All educators may complain that they are overworked and underpaid. Yet, if you had to ask who deserves one of the biggest paychecks in the school, it would have to be the school secretaries. In Cooper's case, we hit the school secretary (or fancy title-Administrative Professional) jackpot! Pam and Colleen are the rocks of Cooper. A school secretary can make or break a school. They are literally the "face" of Cooper. The first person students, staff, and parents see when they walk in the door.
We recently had the pleasure of evaluating Pam and Colleen. The evaluation asked about bookkeeping skills, confidentiality, attendance,etc. They certainly do those things well but what we appreciate about them the most is that they are student focused. They put students first day after day after day. Then, they take care of us too.
Duties performed by a school secretary:
- accountant
- public relations specialist
- nurse to ailing students
- counselor to students and colleagues
Some special talents of Pam and Colleen:
- feeder of Principals
- charmer of UPS and copy machine personnel
- declutter queens
- shoulders to cry on
- finders of lost children
- delousers
- relationship experts, bullying consultants, etc
Magic Johnson once said, "All children need is a little help, a little hope, and someone who believes in them." Thank you Pam and Colleen for exhibiting help, hope, and belief in all you do.
Big Rocks:
M-Step has gone fairly smoothly. There have been a few issues but most have been able to be resolved quickly. This week 5th grade will be finishing up and 6th grade will be starting. A HUGE thank you to Robin who has been a go to person for assisting with questions and concerns. Interestingly enough, we just found out that 36-48 hours after testing, individual student results are available on the BAA site. Final reports are due late August.
Youth Making a Difference will be held this Tuesday at Churchill High School from 6:00-8:00. Students can bring their tri fold boards to the office and we will bring them over on Tuesday night. If a student or a class needs a tri fold board, we have them in the office.
LPS is searching for more presenters for Level Up 3.0. If you have something new you have tried with technology, sign up!
If you have not heard, state law now requires that the Teacher Evaluation tool be one of several models. Livonia has looked at three models: Danielson, 5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning, and The Thoughtful Classroom. We know that this is not welcome news. It is going to be a new learning curve for all of us. It appears that 5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning is the front runner. We do not have a lot of information at this point but know that due to state law it is a mandatory move.
Our professional development day on Thursday will be School Improvement focused. There is also a follow up on the DSIT Culture and Climate goal that the district has asked us to do. Finally, we would like to do some follow up on the team meetings and Cooper Vision. The day will start at 8:00. Lunch will go from 11:00-12:30 and the day will end at 3:30.
The Fire Drill on Friday does still interfere with two 6th grade classes. However, this is at the very end of your testing window and we believe it is very likely that everyone will be finished. This is a required passing time drill. Most teachers will be in the midst of taking students to lunch or recess. Please remind students that if there is ever a fire during lunch or recess, they would proceed out the back of the school. Students at recess would want to line up (by class if possible) away from the school, off of the blacktop. Student at lunch would proceed calmly out the back door and line up by class in the field, off of the blacktop. This will be more chaotic than usual but we will be outside to direct students. This is good practice for an emergency.
Calendar for the week of April 25:
Monday: MSTEP 6th grade begins this week
11:45 Student Lighthouse Meeting
12:15-3:30 PD Planning
Tuesday: 6:00-8:00 Youth Making a Difference at Churchill
Wednesday: 8:00-11:00 Kelly Boswell Professional Development (Sarah/Kristi, Sally, Shawn)
Thursday: Professional Development Day at Cooper-School Improvement
Friday: 8:45 LEAD time Leadership Roles
11:15 Fire Drill
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