Educational Services Staff Newsletter

  • May 2024

    Posted by Ed Services on 5/1/2024

    Gifted Tab!

    The Gifted Resource Teachers along with the Advisory Committee have worked together this year to build a Gifted and Talented (GT) page on the SPS website for Stillwater families and stakeholders. The GT website serves as a resource for teachers and administrators, too! Thank you, Barry Fuxa, for your help in designing the webpage. Even though it’s in the beginning stages, check back often for updates! Visit the GT Webpage here: stillwaterschools.com/gifted 

    Summer Book Bus

    Each summer, Stillwater Public Schools supports our students’ reading development in a fun, convenient way. The Book Bus, a school bus decorated thematically in ways that attract children, travels across our city to share the love of reading with a wide variety of kid-friendly books. Children can check out books from the bus each week, receive giveaways, compete for AMAZING reading prizes, and receive reading encouragement and motivation from our dedicated staff. Click the link to find the Summer 2024 Schedule for the SPS Book Bus! 

    https://www.stillwaterschools.com/bookbus

    Summer training opportunities

    While all of our 180 day contract employees are enjoying a summer break, ed services and technology services are working to provide fun, relevant and useful professional development opportunities for our teachers and staff. Below are links to the summer PD provided by SPS. Come join us in the air-conditioned facilities (we may even provide snacks!)

    Ed Camp is coming - Fall 2024!

    Ed Services is excited to be bringing back Ed Camp as a delivery method for quality professional development. Beginning at our back-to-school kickoff, we will have conference-style professional development at each district-wide CERTIFIED staff PD Day; August 12th and 13th, October 16th and January 6th. The format will be similar to a conference, where teachers and staff have a choice of which 50 minute session they would like to attend. Sessions will be color-coded to indicate specialized areas such as “new teacher only,” “elementary only,” “secondary only”, “the arts” and many more! We are excited to offer this again, as it allows our SPS staff to receive purposeful PD that fits the unique needs in a variety of specializations. We will even have a session to get guidance and time to complete GCN requirements! Attendees will receive an email confirming attendance after the events so each employee is able to track their own PD hours. More information will come from your site principal or supervisor on how to sign up for sessions. 

    NWEA grades 6-11 for 24-25 School Year

    Starting in the 2024’-2025’ school year secondary grades 6-11 will be using the Map Growth assessment. Map Growth provides teachers with accurate, actionable evidence to help inform instructional strategies regardless of how far students are above or below grade level. Using data gathered through this assessment  teachers will be able to tailor instructions by standard to challenge every student. Training for administering the assessment, interpreting data, and effectively using data will be provided throughout the 2024’-2025’ academic year starting at the Ed Camp in August.
     

    Technology’s Summer Theme? BUSY!!!

    Did you know that the summer is actually the busiest season of the year for the Tech Department? It’s true! While our students and teachers are enjoying a well-deserved break, we are hard at work taking advantage of the empty classrooms to engage in some much needed enhancements and repairs!  Here’s a little preview of just a few of the projects Tech will be knocking out over the summer break:

    • New SMART Boards and Interactive panels: Over 40 classrooms across our elementary sites will be receiving brand new SMART boards, including GT, SPED, and CALT rooms! A handful of rooms at secondaries will also be receiving brand new Promethean interactive panels!

    • New Chromebooks for Device Trade-Up: Tech and Ed Services have purchased over 1,200 new convertible touchscreen chromebooks for incoming 10th graders and 1st-5th graders at Highland Park and Skyline elementary schools. Tech will be busy casing, inventorying, updating, enrolling, and distributing these along with the nearly 6,000 other chromebooks that will be turned in at the end of the school year!
    • New copiers coming district-wide: In an effort to make our print environment more efficient, Tech will be rolling out 48 new high-efficiency large-format multifunction printer/copiers at all sites across the district. Many of these high-speed machines will be able to print in color, and also come with external finishers that can provide deluxe finishing options such as auto-stapling and 3-hole punch! Along with these new copiers, the district will be introducing a new process for printing called “Find Me” Printing which offers some amazing benefits over our current system:

