THIS and THAT:

As you know (9.6.19 TRIBE), your MS AD will be spending some extended time with Sal and other ADs digging into some work that requires more than an hour here or an hour there. During the course of this year, they will be taking (three) 1/2 days for this purpose. If a sub is needed, this should be paid for out of building athletics. If athletics cannot cover this please find another source to cover within your building. I learned today that they have decided to combine (two of the three) 1/2 days in order to meet all day on Friday (today). The other 1/2 day will be connected to a SIW down the road. Let me know if you have any questions regarding this. __________________________________________________________

Last week I shared a number of documents with you related to State Assessment communications. One that was shared included this one for principals to sign and distribute this letter – the same one we used last year. Last week I did not have a Spanish version of this letter, but this week I do! (Again, all of these letters can also be found in our shared Tribe folder in Google Docs – within the BLS Docs folder.) __________________________________________________________

Here is a reminder from Sean R. regarding private practitioners in our schools:

Bend-La Pine Schools does not allow private practitioners to conduct business in our schools during school hours.  This includes a private behavioral health therapist, clinical psychologist, occupational therapist, private behavior support skills trainer, observations by family advocates or any person hired by a student’s family to provide services.  Usually, this will come through as a request from a family to have their private provider observe the student in the school setting.  This does not include private folks related to contracts or partnerships we have with community partners (The Child Center, School-Based Health Center, Deschutes County Health).  Also, this does not include parents inviting a private practitioner to an IEP or team meeting, which is perfectly fine.  If you are approached by a family or private provider about observing or working with a student in your school, consider and try the following:

1. Explain that BLPS does not allow private providers to conduct business in our schools.  In turn, we will not propose conducting academic instruction in their office.  
2. Inquire about the type of information they hope to obtain, and offer to have a member of the school team provide that information.  Typically, with the permission of the parents, we can conduct an observation and share the results with the family and private provider.
3. If the family requests that a provider come into school and perform their services in the school setting, inquire about those services and, if appropriate, explain that we have trained staff that can deliver those services.  If needed, convene and school or IEP team to consider the services requested by the parent.
4. Offer to have our team members consult with the private provider to learn about their work and align services when appropriate.
5. If asked about a specific policy, please refer to KK-AR: Visitors to District Facilities.  The most pertinent language in this policy includes:

“Permission to visit will be granted if, in the judgment of the school principal or designee, the visit serves school interests. Permission to visit will be denied if the visit would be disruptive to the educational program or orderly school operations, would impede the work of teachers through interruptions or unreasonable demands on teacher or staff time, or if the visitor’s course of conduct would conflict with district policies or administrative regulations, building regulations, or the law. The school principal or designee may also deny permission to visit if he or she has reasonable cause to believe that the visit would compromise the safety or welfare of students and staff. The school principal or designee has discretion to limit the scope of the visit as to the duration or specific location of the visit in order to ensure the safety and welfare of students or the orderly administration of educational programs and school operations.

If you continue to get questions about this practice, please refer the parent to the Office of School Support or Special Programs. __________________________________________________________

You may not have one of your students receiving instruction via home tutoring very often, so I thought I’d refresh your memory (or fill you in if you weren’t aware) that your teachers are responsible for providing instructional materials to the tutor. There is no set format (e.g. packets, via iPad, an outline of and materials for what is to be covered, etc.) for what your teacher(s) need to provide the tutor – just that the instructional materials and lesson focus comes from your teacher(s) to the tutor. __________________________________________________________

Here is a letter describing a professional development opportunity for your teachers of writing. (Teaching argument writing through the visual arts.) Please pass along in a way that makes sense to you.

REMINDERS:

Veterans Day is Monday – no school.

A reminder that I’ll be out of the office from Nov. 14 – 18, but will be (mostly) available by cell/text or email.

Wednesday, Nov. 13 is a district SIW.

Wednesday, Nov. 20 is a teacher-driven SIW.

TO DO:

Please add a Leadership meeting to your calendar for Jan. 13 at 3:15pm. The focus of this meeting will be on our district’s investment priorities.

If you haven’t already, please send Lora your notes for your staff listening session activities no later than Thursday, November 14^th. Earlier this week, Lora had received notes from about 12 schools (and I don’t know which ones).

I wanted to let you know that two board policies have recently been updated and these latest versions are posted on our website. These two are AC-AP (Non-Discrimination) and AC-AR (Discrimination Complaint Procedure). Please make sure you review/use AC-AR when processing any future complaints connected to discrimination, harassment (including sexual harassment), intimidation, bullying, cyberbullying, menacing, hazing, teen dating violence, and sexual conduct.

THIS and THAT:

I had mentioned to you a comment I had heard at the Teacher’s College about principals not being “instructional leaders” in the sense that many have traditionally thought. This week I found my notes on this and want to clarify what was said. First, Mary Ehrenworth was telling the story of when Michael Fullen (not Doug Reeves – as I had remembered it) was attending a training at Teacher’s College and he made the statement that he was backing off of the principal being the instructional leader in a building. He stated that only one person could lead the building – the principal. Many people could be instructional leaders. This is not to say that principals should not be involved/support/help design PD around instruction in her/his building – but they do not need to be the point person for this. Hearing this definitely caught my attention…

Here is important Oregon State Assessment opt-out information from Dave VL: Schools need to distribute the following (Annual notice-Spanish, Annual notice, 30-day notice, 30-day notice-Spanish) statewide notices and opt-out forms in English and Spanish through their “regular communication channels” by December 8, 2019. Appropriate communication methods do include electronically distributing the forms or links to the forms posted on district/school websites. (All of these forms are also saved in the TRIBE Google Doc “BLS Docs” folder.)

Principals also will sign and distribute this letter – the same one we used last year. (We are working on a Spanish version now.)

