Trojan Hub

January 10th

Oak Ridge Ranked #26 in California

Money Inc. has ranked the top 30 public schools in the state of California based on a number of factors.  In weighing all the factors they have listed us as #26.  You can read the article and see the list here.  I appreciate that the list celebrates a lot of different aspects of a school.  It is true that Oak Ridge  has a lot to be proud of.  We do many things well.  We do these things well because there are people who are dedicated to doing them well.  Every one of you has played a role in us earning this rating.  You are appreciated and people notice you work. Thank you for all that you do.   

Meeting Dates Update

The Faculty meeting on the morning of March 10th has been moved to the morning of March 31st to align with CAASPP training.  The Meetings at a Glance sheet has been updated with the change highlighted in yellow. 

The afternoon meeting scheduled for this Monday has been canceled.  Due to the move of Open House to February 3rd we will be rescheduling this meeting soon as well. 

Foundation Gala

Our school Foundation is holding their first Gala fundraiser.  They are offering discounted prices (half off) for staff members.  Events like this gala is how they raise the money they pass on to us.  If you are interested, go to https://www.orhsfoundation.com/events/blue-gold-gala and enter the promo code ORSTAFF. 

Wildfire Relief

Former student Hannah Howard, in collaboration with Folsom Rotary, is collecting items (blankets, hygiene items, etc.) to donate to the fire victims in Southern California.  Hannah will pick up items form your house if needed.  She is helping Folsom Rotary gather materials with the plan to send them to Southern California on Sunday morning.  If interested, please feel free to reach out to Hannah directly:  (916) 220-7446 or hannah@bhhsnorcal.com. 

January 8th

Unity Day(s) Rosters

I want to remind everyone that Unity Days will be January 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.  Unity Day is where we take a third of the Sophomores each day and have them experience a four hour training with Keith Hawkins on appreciating others differences and accepting everyone regardless of their differences.  There will also be upper classmen leading groups. It is a half day training from 8:30 to 12:22.  These students will be in classes after lunch.  I have put the rosters below.  Students are assigned to days based on what Advisory they are in.  (I have listed the Advisor teacher names with the appropriate date below.)

• Wednesday, January 22nd (Doubek, Fitzhugh-Cannedy, Madsen R, Martin,  Miller-Gratigny, Mirell)

• Thursday, January 23rd (Moloney, Moraga, Mulert,  Ornelas, Pendleton, Prather, Rhyan)

• Friday, January 24th (Rodriguez, Rubalcaba, Santa Iglesia, Santos, Schnaidt, Schultz, Verdolivo)

• I will be listing the student leaders assigned to each day soon.  This will be a mix of juniors and seniors. 

Parking Lot Painting

We have known for awhile that the reserved spot numbers in the upper and lower lots need to be redone.  For two years we put it off waiting for the parking lot remodel to happen.  The notion was that all the lots would be resurfaced and painted.  As the project got close to concluding it was determined that updating the other two lots wouldn't qualify under the funding stream we were using for that project.  We are now trying to determine the best path forward. Simply painting the lots does not last. We are currently trying to determine if we need  to resurface the old lots or not.   However, we are aware and trying to find a plan B now that the parking lot project can't pay for the work.  

January 6th

Compliments on the First Day Back

As I roamed classes and spoke with people today two things became clear.  One, the teaching and learning I saw today was impressive.  Everyone was hitting a home run right out of the gate.  I continue to be in awe at the power of first instruction that happens on our campus.  Two, the first day back is always hard with all of the schedule changes.  I know teachers and counselors can be on the receiving end of upset students who don't understand why we add classes or balance at the break.  Thank you for a strong first day back and hanging in there through the schedule changes.  

Timely Attendance is Key The First Two Days

Some students have had their schedules changed.  However, they are still attending their old schedule hoping it will get changed back.  Please do not allow these students to stay in your class if they are no longer on your roster. They will be marked absent in the class they are supposed to be in.  Thank you.

December 20th

Thank You

We have had a few students with tragedies in their lives over the last week.  As I was texting with another staff member we realized how wonderful this place is.  Those students are being surrounded with care and extra support.  I couldn't help but have my heart happily surprised and filled with pride when I saw how many staff members who were able donated money to Matt Ward's recovery fund that Bob Wright shared.  This is just one example of how remarkable Oak Ridge is and how  impressive each of you are.  Each and everyone of you is absolutely critical to student success.  

For our teachers, you are where the rubber meets the road.  The true magic starts with you.  For our Classified staff, zero teaching and learning could happen without you.  There is no school for kids without classified.  You have a direct impact on teaching and learning everyday.  And I am immensely grateful for one of the best Administrative teams I have ever worked with. Each are professional, dedicated, and highly capable. I appreciate their leadership  and the positive impact they have on our core mission.  Even the contracted services we have on campus are some of the best people I have seen in their line of work.  

Each of you deserves this break two-times over.  You work hard and endlessly during the year. I hope you can do whatever it is that makes your heart happy and renewed.  I know I will focus on Christmas activities with the kids, Jeanne, and extended family.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday wishes to everyone!

Make Up Finals

Please don't forget, provide Sarah with your final by 1:00 today if you gave a student the link for makeups.  If you aren't sure whether the student actually signed up, provide us the final any way.  It never hurts for us to have it in case they show. 

Collaboration on 1/6

I know we don't want to think about it now, but we do have PLC collaboration on the Monday we return with your course alike team(s).  

December 18th

Reminders:

1. Staff Luncheon today courtesy of Jen and the Leadership Students in the cafeteria after finals today.   We will honor a few folks and break bread together.  I look forward to seeing everyone.

2. Make-Up Finals: If you are giving a student the information to sign up for make-ups, please provide us with the final before you leave on Friday.  Remind the students that we shut down the sign up sheet after the last final on Friday.  If someone needs to sign up after that we can manage it with them over the phone.  We need to make sure we have a final for each name on the list before we leave on Friday.  You will find completed finals in your box on Friday, January 3rd. Thank you. 

3. EV Chargers: We are getting the word out to students and staff that the new EV chargers are not for "all day" parking.  Every staff member has a parking spot.  It is fine to charge your car at the EV station.  But when you have a break, please move to your assigned spot.  We are also going to do our best to police our students and hold them to the same concept.  

December 10th

Make Up Finals

1. When a student identifies that they will be out with an excused absence, you provide them with this online form to complete. They go online and submit the time they will attend.  Please copy their parents on the email with the link.

2. Provide Sarah with a copy of the final they will take as soon as possible so she doesn't have to organize them all at the last minute. 

a. If it is an online final, please provide Sarah the instructions needed to pass along to the proctor. 

3. When the make up final is complete, the proctor will put it in your mailbox.

December 6th

Faculty Meeting Monday

I want to make an adjustment to the meeting Monday morning.  We don't have as much to get through as usual. I am going to push the start of the meeting to 8:00AM to make it a little easier on everyone.  Here is the agenda. Reminder, the Monday December 16th after school meeting has been back to departments and must be used for PLC time.

Parking Lot

The parking lot is working great.  We are still doing a lot of work to train parents.  But it really is working just like we envisioned it.  The drop-off times have decreased significantly for parents.  As a result, we see less people being unsafe due to running out of patience.  I also hope teacher access to the parking lots has improved.  That was a big goal for us. 

Short Turn Around

I know it has been a short turn around between Thanksgiving and Winter Break.  I am seeing how hard we are all working to make sure the semester wraps up well.  Thank you for putting extra sweat and time into a quick turn around.  I recognize it, and you are making a difference.

December 2nd

Welcome Back

I hope everyone had a great break and is ready for the sprint to finals week.  You are amazing, keep up the good work.  The opening of the new lot today went smoother than I expected.  We have a few things we need to communicate home so the lot maximizes its efficiency.  But overall today was a success.   One mildly funny note was the construction company spelling DORP OFF zone instead of Drop off in one spot.  But they will fix that today.

Sad Update

Former Student Julian O'Donoghue passed away in an accident over the break.  He was in the class of 2022.  He does not have any younger siblings in the school.  We don't know if there will be any current students impact by this. However, it is always devastating for all the teachers and staff members who knew him.  Tragedies are not supposed to happen to young people.  The Wellness Center is aware and available for anyone who needs. 

November 22nd

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish everyone the best Thanksgiving.  Time with friends and family is needed to charge the batteries. I am thankful for each of you. Working in schools is hard, and every one of you puts your full heart and soul into it.  I can't thank you enough for your commitment.  The food this week was a small token of how the school and community value what you do.  Let's finish today strong, rest up next week, then come back ready to put a bow on the first semester. 

Parking Lot Reminder

The final piece of the project is happening today.  The light poles are going in.  Next week they will start to take down the fencing.  When we return, the parking lot will be open and fully functional.  I want to remind everyone that watching the 4 minute video below is a good idea on how the flow will work on  Monday.  Thank you for all of your patience as this much needed project happened. It is going to be great!

Calendar for Staff

We are starting to built an event calendar that attempts to put all events (not athletics) in one place.  One department thought it would be good to have.  One, it will be useful for everyone to have knowledge of the totality of what happens on campus.  Two, it will be useful for teachers to know if something big is happening on a day they were planning something significant.  We are going to list big field trips, and other things that could impact the school day.  It is still a work in progress, but you can find it under the More tab above.  It is called Event Calendar for Staff. 

November 18th

Parking Lot Opening/Directions

The parking will be completed sometime this week.  However, we are not going to open it up until we return from Thanksgiving break.  I don't want people forgetting what we asked them to do.  You will find the instructions for how to use the lot below.   We are providing it in three different formats.  

• Map with Visual Instructions

• Written Instructions

• Video Instructions 

Staff Photos/Yearbook

Kate Rolls took the idea from this mornings meeting and ran with it.  Thank you Kate.  She made a pdf of the staff yearbook pages for this year.  So beyond the wall, we now have a digital version for your reference.  I am going to list it here and in the resources tab above under Staff Photos.  

Celebrations

School Goal #2 is creating a greater sense of belonging amongst all staff.  So please come to this weeks celebrations and try to meet someone new.  

• Wednesday: Dessert for Lunch in I-2 for everyone

• Thursday: Appreciation Breakfast before school in the main office lounge for everyone

Minga Reminder

I will be asking the Campus Monitors to check students who are out on Minga.  If they are not checked out, they will be sent back.  And do your best to make sure they close the pass.

Attendance Reminder

Again, as we discussed this morning, attendance should be submitted as the day goes.  But it absolutely has to be completed before the end of the day.  Teachers no longer can go in and take attendance for previous days. 

November 15th

Reminder

We have a meeting Monday morning at 745 in the Theater.  We will be reviewing Minga, attendance, and school goal #2.  

Parking Lot Delayed

Yes, the parking lot has been delayed again.  The railings have not been completed.  There are several areas with of the new lot with big drop-offs.  It is not safe to open without guard rails in place.  Our hope is they can complete those next week sometime but we will see.  The light poles that run along the new lot are also delayed.  But we don't need those to open up the lot.  

November 14th

Unity Day Schedule

This will be the second year we have had the privilege of sharing Keith Hawkins and his Unity Day program with our sophomores.  This half day training focuses the students on celebrating diversity.  Through discussions they discover the challenges that different cultures and races can face.  This training is part of our work to make Oak Ridge as welcoming as possible for everyone.  This training, combined with the expanded LINK crew program teaching freshmen the culture we want, all plays a role in making crafting the culture we want.

This training happens over the course of three days.  Each day we have one-third of the sophomore class in the large gym from 8:30 to lunch.  We assign them by their advisory group. I know missing a third of the sophomores on these days is hard.  But I do believe we are going to start to see the fruit of this work in our Healthy Kids data.  

This year the training will take place on:

• Wednesday, January 22nd

• Thursday, January 23rd

• Friday, January 24th

Thank You

Thank you to everyone for their help over the last two days.  I appreciate the faculty who learned how to administer the California Healthy Kids Survey. I appreciate everyone who helped with the assemblies. There were a lot of moving parts over the last two days and everyone played a role in making it happen.  I appreciate each of you. 

Spirit of Giving

I am really proud of our Student Leadership Team and Jen for coordinating the Spirit of Giving weeks.  I like how students are focusing their energy on helping the less fortunate in our own area.  Charity is the cornerstone of every community, and a skill that must be taught.  I appreciate our Student Leadership taking the lead on this.  We are so fortunate to have such great kids who want to serve. 

Interact Adopts a Park

Like above, the culture of community and giving back is alive and well at Oak Ridge.  Our school's Interact Club, that is affiliated with EDH Rotary, has adopted a park this year. They have taken responsibility for routinely cleaning the park and keeping it up.   The sense of community these students have is impressive.  A lot of young people don't value volunteering until they do it for the first time.  They quickly realize that it feels better to give than to receive. Thank you Matt Hodgins and the Rotary Youth Mentors for giving their time to Interact, and making our community a better place.

Beautifying Campus

The One Green Step Club advised by Casey Rhyan completed another campus beautification project over the weekend on their own time.  They took the grass area in between the E and F buildings and gave it a fresh look, while also making it more sustainable.  These kids are passionate about making the world a better place.  

As I look at all the great things students are doing I am inspired.  I am inspired by the adults guiding and nurturing them.  But I am also inspired by how great our students are.  Don't get me wrong, we have some hard cases too.  But overall, our kids are dynamite.  We are so fortunate. 

Come Out at Lunch

Come out at lunch and watch your fellow staff members and students get drenched in the name of charity. We will be by the Leadership Room and the Cafeteria.  It will be fun for everyone except those getting drenched. LOL

November 8th

Girl's Flag Football

I think it should be noted that this is the inaugural  season for girl's flag football.  Eric Cavaliere and his team of coaches should be applauded for what they have accomplished.  It is not easy to launch a sport from nothing.  Furthermore, the team has shown unbelievable growth from the start of the season to now.  The coaching that has gone into it is amazing.  I don't know how many teams have ever gotten to the Championships in their very first season, but the Oak Ridge girl's have done it.  They will be playing this Saturday, 7PM  at Consumes River College.  They will be playing Del Oro High School, the defending champions. 

Urgency: Attendance

We have recently been working with state auditors on attendance records.  There are days in attendance where we asked teachers to complete their attendance and it did not happen.  The auditor's are watching this closely and going to factor that into our ADA calculations.  They are scrutinizing attendance on a micro-level this year.  They are even looking at last year.  Whether attendance is being audited or not, having accurate attendance done daily is imperative.  It is imperative for school safety that attendance be taken as soon as possible.  It is important for student accountability as well.  The attendance office will be issuing a reminder for how attendance must work.  I need everyone to complete their attendance every day without fail. 

CHKS Schedule Change Reminder

Please don't forget to reference Rob Slinger's emails about CHKS next week.  Flex time is longer on the 12th and 13th to accommodate the test.  Everyone will either be testing, taking your students to an assembly, or holding Advisory.  

Tuesday Nov 12th

• Freshmen: Taking the CHKS in Advisory

• Sophomores: In Advisory

• Juniors/Seniors: In the One Pill Can Kill Assembly

Wednesday Nov 13th

• Freshmen/Sophomores: In the One Pill Can Kill Assembly 

• Juniors: Taking the CHKS in Advisory

• Seniors: In Advisory

Mama Mia

I highly encourage everyone to go see Mama Mia in its final weekend.  It was easily one of the best performances I have seen at Oak Ridge.  The kids, the direction, the sets, the lighting, everything was amazing.  

November 6th

Minga Reminder/Vandalism

This is a reminder, that I do not want any student out of class unless they are checked out in Minga. This is the best way to stop and/or catch who our vandals are.  Once we narrow down the window of time for the vandalism, I need to be able to have an accurate list of who is out of class at those times. Thank you.

Parking Lot

We are being told that the parking lot will be open on November 18th.  I am not holding my breath, but that is the plan right now.  We are preparing a lot of messaging for families on how the new flow will work.  

November 4th

FCCLA Event

Oak Ridge Culinary has long been a member of FCCLA.  This organization provides our students the opportunity to compete across the state in their area of expertise. They get to compete against the best and learn new skills.  But most importantly, it is a home and place for them to belong.  Dianne has done a great job of growing this program.  Oak Ridge proudly hosted a large regional FCCLA meeting.  I want to thank Dianne for the time and energy it took to organize it.  It was a success for all the schools that attended. 

WIFI Access Points

The district has been adding a lot of additional wifi access points to our campus.  The IT Team began to analyze performance data once we heard about Chromebook speed concerns.  They were able to determine where additional access points were needed and add them. We should be in a better place this week with Chromebook speed. I want to thank the district for tackling this problem and making it a priority.  

Parking Lot Update

The construction company now believes they will be able to completely open the lot in two(ish) weeks.  We will see how close they get.  They are working on landscaping, striping, lightening, fencing, and the roundabout.   I am not holding my breath, but I am hopeful they will get it done.

October 29th

Halloween Treats Tomorrow

The Foundation and our parent volunteers have put together a small treat for all staff tomorrow.  We will let you know when it arrives the main office lounge.  I appreciate them thinking of us and brightening the day.   I have no idea what they are bringing, but it's always nice. 

Backpacks for Student's in Need

At the start of the year we always have kind people who donate backpacks to kids in need.  This year we have three backpacks left over.  If you have a student who you feel needs a backpack, and would  appreciate it, send their name to me. 

Safe and Sober Grad Night FYI

Last year Safe and Sober Grad Night fell apart for our seniors.  The parents could not pull it together.  To be fair, they had a lot of issues with their 501(c).  I was able to help them resolve that last year and things are set for this year.  It is really hard to get the momentum going again after missing a year.  We do have a small but dedicated group determined to make a great event this year.  We are trying to get more parents involved to make sure it doesn't fall apart again for our seniors.  But I feel good about their progress.

Forestry Challenge

Thank you to Ryan Madsen and everyone who helped with the Forestry Challenge.  I appreciate Ryan for putting the energy into giving 13 kids this experience.  Oak Ridge had 3 teams out of a total of 38 teams present from all over the Sacramento region.  I love when I see students who take on  a challenge for the pure love of learning something new.  Ryan noted, "Each of our three teams did incredibly well, with two teams qualifying outright for state championships in the spring!  (I spoke with teachers who have been attending for several years and have never had a single team qualify)."  In the end there were a lot of people involved in helping Ryan pull this off.  These kids would not have had this opportunity without parent chaperones, Nicole Trevino, Sarah Williams, Jessica Womack, Kelsey Baggaley at the District, and all the folks in Transportation.  Check out the pictures below.

October 25th

Superintendent's Visit

Mike was able to walk campus with me this morning.  We were able to visit a lot of classrooms.  He left very impressed.  He wanted me to pass along that every time he visits Oak Ridge, he finds enthusiastic teachers with engaged students.  He is genuinely encouraged by the great teaching he experiences every time he is here.  When he comes to Oak Ridge, Friday's will be the day that he visits our campus.  Thank you for the great teaching and learning. 

Parking Lot Update (We Are Close)

The construction team is telling me that we are one to two weeks away from being able to open everything up.  They will be here for a while after that doing odds and ends.  But the lots will be open to the public.  So barring any last minute problem, we will start to push out information on how the lots will work with the new flow. It will be different than they are doing now. 

Minga Pilot

As you know, we have five teachers who are part of beta testing for the  new Kiosk mode in Minga. It greatly streamlines the bathroom pass process and keeps them from needing to use their own phone.  However, we are discovering why the program is in beta mode.  Our brave teachers have found a few key problems that need to be addressed.  The good news is that Minga is communicating with us directly.  They are very interested in our feedback and using it to improve the product.  We hope they can get it to a point where it is suitable for primetime.  I will keep you in the loop.  

October 23rd

LINK Crew and PSAT Thank You's

I find myself in awe each time our LINK Crew team pulls all the freshmen together in Advisory. What Amber Carrion, Kate Rolls, Jordan Lampenfeld, Brian Hofland, Jen Slinger, and Nick Fischer pull off is impressive to see.  The ongoing work they are doing to build a kind and connected culture is integral to our school and WASC goal. 

I need to thank Life Fitness for letting us use their space for PSAT testing.  We always appreciate them when we need a large space.  It is not easy to share your "Classroom" with the whole school.  The combined Counseling team again overcome the College Board's challenges and provided students with the PSAT they deserve.  

Parking Lot Update

You will start to see the final pieces go into place on the parking lot project.  They have been working on landscaping this week.  They have installed the needed irrigation.  The rest of this week will be dedicated to paving the front lot.  (Jump for joy here.)  They will also work on finalizing the area around the new entrance from Silva Valley.  When we come back on Monday we should see the new lot striped.  The Dep't of Transportation will be resealing and lining Harvard Way over the weekend.  They will close off parking on Harvard Way Friday to make sure no cars are in their way Saturday morning.  We are getting very close to completion.  

October 22nd

Closing Outdoor Vending Machines During Class Time

We are going to begin closing the outdoor vending machines during class time. The amount of student traffic using them during class was getting excessive.  I know they check out for the bathroom but there real goal is food from the vending machine.  I need the students to take care of these needs before class and during breaks.  I am leaving the one water bottle vending machine in the cafeteria open for now.   

PSAT a Success

A big thank you to Counseling, Jessie, Rob Slinger, and our combined district tech team for pulling off the logistics of our first all digital PSAT.  The second and final day will be tomorrow.  I can't thank the team enough for their flawless execution.  

October 18th

Monday Morning Meeting Cancelled

We don't have anything on the agenda for Monday morning. So I am  cancelling the meeting. Please take the extra time to do what you need. 

Problematic College Board Move to Online

Our Admin Team has been working behind the scenes to best serve our students with the College Boards messy transition to digital testing. The College Boards is migrating all of their tests away from paper to digital.  They are also adding flexibility to their testing window. This includes the PSAT, SAT, and AP tests.  The College Board is giving two options for going digital.  Students can use school devices or personal devices.  The logistics of our school do not allow us to take hundreds of Chromebooks out of our classrooms in order to give the PSAT and AP tests.  At OR we have opted to have students use their personal devices for testing as not to impact classroom instruction.  

