respect for every individual • collaboration and community ... · passages of verse lead to...

Rebecca McFall, Ed. D., Superintendent Lincoln Public Schools

Ballfield Road, Lincoln, MA 01773

Core Values • Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning

• Respect for Every Individual • Collaboration and Community

Superintendent’s Bulletin

The Superintendent’s Bulletin is typically posted on the Lincoln Public School website each Wednesday during the school year. It provides timely, relevant information about meetings, professional development opportunities, curriculum and program development, grant awards, and School Committee news.

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18-19:16 December 19, 2018

See Page 8 for Employment Opportunities

Dear LPS Community, A Calendar Survey link will be sent to you the first week of January. Your response is important! In last week’s bulletin, December 12, 2018, I outlined the primary considerations for the 2019 – 2020 School Year Calendar. At the School Committee meeting on December 13, 2018, we reviewed and discussed two draft calendars, one with a before Labor Day start and the second with an after Labor Day start. We also discussed whether or not to review our practice of closing school on Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and Good Friday. The School Committee and Administration agreed to survey families and employees to gather information about holiday observance and needs related to school being open or closed on these holidays. The last survey on this topic was administered in 2015, and we found that we would be unable to provide the number of substitutes needed to cover classes for faculty who would be out of work on the holidays. We will be surveying again to determine whether the needs of our community have changed or remain the same. As we build the calendar for the 2019-2020 school year, there are many things to take into consideration, among them:

- meeting DESE’s-180 day mandate and the required number of instructional hours (please note that half days built into the calendar count as a full day in the calculation of meeting the 180 day mandate)

- building in five “snow” days to accommodate any days missed due to weather (days off for this purpose must be made up to meet the 180-day mandate, except snow days beyond 5 days that occur after March 31st.)

- whether to begin the school year before or after Labor Day - complying with the Lincoln Teacher’s Association contract (teachers cannot be scheduled to return any earlier

than the last Monday in August and may not be in school any later than June 30th) - new teacher orientation and the return of all faculty and staff - complying with the State’s official observance of non-religious holidays - building in days for the observance of religious holidays - how the ending of each school year affects the beginning of summer programming and potential

construction projects - Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School’s calendar and how it aligns with the LPS calendar - and, for next year in particular, how the ending of school affects moves to accommodate the Lincoln School

Building Project and the move into the new Hanscom Primary School. In early January, you will receive a request to complete a survey regarding the calendar for the 2019-2020 school year that will ask about your preference for opening or closing school on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Good Friday, along with a few other questions. Our current practice is to observe all three. Your input will help us to make the best decisions to serve our communities and meet the operational needs of the schools. All the best,

Here’s wishing everyone a relaxing break and a Happy New Year!

SUPERINTENDENT’S BULLETIN Lincoln Public Schools December 19, 2018 2 of 8 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

District Calendar of Upcoming Events

Wednesday, December 19

Thursday, December 20

Monday, December 24, 2018 – Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Monday, December 24, 2018

Tuesday, December 25

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

January 10, 2019

January 24, 2019

. . . . School Building Committee Meeting (SBC) . 7:00 p.m. – Hartwell Multipurpose Room

. . . . SBC Outreach Subcommittee Meeting 10:00 a.m. – Hartwell Multipurpose Room

. . . Winter Break – Schools Closed . . . Central Office Closes at 11:30 a.m. . . . Central Office Closed . . . New Year’s Day - Central Office Closed . . . School is Back in Session . . . School Committee Meeting 7:00 p.m. – Hartwell Multipurpose Room . . . School Committee Meeting 7:00 p.m. – Hartwell Multipurpose Room


News and Information To share news with your colleagues, email Janice Gross @[email protected].

We offer condolences to our colleague Jessica Killian, BCBA/TIS on the Hanscom Campus, on the loss of her father Dr. Lester Adelman.

G r e a t L e a r n i n g Erich Ledebuhr, Principal, Hanscom Middle School

This past month students showcased a variety of animatronics that the students made for three themed escape rooms: a Harry Potter Escape Room, a Military Escape Room, a Prison Escape Room and their plans for the construction of their escape rooms.

During the month of October, in computer class, the 8th-grade students created an “animatronic eye” as a way to review how to program LED’s, sensors, and servo motors with a Hummingbird microcontroller and the application SNAP to make an eye move. The students used the design process as an opportunity to document their work, from beginning to end, and to assess and modify their work as they worked towards building the frame and mechanical parts of the eye and also programming the eye. During the month of November, the students were asked to use the skills learned to build the animatronic eyes to create their own animatronic prop for a themed escape room as part of a collaborative project between AP Tech and computer class. Each 8th-grade section chose a different theme for their escape room and collaborated to create their animatronics and the clues that lead from one animatronic to the next.

In AP Tech class, the students designed the structural components to turn the 7th grade break-out space into an escape room challenge. Using important concepts such as scale factors and material applications our students constructed ergonomic structures used for their escape rooms.

During this month’s presentation, students presented their animatronics as well as their ergonomic structures to teachers, students and parents to explain the viability and utility as well as the impractical aspects of their designs.

See photos on next page.


Professional Development

To register for PD offerings, please complete an LPS Conference/Workshop Request Form available at: http://goo.gl/dlRDxZ

New Course Offerings from EDCO Please note: Courses with insufficient enrollment may be canceled.

EDCO Collaborative

36 Middlesex Turnpike Bedford, MA 01730

(781) 259-3445

EDCO has a variety of Professional Learning opportunities available to meet your goals for 2019.

