Bearcat Wrap-up Podcast - Week 33: The Hay is in the Barn But Our Work Continues

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

Happy Friday!Thank you for all you have done this week! All of the efforts we have put into our students have been recorded in the ACT Aspire testing portal. Testing our students satisfies what the state asks of us as far as our accountability to it, but we are still accountable to ourselves and this community for using our time and resources in the most effective ways to make sure our students (their children) are successful. The trending of our District Goals is about the same; however, I can tell the end of the year is near because discipline referrals have gone up for the second week in a row. We are still above our goal of a ten percent reduction, but only by a fraction instead of the fifteen to twenty percentage points that we have been seeing all year. Attendance went down a tenth of a percent and we will provide one last reading level report at the May board meeting.This week’s Wrap-up is full of news, information, and opportunity.Dr. Luis CruzWe are very excited to be hosting a statewide professional development session for educators with Dr. Luis Cruz. Dr. Cruz will present “Time for Change” at the PAC on Friday, June 16. The session will start at 9:00 am and will be a motivating, inspiring, and hopefully life-changing day for educators. Dr. Cruz will spend the day discussing transforming school culture. One must understand why teachers continue to hold on to the models or beliefs contrary to those put forth by their district or school. He will explore the human behavior and conditions that cause the underlying conflict among the four different types of teachers in a school: Believers, Fundamentalists, Tweeners, and Survivors.  He will discuss how school leaders can work with each group to create a positive school culture and fully realize our district’s mission and vision. If you are planning to be in town on June 16th, please register for this professional development as one of your flex days. It is a statewide audience they are after so this will also be a great networking opportunity for those attending. You may register for the session in ESC Works here. 2024 Legislative Biennial Study of Educational AdequacyThe Arkansas House Committee on Education and Senate Committee on Education are conducting their biennial study of educational adequacy. The Policy Analysis and Research Section of the Bureau of Legislative Research (BLR) has been charged with facilitating the study. As part of that study, the BLR will survey all superintendents, charter school directors, principals, and classroom teachers in the state for needed information and input. Below is their schedule for sending out emails with the survey links to the recipients:* Teachers start May 8, 2023, and end May 19, 2023;* Principals start May 24, 2023, and end June 16, 2023;* Superintendents start May 24, 2023, and end June 16, 2023.The two committees on education make the funding recommendations to the House and Senate so it is very important that you respond to the survey if you receive one.  We have been assured that all survey responses are confidential, and no one outside their research group will have access to the responses that are provided. Teacher Appreciation Day/WeekWe had Teacher Appreciation Day on May 2nd and are looking forward to Teacher Appreciation Week next week, May 8th through the 11th. I am thoroughly impressed by the things our parents and businesses do for you all during these dates each year. Teacher Appreciation Day garnered many positive comments about local teachers in our papers and on social media. Nationally, Teacher Appreciation has grown and there are many resources dedicated to making this time meaningful, not necessarily by gift suggestions but in the way the profession is being honored and elevated. For example, on Sunday, you may want to join the National Education Association, the National PTA, and Emmy award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph from ABC's hit comedy series, Abbott Elementary for a Town Hall kick-off of Teacher Appreciation Week. There will be a lively discussion with teachers, education leaders, community leaders, parents, and students about critical topics facing public school educators and students and the solutions our communities need to ensure every student has access to a high-quality, equitable, and inclusive education, regardless of family income, race, or where they live. Sign up here to receive a reminder when it's time to tune in!Licensure Fee WaiverA commissioner’s memo came out this morning announcing that at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 3, 2023, the Professional Licensure Standards Board discussed the Executive Order to Prioritize LEARNS and voted unanimously to recommend to the State Board of Education approval of a waiver of first-time teacher licensure application fees. The Arkansas State Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Professional Licensure Standards Board. This will be very beneficial to some of you in the REACH program or who are using an alternative licensing program. Those applying should continue to apply for the standard license through the online application but will not be asked to pay the application fee before submitting. If you have any questions, please contact the following: [e-mail]  or [e-mail] Lunch Hero Day is held annually on the first Friday in May in honor of each person responsible for providing healthy meals and snacks to millions of children across America. If you looked forward to tasty food and a full belly in school, you know exactly whom to thank for this. These include school nutrition professionals and those who serve the food in cafeterias. Each person responsible for making sure good food is handed out to students is a hero, and this day was specially designed to show them some love.It is Nurses Appreciation Day tomorrow and School Nurses Day next Wednesday, the 10th. National School Nurse Day was established to foster a better understanding of the role of school nurses in the educational setting. School Nurse Day is celebrated on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week. National Nurses Week is May 6-12 each year. We certainly want to thank all of our nurses who serve our students here at Mena Schools! They are all fabulous individuals with hearts of service.It is the end-of-the-year banquet season and we started with a great FFA Banquet Tuesday night. I want to thank Mr. Maye, Mr. Goodnight, and Mr. McCormick for creating such a great showcase of student learning and accomplishment. I also want to thank those of you who were also in attendance for supporting it and ask that if you have the time to attend any of our other banquets, please do so. It is a great way to see the variety of things our students are doing and a great way to see how your coworkers impact our students.Love Productions has begun the casting process for the documentary series they are filming with Mena High School students. It is very exciting to have been chosen for this and very exciting for our students to be able to experience this! It will be a lifetime memory for everyone involved, especially those who will spend three weeks in London, England, and the Londoners who will spend three weeks with us.Please use this form to notify us if this is your 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, or 30th year at Mena Public Schools or if you achieved major accomplishments this year such as an advanced degree or credential. We also want to recognize accomplishments in your classrooms related to our district goals.Please complete the DMESC user satisfaction survey.It was a really good week at Mena Public Schools!!At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.Have a great weekend!! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bearcatwrap.substack.com