In all communication related to opt-outs it is critical that parents are engaged in the communication and that non-adult students are not subjected to undue influence by educators or staff during working hours. Principals need to ensure all staff understand what types of communication has been deemed inappropriate by the state. Inappropriate communication would include:

Making repeated announcements to non-adult students (e.g., over school intercom systems, assemblies) during working hours reminding students to pick up ODE’s opt-out form 

Initiating a discussion of ODE’s opt-out form or process with non-adult students during working hours

Repeatedly reminding non-adult students to submit ODE’s opt-out form during working hours 

Encouraging students to submit ODE’s opt-out form during working hours

All student opt-outs again need to be entered into the district’s Google form for tracking opt-outs http://bit.ly/BLPoptout1920   

The opt-out forms apply only to ELA and Math. Exemptions for all other state assessments require parents to submit a written request based on disability or religion. Those students are tracked here http://bit.ly/BLPelpascience1920  

Here is an upcoming training that I was made aware of and asked to pass along to you: “Compassionate Conversation: Practical, empathy-based tools to work with people experiencing homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and trauma.”  This workshop takes place on 11.13.19 from 2-5pm in Bend. If you are interested in attending this free event, please RSVP at: [email protected]

The Oregon School Board Association (OSBA) annual meeting is coming up on Nov. 14-17 in Portland and I will be attending, along with our district’s Board members and a number of Cabinet members. Immediately following this (on Monday, Nov. 18) I’ll be attending an AdvancED state committee meeting in Salem. During this time feel free to email or call/text my cell if you need to reach me.

REMINDERS:

Daylight Savings Time ends this Sunday… don’t forget to “fall back” an hour.

Veterans Day is Monday, Nov. 11… and there is no school that day.

One more reminder regarding the online survey that is connected to our Excellence and Equity Review. If you haven’t already, please pass this information on to your parents and/or student before the survey closes on Nov. 13:

Share Your Voice: 

Bend-La Pine Schools is conducting an Excellence & Equity Review to look deeply at our students’ experiences in school. Along with staff expertise, student learning results and research, the information gathered during this review will help inform our priorities for school improvement efforts, professional learning and funding.

Families, please take a moment to participate in two short surveys related to this effort:

• Excellence & Equity survey (for parents/guardians) share your student’s experiences at school
• Student Success Act survey (for everyone) provide input to help inform the plan to invest new funds from the Student Success Act

TO DO:

I thought this might be a good time to share a great reminder about the power the adults in a building (and bus!) have on the experience a child has at school. Every Opportunity provides a student point of view look at what adults are teaching students every day and what students are “learning.”

THIS and THAT:

You support students with a variety of backgrounds and physical, sexual, and emotional make-ups. In this light, you either have or will work with students/families of students who are transgender. At times, this brings up circumstances for you to work through that do not have clear guidance and need to be processed on a case-by-case basis. This guidance document from ODE on working with Transgender Students can be helpful and provides some boundaries for us to use. Although these should not be considered legal advice or laws to follow, our district does use these guidelines to help us frame our responses to situations that arise. Please take some time to read these guidelines. This document will eventually be posted on our district’s website. If you ever have any questions on this topic, please contact Jon Lindsay or myself.

Biz Kid$, an opportunity offered by Mid-Oregon Credit union, is a national financial literacy initiative that teaches youth about money and business. The Biz Kid$ Business Plan Competition provides the opportunity for credit unions to partner with local middle schools in offering economic and entrepreneurship education to youth, helping them build a solid financial future. Through this competition, students will showcase their hard work while practicing financial education, entrepreneurial, public speaking, and teamwork skills.  Culminating at the end of the school year, the Biz Kid$ Business Plan Competition participants will create business plans that put what they have learned in the classroom into action and provide hands-on, outcomes-based financial education to the students.  Mid-Oregon Credit Union will provide all necessary curriculum, materials, and support to credit unions and classrooms throughout the school year! Credit unions will partner with their local middle schools to bring Biz Kid$ curriculum into the classroom at least once per week.  We ask that credit unions work with schools to begin teaching the curriculum no later than mid-December.  After the 12-week curriculum is complete, students will develop and present their business plans to a panel of local judges (such as someone from your credit union, the school district’s superintendent, and a local elected official).  The winning students will go on to compete by video against students from across the region, and a winning business plan will be selected (and celebrated!) before the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Kyle Frick, at Mid-Oregon Credit Union, could help answer any questions.

REMINDERS:

Garra notified you of this by email earlier in the week, but thought it was worth repeating… Nutrition Services will be honoring veterans who are family members of a student or staff member by providing him/her with a free lunch on Nov. 8. For more information please refer to Garra’s email sent on 10/21.

THIS and THAT:

For a number of years now, PCMS has sent out communication around Halloween dress-up to students and families in the weeks prior. Here is their flyer for this year. Other schools actively promote coming to school not wearing a costume at all. Whatever is decided at your building, thank you for communicating those expectations in advance!

As you know, on Monday we’ll be meeting as a Horizontal group at LPMS starting at 3:00. In the first half of our meeting, we’ll be discussing the beginning of Jim Knight’s book High-Impact Instruction. To provide a quick glance behind the curtain of who Jim Knight is, I wanted to provide you this video where he speaks about courage and confronting racist language of all kinds. If this is a topic that resonates with you (and possibly one to discuss with your staff), I suggest you look at the two “Looking Ahead” documents found on the bottom of this page for ways to continue or deepen the conversation. [Note: this video does not relate to the discussion we’ll be having on Monday.]

This is a document that I hope you will never need to think about or use. Here are our district’s protocols around student death. I’ll save it to the BLS docs in the Tribe folder.

As you are fully aware, two evenings of conferences make for very long days. I hope you plan on spending some time away from your building next Friday or are able to get a lot done if you come in to work. Either way, take advantage of your time on Friday to accomplish what you need most!

I hope to communicate your conference interpreter schedule (interpreter name and times) early next week.

REMINDERS:

MS Horizontal on Monday at LPMS, starting at 3:00pm. (Note the earlier start time!)

