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STAFF NEWS AND NOTES

NUTS & BOLTS

24 EDITION 24, ISSUE 6

October 14, 2011 14,

KUDOS - To Trina Schanz, who worked yesterday until 10:40 am, left and delivered her first child all before 2 pm!! Trina and her daughter, Alexis, are healthy and doing well. Congratulations, Trina! - To Kristina Gabriele and Melissa Brandt, co-advisors for our student council, for tonights Activity Night. Once again we have Dr. Bengali noted hypnotist visiting our school to mesmerize everyone with his hypnotic abilities. This show was a very popular show last year which provided a lot of comic entertainment for the audience. And the same is hoped for this evening, as well. Who will get hypnotized tonight and act like a chicken? You will only be able to witness this if you are in attendance. Bring your kids! Come and enjoy a fun entertaining evening! - To Dan Chouiniere, who has been invited to guest conduct at two festivals this year, one in Greene County and one in Hamilton County. The Greene County Festival will be the first Wednesday and Friday of November and the Hamilton County Festival will be later this school year during the spring time. Congratulations Dan on this honor! It is very nice to be selected by your peers to guest conduct. We are sure that you will do yourself and our school very proud.

Thurs., Oct. 20 Fri., Oct. 21

7:00 pm PTA/PAC Grade 7 Student Council Elections

TRIVIA QUIZ A. What is the only state with an official Rock n Roll song? B. What is the title of the song? C. What group made this song famous? (In 1965) D. Who is the lead singer and guitar player in this group? CHARACTER TRAIT ASSIGNMENT Oct. 17 21 Foreign Language Oct. 24 28 PE/Health/Music Oct. 31 Nov. 4 English Nov. 7 10 Social Studies Nov. 14 18 Science Nov. 28 Dec. 2 Math Dec. 5 9 Art/Tech/H&C Dec. 12 16 Foreign Language Creative Optimistic Self motivated Persevering Thrifty Gracious Ambitious Courageous

BEDS DAY REMINDER A reminder that all the Beds forms should be completed as they all need to be submitted to Central Office by today. S.I.N.I. FOLLOW UP As mentioned in last weeks edition of Nuts & Bolts, Shaker Junior High School is designated as a school in need of improvement (SINIs or ELAs). This means that as a school we have not met AYP with our ELA scores for the last two years. Overall our 7th and 8th grade populations met AYP, but the special education sub group did not for the last two years. Thus, our school is considered in need of improvement. Next steps in this process mean that representatives from SED will conduct a minimum of five classroom visits to collect data on the use of specially designed instruction (SDI) for students with disabilities. While no specifics have been arranged as of this date, classroom visits will be conducted in at least five classrooms representing the continuum of special education services. At least one classroom must be conducting a lesson in the area of identification. Each observation will be at least 30 minutes in length. Please keep in mind that no teacher names will be included on any summary reports. All data will be compiled in one data summary sheet and shared with the building principal and the district. Possible classes for observation include general education classes which serve students with disabilities, intergraded co teaching or direct consulting classrooms, resource room classes and small group targeted intervention classes. Our district/school will also be working with the Northwest Evaluation Associates to provide assessment analysis of our students. We are particularly focusing upon special education students. We will also be assessing students in some of our targeted intervention classes such as G level English and math classes and remedial reading. Detailed analysis of student results will be developed and shared which will help us to focus instruction on needed areas for individual students as well as for subgroups of students. We will need to make revisions to our programs as continuing with programs as they currently are will only continue providing results that do not met AYP. Stay tuned as we meet with SED representatives and have more concrete information to share. Stay tuned! SUPERINTENDENT TO VISIT Joe Corr will be visiting our school as part of his annual visits to all of our schools. On Monday, October 17, Mr. Corr will have lunch with a small group of students and then drop into various classes during periods 7, 8, and 9. He hopes to drop into a lot of classes as he enjoys seeing the different teaching styles and personalities that are present. PARENT NIGHT EVALUATIONS The following are the tabulated results and comments related to last Thursday evenings Back-to-School Night. Student Hall Placement Calhoun: 7th 12 Clay: 7th 9 Houston: 7th - 6 Norris: 7th - 22 8th 2 8th 14 8th - 0 8th 6 1. The format for the program was: Excellent 52 Good 18 Fair 1 Comments: Long, but informative Gives a good sense of what the students go through Enjoyed walking our childs schedule/day Informative Allowed us to walk in our daughters daily footsteps! Would rather be in one room all night with teacher presentations. Very well organized and informative too. 2. Time allowed for classes was: Too Long 5 Too Short 13 Just Right 53 Comments: Wish it would start earlier. Maybe that was why they talked too fast.

