TO DO:

• Principals, I’d like to schedule a time with you to go over your summative evaluation for this year. I’d like to meet with you the week of June 26.  I’ll plan on coming to see you at your office.  Please send me a date/time that will work for you that week, with the exception of the following… June 26, 12:00 – 2:30, June 28, all day. If you’d prefer to meet with me prior to that week please send me a suggested date/time that would work better for you.  When we meet, please plan on walking me through the results of your SLGGs and SDP buckets.
• As processes around hiring (posting, interviewing, requesting to offer) ramped up this week and will continue in the next coming weeks, please take a few moments to make sure your Google Doc Staffing Plan is updated.  If I have any questions myself – or are asked of me from HR folks – this is the first place I will look for an answer. Please update names as you have confirmed hires, modify assignments if needed, or make other changes so your most current plan is posted there.
• As you probably are aware, each school district in Oregon is required to share some (specific) student discipline data with ODE each year.  The timing of this report is shortly after you and your staff leave for the summer.  Therefore, it is very important that all discipline data is entered before folks leave, and that it is accurate.  Please consider having whomever enters student discipline incidents into Synergy run a report to validate the data that will be sent to ODE.  Here are the instructions for running this report.  If Jason Westmoreland has any questions about this data after school is out, you will likely hear from him for clarification.

THIS AND THAT:

• An article that I want to share with you this week tilts heavily on the fun side – but also has a practical purpose as well.  Check out this link to elementary principal Matt Arend’s blog post about how he builds school culture… over the summer! In this post he encourages his staff and school community to play “selfie bingo” (#summerselfiebingo) and support his school at the same time.  Although you may not replicate this idea precisely, I hope it provides you with some thoughts around how you might promote school culture/spirit/awareness during the months your building is not full of students. I’d love to hear if you create any activity for the summer promoting school culture that we can share amongst our tribe!

REMINDERS:

• Don’t forget to respond to Debbie’s email (6.7.17) regarding skills testing (e.g. typing WPM requirements) as part of the classified application process.  I know many of you have concerns with this requirement and now is your opportunity to share concerns and possible solutions.

THIS AND THAT:

• You may be keeping up with the budget news out of Salem (and therefore know what is coming next), but wanted to provide you with some information that Shay communicated to the school board yesterday afternoon:

  Earlier this morning [Thursday], the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Education Subcommittee passed an $8.2 billion State School Fund bill, which will now move to the full Ways and Means Committee and could reach the Senate floor as early as next Tuesday.  The bill, SB 5517, includes no new carve-outs of the State School Fund.  It also splits funding 50-50 between the two years of the biennium.

   This bill does not address Measure 98, but subcommittee members did say that Measure 98 will be funded separately from the State School Fund.  At this point, how much funding is planned for Measure 98 is not clear.

   Subcommittee members encouraged the legislature to continue to work on cost-containment and revenue packages, and said that they hope to add to the $8.2 billion State School Fund later in the session.  Any additions, if they occur, are likely to be added in the second year of the biennium to move SSF funding distribution closer to the traditional 49-51 biennial split.  Subcommittee members said, with the caveat that nothing is ever certain until the final gavel of the legislative session, that this establishes a likely new $8.2 billion “floor” for K-12 funding in 2017-19. 

• All of your certified staff were assigned to complete an evaluation Self-Reflection this year.  However, you only need to complete summative evals on half of your staff.  Therefore, feel free to mark “complete” on those certified staff that you will not be formally evaluating this year as this Self-Reflection form only needs to be completed during years of summative evals.

REMINDERS:

• I’m sure you have a plan already in motion, but wanted to remind you that half of your certified employees need to have a completed Summative Eval done this year.  (The other option would be to evaluate all of your certified this year and only do summative evals with your probationary/temps next year.  If you chose this one please let me know.) Additionally, all of your certified need to have their SLGGs completed this year.
• Principals, I’ll see you Monday afternoon at 3:15 here at the Ed Center.  We’ll meet in the TLC conference room.  Please bring me a copy of the positions you have interviewed for, the FTE of that opening, and the name of your top candidate for that position.

