Celtic Courier: Week of Sept. 29- Oct. 3

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Dear Staff,

We hope you have been enjoying this unbelievable late September weather with your families!  Wow!  It is hard to believe that October arrives this week.  What a beautiful weekend!

Congrats to the Jerome band who got to perform Hang on Sloopy with the OSU Drumline at Darby Friday night! Our band also captured a Grand Championship at Westerville Central Saturday night!  Congrats Brian and Micah!

An update on Working Wednesday.  All three high schools have submitted their Working Wednesday plans that includes our PLC focus specific plans and our supervision plan.   Kim Miller, our new Chief Academic Officer, is continuing to work with the Board of Education to provide this much-needed collaboration time for our high school staffs.  Working Wednesday will not start this week; the next tentative date is Oct. 22 pending board approval. Kim will attend our staff meeting on Oct. 8, and we are so pleased to have her with us.

Please make sure that your same-subject time is still meeting minimum weekly and still devote this Wednesday, Oct. 1 as your same-subject team meeting time.  All team members must commit to meeting from 7:15 AM- 7:45 AM in order to focus collaboratively on assessment of and for learning and common learning targets, and intervention and differentiation, the 4 PLC questions.

We also received 79 PD days for our staff to use as in-school PD collaboration days. Some have already been utilized so please let Kay know if your team would like to collaborate during the school day.  Priority will be given to Math because of their curriculum demands this year and OTES staff.

Thanks to all of you for your input and feedback as we utilized a Google Doc spreadsheet to develop whole-school norms that will now guide all of our work and meetings here at Jerome.  Please add these norms to each agenda and start each same-subject team meeting, each departmental meeting and all other meetings reviewing these three collaboratively developed norms.  What does it mean to be a Celtic staff member?  Here are the norms that will define and guide our work:

1. All team members will come to meetings promptly, stay the entire
meeting and positively contribute to achieve the goal of the meeting.

2. All team members will focus on improving instruction on an ongoing
basis through PLC work.

3. All team members will respect all opinions and ideas and collaborate
regularly with other team members.

Two good resources for collaboration and assessment of and for learning are Assessment for Learning and 20 Collaborative Learning Tips and Strategies for Teachers.

The success of each of us and each of our same-subject teams depends on our mindset, just as it does with our students.  Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?

This Week:

Monday: #dubchat 7:30-8:30 PM Twitter.  A great way to dialogue with other Dublin educators.

Tuesday: Our first Parent Breakfast of this year will be 7 AM in Guidance.  Our Boys and Girls Golf Teams will both be competing in Sectionals, a big step on their quest to once again win State Championships.  Good luck Craig and CD!

Tuesday is also the deadline to complete your Public School Works training.  We have a lengthy list --as of today almost 40 staff members have not completed all or part of this district-required training.  Please be sure to complete it by the 9/30/14 deadline.  PSW can be accessed from the staff dashboard and is required for every certified and classified staff member.

Wednesday: PLC Same-subject team time 7:15 - 7:45 AM.  Please do not schedule club or organization meetings or review sessions with students during this important time.  It is essential that all teams meet regularly and employ our PLC best practices, adhering to our building norms.

Student Council meets 5th period.

Thursday: IEP/504 discussion facilitated by Mike Aurin 3-4 PM.  Please let Mike know if you are able to attend to gain important information and insights for your special education and 504 plan students.

Mike Aurin provides PD to teachers new to Jerome on 504's and IEP's last Friday morning.  Please try to come to the presentation for all Thursday at 3 PM.  Location TBA.

4- 7:30 PM: Our first Parent-Teacher Conference evening of this year.  PTO will provide dinner.  Please take the initiative to contact your parents for a conference, especially those who received Gold Cards and/or D's or F's at Interims.  Conferences are contractual.  Please contact an administrator if you are not able to attend conferences so that we can give you the guidelines to make-up this time.

Flu shots are also on Thursday.  Contact Barb Bailey for more information.