In anticipation of the upcoming PSAT we have pulled the students signed up for the test in during Flex to make sure they had their personal device set up correctly.  It also gave us the opportunity to test the wifi network.  There is some concern in the community because the College Board testing platform will not work on Chromebooks (unless they are school Chromebooks) and old OS's won't work.  So student's need laptops that can still take current software updates.  We are offering devices to families that qualifiy for free/reduced lunch. There are a lot of issues with how College Board is rolling out their digital platform.  We are doing our best to help families without incurring a cost or negative impact to the classroom on our end. 

Halloween Costume Contest

Don't forget, we have our annual department Halloween costume contest coming up. Let's get as many departments to dress up as possible and compete. The kids will judge which department has the best costumes and themes.  The Admin team has already picked the "winning" theme for this year. LOL!  

October 17th

California Healthy Kid Survey/One Pill Can Kill Assembly

We are going to administer the CHKS to 9th graders in an extended Advisory on November 12th.  We will administer the test to juniors in an extended Advisory on November 13th. While those classes are testing we will have other Advisory's attend a short One Pill Can Kill Assembly in the gym.  The CKHS bell schedule is now up on the website.  The schedule for Advisories is below.  More details will come out as we get closer.

November 12th

• 9th Grade: CHKS

• 10th Grade: Stay in Advisory Classroom

• 11th/12th Grades: Attend Assembly in Gym

November 13th

• 9th/10th Graders: Attend Assembly in Gym

• 11th Grade: CHKS

• 12th Grade: Stay in Advisory Classroom

Chromebook Speed

We know that Chromebook speed can still be an issue in classes. I want you to know that our IT department is working behind the scenes to determine why.  They are starting to install additional access points where they see the greatest slow down.  So we should start to see improvements happening over time.  We will continue to monitor and make adjustments as needed.  

TA Accountability

We are noticing a larger percentage of TAs being let out of classes and roaming.  Your TAs should be in your room unless they have a specific task they are completing.  They cannot be out of class for an extended period of time for any reason.  Thank you.

Student Personal Belongings

We are having a hard time helping students get their personal belongings out of teacher classrooms after school. There are just too many of them with items locked in rooms.  If you agree to let students keep their personal belongings in your room (I support being kind) then make sure they know when they need to get it by.  Thank you.

Cell Phone Survey Data

We had 67 people participate in the survey.  The highest response (59%) was for sticking with a policy similar to what we have now where they cannot be out in class unless a teacher wants them out for an academic purpose.  Students can have them outside of class. The second most preferred response (22%) was for students to not have them at all in classes but can have them outside of class.  A total ban was last with 18%.  There were also a lot of useful comments that came in as well.  The comments shed light on the nuisance of this situation.

October 16th

Cell Phone Usage in Classrooms

The state's recent legislation on cell phones has caused schools and districts to reflect upon there cell phone policies. I would like to start the conversation by getting everyone's input on some basic concepts. I am trying to get some first impressions from everyone to share at our site Leadership Team meeting and the next Principal's Meeting. If you could take this survey by the end of the day Thursday I would appreciate it.   

Upper Parking Lot Entrance Switch Over

It is necessary for us to close the current entrance (on Harvard) to the upper parking lot (by Silva Valley) so the roundabout can be completed.  We will be opening up the new entrance/exit on Silva Valley so people can access the upper lot on Monday.  The exit on Harvard (right turn only) will remain open.  We will only be able to enter the upper lot by the new Silva Valley entrance for a few weeks. The entrance to the upper lot on Harvard will be removed this weekend.  

Shortly after that we will have everything open which includes an entrance and two exits from the upper lot on to Harvard Way.  We will also have one entrance and one exit from the upper lot on to Silva Valley.  You can view the two diagrams below with details of each plan.  Please do not share this with the general public yet.  

• Upper Parking Lot Directions While The Roundabout is Being Completed

• Upper Parking Lot Directions After Roundabout Completed

Safety Drill Change

Due to the unexpected rain, we had to move our track repairs to tomorrow. Because of this, we will not have access to the stadium for the evacuation drill. We will be postponing the evacuation portion of the drill to a later date. 

We will be having a quick earthquake drill as tomorrow is the Great Shake Out. Please listen for Catapult and the PA to start the earthquake drill. You will receive a PA and Catapult announcement when the drill is complete. After the earthquake drill, please discuss the evacuation procedures and zones with your students. 

October 11th

Student Dismissal List

You have probably noticed that we are sending the student athlete  early dismissal list out the day before now.  We are hoping this will give you more of a heads up as to what is happening the following day. There might still be some last minute changes that need to be made but those will be limited.  

Homecoming Thank You

It is never easy to put on a Homecoming event.  It is everything from the parade to the rally, dance and everything in between.   Homecomings are not easy to plan and even harder to execute.  Jen and the leadership students did a great job.  

Stadium Closed

The track will be undergoing repairs next week.  We will need to close the stadium from Monday through Wednesday.  The repairs need to be undisturbed for several days to be successful.  For those who remember, we won't be evacuating the school this time. (LOL)  The repairs we are doing next week are relatively minor.  

Monday Reminder

We will see everyone at Union Mine Monday morning in the Theater.  Coffee and socializing will be 745 to 815.  The program kicks off with the keynote on 815 sharp. 

October 9th

Hispanic Heritage Month

October is starting to get away from me.  But I have posters for your classroom to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month.  They are spread out in the staff lounge in the main office.  I need every classroom to have one of these up.  There are enough so every classroom can have one with a few extras.  Again, at the end of the month you can keep it up in your room or return it when we collect them.  Please put tape on them in a way that they can be re-used next year.  Thank you. 

October 4th

Monday Meeting Reminder

Monday is an after school faculty meeting.  

PSAT Dates

Things have been changing rapidly in the PSAT world.  The PSAT has changed the format of their testing window and gone 100% online.  The flexibility in having a small window to work with is an advantage.  However, the online component is creating logistical challenges.  We are opting for the option that  allows students to use their own devices.  This means we will not take hundreds of Chromebooks out of classrooms during the school day. We have broken the group into two and will test over the course of two days.  Half the students will assess on Tuesday, October 22nd, and the other half on Wednesday, the 23rd.  There will be no adjustment to the bell schedule.  We will just experience the loss of these students in our classroom on these days. I have adjusted the Meetings at a Glance sheet to reflect this change.

New Cell Phone Law

There has been a lot of news about the Governor signing a new cell phone bill for schools.  The language we heard for this bill when it was first being kicked around was a lot more restrictive than what actually passed.  I recently attended a legal brief that summarized all the new legislation impacting education and we can comply with them.  I was shocked at how little was in the new cell phone law.  The law contains no restrictions.  It simply states that schools and districts must have a cell phone policy that defines when students can and cannot use.  Most schools already have this in place.  I do know there is a lot of controversy about how to handle cell phones at school.  I know there are educators and parents passionate about this subject.  For now, the legislation passed will not force any changes.  However, it is still within our power to do more if we want. 

October 1st

Model Trojan Awards

The Time Is Now!  If you know students who have gone above or beyond nominate them for an award.  If you have fellow staff members who are Model Trojans please nominate them.   We love inviting the the student, their family, and the person who nominated them to a nice lunch.  You can nominate someone here.  Please enter your nominations by the end of the week.  

Homecoming Rally Schedule

Jen and Student Leadership has a big Homecoming planned for next week.  You will find the rally schedule for the rally posted on the website.  Please take note of the change. 

Homecoming Parade (Future Trojans)

The Future Trojan tradition continues.  We will have a pickup for all staff member kids who want to ride in the Homecoming Parade.  We will meet by the entrance to the band room at the fire road.  We will load into my truck about 4:45 (beat up gray Dodge Ram.)  The parade starts at 5:00.  Reminder, the parade is Monday, October 7th.  You don't need to sign up in advance.  Just bring your child and some candy to toss to the masses. 

Minga Pilot

Our pilot group of teachers experimenting with the companies new Kiosk mode have found pros and cons to the beta version of the program.  I am glad we tried it with a small group.  We have found a significant glitch (which is not unusual for a beta test.)  The good news is the company is extremely open to our feedback and improving what we find.  Our hope is that it will be in a better place when its released out of beta mode and will be a valuable enhancement to the program. 

September 26th

Small Change to Finals Bell Schedule

When we submitted our minutes for the year our bell schedule for finals was not accepted because it was short minutes.  So in Leadership it was decided to add 10 minutes to each final block.  This will move the end time on finals day from 12:30 to 12:50.  The adjusted times are now on the website bell schedule page.  Thank you.

September 24th

Safety Update

I apologize for not getting this out sooner.  Yesterday got away from me.  I wanted to provide you more details on what happened yesterday and what we are working on today.  Yesterday, three separate 911 calls were made about mountain lion sightings.  The first one came in on the corner of Woedee (next to the lower/west lot) and Harvard Way.  We immediately went into Shelter-in-Place due to the proximity.  As you know law enforcement was out in full force (even with a helicopter) and found nothing.  A second call came in later with a sighting by the fire station on the Blvd.  A third call came in hours later on Woedee Way just down the street from the school. We immediately went into a Shelter-in-Place again. Fish and Game was standing in our office when the third call in and ran over.  Unfortunately, at no point and time did any law enforcement officer see the animals.  

We sadly had a student save a picture from Google of a random mountain lion and share it with KCRA.  What was extremely disappointing to me was that KCRA did no fact checking and immediately went live on the air with the photo and put it on their website. I spoke with their news director about how broken their process is for reporting "news."  To their credit they ran a retraction.  The fake report added a lot of confusion to an evolving situation.  

I am working with our SRO today to try and get more guidance from Fish and Game on how to handle this in the future.  I would like to determine if people are really seeing mountain lions.  With three separate 911 calls, there was something on that ridge yesterday spooking people.  We just don't know for sure what it is.  The Sheriff's helicopter swept the area with infrared heat sensors and nothing came up.  So there is a bit of a mystery on what was actually up there yesterday and when it left. 

September 20th

Play Video Bulletin in Flex on Tuesdays

This is a reminder that you will get the weekly bulletin in the Flex calendar and by email.  These videos are aiming to be short.  This video must be shown to every Flex period on Tuesday.  We are in need of being able to communicate information directly to our students. Thank you.

Monday Collaboration Time

As another Monday approaches, I want to share my appreciation for all the continued energy on building our PLCs.  I am proud of the GVCs that are done or almost done. The  Common Formative Assessments I have seen this year are encouraging.  I do recognize the work is hard and I appreciate you for doing it.  

MPR Bathrooms

Unfortunately, we have a water leak under concrete on the west side of campus.  As a result, there is no water to the Performing Arts building or the MPR.  Sadly, this means the MPR bathrooms are closed.  This repair could take several days based on how hard it is to reach.  A big thank you to our Maintenance Team who are working incredibly hard to get it fixed. 

September 18th

Reminder: Oct. 14th PD Day

This is a reminder that faculty have a PD day on the October 14th non-student work day.  The district will put out more information about this soon.  The event will be held at Union Mine. 12-month classified employees will work at the school site.  10 and 11-month classified employees have a non-work day. 

September 16th

Safety Follow Up

I want to follow up on Friday and keep everyone in the loop with what we know and what we are working on.  I know your time is valuable so I want to give you some important bullet points.

• First, I want to acknowledge that this is emotionally draining. These threats make it hard to get through the work day.  I know how hard Friday was for teachers.  From the constant interruptions to managing emotional students.  These outside influences can make our jobs harder.  Thank you for everything you did on Friday to help. I again want to thank all of our staff who played a role on Friday. In particular the combined office staffs and campus monitors were simply amazing. 

• To repeat the message on Friday, law enforcement was able to identify who made the post after investigating.  They were able to make contact with this individual.  They have assured us this person is no longer a threat. They do not believe this person was ever a threat. Since the person is a minor of middle school age they will not release any additional information to schools or the public. We do not know if this person was charged or not.

• The initial threat that Mr. Kuhlman shared with everyone on Thursday night was a nationwide hoax. On Friday it would seem that this nationwide hoax inspired local threats all over the greater Sacramento area. 

• There are no threats specifically against Oak Ridge today.

• There was a series of threats made against Buckeye schools over the weekend.  They have a heightened law enforcement presence today as a precautionary measure. 

• On Friday, there were a number of rumors spreading through our community that caused the day to spiral. Our biggest challenge was the phone system.  We had more calls coming in than we had lines to answer.  On top of that we could not answer the phones when we had a line of people in front of us. We pulled extra Classified in to assist.  But even with the extra help we could not keep up with the line of people in front of us, let alone the phone calls. Again, everyone who helped with this in the offices did a remarkable job. The total number of parent contacts (phone, in person) checking students out on Friday was 1,395. This is something that has not happened here before and we don’t have a system in place to handle this kind of volume.  We are going to reflect upon how to manage this better in the future. We need to have something.

• Superintendent Kuhlman has a new take on safety.  And he wants to put a lot of time and energy into revisiting safety.  We are going to take a look at new ideas as they come in and how to implement them. Mr. Kuhlman has put forth that teachers can lock their doors if they choose. But we will be coming together at some point soon to have a larger discussion about how to implement new ideas at Oak Ridge. I don’t want to put new things in place without it going through our process.  At some point we will think these through in our Leadership meeting.

• Moving Forward I want to affirm this points if this ever happens again.

  1. We will have a better system for processing parent requests.

  2. We cannot allow students to leave class without permission from the office.

  3. Teachers do not need to be involved in talking with parents about checking out a student. Parents need to connect with the office and the office only. 

  4. If law enforcement feels there is a viable threat they will either put us in a lockdown or shelter in place.  If they are investigating a threat they post additional officers at the school as a precautionary step.  On Friday we had two deputies on campus.  

Thank you again for your tremendous efforts on Friday!

Constitution Day Reminder

Please see below for the expectations for Constitution Day tomorrow (17th.)  Thank you.

September 13th

Constitution Day Change

I want to remind everyone that Constitution Day is this Tuesday the 17th.  Please pass out the Constitution handout in your 1st period class on Tuesday instead of Flex time.  It was too difficult to determine the number of students in each Flex on Tuesday.   However, you will still show one of the two videos below in  Flex time.  Thank you.

• Handout

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnVmIrAiQB8

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHCD4jLpbSk

Student Video Bulletin

Due to the need to share videos on the Constitution this Tuesday, we will hold off with the new Video Bulletin one week until Tuesday, September 24th.   The video will be listed in the Flex Calendar and emailed to you.  

Construction Information

A few folks asked me about asbestos mitigation with our parking lot project.  After talking with a few people I thought it best to share with a wider audience.  It is true that when we dig in contaminated soil, we have specific guidelines we need to follow.  The parking lot construction falls in that category.  The district is responsible for managing all aspects of the project.  However, I have been present for the initial plans and kick-off meetings.  The mitigation process was put in place with the construction company.  Our district is in constant contact with the Department of Toxic Substances who is the oversight authority.  Although I am not a part of it, I do see the weekly emails from DTS checking on the project.  The construction company knows the protocols they have to follow and DTS is handling oversight. I also want to share that the giant mounds of dirt we see and most of the exposed dirt at the new entrance/exit from Silva Valley is uncontaminated dirt that was brought it to raise the elevation of the parking lot and road to bring them up to ADA standards.  No soil can be brought on to our campus unless it is tested.  Most of the exposed dirt we see is clean soil from the outside.  However, there is a mitigation plan in place for the whole project. 

Thank You

I appreciate the Foundation coming through with their Supply Drive again this year.  The supplies were dropped off with Department Chairs this week. I continue to be astounded every year at how much support our community gives us.  The call went out for supplies, and tons of parents started to fill the need. It feels good to work in a community that values us and invests in us. 

September 11th

Monday's Collaboration Meeting

I am changing the format and location of Monday (9/16) mornings meeting.  We were scheduled to meet in the MPR at 7:45 AM.  However, the MPR is not ideal for breaking out into departments.  The acoustics make it hard to hear.  We are going to have each department meet in a classroom Monday morning instead.  You will go directly to the classroom identified by your department chair.  We will have someone from the Admin team in each meeting to assist.  Each department will self-assess one of the Common Formative Assessments your department created using a Solution Tree provided rubric.  

Student Bulletin Video

It has been a challenge to effectively communicate with students in years when we did not have a student bulletin.  The Leadership Team has taken on the responsibility of putting together a short video to air once a week. I am extremely appreciative of Leadership taking this on.  Next week we will start to push these videos out each week.  You will see the first video on Monday.  I need everybody to play this during Flex on Tuesdays.  This is a must do.  I have been impressed with the quality of the videos I have seen from them already.  I appreciate your attention to this.

Superintendent Follow Up

Mr. Kuhlman wanted to follow up with you and pass along the last demographic study we have for the district.  This study is extensive and projects school size and growth.  Most of the data is for the district as a whole.  But the table of contents will lead you to the Oak Ridge section if you want that data separated out. 

• School Works January 2024 Study

Remembering 9/11

I had the opportunity to take part in an activity remembering 9/11 this morning in Rotary.  We went around the room and people noted a memory from that day.  The theme that kept coming out was the kindness and unity that followed.  There was a sense of this tremendous tragedy brought our nation together.  My memory was putting a VCR tape into the TV at home that morning and recording the news.  I wanted to help my World History students process it in an age were classrooms did not have cable TV or internet. I was reminded of the power and privilege we have every day to help our students understand the world and then make it a better place.  

September 5th

Celebrate Your Peer

Do you see a peer doing something amazing?  Do you see a staff member who needs kudos?  Is there a student who was kind to another person?  Is there a student who exemplifies the Oak Ridge Way? Put their name in now for a Model Trojan Award .  

Meeting Date Change

Our May 5th after school Faculty Meeting has been moved to May 12th.  The Meetings at a Glance document has been adjusted.  Please adjust your calendars as well.  Thank you.

Minga (Hall Passes)

We have five volunteers who are interested/excited to try out the new beta version of Minga's kiosk mode which should improve the process. We want to make sure we have any kinks worked out with a small pilot group before going school wide.  If everything goes well it will be coming soon.  

September 4th

Constitution Day

I am excited to share that Constitution Day is coming Tuesday, September 17th.  In first period, we will give the students a handout on the Constitution.  In Flex, I need you to show one of the two videos below on the Constitution.  They are both under three minutes.  This is a must do.  We will have copies of the handouts in your box for you well in advance.  I have put a copy of the handout below as well.  All of this will be in the Flex time calendar as well.

• Handout

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnVmIrAiQB8

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHCD4jLpbSk

Eagle Scout Beautifying Campus

Andrew  Hansen is taking on his Eagle Scout.  Part of his project is beautifying Oak Ridge.  He has taken one of the "islands" in the old quad (by the library) and made it look amazing.  He still has one more to do.  Go out and take a look when you have a minute. 

August 30th

Friday Night Live (Student Club to Stop the Use of  Drugs, Tobacco, and Alcohol in Young People)

If you are a teacher who is passionate about helping students avoid the dangers of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol we are looking for an Advisor for the Friday Night Live club.  The club/program is designed to engage youth as active leaders in promoting healthy choices among their peers.  The goal is to host Red Ribbon Week at the school. The club also finds ways to bring awareness to the student body about the dangers of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol.  There is also an option for a group of students to do presentations for middle school students about the topic.  If you are passionate about this and interested in being a paid (stipend) club advisor email me.  

Retired Teacher's Association Grant

The Retired Teacher's Association has their grant for teachers out again.  Please take a look if you are interested. 

August 27th

Mandated Training

I wanted to send a friendly reminder that we all have online mandated training we need to complete. This is coming due mid-September.  I am inserting the link to the training instructions here.  You do not need to print proof of completion.  You need to complete all the trainings that appear. 

Unity Day

We have solidified the times for Unity Day this year.  The student leaders will be trained after school on Monday February 10th.  The training will take place on February 11th, 12th, and 13th.  As a reminder, Unity Day is where the sophomores meet with Keith Hawkins and take a deep dive into school culture.  They address how people with different backgrounds and points of view should treat each other.  Keith has a gentle way of discussing race and how we all need to come together.  We break the sophomore class into three groups.  Each group will attend one of the three days.  There will be some upper classmen out assisting with the training.  More details will be coming.  

Meeting Agendas for September Set

The meeting agendas for September meeting are in the Meetings tab above.  The new Superintendent, Mike Kuhlman, will be presenting to us on the September 9th after school meeting. 

August 26th

Minga Check Out Update

I spoke with Minga about the growing trend of limiting student access to cell phones in school. I also spoke about the frustrations with students needing to log into a Chromebook to use Minga as an alternative to cell phone use.  Luckily, they have been hearing the same questions from schools all over the country.  They just finished developing something called Kiosk mode that they are committed to.  It is in beta testing , but we could run a pilot with it. I attended a training the other day and Kiosk mode is fully functional.  Unfortunately, it does not limit students based on the restrictions we have set for them yet.  They are still programing that.  But it is coming.  

I would like to find 4 or 5 teachers to pilot the program.  One, we can give feedback to the developers while they are creating it.  Two, we can see if it is a viable option for Oak Ridge.  I think it has a lot of potential.  To pilot, you would need to attend a one hour online training with Minga.  Let me know if you are interested or have questions.

Back to School Night Reminders

• Reminder: What is the number one thing parents are looking to get from Back to School Night? They want to know if there kid is with good human beings who will care for them.  

• Advisory slide show 

• Pizza in the staff (main office) around 4:30

August 23rd

Back to School Reminder

I wanted to give everyone a friendly reminder that Back to School Night is Monday. 

August 22nd

Students Moved Into Classes

I want to apologize for moving so many students two weeks into the academic year.  I know this has an impact on classes.  Having said that, I want to remind everyone that I don't want these students to make up two weeks worth of work.  Whatever work they did in their previous class can be brought over or we can give NAs.  The students should be held harmless for a move outside of their control. 

Williams Act Notice in Classrooms

We need to ensure that an updated copy of the Williams Act is posted in each classroom.  We will find a copy in your mailbox soon.  Thank you.  

Supervision Expectations

Supervision duties are starting up again. I want to remind everyone that we have written expectations for supervision duty.  I would ask everyone to review them before serving your duty.  I know that some duties are hard, but they are still important for us to do with fidelity.  I also want to share that we took feedback from last year and have added some new ideas to football supervision.  

