Friday MM - Day ONE (1)

Good Morning!

I have two board meetings this morning, FPA at 7:30 followed by YMCA CCA at 8:30.  I encourage all of you to look for opportunities to contribute in the broader spectrum of our community.

Mr Davenport is sorry to cancel his visit to Brunson today and will reschedule for the 14th of November.

The Backpack program is up to 25 families this Friday!  Great job, keep those referrals coming.

Flu shots are available.  Check the WSFCS website and sign-up if you are inclined.

Before the end of the day I will create a separate post of our previous SIT minutes and the agenda for this Wednesday's meeting.  Thanks to Kim for her leadership.

PLEASE talk up the Friday night Rummage opportunity for Brunson families.  Shopping is from 5-7 with a Saturday open to the public event from 9-11.  Colleen Lopina is working on stickers to affix to kids before dismissal.

Register for the workshop - "The call for Change - Brunson" It is now available online, so please sign-up and receive credit as you complete the moodle.

Kathy has also sent an e-mail about two help sessions in the media center to sign up for the NC Education accounts,  Monday and Thursday at 3:20.

Peanut Free Tables - Continue to personally monitor your students to be sure these tables are never contaminated with peanut products.

Thanks to all the buddies/mentors and new staff members who shared a meal and built community last evening.  We know the web of support extends well beyond those present, and share our gratitude with all who create our Brunson Culture.

Subs:
Nury Schoning for Olga Kangalaris
Karen Martin for Deb Fidali
Willie Mae Carson for Earline Richardson

Thursday MM

https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/

Morning!

Enjoyed the Fair last evening.  People watching in full force. 

Our Newest School Board member, John Davenport, will visit our school Friday.  No need to shift anything.  I am always proud of the way our staff and students handle the volume of guests in our facility.

United Way campaign is ON.  We have until the 28th to complete the pledge form.  Again our goal is a little north of $2000 and 100% participation. 

From Kathy's e-mail
Here is what we started in the staff mtg.

When you finish viewing the moodle, you can print a certificate that you can use to get CEUs.

Log in.

On the right hand side are LINKS.

Choose New Standards.

Scroll down a little to see the blue CALL FOR CHANGE beside the paragraph description.

If you're not enrolled in NC Ed yet, I will hold at least 2 registration opportunities next week.

Wednesday MM Day 5 - FIVE

Good Morning!

Please come to the staff meeting ASAP after dismissal.  Andy and I are working on a plan for the late bus to allow us all to be present.  In addition to our flex benefits and United Way presentations, we will hear from our new guidance counselor, Lauren Saldana.

I will aslo speak about cafe proceedures.  If you are comfortable with your student's behavior, move to the teacher tables.  Remember that students are still under your direct supervision while in the lunch room.  As for the table washers and sweepers, please continue to teach correct processes and limit the waste of materials and time.

One cafe situation that is life threatening is our recognition and adherence to  the Allergy tables.  DO NOT ALLOW STUDENTS TO EAT THERE IF THEY HAVE A BAGGED LUNCH.  Our cafe food is peanut free and those with allergies have appropriate packed lunches.  All others may "claim" allergen free, but they only want to socialize and do not realize the magnitude of their decision.  It is our (the whole staff) responsibility to keep kids safe.

Tech lab sign-up are posted on the door of the Lab.

From our Sub office!

Over the past couple of days, we've noticed an increase in failed to fill jobs. We've seen several instances of the following, and are hoping that with these reminders we can help to avert spikes in unfilled absences.

* LATE ABSENCE ENTRIES: Today, of the 14 jobs that went failed to fill - 5 were input after the call out period concluded last night, but before this morning's call out period; 1 was input after 6am but before 7am this morning; and 8 were input after 7am this morning. Please urge your staff to input absences as early as possible in order to optimize the call out opportunities. The evening call out period begins at 4:30 pm and runs through 9:30 pm or so. Absences input during this time have the benefit of being called tonight as well as tomorrow. Absences entered after 5:30 am tomorrow will be improperly queued and may not receive the priority they would have, had the absences been entered earlier. We certainly understand that children (and adults) do not fall ill conveniently according to our schedules - but the more notice given through the system, the better the chance a sub will see the job and pick it up.
* AM/PM:
* Sub Requested vs PreArranged:
* Absence Created by Administrator:

Thank you again for your time and support. We hope that these observations when shared will be useful and will ultimately result in your absences being filled in an efficient and timely manner.

Please do feel free to cascade to your site Sub Coordinators, faculty and staff members.

