Parker People Connection Spring 2017 Issue

FRANCIS PARKER SCHOOL EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER

SPRING 2017 ISSUE

Parker Pe ple CON N ECTION

Alia Jyawook, Lower School music teacher, conducts a dramatic piece for the 2017 Thanksgiving concert.

The Heart of Our Campus Dear Colleagues, Thanks to the extraordinary vision and commitment of Parker's Board of Trustees along with the generous philanthropic support of many members of the Parker community, we are now ready to begin construction for the Heart of Campus project.

The project will unify the east and west sides of the Linda Vista Campus, providing an inspirational space for students, parents, faculty and staff to meet, eat and collaborate. In more ways than one, this space is sure to become the heart of our Campus.

I want to genuinely thank each of you in advance for your patience, flexibility and understanding as we begin this very exciting project for Parker. As construction begins, so do the inconveniences that will affect us all first-hand.

Starting on Monday, March 20, the new parking, drop-off and pick-up routines begin for parents and students and so will the new parking and shuttle system for those of us that work on the Linda Vista Campus.

To complete this project, our daily routines will be inconvenienced. And while a team has been working tirelessly to design a plan that will minimize the impact on all of our constituents, we will all be affected. Please know that throughout construction, our goal is to complete the project as soon as possible with the smallest disruption to campus life.

Please take a few minutes to visit the Heart of Campus resource board in the faculty portal. All project updates, faqs and other need-to-know information will be posted there throughout the project.

My best to all,

Kevin

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In this issue

p. 04

p. 07

p. 12

p. 15

Parking Info.

Book Club

Staff Profile

Parker Toolkit

5 Head of School Advisory

12 Staff Profile : Raul Carranza

6 Window on Wellness

14 Tech Corner

10 Celebrations

16 Photo Gallery: Last Lunch

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HEART of CAMPUS Update

HEART OF CAMPUS UPDATE The time has come! The Heart of Campus construction is about to begin. Thank you for your patience and understanding with all of the changes to campus life. We appreciate your flexibility as we look forward to finally breaking ground on this project. Below you will find information regarding parking assignments, shuttle times and FAQs. New traffic patterns for parking, student drop-off and pick-up will take effect on Monday, March 20. Click the links below to find your parking lot assignment and visit the FAQ page for additional information.

Faculty & Staff parking assignments Faculty & Staff parking FAQs SHUTTLE SCHEDULE Shuttle service will begin Monday, March 20. Shuttles will be in constant circulation between the Church of the Nazarene and USD parking lots during the shuttle service times listed below.

Morning shuttle:

- Morning shuttles will begin 6:45 to 8:15 am,

Monday through Friday.

- The shuttle will drop you off on the Linda Vista

Campus, behind the Viterbi Science Center.

Afternoon shuttle:

- Afternoon shuttles will run from 3:30 to 5:30 pm.

- The shuttle will pick you up on the Linda Vista

Campus, behind the Viterbi Science Center.

- If you plan to stay later on campus, please utilize the

3:30 pm shuttle to retrieve your car and park on

campus. Campus parking is available to all after 3 pm.

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Stay up-to-date on the Heart of Campus Fac/Staff resource board

Head of School Advisory The Head of School Advisory met Wednesday, March 1 on the Linda Vista Campus.

The purpose of the Advisory is to assist the Head of School in fulfilling his responsibility to provide professional, collegial and mutually supportive environment for all faculty and staff, and to strengthen the communication with the Parker faculty and staff community.

Topics that were discussed at the March meeting included the hiring guidlines, Lower School turnover, salary benchmarking and administrative evaluations.

Members also discussed leadership opportunities and electric car charging issues. Advisory members also discussed updates to the Heart of Campus Construction plans.

2016-2017 MEMBERS: Staff: Monica Sawaya Godfrey, Maintenance and Facilities Coordinator; Brad Long, Purchasing Manager; and Bob Hurley, Director of College Counseling.

Lower School: David Ries, Grade 5 Teacher; Theresa Tran, Grade 5 Teacher; and Kym Farkas, Senior Kindergarten Teacher.

Middle School: Garik Linnastruth, Math Teacher; Bernice Alota, Math Teacher; and Anne Farnsworth, French/Spanish Teacher; Upper School: JP Pierce, Science Teacher; Carol Obermeier, English Teacher; and Melanie Taylor, Art Teacher.

To read the complete minutes from the meeting, click here.

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Window on Wellness SAVE THE DATE!

SELF-CARE:

Be sure to come to our Wellness Fair on Wednesday, June 14 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm followed by a true Happy Hour from 3:30 to 5:00 pm (food, spirits and amazing door prizes included) on the Linda Vista campus. Health Dimensions is presenting a Health and Lifestyle Expo that will encompass a variety of unique, interactive and educational vendors to help you live a more well-rounded, healthy and balanced life.

