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January 8th, 2024

January 8, 2024

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thoughts of the Week

Take that Leap

I once heard a story, or a riddle if you will, that says five frogs are sitting on a lily pad. One decides to jump off. How many are left?

If your answer is “four”, thank your math teacher for your excellent math skills. Unfortunately, this is not a test of your math abilities.

It’s a life problem.

The correct answer is “five”. Yes, all five are still sitting there on the lily pad. The one frog only decided to jump but hasn’t. Life is not a spectator sport; it’s indeed a contact sport and there are no practice sessions, and you’ve been in the game from day one.

As cliche as it seems ‘The journey starts with a single step’… not by thinking about taking that step. Be the frog who not only decides to jump off the lily pad but actually jumps.

A Little Monday Morning Humor…

The Coming Week

MONDAY
  • Fire Drill 8:00
  • Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00
    • Youth Truth Survey – Please bring your computer
TUESDAY:
  • Safety Meeting 7:00
  • Elk Meadow Student Success/Admin Check-In 8:15-9:15
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • Care Team Meeting 2:30-3:15
WEDNESDAY:
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • SIW – Ed Network the Media Center (ICCL Team)
THURSDAY:
  • MTSS Building Wide 2:30-3:15
  • BAM (Beginning Admin Meeting) 5:00-7:00
FRIDAY:
  • Earthquake Drill 8:00
  • EME SpEd Meeting 8:00-8:45
  • SpEd Meeting 2:15-3:15
UPCOMING DATES
  • January 13 – Katherine’s Birthday
  • January 14 – Sara’s Birthday
  • January 15 – No School
  • January 17 – Jill’s Birthday
  • January 20 – Lea’s Birthday
  • January 23 – Kinder Forest Field Trip
  • January 29 – Dibels
  • February 2 – No School

Updates from Downtown

Early Literacy Success Initiative- HB 3198

FYI….Early Literacy Success Initiative Grant submitted and will be presented to school board for approval on January 9th. 

A team of teachers, administrators, specialists and coaches met a few times this fall to plan for the use of the grant funds over the 23-25 biennium.  The team relied on two documents to guide the vision and direction of how Bend La Pine will use the funds. 

  1. Oregon Literacy Framework
  2. Essential Practices in Early Literacy

The team identified areas of strength in our early literacy programs and areas for potential growth.  The allowable uses for grant funding are in the following areas:

  1. Professional Development
  2. Instructional Coaching
  3. Evidence-Based Curricular Materials
  4. High Dosage Tutoring
  5. Extended Learning Programs

Here is the plan that will be presented to the school board on January 9th.  If you have questions, please reach out to Julie Walker

The timeline for submitting this grant was extremely short.  My hope is that we can cover this topic in more depth at an upcoming horizontal meeting. 

Language Arts Adoption Update

The Language Arts Review Team (made up of 30 teachers, specialists, coaches and administrators) will update the school board on January 9th with a report on the adoption process and the recommendation of EL Education as our K-5 Language Arts Curriculum.  After that,  the board will take feedback for a month and then will take action at the February 13th board meeting.  Currently,  we have 30 teachers field testing materials and giving feedback on recommended professional learning.  Please reach out with any feedback or questions.  

From Policy, Advocacy and Equity (Kinsey Martin)

ASL Interpreters: Wondering how to request an interpreter for American Sign Language (ASL)?   In your Linguist Link account, when you enter the “new project” page to make a new request, you’ll see instructions for accessing ASL support.  Please share this update with applicable staff.

CAFE Program: Need an interpreter or translator in a pinch?  An updated list of CAFE Program members is available here (it also lives on the Portal’s Equity page, under ‘Employee Resources’).  You are welcome to contact anyone on the list, not just those at your site!  Please continue to use Linguist Link for the majority of your requests—CAFE members are bilingual staff who can support as linguists if you have a time-sensitive matter, but should not be relied on for these services regularly.  

Please mark your calendar for two upcoming District Family events:

     –Wed, Jan 31st: Black History Month kick-off celebration

     –Thurs, Feb 8th: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

Both will be evening events with dinner included.  It would be great to have our leaders support our families by attending either or both of these events.  More info to follow—for now, save the dates!

Important Dates

  • Jan. 10. Educator Network Day, in your buildings from 1:45-3:15
  • Jan. 15 No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Jan. 17: Office staff meeting 1:15-2:15 (plan for them to be away from 1-2:30)

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January 2nd, 2024

January 1, 2024

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thoughts of the Week

Throw Starfish!!

Yep, I am pulling out an oldie but goody. I may have even already used it… I love this story, especially this time of the year. We have a chance at a new start in anything we want to make change in. I recently presented to all the elementary admin team and one of the things I said to them, and truly believe in, is if you don’t like something change it. I realize that there is a student here that I do not like my relationship with because it focuses more on the negatives than the positives. I am going to change it! Will it be easy? No! Honestly, I will have to let some things go, give up my pride, and be the adult I am supposed to be. Ugh! But… I don’t like where this student and I are at right now and it needs to change. So… Ugh! and Uffda! How will you continue to make that difference in the new year? The two weeks off were sure refreshing, but I did miss the kids and can’t wait to get back. Please try to remember that not everyone’s break was wonderful for all of our student’s families or staff’s families. We have had both staff and students who experienced loss and financial hardship. We have students that have experienced trauma and neglect in the last two weeks. They are all coming back anyway, some for the stability we provide and some for the friendships they seek. Please make sure to love everyone in the building gently and share your grace and kindness freely! Without further ado, Throw Starfish!

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, what are you doing? The youth replied, throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die. Son, the man said, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of thousands of starfish? You can’t make a difference!

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said, I made a difference for that one.

The Coming Week

MONDAY
  • No School
TUESDAY:
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • EME Sped Meeting 2:15-3:00
  • 5-minute Standing Staff Meeting 2:20
  • Elementary Leadership Meeting 3:00-4:30
WEDNESDAY:
  • SIW – Training in the Media Center (Lori and Olivia)
THURSDAY:
  • Julia’s Birthday!!!
  • MTSS Building Wide 2:30-3:15
  • BAM (Beginning Admin Meeting) 5:00-7:00
FRIDAY:
  • None
UPCOMING DATES
  • January 8 – Fire Drill 8:00
  • January 10 – EET Book Exchange
  • January 12 – Earthquake Drill 8:00
  • January 13 – Katherine’s Birthday
  • January 14 – Sara’s Birthday
  • January 15 – No School
  • January 17 – Jill’s Birthday
  • January 20 – Lea’s Birthday
  • January 23 – Kinder Forest Field Trip
  • January 29 – Dibels
  • February 2 – No School

Updates from Downtown

Reminders:

New Notes:

Ed Network Day: The SIW plan for Educator Network Day on January 10th from 1:45-3:15 will be lead by Admin/ICCL and will be dedicated to introducing and planning for the changes to the Oregon Math Standards. Please share this plan with your staff. 

Translation/Interpretation: For any translation or interpretation requests that you’ll need completed/filled by the first week in January, please ensure you submit the request to Linguist Link before Friday, December 15th to avoid incurring additional costs you may be responsible for. For example, if you plan to send a family newsletter or email between Jan 2-5, please submit that document to translation before winter break. Please share this reminder with your staff.

