TO DO:

Your colleague is in the news! Congrats again to Steve on his new position. 😁 _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t yet, begin completing your staffing plans. These all need to be finished prior to anyone posting positions. I want all of these completed – at the latest – on April 23. It is the hope that we begin approving posting requests the following week (and I will need to go over your plan and approve it before I give a thumbs up on postings to HR). _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t already (I have PCMS and CMS info), please send me the date/time of your evening parent meeting for current 5th grade parents. As we discussed at Horizontal, this may (mostly) be a repeat of your parent forum from February. Our target dates for this event are May 19 – 31. _________________________________________________________________________________

Likewise, please make sure you have a general school video created and link shared with me no later than May 19. These will be shared with all elementary schools for 5th grade teachers to show in lieu of a site visit to your school this spring. I’ll work with Skip to collect some questions from current 5th graders to be answered by your students/staff (and recorded/saved to video who’s link will be shared with elementary schools). _________________________________________________________________________________

At our Horizontal this week Dean shared a math document (created by our MS math teachers) that provides a baseline learning level that we hope all students met this year (or will be the end of this year). This work has also been done in other core content areas. Please share these with appropriate teachers in your building:

ELA

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ppcCC4Ku-YeUpRsJaSBmH82g8sH8gHKiEN81-lQvKtI/edit?usp=sharing

SS

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fm-R7bDvKpVkK3NeH9_x4IWQRmSdqdNJHYrGNSenDV4/edit?usp=sharing

Science

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l6Ri0grjhdnAhv7D_zonlda2mk0fQv_pN9kNoRq5Sr0/edit?usp=sharing

Math

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11fq8k0xAzktSNk4Nd6tQt_rVD9HhiCUHkrmFzwHeFzQ/edit?usp=sharing

_________________________________________________________________________________

Last week I included this request to share with your parents. I’m including it here again as I’m also including the Spanish version of the letter:

In a recent, previous, blog I shared a return to athletics medical clearance informational letter with you (after a positive COVID result). That form has been updated and I’ve been asked to share this update with you and ask that you also share it with your families in a future communication. Here is the English version of this letter. Here is the Spanish version. _________________________________________________________________________________

From Alandra:

Reminder on Elected Officials and Candidates in our schools: If an elected official would like to visit your school or speak with a class, please send them to Alandra or Julianne before you confirm the visit. Please also ask clubs and classes who would like to host elected officials or candidates for elected office to run the visits through the Comms Dept. first. A lot of unintended consequences. 

In advance of the May election, this is also a great time to share and review our handy dandy Election Guidance document, which outlines key dos and donts for public employees related to elections. Please share this resource with your staff.  

When staff members visit another school, they need to: Enter through the front door; sign in; wear their badge in a visible place. This is especially important because, with masks, it can be harder to identify even staff that are familiar. Let me (Alandra) know if you have any questions! _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is an article that you might want to read (if you haven’t already). This is from OPB and relates to recent communication (this week) around ED approving ODE’s assessment amended waiver request. There are not a lot of specifics shared here, except to say that there will be “one or two” assessments at the MS level this spring. All indications are also that these will be much shorter than normal. You’ll see at the end of the article that one district (Ashland) is going with the approach of having parents “opt-in” rather than “opt-out” as is required. I have not heard that BLS is considering this approach… so plan on our normal “opt-out” approach we’ve been taking. _________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

Dean has let me know that the final Disciplinary Literacy training for new hires will be held on May 5^th  from 3:15-4:30. Teachers will need to prioritize this training over other SIW events on this day. _________________________________________________________________________________

Equity Updates from Kinsey:

Pronoun communication:
In the staff Spotlight newsletter next week, we will share this communication.  This is an FYI, so that you have the info in advance.  This is not required of anyone, but if you’re interested in modeling this inclusive practice yourself before it goes out to all staff, the bottom of the document can help you update your signature. 

Equity lens:
This time of year brings lots of opportunities to make important decisions.  Here is our district Equity Lens (special thanks to Matt Fox’s students for the design of this document!).  We will use these questions during our April 28 admin Equity PD session, but feel free to use them before then, too.  Consider discussing each question with your team (an interview panel, your master scheduling team, etc) as you make decisions together in the upcoming weeks. 

New sign:
On this document, see top of page 2 for a picture of the new sign that you’re getting (and why you’re getting it).  Just a heads-up that manufacturing is complete and they are on their way–yours should be delivered before the end of April!  LEAD Cohort members or Language Specialists can help your office team find a great spot for it in your front entry.  Reach out to Kinsey if you have questions about any of this info! _________________________________________________________________________________

From Dana:

Homeless Student Enrollment:  A question came up recently regarding timeframes for enrolling students with an IEP who qualify for services under the McKinney-Vento Act. Below is the clarification Sandy Schmidt, our new Homeless liaison, received from Dona Bolt at ODE: 
The McKinney-Vento Act supersedes federal, state, and local laws, including IDEA, in the provision of immediate enrollment for homeless students. The McKinney-Vento Act requires districts and schools to immediately enroll eligible students, regardless of whether they lack records, immunizations, etc., and there are no exceptions for students on IEPs. There are even higher expectations for districts with MV subgrants, such as Bend-La Pine SD Schools, that their schools support compliance with the MV Act. _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

See you all next Tuesday at Horizontal at 8:00. _________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget (not that you would) that next Friday is a non-work day (as trade-off for evening conferences). _________________________________________________________________________________

This next section is a “reminder” because Paul shared it via email earlier this week with all admin. However, if you haven’t read it yet, please do so as there are a number of items you need to know about as building leaders…

Instructional Programs

We know that many people rely upon outside speakers to provide real-world context to course content.  We want virtual tools like WebEx to be the primary option for speakers to engage with our students.  In unique situations where the instructional needs require an onsite demonstration, building leaders can approve speakers to meet outside with students while maintaining normal safety measures.  

Some examples of when this might be appropriate:

• A K-9 demonstration with law enforcement partners
• High school AP physics students teaching a science lesson to a MS/ES class (in outdoor classroom space)
• A botanist visiting a school garden

We still want to restrict non essential visitors so parent volunteers are not allowed at this time during normal school hours.   

Community Gatherings After Hours In Our Schools

We are getting lots of questions regarding sports banquets, awards celebrations and other school-specific gatherings.  Since these events occur outside of the instructional day, we have to refer to the County Risk Sector Guidance instead of RSSL.