According to the World Health Organization “selfcare in health refers to the activities individuals, families and communities undertake with the intention of enhancing health, preventing disease, limiting illness and restoring health.” According to Stacy Fisher-Gunn, “Self-care is multidimensional and involves how we eat, move, rest, express ourselves, allocate our resources, think, contribute to the world, connect with others and harmonize with nature”.

We will have mini-massages, puppy petting, miniclasses on ergonomics, fitness and nutrition, meditation and basic screening (blood pressure, body fat, fitness, flexibility, hearing, skin cancer) as well as numerous informative vendors.

To improve self-care, make a commitment to include at least one self-care activity in your week working your way up to several activities in a week. This can include simple things such as taking time to breathe deeply for several minutes or walking ten extra minutes during your day. (Stacy Fisher-Gunn is a registered dietician and founder of LivingUpp.com, a self-care app)

In addition to Health Dimensions, the Wellness committee is offering dance classes, art classes, yoga, adult coloring, board games and water balloon volleyball. Please be sure to save the afternoon for this amazing opportunity.

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Parker Faculty/Staff Book Club NEW BOOK CLUB FIRST MEETING On Thursday, Jan. 5, the Parker Faculty/Staff Book Club met for the first time after reading their chosen book “Golden Boy” by Abigail Tarttelin. A captivating coming of age novel about an intersex teenager who questions his identity after a life changing event.

The Parker bookworms of about 9 faculty and staff met at Caffe Calabria in North Park to discuss the book. Participants thought the book was fascinating and thoughtful. Everyone in the group enjoyed talking about the many of the themes in the book and how closely they mirrored what our students go through a daily bases.

The group is scheduled to meet again at the end of March and discuss "In the Country We Love: My Family Divided" by Diane Guerrero. If you are interested in joining the Parker Faculty/Staff Book Club, contact Ricca Gaus, Linda Vista campus librarian, at rgaus@francisparker.org.

From left to Right: Tiffany Yu, communications; Rick Rossiter, IT; Elise Marinkovich, MS/US teacher; Shaun McGraw, MS/US library; Ricca Gaus, MS/US library; Heather Gray, Lower School; Karen Parker, MS/US teacher; Maggie West, school nurse; and Lori Feinberg, Lower School teacher.

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Classroom Innovators Congratulations to the many Parker faculty who continue to innovate unique ways to deliver Parker education to our students. Sharing your ideas with colleagues across the nation is a sign of your passion for teaching and your committment to academic excellence.

On March 13, the San Diego County Independent and Private School Network hosted its annual conference. Several Parker faculty presented at the event including: - Kate Watson on student engagement - Phil Trotter and Alex Gomez on their social justice border project - Kevin Dunn on the importance of co-curricular programming - Heather Gray, Blair Spearn, Jen Hayman on gender identity for younger learners - Jasmin Taylor, on letters of recommendation tips for faculty

SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE NOMINATIONS The Spirit of Excellence award recognizes and celebrates our colleagues (faculty and staff) who have gone above and beyond in support of students and colleagues, by contributing positively to the life and work of the School.

Recipients are nominated by their Parker peers every year. If you know someone you would like to recognize, click here to fill out the form.

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Congratulations to Denver Guess for being named a winner of the Benbough Award for Innovative Use of Technology in the Classroom. Denver was honored at the first annual Innovation in Education Awards on March 9.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS Congratulations to JP Pierce who was accepted in to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Science and Engineering Program for Teachers (SEPT). Only 30 teachers around the country are chosen for this program.

JP will spend a week in June at MIT gaining a heavy does of the lastest and greatest science and engineering from researchers and lecturers at SEPT.

March 3 March 3 March 5 March 7 March 8 March 9 March 11 March 12 March 14 March 15

Chris Glover Marie Nelson Elise Marinkovich Jeffrey Mezzocchi John Pierce Jared D'Onofrio Claire Falcone Summer Alexander Richard Rossiter Armando Virgen

March 15 March 17 March 18 March 18 March 18 March 21 March 21 March 21 March 22 March 22

April 2 April 2 April 3 April 6 April 6 April 7 April 7 April 8 April 21 April 24

Stacey Zoyiopoulos Amber Mills

April 25 April 27

APRIL

Christopher McGrath Diane Lusitana Michele Muzzy Jeremy Howard Betsy Lillie Tiffany Yu David Brittan Karen Parker Jennifer Dorsey Amanda Fiedler

MAY

Katherine Colvin Marsha Gygax Bradley Long Fabiola Melbourn Mercedes Flores Philip Trotter Amber Bean Patrice Powell Bernice Alota Michael Gonzales