We have purchased safety vests that identify us as staff members.  They will be kept in the ticket booth.  You can choose to wear one so students and community members know you are an official member of the staff.  You will also have the option of checking out a radio from the lead Administrator on duty if you work in an area that does not have a member of the Management team stationed.  You will need to sign it out when you begin and sign it back in when you leave.  Towards the end of last season, we fine tuned a system of barriers in the snack bar area that helped make it less chaotic.  I want to remind everyone that Athletics also pays for at least four law enforcement officers, often more, to be at the games assisting us.  We appreciate the feedback from last year, and believe the new ideas will make the events even better this year.  

Reminder: Spirit Day Friday

Friday is "Party in the USA."  Don't forget to wear your red, white, and blue. 

August 21st

Counseling Office Reminder

Please do not allow students to come to the Counseling office during Flex or Advisory time. 

Master Schedule Update

We ended up adding classes yesterday and today to bring class sizes down.  In some cases, we are collapsing classes and moving students.  The impact is going to be large enough that a significant number of you could see new students tomorrow and Thursday.  You could see new students even if your classes were not involved in a change.  

Sadly, some of these students will be frustrated with the change.  As always, please do your best to make the change as easy as possible on them.  We want to make the best of  tough situation for them. 

Spirit Day Friday

Don't forget that Friday is a Party in the USA spirit day.  Let's all show our spirit and wear our red, white, and blue.

Flag Football

This is the first year that Oak Ridge has girls Flag Football.  And today is their first game.  Students came out in huge numbers to join the team.  I want to  thank Eric Cavaliere for taking on the challenge of launching a new sport with the help of Steve White our Athletic Director.  I cannot think of a better coach to launch this team.  Come on out and help support the team this year.  

Site Council Faculty Rep

Today is the last day to nominate yourself for Site Council representative if you are interested.

August 16th

Birthday Treat

It's that time of year again.  The Foundation is asking what some of your favorites are so they can  give you a nice treat for your birthday month.  If you want to participate tell them what you like here and once a month they will come by and leave everyone a birthday treat.  

If you haven't also heard, the Foundation is busy with the supply drive so they can fill our classrooms with the things students need to learn.  They are working extra hard to get us what we need to start the year well.  A big thank you to them.

Master Schedule

We continue to work on finding ways to bring some balance to classes.  We are aware that the class sizes are still high.  I know that this has been a really hard week for some people due to these numbers. I am doing my best to visit all of the rooms with high numbers and see the impact it is having.  The district wants to meet with Principals on Monday.  They will to look at our numbers and decide what we need.  I should have an update for you late Monday or early Tuesday.    

August 15th

Site Council Faculty Volunteers Needed

Each year Oak Ridge elects three teachers to sit on the school Site Council.  The Site Council meets the first Wednesday of each month after school.  The Site Council is responsible for providing feedback on the school and district progress towards their WASC and LCAP goals.  The group approves the sites growth plan for the year. They also approve each site's categorical budgets.  It is an important role that is needed. 

Please nominate yourself for this position here.   If more people apply than we have positions, there will be a run-off election.  Please email me (apalm@eduhsd.net) if you have any questions.

Friendly Reminders

There are two upcoming dates to remember. 

• We have a faculty meeting at 7:45AM  this Monday in the MPR. We will discuss Common Formative Assessments.

• Back to School Night is Monday, August 26th at 6:00 PM.  

August 14th

Master Schedule

The Counselors have done a lot of balancing.  They are now getting a lot of level change requests.  They are currently processing through those and balancing as they go.  We hope the bulk of those will be done this week.   The district is looking through our master schedule to analyze our numbers and where we might need some help.  

Parking

The parking lot continues to move along.  We have had no additional hold ups.  They have been working on lights and electrical a lot this week. They continue the ongoing work with retaining walls. We look to still be on schedule for the end of September start of October.  I will say that the traffic signal has made a huge difference.  Pick-up and drop-off is already safer and more efficient.  It will be even better when the final lot is done and the entrance on Silva Valley is complete.

August 8th

Parking Update

We had Sheriff's Deputies set to help us this morning until they got called to the fire.  Not having them for traffic control slowed things down.  The traffic signal was also not ready to go as promised today.  But supposedly it will be available tomorrow.  But overall it was better than I thought it would be.  It ended up taking to about 8:40  to get all the cars through.  With the traffic signal working tomorrow and with what we learned today,  the situation should improve tomorrow.

Let's be patient with tardy students tomorrow as well.   However, on Monday I want to start holding students accountable.  Everyone will have had time to figure out the parking situation by then.  

Thank You

I was able to walk through a lot of classrooms today.  Everyone was so warm and welcoming.  It was a really good first day.  I also want to thank those who were outside their classrooms during passing periods helping students find their classes.  Thank you for a great start!

Reminders: Let's Start the Year Strong and Consistent

• Tardies: We will give students grace today and tomorrow.  Come Monday we will start to hold students accountable.

• Minga: All students must check out in Minga to leave your classroom.  Do everything in your power to not let students take their cell phones to the bathroom.  No more than one person out of class at a time.

• Taking Attendance: In order for us to balance classes we need attendance taken each period.  We are trying to balance and place new students in real time.  We need attendance to be taken during class.  Please know that we are aware of the classes that are over loaded and are working on it. 

• Cell Phones: I encourage everyone to use the cell phone wall holder that I offer all teachers.  

• Students Out of Class: Students cannot be outside of your class unless they are in your proximity (sight or immediately outside your door) and you can supervisor them.

We want to have an orderly, safe, welcoming campus that is structured and free of vandalism.

August 7th

Welcome Back Information

I appreciated everyone's energy and excitement yesterday.   It brought me so much joy to see how energized you were interacting with your colleagues.  I look forward to this year with you.  I have listed some important information below as a follow up to our meeting.

• Lockdown Drill: Wednesday, August 14th in Advisory.  Please update the catapult app.

• Parking Flow Map: Here is the map I promised with the flow for the next several weeks.    

• Change Your Passwords: Please take a minute and change your passwords if you have not.  

• Lunch Today in the MPR at noon.  Please come and eat with your colleagues.

Grading for Equity/Learning

Our district is once again embarking on another round of training about grading practices.  This opportunity is with the Grading for Learning/Equity folks.  We had a cohort of teachers attend it last year.  The Grading for Learning groups explore new ways to assess and grade students.  The training is filled with stimulating conversations on the purpose of grading and to best evaluate students from a grade perspective.  

The training includes in-person sessions and a coach to help you work through new approaches you might want to try.  To learn more about the group and their trainings click here.  You must be able to commit to attend the training days below.  Email me if you would like to sign up or have more questions.

Training Dates

Year 1 -Kickoff (2-Days)

• All day-Sep. 18 & 19

Workshop 1

• Nov 7th, 8:30-11am

Workshop 2

• Jan 15th 8:30-11am

Workshop 3

• March 5, 1-3:30pm

Workshop 4

• May 1, 8:30-11am  

May 24th

Have a Great Summer!

I am so proud of each and every one of you. We had another successful year.  The successes our students achieved would not have been possible without you.  What we accomplished as a staff this year involved a lot of hard work.  I am so grateful for it. Please have a restful summer.  I look forward to seeing all of you one more time tonight. 

May 22nd

Congratulations to Swim and Dive (Girls)

We received word that our Girls Swim and Dive team won a distinguished award.  I am proud of the girls and the coaches.  Please congratulate your swim and dive athletes when you see them. I am posting the honor below.

"I would like to congratulate your school for achieving the 2023-2024 Academic Champion Award in the category of Swim & Dive (Girls). Your team had the highest unweighted team grade point average among CIF Sac-Joaquin Section schools for the 2023-2024 spring season." 

Teacher Check Out

Oak Ridge uses the honor system when checking out teachers who are returning next year.  As long as the honor system continues to work we can maintain the system.  We no longer require teachers to acquire signatures before leaving for the summer. Please review the tasks that must be completed before leaving for the summer.  I appreciate everyone being diligent with this. 

May 17th

Students Out of Class

We have too many students out during class time.  It is becoming very hard to manage.  I support outdoor learning but we need to put some rules in place.  

1. Only let one student out of class at a time.  Remember, they must be checked out in Minga.  

2. We can no longer have half our class indoors and half outside.  If you want to practice outdoor teaching then take the whole class out so you can supervise them.  I don't mind if they are right outside your door and you can see them.  But I cannot have large groups of kids unsupervised out of class for any length of time. 

May 13th

Cheer Won the State Championship Again

Oak Ridge Cheer is one of the most successful programs we have on campus.  They continue to win at the highest levels both in state and the nation.  We are incredibly lucky to have the coaching staff that we do.  Please congratulate the students when you see them.  

Final Make-Up Link to Give Students

I want to review the process for when a student requests to make -up a final.  When a student requests a final make-up you provide them the link to sign themselves up.  They have to choose what time they can attend.  When you give a student a link you need to provide Sarah with the final.  Provide Sarah with either a copy of the final or instructions on how to access it online.  Place the final in an envelope with your name and the student’s name. Even if the final is online, please let Sarah know.  If there are instructions that go with an online file please provide them to Sarah in paper form with your name and the students name.  If you think there is a chance a student from your class may show up to take a final, please proactively give Sarah a copy.  The proctor will return the final to your box when the student completes it.  Below is the link to provide students to sign up for a make-up.  

• https://forms.gle/7dJhWWqLNRYgasPF8

Parking Update

The timing of the construction for the parking lot renovation is  tricky.  The County is going to cone off a lot of the parking on Silva Valley starting Wednesday to begin working on the project.  There are logistical reasons as to why they are not waiting until summer to do this.  We are going to communicate this to families tonight.  I predict that parking will be an issue starting on Wednesday. 

May 10th

Final Make-Ups

We are going to do final make-ups on Wednesday, May 29th all day.  I am interested in getting two interested people.  I would be looking for someone to work 8:00 to 12:30 and another person for 12:00 to 4:30.   You will be paid at the hourly rate.  The job entails reviewing the finals to be given, proctoring, then putting the finals back in the appropriate teachers box.  If you are interested please email me and let me know which session you prefer.  Please respond by Tuesday if you are interested.  Thank you. I will get the parent form out to everyone soon. 

Meeting Reminder

Our final faculty meeting of the year will be after school on Monday in the MPR.  I look forward to seeing everyone there.  

Start of the Year Dates

We will be releasing the finalized Meetings at a Glance for next year very soon.  We are working with our new Superintendent, Mike Kuhlman, on the start of the year kick off.  As of now, it looks like we will do the normal AM kick off with the whole district on Tuesday, August 6th.  The afternoon will be our site Welcome Back.  Wednesday, August 7th is gearing up to be the normal teacher work day.  The first day of school will be Thursday, August 8th. The exact days, times, and agendas will come this summer.  

 May 9th

Teacher Appreciation Friday

I want to remind everyone that lunch will be provided for everyone tomorrow in the MPR.  We will have tables set up to break bread with each other.  I look forward to seeing everyone there. 

Special Recognition

Our very own, Becky Pecararo earned a great honor recently.  She was inducted into the Santa Clara University Hall of Fame for volleyball.  As a junior, Becky led the Broncos into the national polls and became the first player in program history to be named an All-American. She finished her career as a three-time All-WCC honoree and was twice an All-American as the Broncos made the NCAA Tournament all four of her years. She remains the program leader with 1,812 kills.  Congratulations to Becky for this incredible honor.  

Art Show and One Acts Tonight

I encourage everyone to stop by and check out the Art Show in the Library starting at 6 tonight.  Then come over and watch the One Acts in the Theater.  They will all be great. 

May 3rd

Teacher Appreciation Week

We have partnered with the Foundation's CCRC group of parents to bring everyone a great Teacher Appreciation Week.   And although the week is about appreciating educators, I am inviting all our staff to come enjoy and celebrate with our teachers.   We are excited to celebrate all that our amazing teachers do.  I have the plan below.

• Monday: Treats will be in your mailbox

• Tuesday: A Grab and Go Breakfast will be set up in the Staff Lounge 

• Wednesday: Cards of Appreciation/Cake

• Friday:  Lunch in the MPR

Save the Date

Please save the the last Wednesday of the school year (5/22) for our End of the Year staff luncheon after finals.   We invite everyone to come to the cafeteria at 12:45 to celebrate our retiree's, those moving on, and a job well done this year.  We will have more information to come as we get closer.  

Student Achievement Awards

Yesterday afternoon we were able to honor one student from each department who showed excellence in that subject area.  We also recognized our Sal and Val for the year.  The faculty who came and spoke did a beautiful job.  There was a lot of positive energy!

Parent Safety Night

Oak Ridge partnered with the El Dorado Count Sheriff's Office and put on an information night for Parents.  The night was geared around how to keep your kids safe online.  It also shared current drug trends.  We invited parents from all of our K-8 feeder schools as well.  The parents I spoke to appreciated the information.  

May 1st

Teacher Residency Banquet

There was a nice banquet to honor the County Office of Educations first teacher Residency group.  Oak Ridge was proud to have one of their student teachers on campus all year.  But this would not have been possible without Dalisa Sanford and Cassie Tuller being mentor teachers.  I want to thank them for their work this year. It was so inspiring to see these eager teachers excited to start their career.  I have been inspired by our County taking a proactive strategy to tackle the teacher shortage in our county.  

Canceling the Staff Meeting on Monday

I am going to combine the material for this meeting into our final meeting on Monday, May 13th.  I am giving this time back to the Departments.  

Being Aware of Inappropriate Comments in Class

I know we are always vigilant about inappropriate comments being made in class.  However, I don't want to be naïve about the potential for both sides of the Palestinian and Israeli issue to be vocal on campus.  It is 100% acceptable for either side to share their opinion in an appropriate way and in the appropriate setting.  However, I want us to be vigilant to people making fun of someone who represents one of these groups. I want to be vigilant to anyone who threatens violence or harasses another person about this.  Please send students who are not appropriate to the office with a referral.   Our goal is to make sure that everyone feels safe and welcomed at school.  

April 30th

Congratulations on Prism

Congratulations to Nathan and Natalie and all of their volunteers for another successful Prism.  I also want to thank Kate Rolls for providing her technical expertise to the show.  Somehow, the show just keeps getting better with every year.  They always add in new ideas to keep it fresh.  The army of parents who volunteer to run such a massive show is equally impressive.   Our school is so fortunate to have such a robust and successful music program.  Thank you Nathan and Natalie!

Bell Schedules for 2024-25

I still can't believe it will be 2025 in the spring next year.  Time is flying by way to fast for me. Working through Leadership we have set the different bell schedules for next year.  For example, we have the start of school schedule, finals schedule, CAASPP schedules, etc.  Some of the schedules have a TBD on the date because that has not been determined yet.  But we will work on filling those in as soon as possible.  I wanted to make sure you had these as soon as possible for planning purposes.   Please let me know if you see any mistakes.

•  Bell Schedules 2024-25

April 24th

Teacher and Classified Employee of the Year Celebration

It was a wonderful time last night celebrating all of the employees of the year from different school sites.  I find it so impressive to hear what these amazing people do.  I always leave wanting to be a better educator.   Congratulations again to Keri Schnaidt and Gary Galbraith for being our Teacher and Classified Employee of the Year! I have added a picture from the event below.

STEM Fair

Oak Ridge had its annual STEM fair last night.  I want to thank the STEM Club for hosting it.  I want to thank their Advisor Paul Kuzmich for the work he put into the fair.  I also need to thank the El Dorado Hills Rotary for providing judges and prize money for the event.  And Alison Lishman was on duty last night making sure the kids had everything they needed.  It is truly a team effort to hold the event every year.  I have added a few pictures below.

April 23rd

Bell/Event Schedules for Next Year

We are feverishly working on all our schedules for next year.  We finalized bell schedules for next year in Leadership yesterday.  We are putting them into a presentable format to share with you.  We are also working on Meetings at a Glance for next year and the start of year schedule.  We will be able to share all of this soon. 

Testing Follow Up

We had some of our highest participation rates coming out of the first round of testing. Every single test was in the low 90%.  If you remember, we have to keep pulling students and testing until we get to 95%.  We run the numbers every day to see where we are.  It is always a good sign to start with such a high rate.  I am appreciative of everyone who stressed the importance of this with their students.  We also had an extremely low number of opt-outs.  The lowest number since I have been here as Principal.  Thank you for your words of encouragement to the students. 

April 16th

Testing Thank You

We are not quite done with testing yet.  We still have one more day to go.  But I want to thank everyone for the work they have done so far.  We have had very few hiccups.   All the classes got to the assemblies on time.  Teachers are doing a great job proctoring. I know this is not easy. I thank those who have done everything they are supposed. 

We have had a few disruptions to the testing environment due to classes being outside.  For tomorrow, I need all classes to stay in their class.  We can't have any more classes outside while testing is happening tomorrow.  I also only want one student out of class at a time. Thank you.

New Superintendent Visit

One change, we are going to move the meet and greet to the MPR on Thursday at lunch and provide some light refreshments and snacks.  

Percussion and Color Guard Success

Last weekend, Oak Ridge Indoor Percussion competed in the NCPA Championships at the Stockton Arena. They earned 3rd place out of 16 high schools in our division in their inaugural season. The spread between the top three ensembles was less than 0.35 (out of 100.)

The Oak Ridge Color Guard competed in the NCBA Championships last weekend as well earning 4th place in their division out of 28 schools. This year, we were able to move the color guard up 4 divisions from previous years and they are still competing at the top of their class. Please congratulate your students as you see them.

April 15th

EDH Rotary Teacher of the Year

In this mornings faculty meeting we announced that EDH Rotary chose Rose Santa Iglesia as their El Dorado Hills High School Teacher of the Year.  We can't wait to celebrate her at Rotary's upcoming event.  

Meet our New Superintendent

The new Superintendent, Michael Kuhlman will be on campus in the staff lounge this Thursday at lunch to meet anyone who is interested. This will be an informal drop in.  I encourage everyone to come by and say hello.  

Ian Book's Play Maker's

On Saturday we held a Play Maker's event on campus.  The event is sponsored by Oak Ridge alumni Ian Book.  Students with disabilities from any school in the district (and a few from other schools) joined us for a morning of inclusive activities.  Our Football team, Cheer team, and the Basketball team from Mesa Verde High School ran different activities for the kids.  It is always great to see athletes from different sports and different schools coming together to help others.  The morning was finished with a visit from the fire department and a pizza lunch.  We talked with the kids about being inclusive when they see student's with disabilities on campus or in the community.  It was a fun experience for all.  I also want to thank our special education teacher, Rachel Verdolivo for coming on Saturday to support the effort. 

April 12th

Meeting Reminder

We have a Monday morning faculty meeting  at 7:45 in the MPR.  We look forward to seeing everyone.

April 11th

Classified Employee of the Year

Every year Oak Ridge has the impossible task of naming a Classified Employee of the Year.  This year we gathered names and went over each of them.  The team looked at all the contributions made by so many people.  Ultimately, it was decided that Gary Galbraith, campus monitor, is the Oak Ridge Classified Employee of the Year.  Gary embodies what a great school staff member is.  He is compassionate, diligent, and a good  listening.  He cares about the kids and doing the best job he can.  I am proud to celebrate Gary and have him represent our school at the district celebration.  

April 10th

Teacher of the Year

For our district each school gets to pick a teacher of the year.  The teachers from all the schools are celebrated at a dinner where the teacher of the year for the whole district is announced.  This year the department chairs nominated candidates and they were all discussed and advocated for in Leadership.  I am happy to announce that the 2023-24 Teacher of the Year is Keri Schnaidt.  We have so many great teachers at Oak Ridge, and Keri is definitely one of the best.  Her work in AVID and with struggling math students is exceptional.  She does everything with a great deal of care and heart.  I am so happy that she will be representing our school.  Congratulations Keri!

CAASPP Update

I want to remind everyone that for the assemblies we need your Advisory to start in your classroom so you can take attendance.  Then you bring your students down as a class.  I need your class to sit together in the assembly so you can supervise them.  Thank you.

OR CAASPP  Info Sheet

Everything you need to know about which test and assemblies are today: School CAASPP Test/Assembly Handout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vZMiS1Rhf19ZfQ718EBhtxhVXvJQHI_Gpe-sfvVh7_w/edit?usp=sharing

April 9th

CAASPP Questions from Monday

I wanted to follow up with answers to questions that came out of Monday's CAASPP training with the faculty. 

1. Can students be on personal or school technology when they are are done testing?

• No, students cannot use any technoloy while waiting for the test session to end.  They can sit quietly, read a book, or do "paper and pencil" work.  

2. Who can you call if you need a restroom break?

• You can call Jen Szelenyi in the AP Office at 3020.

Reminder:

• Teachers need to take attendance then walk their class to the assembly.  You need to sit with your class and monitor their behavior.  We need to make sure that our students are polite to our speakers.  Thank you.

• I appreciate everyone's help with this. 

Resources: 

CAASPP CAT Test Manual/Instructions: https://ca-toms-help.ets.org/caaspp-otam/dfas/sb-cat-script/

CAASPP PT Test Manual/Instructions: https://ca-toms-help.ets.org/caaspp-otam/dfas/sb-pt-script/

CAST Test Manual/Instructions: https://ca-toms-help.ets.org/caaspp-otam/dfas/cast-script/

School CAASPP Test/Assembly Handout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vZMiS1Rhf19ZfQ718EBhtxhVXvJQHI_Gpe-sfvVh7_w/edit?usp=sharing

More Construction Out Front and Summer Parking

You will see more fencing in the front of the school.  We continue to prepare the underground utilities for the parking lot project this summer.  Right now, the project has a start date of Tuesday May 28th. This means that there will be limited parking on campus.  We intent to keep parking spaces available in the lower lot.  I will have more information as we get closer. 

April 4th

CAASPP Testing Next Week

Next week is CAASPP testing.   Whether you are proctoring the test or not, we all have a role to play for the next two weeks.  In Monday's faculty meeting we will go over everything you need to know.  We will review the testing system, assembly schedule, etc.  There will be a lot of moving pieces and we need everyone on the same page.  I will be putting out an information sheet on CAASPP tomorrow.  Here is a CAASPP information sheet we will review on Monday.