     

    “Find Me” Printing:

    • Rather than printing to a specific printer, you will print to a centralized “Find Me” queue, hosted on our network servers.
    • After printing to the queue, you can go to any new copier in the district and sign in by swiping your badge.
    • The new copier will retrieve and display on the screen a list of the print jobs you sent to the queue.
    • You can then select which print jobs you want to print, at which point the jobs are securely released to that copier and printed.
    • “Find Me” printing is device agnostic, which means you can print from Windows PCs, Macs, or Chromebooks!

    Since these new copiers will fill in the gap previously filled by Duplication, Duplication will be going away at the end of this school year.

    • New Tech Ticketing System: Many of you are already familiar with Incident IQ as our chromebook check in/out system, but this summer we will be moving our Technology Support tickets over to this system as well. Stay tuned for more information!

     

    Wellness & Student Support

    Did you know that we have a Student Support Resource Library? This is located on the SPS Student Support page, which is dedicated to student support and wellness within the district and serves as a resource hub for students, parents, educators, and the community at large. Looking for information on SPS counselors? Local mental health resources? Family Support Services? School Health? Look no further. This site is designed to offer information and support aimed at nurturing the holistic well-being of students. From mental health resources and counseling services to additional support programs and community outreach initiatives, the site is there to address a wide range of needs and challenges that students may encounter. Through this platform, both students and staff can access valuable resources, guidance, and opportunities aimed at promoting a positive and healthy learning environment for all students within the district. 

     

    Summer Academy 

    Summer Academy is quickly approaching, and our students are beginning to be enrolled in summer offerings. There will be three sites running from June 3-June 21; the elementary is half day mornings at Will Rogers Elementary, the middle school is half day mornings at SMS, and all high school credit recovery will be held at the high school mornings and afternoons only if the morning session fills. Openings for summer school positions are filling quickly and are posted on the HR webpage. In addition, this link takes you to all things summer school! stillwaterschools.com/summer

     

    Teacher of the Year 

    April 23rd, the 2024-2025 SPS Teacher of the Year was announced at our SPS Celebration of Teaching. Site TOYS were celebrated with gifts from local sponsors, and finalists were highlighted before the announcement of Rebecca Palmatary as our SPS Teacher of the Year. Wilson Auto Group surprised her with an extra special surprise of a two year paid lease on a 2024 Chevrolet Equinox LT, insurance paid! In addition, WIlson provided cash awards to site winners for $500, and $1000 for runners up. We are incredibly grateful for the support that Wilson Auto Group has shown for our winners - they truly love our teachers! Next year, Mrs. Palmatary will compete for the title of Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, hosted by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. We are so proud of her, and wish her all the best at next year’s competition.

     

    Elementary Education

    Whew!!!  What a year!  It seems like we just started and in a blink of an eye we are at the end of the year!  

    We have a few training opportunities for elementary this summer!  We will be offering LETRS Modules 5-8 on May 28-29. LETRS Early Childhood on May 30-31 and LETRS Modules 5-8 on July 16-19!  Our mission is to have all elementary teachers trained in LETRS.  Please sign up via Sign Up Genius if you want to attend!

    We have a new elementary math curriculum……….Big Ideas!  We will be doing training for K-1st on July July 29th (AM), 2nd-3rd- July 29th (PM) and 4th /5th- July 30th (AM).  Please sign up on Sign Up Genius if you plan to attend!

    A HUGE shout out to all the elementary teachers/admin that have volunteered their time and expertise to present at the August Ed Camp! Stillwater has the best people  and I am excited for them to showcase their passions and skills!

    Please remember iStation and IXL end of the year testing window -  May 1-10th!  All students are required to test!

