TO DO:

• Please, please, please… Check your calendar and verify that you have Move Up Day on May 22 (Bend schools). Gary is also going to communicate this date again with all of the elementary schools.  I have heard comments such as “We haven’t selected a date yet” or other schools saying that it is occurring on a different date. It might not be a bad thing to have someone (office manager?) reach out to your feeder schools to make sure this date is on their calendar as well.  Also, we have agreed that elementary schools would be responsible for requesting a bus if it is needed. [Robi, I believe your Soar Up date is May 24.]

THIS AND THAT:

• Here is a resource for your social studies teachers.  The folks at Teaching Tolerance have put together some detailed instructional materials related to many topics, this one on teaching American Slavery. The resources include what you would typically find, as well as student texts, podcast, quiz, and a middle school focused “inquiry design model” entitled: Can words lead to war?
• Not to be left out, here is a poster for your ELA teachers (or any teacher that asks students to create something with their original ideas) around what the various levels of plagiarism look like.
• ODE is making some changes on how to track student attendance, and one is certain to catch your attention. Beginning next fall, athletes who complete or travel to a competition during school hours will be considered absent (see yellow highlight at bottom of page 1) for time missed.  This year, time missed by athletes are not counted as absences because they are considered a school event.

REMINDERS:

• There are a few upcoming days/events I’d like for you to be aware of that will make it a bit harder to reach me.  Reaching out by text will likely elicit the quickest response on these days:
  • Monday, Feb. 19 is President’s Day.  Enjoy the day away from work!
  • Tuesday, Feb. 20 will be HDMS Principal interviews all day.  You are all invited to attend the community forum at 4:00pm that evening at HDMS.
  • Monday, Feb. 26 is an all-day training for counselors that I’ll be participating in as well.
  • Tuesday & Wednesday, Feb. 27 – 28 I’ll be in Redmond for a school accreditation visit. This will be my first experience as an evaluator for this process so I am not sure how responsive I’ll be, but will get back to you as quickly as possible if you leave me a message.