RKES STAFF NEEDS Community Schools Ideastorm by

“Whole child” approach, educational & life success tools, medical, dental, and mental health care services; tutoring and other academic supports; resources for families, such as parent education classes, job training/placement services, housing assistance, nutrition programs, conflict resolution, trauma informed, restorative care.

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:04:21 UTC

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:04:33 UTC

Arts, physical activity, small group, or individualized academic support, and hands-on learning activities, also out of school and summer programs such as STEM programs; partners with local businesses for internships, job shadowing, and volunteer opportunities.

Partnering with parents to develop and promote a vision for student success, to offering courses, activities, and services for parents and community members, to creating structures and opportunities for shared leadership.

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:05:00 UTC

(1) school governance and program planning, such as responsibility for assessing school context and needs, resource distribution, and continuous improvement; 2) the coordination of services and supports; and 3) practices and systems to maintain constructive relationships between school staff and members of the community.

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:05:08 UTC

Educators emphasize positive relationships, interactions, and model these. Negative behaviors are acknowledged and addressed in ways that hold students accountable while showing them they are still valued members of the school community. Restorative practices such as peer mediation, post-conflict resolution.

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:05:16 UTC

Higher order thinking skills are at the core of instruction so that all students acquire problem solving, critical thinking, and reasoning skills. Students learn with challenging, culturally relevant materials that address their learning needs and expand their experience. AP Courses and curriculum that embraces all areas: arts, second languages, and physical education.

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:05:23 UTC

more welcoming school building and culture

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:44:21 UTC

we need to do little things to tighten up school culture: Hallway expectations, dress code, nicer yard, more welcoming outside environment, less griddy. Make our building a beacon of light. If we take care of it, the community will too.

fuller-picture behavior/needs reports to and from families

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:45:20 UTC

give parents want a fuller picture of what’s going on at school, especially more of the “bad.” we can tie in the Kohyang value and pillar values to report the trending difficult behaviors so parents can work with kids on them at home too. do so in a way that isn't shaming.

bring back field trips :)

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:45:48 UTC

More overnight trips and field trips like pre-covid. Feels like we are not much at all doing the expanded and enriched learning time and opportunities.

community reputation

2023-11-07 18:45:57 UTC

I would love to see events where our families, staff and community come together to fellowship. I would like RK schools to be known by all the community as the place where they can be served.

more cluster-wide events

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:48:09 UTC

see ourselves as one entity instead of three. how are we meeting needs for specific age groups, yet cohesive between the three schools?

community events for cluster students AND neighbors

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:48:58 UTC

more "fun" community events, such as movie night: all three schools are invited, plus anyone from the community is invited.

beautification

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:49:58 UTC

beautification project: add a garden that is community-grown and tended to at walking pick up spot

creative engagement/service

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 18:53:34 UTC

events for community engagement for thanksgiving or other holidays... trick or treating, food baskets, Christmas toy drive to give to external community and internal families

pupils service attendant?

estotts1 — 2023-11-07 19:17:15 UTC

could we get a pupils service attendant (PSA) who is full-time between just our school or between a few schools? it adds a ton to teachers' work load and Kaitlin is doing it now.

PTA + parent volunteer opps

2023-11-07 19:30:17 UTC

Having parent club/ volunteer group to be involve on campus with helping the school such ask decorating bulletin boards, running garden, helping the office. More people on campus to keep the school safe and help with fundraising/ raising awareness of community events.

community learning center

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:28:41 UTC

viewing RKES as a center for learning, but not just for our students... ESL classes for community members, restorative justice trainings, mobile clinics, food pantry. "a school for the community where you can get what you need"

more instructional assistants needed

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:30:11 UTC

more instructional assistants who can be aware of kids' specific needs and able to assist, so that teacher is not removed from the rest of the class so often

more capacity for teacher coaching

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:32:20 UTC

this doesn't happen as often and consistently as it is meant to because coaches can be pulled away for other needs, or coaching goes towards teacher's choice topics without infrastructure for observation and feedback, teacher modeling, etc

teachers' value alignment and capacity

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:36:18 UTC

compatibility with teachers and RKES to ensure teachers are in alignment with holistic value system in addition to role as academic instructors AND capacity-building so that teachers can follow through with holistic care by having the training and energy to do so

sustainability for teachers

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:40:11 UTC

many of the teachers are brand new and turnover is high. it can be hard to feel like every year is starting from scratch. teachers are asked a lot of and are not given much dedicated planning time -- lunch duty is an added responsibility and some grades only have one recess due to lacking space. some teachers dont get a break until 11:30. grade-level meetings happen after school, which is inconvenient and difficult to develop authentically collaborative relationships.