May 2 May 4 May 5 May 6 May 9 May 12 May 14 May 15 May 16 May 17

Jason Fields Julien Vedrene John Herman Kerry Parish-Philp Monique Velde Casey McLaughlin Amanda Kalal Lori Foote Ismael Valenzuela Mary Wu

Birdy Hartman Keven Ford Gwen Giek Kat Watson Annie Sawyer David Ries Hue Lam Kylee Moorman Rafael Alvarez Rose Hanscom

June 3 June 6 June 6 June 6 June 9 June 10 June 11 June 11 June 13 June 13

Debbie Luscher Katie Love Diane Potts Bonnie Rawson Brittany Bateman Laurel Peterson Kelly Tedrow Jason Leonard Mary Brandt Juan Cisneros

BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAYS

MARCH

Jennifer Hayman James Tomey Christopher Theobald Lori Feinberg Jessica Lemoine Alton Doulphus Jr Shaun McGraw Lauren St John Lopez Julia Cuadra Tien Bui

JUNE

Spring Birthdays!

Christine Cole Ryan Griggs Carrie Dilmore Dee Taylor Laurie Brae Cecile Santini

March 25 March 26 March 28 March 28 March 29 March 29

May 18 May 20 May 21 May 22 May 23 May 24 May 25 May 26 May 26 May 26

Maria Valenzuela Robin Rendon Lily Nuno Bob Gillingham

May 28 May 29 May 30 May 31

June 14 June 16 June 16 June 17 June 20 June 22 June 22 June 23 June 23 June 24

Jarrad Phillips Eduardo Castillo Carol Radchik

June 24 June 25 June 28

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Celebrations and Good News!

If you have a celebration or good news to share with your fellow colleagues, please send them to communications@francisparker.org. So we can celebrate you here. We love to hear about conferences you attended, birth announcements, career achievements, awesome things you are doing in the classroom, favorite hobbies, special talents and more!

CELEBRATIONS Congratulations to Joseph Castillo, Head of Security, and his wife Patricia who were married on Thursday, Dec. 8 in Las Vegas.

Congratulations to the newly engaged couple Mae Powell, Lower School assistant teacher for PE, and her fiance Adrian Smart.

Congratulations to Amber Bean, Lower School assistant teacher to Patti Diaz, for completing her eighth straight 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. Amber lost an aunt to breast cancer and another aunt is in remission. Amber and her mother make salads, which they sell to a local school in Romana. All the proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. To date her team named Bippity-Boppity-Boobs has raised $220,000 for breast cancer.

Congratulations to Patricia Floren, Lower School ARC Lead Teacher, who was featured, along with her team of breast cancer survivors Team Survivor San Diego in the Los Angeles Times article “This Pink Packs Power”. Patricia and her team who called themselves “L.A. Pink Dragons” competed in the L.A. Dragon Boat Festival last month. The article explores Patricia’s passion for dragon boating and the lifelong friendships she built with her fellow teammates.

Congratulations to Erica Buechner, MS/US dance teacher, professional work, The Dying Swan: Revisited/Re-envisioned, was picked as a “Bravo” for the 2016 round-up of San Diego’s music, dance and theater scenes on San Diego Story. It also was given a glowing review by the news source in June.

Michael Mizerany, a prominent artist in San Diego, also gave me kudos in an interview he just did for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Congratulations to Laura Capolino on her engagement to her fiance Steve Katzman.

They were engaged over the holiday break.

PARKER BABIES

WELCOME

Lower School teacher Stacey Shemanski and her husband welcomed baby Lucia Joy Shemanski on Jan. 9. Lucia was 7 lbs, 14 oz and 20.5 inches long.

Big sister Faith is so excited to be a big sister.

Monica Gillespie was named the new Head of Upper School. She will begin at Parker in July.

Currently, Monica serves as Head of School at St. Mary's School in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Matt Morrison '05, will serve as the new head coach of Lancer football. While at Parker, Matt was a two-time, all-league quarterback at Parker and coached with his father, John Morrison, for seven years.

Please welcome Analissa Juarez who will be Kim Sabiston’s associate teacher for the remaining of the year.

Lower School teacher Mike Petrosky and his wife welcomed baby Caroline on Feb. 15 weighing in at 6.5 lbs and 20 inches long. All are doing well.

Congratulations to Lily Nuno who was named as a new Junior Kindergarten teacher at Lower School.

Lily has a great passion for Parker, and a keen understanding of the children in her class.

CONGRATULATIONS Parker’s photography teacher, Amanda Fielder, is teaching a UCSD’s Extension class on black and white photography here on campus.

ON THE MOVE Laura Capolino, MS/US science department head, will be leaving Parker at the end of the school year.

