Week at a Glance

Below are some updates from Teaching and Learning (TLC)

• Mary Ehrenworth (Columbia University, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project) is advising us to avoid giving running records this fall to assess student reading levels.  She suggests spending as little time as possible assessing and getting right to instruction.  She advised giving a phonics screener and/or a diagnostic spelling assessment instead. 
•  For Dreambox this year the goal is 5-10 lessons per week
• In Lexia, focus on units gained (not on student time in Lexia) Lexia is designed to be part of a blended learning model and not a stand alone activity students complete.
• As you consider math intervention needs: Use Dreambox and Unit Screeners instead of easyCBM

Notes for next week:

• Staff Meeting on Tuesday at 2:30-3:15 in the Media Center
• Peggy Kurtz will be substituting this upcoming week in music (SEL)
• School Improvement Wednesday-Work in Classroom time

Thank you for reminding the families of your students that Wednesday is the first School Improvement Wednesday (SIW) early dismissal. Each Wednesday for the remainder of the school year, students will be dismissed at 12:40 (K-2nd @ 12:35). As a staff, our meeting time will be from 1:45-3:15. This Wednesday we will be continuing our work re-imagining Lava Ridge and have a professional development session on templates with Lindsley Gehrig.

We will have our first fire drill this week. Be sure to have your Quick Reference Guide and a current class list ready to go by the door your class exits in the case of an emergency. Miriam has extras if you need one.

This year we are planning to have Staff Meetings, Grade Level Meetings, and EBISS on Tuesdays from 2:30-3:15. This is intentional and aims to free up Monday, Thursday, and Friday’s for calls home to families, IEP meetings, etc. This week (9/14) will be Grade Level Meetings and 9/21 a Staff Meeting.

There are times throughout the year when we all need to leave early for personal appointments. This is to expected. If you need to leave early, please sign out in the Main Office. As you schedule appointments, thank you for doing your best to attend all Tuesday Wednesday scheduled meetings. The following SIWs are teacher prep with no meetings scheduled: 9/22, 10/27, 11/17, 12/15, 1/26, 2/16, 3/16, 4/13, 5/18, 6/8.

Congratulations to Robin Sanderson, Jason Kingrey, Kirstin Winslow, and Carole Nase who will be serving on the ICCL Team this year.

Laurie Perez will be subbing in music (SEL) through 9/17.

Having great inside air quality has been a priority in Bend-La Pine during the pandemic. Our air is filtered through hospital-grade, HEPA filters and air handlers run MERV 13 filters to clean the air that comes into the building. If you would like an extra scrubbing of the air in your classroom or office, you are welcome to borrow one of the three heavy duty ozone air scrubbers we have. While opening windows and then running fans is the most effective way to keep the air in classrooms fresh and clean, as we navigate wildfire smoke and other conditions, feel free to reach out to Mike if you would like to run one in your classroom for a while.

Please do something fun this weekend! Fun = Refilling our buckets. The weather looks great, enjoy!

During the month of September while Matthew is on leave, our substitute will be teaching SEL and regulation strategies to students.  During the first few weeks K-2 will be learning Kelso’s Wheel and praticing how to use these strategies.  Intermediate grades will be having lessons from the zones of regulation and learning strategies for self regulation.  There will also be group team builders and  for building community amongst your students.

Here is a copy of the Quick Reference Guide we sent to families earlier this week.

We all know the impact strong home to school connections can have for our students and the importance of keeping families informed of what their child is learning at school. Weekly (or twice-monthly) communication about what students are experiencing during their day at Lava Ridge strengthens our relationships with home and also sets up parents/guardians to be able to ask their Lion specifically about what they are learning in class. Providing regular academic updates home is something we want to be tight with. As a dad, when I would ask our kids about what they had done at school I usually heard “nothing” and it was always nice to be able to say, “Hey, I hear you are learning about fractions or are working on imaginative writing” and be able to have a conversation with them about their learning. Thank you for the focus you put on relationships with our families and keeping them well informed.

POP Science is available again this year. You can access it via: POP Science Lessons for Bend-La Pine, all grades or in your shared drives. See (picture below)

Effective and professional communication is important to me. Last week I shared some of my beliefs about communication and this week will expand with some additional information about what you can anticipate in terms of decision making this year at Lava.

My preference for communication is face-to-face. If I can, I will talk with you, or your grade level, or our whole staff. Via phone works too. You can always ring my office @ 2402. My second preference is email. Finally, this blog will be a regular way to share information with you. I will send out notes to you once a week and appreciate you making this a must read before the start of the next week. You can always toggle back in time for attached documents, website addresses, and information from earlier in the year.

