TO DO:

• Let me know if you would be interested in hosting a PE teacher candidate for the fall term. She is a student in the George Fox cohort. Thanks!

THIS AND THAT:

• This will be the second-to-last TRIBE update for this year.  I will not send out an update on the last week of classes.
• I wanted to leave you this year thinking about next year.  Specifically, I want you to consider attending (and bringing a team from your school would be even better) the Taking It Up training on August 13 – 14. Taking a look at our personal bias’ can be a bit hard to swallow, but not doing so is worse. At May’s Leadership meeting we asked school teams to consider/identify student learning gaps. I would further ask you to consider if/how staff bias’ can subtly contribute to such gaps. Although not connected to the Taking It Up training, I thought this Project Implicit website offers the opportunity for you to identify some of your “thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control” by taking a quick 10-minute test. I was a bit surprised by the results from the test that I chose to take. Taking a survey such as this might be a way for you to introduce (or dive deeper into) personal bias with your staff.
• Here is a copy of the 2018-19 certified employee work calendar. Feel free to communicate this now with your teachers and/or in the fall upon their return. Let me know if you have any questions regarding these days.
• Principals, I have completed your Summative Eval for the year.  During my May visit with you, we were able to discuss your self-reflection – thank you. You should now be able to view your Summative in Talent Ed.  (I have used “form sharing” with you, but have not hit “save & submit” yet as I wanted you to have the opportunity to read through it first and provide me any feedback you might have.) Please complete your year-end SLGG and then we can begin exchanging signatures on various eval forms.

REMINDERS:

• Leadership BBQ will be Monday, June 18 at noon here at the Ed Center. This will involve food and a short meeting.

TO DO:

• I am hearing that a handful of our middle schools have spoken with Scott McDonald regarding offering a new “coding” elective class next year. I also know that I have worked with CMS to call this class “Computer Science 1” (NCES code is: 10012). Because ODE audits every class a teacher is teaching (matching course code with teaching endorsement), the name of the course/NCES code is quite important.  In doing the crosswalk of course code with endorsement needed to teach this class, there is a lot of flexibility (thankfully).  If you are thinking of offering this course next year please use this course title/code.  If you’d like the list of endorsements that a teacher must have in order to teach this course please let me know and I’ll send it to you.
• Our district’s annual Safety Training Day will be on August 9, 2018. Scott Bojanowski is beginning to work on an agenda for that day. If you have any topics that you would like presented or discussed, please let Scott know in the coming few weeks.

THIS AND THAT:

• Thank you again for the planning and time you spent with your incoming 5th graders earlier this week.  I am sure they appreciated being on your campus for the first time as a class and are eager to return in September!
• Hot off of the presses from Alandra: As of June 1, all schools will use SchoolMessenger to send home emails and phone calls to families (goodbye, don’t let the door hit you on the way out SynerVoice). Office staff at our schools have trained on this. We also want to empower our building admin to be able to use this new and, I would say, MUCH easier and more intuitive, tool in order to communicate directly with families as needs arise.With that in mind, Deby Bryson and I will host two upcoming SchoolMessenger trainings aimed exclusively at principals and APs. We will tailor the training to our principals’ needs and talk about examples of how the tool might be used. Both of these trainings will be in the Wall St. Lab: Tuesday, June 19 (2:30 – 4:00) and Tuesday, Aug. 7 (9:00 – 10:30).  Please email Alandra Johnson if you plan to attend either of these trainings. These sessions are identical, so you only need to attend one to be fully trained!
• The article A Look at How Principals Really Drive School Improvement asks (and answers) the question of which is more important to student learning: curriculum or culture? Any guesses what the author postulates is the more important of the two? Here is a quote from this article that will hopefully wet your appetite to read more: “A lot of times people think school climate is something you work on and take care of so you can get to the real work of teaching and learning…”
• I think there is real money to be made in legally selling things to youth that look like items that are illegal for youth to possess or use. Also seem pretty exploitative.  Like this new item: https://monq.com/  (Thanks to Lisa for sharing this opportunity for us to learn about this new e-cigarette look-alike!) This new option for “aromatherapy anywhere” essential oil diffuser does not belong at school.  Policy JFCG-AP states (in part) “Student possession, use, distribution, or sale of tobacco, including any smoking device (italics added), is prohibited on district premises, at school-sponsored activities…” Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.
• You are likely aware of the KTVZ/MidOregon Credit Union school needs project established for regional schools called One Class at a Time. If not, click on the link to learn more, including some short video segments for previous winners.  One school winner is selected each month (for 10 months) and receives $500.  If you have a proposal you’d like considered, please email Kyle Frick at: [email protected]

REMINDERS:

• As I mentioned at our Horizontal meeting this week, if you have a SS teacher that you believe would be a good mentor to a teacher candidate, please let me know.  Again, the ask is for 120 hours in the fall, and a return placement in the spring term. (Winter term is at a HS.)