This chart is a great overview of the limits placed on gathering sizes and is based upon Deschutes County COVID infection rate.  On Friday, our county is moving from the Moderate to the High category.  The next county reset will be released on Tuesday, April 20th and effective on Friday, April 23rd (it resets every 2 weeks).  

To assist in interpreting the chart, as of Friday, outdoor gatherings in Deschutes County are limited to 15% of outdoor occupancy limits and indoor limits are a maximum of 25% occupancy or 50 people, whichever is smaller.  Since most of our indoor cafeterias, gyms and auditoriums have large occupancy capacity, in most situations you’ll be limited to no more than 50 total people for an indoor event.   Click here for steps to determine outdoor occupancy

BLS recommends that events be planned for outdoors and then move indoors should the weather require it.  For both indoor and outdoor events, BLS requires that:

• No serving of food/drink is permitted  
• Events be coordinated so that there is no overlapping use of spaces with sports/other activities
• Custodians be involved so that they are aware of cleaning needs
• A specific person is responsible that all COVID-19 safety measures are met

Fundraising

As you know, we have had strict limits on fundraising this school year.  As of May 1, we are allowing school groups to fundraise once again.  Please encourage your groups to be extra sensitive in their promotions as many people are still feeling financial impacts from the pandemic. 

TO DO:

There will be an upcoming training for all building admin. and supervisors. I just wanted you to have a heads-up on the date/time so you can pencil one in to your calendar now (more info regarding this training will be coming from HR). Of these two dates/times, you only need to ATTEND ONE (your choice): April 13, 7:30 – 9:00am, or April 15, 5:00 – 6:30pm. _________________________________________________________________________________

You likely have – or will soon – begin receiving questions around the use of Canvas (is it still required) as we move to all-in. Please help staff recognize that our implementation of the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) was accelerated by the pandemic. However, the need for a consistent LMS was recognized pre-pandemic, and training and implementation had started prior to last March. Please be sure your teachers understand that Canvas is our new LMS and will stay with us after the pandemic is in the rearview mirror. An LMS provides a consistent platform that teachers, students, parents, and support staff can rely on for communication, instructional support, and feedback. It is important that we (administrators) develop and communicate a consistent expectation for Canvas use to teachers as we transition back to in-person learning. Amy’s team has created this document that you can copy and/or modify to meet your own site standards for now. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please let your teachers know – if you haven’t already – that the end of this term is Friday, April 16 (instead of Thursday, April 15). If you are a school (or have teachers in your school) who will give final marks for quarter 3, these need to be submitted no later than Sunday, April 18 by 5:00pm. _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t had a chance to read Paul’s email earlier this week that contained some best practices around lunch, performing arts, school safety plans, and RSSL update, please do so. There is no doubt some nuggets here that will be helpful to you (and a “to do” with updating your safety plan). _________________________________________________________________________________

Certified Bargaining

We have received a request to bargain from BEA as our last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) concludes in 2021.  We are interested in obtaining administrative input into confusing language or language that you’d like to see changed in the last Collective Bargaining Agreement 2017-2021.  
If you can recall any experiences that you’ve had in the past four years where you tripped over some of the CBA language, then we can work with BEA to improve it.  Please take some time before April 16th to fill out this google form with your ideas. _________________________________________________________________________________

You may/may not yet be receiving inquiries regarding students wanting to return to your school now that the all-in announcement has been made. Juan shared the following communication (which now includes a date) with you on Wednesday via email, and I thought it is worth repeating. Please share with any staff who may be receiving these requests at your school:

As students from D CDL and BLPO share their interest in returning to their brick and mortar school for ‘all in’ please use the following party line …”Thanks for your interest in returning, there is a district process that must be followed to ensure all schools are allowing for adequate space in order to follow the safety guidelines, we are unable to address your request until we follow the process and get the green light.  We will be back in touch with you after April 12 and we have a better idea of the allowable space in our classrooms”. Please start a waiting list for those making this request. _________________________________________________________________________________

In a recent, previous, blog I shared a return to athletics medical clearance informational letter with you (after a positive COVID result). That form has been updated and I’ve been asked to share this update with you and ask that you also share it with your families in a future communication. Here is the English version of this letter. I was hoping to also share the Spanish at this time, but it is not quite ready – but will send it along to you when it is.

THIS and THAT:

I am saddened to announce that Amy Stafford, in our office, has had to resign and will be moving to California for the immediate future. [Amy will return to Bend in the summer of 2022 and again seek employment within BLS… keep her in mind!] Her last day will be next Tuesday, April 6. We are working on acquiring a sub to fill in (at least part-time) until we post and hire for her replacement. If you are in need of any support that Amy has been providing please reach out to me for a path forward. We have temporarily moved a few of the ongoing building supports that require Synergy access or confidentiality (expulsion hearing request, STAS documents, suicide risk screens, child abuse reporting, and principal leave sheets) to Janet Bojanowski (yes, this is Scott’s wife – who was just hired to work with our school board) until we hire Amy’s replacement. You can email Janet or give her a call at x1017. I’ll keep you posted as this hiring process continues. _________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you don’t have to use this information… but you may want to keep it handy just in case. Tami Pike will be out of the office this afternoon, and returning April 13. For any issues that arise, contact super nurse Maria Buagas 541-647-7952. If you have not received a reply from Maria within 1 hour, please contact Julianne Repman 541-788-6890. _________________________________________________________________________________

As you continue to think about what lunch will look like at your school starting April 12, remember that we have approved paying staff members (what you need, not an excess) who volunteer to help with supervision (and give up their 30 minute duty-free time). Please let me know if you have need of additional supervision (and volunteers to do it) so I can get you a budget code. _________________________________________________________________________________

Starting Monday April 5^th, UPS and FedX will be delivered directly to the schools and not diverted through the Distribution Center. _________________________________________________________________________________

In case you didn’t happen to see this update from ODE regarding their request to postpone OAKS testing this spring. I’ve underlined a few key points…..

