Respectfully, Mr. B
Friday, June 7, 2013
Have a beautiful summer
Respectfully, Mr. B
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Many, many thanks
Thanks to the parents and family members who volunteered their time and resources to make this morning's trip to the Aptos Cinema a memorable one. The kids had a great time, and the parents who attended did as well. The kids were amazingly well behaved, and I am very proud of how they represented the school. They even received compliments from the theater staff as we were leaving.
Again, tomorrow afternoon at one will be our Big Spin and Honors Assembly. We will be meeting in the MPR, and all are welcome to join us in the festivities.
I would also like to pass along that Valencia is opening enrollment to Summer School to all interested parties. If you have questions about the program, please check the PVUSD website, or speak with our wonderful office staff.
Respectfully, Mr. Bryant
Again, tomorrow afternoon at one will be our Big Spin and Honors Assembly. We will be meeting in the MPR, and all are welcome to join us in the festivities.
I would also like to pass along that Valencia is opening enrollment to Summer School to all interested parties. If you have questions about the program, please check the PVUSD website, or speak with our wonderful office staff.
Respectfully, Mr. Bryant
Monday, June 3, 2013
The Home Stretch
Hello all, and thanks for checking in. As we wind down on the school year, we have a few things left to take care of. Here are some of the things we are looking forward to this week:
- Yearbooks were distributed today.
- We finished filming "Villains in the Gold Fields" this afternoon. I'll be editing our efforts this week so that the kids will each have a copy by Friday.
- Final Red Folders were sent home on Monday. There is no need to return them.
- Wednesday brings our trip to the Aptos Cinema for our Year-End Celebration. I will be emailing families Monday evening to go over the logistics.
- Wednesday afternoon is the Annual Staff vs. Sixth Grade Softball Game. It will be at 1 o'clock, as the day is NOT RESTRUCTURED.
- Thursday afternoon at 1 will be our final awards assembly of the year. The following students will be honored: Julia, Declan, Sophia, Dominic, Ben, Ava, Holden, Santana & Riya. If you've the time, feel free to join us in the MPR for the festivities.
- Report cards will go home with the students on Friday.
Thank you all for a very nice year. You have some genuinely kind and amazing children. Please encourage them each to keep up their studies over the summer, as fifth grade is right around the corner.
Respectfully, Mr. B
- Yearbooks were distributed today.
- We finished filming "Villains in the Gold Fields" this afternoon. I'll be editing our efforts this week so that the kids will each have a copy by Friday.
- Final Red Folders were sent home on Monday. There is no need to return them.
- Wednesday brings our trip to the Aptos Cinema for our Year-End Celebration. I will be emailing families Monday evening to go over the logistics.
- Wednesday afternoon is the Annual Staff vs. Sixth Grade Softball Game. It will be at 1 o'clock, as the day is NOT RESTRUCTURED.
- Thursday afternoon at 1 will be our final awards assembly of the year. The following students will be honored: Julia, Declan, Sophia, Dominic, Ben, Ava, Holden, Santana & Riya. If you've the time, feel free to join us in the MPR for the festivities.
- Report cards will go home with the students on Friday.
Thank you all for a very nice year. You have some genuinely kind and amazing children. Please encourage them each to keep up their studies over the summer, as fifth grade is right around the corner.
Respectfully, Mr. B
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Tuesday
Hello all, and thank you for checking in. We are nearing the home stretch and the kids are truly full of summertime energy. This week sees us wrapping up our California reports and filming our Gold Rush movie. We have pushed back the filming to Thursday and Friday to allow for some much needed practice. On Thursday and Friday, it would appreciated if the kids were to bring "western' themed clothing (i.e. jeans, flannel or denim shirts, cowboy hats, etc.)
As a friendly reminder, I cannot accept school work past this Friday, as I need to submit grades Monday morning. The kids will be given access to the computer lab to complete any last minute AR quizzes no later than Thursday.
If you've not submitted the Aptos Cinema field trip form and donation, please do so this week. I need to get a check cut this weekend by the school treasurer and cannot do so if the funds are not accounted for.
Thank you all so much for the birthday love this past week. It was priceless and greatly appreciated to be recognized.
Please contact me with any concerns.
Respectfully, Mr. Bryant
As a friendly reminder, I cannot accept school work past this Friday, as I need to submit grades Monday morning. The kids will be given access to the computer lab to complete any last minute AR quizzes no later than Thursday.
If you've not submitted the Aptos Cinema field trip form and donation, please do so this week. I need to get a check cut this weekend by the school treasurer and cannot do so if the funds are not accounted for.
Thank you all so much for the birthday love this past week. It was priceless and greatly appreciated to be recognized.
Please contact me with any concerns.
Respectfully, Mr. Bryant
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
If you have a minute, please read the letter below.
An open letter to the PVUSD Board of Trustees
Posted: Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
I am a teacher at H.A. Hyde Elementary and am writing to protest the PVUSD administration’s response to Pajaro Valley Federated Teacher’s proposals for the current round of negotiations.
I have worked in PVUSD for almost 24 years. I, like most other teachers, am hard working and a little crazy in my level of dedication. Most days I’m in my classroom at least two hours past my contract time. I’m in my classroom again for several hours over the weekend. For many years while teaching at a district school that did not have an active home and school club, I organized all the school carnivals, flea markets, family literacy nights, Million Words Celebrations, etc. All of which took hundreds of hours of unpaid time.