Black History Month Save-the-Date: Our Black Family & Student Union is organizing a kick-off event to launch February’s Black History Month. The event will take place Wednesday, January 31st. Mark you calendar!  

From Culture of Care Coaches: Parents may be interested in some of these events from the Parent Learning Series.

Raptor Student Safe: Raptor Student Safe is a new platform to enter, collaborate, and track data round NSSI (non suicidal self injury), suicidal ideation (suicide risk screens) and behavioral safety (threat) assessments for school teams.

At the January 10 Educator Network Day, the Student Services Team will train school counselors, school psychologists, student success coordinators and nurses on how to enter NSSI and suicide risk screens into this system. After this END training, school risk screening teams will enter these screens into this system moving forward and will be better able to collaborate and track student safety concerns in their buildings. 

From Cascade: Please share this flyer with your families in TAG. It outlines Cascade’s TAG info night on January 10th.

From Sustainability: Please share this info about Forest Classroom with your teachers in grades K-2 that is coming up on February 8th from 9-3:30. Subs are covered by the Children’s Forest. Register here:  https://forms.gle/vmer5ZAwNpzqCmPm9

From Curriculum, Instruction and Systems: Here is an activity in Wayfinder that is a fun activity to get staff moving and laughing. Direct Link to the PDF. Directions on how to find the lesson in Wayfinder

From TLC: December 13th Elementary TLC Update The update for this week is the shortest of the year and only includes: report card info, Wayfinder, and movement info. Have a wonderful and safe Winter Break! Reach out to your elementary support staff for any needs or supports.

The Good of the Green Team: BLS has green team leaders in all but 5 schools this year and they are doing amazing work. Here are a few updates. Summit High students partnered with Miller to collect usable toys and are hosting a gift give for families at Bear Creek. Northstar, Ensworth, and Buckingham students completed waste audits to get baseline data for waste reduction efforts. Amity Creek is starting the 2024 school year with plates. BSH put waste stations throughout the school and Caldera Green team is inspiring students and staff to bring reusables to their pancake breakfast. The High School Green Leadership Coalitions wants to remind you all to have a great holiday and to reduce waste in how we wrap presents.

Important Dates

  • Jan. 2, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Miller Elementary
  • Jan. 10. Educator Network Day, in your buildings from 1:45-3:15
  • Jan. 15 No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Jan. 17: Office staff meeting 1:15-2:15 (plan for them to be away from 1-2:30)
  • Jan. 23, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Buckingham Elementary
  • Jan 31, All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

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December 11th, 2023

December 11, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thoughts of the Week

Recently I was fortunate to have a wonderful conversation with a teacher here. She said something at the end of our conversation about Gifted and Talented students and the fact that all students are gifted in their own way. I couldn’t agree more! It reminded me of my cover letter from my first teaching application, almost 20 years ago. Here is a sentence that has been in every cover letter I have ever written:   

I believe every child has been given a gift, and this gift is the key to his or her purpose in life. It is our responsibility as educators to help each child unlock this gift and motivate them toward it.

I still believe this today! I have always found it interesting that we talk about how important math and reading are, and how kids may not make it without those skills. Then we flock to the movies, concerts, plays, and art galleries in our spare time. These are all art based activities and math and reading truly do not make a defining difference in these careers. When I was the Director of curriculum I always felt bad for those kids struggling with Algebra I or Algebra II. Having to tell them that, “some day, this will come in handy,” knowing full well I have not used either since I took them. I worked to help rewrite our math path to graduation, giving ways around Algebra for some of our students. Telling them that they can’t graduate because they could not pass Algebra did not make any sense to me because that was not their gift. Holding back a diploma so they could not get a job and allow them to make a livable wage was asinine. Some of those kids are now welders, sculptures, craftsmen, and mechanics. They make more than a livable wage. I have been to math and spelling competitions and came away wowed, but I have seen students create art and left in awe! I have heard music that left me in tears and I have watched plays and left thankful for the opportunity to see the magic. I am so proud to be a part of a school that is “Art Focused”! After the workshops, I was amazed at all the kids who produced something, and did not feel less then. Thank you for that, and thank you for helping each child unlock their gift and motivate them toward it!

The Coming Week

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Staff Meeting 2:30-3:15
TUESDAY:
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • Elk Meadow Site-Walk & Safety Walk Through 1:00-2:00
  • ICCL Meeting 2:30-3:00
  • Care Teams Meeting 2:30-3:15
WEDNESDAY:
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • SIW – Holiday Party 1:00-?
THURSDAY:
  • MTSS building wide 2:30-3:15
FRIDAY:
  • EME Sped Meeting 2:00-2:45
UPCOMING DATES
  • December 20 – Natalie’s Birthday
  • December 24 – Sue’s Birthday
  • January 4 – Julia’s Birthday

Updates

  • Wayfinder:
    • Please share this document with teachers on how to mark a lesson/activity complete in Wayfinder. Checking it off is part of a successful implementation to the program. In doing this, you will be able to see how the implementation is going in your schools as well.
  • Student Services:
  • Counseling: School Counseling Blog
  • Safety: Updated SRO List as of 11/14/23.
  • OSU–Outdoor School Survey–You can get paid $25! OSU manages the Outdoor School grants for the state and they need information from the districts they support. We are one of those districts and they have received very few surveys from BLS. They are seeking some input through this survey on the following topics:
    • Roles and time you invest in coordinating and reporting on outdoor school
    • Suggestions for how OSU’s Outdoor School team could make your job easier
    • Strategies and lessons learned that might be helpful to others new to coordinating and reporting on outdoor school
    • Let’s help them out and take the survey—it will pay off—literally!! The survey takes about 15 minutes, and you’ll get a $25 gift card!
  • From Julie in Curriculum, Instruction, and Systems: Please share with your staff, these direct Links to Partner Up activities in Wayfinder: Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
  • The SIW plan for Educator Network Day on January 10th from 1:45-3:15 will be lead by Admin/ICCL and will be dedicated to introducing and planning for the changes to the Oregon Math Standards. Please share this plan with your staff.
  • From Scott in IT: Greetings! We have a couple of items to share as we look toward winter break.
    • Signing into Synergy: This is the final reminder regarding a change of process for staff who sign into Synergy Mobile applications. From now on, be sure you choose  “Sign In with BLS” whenever you are given the option.
    • The regular Username and Password fields will no longer provide access beginning this coming weekend.
    • Video streaming tips for classroom AV: Now that all our schools have Apple TV’s available in their classrooms, there has been some confusion about how best to stream video.   Apple TVs use  “Apple Airplay” to share what is on your computer with your classroom projector or flat panel TV. It is a very handy service that allows teachers to project wirelessly.  However, Apple Airplay does not support most video streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.   It is important to note that this is a function of Apple Airplay that protects image quality and unintended buffering (delays).  NO, this is not a district setting that can be enabled or changed 😊.   On the rare occasion that video streaming is necessary in the classroom, teachers must use the HDMI cord and dongle that was originally provided with every classroom AV system. 
    • Does your classroom have a ceiling mounted projector? Be sure to unplug your HDMI cord from the wall plate and store it when not in use.  Wall plates are easily damaged by feet and vacuums.  Not to mention, they will cost your school $500 to replace if damaged! 

