TO DO:

Here is a link to a folder where you can drop your 5th grade forecasting video (of your school), if you have one. You can always access this folder from the BLS Docs folder within the Collective folder. _________________________________________________________________________________

All administrators are INVITED (not required) to attend a virtual leadership team meeting in Lora’s Webex room on Friday, 1/15, at 1:00 for updates on returning to school. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please make note of this needed communication with transportation regarding LIPI… As you know, the last day for LIPI transportation is Jan. 29. As you also know, we are planning to start asynchronous teaching on Jan. 25. If you are going to continue LIPI during the week of Jan. 25, you do not need to communicate anything to transportation (as they are planning on picking up kids through that week). If you are planning on NOT having LIPI during the week of Jan. 25, then please notify both your LIPI families AND transportation of your new end date for LIPI. [NOTE: it would be best to either fully have LIPI the week of Jan. 25, or fully not have LIPI that week – in other words, do not have some LIPI students come in and others not attend that week.] ________________________________________________________________________________

Please communicate with your staff (certified and classified) that they all need to report back to your building no later than Monday, Jan. 25th. This is the first day of asynchronous teaching and two weeks before Hybrid starts. Feel free, if it helps take any heat off of you, to say that “you’ve been asked/told” to share this information (from me). (HS staff will be asked to report back on this same day, while elementary will return starting next week.). _________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

Here are a couple of important items from Lora:

1. Student teachers: We have checked with TSPC and our partners at George Fox and OSU-Cascades, and student teachers can be hired with restricted licenses for the remainder of this school year. I have shared with the programs that the student teachers need to follow the regular application process if they are interested. NOTE: the OSU-Cascades student teachers would need substitutes for 8 Fridays between now and the end of the year. IF a principal believes that the OSU-Cascades student teacher is still the best candidate, the district will cover the sub costs as professional development.
2. Many of our board members, as well as myself, want to be visible in the schools as we re-open (even with small groups) or now with small group instruction-WITHOUT BEING IN THE WAY. PLEASE send us emails to help out with recess, kindergarten orientation, or the first weeks at school, lunch supervision, etc. Anything that could be a genuine help to you and your staff! ________________________________________________________________________________

You currently do not have a square foot measurement or maximum individuals count for your gym – like you do for your other school spaces. I found out today that this will occur. I don’t have a timeline, but I assume it will happen in the coming weeks. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here are a few items from Paul:

COVID Update: An administrator cheat sheet has been created to assist building leaders in planning for in-person learning.  I’m still waiting for a link to the cleaning protocol and will let you know when that is ready.  I hope this helps consolidate your thinking with a task-orientated checklist.  

HR Update: A letter is going out to all classified staff to determine their return to work intent now that the K-12 phased-in plan has been communicated.  OSEA is reviewing the draft letter and we’ll copy you on the email to classified staff either this afternoon or early Monday when it is sent out.  As a reminder, please be actively reaching out to both your certified and classified staff as we transition in-person education so that you can respond to any workforce issues of people taking a Leave of Absence. We will not be holding people to 60 days of prior notice due to these unique times.  We encourage administrators/supervisors to post anticipated open positions ASAP for HR approval.  

Return To School Email: I’ll be crafting a Return To School email next week to address some of the most popular topics around meals in school, ventilation, masking, and cleaning protocols.  Expect that the all-staff email to be sent mid-week.  ________________________________________________________________________________

Some of you are involved in the “alternative to suspension” work connected to Deschutes County. They just announced that they have a new name (tagline) for this program, and it is now called: “UpShift – changing responses to youth substance use.” Please begin using this new tagline (UpShift) when referring to this program (alt. to suspension, treatment, or counseling sessions via this program). _________________________________________________________________________________

SEL EA positions are posted on our website (as of 1/6/21). These postings are “open till filled” and we need to wait at least five days before screening for interviews… which means you can begin screening next Wednesday, Jan. 13, and interviewing after that. Remember, you always need to interview at least two candidates for any position. These are temporary positions for this year and the job responsibilities (hopefully for this year only) will also include some Covid-related tracking/processing at your site. _________________________________________________________________________________

An important document to have up to date is this Covid Checklist. As you update it/make changes, please make sure you send Amy Stafford a copy of your updates so she can then update your plan on our district’s webpage. This will be reviewed at your site visit with Paul (and I).

REMINDERS:

See you all next Tuesday at 2:00 for our MS Horizontal (my room). A good chunk of our time will be spent talking about what asynchronous teaching and Wednesday teaching will look like. _________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget to comment on your peer’s equity goals within this spreadsheet in the coming days – prior to our next Excellence and Equity PD on Jan. 20. Modeling has been provided to you by our friends at SVMS. _________________________________________________________________________________

Third-year probationary letters are due to HR by Jan. 22. Please reach out to Jon with any questions related to these. _________________________________________________________________________________

YouthTruth Survey window is open until Jan. 22. _________________________________________________________________________________

Principals, please plan on completing your SLGGs in TalentEd no later than Monday, Feb. 1. Assistant Principals, please work with your principal to determine when yours are due.