Looking ahead:

OTES pre-conferences will start this week.  Please be sure to have your self-assessment and professional growth plan completed before your pre-conference.

Oct. 8: Staff Meeting. 7:15 AM in Band Room.  If you have items for the agenda, please let me know.
Also pre-registration for the PSAT.

Oct. 15: PSAT. 2-Hour Delayed Schedule for all non-testing students.  We are testing over 700 students in this important National Merit Qualifying Test.

Oct. 16: Last day of First Quarter.

Oct. 17: No School; Conference Comp Day

Oct. 20: Grades due end of the day.  Please do not schedule tests or big projects late in the quarter so that your grades can be submitted on time and so that students have adequate time to make-up work, etc.

Our IB Juniors enjoyed a great TOK Day at Scioto last Wednesday! Much thanks to Marla and Karen for all of their hard work in planning and facilitating this day and to all of our IB teachers for their dedication and commitment to developing an excellent IB program!

Have a terrific week on our Energy Bus! Remember, as Jon Gordon writes, "Persistence moves you forward toward your destination."

Cathy

Celtic Courier: Week of Sept. 22-26

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

We hope you have had a wonderful weekend!  Homecoming is always very exciting!  Much thanks to Michael and Diane for all of their hard work in organizing all of the Homecoming events, Carla and the Cheerleaders for the fabulous decorations and pep rally, Brian and Micah for having the band do the pep rally and the parade and all of you for making Spirit Week so much fun with your great outfits!

Here are some memories from Homecoming Week:

Fred Seely sports his letter jacket from Dublin High School!

Kyle "the tourist" Yaggi!

Trevor Woods shows off his Throwback look!

Our great Cafeteria "ladies" join in the Neon-Out!

King Tom Gao and Queen Cheyenne Roller are crowned at Pre-Game!

Drama Club is always one of the great student groups in our Parade! Best Float!

 

Even though Bradley HS prevailed in the football game, the student section was spirited all night!

Friday Night Lights and an amazing halftime show!

In the midst of Spirit Week, Katie Zwick stopped by the office to show us her new engagement ring!  Congrats, Katie!

This Week:

Monday-- Literacy Team meeting 7:15 AM in the media center.  Thanks to all of our staff members volunteering to lead our literacy initiative and to Mike Aurin for facilitating this work.  Also remember to join #DubChat on Twitter from 7:30 - 8:30 PM.  This is a great way to learn Twitter if you are not yet familiar with it and also connect with other Dublin educators.  If you would like to learn how to join it, just let us know.

Tuesday--  I will be meeting with the Governing Board at 7:20 AM in Guidance to plan our first PAC meeting this week.

Wednesday-- Please remember that all Juniors will be taken a released ACT test from 8- 11:30 in the Aux Gym.  We do NOT have a 2-hour late arrival this year; instead all juniors will not be in class.  Please remind your juniors to report directly to the Aux Gym Wed. morning.  Please also be flexible with your juniors who are missing class in making up work.

Thursday-- Special Department Chair meeting to discuss Working Wednesday Oct. 1.  Please note that this is change from the regular schedule and that we will not meet on Oct. 2. We apologize for this short notice but feel it is very important to get everyone on the same page for the 1st Working Wednesday.

Friday-- PTO-Sponsored first Staff Breakfast of the year in the teacher's lounge!  Also first New to Jerome Teacher Meeting!

5th Period Friday-- First PAC meeting of the year!  We always let students know that if they are taking a test, doing a Socratic Seminar or otherwise have to be in class that they can just attend during their lunch period.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about specific students missing class.

Friday night football on the road at Darby!  For other athletic events, go to dublinschools.net/celtics.  Go Celtics!

As you know we had 2 car break-ins on Saturday morning so please be very vigilant about not leaving any valuables in view or any bookbags, etc in view that a car thief may belief have something of value in them.

Looking ahead--

Oct. 1:  First Working Wednesday.  Adjusted Bell Schedule for all 3 high schools.  As soon as the School Board approves our plans on Sept 22, we will be notifying parents in a common letter to district high school parents.  In addition, we will be letting you know the expectations for Working Wednesdays collaboratively developed by all 3 high schools and Central Office administrators.

