Colleagues,
We are just completing our first full week back of in-person instruction and hopefully settling into the new school year. I’ve heard such terrific feedback on the quality of your work and the degree to which you have adapted to this new learning environment. At the same time, I know all of this work remains incredibly challenging. Whether you are working from home or on site or whether you are working in our hybrid or in our remote learning school, please know how appreciative I am of your efforts under these challenging circumstances.
I also want to provide you with an update on our viral testing program. We recently completed baseline testing of students and staff prior to the Oct. 1 launch date of our hybrid model. Using two different vendors, we learned a great deal about the logistics involved in each step of the process and what worked well and what needed to be improved. As we were planning for the next phase of staff surveillance testing, we wanted to be sure that our testing solution reflected these lessons learned. For the past week, we have been vetting a new testing solution that will allow us to test all of our staff members each week and to potentially include all of our secondary students at WMS and WHS. This would include a saliva kit that is sent home each week for these students and staff, then returned to school for drop-off and delivery via Fed-Ex to the lab. While requiring few touchpoints at school, there are still many logistics we are working through to make this solution as seamless as possible. We will likely begin with a sampling of staff next week to pilot the full solution before transitioning to all staff and included students in the subsequent weeks. As always, we remain grateful to the incredible team of local science advisors and volunteers who have helped guide the direction of this work. We will have many more details to share next week once everything is finalized.
With a long weekend in front of us, I also want to remind anyone who may be traveling to please be sure you are adhering to the state’s updated travel guidelines if you are leaving the state.
Thanks for all that you do for our students and have a great weekend!
Best,
David
Calendar
10/12/20 – Columbus Day – No School
10/13/20 – School Committee Meeting – Remote Online – 6:30 pm
10/14/20 (Wed) – In-person Day for Students in Cohort A
Reminder: Equity Protocols Training
Beginning in SY20-21, all WPS faculty and staff are required to take the Equity Protocols Training and accompanying assessment as seen on the Mandatory Trainings page of our Human Resources website. A passing score of 6 out of 8 is required. The equity protocols training ensures that we are all aware of equity violations that may arise in our community, and our collective responsibility to prevent and address such issues. Please complete the training by October 31, 2020, as communicated by the Office of Human Resources.
Our Panorama survey window is open and will close Wednesday, October 21.
All survey responses are anonymous and confidential. The survey will take approximately 30 minutes.
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Employee Group |
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Survey Link |
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Teachers/Instructional Staff |
Classroom Teachers, Directors/Department Heads, Long-term Substitutes, Math and Literacy Coaches, Paraprofessionals, Special Educators, Specialists, Teaching Assistants, etc. |
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Non-Instructional Staff |
Assistant Principals, Guidance Counselors, METCO, Nurses, OT/PT/SLT, Psychologists, School Front Office Staff, Social Workers, etc. |
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Operations Staff |
Custodial, Facilities, Food Services, Mail, Maintenance, Transportation, etc. |
*Please note: If you are a staff member who works at two schools, select the school where you work the most and with which you are most familiar. You may take the survey for each school only if you feel that your experiences at each school strongly differ. If you work at more than two schools, please select “District-wide” as your school.
Salary Lane Change News: Letters of Intent to change lanes in SY2020-22 are due by November 1, 2020.
All professional staff who expect to receive a Masters, M+30, or M+60/Doctorate at the beginning of the next school year 2021-2022, must send formal notification of intent to change salary lanes to Addie Doherty dohertya@wellesleyps.org, no later than November 1, 2020. The notification should include: current lane, proposed lane, and the school year (2021-22) in which you hope to change lanes. This early notification deadline is required so that provisions for anticipated salary lane changes may be included within the new fiscal year budget. Please note: The list does not carry forward. You must provide written notice each year until you have achieved the desired lane change.
Signi
ng in to WPS Buildings
You may have noticed signs at the entrance of our schools that look like the picture below. This is an electronic way of signing into the building and attesting that you are feeling well. Please take a picture of the sign. This will prompt you to fill out your information on a Google form attesting that you are well. If you do not have a cell phone, you will still be able to sign in to the building using the paper sign in log.
Fraudulent Unemployment Claims
Unfortunately, many of our employees have been affected by a data breach and false unemployment claims have been filed on their behalf. The Human Resources Office has contacted all employees who were impacted. If you have been contacted by the Human Resources Office and informed that your information has been used to file a false unemployment claim, please follow the steps below to report unemployment benefits fraud.
1. Report the fraud to the unemployment office.
2. Report it to your local police department.
3. Report it to the credit bureau.
4. Report it to the social security administration by calling 1-800-269-0271
Human Relations Services
The Human Relation Services (HRS) can help. Wellesley Public Schools has contracted with HRS to provide up to ten free counseling visits for you and/or your family members. This program is designed to help you deal with stresses of life and work –including personal and family issues, drug or alcohol problems, and job related tension. It offers prevention and intervention to reduce these stresses and improve coping skills.
HRS is located at 11 Chapel Place in Wellesley and can be reached at 781-235-4950. This is a confidential service. Wellesley Public Schools is not aware of the names of employees or their family members who utilize this service.
New DESE License Call Center Hours
The DESE Licensure Call Center will offer an additional five hours per week of service to educators and prospective educators. Effective Monday, January 6, 2020 the Licensure Call Center (781-338-6600) will be open each business day from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Almost 50 percent of the responses from a recent survey favored these new hours over other options.
Do you have a question for the WPS Human Resources Department? Email AskHR@Wellesleyps.org. The Human Resources Department is happy to assist you.
WPS Internal Job Postings on District Website
For all Internal Job Postings, please go to “Internal Job Postings” under the Faculty tab of the District’s website.