May 2011 ES Meeting Compilation

(A compilation of questions and answers from the all ES meeting this month)

ES Specific Info:

Could we be informed as to where the advisors live in order to know if we could manage to attend their scheduled summer workdays?

Contact them and ask, please, if the time looks to work for you—we are not posting that info on the web for their security.

It seems that more and more proctor duty days are being added each year without compensation. Will this be compensated?

The ES job duty is to test each of your students with all of their required state and school assessments. To make this easier for you and more manageable, we organize test locations and assign proctor duties to man those sites, and encourage you to get all your students to attend these group sites. A full-time ES doing 8 duty days is still less than the requirement of 25 students in, for example, 16 family groups. That would equal 32 proctoring days, even before you add in any CAHSEE, PFT, and Writing assessment days. Therefore, you are still “ahead”.

Is it ok if we scan documents and keep them on computer disks instead of saving the actual papers?

Yes. As long as you do pass that info on to the next ES when you do a transfer. For this, use the standard file formats readable by most computers.

Student Assignments

When an ES is assigned prospective students during the summer, how soon are they expected to make contact and meet with those students?

If you are available during the summer (summer availability dates you provided), then we expect you will meet with them on those weeks. If you are not available, and the student is on your expected list, we expect you are in contact with the family anyway, and will meet with them before school starts. We do not want any family waiting for a call not knowing they have a spot in our school.

What is the best procedure for declining an assigned student?

Email Cindy and say that you cannot accept that student (say nothing else!) If you want to lower your count, give that info in your email as well, so you do not get the next student. If you are saving a space, remember to enter the expected student in your Planned list. Otherwise, if you are tops on the seniority list at that point, you will continue to get the next student assigned to you.

When we drop a student do we list 5/20 as drop date or 5/21?

Always use the last school calendar date they were enrolled as their drop date. Therefore, this would be 5/20/2011.

ES Check Out

(For any specific question on YOUR checkout, contact your advisor, as they are the one who approves your checkout.)

Should a prospective student show up on an ES's year end check out sheet?

Yes, but they will be grayed out to indicate they are a prospective and will not have the other items done.

What if we are not ready to "check-out" by June 6th?

Contact your advisor for information specific to your situation.

If we completed the ES and Advisor Surveys, but did not print the final page, should we redo the quiz?

No, contact your advisor for alternate information—DO NOT REDO THE SURVEY!

FRED

In our student list it has HH info highlighted for new students to our school this year. We were told we didn’t have to get this form from the parents because they sent it up with their applications. Is there any way to clear that out?

Sorry, but no. That would take a large database project, and it is not that important. Once you know you are done, you are done.

Why do we have to pdf our students learning records when they are stored in FRED?

You are saving them in case you need to refer back to them at a later date, or for when the family wishes a copy. You are not able to access records from a prior year after the database rollover every July.

Is there a way to check in FRED if IEM has received EA check receipts?

No. If they do not receive it, you will get a call in June and need to deal with it at that time before our school audit.

NCLB/ESEA

If HQT in Science, do we have to offer to do wet labs for our a-g students even if we do not feel comfortable overseeing this educational experience?

You do not physically have to be present to “do” the labs, but you need to review their lab reports/etc to ensure that they did meet the a-g requirements (just as you do for any of their a-g assignments).

If an ES gets VPSS certified part way through the semester, does the student need a SME for that whole semester, part of the semester or none?

When you are certified, email Shelley Ross to see whether you can disenroll at that point, or if it is too late in the semester. You must have your signed forms into Linette before you are considered “certified”, plus personnel must have your forms entered before a state report is run if you are claiming certification.

Aux Trois is a great service vendor (teaches languages)-- can their classes meet the SME Foreign Language requirement?

If this is an online vendor, then, yes, this would work. Since I am not familiar with this vendor, apply the means of obtaining HQT to this vendor to see if they would meet the requirements.

PG Hours:

Will the Advisor summer workday be counted as 2012 PG even though it is occurring before June 15^th rollover or only for 2011?

Let your advisor know what year you need the hours to count for, and they can count for either year (after you have “checked out”.)

Since we will have the conference in October will we not have an AF meeting in October?

The October IEM conference will take the place of the required October ES group meeting. Review your 2012 meeting months and PG hours on the website: http://www.sscs.cc/Handbook/esjob/iemprogroplan.htm

Transfers

(If you have a specific situation upcoming, do consult your advisor for the best way to proceed.)

Is the Transfer/Drop Checklist expected to be completed for transfers that are occurring as of May 20 or over the summer?

See the policy at: http://www.sscs.cc/Handbook/transferdrops/transferiem.htm

If the transferring ES puts in the transfer request in FRED, will the ES she requests that student be transferred to definitely get the student?