PM BUS SUPERVISION ZONE #1 ZONE #2 ZONE #3 ZONE #4 CAF T. Henry D. Hobden J. Holmes D. Howard D. Jaffe People are reminded to be on duty on a daily basis to make sure that supervision is provided. ALL STAFF MEMBERS ARE REMINDED THAT THE BUS SUPERVISION IS AN ASSIGNED DUTY AND IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR ALL STAFF MEMBERS TO BE WHERE ASSIGNED DUTY; IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ARRANGE FOR REPLACEMENT PERHAPS BY SWAPPING WITH A COLLEAGUE. LONG-TERM CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mon. Oct 10 No School Columbus Day Fri. Oct. 14 Newsletter Posted Fort William Henry Field Trip Clay 7 Five Rivers Field Trip Houston 7 7:00 PM Student Council Activity Night Tues., Oct. 18 Pds. 1 and 2 Iowa Testing Grades 7 Wed., Oct. 19 Pds. 1 & 2 Thurs. Oct. 20 6:30 PM Health Parent Preview Grade 7/8 Aud. 7:00 PM PTA/PAC - Library Fri. Oct. 21 Grade 7 Student Council Elections Mon. Oct. 24 7:30 PM BOE Meeting Loudonville Fri. Oct. 28 School Picture Make up Day 7:00 PM PTA Halloween Ball Fri. Nov. 4 7:30 PM Drama Production Sat. Nov. 5 7:30 PM Drama Production Sun. Nov. 6 Daylight Savings Ends 2 PM Drama Production Tues. Nov. 8 No School - Election Day Workshop Thurs. Nov. 10 Newsletter Posted 7 PM Music Faculty Recital - Auditorium Fri. Nov. 11 No School Veterans Day Mon. Nov. 14 End of First Marking Period Fri. Nov. 18 PTA Activity Night Mon. Nov. 21 7:30 PM BOE Meeting Forts Ferry Tues. Nov 22 Open School Day Nov. 24 Nov. 25 No School Thanksgiving Holiday Thurs. Dec. 1 7:30 PM Concert #1 Fri. Dec. 2 Bus Drills Mon. Dec. 5 Bus Drills Wed. Dec. 7 7:00 PM PTA/PAC Meeting - Library Thurs. Dec. 8 7:30 PM Concert #2@ SHS Fri. Dec. 9 Newsletter Posted Tues. Dec. 13 7:30 PM Concert #3 Thurs. Dec. 15 7:00 PM Studio Art Show 7:30 PM Concert #4 Fri. Dec. 16 5-Week Interim Point Student Council Activity Night Mon. Dec. 19 7:30 PM BOE Meeting @ SJSH Library Tues. Dec. 20 Hall Geography Bees Mon. Dec. 26 Mon. Jan. 2 No School Holiday Break

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mon. Oct. 17 2:30 pm 3:15 pm Tues. Oct. 18 1:00 pm Wed., Oct. 19 2:30 pm

