Calling All Educators of Color: Do you consider yourself an educator of color? Would you like to build a community with other educators of color within the Olympia SD? The Olympia School District will be holding four professional development opportunities specifically designed to support educators of color. Topics covered will center around the OSD Student Outcomes.
*Certificated staff may use staff development hours or receive curriculum rate of pay for all sessions.
*Paraeducators may use staff development hours or receive payment via time slip at their regular hourly rate for all sessions.
Save the Dates: November 16, 2020: 4-6 pm
January 25, 2021: 4-6 p.m. March 22, 2021: 4-6 p.m. May 17, 2021: 4-6 p.m.
June 14, 2021: 4-6 p.m.
Location: All meetings will be held via Zoom. The last date is reserved for an end of year celebration. More information to follow.
If you wish to attend and/or are interested in clock hours, please register via pdEnroller, Event ID #109472.
Olympia School District’s annual United Way giving campaign begins Monday, November 2 and runs through Monday, November 30. This year all pledges should be submitted online.
United Way is a national organization that provides a multitude of services to thousands of people right here in the Olympia community, including many of the students and families served by the school district.
Donations through the United Way support a variety of organizations. In past years, United Way has supported organizations such as the Thurston Food Bank, Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB), Boys & Girls Club of Thurston County and the Olympia School District Education Foundation. United Way also supports the Reading Buddy Program on an annual basis.
Additional details about the United Way of Thurston County can be found on its website.
If you have questions or need more information, please feel free to contact Mike Leonard at MLeonard@unitedway-thurston.org.
All online pledge forms need to be completed no later than November 29.
Recognition of outstanding OSD colleagues continues with two new Everyday Heroes this week. Everyday Heroes is a regular feature in this staff blog. Remember to submit names of employees districtwide who have done something deserving of encouragement and praise. Give a shout-out to one of your colleagues at your school or support building and watch for it to appear in an upcoming Everyday Heroes blog post.
Here are our newest honorees:
Everyday Hero Alex Jacobson, Student and Family Support Specialist, McLane Elementary School
Alex has been a huge help in getting our Community Connections program up and running. She is dedicated and the kids love her! Thank you for all of your help, Alex! You are our hero, truly! Submitted by Emily Hamilton, Teacher McLane ES
Everyday Hero Heather Randolph, District EL Coordinator
I want to take a moment to thank Heather Randolph who is most certainly an everyday hero! She was able to coordinate with multiple schools to help students. This has made a huge difference in attendance and engagement, to connect these children with the support they needed. Submitted by Chelsea Peterson, EL Specialist, English Teacher, Olympia HS
How to nominate an Everyday Hero
Email the Communications and Community Relations Department (communications@osd.wednet.edu) a few sentences, and no more than 200 words, about why the person deserves recognition. It’s easiest to write as if speaking directly to the colleague, such as “Thank you for helping with…” or “I really appreciated when you…”
Write “Everyday Heroes” in the subject heading of the email.
Include your first and last name as the person submitting the comments.
Include the first and last name of the OSD employee you are recognizing.
Include the job title and work location (school or department) of the person you are recognizing.
All submissions will be posted in this blog on a weekly basis and archived each week.
With families now receiving more messaging than ever before, from teachers, building principals and district staff, providing a consistent and familiar experience is vital. By posting newsletters and other applicable correspondence directly to your school website as on-page content, district staff can ensure their communications are available to all in a convenient, aesthetically pleasing and accessible way.
While traditionally newsletters have been produced in PDF format, posting this content directly to the web provides a multitude of benefits:
Translatable – On-page content is translatable using Google Translate, meaning a wider swath of our community can access it.
Responsive – On-page content works well on both mobile and desktop computers, meaning users won’t have to zoom in to read the text. This is increasingly important as the majority of readers are accessing content on their phones.
Accessible – On-page content, or HTML, is natively accessible, ensuring users of assistive technologies are able to perceive and enjoy our content.
Ease of use – Not only is the reader’s experience more familiar, but producing on-page content is easier than producing PDFs. Most content can be written in either Word or Google Docs and then simply copied and pasted onto a page. The Communications and Community Relations Department has put together ablog post demonstrating what content is included when copying and pasting between the different publishing tools.