TO DO:

• Take a break this weekend!  Many of you have shared with me some of the various difficult situations you have been navigating through recently. Quite frankly, many in our TRIBE have been getting beat up (from all sides) lately. In the moment, these times feel awful and want to be avoided at all costs.  However, my hope is that when reflecting back over time these experiences will be seen as opportunities to hone your leadership skills, sharpen your vision, and provide you with valuable personal and professional tools that can only be learned through the trials of life. I am proud to have the opportunity to work with you.

THIS AND THAT:

• This could be considered a “reminder”… but also an update, so I’ll communicate it here.  As you are all aware, you may begin interviewing for any of your posted positions as soon as Tuesday, May 30.  Please communicate with each candidate that you are not sure of the timeline for hiring – or even if all of your current openings will be filled.  Feel free to express that you are anxious to fill your openings as quickly as you can and will communicate with the candidate as soon as you are able to do so.  You may follow-up those interviews by calling reference checks on your top candidate(s) – but need to stop there.  Before you reach out to HR for approval to hire you will need a green light to do so from me (or Gary or Jay at the other levels). I am aware of the fact that some of you will be ready to offer a position to your top candidate as soon as Tuesday afternoon, so I will communicate with you just as soon as I am confident that you may move forward with hiring.  I likely will not have an updated timeline, however, until after our Cabinet meeting on June 5 at the earliest.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.
• This is a repeat that I shared in the April 7 TRIBE… but thought the timing was right to share it again:

An article found in “ideas.ted.com” spoke of the comparison between being a great leader and music.  One point the author, Jim Crupi, made a comment regarding his belief around “get[ting] the right players around you” – which is not a new concept for any of you I’m sure.  However, I thought the author’s personal story regarding his hiring practice was worth passing along as we come into, we hope, the hiring season: “When I used to hire people for my organization, I was always reviewing a pile of resumes. Of course, by the time the resumes got to me they were all good — everyone was equally qualified. So I always asked these final candidates just two questions. First: Tell me about your life. I wanted to hear people talk about who they were, and what formed them. The second question: Rank, in order of importance, the five most important things in your life. Some people would say money, faith, family, etc.; others faith, family, money, etc. Everybody had a different answer. But their stories and answers gave me a clue to their character. I really listened and watched their behavioral response. Once the interview was over and they left the room, I’d ask myself one question: If I’m in a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and the boat is in trouble, who do I want in that boat with me? Those are the people I’d hire. They were the people who had the character I could count on when things got tough. Every organization has tough moments. You want people working with you whom you can count on when the tough moments come. I always chose character and attitude over skill, and that insured I always had the right people in the boat.”

REMINDERS:

• One more time… Here is the link to your tech inventory sites – https://sites.google.com/gapps.bend.k12.or.us/techgoalsbls/home that Skip shared with us at our Horizontal a few weeks ago.

TO DO:

• Principals, if you haven’t yet, please have your Evaluation Self-Reflection completed in Talent Ed by next Friday (May 26). If you mark any domain with an “Exemplary” or an “Area for Growth” then please provide some written evidence for this marking.
• All, if you haven’t sent in a photo and two sentences (what is the photo of and what is the School Design Plan goal it represents) to Alandra yet, please have that done by next Friday, May 26.

THIS AND THAT:

