Dear Glencoe Families,
Well, we made it to our last day of
school. What an interesting year. As we look back, there are a lot of good
things that happened this year, even during this last quarter of distance
learning. Students continued to enjoy
virtual spirit days, the Storybook “Parade”, class meetings with discussion
topics, games and dance parties. We were
even able to pull off a modified 5th Grade Celebration with a promotion video
and family parade. And yes, of course,
there was a great deal of teaching and learning going on: reading, writing,
math, 5th Grade’s Wax Museum, 4th grade’s Edible Maps of Oregon, science
projects, read alouds, Music and PE live classes, as well as Counseling,
Library, Music and PE lessons. One of
the students’ class activities from last week was to brainstorm things they
were grateful for and their best memories of this year. The students generated some great lists with
items from both in-building and out-of-building school!
It is hard to remember, but the majority
of our school year was typical. We were in classrooms, coming and going without
masks and gloves, able to have large play dates, and participate in after
school activities. It is true that we
are ending the school year a little differently. We tried our best to keep some things in
place, just adapted for the world we are living in right now.
Typically, during the last week of school
we have an end-of-the-year all school assembly where we thank our student
helpers (work crews and Safety Patrollers), watch a slide show that recaps the
school year and sometimes the staff prepares a skit, dance or video. Even with distance learning, we couldn’t go
without our June Monthly Assembly.
I want to thank all of the staff and
students who participated in making this assembly come to life and a special
shout out to our counselor, Sara Gardner, for putting all the pieces together
in a wonderful way! Your child may have
seen the assembly video already from
their teacher but I invite you to sit with your child(ren) and watch the video.
It is a special treat that was clearly a team effort.
This week we are in the process of
wrapping up the school year with students, returning student belongings and
lastly, closing down our physical classrooms.
Teachers are also finishing up report cards to go out next week. As a
reminder, according to Oregon Department of Education Guidelines there is one
mark for the entire quarter and it is “evidence” or “no evidence” at the
elementary level. All students will move
to the next grade level and teachers will be making adjustments to their
curriculum to address some of the holes that may be in place due to distance
learning.
Due to the economic downturn, the state
budget for education is not as strong as it was predicted to be back in
February. Therefore, districts around
the state are having to readjust based on new budget projections. If you are
curious how this will directly impact PPS, you can watch the Town Hall Meeting that was held on
Monday, June 8th with the School Board. Next week, all PPS schools will be in
the process of redoing their staffing for next year. Once I have a clear picture as to how the
budget reductions impact Glencoe, I will let you know.
This morning ODE announced guidance for
the 2020-21 school year. PPS has a team
working to create a plan for next year based on the 2020-21 guidance from ODE. Typically we send out
class assignments and school supply information in mid to late July. We will ask for your patience in this area as
things may change through the summer.
When we have a clear picture of what our staffing and school process
will look like next year in PPS (and specifically at Glencoe), we will get
class assignments and school supply information out to you.
I’d like to close by acknowledging all
the work that went into this last quarter.
I have heard from a variety of families about how this experience was
for your family and your child specifically.
PPS will be surveying families about their experience in the near
future. I believe schools will have
access to that data as well. Rather than
creating another survey for you to complete, I want to strongly encourage you
to complete the one from the distinct.
In addition, feel free to email me and share your experience - the ups
and downs. We are open to learning from
this experience.
I’d like to thank all of you: parents,
caregivers, Glencoe staff and students for coming together as best we could as
a community. Parents are always
important partners in their child’s schooling experience and that was even more
true this last quarter. Thank you for
partnering and supporting us in this most unusual academic journey during these
last nine weeks. Some of you have asked
about how students can continue to access some of the online resources like
Lexia, Dreambox, Khan Academy etc. Most
of the learning apps will be live through July 31st. However, things are expanding as contracts
get renewed. Here is a link to the district page that
identifies the learning apps and length of service time.
I hope you have a wonderful, healthy and
safe summer. I look forward to us coming
back together, in whatever way possible, in the fall. I miss US!
Warmly,
Lori Clark
Glencoe Principal