Searchable – By posting newsletters directly to a teacher or school webpage, district staff create a comprehensive source of information. Rather than digging through old emails, families can navigate to the newsletter section of your page and catch up on any news they may have missed.
With email fatigue surely on the rise, providing a simplified and predictable avenue of messaging is important for our families. If you are interested in attending an upcoming SchoolMessenger Teacher Webpage training, follow the link below for our next training via PDEnroller, or reach out to the OSD Communications Department with any questions you may have.
OSD Teacher Webpage Training Thursday, November 19, 2020 5-7 p.m. via Zoom Sign up via PDEnroller
Each year you must enroll during annual open enrollment to continue Medical Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA) or the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP), even if you are not changing your contribution amounts.
What you need to know about the Medical FSA and DCAP:
Navia Benefit Solutions must receive your enrollment no later than November 23, 2020, for the 2021 plan year.
You are not eligible to enroll in the Medical FSA for 2021 if you enroll in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) with a health savings account (HSA) for 2021.
You may enroll or continue in the DCAP if you enroll in an HDHP with an HSA.
The Medical FSA allows you to:
Set aside pretax dollars from each paycheck to pay out-of-pocket eligible health care expenses for you and your qualified dependents, even if they are not enrolled in your SEBB health plan.
You may set aside between $240 and $2,750 for 2021. The chosen amount will be deducted from your paycheck in equal installments.
When you have qualified expenses, you may pay them either by using a Medical FSA debit card or by submitting claims for reimbursement to Navia Benefit Solutions.
The DCAP allows you to:
Set aside pretax dollars for children under age 13, or other qualified dependents who are physically or mentally incapable of self-care and regularly spend at least eight hours each day in your household.
You may set aside up to $5,000 per household ($2,500 each if married and filing separate tax returns). The chosen amount will be deducted from your paycheck in equal installments.
When you incur child or elder care expenses, submit the claims for reimbursement.
Want to learn more about the Medical FSA and DCAP?
Navia Benefit Solutions is offering two webinars during annual open enrollment:
Read enrollment guides, review lists of eligible expenses and watch a video on the Navia Benefits Solutions website.
How to enroll
Employees have two options:
Enroll online through the Navia Benefit Solutions website during open enrollment. Instructions to enroll online are available on Navia Benefit Solutions forms page.
Complete the 2021 Open Enrollment form. Send the form to the email address, mailing address, or fax number on the form. Navia Benefit Solutions must receive your enrollment no later than November 23, 2020.
For more information on SEBB’s Open Enrollment please visit Olympia’s School District Benefits page on the staff Intranet. To access the site, log in to the OSD Homepage, hover over Intranet, hover over Departments and select Payroll. If you need help or have questions please contact your Benefit Specialist Amy McGuire at SEBB@osd.wednet.edu.
Everyday Heroes is a regular feature in this staff blog. Remember to submit names of employees districtwide who have done something deserving of encouragement and praise. Give a shout-out to one of your colleagues at your school or support building and watch for it to appear in an upcoming Everyday Heroes blog post.
Here is our newest honoree:
Everyday Hero Denise Hammer, Counselor, Madison Elementary School
I would like to nominate an Everyday SuperHero. While I feel that everyone in every department of the Olympia School District should receive an award, as everyone has gone out of their way to help, advise and support all of the changes going on in the district; whether it is training on new/different ways of doing the same jobs in light of the every changing COVID world we live in, to just being a comforting ear to bend or shoulder to lean on; or teachers going out of their way to make the world a little better and familiar to their students. We are all in this together and we get through this.
That being said, as much as I would like to nominate all of my teachers and staff at Madison, I have noticed that our counselor, Denise Hammer, has been going out of her way to take Chromebooks, school supplies and even food and other needed items to some of our most at-risk students. Thank you Denise! Submitted by Jodi Cox, Lead Secretary, Madison Elementary School
How to nominate an Everyday Hero
Email the Communications and Community Relations Department (communications@osd.wednet.edu) a few sentences, and no more than 200 words, about why the person deserves recognition. It’s easiest to write as if speaking directly to the colleague, such as “Thank you for helping with…” or “I really appreciated when you…”
Write “Everyday Heroes” in the subject heading of the email.
Include your first and last name as the person submitting the comments.
Include the first and last name of the OSD employee you are recognizing.