space is a huge challenge

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:45:25 UTC

some classrooms aren't meant for instruction, or lack age-appropriate accommodations, such as bathrooms (TK) or sinks. kids eat breakfast all over the place, and there's very limited space for PE. recess at public park poses safety risks (dogs off-leash, people smoking/naked/unpredictable behaviors).

more movement, better classroom behavior

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:50:44 UTC

Kids are lacking big-body movement such as running, jumping, and competitive sports at PE/recess. this need for movement and sunshine could result in positive impact for classroom behaviors. could the parking lot become a yard space and staff could park in a nearby garage? what equipment could we get to allow for more safe indoor movement?

supported and aligned

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:52:38 UTC

staff and teachers choose to come to Rise & BSS because they are excited by and aligned with the value system - they see and feel the differences, and are excited by where the school is going

student support groups needed

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:54:10 UTC

support groups for grief, family transitions, etc for students to know they are not alone

full-time attendance coordinator?

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 00:56:33 UTC

the teachers are supposed to call home when a student is absent, but a full-time attendance person would be key -- this would also give counselors time back for 1:1 time with kids and overall increased capacity/sustainability

bring back the weekly admin meeting?

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 01:03:38 UTC

staff dont always know what's going on soon enough. they can feel out of the loop, and then parents can become frustrated. there used to be a weekly admin meeting with SPED, counselors, etc. that was cut, not sure why

school bus

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 01:04:27 UTC

a bus to bring kids to/from school could be really helpful. students seem to have car problems a lot, or not have a ride at all. increasing hop, skip, drive's reach could work too.

school nurse

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 01:05:47 UTC

front office currently covers first aid duties, but they have a lot of other stuff to do already.

attendance-specific employee

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 01:20:08 UTC

kaitlin is doing a wonderful job now, but it might take a lot off her plate if we had an attendance interventionalist to spearhead chronic absenteeism

calm corners

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 18:41:56 UTC

calm corners are a great idea, but they can feel more like timeout corners because they don't have anything to make it cozy and grounding. is there budget to build out our calm corners (tents, fidget toys, mindfulness dice)? this would help teachers help students without needing to outsource help to counselors, keeping kids in class more.

teachers/counselors collaboration needed

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 18:43:17 UTC

could counselors share with teachers some of the regulation skills they work on with students so that teachers can remind students of these things and echo those same strategies?

supervision/duties staff

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 18:45:33 UTC

depending on counselors to spend ~30% of their time on lunch, recess, etc duty is difficult bc it results in them being pulled from ability to do 1:1s, which is really impacting teachers from having counselors' support when they need it most. are duties supposed to be a part of counselors' roles? can there be clarity around job descriptions and even a poll of the teachers about our preferences for the counselors having to do duties?

Ms. M leaving

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 18:46:36 UTC

is there any plan to fill Ms. M's shoes once she leaves in December? her presence on W/Th/F when behaviors are often bigger is felt and very helpful

competitive sports opportunities

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 18:55:00 UTC

our students may be at a disadvantage when middle school competitive sports opportunities arise if they havent received some foundational sports exposure/practice

increase enrollment

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 21:40:50 UTC

strengthen partnerships with preschools in the area

Korean holiday celebrations

estotts1 — 2023-11-08 21:45:19 UTC

Korean thanksgiving and Lunar new year events with other schools and community orgs. Cynthia, Yolanda, and Sue at RKHS love activities and planning -- if they have good support from RKES and RKMS, we could do more together.

seguridad

estotts1 — 2023-11-13 21:05:34 UTC

worried about the homeless people and safety with the back and forth to the playground. also can we add a crosswalk and have parents or community members oversee it? can we have a respectable community member (maybe a senior citizen?) who could be an informal security presence to respectfully tell folks entering the park without children (against the law) that they cannot be there, and help increase knowledge of and respect for our school?

parent education classes

estotts1 — 2023-11-15 21:56:06 UTC

the tension between honoring ways parents are raising their children, and knowing they can be problematic or even traumatic. could we bring in parenting classes?

financial literacy & legal rights (immigration, housing) for parents

estotts1 — 2023-11-15 21:58:11 UTC

having workshops or a clinic for parents to access services

behavior management

estotts1 — 2023-11-15 22:00:03 UTC

students' academic and behavioral needs, especially with kindergarteners, could be mitigated with a summer program specifically for their social and play-based needs/learning school expectations/schedule

preschool? summer program for incoming kindergardeners and current kids?

estotts1 — 2023-11-15 22:01:33 UTC

could we add a preschool? play-based and social skills-centered summer program