Our EME Focus
- Tier 1 Instruction
- Belonging
- Define what it means to be an Integrated Arts School
Thoughts of the Week
In his “I Have a Dream” speech, minister and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. outlines the long history of racial injustice in America and encourages his audience to hold their country accountable to its own founding promises of freedom, justice, and equality.
King begins his speech by reminding his audience—the 250,000+ attendees at the March on Washington in August of 1963—that it has been over a century since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law, ending slavery in America. But even though Black Americans are technically free from slavery, they are not free in any larger sense—the “chains of discrimination” and the “manacles of segregation” continue to define the Black experience in America. It is time, King argues, for Black Americans to “cash [the] check” they were promised a century ago and demand “the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” There is no more time to waste in pursuit of a gradual solution to racism, King says—it is the “sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent,” and the country has reached its boiling point.
Even though King calls for the “whirlwinds of revolt” to spin into action, he urges those on the front lines of the civil rights movement not to let “bitterness and hatred” define their actions. They cannot let their movement for justice “degenerate into physical violence.” King reminds his listeners to remain in the “majestic heights” of nonviolent resistance and also to not see their white allies as enemies. In order to bring true justice about, King says, Americans of all races will need to unite and remain true to the values of nonviolent solidarity.
King acknowledges the long and difficult struggles that many of his listeners have already faced—he knows that those involved in the movement for civil rights have been beaten, insulted, and incarcerated. Still, he urges them to return home from the march to wherever they may live, be it in the sweltering South or in the “ghettos of the northern cities,” confident in the value and promise of their fight.
Then King invokes the dream he has for America: a dream that one day the country will “live out the true meaning of its creed” and make it a reality that “all men are created equal.” He dreams that his children will one day live in a society where they will be judged not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” and that, in the future, Black children and white children will join hands as sisters and brothers.
King urges his listeners to take their faith in meaningful change back to their hometowns—they must continue to struggle together, face incarceration together, and “stand up for freedom together” in order to truly make America a great nation. He calls for freedom to ring out across the country, from the highest mountains of Colorado, to Stone Mountain of Georgia, to “every hill and molehill of Mississippi.” When America collectively allows freedom to ring across its hills and valleys, he says, only then will “black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants” be able to sing truthfully and honestly the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
The Coming Week
- Monday
- Martin Luther King Day – No School
- Lea Wolnick’s Brithday
- Tuesday
- Earthquake Drill 1:30
- ICCL Meeting 2:30-3:15
- Wednesday
- Office Admin Meeting 7:00-7:30
- SIW Follow up to Ed Network 1:00-2:30
- Thursday
- Smart Reading (Kindergarten) 9:45-10:45
- Sped Team Meeting – 2:30-3:15
- Friday
- EET Weekly Meeting 8:00-9:00
UPCOMING DATES:
- January 27 – Dibels Day!
- January 27 – Robbie and Tracy AI Presentation 2:30-3:15
- January 28 – Care Teams Meeting 7:00-8:00
- January 29 – Office Admin Meeting 7:00-7:30
- January 29 – EA Meeting 1:00-1:30
- January 29 – SIW Teacher Prep 1:00-2:30
- January 29 – All Admin Meeting 3:00-4:30
- January 30 – Smart Reading (Kindergarten) 9:45-10:45
- January 30 – Sped Team Meeting – 2:30-3:15
- January 31 – EET Weekly Meeting 8:00-9:00
- February 2 – Groundhog Day
- February 3 – Core Effectiveness Meetings
- February 3 – Staff Meeting 2:30-3:15
- February 4 – Safety Meeting 7:00-7:30
- February 4 – Core Effectiveness Meetings
- February 4 – Elementary Admin Meeting 3:00-5:00
- February 5 – Office Admin Meeting 7:00-7:30
- February 5 – SIW – Extra Time for EL Planning 1:00-2:30
- February 6 – Smart Reading (Kindergarten) 9:45-10:45
- February 6 – Sped Team Meeting – 2:30-3:15
- February 7 – EET Weekly Meeting 8:00-9:00
Updates from Downtown
Important Links
- January 8th Elementary TLC Update
- Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–Bear Creek is looking for Youth Truth engagement ideas!