Include the job title and work location (school or department) of the person you are recognizing.
All submissions will be posted in this blog on a weekly basis and archived each week.
This week Robert Hardy, our district website accessibility specialist, shares about choosing the correct field when adding alternative text to a document. Please email Robert with any accessibility tips or questions.
When adding alternative text to a document within Google Docs or Microsoft Word, users are presented with both a Title and a Description field. This can create confusion for the author as they may unsure which field to populate.
For both Google Docs and Microsoft Word, the correct field is the Description field. Screen readers rarely access the Title field, rendering it largely useless.
Remember to consider both the content and the function of the image when deciding on alternative text. What information would be missing if the image was removed? Be sure to include that in the alternative text.
For more accessibility tips for Microsoft Word, Google Docs and other software suites, visit the district’s Website Accessibility Resources page. If you have questions or tips regarding creating accessible documents, please reach out to Robert Hardy.
Ballots for the November 3, 2020 General Election have been sent to registered voters and must be mailed or dropped off in postage-free ballot drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Ballot drop boxes are open 24 hours a day during elections.
If you still need to register to vote, you can do so in person until 8 p.m. on Election Day at the drive-thru voting center at South Puget Sound Community College Mottman Campus, 2011 Mottman Road S.W. in Olympia. There are currently no voter services at the Thurston County Courthouse.
To register to vote you must be:
A citizen of the United States.
Residing at your current address for a minimum of 30 days before Election Day.
A legal resident of Washington state.
At least 18 years old by Election Day.
While there are no Olympia School District measures or candidates on the November election ballot, our district regularly shares election information with the community, including how to register to vote.
The following is a message from Business Services:
Last March when we went into Stay Home mode, we heard from employees that paper timesheets were a barrier to timely compensation. In response, we developed a PDF submittal system in May and June. This system turned out to be frustrating because staff must save the blank form to their computer desktop and then fill it in, then re-save it, then attach it to an email.
Therefore, for the last few months the payroll and business team, and a small design team, have been working on creating an electronic timesheet. The electronic timesheet is intended to mirror the cells of a paper form.
Paper timesheets are replaced with an electronic system that forwards the electronic timesheet from the employee to the supervisor to the Payroll Office.
The timesheet will automatically fill in the employee name and building once they have signed into the system.
When the employee hits submit, the form will automatically notify their supervisor.
Supervisors can sign these forms electronically; notification that they have a form to sign is sent to their email. (1 email per day maximum, regardless of the number and type of forms a supervisor receives in a day.)
Supervisors control the budget code that time is charged to.
The form is never printed/mailed, therefore we avoid the frequent occurrence that forms are lost and never arrive to the Payroll Office.
The prototype is now ready, and so it is time to begin testing the prototype. Testing involves submitting fake timesheets for multiple batches for multiple time scenarios. Our best chances of catching any glitches are if many staff submit their timesheets using realistic scenarios. We need testers! The testing window is November 1 to November 25.
If you are willing to test the system by entering fake timesheets, we welcome your involvement. Please click here and fill out the ETRS Volunteer Survey. We will contact you and set you up for testing.
Please note, after November 25, all of the timesheets you entered will be deleted. No compensation will be paid off of these timesheets. If you volunteer to test the system, please remember that this is a test-only prototype. Therefore, if you have actual time to be paid for time worked during the testing period, you will still need to fill out a paper timesheet or PDF fillable timesheet and forward the approved timesheet to the Payroll Office.
We are optimistic that this system can be available for staff to use beginning December 1. If so, we will offer all three methods for submitting timesheets beginning December 1: paper, fillable PDF, and electronic timesheets.
Thank you to our design team and developers for their many hours of effort to create this system! (The design team included: Christa Hilinski, Wendy Rae, Margie Jenne, Valerie Steplight, Cheryl Baker, Rachel Beard, Betsy Durant, Mimi Peradotto, Angela Nadeau, Aaron Davis, Curtis Cleveringa, Matt Grant, Darlene Fuller, Gretchen Maliska, Julie Shanafelt, Suzanne Bowser, Sam Logan and Dave Eilers. Thank you all!)
For both Google Docs and Microsoft Word, the correct field is the Description field. Screen readers rarely access the Title field, rendering it largely useless.
Here's The Scoop 
You must be logged in to post a comment.