• Please not only read this one, but ask me any questions you might have before proceeding with this opportunity! I am aware that you may have received a number of transfer requests from current BLP teachers for positions posted within your building.  Because of the tight timeline for interviewing (no interviews until after Memorial Day) and because any current contracted BLP teacher is guaranteed an interview in which she/he applies for at your building, this may create a bit of a backlog in the interview process.  Therefore, one of our own (thanks “glitter guy”!) had a great idea about the possibility of doing some pre-final interviews next week, prior to Memorial Day.  So, you may conduct some internal, pre-screening interviews next week if you follow these parameters:
  • You may conduct pre-final interviews with current contracted BLP teachers ONLY whom have requested an in-district transfer for your open position (Remember, this group is guaranteed an interview)
  • Please mention to each candidate that filling this position is not a guarantee due to budget questions that still remain
• If you happened to miss the article about International Baccalaureate not just for high schools, click on the link to find it.  This article highlights two IB schools, our own PBMS, and our local Seven Peaks, that offer IB curriculum prior to high school.  Kudos to Steve and Karen Corson for their ongoing leadership around IB education – and the highlights they provided in this article – as well Teri and the entire PBMS staff for this successful undertaking.
• At our Horizontal meeting this past Monday I asked for some feedback regarding your preference on meeting structure for next year.  Here is a link to the summary results from the nine of you who were able to provide your feedback earlier this week. We did not have much time at our meeting to process the results, so please take a few minutes to review them in the coming weeks.  Here are a few take-aways that I have:
  • We will meet as a Horizontal once or twice more than we did this year (total of 6 or 7 times)
  • We will not have a MS PLC team to meet with next year (which will leave you with a School Design (SD) visit team and our full Horizontal team)
  • Next year your SD team will be with your admin partner (if you have one)
  • Your 2017-18 SD team will be the same group as your PLC team was this year – in order to have one more year of collaboration
  • In 2018-19 I will mix up the members of your SD team, so you will be able to cross-pollinate with other middle schools
• Many of you have asked about Christie and my quick anniversary trip to Orcas Island.  In short, it was fantastic.  It rained just about the entire time – except when we were able to get outside and walk around.  Also, the view from our room was outstanding – as you can see here!

REMINDERS:

• Please consider having a team from your school attend the tw0-day Take It Up training that will occur on Aug. 15 & 16 at PCMS.  Chris spoke at our last Leadership meeting regarding a connected, longer, equity training that he has been a part of for years – one that changed now only how he does his work, but how he lives his life. Check out the linked flyer and consider bringing (with you) a team from your school!  Sign-up with Wendy Reeves by next Friday (May 26)!

TO DO:

• Principals, please complete your evaluation Self-Reflection form no later than May 26.
• Last week I included some detail from Roger around an 8th grade Passage Presentation that a number of his students are a part of this spring.  Refer back to last week’s post for details, and you can use this google schedule to sign up (use the 2nd tab from the right for panelists).

THIS AND THAT:

• In the next few weeks you’ll likely begin reviewing data on your next year’s cohort of students.  ACT Aspire may be some of the data you review.  Following is information from Dr. Dave VanLoo that may prove helpful when making decisions on how to best support your students…

  After new analyses using multiple years of ACT Aspire Interim data and its power to predict SBAC, middle school cut scores (or benchmarks) have been updated in DART. Scores fall into one of three categories: On Track, Close, and Needs Support. The three levels are similar to what we have had for years with DIBELS. “Close” scores (within 2 points of the target) are kind of like “strategic”– not far off, but not solidly predicted to pass SB yet. 3 or more points below the target are high risk and unlikely to meet grade level standards on Smarter Balanced without substantial support.

  

REMINDERS:

• Don’t forget that Mother’s Day is this Sunday (5/14)!
• We’ll be meeting for our May (and last of this year) MS Horizontal meeting on Monday (5/15) at PCMS, beginning at 3:15. Here is the agenda.  Don’t forget to be prepared to talk a bit about bullet #3!
• Jay sent out an email on 5/8 to principals, asking you to be part of a HS Programming conversation on Wednesday (5/17), beginning at 3:30 in the PBMS library.  If the principal can’t make it, please have your VP attend.
• Skip sent out an email on 5/8 to admin regarding the next Sue Meyer (Apple) training that will be taking place next Tuesday (5/16), from 2 – 5 at PCMS. This time will be focused on Design Thinking Framework. See Skip’s “Future Ready Notes” email for more detail.

TO DO:

• It is that time of year again – Summative Evaluation time!  For principals this means completing your Self-Reflection in Talent Ed Perform no later than May 26.  I will use this as a basis for having a conversation with you and completing your evaluation. If you have a time you’d like to meet to go over your Evaluation prior to your departure in June please let me know, otherwise I’ll be reaching out to you soon to make an appointment with you.