Returning Women's History Month Posters

Thank you to everyone for putting up Women's History poster's in your classroom for the month of March.  As we've moved into April, please return the posters to Sarah so we have them for next year.  As always, you can keep it up in your room if  you really want to. 

March 15th

Energy Star Renewed

Good news, we earned our energy star certification again for 2023.  This makes two years in a row.  One of the big factors has been solar.  The other factors have been the new AC controls and lights.  The light sensors have been a help and the outdoor LCD lighting contributes as well.  But most of all, the work each of you are doing in your rooms to shut everything down over the weekend and holidays helps tremendously.  Since we started down this path almost 3 years ago we have improved our energy efficiency by 99% according to the Energy Star analysis.  So congratulations to everyone for being a part of this success!

Reminder: Schedule Change Next Week

A friendly reminder that the bell schedule is different next week due to having Friday off for Spring Break.  Reminder, you can view all of the bell schedules here.  

Staff v. Student Basketball Game

A noble effort was made, but the students just beat out the staff in the basketball game last night.  We pulled out every trick we knew and still couldn't win.  We added more time to the clock, we bribed the refs, and we signed two student free agents in the second half.   Most importantly, everyone had fun and it was an enjoyable night for all.  

March 12th

Paid Solution Tree PL C Conference Taking People for a Waiting List

We have our five people for the conference.  We are now taking names for a waiting list.  If you are interested in getting on the waiting list for the conference please submit the form below.  

The Solution Tree PLC summer conference in Sacramento has opened up registration this week.  We would like to get five faculty members signed up.  Priority will go to those who have never attended a PLC conference.   The registration is paid for, your mileage and food are reimbursed.  You will also be paid hourly for the hours of the conference.  If you would like to attend, please submit this form.  Thank you.

Faculty Questionnaire on Advisory

The Guiding Coalition is asking the Faculty to please take this questionnaire about Advisory by the end of the day Thursday.   They are looking for insight into potential improvements. We need all faculty to please complete it.  Thank you.  

March 8th

Help! March Madness Players

The kids had to reschedule the March Madness students versus staff basketball game from Friday the 15th to Thursday the 14th.  Sadly, there were a lot of staff members who can't make the new date.  The event is in jeopardy of not happening now.  We wanted to make one additional call and see if anyone who wasn't already signed up, can play on the new date.  If you can make the 14th, we are in desperate need of staff members to play.  It is a lot of fun and you get a free shirt!!!  Please email Ava Western directly (west22047@gm.eduhsd.k12.ca.us) if you can play.  Thank you.

Deadline Approaching: Foundation Teacher Grant Due March 22nd

The Foundation is accepting applications for teacher grants.  I will note that most people who put in for these have their grant fulfilled.  So please don't hesitate to submit one.  You can find the form here or under the resources tab above.  We have so many parents that value what we do and donate generously to support us through the Foundation.  Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.  Please print out and submit your completed grant forms to me.  Thank you.  

Cultural Awareness Training

We held a Cultural Awareness Training with 16 staff members on Wednesday.  It was one of the better trainings I have been to.   I felt I grew from the experience, and got to know several of my peers on a deeper level. The training challenged us, and tapped into emotions for many people.  Overall it was a powerful experience we will be working on bringing back for others. 

Java and Jazz Reminder

I love this event every year.  I guarantee you will enjoy a relaxing evening of jazz, java and desserts.  I love this event because you can go and come as you want.  So come and relax and enjoy.  It is tonight in the cafeteria starting at 7pm.  

March 7th

Cancel Staff Meeting

We do not have enough material for a meeting on Monday.  So I am going to cancel Monday mornings faculty meeting.  

Rotary Speech Contest

Emily Chalmers won the Rotary Club of El Dorado Hills speech contest on Wednesday.  It was a two tier process she took part in.  Please look below for the other qualifiers who were all from Oak Ridge as well.  Please congratulate them as you see them on campus.  I need to thank Hugh Corkery (English) and Jessie McClain (College and Career Center) for putting so much work into preparing the students and helping with the process.  I also want to thank Tim Brown for encouraging students like Emily to enter.  I am continuously inspired by all of you and the great things you do for kids. 

• 1st - Emily Chalmers 

• 2nd - Amit Jaikumar 

• 3rd - Ari Chi 

• 4th - William Hong, Abhinav Arjula (2 Way Tie)

Sheriff's Office and  the Life Fitness Self-Defense Unit

The Sheriff, our SRO Deputy Rude, and another deputy were on campus today speaking to Life Fitness students about self-defense and keeping themselves safe.  Sheriff Leikauf was an SRO at Oak Ridge in 2004 and 2005.  He has a lot of roots in education, and is a big supporter of youth and education.  We appreciate him giving his time and being on campus today.   I also want to thank the Life Fitness Department for continuing to grow and improve their self-defense unit.  

March 5th

Sharing Best Practices

Thank you again to Denise for sharing literacy strategies in the faculty meeting yesterday.  If there are others who want to share their classroom best practice, we would love to have you.  Please submit your idea here.  Thank you.

Switching from African American History Month to Women's History Month

Like last year, we are collecting the African American History Month posters we distributed in February.  If you would like to keep yours up go ahead.  But if you are taking it down we would like it back for next year.  Please return those to Sarah by Thursday.

We will be putting out the Women's History Posters no later than tomorrow for you to pick up.  If you already have yours from last year then please do not pick up new ones.  Please come and get one between Wednesday and Friday if you do not have any.  I need these up in every classroom by the end of the day Friday.  Thank you.

Still One More Slot Open: Paid Solution Tree PL C Conference This Summer

The Solution Tree PLC summer conference in Sacramento has opened up registration this week.  We would like to get five faculty members signed up.  Priority will go to those who have never attended a PLC conference.   The registration is paid for, your mileage and food are reimbursed.  You will also be paid hourly for the hours of the conference.  If you would like to attend, please submit this form.  Thank you.

February 29th

Paid Solution Tree PL C Conference This Summer

The Solution Tree PLC summer conference in Sacramento has opened up registration this week.  We would like to get five faculty members signed up.  Priority will go to those who have never attended a PLC conference.   The registration is paid for, your mileage and food are reimbursed.  You will also be paid hourly for the hours of the conference.  If you would like to attend, please submit this form.  Thank you.

Assemblyman Patterson on Campus Friday at Lunch

An Oak Ridge student entered a contest with Assemblyman Patterson's office.  He wrote legislation and submitted his idea to the Assemblyman as part of a contest.  The Assemblyman picked his legislation as the winner.  As the winner, the Assemblyman will now actually try to carry this bill forward and make it law.  The Assemblyman will be in B-3 at lunch to surprise this student and announce them as the winner.  I am inviting everyone to come support this student on Friday and join us on Friday during lunch in B-3.

February 27th

Foundation CRCC Bringing Crumbl Cookies

The Foundation's CRCC wants to surprise everyone Thursday with a sweet treat.  They appreciate all the work everyone is doing and parents want to show their appreciation with some sugary goodness.  The cookies will arrive shortly before lunch on Thursday.  The hope is everyone can have some dessert with lunch.  There will be one for every single staff member on campus. 

Foundation Teacher Grant Time

The Foundation is accepting applications for teacher grants.  I will note that most people who put in for these have their grant fulfilled.  So please don't hesitate to submit one.  You can find the form here or under the resources tab above.  We have so many parents that value what we do and donate generously to support us through the Foundation.  Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.  Please print out and submit your completed grant forms to me.  Thank you.  

Peer Advocacy Site Coordinator

With the support from the County Office of Education, our district is flying a Peer Advocacy Site Coordinator position.  This position is available to classified or certificated. You can find the complete job description here.  The stipend for this position is $3000.  Everyone who is interested can apply directly to me in writing (email will work) with why you are interested in the position.  I will accept submissions up to the end of the workday this Friday.  

February 16th

Cheer Wins National Title

The Oak Ridge Cheer team came in first place at nationals for the second time.  The team won the ESPN Wide World of Sports UCA Championships in Orlando.  This is an incredibly talented group of young people who have worked hard for this honor.  The dedication and skill of their coaches is exemplary as well.  Our community is fortunate to have this team and the coaching staff we do.  Please congratulate the girls if you see them.  

Cultural Awareness Training

Today is the last day to sign up for the training if you are interested.  If you would like to be a part of it, please sign up here.  The details are below.  

February 8th

Reminder: Cultural Awareness Training (Sign Up)

We are contracting with DEI trainer Carlos Da Silva.  You can learn more about Carlos here.  I have had a great time working with him on this training.  He is kind and patient.  The training will be crafted based on the needs that rise in the survey we are taking as a school this week.  However, you can learn more about his training philosophy here.  I have spoken with several surrounding districts who appreciated his work with them.  

The training will be on Wednesday, March 6th from 8:30 to 300.  It will be an online training that will involve a lot of discussions and activities in break out rooms.  If you would like to be a part of this training, please sign up here.  We will schedule the substitute for you.  There is a limit to the number of people who can attend.  This training is open to all staff members.   I look forward to filling this training and taking part myself.  

Oak Ridge Alumni in the Super Bowl

Alumni Ross Dwelley is a tight end for the 49ers.  Unfortunately, he is out injured and will not be able to play on Sunday.   But he has been a part of getting the team to the big game.  There is a nice article and great video piece from KCRA with our own, Eric Cavaliere.  You can read the article and watch the news piece here.  Go Niners!  Congratulations to our athletic program for helping our young people find success at the highest levels. 

Rally Schedule Tomorrow

Please don't forget that we have a rally schedule tomorrow.  Please bring your students to the event and stay with them in the gym.  We are each responsible for the supervision of the students in our care.  The rally should be a lot of fun tomorrow, see you there.

Coffee is Back

The new coffee maker is here.  Rest assured we will have caffeine back in the staff lounge tomorrow.  

February 7th

Partnership for Tomorrow

You will be included in a Parent Square going out to the community tonight.  I wanted you to be informed in case people in the community ask you about it.  Folsom has done this program for 29 years.  It is the program I discussed in the faculty meeting on Monday.  For those not in the meeting, this program targets leaders on our campus and teaches them ethics and leadership skills.  It also gives them a chance to work with business mentors.  The program is being sponsored and supported by three local Rotary clubs, Sheriff Leikauf, and many local businesses.  I am passionate about not only getting this off the ground at Oak Ridge, but also at our other three comprehensive sites.  The message going out tonight will ask parents to volunteer and represent their industry at the event.  Please pass it along to any friends you have in the community who might be interested.  There are a lot of good things happening at Oak Ridge these days!

February 6th

Coffee Maker Broken

The coffee maker died and we had to throw it out.  But fear not, we have ordered another one and we should have coffee again soon.  I hope we can all make it to then. LOL

Cultural Awareness Training (Sign Up)

We are contracting with DEI trainer Carlos Da Silva.  You can learn more about Carlos here.  I have had a great time working with him on this training.  He is kind and patient.  The training will be crafted based on the needs that rise in the survey we are taking as a school this week.  However, you can learn more about his training philosophy here.  I have spoken with several surrounding districts who appreciated his work with them.  

The training will be on Wednesday, March 6th from 8:30 to 300.  It will be an online training that will involve a lot of discussions and activities in break out rooms.  If you would like to be a part of this training, please sign up here.  We will schedule the substitute for you.  There is a limit to the number of people who can attend.  This training is open to all staff members.   I look forward to filling this training and taking part myself.  

Reminder: Share a Best Practice

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." – Helen Keller

I shared at the last meeting how I want to create opportunities for teachers to share classroom practices, lessons, etc. at our school wide collaboration meetings.  If you are interested in taking part of a meeting or even a whole meeting to share something you are proud of drop your idea here.  

February 2nd

Bring Your Chromebook to Faculty Meeting on Monday

We have our next faculty meeting Monday after school in the MPR.   I will need everyone to bring a Chromebook to the meeting.  I have spoken with everyone about bringing cultural awareness training to the school.  In the meeting, we will take an anonymous survey individually to assess our strengths and weaknesses in this area.  I will share more details on Monday.  I will also share information about the first training we will hold for volunteers this year.  

January 31st

Black History Month

Black History Month is every year in February.  Like last year, we have posters for everyone to put up in their classrooms.  However, most of you kept your poster from last year.  If you kept your poster please put it back up.  I ordered new ones for this year, but don't have enough for everyone to take a new one.  The new ones are spread out in the staff lounge in the main office.  If you need one please take one.  I need every classroom to have one up for the month of February.  I need the posters up by Friday.   I also want to thank Matt Hodgins who puts a lot of energy into the Black History door art every year.  Every year it is one of the coolest projects on our campus.  Thank you.

Chinese New Year

We also have some decorations up in the main office to celebrate Chinese New Year which is coming up.  I want to thank a generous parent who donated these to us last year. 

January 30th

Share a Best Practice

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." – Helen Keller

I shared at the last meeting how I want to create opportunities for teachers to share classroom practices, lessons, etc. at our school wide collaboration meetings.  If you are interested in taking part of a meeting or even a whole meeting to share something you are proud of drop your idea here.  

French Honor Society

The French Honor Society inducted new members today at lunch.  It is always impressive to see how many young people are doing great things academically.  A big thank you to Kristina Argueta for advising the club and making it what it is.  I am so glad our students have this opportunity.  

January 29th

Congratulations Academic Decathlon Team!!!

The Oak Ridge Academic Decathlon team won a decisive victory this weekend.  They are proudly bringing the trophy back to Oak Ridge.  The team will be moving on to the State Championships in Sacramento.  It is very special to see these kids passionately engaged in academics and excelling at it.  Every year it is a special team, and this year was no  exception.  The school also cannot thank coach Jeff Hassian enough.  Every year he puts forth an incredibly strong program.  These kids don't succeed without a game plan and coach willing to pour in the time.  Jeff is amazing, and our kids and school are lucky to have him!

Open House Thank You

I want to thank everyone for their professionalism and time tonight.  Open House has become a real showcase night for our incoming 9th grade families.  As I roamed around I enjoyed seeing everyone engaged with parents.  I think we need to revisit whether we really need 90 minutes or not.  But otherwise, the night went well and the parents I spoke to were happy with the event.  Thank you for being here and making families feel welcome.  

AI PD Opportunity

The County Office of Education (EDCOE) is offering a new training on AI for educators.  It is a virtual training broken into four sessions.  EDCOE has put out a flyer to explain the details of the training.  You also sign up at the link in the flyer if you are interested.  

January 23rd

Do You Have a Senior At Another School in our District

I want to share a reminder for those with seniors.  f you have a senior in another school in our district and would like to request special seating, please reach out to the school now and ask.  These requests are easy to accommodate now, but almost impossible in April and May.   

January 22nd

Oak Ridge Band and Choir Honors

This weekend, Oak Ridge Band and Choir were part of the Northern California Band and Choir Directors Association Honor Ensemble weekend at Cal Poly Humboldt. Here are the highlights of the event for Oak Ridge. 

• Oak Ridge Music had students in all four performing ensembles: 

  • Jazz Choir: Hamza Khan

  • Jazz Band: Aidan Chen

  • Concert Choir: Howie Martin, Caden Phipps, David Gleichenhaus, Isaac Merritt, Aki Griffith, Avery Morgan, Charlotte Halleus, Eliza Stephen, Brooklyn McLelland, Chloe Doucette 

  • Concert Band: Sydney Zak, Morgan Taylor, Lexi Aloot, Caden Alber, Sungwoo Cho, Isaac Cha

• Aiden Chen had an awesome alto sax solo in the jazz band. 

• Howie Martin was one of two chosen soloists in the concert choir. 

• Avery Morgan was awarded the Ken Putnam Choral Music Award which includes a $300 college scholarship. 

Please congratulate Natalie and Nathan when you see them.  And congratulate these students when you see them.  

January 18th

Faculty Meeting Monday

I wanted to remind everyone that we have a faculty meeting after school this Monday.  I have put the agenda in the meeting tab above.  The agenda is full so we will work to be efficient.  

Thank You for a Smooth Start to the Second Semester

I appreciate the work everyone put into launching the new semester.  It does not happen without everyone doing their job well.  There is not a single person who doesn't need to put some extra energy into making the transition to the spring happen.  I am always appreciative of everyone doing their part.  Thank you!

Cell Tower Update

In the near future Verizon is finally going to put in their tower at the stadium.   They seem to have a lot of energy in getting this in place sooner than later.  This will help the cell service in this area for Verizon users and be a benefit to our school.  I will give you updates as I get them.  

January 11th

MLK Remembrance

I know we are all excited about the three day weekend coming up.  And it is always nice to remember the reason why we get them.  Dr. King's commitment to nonviolent activism and his pivotal role in the American civil rights movement made the world a better place.  Enjoy the time.  

Reminders/Updates

I wanted to remind everyone that we have Open House on Monday the 29th.  This event serves two purposes for us.  One, it is a time for families to touch base with you.  Second, it is a time for 8th grade parents to ask questions and learn about classes their students might want to take.  We live in the age where 8th graders have choices about where to go to school.  As a school, we do our best to show them why Oak Ridge is the best choice for them.  

The restructuring of the parking lots is still on schedule to happen this summer.  We have already seen a lot of work happening in the front of the school, and we will likely see more.  One portable on the corner of the entrance to the upper lot and Harvard Way was moved over winter break to make room for the updates.   We are keeping our fingers crossed that the project will stay on time.  

January 8th

Welcome Back

I hope everyone feels rested and ready to take on the second semester.  I know having the second week off after the new year was life altering.  I feel more rested  and relaxed than in previous years.  I look forward to continuing the work on our school goals together.  Here is to a great semester of teaching and learning.  

Master Schedule Updated

I have included an updated version of the master schedule for your reference.  It is an Excel that has the schedule by last name or by department.  You can select the different options in the tabs.  I will also include a link to this in the resources tab above.

December 20th

Happy Holidays

I wish everyone a great break.  I can't believe we are five days from Christmas.   I enjoyed sharing a meal and some goodwill with everyone yesterday.  I hope your break is restful and full of cheer with loved ones.  We did incredible work this semester and can be proud of ourselves and what we did for families.  I look forward to being back with everyone in the New Year and making great things happen next semester.  Thank you.

Updates for When We Return

Over the last week we have had to collapse three sections.  We ended up having far fewer students than the district staffed us for and they requested that we make adjustments.  How will this impact you?  A healthy number of students in these collapsed classes will see significant change in their schedule.  You  might end up seeing students removed or added to your classes in January.  Thank you for your understanding.  

December 18th

Luncheon Reminder

I wanted to remind everyone to join us after finals tomorrow for lunch.  The Leadership class with Jen Slinger's guidance will be providing Chipotle for everyone.  I wanted to remind everyone that we will be honoring a few of our peers.  So please stick around, enjoy lunch, enjoy the company, and watch some of your colleagues get recognized.  Thank you. 

December 13th

Notices in Classrooms

Thank you for completing the "Required Classrooms Posters to Display" survey.   We are currently printing/ordering the necessary posters and will put them in your box .  You will  begin to see them appear in your box one at a time between now and when we return from break. 

Tuesday's Luncheon

I look forward to seeing everyone at the staff luncheon on Tuesday after finals.  I appreciate Jen and the Leadership class doing this for us.  We will also be celebrating some of our peers and handing out Model Trojan Awards.  I look forward to breaking bread with everyone and enjoying some holiday cheer. 

Attendance

It is not a surprise to anyone that we continue to have attendance lower than our pre-COVID levels.  We used to hover in the 97% range every day.  Now we hover in the high 94%.   This is a huge problem across the nation.  I have communicated with schools around us and their rate is even lower.  As a district we are making changes to our attendance system to try and improve these numbers.  The district has partnered with a company that helps drive up attendance.  They are putting work into contacting families and trying to help them understand the importance of daily attendance.  Our hope is that their strategy will begin to increase daily attendance.  We just started the new process this week.  I also have to give major kudos to Amber Carrion.  She is busting her tail staying on top of it and holding students accountable.  She is also the person working with this company on getting notices out and spearheading the charge.  As part of this process I will also be sharing with our whole school community the benefits to school attendance. 

December 8th

Teacher Advisor Needed

I met with Makenna Crawford and her father who have started an entrepreneur program for young people.  I have been able to meet with them and go over the materials.  They are currently running this program in several other schools in the area as well.  The goal of the program is to teach entrepreneur skills.  They kids end up doing hands on work and creating a product.  They are looking for a classroom and advisor.  The program would run for 90 minutes after school once a week for 10 weeks.  The program is completely free.  Would anyone be willing to host them?  Thank you.

School Spirit

Jen and our Leadership Students have designed a lot of fun ways to lift school spirit next week.  We will have spirit days and the Powder Puff Football game leading up to finals week.  Powder Puff will be Thursday at 5:30. Wednesday's spirit day will be Holiday Gear.  Friday's spirit day will be flannel.  Please encourage your kids to take part in the fun. Please join us in the fun next week.  Let's find our holiday gear and flannel and have fun. 

Minga and Phone Thank You

I want to thank everyone for continuing to use Minga and (to the best of your ability) not having students leave with their phones. The vandalism continues to be very minimal. We are not seeing nearly as many students congregating in the restroom as we used too. We also have fewer students roaming the halls and the amount of time students are in class is still up.  I appreciate your efforts and feel this has had a positive effect on our school.  The condition and overall environment in the bathrooms is night and day different. Even parents are commenting on how their students feel safer in the restrooms.

December 1st

Monday Mornings Meeting

Lately, I've been focused on modified tests for special education and EL students.  It is not always easy to modify these assessments in a timely way.  We are going to spend more time in the coming months on what modifications look like for students who have them in their IEP or EL support plan.  Monday morning, we will give you the gift of time to work on this for your final.  I will email you a document with examples to assist you with this later.  

I find it easiest to create one modified version of your final that will work for every student with modifications.  To do this, you eliminate redundant questions.  Ideally, you only use one or two questions to assess a standard.  For content-driven assessment, we lower the rigor to a level that all students can do, but the question still assesses whether the student knows the content or not.  I know there are not a lot of students with modifications built into their support.  But we must do this for those students.  If you already have modified your final or don't have any students needing modifications, you can use the time to catch up on grading, etc.  

