August 27, 2021
WELCOME BACK!
The 2021-2022 school year will officially kick-off for all educators on Monday, August 30th. We have a great lineup of events including a student musical performance, remarks by a recent Everett High School graduate, a welcome from Superintendent Priya Tahiliani, and an address from keynote speaker Adam Strom from Re-Imagining Migration.
Also on August 30th, there will be a vaccination drive at Everett High School from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EPS staff members who would like to be vaccinated will be prioritized between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please let your building principal know so that they can make the necessary accommodations.
IMPORTANT PAYROLL UPDATE
The following is a joint memo from the EPS and the Everett Teachers Association:
As we approach the official start of the 2021-2022 school year, we want to inform you about a temporary change that will affect employees who are paid every two weeks.
This year, the district's bi-weekly pay-dates do not divide evenly into the yearly calendar, which will impact the way in which you receive your pay in early September. As a result, the beginning pay-date moves up at least one day every year. As multiple years pass, pay-dates edge backwards by a week or more; if an adjustment is not made, employees are continuously being paid prior to the beginning of the work year.
Below is the mathematical representation of this, based on a calendar year.
- 365 days in a year
- 7 days in a week
- 365/7 = 52.1429 weeks
- The .1429 is the equivalent of one day
What does this mean for you? It means that we have to make an adjustment to our payroll schedule, meaning we will have 27 pay-dates instead of 26. Typically, the first pay-date would be September 1. Instead, this year, the first pay-date for the 2021-2022 school year will be on September 8 for one week of pay, with a second week of pay set for September 15. The normal, two-week pay cycle will resume on September 29.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Our schedule of Professional Development offerings for Tuesday, August 31, after our students are dismissed at 12 p.m. There are a lot of offerings covering a lot of topics, subjects, grade levels, etc. Please review the full line up HERE.
AN ALL-OUT AFTERSCHOOL EFFORT
The EPS is seeking EPS staff to work with students during a one-month Afterschool Enrichment Academy for students in grades K through 8. The program will be held from September 1 to October 1 to help support students as they transition back to traditional school schedules and routines after an unprecedented 2020-2021 school year. Please consider lending your talents to this important initiative.
Complete details about this opportunity, including its stipend and responsibilities, can be found below:
CLEVER … AND HELPFUL!
We are happy to continue our use of Clever as our digital classroom and single-sign on (SSO) portal.
Clever automatically adds student rosters to our edtech programs and allows everyone to sign on to programs with just a click. No more remembering dozens of usernames and passwords, or sharing out class codes to get students onto edtech programs. Note: You will NOT see students in your Clever classes until they have been connected to your classes on Aspen (X2).
With Clever, you can also customize your digital classroom to engage with students and families.
As a first step, please log in to our district’s Clever Portal:
- Navigate to the EPS Clever Homepage. Be sure to bookmark this URL. You will need it to access Clever every time you need to.
- Log in through Google, using your Everett username and password.
- Click on a learning application you want to log in to for instant access.
- Once you are logged in, complete the Quick Start Guide to learn how to utilize Clever and its features to provide instruction.
Highlights of Clever include:
- Customize your teacher page with learning resources and assignments.
- Send students and guardians messages and classwide announcements.
- Use Class Analytics to see which resources students are using.
- Quickly troubleshoot login issues for students.
- Safely explore and download new applications for students in the Clever Library.
If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to your building administrators. You can also download instructions in the right-hand rail of our newsletter.
JEANS DAY
The EPS will hold a district-wide Jeans Day on Friday, September 10. Please give your $5 donation to your school’s administrative assistant to help us support the Everett Haitian Community Center in its ongoing efforts to support the victims and families of the August 14 earthquake in Haiti.
FREE, FROM DESE
LearnLaunch, with support from DESE, will offer a Cultivating a Culture of Caring & Healing Amidst Uncertainty workshop to assist school and district leaders. Participants will explore strategies to cultivate meaningful 1:1 relationships and sustain community. This workshop is free for Massachusetts educators and will be offered three times, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, September 13, Wednesday, September 15, and Tuesday, September 21.