OLL Middle School Communication

In collaboration with the District Coaching Leadership Team (comprised of district staff from each department, school-based administrators, and school-based coaches from each level), the Superintendent Staff and all of the folks that support instructional coaching, we are exploring the possibility of increasing the instructional coaching contract for our coaching staff.

The Why: We would love to offer a very competitive contract that will allow Pasco County to recruit and retain high quality instructional coaches. We want to offer a contract that is competitive with surrounding counties, improves the fill rate of our open coaching positions, and allows our staff to participate in professional learning, further impact student outcomes, and have the time to work collaboratively with school leadership teams to set and achieve goals for our student and staff.

The What: Currently our instructional coaches have a 196-day contract length. An increase to the length of the contract would provide our coaches with a higher salary (thus impacting retirement as well). It is possible that coaches may be offered additional days prior to the return of teachers at the beginning of the school year and time at the end of the school year for planning, reflection, and professional learning.

Input before Action: It is important in any large-scale change effort to gather input and hear the voice of the stakeholders prior to making decisions. We have collected input from the Superintendent Staff. They asked us to explore this option, the logistics, and gather input from you. We had 93% of the coaching leadership team indicate that we should investigate a contract extension. Now is the critical time in which we need your voice. Please take time to offer your input. We will partner with essential district departments, collaborate with the union, and will come up with a great option that will meet our goals of recruiting, retaining, and leveling-up our instructional coaches.

Your Voice Counts: Please offer your input here.

In order to better serve you through the GRACE program, please share with us the teachers that are tagged to ESD for semester 2 here. We realize there may be some changes at your site from semester 1. More detailed information on GRACE will be coming soon. If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Caruso.

As part of a cooperative agreement with the CDC, Pasco County Schools is conducting surveys of principals and lead health education teachers (LHET) to assess the status of school health policies and practices at the middle and high school levels. This survey is called “School Health Profiles.” The data collected from the School Health Profiles are used to improve school health policies and practices in our schools. The survey collection period will open on February 1st. Principals will need to select a Lead Health Education Teacher. The LHET does not have to be a teacher. The respondent for this questionnaire may be your only health education teacher, the PLC lead, the most senior health education teacher, or the person who is most knowledgeable about instruction on health topics. Even if health education is not taught at your school, questions on the teacher questionnaire can be answered by any knowledgeable staff member.

Please email the name of the individual you would like to complete the School Health Profile survey as the lead health education teacher to: aemperat@pasco.k12.fl.us.

Additional information will be sent via inter-office mail. If you have any questions, please contact Antonio Emperator.

We are excited about the student showcase coming up in April and student information submitted by March 11th. Please complete the form here to note the point of contact that you would like to receive communication about #PascoStudentsSpeak directly.

This year’s Together We Lead/FASA Discover is scheduled for June 7^th – June 9^th at the Omni Championsgate in Orlando, Florida.  The Office for Leading and Learning will cover the cost for school and district leaders’ FASA membership and conference registration for those that will be attending.  Please take a few minutes to RSVP to let us know if you will be attending.  Schools and departments will need to cover the cost of hotel and travel expenses. 

RSVP here.

Hotel registration will open on January 17^th and the cost is $209 per night.  The conference is scheduled to begin mid-day Tuesday and will run all day Wednesday and Thursday.  The hotel will sell out so don’t wait to book.

Access hotel registration from this site on Monday, January 17^th.  https://www.fasa.net/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=97&?MenuKey=Professional

Vendor presentations for families and community members will be held virtually on January 20, 2022 from 5:00-8:00pm. This is an opportunity for families and community members to preview the materials being considered for secondary math courses for the 22-23 school year. Digital access is currently available here.   (Zoom link will be published prior to the meeting date). If you have any questions, please contact Fran Howard or Melissa Caruso.

Please share with new teachers that did not attend the kickoff on Monday, July 26th or make-up session on September 18th. Use this spreadsheet to see who attended from your school.

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting the mid-year hire new teacher on-boarding session in person at the District Office in Building 2, Oak room from 8:30am-4:00pm. We will cater lunch for you to enjoy while having a moment to connect with our certification team. They will be available to answer all of your questions. Since this training is on a Saturday we will be paying you $25 an hour for learning with us. 

This course is required for all new hires to Pasco whether you are coming in with experience or not. In the morning, we will review information about the Pasco Way of Work as well as our systems, platforms, evaluation systems, and orient all new hires to Pasco County Schools. In the afternoon, we will begin our journey with building a compassionate classroom.  We will engage in an activity to understand the six pillars of a developmental relationship and the importance of building trusting relationships with their students. We will emphasize that setting clear expectations, rules, and procedures is essential to maximize learning. All new teachers will begin to build out their classroom success plan for the year including these elements and much more.

Please register in myPGS:

Course #4107

Section #29935

We will send communication and directions prior to the session. We are looking forward to meeting you!

If you have any questions, please email Charlotte Kralik.