One of the key roles of a principal is to be a filter of information for staff. Too much can be stressful and unnecessary. Too little is not good either. It’s a balance. I try to keep information as concise as possible (please excuse the last two weeks of blog posts! 🙂 ) and get it to you in a timely manner. With 18+ elementary schools, there is a possibility a colleague at another school might hear about something before you-being first is not important to me, accuracy and timing are.

Decision Making:

Outside of general operational decisions (ie. scheduling of safety drills, determining the Staff Meeting schedule, etc.) most of the decisions I make could be referred to as either being consultative or collaborative. No one (especially me) wants me making all of our decisions. I have been a principal long enough to know that when possible and when realistic, the more we can share in decisions as a staff the better.

Consultative: These are decisions I make by consulting with as many people as possible who are impacted by the decision. As an example, when we have the May Kindergarten info night for families, moving where a grade level picks up their students after recess, etc.

Collaborative: These are decisions that have long range implications and we need to get a strong consensus before moving forward with something (or not). An example of this would be the conferencing schedule we use, the survey we sent out in June about students having recess before lunch, etc.

The reality is that there are grey lines between these two types of decisions. Some decisions will be made in a way that at least one person feels it should have been made a different way (usually those are people who disagree with the decision). There will also be times when we use a collaborative approach and you may think, “why doesn’t he just decide and tell us?” Again, I’ll do my best. My default is always to ask as many involved when possible and necessary. As always…have a question? Ask me. Door’s open.

We are looking forward to everyone’s return to Lava this week. It is not necessary this year to check-in or check-out (ie. QR Code or Google Doc we used last year) 🙂

From Instructional Tech – Here is resource page for you. Schools will also have the premium version of SeeSaw for k-2 students again. 

Thank you for waiting to communicate to the families of your students until Thursday at 11:00. Class lists in Synergy are ever changing and we need this initial communication to land in Lava Ridge family mailboxes simultaneously.

Updates below for next week:

• We will begin at 7:45 in the gym on Tuesday (Coffee and muffins will be available at 7:30)
• We are planning to watch the District Welcome Back together as a staff
• We are scheduled to finish inservice on Tuesday at 3:00
• On Wednesday we will begin at 8:00 in the gym

Setting up your classroom? Here is an abbreviated list of the Ready Schools Safe Learners (RSSL) guidelines. In general, we need to space students 3 feet apart to the extent possible (italicized as this is a change from last school year when this was “required”) We have been told it is ok to have 2 students sit at a double as long as they are seated on the ends. If you have questions about seating/spacing in your classroom please let Lybe or I know.

Connecting with families before the first day of school– This year elementary schools will not be hosting traditional Open Houses. This includes drive-through events. (Schools have been asked to host in-person, outside welcoming activities for kindergarten families due to the unique circumstance some families are experiencing sending a child to school for the first time. We are planning for a staggered kindergarten connections event on September 2nd from 3:30-5:00.)

Yesterday, our back to school planning team met and designed a plan for making connections with families prior to the start of school for students in grades 1st-5th. Here’s the scoop:

On Thursday, September 2nd at 11:00 AM, each 1st-5th grade teacher will send an email via Synergy, letting families know their child will be in their class and sharing a link to a short welcome video (1-2 minutes). This will be the system we use this year to let families know who their child’s teacher is. The team felt this would be a nice way for teachers to introduce themselves to families, a way for students to see their teacher before the first day of school, and avoid the challenges that can accompany trying to coordinate/host Webex meetings.

Next week, we will have a template teachers can follow to create these videos, Robin Sanderson will share an example, and we will provide time for teachers to work on them. On Thursday at 11:00 anyone who needs help sending an email via Synergy will be able to get coaching and support for this in the Media Center from Emily Curfew.

Greetings! I hope your summer has been wonderful. The DeFrang’s had a good one. We stayed close to home for the most part, did some camping and spent some time at the coast. It was nice to have extra time at home for gardening, following the Olympics, and trying to catch up on house projects. Lots of family time. Priceless.

Each August brings the excitement and anticipation of a new school year. I am particularly looking forward to this year and the opportunities it will provide for our staff and school to reconnect to a full school year of in-person instruction. While we will still be masked as we begin the year, we are planning that many of our school and staff routines will be able to return more to normal.