Important Dates

  • Dec 12 (3:30): TAG Meeting- Meeting Link Here
  • Dec. 18-January 1: Winter Break—See you all back in 2024!
  • Jan. 10. Educator Network Day, in your buildings from 1:45-3:15
  • Jan. 15 No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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December 4th, 2023

December 4, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thoughts of the Week

The Right Stuff

One of the books I have been reading lately, called Hidden Potential, had a fascinating study.  In the late 1980s Tennessee launched a bold experiment at 79 schools, many of which were low income. They randomly assigned over 11,000 students to different classrooms in kindergarten through third grade. The original goal was to test whether smaller classes were better for learning.  But an economist named Raj Chetty Realized that since both students and teachers were randomly assigned to classrooms, he could go back to the data to analyze whether other features of the classrooms made a difference. The research suggested that excellence depends less on our natural talents than we might expect. The Tennessee experiment contained a startling result! He was able to predict the success students would achieve as adults, simply by looking at who taught their kindergarten class. By age 25 students that happened to have more experienced kindergarten teachers were earning significantly more money than their peers. Chetty and his colleagues calculated that moving from an inexperienced kindergarten teacher To a more experienced one would add over $1,000 to each student’s annual income in their 20’s.  For a class of 20 students an above average kindergarten teacher could be worth additional lifetime income of $320,000. 

You’re probably asking yourself why do kindergarten teachers end up casting such a long shadow 20 years later. The intuitive answer is that experienced teachers help develop better cognitive skills such as math and reading and build a solid foundation for students to understand numbers and words. Sure enough students with experienced teachers scored higher on math and reading tests at the end of kindergarten, but over the next few years they’re peers caught up.  To figure out what students were carrying with them from kindergarten to adulthood, Chetty’s team turned to another possible explanation. In 4th and  8th grade the students were rated by their teachers on some other qualities. 

  • Proactive, how often did they take initiative to ask questions , volunteer answers, seek information from books, and engage the teacher to learn outside of class? 
  • Prosocial, how well did they get along and collaborate with their peers?
  • Disciplined, how effectively did they pay attention and resist the impulse to disrupt the class?  
  • Determined, How consistently did they take on challenging problems, do more than the assigned work, and persist in the face of obstacles?

When students were taught by more experienced kindergarten teachers, their fourth grade teachers rated them higher on all four of these attributes.  As did their eighth grade teachers. The capacities to be preactive, prosocial, disciplined, and determined stayed with them longer and ultimately proved more powerful than early math and reading skills. When Chetty and his colleagues predicted adult income on 4th grade scores, these behaviors matter 2.4 times as much as math and reading performance on standardized tests!. Surprised? Although many people see those behaviors as innate, they are actually taught in kindergarten. Regardless of where students start learning these behaviors, they set students up for success decades later! It wasn’t that these teachers were better at teaching math and reading, it was that they had realized that the bigger bang for your buck was to teach kids the ability to be Proactive, Prosocial, Disciplined, and Determined.  In the end, it is not about the experience of the teacher but the lessons taught. If are students are reliant on us teaching them all the cognitive skills they know, Lord help them! The true gift from a teacher to a student is not teaching them what to know, but how to learn! Creating life long learners is the most important thing we can do as educators. On a side note… I would not trade our Kindergarten teachers for anything!

The Coming Week

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Holmberg Field Trip – Bend Science Station 9:15-11:15
  • McClarty Field Trip – Bend Science Station 11:45-1:45
TUESDAY:
  • Safety Meeting 7:00-7:30
  • Sieh Field Trip – Bend Science Station 9:15-11:15
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • ICCL Meeting at Jewell 3:00-5:00
WEDNESDAY:
  • 2nd Grade ELL Field Trip 8:30-12:00
  • SIW – Teacher Prep 1:00-2:30
  • 1st Grade MTSS
THURSDAY:
  • MTSS building wide 2:30-3:15
FRIDAY:
  • 5th Grade Field Trip 9:15-1:30
  • Movie Night 6:00-8:00
UPCOMING DATES
  • December 14 – Fire Drill 9:30
  • December 20 – Natalie’s Birthday
  • December 24 – Sue’s Birthday
  • January 4 – Julia’s Birthday

Updates from Downtown

Reminders:

New Notes

From Curriculum and Instruction:

  • Life and Career Readiness: Please share these resources in your staff memo. Wayfinder has some great resources for Community Connection. Click on this link to get the directions on how to access the resources in Wayfinder’s Collections and the direct links. 
  • Update on Language Arts Adoption: EL Education by Imagine Learning is our finalist (not yet adopted) for English Language Arts Curriculum. Currently, we have 28 teachers teaching modules and providing feedback on implementation and professional learning needs. In January we will recommend to the board and then have a month to collect additional feedback. We will go back to the board in February to present feedback and ask for board approval moving forward. 
  • Winter DIBELS Schedule (check your scheduled date)
  • Upcoming Professional Learning: Here are a few dates next week where classroom teachers may be out of the building for professional learning:
    • 12/4- Math Leadership Academy -12-4 at Miller Elementary (Teachers from North Star and Miller)
    • 12/5-Co-Learning Studio -ALL  day at Pine Ridge (only teachers at Pine Ridge)
    • 12/7- Literacy Lab for 1st and 3rd year new hires-12:00-3:15 (Teachers from across the district)
    • 12/4- Admin/ICCL meeting -3:15-5:15 -Jewell Cafeteria
    • 12/7- Kindergarten Innovation and Design Team meeting- 4:00-6:00. Boardroom

Medical Moment:

  • How to Register for CPR/First Aid Training/Renewal Course for BLS Staff
    • UKG > My Info (drop down menu, 3 stacked lines upper left side, above your initials) > My Career > My Learning > Access Learning (upper right side) > Training (top black menu bar) > Courses > First Aid (on right side) > Click on First Aid Link > Click on green Enroll Now button
    • Online Course: Once staff have registered for the CPR/First Aid course, staff will receive an email with a link for the online course portion of the training. (If you do not receive a link within the next business day, please check your junk email. If it is not in your junk email, please email Michelle Spetic at [email protected])
    • In-Person Skills Training: Once the online portion of the training is completed, staff will receive a Google form to sign up for the 20 minute in-person skills training.
    • Certification Card: Staff will receive an email with your CPR/First Aid certification card within 1-2 business days after completing the in-person skills class.
    • List of Certified CPR/First Aid Trained Staff at Your Site: Stephanie Bend sends out quarterly reports to all schools that include cpr/first aid certified school staff names.
  • OAR 581-022-2220 –Each school shall have, at a minimum, at least one staff member with a current first aid/CPR/AED card for every 60 students enrolled, as set by ORS 339.345, and 342.664 and who are trained annually on the district and building emergency plans. Emergency planning will include the presence of at least one staff member with a current first aid/CPR/AED card for every 60 students for school-sponsored activities where students are present. (This includes field trips.)

From the Office of DEI:

  • Upcoming Dates:
    • Thurs, Dec 7th: First night of Hanukkah.  Please avoid scheduling events this evening.  Also, there is a public Menorah lighting at the Old Mill the evening of Dec. 7th—details here.  Please consider attending and/or encouraging your staff to attend if interested in supporting this community celebration.  
    • Tues, Dec 12th: Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day.  This is a holiday celebrated by many within the Latino/Hispanic Catholic community in particular.  For your awareness and scheduling, this includes evening church activities that many of our families attend.  
  • Family Liaison Team: Here is the updated information about our team of linguistically- and/or culturally-specific Family Liaisons: English version, Spanish version.

