TO DO:

I’ve been in conversations here around LIPI attendance and contact tracing. Seemed pretty simple at first – but turns out it isn’t as easy as I was thinking it might be. Depending on your situation (what day you bring students in on, how many students come for LIPI, etc.), there are quite a few variables. Following is some guidance I’d like you to follow for any LIPI student (when they are on-site). This is likely new information and also possible that it is different than your plan – so communicate to all that need to know this. Please call me if you have any questions!

Students should have the PV absence code removed when they are onsite.  The absence code should be blank (indicating the student is present and onsite).  The students are onsite at the most, 2 hours.  Remove the PV absence code on…

• Middle and high schools:
  • The section(s) and/or teacher associated with the visit  OR
  • The section(s) that is closest to the time the student is onsite

Your teachers can remove the PV code.  If you want your teachers to remove it, please let them know.  The PV codes populate during the Mass Change Attendance process, early in the morning.  Removing the PV absence code ahead of time is not an option right now.

More LIPI students onsite in the future?

Yes, probably.  LIPI may broaden to help additional students.  We will work on a process to help with the attendance piece for these students as well.  Stay tuned!

Blank absence code = Student is present and onsite.

Tamarack and Transition Co-op students at the Education Center:  We will begin to use the Groups with Mass Change Attendance as planned for the hybrid schedule. ____________________________________________________________________________

Another LIPI-related update has been made to this document. You have all been approaching the question of “who to bring in for LIPI” from an EBISS-type lens (which this doc spells out). The update here that I want to highlight is that I’d like to see your building plan when you have it done. (I’ve got yours PCMS!) ____________________________________________________________________________

Here is a page on our district website that would be a nice one to bookmark and share with your staff. Recently added to this page is a very simple and clear metric chart that highlights the individual metrics per week, as well as the potential first day we could return in a Hybrid format. ____________________________________________________________________________

Please share this with your teachers (from Scott McDonald): There will be a big change coming with how Webex is set up that will improve security for teachers using Webex with their students.  This change has not occurred yet, but it is expected within the next week. These changes should help with managing unintended or inappropriate student visitors to your Webex meetings. The students will log into Webex in a similar fashion to how teachers log into Webex. The teachers will have “host” accounts.  These accounts allow them to schedule and create sessions. The students will have “attendee” accounts. These accounts will only allow them to attend sessions. Users from outside the district will not be able to attend Webex sessions that are created by teachers. Look for new instructions for how students will join Webex meetings in the next few days.  By the way, the next update of Webex will also have the most requested item by teachers… a mute button that students can’t unmute! [And a special shout out to Vince Valenti for doing the behind-the-scenes heavy lifting to make sure these changes work!]. _____________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

ODE has recently shared guidance regarding Educator Evaluations for 2020-21. Here is a copy of this guidance. As a reminder, the district is going to pull a team of teachers, BEA, building and district administrators together to discuss any modifications that may be in place for us this year. Thanks again to Wendy for being our MS rep! ____________________________________________________________________________

As you have heard, we will NOT be having fall conferences as planned and indicated on our district calendars. (These calendars have recently been updated.) If you haven’t already, please communicate to your staff that the week of Oct. 26 will be a regular week – including having school on Friday (10/30). Also share it with your parent community in your next building communication. Here’s how I’d ask you to process classified staff work schedules for these days:

1. Building admin determine who is not scheduled to work these days (I’m sure the Office Manager can help with this)
2. Building admin determine if any of those not scheduled to work are needed for serving students/families on these days
3. In those situations, ask this person (people) if they would like to work – we can’t make them.  If “yes” then start compiling a list. If “no” then see if someone else would be interested in doing this work for the day(s) needed. Some caution here – as we can’t ask someone to do a job that is outside their work category (e.g. receptionist can’t fill in for an EA).
4. Once you have all of the spots you need to be filled actually filled, then please send me that list. I’ll approve it for payment.

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Due to the change in fall conferences, our district’s calendar has been updated. Here is a copy of the calendar, with this change indicated. It will also be posted on the website soon, if not already. _____________________________________________________________________________

As you are aware, the special invitation ODE meeting earlier this week didn’t reveal any new changes to state metrics or ODE guidance related to schools opening. I was not a part of this conversation but did find a couple of sentences in the PortlandTribune (Oct. 7, 2020) that caught my eye. Governor Brown was quoted as saying: “Our Oregon health experts together with school administrators will be reevaluating our school metrics in the coming weeks, and we’ll have an update for you on that very soon.” Asked if “reevaluating” meant lowering the benchmarks for schools to reopen, Brown indicated the answer is yes: “We’re still exploring this issue, but I think it’s fair to say that the statewide metric, frankly, is quite challenging for communities around the state. And my top priority is to make sure that we get our kids back into school safely.” ____________________________________________________________________________

Lastly, I recently finished watching the Social Dilemma, a documentary on Netflix. It is definitely one that I’d like my kids (young adult, 20-somethings) to watch. For me, it was a mix of interesting and frightening. I do not assume everyone that watches it will believe or buy into what is being shared, but I do believe it provides some great conversation starting points. One piece that stuck out for me was a short clip of Sen. Rubio speaking to an unidentified crowd with approximately 20 minutes left in the film. (Disclaimer: I am not promoting a political party or stance, simply want to highlight a few sentences that, for me, captured our current world and reality pretty well.). _____________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

Looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday at 2:00!