TO DO:

• Enjoy meeting your next year’s 6th graders for the first time on Tuesday!  They will be excited to be in your building and creating a first impression of what MS will be like!

THIS AND THAT:

• Thank you!  A few weeks ago I asked to have someone from each school indicate the electives you currently offer on a Google form. This information is now collected and ready for you to review if you’d like to see what your fellow “tribe” members are offering. There are definitely some courses that all of our middle school are offering (music choices), but not all are offering the same (some percussion, some brass, some orchestra). I hope this is one more opportunity to see behind the curtain of what we are making available to our MS students.
• Educational institutions are known for being innovative. There is innovation in building design, in pedagogy, in curriculum materials, in leadership “best practices,” in well, just about anything.  This article by Mike Schmoker caught my attention in that he is advocating against innovation in education.  Curious for more? Read his article: “Whims, Fads, Opportunism, and Ideology.”

REMINDERS:

• We are meeting as a Horizontal (our last of this year) at PBMS on Monday.  (NOTE: This is a change of location from our original schedule.) We’ll meet in the PBMS library… and might even have time for a quick tour of ongoing construction occurring there! Here is a link to the agenda.  Please bring your laptop with you.  Let me know if you’d like to add anything to the agenda.

TO DO:

• This is a tough time of year, with so much going on, to complete mini observations and feedback conversations. However, you know we are quickly coming to the conclusion of another year (23 more school days with kids?!) so hang in there!  As a reminder, I’ll want to touch bases with you this month regarding your self-eval and any questions/comments that we can have around that.  My goal will be to have your (principal) summative eval done no later than June 19.

THIS AND THAT:

• The New York Times has created “What’s Going on in This Picture” writing prompts for teachers to use with his/her students. The new photo that is added every week not only provides a visual prompt to write about, but there is also other opportunities to engage with other writers outside of your school. Seems like a nice tool that helps facilitates the use of descriptive words in student writing.
• Every couple of months Kinsey Martin sends out an ELL Newsletter to folks in her department.  I will work to provide you with this newsletter information in one of these updates. This may be information for you to be aware of, or it may be a topic that you want to share with others (front office staff, counselor, etc.) in your building. Here is the May ELL Newsletter and a process/protocol for a new student that you’d like to refer to the Welcome Center. Both of these documents can also be found in the “BLS Docs” folder on the Tribe blog.
• If you are interested in learning Spanish, or improving your existing skills, COCC’s Central Oregon Summer Spanish Immersion is offering a special discount for our district employees!  Limited number of discounts–first come, first served.  When you register, use the code: COSSI-K12. Check this out if you would like additional information or to register.
• Here is a heads-up (or reminder) regarding supplemental health curriculum that includes the process for having health curriculum adopted within our district. Please take a few moments to read these two paragraphs.
• There is a required math training for all middle school teachers on August 31. Teachers can sign-up here. As of today, only four middle school math teachers have signed up, so please encourage your folks to do so soon.

There are two other classes that math teachers may be interested in as well:

Best Practices: Mathematically Productive Engagement on June 19-21

Best Practices: How Math Teaching Matters on August 15-17

(Both can count for their 190 days for the 2018-2019 school year and I can offer 2 graduate credits from PSU.)

• The math Challenge-up Assessment window is August 20-September 15. Each school can pick the days that work best to administer the assessments. The paper pencil portion of the assessment is located here along with answer keys and directions. The EasyCBM window will open August 13^th.

REMINDERS:

• Don’t forget Mother’s Day this Sunday!
• The annual 5th grade move-up day is quickly approaching.  If you haven’t already, you might want to consider having someone from your staff reach out to your feeder schools to make sure they are prepared to come visit you on May 22. Thank you in advance for the planning and time you and your staff spend preparing for these few hours.  I know this is “one more thing” on your plate, but goes a long way in generating a warm welcome to your incoming 6th graders (and parents).

TO DO:

• If you, at any point this spring, modify your staffing plan, please make the updates in your Google Drive folder as well.  Your school plan will be referenced by HR and myself prior to gaining approval for posting. As always, let me know if you have any questions on this.