Good afternoon and welcome to the week 33 wrap-up entitled the hay is in the barn but our work continues. This week closes the ACT Aspire testing window and we now await the results of our efforts but the weeks to come are just as important to our overall mission. Happy Friday. Thank you for all you've done this week and all of the effort that you have put in toward our goals. All of the efforts we have put in into our students have been recorded in the ACT Aspire testing portal. Testing our students satisfies what the state asks of us as far as our accountability to it, but we are still accountable to ourselves in this community for using our time and resources in the most effective ways to make sure our students and their children are successful trending of our district goals is about the same however I can tell the end of

the year is near because discipline referrals have gone up for a second week in a row we are still above our goal of a 10% reduction but only by a fraction instead of the 15 or 20 percentage points that we have been seeing all year attendance went down a tenth of a percent and we will provide one last reading-level report at the May board meeting. This week's wrap-up is full of news, information, and opportunity. Dr. Louise Cruz, we are very excited to be hosting a statewide professional development session for educators with Dr. Louise Cruz. Dr. Cruz will present Time for Change. There's a link to a video of it, of a portion of it, embedded in the text. He'll be presenting Time for Change at the PAC on Friday, June 16th.

The session will start at 9 a.m. and will be a motivating, inspiring, and hopefully life-changing day for educators. Dr. Cruz will spend the day discussing transforming school culture. One must understand why teachers continue to hold on to the models or beliefs contrary to those put forth by their district or school. He will explore the human behavior and conditions that cause the underlying conflict among the four different types of teachers in a school, believers, fundamentalists, tweeners, and survivors. He will discuss how school leaders can work with each group to create a positive school culture and fully realize our district's mission and vision. If you are planning to be in town on June 16th, please register for this professional development as one of your flex days.