Now that I am at H.A. Hyde, which has an active parent group, I am no longer so busy, but I continue to be the quintessential team player. This last week I went up to Camp Koinonia to relieve a fifth-grade teacher so that she could go home to her baby, (by the way fifth-grade teachers are not compensated beyond contract hours for their required round-the-clock attendance at science camp) and I organized Bike-to-School Day, which involved driving to Santa Cruz for materials, arriving at school early and staying late.
I am not asking for your praise or your thanks for these above-and-beyond activities and, of course, I know that I won’t be compensated for them monetarily. I am asking for your respect and for the acknowledgement that I am a professional who does what’s necessary because it is what it takes to make my classroom a rich learning environment and to make my school community healthy and cohesive. I am a professional and I am not uncommon in my level of dedication.
Please try to imagine my outrage then, when I read the district’s response to my union’s proposals for smaller class sizes, more prep time, and compensation equal to that of similar districts in California. After six weeks of no response at all to the union’s proposals, the administration responded with nothing but “take-backs.” They propose that teachers must call Superintendent Dorma Baker to have personal days approved (she must have a lot of time on her hands). They propose that sick days may have to be verified by a doctor’s note — as though writing five pages of sub plans and essentially losing a day of instruction with our students is not enough of a deterrent to false sick days. They propose that the definition of staff meetings be changed to mean only those that include the whole staff, including janitors, secretaries, etc., so that, through this semantic trick, teachers’ required meeting time will be unlimited, thus cutting into our already insufficient prep time. Other meeting times, they propose, would be unlimited, thus allowing all prep time to be eaten up by meetings.
All I can think is, “How dare they?” How dare they question my professionalism to this extent? If you, Trustees, are really convinced by the administration’s arguments that the majority of teachers are abusing our leave benefits and shirking our professional obligations, why not task Superintendent Baker with going out to the local golf courses during school hours and tallying the number of teachers she sees there. Then ask her to drive by local schools an hour after contract hours and tally the number of cars still in the staff parking lots. I can promise you that there will be more teachers giving away their time then there are those stealing time from the district. How dare they assume the opposite?
•••
Eileen Clark-Nagaoka is a teacher H.A. Hyde Elementary School.
I have worked in PVUSD for almost 24 years. I, like most other teachers, am hard working and a little crazy in my level of dedication. Most days I’m in my classroom at least two hours past my contract time. I’m in my classroom again for several hours over the weekend. For many years while teaching at a district school that did not have an active home and school club, I organized all the school carnivals, flea markets, family literacy nights, Million Words Celebrations, etc. All of which took hundreds of hours of unpaid time.
Now that I am at H.A. Hyde, which has an active parent group, I am no longer so busy, but I continue to be the quintessential team player. This last week I went up to Camp Koinonia to relieve a fifth-grade teacher so that she could go home to her baby, (by the way fifth-grade teachers are not compensated beyond contract hours for their required round-the-clock attendance at science camp) and I organized Bike-to-School Day, which involved driving to Santa Cruz for materials, arriving at school early and staying late.
I am not asking for your praise or your thanks for these above-and-beyond activities and, of course, I know that I won’t be compensated for them monetarily. I am asking for your respect and for the acknowledgement that I am a professional who does what’s necessary because it is what it takes to make my classroom a rich learning environment and to make my school community healthy and cohesive. I am a professional and I am not uncommon in my level of dedication.
Please try to imagine my outrage then, when I read the district’s response to my union’s proposals for smaller class sizes, more prep time, and compensation equal to that of similar districts in California. After six weeks of no response at all to the union’s proposals, the administration responded with nothing but “take-backs.” They propose that teachers must call Superintendent Dorma Baker to have personal days approved (she must have a lot of time on her hands). They propose that sick days may have to be verified by a doctor’s note — as though writing five pages of sub plans and essentially losing a day of instruction with our students is not enough of a deterrent to false sick days. They propose that the definition of staff meetings be changed to mean only those that include the whole staff, including janitors, secretaries, etc., so that, through this semantic trick, teachers’ required meeting time will be unlimited, thus cutting into our already insufficient prep time. Other meeting times, they propose, would be unlimited, thus allowing all prep time to be eaten up by meetings.
All I can think is, “How dare they?” How dare they question my professionalism to this extent? If you, Trustees, are really convinced by the administration’s arguments that the majority of teachers are abusing our leave benefits and shirking our professional obligations, why not task Superintendent Baker with going out to the local golf courses during school hours and tallying the number of teachers she sees there. Then ask her to drive by local schools an hour after contract hours and tally the number of cars still in the staff parking lots. I can promise you that there will be more teachers giving away their time then there are those stealing time from the district. How dare they assume the opposite?
•••
Eileen Clark-Nagaoka is a teacher H.A. Hyde Elementary School.
Monday, May 20, 2013
The week
Hello all, and thank you for checking in. Red folders each contain a letter regarding upcoming events, due dates and reminders. I've attempted to include all information to make these last few weeks of school as manageable as possible. If I have left something out, please feel free to contact me.
Respectfully, Mr. Bryant
Respectfully, Mr. Bryant
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Wednesday & Thursday
Hello all, and thank you for checking in. The kids are very excited about Thursday night's Open House, as they are eager to show off their accomplishments. The classroom will be open from 6ish to 8. We have no special presentations to be timely for, so feel free to show up when it is convenient.
The science projects are looking good, and the kids began to share their efforts with the class today. We will continue to share them over the next few days.
See you Thursday, Mr. Bryant
The science projects are looking good, and the kids began to share their efforts with the class today. We will continue to share them over the next few days.
See you Thursday, Mr. Bryant
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