     

    Indigenous Peoples Education LogoIndigenous Peoples Education

    • Battle of the Books is coming up - May 2nd at First Christian Church, 9:00 am (4th Grade Native Students)
    • Senior Recognition Cook Out - May 9th at Couch Park #2, 6:00 pm (We celebrate our Native Seniors wishing to be celebrated) 
    • 506 Form - if you are new to the District, and willing to do so, please fill out the Federal 506 form for Indian Education.  We will also need a copy of the CDIB being used.

     

    Federal Programs

    Did you know that as a district we receive federal funding for more than just Title I?  We received federal funding through 8 different Title programs. These programs support our district through instructional supports, professional development, and family supports across the district, along with funding our ELL, Indigenous People Education, and McKinney-Vento/Homeless programs.  This summer we will be creating a committee to help create our Comprehensive District Academic Plan for the next 3 years.  This plan is one of the requirements to maintain our federal funding.  The committee members will meet a couple of times each year to create and evaluate the plan.  If you would be interested in joining the committee please contact Beth McBee ([email protected]). 

    ELL

    Multicultural Night is on May 2nd from 5-7pm at the Student Center. Come support SMAC and eat dinner before attending the band concert at 7 in the PAC. 

    Ed Tech

    • It is unbelievable that the end of the year is just around the corner. Summer will go by quickly and before you know it you will be planning for your 2024’-2025’ school year. Please keep the following things in mind as you consider educational technology in your classroom.
      • As you consider using new technology tools in your classroom please check the approved list to see if there is an already approved technology that functions in a similar way. 
      • Teachers need to turn in requests for technology that is not on the approved list to their principal. Ed Tech and Technology prefer that technology requested be used by a team of teachers or a content area. If it is a site, program, or software that only will impact one classroom it is less likely to be approved.
      • It takes time to get technology programs vetted and implemented. Please plan ahead.
      • If you teach in a PLTW classroom please submit your required technology/software list to [email protected] to ensure that you have access to your required programs at the start of the year.
    • Canvas - Coming Soon!
      • Canvas will be implemented at SHS and SJHS starting next academic year. 
      • Our first training will be May 3rd at the SJHS. Please bring your computer.
      • We will be offering auto rostering and grade pass back via Canvas.
      • Any teacher using Canvas next year will be receiving invitations to your Canvas sandbox over the next few weeks. Please accept the invitation by clicking “Get Started”. 
    • Technology Spotlight
      • The following applications were approved recently for use in our district. There are some   really great applications on this list. Go check them out and let me know if you have any questions or want to meet and do training!
      • Canva- Approved for teachers and students. You must access via Clever. If you already have an account you will toggle to your old account in the upper right hand corner.
      • Wakelet- Approved for teachers only. A great collaborative tool that can be used for presentations or  lesson planning. When using please do not include photos of students in presentations as the Wakelet can be shared publicly.
      • Flashlight 360- Approved for school year 2024-2025 for elementary and secondary ELL student population.

    Secondary Education 

    As we closeout another incredible year and begin to look toward the next year with anticipation, don’t forget the awesome things that occurred in our secondary schools this year: 

    • Lincoln Academy received a $15,000 TSET Grant for their new Bike Club!
    • SMS implemented NWEA screener for all students in Math, Reading, and Language!
    • SMS and SJHS implemented new intervention programs such as Read180 and Math180!
    • SHS added a new BMITE program to provide more opportunities for students to meet computer technology requirements!
    • SMS, SJHS, and SHS CareerTech teachers met to vertically align their programs!
    • SMS, SJHS, SHS, and LA math teams collaborated by site in one of the most challenging adoption cycles to overwhelmingly agree on a 6th - 12th grade math curriculum that will provide students with high-quality, rigorous math learning experiences at all grade levels, and teachers will have valuable, evidence-based teaching tools and online resources for the next 6 years! 
    • SPEF awarded numerous SMS, SJHS, SPVA, SHS, and LA teachers, administrators, and staff with grants to supplement their classrooms!
    • SJHS was exited from the CSI designation list a year early because they met all of their academic criteria by the middle of the year! 

