Join the Black and African American Affinity Group in collaboration with STRIDE for a month of Black History Month celebration here at OSPI! This week, the affinity group is celebrating Black arts and entertainment contributors.
The rich tapestry of arts and entertainment is woven with threads of creativity, innovation, and profound expressions of the human experience. Within this vibrant mosaic, the contributions of Black artists have been instrumental in shaping and redefining the cultural landscape. From music that resonates with the rhythms of resilience to visual arts that challenge societal norms, Black creators have left an indelible mark on the world of arts and entertainment. This week we celebrate the diverse and influential contributions of Black individuals across various artistic realms, acknowledging their pivotal role in fostering inclusivity, challenging stereotypes, and creating enduring legacies that continue to inspire and captivate audiences globally. To learn about these artists and their contributions, visit the poster museum located on the 2nd floor of the Old Capitol Building. Additionally, honorees will be displayed on the hallway TV monitors and AxisTV within MSTeams. Click here to view a complete list of honorees.
The Black and African American Affinity Group is hosting an agency-wide potluck on Wednesday, February 28 from 11:30 am - 1 pm in the Salish Conference Room. You can sign up to bring an item for the potluck here.
|
As we head toward February, EAP is sharing the following resources to support employee, family, and workplace well-being.
This month, EAP is featuring the following:
- Information about EAP events and webinars, including our expanded *live* offerings;
- Resources to support everyone at home and work: in February, as we look toward the arrival of Valentine’s Day and its focus on love and connection, we are offering resources focused on how we can build trust to foster and strengthen our personal and professional relationships.
In addition, through our Work/Life website this month we’re offering resources to help with understanding how to be a positive influencer.
With all of the challenges that many of you and those you support are facing, know that we at EAP are here for you, for your employees and their families, and for your organization. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-877-313-4455, or online for support for yourself or support with an employee or organizational concern.
LET US HELP
TOLL-FREE: 1-877-313-4455
WEBSITE: www.eap.wa.gov/worklife
YOUR ORG CODE (to logon): OSPI
February is a great month to show some love for public education in Washington state!
Click on the link and tell us what you love about your public schools, your teachers, and the opportunities they provide. We'll take your comments and turn them into special social media posts on Valentine's Day and during Public Schools Week (February 21–25).
https://survey.alchemer.com/collab/7702060/Why-We-Love-Public-School
|
OSPI is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and belonging workplace where every voice is heard and valued. To ensure that we continue to grow and evolve in our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) work and through STRIDE, we invite you to participate in our annual DEIB Professional Development Survey.
Your insights are valued in shaping our DEIB learning and development. This survey aims to gather your thoughts on exploring opportunities for further training and development. Your participation is anonymous, and the survey will only take a few minutes. If you have any questions, please contact HROffice@k12.wa.us.
Click on the link below: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7456415/2024-STRIDE-PD-Opportunities
We received more shout outs this week, so we're keeping the special section! Keep the shout outs coming. We love to celebrate OSPI's amazing staff!
"Joel Stanger from Purchasing team – for going above and beyond processing all of our purchase orders. He is always open to address any questions or concerns we might have and very quick to respond when we do.
Debbie Guthier EELFP Executive Assistant – for always being available to answer any and all questions, even going out of her way to quickly find answers on the rare occasion that she doesn’t know herself.
Annie Blackledge Assistant Director of Policy and Equity OSSI – for tireless passion and deep commitment to her work. She wears her heart on her sleeve and isn’t afraid to speak up when she disagrees. She has also been working extra hard this legislative session monitoring bills for three different divisions!"
- Saleem Williams
"Shout out to Shruti Mungi for the quick and efficient job in helping to craft the new DEIB intranet page. Shruti demonstrated thoughtfulness in the design elements making the user experience seamless. Thank you for elevating the DEIB digital space."from
- Shazeela Inshanally and the HR Team
"This shout-out is for our own Superintendent, Chris Reykdal! He did an amazing job addressing the K-12 group of students, teachers, and community leaders at the Environmental Literacy Student Summit last week! One of our colleagues at the Recreation and Conservation Office leaned over and asked “is he really doing all of this without any notes?!?” His ability to connect with an audience and to engage, without notes, while sharing multiple salient points and a tremendous amount of data in meaningful ways that his audience can relate to, is powerful and inspirational. Thanks for showing up and supporting the event and our students, Chris"
- OSPI's Science Team
|
Based on feedback from The Wellness Committee OSPI survey in August 2023, The Wellness Committee is supporting intentional space for book studies regarding wellness topics.
Our first book study will focus on Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey. Virtual Book Study sessions will take place in April, May, and June. Our fourth and final session will take place in-person in June for those who would like to recap and hold space together in person.