  In terms of this year’s principal evaluation, you may recall that the three Design buckets will also be added to the Domains that were used for evaluation last year. [Gallup Survey results were also planned to be a part of this year’s evaluation, but that will not be occurring.  Because of the cost associated with this survey, we will only be distributing this survey – out currently – to 400 of our nearly 2000 certified/classified employees.  This translates into a very small portion of our employees and literally just a few folks at our smaller schools that will be polled.  This will provide us with some useful district data, but not informative building feedback – hence not including it as part of a principal’s evaluation makes the most sense.]  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this process or summative evaluations in general.

• Roger has an opportunity for you to be involved with!  Please take a few minutes to read through the following and see if you would like to participate. Not only would you be supporting Roger, but I believe it would be a great learning experience for you as well.

  REALMS is looking for educators and leaders who might be interested in sitting on a panel for our upcoming 8th grade “Passage Presentations”. Passage Presentations are culminating, student-led presentations in which 8th grade students share a summary and analysis of their growth through their middle school career in front of a small panel of adults and peers. Many EL Education schools have a Passages system in place, and this will be our 2nd “pilot year”. Eventually we hope to roll this out as a “graduation expectation” for all REALMS students, but at the moment it is still just an “invitational opportunity” for just under half of our 8th grade class.

  8th graders are building a web based portfolio that will document their growth from 6th – 8th grade in our the three dimensions of student achievement: (1) Mastery of Knowledge and Skills, (2) Character, and (3) High Quality Work. The students are uploading work samples with reflections, are drafting 3 short essays that summarize and capture their growth as scientists, mathematicians, artists, writers, athletes, citizens,and are preparing a 30 minute presentation they will give to a panel of family, students, and other “stakeholders” as evidence of their readiness to graduate.

  Each panel, ideally, will be composed of the student’s parent/guardian(s), crew teacher, two or three 7th grade students, a community member, a high school representative (principal, teacher, counselor etc.), and other interested stakeholders like middle school representatives, a teacher from the student’s elementary school experience, or board members. There could be between 5 and 12 people on each student’s panel. The theme of each student’s Passages Presentation will be: “I am ready for high school because…”.

  If you’d like to see one or more of these Passage Presentations in action, then we’d love to have you as a panelist!! Hopefully it is a win-win…. we get to have your valuable presence and input as a panelist (there is a feedback rubric for presenters to fill out and an opportunity for panelists to ask questions of the presenter) and you get to see an important “student engaged assessment” structure in its pilot phase at REALMS!

  Interested in attending as a panelist? You can use this google schedule to sign up (use the 2nd tab from the right for panelists). Feel free to share with others.

THIS AND THAT:

• There is a “pop quiz” this week!  But wait, are quizzes helpful in terms of our learning?  Is circling key words in a text the most effective way of reviewing newly learned material?  You may not agree with all of the data behind the “Learning Myths” the author asserts in this NPR article, but it will likely make you think about your own beliefs about best practices in learning. Read the article, take the quiz, and see how you do!
• I will be out of the office a few days this next week.  On Monday (5/8) I’ll be in Redmond at a AdvancED board meeting and will be able to return calls/texts during breaks throughout the day.  If you need me for an emergency please text me that you are needing me to reply immediately and I will step out of my meeting and give you a call.  Then, on Thursday (5/11) and Friday (5/12) Christie and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary by taking a quick trip to the San Juan Islands.  If you need any assistance on these days please reach out to Gary or someone else at the Ed Center.

REMINDERS:

• We will have our last MS Horizontal meeting at PCMS on May 15, beginning at 3:15.  I’m including the agenda now (and will again next week) because there are some building share outs (particularly the third bulleted agenda item) that I want you to be prepared for.

TO DO:

• Don’t spend any money on radios! (Can a “don’t do” fit under the “To Do” category?)  Just about all of you rely on radios throughout the day for communicating with a variety of people within your building.  As a district, there are a number of various types of radios being used and costs for purchasing them fluctuates as well. Julianne is working on getting our district good radios at a fair (reduced) price.  Please don’t purchase any radios in the coming weeks as she hopes to work with a vendor soon to get you the most radio for your dollar.  Let J-Rep know if you are interested in purchasing radios this spring/next fall.