    Thank you ALL for the hard work and dedication this year to SPS and especially in your school site. EVERY secondary site in our district is thriving, and students are making academic gains and competing at the highest levels because of the continued efforts of teachers, staff, and administrators.

     

    We're looking forward to SY24-25! Have a great break, and prevent the "Summer Slide for Teachers"  

    • Rest up, relax, and do something fun to share with your colleagues when you return,
    • Attend Summer trainings when/if you can,
    • Be a life-long learner in some way, 
    • Read something that will impact what you do/teach in the classroom,
    • Enjoy your hobby, whatever that may be, to the fullest!

     

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  • February 2024

    Posted by Ed Services on 2/8/2024

    Assistant Superintendent- Janet Vinson

    Classroom library guidelines

    With new administrative rules promulgated by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, teachers are now required to submit lists for all classroom library books and the district uploads these to the OSDE during the accreditation process. To provide an easy method to inventory and record titles, Ed Technology is sharing a scanning tool that can be used with a cell phone or scanner and it populates a CSV. file that principals will collect, combine and submit to the Assistant Superintendent of Ed Services for accreditation reports. Watch for easy to follow instructions for this process. In addition, the district and board of education have agreed to pay library aides to help in the inventory of library items during the May 3, 2024 professional development day. Thank you for your help in meeting our OSDE accreditation requirements!

     

     

    gencyber flyer GenCyber Cowboy Teacher Cybersecurity Academy

    The Department of Computer Science at Oklahoma State University is hosting GenCyber Cowboy Teacher Cybersecurity Academy on Stillwater campus during June 24 - June 28, 2024, along with Pre-Academy Activity (March 9, 2024) and Post-Academy Activity (September 14, 2024). The academy provides cybersecurity summer camp experience for Oklahoma middle and high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers. In addition, various pre/post-academy activities are designed to help teachers prepare for academy activities and incorporate cybersecurity knowledge and pedagogical strategies in their practice, respectively.

    Academy Highlights:

    • Free to all teachers
    • Free meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
    • Free housing (furnished 1 bedroom/1 bath private dorm) for teachers who commute long distances
    • $1,200 stipend after completing Pre/Post-Academy Activities and Summer Academy
    • Lectures from cybersecurity faculty in the Department of Computer Science
    • Invited talk from cybersecurity expert
    • Free cybersecurity educational materials
    • Cybersecurity curriculum and lesson plan design with K-12 pedagogical expert
    • Free field trip

    Prior knowledge/experience of computer science and cybersecurity is NOT an application/recruitment requirement for the academy. The academy application is now open and will close at 11:59 pm, March 1, 2024 or until all seats are filled, whichever comes first. Elementary teachers are also welcome to apply and will be considered if the academy does not fill up with middle/high school teachers. Additional information regarding the GenCyber Cowboy Teacher Cybersecurity Academy can be found at www.cs.okstate.edu/gencyber.

    If you have any questions, contact [email protected].

     

    Free Office Business photo and picture Ed Tech- Sarah Shipman

    The 1:1 initiative has provided students with equitable access to computers. In addition to equity, the 1:1 initiative provides teachers with the opportunity to provide innovative and engaging lessons. 

    Interesting Facts About 1:1 

    • Technology fatigue is REAL. Watch for these symptoms in your students.
      • mental fatigue
      • decrease in motivation
      • anxiety
      • exhaustion when having to use devices over long periods of time
    • Research tells us that handwriting increases brain activity and creates higher levels of recall and memory. Look at some great times to write instead of typing.
      • worksheets
      • spelling practice
      • writing and essay
      • review
      • and so much more….
    • Innovative and engaging ways to use technology
      • Virtual Field Trip
      • Game style reviews
      • Creating digital content
      • Provide immediate feedback
      • Multimedia presentations
      • Augmented reality
      • Virtual science labs

    Ed Tech would love to help you and your teaching teams learn to use technology in an innovative way. Please reach out to [email protected] if you would like Ed Tech support or training.

