Anita Holland has agreed to serve as our Gap Attack coordinator! We are now looking for staff members that are interested in tutoring in this program. As discussed earlier, payment will be hourly according to the UFEA/UFSPA contracts. Please let Elisa know if you are interested in tutoring.

Breakfast of Champions nomination requests went out to half of the staff via email on October 20th. If you received this email, please remember that nominations are due by November 1, which is this coming Tuesday.

We will begin the "count" of office discipline referrals as they pertain to the PBIS Quarter Reward on 11/9/22.

For those of you who need an update, here is the district SLO presentation shared at the early release meeting on 9/13/22. It is also on the KJHS staff dashboard under the Evaluation section.

November 8th is the last home girls basketball game. It will be both 8th grade night and Pack the Place with a theme of "White Out". Game start time is 4:30 pm.

We will most likely experience the same delay in buses on early release days that we experienced on 10/26. In order to accommodate this, we will release walkers and those being picked up by cars at 11:40. Students riding buses will be held in classrooms and dismissed via announcement. Any students remaining at 11:55 will be dismissed to wait in the bus lane.

Administration Update

The KJHS administration is putting together a slide show of KJ-associated veterans. If you or someone in your family has served in our armed forces, please send the following information to Elisa:

• Name

• Photo

• Branch of the armed forces

• Rank/Title

• Years served

Kingsley News

On November 11th, the Kingsley News would like to celebrate Veterans Day by creating a broadcast to showcase those that have served our country. If you are interested in being featured, please either submit a quick video to Eric Stegemann telling us your name and the years and places you served OR let Eric know and he will come by and film you.

In lieu of individual student costumes, we are asking KJHS grade level teams to choose dress up themes for Monday, October 31st. Please complete the Team Theme Google form on Monday during advisory to report how many students dressed up. Here are the Team Themes this year:

• 6-1: Expo Markers (red, orange, green, blue, pink, purple, or black)

• 6-2: Rainbows (any color of the rainbow)

• 7-1: Google Meets (formal on top, casual on bottom)

• 7-2: Decades Day

• 8-1: Favorite Movie Character

• 8-2: Mr. Anderson

You should have received an email on 10/24/22 indicating that the McLean County Unit 5 Open Enrollment event is from 10/24/22 through 11/23/22. Open Enrollment is an annual event that allows you to make changes to existing benefits or elect benefits for the first time. This year McLean County Unit District No. 5 is requiring a mandatory open enrollment. Every employee must log in and choose benefits or choose to decline benefits this year. This is due to the changes we have made to the health plans, and also to give you a chance to add beneficiaries for your life insurance. Your beneficiary information may not have transferred over from the previous enrollment system.

New for 2023, we have enhanced the PPO Gold, PPO Silver, and HSA Silver Plans, which allows us to eliminate the PPO Platinum Plan. We are also happy to announce the addition of a new vision plan. The new vision plan will replace the current vison reimbursement coverage in the health plans.

If this is your first-time enrolling, you can register by accessing this Registration link. During the registration process, you may be required to enter personal identifying data as well as the following company identifier: Unit 5

If you are already registered, start making changes to your insurance elections today through this Login link.

If you have any questions, please contact Megan Peterson at petersm@unit5.org.

The window for Spring 2023 tuition waiver requests will open on November 1st at midnight. As a reminder and for your reference, here are the procedures that are used in the distribution of tuition waivers. Megan Peterson will be sending out an email on 11/1/22 with the link to apply for spring waivers.

Altering Absence Start/End Times

We have discovered that when start and end times are altered manually on an absence in Frontline, the data does not pull into Tyler correctly for payroll purposes.

Please only use the half day AM/PM or full day options in Frontline and do not change the time of the absence. If you would like to notify the substitute of their arrival time/schedule, please add that information in the “Notes to Substitute” section of the absence.

The Kingsley PTO has a new online Spirit Store open now through November 4th! Check out this LINK to see what is available and place your order.

All items purchased will be delivered to the school and will be available for pick up by December 1st. All proceeds from these orders will be used by PTO to support the students and programs at KJHS. Happy shopping!

This is just a friendly reminder that if you are taking sick leave in a quantity of less than a half day (i.e. 1 or 2 hours), you are expected to find coverage for the classes you will be missing. The office will try to help as we can but on days where we have several staff members out, the office is struggling to find coverage for hourly absences. Please talk to Elisa if you have any questions.

Per e-mail from Dayna Brown on 10/6/2022:

As you may already be aware, Unit 5 will have a referendum question on the November 8, 2022 ballot. The informational message below will go to parents later this evening, and we wanted to share with staff members, as well.