 November 30th

Procedure for Students Making Up Finals

Like the last few years, we will have a make-up day for finals towards the end of winter break.  This is an option for you.  I'm providing you the link to the procedures here.  You will need to provide the student and their parent with the link (embedded in the procedures) to sign up.   

Notice Survey

We want to make sure we have the appropriate notifications in every classroom.  To do that, we need to know how many additional notifications we need to print for everyone.  I need everyone to please take this survey and let us know if you need any of these notices for your room.  I appreciate it.

November 28th

The Finish Line

Welcome back from Thanksgiving break.  This is the time of year we both love and hate.  We look forward to the holidays, wrapping up the semester, and starting new in January.  But we also realize how much we still have to do in three weeks.  I hope everyone was able to get some rest over the break.  I was able to stay home this year.  The lack of traveling helped me feel recharged today.  I look forward to gearing up for the holidays with everyone and finishing the semester strong.  We will all come together to celebrate before we break.  

I want to remind everyone that finals week looks different this year.  We get three full weeks of instruction followed by an abbreviated finals week.  Winter break starts on Thursday this year.  On the final week, we will have a final schedule on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  I don't remember doing it like this before.  I think it will make those final three days fly by.  

Schedule Change this Week (CA Healthy Kids Survey)

This Wednesday, we administer the California Healthy Kids Survey.  We have a lengthened Flex Time to accommodate the testing of the 9th and 11th graders.  Please have a look at the Flex Time calendars for more instructions on this.  Alison is the Admin in charge of the CHKS this year if you have questions.  We will also bring back and once again give our school's own assessment of student stress to the 10th and 12th graders during this time.  This assessment is much shorter than the CHKS.  The instructions for this assessment are also in the Flex Time calendar. 

Picture Wall Updated

Sarah and crew worked countless hours over break and updated the photo wall in admin.  We have pictures up for all the new folks.  So come on down and see your bright, shiny, happy faces.  

November 17th

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It has been great talking to so many of you and hearing your plans for the break.  I know I will be visiting family and recharging my batteries.  It is that time of year when we come back from break and blink, and half the school year is over.  This year, like every year, I appreciate all of you!  

November 16th

Emi Madsen Featured in the News

Oak Ridge Cross Country Athlete Emi Madsen was featured in Gold Country Media this week for her outstanding achievements.  Emi is not only an athlete at Oak Ridge, but she is the daughter of colleague and OR Japanese teacher Julia Madsen.  The article highlights how Emi is a freshman competing on the varsity level and helped propel the team to the State Championships over the break.  Congratulate Emi when you see her.  You can read the article here.  

Dunking for Dollars

Fun was had at lunch today dumping water on staff and students. Students could donate money to charity for a small bucket of water.  I want to thank our staff who came out and made it fun for the students.  Thank you Rob Skaggs, Dave Warren, Kate Rolls, Hugh Corkery, Jen Slinger, Breanne Wymore, and Rob Slinger.   We all got soaked to the bone.    

November 15th

Appreciations

I wanted to share a positive affirmation of our work with everyone.  When I first took on the job eight years ago, the school board held its annual meet and greet with a random group of students on campus.  At that time, the students had a lot of complaints and felt a lot of pressure and stress related to school.  The meeting did not feel very good.   Last night, the board met with a large group of students again.  However, this meeting was the opposite of the one eight years ago.  There were two takeaways from last night.  One, the students would not stop talking about how much their teachers cared about them.  They felt a connection to their teachers and the staff.  They felt genuinely cared for at school.  Second, they anecdotally felt less stress and pressure coming from school.   The meeting was complimentary and upbeat.  I want to thank you for the care and work you have put into our students. I appreciate each of you.

Appreciations Part II

It is time to nominate a staff or student for a Model Trojan Award.  We had a great luncheon for the students last month.  Please make sure to give us the names of the students and staff going above and beyond and living our school values by the end of the week.  Thank you.

November 9th

Congratulations/Thank You

We have received our subgroup CAASPP data and it is a cause for congratulations.   Earlier in the year, we got the news that all our students improved their performance on the CAASPP test.  We now have data that our special education students also improved.  But they did not just improve a little.  They improved a lot.  (Data table below) This does not happen by accident.  This happened because each of you took our focus on this subgroup seriously and worked hard at it.   Our special education teachers need additional kudos for the daily work they do with our diverse learners.  There is no way to thank you enough for this.  As a small token of appreciation and a way to celebrate good news, we will be serving coffee (good stuff) and some breakfast items for everyone in the staff lounge on Monday morning.  I hope not having to worry about coffee and food will make getting to work a little easier on Monday.  Thank you.  I invite all staff to come by and get some coffee and food on Monday morning. 

Monday Morning Meeting Plan

After you get your coffee and food on Monday, you will meet with your PLC or your Department.  I am leaving the choice up to your Department Chair.  All faculty need to be engaged in one of these activities.  I am appreciative of the work I see happening within the PLCs.  I am excited about what we are building together.  

Flex Time Update 1

I wanted to reinforce the proper use of the attendance green slips for Flex time.  Please do not sign a green slip saying a student was with you for Flex if you are not the reason why they are there. Students are intentionally going to the wrong Flex to avoid a teacher.  They then ask that teacher a day or two later to fill out a green slip acknowledging they were there.  

If a student goes to the wrong Flex, that is on them.  They need a consequence for going to the wrong Flex.  It is not your responsibility to fix their problem.  We would get 50 to 100 green slips a day when the year started.  The attendance office can't handle this, and kids need to be where they belong.  My goal is to get the number down to 3 or 4 a day.  Please only sign a green attendance slip for Flex if you are the reason why the students attended your Flex instead of the one they were signed up for. 

Flex Time Update 2

Flex is an excellent time to assist struggling learners.  Sadly, students avoid struggle.  I joke that I avoid golf because I am bad at it.  Students do the same thing with subjects they struggle with.  Please focus on those students who are struggling in your class, pull them into Flex, and help them catch up.  Thank you.

Weekly Update

November 3rd

Schedule Reminder

The holiday season is upon us.  It all starts with a short week.  We have a shortened block day on Monday and no school on Friday.  You can look at the bell schedule on the website. 

Thank You

I am at an Education Conference today, and I want to thank all of you.  I know we have great things happening at our schools.  But when I talk with educators from all over the country and listen to them, I am eternally grateful for every one of you.  I hear them talk about all their troubles, all their struggles, all their conflicts, etc.  And I can't empathize with them.  All I can tell them is, when I walk into classrooms I see great teaching every time. When I see our classified staff, they are dedicated and working hard and making education possible every day.  I see teachers and classified stepping into leadership roles.  I see a community that supports and appreciates us.  I see kids who come ready to learn (not always happy about it, LOL) but ready to learn. I love conferences because of the gold nuggets I walk away with.  But I really love them because I'm reminded of how great each of you are.  I feel so fortunate to work with you.  

Message to Senior Parents Last Night

Senior Parents,

It has come to our attention that some seniors are planning a "ditch day" tomorrow.  Senior ditch days are never allowed.  But they are really not allowed or acceptable this early in the year.  We are asking all senior parents to make sure your student is at school tomorrow.  Please do not call your student in sick unless they are genuinely sick. 

Teachers work hard to make sure that every day matters in school.  Work that is done in class is difficult to make up.  We will work to make sure that students who cut school tomorrow do not have the opportunity to make up work.  It is not acceptable for seniors to willingly miss school.  I want to thank our parents for working with us and making sure your student is at school tomorrow. 

Aaron Palm

 November 2nd

Monday Meeting Moving to Department/PLC Time

I want to let you know that we have nothing urgent to meet about right now.  So we are moving Monday's meeting to either department or PLC time.  My expectation for this time is that the faculty is meeting and working in some capacity, whether as a department meeting or moving forward with your PLC.  Thank you. 

Potential Senior Ditch Day

It would seem some seniors are planning a ditch day tomorrow.  We are sending a message to senior parents informing them this is not school sponsored and students need to be in class.  We are going to clearly communicate to parents that this is not an acceptable practice. 

October 31st

Dia de lose Muertos Sugar Skull Walk with Student Work

Oak Ridge, EDHS, and Union Mine Visual Arts and Spanish programs contributed to the Day of the Dead ofrendas displayed on Main Street Placerville.  One of them will be in honor of Chris Moore.   You can learn more about the event here.  https://sugarskullartwalk.com/  I hope everyone can make it.  Please see the graphic below.  

Staff Costumes at Lunch

Let's meet on the Leadership Lawn (by N-1 and the flag poles) at the beginning of lunch to parade through the quads like last year! Students are excited to see what everyone is wearing!   

October 25th

Owen Clark Services

I have been able to confirm that Owen's services will be this Saturday at 11 AM at 2100 California Cir, Rancho Cordova, CA, 95742.  You can read his obituary here.  

Chris Moore's Services 

In remembrance of Chris’ life, and to honor his memory, the family has made arrangements for a memorial mass at Holy Trinity Parish at 11:00 AM on Saturday, October 28th. Following the mass, there will be a reception at Ponderosa High School in the Cafeteria. The reception will start at approximately 12:30 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend.  

October 24th

Wellness Center Protocol

I want to remind everyone of our protocol for how to use the Wellness Center.  We have a process in place for routing students to the Wellness Center and it's important that we follow it.   Please communicate with your student's counselor if you believe they need to see the Wellness Center. The Wellness Center is not designed to communicate with everyone.  I appreciate you communicating with our site counseling team to get students to the Wellness Center. 

Flex Reminders for Teachers

The longer we do flex time, the more loopholes the kids find that we need to close up.  Here are some changes we are making.  We discussed these changes in Leadership yesterday.  If you need greater detail on any of these ask your department chair or myself.  We will review these again in our next faculty meeting. Thank you.

Green Slips: Students are claiming to not know where they are going and attending the wrong flex time.  They then come to you and ask for a green slip to excuse them since they were there.  This is very nice of you, but the kids are doing it to avoid going where they are supposed to be.  It is completely on the student to know where they are supposed to be.  We ask that you do not sign any green slip unless you are why the student was not in the correct class.   Our goal is to get the number of green slips every day down from around 50 to one or two.  We need students to work with the teachers who are pulling them and not avoid the class.  Thank you.

Cafeteria/Peer Tutoring: Unlike last year, every student has a place to be.  We no longer have an overflow space.  This has allowed us to use the cafeteria for peer tutoring.  It has turned into a really powerful time for students.  Please do not send students to the cafeteria if they ask to go.  They need to be in the flex they are signed up for.  If they want to be in the cafeteria, there is nothing stopping them from doing that the right way and signing up for it.

Bell to Bell in Flex: Students must remain in class for the duration of flextime.  Students are leaving flex time early and coming to the cafeteria to get food and disrupting the peer tutoring.  We all need to make sure students are with us until the bell rings every period. 

Discrimination/Harassment Posters

Final reminder to pick one up in the lounge and make sure you have it up in your classroom.  Thank you. 

Chris Moore Remembrance Book

I will leave the book out in the staff lounge for the rest of the week.  I will deliver it to the family this weekend.  Please feel free to add stories or memories of Chris.  We want his family to know his impact on the world while at work.

October 20th

Mindful of Struggling Students

My biggest fear following a student's death by suicide is the potential for copycats.  We had a student cut her wrist on campus today by the locker room.  Two students saw it happen.  One student got a teacher, and the other walked her to the Health Office.  Both students did the right thing, and we are proud of them.  

The cut was not life threatening, but it was deep.  We got the student to the ER, and she will be evaluated for help.  I will send an individual message to Ariana's teachers next.  We must remain vigilant in the coming weeks for students needing assistance.  Please take a moment to review these suicide risk factors and the warning signs of teen suicide.  If you are concerned about a student, please let us know.  We will have the Wellness Center assess them.  

October 19th

Coming Together Tomorrow

For anyone interested, we will come together tomorrow at lunch in the MPR and share memories and stories about Chris.  I think it will be a good way to talk about our feelings and share our thoughts about him.  We will bring some refreshments and snacks for everyone.  We will have the tables out so folks can eat their lunch and share at the same time.   I will also bring a memory book tomorrow.   It will be in the staff lounge all day.  I will bring it to the MPR at lunch.  You can add your condolences for Chris' family or any other words you want his family to know.  It is unofficial and might change, but services are being planned for sometime on Saturday the 28th. 

Grief

Many students and staff are going to be struggling with grief for the foreseeable future.  Times like these are a good reminder that grief is not always linear and does not look the same for everyone.  As we always do, we will have extra patience and understanding with those who might need the next several weeks to process their loss.  I found good information about grief on WebMD.  There is a lot of information about what we will likely see in affected students.  Again, I spoke with the Wellness Center today and they are ready to privately support any staff member.   It is good for us to familiarize ourselves with the stages of grief and know when we might need a little help as well. 

Shake Out Earthquake Drill

Thank you for working with your students and teaching them about the potential for an earthquake.  Although it is unlikely, it is good to be prepared.  I appreciate you helping us with this.  How we treat these drills sends a message to students about how seriously we take their safety.

October 18th

Chris Moore Update

Chris was taken off of life support on Monday.   As of yesterday afternoon, he was still with us.  We have not received any new updates on his condition today.  I will keep you informed as I learn information.  

October 17th

Owen Clark Update

I was able to speak with Owen's parents yesterday.  It was important for them that we know two things.  One, they love Oak Ridge and think we do a great job.  They had praise for his teachers.  Second, they don't want anyone feeling any guilt or feeling they missed something.  They are coming to grips with the loss and how it happened.  They do not want their son forgotten and want to help others somehow.  But they are still in the throws of grief and trying to figure out their next steps.  

They don't have this set in stone yet,  but they believed his funeral would be sometime on Saturday, October 28th, at the LDS Church in El Dorado Hills.  But they will get us the details when that is confirmed. 

I want to thank everyone for their help yesterday.  All the students who asked for help received it.  We had some students who concerned us but did not want help.  We will continue checking in on them to ensure they are alright.  I want to thank everyone who gave us student names to follow up on.  It was helpful.  I appreciate what all of you are doing.  

School Response to Suicide

As Pam said yesterday, there is no definitive answer on whether suicide contagion is real.  Having said that, there are adopted guides for how schools manage the loss of a student due to suicide.  One of the pillars is not doing anything that can be misinterpreted as "glorifying" the passing or bringing undue attention to it.  For example, it is alright for a class to talk about it and do an activity to help the students process the loss.  However, the school holding a candlelight vigil or any schoolwide memorial would be frowned upon.  The logic is that a school does not want a lonely student to see the positive attention one can get from this.  It is a challenging concept to manage, and there is a lot of gray that is hard to decipher.  As a school, we do not control what friends or family do.  We only control what we do.  Thank you for being mindful of this.  

Chris Moore

I know we are all watching the Caring Bridge site.  We have not received an update on Chris yet. I promise we will push that out the second we get it.

Discrimination/Harassment Reporting Poster

Reminder, please pick up your discrimination and harassment reporting poster from the staff lounge and replace the old one in your room with it.   I need these up by the end of the week. Thank you.

October 14th

Chris Moore Update

I know we all saw the news from Dr. Carruth about Chris.  If you are like me, this is just a lot to process and accept.  The sadness I feel is profound.  We know the news will affect everyone differently.  We want to make sure that everyone is supported in this moment.  Chris is still with us for the moment, but the doctors have indicated that his passing is imminent.  The Wellness Center will be ready to help anyone who needs it.  Being that Chris was the father of an Oak Ridge student there may be some impacted students as well.  The Wellness Center will prioritize helping people mourning his loss.  If you need access to the Wellness Center you can walk out there (blacktop behind the large gym and next to the O Building) or contact them at (530) 280-2009 or trojanwellness@eduhsd.k12.ca.us.  

As a site, we are planning on putting together some type of memorial for his family when the time comes.  It will be symbolic of Oak Ridge and how much we appreciated him as a co-worker and friend.  We will obviously pass along updates as they come in.

October 13th

Earthquake Drill (Great American Shakeout)

The Great American Shakeout is on October 19 (Thursday) during Flex. We will be having a short drill towards the beginning of Flex. Please take a look at the Earthquake Procedures here.  Please read the entire document in advance to know what to do.  Thank you.

Model Trojan Awards

We will be honoring nominated students for the Model Trojan awards very soon.  Today is the last day to get student names in for this round.  Reminder, if you nominate a student, you get to enjoy the free lunch as well.  It is always a feel good event. However, you don't have to attend the celebration if you nominate someone.  You can nominate a student or staff member here.  Thank you.

Busy 48 Hours

The Homecoming Game is tonight, followed by the dance tomorrow night.  We also have the PSAT tomorrow morning.  This will be the first time we do the all digital version of the PSAT.  

October 12th

CHKS Schedule

On Wednesday, Nov. 29th, Freshman and Junior advisory teachers will administer the California Healthy Kids Survey.  All students will be in their Advisory classes on Nov. 29th. We will be on a modified bell schedule as this test requires more time than Advisory affords.  The 9th and 11th grade advisory teachers will receive information regarding the administration of the CHKS in advance. Please see the CHKS bell schedule on our school website for the week of Nov. 27-Dec. 1. 

Parking on Friday After School

I wanted to remind everyone that on game days, we need to clear out the parking lot by maintenance and the R-building by 430.  We have the Homecoming game this Friday.  I appreciate your help.  

Monday Morning Meeting Reminder

I want to remind everyone that we have a school wide collaboration meeting for faculty in the MPR at 7:45.  The agenda can be found at the meeting tab above.  

Harassment/Discrimination Reporting

Over the years, we have had various classroom posters informing students how to report bullying, harassment, or discrimination.  Over the years, the signage gets old or isn't relevant any longer.  We were able to get new posters made and updated with the input and help of some students.  It is an expectation that these are in every classroom.  These can replace any old signage you have.  It is important that students know how to get help if needed.

There are two versions of the poster.   They both have the same information, they just present it differently.  You only need one of them, not both.  I will put them out in the staff lounge.  Please choose the one you like the best.  Thank you.

October 6th

Preparation Work

Just a reminder that all the construction you will see in the front of the school over the coming months is preparing the front of the school for the parking lot modernization.  We are moving underground utilities so we can expand lots and lanes.  PG&E has hired a contractor to move some lines this week.  The Department of Transportation was digging by the sidewalk earlier in the week.  They finally plan on adding a signal in front of the school.  

Homecoming Parade on Monday this Year

I want to remind everyone that the Homecoming Parade is this Monday.  We are trying it on Monday versus Friday this year.  Since we have the day off, students will not need to miss class to prepare for the parade, and all teams can participate on Monday.  We are communicating with our families and the surrounding community as much as we can about the change.   We would love to see everyone join us Monday at 5:00. 

October 4th

Chris Moore Update

The Moore family has set up a Caring Bridge site to keep everyone up to date on his progress. You can follow all the updates at the link below.  I know it helps me feel better to know how he is doing.

• https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/chrismoore68

October 2nd

Chris Moore Update

I want to send you a big thank you from the Moore family.  They are overwhelmed by the support and generosity.  We collected so much money ($725) that there was no way they needed that all in DoorDash.  In fact, they were incurring a lot of expenses with hotels and Ubers in Seattle.  So I sent his wife $400 in DoorDash and $305 in Venmo to cover some hotel costs.   As you can imagine, the other sites reached out and helped too.  So they are taken care of right now. 

Chris' condition remains unchanged today.  He is still not conscious and able to communicate.  They will attempt to wake him sometime today or tomorrow.  Right now, they just want his body to put all its energy towards healing.  We look forward to positive news.  Thank you again for rallying around Chris and his family.  They truly feel loved right now. 

September 29th

Chris Moore

I know many of us are close to Chris and Dr. Carruth's message came as a shock to many.   While at the PLC+ Conference in Seattle Chris suffered some kind of medical emergency and was transported to the hospital.  His family, including his daughter Hailey (an OR student), flew up yesterday to be at his side.  We don't know a lot about his condition at this time.  His family is private and need time to work through what happened.  What we do know is that he will remain in the hospital for at least the next few days.   Chris is not able to communicate at this time.   Please send your thoughts, prayers, and positive energy to the Moore family.  I will continue to pass along updates as I get them. The Moore family needs our support right now.  We will wrap around Chris and his family as a district and help however we can.  At Oak Ridge we will make sure his daughter is taken care of so that is one less thing for them to think about. 

Meeting Canceled/PLC Time Added

We were going to have a visit from Dr. Carruth and Chris Moore on Monday after school.  However, we all know that is no longer possible.   So we now have Monday afternoon available for PLC time.  I do have an expectation that we are meeting and being effective with this time on Monday.  I apologize for the last-minute adjustment.

DOT Work on Monday

The Department of Transportation notified me today that they are doing road work on Harvard Way on Monday.  We collaborated with them so they won't start until after school starts and will stop before school ends.  They agreed they did not want to add to start and end of school traffice congestion.  

Thank You

Going into the weekend I want to thank everyone.  The hard work being done across the board is evident.  There are great lessons being taught.  I see people doing all they can for struggling students week after week.  I appreciate the time and energy we put in every day for kids.  I appreciate those who take time to help their peers and share lessons.  Because we work hard, we deserve a restful and fun weekend.   I hope everyone can get some downtime and enjoy family this weekend.

September 22nd

PSAT Update

We will not need a PSAT bell schedule change this year.  The PSAT is completely online this year.  We do not have the ability to test all of the students who sign up for the PSAT during the school day.   The  School Board has traditionally wanted the PSAT given during the school day so students with transportation struggles could have access.   But now we logistically cannot do it online during the school day.  So we are moving it to a Saturday.  As a result, there will be no change to the bell schedule due to the PSAT in October. 

Homecoming Bell Schedule Change on the Horizon

However, there is an adjusted bell schedule from October 10 to 13 due to the Monday we have off and Homecoming.  Please click here to see that schedule.

Unity Day Concludes

We wrapped up Unity Day this week.  The work Keith Hawkins did with the students was nothing less than amazing.  The students were able to talk about differences and honoring them.  They were able to talk about celebrating our differences.  Students were able to share what kind of words and treatment hurt them.  Most importantly, they were able to learn how they could grow and make the world a better place.  I look forward to doing this with the sophomores every year.  

September 19th

Talented Softball Players

We have two very talented sophomores playing in the World Cup on the U-15 Softball USA team in October, Brooklyn Paratore and Samantha Alekman. Congratulate them when you see them on campus. They are both exceptional talents.  