     

    Free Cyber Security Information Security illustration and picture Tech- Bryan Bloomer

    Cybersecurity is inconvenient, but necessary. Some of you may have noticed during our recent password change that we increased our minimum password character requirements from 8 to 10.  Did you know that this simple increase in password complexity has now made our district passwords over 40,000% more difficult to crack? As inconvenient as it may be to have to change your password, you can take solace in the fact that you have helped do your part to keep our students and staff safe from cyber threats. As other K-12 districts have discovered, failing to take preventative measures to secure the sensitive data of our students and staff can prove disastrous, especially since public school districts are now the #1 target for ransomware attacks. Here’s some password tips to help stay safe and secure:

    • Longer is better.  The longer a password is, the more possible permutations it has, making it more difficult for cybercriminals to crack.

    • Avoid personal information. Putting information like names or birthdays in your password only makes it easier to be cracked, as such information is easily found online.

    • Don’t reuse the same password. It’s tempting to use a single, memorized password for all your various accounts, but doing so is essentially giving cybercriminals a “master key” to your entire online portfolio. Instead, you should use a different password for each account, and use an online password manager to help you easily manage and remember them.

    We are excited to pilot some new tech in several classrooms at the middle school, junior high, and high school this semester!  These classrooms have been equipped with new Promethean Interactive Flat Panels as well new discreet wireless microphone systems for teacher voice amplification. Over the remainder of the school year, we will continue to outfit these rooms with additional classroom tech and monitor teacher feedback on its ease of use and impact on instruction.  Assuming all goes well, we hope to roll this tech package out to most secondary classrooms in the future as budget allows.  Stay tuned for more info!

     

     

    Free School Backpack photo and picture Director of Elementary- Diane Fix

    LETRS PD for Summer including Pre K LETRS!!!  Dates coming soon!

    A BIG shout out to the Math Adoption Committee!  They have been working hard! We have started the evaluation process with curriculums!  All reps should be sharing information with their grade level teams!  We are hoping to have a decision before Spring Break!!

    The MOY of the year data is in for both Math and ELA. We are growing!  Keep up the great work that is happening in each and every classroom!  Stillwater is lucky to have the BEST teachers!

    CALTS -  Did you know we have 9 Certified Academic Specialists in our district (at least one at each elementary site and one at the MS) and 4 more going through the process!  CALTS see students who qualify for Characteristics of Dyslexia!   This is a two year intensive process!  

    OSTP testing will be here soon!  If you are a testing grade level, please be sure to look at the test and item specs for ELA and Math on the OSTP assessment page of the State Department website!  They have changed!  There are lots of great testing resources on this page!

     

    Free Lock Locker photo and picture Director of Secondary- Ashley Moore

    Things I LOVE about Secondary

    Do you know why I love being the Director of Secondary Education? Because I get to support secondary teachers and administrators every day. It truly brings me great joy to walk into each secondary school building. So far in 2024, I’ve had the opportunity to

    • Meet with the incredible math teams at SMS, SJHS, and SHS on math adoption.

    • Collaborate with the HS ELA team on PLCs.

    • Facilitate vertical alignment with the JH and HS Computer Science and BMITE programs.

    • Collaborate with Instructional Coaches to plan New Teacher meetings.

    • Support the implementation of Read180 and Math180 programs at SMS and SJHS!

    • Support SMS as the ELA and Math teams implemented the NWEA screener in December for the first time. Great work SMS!

    Spring Secondary Reminders: 

    • SPEF Teacher Grants are due February 21st! Apply HERE. 

    • Secondary Math Teachers are evaluating math curriculum this month! 

    • Club Sponsors, Coaches, and Administrators - Thank you for your constant support of our secondary students in and out of the classroom! We know that students who are involved in activities and/or athletics are more likely to have passing grades, positive behaviors, and graduate on time. Your support is appreciated!