If you have interest and know you can prioritize at least half of the book study sessions, please email the Wellness Committee to reserve your spot. There are 20 spots that include the book, free of charge. Meetings will be shared with those who email to reserve their spot on the Spring book study.
To reserve your spot or ask any questions please reach out to wellness.committee@k12.wa.us.
Virtual Book Study Sessions
April 29, 9am-10am
May 30, 9am-10am
June 20, 1pm-2pm
In Person Debrief
June 21, 12pm-1pm
|
Technology Support Center (TSC) has updated its Approved Software list! The Technology Support Center Approved Software list can be found on the Information Technology Inside OSPI page.
You will be able to scroll through the Approved Software list - We have provided more information on the process to receive the software, where to get a quote, and other information about the software. This list will be actively updated as more software is approved.
 Don't see what you're looking for on the Approved Software list? Submit a ticket to TSC for non-standard software requests. You may need to submit an IT Exception request for consideration.
Four new tips are coming to Outlook that will help you identify and avoid SPAM or Phishing emails. The tips will subtly appear at the top of your message in a gray bar (example below). You will only see these notifications if the email received matches the criteria for one of the tips.
-
Receive a message from sender: This tip is shown to recipients when they first receive a message from the sender, or if they do not regularly receive messages from the sender.
-
User impersonation safety tip: “This sender appears to be similar to someone who previously sent you an email but may not be that person.”
-
Domain impersonation safety tip: This sender might be impersonating a domain that is associated with your organization.
-
User impersonation unusual characters safety tip: This tip is shown to recipients in messages where the sender’s name or email address contains characters that aren’t typically used together (for example, a mix of mathematical symbols and plain text or a mix of uppercase and lower-case letters). For example, MARY@CoNToSO.CoM includes unexpected letters or numbers. It is recommended you do not interact with a message like this one.
If you have any questions about these notifications or any other cybersecurity concerns, please email cyber.security@k12.wa.us.
The emails you receive from Teams (noreply@email.teams.microsoft.com) notifying you of missed messages and/or tasks are transitory records. These email notices should be deleted as soon as they meet all retention requirements (i.e., once they are no longer needed for agency business). Keep in mind that while the notification emails exist, they are subject to public disclosure and do come up in email pulls. If you do not permanently delete the email notifications, we will have duplicate transitory records while the chats exist and after 7 days we may have emails referencing chats that no longer exist. Please take time this week to review and permanently delete your Teams emails from your Outlook. If you do not want to receive email notifications from Teams, adjust your notifications settings (see the Decluttering Teams Notifications article for more information).
Technology Support Center (TSC) will have limited staff from January 29, 2023 - February 9, 2024. During this time TSC response times may be longer than usual.
Not sure how to book an appointment with TSC? No problem, click here to learn how to schedule an appointment. You may also reach out to us by submitting a TSC ticket or by calling and leaving a detailed voice message at 360-725-6375.
Do you have an upcoming staff event or training you would like to advertise? You can add it directly to the intranet Agency Calendar! Visit the InsideOSPI homepage and click the green 'Add Calendar Events' button to add the details.
If you would also like your event or training included in the employee newsletter, you can send details to commteam@k12.wa.us.
New to the agency? Seeing lots of new faces or unfamiliar programs?Just interested in spending quality time with your colleagues (and enjoy some snacks)?
Join Us:
February 12, 1:15-2pm
4th Floor Brouillet Conference Room or via Zoom
You would be surprised how many people want to know about your programs!
If you wish to share about your programs or have any questions,
please contact Jerilynn Vail-Powell.
 |
|
Would you like to request support from the Communication and Digital Media Team for an upcoming event or project? You can start the process by filling out our Communications Request Form! Once we receive the details of your project, we will be in contact to discuss how we can best support your projects and events. We look forward to collaborating with you to get the word out about the fantastic work done by our programs! |
We are reaching out to discuss an important update regarding the management of our SharePoint and Teams sites.
Please review your current list of owners for your site(s) and adjust accordingly. Each site should have a minimum of two and a maximum of four owners. Also, ensure that all users understand their roles, whether as owners or members, to foster a collaborative and well-managed site environment. This ensures a balance between adequate oversight and security.
-
Responsibilities: Full control over site settings, content, restoring channels (Teams), and user permissions. Site owners can add or remove content, change the site's structure, and manage the permissions of site members and visitors.
-
Number of Owners: As per the requested settings from Microsoft, please adjust the number of owners on your site to adhere to the 2-4 owners limit.
-
Role: Site members have edit permissions. They can add, edit, and delete content, but cannot change site settings or permissions.
-
Best Use: Ideal for users who actively contribute to the site's content but do not require full administrative control.
SharePoint roles are more about managing and contributing to site content and structure, while Teams roles focus on collaboration, communication, and member management within the team environment. Understanding this can help in assigning the right roles to the right individuals for efficient teamwork and information management.