Many offerings include a graduate credit option. Reserve your space today! A few highlights include:

For a complete listing and to register, please visit our registration site:

https://courses.edcollab.org/Public/Course/Browse

Don't miss out - many courses will fill quickly! Courses are added on a rolling basis so please check back throughout the year.

Working with English Learners in the P.E. Classroom

Disciplinary Literacy

Wide Open Music Classes in Small Confined Spaces

Utilizing Web Tools to Support Math Instruction

Walking in an English Language Learners Shoes (Online)

Soar with Schoology

Understanding the Connection between Special Education and Physical Education

Teaching Active Study Strategies


Professional Development, EDCO, Continued

*** SEI Endorsement Courses ***

Massachusetts SEI Teacher Endorsement Course

Massachusetts SEI Administrator Endorsement Course

And Many More!

INITIATIVES FOR DEVELOPING EQUITY AND ACHIEVEMENT FOR STUDENTS

Invitation to Affinity Group for Educators of Color

MAALANA is an affinity group designed to provide opportunities for educators of color from various communities in Massachusetts to share school experiences regarding topics, such as: race, culture, ethnicity, power/ privilege, culturally responsive teaching practices, and systemic social change to create educational equity. Strategies for addressing the academic achievement of children from diverse cultures, preparing all students to successfully navigate a culturally diverse society, and collaboration techniques among colleagues are reviewed and discussed.

Claudia A. Fox Tree facilitates monthly MAALANA meetings which were initiated during the 2006-2007 school year. It is a space for educators of color to network, support each other, and brainstorm about school- related issues of social justice. MAALANA also provides an opportunity to share each other’s company and enjoy light refreshments. MAALANA educators are Multiracial, Asian, Arab, African Descent, Latino/a, and/or Native American teachers, advisors, counselors, administrators, staff, consultants, tutors, and retired educators who are the “only” or “one of few” of their racial/ethnic “affinity group” in their building or school system. We strive to build a safe community among educators of color to discuss cross cultural challenges in predominantly white school districts. Topics are highlighted and resources shared in a monthly electronic summary. Articles and links are selected for relevance to discussions and current issues of social justice. They may be informational, include statistics, list books, link to websites/videos, and/or highlight under-represented voices.

Dates: Please “pencil in” Gathering Dates for 2018-2019 (Fridays, unless otherwise noted from 3:30-5:30 PM). 1/11, 2/8, 3/8, 4/12, and 5/10 (please bring White Ally), with 6/7 as a potential make-up day, if needed. NEW LOCATION We meet in the Best Western Plus Hotel, in the Copper House Tavern. The Best Western is located at 380 Winter Street in Waltham (on the other side of the highway from the Embassy Suites). You can enter up the stairs from the parking lot and go through the patio.


Professional Development, EDCO, Continued

INITIATIVES for DEVELOPING EQUITY and ACHIEVEMENT for STUDENTS

invites your participation in the…

IDEAS 18-19 Book Group For more information about the IDEAS Book Group, contact Elli Stern at [email protected].

You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie This is an extraordinary look at the complicated relationship between a remarkable mother and an equally remarkable son, set, mostly, in the Spokane Indian Reservation where Alexie spent his childhood. Passages of verse lead to passages of prose -- but it’s readable, unpretentious, funny and deeply compassionate. January 10th at the Brooks School in Lincoln from 3:45-5:45

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue A debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream—the story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy. February 7th at Needham High School from 3:45-5:45

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Oluo offers an accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing issues of privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the “N” word. Oluo answers the questions readers don’t dare ask and explains the concepts that continue to elude everyday Americans.

March 14th at the Brooks School in Lincoln from 3:45-5:45 In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende Isabel Allende returns with a sweeping novel about three very different people who are brought together in a mesmerizing story that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s . April 11th at Needham High School from 3:45-5:45

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice. Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. May 9th at the Brooks School in Lincoln from 3:45-5:45


Employment Opportunities

Lincoln Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of age, color, covered veteran status, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or housing status.

Personnel presently employed by the Lincoln Public Schools are not required to submit a resume or letters of recommendation. Please submit applications online via the District’s secure online system at http://www.lincnet.org under Employment Opportunities.

School Position Anticipated Start Date

Hours/Week (If applicable) Compensation

Contact Information

District Facilities

Part-time Maintenance Craftsperson

Immediately 20

$30.54/hour

Michael Haines Facilities Coordinator 781-259-9400, X5305 [email protected]

Preschool at Lincoln

SPED Tutor January 2019 24 $24.13/hour Lynn Fagan Preschool Coordinator 781-259-9889, X4501 [email protected]

Lincoln School K-8

METCO Instructional Assistant

Immediately 30/hours 5 days/week

$18.31/hour Lateefah Franck METCO Coordinator 781-259-9635, X3100 [email protected]

HMS Instructional Assistant

Immediately 30 $18.31/hour Erich Ledebuhr, Principal Hanscom Middle School 781-274-7720, X7300 [email protected]

District Substitute Cafeteria Workers

Immediately TBD $13.35/hour Cathleen Higgins Food Services Coordinator 781-259-9400, X4306 [email protected]

District Day-to-Day Substitutes Immediately TBD $99.04/full day $59.42/half day

Suzette Brydie Substitute Coordinator 781-259-9402 [email protected]

respect for every individual • collaboration and community ... · passages of verse lead to...

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