THIS AND THAT:

• I believe I have spoken with each building regarding your 2017-18 staffing plan.  I also believe you have jobs posted that need to be and everyone understands that no further action (no contacting applicants or setting up interviews) should happen until I give you the green light to do so (which won’t happen prior to May 16th for sure).  Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification on any part of this process.
• If you haven’t had the opportunity yet, try and find 4 minutes to watch this (I also sent it out two weeks ago) MLTS Sparks video on creativity (Stanford d.School).  A few of the questions that struck me, connected with this video, are: Where in your school are students most creative? Do students have an opportunity to build on each other’s ideas? If a student approaches a problem in a way that was not taught, is he/she punished or rewarded? In what ways is creativity honored in your school? (http://sparks.mltsfilm.org/)
• On a personal note, our oldest son will be graduating from Corban University next Saturday and Christie and I are very proud of him! His plan is to live at home for a year (our youngest is heading off to college in the fall), work part-time (to pay off his undergrad) and study (with the goal of entering medical school).  He plans on further his education and become either a PA or DO (and hopefully caring for his ailing parents as we age!).

REMINDERS:

• We have a Leadership meeting on Monday in the board room, starting at 3:15.  Please refer back to an email sent by Jay on 4/26 with additional details regarding this meeting (including the need for you to sit by your “SDP site visit teams”) as you arrive.

TO DO:

• If you haven’t yet, please make plans (and carry them out) for your second round of visits connected to School Design Plans.  We will be providing some time at our May 1 Leadership meeting to have a discussion with your site visit teams that is connected to this second visit, so please have this done no later than next week – again, if you haven’t already.  Let me know if you have any questions around this.

THIS AND THAT:

• This article was recently forwarded to me and it sparked an opinion within myself as I read it.  I think it would be a good one for you to read – and possibly share with groups such as your ICCLs or Site Council.  I’m sure it would generate a heartfelt discussion.  (No really, I think it would!) The article is entitled Schools should tell parents whether their middle schoolers are on track for college, published recently in the Fordham Institute. If that title doesn’t make you at least a bit curious, I’m not sure what will!

REMINDERS:

• Excellence in Education (an event to honor one certified and one classified from each building, as well as a few other departments) will take place at Silver Rail next Wednesday, April 26.  Socializing and appetizers will start at 4:00 and the program at 4:30 (until about 6:00). As a reminder, you will be presenting your two employees to the audience – so please plan ahead for what you are going to say to recognize her/him.  We will call staff members up together by school or department and would like you to join them at the front of the gym; while they receive their shiny red apple, you will have an opportunity to speak. With just over 60 staff members being recognized, we are asking you to be quick with your comments; just a couple minutes at most, to help us stay on track for time.
• Don’t forget that (for yourself and your teachers) PASS Level Review assessor positions are posted n0w – and close April 28.  Both secondary teachers and admin are still needed (and 75% of review-submitting teachers are at the secondary level). The training and scoring dates will be Aug. 14, 15, & 16.  Let Michele Oakes know if you have any questions.

TO DO:

• I have not shared this process with all of you yet, and am not convinced I was very clear if I have.  When you have a position you would like to post with HR, these are the steps to take prior to that happening: 1) You complete and I approve your 2017-18 staffing plan; 2) You communicate with me which job(s) you are wanting to post; 3) I send you, Jon, and Debbie, an email requesting this position(s) to be posted.  The main reason for this process is to ensure we have placed all contract employees (especially those returning from LOA), and that we post them correctly (e.g. if you have a teacher going out on LOA then her/his job must be posted as “temporary” to ensure they have a spot to return to).  Again, only “hard to fill” jobs will be posted at this time. Let me know if you have any questions about this process.

THIS AND THAT:

• Next Friday morning from 7:15 – 10:00, PCMS is hosting a”Career Speaker Series” (TEDx style) event for their 8th grade students. There are 16 scheduled speakers who will give four, 25 minute presentations. Students will choose from the following five career clusters and hear four different presentations.