    • SMS, SJHS, HS, SPVA, and LA Counselors, Teachers, Admin, and Staff, thank you for your efforts and involvement in scheduling for SY24-25! It is a lengthy process, but all of your patience and support is appreciated!

    • OSTP, CCRA, and ACT Assessments are coming…. Are you ready? Contact your site Building Test Coordinator (BTC) for any questions you may have. Click HERE for Grades 6-8 & 11 assessment materials. 

    • Tamie Sanders, our Solution Tree Coach, will be visiting each site: 

      • Feb. 13th - SMS

      • Feb. 14th - SHS

      • Feb. 15th - SJHS

     

    Multilingual Learner Department (EL)- Stephanie Coca

    • ACCESS Language Proficiency Testing has started! If you have an ELL student, please know that they will be pulled for 4 hours of testing between January and March. Testing must be completed before spring break. As you can imagine, student are not too excited about this testing, so your encouragement to them to try their best would be greatly appreciated!

    • Reminder: Please use Language Line or an interpreter to speak with your multilingual families. This is not only a Federal Requirement, but parents really love to know what is happening with their children. Great communication is great PR for SPS. If you are nervous about how to do this or just need help, please contact Stephanie Coca.

    • Teaching Strategies that are beneficial to ELLs in the classroom:

      • Slower/enunciated speech.

      • Visual supports to your lesson (pictures, videos, written notes).

      • Other Classroom supports: 

        • Partially or completely filled out graphic organizers of current lesson.

        • Relevant Content videos assigned before the lesson in student’s first language to create background knowledge,

        • Hands on activities

    • Please reach out to Stephanie Coca or one of our Multilingual Specialists(EL Specialist) for ideas on how to adapt a lesson plan to best meet the needs of your ELL students.

     

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  • November 2023

    Posted by Janet Vinson on 11/17/2023

    Assistant Superintendent- Janet Vinson

    Students Celebrating

    New look for PD Committee - survey coming!

    The district committee's responsibilities  for professional development has changed a bit, and now instead of determining which PD “counts” as PD points, they will be responsible for determining some of the  district offerings in PD for the 2024-2025 school year. There will still be some PD required, such as GCN and Science of Reading to name a few, but we aim to offer more of a variety next year, and base these on teacher requests. To make sure your voice is heard, please complete the survey from Ed Services that will be coming soon!

    In addition to this change, the PD committee will also be setting the “teacher supply standard” for grade levels. With input from teachers in their buildings, they are creating a supply list that will be stocked by the warehouse for sites to order when needed. Keep in mind that this will be a standard, so it will not be an exhaustive list of everything teachers may individually need, but it will be a district standard that is guaranteed. Anything above and beyond may be requested through your site principal.

    NWEA PILOT coming soon for Middle School!

    Director of Secondary- Ashley Moore

    Band FlagsSecondary teachers, paras, and staff,  we are thankful for all you do to educate our students on a daily basis! Some examples include 

    • Teachers at SMS and SJHS are utilizing high-yield instructional strategies in their Tier 1 instruction to help all students engage in their learning. 
    • LA teachers recently traveled to Enid to learn about new opportunities. 
    • SHS ELA teachers supported students' completion of ICAP requirements through their English classes this semester.  
    • SHS now serves NCAA virtual students in a more direct, monitored way. 
    • ELA, Spanish, French, and EL teachers have survived the first semester of brand new curriculum! 

    Our Math teams at all secondary sites including parent/community representatives John Weaver and Mark Thomas, have already met once and will continue to meet as needed to develop the math rubric, and evaluate state approved curricula. The state-approved list should be released sometime in December.

    Child at desk

    Director of Elementary- Diane Fix

    Elementary is off and running with Math Adoption for K-5.  We have a representative from each site for each grade level on our adoption team!  We also have Maureen Lawson and Gay Washington serving as our community representatives on our teams!  We expect the state to release the approved curriculums for adoption soon!  We will start our evaluations and plan to have a chosen curriculum by April!  

