We are still looking for tutors for the Gap Attack program. This program has two strands to it...

• General Strand: Students and tutors are matched and the tutoring schedule will be determined based on mutual availability.

• Session Strand: Students and tutors are scheduled for specific sessions in conjunction with KJHS home sporting events. These sessions will include tutoring and/or mentoring with a high school or college student. There is no need for the tutor to stay for the sporting event unless they want to. Here is the tentative schedule for that program: 12/5, 12/13, 1/9, 1/17, 1/24, 2/1, 2/8, & 2/21.

Time commitment for tutors is 1-2 hours/week. Please let Anita Holland know if you are interested in either or both strands.

There will be a brief faculty meeting in the cafeteria on November 9 to discuss the upcoming round of aMath/aReading assessments.

The next PBIS Celebration Day is Friday, December 16. More details will be coming but please review this brief Q2 PBIS Updates presentation with your students. It covers a K Cash update as well as the criteria for earning the Q2 Celebration reward. Please remember that the "count" for Q2 incentives will start on 11/9/22. Incentive periods and quarterly periods do not run the same timeline as we need to allow time to inform students of the incentive criteria.

Due to high school course placement, we need aMath and aReading scores prior to December 1. With Thanksgiving break being late this year, this puts things in a time crunch. Therefore, the aMath/aReading initial testing window is 11/14 - 11/18, with team makeup sessions running 11/21 - 11/22. Guidance will have an all school makeup session on 11/29 and our Cycle 3 Data Day is December 9th.

Here's the good news... there is not writing assessment this round and if a student has had a comprehensive exam, F&P, or is currently in an intervention, there is no need for any further diagnostics assessment. This should take some pressure off of staff who do the diagnostics. Elisa will be asking teams to have their discussion recommendations in the Cycle 3 recommendation form (which will be sent out soon) by Monday, December 5th and she will have preliminary "students to discuss" lists out to teachers on 12/7/22. Thank you all in advance for your work in this process. It is greatly appreciated!

Please use this Google form to submit the number of Family/Teacher conferences you host. Please complete this by Friday, November 11.

This is the current list of Registered Student Organizations (RSO) here at KJHS. Please review it for accuracy. If you sponsor an RSO, please look at your RSO's page on the KJHS web site. If it needs to be updated, please let Erik Rich know. If your RSO doesn't have a link on the KJHS extracurricular site, please let Erik Rich know.

For those looking for a little extra November fun, here is the staff dress up/activity days calendar.

The KJHS PTO is sponsoring a dine out fundraiser on Thursday, November 10th. Dine at Moe's in north Normal (by Schnuck's) anytime between 11 am and 9 pm. If you present this flyer, the KJHS PTO will receive 20% of the sale. Thank you in advance for your support!

Hello U5 LA teachers!

Each week, I will provide you with timely tidbits for you to use in your classrooms. First, I am featuring a goldmine resource I discovered last year, which focuses on writing instruction using mentor texts called Mini Moves for Writers. Recently, I shared this video with a strategy group needing some assistance with paragraphing. Worked like a charm! This is one of many videos, so feel free to explore.

Janel Sebeny

• November 10: Social Committee meeting @ 8 am in Room 200

• November 17: Teacher Dress Alike Day (Maroon & Gray)

• November 18: Staff lunch provided by 8th grade teachers

Here are the November Instructional Tech Updates.

We will begin the "count" of office discipline referrals as they pertain to the PBIS Quarter Reward on 11/9/22. This will allow us time to communicate the expectations and rewards to students. Please keep in mind that incentive periods and academic quarters may differ slightly in timing in order to allow our PBIS Tier 1 team to examine data and set rewards.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Team Theme challenge! Congratulation to Team 6-2 for winning with a 75% participation rate.

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 application for Spring 2023 tuition waiver requests is now open. As a reminder and for your reference, here are the procedures that are used in the distribution of tuition waivers.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.