e-Appeal: Digital Newspaper: A replica of The Commercial Appeal's e-Appeal is now available for MSCS teachers and librarians to use with students in the classroom. The e-Appeal’s easy navigational tools allow teachers to move from article to article, page to page, and to print and e-mail articles. 

If you have any questions regarding e-Appeal, please contact Meryl Isabel, textbook manager, via phone: 416-5870.

Directions for Registering for E-Appeal - October 2022

The District now utilizes a centralized withdrawal process to monitor and track students. These withdrawals are currently being handled by the SEED Office. To ensure office staff is fully knowledgeable, please review the FACT and step sheet to better understand the process.  

As a reminder, e-mail addresses have been created for all schools to communicate real-time student requests with principals, VPs, APs, Counselors, GOS, Records, and Financial secretaries, if applicable.

Attendance:

1. Teachers should mark attendance daily and grades should be updated in PowerTeacher Pro
2. All attendance should be processed and reconciled daily by the attendance designee
3. On-going attendance clean-up sessions will be conducted by zone within the coming weeks

 Please email studentservices@scsk12.org for questions.

As a reminder, state law requires all districts and schools to implement the truancy intervention process with fidelity. Per state law and MSCS Policy 6016, schools must ensure that truant students with five (5) or more unexcused absences receive a Student Attendance Review Team (SART) meeting. Failure to conduct a SART meeting impedes the truancy process and can result in truancy cases being dismissed from court. Please refer to Truancy Flow Chart to ensure each step of the SART process is completed. All truancy actions must be documented in PowerSchool, and the PSAP be entered in BrightBytes. 

Several trainings will be offered this semester around the SART process. School clerical and administrators responsible for attendance and truancy should attend. The dates are listed below. Participants should register in PLZ using course code #31824.

• October 27
• November 15
• December 1

Your assigned truancy specialist can provide onsite support and additional training. Contact Thomasena Stuckett at stucketttd@scsk12.org or Gail Cotton at cottongd@scsk12.org if you have any questions or need further information.

It has come to our attention that some schools have been utilizing self-made/unofficial forms of suspension. Please remember that schools are mandated only to use the District’s standardized official suspension letter. Suspensions must be entered in Incident Management within 24 hours of the incident (business days). NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please see the steps for printing an Official Letter of Suspension. Also, OSS: must be entered first in the Title Field for the suspension to print. Moving forward, only principals, assistant principals, vice-principals, and select central office staff from the SEED department will have the ability to enter suspensions. 

If you have questions regarding discipline data entry, contact June Nickols, Discipline Advisor, at NICKOLSJL@scsk12.org. If you need additional clarity regarding TCA-related obligations concerning discipline implementation, contact Dr. JB Blocker, Manager of Equity Discipline & Intervention (EDI), at BLOCKERJ@scsk12.org or 901-314-9157.

It is important to remember that the KID Team staff is limited and serves all of our elementary school populations. The KID Team protocols require that Tier 1, 2, and 3 supports are exhausted before one of the three KID Team specialists is deployed for one-on-one student support. Please review the attached KID Team manual before making KID Team referrals. 

For additional guidance or KID Team assessment, contact Pamela Jones, Advisor JONESP@scsk12.org, or at 901-416-8343. 

Please review the KID Team manual.

Click here: The Way to ReThink

The next AP Student Saturday Review will be held on December 3 at East High School. Sessions will be held in the following subjects: 

• AP Biology
• AP Chemistry
• AP Calculus AB and BC
• AP Computer Science Principles
• AP Human Geography
• AP English Language and Composition
• AP English Literature and Composition
• AP Physics
• AP World History
• AP U.S. History
• AP Government and Politics
• AP Spanish

Please post the following QR code and/or link for student registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ap-student-saturday-review-dec-3rd-2022-tickets-440415473537. Thank you for supporting this wonderful learning opportunity for students. Please contact James Smith if you have questions. 

Virtual Education & Logistics and The Department of Information Technology will be entering our last phase of 1:1 teacher device distribution. There are two action items that schools must complete prior to making final device requests and by October 24th.  It is important to note that after this final distribution of devices, schools will make any future purchases for teacher and staff laptops as needed.

Action Item 1: Complete the 1:1 Extra Teacher Device Inventory Report (CLICK HERE) to document any extra 1:1 teacher devices that you have in your building. If you do not have any extra devices, you must still submit the survey form to indicate that you do not have extra teacher devices.

Action Item 2: All teachers and staff who currently have a 1:1 device must complete the Computer/Device Checkout Form (CLICK HERE) and attach the PDF file to the 1:1 Extra Teacher Device Inventory Report (CLICK HERE).  Verify that individual forms are complete prior to submission.

Remember that teachers should be required to turn in their devices at the end of the school year and if transferring to another work location at any point during the school year. That device should then be assigned to the incoming person filling the vacancy, and that person should also complete the Computer/Device Checkout Form.    