Remember that if you and another ES are making a trade, you MUST include your advisor. Your advisor will notify Cindy to made the planned list entered trade. BUT, if a parent subsequently sends in a Transfer requests and requests a different ES, then the parent request has the priority status to nullify the ES requested trade. (Unfortunately, this does happen quite often over the summer. It is not the office staff ignoring your requests, but parents making their own choices once they hear they are being transferred.)

Educational Info (POs, Curriculum, Vendors, LRs, etc )

Families are beginning to inquire about E Readers for use with textbooks. We have heard you can buy textbooks at a very inexpensive price for use with E Readers. Has our school looked into offering students some kind of E Reader?

Yes, we have begun to look into how we could pay for and manage this type of system within our state funding requirements/accounting systems. As of yet, we do not have good firm ideas, but please pass on any info that you have that could help us in this process. We will research first those that are submitted as vendor requests.

If a student dances for PE should that description be written into life skills AND special interests in the LR or just one or the other?

Your choice, but in only one place. Choose the location with the standards that best fit what the student is doing. The question to answer is, is it a VAPA standards course, or just a PE course.

After our discussion on what is required for life skills, an ES had a question about e-tech academy. She was told that she had to document her students’ learning from e-tech academy in special interest.

Actually, unless the student has already completed the life skills credit requirement, it should be documented in the life skills area. There are vocational standards to select in that area that e-Tech covers.

Should we be recording cooking in Life Skills or Special Interests for K-8 students since there are health standards that cover food preparation in the Life Skills growth area?

If you are meeting a specific health standards, then count it there, and do reference the standard if you submit this as a portfolio sample to avoid a delay in portfolio processing. But, if they are doing “cooking” during the whole semester, it should be counted as an elective instead.

Can gardening count as a life skills?

“Gardening” standards would be found in the science area, therefore it should count as a science. Or, it could possibly be a part of a Home Economics course, if food was being grown, then cooked for the class. In this case, it could possibly be an elective. It would never be a life skills course.

How do we handle items that are now outdated or a newer version has been released?

The same way we handle any educational item purchased with school funding. We offer it for usage until no one wants to use it and then we legally archive it when we must. We are coming up on 7 years of usage for items few purchased in the first year of our school, which is the standard life for most textbooks. If we have some items after next year that are no longer usable, we hope to also have our system for legal disposal in place by then (next summer).

Ordering sports equipment- how do we know which items are considered personal items for smaller items such as baseball mitts?

Ask your advisor if in doubt.

If a student is purchasing their own fabric and wants to continue using the school purchased sewing machine for the entire year, is that okay? Can we purchase a yard of fabric for students’ to learn to sew?

Yes and yes. Just be sure you document usage of any expensive school equipment item every month it is in a families’ home. When they stop using it, then you need to remove it and place with the next student who wishes to use it.

If it is cheaper for a parent to purchase a classroom pack instead of individual sets for each of their students, is it okay to distribute the rest of the materials to other students? Could we make a note of this in the Materials list in FRED, that this classroom pack was distributed to all of my students?

Yes. We do encourage this type of “sharing” in your classroom group—just make a note so we know it is being shared amongst our enrolled students, and not a parent planning a neighborhood party.

Is there a vendor authorized to refurbish computers?

Check with your ES group for any approved vendors in your area. If not, you need to find one and submit for vendor approval. Forms for this are available on the web.

Is there some way that we could notify vendors that if they do not bill before the cut-off date, they won't get paid rather than take it out of the family's funds for the next year?

We cannot, as a PO is a legal promise to pay note.

Assessment Info (Scantron, Writing assignment, state assessments, etc):

What exactly is credit recovery?

This will be explained at the August All ES Meeting.

Can you provide a Scantron Exit window so we have clear dates for administering the tests?

It is the same as the STAR test window.

Guidance Info:

(Most of your guidance questions are not time sensitive for this end of school year time. They have been passed to the Guidance Counselor to be answered in the Fall and many questions will be covered in the August All ES Meeting. If you need help before this time, then please contact your advisor, the summer advisor on duty, or the Guidance Counselor directly.)

Why isn't Home Economics listed in Life Skills and do we have any say over that?

When the school charter was written, it was not included in that area. Making a change to a school charter for a non-critical issue is never a good idea, as it must be approved by many government entities.

Will Teri Alves be available over the summer to sign pre-concurrent enrollment forms?

Yes. And work permit forms.

Regarding work permits, what happens if a kid gets a job during the summer? ES is on vacation, who do they send the info to?

Teri Alves. She will check the LRs and report cards in your absence.

Parent Specific Info:

(None this month)