The United States Department of Education (ED) responded to Oregon’s strategic waiver request last Friday, March 26, 2021. ED did not approve Oregon’s request as submitted. However, the last paragraph, similar to the general guidance they offered on February 22, 2021, again points to an opportunity for further discussion about assessment. ODE is engaged in further discussions about what spring 2021 summative assessment expectations will look like in Oregon with ED representatives right now. We expect resolution this week. ODE also plans to submit a separate Accountability Addendum to ascribe to the accountability flexibility that has already been conveyed by ED. The Assessment Team has developed communications to share with education and community partners, but cannot finish writing them nor send them out until a final path forward has been defined. ODE will use typical communication channels to share this information as soon as possible. In the meantime, our recommendation continues to be that districts should prepare for summative assessment administration, being mindful of the fact that our test blueprints have been shortened – resulting in significantly reduced testing times. Additionally, today Dave sent this message via email to you:

This link should address the majority of questions pertaining to OSAS assessments this year. Be sure to read this and expect additional communication from the district next week. 

https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/assessment/Pages/Communication.aspx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

_________________________________________________________________________________

A questions recently came up regarding what it would take for our district to return to hybrid (once we are all-in). Here is language from ODE regarding this (thanks Paul!):

ODE clarification on 3/29: Operationalizing Physical Distancing Guidance

In the same ways that schools should not reduce in-person instruction or revert to CDL based on county metrics when there is limited transmission of COVID-19 in the school environment (this is often referred to as the ‘’bluebox” of the metrics chart) –  schools will not be required to shift from operating with 3 feet of physical distance to 6 feet of physical distance (middle and high school levels) if they’ve met the requirements set out in newest guidance and began operating with clear routines and protocols in place and then the community metrics moved to the more restrictive threshold. A shift could be called for in physical distancing requirements by the Local Public Health Authority (LPHA) in partnership with the school and district leadership, especially in response to an outbreak or transmission within the school.  _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

Dana Pedersen, earlier this week, sent you an email regarding FAN Advocate evaluation… and wanting your input. Here was the rubric that she sent – with the hopes of detailed feedback from you. _________________________________________________________________________________

MS Horizontal Tuesday at 8:00am – see you then! _________________________________________________________________________________

If you and I don’t have a time for me to visit you at your school this month, let’s connect on this next week. Also, I’ll be inviting Juan to join some of these future meetings (dependent on his availability). _________________________________________________________________________________

TO DO:

If you haven’t yet (most of you have not), please email me the name of the person at your school (other than your nurse) who will be your point of contact for a concussion pilot we are a part of.

Here is a bit more about what this point of contact will be involved with: The contact that would be the best person to reach out to on a regular basis to check in for new family referrals. The hope is to get in contact with families as soon as possible after the concussion occurs. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please double check with their custodians that all exterior gates are locked shortly after school starts each day. (This is a request from OSEA leadership team.). _________________________________________________________________________________

I know you are working on this already… Please continue to reach out to families of your students who are currently enrolled/attending your school this year, but are not pointed to you next year (current 6th graders), as well as those who are pointed to you, but are outside of your boundary and would need to provide their own transportation (current 7th graders). Some of these families have completed an ACR (which was likely approved) – while other families were not aware that their home school boundary has changed. The questions asked need to be: Were you aware that your home school boundary has changed?; and Do you want to continue to attend (this) school? If they want to continue at your school then an ACR needs to be completed and the family needs to know that they will be responsible for providing transportation.

Lastly, Amy Stafford shared with you (big 5 school principals) one document yesterday – your current 7th graders at your school who are pointed to you yet may now be outside of your boundary. She also shared that the grid codes in Synergy are NOT accurate – so rely on this list provided to you by Amy – and not Synergy. _________________________________________________________________________________

This is a repeat of an email I sent you this past Wednesday. The only “to do” item is a request to re-share the survey with your staff this week…

Here is the link to the updated summer learning MS staff survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsM18uD_uwzsK7Co7bzZPU8EdNCiVqBBFRtU4X7d5XcRtzRA/viewform?usp=sf_link

In short, the updates are:

• The deadline for submitting is Friday, April 2 (instead of Monday, March 29)
• One question has been added to the end, asking for interested staff to indicated what weeks they would be available to work (instead of only asking about availability for Aug. 2 – 19.

If you have a staff member who has already filled out this survey, they do not need to complete it again. Instead, all we need to know is their answer to the last question (which weeks they are available). You can either collect this information and let me know, or add it to this spreadsheet (which also has the list of those who have already completed it) yourself.
Please advertise this again with your staff… we need more folks to be interested in order to invite the number of students that we hope to. _________________________________________________________________________________

I’d like to meet with the “big 5” principals on Thursday, April 1 at 2:00. We will be discussing ACRs. By that time I’d like you to have all of your contacts made to current 7th graders who are now outside of your boundary (but still pointed to you), current 6th graders who may not be aware they are no longer in your boundary (and may not be aware that they are no longer pointed to you)… and ACRs completed for any who’s pointing school needs to be adjusted. Any MS admin are welcome to attend, but I need principals at these 5 schools to make sure you are there or represented. Let’s meet in my Webex room. _________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

Just as an FYI… the ACR acceptance letter (you’ve been approved your MS of choice) sent to families accidentially had “high school” and not “middle school” within it, so all new letters were just sent out. This was explained in this new letter – but wanted you all to have a heads-up in case you get any questions about why they received two letters. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please share this with your teachers: At the end of our professional development conversation with Doug Reeves Wednesday, he described the opportunity to participate in a problem of practice series this spring.

If you are interested in joining Doug Reeves and his team at Creative-Leadership-Solutions as you work on a challenge, define a problem of practice, and test out interventions and ideas as you create an action research project, then sign up for the OSU-Cascades class.  It is a 2-credit class that is offered in Spring 2021 (see the syllabus for dates and course requirements).  Registration is currently open but will close on March 31st.  

To register for the class, complete the registration and application form and upload them to this google folder.  If you have attended a BLS-OSU Cascades class in the last 12 months, then you do not need to complete the application form.  There is an initial $35 application fee which will be billed by OSU-C once they receive your application.

Additionally, we will compensate teachers for the five after school sessions (including May) and the time to prep for the May share out.  

If you have any questions, please contact Michele Oakes  ([email protected]). _________________________________________________________________________________

A message from Misty Groom regarding STAS: As students have returned to in-person learning, there has been an increase in aggressive behaviors and threats; this is to be expected with heightened stress and anxiety among our students.  Additionally, we are at the time of year in which we historically tend to see an uptick in aggressive behaviors. Please reach out to me, Julianne, or Scott with Level 1 questions or concerns.  Here is a Level 1 Quick Reference Guide for Administrators.  There are additional documents on the HDESD STAS website www.highdesertstas.org as well as the Staff Portal.

REMINDERS:

Our next scheduled Horizontal (3/30) will be devoted entirely to having a conversation with Whitcomb MS in Marlborough, MA. They have been implementing BRYT for a number of years and their administration, counselors, and other BRYT staff will be sharing a behind-the-scenes look at what that program looks like at their school. Here is the Zoom link for this conversation. _________________________________________________________________________________

This was an email sent out by Andrea Wilson earlier this week:

We are excited to revive our Excellence in Education event and are ready to start gathering nominations for employees who have knocked your socks off during the 2020-21 school year.

