International SEL Day - March 11
The theme of this year's International SEL Day, scheduled for March 11, is "Finding Common Ground, Pursuing Common Good."
Social-emotional learning (SEL) now more than ever is needed for ALL students and staff. Implementing daily practices such as building relationships, community circles, emotional check-ins, mindfulness activities, problem solving strategies, goal setting and lessons focused on the CASEL domains; ensures lifelong learning for our students and staff.
Research shows correlation between SEL implementation and increases in academic and college/career readiness success.
Toolkits and resources are available to showcase what your school is doing to promote social-emotional learning for students, staff and communities!
KDE releases guidance on COVID-19 remote learning flexibilities, Senate Bill 25
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has released a new guidance document "Guidance for COVID-19 Remote Learning Flexibilities," to support districts as they navigate the extended flexibility of temporary remote learning.
On Jan. 14, Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 25, which extends flexibility for school districts to use temporary remote learning due to significant absences of students or staff related to COVID-19.
Districts can use up to 10 temporary remote learning days between Jan. 1 through June 30, 2022 to assign students to remote learning. These remote learning days are separate from the 10 nontraditional instruction (NTI) days annually granted to districts under KRS 158.070(9).
SB 25 also extends flexibilities for school districts to re-employ retirees, both certified and classified, through June 30, 2022.
SB 25 did not impact the requirements of Section 7 of SB 1 from the 2021 extraordinary session that required certified and designated classified staff to perform work duties on site during an NTI day, except for employees quarantined due to COVID-19 who can perform duties remotely.
E-Transcripts Training Available
KDE is partnering with Infinite Campus and Parchment to offer Kentucky e-transcripts training March 17 at 2 p.m. ET. Please share this information with high school counselors and others that process transcripts in your school and district offices.
Kentucky’s standard for transcripts is the Parchment electronic transcript. Colleges, universities and students are dependent on high schools to ensure transcripts are processed timely. The electronic transcript helps to ensure the student’s transcript can be processed in the most efficient manner to ensure student applications can be processed and scheduling can be completed.
This training webinar will include:
- Infinite Campus procedures for setup and updating transcripts. This will include roster updates, PESC Mapping, Graduation Tab completion (enrollment batch tool), eTranscript Batch tool and troubleshooting for common errors when releasing transcripts to Parchment.
- Parchment final transcript/end of year best practices will include features to help with processing transcripts (i.e, hold for grades, approval settings). In addition, alumni processing, end of year communications, extended time for free transcripts for seniors and end of year wrap up best practices will be included.
Registration for e-transcript training includes an attached meeting link to confirm your registration.
Email Kimberly Walters for questions on eTranscripts.
March Awareness Dates
- March 7–11: National School Breakfast Week
- March 8: International Women’s Day
- March 13-19: National Sleep Awareness Week
- March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- March 21: World Down Syndrome Day
- March 22: World Water Day
- March 31: Transgender Day of Visibility
March is …
- Deaf History Month
- Gender Equality Month
- Middle Level Education Month
- Music in Our Schools Month
- National Nutrition Month
- Women’s History Month
- Youth Art Month
Shout Outs!
Lauren Neff at Cartmell Elementary (Carroll County) has made great strides with a tier 1 approach to teach emotions and calm down strategies. Students are using an electronic morning check in daily. They name their feeling and choose an appropriate strategy to help get themselves “ready to learn.”
Additionally, a “student perception” survey was administered to each student in her building. Collectively, 84% of students or more agreed that they had learned ways to express their feelings and 83% of students reported they have learned calm down strategies this year. Behavior referrals also have decreased a great deal since implementing instruction and morning check in.
Tara Steedly from Oldham County High School shared how Oldham County Schools is putting social-emotional learning (SEL) as a top priority. They have adopted the curriculum "Character Strong" and have an advisory period for all students and teachers to be involved in the pre-developed SEL sessions.
Daviess County Public Schools began a campaign in February to encourage kindness among students, staff, families and the community. #BeKind DCPS is designed to celebrate the many acts of kindness that take place across the district each day and is successfully flooding social media with posts, videos and messages focusing on positive acts of kindness, empathy and compassion.
Within self-management of the CASEL domains, self-care is one of the most important concepts for adults. Educators are in a care-giving profession and often neglect their own stress and anxiety, especially given the current state of unknowns that have happened.
Panorama has created a comprehensive guide to adult social-emotional learning that includes self-care practices such as:
- Purposefully plan to take a break and decompress at least 10 minutes per day.
- Practice mindfulness using meditation recordings or a free mobile phone app.
- Bring a self-care “emergency pack” to school with different items (such as essential oils, a stress ball or pictures of happy places) that can help you de-stress.
- Keep a journal and write in it to work through difficult days when you feel overwhelmed.
- Find a way to connect with a loved one at least once a day. This can be as simple as texting a significant other, calling a friend or having dinner with a family member.
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