We will be meeting with Department Chairs this week to review all of the information as well as sharing it with each of you.  What an exciting PD opportunity we now have: embedded same-subject team time to focus on PLC work and district and building goals.

Oct. 1: Working Wednesday
Oct. 8: Staff Meeting
Oct. 15: No Working Wednesday due to PSAT administration
Oct. 22: Working Wednesday
Oct. 29: Working Wednesday

Oct. 2: Parent-Teacher Conferences;  Please start contacting parents of D and F grade students and inviting them to this great communication and collaboration opportunity with our parents.

Have a wonderful week! What a wonderful year 2 of our Energy Bus ride! So glad you are all onboard!

Celtic Courier: Week of Sept. 15- 19

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Dear Staff,

We hope you have had a fun weekend with your families.  It certainly feels like Fall is here!  For us this weekend started with Friday night football vs. Liberty.  Although the Celts did not win, it was a spectacular USA-out with a huge crowd on a beautiful night.  For me, this is my 15th year of Friday night football as an administrator.  Brian Stevens secretly videoed one of my favorite things to do at Friday night football, dancing with the band, and texted me the video stating it should make the Celtic Courier.   Thanks, Brian (I think)! :)

We hope you had some special family moments this weekend.  Ours was once again watching Jennifer and Ryan marching down the ramp and Script Ohio with TBDBITL Alumni!  They also always come to our football section and serenade us!  A special time for our family!

Jennifer and Ryan bring the "band" to us on Saturday, mellophone and trumpet in hand!

This week Jerome earned academic accolades both national and state-wide.  This year we have 14 National Merit Semifinalists, the tops in Central Ohio and one of the highest in the State.  In addition, Newsweek named us #102 in the nation, our highest ranking and again, one of the tops in the State.  The State of Ohio released our State Report Card on Friday and our PI Score is 114.5.  Not only is it our highest and the highest ever for our district, it is the highest PI score of any high school in Ohio.  

We plan to look at these external indicators with you as a staff and see holistically what they mean to us, our data, and the external indicators each of these used to determine these rankings.   Certainly, we have much of which to be proud as our students continue to learn at high levels.  It certainly is a result of our PLC work and a systemic and ongoing focus on student learning with every student, every period, every day.  Thank you for your PLC collaboration and professional expertise that makes the difference for our students. Every single staff member, classified and certified, contributes to our students' academic success by helping us all to create a school culture and climate focused on learning.  Congratulations!

This week is Spirit Week and Homecoming Week, culminating in our Homecoming Parade and game on Friday and our Homecoming Dance on Saturday.

Monday-- College Day.  Sport your favorite college garb! 

Tuesday-- Tourist Day.  First Student Council meeting 5th period. I have our first Principal Academy meeting at Central Office, a meeting with PD for all building principals as the district strives to align all buildings on PLC and data-driven instruction to focus on the district goals.

Wednesday-- Comfy Day.  We will be meeting with PAC Governing Board members, Student Council officers and other interested students to develop dance norms collaboratively.  We have also included our PTO Executive Board and asked all parents for input and feedback.  All three high schools are focusing on dance norms and expectations to ensure school dances are safe and respectful for all.

Thursday-- Throwback Day.  We have a meeting with Central Office to discuss district plans for Jerome's growth.  We will have our Homecoming Court practice in the Stadium with the band 5th period.  Our undefeated Boys Soccer team takes on Coffman at Coffman at 7:15 PM in a Shoot for the Cure game.  Coffman is also undefeated and ranked second in the State so come out and support the Celtics!

Friday-- Neon Day.  Adjusted bell schedule for Fall Pep Rally with our pep rally in the afternoon.  Much thanks to Carla and the Cheerleaders for all of the terrific decorations in making our school spirit shine!  The huge Homecoming mural at the school front is unbelievable!  Thanks also to Brian Stevens and the band for their rally performance also! The parade starts at 5:30 from the corner of Brand and Avery Roads to the school.  We are looking forward to seeing many of you in the parade and as spectators.  Game time is 7:30 PM with the crowning of the King and Queen at Pre-Game!  The Celtics take on Hilliard Bradley so come out and support our student-athletes!