We are looking to honor a certified and classified staff member from each school and departments are also encouraged to nominate staff members.

The nomination form is here and due back to the Superintendent’s Office by March 31 (email to me, or paper copy works great).

As you are well aware, we are not able to host large gatherings, so we are continuing to work on logistics of how to safely celebrate staff members, during the month of May…stay tuned 😊

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like nomination history for your school or department.

Thank you in advance for your help!

TO DO:

Please share this in your next family communication: Nutrition Services is planning to have 3 grab and go sites (Bend High, MVHS, and La Pine High) on Monday, March 22^nd from 11:30-12:30 for Spring Break.  We plan to serve 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 5 suppers in 1 bag on that day. _________________________________________________________________________________

As you know, state testing (OAKS) has been a roller coaster of “we aren’t… no wait, we are” this year. Oregon has requested a waiver to the feds to not test this year. The feds have said all states need to test students. Currently, we are at a stalemate – with no timetable for clarity. In the meantime, we are required to send out a 30-day notice of testing and provide an opt-out opportunity. Please share these next documents with your families prior to leaving for spring break: Parent message/English and Parent message/Spanish… as well as Opt-Out/English and Opt-Out/Spanish. I suggest you provide parents with some context for these letters – and steal some language out of the letters rather than create a description yourself may make the most sense. Let me know if you have any questions. _________________________________________________________________________________

And, here is another communication to share with families. This letter is intended to be shared with families who have a child involved with any school-sponsored athletic activity. (This does not pertain to PE classes.). _________________________________________________________________________________

This is a “to do” and “reminder”… Don’t forget (for yourself and your staff) to use BLSend whenever you are sharing student information electronically. If information needs to be shared that includes a more than one piece of student information (name, assessment results(s), other identifiable info) then this should not be sent via regular email (Outlook) – but rather BLSend. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a reminder – and call to action – from IT regarding technology security…

Our MFA info can be found at the portal page here.

If admins are using their personal mobile devices for district email, and they don’t get MFA set up by April 1, they will lose that ability until they get MFA setup. I think it’s important to note (as Brad said yesterday) this MFA requirement isn’t just coming from IT. This is something required for district cybersecurity insurance.

Our Help Desk (ext 1200) and our team of IT field techs are available for MFA support. I’ve also asked the techs to check in with their building admins to see if they need any additional MFA support.

THIS and THAT:

You may be aware of this already… but just to make sure… The district is planning on communicating all ACR approvals/denials beginning today and should be completed by Monday. In other words, you should not have to reach out to any family that has submitted an ACR prior to March 1 (if all goes as planned). As an FYI, here is the “acceptance letter” and “denial letter” that MS families will be receiving today (or Monday). If you receive any communication from a family regarding the status of their ACR (and the form was received by March 1) please let me know as that may indicate a glitch in our system (that we’re trying for the first time). If you are wondering about the status of an ACR received after March 1, please reach out to Amy Stafford with your questions. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a handful of updates from Paul – including performing arts practicing within classrooms:

Indoor Music/Band Rehearsals

On Monday, I met with secondary admin and music reps to review our safety measures for indoor music rehearsals.  As a reminder, here are our requirements.  Music teachers who have developed proposals, had them reviewed by school safety teams and communicated information to families are able to begin indoor rehearsals on Monday, March 15th. 

Here is the English version of family communication along with their version of safety measures.  We are awaiting the Spanish translation of each document and will email them to you and music teachers when we have them.

Funding for PPE and other Music Safety Measures

Schools will not be charged for PPE supplies that are requested through [email protected] as we’ve used CARE dollars for these items.  Each school has a PPE coordinator responsible for ordering supplies.  We’d encourage music teachers to work with the PPE coordinator to order what they anticipate needing through the end of April and then submitting a second-order request to cover PPE items needed for May/June.

If we don’t have specific items in inventory, schools will need to order them and use their allotted operations funds.  We ask that building administrators work with their music teachers and, if necessary, boost their yearly budget allotment to support the added costs associated with indoor rehearsal requirements.  

Camp Tamarak & Bend Science Station

Because we have established relationships with Camp Tamarak and BSS, they both have district permission to enter schools for instructional purposes and follow all required school safety practices.  Their staff has been vaccinated.

New RSSL Update

We understand that an updated version of RSSL will be released next week and may include new language that impacts our ability to offer in-person education – in a good way.  Stay tuned…. _________________________________________________________________________________

Our Instructional Technology Team has some exciting news.  They’re doing a bit of rebranding and will now be known as the BLS EdTech Team (to avoid confusion between IT for Instructional Tech, and IT for Informational Tech.)  They’re also excited to start sharing a bi-monthly newsletter, BLS EdTech Bytes.  You can find the first edition linked here.  Administrators who use the web version of Outlook will find it contains an easy & useful tip this week…so be sure to check it out for that and other exciting topics. _________________________________________________________________________________

In case you missed it, here is an article regarding our district’s look at grading practices (with a highlight of our schools with standards-based grading) that was published last Saturday in The Bulletin. Shout out to Steve and Stephen for their contribution to this article! _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

MS Horizontal on Tuesday morning at 8:00. The first chunk of time we’ll be discussing YouthTruth survey, with a focus on how you might (or have) taken a deeper dive into the results at your school. _________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget to turn your clocks forward one hour this Sunday morning!

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.

TO DO:

From Lora: It has been so fun to be spending time each week visiting our schools…with students in them! Thanks again to all of you for your hard work in getting and keeping our schools open. One note: in my visits so far, I have noticed that some of the signage at the front of schools (welcoming words, important information) is only in English. Please make sure to have Spanish-language signs, as well. _________________________________________________________________________________

Next week is Classified Appreciation Week and we are collecting images of our classified staff members hard at work to celebrate all they do. Principals, if you have any photos you’d like to share to add to this effort, please send them to Rainier Butler (who is helping in communication right now): [email protected]. _________________________________________________________________________________

Our TLC teams are getting ready to start the curriculum ordering process for the 2021-22 school year.  We have been working hard to refine our system to make it easier for schools to determine what they need and want, and for our district-level purchasing and deployment teams to complete their parts of the process in an efficient, timely, and transparent manner that will provide more information back to sites and teachers as materials are ready for use in August.  As a reminder, this process encompasses both digital and print materials that need to be refreshed or purchased each year.  In preparation, we need a representative (or several) from each secondary site.  Please let Amy Tarnow know who your point person will be by March 8th – if not sooner, and reach out to her with any questions. _________________________________________________________________________________At our Horizontal this past week we talked about the new C19 attendance code. Here are two documents that will help explain this code and point you/your staff to see when a student is expected back to school after a C19 absence. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please share this letter regarding no spectators at HS athletic events out to your families. There will be an option for watching events as they are live-streamed (with links in the letter). As you may be aware, MS athletics will begin with track and all competitions will be virtual.

