TO DO:

Here is an update from Wendy… that includes an ask of you and your team: Dean has provided middle and high school leaders with a ‘data scoop’ using details from DART, grades, SBAC, and other indicators.
My hope is that building leaders will use these data pieces in conversations with counselors and teachers to create a priority ‘invite list’ for Sparks.
I am hoping to have the lists back to me (Wendy) by May 12.  Then the plan will be to have employees hired for summer (not an ask of your existing staff) to reach out these individual students and get confirmation RSVPs in order to create a final list of students who plan to attend Sparks.  _________________________________________________________________________________

Please communicate to your families (parent newsletter) and students (announcements) that May 1 is the deadline to switch to Bend-La Pine Online or our District CDL option. After that date these two programs will not be accepting new students for the remainder of this year. _________________________________________________________________________________

Principals, you should have access to your (evaluation) Self-Reflection in Performance Matters. Please plan on having this completed no later than Friday, May 14. _________________________________________________________________________________

You likely received an email from Erin Feeney (OSU-Cascades Placement Coordinator) in the last week or so. Erin is working on placing 18 practicing teachers (interns) into Central Oregon middle schools. After reading the below communication from Erin, please reach out to her ([email protected] or 541.771.1461) if you have a teacher interested in hosting next year.

I am reaching out to you about internship placements for next school year. I have a full MAT cohort ready to go! We will be placing candidates in Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies. I have a few students also adding the ESOL endorsement. I have profiles to share. Please let me know if you have teachers who are interested in hosting a candidate. I appreciate your partnership. _________________________________________________________________________________

This is a reminder… but also a change of time for your calendar – so I’m adding it in this section. We have our next Equity and Excellence PD training this coming Wednesday (4/28) at PCMS. However, we need to move the time back to 3:30 start time due to our all-in schedule. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here are a couple of things to know about submitting posting requests beginning on Monday: Please email me the positions that you are wanting to get posted at this time. Include the FTE, position, and temp or regular status in your email to me. I will then cross-reference this with your staffing plan. I will then email the HR team (as well as including you) with my approval. You will then create the requisition for these posting(s) in AppliTrack. HR will get these up as quickly as they can… and I want to let you know that they are very lean on people/hours who do this specific task (so I ask for your patience). Postings will be automatically close two weeks after they are posted. Let me know if you have any questions about this process.

THIS and THAT:

If you haven’t already, here is the Jamboard link to the “exit ticket” that Dave VL provided for us at the end of our Horizontal meeting on Tuesday. And here is the link to the slide deck that Dave used. _________________________________________________________________________________

Props to Michael Hicks for send the following message out to his staff – and sharing (even if he didn’t know he did) with us as an example of a communication that has become way too relevant in this present time… I thought this was a message that may be useful to you:

Staff — 

We are seeing an uptick in both students and staff who are entering a quarantine protocol due to a positive COVID result or an exposure to another person with a positive COVID result.  Students and parents are understandably upset/nervous/worried about their health AND about missing school.  During this time let’s support these students and families the best we can by:

• Letting them know we CARE about their well-being and will support them through this challenging time.
• Continuing to use Canvas to share class agendas, assignments, and resources.  
• Coordinating time to check-in with students via WebEx while they are out due to quarantine.
• Limiting or excusing non-essential assignments that may be difficult to complete from home without direct classroom instruction.
• Allowing alternative assignments or assessments.
• Ensuring they know the best way to contact you during this time for support, questions etc.
• Allowing ample time and support once a student returns to get caught up / complete essential work etc.

We have been compassionate, flexible, and supportive all year long.  Let’s finish what we started!  Please let us know how our admin team and support staff can support each of you with these efforts as we continue to roll with the “COVID rollercoaster.”

REMINDERS:

Don’t forget to continue to work on completing your observations and feedback conversations. May is just around the corner and you don’t want finishing these up to sneak up on you. _________________________________________________________________________________

This is only shared as a reminder because you received an email early this week from Melissa Eaton regarding IT orders out of this year’s budget. I wanted to include it here as I don’t want you to miss the June 30 deadline of IT orders received. Here is a portion of Melissa’s email to you:

Because we are still experiencing some COVID-related availability and shipping delays, I’m getting an early start on sending out our annual reminder that our fiscal year ends on June 30. All materials purchased under the current year’s budget must be received by our department by June 30. There is no flexibility in this deadline and our accountants do follow up on dates listed on tracking and delivery. Anything received after June 30 will be returned to the vendor or that money will come out of next year’s budget.

This year, we are encouraging all 2020-21 orders to be placed by mid-May to maximize the odds of those items arriving by the deadline. This time of year is always busy, so earlier is better for getting your purchase requests in. _________________________________________________________________________________

Dana sent this out to you earlier this week: MAC survey day is Tuesday, April 27th… please make sure your staff is aware. _________________________________________________________________________________

See you next Tuesday for our MS Horizontal, starting at 8:00.