Saturday-- Homecoming Dance 8- 11PM.  Much thanks to Diane Murphy and Michael Cook for all of their hard work on Homecoming!

Looking ahead:

Sept. 24: Practice ACT.  All Juniors will be testing from about 8- 11:15 AM.  No 2-hr delay or adjusted bell schedule.  Plan on every junior missing class and testing.  Please work with them to make-up missed work.

Sept. 26: First PAC meeting 5th Period. Also PTO-sponsored Staff Breakfast and New to Jerome Teacher Meeting at 7:15 AM.

OCTOBER 1: First Working Wednesday Collaboration Time and adjusted bell schedule.   In a meeting on Friday, all three high school principals finalized requirements so that we can start on this date.  We will be collaborating with Dept Chairs to finalize plans as required and communicate those to the staff. 

It is important for all departments to complete their departmental prioritization of Norms work so that we have those Norms in place for our Wednesday work.  Please make sure that work is completed this week. 

Have a terrific week!  Enjoy this article on how to tell if an educator is truly passionate about teaching.  That is one of the reasons Jerome is successful-- passionate educators as yourselves.

Cathy

Celtic Courier: Sept. 8-12

Dear Staff,

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Welcome to another week of the Celtic Courier.  Hope you had a great weekend with your families!

Friday's Beach-Out was a huge success, from the fun outfits during the school day to the Freshman Tailgate.  Much thanks to Lori Davis and Magen Beatty for all of their hard work on the tailgate.  The CAP mentors were terrific and positive leaders!  We also hosted the first band community concert of the year followed by a Friday night victory over Pick North 17-16 with Garrett Smith blocking a Pick North extra point to preserve the win with 35 seconds to go in the game!  What a fun Friday for the entire Jerome family!

Bryan Arnold sports his beach gear!

Pete Beale gets into the beach theme!

Ron Havlice combines the beach theme with Celtic Friday!

Erin Bentley can do math on the beach!

CAP leaders are really ready for the beach!

The entire student section gathers with the band and cheerleaders in the endzone to celebrate a great victory!

This Week--

We wanted to let you know some sad news.  Ron Havlice's brother passed away this weekend.  Ron will be traveling to LA for the funeral later this week.  Please keep Ron and his entire family in your thoughts and prayers.

Monday-- remember the district #dubchat on Twitter is from 7:30 - 8:30 PM for all educators each Monday.  Join these wonderful idea-sharing chats.  Monday we will be also making up the Social Media training for the students who missed it last week.

Remember that the required Public School Works training for all staff is Sept. 30.  I just finished mine this weekend and it is always a good feeling to take that last test!

Wednesday-- Staff Meeting at 7:15 AM in the Band Room.  Coffee will be provided.  The agenda includes an update on the district goals and OTES for this year.  If you have items for the agenda, please let us know.  We had a good meeting with the Dept Chairs last week.  They will be working with working you on establishing our building norms process and suggestions for increasing teacher voice in staff meetings.

Wednesday is also our Club Fair all 3 lunches.  If you are a club or organization adviser, please be sure that your club or organization is represented at this very important event for our freshmen and any other interested student.  See Lori or Magen for more info.

Friday-- Home football game vs. Liberty.  Come out and support our student athletes!  Complete athletic info can be found at dublinschools.net/celtics!

Looking ahead--

Sept. 17: First Student Council meeting of the year, 5th period.

Sept. 19: Homecoming Parade down Brand Road to our Homecoming game vs. Bradley 5:30 PM

Please encourage your club, organization or team to participate!

Sept. 20: Homecoming Dance 8-11 PM

Sept. 26: First PAC Meeting of the year, 5th period.

Have a great week! "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows."

Cathy