Inclement Weather: HERE are the Inclement Weather Guidelines for the 2023-2024 school year, which detail the guidelines and procedures to be followed in the event of severe weather conditions. To stay informed and receive timely updates, please subscribe to BLConnect so that you can receive notifications via text. To learn more about how weather-related decisions are made, visit the BLS inclement weather page: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/news-events/alerts-updates

TLC Update: November 29th TLC Update about Wayfinder, movement, and reserving coding robots!

From IT: Google recently made a change to their sign in mechanism that better complies with federal CIPPA rules.  Beginning this week, they require school districts to verify any applications or websites that require students to sign in with Google. In readiness, our district performed this pre-verification work beginning last summer.  Because our primary methods for signing into applications are either Microsoft or Clever (for most student applications) our list for Google was very short. In fact, Google has never been our preferred sign in authentication provider for any application or service.  

In IT we anticipated that there would be users who would need direction to alternative log in methods. Unfortunately, there were two other factors that were more difficult for us to predict:

  1. Students and teachers were accessing our known licensed apps using Google regardless of the instructed preferred methods.  This is understandable, as there can be a bit of automatic reaction when you see “sign in with Google” vs lesser-known alternatives.
  2. There were a multitude of applications that were neither known by Instruction or IT in use in our schools. These applications were not pre-verified.

I hope that this helps many folks understand the situation and I would encourage you to review the preferred log in methods for essential applications that you use in your classroom or position. If this method is not known to you, reach out for support in the following order:

  1. Check with a colleague who also uses the application.
  2. Look for guidance from training materials or the Instructional Tools website.
  3. Reach out to an instructional coach or the IT Help Desk.

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November 27th, 2023

November 27, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thoughts of the Week

A Thankful Spirit: To smile or not to smile, that is the choice

I get asked pretty much everywhere I go, “why are you always happy?”, or “how come you’re always smiling?” The answer is…I choose to be, and I choose to!

So then the question is “Why?”  So…here is the long answer.  If you want the short answer skip to the last paragraph and I will not be offended.

In 2001, Angie was pregnant with our second child, Christian, after four years of unexplained infertility. We actually found out while we were on vacation in Florida. We were having a great time and then, on the last couple of days, I started to get a burning pain on the skin on my chest. I thought maybe I had been stung by a jellyfish as I started to develop a sore. After about two weeks the burning and sore had gone away, just leaving a scar, but the sickness started. Over the next 5 months, I lost almost 60 lbs, couldn’t walk and couldn’t drive. I was finally told, by the department of epidemiology, that I had been bitten by a brown recluse spider while I was in Florida. I ended up at Mayo and was diagnosed with Post Viral Autonomic Neuropathy, meaning that my body had fought off the virus the spider had given me but then recognized my small nerve endings as the same thing, so started attacking them. These control blood pressure, digestion, body regulation, etc. I was also diagnosed with POTS. As a last ditch effort in August, they infused me for 5 days with gamma globulin, pure antibodies. I spent the day before Christian was born at a waterpark…slowly… going up and down. It was awesome! The doctors told me I would not be able to return to work and put me in a study. Two of the 56 people in the study went back to their normal lives. I was one of them, and sent pictures of me to the doctors the next August, hiking the hills of South Dakota while carrying Christian on my back!

These are some of the things that happened after that; Christian was born, we adopted six more kids, and had a surprise 9th child! I graduated with my teaching degree (fulfilling the “deal” I made with God when asking him to spare my life) and my Master’s (deal I made with myself).  My wife found her passion for work in Homeopathy and pursued 6 years of classes and three degrees. We moved to Texas and back to Iowa. I was a part of multiple holidays, birthdays, and many important things in my kids life. I became a teacher, I got to teach 3 of my children in my classroom, see our oldest son graduate from school, and spent another 14 years married to my soul mate!  Our final year in Iowa I noticed that I was having trouble carrying our ninth child up the two flights of stairs to her room and putting her to bend without getting winded. I went to the Doctor and he told me I was in Kidney failure. I was like, “what the hell!”  I had been put on medication to protect my kidney due to being a Type 1 diabetic, and apparently it causes kidney failure in 0.001% of patients. Lucky me! They hoped to find me a donor kidney before I ever needed dialysis.

In March of 2015, I was offered my first Admin job, and was super excited! It was in my hometown and I couldn’t wait to move home! I started dialysis in my second month of my new Admin job after further kidney damage from blood pressure meds that were supposed to “stabilize” things and protect my remaining kidney function. Have I mentioned my body reacts to everything? By May, I had lost over 60 lbs again and was having trouble getting around.  I was not tolerating the dialysis at home, so I started central line dialysis, through a stint in the heart.  That worked for a while, but I was allergic  to the filters that the blood ran through, so I was super sick everytime I left Dialysis. By the beginning of August it did not look like I was going to make it. I had spent most of the summer in the hospital. I then got a call that my cousin, more accurately, Angie’s cousin’s wife, was a perfect match and had started the process on her end without even consulting me. What a gift! She donated a kidney to me on August 23, 2016 and I was back at work 14 days later. 

These are some of the things that happened after that; I coached almost all my kids in some sport, saw my daughter go to her first day of Kindergarten, and attended our son’s wedding. . Was a part of multiple holidays, birthdays, and many important things in my kids life. Spent another 4 years married to my soul mate!

This is the last one, I promise! In 2019, I was eating a soft shell taco in the teacher’s lounge and tore my esophagus. While doing this I also tore an artery in it. By the time Angie had picked me up and we arrived at the ER, I had lost a lot of blood. I passed out about 30 minutes after arriving and the next thing I remember is being in the recovery room. Here is a little of what went on in between. They could not stop the bleeding, even the cauterization did not work. The doctor came out and gave Angie my options: 1. Airlift me to Minneapolis, but he did not think I would survive the flight.  2. Remove a large section of my esophagus, with one year recovery time. Or 3. He wanted to do something that had not been done before. I was fortunate enough to have the number one gastro doctor in the state of Minnesota as my doctor, and he wanted to try an experimental stint that he had just received that week. Angie said yes to #3 and I am still here!

These are some of the things that happened after that; Fulfilled most of my wife’s bucket list and bought her dream lake home and her favorite boat for her (truly her boat, she never let anyone else drive and is at her happiest flying down the lake full speed or pulling the kids in endless circles on tubes and wakeboards), saw four more of our kids graduate, moved across country for fun, and got the job of my dreams here at Elk Meadow! Again, I was a part of multiple holidays, birthdays, and many important things in my kids life. Spent another 4 years married to my soul mate!

