Superintendent's Weekly Update 12-10-21

 

“The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.” 


This week I was fortunate to spend extended periods of time visiting classrooms and seeing the great things that are happening in our schools every single day. Our Primary and Elementary School teachers attended professional development focused on small group instruction. This is a great strategy where teachers work in small groups with students and are able to further differentiate instruction to better meet the their needs. In addition to this, I am alway impressed with the way teachers find unique ways to engage students in academics; I saw multiple examples of this throughout the week. Our Middle School Academic Center is new this year and is a place for students to get extra help during the day to help mitigate gaps or catch up from time they have missed. I was thrilled to see this program growing and thriving. At the high school, I love listening to the higher level questions our teachers ask students. Although this may seem trivial, these types of questions help students develop their critical thinking skills which are so important for life after high school. These are just a few examples of what I observed this week and it is not a complete list. Douglas is a special place! As families please know that your students are cared for while they are here. I am proud of what we do here for our students and community on a daily basis.


Bus Monitors:

We are currently looking for bus monitors for morning shifts on our specialized transportation vehicles. The shifts are 1-2 hours in duration. Morning shifts begin at 6:20 and 7:10. The Bus Monitor assists the School Bus Driver in the daily monitoring of student travel to and from school in a safe manner and in accordance with the Special Education Transportation Guidelines and Douglas Public Schools policies. Compensation is $15.00/hr. For more information contact Tara Sobeleski at tsobeleski@douglasps.net


COVID Dashboard:

Attached is a link to our COVID Dashboard that will be updated weekly. Unlike last year where I sent our letters every time we had a COVID positive case, I will not do that this year. This Dashboard will provide you with weekly numbers by building. We will continue to reach out to close contacts and also to families if they have been exposed to a presumptive positive student.



Respectfully,

Paul Vieira, Ed.D.

Superintendent


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