- FAQs for Special Education Inclusion Topics—Keep checking in here! BEA and BLS supported
Notes from our Team:
From Human Resources – Ryan Kellling: Per Article 15.8 of the CBA, Certified Employees are not required to report to their work site on end-of-term work days but must remain available by phone. Supervisors may require in-person attendance if there are articulable concerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities.
To ensure clarity, we are setting the following expectations that will take effect for the second semester of 24-25 SY:
Progress Reports Submission Deadline: Special Education Progress reports must be submitted by 4:00 PM on 1/31 this semester.
Middle/High School progress reports must be finalized in Synergy by 4:00 PM on 1/31.
Elementary progress reports must be finalized by 4:00 PM on 2/3.
Work Location for End-of-Term Days: Employees who have met the deadlines in regards to grading and/or progress reports in previous semesters, and who have met other expectations surrounding the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be permitted to work from an off-site location on end-of-term work days.
Employees who have not met these deadlines, and/or for whom their supervisor has further articulable concerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be required to work from their assigned school site.
Next Steps for Administrators: Notify employees with past concerns about timely completion of responsibilities – with detail regarding those concerns – as soon as possible (no later than 2 weeks before any potential end-of-term workday) if they will be required to work onsite on end-of-term work days. This communication will be followed up in writing with specific articulable concerns shared.
This practice encourages timely completion of professional responsibilities while maintaining flexibility for those employees meeting expectations.
From Jennifer Hauth – Social, Emotional, and Mental Wellbeing: Two schools from elementary have expressed interest in using the Waypoints summative assessment for mid-year data. We have opened the mid-year summative assessment from January 20th – February 20th for optional use. The year-end assessment will still be available from May 12th to June 13th. Here is information that was sent out at the beginning of the year, if you need additional information on how to access the assessments.
Summative Waypoints allow educators to measure student growth of Wayfinder’s six Core Skills across the school year. By administering the summative Waypoints assessments, educators can understand areas of strength and growth for individual students and the class to make informed, data-driven decisions about instruction. Here is the info on Waypoints, including the new Waypoints Implementation Guides to help teachers set up the reason we are assessing students as well as instructions. The final summative assessment for students will be open May 12th through June 13th for students.
From Jenny White – Life and Career Readiness: Principals, here is an activity from Wayfinder called Rock Paper Scissors Battle that you can use during a staff meeting or SIW. Link to the Activity in Wayfinder
From Dave Vanloo–School Improvement: 9 school days remain to survey (surveys close end-of-day Friday, January 31st).
Policy, Advocacy, and Equity – Kinsey Martin
FAN Food Resource: The Giving Plate provides our families in need with weekend food through their Snack Bag program. Recently, they let us know that their donations and volunteer resources are down, while the number of families they’re serving has been up: from 130 to 700 families weekly. They are unable to meet demand and need to prioritize their core services, so the Snack Bag program is discontinued.
While this is disappointing news, there are still many ways families can access food resources. Please see the links at the bottom of this letter, with bilingual handouts listing current food resources in Bend and South County. FAN Advocates have shared this letter with impacted families. Feel free to print copies of the handouts linked there, to have available in your main office.
Want to help out? One of the best ways you can support our families is to volunteer or donate to awesome programs like The Giving Plate or directly to FAN, so they can maintain their services and programs that benefit our families. 🙂
Immigration Guidance: Please read this information carefully, and reach out with any questions.
Presidential Inauguration: Reminder: Post-inauguration, some students will be walking into your building with big feelings. The incoming administration has openly communicated upcoming changes intended to directly impact particular populations (immigrants, trans people, etc).
Please ask your counselors to make themselves as available as possible for drop-ins if students need extra support next week. If your team knows a particular student or colleague struggled after the election in November, make time on Tuesday to have a trusted adult or friend intentionally check in with them. Thank you for your increased presence, vigilance, empathy, and grace next week.
Important Dates
- January 22: SIW: EL planning time
- January 29: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30–read chapter 1 in the Thriving Leaders book prior to coming.
- January 31: Progress Report work day, optional/mandatory training for you to come
- February 2: Progress Reports due by 5:00
- February 4: Horizontal meeting at Ensworth, 3:00-5:00 Hosted by ENS, BUC and LRE
And finally…