THIS and THAT:

Many of you may already be aware that our very own Dr. Birk has been hosting book clubs over the course of the last several months around the topics of equity and race. Lisa has shared her new opportunity to connect, discuss, and challenge one another … and I’m passing it along to you if you are interested in participating:

The focus of our next two months together will be Oregon History as it relates to the topics of Equity and Race. We will be meeting every two weeks on Thursday evenings at 6 pm in my webex room. The meeting lasts from 6-7. Each time we meet, we will talk about a passage, video, article, podcast, etc. that is identified the time before. Our meeting dates are 3/4, 3/18, 4/1, 4/15, and 4/29. Here is a link to my webex room: https://bls.webex.com/meet/lisa.birk

If interested, please sign-up using the following link: https://forms.gle/kovrWeBAHFwKsPiW6. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a one-page document from Scott B. that outlines the steps to take for responding to a Safety Oregon tip. _________________________________________________________________________________

The federal “Education Department said Monday that it will not allow states to forgo federally required standardized testing in schools this year but will give them flexibility to delay testing or hold it online during the pandemic.” Read more in this AP article. We do not know – yet – what this means for Oregon (who had previously communicated that we would be pausing on state assessments this year), but we are sure to hear more about this as things begin to become unraveled. Stay tuned! _________________________________________________________________________________

Quarantine recommendations do not apply to individuals arriving to Oregon from other states or countries or Oregon residents returning from other states or countries if:
 • They have received both doses of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine (or one dose of a single-dose vaccine if it becomes available), 
AND 
• It has been at least 14 days since their final dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 
AND 
• They have no COVID-19 symptoms. 
Individuals should still monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms during the 14 days after travel and, if symptoms develop, they should self-isolate and seek testing. Here is the full document from OHA. _________________________________________________________________________________

Feel free to share this flyer with your staff and families if you’d like. Boys and Girls Club has openings for youth of all ages.

REMINDERS:

See you all on Tuesday at 8:00 for our Horizontal. _________________________________________________________________________________

As a reminder principals, we’ll meet at 9:00 on Tuesday in order to exchange and sign ACRs (electronically). _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t added it to your calendar yet, please save the date for a Leadership meeting on March 8 from 4 – 5:00pm. We’ll be meeting in Lora’s Webex room.

TO DO:

An Inclement Weather communication is being finalized and will likely be included in our district’s next family newsletter (being sent out any day now). Feel free to share these with your staff and families (again) as you see fit. Here is the Spanish and English version. _________________________________________________________________________________

As an FYI… as of this past Thursday afternoon, there are two MS sub requests for this coming Monday (the first day after a number of staff have their second dose of Moderna) that have not been filled. We are anticipating a shortage, so if one of your staff is one of these two – or if any additional staff request a sub prior to start of day Monday – the request may not get filled via typical ESD sub. Just didn’t want you to be surprised by this. _________________________________________________________________________________

This past Wednesday at our equity PD we watched a couple of videos. In one of these clips Bettina Love talked about the difference between being an ally (knowing the terms) and a co-conspirator (putting your hand on the pole). In the group I was in, many of us talked about this being an “ah ha” learning moment. Here is the entire video (6:44 min.) of Bettina talking… hope you find time in the coming days to watch it.

THIS and THAT:

If an ESD employee comes to your building, know that they qualify to enter under our “essential visitor” designation. If this staff member is wearing their ESD badge then they only need to sign in and out for COVID contract tracing purposes… they do not need to also sign in using Raptor. If they do not have their ESD badge, then they do need to sign in using Raptor. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is an ask/reminder from our friends in Technology…

Technology equipment includes fax machines, TV’s, monitors, computers, headsets and much more.  When considering new technology equipment at your building, please purchase the equipment through Information Technology.

Create a helpdesk ticket describing one of the services above, include a budget code for purchases.  If you need help or have questions about equipment call our helpdesk or connect with your site IT technician.

Approved technology equipment and pricing can be found here.

Additionally, Information Technology services include:

• Purchases (new/replacement) of technology equipment
• Installation of technology equipment. _________________________________________________________________________________

This may be a bit in the weeds for you to be involved with, but I did want to at least give you a heads-up so you have heard it. I mentioned a number of weeks ago that our district is going to produce a video regarding our high schools that can be shown to our 8th graders as part of the forecasting process. Yesterday I received an update on this project and have emailed your counselors so they are aware. In essence, the update is that this video will be completed and available on Friday, March 5. Additionally, rather than highlighting each of our 8 high schools, this video will be focused only on our 3 choice option high schools. _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

MS Horizontal next Tuesday morning at 8:00 in my Webex. _________________________________________________________________________________

Many of you are invovled in the Restorative Justice trainings this year. Our next round is next Wednesday and Thusday from 8:30 – 1:00. _________________________________________________________________________________

TO DO:

As you know, Area Change Request (ACR) forms are due on March 1. What you may not know is there is now (as of this week) an electronic application that parents can complete using Google form. Here is the link to the district website where parents can access the form, complete a fillable form (that needs to be turned in to the home school), and the new electronic form (no physical form needs to be turned in). This letter (Spanish and English) will be provided to all families (starting at 10:00 Friday morning) with a student(s) in grades 5 – 11 regarding this ACR process. I’ve added this topic to our Horizontal agenda for Tuesday morning to discuss details of processing these after March 1. _________________________________________________________________________________

If and when you have a positive case at your school then a letter of communicating this to your families is required (as you know). You may or may not have thought about the timing of this notification to you. Our experience, thus far, is that these notifications tend to not occur until after hours. Therefore, please have a plan ready, before you need one, in terms of who will be emailing this letter home to your families. Also, make sure you have access to these various letters so you can personalize them for your school before sending home. (The requirement is to send a letter home within 24 hours of being notified – but in most cases, you’ll want to send it much sooner than this.). _________________________________________________________________________________

The next round of vaccinations (for those that received the Moderna type) is the weekend of Feb. 20 & 21. This means that there may be some staff who have a reaction that does not allow them to come to work on Monday, Feb. 22. (This is also the first day that Redmond students will be returning to school.) As of now, we are planning on requesting and securing subs (from HDESD) now for that day. We hope to have at least 25 subs (in addition to our roaming subs). If you have a staff member who is not able to report to work that day, please follow the regular sub request process as we want to hold on to our roaming subs for late or emergency needs on this day.