Administrators can access the most current list of staff members who have reading endorsement on their teaching certificate here. For those staff members wanting to pursue an endorsement by taking the K-12 Reading Test, they can register for the Reding Endorsement Prep Course in myPGS section #30847. If they only need a few courses, there is still space in the UF Literacy Matrix, they can register using this link. Lastly, the face-to-face pathway will begin on January 22^nd, they can register for this course in myPGS section #30986. Any questions about the preparation course or reading endorsement classes, please reach out to Danielle Varcardipone.

We are excited to have S3 Strategies to join us once again for a professional development that will help us leverage our required instruction momentum that we are on this year.

“Historical Inquiry: Teaching of African American History in the K-8 Classroom” and will occur virtually on January 24th from 6:00 -7:30PM. Stipends and professional development points will be provided for those in attendance.

If interested, please sign up here. If you have any questions, please contact Tina Stavrou.

We will be hosting office hours to answer questions and support regarding Reading course placement and scheduling. The virtual office hours will take place on January 26^th from 9-10 am and 3-4 pm. Please join the office hours using the Zoom link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89790342467. Reach out to @Cassie Rae Marie Hernandez or @Courtney Paige Lough if you have any questions in the meantime.

Achieve the Core is offering teachers an opportunity to earn 12 in-service points towards their Road to 40 reading requirement. Their latest offering, Improving Reading for Older Students, is a self-paced course designed to help teachers improve literacy outcomes for older students (grades 4-12). The course will run from 2/1/22-3/15/22. The course costs $20 for an individual participant or $10 each for groups of 4 or more. Once participants complete the course, they can register in myPGS to be invited to the myLearning course to submit their certificate of completion for professional development points.. They can learn more about the course here.

myPGS Course # 4291

Section # 31065

Here is a one-stop shop for all of Pasco County’s Coaching Events and Support Structures.

January Highlighted Event

Pasco County’s Instructional Coaching Conference – January 25^th 8-4pm (required for all coaches).  This session will contain a train-the-trainer session for Early Release Day.  Any admin or coach that joins in these events is invited to the conference and our session.

Coaching Pool Interviews

We currently have a number of open instructional coaching positions and are looking to systematically add highly qualified coaching candidates to our pools for Learning Design Coaches and Instructional Trainer Coaches.  If you have teacher leaders or folks who are looking to apply for coaching positions, please communicate our Coaching Pool Interview plan and dates.  Thank you.

Trail Blazer Cohort:  Winter 2022

Coaches and teachers team up in our fourth Trail Blazer Cohort!

Create learning environments in which all students are engaged, challenged, feel safe to take risks, and are supported to learn

Demonstrate expertise in content knowledge as well as pedagogical techniques

Share knowledge and new learning with colleagues

Exhibit flexibility, responsiveness, and a commitment to continuous learning

Check out  our flyer with the details and dates.

Participants can sign up at this link:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/DesignPage.aspx?fragment=FormId%3DaaJT4khSVE6bZ7duOoYiIMZgN9a_mNdLrvXwMcNuUx5UODZYQUFTRDdKT1I0UDdWOTRZRFRXOFExRC4u%26Token%3D417b7a2e5b5d40a5b20df5b2bf8045c7

Coaches can sign up for 1:1 connection w/ Craig week of Jan 17-21   Shareable Calendar

Cohort 3 Launch w/ both Teachers and Coaches will be 2/7 virtually 5:30-7:30PM

We are excited to announce that the process to become an Approved Assistant Principal Candidate will open soon. Applicants must be approved as candidates in Pasco County Schools to be considered for assistant principal vacancies.

To learn more about our Internal Candidate Selection Process, visit the following link.

The application window will be from Monday, January 31, 2022 to Wednesday, February 9, 2022.  All required documentation must be submitted before the job ad closes to be considered during the application window.

The 2022/2023 Preparing New Principals Program (PNPP) application window will open from 4/4/2022 to 4/15/2022.

You will find the official job ad in Talent Ed beginning April 4^th and will need to apply there.  In addition, you will find the entire application process on our Leadership Development website.  All of the application information will be made available on this site beginning April 7^th.  You will need to review the application information prior to applying via Talent Ed, as there are additional application tasks that you will need to complete.

What are the required qualifications?
An internal candidate must demonstrate at least three years of successful experience as an assistant principal (and currently be in this role), hold Educational Leadership on their Florida certificate and complete the PNPP application process (can be found on our Leadership Development website beginning 4/4/2022). A candidate who applies and is accepted to this program will become eligible to apply for principal positions (unless otherwise determined by superintendent staff) upon entry into the program. Successful completion of the yearlong PNPP program will complete the principal certification process. 

PNPP Information Session

An ”Am I Ready for PNPP” information session will be held on Thursday, March 10, 2022 from 5:00-6:00.  During this virtual session, we will review the program qualifications and engage you in a self-assessment process to determine readiness.  Please RVSP below if you plan to attend.  The Zoom link will be sent directly to you as we get closer to March 10^th.

Information Session RSVP