There are two surveys that the district would like for students to take to provide input into policy decisions. Please have your advisory students take the two surveys below this week. Thank you in advance for helping facilitating this process!

Student Cell Phone Policy Survey

Middle School Athletics Survey

The Q3 Data Day is Monday, December 16. Please check the schedule to know when your team is meeting with our MTSS team. 

It's Elf Hunt week! Every day, there will be 6 elves hidden around the building. Find one and bring it to Barb for a prize. The only caveat is you can only win once - need to spread the wealth around! 

The Unit 5 IT Department has been introducing our new Helpdesk Ticketing system, IncidentIQ - https://unit5.incidentiq.com/, to the entire district over these past 2 months.  We will be making the full transition, for technology requests, to IncidentIQ after we come back from break.  If you haven't had a chance yet to log into the new system, we highly encourage you to do so.

How you can help: 

• Be patient with us as the IT Department will be working in two systems at the same time and working on learning this new system.

• Be observant of the new system.  We have made changes to where some buttons are located in the new IncidentIQ system. Please choose an issue button that closely fits your issue.

• Communicate with us.  We will be asking for feedback during this pre-rollout time.  There may be things that we need to change.  There also may be things that we can’t change and we need to know how to communicate those items out with the full district.  We have placed a Feedback button inside of Incident IQ on the Quick Tickets (main page).

Items to be aware of:

• Quick Tickets:  When you log in you will see several buttons that are considered “Quick Tickets”  These tickets should help you to pick some of the most used issue categories.

• Screenshots and videos:  When you are in the ticket you can take a screenshot or video from your screen.  Adding one of these to a ticket will greatly help us to make sure we are giving the ticket to the correct IT Technician. 

• HR and Maintenance tickets will be found in the old Helpdesk system.  We are working with HR and Maintenance to create an environment for their tickets.

• The technology inventory is connected to the system so you can help us as you create tickets by selecting the system that you or a student may be having trouble with.  

Thank you for working with us on our transition to IncidentIQ.  We are confident that this new system will help you communicate issues with the IT Department better.  The IT Department, in return, will be able to resolve district issues better.

If you have questions please submit a helpdesk ticket through https://unit5.incidentiq.com/

Thank you,

Unit 5 Technology Department

December PBIS lesson- please plan to teach this lesson on 12/17 during Advisory. There is a paper that you will need to print out before you teach this lesson, and it is linked in the slides.

PBIS Excellent Form- Names for the December "Excellent" PBIS awards will be accepted through January 10. 

Jan. Winter Assembly- When we return from break, we will have an assembly on Jan. 10th starting at the end of 7th and all of 8th hour. More details to come, but it is just like last year's assembly. We will need student and staff volunteers. Please share aloud the winter games (described on the first sheet) and add volunteers on your team's assigned sheet.

Unit 5 is piloting a program where you can send texts to families from your computer. In order to set this up, please refer to the resources below... 

Talking Points Log In

Talking Points Tutorial

Talking Points FAQs

Unit 5 is currently evaluating its student cell phone use policy to determine if any changes should be made. As part of that process, the district is conducting a survey of students, staff, and families. As such, they are asking you to participate in this anonymous survey to help them gather input that will inform the decision-making process. Here is the link to the survey. The deadline to participate is Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 6 pm.

Submissions are now being accepted for the 24-25 Beyond the Books grant competition. Want more information? Talk to our very own Jessie Lynch who is serving as the Unit 5 rep on the Beyond the Books committee.

Upcoming Games: 

Friday, December 13, 2024: “It’s an Elf Christmas”

Get into the holiday spirit early with this festive game! Players will be wearing special holiday-themed jerseys, which will be auctioned off after the game. It’s a perfect event for families to enjoy the holiday atmosphere and some great hockey.

Saturday, December 14, 2024: “Teddy Bear Toss”

This heartwarming event supports charity in a fun and memorable way. Bring a teddy bear to the game, and after the first Bison goal, join the crowd in tossing them onto the ice! The teddy bears will then be collected and donated to local charities.

As an added treat, there might be Bison-themed Santa hats handed out at one of these games this weekend!

The Bloomington Bison are offering a special $17 local government ticket for both games. You can redeem this offer here: https://fevo-enterprise.com/group/GovernmentEmployeeOffer

Saturday, January 11, 2025: "Unit 5 and Star Wars Night" 

The Bloomington Bison are excited to welcome all Unit 5 employees, students, and families to our inaugural Star Wars Night!

As a special offer for Unit 5, they have discounted our Attack Zone to just $17

• There will be Star Wars characters for fans to take pictures with

• Superintendent Dr. Weikle will be doing the ceremonial puck drop

• Unit 5 staff members who purchase tickets will be in a drawing to participate in Shoot the Puck for a chance to win a $50k donation to Unit 5 Foundation

School/STEM Day Game

The Bloomington Bison are having a School/STEM Day Game on March 5th if any teams are interested in a team field trip. 

Please be sure to review this memo regarding posting first semester grades. Speaking of first, will you be the first three people to email Elisa for a gift card? 

Congratulations to this week's Kingsley Kudos recipients: Anita Holland & Katie Starkey

Has a fellow Cougar gone out of their way to help you? Have you seen a staff member who goes above and beyond to make Kingsley a better place to work and learn? Reward them by nominating them for a Kingsley Kudos! It's quick, painless, and brings joy to you and the recipient. 

One of your benefits as a Unit 5 employee is access to our Employee Assistance Program. We encourage you to check out the program site to see if any of the many resources can meet your current and future needs. 

December's theme is “Winter Wellness”. We challenge you to 21 Days of Exercises to Stay Mentally and Physically Fit This Holiday Season. Attached is a document with suggested activities. Initial each day you participate and scan and email to Dayna Brown at the end of the month to be eligible for prizes. 

Winter break is almost here! Please remember to end the year with compassion. 

This monthly wellness initiative is designed to support your overall well-being, both physically and mentally. The monthly topics are based on the information gathered from last year’s staff wellness survey. 

December

• 16      Kingsley Cookie Exchange for staff 

• 19      Ugly Holiday Sweater Day

All Month  Holiday Dress Up Days: Calendar coming at the soon.

Here are this week's instructional technology tips. 

Here is the long awaited Countdown to Winter Break Dress Up Days Calendar!

Unless the student is on a behavior contract or plan that dictates to do so, please do not send students to the office for non-disruptive behavior. For example, if a student is 15 minutes late to class, simply write an "out of area" referral. The office will take are of it in a timely manner. 

If you are writing a referral to document an issue you or your team is addressing, please submit it as a minor referral. Major referrals should only be used for issues that the administrative team needs to address.