TO DO:

Here is an important message from HR that also has some follow-up communication expected on your part:

We have worked with our OSEA leadership to establish a new classified evaluation rubric (Word and PDF).  While the contract language has not changed around timing or frequency (at least once every two years), this new form will allow for a more meaningful discussion with your classified staff members. 

Additionally, here is the (fillable!) goal setting form to use with staff.  We would like for you to delete all previous evaluation forms you have used in the past with classified from your system.  This new form will be the only one that will be approved for use going forward.  We ask that you plan to discuss this new form with your classified staff and let them know this will be the form used in the spring for evaluations.  We want to avoid any surprises for our staff when you pull out a new form to use for their evaluation. 

As always, we are available for any questions you may have either via phone or when we see you at the next horizontal meeting.  ____________________________________________________

Here is an updated flyer from Meera at Bend International School. BIS still has openings for MS students. Would you consider posting this flyer in your office/on community display board/with counselors? BIS might be a great option for our students who are not being as successful as we know they could be/they would like to be at a larger, more traditional school. _____________________________________________________

And speaking of posting on your community display board (or sharing with counselors/others), here is a flyer from OHP (English & Spanish versions) regarding family health coverage. You may also be receiving additional copies of this flyer to have available at various parent events. (This will be made available by OHP – you do not need to make copies or hand these out.)

THIS and THAT:

Next week (10/14) there will be a training for your 1st and 2nd-year teachers around Disciplinary Literacy. I think this article provides a great definition and understanding of what, exactly, Disciplinary Literacy actually is, as well as providing some great content-specific examples. Thanks to Dean Richards and Alex Child (part-time teacher at SVMS) for leading this work at the MS level. ________________________________________________________

As was mentioned a few weeks ago, our district policy around Mother Friendly Workplace (GBDA-AP) has received some updates. Of particular note are these two pieces:

• Designate a room, other than a restroom, where an employee can express milk or breast-feed in private, concealed from view and without intrusion by other employees or the public. Office staff should be aware of the room(s) that are available. 
• The room should be within ‘close proximity’ or walking distance from the employee’s work area ________________________________________________________

As Shay referenced on Monday at our Leadership meeting, here are the full highlights from this fall’s administrator survey and listening session. ___________________________________________________________

Here is a message from Lora (and Jay) that is connected to the Listening Sessions that you’ll be (or just have) conducted with your staff:

Thanks to all of you for your willingness to facilitate SIW activities with your staffs related to the Excellence and Equity Review. I have received notes from a few schools who did the activity this week, and I have a request for those of you who have not done it yet. 

As I reviewed the notes for “areas for growth,” they are PRIMARILY addressing what resources will support your work: more SEL/behavioral support, smaller class sizes, etc. These are important factors and will certainly improve learning in your schools. However, we all know that even with all these additional resources, if the adults and the systems of the schools don’t grow and learn how to address all students’ needs more effectively, we will have limited success in changing the outcomes we already see. 

That is why the second question in the reflection section is so important. It addresses OUR ACTIONS AS ADULTS IN THE SCHOOL. Please help to emphasize this question in both the reflection and discussion portions of your activity. 

Thanks again, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions. _________________________________________________________

Alandra Johnson will be sharing some content with you later today around Excellence and Equity that you can use in your school newsletters. _________________________________________________________

If you have dress up days at some point during the school year, you might want to check out these unique ideas that Kinsey passed along. They definitely have a focus of inclusion and breaking down “walls” between students – while also looking for ways to build new bonds between kids where they didn’t realize they might already exist. ___________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

I will be out of town next Tuesday through Friday at the Literacy Leadership Institute at Teacher’s College – Columbia University. If you need any type of assistance, feel free to reach out to me by cell or email first and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. If you need immediate support, Jay or Katie would be happy to help!

TO DO:

Please make sure your certified staff knows that there will be no district-driven PD meetings next Wednesday, Oct. 9. ____________________________________________________

A couple of weeks ago I let you know that there will be a Scheduling Workshop offered here in our district… and asked that you (or others involved with scheduling at your school) consider attending if you have not previously. The dates of this training are Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 and it is important to attend both days. There will be one free slot for every school, and only cost $200 for every additional staff member you’d like to send. Training will be held in the Wall St. lab. Please let me know by this Wednesday how many you’ll be sending, so any available open slots can be shared with others. ______________________________________________________

Hopefully, this is a fun “to do” task! I think I have shared this Unsung Hero video before, but I thought it is worth sharing again. In leadership positions, it is easy to get bombarded and consumed with the negative of working with people… while this video is a good reminder of how it only takes one person “believing in good” to touch the lives of many in positive ways (even those on the sidelines watching). _____________________________________________________

A couple of weeks ago I asked you to begin having conversations in your building – with your ELL teacher and others – regarding your need for interpreters for our upcoming conferences. What I need to know now is: How many interpreters do you need (really need!) for conferences (please indicate whether day and/or evening for both days). I only need to know the number of people you need outside of your school; if you have a classified person in your building providing this service and she/he will cover your need, don’t include this in the number you give to me. Please let me know what you need (even if “zero”) by next Wednesday, Oct. 9.

THIS and THAT:

Here is a short PowerPoint presentation on the First Step app on student and staff iPads. It was created with the goal of staff being able to present it to students in a class (or whole-school during 1st period) as a reminder that it is there, how it works, and what types of tips should be reported. __________________________________________________________

On Monday (10/7) you will receive an email from Carrie Hulbert (HR) with your current certified assignments and FTE. If you notice a disconnect between this document and what your teacher is actually teaching, please complete an updated PA and get that to Carrie right away. Also included in this email will be a list of the endorsement areas each of your teachers currently has. If you have a teacher teaching outside of her/his endorsement area, please contact Candy Gelatt (HR) right away.