We also wanted to remind everyone that Unit 5 has adopted board exhibit 2.30-E1 , which pertains to actions employees can take as related to the referendum.

Restrictions cited in that exhibit center around using school/district/taxpayer resources to campaign for the referendum. The district and its employees may not advocate for (or against) the referendum using district resources. District employees should not use their distinct issued devices (laptops, phones, etc), paper, or copying machines to create or distribute items that try to persuade voters for or against the referendum.

The district, and its employees, may speak to the referendum and the items within the referendum in an informational, fact-based, unbiased manner at any time, as these are considered voter education activities. They may also encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and “get-out-the-vote” drives, as long as these are conducted in an unbiased manner.

When not being paid by the district, such as during breaks or off-school hours, district employees are considered private individuals. Private individuals and organizations are under no such restrictions and may advocate for the referendum as much as they wish as long as they are not using district resources or on district property, though there are specific restrictions on charitable organizations that are detailed below.

______________________________________________________________

District e-mail sent to families on 10/6/22:

Good evening

To put Unit 5 on more stable financial footing and ensure our students continue to have access to the quality education they deserve, Unit 5 will have a referendum on the ballot in the upcoming November 8 election.

Here is a link to a presentation by Superintendent Weikle explaining some factual information regarding the referendum.

If successful, Unit 5 will be able to:

• Responsibly Solve Unit 5's Financial Challenges

• Avoid Having to Increase Class Sizes, Decrease Staff, or Cut Programs

• Provide Safer and Improved Learning Environments for All Students

To learn more about the proposed plans, Unit 5 is hosting information sessions:

• Tuesday, October 11, 6 p.m. - Normal Community High School

• Tuesday, October 25, 6 p.m. - Virtual (information on signup will come closer to the date)

Here is a link to additional information

Please call (309)557-4000 district@unit5.org if you have questions.

PBIS Data Team met and discovered technology use (including earbuds, playing games, phones) is creeping up on the Infraction Trackers. Disrupting the learning environment is also on the rise. The PBIS Instructional Team then combined some of these things with our October Focus (Integrity) so this month's lesson has a "What Would You Do?" theme with scenarios that include these common infractions.

Please plan to teach this lesson in your core classes at some point before next Friday (October 28). There are notes at the bottom to guide you, but please be sure to ask any PBIS Instructional Team member questions if you have any.

- - Eric, Jenny Miller, Jenny Snyder, and Nikki.

A reminder about sending students to guidance...

If students are in need of immediate service due to a safety concern or emotionally distressed and are a disruption to the classroom environment, please call down to guidance to inquire if Kim or Michele are available. Otherwise, for all other issues, please refer students to the student/counselor appointment form or the what's up kingsley form. Guidance will send a pass for them when they become available.

In case you missed it, here are your October Instructional Tech Updates. In addition, IC will be updating this weekend. Please check out the IC Tech Tips & Updates slide deck Amber made to help us navigate these changes.

Courtney Knowles has graciously agreed to be the GSA sponsor for this school year. We are hoping to find a co-sponsor to assist her. If you are interested, please let Courtney know. Thanks!

Just a reminder about the overall structure of the Check In, Check Out process...

• Students pick up their sheet and/or clipboard from their designated adult before their 1st hour class.

• Students should confer with you at the end of class. You should circle the number that indicates the student's performance towards each goal during that class period.

  • This is a great opportunity to talk about why a certain rating was given.

  • This is also a great time to give out any kind of reward you want to if performance matches the student's goals.

• Students should drop off their the sheet and/or clipboard at the end of the day to their designated adult.

Congratulations to Mr. Rich for being named the Technology Education Association of Illinois Middle School Teacher of the Year! It is a well deserved recognition and we are all so very proud of you! Mr. Rich will be recognized at the upcoming board meeting on 10/19.

We have been asked by the district office to remind staff that while discussions of election events and processes are certainly welcome in the classroom, there should be no promotion of specific candidates or parties by staff. This does include room decorations.

There is an all school cafeteria competition for the month of October. Each grade level starts with 1,000 points. The challenge is to keep as many points as possible. Grade levels lose points for exhibiting unwanted behaviors in the cafeteria during the lunch hour. Here are the behaviors students lose points for: cell phone/electronics use, excessive volume, being out of seats unnecessarily, messy tables, untucked chairs, and being tardy to lunch. If a grade level's point balance falls below 200 points, they will be given the opportunity to earn back points through service.

The winning class will be awarded a lunch party with a dj on Friday, November 11th.