MS and HS Counselors: Updated Diploma Requirements
Here is a chart outlining the upcoming changes to diploma requirements.
High School counselors please be aware of the following:
Class of 2026 and beyond: Students earning standard diploma will need to complete Government (civics).
Class of 2027 and beyond: SB 3 changes diploma requirements to include a Personal Finance Credit and Career Path Skills Credit. This will impact our Academic, Standard and Honors Diploma. We currently have a task force looking into “the how and the where” these credits/courses will fit into our academic pathways. More to come.
As you are delivering core curriculum. completing individual planning conferences and working with families, please make sure you are sharing the correct graduation requirements for each class.
Middle School Counselors please be aware that the high school graduation requirements have changed for your current students, so make sure you are sharing the updated (Class of 2026 and beyond) requirements when you are doing academic and college/career programming with students and families.
Youthline Mini-Grants
YouthLine has their mini-grant application now open for 2023-2024. The YouthLine mini-grant applications will close on December 8.
YouthLine grants will cover only 1 of the following activities:
· Training Day ($500-$2,000)
· Wellness Event for School Community ($500-$2,000)
· Student Curriculum or Program Purchase ($1,000-$2,000)
· Supplies for Physical Wellness Space in School Building ($800)
· Support for school clubs and alliances ($500-$1,000)
Middle School Franchised Lesson Team
Please connect with Lynne Tat if you would like to be a part of the franchised lesson team.
- Committee will work on the 3 lessons (one at each grade level, same domain). (Ideas were Stress Tolerance, SchooLinks and transition)
- Long term vision will be to have school counselor identified “topics” (learning targets) that we want ALL students to receive as part of a comprehensive school counseling program in Middle School
- Agreements/Guarantees
- Three Grade Levels and Three Domains represented
- 80% / 20%
- THIS IS LONG TERM:)
- This year’s focus for core programming (started on August 30th):
- 5th to 6th Transition
- 8th to 9th Transition
BLS Financial Aid Night
On October 17th (Bend Area) and November 1st (La Pine) we will be hosting two district family engagement events for Financial Aid. Please share with your community via newsletters, messenger, etc.
Please note that there will be a separate Financial Aid Night for Spanish Speakers. There are some upcoming changes to the FAFSA/ORSAA process so the counselors will be planning this event with leadership from Kinsey and her department. We will get that information to you as soon as it is ready.
Here is a link to a visual and messaging for October 17 and November 1.
I appreciate you getting the information out to families over the next couple of weeks!
District Website: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/news-events/news/2023/10/financial-aid-information-night
Reminder on Screener and DHS Forms
There has been some confusion with building administrators and support staff on where to “hold” forms after a completed suicide risk screener or DHS report. Here are some reminders:
Suicide Risk Screener with Safety Plan: Notification goes to principal, written form stays with counselor and a copy sent to April Jorgensen via BLSend or district mail.
DHS Reports: Written form goes to working file of principal (or designee) and a copy is sent to April Jorgensen via BLSend or district mail.
The written record of both the DHS form or Suicide Risk Screener/Safety Plan should never be placed in the student’s cumulative folder. These forms should be stored in a locked filing cabinet for both principal (designee) and counselor.
Annual Calendars: It’s October!
Please send your school’s annual calendar to Jennifer and Jess as part of your BLS School Counseling Program Goal. We look forward to seeing the great things planned at your sites!
We will be focusing on Tier 1 and Tier 2 programming and alignment, so these calendars will be very helpful with that work.
Central Oregon Guide for Referring Youth to Behavioral Health Services
From Pacific Source:
Please find the CO Guide for Referring Youth to Behavioral Health Services 2.0 for your use in helping get youth and their families connected to different levels of behavioral healthcare. Please note that all the blue underlined text are hyperlinks that will direct you to websites or referral forms.
Special thanks to the members of the Sagebrush Advisory Panel, Chi Blatt (Trillium Family Services), Hayden Gains (BestCare), Rachel Gerken (Mosaic), and Scott Bury (PacificSource) for helping update and finalize this guide for community use.
Please save to your computer, print, and share with other community members and organizations in Central Oregon!
Student Conference Reminder
- Updated Dropdowns
- Tracking school counseling domains and programming
- For all Student Conference Documentations, remember to input:
- Date
- Description
- Staff (your name)
- Service Type
- Brief Comment. Do not use private comments. Only Counselors, Admin have access to this screen.
- This input into Synergy is not for thorough notes, rather basic and short input for data collection and accountability
- No Case Notes, reminder that is not in our scope as a school counselor!
- SUPPORT/CHEAT SHEET (linked here). It is also linked in the Synergy Help Tab as well as BLS Counselor Toolkit
- Better reports coming from IT!
MS and HS: c3 Career and College Readiness Lessons
Check out these lessons that have been created in supporting MS and HS with CCR with their students. While we have SchooLinks, some of these can definitely be integrated into the core curriculum planning for academics and post high school planning. These CCR lessons are for grades 6–12 and will help practitioners guide students on a journey to develop a plan for their future and focus on making the most out of high school. These lessons are connected to the state graduation requirements, Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success, and to the Oregon Goes To College “It’s a Plan” College Checklists. Many of these lessons were adapted from the Career Guidance Washington curriculum. Each grade level has approximately 30 lessons, so check back frequently for updated lessons!
STAS and SIRC Trainings
The High Desert ESD will facilitate training for all NEW & returning BLS Staff who are on Level 1 teams.
2023-2024 Training Dates (STAS)
2023-2024 Training Dates (SIRC) – Elementary
2023-2024 Training Dates (SIRC) – Secondary
Please connect with you building administrator to see if these training are appropriate for you at your school site.
504 Training Next Week
Just a reminder: We will host TWO 504 training opportunities for you on October 10th. This is HIGHLY recommended for ALL coordinators. Please choose either to attend. Here is the Flyer with the descriptions for the classes.
These classes are now in UKG for you to sign up. Please visit UKG to see the full description of the two DIFFERENT CLASSES. This class will be presented by ODE and will not be repeated this year.
For anyone who needs help accessing the class here is your how-to in UKG:
In UKG, go to “My Career”, then “My Learning”, and select “Access Learning” on the right.
This takes you to a new screen. Select Home in the upper left corner. The upper portion of this screen is your SafeSchools required training, but if you scroll down a bit, it takes you to a calendar showing various classes on their start date.