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Please submit all requested documents by Monday, October 24, 2022, by COB.   

The MSCS Compass is a new one-stop shop for all your PowerBI reports, including the new and improved Student Profile, which is now called Student Data 360. Watch our introduction and navigation video here - Intro to MSCS Compass

Need to Give Someone Access to PowerBI?

• Principals can give school staff members access through the PowerBI Access App. If you see someone in the Access App that should be removed from your school, contact DAIM Support (DAIMSUPPORT@scsk12.org) and we can assist. 

NEW Releases and Features

• Student Surveys Dashboard – Contains historical Panorama survey data on student perceptions of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Other survey data coming soon.
• Overview Pages within Student Data 360 now have Zone, Grade, and School buttons to help filter data much more easily.
• Discipline and Attendance Quick Reports now have the ability to filter by time interval (month, day, 20-day period, semester, year).
• Student Enrollment has two new reports including a No-Show Report and Withdrawal to Charter Report.

Under Construction

• Several reports are currently being updated and redeveloped and will be unavailable temporarily – RTI-A (specifically Fastbridge and i-Ready), Third Grade Commitment, Instructional Practices, and Ready Grad.

Support and Trainings - ATTENTION: School Clerical Staff

• This week on Tuesday (October 18th) and Thursday (October 20th), at 10:00 AM, we will host a Virtual Office Hours session going over the Attendance Reconciliation Report. Sign up today!

DAIM Support and Data Quality Alerts

• Does something in a dashboard look wrong? Check our Data Quality Updates.
• And check out the rest of the DAIM Support Sharepoint site, complete with additional video tutorials, walkthrough guides, and more!

The Fall Student Perception Survey is vastly approaching.  Site Coordinator Training will take place virtually from October 18th- 24th.   

All Site Coordinators should register for one of the sessions in PLZ . Course #32320  

• Survey​ Opens: November 7 
• Survey Closes: November 18 

The deadline to complete ALL NIE Goal-Setting Conferences in PLZ is Friday, October 28. Employees MUST select their evaluator for the evaluator to access their evaluation. ALL fields should be completed in their entirety before finalizing. 

The following links are available as resources for completing the Goal Setting Conference and can also be found in PLZ under the "Resources" tab:

• NIE Goal Setting Conference Tutorial
• NIE Step Guide (Evaluator Perspective)
• NIE Step Guide (Employee Perspective)

Questions? Please reach out to eps@scsk12.org.

ALL content teachers will require two informal observations in PLZ. One informal observation should be recorded in PLZ EACH semester. The first informal observation in PLZ should occur before beginning formal observations.

Please note: When uploading a file, each field must be completed. Observers can enter “See Attachment” in the fields when they attach the document.

As a resource, please click the links below.

• SY22-23 Informal Walkthrough PLZ Guide - ADMINISTRATOR
• SY22-23 Informal Walkthrough PLZ Guide - TEACHER

Registration is now open for SY22-23 Professionalism Training. To find out more information, click here.

The TEM TEACHer Training Series is now open for ALL teachers. The series aims to identify teacher and student actions that guide effective instruction at performance levels 3-5 of the TEACH indicators. Register in PLZ, course #26177.

The window for completing Growth and Achievement selections for the SY 2022-23 is October 1st -31st.  

Please find the guidance for Teachers and Evaluators which can also be found under PLZ Resources for completing the selections for Growth and Achievement. 

Legislative Changes Impacting Evaluation

Please note, in the 2022 legislative session, three laws impacting evaluations were passed. Click here for important updates.  

2022 LOE Weightings:

Note: The State weighting includes percentages that encompass 3 components as it relates to the TEAM Evaluation Model.  

Memphis-Shelby County School uses the TEM Evaluation Model to conduct evaluations which include weightings for 5 components: Observations, Professionalism, Student Perception, Growth, and Achievement.  

Should you have any questions, please reach out to the EPS office: 

Phone: 901.416.2475 l Email, eps@scsk12.org. 

You can raise money for your school one pedal at a time! MSCS is partnering with CycleBar for a healthy and productive school year. Share this flyer with your colleagues, and contact CycleBar for additional information.

October is Adopt-A-School Month, and MSCS and the Greater Memphis Chamber are issuing a call to action to businesses to Reimagine 901 by becoming school adopters.

Businesses have the opportunity to support schools, impact student learning, and experience meaningful volunteer opportunities. During this campaign, school leaders can engage in activities like inviting active and potential adopters to their schools and highlighting them on school websites.  

The Adopt-A-School Luncheon is Thursday, October 27, at 11:30 am at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn, 3700 Central Avenue.

Principals are encouraged to nominate an adopter for recognition.

•  Adopt-a-School Month Flyer
• Save the Date