Summer Update #3 - Friday, July 25th

Good news and bad news about the blog;

• Bad News - I was at the WSFCS summer leadership retreat and did not get the blog written hence my morning work on this Friday - a typical "day off."
• Good News -  I had the intention to write the blog in some "down-time," yet the retreat was so relevant and engaging - There was no down time!  I could have said I was "busy." To me that term implies obligation and tasks that are rote and mindless.  I was fully mindful and thrilled to be participating in the process of school/district improvement!

So, one day late I can provide a brief recap of the last couple of weeks;

• The 14th -17th was FULL of interviews.
• Thanks to Darcy and Kathy for lending perspective and participating in the process.
• We hired two ESL teachers-
• Anna Stoppelbein joins us from Pilot Elementary in GSO where she was teaching first grade
• Diana Adkins joins us from Diggs -Latham where she was an ESL teacher and SIT co-chair
• We hired a 3rd grade HAG teacher
• Kelsey Byrd joins us from High Point with experiences in STEM and LEGO robotics
• We bid a fond farewell to Angela Adams. She has accepted a position at Lewisville elementary as a Kindergarten teacher.
• We also say goodbye to Jason Brewer who accepted the fifth grade position and was lured away  by the Museum of Science in Boston to be a national trainer for EIE workshops
• On the 18th Elizabeth and I celebrated 22 years of Marriage!  We flew to St. Louis to visit with my brother and attend a Faullin family reunion where we honored my Dad on his 80th Birthday.
• The Leadership Retreat on the 22nd-24th was AWESOME.  I will have much more to share at our opening meeting, yet I need some time to reflect on my new learning.

I will attend the Professional Learning Team training next week on Monday and Tuesday, then work on Staffing and Schedules for the last three weeks.  I will blog again on August 7th before we join forces on AUGUST 18th @ 8am

Summer Update #2 - Thursday July 10th

Happy THURSDAY!

I am doing well and hope you are too.  The following are some news tidbits to keep you updated.

• What do you imagine when your hear the phrase, "STEM pipeline."  I have two new staff members to introduce that may shift your perception.
• Brandi Burroughs joins our team as a second grade teacher in room 11.  I first met Brandi at the Scaling STEM conference as she was presenting on integration of the Engineering Design Process through all areas of the curriculum.
• Jason Brewer joins our team as a 5th grade teacher in T-36.  He just recently returned from EIE training at the Museum of Science in Boston as part of a UNC-G grant team.  
• Welcome these two new teachers to our team from the "STEM pipeline."

In other staffing and assignment news;

• Charity Cota-Robles will teach 3rd grade next year in T-38
• Jessie Spaciel will teach 3rd grade next year in T-34
• Kim Mason will teach 4th grade next year and stay in room 16
• Tiffany Ray will teach 3rd grade next year in room 15 (tentative)
• Suzette Lopez will move from room 15 (tentative) to the new mobile T-41 or room 26, still teaching 2nd grade TBE.
• Laurie Steadman will move to the main office to be our 50% Local Assistant and 50% Testing Coordinator
• Dr. Willie Stevens will bump his Parent involvement role to 50% at Brunson and 50% at Kimmel Farm

Remaining staffing needs;

• We need to hire a new 3rd grade HAG teacher as our numbers will be near 80.
• We need a 60% AIG resource tacher to serve our growing number of AIG students
• We need to hire TWO ESL teachers
• 1 for Olga - Who is loving retirement
• 1 for Stephanie - She has accepted a transfer to become a Wiley Wolverine. This creates an opportunity for collaboration between our two schools shared population of LEP families.     
• We need to hire two PRT positions with Title One funds to provide interventions for developing readers.
• We await the state budget outcome to determine our needs for Assistants.

If you have recommendations for any of the positions that are open, please zip me an e-mail or call as I have interviews for the ESL and HAG openings set up for next week. 

I am also going to be more "active" on our Twitter feed.  Follow Brunson at

• https://twitter.com/BrunsonOffice 

Professional Development Notices

From Willette Nash, the WSFCS Instructional Specialist, Multicultural Education.

This summer the Office of Multicultural Education will offer a two day institute in Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies to help support the goals of the Title I LEA Improvement Plan.  There will be two sessions for 25 teachers (first come/first served basis). Participants will receive a stipend of $75.00 per day. The dates are August 12-13 from 9:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M. (location TBD). Please share this with your staff and have all interested parties respond to wnash@wsfcs.k12.nc.us.

The Raytheon-EiE Teacher Scholarship program supports teachers in implementing EiE in their elementary classroom by providing funds for professional development and classroom materials. Attend an EiE workshop at the Museum of Science and receive a complete set of EiE classroom materials. The total value of the award is more than $2,500.

We’ll start accepting applications for the next round of scholarships in early Fall 2014. Check back soon for more details.

For more information:

http://www.eie.org/eie-curriculum/scholarships-elementary-teachers