Life is short, and I know that as well as anyone. I choose to smile each day because I realize how truly blessed I am. Through all this I have had so many awesome experiences! I would not trade the bad experiences, because that has made me who I am and how I see the world! My grandpa always told me to leave everywhere you go better than you found it. When I smile, what I notice is people smile back, and that means I am following my Grandpa’s advice! I try to focus on all the things that I GET to do each day, good or bad and try to find the joy in them! So this is where many of my values come from that I have shared with you all.  Family first! Make it to the moments you can’t do over, the gones!  Go first and go often! To quote Kung Fu Panda, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift…that’s why they call it the present” 

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • New Principal Mentor Meeting 8:00-9:00
  • Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00
TUESDAY:
  • Staff Appreciation Breakfast 7:00-8:00
  • Picture Retakes 8:30-10:30
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • Elementary Admin Meeting 3:00-5:00
WEDNESDAY:
  • Tier 3 Meeting 7:30-10:30
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • Firebuster Scooter Presentation in D6 12:00-12:30
  • SIW – Art Training #1
THURSDAY:
  • Secure Drill 8:00
  • First MTSS 2:30-3:10
  • Beginning Admin Meeting 5:00-6:30
FRIDAY:
  • EME SpEd Meeting 2:30-3:10
  • EET Giving Tree
  • Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2
UPCOMING DATES
  • December 1 – EET Giving Tree
  • December 1 – Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2

Updates from Downtown

If you are looking for a great “read” over this break, to inspire and motivate, try out this new book from Adam Grant. Adam’s books are easy to read/listen to and I find myself being inspired to challenge the way I think about things or my approach to solving problems. He also makes me want to be more curious about the way I learn and tap into the power of “what if?”. I am currently listening to Adam read this book, and would love to have a jam session with anyone who wants to jam about it! When I get done reading a book like this, I suddenly believe in myself a little bit more, and who couldn’t use a little bit more of that right now.

Reminders:

New Notes:

Medical Moment:

Please share in your next family newsletter:

Health Emergency Ready Oregon (HERO) Kids Registry is a new resource to help families prepare for medical emergencies. Below is a brief overview and attached are FAQs. We encourage you to visit our website www.herokidsregistry.org to learn more, or reach out to the HERO Kids team at [email protected] to schedule a short informational presentation. We can also provide materials for, and/or attend, community outreach events! HERO Kids has also recently released three new education videos. Each video has a different focus and are only 1 minute long. Videos are available in both English and Spanish.

Overview:

HERO Kids Registry is a voluntary, no-cost system that lets any Oregon family record critical health information about their child before an emergency. Registry information can be accessed quickly by EMS and hospital emergency departments at the moment they need it.

Registering with HERO Kids is especially useful for young people who are medically fragile, or for those who have complex conditions, developmental disabilities, or mental health conditions. Young people in a crisis can’t always communicate their needs. Family members may not be present, or they may too distressed to help. Language barriers can impede communication. HERO Kids Registry can help offset some of these challenges.

Parents and legal guardians can register their child or young adult with HERO Kids online, and there is a paper registration option for people who prefer it. Young adults aged 15-26 can register themselves. HERO Kids Registry is secure and HIPAA-compliant.

Please share this information with your families in your next family newsletter. It is specifically for Families of Students with Complicated or Chronic
Health Conditions, Developmental Disabilities or Mental Health Conditions.

HR Moment:

Performance Module 

Goals For Certified Staff:

  • All certified staff are required to submit goals through UKG
    • Classroom teachers are required to submit SLGG goals and their UKG form is organized as such
    • Everyone else is prompted to submit goals but are not asked to submit SLGGs
      • Jennifer Hauth has emailed a goal template for Student Success staff for them to copy, complete and upload to their UKG goal form. See details here
      • Josh Marks has provided a goal template for Speech staff to do the same
      • If a staff member has not been provided with a template from someone who oversees their program, then they are to follow the instructions within UKG to provide their own personal goals for the year

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November 13th, 2023

November 13, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thoughts of the Week

One day a school teacher wrote on the board the following:
9×1=9
9×2=18
9×3=27
9×4=36
9×5=45
9×6=54
9×7=63
9×8=72
9×9=81
9×10=80
When she was done, she looked to the students and they were all laughing at her, because of the last equation, which was wrong, and then the teacher said the following, “I wrote that last one wrong on purpose, because I wanted you to learn something important. This was for you to know how the world out there will treat you. You can see that I correctly answered the first 9 times, but none of you congratulated me for it, or said great job, but you all laughed and criticized me because of the one wrong thing I did.
So… the lesson…:
The world may not appreciate the good you do a million times, and may point out the one wrong thing you do… But don’t get discouraged. Work on what you can control, which is your own behavior and how you react to things. Make sure to congratulate people often and not focus on the negative. Take time to support the people around you and spread a little love and laughter in the process!

Follow up from Wednesday SIW

These three concentric circles represent the 3 zones I talked about on Wednesday.  The inner circle is the Comfort Zone where you’re not learning you’re doing stuff you already know

The middle circle is the Stretch Zone where you should feel uncomfortable. You should feel like you’re stretching and that by design you are not sure if what you are doing is going to work.

The outer circle is the Danger Zone or the area where mistakes would be costly.  

I try to spend about a third of my time in the Stretch Zone.  Engagement in the Stretch Zone is important because it is where growth happens. 

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00
TUESDAY:
  • Vision Screening
  • Elk Student Success Check In 8:15-9:15
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
WEDNESDAY:
  • Tori’s Birthday!
  • EME SpEd Meeting 8:00-8:45
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • Fire Drill 8:00
  • Art Workshop #1 – Day #2 9:30-10:30
  • SIW 1:00-2:30 Teacher Time
THURSDAY:
  • Secure Drill 8:00
  • 5th grade walking field trip to Deschutes River Trail 8:00-11:00
  • PLC’s 2:30-3:10
FRIDAY:
  • 4th grade field trip to High Desert 9:15-1:45
UPCOMING DATES
  • November 19 – Lilly’s Birthday!
  • November 20-24 – Thanksgiving Break – No School
  • November 24 -Steve’s Birthday!
  • November 25 – Amanda’s Birthday!
  • November 28 – Staff Appreciation Breakfast! 7:00-8:00
  • November 28 – Picture Retake Day
  • December 1 – EET Giving Tree
  • December 1 – Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2

Updates from Downtown

Reminders:

Interventionist PLC Begins: We are looking forward to our Interventionists to work together as a PLC toward the development of our Tier 2 structures. The first is on November 16th. HERE is Lindsley’s e-mail with more information. Thanks for facilitating Lindsley!

Wayfinder: Wayfinder’s Waypoint Summative and Formative Assessments were rostered to elementary school students by mistake. The questions are intended for 6th-12th and not elementary students. I am working to have these removed for elementary schools and that should happen soon. Waypoints will be available for grades 3-5 for next year and we are looking for schools that would like to pilot the questions and give feedback. Let me know if your school or certain teachers are interested.

Safe Schools Reminder: The safe school compliance videos were due to be completed by 10/31.  Below is a reminder of how staff may access them.  Please be sure to share this requirement with staff hired after September 1.

Instructional Technology: November 8th Elementary TLC Update

Important Dates

  • Nov. 10: Veterans Day–No School
  • Nov. 14: UKG Drop In Virtual Session 10-11 am
  • Nov. 15: School Design Plan Template due
  • Nov. 15 (3-4:30): Monthly Administrator PD at Perseverance Hall at Bend High
  • Nov. 15 (5:30-7:30): Education Foundation Anniversary Event RSVP HERE
  • Nov. 16: District wide Latino Family Night at Pilot Butte Middle School–dinner starts at 5:30
  • Nov. 20-24: Thanksgiving Break
  • Nov. 28 (3:00-5:00): Elementary Horizontal Meeting at Juniper Elementary

And finally…

Click on each box to link to a resource related to the idea.