Regardless of how long we have spent working together, as we reconnect this year, it is important for you to understand what you can expect from me as principal. What follows is a lengthy and important description of who I am as a leader and some of my beliefs. I like to refer to it as leading from a place of “Warm Demand”.

On the warm side, I am relentlessly positive (or at least try to see the opportunity in the challenges and changes that are inherent during school year), believe people have the best intentions, and believe in the importance of relationships. Trust is crucial in these relationships. During my 17 years as a building principal I have experienced actions that build trust and others that wreck it. As examples, making a mistake, disagreeing with me or a decision we make, rooting for the Ducks, and forgetting duty are examples of things that will not damage trust or our relationship (Yes, even the Duck thing). On the other hand, gossiping, talking behind other people’s backs, and not respecting colleagues are not ok with me as they do not support a positive culture.

I operate with the golden rule. I’m going to do my best to treat you how you like to be treated and my hope is that you will reciprocate. If you have questions, concerns, or ideas, please come and talk with me. I will always listen. I may not change anything, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t listen or you don’t have my support. It just means I felt there was a more compelling reason to do it differently. I’ll do the same for you. I’m not a fan of, “Well, I’ve been talking to people and lots of them are very…” or “At lunch today, staff were saying…” Encourage those people you have been talking to to talk or meet with me. It’s similar to when a parent shares a concern with me about a teacher, I will direct them to the teacher to discuss the issue.

I ask for your support and grace. All of us have very difficult jobs when things are going well. I trust you to do your job and will not micromanage. Please do the same with me. Working together and trusting each other is imperative.

On the demand side of “Warm Demand”, I have high professional expectations for myself and for you. I believe that it is our job and responsibility to give our students our best each day. Working in a school is the most important work there is and I believe every day is an opportunity to make a difference. I believe we need to have strong relationships with our students and their families, use the best instructional strategies and curriculum, and be open to learning new ideas that can help us to grow, whatever our role is at Lava Ridge. We are all here to serve our students and families and have each made the choice to do this work at Lava Ridge. There are days when each of us (me included) would rather be somewhere else. I get it. On these days, I fake it. I made the choice to be here and serve in this position and owe it to our students to be the best principal I can be every day (even when I might rather be skiing).

This professional “Demand” is typically left at school when I leave at the end of the day. Having a healthy work/life balance is important to me. Time for me as a dad is going way to quick and away from school my job is being a dad and a husband. You will most likely not see my car in the parking lot on the weekends or receive emails from me at 9:00 at night. When I’m here, I work hard, move fast and try to be as efficient as possible. My goal when I leave Lava is to spend as much time with my family as I can, navigate the grocery store with ease, and do things I like to do (ie. swimming, skiing, exercising, watching college football). Time is precious and I encourage each of you to also have a healthy work/life balance.

I am really looking forward to this year and working with each of you!

Here is a grant opportunity from Selco Credit Union. Grants are awarded for up to $1000 for classroom projects through September 30th

The Pre-School Year Calendar for Certified Staff can be found here. No changes from years past. Please let me know if you have any questions about the details.

Work Hours for 2021-22: Certified Staff hours this year are 7:15-3:15

Details below for August 30th-September 8th (More specifics will post in the blog next week)

Monday, August 30th

• New Teacher Day at Summit
• Kindergarten Assessments
• Potential Day to Work in Classrooms (ie day #188)

Tuesday, August 31st

• First day for all staff (certified and classified)
• Welcome back at Bend High School. 7:00-8:15 Breakfast and mingling. Welcome Back Celebration begins at 8:15.
• 11:00-3:00 Meet at Lava. Lunch will be provided.

Wednesday, September 1st

• Inservice and Meeting Day at Lava beginning at 8:00

Thursday, September 2nd

• Work in Classroom Day

Friday, September 3rd

• Potential Day to Work in Classrooms (ie day #188)

Tuesday, September 7th

• Potential Day to Work in Classrooms (ie day #188)

Wednesday, September 8th

First Day of School! Half of our kindergarteners will attend on the 8th, the other half on September 9th, with all here on the 10th.

Have a great summer!

Many thanks to those of you who have helped with interviewing the last several weeks. We have hired some great teachers! Below are some updates:

-Jennie Willis will be teaching 1st grade next year. Jennie has been a teacher in the Beaverton School District since 2007 and taught in Forest Grove two year prior.

-Liz Johnson will be teaching 3rd grade with Allison and Jennifer. Liz is completing two years of teaching at Elk Meadow-a year as a math interventionist and recently a year in 5th grade.