THIS AND THAT:

• A couple of weeks ago I heard someone speaking who used the illustration of a basket with two handles.  In order to safely carry that basket, a person needed to use two hands in unison.  If she/he didn’t then the contents within that basket would fall out and the effectiveness of that basket would be lost. I think of learning in a similar manner. It is both art and science.  It is part pedagogy and part relationships. It is content knowledge and understanding of developmental stages. The question could be posed then, of which is more important, curriculum or culture, to a youth’s learning. You may have a leaning (slight or strong) to one of these being more important, but likely we would all agree that the best learning happens when both are present in positive doses. Here is a recent (and short) article entitled A Look at How Principals Really Drive School Improvement from EDUCATION WEEK that I hope will spur you to reflect, discuss, and analyze how the two-handed basket of learning is being carried in your building.
• We need science teachers as our PASS Level Review Assessors for 2017-18!  PASS is the professional learning and salary advancement schedule for our early career educators.  We currently have 105 teachers on this system.  Each year we have a different group of teachers submitting for Level Review.  They submit 3 tasks and then those tasks are scored by a Level Review panel.  The panel consists of a teacher in the content area, a teacher in the developmental age range and an administrator (not at the same school).
  We currently have 3 secondary science teachers who are submitting for Level Review and they need content area teachers on their panel. Last year, we had 2 amazing science teachers participate on the Level Review panels and they enjoyed the professional learning that they gained but this year they had scheduling conflicts.
  If you are interested, you need to be available on June 18, 19 and 20.  You will be compensated at curriculum rate.  Please read the job description and submit the application and recommendation form which are located in the Staff Portal.
  If you have any questions, feel free to email Michele Oakes.

REMINDERS:

• As a reminder, you are getting this week’s update a day early because I am leaving this afternoon for my daughter’s graduation in CA. Feel free to call or text me on my cell if you need anything.  Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday afternoon at Leadership!
• If you haven’t completed the admin leadership survey yet, please do so by this weekend so we have your input prior to our meeting on Monday.
• Monday is MAC survey day.

TO DO:

• As field trip season comes into full swing, please remind your office managers and teachers to please use the district field trip permission slip – and not create their own. At this link (found in the portal if you search “field trip”) you will find one page that the teacher completes requesting the field trip and gives to you for signature, one page requesting to do a fundraiser (only if it is needed to pay for the field trip), one page of trip reminders, and two pages of actual field trip form that is sent home for parent signature.  This two-page parent permission form has already been translated into Spanish, which is another reason it is important to use this form. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this.
• For all of you super planners out there that may have missed Lora’s recent email, here are next year’s district SIW dates: 10/17/18, 12/19/18, 2/20/19, and 4/24/19. I will share these again next fall, so you don’t need to document them now. (I only underlined two of them in order to better read all four dates.)

THIS AND THAT:

• Look at the faces and see the personality of these kinders. Subbing in their class (I missed a few in this photo) was definitely one of the highlights of last week. They had spunk and a warmth that middle school kids take a bit longer to express. And, they were all accepted and cared for by their peers.  It made me wonder about the experiences children are exposed to during the next six years of life that change how they believe they should act and the protections they begin to build around them so their peers don’t see who they really are. It made me believe even more about the power we have in shaping young lives through the experiences (culture) we provide for them in our classrooms, during passing times and lunch, and through after school activities. Your role is an influential one – and one that carries a lot of responsibility. Thank you for the care, compassion, integrity and courage you bring to your job every day.
• I ran across a TED Talk this week entitled: How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime. Although there is some information that I am sure you have heard before (e.g. ACES), and some information has a strong medical treatment focus, I believe this is a talk that you will not only learn something from, but also one that you could (should?) share with your staff or other stakeholders. You have students in your building who have experienced trauma.  Do you know who they are? Are their behaviors often misunderstood or misdiagnosed (e.g. ADHD)? If they misbehave, do your discipline responses help or hinder a change in their behavior?  Can we better support these kids in her/his learning? These are not easy questions and I do not pretend to have the answers. I do hope you are aware of this dynamic (childhood trauma) when you ask yourself (or a child): “Help me understand why you … [respond that way]?”
• The TELL (statewide – certified) survey data is now available.  You should be receiving your building’s classified results soon as well.  (Remember, the state does not ask for classified employees to complete the TELL, so we created our own survey so we can capture the voice of our classified folks as well.) Please plan on sharing your site survey data in some way (e.g. work with ICCL to decide, share with site council, share with whole staff) with your stakeholders and use this feedback as a way to improve climate, operations, support, culture, etc. in your building.
• I will be away from the office next Thursday afternoon and all day Friday.  Christie and I (and our youngest) will be flying to LA for our daughter’s college graduation, which is on Friday. I’ll have my cell phone with me if you need anything during this time!

REMINDERS:

• Don’t forget to complete (in the next few weeks) the admin leadership survey that was sent to you earlier today. (See Jay’s email for details.)
• Thanks to those schools who have completed the Google doc regarding your elective offerings.  If you haven’t had an opportunity to do so yet, here is the link.
• If you think you might have any staff member interested in taking a Spanish conversation class offered through the district next year, please let me know.  I do not need names, just a head nod that yes, there would be some in your building interested.
• I’ve read some great ideas that have already been added to the “what can administrators do with/for a new teacher document” in Google doc. Please add your ideas and take a look at the creative suggestions that have already been added!

