Communication and Resource Changes Coming…
They say that the only person who really likes change is a wet baby. Unfortunately,
change is inevitable and certainly a routine part of our work in education. This
month I’m spotlighting three key changes I want to preview for our families. In a
nutshell: 1) All district email addresses are changing this spring; 2) All district
phones and extensions are changing by summer; 3) We are working to select new K5 math materials for roll-out Fall 2016. Read on for the rest of the story…
Email changeover: About two years ago, all Osceola staff were surveyed on their interest in
staying with the Microsoft Office suite of products for email and productivity software (such as
Word and PowerPoint), or whether moving to the Google line of products was the direction to
go. Considering the extensive capabilities of Google Apps for Education, or “GAFE” as we call
it, the staff overwhelmingly supported a shift to Google. Since then we have been training staff
and bringing students on board to use Gmail, Google Drive, Classroom, Sites and much more.
Internally, all staff were issued Gmail accounts to facilitate their training and to get started
teaching in the GAFE domain. Our next step, which is important for Osceola parents to be aware
of, is that April 22nd will be a changeover date for Osceola School District staff emails. Between
now and then you’ll see notifications coming through when you email one of us, alerting you to
the fact that we are changing to a new email address: @osceolak12.org (rather than the
@osceola.k12.wi.us). Our current email addresses will still receive emails for a while, and we
will set up internal email forwarding to the new addresses, but by December 2016 our current
addresses will no longer work. So, please be watching for updated emails coming your way, and
update your contact lists so we ensure communications are in place.
Phone changeover: And speaking of communications, you may be aware that our district’s
phone system is at the end of its useful life and in danger of failing without notice. The
replacement system we have selected is called VoIP, which stands for “Voice over Internet
Protocol”. In a nutshell, VoIP systems convert standard telephone audio into a digital format that
can be transmitted over the Internet rather than the public telephone network. For parents, this
will mean that ALL PHONE EXTENSIONS will be changing, and we be moving to an
automated answering system in all buildings. That means rather than getting a person right away,
you’ll have a menu of options to choose from. We will be training internally on this new phone
system later this spring, with full changeover slated for early summer.
Math materials changeover: We have just begun the process of evaluating new materials for
math instruction for K through 5th grade, with tentative roll out of these resources for this
upcoming fall. Our math scores are very strong in our region, and we are pleased that the
materials, instructional improvements and schedule changes made in the last 15 years are
working well and producing strong mathematicians.
However, materials and teaching strategies change, companies no longer produce certain
products, and learners are ready for updated, challenging material. We have secured sample
copies of several programs and will be conducting site visits to area elementaries to see materials
in action and learn from other districts’ teachers. OES and OIS teachers will have a chance to do
a few lessons from the new materials later this spring and will be providing feedback and
guidance into the decision making process. We want to be sure we select materials that will
support our continued excellence in mathematics, and continue to grow and challenge Osceola
learners for years to come.
Change is not often easy and smooth, and we anticipate some bumps in the road as we navigate
some very big changes in the months to come. With communications and student safety everpresent in our minds, we are working hard to ensure that the email and phone system changes
happen seamlessly; we ask for your patience as we train and learn the ins and outs of these new
tools. Likewise, we are excited to re-focus math instruction and grow our teachers and students
to new levels of performance, and we will be looking for opportunities to educate our families on
how to support their students in this change as well.
As always, please be in touch with questions and comments!