Here is a document outlining the boundary change process that will occur this fall/winter – and go into effect in the fall of 2021 (when the new HS opens). If you are interested in learning about the timeline of this process or curious about who is involved – check this out! ___________________________________________________________

It stinks to have to communicate this, but (as you know) sometimes dog owners in our communities treat our school grounds as a local dog park – and don’t always clean up after their pet. This is more of an issue at some of your schools more than it is at others. Here are a couple of guidelines to consider/know around this topic: It is your discretion to lock your gates in an effort to limit dog owner access to your fields. If you would like signage at your field entrances, maintenance will help with ordering and installing these signs, while the cost of purchase is the responsibility of the building. We do not recommend providing “doggie bags” on school grounds as this might give the wrong impression that your fields are open for this dog activity. __________________________________________________________

I am fortunate enough to be one of three (Gary Timms and Kelle Hildebrandt are the others) going to Teachers College at Columbia University to learn more about the Reading and Writing Project (think deeper dive with Mary Ehrenworth and team). Therefore, I will be away from Oct. 15 – 18. I have my cell phone and checking my emails at least daily, but I am not sure what my availability will be during the day if you need some immediate assistance. If I am not available and you need support right away, please reach out to Jay or Katie. ___________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

This training is next week… please shoulder-tap anyone you know who may be interested! If you have bilingual staff who are not classroom teachers and who might be available to support with interpretation during fall conferences (for the time slots we are unable to fill with our regular interpreters), we need to ensure they receive some training on this role.  Please invite them to this meeting: Thursday, October 10th 4:00-5:00pm in Room 312 of the Education Center.  Please have them RSVP to Kinsey Martin.  They will be time-sheeted for this training and paid for any interpretation time they work.  If they attended this training last year, they don’t have to attend again, but are welcome/encouraged to get a refresher! Non-BLS staff who pass a visitor’s background check and attend this training may also be eligible to be interpreters. ___________________________________________________________

Leadership meeting on Monday at 3:15 in the board room. And here is some additional info from Lora and Jay on our time together:

On Monday, October 7^th, we will be walking our leadership team through an exercise for our district’s Excellence and Equity Review that we are asking each school to complete on a School Improvement Wednesday. The activity will take approximately 90 minutes. 

To help compensate for this time, the district SIW scheduled for October 9^th has been eliminated. This does not mean you need to use October 9^th for the E & E activity! You can lead your staff in this activity on any Wednesday between October 9^th and November 13^th. We are emphasizing this because you will have some data you’ll be asked to share with your staff, and it’s important that you and your ICCL’s are familiar with the data and able to answer questions. ___________________________________________________________

Our next Horizontal is on Oct. 21 at LPMS. Reminder… we changed the start time of our Horizontal meetings to be 3:00 from now on. Please come having read (and prepared to speak about) the start of High-Impact Instruction through page 22.

TO DO:

This year’s Job Fair (yes, you read that correctly!) is scheduled for April 13. For all of you planners out there, you’re welcome. For those non-seven-months-ahead planning types, don’t worry – there will be more communication/reminders on this in the months ahead. _________________________________________________________

This “to do” is connected to our upcoming conferences and our usual need for additional interpreters… If you have bilingual staff who are not classroom teachers and who might be available to support with interpreting during fall conferences (for the time slots we are unable to fill with our regular interpreters), we need to ensure they receive some training on this role.  Please invite them to this meeting: Thursday, October 10th 4:00-5:00pm in Room 312 of the Education Center.  Please have them RSVP to Kinsey Martin.  They will be time-sheeted for this training and paid for any interpretation time they work.  If they attended this training last year, they don’t have to attend again, but are welcome/encouraged to get a refresher! ___________________________________________________________

Please pass this on to your science teachers:

Based on teacher request, we have developed an optional Claims-Evidence-Reasoning class.  They will be meeting on Wednesday, October 2nd from 4:00pm-6:00 pm at Pacific Crest MS in Jane Ward’s classroom (D113). 
We will be using backwards design to create lesson plans and assessments around the NGSS science and engineering practice of claim-evidence-reasoning. Please contact Quinn Daily for more information. _________________________________________________________

And, please share this opportunity – including this hotlinked document – with your staff:

Central Oregon has an exciting opportunity to improve professional learning and support educators throughout their career and we are inviting you to be a part of this innovative work around the state. ________________________________________________________

Please pass this flyer on to all of your classified staff. This is in regards to an “Annual Literacy Strategies Conference” that will be offered on a voluntary (and paid) basis. This is a great opportunity for our classified staff to receive great training to better work with students… but it is voluntary to attend (and paid!). ________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

I wasn’t sure if this was a “reminder” or not, as it has been barely mentioned in the first place, so I am communicating it here… Our October 7 Leadership meeting will focus on modeling an Equity and Excellence building listening session. At this meeting, you’ll be provided some district and school-specific data. The idea behind this modeling is that you would then use the first district SIW (on Oct. 9) to conduct your building Equity and Excellence listening session (including using the same district and school data). Please let your staff know that you are planning to meet with them all on Oct. 9 at the building in place of having district SIW meetings to attend (for some). __________________________________________________________

Here is an observation/evaluation update from Jon: Expectations this year look exactly like last year.  I’ll do my best to help summarize those expectations…

Student Learning Growth Goals:  We are still required to have Student Learning Growth Goals.  The requirement and expectations are still the same.  The goals still need to reflect student growth.  

Scoring –   Reminder:  Two years ago we changed how we score SLGGs. We have removed the state scoring guide and the Oregon Matrix.  We are required as a district to make sure we are reflecting on SLGGs in the evaluation.  We decided to fulfill this requirement by using Domain 4 Monitoring, Assessment, and Follow-up in our Summative Evaluation Rubric.  Domain 4 speaks specifically to how teachers use of assessments.  SLGGs should be considered when evaluating Domain 4.  We expect that other factors, like classroom observations, will influence the scoring of this section as well.  There are five different standards in Domain 4.  The SLGGs may influence one or more standards in this domain.  We trust that teachers and administrators can have a professional conversation of how much influence that SLGGs had on the scoring.  