Unity Day Starting Strong

The start of Unity Day has been perfect.  The sophomores are building their self-esteem.  They are learning why empathy is so important.  They are learning each other's stories.  Most importantly, they are learning to resist labels and to treat everyone with kindness.  Not surprisingly, Keith has made it fun for them as well.  

I want to encourage everyone to stop by the large gym and check it out between 8:30 and 12:20.  The biggest fear of the students is not getting grace when it comes to missed work.  Let's remind them how important this training is to building the culture we want at Oak Ridge by giving them that grace.   We want to continue to build a campus that is safe for everyone.    

September 18th

Unity Day Logistics

Thank you to everyone for your help with the three Unity Days this week (Tues, Wed,  Thurs.)    I want to make sure we are all on the same page with the logistics.  

1. If you see a sophomore marked with  O (On Campus) they should be in the assembly.  Please send sophomores to the large gym if they show up to your class and they are marked O in attendance.

2. The Link Crew leaders are feeling stressed about catching up in their classes.  Please show them grace and help reflect to them how important this work is and how much we appreciate them.  We need to make sure they don't have any fall out from this.  We are encouraging them to be the leaders on our campus and help us build the culture we want.  

3. As a reminder,  I am providing four rosters in this sheet.  The first tab is the student trainers and what day they will attend and help lead the training.   The second tab is a list of sophomores who will attend the training on Tuesday the 19th.  The third tab is a list of sophomores who will attend the training on Wednesday the 20th.  The fourth tab is a list of sophomores who will attend the training on Thursday the 21st.  The trainings are 8:30 to 12:20 in the large gym.

September 14th

Hispanic Heritage Month

As promised, the posters for your rooms have arrived.  Unfortunately, one set is a lot smaller than it appeared online.   So please feel comfortable taking either one big poster or two small ones.  We will have to adjust the order next time to make sure we are getting the right size.     

Accident Update

As most people know, a student driver struck another Oak Ridge student who was riding a scooter at the entrance to the upper parking lot around 8 AM yesterday.   Remarkably, the student was able to walk away fairly uninjured.   The Deputies helped with traffic control, but the accident still led to a large backup.  

Unity Day(s) Training Rosters

For those who are interested, I am providing four rosters in this sheet.  The first tab is the student trainers and what day they will attend and help lead the training.   The second tab is a list of sophomores who will attend the training on Tuesday the 19th.  The third tab is a list of sophomores who will attend the training on Wednesday the 20th.  The fourth tab is a list of sophomores who will attend the training on Thursday the 21st.  The trainings are 8:30 to 12:20 in the large gym.  As a reminder trainers will be in their leader training Monday after lunch.  

September 11th

Remembering 9/11

It is always important to remember those who lost their lives on September 11th.   It is a day to remember the first responders who sacrificed their lives.  I think we all know someone who was personally impacted by what happened on that day.  We shall never forget those who were lost. 

Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month is annually celebrated from September 15 to October 15 in the United States to recognize the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.   Oak Ridge will put up some decor in the main office to celebrate.  You will also see posters in the staff lounge on Friday.  We are asking everyone to hang a poster in their classroom to help celebrate.  Thank you.

Constitution Day

There is a law requiring schools to highlight the Constitution every year on Constitution Day.  The United States Constitution is one of the most important documents made This year that day is Sunday, September 17th.  So we will highlight it on Monday, September 18th.   We have supplied English 1 classes, and all history, government, and economics classes with a handout for Monday.  

September 8th

Monday's Meeting Changed to Department Time

We had a training on Illuminate DNA planned for Monday.  Unfortunately, we are having to cancel that training due to rescheduling.  I know departments have shared the need for more PLC time.  This makes Monday the perfect time to give back to departments. Departments can either hold a meeting or have PLC time.   

September 5th

Vince Minnie

It is with great sadness that I share the passing of Vince Minnie.  Mr. Minnie has worked with countless Oak Ridge athletes over the years.  Our athletic teams work with Mr. Minnie on strength and conditioning.  He designed the programs and has trained our athletes for over a decade.  I know his passing will be difficult for many of our staff and the students who worked with him.  The Wellness Center is prepared if anyone (students or staff) is in need today.  The cause of his passing is unknown.  I found him to be a gentle giant. He will be deeply missed.  

Reminders About TAs

As a reminder, please don't send your TAs to the office to pick up your mail.  We can't have TAs in the lounge.  We also want to make sure that TAs are not roaming around campus without a purpose.  And please do not want to let TAs out of class early.   Thank you.

Unity Day: Day of Understanding Training

A reminder that sophomores will be attending this training on either 9/19, 9/20, or 9/21.  Here is a list of sophomores broken down by what Advisory they are in.  And here is a list reminding you what day each set of sophomores will be out at the training.  As a reminder, the teachers listed here are not attending, just the students.  We simply used the Advisory grouping as a convenient way of letting students know when to attend.   We will begin communicating this to students this week.  

August 31st

Copy of Monday's Presentation

I wanted to thank the faculty for their time at Monday's meeting.  Here is a copy of the presentation that Sarah and I gave for your reference.  I appreciate your help in making sure that these procedures run smoothly.  Thank you.

Site Council Election

Faculty, each year three faculty members sit on the School Site Council.    Each year I ask for volunteers and those volunteers are voted on by their peers.  This year we have three people who have volunteered to serve.  Although it might feel perfunctory, it is still important to follow the process and vote for these three people to fill the three available spots.  Sarah will have ballots at her desk for you to fill out on Tuesday.  Please thank Angela Brown, Donna Martin, and Pari Goode for stepping forward.  

August 30th

Construction on Campus

In order to restructure the parking lots this summer, there is work that needs to be done in advance.  PG&E has to move some equipment in preparation for our parking lot work.  They will begin to move this equipment starting tomorrow.  So there will be some light construction happening in the front of the school between the office and the creek.   They will be digging a trench and relocating some equipment.  I do not foresee this disrupting classes in any way.  

Frontline Instructions

Some people requested more specific instructions on how to use Frontline after our meeting on Monday.  Sarah was nice enough to put this together (with screen captures) for everyone.   

August 29th

Illuminate is Syncing with Aeries Now

The district has corrected the issue with Illuminate and Aeries.  We tested it and it is working correctly.  You can now upload scores from Illuminate directly into Aeries.  

Mandated Trainings

I spoke with Human Resources on the mandated training by the state.  Some of the trainings are once every two years, and different people are on different cycles.  So some people can have additional training.  There are five trainings that everyone should have.

1. Sexual Harassment Pt. 1

2. Sexual Harassment Pt. 2

3. Mandated Reporter Training

4. Blood Borne Pathogen Training

5. McKinney Vento (Homeless Youth) Training

Some people will need to take suicidal prevention training depending on where they are in the cycle.  If you have any questions you can email Leslie Baker in Human Resources.

Minga Reminder

As a reminder, we all need to use Minga.  Students who are out of class without being checked out in Minga will be sent back to class.   Students have been taught how to do this in Advisory.  There are also instructions on the resources tab above.

August 25th

Rewarding Good People

We are a few weeks into the year now and we have all seen fellow staff and students go above and beyond.  We want to make sure that we reward everyone for being a Model Trojan and living up to our ideals.  fore you leave today take a minute and nominate someone for a Model Trojan Award.  Let's make sure no good deed goes unnoticed.  Remember, we recognize staff members in meetings.  If you nominate a student, we invite the student and their family to a lunch to honor them.  You are invited and get a free lunch as well.  Please nominate someone today at this link.

August 24th

Oak Ridge Student Doing Good in the Community

Oak Ridge junior Ariana Thakur started a summer camp at the El Dorado Hills library for young students.  She came up with the idea for the camp and went around the community getting donations to purchase the library a set of Chromebooks so she could do her program. The camp was a success and the library got a free Chromebook cart out of it.  She will continue to do the camps in the future. Here is the article.  

 Monday Faculty Meeting

The agenda for Monday's meeting can be found in the meeting tab above.  Our plan is to cover two topics as quickly as we can and then give you the rest of the time to work on the mandated training from the district.  I know it is not even close to how long it will actually take.  But I want to offer time where I can to help with this.    

Reminder

Please remember that no student can be out of your classroom without being checked out in MINGA.  Students need to leave their phone in the classroom when they leave.  This can be in a cell phone holder or their backpack.  The campus monitors are directing students back to classrooms who are not checked out.  

August 18th

Reminder: Back to School Night Monday

Back to School Night is Monday.  We invite parents to arrive at 5:30 to visit our booster groups.  They will start visiting classes at 6:00.  You can view the form and schedule we provide the parents here.  This form is a good reference for you as well.  As always we will have pizza and water in the staff lounge before the event.  Thank you for the work you put into preparing for this.  Our parents always feel empowered to assist their students after this event.

Equity for Grading

As a reminder, if you are interested in learning more about what Joe Feldman, our keynote speaker at the district symposium was talking about, you can attend this training.  Please feel free to sign yourself up. It is first come first served.  

Unity Day Student Schedule

Following up on our Monday meeting, I have additional information for you on Unity Day.   The schedule now indicates which LINK Crew Advisory will miss each day for the training.  Reminder, these teachers are not involved in this training.  The students in each Advisory will report to the gym, but not the Advisory teacher.   Unity Day Schedule/Roster

Mandated Training

Like you, I am in the middle of the mandated training and trying to get it done.  I know it is a lot on top of starting the year.  I am moving some things around in order to give back some of the meeting time on Monday, August 28th to help a little bit.  

Football Parking

One of the perks of working at a school is being able to get into athletic events for free and getting special access to things.  We have our first official football game tonight.  If you plan on attending we cannot park in the lots between the F building and maintenance.  However, if you drive threw those lots you do have access to staff parking around the O building on the blacktop.  We need the two small lots by the stadium left open for game related people and activities.  Thank you.

August 14th

Bartlett Family Condolences

Pam Bartlett’s (our wonderful director of special education) husband passed away on Sunday, July 30th.  A celebration of life is being planned for September 23rd at Cielo Estates in Shingle Springs.   Her husband, Peter, was a long-time special education teacher at Union Mine High School.   And Pam was an Assistant Principal here at Oak Ridge before her current role.  Peter was an amazing man and a fantastic teacher.  He had a charm that could not be denied.  He will be missed.  

In lieu of flowers or other items, the family has requested donations to one of the following for those who like to:

1. Alzheimer’s Association

2. Okizu Foundation (This organization helps families affected by childhood cancer and the family has benefitted from them as well)

There is also a memorial for Peter over at everloved.com. This is a place where you can look at and post pictures, stories, donations, etc. Many people have already posted and it’s a beautiful page. 

Agenda's Posted

This is just a reminder that meeting agendas are posted on the meetings tab above.  The agenda for today's faculty meeting and the next faculty meeting are posted now.  Click on the date to see the agenda. Thank you.

August 11th

Great Start

I have always felt that a strong start to the school year sets the foundation for the year.   As I look back at the week, I was able to walk a lot of classes.  I saw a lot of relationship building and skill development.  I saw student engagement.  Everything happening in classrooms was a win.  The Classified staff did amazing this week.  The new lunch line is running well and students are being served faster than ever.  The campus was ready inside and out to receive 2400 kids.  The rally was fun and the dance tonight will keep kids excited about being back.  Thank you to everyone for being so well prepared and helping to establish a strong kick-off.  

Site Council Representative

The Site Council is looking for three teachers to join for a 2-year term.  We meet on the first Wednesday of each month after school.  The school Site Council is an elected group of parents, students, and faculty members.  The Site Council meets to approve the school's categorical budget expenditures, help form and assess school goals and provide input for the district's LCAP (local funding) report.  We don't usually meet in January or May.  If you would like to nominate yourself please submit your name on this form. Thank you.

Online Testing Platform Support Teacher Reminder

This is a reminder to submit your interest in this new position to me via email by Tuesday, August 15th. Everything you need to know was in the email I sent on Friday, August 4th at 4:25 PM.  Thank you for considering.  

August 9th

Becca Retiring

I wanted to share a flashback that will make everyone smile.  For those who remember, the first service dog we allowed on campus for training purposes was Becca.  Aiden Becker was the student who brought her to school every day and trained her.  It was a big shift in thinking for us at the time.  But the love that Becca spread around the campus made us open the school up for other service dogs in training.  Becca "graduated" from OR in 2011.  I was at a community event this morning and by chance learned that Becca ended up serving her whole career as a service dog at UC Davis Hospital.  She is retiring this week.  Several local news stations will be carrying the story about her service and retirement.  

August 7th

First Day Thank You

I was able to get around to some classrooms today.  It was great to see passionate teachers preparing students.  Besides the normal first day stuff, it was a good day from our vantage point.  The counselors have a lot of work sifting through the schedule change requests for the rest of the week.  But I am very appreciative of the work everyone did today.  The students I spoke with felt optimistic about the start of the year and had a good day.  Thank you very much for creating that sentiment today.  

Enrollment Numbers

As we spoke about last year, we are experiencing a decrease in school enrollment.  This new trend is foreign to Oak Ridge.  However, from the preliminary numbers today, it looks like it will continue.  All of the new students who registered are in our system.  All of the students who needed to be removed based on today's attendance have been.   The numbers below are what we have as of the end of Monday.  I don't see these changing in a significant way.   The bullets below will show you the year and the enrollment data for that year.  Again, this year's data is not final as of yet, just where we are at the end of day one.   This data is not a point of concern for me.  I think we are in a good place to manage this.  I just wanted to share the trend with you.   

• 2020-21: 2491

• 2021-22: 2537

• 2022-23: 2437

• 2023-24: 2390

 August 3rd

Welcome Back Reminders

It was great to see everyone today.  It is great to have all the energy back on campus again.  I wanted to thank everyone for their engagement today.  I appreciated the energy in the faculty  Welcome Back Meeting.  I enjoyed the academic conversations I was hearing.  I was also able to see people engage in RTI Scheduler and their PLC work.  I need to thank the Classified who have stepped up and really have our support system up and ready for Monday.  Please look at the reminders I have posted below for tomorrow.

• All staff need to complete the online Catapult training by the end of the day Friday.

•  The meeting tab above has been updated to reflect the 2023-24 School Calendar and Meetings at a Glance.  Please add all of our meetings to your calendar.

• Lunch will be provided in the Cafeteria tomorrow (Friday) at 11:30.  I invite everyone to stay and break bread with each other.  

• Friday is a work day for all staff.

May 23rd

Things to Complete Before Years End

1. Please make sure to appropriately power down your room.  We want to maximize the amount of electricity we save this summer.  A big part of that is reviewing this list and making sure to power down all of the things we don't normally think of powering down.

2. The Meetings at a Glance 2023-24 is complete.  It has gone through several groups and has been approved.  Please make sure to mark the events pertinent to you on your calendar.  Thank you.

3. Grades need to be submitted by Tuesday, May 30th in Aeries.  

4. Please submit students eligible for Intersession as soon as possible here: Spring Intersession referrals   

5. Please clear out your mailbox before you leave for the summer.   We need to reorganize them, so anything left behind will not be kept. 

6. Please submit any gold sheet absence statements that you have by Friday at 4PM to Sarah. 

May 22nd

Final Makeup Information

Debbie Gilley and Dalisa Sanford will run final make-ups for us.  I want to remind everyone how the final makeup process works.  

1. Identify a student who needs to makeup a final.

2. Teachers send the student and parent this form which asks them to reserve a final make-up time slot.

3. Provide Sarah with either a copy of the final, or instructions on how to access it online.  Even if the final is online, please let Sarah know.  

4. The Proctor will return any hard copy test to your box the day of the final make-up.  

On a similar note, the office has been receiving calls from parents asking for their student to take their finals early.   We have told them that teachers set the final date and we encourage teachers to hold finals this week.  But we do not support students taking finals early.  I don't want parents calling teachers trying to claim they received a different message from us.  

Reminder: End of Year Staff Party

Come say goodbye to our retirees and break bread with your colleagues.  We will start at 12:45 on Wednesday in the Cafeteria. 

May 19th

Monday Meeting Time Update

When the meeting calendar was agreed upon this time last year, the different groups who reviewed it did consider that Monday's meeting would be two hours after most people's last class due to 7th being a final.   The admin team took a look at the situation.  We will offer two meeting times on Monday.  We will offer a 1:30 and a 3:15.  

Unified Sports a Success

I want to thank Tessa Thompson for organizing our Unified Sports team on Wednesday.  Our Oak Ridge special education students took part in a Unified Sports track meet at El Dorado High School.   I also want to thank the big group of teachers and paraprofessionals assisting.   We also had a good number of track athletes helping.  I was so proud of our Oak Ridge team.  It was fantastic to see the kids getting this opportunity.  They were able to take part in field and track events.  El Dorado High School went out of their way to make it special for everyone.  They even made El Dorado a BBQ lunch for everyone.  

May 18th

Final Makeups

I am looking for a teacher or two who would like to proctor final makeups on Tuesday, May 30th from 8:00 to 1:00 (testing will be 8:30 to 12:30.)  We also need someone (or the same person) for Wednesday, May 31st from 8:00 to 1:00.  Here is the final Make-Ups process. If you are interested, please email me what day you would like to do.  Thank you.

Math Steeplechase

Our Juniors and Sophomores each took first place for their grade level! All of the kids did great and had fun. Thanks to Julie, Dave, Paul, and Patrick for spending the day playing math games with kids in a beautiful outdoor setting. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lXMEwxg8FJTxuUz_uo2AuCFCB02salod/view?usp=sharing

Juniors:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zYZxE24BqwNlMUmHuoU8G556T61a-7R_/view?usp=sharing

• Andrew Casper

• Peyton Crawford

• Syon Shrestha

• Jingyao Zhang

Sophomores:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iD_1FZKjmmPhvxSHT8pPeTMp9-K6FsaE/view?usp=sharing

• Neel Dharm

• Tiffany Gan

• Naomi Lojo

• Alisa Koltsova

• Katya Van Loo

May 16th

Busy Week at Oak Ridge

This week might be the busiest one of the year.  I want to catch everyone up on what is happening on site this week if you want to attend any of the following.  

• Student Achievement Awards: Today 3:45 in the Theater

• Unified Sports Track and Field Meet: Wednesday 10:00-2:00 at El Dorado High School

• Scholarship Awards Night: Thursday 6:00 in the Theater

• Oak Ridge Art Show: Thursday 6:00- 8:00 in the Library

• Trojan Pride Sports Marketing Club Photo Gallery: Thursday 5:00-6:30 in the Large Gym

Last Staff Meeting

I want to remind everyone that our last staff meeting is Monday.  Even though it is finals week, school still starts at 8:50 on Monday with a 3:02 release time.  At the meeting after school, we will discuss end of the year items, and review graduation roles and responsibilities.  Faculty must be present.  We are almost done, hang in there. 

Reminders for Next Week

Here are some reminders for everyone as we approach the end.

1.  The final for 7th period is on Monday next week.  

2. All students need to have their books turned in as soon as possible.  Seniors cannot complete the checkout process next Thursday until all their books are in.

3. At the End of the Year Staff Celebration, we will break bread, say goodbye to those moving on, and celebrate the year.   We will meet after finals on Wednesday, May 24th in the Cafeteria. 

4. Senior Check Out is after school on Thursday in the Cafeteria.  For seniors without a last class, we will start the process early.  All seniors need to have completed any unserved consequences, pay fines, return all books, and submit the senior survey and transcript request before checking out and being able to walk at graduation.  

5. Senior Parade (community planned, not a school activity) will take place Thursday afternoon.  Seniors will drive from Oak Ridge to Town Center and families line the streets along the way.  This is a fairly new tradition left over from COVID.  

6. Senior Breakfast will start in the Cafeteria at 9:15 on Friday, May 26th in the Cafeteria.

7. Graduation Practice will begin at 10:00 on the field on the last day of school and will be concluded around 12:00.

8. Safe and Sober Grad Night happens immediately following graduation.  The seniors meet in the small gym and are bussed down to Disneyland.  

May 11th

Duo Two Factor Authentication (Please Read All of This)

I have heard some of the nervousness around being ready on Monday for the new  Duo two factor authentication to get into Google, Aeries, and your email on Monday.   I completely understand how that makes some nervous.  They tested this on the Administration.  We have been doing it for three weeks now and I have found it pretty simple.  It is another step, but it is pretty easy.

I want to remind people about the why.  Schools across the nation are falling prey to ransom attacks.  Insurance companies are having to pay large sums of money for these ransom attacks on district computer networks.  As insurance companies do, they spread the cost of business around and raise everyone's rates.  Our insurer has decided not to raise the rates of those who implement two factor authentication to log into the network.  This makes it very hard for a hacker to take over our system.  

For me, every once in a while I log into a system and it makes me enter my password again.  Then a 3 digit code pops up on the screen.  I put that code into my Duo app on my phone and everything works as normal from there.  If you want the USB Fob, it works a little differently.  You plug the fob into any computer you are using.  If prompted, you touch the fob to show you are present.  It is not a fingerprint reader.  It simply needs to be tapped.  The system will work again after that. 

Your To Do List to Complete Before Leaving Tomorrow

• Read Noel's instructions (email sent on 5/9 at 11:46 AM) on how to set up the Duo app on your phone.  You will complete the process Monday morning when you receive a QR code upon logging in for the first time.  (If you have additional questions, please email them to Noel Villalpondo.)

Or

• Request a fob from Noel (by email) today or early Friday.  Noel will configure the fob and get it to you.  (If you have additional questions, please email them to Noel Villalpondo.)

Trouble Shooting/What If It Doesn't Work

• See below, instead of a Monday morning meeting, we are using that time to set up a troubleshooting station if you need it.  I repeat, this is optional for people who need help.  If you come to work on Monday and everything works fine, you do not need to come to this.  However, I would highly suggest you get here by 8AM on Monday so you can get help if it doesn't work for you.  However, our pilot showed that the setup works pretty well.  

Monday Staff Meeting/Duo Trouble Shooting

The meeting time on Monday is being put aside for troubleshooting the Duo two factor authentication.  We need everyone to get Duo set up or to get a Duo fob from Noel (by emailing him) before leaving on Friday.  However, we will be available to help those who get stuck during the normal meeting time.   

