Hi Everyone,
I hope you had a nice weekend. My family was up at Mt. Hood for a ski race and enjoyed a beautiful Saturday followed by a soggy Sunday. Despite the rain, we all had fun AND it was nice to get back to the east side of the mountains and more intermittent showers.
On Wednesday this week our elementary team will meet at 9:30 and our secondary team will meet at 10:30. After those meetings the afternoon is designated as your work time. As always, please let Kevin or I know if you need anything outside of that time.
Professional learning has been on my mind lately. As we look to spring and next fall, I am wondering what you need, and if you could develop a professional learning plan for yourself related to online teaching…what would it be? What could our team provide internally, and what are some other sources? Please think on this. I don’t have anything in mind yet for sharing, but promise it will come up again.
Thank you for your participation in the ODE Remote Learning Committee forum last Wednesday. Please keep your notes on the “Pillars” where BLSO is strong, the ones where we can improve, and also any things that surprised you. It is my plan to process this with our North Star group in the afternoon next Wednesday, March 9th.
Other announcements:
Poetry Contest – Here is a link to a poetry contest, sponsored by the State of Oregon’s Poetry Association. It is open to K-5 as well as older students. Please let me know if you decide to participate! It looks like a fun opportunity.
From Instructional Tech – Digital Citizenship Made Simple For the month of March, there will be several posts in the Instructional Tech blog on the topic of Digital Citizenship. This is a topic that we all know is important, yet many of us have a hard time finding time to fit it in. Here is a quick video showing you how easy it is to sign into Common Sense Media and how to access their quick activities. Their material is fantastic and will offer opportunities for rich discussions. For those of you with homerooms or advisories it could be some good content to incorporate. You can also share with families for discussion at home, as appropriate.
From Human Resources – Please don’t forget that our School District offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to help staff navigate life stressors and/or manage life changing events. The EAP program is administered by UpriseHealth. The services they offer at no cost to Bend La-Pine School district staff members (minus substitute teachers) are outlined below. For the 21/22 school year, each covered member can receive up to six EAP visits per year which is an increase from the three allowed in the 20/21 school year.
Counseling Resources
- Short-Term Counseling
- 24-hour Crisis Help
- Tess Chatbot
- Online Peer Support
Work-Life Resources
- Childcare Resources
- Adult/Eldercare Resources
- Financial Services
- Legal Services
- Mediation Services
- Online Legal Forms
- Home Ownership Programs
- Identity Theft Services
Digitally Enabled EAP
- Wellbeing Assessment
- Self-Guided Mental Health
- Skills Training
- Coaching
To find out more about your EAP, schedule a counseling appointment, or access services call UpriseHealth at 866-750-1327 or visit uprisehealth.com/members to find out more. Access Code is OEBB.
Have a wonderful week!