SLGG Forms-  We will be using the same forms with very little change this year. We did remove the scoring guide.  HS and MS will use the form in Talent Ed.  Elementary will use the paper version.

Summative Evaluations:  They will be done like usual except the matrix has been removed.  All probationary employees are on Summative Evaluation.  Employees of concern need to be on Summative Evaluation.  Regular/Contract employees need a Summative Evaluation every two years.

Observations 

Probationary Employee= Six observations total. Two formal observations are required by the state. Four mini observations.  Two of the minis can be professional. 

Employee on Summative Evaluation= Six mini observations.  Four classroom observations and two professional observations.   

Employee not on Summative Evaluation= Three mini observations.  Two classroom observations and one professional observation.

Our committee discussed what counts as a Professional Observation.  We believe that this includes any meeting where an administrator either observes professional behavior or has a professional conversation with an employee. This may include an EBISS meeting, IEP meeting, PLC meeting, student or parent conference, goal-setting meeting, committee work, etc.  In the case of some meetings, it would be appropriate for an administrator to observe several employees at a time.  The feedback could be given to the group or to an individual.  The important part is to let the employees know that it will be counted as a mini.  

The changes will be published in the newest version of The Professional Growth and Performance Evaluation Manual.  We are certain, however, that most employees don’t look at that manual, so it will be up to administrators to share this information with them. 

If you have any question, then please do not hesitate to call. Ext 1104. ___________________________________________________________

I’ve heard recently from Meera Rupp, principal at Bend International School (one of our district’s charter schools). They are a small school near Realms MS that serve students through 8th grade. Meera said they have some current openings in 6th and 8th grade. If you have any students in these grades that may benefit from a smaller school setting (with an international focus), you may want to provide this flyer to the family for consideration. ___________________________________________________________

Oregon RTI is having a conference in Salem in November. Here is additional information if you are interested in attending or sending a team from your school. __________________________________________________________

Here is an update on our Culture of Care Project, as well as a “to do” if you are interested in being involved at a deeper level…

Our three regional care coaches have been busy developing a plan of action to structure how they can support our district and your buildings.  Overall, they have 67 schools in the region to support.  Understanding that this is a three year the coaches have developed a structure to support all schools over the three year period.  The coaches have developed a three-tiered support model with priority schools, consultative schools and facilitative schools.   Bend–La Pine Schools has capacity for 11 priority schools this year.  Our goal is to have representative from all levels (K-12).  All other schools will fall into the consultative category for year 1. 

Currently, we are looking for buildings that are interested in being a priority school this year.  Your school is a good candidate if:

1. Your building was not a priority school/pilot school last year with Dr. Rick Robinson. (All year one schools will receive consultative services from our regional care coaches)
2. Your building has a core team ready to lead the work at the building level.
3. School leadership has articulated a commitment to building a Culture of Care.
4. Resources (staff/time/budget) have been allocated to support the adoption of a Culture of Care.
5. School leadership has begun eliciting input from staff to adopt a Culture of Care
6. School has begun to gather data to guide Culture of Care work.

If you are interested and excited about your building being a priority school this year, please send Sean Reinhart an email no later than Wednesday, Oct. 2^nd.  You will be notified by Monday Oct. 7^th. ___________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

I mentioned this a few weeks ago (9.6.19 blog), but thought it was worth a reminder: Deschutes County Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Whitney Schumacher will be facilitating a Youth Mental Health First Aid training for Bend-La Pine Schools on Friday, October 18^th. If any of your staff are interested in attending this training,  please encourage them to register now at the following link: https://blpsymhfa2019.eventbrite.com. There are a limited number of seats available.

TO DO:

Please have through page 22 of High-Impact Instruction read by Oct. 21, our next Horizontal meeting. We’ll be spending the first 45 minutes of our meeting discussing this section. __________________________________________________

Please take some time this next week to update your Measure 98 (HS Success) Plan in Google Drive. Your initial school year balance (of $2,000 or $4,000) has now been doubled due to the recent full funding of this Measure. Let me know if you have any questions about this. ___________________________________________________

As you are aware, fall parent conferences are quickly approaching (Oct. 23 & 24). If you haven’t begun conversations with your ELL teacher about how many parents might need interpreter services for their conference, please begin to do so. Connected to this, please begin putting a plan together of how many, and at what times, you’ll be needing an interpreter during your conference hours. We do not know interpreter availability yet, but I’d like for you to be ready with a plan when we do. (There could be an even worse drain on interpreters this year as every school in our district has conferences on Oct. 23 – last year our high schools did not hold conferences on that Wednesday.) ________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

The last few days you may have noticed some positive changes with your late busses. There were about 15 route changes made on Wednesday of this week, with an eye on eliminating students arriving late to school (and hopefully also leaving earlier in the afternoon). _____________________________________________________

We will be bringing a Master Schedule Building Workshop here to our district. If you or your schedule builder have never attended this training, I hope you can take advantage of this opportunity to attend. At this training, attendees will be empowered, weighing all potential constraints, to build the most effective master schedule possible. This will help you meet the goal of scheduling the most student requests possible which is a definite factor in their success! We do not have the dates yet (it is a 2-day training) but will let you know as soon as we do. Middle schools will have seven free slots (one per school), while a second participant from your school will only cost $200 – that’s a good deal! The only thing to do at this point is to think about if you would want to have someone (or multiple folks) attend from your school. _________________________________________________________

You may or may not have heard by now that this year’s Principal for the Day event (sponsored by Ed Foundation) will be held on Nov. 1. A catered lunch is planned for participating principals and her/his “guest principal” at noon at the Ed Center. If you have any questions or know of someone who might want to be a guest principal, please contact Michelle Johnson (x5660). _____________________________________________________

