considered school appointments and if missed without at least 24 hour notification, will be considered a truancy. Be sure to forewarn your students and parents regarding this policy when enrolling in courses, etc.

 

HQT- Is a truancy charged for missed sessions of Elluminate or Nicenet classes? No

 

Do students have access to previously taught lessons?

Not at this time.

 

Regarding truancies:  The question arose, are the CP course teachers also filing truancies for students who don’t attend class, especially those teaching CAHSEE prep and other high school classes?

The Teachers are asked to report truancies, but the ESs should inquire at the learning record meetings regarding attendance to courses.

 

And how do the ESs know if their students are attending the NiceNet sessions regularly? 

The ES can send an email inquiring if a student has been attending to the ES teaching the course.

 

Are those instructors taking care of attendance issues or will they notify the ESs?  Are those absenses considered truancies as well?

At this time, they are not considered truancies. The Ess should be in contact with the CP instructors for the student’s progress and attendance to classes.

 

There is some confusion regarding the CA Math Standards and CA English Standards classes.  Most ESs have the understanding that the class is under Special Interests, but some were told that it should be in the learning record under the English or Math section with the appropriate standards marked.  Can we get clarification on this?

The class is a Special Interests course regarding graduation requirements, but for the sake of being able to document the appropriate standards, it can be listed in the English or Math section of the learning record.

 

Intake Issue- It is taking up to a month for a new family to get into our school through the intake process.

Thank you for the feedback. The Intake Process has been an overall success. It has only been two months since it was initially implemented. Most of the problems that occurred were ones that would have been the same had these students been assigned to an ES- difficulty in communicating with the family, family lack of follow through, special ed, etc. We had another meeting with the Intake Team and many processes have been changed so that parents are only given 24 hours to respond and once approved, only 24 hours to make their intake appointments or they will be removed from the list. These new processes along with improved communication amongst all members of the Intake Team will eliminate much of the wait time. Thank you for your patience.

 

Vendor Relations-  Is there  a way to add to the Manual more clarification about who does and doesn’t need a business license to be considered a vendor?

If a service vendor gives instruction in a private residence or if it’s a Driver’s Training vendor, Vendor Relations needs a copy of their current business license.

 

Could the approval standards and procedures be added to the Manual so that it is easier to understand and explain to inquiring vendors.

Request sent to Vendor Relations

 

Several ESs have had slow responses from Vendor Relations and from Tech Support (under the new system with the form).  With tech support I sent a problem in on Thursday and had no results until Tuesday night, and I never received any email saying it was fixed.  I just happened to try printing and it worked. (yes, I’m afraid Gary has completely spoiled us)  An email notification would have been good.  Two ESs said they sent multiple requests to Vendor Relations using the form and got no response and so they sent an email directly to John to hope to hear something.  Even if someone there can email saying they got the request and will get to it as soon as possible it would be better than nothing.  Sometimes we feel like we send requests into the black hole.  We often have parents waiting for replies and it puts us in a tough position.  We can appreciate how busy John is, and we all think he is doing a great job.  But we need a little reassurance that our requests have been received.

Thank you for your feedback, IEM has provided vendor relations with assistance, so you should see better service in the future. Please notify your ES advisor if there are no improvements.

 

Was there a glitch with P.O.s on August 14th?  Most of us have orders outstanding from that date……??

Yes, these are being researched individually by vendor relations. Email VR if you till have problems with POs from this date.

 

And just another question, on the PO form, one of the options is “Parent will pick up”.  Is that ever really an option?

Not unless special arrangements have been made, and then only rarely.

 

 

IT Department:

 

STUDENT LAPTOPS: Is the decision to no longer offer laptop computers final?  There have been a lot of parents expressing concern regarding the usefulness of laptop computers.

We are currently researching other solutions and ways to still provide laptops to responsible students.

 

COMPUTER REFRESH POLICY: If all that is involved is removing personal information, can ESs that know what to do save the family the charge by doing it themselves?

No.

 

In the K-8 report card, could the grade level and growth areas all just default and then we can change or delete if needed?

Request sent to IT.

 

How to do a find in the database?

- Requesting a way to do a find on all POs associated with a certain vendor, either just within our own POs or school wide.

This is already available by going to “search” ordered materials. This will find either any item that has been ordered this school year by any ES, or all items ordered from a specific vendor.

-We were told that we can use the find feature of webfiles, located at the bottom of the screen (Find is at the bottom of the screen in the pulldown that shows Browse as the default). Would like some training on find features available to us.

Most of the finds that you attempt to use with this find button will yield “no access” to the files found. But you may do a find on your POs by clicking on “browse”, choosing “find”, and then typing in the information that you’d like to look for. Complete the find by clicking on the rectangle a the bottom of the screen, to open up the left hand section that now has a “find” button that you must click to complete the find.

 

DATABASE REQUESTS: All of the below requests were submitted to IT for research and implementation if possible.

-ESs still requesting a way to uncheck done on created POs, at least until we log out of that session.

- Want link from Parent Accounts to each POs associated with each line. This would make it much easier to check on POs associated with each family.

- Is there a way to quickly duplicate a PO that has already been processed, leaving the ability to change the family name? Currently when a new student needs the same items that are on a previous PO, we must cut and paste each field separately, flipping between screens. This is a very time consuming process, especially if there is more than one item to reorder.

 

Assessment Info

 

Assessment- Scantron log in- ESs have noticed that many computers automatically save the school log in code when testing at a students house. We are wondering if Edperformance could somehow stop that from happening.

This has been forwarded to Scantron for research.

 

 

Most of us in the group have at least one parent who does not take the testing seriously, and who sort of sabotaged the Scantron testing by telling their child it didn’t matter, to “just guess”, etc.  I guess we just need some help with the difficult parents.  Any suggestions?

One ES has just had heart to heart talks with their parents/students and explained that not only is this important to the school continuing to exist but it is also a life skill for the student.  Many students will go into professions where they need test taking skills it would be a disservice to trivialize the importance of test taking to our students.  Explain the fact that we receive the IF budget and money to run the school from the state and that the states only measure of success is from our test scores. The parents may begin to understand the importance of testing with this explanation. Let them know that if they appreciate the freedom of teaching their student in the privacy of their own they should encourage their students to do well so that the state can see that this is a viable means of education and that the money is not being wasted.

 

Are the Edusoft benchmark exams still being scanned in the office?  What do we do with the hard copies of the tests when they are complete?  Are they just for the parents’ use?

The hard copies are for the parents and ESs use. The exams can be scanned at the learning centers.