Week of December 17

Bus/Parking lot duty: Doering and Baker

Monday 12/17:  Non Work Day

Tuesday 12/18:  

Wednesday 12/19:  

Thursday 12/20:

Friday 12/21:  Celebration Assembly

Bus/Parking lot duty: Smith and Cooley

Monday 1/7:  8:00 Staff meeting

Tuesday 1/8:  

Wednesday 1/9:  

Thursday 1/10:

Friday 1/11:  

Celebration Assembly
Please talk to your students about the celebration assembly this week in your 21st Century Skills classes.  Some things to teach to... Parents/families will be in attendance, please be gracious hosts, listen politely, enter and exit the gym calmly, clap appropriately, show respect for all the students and speakers.  Anything else...

Happy Holidays
I want to thank all of you for your patience and willingness to find ways to help struggling students succeed.  We continually find solutions to problems that can feel quite insurmountable.  Your persistence and determination make a difference.  Thank you for your commitment to serve some of the most vulnerable people living in our area. Today I was meeting with a parent who said his daughter was lucky to have such talented teachers.  I couldn't agree more.  What you're doing is good for the kids and I feel very, very lucky to be part of this staff.  I wish you a week-before-Christmas that is less stressful than you fear, and a holiday that is much more relaxing than you'd hoped for.

Week of December 10

Bus/Parking lot duty: Hook and Beck

Monday 12/10: Collaboration Day:  Agenda

Tuesday 12/11:  

Wednesday 12/12:  

Thursday 12/13:

Friday 12/14: 

Bus/Parking lot duty: Doering and Baker

Monday 12/17:  Non Work Day

Tuesday 12/18:  

Wednesday 12/19:  

Thursday 12/20:

Friday 12/21:  Celebration Assembly

Thank you!

As we begin this new trimester, I want to emphasize how much I appreciate the tremendous thought and effort you give to teaching our students. Everyone at Venture is a teacher.  Everyone here plays their part in helping our students on their journey to becoming successful adults. I know this work is rewarding and also that we dig deeply into our own personal reserves in order to meet the challenge.  As we've become better at building relationships with our students, they become more trusting of us and share both their triumphs and their pain.  As we go into the weekend, think about how you are finding balance in your own life.  Are you consciously setting aside worries over which you have no influence?  Or, are you letting them circulate in your brain?  Are you taking time for recreation?  Are you taking time to focus on the things that matter to you outside of work?  The greatest gift you can give your families and Venture students is to keep yourself happy and healthy.  Take care of yourself - you are worth it!

Shout out to Angie...thank you for the comforting beverages you brought in for staff. This was so thoughtful and so timely and you are so appreciated by all of us!

Grades and Absences

I am so appreciative of each of you for the support you've given to our attendance policy.  It will likely take a year or more to have enough data to measure its effectiveness.  You probably already know this, but students should not receive a passing grade if they have not made up absences for you core or required class.  

Val has put a tremendous amount of time, energy and thought into a system to track attendance make ups.  This is far too much work for an individual to manage.  For the coming trimester, I am asking teachers to track this for their own students.  On Monday, we can talk about ways that some people are currently doing this to get some ideas.

Collaboration Monday

7:00 Secondary Cross District collaboration

9:00 Staff Meeting in Library

10:30  ELA/S.S. Meeting in rm. 103

1:00 Math Meeting in rm. 129

2:30 MDT meeting