THIS and THAT:

Following is an important piece of information regarding “essential visitors” and Raptor sign-in:

While visitors and volunteers are still not allowed in schools and facilities, there may be some situations where essential visitors are allowed. If there are essential visitors entering our facilities, they will need to sign in on the Raptor system and wear a badge while in our schools (in accordance with district visitor/volunteer policies). 

We have added a contact tracing capability to Raptor for those essential visitors signing in. They will answer the required contact tracing questions through Raptor and will not need to fill out the QR or paper logs for contact tracing when signing in through Raptor.

The IT techs are working this week on getting all the Raptor kiosks updated with the new contact tracing function at each of our schools.

Please continue to advocate for remote meetings with visitors through telephone or video conferencing. Building administrators have the discretion to determine if a visitor is essential and can meet in person at the school, ensuring all RSSL safety protocols are being followed. 
Examples of essential visitors – DHS worker conducting an investigation, fire marshal or law enforcement on official business, student’s medical service dog conducting mandatory training, etc. _________________________________________________________________________________

Project HELP update:  Mara Stephens will be leaving our district later this month.  Sandy Schmidt, a longtime FAN Advocate, will be taking over for Mara.  Please welcome her to this new role when you see her at your school.  _________________________________________________________________________________

Following are two items from Paul. One is new info and the second is a follow-up from a discussion we had at Horizontal earlier this week:

Classified Evaluations

If you remember way back to pre-COVID days, the classified rubric was updated last school year and you can find the new forms in this folder. On Monday, Feb. 22, HR will be sending you a list of employees that you are slated to evaluate during the 2020-21 school year – along with instructions on how to complete them before May 1, 2021.

School Safety Team

RSSL requires that schools Create a simple process that allows for named and anonymous sharing of concerns that can be reviewed on a daily and weekly basis by the designated RSSL building point-person. Example: Anonymous survey form or suggestion box where at least weekly submissions and resolutions are shared in some format.

Each school’s safety team is required to identify either a digital or physical method for staff to submit COVID related concerns.  The safety team will publicize the method for submissions and communicate the team’s problem-solving resolutions to the staff at least on a weekly basis. _________________________________________________________________________________

You may not have been asking for this yet, but here it is! Next year’s district calendar will soon be loaded on our website – or you can find it here if you want a sneak peek. (I sure hope it will look and feel like a more traditional year.). _________________________________________________________________________________

The following article came out of a recent Marshall Memo. The title caught my attention. Then the opening paragraph hooked me – I wanted to know more. What I walk away with is a reminder of how often I (we) can think I am doing a good job at something… until a courageous person who believes I can do better calls me out. Some people, like this teacher, will self-reflect and make a change. However, many won’t (and maybe even think they did.) This is where you come in. Here are some ideas of observation look fors and questions you could ask (or I could ask of you) to gain a better perspective of how we are “really” doing (in serving ELL students, for example).

A Teacher Monitors Unconscious Bias

            In this Edutopia article, veteran middle-school teacher Jay Wamsted says he was “stung” when his African-American principal said there were problems with the ways he engaged with black boys in his classes. Wamsted decided to monitor how he, as a white educator, interacted with students of color in five specific areas:

• Discipline referrals – Minor infractions in class – out of seat, talking too loudly, cell phones – as well as detentions and calls to parents;
• Who gets called on – Choices he made when a number of hands were in the air;
• Cold calling – Firing a question at students whose hands were not raised, perhaps because they didn’t seem to be paying attention;
• Placement errors – The feeling that underperforming students belonged in a lower track;
• Loosening up – “Which students get you to joke around and bring out your ‘more than a teacher’ personality?” asks Wamsted. “Which students do you swap stories with about activity in the outside world? Who pulls us into their orbit when we overhear an interesting conversation?”

After a month jotting notes, Wamsted concluded that the principal was absolutely right: there was unmistakable bias against certain students and favoritism toward others. The data “gave me something to work on,” he says, “a plan to make, and an action item to fix. I know it’s only scratching the surface of the work, but it gave me a place to begin. I don’t doubt that it will do the same for you.”

“A Simple Way to Self-Monitor for Bias” by Jay Wamsted in Edutopia, January 22, 2021. _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

Horizontal meets next Tuesday at 8:00am. _________________________________________________________________________________

You no doubt already know that our next Leadership Equity PD is on the afternoon of Feb. 17 at PCMS starting at 3:30. One of our focus points is to review and discuss your equity goals (that you documented prior to the holidays). You may want to take a look at this spreadsheet to make sure: 1) you wrote down your three goals, 2) make sure you have responded to someone else’s goals, and 3) see if you want to modify any of your goals. We will likely be asking that you share and dig deeper into your stretch goal when we meet on the 17th.

TO DO:

If you have staff who need coverage for receiving vaccination during school hours… For staff who need to be out of the building for vaccinations shots or who have post-injection illnesses that prevent them from working, identify the absence under “other” and write in “vaccination” on the Leave Sheets. HR will be communicating with office managers about how to code other COVID-related leave.  _________________________________________________________________________________

As you know, the second round of vaccinations are upon us. What you also may have heard is that 20-30% of those who receive this second vaccination have side effects noticeable enough to keep them out of work for one or more days. If a staff member needs to take leave due to symptoms after vaccination, please code both of these as “other leave” and put something like “illness due to vaccination” in the reason for leave. This will come out of a staff member’s 5-day COVID leave, and not the typical sick leave allocation. Let me know if you have questions about this. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please share this substitute request flow chart with your office manager and anyone else that you think may need/use it. Please remind your Office Manager to put leave requests in early (as early as they find out) and check them often. A number of sub requests have not been getting filled through the ESD already this year.

THIS and THAT:

There is a new MS/HS safety video posted on our district’s website that may be worth passing along to your parents in a future communication. Here is the link to that video. _________________________________________________________________________________

Now that schools are reopening for in-person learning, I wanted to reshare this helpful social media guide that also applies to school newsletters, websites, teacher emails, and any other communication to families. Please be sure that the photos you share reflect the consistent safety practices you have in place in your buildings.

A few keys: 

• Mask up! All photos on campus should include students/staff wearing masks over the NOSE and MOUTH 😊
• Keep your distance. Make sure folks are spread out in any photo shared. 
• If you use a photo that is pre-pandemic, be sure to list the year it was taken when you share it. 

