January 2, 2018

KARCHER STAFF BLOG

Karcher Middle School Significantly Exceeds Expectations 2 years in a row!

Karcher 2017-2018 School Calendar

Students of the week!!!!!!!
(Running slide show)

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/KarcherMiddleSchool/

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Kudos

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Congratulations to Kailee Longoria and Andrew Smith on your wedding on December 31!
Kudos to our special education teachers for taking the lead to recognize our special education aides with a nice luncheon on Friday, December 22. Thank you to all of our aides for everything you do for our students and for Karcher!
Kudos to Jack Schmidt, Eric Sulik, and Wendy Zeman for all of your hard work and planning for the afternoon assembly on December 22. It was a GREAT assembly and a great way to kick off our winter break!
Kudos to all of our staff who participated during the assembly as well by playing in the game, being a referee, announcing, helping in the stands, throwing a half court shot, etc, etc, etc. You all made the afternoon a great afternoon for our students!

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Information/Reminders...

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Tuesday, January 2 - Extended Advisory

7th grade has character curriculum for the week located on the advisory page.
8th grade will be working on ODE items during extended advisory on Tuesday.

Wednesday - Friday, January 3-5 is Outdoor Education for 8th grade!

Here is the list of Hive students staying back.
Here is the list of Silver students staying back.

Wednesday, January 3 - Essential Skills PLC.

Applied Academic teachers will be working with the HS. I will get a firm location and plan to you once I talk further with Burling on Tuesday!

Monday, January 8 - Start of MAP testing!

The week of January 8 will be the Language Arts testing during ELA. ELA teachers, you have the full week to take care of the Language Arts test. 8th grade especially... you do not need to start on Monday due to ODE.

Monday, January 8 - it is ELA's week to have students email their parents/guardians. There will be no emails to parents/guardians for the week of January 2.
Monday, January 8 - Special Education Aide meeting from 2:40 - 3:00.

The focus will be on the use of Snap and Read.

Monday, January 8 - Secondary Curriculum Committee Meeting

3:30 - 5:00 in our Karcher library.

Email from Ruth Schenning regarding the Employee Portal:

Happy New Year to all!

As we move into 2018, we are making a change to migrate away from alio and the Employee Service Portal and to Skyward and Employee Access for payroll and time off purposes. This Skyward program is a different program than the Skyward student program. Sometime during the first week of January we will be sending a separate email with log-in instructions for the new employee portal.

What this means for you:

1. Please get all your absences for 2017 entered into the "old" Employee Portal ASAP! We are asking for this to be done by Friday, January 5, so that we can get that year closed out and the balances ready to transfer over to Skyward.

2. Starting 1/1/18 you will no longer request any time off through the alio Employee Portal. Starting 1/1/18, we will begin using the Skyward Employee Access portal; however, we will not be able to enter sick, personal, or vacation days for 2018 until the balances are transferred over because these codes are not allowed to go negative. We anticipate this to be done in the second half of January. Please keep track of your 2018 absences as we will ask you to go back and enter them after this transfer is complete. You may begin to enter other time off requests that do not require days to be allocated, though, such as workshops/conferences, bereavement, and jury duty.

3. Starting with the 1/12/18 payroll, pay stubs/advice of deposits will be posted in the new Skyward Employee Access portal.

4. You will still have access to the old employee portal to look up history, we will just stop using it after 12/31/17.

We're excited to begin using this new program, and we hope you will find it easier to use as well!

Ruth

Email from Ruth about health benefits in case you missed it!

BASD Staff -

With 2017 winding down and a new year - with new year resolutions - on the horizon, it is a good time to take a moment to think about our health and health care.

The District wants employees to know what tools are available to manage their health and wants to share a preview of what is coming.

AmWell* – Employees on BASD’s health insurance are encouraged to enroll in AmWell. AmWell allows people to have a virtual doctor’s visit 24/7/365 saving both time and money.

WEATrust Portal* – Employees on BASD’s health insurance can monitor activity related to health care (such as doctor visits and payments) through the WEA Portal (My Trust Login).

* Both of these programs are intended for individuals to better manage health. As an added incentive, the District can save 1% on its annual insurance premium if 75% of those 18+ with BASD insurance sign up. Saving money allows the District to invest resources in other areas.

Vitality - In 2018, BASD will launch Vitality - a wellness program. A representative will be at the BHS Auditorium on Wednesday, January 24 to explain the program before the in-service (more details as we get closer to that date). Employees on BASD’s WEA Trust health plan will be invited to participate in biometric screenings.

What are biometric screenings? These on-site screenings will assess individual health (blood pressure, measurements, etc.). The individual will receive a confidential report. The District will receive a generalized report to identify what wellness programming would benefit employees.

In the new year, the District intends to once again accept bids for our insurance coverage. Even with employees’ diligence in managing their health, our health insurance renewal rates have been high. One option that will need to be explored is a narrow network with a limited number of providers. Weighing heavily on any insurance decision is what is best for employees (both the best coverage and the least impact) and what the District can afford within its revenue limits.

More information about these programs will be coming out in the new year. Watch Staff Updates for updates and wellness tips.

I wish you and your family wellness and happiness during the holiday season and in the new year!

Ruth