It is a statewide audience they are after, so this will be a great networking opportunity for those attending. You may register for the session in the link that's embedded in the text. 2024 Legislative Biennial Study of Educational Adequacy. The Arkansas House Committee on Education and Senate Committee on Education are conducting their biennial study of educational adequacy. The Policy Analysis and Research section of the Bureau of Legislative Research, or BLR, has been charged with facilitating the study. or BLR has been charged with facilitating the study as part of that study the BLR will survey all superintendents charter school directors principals and classroom teachers in the state for needed information and input below is their schedule for sending out emails with the survey links to the

recipients teachers will receive their links starting May 8th and they will end the link the portal will be closed on May 19th principals will start on May 24th and they will close on June 16th and superintendents will start theirs on May 24th and end on June 16th. The two committees on education make the funding recommendations to the House and Senate, so it is very important that you respond to the survey if you receive one. We have been assured that all survey responses are confidential and no one outside their research group will have access to the responses that are provided. Teacher Appreciation Day and Week We had Teacher Appreciation Day on May 2nd and are looking forward to Teacher Appreciation Week next week, May 8th through the 11th.

I am thoroughly impressed by the things our parents and businesses do for you all during these dates each year. Teacher Appreciation Day garnered many positive comments about local teachers in our papers and on social media. Nationally, teacher appreciation has grown, and there are many resources dedicated to making this time meaningful, not necessarily by gift suggestions, but in the way the profession is being honored and elevated. For example, on Sunday, you may want to join the National Education Association, the National PTA, and Emmy award-winning actress Cheryl Lee Ralph from ABC's hit comedy series,

Abbott Elementary, for a town hall kickoff of Teacher Appreciation Week. There will be a lively discussion with teachers education leaders community leaders parents and students about critical topics facing public school educators and students and the solutions our communities need to ensure every student has access to a high quality equitable and inclusive education regardless of regardless of family income race or where they live you can sign up for a reminder in a at the link provided in the text so you don't miss it

license your fee waiver a commissioners memo came out this morning announcing that at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 3rd, the Professional Licensure Standards Board discussed the executive order to prioritize LEARNS and voted unanimously to recommend to the State Board of Education approval of a waiver for first-time teacher licensure application fees. The Arkansas State Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Professional License or Standards Board. This will be very beneficial to some of you in the REACH program or who are using an alternative licensing program. Those applying should continue

to apply for the standard license through the online application but will not be asked to pay the application fee before submitting. If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Jacks or Derek Williams. Their emails are provided in the text. Closing School Lunch Hero Day is held annually on the first Friday in May in honor of each person responsible for providing healthy meals and snacks to millions

of children across America. If you look forward to tasty food and a full belly in school, you know exactly whom to thank for this. These include school nutrition professionals and those who serve food in the cafeterias. Each person responsible for making sure good food is handed out to students as a hero. And this day was especially designed to show them some love. Happy School Lunch Hero Day today. It is end of year banquet season and we started with a great FFA banquet Tuesday night. I want to thank Mr. May, Mr. Goodnight, Mr. McCormick for creating such a great showcase of student learning and accomplishment. I also want to thank those of you who were in attendance for supporting it and ask that if you have time to attend any of our other banquets, please do so. It's a great way to see the variety of things our students are doing and a great way to see what your co-workers impact on our students is.

Love Productions has begun the casting process for the documentary series they are filming with Mena High School students. It's very exciting to have been chosen for this and very exciting for our students to be able to experience this. very exciting to have been chosen for this and very exciting for our students to be able to experience this. It will be a lifetime memory for everyone involved, especially those who will spend three weeks in London, England and the Londoners who will spend three weeks with us. Please use the form that's embedded in the text to notify us if this is your fifth, tenth, fifteenth, twentieth, twenty-fifth, or thirtieth year at Meadett Public Schools or if you achieved any major accomplishments we also want to recognize the accomplishments in the classroom that were related to our district goals there's also a link to

the Dequan Mena Co-op user satisfaction survey please fill it out if you haven't already it was a really good week at Mena Public Schools at Mena Public Schools our students are prepared our staff is supported and our community is confident