Week at a Glance

In the event you ever accidentally dial 911, please just stay on the line and let them know a call was made in error. Otherwise, they will assume someone is in distress and will automatically dispatch help. Thank you!

We are in the process of completing our staffing plan for the 2021-22 school year. We are projected to have 460 students, likely 20 or 21 classrooms, and the same PE, Music, ELL, and Special Programs staffing as this year. Will we have openings? At this point I’m not sure. While we have Torree’s retirement, Dawnelle’s leave, and Katie V’s resignation and move east, any openings we have may be filled by a teacher(s) returning from leave or who has been teaching district CDL from a different school. There are a significant number of people returning from leaves/teaching CDL in our district and with an anticipated enrollment drop at the elementary level in Bend-La Pine, some returning teachers may be placed at different schools. Once the dust settles in HR with these placements I will follow up with you about grade level teaching assignments for next school.

It’s that time of year when you may wish to gift classroom items to others. If you have goodies up for grab, please either invite people to your classroom to see them or put them on a table in a discreet area outside of your classroom. Thank you!

In February you received this email about planning for potential classroom quarantining. With case counts spiking in Deschutes County it is a great time to review the plan you have in place for this scenario we hope doesn’t happen.

One week to go! The final MAC Day of the year will be the week of April 26th. Thank you for being eligible to participate and completing the MAC Training by Friday, the 23rd

Because Deschutes County was over 200 cases/100K, secondary schools (not elementary) will begin offering rapid COVID-19 tests to symptomatic students/staff by Monday, April 26th.

Wednesday EA Support: Eagles’s Nest

A Week

April 19th-April 30th

Thank you for all of your efforts this year supporting the social, emotional, and academic needs of our students. With the data we have on our students in reading and math growing by the day, we are planning to finish the year with 1 traditional EBISS meeting per grade level. These meetings will be in the Media Center @ 3:15 on the dates below. Lybe will be sending more details to your team about these meetings.

1st grade – Tuesday, May 4th
2nd grade – Thursday, May 6th
3rd grade – Tuesday, May 11th
4th grade – Thursday, May 27th
5th grade – Tuesday, June 1st
Kindergarten – Thursday, June 3rd

Heads up! The final MAC Day of the year will be the week of April 26th. Thank you for being eligible to participate and completing the MAC Training by Friday, the 23rd

We are canceling the Staff Meeting on April 20th. Our next Staff Meeting will be May 5th @ 2:00 (Location TBD)

Next week is an A week

Wednesday EA Support: Discovery Falls

April 12th-April 23rd

The rescheduled April PTO Meeting is the 15th at 4:00 via Zoom. Thank you for discussing as a team who might be able to share a 1-2 minute grade level update at the beginning of this meeting.

Thank you for routing a copy of your conference schedule to Amber.

Laurie Perez will be substituting in 4th grade the remainder of the year at High Lakes.

Below is the duty schedule for April 5th-April 16th

Next week is a B Week

Wednesday EA Support: Friendship Mountain

The April PTO Meeting is the 1st at 4:00 via Zoom. The plan is to bring back grade level updates from classroom teachers at this meeting. Thank you for discussing as a team who might be able to share this 1-2 minute update at the beginning of the meeting.

Thank you for returning your Lexia doc from the training on Wednesday to my mailbox. We will make a copy and then return to you.

Conference Sibling Scheduling is Monday March 29th @ 3:15 in the Media Center. Monday we will also have a scheduling doc for you and half sheets that can be sent home to families confirming conference times. Amber has personalized these for each teacher complete with Webex addresses. 🙂

There are no scheduled activities for School Improvement on Wednesday March 29.

Here is a copy of the of the Bend-La Pine Schools holiday break shutdown guidelines.

Duty Schedule below for March 29th-April 9th

B Week

Wednesday EA Support: Rainbow Valley

Have you noticed some changes in the lobby area? Several weeks ago a team of Lava Ridge staff conducted an equity audit of the Main Entrance and are now working to implement some improvements. This group discussed the experience different people might have entering our school and what changes we could make so everyone who comes to Lava Ridge feels welcome. Over the last several weeks we have updated signage to be in both English and Spanish, installed a bench, and worked with the Print Shop on revisions to some district signage. Keep an eye out for more improvements in the coming weeks.

Conference information for families will be in teacher mailboxes by mid-day Monday to send home with students.

Thank you for beginning to consider what remaining purchases you may need to make this year with your discretionary funds. We are again looking to the end of April as the cut-off for purchases outside of small year-end expenses. Also, if you have any receipts for reimbursement, please submit these soon so we can get money to you and accounts reconciled.

Heads Up…Lava Ridge will be busy over Spring Break. We have new security camera wiring being installed, an update to the work area around Amber’s station being configured, and Kids Inc. in the gym and Friendship Mountain.

March 15th-April 2nd Duty Schedule Below:

Next week is a B week

Wednesday EA Support: Discovery Falls

Beginning March 17^th, 10 students in each 4^th and 5^th grade class will be on site learning from 8:30-11:15 on Wednesdays. The Bend-La Pine Schools are referring to this as the WINN Program. Transportation will be provided along with lunch. Fourth and Fifth grade families will receive the attached letter later today.

Welcome to Anna Zalewski who joined our staff this week as a 3.75 hour educational assistant.