Add Owners or Members –
- Open your Teams site
- Click on the three dots (ellipses) next to your Teams site name
- If you choose "Add member" you can quickly add a new member to your team
- If you choose "Manage team" you can:
- Add members or owners (you have to be an owner to add an additional owner)
- Change members to owners (if you are an owner)
- Change owners to members (if you are an owner)
- Search for members
- Update available settings for channels
- Review team analytics
- View available apps
- Change settings to not allow members to update channels or tabs (if you are an owner)
- Restore recently deleted channels
We understand that this change might require adjustments in your current site management. For any questions, clarifications, or support, please feel free to reach out by submitting a TSC ticket or emailing Bobbi Stockwell.
We appreciate your prompt action in aligning with this request and thank you for your ongoing contribution to maintaining an organized, efficient, and secure digital workspace.
Intercity Transit’s Winter Bicycle Challenge encourages all Thurston County Residents to bike for any reason in any season! Bicycling outdoors remains a great way to get the benefits of fresh air, sunlight, and exercise, all of which are necessary for the health of our bodies, minds and spirits.
For the month of February, they’ll have awesome prize drawings each week, plus a bonus drawing at the end of the month for everyone who logs rides on 10 days or more in February. Tag your biking photos with #WinterBCC or @BicycleCommunityChallenge on Instagram to join our photo challenge. The teams features will be active, and teams can compete for bragging rights. The Winter Bicycle Challenge is for Thurston County residents biking for any reason this year in February.
To participate, create an account on this website (or log in to your existing one) and enter the miles you ride each day in the "Log a Ride" box during February, 2024.
Winter poses more challenges and risks for biking than other seasons. We don't recommend biking when there are snowy or icy conditions on our local roads. That is a great time to ride the bus! Make sure you're prepared and don't exceed your capabilities. For some tips on successful biking in winter, see: https://bcc.intercitytransit.com/news/winter-bike-commuting-tips
Do you want to learn more about MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports)?
Join RJ Monton, OSPI's Director of MTSS, (and guests!) for office hours dedicated to questions, insights, and collaborative conversations on all things MTSS.
When: 9:30-10:30 am on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month.
Where: Zoom, link here.
WebMD, one of the most trusted brands in well-being, is the new SmartHealth administrator. SmartHealth is Washington State's voluntary wellness program that supports you on your journey toward living well.
We encourage you to use SmartHealth to support your well-being. SmartHealth allows you to set goals and work on daily habits, participate in new challenges, interact with others through community posts, access podcasts, articles, videos, and more!
You will need to register to use the new SmartHealth. Step-by-step log on instructions can be found at Accessing SmartHealth.
As you progress on your wellness journey, you may also qualify for the SmartHealth wellness incentive. Find details on the SmartHealth webpage.
You’re invited to a SmartHealth overview
Join WebMD for a demonstration of the SmartHealth platform and get oriented to the new features, tools, and custom experience SmartHealth offers.
January 25, 2024
Noon to 12:30 p.m.
Register to participate.
A recording will be available on the SmartHealth webpage by February 5, 2024.
Live captioning available:
Communication Access Real-time Transcription (CART) services, or live closed captioning, are available for this event, on demand. To request this accommodation, please submit a request to Mandy LeBlanc as soon as possible. If you make your request less than a week in advance of the event, our language access manager cannot guarantee that a CART writer will be available.
Check out what OSPI's Comms team has been working on this week!
Just Feed the Kids
Just feed the kids. #WAedu #WAleg (youtube.com)
Feeding kids is something we can all agree on!
House Bill 2058 seeks to increase student access to free meals served at public schools. Students’ basic needs must be met for them to be able to learn. Our country has a long history of providing free and reduced-price meals to students experiencing poverty, and throughout the pandemic, the federal government provided meals for all K–12 students at no cost to the student or their family, regardless of their economic status. While Washington has made great strides in expanding access to free school meals, it is time to provide universal free meals to all students as part of the school day.
You can see our video about what House Bill 2058 does, and doesn't do, here.
|
Newsletter Submissions
Do you have any news, events, announcements, or facts to share in the employee newsletter? Email the Comm Team!
Pet of the Week
Do you have a pet who deserves the spotlight on the internal TVs? Contact the Comm Team with a picture of your animal, along with fun facts, good stories, or other details!
Agency Intranet Calendar
Share what's happening in your department, division, or office! Everyone is able to add items to the agency calendar. See here for more information.
SEL Smartsheet
Please share your SEL-related work with us! SEL-related Initiative Submission Form. Request access to see what your colleagues are working on: SEL WORK-OSPI WIDE - Smartsheet.com. If you have questions, reach out to Debra Parker.
|