Questions? Email Alandra any time! _________________________________________________________________________________

As you know, February is Black History Month. You may or may not have seen this blog post regarding some highlighted Black authors and recommended videos that could be used for instruction this (or any) month. I watched one of these videos, as the title caught my eye: “The exceptional life of Benjamin Banneker.” Here is a link that will bring you to this video (on the right side of the page), as well as other educational resources. The video is definitely appropriate for MS-aged kids (likely geared more towards a younger audience), and the 3:30 clip kept my attention and left me wanting to learn more. _________________________________________________________________________________

If you have any new/temporary certified staff for the remainder of this year, here are a couple pieces of evaluation news that you need to know:

The temporary teachers that we are hiring right now will not work the 135 days to count as a full year for TSPC.

Therefore, we are not required to complete the two formal observations.  Since we are halfway through the year, I would recommend that we have administrators complete a minimum of two mini observations.  I’d also like them to complete an evaluation so that we have a record of how the teacher performed this year.  Let Jon or myself know if you have any questions regarding this. _________________________________________________________________________________

Following are some questions regarding quarantining that Scott O. asked and Paul Dean and Tami Pike responded to. Thought you might have (or likely will have) the same questions asked of you soon…

• If there is a positive case in a school, all families are given notification. All families and staff
• Only students/staff who were close contacts of the positive case subject will need to quarantine. YES
• Only students/staff who were close contacts of the positive case subject will be notified that they shared a space/class/etc. with the close contact. YES
• Close contacts are those within 6 ft. for 15+ minutes total in a day.  YES, in most instances. If a staff person or student is unsure about whether or not they meet the close contact criteria, more than likely quarantine will be warranted. The contact tracing team will determine. 
• I am also directing staff NOT to fill out entire class lists as close contacts just because they have them for 65 (and in some cases quite a bit more) minutes.   YES _________________________________________________________________________________

Following are a number of updates from Paul…

Short Term Temp Dates:

 Any temporary classified people hired after the dates below, will not qualify for medical benefits.  HR communicates this at time of hiring but we recommend schools inform interviewees too:

• EA ‐ HS (Bend and South County) (182 days) 02/18/21        
• EA ‐ HS (Skyline and Marshall ‐ Trimester schools) (181 days) 02/18/21
• EA ‐ HS (REALMS ‐ Trimester School) (179 days) 02/17/21
• EA ‐ MS (Bend and South County) (179 days) 02/17/21
• EA ‐ MS (REALMS) (179 days) 02/17/21
• EA ‐ ES (Bend and South County) (177 days) 02/16/21

New County Metric Guidance

Last week, the state issued new indoor/outdoor guidance that applies to our after-school activities.  Here is the information to share with your team (mostly applicable to high schools) for Deschutes County which is still in the extreme zone.

Rapid Testing

RSSL requires schools to have the capacity to offer rapid COVID-19 tests (BiomaxNOW) available to symptomatic students/staff by March 1.  Here is the rollout timing:

• Week of Feb 1 and 8: District personnel attend OHA trainings and develop district and school based protocols
• Week of February 16:  Information sessions for school personnel; BiomaxNOW registration and testing kiit ordered by each school.
• Week of February 22: Final site coordinator and testing facilitator Q&A
• Week of March 1: Testing available for symptomatic students/staff at each school site

MOU

In order to satisfy this requirement in the MOU:

Each school site will post the school’s COVID-19 Safety Checklist and a copy of the OSHA emergency temporary standards on the safety bulletin board.

Please post a hard copy of your latest Checklist and a hard copy of this document (103 pages) on your staff bulletin board.

BLS COVID-19 Cases

The district will be creating a dashboard that reflects positive COVID-19 cases within our schools.   The data will be updated every Wednesday after OHA’s weekly Kindergarten-12th grade school report is released.  We will also include a list of FAQs to explain more information about the data.  

Non-Masking Students On Buses

If you receive a complaint of students not wearing masks on a bus, it would greatly assist transportation if you can gather the following information prior to emailing Kim/Tina:  

1. Your school and the bus route number
2. Reporting student’s name (to check their assigned seat number)
3. Seat number (all bus seats have seat numbers) or name of non-mask wearing student
4. Time of day (i.e. 2:15pm)

Ideally, students should report non-masking behavior immediately to the bus driver.

REMINDERS:

Last week I shared the following message with you (which also came with a task), but I did not have a Chinese language version of the letter to share at that time. Here is the Chinese language version – as well as part of the message from last week: Please share this letter (English and Spanish) in your next parent communication. [Don’t forget to make a copy of these letters first – as well as check the access to the link to make sure parents can view it.] This letter outlines the communication steps that will occur every time there is a positive COVID case at a school.  _________________________________________________________________________________

Here are links to two documents that Jon referenced in our Horizontal this past Tuesday. First, the final MOU with BEA for Hybrid instruction. Also, this MOU key points document. _________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget (I spoke about this at Horizontal earlier this week) to have someone follow-up with reaching out to students enrolled at your school but do not show up next Monday or Tuesday. We want to make sure all students are accounted for (and enrolled in the program they plan to finish the year in). _________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget that we’ve moved our Horizontal meetings to Tuesday mornings at 8:00am. We will still meet in my Webex room. _________________________________________________________________________________

TO DO:

Here’s what you’ve been waiting for. Hot off the presses, Lora provided us with a condensed version of the MOU between the district and BEA. Please read this summary document carefully as some of these agreements change what has been our plan/practice – specifically around SIW days. Jon will join us at our Horizontal on Tuesday to answer questions, but if you would like to talk through any of what you read please give me a call prior to that. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here are two documents that you may want to share with your staff. One has to do with proper storage of disposable masks. The other are directions of how to put on and take off a disposable respirator mask (KN95). ________________________________________________________________________________

There are some updates that you need to know about (some are changes from previous communication) as they relate to COVID/RSSL/BLS practices. Here is a document from Paul that provides the latest guidance, based on what we know today. Please read this and share with staff as needed. [Note: Some of this information is also addressed by me later in this blog.] _________________________________________________________________________________

Please share this letter (English and Spanish) in your next parent communication. This letter outlines the communication steps that will occur every time there is a positive COVID case at a school. This would be a good one to also share with your entire staff, but especially those who will be answering the phone when parents call with questions. Related to this, remember, and begin communicating now, that we are not able to share (due to HIPPA) who has been diagnosed as having a positive case in the school… and giving hints to help the questioner figure it out is not recommended either! _________________________________________________________________________________