• Duo Trouble Shooting, Library, Monday, 8:00 AM 

Appreciation Lunch Tomorrow

I want to remind everyone, that the Foundation is providing an appreciation lunch to all staff tomorrow in the MPR.  Those without a 4th can come a little early if you want.  The MPR will be set up so we can stay and break bread with each other.  I look forward to seeing everyone there.  

May 10th

Good Week for Oak Ridge

Paul Kuzmich

I shared this before, but math teacher Paul Kuzmich was honored this morning as the El Dorado Hills High School Educator of the Year by the local Rotary Club.  It was a great event.  County Superintendent Dr. Manansala was the keynote and our Superintendent, Dr. Carruth spoke.  It was a true honor to recognize Paul during Teacher Appreciation Week.  It was an inspiring morning that made me grateful for all our teachers.  

Interact Award

The Oak Ridge Rotary Club has been earning money for a global charity called Shelterbox.  If you don't know anything about Shelterbox check them out.  They are a fascinating charity that does disaster relief work.  At the Rotary District Conference, our Interact Club was given the Shelterbox Bronze Hero Award for their charitable work to Shelterbox.  These students worked a lot of hours to earn this money.  I am so proud of them.

Congressional Art Contest

Oak Ridge did really well at the annual Congressional Art Contest for our area.  Oak Ridge won first, second, third place and honorable mentions.  Tristan Russell came in first (Buffalo Looking West.)  Kate Woodley came in second (Betsy Ross.)  Summer Dixon came in third (Miner's at Work.)  And Anandita Gupta, Anna Liza Cabrera, Janet Godinez, and Lingzi Ma all received Honorable Mentions.  Please congratulate them when you see them.   And none of this would be possible without our VAPA teachers promoting it and helping these students.  Our VAPA department does an incredible job honing the skills of our students.  These students would not be in this position without great teachers.  

Weekly Update

May 8th

Happy Teacher/Classified Appreciation Week

We have a big week planned to celebrate all of you.  I know that each and every one of you works countless hours that no one can see.  Every one of you sacrifices to help kids and to do your job at the highest level.  This week is just a small appreciation of how much Oak Ridge and the community appreciates all that you do.

Monday: You will find a card in your boxes today. 

Tuesday: The School Board will be providing a cake for everyone as a thank you.

Wednesday: You will find a small gift in the staff lounge in the main office.

Friday: There will be a luncheon in the MPR.  We will have the tables out so you can break bread together.  

Congratulations to Chris Mirell

The local LDS church has awarded Chris Mirell a Crystal Apple Award for the year.   The seniors who attend the church nominated Chris as a teacher who has been a great example, support, and a positive influence on them during their high school years.  He will be given his award at a ceremony later in the month.  Chris received this award for the teacher in all of El Dorado Hills that best represents those qualities.  

Pink Hair

If you haven't heard, the kids got 95% on the CAASPP and CAST test.  It took a lot of make-ups but we got them there.  A big thank you to Jon, Alyce, and Patrick for their work on this.  And I should thank the APs and Counselors who helped as well.   I lived up to my part of the bargain and let them pick a color for my hair.  Of course, they picked pink, LOL.   So my hair was pink all day Thursday and Friday.  Thankfully it all came out on Saturday.  LOL

May 2nd

Teacher/Classified Appreciation

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day and next week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  May also holds School Employee Week as well.  We are looking forward to celebrating and appreciating our Faculty and Classified Staff next week.  We are working with the Foundation on a few surprises for everyone.   Next week will culminate in a lunch for everyone on Friday.   You cannot have a great school without great people.  And we are fortunate to be a school that is full of dedicated and talented people doing good things for kids.  We look forward to celebrating everyone next week. 

Hiring Season is Upon Us

We have been interviewing and hiring candidates for different positions.  With the teacher shortage, I was not sure how the process would go this year.  But so far we have been very fortunate.  We have had small pools,  but they have had great people in them.  We have met and hired some really talented people.  I can't wait for everyone to meet them.  We still have a few more positions we will be interviewing for soon.  

April 26th

FCCLA Students Win at State

Our culinary program had several students win on the local level and were able to travel south for the FCCLA state competition.  A big congratulations to Kamaile Curley and Kholood Ghayas for placing Gold / First place in Public Policy Advocating at the State Level. They will go on to the National Competition.  Scarlett Stephens won first place for Breads on the state level.  Nicole Thai won first place in appetizers, which also is a state level competition.  Please congratulate them when you see them.  

I also want to celebrate our fabulous culinary teacher and FCCLA Advisor, Diane Goldman.  Students do not reach this level of accomplishment without a great teacher.  Diane is supportive and willing to provide her students with these opportunities.  Great job Diane!

Rotary High School Teacher of the Year

Every year the El Dorado Hills Rotary Club picks a high school Teacher of the Year.   It does not surprise me that they will honor Paul Kuzmich this year.  I can't wait to celebrate Paul at their ceremony in a few weeks.  Paul is a tremendous teacher, with an infinite amount of patience and desire to work with students.  He is very worthy of this honor.  Please congratulate Paul when you see him.  

April 25th

Update to ChatGPT

It appears SnapChat pushed out an AI tool early last week to all users. Simply called My AI, this snap tool works very similar to ChatGPT. SnapChat is of course very popular with students and most have the app already.  As these tools continue to get integrated into society they will have an impact on education. In my opinion, some of that impact will be good, and some will be bad.  I continue to check with TurnItIn.com.  They do believe they have a tool that can detect when something is written by an AI.  They are racing to get it fully integrated into their system.  

CAASPP Make-Ups and Pledge

We have not reached our 95% mandatory participation rate yet.  We continue to pull in students for make-ups to get there.  We actually had a low rate of opt-outs this year.  Most of our make-ups are from students who were out ill.   We are also not running the pledge this week so as not to disrupt the make-up tests.  

Lacrosse Fundraiser

The Men's Lacrosse team wanted me to share a Cornhole Tournament fundraiser they are putting on.  If anyone is interested, there is information on how to form a team and join on this flyer.   

April 20th

Oak Ridge Speech Contest Winner

Emily Chalmers won the local Rotary Speech Contest.  She went on to the next level and won that competition.  She is now going on to the Rotary district level to compete.   I was lucky enough to hear her speech and it is quite good.  If you see Emily, congratulate her and wish her good luck.  The next round is on May 6th at the Rotary District Conference.  

Democrat Party of El Dorado County Essay Contest

Anandita Gupta won this year's Fred Winn Essay Contest.  Her essay was about growing up as a person of color in our area.  It was a well written and an emotional piece.  The Mt. Democrat published her winning essay here.  Please congratulate Anandita when you see her.  

April 17th

CAASPP Reminder

I want to remind everyone of the schedule for CAASPP this week.  

• 9th Graders: They have no assemblies this week.  They remain in the 70-minute Advisory with you.

• 10th Graders: They have no assemblies this week.  They remain in the 70-minute Advisory with you.

• 11th Graders: On Tuesday they take the Math CAT test.  On Wednesday we conclude CAASPP testing with the ELA CAT test.  

• 12th Graders: The Seniors are cycling through the 1 Degree of Separation assembly in small groups.  Please look at the CAASPP Faculty Handout to see when your Advisory goes.

Speech and Debate News

Hugh Corkery, the Speech and Debate Coach, has supplied us with an update on the team's success.  "Mahee Haswani is representing the California American Legion in their national speech contest in Indianapolis, Indiana this weekend.  Also, this weekend, next year's ASB president, Lauryn Sumimoto, and her teammates Tarika Kahlon, Garima Penumechchu, AJ Bal, and Ava Carnahan will be competing in the California state championships!"  Congratulations are in order when you see these students around campus.  But none of this would be possible without Hugh and his coaching.  He is taking these kids all over the country to provide them with the opportunities he feels they should have.  Thank you Hugh!

STEM Fair Friday

This Friday the STEM Club (all student run) will be putting on our annual STEM Fair in the MPR.   We will have a middle school field trip to view it Friday morning.  Our students can walk through and view it at lunch on Friday.  And the judging will be Friday afternoon.  I look forward to this event every year.  It is simply amazing what our kids come up with.  

April 13th

Energy Star Certified

Through our district's work with Anthony Williams and Cenergistic, Oak Ridge has been certified as an Energy Star Facility for 2022.  All of our energy data was submitted to the Department of Energy, and they certified us.  I am thankful for the work Mr. Williams has done with energy conservation at our school.  But I am equally proud of the work you have done heeding the "if it glows, it goes" emails and helping to reduce our energy costs and footprint.   Thank you to the whole team for helping to earn this award.  We would like to get recertified every year, so keep up the good work.  And remember, Anthony has handed the reigns over to Kendall Wagner.  So be on the lookout for her emails and how we can keep this certification.  

CAASPP/CAST/Assembly Thank You

I want to thank everyone for a great job this week with testing and the assemblies.  The testing went really well.  The technology did its job and all of the tests were administered.  I appreciate everyone's attention to this.  And thank you to everyone who helped with the assemblies.  The speakers commented on how attentive our students were.  I know that in large part because you were there, and because you have taught them how to manage themselves. 

College and Career Center Update

We are having a staffing challenge with the College and Career Center right now.  Tessa went out on maternity leave at spring break.  We have not been able to find a long-term sub at this time.  We will continue to look but we are not hopeful.  So the center will be closed most of the time.  We are doing our best to have it open during lunch and still make sure we have college visits on campus. 

Women's History Month Posters

Just like with the African American History Month posters, you can keep this poster up in your room if you like.  But now that Women's History Month has concluded, please return the posters to Sarah.  We want to bring these out each year.  Thank you.

April 12th

Oak Ridge Classified and Teacher of the Year

I am excited to announce the Oak Ridge Classified and Teacher of the Year.   Leadership met and voted on Stephanie Davis as the Teacher of the Year.  I cannot think of a more worthy person.  And Chris Hoversten is the Classified Employee of the Year.   Chris is a fantastic Paraprofessional and more than deserving of the honor.  We look forward to honoring both of them at the district celebration.  

Testing/Advisory Reminders

Teachers, please don't forget to bring your class to the assembly and to sit with them during the assembly.  We need to make sure the students are behaving appropriately.   You can check this sheet to see the assembly and testing schedule. 

Thank you to everyone who facilitated the English Performance Task today.  Tomorrow will be the Math Performance Task.  Your folder will have all of the information that you need for testing tomorrow.  Don't forget to pick up and drop off the box each day.  Thank you. 

March 27th

CAASPP Schedule/Testing

We have finalized the CAASPP schedule for when we return from Spring Break.  Unfortunately, it is a complicated schedule.  So I wanted to give you the details in full below.  But also hit some highlights with you.  Page one are the details of the testing schedule. Page two is a simplified calendar view of the testing.  Pag 3 and 4 focus on the assembly schedule.

• 9th/10th Grade Advisory  Teachers: Please be mindful of the two assembly schedules and when you are taking your students.  The assembly time is broken into two blocks.  It is critical that you know which block is your time.You must keep your class together and sit with them at the assembly.  There should not be more than 600 students at each assembly, so they are manageable.  On the 18th and 19th you will have your students in class for a 70 minute Advisory.  

• 11th Grade Advisory Teachers: You will be testing your students all four days.  Thank you for attending the training today.

• 12th Grade Advisory Teachers: Please be mindful of when your students will be testing and attending the assembly.  On 4/12 you will start by giving the CAST (Science CAASPP) to your seniors.  On either April 13th, 18th, or 19th, you will bring your students to an assembly in the theater.  On the other days, you will have them in class. 

We are going to work hard this year to make sure the students understand that the test is to be taken seriously.  In order to do that we will:

• Be sharing these talking points with students and families

• If 95% of the students take the combined tests, the Leadership Students will dye my hair in the quad.  (I have no idea why I agreed to this.)

• We will have rewards for the students in the form of food as well for reaching the 95% participation rate.  

Fighting Fentanyl Resources

El Dorado County has put together a great set of resources to combat Fentanyl.  I wanted you aware that it exists and has useful resources.  It defines what it is, speaks about services available to help, info-graphics for public use, and overdose information.  https://www.eldoradocope.org/fightingfentanyl

Be A Mentor Teacher

EDCOE (El Dorado County Office of Education) has started an exciting program to help address the teacher shortage in our county.  The Teacher Residency program by EDCOE aims to provide aspiring teachers with an immersive learning experience combined with coursework and mentorship from experienced teachers in El Dorado County.  

This one-year program will enable candidates to earn their teaching credential while completing coursework online and spending a year in a classroom being mentored by a veteran teacher in El Dorado County. At the end of the program, residents commit to teaching for four years at a school in El Dorado County. 

By becoming a mentor, you will benefit from having an extra adult in your classroom four days a week, and you will be awarded a $3,500 stipend. More importantly, serving as a mentor is an excellent opportunity for professional growth and development. For more information or to apply, click on the following links: Mentor Flier and Application, the EDCOE website, and the Teacher Residency Flier. 

March 22nd

Foundation Grant Deadline

Teachers, the deadline is fast approaching if you want to request a Foundation Grant.  The deadline is Friday, March 30th.  Here is a link to the application.  Please submit your application to the email on the form.  

PLC Guiding Coalition

I want to thank everyone for their work on PLCs.  One of the key elements of a successful school wide PLC implementation is having a Guiding Coalition.  The Guiding Coalition includes our Course Team Facilitators.  This team had its first meeting yesterday.  It is exciting to be on the ground floor of something exciting and new.  I really look forward to working with them.  If you want to see a summary of what a Guiding Coalition is or does click here.  There are many elements of a PLC that are locked in place and non-negotiable like, (GVC) Guaranteed Viable Curriculum, and common assessments.  But there are other elements of the process that need guiding and focusing.  

March 17th

Upcoming Meetings

I want to remind everyone about the upcoming meetings since the one on the 27th is unique.   

• Monday 3/20: You can check the full agenda under the meeting tab.  But we will have Dr. Carruth, Chris Moore, and Tony DeVille speaking with us starting at 7:45 in the MPR.

• Monday 3/27: We will be training the junior and senior Advisory teachers after school on how to give the CAASPP/CAST (science) tests.  As I said before, this will rotate and everyone will eventually have to give the tests.  This will be in B-3.  

STEM Science Fair

We are coming up on the deadline to register for the STEM Science Fair.  We want to make it the biggest and best one ever.  Please encourage your students to take part.   There are prizes for the winners.  But mostly, it is just a really fun event for all of those who take part.  We feel if students know about it they will take part.  Anything you can do to help us spread the word is appreciated.  Here is the link to the flyer and all of the details.  The deadline to register is soon.

Prop 28

Prop 28 was legislation passed by the voters.  It was passed to preserve the arts in schools.  Prop 28 now guarantees ongoing money to schools to bolster and add art classes to schools.  Most places in the state have not made the same effort as us to maintain the arts.  Our district has done an exceptional job of this.   The addition of Prop 28 will greatly enhance what we can offer students.  This is guaranteed ongoing money that can only be spent on VAPA and is based on ADA.  There are of course parameters around how it can be spent.  But we will be increasing the number of art classes we have as a result.  Right now it is looking like we will need to hire someone to teach these additional sections.  These are good times for the arts.  

March 14th

Trees

We were able to get ahold of a tree expert that the district uses today.  I wanted to double-check before needing to cut down a tree.  If you know me, I absolutely love the trees on campus and it makes me sick to even think of having to cut one down.  The expert came out and said we have four trees on the verge of falling and are beyond saving.  They probed underground and the water has damaged the root system to a  point of no return on four trees.  We saw the ground liquifying around the trees today and the roots rocking up and down.  The expert has deemed these trees unsafe.  So we are going to bring them down so they can't fall on anyone.  When the time is right we will replant.   There has just been more water than the ground can hold this year.  When we combined that with the high winds today, the damage was too much.  It is just such a shame to lose these trees.  

March 10th

Unified Sports

Thank you to everyone involved in Unified Sports today.  The Leadership students did a great job of welcoming the athletes and making them feel special.  Thank you to everyone for having grace with missing students today.  The event is always well worth it.  The Pondo staff was very impressed with our kids and the school spirit they displayed.   I have a few pictures for you below. 

Monday

Every year someone asks about coming in on Monday.  So I will share that this Monday is like any other as far as being on campus.  The alarms will be shut off at the normal time and you can access your classroom. 

Weekly Update

March 9th

Women's History Month

Our classroom posters have arrived for Women's History Month.  As we did in February, we have a variety of posters for you to choose from.  They are spread out in the staff lounge.  Please come down today or tomorrow and grab one.  Please only take one until we know everyone has gotten one.   I would prefer if you would bring back your African American History/Heritage Month posters and leave them on the staff lounge table when you take the new Women's History Month posters.  However, like I said before, if you want to keep both posters up you can. 

Student Essay Contest Winner

Oak Ridge student, Anandita Gupta, is the first place winner in the El Dorado County Democratic Party Essay Contest. Make sure to congratulate Anandita when you see her.  I've been fortunate enough to be invited to see her get her award and read her essay at an upcoming Saturday luncheon at the County Office of Education. 

Parking

The second semester is only hard on parking.  We are getting new sophomore drivers all the time.  As parking gets harder, some students have always taken to parking where they shouldn't.  But this year the situation seems worse than normal.  We were hanging our hats on getting a new parking design this summer.  But now that process is going to slowly happen over two summers.  So we need a more immediate set of solutions.  We are going to start working with law enforcement this week to catch as many students doing the wrong thing as we can.  We want to send a message that if you park in the wrong place there will be consequences.  We are also working on new ideas and structures we can put in place for the start of next year.   

March 7th

Incoming Freshmen Numbers Down

Jon and the Counselors were able to get all freshmen schedule requests put into the system.  We are in the process of analyzing and finalizing all student schedule requests for last year.   Exactly one year ago in this process we had 619 freshmen in the system.  After the first few weeks of school played out we had 639 freshmen.  Today, we have 621 freshmen in the system.  The demographic studies said we were going to have a giant loss of students next year starting with our freshmen class.  I didn't completely believe them because they have been so far off in the past.  However, after inputting all freshmen schedule requests yesterday, we are at 527.  Year to date, this is a drop of 92 students.  We are working on tracking down our own students who have not turned in schedule requests right now to see if we are losing kids in the upper levels as well. As of right now, this is a significant drop in enrollment for one year.  Luckily we have more retirees than normal this year.  So we will be able to absorb any staffing adjustments that might be needed that way.  This is the first piece of data to show that Oak Ridge might be on an enrollment decline for the first time in recent memory.  However, we are well placed to manage this due to retirees and all the optional periods we have this year.  We will know more about our total numbers soon.  

Make-Up Days

Oak Ridge will not need to worry about make-up snow days.  However, the schools up the hill have lost four days now.  They will come back on Friday, March 31, and Monday, April 10th.  Right now, they are scheduled to come back on Tuesday, May 30th, and Wednesday, May 31st after graduation.  However, the district is submitting a waiver to the state for those last two days.  It is unknown if the state will consider the waiver or not.

Model Trojan Awards

It is time to nominate worthy staff members and students.  You can nominate anyone living the Trojan Motto/Values and Norms.  Or you can nominate someone who is going above and beyond.  Staff who nominate students get invited to the luncheon to help us celebrate.   This is a neat way to make someone feel special.   You can nominate someone here or in the tabs above.

March 6th

Mark Your Calendar

The Student vs. Staff Basketball Game is right around the corner.  And the staff team needs your support.  Come out and cheer on the staff to victory.  The kids always bring a big following.  The staff team will need your presence to cheer them on.  So mark your calendar and bring the family out and enjoy the game.  See you on March 24th at 5pm.  

Weekly Update

March 2nd (Updated)

Meeting Update/Reminder

I wanted to share some changes to our meeting schedule.  In Leadership, we discussed canceling our March 6th meeting and giving that time back for PLC work.   So even though there will not be a school meeting on Monday, you will be working with your PLC group.   You can either meet before or after school.  I will leave that up to your PLC to determine.

We also need to schedule a CAASPP training in March.  Because CAASPP is the week we return from spring break, and we have Monday off that week, we will schedule the training for the Monday before we leave for break.  So we will hold the training after school on Monday, March 27th.   I will follow up with more details as we get closer to the date.  Traditionally we have not made everyone attend the training because it only pertains to Junior and Senior Advisors.  The thought is that with our current setup, everyone will be a CAASPP Proctor for two years, then have two years off.  So after a four year cycle, everyone has the same amount of proctoring and proctor training.  

WASC Follow Up

The WASC committee has several weeks to complete the nuances in their report and get it to us.  I will share it once it has been finalized.  However, they shared the highlights in their presentation yesterday.  Their report was a positive expression of how good our school is doing.  It was a very good report for us.  They validated that Professional Learning Communities is our greatest area of need and growth.  They also validated that we need to continue our work on fostering our school climate.  They added a few items to the report as well.  They are putting more action steps down for our PLC goal.  They want us to focus our master schedule design on a more student-centered approach.   And they want us to use the PLC process and PD opportunities to continue to stay current with the most impactful research based teaching strategies.  

We will be able to give a more comprehensive presentation of their findings in a future meeting.   But overall, it was a really good report, and they wanted to celebrate us for having such a great school.  I want to thank all of you for not just the great work you did over the last three days showcasing our school.  But I want to thank you for the endless work you do that makes our school so obviously great to those who visit. 

March 1st

WASC Report out 3:45 in B-3

I wanted to echo Alison's email that WASC will be reporting out at 3:45 in B-3 today.  

Rotary Speech Contest

Four Oak Ridge students won the local Rotary Speech Contest today.  All four of them were very talented.  I was proud of them.   If you see them around campus congratulate them.  Emily Chalmers won first place and will be going on to the Rotary Regional Contest at FLC.   Please see the picture below. 

1. Emily Chalmers

2. Kien Vu

3. Kayra Kufluoglu

4. Ariana Thakur 

February 28th

Model Trojan Awards

It is time to nominate worthy staff members and students.  You can nominate anyone living the Trojan Motto/Values and Norms.  Or you can nominate someone who is going above and beyond.  Staff who nominate students get invited to the luncheon to help us celebrate.   This is a neat way to make someone feel special.   You can nominate someone here or in the tabs above.