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November 6th, 2023

November 5, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

The Belief Gap

In 1954 a man did something that no human and recorded history had done before, he ran a mile in less than 4 minutes. His name is Roger Bannister and what’s significant about that story is that within a year after he broke the record, 30 other Runners broke the record as well!  How did 30 other runners break a record that quickly after Roger broke what seemed an impossible feat? It was no longer impossible! What Roger Bannister did in a matter of four minutes was he made the impossible possible and when this happens people begin to reflect on their own possibility. 

We talk about the Achievement Gap as if it was this impossible barrier that just can’t be solved. Over the past 20 years that I’ve been in education, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s really not an achievement gap, but a “belief gap“. Many children have been told over and over again that they have a limited amount of intelligence and no matter how hard they work, their intelligence won’t grow and unfortunately they believe that.  

In Minnesota there’s a 44% point gap in achievement between black students and white students in urban schools and a 41% point gap in achievement between black students and white students in suburban school. So many African American parents will spend over $250,000 more to buy a home in the suburbs with the promise of getting a better education and they’re getting the same results that they’re getting in the city. So we have many children in both urban and suburban school districts that are getting the same curriculum, they’re getting the same education, they’re in school the same amount of time and we still have this wide achievement gap. How is this possible? I believe it’s because of the belief that many children have in their ability. We can have many children in the classroom and have different expectations of those children in the classroom, and we know that this can lead to the effect of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Children live up or down to teachers’ expectations. As educators, we have to inspire our children to believe in their possibility.  

Here is a quick story I heard years ago about the power of believing in your possibility,

Sandra shared that the first time that she ran a marathon she had struggled to get to the 15 mile marker and out of the corner of her eye an elderly woman called out her name saying, “Sandra keep going you can do it”! Sandra just looked at the woman and waved and just kept on running. At the 20th mile marker, Sandra said she saw the woman again and the lady said, “Sandra only six more miles to go, keep going, you can do it!” Sandra just kept on running and as Sandra approached the 24th mile marker her run became a walk. Sandra had all but given up, but out of the corner of her eye she saw this elderly woman again and the woman said, “Sandra I saw you at the 15th mile, I saw you at the 20th mile, now you’re at the 24th mile, only two more miles to go! Don’t quit, keep going!” Sandra said she sprinted the last 2 miles! Now this lady didn’t know Sandra, but she believed in Sandra’s capacity to finish the race. We know it inspired Sandra to dig deep into her will and connect to an ability that Sandra didn’t even know she had.

Our children are in the race of their lives, and our children have challenges and we know that there’s a good chance that many of them will not graduate from high school. What if we could get them to tap into their ability, and understand and believe in their capacity to be successful? What if we could say, Johnny I saw you in fifth grade and you were struggling, I saw you in 9th grade and you overcame some incredible odds and you kept on going, now you’re in 12th grade, don’t quit, keep going! I believe in you!

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
TUESDAY:
  • Safety Meeting 7:00-7:30
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • ICCL Meeting 2:30-3:10
  • Care Team Meeting 2:30-3:15
WEDNESDAY:
  • Art Workshop #1 9:00-10:00
  • SIW 1:00-2:30 Meet in the Library and bring Computers
THURSDAY:
  • EME SpEd Meeting 2:00-2:45
  • PLC’s 2:30-3:10
FRIDAY:
  • Nothing
UPCOMING DATES
  • November 14 – Vision Screenings
  • November 15 – Fire Drill 8:00
  • November 15 – Tori Eisenbeis’ Birthday!!
  • November 15 – Art Workshop #1! Day 2 9:30-10:30
  • November 16 – Secure in Place Drill 8:00
  • November 17 – 4th grade field trip to High Desert 9:15-1:45
  • November 17 – 5th grade walking field trip to Deschutes River Trail 8:00-11:00
  • November 19 – Lilly’s Birthday!
  • November 20-24 – Thanksgiving Break – No School
  • November 24 -Steve’s Birthday!
  • November 25 – Amanda’s Birthday!
  • November 28 – Staff Appreciation Breakfast! 7:00-8:00
  • November 28 – Picture Retake Day
  • December 1 – EET Giving Tree
  • December 1 – Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2

Updates from Downtown

MAC Survey Day is Here: The Fall MAC Survey will be the week of November 6th and MAC looks different than in previous years. You will have just 6-12 staff at your school sites who are a part of the MAC cost pool. To be able to participate in the MAC Survey, you must be trained annually. I have emailed our untrained cost pool staff directly with MAC training information. In order for this slimmed down, intentional approach to be successful, it is imperative that staff in the cost pool complete their MAC training and participate in the MAC Survey. Automated messaging from Multnomah ESD will go out only to those staff in the cost pool one working day prior to the MAC Survey day and again on the morning of the MAC Survey. Please feel free to reach out to me or the FAN Advocate at your school if you have any questions or if you would like a list of your staff who are in the Fall MAC Survey. As the majority funding source for our FAN program, your support of MAC is greatly appreciated! 

Wayfinder and Counseling Update

School Counseling Blog:

In it you will find:

  • Use of Time is coming up. Please read instructions to be best prepared.
  • Student Conference (Student Contact Data input):  We will be sharing initial data to administrators very soon, please make sure you are inputting your data so you can track student contacts and programming/interventions!
  • Thank you!
  • Upcoming PLCs

Wayfinder: Wayfinder’s Waypoint Summative and Formative Assessments were rostered to elementary school students by mistake. The questions are intended for 6th-12th and not elementary students. I am working to have these removed for elementary schools and that should happen soon. Waypoints will be available for grades 3-5 for next year and we are looking for schools that would like to pilot the questions and give feedback. Let me know if your school or certain teachers are interested.

Technology BYTES:

When to use the Webhelpdesk  support ticket system.

There are several ways to communicate with your Bend-La Pine Schools IT support staff.  The most effective of which is the webhelpdesk ticket.   If you have a quick question, call the help desk (1200) or shoot an email to your client service representative.  But if you have an expectation, or a request that will require action, you should ONLY use the web help desk ticket system.  Why?

• a web help desk ticket will direct your request to one of 30 IT staff that is best suited to answer your question.

• It is the only communication method that will alert IT support if it remains unanswered. (1 day happy and green 3 days yellow and SCARY RED at day 5!)

• It tracks common issues that could be addressed to benefit all BLS users.

When Signing into Synergy mobile applications be sure you choose  “Sign In with BLS” whenever the option is provided. The regular Username and Password fields will no longer provide access and the change will take effect on the following applications:

HealthVue, AdminVue, and TeacherVue

The change will not impact StudentVue or ParentVUE.

Your IT team looks forward to serving you during the 23-24 school year! 

Important Dates

  • Turn back your clock 1 hour Sunday!
  • Nov. 10: Veterans Day–No School
  • Nov. 15: School Design Plan Template due
  • Nov. 15 (3-4:30): Monthly Administrator PD at Perseverance Hall at Bend High
  • Nov. 16: District wide Latino Family Night at Pilot Butte Middle School–dinner starts at 5:30
  • Nov. 20-24: Thanksgiving Break
  • Nov. 28 (3:00-5:00): Elementary Horizontal Meeting at Juniper Elementary

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October 30th, 2023

October 30, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

Toothpaste Recant (this might be a good share with kids too)

One night in July at an all-girls summer camp, the campers were gathered around in a circle for their nighttime devotions.