I plan on resuming regular school visits in February. Principals, please email me a date/time when you’d like for me to come visit with you – and have a space where we can talk and remain socially distanced (I’m good with meeting indoors or outdoors, just tell me ahead of time if I need to wear my outside shoes!). _________________________________________________________________________________

You have probably heard by now that you are able to add back some extra duty assignments (e.g. intramural, after school supervisor, etc.) now that kids will be returning to school. Here’s the catch… only hire/renew the positions that will be working directly with students AND those that occur during non-work time (before/after work hours, during prep, or 30 min. duty-free lunch). I’m sure you are needing additional supervision in this current COVID/social distancing world we find ourselves – but we do not want to pay someone an extra duty stipend that is not doing any extra duty work. _________________________________________________________________________________

This year, more than most, it is VERY important that all semester 1 (and quarter 2) grades are posted by the morning of Monday, Feb. 8. On this date all students who are moving from brick and mortar school into either BLPSO or district CDL will be dropped from your enrollment and Canvas Grade Pass Back will no longer be functional. _________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

If you get in a jam with not having enough front office coverage (e.g. staff are out due to quarantine) please know that Andrea Wilson has mentioned that she is willing to come help for an immediate need if you find yourself in a pinch. _________________________________________________________________________________

As you know, each of your schools has a School Safety Checklist on our district website. What you may not be fully aware of is that these are being read frequently and thoroughly. It is really important that these checklists are not only up-to-date, but also contain complete information (everything that you have in place at school should also be communicated in your plan). _________________________________________________________________________________

If you have a student who refuses to wear a mask (and the reason is not IDEA or health-related), do not make this a discipline issue. In this situation, remove the student from the general population (office or meeting room where other students are not present) and see if this can be resolved. If it cannot, please call the parents to explain the situation. If it still cannot be resolved, then explain that the educational options for students who chose not to wear a mask are BLPO or district CDL and help them get connected to one of these. Further, if a student refuses to wear a mask on the bus in the morning then the driver will bring that student to school (rather than leave them unattended at the bus stop) and notify the school. You should make every attempt to meet this student prior to them entering the building (notify whoever will be doing your visible checks of students at the door) and go through the same process as just described. _________________________________________________________________________________

I shared this with you at our Horizontal on Tuesday, and hope you’ve had a chance to send this survey (re: upcoming appointments) out to your staff since then. If not, I’m linking it here for you again. Please provide me your raw numbers by Monday so I can see where our overall MS needs might be. Don’t forget to make a copy of the survey first before sending it out!

________________________________________________________________________________

At some point, it is likely that your school will have some exposure to a positive case. Our district has prepared a number of family letters related to a variety of exposure examples. You can find these letters on the Portal at this location. Additionally, here is the site on the Portal that includes many of our documents that are COVID-related. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here are a couple of follow-up pieces that I committed to from our Horizontal this week… If we have significant snow, both late start or cancellations are possible. Language around what teaching/instruction will look like on a “cancellation” day is still being worked through with BEA, so don’t communicate any plans yet. Lastly, we are asking that you (and all of your building staff) continue to check-in and check-out every day at your site. This means you will either need to limit the number of doors to enter/exit, or provide check-in/out opportunities at each location. _________________________________________________________________________________

You may or may not have heard that the decision was made this week that the district will suspend all “pay to play” fees for MS and HS activities and athletics for the remainder of this school year (season 2, 3, & 4). Your AD was told this information on Tuesday so is aware as well. _________________________________________________________________________________

You likely also heard this news coming out of ODE around assessments for this year. Here is that news: The board approved a temporary rule at OAR 581-022-0104 that waives Essential Skills graduation requirements for students who graduate in 2021 and Local Performance Assessment requirements for students in Grades 3-8 and high school for 2020-21. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is an FYI regarding what attendance calls home will look like in Hybrid:

• Continue to call parents informing them of their student(s) with an NPV code.  The call will go out the next school day following the virtual class.  The calls go out at 11:00 am.
• Students with an Unexcused or Unverified absence on a scheduled in-person day will get a call home on the same day as the scheduled in-person class. _________________________________________________________________________________

Following is some recommended travel advisory information that we touched on at last week’s Horizontal meeting. Would you please share this with your staff and families in an upcoming communication:

Please consider these CDC quarantine recommendations if your family has plans for either domestic or international travel in the months to come. 

Bottom line for both – Individuals who have traveled out of state (domestic or international) are recommended to:

• Get tested 3-5 days after travel AND stay home for 7 days after travel. 
  • Even if you test negative, stay home for the full 7 days.
  • If your test is positive, isolate yourself to protect others from getting infected.
• If you don’t get tested, it’s safest to stay home for 10 days after travel.
• Avoid being around people who are at increased risk for severe illness for 14 days, whether you get tested or not.

Also, take these actions for 14 days after you return from travel to protect others from getting COVID-19:

• Stay at least 6 feet/2 meters (about 2 arm lengths) from anyone who did not travel with you, particularly in crowded areas. It’s important to do this everywhere — both indoors and outdoors.
• Wear a mask to keep your nose and mouth covered when you are in shared spaces outside of your home, including when using public transportation.
• If there are people in the household who did not travel with you, wear a mask and ask everyone in the household to wear masks in shared spaces inside your home.
• Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Avoid being around people who are at increased risk for severe illness.
• Watch your health: Look for symptoms of COVID-19, and take your temperature if you feel sick.
• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/travel-during-covid19.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/after-travel-precautions.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/map-and-travel-notices.html. ________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

Principals, don’t forget that I’d like your SLGGs done by Feb. 1 – Monday. Let me know about any questions related to this. _________________________________________________________________________________

Horizontal meeting Tuesday at 2:00. Please have your calendar handy as we’ll be discussing both the frequency and date/time of future meetings. Also, Jon will join our meeting in order to answer MOU questions. Here’s our agenda. _________________________________________________________________________________

As a reminder (from our Horizontal meeting on Tuesday), you are allowed to have band and choir classes taught outside – pending weather and being able to maintain social distancing of 6′ between students. Weather-permitting will be a local school decision. Per Paul’s communication today (see link in above post), PE can occur indoors. _________________________________________________________________________________

A few weeks ago we talked about 5th-grade forecasting. Specifically, we talked about videos that you’ve created for communication for current 5th graders and their families. As a reminder, I’ve created this folder to place a copy of your videos for others to see. There are only two in there now (PCMS and HDMS), so this is just a reminder to add yours if you’d like to.