TO DO:

Here is a reminder regarding the symptoms of COVID that would be good to again share with your staff and families. _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t already, please communicate with your teachers regarding creating a short video for introducing themselves and their subject(s) taught that will be ready prior to conferences. Here is the document that Dean created and shared at Horizontal this week around things to include. _________________________________________________________________________________

As we discussed at Horizontal, there will be a summer school option for our highest needs students. A few of you have indicated you’d like to help think about what this will look like for MS students – thank you! (If you are still interested, please let me know today.) Also, we’d like to know how much interest there might be amongst our current staff (teachers, EAs, liaisons, etc). With that in mind, here is a link to a very short survey that I will be emailing to your staff later this morning. Feel free to remind your staff I’d love survey feedback by Monday, March 29. Because we do not know yet all of the structure of this summer programming we are interested in hearing what interest there is from all staff. We only want staff who are interested in working at summer school (Aug. 2 – 19) to complete this survey. _________________________________________________________________________________

Last week I shared a document with you regarding HS athletics – that there will be no spectators, but events will be live-streamed. Here is the Spanish version of that same document. Please share with your families. (NOTE: MS track events will be virtual – there will be no physical meets and no live streaming.)

THIS and THAT:

Indoor Music/Band Rehearsals

For the past several weeks, our district has engaged with BLS secondary music teachers, local health professionals, Deschutes County Public Health, reviewed ODE’s Visual and Performing Arts guidance, and read the latest research related to the aerosol spread of the COVID-19 virus when people sing and play wind instruments.  

After careful consideration, we are prepared to allow indoor music rehearsals, under strict conditions, starting no earlier than Monday, March 15th, and only if a music/band teacher has completed a proposal and it has been reviewed by the school safety team.  We recognize that due to space constraints in certain buildings and/or the reluctance of some staff to sing/play indoors, not all music classes will be afforded the same opportunity to be indoors.  In those situations, outdoor rehearsals will be the primary method of instruction.  

Here are our requirements for indoor rehearsals. On Monday at 8:30 am, Paul Dean will open his webex room for a Q&A related to this.   He will be joined by music reps Cooper Ottum, Luke MacSween and Keith Chaiet. It would be great to have an admin and music teacher from each school to join so we are all on the same page as we move forward with this.

We are in the process of developing communication to music families in English/Spanish that your school can send out. ________________________________________________________________________________

Our Synergy team is in the process of pointing students to schools for the 2021-22 school year.  As part of this process, all students currently enrolled in BLPO or D-CDL will be pointed back to their concurrent school for the start of next school year, not the virtual program, with exception of 5th and 8th graders.  5th and 8th grade students will be pointed to their attendance area school. This means that the 1900 students who currently have a home school of Bend-La Pine Online will be counted at your sites, not the virtual program they are currently attending.  Please let Becky Rehwalt or Amy Tarnow know if you have any questions. ________________________________________________________________________________

Media: Reminder that reporters are considered visitors and, as such, are not allowed inside our buildings whether or not students are present. If you get a call from a reporter or have questions, please reach out to Alandra or Julianne for guidance. We are here to help support you! 

Photo/Video Sharing: When sharing photos or videos of students – whether on social media, newsletter to families, video montage, etc. – be sure to follow our guidelines for Social Media Best Practices. We are continuing to see a few photos of students or staff without masks pop up. Even if the photo is taken during a time, such as lunch, when masks may not be required, please do not share those photos. If you have questions, reach out to Alandra – [email protected]. _________________________________________________________________________________

An SRO update:

One of our SRO’s, Erik Ammon who was assigned to MVHS, has resigned from the Bend PD. We will probably be without the fourth SRO for the remainder of this school year. 
Bend PD is going to move Officer Scott Schaier over to MVHS (from the middle schools and BTA) to replace Erik for the remainder of the school year. We will still have Office Jimmy Krauger at Summit HS and Office Amy Ward at Bend HS. They will each cover down on the feeder schools to their respective high schools as well.
Sergeant Tom Pine, the SRO supervisor, will be a floater for the team, helping to cover all our schools as needed. _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

As you know, we’ll be having a Leadership meeting this Monday at 4:00 in Lora’s Webex room. The agenda will include a budget message (the same one that will be presented at the Board meeting the next evening), a timeline for staffing plans and hiring, summer school programming, Portland job fair info, and maybe a few other items. _________________________________________________________________________________

MS Horizontal on Tuesday at 8:00. _________________________________________________________________________________

Yesterday you received an email regarding a virtual (Webex) meeting with Dr. Doug Reeves regarding a new district study on equitable grading practices. This will take place next Wednesday, March 10, from 2:30 – 4:00.