TO DO:
We have a Wednesday schedule! Here is a link to the information you can share with your staff. And, Lora would also like you (big 5) to communicate to families what the Wednesday schedule will look like for your students. Here is a sample communication for parents that you can use or modify to fit your liking. (You have edit access to the parent communication, but it is currently set to only be viewed by BLS employees.) Please plan on sharing with your families prior to next Wednesday. Also, please make sure you only plan on having necessary staff meetings during SIW time – no PD, PLC meetings, or other requirements that can wait until fall. A huge thanks to Sarah Barclay, Ben Iverson, Christine Clark, Jessica Colburn, Ryan Kelling, and Stephen DuVal for their help in putting this schedule together, making it a great collaborative process with BEA and admin. _________________________________________________________________________________
This “to do” is for me – but I wanted to be sure you knew what I will be doing! Sometime next week you have indicated a date/time when you’ll be presenting your Excellence in Ed apples to your two staff. I will be delivering your apples prior to your presentation time. I am not able to make it to each of your presentations, so will not be present when you make these presentations. _________________________________________________________________________________
Some of you are beginning to work on your 5th-grade video (that will be shared with all 5th-grade teachers and will be shown in their class). Here is the link to a Google folder where you will be able to place your 5th-grade video link. Again, the deadline for having this video (as well as your general school video) is May 19 – one and a half weeks from now. Both of these video folders (5th gr. & overall school) can be found in our Collective-BLS Docs folder. _________________________________________________________________________________
Principals, if you haven’t already completed your self-reflection, please do so by next Friday (5/14). _________________________________________________________________________________
Please submit the list of students who should be invited to our MS summer learning program (Sparks) to Wendy by May 12th. (Please submit about 50 student names per grade.)
Folks who have been hired as Dean of Students to support Sparks will be working with Wendy to make calls to invite students to Sparks and have them RSVP so we can share the ‘yes’ list with our transportation dept. by June 1. _________________________________________________________________________________
The Bend-La Pine spaces for the late-July CFEE have all been filled by members of our leadership team, but there are a couple spaces left in the June session (6/28-7/1, entirely virtual). Please reach out to Kinsey by this Tuesday if you are interested in taking advantage of this personal and professional opportunity for growth with CFEE!
What is CFEE? Coaching for Educational Equity is a deep-dive into the impact of Oregon’s history on ourselves as educators and on the students and families we serve. To date, over 40 leaders in Bend-La Pine Schools have already participated, and it is our intent to continue growing our CFEE-graduate cohort over time. Thanks for considering this opportunity to develop shared knowledge, language, and leadership for equity. _________________________________________________________________________________
Please share with your teaching staff: We are currently in our recruiting season for National Board Certification. We are holding several virtual informational sessions for teachers who are interested in becoming National Board Certified. One thing that we know is when an administrator tells a teacher “Have you considered National Board certification? You would be great for this!” Teachers take notice, appreciate the compliment and usually pursue this path for their professional learning. Please send this flyer to your teachers and feel free to attend if you would like to learn more about the process, supports, and TSPC reimbursements. In addition, BLS has found that when school teams do this work together, it strengthens the team, teaching practice, and impact on student learning. We are offering additional supports for school teams who decide to pursue National Board certification together (information for you). We have added extra sub days, resources, and time with a NB mentor to support teams. Contact Michele Oakes if you have any questions or would like to learn more about National Board Certification. _________________________________________________________________________________
THIS and THAT:
I know that this was shared with you previously (several months ago), but I wanted to remind you of the certified observation agreements that we have in place for this year. If you have any questions regarding this document please let me know. _________________________________________________________________________________
BRYT has coordinated another “virtual visit” with Auburn MS (in MA) for anyone interested in hearing more from a MS who has a working BRYT program in place. You do not need to attend. This invitation is being shared with other districts as well. The “visit” will be May 18 from 10:30 – 11:30 and may be accessed at this Zoom link. _________________________________________________________________________________
This is a “freebie” piece of info/news. You may have seen in the recent Marshall Memo that there was a link to a chart that identified media bias. I took a chance and clicked on this link. It is pretty fascinating (I thought). Guess I better unsubscribe to “InfoWars” and “Palmer Report.” 🙂 It is no wonder our country (including our local community) is so divided in its passions on topics. _________________________________________________________________________________
Here is an updated chart from OHA and our Governor’s office regarding allowable limits to indoor and outdoor facility numbers. This is based, obviously, on which category our county is currently at in risk level. Just an FYI. _________________________________________________________________________________
Dean and Michele did an interview with Steve Cook in the Secondary Blog this week. If you missed it going out to buildings you can read the two-part series: an interview with our new superintendent Steve Cook. It’s a great chance to be introduced to Steve and his thinking about equity:
A Conversation with our New Superintendent, Dr. Steve Cook (part 1)
A Conversation With our New Superintendent, Dr. Steve Cook (part 2). _________________________________________________________________________________
From Terry Cashman:
I wanted to give you a heads up that we are at a critical level with the number of staff that we have in many of our classified jobs.
Due to this, I am asking Walt to have the custodial staff at each school that has a reader board put the following message on them: Make a Difference Explore Jobs at BLS
The head custodian will let the building administration know about our request and if any of you have a concern with this, please notify me directly. _________________________________________________________________________________
From Paul:
Hot Weather – Fans and Doors
There is nothing in RSSL directly related to how to address proper use of fans and the safety of opening exterior doors during warm weather days (or for added ventilation) so our team of health professionals who meets on Fridays gave input into acceptable use.
Fans can only be used if they are pulling fresh air in from the outside (stationed by a window or exterior door) not if they are only circulating existing air in the classroom (therefore, ceiling fans should not be used).
Any exterior classroom door that is within the fenced area of a school can be opened. Exterior doors not within a fenced area can be opened but must be closely supervised (ie. closed when no adult is monitoring it).
Educational Assistant Application Process
In order to reduce barriers for people who want to apply for entry level positions in BLS, we are going to remove the cover letter and three recommendation letters requirements for all EA positions. We will still require a resume and our reference check requirement will fulfill the same role of the recommendation letters. We hope that by reducing these tasks during the application process, we will have more people seeking employment opportunities in these hard-to-fill jobs.
Visitor Entry
Your staff have been doing an excellent job limiting visitors in your building. Please allow BEA President, Sarah Barclay, to visit if she comes by your school. _________________________________________________________________________________
From Jon:
We have contract language specific to personal days. We only need to allow 5% of our certified staff and 5% of our classified staff to take personal days on a given day.
We are having a very difficult time filling substitute requests. Keeping personal day requests to the 5% could help us as a district. If staff don’t use personal days this year, then they can bank one or get paid for them at the end of the year. _________________________________________________________________________________
REMINDERS:
Do NOT forget that this Sunday is Mother’s Day (this is also a reminder to me). Each of your mom’s have raised you very well… freel free to pass along my appreciation to them! 🏆 _________________________________________________________________________________
Looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday at 8:00 for Horizontal.