Special Ed Department Meeting Building Council Administrators Supervisors PST

Some dealt with the limited time better then others. Seemed rushed! It helps when you already know your way around! The elevator worked better this year (though maybe I just finally got used to using it) Wish there was a way to be able to meet all of my childs teachers. Start earlier. I could have used more time but I realize we had a lot of subjects (teachers) to meet. Too much in between. Just a few more minutes would be good. Only lunch period should have been skipped. Begin earlier and be done by 8:30. 3. The presentations by staff were: Excellent 62 Satisfactory 10 Unsatisfactory 0 Comments: Well prepared, informative. Difficult in short time. 4. Overall, the evening was: Unsatisfactory 0 Excellent 57 Satisfactory 14 Comments: Program was informative. Information leading up to program was not helpful. Nothing on website so we knew what to expect. Maybe have 2 different nights; one for 7th and one for 8th to alleviate parking issues. I would like to see it start earlier than 7. Even 6:30 would help. A little long but necessary to allow us to visit all classes. All teachers get an A+ - Great night!! Thank you! As always, I am extremely impressed with the level of engagement of the faculty at Shaker Junior High. My son has really blossomed here. Thank you all for your support and commitment. Very nice to meet the teachers and get an idea of their expectations. It was surprisingly fun! Glad to have Open House to see teachers. What a great opportunity to experience out 7th graders day. And meet the teachers. Thank you! 5. Additional comments: Thanks very much! Parents night appeared to be a more elaborate version of the Orientation night held at the beginning of the summer. It was nice to walk through my childs classes and gain perspective of a day in the life of a seventh grade student, but I feel having more time to speak to the teachers would have been more beneficial with regards to how my child is adjusting and how as a parent I can assist my child with succeeding academically as well as socially. 7th and 8th grade separately (parking issues). 4th straight year. Im done! Thanks! Parking always a problem! 7/8th grade should be two nights. Teachers are dynamic and engaging. Great staff! I really had a fun time. Teachers are really fun and provided excellent useful information. The parking situation is horrible! Have you considered separating 7th and 8th grade open houses to allow for normal parking? Big year! 3rd generation of our family having Mr. Spring as a guidance counselor. I wished the night wasnt so long. It would be nice if it ended before 9 pm. Teachers enthusiasm is excellent and encouraging. Some talked a little fast. Maybe because they knew they had a lot to cover and little time tonight. Assembly room was too dark for seeing the interpreter. Thanks to Lisa arranging her. I didnt see any info from the school come home to parents regarding open house. I did see it online but find it odd if thats the only method? Many of the teachers have their own website. It would be really helpful if the portal had a link to the various websites so we only have to remember one link, easy access and efficient. Mrs. Sheridan had a fabulous video presentation of the work her classes are doing. Every year I am impressed with the wonderful staff that is in our schools. Thank you! A session discussing after school clubs and sign ups for the clubs, etc We never received the info that per newsletter was sent home week of Sept. 19. (Could be our son often a gap between whats given and what makes it home.) Thanks for the map!! Inconsistent use of Infinite Portal. Overall Excellent! So well prepared and executed! I am glad my daughter had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful adults. Teachers could shorten partevening was very long. Parking was a HUGE issue! As a new-to-district family, it would have been great if a note went home about this AND to start in childs homeroom!

This is one of my most anticipated evenings. Very thankful for the faculties enthusiasm and encouragement provided for the children. Good overview of lessons taught. Thanks for no homework! These teachers seem wonderful! They are all so motivated and enthusiastic. I was really impressed. Have a good year! It would have been helpful to have access to the elevator. I recently had knee surgery and the elevator was not operational. Thank you. Very informative. We are very impressed with the teaching staff in Norris hall and look forward to great 7th grade year! All the teachers are very nurturing and my son will only benefit from this environment. Perhaps this session can be divided into 2 nights, 6:30 8. Great way to see what the children experience daily. PTA/PAC MEETING SCHEDULED Our first PTA/PAC meeting of the year is scheduled for next Thursday evening, October 20. We will meet in the library beginning at 7:00 pm. Agenda items include: 1. Purposes of PTA/PAC 2. PTA report 3. Superintendents PAC representative needed 4. Events and initiatives at Shaker Junior High School 5. Other APRIL PELUSO ON THE MOVE We want to welcome April Peluso to Houston 7; she will be starting today for Trina Schanz. Many of you already know April as she has been one of the REACH staff members since September 2010. April has a BA in Adolescence Education with a concentration in mathematics from Canisius College. She knows our building well and particularly knows how to work with kids who struggle and who are less then focused. While the transition time has been shortened due to Mother Nature we are glad to have April in position in our building ready to step in. Welcome April! We know that you will do a great job! WELCOME BACK, JON PELLETIER We want to welcome Jon Pelletier back to SJHS. Jon was a special ed aide in our building for several years prior to this September. Jon tried his hand in the private sector and decided that he really wants to work in schools. So Jon, beginning Monday, will take over for April in the REACH program. As with April, we are very pleased to have Jon, who has excellent knowledge of our school, our practices, our expectations, etc. ready to step right in. This also should be a great transition, even giving the short time line. Welcome back, Jon! YEARBOOK INFORMATION We are very excited to be working on the SJHS Yearbook this year! Students love seeing their face in the Yearbook, so we are asking for your cooperation in making this happen. We encourage you to let us know in advance when your club/musical group/athletic team is having an event and we will come and take some photos. Or, if you prefer, snap a few photos yourself and send them to us. We would love to get fall sports photos taken before the season is over! Thanks for your assistance in making this yearbook a wonderful memory for all. Steph Majewski, Aaron Haacker and Mary Lancaster TRIVIA QUIZ ANSWERS A. Ohio B. Hang-on Sloopy C. The McCoys D. Rick Derringer

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger. Abbie Hoffmann