    The beginning of the year RSA numbers are in!  As a district we had 61 less students qualifying for RSA services!  This is great news!  What we are doing district wide is working so keep up the great work!

    Peter Pioneer with LaptopEd Tech/Tech- Bryan Bloomer 

    • Ed Tech and Technology want to help you be successful in your classroom. If you are having issues with students' curriculum accounts or students accessing particular educational/curriculum sites please use the following steps to get help.

      1. Submit an Edtech ticket. This can be done using the icon under the staff page of the website.

      2. When submitting the ticket please include the following information.

        1. First 3 letters of student's first name and first 3 letter of student's last name that is having the issue (or at least one student.)
        2. A screenshot when the student tries to access the site.
        3. URL trying to be accessed (if it shows in the screenshot that works).
        4. Timestamp of when the student tried to access the site.

    • Let us help you! Ed Tech has a great resource that houses training on many of our commonly used digital resources within our district? Please use this link to check out all the resources available to you via the Instructional Technology course in Canvas. 

    • FERPA AWARENESS

      • Did you know that FERPA also applies to student technology use and the information students share with 3rd party applications? Maintaining FERPA compliance is crucial and is leading to changes within Clever.  These changes are the district's effort to protect teachers and students personally identifiable information.

      • Volunteers and contracted employees that come into the school must also follow FERPA. Ed Services is working with HR to create systems for training and informing all volunteers of FERPA and the role they play in protecting student information.

    • Additional SMART interactive panels coming soon to elementary sites!

      • SPED, GT, and Reading/CALT spaces will soon be outfitted with SMART panels to bring them in line with existing elementary classroom technology. Our goal is to have these installed by the end of the year. 

    Stillwater Indigenous Peoples Education LogoIndigenous Peoples Education- Rusty Atkins 

    Nov. 2nd was our Fall Native College Night for 11th & 12th grade students.

    Nov. 9th was our November Family Cultural Night (dinner and cultural events).

    Nov. 13th-17th was Roc Your Moc’s Week-with the 15th being the day to wear your mocs., also that day is the Iowa Tribal College Fair in Perkins (8th-12th grades).

    Multilingual Learner Department (EL)- Stephanie Coca

    Multilingual Learners

    This month we will be celebrating together at our Friendship Dinner. This event is held at the Stillwater High School Student Center. It will be held on Thursday, November 16th at 5:30.  This is a potluck event. SPS will provide turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Please come share a meal with us and meet many of the 400 multilingual students and families in our district.!

    SPS has an English teacher at every site to teach our multilingual students English and to support their learning in the content classroom.  Teachers who need our assistance to support their students are welcome to reach out to the Multilingual Learner (ML) teacher at their School Site or contact Stephanie Coca. In addition to our Multilingual learner teachers, we have language interpreter teacher assistants that support students, family, teachers and staff in Spanish, Pashto and Dari. If you need an in-person interpreter for Spanish, Dari, or Pashto, please contact Stephanie Coca. Finally, don’t forget to use the language line if you need to call and speak to a parent that has limited English proficiency! Here is the link to use Language Line: Language Line Phone Service Thank you for all you do to mentor and instruct all of our students at SPS! 

    Director of Federal & OSU Programs- Elizabeth McBee

    Thank you to all of our SPS teachers and staff who have opened their classrooms and spaces to student observers, interns, tutors, and student teachers this semester! As a district, we support around 120 students from OSU and other programs.  If you had a student observer or student teacher in your classroom this semester, please be sure to complete the survey sent to your email.  This survey helps the district collect tuition vouchers to support SPS employees in furthering their education. 

    We have wonderful opportunities to work with OSU and other universities to participate in different research studies.  If you are leading any research studies, or know of any research studies that would benefit our students and staff please complete the Proposal for Research form. 

    One more HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in our District-Wide Title Committee this fall.  They gave up their time to help ensure we are using our district’s federal funds to support our students and staff in order to keep us growing. 

     

     

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