Evaluations and SLGGS for 2019-20: Remember that Contract teachers who are on an evaluation cycle will receive SIX mini observations and complete SLGGs, a self-reflection and a summative evaluation.  Contract teachers who are not being evaluated this year will receive THREE mini observations and complete the SLGGs.  ALL Temporary and Probationary teachers get TWO FORMAL observations prior to the end of Feb. For a mini observation to be considered “legit” you must debrief with the teacher within 72 hours of the observation. And finally, counselors will have a new goal setting sheet – specific to counselors – in TalentEd, so don’t be surprised by this change. __________________________________________________________

Here is an HR Update:

The District has secured a new pre-employment drug testing provider who offers expanded drug testing hours (Monday through Saturday).  This will allow our administrators to offer positions on Friday because testing can be performed all day on Saturday.  However, with those extended options comes the additional challenge of making sure an applicant is available on Saturday to go to the testing facility.  As before, please make sure you know the applicant is available to meet the 24 hour time frame to complete the pre-employment drug test. It is extremely helpful to share the information below instead of directing the applicant to call HR.  Also, we are requesting that applicants come to our office by 3:00 on Friday afternoon in order to facilitate the paperwork.

Please inform the applicant they should report to the Human Resources office who will be expecting them and will have paperwork ready for their arrival.  Please make sure to restate that we are offering the position contingent upon completion of our pre-employment hiring steps and they have until (insert specific time/date) to make sure the process is completed.

We caution against having the applicant call our office in case we are occupied with new hires and phone calls and are not able to get back to the person right away. They could lose valuable time waiting for a return call, when in fact we have paperwork already prepared for their arrival.  We really appreciate your care and effort in helping communicate the steps when making the offer to our applicants. We love knowing they are informed on the next steps and will welcome them and guide them through the process. __________________________________________________________

This was sent directly to your building 504 coordinator, but wanted you to be aware of this upcoming training as well.

TO DO:

I have a favor to ask regarding bus transportation to/from your school. Would you please let me know, by Monday (9/16) at 9:00am, how many busses have typically been arriving late (not allowing students to get to class on time), as well as how late (e.g. one bus a few minutes late, two busses 15-20 min. late)? Additionally, would you also let me know how many busses are typically arriving late (more than 15 min. after school ends) in the afternoon? We know there have been issues with both of these and want to continue working together to get these resolved – so having this information will be very helpful. _____________________________________________________

Last week I asked that you review this list to make sure it was accurate. This is the group of 1st and 2nd-year teachers at BLS who will be receiving Disciplinary Literacy coaching this year. On September 23 Alex Child (MS literacy coach and teacher at SVMS) will be making her first contact with this group of new teachers. Please share this message with all of your new teachers (on the above list) – either via email or face-to-face – so they know that Alex will be in touch with them soon. And, by the way, the dates for Disciplinary Training this year will be 10/14, 1/14, and 3/17 from 12:30 – 4:00pm. (Feel free to share these dates with your new teachers.) The sub code to use for these trainings is: ESSA Dis. Lit. (Feel free to share this with your Office Manager.) _________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

Yesterday you met our three newly-hired CARE Coaches who will be working with our region’s schools to promote equity, wellness, safety, and community support. One or more of these coaches (Erin Taylor, Amber McGill, and Amy Yillik) will be contacting you soon in order to set up a time to come meet with you and describe their work, answer questions you might have, learn more about your current school culture/student needs, and see where they might be able to support where you’d like to see areas of growth at your building. I hope to also attend these meetings as our coordinated schedules allow. As a reminder, here is some additional information regarding these new positions. _________________________________________________________

You will hear more about our district’s Excellence and Equity Review and listening sessions at Monday’s Leadership meeting. You’ll also be told at this meeting that you can use our first District SIW (on 10.9.19) to conduct listening sessions if you’d like – as none of your staff will be pulled for other district meetings/trainings. _________________________________________________________

Here is some information form Jody McBride regarding interpretation and translation services. Our translators and interpreters are not here, or on call. They work for the HDESD and we contract with the HDESD for their services. Here is a document containing all of the information a staff member needs (feel free to share!), and here are the highlights: 

• Documents for translation take approximately 5-7 school days for turn around. It can be longer during busy times. 
  
• Please send your documents as an attachment in an email, and in a manipulative form (Word, Pages etc) if at all possible. PDF’s are difficult to translate and take longer. Please don’t convert a PDF to Word. It ends up corrupted for the translator. 
  
• Remember to request your interpreter(s) on the portal 5-7 school days in advance unless it is an emergency issue such as medical, discipline, etc. The HDESD will always try to fill every request, but sometimes there isn’t anyone available last minute.
  
• Don’t forget to notify our office in advance if the appointment is canceled or changed. We are charged for cancellations with less than 24 hours notice.  _______________________________________________________

Throughout this year, if you find yourself wanting/needing additional support with a student, please remember and refer to our new process of accessing immediate (you control) sub time, as well as a form for requesting additional (beyond your sub time) SPED support. Here is the form to remind you of all you need to know about this! __________________________________________________________

There are a number of legislative changes that are connected to how you do (or will be doing from now on) your job. This is the first update from our HR office to keep you posted of what these are. Please make sure you read and make yourself aware of these. __________________________________________________________

Here is an update from Kim Crabtree regarding transportation issues to start the year – and how you might be able to help:

1. Please make sure bus loops are clear of parent traffic, so buses can move thru efficiently. This is especially true for the busses arriving after the first set has left your campus in the afternoon.
2. Please do NOT mark students tardy for late buses. We have not been calling schools about late buses, because it is still the majority that are running late.
3. We are brainstorming for some fixes for transfer buses. Buses are scheduled to drop at schools at 8:30, then head to Option Schools. There are areas of town that make it nearly impossible to get to another school within 15 minutes, it is our goal- unfortunately, we are not meeting this. 