The counselor asked if any of the girls wanted to share something that had happened that day that impacted them.

One camper raised her hand and said a girl from another camp cabin had said something that hurt her feelings and she was really upset about it.

The camp counselor went to the bathroom to grab a tube of toothpaste.

She took the tube and squeezed it just a bit so some toothpaste came out. She then tried to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but it just created a mess. Then she squeezed the tube even more, pushing more toothpaste out and creating even more of a mess, but none of it would go back into the tube.

The counselor then told the campers, “this toothpaste represents the words you speak. Once you say something that you want to take back, it’s impossible and it only creates a mess. Think before you speak, and make sure your words are going to good use before you let them out.”

Speaking is a fundamental social skill required for living a successful life.

However, many are careless with their words, but they hold so much power. They can have a direct impact on the outcome of a situation, creating a helpful or hurtful reaction in our world. The problem is, once words come out of your mouth, no amount of “I’m sorrys” will make them go back in: blurting something out and then attempting to take it back is like shutting the gate after the horse has taken off. 

Thinking before you speak allows you the time to consider the potential impact of your words.

Be careful when choosing where and when you let your words out. You can easily hurt other people, and once you do, you can’t take it back.

Think before you speak, and make sure your words are going to good use before you let them out.

Words define who we are by revealing our attitudes and character, giving people an indication of our intellect or ignorance. 

Stop for a minute before you speak and question yourself about why you’re saying what you are. Are you trying to relay information? Relate to someone else?

Make sure you’re able to take responsibility for whatever you’re about to say!

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • 5 Minute Standing Meeting 2:25
  • Committee Meetings 2:30-3:15
  • New Principal Learning 3:30-4:30
TUESDAY:
  • Melissa’s Birthday!!!!!!!!!
  • Halloween!!!
  • Tier 3 Meeting 8:15-9:15
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
WEDNESDAY:
  • EME Sped Meeting 8:00-8:45
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • SIW – Prep for Art Workshops 1:00-2:30
  • Systems Leadership Meeting 2:30-3:15
THURSDAY:
  • Kindergarten Forest Field Trip
  • PLC’s 2:30-3:10
FRIDAY:
  • Nothing
UPCOMING DATES
  • November 7 – Safety Meeting 7:00-7:30
  • November 7 – ICCL 2:30-3:10
  • November 8 – ART WORKSHOP 1 Day 1 ! 9:30-10:30
  • November 9 – Ben out for Son’s Wedding!
  • November 10 – Veterans Day Observed – No School
  • November 14 – Vision Screenings
  • November 15 – Fire Drill 8:00
  • November 15 – Tori Eisenbeis’ Birthday!!
  • November 15 – Art Workshop #1! Day 2 9:30-10:30
  • November 16 – Secure in Place Drill 8:00
  • November 17 – 4th grade field trip to High Desert 9:15-1:45
  • November 17 – 5th grade walking field trip to Deschutes River Trail 8:00-11:00
  • November 20-24 – Thanksgiving Break – No School
  • November 28 – Staff Appreciation Breakfast! 7:00-8:00
  • November 28 – Picture Retake Day
  • December 1 – EET Giving Tree
  • December 1 – Kindergarten Forest Field Trip #2

Updates from Downtown

New Notes:

From Lisa and Tammy: Lots of great stuff at the PBIS conference this week. One nugget stands out: “…effective educators implement the following “top ten” intervention strategies to support and respond to student behaviors in their classroom.” -Center for PBIS

Although the title of the above link says “students with disabilities”, ALL of the practices are great foundations for our classrooms. Remember, it is nearly impossible to intervene for students with intense needs if Tier I practices are not in place in the school/classroom. This list is helpful, practical, and clear in supporting all of our classrooms to be created for all students.

Student Teachers: Recently, there have been a number of aspiring student teachers who have reached out directly to our schools to inquire about securing a placement at that particular site, so I’d like to take a moment to explain the process we follow for placing student teachers.

Currently, we have established agreements in place with George Fox, OSU-Cascades, and Lewis & Clark that allow us to readily accept student teachers when we can match them with a supervising teacher who suits their needs. For requests from other institutions, we require that they be directed to our Human Resources department so that we can engage the institution in the process of developing an MOA that meets both parties’ needs.

Each request beyond our established agreements is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Typically, we only consider such requests when they offer opportunities for our existing employees, such as Educational Assistants seeking licensure, or when they present a chance for us to develop relationships with individuals pursuing hard-to-fill positions like Special Education or Advanced Mathematics.

If you’re approached with any inquiries, please direct them to Ryan Kelling to continue the conversation. And if you ever have questions or need further clarification, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Ryan.

TLC Update: October 25th Elementary TLC Update– including LA curriculum feedback, Seesaw change, Wayfinder resources, and movement moments.

Youth Truth is coming up: YouthTruth surveys will be happening in January. This is our fourth year working with the organization. Here is a simple timeline of how the process should unfold over the next few months. More general information about YouthTruth is available on their website https://youthtruthsurvey.org/ 

  • Nov. 14 – We will receive a brief 10-20 minute pre-recorded Kick-Off Webinar for principals to watch by Nov. 24.
  • Nov. 27 – YouthTruth will send principals (and any site survey coordinators listed on the submitted School Information Form) instructions on how to access their school’s unique Survey Implementation Guide. This is the first email that school-level teams will receive directly from YouthTruth.
  • Nov. 27 – Dec. 22 – School teams use the instructions in the Survey Implementation Guide to prepare for surveying. This should take a few hours total. 
  • Jan. 2 – Jan. 26 – This is the survey window for all student, staff, and family surveys.
  • Feb. 9 – Results will be available to schools.

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October 23rd, 2023

October 22, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

The Weight of the World

Once, a psychology professor walked around his classroom full of students holding a glass of water with his arm straightened out to the side.

He asked his students, “How heavy is this glass of water?”

The students started to shout out guesses–ranging anywhere from 4 ounces to one pound.

The professor replied, “The absolute weight of this glass isn’t what matters while I’m holding it. Rather, it’s the amount of time that I hold onto it that makes an impact.”

“If I hold it for, say, two minutes, it doesn’t feel like much of a burden. If I hold it for an hour, its weight may become more apparent as my muscles begin to tire.

If I hold it for an entire day–or week–my muscles will cramp and I’ll likely feel numb or paralyzed with pain, making me feel miserable and unable to think about anything aside from the pain that I’m in.“

“In all of these cases, the actual weight of the glass will remain the same, but the longer I clench onto it, the heavier it feels to me and the more burdensome it is to hold.”

The class understood and shook their heads in agreement.

The professor continued to say, “This glass of water represents the worries and stresses that you carry around with you every day.  If you think about them for a few minutes and then put them aside, it’s not a heavy burden to bear.

If you think about them a little longer, you will start to feel the impacts of the stress. If you carry your worries with you all day, you will become incapacitated, prohibiting you from doing anything else until you let them go.”

Don’t carry your worries around with you everywhere you go, as they will do nothing but bring you down.

Put down your worries and stressors. Don’t give them your entire attention while your life is passing you by.

