Evaluations 25-26

Attached below is the list for evaluations. You will find your evaluator as well as which track you are on for either formal/informal evaluation. 

We will start with evaluations on Monday, October 6th. 

To those teachers assigned to me as an evaluator for formal/informal evaluations, All observations must be completed by Monday, December 1st. 

Phone Tree

Attached is our 2025-2026 Phone Tree. Autumn will soon be here and we may have some weather that causes limited access to electricity (like last year). Please make sure your number is attached and if you are a leader of a phone tree that you create a group text message to share updates of information during emergency. 

• You should receive a "test" text message making sure we have updated contacts. 

Fall Conferences Thursday October 2 Noon-7:30

Conferences are scheduled for October 2 from 12:00-7:30. 

Attached below is the template from last year to use as a schedule for confirmed conferences. Please fell free to make your needed adjustments in this document.  

• Please keep the 20min consistent interval for conferences 

• 200 White chairs have been ordered (September 14). 

• Conferences will be added to our agenda for team meetings this week. 

• We want as many parent/guardians as possible (see strategic plan below)

By the end of the 2029-2030 school year, parent engagement in their Lewiston school(s) will be at least 94%, as measured by attendance at parent-teacher conferences.

Morning Passes

No Pass No Entry

There have been some unscheduled visitors to classrooms in the morning. This includes students and parents. 

• Please add student names to this list if they can come to your class in the morning. If they are not on the list, students will be turned away. 

Thank you!

Burro Block 

(Friday Extended Advisory)

Academic or Engagement?

For the past 2 weeks we have had discussions about our Burro Block also known as Friday Extended Advisory. Discussions have focused on how to use this dedicated time to support our PLC process specifically questions 3 and 4.

• Question 3 is: What will we do if students do not learn?

• Question 4 is: What will we do if students already know it?

I appreciate all the different perspectives shared and am grateful for the willingness and support teams have to improving and clarifying how we can best use this time. 

Friday Burro Block 8:20-9:00 - Grade Level Team Organized - Interventions/Remediations/Extensions

Going forward, Friday extended advisory time or Burro Block will be used for grade level teams to organize Tier 2: Interventions, Tier 3: Remediations, Enrichments/Extensions. 

• This is also a great time for admin/counselors to work with students who need behavior intervention/remediations. 

  • Aaron and Ali can work with grade 6 and grade 7 South

  • Quinn and Bonnie can work with grade 8 and grade 7 North

Please see the "JMS Friday Extended Advisory Protocols" for expectations for Fridays. 

Quarterly Engagement Focused - Whole School Burro Block

Once a quarter we will have all teachers provided an engagement focused learning experience for students. This will be led by core teachers as well as exploratory/elective teachers. 

• Dates for Whole School Engagement Focused Advisory

  • October 10, 2025

  • November 21, 2025 

  • February 13, 2026

  • May 22, 2026 

Parent Advisory Board

1st Meeting this Friday, September 19th

Please see the letter that was shared with parents on the Parent Advisory Board last week. We have scheduled 1 meeting per month to coordinate with our parent advisory board. 

 JMS UI & LCSC Fall 2025 Practicum Placements

• We have 9 practicum students placed with JMS teachers this Fall

Thank you to the teachers that have volunteered to host a practicum student!

Burro Bulletin for September 12

We are sharing regular JMS community updates through our Burro Bulletin. Topics communicated to parents include:

• Spirit Week 

• Lewiston School District App

• Fall Conferences

• Burro Gear 

Burro Bulletin

Please see the update for our JMS community that was shared on Friday. The "Burro Bulletin" can be found on our website: https://www.lewistonschools.net/o/jms/page/burro-bulletin 

We will publish at least 2 updates per month to keep our community informed on the happenings at JMS. If you have an update you want shared, please let Aaron know. 

Grade Level Assemblies

Thank you for your support in the grade level assemblies

The objective for these assemblies was to welcome students back and share recent updates as well as expectations. We will have regular assemblies this year to teach and reteach expectations and develop understanding of our Burro Values.  

Rooms

Many of us who were here last year attended the staff meeting for Rooms. This is our new system for communication. We all need to be using rooms for communication by September 17th. This will give us time to start the year and then to transition. 

Most recent communication from Ms. Baldus about rooms (8-25) "We are still working with Apptegy and the issue with Rooms and not being able to directly message parents.  It is working on the app, but not on the desktop.  I know teachers are frustrated and I don’t blame them!  I’m trying to stay close to my computer so that I can answer their questions and provide information to try and get the issue resolved.  Norman is working with them as well to answer their questions and provide more insight."

Attached below is guidance for the Rooms:

Practicum Students for 2025-2026

We need teachers who are willing to host practicum students