1. Arts & Humanities
2. Human Services
3. Government, Law, & Public Safety
4. Business Management & Administration
5. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

The goals of this event are to provide students the ability to explore various career choices and pathways, help students to understand that many career pathways are not linear, and help students to consider how 21st Century skills (communication, collaboration, creativity, empathy, etc.) are used in various career paths.  If you’d like to know more or consider having someone from your building attend, contact Chris or Lisa.

• Here is a short (just over 4:00) MLTS Sparks video on creativity (and Stanford d.School) that I believe would be worth your time to watch.  A few of the questions that struck me, connected with this video, are: Where in your school are students most creative? Do students have an opportunity to build on each other’s ideas? If a student approaches a problem in a way that was not taught, is he/she punished or rewarded? In what ways is creativity honored in your school? (http://sparks.mltsfilm.org/)
• A few of you have asked me about the impeding PE time requirement changes that are supposed to be implemented this next school year (requiring our MS kids have 225 minutes per week of PE).  Here is an article that came out this week through OSBA that talks about SB 4, which effectively extends the deadline of when this time requirement would need to be in place.  This is definitely good news for most of you – if it passes.  I’ll keep you posted when I learn more.

REMINDERS:

• A reminder that we will not be having a Horizontal meeting this month.  Our meeting was originally scheduled for this coming Monday, but you should instead plan on meeting with your MS PD team instead (I reminded you of these groups in the 3.17.17 TRIBE update). Use this time together to share things that are working in your building, obstacles overcome, current struggles, ask for advice or input on something you are working through, or spend time talking about your top three accomplishments thus far in the year.
• Don’t forget what you can and can’t do in terms of campaigning as a district employee.  If you need a reminder – or need to remind those you work with – here is a school district Administrative Regulation and public employee restriction document from the state.

TO DO:

• Please let me know if you have any private counseling/mental health serviced occurring at your building.  Particularly, I’m interested in learning if any private (fee based) counseling services are given to your students within your building – either during the school day or outside of it; either paid by you or costs paid by parent/guardian. Please send me a quick email by Wednesday of next week as to whether or not this is currently occurring.  Thanks!

THIS AND THAT:

• The Future Ready goal at REALMS is connected to “high quality student work.”  Specifically, they want students to create complex work (higher order thinking, multiple perspectives, transfer of knowledge), demonstrate craftsmanship (work that is accurate and beautiful), and create authentic work (original thinking and voice, connected to real world issues, and meaningful to the community beyond the school).  Please take a few minutes to see one example of how Roger and his staff made their SDP real for REALMS students.
• An article found in “ideas.ted.com” spoke of the comparison between being a great leader and music.  One point the author, Jim Crupi, made a comment regarding his belief around “get[ting] the right players around you” – which is not a new concept for any of you I’m sure.  However, I thought the author’s personal story regarding his hiring practice was worth passing along as we come into, we hope, the hiring season: “When I used to hire people for my organization, I was always reviewing a pile of resumes. Of course, by the time the resumes got to me they were all good — everyone was equally qualified. So I always asked these final candidates just two questions. First: Tell me about your life. I wanted to hear people talk about who they were, and what formed them. The second question: Rank, in order of importance, the five most important things in your life. Some people would say money, faith, family, etc.; others faith, family, money, etc. Everybody had a different answer. But their stories and answers gave me a clue to their character. I really listened and watched their behavioral response. Once the interview was over and they left the room, I’d ask myself one question: If I’m in a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and the boat is in trouble, who do I want in that boat with me? Those are the people I’d hire. They were the people who had the character I could count on when things got tough. Every organization has tough moments. You want people working with you whom you can count on when the tough moments come. I always chose character and attitude over skill, and that insured I always had the right people in the boat.”

REMINDERS:

• See you all at the Job Fair in Redmond on Monday afternoon.  Don’t forget to bring some business cards to hand out to potential teaching candidates.
• I will be traveling to visit a school next Thursday (4/13) as part of some work with AdvanceEd accreditation.  Feel free to call me on my cell if you need anything.  Cell service may be spotty at times so leave a message if I don’t answer.