Let go of things that are out of your control. Don’t carry your worries around with you everywhere you go, as they will do nothing but bring you down. Put your “glass down” each night and move on from anything that is unnecessarily stressing you out. 

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Staff Meeting 2:30-3:15
TUESDAY:
  • 1st Grade Field Trip 9:00-1:00
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • Earthquake Drill 1:30
  • Elementary Leadership Meeting for Admin 3:00-5:00
WEDNESDAY:
  • Teacher Work Time 8:00-4:00
  • EME Sped Meeting 9:00-10:00
  • Lunch Provided by EET 12ish
  • SIW – Conference Prep
  • Admin PD 3:00-4:30 (Out of Building)
  • Conferences 4:00-8:00
THURSDAY:
  • Camille’s Birthday!!!!!!!!!
  • Conferences 8:00-8:00
  • Lunch Provided by EET 12ish
FRIDAY:
  • No School – TGIF Baby! Enjoy a well deserved long weekend!
UPCOMING DATES
  • Melissa Landolt’s Birthday! – October 31
  • Halloween – October 31

Updates from Downtown

Conference Reminders

  • Conference Greeters: It is an expectation that during conferences, there is ALWAYS a greeter at the area where families enter the building. They don’t need to sign in, but someone must be near the door at all times. This may mean that you need to adjust your office staff calendars or share some of these roles with those that are less tied to the classroom.
  • Vector Trainings (Safe Schools): If your days aren’t packed, Conferences are a great time to get these done. Due 10/31

Certified Evaluation Process

BLS and BEA have reached an agreement to modify the certified evaluation process for 2023/24.  Please share this document with your staff. 

Conferences and Seesaw:

  • Teachers, please review their list of connected families and be prepared to help those who still have not connected
  • Teachers, please print copies of the instructions on how to connect and help parents sign up on the spot
  • Want more information or Seesaw how-tos? Check out this document

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October 16th, 2023

October 16, 2023

Our EME Focus

  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Belonging
  • Define what it means to be an Art Focused School

Thought of the Week

Go First and Go Often

What does it mean to “go first”? I think the one thing you all know about me is that I listen to all ideas and adopt many of them. I challenge you to not hold your ideas in, but to “go first”. It is amazing the things we can accomplish with all our ideas combined! 

 I was very fortunate to have a leader who challenged me to act on my ideas, thoughts and beliefs and I went with it. It was uncomfortable at first, to say the least!  I was nervous about what people would think. What if they think I’m stupid or worse yet, they don’t believe in me…but I was able to move past that and started to act and share a few of my core beliefs and ideas to make changes that were impactful both in and out of the school environment! Here are a few examples of some things I was allowed to do, or “go first” on because of great leadership.  You already know my thoughts on homework, so it probably will come as no surprise that I went first on doing away with homework from a district level. I also went first on getting rid of the ”0” from a district level. These were not overwhelmingly popular right away, but after the numbers came in and people could see the impacts, in the end they were adopted across the district. I was able to, with the help of others, change the way teachers got their pay scale advancements.  Instead of college credits, that teachers had to pay for, teachers came up with action research projects that we awarded credits for that went toward lane changes. No cost to the teacher, and benefits to the district though real learning while doing!  Another fun way I was able to “go first” was the redesign of our PE curriculum. We went toward life long activities such as cross country skiing, snowshoeing, biking, curling, and kayaking. We were able to transition the budget to make those activities available to all our students!  

So, what does it mean to “go first”? It means to act on your ideas and share them with the people around you. It means to be vulnerable and open to feedback. It means to make change that is meaningful and maybe even lifelong. It means to listen to that thing tickling your brain about how to make something easier for kids to learn, or how to create a system that makes things run smoother. It means to scratch that itch!

Here are some of the ideas that have come my way, from this staff, that we now do!  

  • Recess lines up under the overhang.  
  • Many, many ideas of how to better serve kids.
  • Dot day
  • Student helpers at breakfast
  • New FYI system
  • Painting a football field and turning the soccer goal (Coming Soon)
  • Moving recess to the AB side
  • New logo
  • 30th year celebration for our families 
  • PD ideas (also coming)
  • Too many more to name, and this is in just one month!

My challenge to you is for you to keep “going first” with that thing you have been thinking about in your class. Let’s figure it out together! You all have such excellent ideas, abundance of knowledge, and I want to see your ideas come to the light. I also challenge you to use this same language with your students. Tell them to “go first”. Everything we enjoy, love, use in this world is because someone went first!

Upcoming Details

MONDAY
  • Admin Meeting 6:45-7:15
  • Systems Leadership Team Meeting 2:30-3:15
TUESDAY:
  • Elk Tier 3 Meeting 9:00-10:00
  • Office Staff Meeting 10:00-10:30
  • Fire Drill 1:30
WEDNESDAY:
  • Picture Day!
  • EA Meeting 8:15-8:45
  • EME Sped Meeting 8:00-8:30
  • SIW – Conference Prep
THURSDAY:
  • MTSS/PLC – 2:30-3:10
  • Thirsty Thursday 3:30
  • BAM Metting 5:00-7:00 (Ben and Amanda
FRIDAY:
  • None
UPCOMING DATES
  • Earthquake Drill – October 24 @ 1:30
  • No School/Conferences October 25-26
  • Camille’s Birthday! – October 26
  • Melissa Landolt’s Birthday! – October 31

Updates from Downtown

Things to consider before conferences.

Did the parent feel that the teachers:

  • have their child’s best interest at heart
  • get their child
  • don’t judge them
  • have empathy for any difficult situations
  • are approachable and won’t get defensive. 
  • are flexible in creating solutions that meet the needs of their child.
  • include them in helping their child succeed. (But they don’t feel like it’s all falling on their shoulders.)
  • will help their child succeed

New Notes:

From TLC: October 11th Elementary TLC Update

From Curriculum, Instruction and Systems-Julie:

Important:  Please put the following in your family newsletters before conferences

Would you like to learn more about EL Education-the finalist for K-5 Language Arts Curriculum?

Access materials digitally here

Provide feedback digitally here

From the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion:

  • Halloween costumes: A reminder to be thoughtful as you prepare for any staff or team costume themes: avoid cultural appropriation or offensive caricatures or stereotypes.  Some examples here.  LEAD/Equity Coaches have shared with your school’s DEI-ICCL rep some resources for talking with students about this issue as well.
  • International events and increased awareness: Please keep extra eyes and ears out for anti-Semitic comments or incidents right now.  Our Jewish community is deeply impacted by recent international incidents and have indicated concern for increased bias incidents in this regard.  Thank you for swiftly interrupting and reporting anything of this nature.  
  • Upcoming Office of DEI events: Thurs, Nov 16th: Our annual district-wide Latino Family Night will be November 16th at Pilot Butte Middle School.  Dinner 5:30pm, Opening 6:00pm, Sessions 6:30-7:45pm.  Please join us to welcome and connect with your Latino families!  Feel free to invite your staff and families directly.

Conferences and Seesaw: For Teachers

  • Please review your list of connected families and be prepared to help those who still have not connected
  • Print copies of the instructions on how to connect and help parents sign up on the spotn
  • Want more information or Seesaw how-tos? Check out this document

We made the District Blog!

A reminder that you can’t have rainbows (2!) without a little rain! Thanks for sharing Elk Meadow!

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