-We are in the process of screening music teacher applications. This is the only position we still need to fill.

-We are planning to hire 2 educational assistants over the summer.

Here is a draft of classroom locations for next school. This map reflects that Kindergarten and the Student Success Coordinator will be in Discovery Falls, 1st grade and intervention (Special Programs/Reading Specialist) will be in Eagle’s Nest, 2nd and 4th in Rainbow Valley, and 3rd and 5th in Friendship Mountain. We are planning that ELL will be in the office in Friendship Mountain.

On Monday and Tuesday, we will have a team meeting to design and plan for the Student Success Coordinator position. Elementary schools will be working on this at Silver Rail with consultation from BRYT.

I will be at a conference beginning Wednesday and then taking some non-contract time for the remainder of the month. During July the best way to reach me will be via home phone, 541-317-8356. I’m planning to be back in the office early August.

A reminder that Wednesday, June 16th is a regular school day (3:00 dismissal) and Thursday, June 17th a SIW schedule day (1:30 dismissal). For Specials, we are planning to use the Thursday schedule on the 16th and the Wednesday schedule on the 17th.

With the drop in COVID cases in Deschutes County schools in Bend-La Pine are no longer required to offer rapid COVID tests.

Lots of information in the TLC Update this week including report card resources and early plans for next school year.

Thank you for your time and efforts inviting families to participate in Jump Start (ie Summer School). Earlier this week, these families received this information about transportation and childcare.

Staffing Updates:

Sara Blanchard and Paige Allen have been selected as finalists by our primary interview team and will be teaching 1st grade next year. Sara recently completed her student teaching with Amanda at 2nd grade and Paige is currently a 1st grade CDL teacher for the Medford School District and taught 1st grade prior to this for 7 years in Reedsport.

Brandon Powers has been hired an EA by Special Programs and will be working with Sara Towne and Katie Gillem next year.

Jean Larrenta will not be transferring to Lava Ridge and instead remaining at Buckingham.

Next Week is a B week

Duty Schedule for June 14-June 17th:

With the celebration on Wednesday at 2:30, we are not planning to have a Staff Meeting this month. Time is extra precious in June and we will leverage email for important communication. Thank you for paying extra close attention to your in-box over the next two weeks.

While not required, I would highly suggest certified staff returning to Bend-La Pine next year, attend a short meeting with Brad on Tuesday @ 3:15 about Multi-Factor Authentication. Two months ago, administrators started using this system and for me personally, it was a bit bumpy. I wish I had had a Brad to walk me through it. 🙂

Wednesday, June 16th is a regular school day (3:00 dismissal) and Thursday, June 17th a SIW schedule day (1:30 dismissal). For Specials we are planning to use the Thursday schedule on the 16th and the Wednesday schedule on the 17th.

It has been a full week of talking, emailing, and meeting with potential teaching candidates. Thank you to those of you who have been helping with these interviews. Hiring is one of the most important things we do and your help is so appreciated. We have more work to do and will continue to interview candidates over the next two weeks. We will have an updated teaching roster with names/grade levels as soon as it is set. Below are some updates from this week:

-Rachel Schendel will be teaching 5th grade next year. This spring Rachel communicated an interest to return to an intermediate classroom position and we are excited to be able to have her in this position next year.

-Sarah Shapiro-Bass who is currently a kindergarten teacher at Miller Elementary will be teaching kindergarten next year. Sarah completed her student teaching last year at Lava Ridge with Andrea Thompson and Sarah Kamasz.

-Nataly Libby will teaching 1st grade. Nataly is currently teaching 1st grade at High Lakes Elementary.

Next Week is an A schedule

Duty Schedule for June 7-June 17th:

We received updates this week that have helped us solidify most of our staffing plan. Below are some notes:

-Jean Larraneta will be rejoining our staff next year and teaching 1st grade. Rejoining, in that while she is actually being transferred from Buckingham, Jean was a teacher for seven years at Lava Ridge after helping to open the school.

-Dyan Sultzer has been hired as an instructional coach for next year.

-We were able to begin interviewing for some primary positions this week and also completed some screening interviews. A shout out of thanks to those of you who have been helping with these. While we are being COVID-mindful of interview team sizes we will have either a primary or intermediate teacher on these teams.

School Improvement Wednesday: Class list creation for next school year. We will have this information ready for a member of each grade level to pick up from Amber on Wednesday morning.

We received information on a free summer learning professional development opportunity.

Next Week is a B week.