{"id":346,"date":"2018-10-26T20:09:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T20:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/brian.kissell\/?p=346"},"modified":"2018-10-26T20:09:47","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T20:09:47","slug":"10-29-11-2-weekly-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/brian.kissell\/2018\/10\/26\/10-29-11-2-weekly-update\/","title":{"rendered":"10\/29-11\/2 Weekly Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parent-Teacher Conferences<\/b><\/p>\n

Thank you for the time and effort you put into preparing for conferences this week. \u00a0Hopefully you were able to enjoy a little more time compared to previous years for prep. \u00a0While the majority of your conferences are probably pretty easy-going, natural conversations with parents, there are always a few here and there that can be tricky so please know that I understand that challenge and I am appreciative of how you handle it with grace. \u00a0The extra day is probably not nearly enough to compensate but I will wish you a restful and restorative 3-day weekend to recuperate. Smile often and make excuses to laugh at every opportunity, even if it means watching funny youtube videos or a silly sitcom. Laughter is a powerful cure and smiling will directly impact your current state of mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

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THANK YOU<\/b><\/p>\n

I want to say a quick but sincere thank you to Brad, Tim, Scott and Rob. \u00a0Thanks to their hard work we have several sets of shelves assembled in our storage areas of the gym. \u00a0The shelves are 200 lbs each so it was not an easy task to get them unloaded and assembled. The spaces-saving of these shelving units will be extremely valuable for our storage needs. \u00a0We still have a ways to go before these rooms will be fully functional but this week marks some significant progress. We also have our chair racks assembled and half of those chairs assembled and racked.<\/span><\/p>\n

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District Equity Policy<\/b><\/p>\n

I want to draw your attention to our <\/span>District Equity Policy<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0Please take a few moments to read this document and think about ways we can make these statements more than words on paper. \u00a0What are the everyday things we do to promote equity? What are everyday things or behaviors that serve as barriers to equity?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Apple TVs<\/b><\/p>\n

I have a solution in hand (or in my office)! \u00a0Now it will take me a little while to get them installed but I hope to get this done myself in the next week or so. \u00a0Thanks for your patience.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mandatory Standard Protocol Response Training<\/b><\/p>\n

Jimmy Krauger (SRO) will be here on <\/span>Tuesday 10\/30 <\/b>for our SRP training. \u00a0This is a mandatory training for all staff. \u00a0We will start at <\/span>8:00 in the library<\/b>. \u00a0Please observe one of our first staff agreements and be on time (on time is defined as in your seat ready to begin). \u00a0Although we usually start our morning meetings at 8:05, we will need to start right at 8:00 since we have a guest speaker and we are required to have the full time for the training.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fire Drill<\/b><\/p>\n

This has been the month of drills, but we are not done. \u00a0We still need a fire drill for October so we will do this on Monday afternoon. \u00a0I will give a quick heads up with the PA and then we will pull the alarm. This would be a great time to go ahead and use an alternate route for your class if it makes sense for your evacuation, just be sure to have a gate key ready to use.<\/span><\/p>\n

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PTO Release Days<\/b><\/p>\n

As you should already know we did increase the amount of PTO funding for release days for grade levels. \u00a0The spirit of this funding is to provide the time for teams to collaborate on storylines and this needs to be a priority for us all, however there are sometimes request to use these individually. \u00a0Since we did add a day to each grade level, I feel it would be reasonable to leave the decision to your teams to use that third day as an individual versus a full team release time. I also want to stress that we really need to work on spacing these days out to help with the number of needed subs each time. \u00a0Let\u2019s try to put all these release days on the google calendar to make it visible and easy to work around.<\/span><\/p>\n

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COSA Presentation<\/b><\/p>\n

While we were not pleased with the turnout, we were really pleased with our presentation and you should all be proud of our presenting team – they did a great job representing our community. \u00a0It\u2019s safe to say we agree this was a great first step…we are not entirely certain where these steps will take us, but the possibility and potential is exciting. Sharing Storyline expertise with others not only benefits others, it benefits us as it is a form of reciprocal teaching. \u00a0One of the most important objectives of my job is to promote and develop leadership which enhances the experience we provide for our students. Any and every opportunity I have to push you or support you in this area is an easy decision for me. Whenever that objective can line up with promoting Storyline outside of our own community, that seems like a no-brainer.<\/span><\/p>\n

While we are on this topic, I want to explain the timing. \u00a0There was a call for presenters at the annual principals\u2019 conference in the spring (May). \u00a0I felt pretty strongly that we should promote Storyline at this conference and after a brief conversation with JJ I submitted a proposal for our Mars Team to present and I shared this at a leadership meeting on May 25th. \u00a0Shortly after submitting the application school ended and we all went our separate ways for summer. Although summer felt like a blink of an eye, when we returned to school in August we received confirmation that our proposal had been accepted it still seemed like it crashed on us suddenly. \u00a0I shared the acceptance with JJ and after we exchanged a nervous laughter, we started the prep for the presentation. We knew the timing would be challenging but we felt strongly that we should make it happen. If this caught anyone off-guard, I do apologize but I hope everyone is able to recognize the intentions.<\/span><\/p>\n

SBAC Data<\/b><\/p>\n

The following was shared with principals on Friday afternoon from Gary Timms, so I wanted to pass it along to you as well;<\/span><\/p>\n

SBAC Opt Outs-<\/i><\/b> First off, I wanted to thank you all for your efforts around stemming the tide of SBAC opt outs last year. We had a couple schools make a significant difference with a few intentional efforts. As a result, elementary still had over 90% of our students participating last year. This year we want to continue to encourage participation. With that in mind, please use this <\/span><\/i>Smarter Balanced FAQ <\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0any way you like to help inform parents of the importance of the tests for our schools. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

More Smarter Balanced-<\/i><\/b> I know that SBAC and other testing data is not the end all be all for our schools. At the same time, they are a measure of the work we are doing and one substantial indicator of how well our students are learning the standards. In addition, test data is what is shared with the world via ODE and the press. ODE report cards will soon be released. I had a chance to view them all this week and what I saw was extremely encouraging for all of us. Here are a few highlights:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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