TO DO:

As I have previously mentioned, we have contracted with YouthTruth to conduct student surveys with us. There is some “pre-work” that needs to begin occurring – prior to the survey window of Jan. 4 – 22, 2021. At least one building administrator at every MS needs to become familiar with all things YouthTruth. Today I’m sharing two of the things that this administrator needs to do. First, here is a 20-minute kick-off Webinar to watch. This Webinar contains important information regarding these student, staff, and family surveys. This needs to be viewed no later than Nov. 20th. Second, here is a survey timeline that has been developed between YouthTruth and BLS. Please read over and become familiar with this. Third, on Nov. 23 you will receive an email from Whitney Ivie, from YouthTruth, regarding how to access the Student Implementation Guide, so you’ll have time to prepare for this survey before the window opens. _______________________________________________________________________________

I’ve been able to touch base with each principal regarding changing (for this year only) our end of term marks for grading. In essence, for MS students during the 2020-21 school year, final grade mark options would include: A, B, C, P, and NG. (P’s and NG’s would replace D’s and F’s). I am very close to gaining final approval for moving forward with this change. I’ll let you know when this does become final, as I’d like for you then to communicate this change with your staff – and then your families also. If you’d like to talk through the reasons for this change please reach out to me. Lastly, some of you have already issued final quarter 1 grades. Once final approval is gained, I’d ask that you have the appropriate secretary at your school make these changes to all D and F grades issued for quarter 1. Here is a document that will help you in making these changes. Again, please do not share these changes until I give you the green light to communicate. ______________________________________________________________________________

Every year we need to communicate with parents regarding statewide assessments. It is that time of year. At this time we are assuming that there will be statewide assessments this next spring, so we need to communicate with parents. The information that needs to be communicated with your families has been added to your school webpage; all that we need you to do is let them know that it’s there in your next newsletter communication. This information should be found within the “Our School” tab on your website, then the bottom right side of the page has information regarding opting out. ________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

Today Governor Brown hosted a press conference to announce a two-week freeze across our state. Here is one news outlet’s summary of that announcement. Reading this summary will likely bring a number of questions to mind in terms of how these restrictions will relate to us here locally – and specifically at BLS. Due to these restrictions just being heard, how this will affect our work have not been determined yet. I will keep you posted as I continue to learn more. _______________________________________________________________________________

We have discussed, and no doubt you have wondered about, the timeline of students/staff returning to school. Last week this was shared with elementary administrators (as their schools will be affected first by this transition), but also want to communicate this with you. As you will see, secondary schools will move to hybrid after “demonstrated evidence of safe elementary transition.” This is not defined how how long it will take to demonstrate this safety, but we do know MS/HS will come shortly after elementary makes this transition. I can also say with great confidence that we will not meet needed metric benchmarks on Monday, Nov. 16, so the soonest possible will be Nov. 23rd. _______________________________________________________________________________

The snow this week has brought up some questions regarding how we are viewing “snow days” this year. The answer may be complicated – based on whether we are talking about CDL or Hybrid. We are working on updating our snow day/school closure language. Today I will provide you with an abbreviated CDL (only) plan. Checking of roads and communicating of closures will occur as they have in the past. What is different, obviously, is that instruction will continue in CDL, whether facilities are closed or not. (Teachers will teach in CDL, students will engage and learn in CDL regardless of whether schools are closed.) If a weather-related closure is called for, then transportation will not run and schools will be closed to students and families (e.g. no LIPI or grab and go lunches served). Please feel free to share this with your staff. ________________________________________________________________________________

I wanted to let you know about some adjustments in my work schedule. I will be working from home on days that I do not have any face-to-face meetings at the Ed Center. I’m planning on doing this in an effort to do my part to curb rising Covid cases. Please feel free to call or text me on my cell if I do not answer my office phone. If I don’t answer, I’ll get back to you as soon as I am able to. Also, I am taking next Friday, Nov. 20 off, but will be available by cell phone if needed. _________________________________________________________________________________

Building admin, if you have an awesome classified staff member who brings diverse talents, background, and/or expertise to our district and might be interested in becoming a certified educator in a hard-to-fill role, please reach out to them to recommend they consider attending the Info Session coming up next week.  See this flyer for details (this has been shared with all classified, but personal invitations go a long way). ______________________________________________________________________________

Hoping that you will not need them any time soon, but wanted you to know that STAS documents have been updated (some new forms, and new fillable forms!) and are now available for you to use in the staff portal. New this year is the ‘Level 1 Threat Response Dismissal’ Form. Please use this form if there is a perceived threat but your team determines that it is not necessary to complete the Level 1 Assessment.  Additionally,  please notice that the last document on the Staff Portal is the ‘Level 1 Threat Assessment Packet.’ This packet includes the Level 1 Threat Assessment, Student Interview, Parent Interview, Student-Witness Interview, and Teacher Questionnaire, so there is no need to download each individual document.   _______________________________________________________________________________

And speaking of STAS, here is some training information from Misty Groom:

Here you will find the STAS Training Sign up Sheet. To date, 14 schools have participated in the Refresh Training and most schools have signed up for an upcoming training.  I have added new dates for the week of November 16-20.  Additionally, if none of these times work for schools, alternate dates can be made available.  Please let the admin know that they can email me to set up a time that works for their Level 1 team (admin, school counselor, school psych, and SRO). The Refresh Trainings are a part of Best Practices and Fidelity of the Student Threat Assessment System.  _________________________________________________________________________________

In the daily news clip updates from OSBA they have recently featured links to videos from communities that were devastated by wildfires this fall. This week there was a video from McKenzie School District – focused on a kindergarten teacher. It is worth taking the 1:30 to watch. As I viewed it I was reminded of the fact that no matter how difficult dealing with Covid, or CDL, or LIPI, or Hybrid, or [whatever]… I am grateful and fortunate that things could be much, much worse. _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

We’ll be meeting as a Horizontal group next Tuesday at 2:00 in my Webex room. _________________________________________________________________________________

Next Wednesday is our next Excellence and Equity training with BRYT/Courtney. MS groups will be meeting at PCMS again, in the same rooms you were in last time. Don’t forget to complete your homework prior to our session together. And thanks in advance to Ryan and Julie for being room facilitators for this meeting. And NOTE A TIME CHANGE: We will now begin at 3:00 (instead of 3:30) and end at 4:30 (instead of 5:00).