We also noticed that a good portion of the Failed to Fill absences were input by the site's Sub Coordinator rather than the employee. That said, it then follows that a considerable amount of this morning's call out period was a missed opportunity. Please remind your employees as to how to input absences so that the call outs can begin as soon as possible. Please encourage prearrangement of subs whenever possible. The "Sub Requested" function prompts the system to limit the calls to the 1 sub whose name was requested by the staff member. Multiple calls are made to the requested sub until that person acknowledges the call with either an acceptance or a rejection. With "Sub Requested", the system does not attempt to call other subs until the morning of the absence, unless the requested sub has made a decision to accept or reject. Prearranging a sub is a much better method to use in ensuring your preferred substitute is onboard and ready to work. Reach out to the sub, verbally confirm the sub's availability, and then input the absence as a prearrangement including the sub's information. At least one job was listed as a half-day, with a start time of 7:30 am and an end-time of 11:30 pm. This is a very long day, and not particularly enticing to a substitute (understandably so). Please ask your staff members to double check their time and date entries so that "typo's" don't impact their otherwise good intentions.

Tuesday MM - Day FOUR (4)

Good Morning

Subs:
Denise Jennings for Kim Mason
Willie Mae Carson for Earline Richardson

The agenda for the staff meeting includes our United Way campaign.  Please consider all the wonderful services provided by our generous donations as we strive to help those in need.

Did you watch the message by Dr. Martin?  Today is....Tuesday Tips: Please share during your morning announcements:

• When you see it (bullying), report it. Don’t be a silent partner.

Monday MM Day THREE (3)

Good Morning!

Let's start with subs:
Denise Jennings for Anne Campbell
Crystal Rook for Stephanie Smith
Willie Mae Carson for Earline Richardson

Faculty meeting on Wednesday with our Flexible Benefits representative.

From the Theme Team - Classroom teachers, remember to expect a visit from 5th-grade students one morning this week. They will give a brief promotional talk about the October 13 PTA event:

Brunson International Dinner and Stem Design Challenge.

This should take no longer than 5 minutes. They will explain why they are dressed in international costumes and tell when-where-what about the evening. Afterwards, please talk with your students about how they can create a "costume" from things they have at home and explain that strict authenticity is not required. We appreciate your help in encouraging everyone to participate in our new STEM version of a Brunson favorite event! Remember, this is a no-homework evening for students.

~ The Theme Team

From PTA Grounds - Thank you so much to all of you for helping with the Brunson Grounds Beautification workday and the Big Sweep creek clean-up. We had 70 volunteers, more than double the size of any other Big Sweep team in the city! You all collected about 25 bags of trash from the creek and the grounds, and also did a huge amount of work on the grounds - raking, planting flowers, weeding, etc. It looks wonderful!

  Sincerely,

Colleen Lopina

We also represented ourselves well at the GO EXPO. GREAT job by the Green Team to promote sustainable living in our school environment.

Today begins Bully Prevention Month.  We started with a Walk at central office on Saturday and will continue all Month with announcements and activities.

Friday - Day 2

Good Morning!

Please help our multiple guest teachers and let's all increase supervision of students to makeup for the absences of our colleagues.

Shelly Kirley for Tanya Lovin
No sub for Nicole Robinson
Shirley Porter for Earline Richardson
Peggy Neal for Allison Phelps
Glendora Epperson for Mary Lauren Burrell
Veronica Scales for Mariah Lee
Crystal Rook for Stephanie Smith
Jan Hodges for Tonya Grisette

I will be in two LTM today and in between I will be reviewing PDP's on-line and making classroom visits with Dr. Stevens to increase our referrals for the Backpack program. 

Saturday we have many activities.  Come to the school for the BIG SWEEP or go to the GO EXPO at the Benton to see our communities efforts at sustainability.

Thursday MM - Day ONE (1)

Morning!

Fantastic SIT meeting yesterday afternoon.  We have divided ourselves into teams that will tackle and improve a section of our plan. Our goal is to work collaboratively in small groups and re-convene as one SIT on the 12th to finalize the edits.  Our deadline for submission to Central Office is October 14th.  Our faculty vote on the plan will occur at the staff meeting of October 19th.

Another responsibility of SIT is the Magnet Implementation Plan.  We spent the first 40 minutes reviewing this plan for submission to the magnet office next week.  Please take a moment to review this plan and send me any opinions/comments by October 3rd.  It is on the shared folder nested in a folder called "Magnet Plan"

Also on the shared folder, in a file named "Brunson Future," is a power point of a proposed residential boundary change to free class space for magnet students.  Please take a look at this as I will address it at our next faculty meeting on the 5th.

Please keep Earline in your thoughts as she has pneumonia and will be out until mid-October.

Subs;
Shirley Porter for Earline
Patricia Johnson for Paige
Ronald Thomas for Joel
Crystal Rook for Stephanie Smith