Belong and Bias Training

I wanted to share a free Solution Tree webinar with everyone that you may be interested in on March 16th. The webinar is on Belonging and Bias and how to improve your classroom.  The summary states, "Join author Hedreich Nichols to examine the cognitive processes we use to draw a circle around our “in groups,” and learn to mitigate any negative fallout that may impact our practice as educators. While learning about the brain science behind belonging, you will explore a few of more than 180 cognitive biases. This webinar will equip you to use this knowledge to look closely at personal connections and trends that impact student and staff relationships. In part two of the webinar, Belonging: Practice, you will learn and practice five explicit strategies to combat implicit bias and create a more inclusive environment for students and staff." 

Aeries Access

The District, working with the Faculty Association is now providing teachers with more information in Aeries.  Active immediately, you can now access Aeries information for all students.  This level of access became necessary with the adoption of Flex Time.  However, to quote a Spider-Man comic, with great power comes great responsibility.   Tony DeVille, the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources has put together a memo explaining when you are allowed to access student records.  It should be noted that Aeries does keep track of what each user accesses.  Please read this memo to know what students you can look up.   I am sure this will raise some questions.  Please feel free to reach out to me with any of those questions.  

February 10th

Hall Pass Update

Leading up to the Minga Hall Pass we had multiple acts of vandalism on campus per week.  On some days we had multiple acts in a single day.  Since starting the Minga hall pass we have had only one act of vandalism over the last two weeks.  It is still too soon to say it is a success because I am waiting to see how the students adapt to it.  But as of now, it is making a big difference.  

Parking Update 

Our district has hired a design firm to look at our parking lots and drop-off and pick-up zones and help us with a solution.  The firm has been working on a solution with the Department of Transportation.  They proposed a partnership with the Department of Transportation, which they have agreed to, in order to address the problem.  They presented us with a plan that would revamp the streets and how they are stripped.  The plan would also redesign the pick-up and drop-off lots and add an exit in the upper lot onto Silva Valley.  I am excited to see how this project comes together over time.  I am optimistic that this will happen.  This project can only be worked on during the summer for obvious reasons.  So it will slowly come to life over the next two summers if finally approved.  Most of the logistical setup like moving water lines, fire rises, power lines, etc would happen this summer and prepare for the final phase in the summer of '24.  I will let you know when it gets the final green light.  But this will be a major win for Oak Ridge and our community who desperately needs this.  

February 9th

Valentine's/Teacher Appreciation

The Foundation's CCRC is back.  They are coming in Monday to spoil us again.  They will have Crumble cookies for everyone.   It is a February sweet treat to show the parent community's appreciation.   They likely won't be available until lunch. 

Meeting Reminder

I wanted to remind everyone that we have a staff meeting after school (3:15) on Monday in the MPR.  You can view the agenda here.

Teacher Scholarship Opportunities

There are two local scholarships trying to assist with the teacher shortage.  If you know of someone who wants to become a teacher in our county or wants to add a credential, please share this information with them.  

1. The Edna Miller Continuing Education Scholarship:  Sponsored by the local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, this scholarship is offered to women in El Dorado County with a BA or BS degree who are seeking either an initial teaching credential or an additional credential/degree.  $1,200 will be awarded to the applicant(s) selected for this scholarship.  The application is linked here and is to be postmarked by April 7, 2023.

2. Transitional Kindergarten Teachers ECE College Coursework Reimbursement Program:  Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten teachers in El Dorado County who need Early Childhood Education units may be eligible to receive reimbursement for up to 24 units at WASC accredited colleges.  Qualified applicants are eligible for up to a $6,000 reimbursement.  Information can be found on this flyer.

February 8th

Academic Decathlon

A big congratulations need to go to Jeff Hassian and the Oak Ridge Academic Decathlon team.  As a Principal, there is nothing more exciting than seeing students so excited about learning and expanding their skills.  The winning speech was given by Oak Ridge student, Summer Dixon.  Her story combined two periods in history together in art form to show a greater connection between the gold rush and the digital age.  It was remarkably good.  All of the students did well and a lot of medals were won.   We cannot appreciate Jeff Hassian enough for his work with this team.  The Academic Decathlon is almost a year-round program now.   The experiences he is providing these students are priceless.  

FCCLA

Our new culinary teacher, Dianne Goldman, had nine students qualify for the state FCCLA competition down south.  This is an amazing accomplishment.  Dianne is doing a great job of continuing the tradition developed here at Oak Ridge by Sharon Varozza.  Dianne is growing and expanding on the program and getting more students involved.  Thank you to Dianne and the FCCLA students. 

February 3rd

African American History Month

February is African American History month.  I ordered posters to celebrate the month and like so much in life they were supposed to be delivered this week but have now been delayed until Monday.  I ordered a variety of different posters.   I will spread them out in the staff lounge when they arrive.   Please choose from one of the eight posters shown here. I understand that not everyone might have room in their classroom to post one.  But I would appreciate it if most of us could post them for the month of February.  I will take them back in March so we have them annually.  In March we can replace them with Women's History Month posters.

PLC Progress

I was so impressed in our Leadership meeting this week to hear the different work each PLC is doing.  It sounds like there are a lot of neat collaborations happening.  I just need to applaud the work being done.  Everyone has truly engaged in the process.   I was blown away by how far some of the groups had progressed.  Thank you!

February 2nd

Update to CAASPP Testing Schedule Sheet

We noticed that the CAASPP testing calendar was accurate in the form below.  But the verbiage in the instructs flipped the dates.  We have corrected the sheet for your use.  If you had previously printed this sheet out, please remove it and use the updated CAASPP Testing Schedule sheet.  I highlighted the updates in yellow. 

STEM Science Fair

The STEM club is starting to promote this year's STEM Science Fair.  They are encouraging students to sign up and enter a project.  Like in previous years, there is a category for middle school age students as well.  I wanted to make sure you were aware of the opportunity.  We would appreciate it if you could encourage students who might be interested to sign up.  Thank you.

• STEM Science Fair Information

January 31st

Open House Thank You

I wanted to thank everyone for Open House.  I was able to get around to almost all rooms last night.  The parents I spoke with enjoyed the evening and what they learned.  We had a variety of programs for parents to take part in.  Whether it was 8th Grade Parent Night, AP Night,  Info Night on Graduation for senior parents, or our booster groups on display and recruiting, the parents found the information useful.  I appreciate all of you being available and such great ambassadors for our school.  

ChatGPT/TurnItIn Update

As you can imagine, platforms like TurnItIn are facing a lot of heat to help schools combat ChatGPT and its ability to write.  I did not know that TurnItIn had hired and created an AI department years ago to start combating this.  They released a statement with a video explaining what they are doing to combat ChatGPT and how close they are to launching the solution.  I found the embedded video very compelling and worth the two minutes.   AI is obviously going to be the next disruptive technology that rocks every industry that exists.  I do believe that education will be rocked more than others.  As an institution, we have had to address disruptive advances in technology before, whether it was the calculator or Google searches.  I am not sure how education will change from this, but TurnItIn is working on tools to combat it.  

Article/Video: https://www.turnitin.com/blog/sneak-preview-of-turnitins-ai-writing-and-chatgpt-detection-capability

Academic Decathlon

It is Academic Decathlon time.  Jeff Hassian and the kids are competing this week.  The Academic Decathlon will culminate this weekend with a  full day of competition on Saturday.  Jeff and the team have been putting a lot of time into preparing and practicing.  We are so lucky to have kids this excited about academics and challenging themselves.  

January 27th

CAASPP Testing Schedule Update

After running our bandwidth test the other day we have confidence that we can run the CAASPP schedule as we originally wanted to.  We had the science test in two different places before in case we need to move it.  But we have solidified the testing schedule now and the assembly schedule.  I am providing everyone with a detailed plan here.  There is a list of all the tests and a calendar for those who are more visual.  I want to remind everyone that the two-hour assembly block will be split into two groups.  One grade level will attend the first hour and the other grade level the second hour.   Please be familiar with the linked testing schedule.  Thank you.

Parent Outreach

Last night I did our parent outreach for the rollout of the new hall pass system.  You can read a copy of what I sent parents here.  I am committing myself to running hall passes for a month or so then revisiting the topic with Leadership to see if the pros outweigh the cons.  The poor boys only had access to one bathroom yesterday afternoon.  Vandalism across multiple bathrooms took time to correct leaving students with only one restroom to use.  

January 25th

John Bosch Update

I would like to thank everyone who was able to support John (past Oak Ridge teacher and coach) and the fundraiser that happened the other day.  It was a tremendous success.  They received a lot of support and donations to help John and his family.   John was overwhelmed by all the love and wanted to share his gratitude in a video you can watch here.  I am so proud of Oak Ridge and the El Dorado Hills community.  When someone in the Oak Ridge community needs help, we always rally around our own.  

Oak Ridge STEM Club

The Oak Ridge STEM club did a presentation to the local Rotary club this morning and received a grant from them.  They have been putting on a STEM Science Fair at Oak Ridge every year.  This year the Rotary club has agreed to supply them with the money they need for the competition and to help supply guest speakers to their club.  I was very proud of how they self-advocated and found support.   

January 20th

Foundation Teacher Grant

It is that time of year again.  The Foundation is accepting applications from teachers who would like to apply for a grant.   All of the logistics of the grant are explained in the application.  I can either answer or get answers to any questions you might have about it.  The due date is March 30th for applications.  Please click here to gain access to the application.  

Music Boosters Coconut Club

The Music Boosters are holding their annual Coconut Club tonight.  It is always a good night of food, auctions, good people, and entertainment.  It is so much fun to see our students performing in ways we don't always get to see. They are extremely talented.  I am grateful to the group of parents that put this fundraiser on every year.  And I am thankful to Paul and Natalie for the quality of the performances and the work they do.   

Meeting Reminder

I want to remind everyone that we have a meeting Monday morning at 7:45 in the MPR.  I have attached the agenda here.  

January 12th

Rescheduled Assembly

As you remember, we had a first semester assembly canceled because our speaker had COVID.   We have looked for times to reschedule that assembly that fits into our schedule and the speakers.  But we have not been able to find a time that will work.  So we are canceling that assembly.  However, one of the speakers we have during CAASPP is a similar speaker who is also going to address Oak Ridge being a place that is accepting of everyone.    I am currently working with Keith Hawkins (canceled speaker) about kicking off next year with our freshmen in smaller groups and doing impactful work on being accepting of people of all races and backgrounds.  He will help us to set the culture we want with each new freshmen class that enters.  We want all new students to understand that accepting everyone is a pillar of being an Oak Ridge Trojan.   This is not all that we will be doing, but another piece that I want to build in every year. 

January 9th

Welcome Back and a Thank You

I hope everyone had a restful break and you were able to enjoy the holidays and the new year.  I had a terrific break.  I was able to spend three days visiting my family.  It was nice to tinker in the shop with my Dad for a couple of days as well.  I hope everyone is like me, rested and ready for the second half of the year.   I would also be remiss if I didn't thank our fantastic maintenance team who kept the school from floating away over break.  Rob Slinger, Travis Walker, and the rest of the team were cleaning drains and the creek so we didn't have flooding.  I know it wasn't fun for them to be out over the New Year's weekend managing what the storm threw at us.  

Final Make Ups

I want to thank Debbie Gilley for proctoring the make up finals and Sarah for organizing it all.  In the end, it was a big job and I am grateful to them for doing it so well.  We successfully got all of the students who showed up taken care of.  

Career Center and Counseling  Office Changes

Alyce Rogers from the College and Career Center is back from maternity leave and shifting over to the Counseling Office.  When Jen Szelenyi shifted to the Assistant Principal's Office, Alyce shifted into her position.  We recently hired a candidate from the outside to take over the College and Career Center.  They will be starting any day now.  Jon Pratt will make the announcement when it is official.   Along with this news we need to thank Bridgit Bonnell for stepping up temporarily in the College and Career Center.  She moved over from her Para position temporarily and we are grateful for the job that she did last semester.   We could not have had that service available to students without her last semester. '

New SRO

Starting today we have a new Deputy serving as our School Resource Officer.  Please welcome Deputy Patrick Rude when you see him.  Deputy Scarr received a promotion and a new position.  We are very happy for him and his accomplishment.  I was able to meet with Deputy Rude this morning and he is going to be a great fit here.  We are lucky to have him.  

Lost a Tree

Sadly, the storm knocked down one of the redwoods in our memorial grove between the cafeteria and the College and Career Center.  You can see the stump there.  I hate losing trees and that was a beautiful one.   I just wanted to let everyone know what happened.  Thank you to Travis and his team for getting it taken care of so quickly.   

December 22nd

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

If I missed anyone yesterday during the luncheon, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  I know I will be driving to my parents to spend time with them, my brother, cousins, aunt, and uncles.  Family is what makes this time of year so special. I hope all of you can have a special holiday season.   As we welcome the new year, it causes us to reflect on the last year.  I am so proud of the work we have done this semester.   I have seen great teaching and learning this semester.  Our students are being successful and great things are happening.  The work being done to further develop our PLCs is incredible.  I am blown away by the progress that has been made.   I look forward to WASC coming in February and seeing how great our school is. 

Final Make Ups

If you have provided a student with the link for final make ups please make sure you get us the final.  Today is the last day to get us the information/final we need for make ups.  Please get them to Sarah by 12:45 today so we have time to organize them.

Cell Phone Wall Holders

All of the cell phone wall holders have been delivered.  If you didn't get yours for some reason let me know.  We put them in your mailbox. I ordered a few extra, so if you missed out on ordering one let me know.  I can still get you one.  

Alarms Over Break

People always ask if they can come into their classroom over break.  You are free to come into your classroom seven days a week.  The alarms are automatic.  They turn on every night at 11pm and shut off every morning at 6am whether someone is here or not.  

December 20th

Cell Phone Wall Holders

About a third of the holders have come in.  I had them put in teacher boxes.  The rest of them came in today and we are working to get them into your boxes.  If you didn't get one come tomorrow let me know.  On a side note, the kids are starting to figure out that I made this offer and they are giving me a hard time (in a joking way) at lunch.  It is cute and all above board, but fun to joke with them about it.  They don't like it, but all admit it will help them focus. LOL

Lunch Tomorrow After School

As a reminder, Student Leadership is treating all of us to lunch after school tomorrow.  I want to thank Jen and all her students in advance for their work.  I look forward to breaking bread with everyone tomorrow (Wednesday) and celebrating the holidays together.  

Final Test Make-Up Process Reminder

The Final Make-Up day will be Thursday, January 5th. There will be a 9:00-11:00 time and an 11:00-1:00 time.   For the process to work correctly, teachers must be the ones to share the link to the sign-up form with parents and students.  When a student or parent commits to being there you need to do two things.  One, send them the link to the form below to sign up for a time.  Two, make sure Sarah has the final before you leave for break.   Debbie Gilley in Social Science will be proctoring.   She will leave the completed finals in your box.  

December 16th 

Music Appreciation

The band and choir have been busy this holiday season.  They have been performing for the holidays and doing their winter performances at night.  They have been performing for the local middle schools and senior citizens as well.  Our community is really lucky to have them.  Paul and Natalie bring a  lot of holiday cheer and enjoyment this time of year. 

Holiday Meal for Students

The Cafeteria served a holiday meal to the students today.  It was complete with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, and rolls.  It was very thoughtful of them.  The students were genuinely grateful.   I appreciated that Joyce let Alison, Patrick, Travis, and I help serve the students today and wish them a happy holiday.  

December 15th

Foundation's CCRC

Our fantastic and super generous parent group has brought us holiday treats to show parent appreciation for what we do every day.   Whether it is classroom supplies or celebrations, our parent community is always supportive of our needs.  I need to thank Eileen Griffin and Lori Sprenger for their work and leadership.  Please stop by tomorrow (Friday) and get your treat from your box.  Happy Holidays!

CA Dashboard Went Live Today

The state publicly released its dashboard which provides its evaluation of each public school today.   All schools are evaluated on suspension rate, EL progress, graduation rate, English Language Arts and Math performance on the CAASPP test.  They are not reporting College and Career readiness this year or student performance on the new science test.  Needless to say, our school was not designated as needing improvement.  There is a lot of curiosity and concern about how many districts would be in differentiated assistance (needs improvement status) as a result of COVID.  I have not seen published data as of yet on those percentages.   Oak Ridge Dashboard Page

December 13th

Official Enrollment Data

In October the state pulls our official enrollment totals.  We finally got the official data returned to us confirmed.  Last year we had a total of 2537 students enrolled on CBEDS day.  This year we have 2516.   By the official numbers, we have been identified as having 228 students with disabilities and 188 students who are economically disadvantaged this year.  Last year we had 228 students with disabilities and 225 students who were economically disadvantaged.  

Elective Fair Schedule Change

The Leadership Team met yesterday and we finalized a bell schedule change for the Elective Fair on Thursday, February 2nd.  We need to make lunch 10 minutes longer so students can visit all of the electives.  As we get closer to the event we will put out more details.  But it will once again be on the blacktop behind the gym.  You can visit the website to see the Elective Fair January 30th to February 3rd bell schedule.  

December 8th

Share Your Success

I would like to capture and celebrate our successes from semester one.  So, I have an ask for everyone.  I want to know what everyone's biggest school-based win was this year.  What are you most proud of from the first semester?  I want to use them in an upcoming presentation.  In the form, you can let me know if you want it to stay anonymous.   Please click here to submit your biggest win.  

CREATE Winners

Ryan Oselinsky, Alex Minnie, and Rhys Thomas participate in the CREATE program for Oak Ridge.  This is a program that gives students a real world challenge to solve.  Ryan, Alex, and Rhys won best presentation in the contest.  Please congratulate them when you see them.  Their picture is below. 

December 5th

Celebrations

I would like to capture and celebrate our successes from semester one.  So, I have an ask for everyone.  I want to know what everyone's biggest school-based win was this year.  

Students in Class

I want to follow up on the conversation we had in our meeting this morning.  I want to make a collective effort to not have so many students out of class.  As a reminder, be conscious of how long students are gone.  Continue to only let one student out at a time.  A lot of teachers are successfully having students drop their phones in a safe place at the start of class and they can't take them on bathroom breaks.  I think this helps. I support teachers who want to do this.  I would be willing to buy the pouches or whatever works in your room if you want to do this. 

Final Test Make-Up Process

The Final Make-Up day will be Thursday, January 5th. There will be a 9:00-11:00 time and an 11:00-1:00 time.   For the process to work correctly, teachers must be the ones to share the link to the sign-up form with parents and students.  When a student or parent commits to being there you need to do two things.  One, send them the link to the form below to sign up for a time.  Two, make sure Sarah has the final before you leave for break.   Debbie Gilley in Social Science will be proctoring.   She will leave the completed finals in your box.  

Tardy from the Office

In our meeting today we discussed a change to our tardy process.  Students who were late to class were coming to the office and getting a late pass.  We would then change their attendance to tardy.  But they would then cut the class entirely.  So we need to add a step in the process.  

Now, we will issue them a pass.  However, you will need to take that pass from them and change the absence to a tardy in Aeries.  This way we know the absence will not be changed to a tardy unless they arrive in your class.  Thank you.

District Email About W-2s and Address Updates

Please makes sure you open the email from the district today titled "Important Message from HR/Business."  It is important to read.  Thank you.

November 29th

Staff Changes

I am happy to announce two exciting changes to staffing.   Unfortunately, Amber Heinlein the Athletic Office is pursuing a new job and her last day was before break.  But we are fortunate that Jessica Womack in the AP Office has transferred and is taking on this new position.  Jessica's son is an athlete at Oak Ridge, and she is deep into Oak Ridge athletics already.  We feel that this is the perfect fit for Jessica and Oak Ridge.  We are very excited.

Jennifer Szelenyi in Counseling will be moving into the AP's Office.  Jennifer has been amazing in the Counseling Office.  She has been the lead on most of the testing that happens at Oak Ridge.  She is extremely capable.  We are lucky to have her in the AP Office.  Please welcome Jessica and Jennifer to their new roles.

AJ Brosnan Celebration of Life

We received the information on services for AJ Brosnan, the Oak Ridge senior who passed over the break.   Below is what the family has shared.

Celebration of Life for AJ Brosnan

this Saturday, Dec 3rd 

at Vintage Grace Church 

11:30 to 2:00

Also, the family has said to wear something pink if people are comfortable doing so ….it's AJ’s favorite color.

Updated Bell Schedule for This Week

Link to the Bell Schedule

November 28th

Girls Cross Country  2nd in State

The Oak Ridge Girls Cross Country Team came in 2nd in the State of California in Division 1 over the break.   And Troy Esparza came in 27th as an individual in the boy's State Championship and ran a personal best.  The race was held last Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.  Our Cross Country athletes continue to amaze us.  Last year the girls came in 3rd place.  They were determined to beat that this year and they did.  We are so proud of this team.  We will make an announcement to the school after the pledge tomorrow.  Here is an interview with the team online.   The girls who raced on Saturday were Quinn Walker, Adriana Ingargiola, Brooke Butler, Fiona Gordon, Addison Clinton, Madelynn Burns,  and Nola Boucher. Please congratulate them as you see them on campus.  I have posted the team getting their award below. 

Copiers

We received new copiers over the break.  They appear to be working similarly to the old ones.  The old ones will be removed from the main office lounge today.  We apologize for any inconvenience.  

Passing of a Student

As a follow-up to the email that went out over break.   Sadly, AJ Brosnan passed away over the break.  The Wellness Center is ready to support students in need today.  Please send students who need help to the Counseling Office and not directly to the Wellness Center.  When we get information about services we will pass it along to you.  Needless to say, this is going to be very difficult for many of our seniors to manage for a while.  I imagine struggles will come up again as we get closer to graduation as well.  We will be in each of AJ's classes today to help those students.  And a message went home to all seniors reminding them how they can get help if they need it.  We will all be here to support them and one another.  Don't forget, the Wellness Center is for you as well if you need it.  You can go down there directly or call them at ext. 3091.

Lost and Found Moved

We have moved the lost and found to the main office from the cafeteria.  From now on please refer students to the main office if they need the lost and found.  Thank you.