Gaggle--keeping Kaneland students safe

Kaneland subscribes to Gaggle Net, a human-monitored online safety system in an effort to keep our students safe while on-line.  There are several Kaneland administrators for each building that are notified when an inappropriate email, text, or chat message is sent through our network system.  The link here is to a video that explains the details of how the system works and how it helps to protect our students.

While the video is designed for those that actually would be notified (building administrators), it still provides background as to how the system works as one way we try to ensure our students' safety.  Please feel free to watch the video if you'd like a closer look at how the system works and what steps are taken when potentially harmful content is identified. 

If you have questions about the program after watching, please feel free to reach out to your building administrator with any questions you might have about how your building responds or to someone in the district office with more global questions.

Reminder--AAC-OC meets Monday 10/23 at 3:30

Just a quick reminder that AAC-OC will meet Monday at 3:30 in the Harter Community Room.  We will continue our work with planning the November 21st vertical articulation days as well as continue our efforts to redefine who we are and what we do!

If you're interested in checking us out please make sure to attend this meeting or let Mike know of your interest.  We're especially short a few 6-8 teachers so we'd love to see you there and have you help us define who we are!

Your Journey to Personalized Learning

Our initial cohort with the Institute for Personalized Learning is coming to a close, and one of our culminating activities is to create a product that describes our journey to personalized learning.  We thought the best way to do this would be to try to include any submissions you all wanted to include! 

There really aren't many parameters other than we'd like to be able to collect and organize any submissions digitally, so that would be our preferred method of submission.  If you and/or your team has the bug to share something unique that describes your journey, we'd like to challenge you to do so.  Or, if you created something at one of the PL 1.0 Academies or in your building as part of a PD day, please submit it so we can truly share how Kaneland is and what our collective journey has been!

If you are hoping to submit something, please share with Mike or Sarah by the end of the day on November 6th.

A Note of Gratitude

Each and every year our Health and Nursing staff work diligently on making sure all school immunizations are complete and documented by October 15th.  It is not an easy task to check, double check and contact families for compliance.  We would like to say thank you for your hard work on this task.  We know it can be frustrating and time intensive, but worth it to know our students are protected.  Please take a moment to say thank you to your building Nursing and Health staff for the time and effort they put into the task during the start of each school year.  Thank you!

Kane County Presenters Propsal

Just a quick reminder that we will be hosting Kane County Day and would love for many of our staff to present.  On learning walks we have seen wonderful learning to highlight.  It does not need to be a grand presentation, it simply can be how you have implemented any learning activity and then provide time for collaboration and sharing.  The proposal link is as follows:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNdS3lyxLmriOnxtMFLa9yRp8tVHxsSx4vQskAsBWwsMoLCA/viewform
Please consider presenting and sharing.

Teacher Advisory Council Joint Statement

This month TAC met for their monthly meeting.  The following was discussed and actions taken:
The TAC goals were approved for this year.  The goals are found in the TAC notes, or check in with your TAC reps. 
A discussion of the Candidate Profile creation was held. The TAC progressed through a carousel activity that assisted the discussion of the key characteristics of anyone to be hired within the school district.  Multiple advisory groups are looking and suggesting feedback and insight to the Candidate Profile.  The intent is to approve the Candidate Profile at the Board of Education level before hiring season begins. 
A continued discussion of the trimester structures was held.  The council will be taking a vote on the proposal for trimesters in November.  Trimesters has been discussed in the district for five years, with it most recently coming up during negotiations as part of the School Day Research Committee task list.  This would only be K-5 since at the secondary levels it would impact the ability of students taking exploratory and elective courses.  The calendar and structure would not change K-12 except the report card issuing dates.  The pro is teacher workload and the ability to spend more time in the start of the year on expectations, learner profile, reflection, routine, and students empowerment and not jumping into the core so quickly.  A few questions will further be explored:
Could exploratory courses do a progress report first trimester instead of increasing to reporting three times (they currently only report twice now)?
What would progress and report card dates be?
The council discussed the use and guidelines of Makerspaces.  At this time the council would love to invest time in the use and exposure to the possibilities and build use over time.  The focus for this year would be knowledge and exposure through Critical Thinking for students, through professional development on the design process and use for staff. We will revisit this in April.   
The council will come prepared to develop a District Design Challenge; The Green Screen Oscars, during the next meeting.  Share any ideas you may have. 
Have a great day!

Update from the Compensation Committee

This week the Compensation Committee met to review survey data collected from KEA members.  Thank you to all that participated in sharing their thoughts.  The membership clearly identified that 'Service to the District' and "Professional Development' are values worthy of compensating.  The survey also indicated that the membership is not yet ready to include 'Evaluation' in a compensation structure.  The Committee will be drafting potential salary structures in the coming months, and is on track to have a recommendation in late Spring, 2018.  More information will be shared as it becomes available.