Highlights 1/18/13

News:

On Tuesday, I held a Safety Committee meeting for about 40 minutes.  There were a few things that came out of the meeting that I wanted to share with everyone.

Locking Classroom Doors - as a group we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of teaching with your door closed and locked at all times.  What I would like to see since we cannot lock the doors from the inside, is have teachers lock their doors before class begins so in the case of an emergency or drill, doors are already locked and teachers do not need to be in the hallway trying to lock a door.  

ID's - the Middle School staff has been wearing ID's and the committee felt this was a good idea and would like to see HS staff wearing them as well.  Based on the committee feedback all HS staff should start wearing their ID so it is visible.  We have already implemented ID's for all substitutes.   If you lost your ID, please let Mrs. Doheny know so we can get you a new one. 

Exit Doors - Doors being propped open by students and staff was brought up as a concern.   After Newtown, I spoke to the student body about propping doors open and reminded them not to open doors for anyone.  The office staff is being very diligent in having visitors stand in front of the camera, identify themselves and ask for the reason of their visit to the school before they are buzzed in.  The senior wing doors not locking properly was also discussed and Mr. Rand was made aware of it.  

Staff Notification in Emergency Situations - The members of the committee thought it was something important that we put in place so in the case of an emergency at school, there was a way to communicate information to the staff, other then the PA system.  Everyone agreed that the easiest way would be some type of  text message system.   I will be looking into a few different options:  Remind101, Celly, Honeywell, Twitter  (As a side note, Remind101 and Celly are great tools for the classroom as well.)

Chain of Command - Everything can not depend on me to be everywhere and always here.  The administration will be working on creating a chain of command and reviewing our security plan next week.  Once updated, any and all revised security procedures will be sent out to staff.  

Drills Are Done For A Reason - Everyone needs to take every drill seriously and hold students accountable to behave and act the proper way during drills and especially in the case of a real emergency.  We all might need to review with our classes that there is no talking, running, fooling around, etc.  Cell phones should not be used during drills so students can listen to directions and not be distracted.  However, in a true emergency situation, cell phones might be able to save lives.  

Hall Passes - All students should be signing in and out of each classroom using the corridor pass log.   There should be a log per classroom posted by the clock or somewhere near the door.    There should also be a pass that students take with them when they leave your room.   For now individual teachers should create their own pass but I will work on creating school wide passes for each teacher.  
        

Digital Learning Day 2/6/13 - Please use this Google Doc to list/describe the activity you have planned for the day.      

Important Dates:

1. Monday, February 25th - Testing Meeting for HSPA 3:10 to 3:30pm.   
2. Wednesday, February 27th - District faculty meeting w/ Dr. Raupers for all instructional staff in the Little Theater.   The purpose of the meeting is to update everyone on the implementation plan for the new evaluation system which goes into effect September 2013.  
3. Monday, March 4th - Testing Meeting for HSPA 3:10 to 3:30pm

School Highlights - Blog/Twitter Posts: 

• Something new for Waldwick Parents Waldwick Parent Academy 
• 1st Career Cafe of the Year - Event Planning 
• Longest distance on a skateboard: @WaldwickWHS Alumni '09 Colleen Pelech breaks Guinness world record 
• P. McHugh Wins and Sets school record in Long Jump, Triple Jump & 55M Hurdles at NJIC Track Meet.  Original Tweet
• N. Oravetz runs fastest 400M time for WHS Winter Track in 20 years at NJIC Track Meet. Original Tweet 

PD Resources:

Reforms could 'wreak havoc on great schools' .  This letter was sent to the NJ State Board of Education and was published in the Washington Post.  I believe it sums up the state of education in NJ.