Athletics Director Phil Hunt and his wife welcomed baby Philip Nathaniel Hunt, Jr. on March 2 weighing in at 7.4 lbs and 20 inches long. The family is resting well.

Laurynn Evans has announced that she will be leaving Parker at the end of this year. She has been named superintendent of the North Kitsap School District in Poulsbo, WA. Jen Hayman, Lower School Grade 2 teacher, has also announce that this will be her last year teaching at Parker. Jen and the family will be moving back to Washington, D.C. Joline Nelson, Middle School French teacher, announced she will be leaving Parker at the end of the year to pursue her passion for music.

Chris Watson, Lower School Grade 4 teacher, has announced that this will be her last year teaching and will be returning to her previous career as a court administrator.

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Staff Profile: Raul Carranza

If you ever spot a candy apple red 1978 Ford Thunderbird driving down broadway with a grinning man with a sparkle in his eye, chances are it is our very own Raul Carranza, Lower School maintenance member.

Raul says his favorite thing to do is showing off his Thunderbird at auto shows around San Diego and enjoying the compliments from admirers of his work and reminiscing with them of the good-ole days in the 70s.

Raul who has been with Parker more than 5 years, is the proud owner of a 1978 Ford Thunderbird, which he has lovely restored for the past 10 years and has poured his blood, sweat and tears into transforming it into a piece of automotive-art.

“People yell from the sidewalk and say ‘Ooh wee, that’s a sweet ride!’ or ‘You did it right, my man!’

That makes me feel so proud,” said Raul.

“It’s not about the money when you restore a car,” says Raul. “It’s about the bruises and cuts you get when you work on something so long and the pride you get when you look back and say ‘I did that’!”

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Raul is such a quiet and humble man you would never guess how excited he gets when talking about his car. Prior to Parker, Raul was a plumber for 23 years. He actually helped with the plumbing on the Mission Hills campus years ago.

Students at Parker love Raul and talk about how nice he is and how he is always smiling, which makes their day.

“If I could tell the students a message,” said Raul.

“I would tell them they can be whatever they set their mind to. If you believe in yourself you can do anything.”

A life lesson that Raul recently experienced when he was sworn in as a U.S. Citizen this past summer.

Pictured above is Raul's wife and his pride and joy 1978 Thunderbird.

“The students here at Parker are so respectful and say ‘thank you’ for everything that we do,” remarks Raul. “They really make you feel proud of where you work. I tell people if you don’t like what you do, you shouldn’t do it. I really like it here.”

“I have lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years. I could have become a citizen years ago, but I was too afraid. But, I said ‘It’s now or never’ so I set my mind to it and guess what? I passed,” Raul said with a smile.

Raul and his wife enjoy lazy weekends with their five children.

Raul was so flattered when he learned that a Parker student recommended him to be profiled for the employee newsletter.

OPEN March 17 to April 26 Opening Reception Friday, March 17 3-8 pm

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Tech Corner Parker Technology created a great guide to help Middle/Upper School faculty on grading in the OnCampus.

To find the helpful guide visit: How to Enter Trimester Grades, Comments and Citizenship.

Please refer to specific instructions from your division administration for grading time line and comment expectations: MS Grading Time line 16-17 US Grading Time line 16-17

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Parker

Toolkit

Ever wonder where to get the official Parker logo or where to get the official Parker powerpoint?

Look no further than the Parker Toolkit in Google Drive. Search “Parker Toolkit” and you will find the Parker window, official school colors, electronic letterhead to use in Google Docs, certificate templates and much more.

The Parker Toolkit folder was shared with all faculty and staff. If you find you do not have access to the folder, please contact communications@francisparker.org to gain access.

PARKER LOGOS

Horizontal Logo

Vertical Logo

Stand-alone Window

OFFICIAL SCHOOL COLORS

POWERPOINT TEMPLATES & ELECTRONIC LETTERHEAD

Linda Vista Campus Mission Hills Campus

6501 Linda Vista Road San Diego, CA 92111 4201 Randolph Street San Diego, CA 92103

858 / 569-7900 619 / 298-9110

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Last Lunch at the Cafeteria

The Linda Vista Campus cafeteria will be torn down in April. Friday, March 10 marked the last lunch that was served from the facility.

Above: Rafael Alvarez and Victor Virgen finished their last cafeteria meal with ice cream and bread pudding.

Above: Adelina Leyva serves hungry Upper School students for the last time in the cafeteria.

Seniors and Paul Esch eat their final meal.

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Parker employees have access to discounted tickets to local area attractions through Fun Express.

www.funex.com Find discounts on: Movies Museums Theme Parks Special Events and more!

Don't forget the Employee Activity Code, you'll need it to purchase tickets.

Parker EAC: 12-21603

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