Reasons we are running late:
Many students are just getting onto buses this week and are not familiar with the process. We have a high volume of MS/HS students riding, buses are very full- which slows down loading and unloading. Lots of construction- Brosterous, 15th causing large delays. Lots of parent traffic at school delaying our ability to get into the bus load/unload zone. All drivers have new routes this year. _________________________________________________________

There is a statewide Educator Equity Summit coming up on Sept. 25 in Salem. If you are interested in learning more, check this out. _________________________________________________________

ACT Aspire is transitioning to a completely different website this year. There is a message on the old website that it is only to be used for viewing reports. Our IT staff was going to upload student and staff information this week, but that is going to get pushed back. For now, Aspire tests can’t be administered. It will likely be at least a week or two before testing is possible. _____________________________________________________

Here is a sustainability update from Jackie Wilson:

Cleaning Supplies. The Facility department was given the heads up about several school office managers purchasing Clorox Cleaning wipes for classrooms. Hopefully, through some education of our staff, we can remedy this problem. 

Our schools are places where children learn, grow, and get sick. Part of the work of the classroom teachers and students is to clean up desks and tables in their classrooms. Walter Norris and the custodial staff work hard to use supplies to keep the school clean and ensure cleaning agents do not damage the school areas.  All school classrooms should have access to spray bottles with our “green” certified cleaner and microfiber towels. This cleaner is chosen for our schools based on quality and the Safety Datasheet of the product. When teachers bring in their own products, the safety of them and any known allergens have not been cleared by BLSD Custodial Department and might pose risks to students, staff and damage the building surfaces. Please ask your staff to ONLY use the products provided by the district as they are safe and effective. Please see this document for more information to share with the staff.
WE ReduceThis is the last call for WE Reduce, Sustainability Advisors at BLSD schools. Sustainability Advisors will need to be confirmed by Wednesday, September 18th. WE Reduce is a program of BLSD and a great way your school can support sustainability efforts, the Climate Resolution, and students environmental literacy and leadership. Any Certified or non-certified staff can be the leader of this program. The leads will receive an incentive at the end of the year for their work (20 hours at the curriculum rate) and the school will receive funds to support green team efforts. Currently, the schools that have been involved in the program, have on average $700 in award money in reserves from the last 2 years. There has been a reduction in electricity costs in schools with robust green teams as well. Elementary schools and Middle schools with active Green Teams have shown a $2,000 -$5,000 saving in electricity. Summit High as one of the only high schools with a Sustainability Advisor has seen $25,448 in cost savings for electricity since the 16/17 school year. In comparison, Mountain view has seen an increase since the 17/18 school year of $4282. Beyond electricity there is a reduction in trash and an increase in recycling. Cascade MS and Jewell recently started boat stacking in the cafeteria and reduced the lunch trash garbage in half! PBMS started to collect bottles and cans that were being thrown away and collected $600 in a few months from the bottle drop program.

REMINDERS:

Insurance Open Enrollment closes soon (9/15), so please remind your staff… OEBB and Bend-La Pine will not be staffed over the final weekend to assist or answer questions. Please encourage your staff to complete enrollment at their earliest convenience so that any technical difficulties or questions can be addressed ahead of the enrollment deadline. To enroll, please visit:  https://myoebb.org/oebb/!pb.main        ___________________________________________________________

Monday we’ll be meeting for Leadership at 3:15 in the Board Room.

TO DO:

Check out this 1:00 video clip that you may have caught on News 21 on Wednesday evening. Stephen represented us all well! __________________________________________________________

Here is a link to a five-question survey. I’d love to have all principals and VPs complete it by 9/11 so I can share the results with you when we meet on 9/12. ________________________________________________________

Our safety team has created signs to provide information for visitors/volunteers. It is my understanding that these are being sent directly to your schools. There has been a delay in processing the Spanish-language versions, so I am asking all of you to WAIT to post signs until you have both English and Spanish-language posters.  ___________________________________________________________

Please review this document for accuracy. As you have likely heard by now, the district is providing literacy training for most new (to BLS) teachers. (Teachers not receiving this training include those in the following departments: SPED, ELD, music.) If you do not see one of your year one or year two (to BLS) teachers on this list (regardless of overall teaching experience), please let Dean Richards know. ___________________________________________________________

Sal reached out to me regarding a better time to meet with MS ADs. What we came up with is the idea of meeting fewer times, but a little longer in length. The question here (that I need your feedback on before deciding with Sal) is whether you would support your AD meeting during a half-day on three of the four district SIW Wednesdays. They would meet on Oct. 9 and March 11, and EITHER Nov. 13 or Feb. 12. The ask of you would be to pay for three, .5 day PM sub days (if needed to cover classes he/she teaches) – out of athletics or other building budget. Would this work for you? Please let me know by Wednesday (9/11) of next week. I will take silence from your building as approval of this plan. 🙂

THIS and THAT:

It has been decided that we will no longer administer Brightbytes and Gallup surveys to students/staff. (Hope you were sitting down for that one…) ______________________________________________________

A StudySync training will be offered on Sept. 11 from 12:30 – 3:00 for any teachers who are new to this program or would like a refresher. Subs will be the responsibility of the building. Contact Julie Walker if you have any specific questions on this. __________________________________________________________

While the Bend-area Jewish community is not large, we have a significant number of Jewish families in our school district. We were contacted last year by a local rabbi, asking us to avoid scheduling family events on their holiest of holidays. These are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For 2019, these are the dates these holidays fall:

• Rosh Hashanah-sunset Sunday, 9/29-sundown Tuesday, 10/1
• Yom Kippur-sunset Tuesday, 10/8-sundown Wednesday, 10/9

Please note that these dates do not mean school activities need to come to a standstill, but please avoid scheduling events such as open houses, curriculum nights, etc. _____________________________________________________

And speaking of highlighting calendar dates this school year, here are the dates of our six Leadership meetings: Sept. 16, Oct. 7, Dec. 2, Feb. 3, April 6, and June 15. All meetings will start at 3:15, except for the annual meeting/BBQ on June 15 – which will start at noon. _________________________________________________________

Regarding our Leadership meeting on Sept. 16, following is some information about how we’ll be spending most of our time that afternoon:

At our leadership team meeting September 16^th, our team will spend most of the meeting focused on our district’s 2019-20 Excellence and Equity Review. We will begin with some background information and logistics, then transition into small group listening sessions.