Students will begin learning Safe Touch in the upcoming weeks. Sarah Dieker will be leading kindergarten and 1st graders through the curriculum, Lybe will be working with 2nd and 3rd grade, and I’ll be teaching 4th and 5th grade. We will send a letter home to families and offer the opportunity to preview the curriculum the week prior to beginning instruction.

Understanding that many will want to listen to the Doug Reeves presentation on equitable grading practices Wednesday at 2:30, we are postponing the Lexia seminar to Wednesday, March 17th in the Media Center

March 8-19th Details Below:

A week

Wednesday Support: Friendship Mountain

Happy Classified Employees Week! Thank you Support Staff for everything you do for our school and students everyday!

Read Across America Week begins Monday. Here again are the dress up days

Thank you for returning SLGGs to my mailbox by March 8th

Spring Conferences (16 hours) and a work day (8 hours) are scheduled for April 14-16. Please help us to decide our schedule for these day by completing this short survey.

At the ICCL Meeting this week we discussed schoolwide recognition and encouragement of students in Lexia and Dreambox. Here’s the plan-

• Beginning Monday, we will be recognizing those students who have completed a Lexia level on the morning announcements.
• Each Friday on the morning announcements, we will recognize those classes that have averaged 5 or more Dreambox lessons that week.

The March Staff Meeting will be on Wednesday at 2:00 via Webex (my room)

On March 10th from 2:00-3:00, K-3rd will be meeting in-person in the Media Center (socially distanced and grouped by grade level team) for a Lexia School Improvement Wednesday training. 4th-5th will be meeting at a different time TBD. The focus of the training will be on monitoring student progress and the use of skill builders.

The ODE is offering a new opportunity called the Promising Practices Idea Exchange. What is the Idea Exchange? A way to share promising practices and strategies that are engaging our students in learning.  The next meeting of the Promising Practices Idea Exchange is on Wednesday, March 3rd with a focus on Building and Sustaining Student Relationships, with additional bi-weekly sessions through March. You will find a description of the other topics that will be covered, dates and a registration link on the flyer.  It is free and open to all Oregon educators.

Thursday, March 4th is the next Book Club meeting in Christina’s classroom after school.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is a B week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Eagle’s Nest

AM Duties for March 1st-March 12th

Read Across America Week is March 1st-5th. While we will not be selling hats this year, we are planning for dress up days this year. We will be sending details out to families next week in our weekly email to families.

It is exciting to see the growth some of our students are making in Dreambox. Dreambox will continue to be part of our students core math curriculum for the remainder of the school year and maybe into next. The minimum usage recommendation is 5 lessons or more per week. Keep up the great work!

The state of Oregon is requiring that students in each hybrid group experience an in-person fire drill monthly. We are planning accordingly and will now schedule multiple fire drills each month. The forecast high of 54 degrees on Monday is tempting for February drill #2. Stay tuned.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is an A week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Discovery Falls

AM Duties for February 22-March 5th

Thank you for continuing to check-in and check-out everyday when you arrive and leave campus (ie Using the QR code or your computer to access the doc) This is a must-do for each of us every day. This data base of information will be used for contact tracing in the event we have a confirmed case of COVID. Remember, when you leave for the day the only groups or individuals you need to list (by checking boxes or listing names in the other section) are those you were not able to maintain 6-feet of social distance from for 15 minutes or more over the course of the day. Feel free to also list students on this doc who you were not able to maintain 6-feet of social distance from for a total of 15 minutes in the other section if this is more convenient than maintaining a log of this information in your classroom or area.

Here are the most up-to-date Inclement Weather Guidelines from Human Resources. The doc explains the expectations for staff in District CDL, CDL related to quarantine, Hybrid, and All-In models.  A less detailed letter will be shared with families. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions after reading through the information.

Below are some photo reminders from Alandra Johnson

• Please be sure that the photos you share reflect the consistent safety practices you have in place in your buildings. 
• Mask up! All photos on campus should include students/staff wearing masks over the NOSE and MOUTH
• Keep your distance. Make sure folks are spread out in any photo shared.
• If you use a photo that is pre-pandemic, be sure to list the year it was taken when you share it.

The Lexia Training on Wednesday will be from 2:00-3:00 and can be accessed in person in the Media Center and via my Webex room.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is an B week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Friendship Mountain

AM Duties for February 16-26th

Thank you for teaching your students all of our building safety protocols. Things have gone very smoothly the past three weeks and your instruction and continuous coaching has made a difference.

Some safety notes below:

• As you fine tune student routines and transitions outside of class, thank you for continuing to do your best to limit the amount of time students spend standing in line. Students not arriving early to recess, lunch and specials and being picked-up on time has really helped with this. Thank you!
• Each school is required to have an anonymous sytem for reporting COVID concerns. The Safety Team discussed this requirement and at this point anyone wishing to make an anonymous report should see me to make this report. I will keep this information confidential and will work to resolve the issue.
• Thank you for only sending students to the office after calling via phone or walkie-talkie. This helps to prevent cross-contamination from students who may be in the office with potential COVID symptoms.

A couple of staffing updates:

• Congratulations to Laurie Perez who has been hired to the Bend-La Pine certified substitute floating pool.
• Suzi Galvin (welcome back!) and Brandon Powers (formerly of Team Up) have been hired to our educational assistant team.

Spring Conferences have been adjusted by a week to April 15-16 and will be done via Webex. More details to come.

Schedule for Next Week:

Next week is an A week.

Wednesday EA support from 3:00-3:30-Rainbow Valley

AM Duties for February 8-19th