While I don’t want to waste your precious time now providing lots of information, I want to make sure you have a basic idea of the Excellence and Equity Review because it will be on the agenda of the September 9^th school board meeting.

Here’s the purpose statement:

The primary purpose of the Excellence and Equity Review is to gather and analyze information related to the academic, social and emotional experiences of our students, particularly those from underserved populations. Our information about students’ needs helps us to more effectively prioritize strategies, allocate resources, and develop staff’s knowledge and skills.

The district’s process for our first review is a comprehensive one, as you’ll see in our meeting. For almost a year, we have been planning implementation of a systemic review of our academic strengths and needs, similar to the Sites and Facilities Review process. Fortunately, our planned process and activities will also meet Oregon’s new requirements for districts’ outreach, etc. related to spending with Student Success Act funds…along with a host of other new requirements. ______________________________________________________

There will be two Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings offered this school year. Staff that usually find this 8-hour training useful are those that do not have a lot of experience with mental health, i.e. any teachers, classified employees, coaches, administrators, school nurses, family advocates, etc. The training is free to district employees, but your building would need to covers sub costs if one is needed. (I have attended this training just over a year ago and found it useful – and the SPED EA’s that I attended with really found value in it as well.) Here is the registration info. _____________________________________________________

From Alandra (and connected to her photo attached in your email):

Welcoming Week Sept. 13-20: This year Bend-La Pine Schools is a supporting partner for the City of Bend’s Welcoming Week activities. Alandra is sending a poster about the events to every school — please hang this on your school’s community bulletin board. She is also sending signs that say “I’m a Welcomer” or “(insert school name) welcomes you”. Feel free photograph staff or students holding these signs. You can share on social media or email photos to Alandra. 

What is Welcoming Week? Welcoming Week is a series of events that brings together immigrants and those born within their countries to build strong community connections. These events are guided by the principles of inclusion and creating communities that prosper because everyone feels welcome, including immigrants and refugees. 

Learn more: City of Bend site and National Welcoming Week site _______________________________________________________

Wondering how many minis you’ll be responsible to do for your speech path and psych this year? Wonder no more! _______________________________________________________

From Tami Pike:

Field Trip Notification to Nurses

We had some instances last year where students with health conditions were not able to participate in an off site school activity due to the nurse not receiving ample notification time to plan for medical support (physician orders for procedures or medications, staff trainings, health condition/plan review). Needless to say students and parents were pretty upset. 

School Nurse Priorities

Over the past few years, I have been sensing increasing frustration between office staff, school administrators, and nurses about what the responsibilities/roles of the school nurses are. I am hoping that a gentle reminder to school administrators on the role and priorities of the school nurse will help decrease any confusion at their sites. *The information included in the attachment is the same information that I presented to our district administration almost 5 years ago.  ______________________________________________________

There is a District Safety Team that meets monthly (first meeting of the year is next week). There are representatives from many departments/levels who participate (custodial, classified, certified, admin, HR, SPED, etc.). Nole Kennedy is the person representing middle schools. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions of anything related to school or district safety (e.g. current practices, safety improvement ideas, etc.) please pass those on to Nole for sharing/asking of this group. _______________________________________________________

I know you don’t need to access/request this now, but remember that there is a new process beginning this year when/if you have a high needs student that requires additional adult support – outside of your current staffing. We are calling this High Needs Student Discretionary Funds and each school is allocated funds that would cover 70 hours of classified sub time. You will find a new line in your building budget that provides you with these funds. Here is a link to additional explanation for use of the High Needs Student Discretionary Funds, as well as a link to request additional SPED staffing if/when you need additional support after these funds have been allocated. _______________________________________________________

You likely have already received this from Marsha Baro, but wanted to share this information with you again here. This form provides information regarding not only supplemental student insurance information, but also links to the new Incident Reports on the BLS website. _______________________________________________________

As many/most of you know, Jackie Wilson is our district’s Sustainability Coordinator. There will be a few times this year that I’ll be sharing some information from Jackie… and here is the first… There was a Climate Resolution passed at the June board meeting. This new resolution will assist the district in future decisions and help shape our sustainability plan. WE Reduce is a program of BLSD. Through this program, schools have a designated staff leader who is the Sustainability Advisor at the school. This lead works with the school community and a green team on tasks to decrease waste and increase energy efficiency in the schools. This is a stipend position ($1500 for most MS – $1000 for Realms) and an important role for each school as the work helps to save money and educate students about the ways they can be leaders and guide stewardship actions in their schools. Please make sure that admin teams review the WE reduce program goals and to pass on to me the name of the staff member who will be the Sustainability Advisor for their school in the upcoming 19-20 school year. If Administrators have any questions about their school utilities or energy impact compared to other schools, I am happy to provide reports and will update them regularly.   [email protected]

REMINDERS:

We’ll be having our first Horizontal of the year next Thursday (9/12) at PCMS, starting at 3:15. Here is the agenda. (As an extra bonus reminder, I will not bring copies of the agenda, so please either bring a hard or digital copy for your reference.) ______________________________________________________

Sean sent you some info regarding a Collaborative Problem Solving training earlier this week, but wanted to remind you of/have it handy for you as a reference. Here is the email Sean sent: I have some good news about the upcoming CPS training on October 9-11.  Through the Culture of Care grant, I have 33 scholarships available for subs (worth $500 each).  Each school that sends a staff member is guaranteed at least one scholarship.  If not all schools  use the scholarships, we will divide them up evenly among schools that are participating.  If you were already sending staff members, please consider sending some more.  Please indicate which staff members you would like to attend to Denise Sevigny no later than Friday, September 13^th.  After the 13^th, we will sell slots to other districts that are very interested in this training.  Please let me or Denise know if you have any questions.