TO DO:

• Very soon, likely Monday or Tuesday, you will receive a link to a survey.  Please complete this survey in the next few weeks. This survey will serve as feedback on our school design work covering not only the past few months, but really the past few years.  We will be sharing the results at our Leadership meeting on May 7.
• Recently I’ve been having some conversations around middle school course offerings – specifically concerning rigor and choice. Because of this, I’d love to collect (and share with you all) information regarding what each middle school offers students for electives. Please take a look at this Google doc and complete it for your school. (You may share the link with someone else in your building and have them complete it if you’d like.) You will be asked: How many periods of electives do your students have? Are electives comprised of a (required) wheel, or do they choose what elective to take? And, please list your electives by grade, name and length.  I hope this will also provide you with information about what other middle schools are offering so that you can ask questions of or share ideas with one another.
• We have the opportunity to offer Spanish conversation classes on Wednesdays next year for a very reasonable cost. Classes will be offered every term.  These would be open to admin, certified and classified staff, with the opportunity for certified staff to earn credit at a low cost. I don’t know any other details. Please let me know by the end of next week if you or other staff members might be interested in taking this class.
• Some work is being done to modify our “new teacher day” to create an even more memorable experience (any of you finished reading The Power of Moments yet?) for the licensed staff who will be joining our district next fall. One of the tasks that Gary and I are working on is to create a list of possible items that a building principal would personally engage in or would support someone else in their building engaging in with a new hire. Through the lens of “how can I help create a ‘moment’ for this new teacher” would you please take a look at this very draft list of possibilities and add any that you have either done yourself, or might want to do in the future either with, or for a new teacher? (Thank you!)

THIS AND THAT:

• This week I want to share a very short article highlighting work by John Hattie around classroom teaching practices that make the biggest difference in student learning. This may not be new learning for you, but if nothing else I hope it confirms what you already believe to be true.
• There has been much behind-the-scenes work being done around first/aid, safety, and training.  I wanted to provide you a quick overview of what you might be hearing more about. All classrooms in our district will be provided a first aid fanny pack; a larger first aid bag will be provided for every main office; and small first aid kits will be installed next to your building AED.  Also, “stop the bleed” training will be provided to all nurses, as well as all staff who participate in future first aid trainings.
• Many of you have asked how it went teaching kindergarten this past Wednesday.  Well, it was a very sweet group of students whom have been wonderfully trained and taught this year.  It was definitely a fun day – but I am not going to be applying for a primary teaching job any time soon! (Teachers who work with our youngest students are truly saints!)

REMINDERS:

• We haven’t talked about this in a while, so it is probably time for a reminder… No student fees should be charged for any required classes. The option can be given for a student to purchase supplies/materials (PE uniform, art supplies, shop materials, etc.), but there should be “loaner” or other materials made available to students who cannot or choose not to purchase them.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.

TO DO:

• Please keep me in your thoughts next Wednesday, April 18.  Some of you know that on the “new teacher day” a number of Shay’s cabinet members are placed in a drawing where a new teacher is given a day off and we are the substitute for her/his class.  Well, a new kindergarten teacher at Jewell had my name drawn for her, and quite frankly I’m scared.  I mean, those little kinder kids might destroy me up before their first snack break!  Only because I’m not a complete fool, did I get Skip to allow Christie (a former primary teacher) to join me that day, so I won’t need to take the rest of next week off to recover.  Should be fun!

THIS AND THAT:

• This month I will be talking with you (or have already) about changes and the path moving forward around MS math.  There are three documents that I have saved to our TRIBE Google Doc folder (specifically, found in the “Instruction/PD/SDP” folder) I want to highlight quickly here.  I’ll be following up with you in person regarding these during my next school visit. First, there is a document outlining “by-pass” options.  Second, there is a document intended to be shared with MS parents.  And third, a document outlining the guiding principles behind these changes. These are good documents to share with your math teachers, counselors, parents, and have knowledge of yourself when you receive questions. I will also add this as an agenda item for our May Horizontal meeting.
• I have met with some, but not all of you, to look at and discuss your mid-year goals. (Rather, your yearly goals at the mid-year point.) If we have not completed this yet, plan on this being a topic at my next school visit with you.
• On a similar note, principals, you have been assigned the “summative self-reflection” for this year.  Please have that completed no later than Friday, April 27.  I hope to have your summative evaluation complete in time to share with you at our May school site visit.
• Jay will be sending out an email to you regarding some guidance around a possible student walk-out/demonstration on April 20.  The information will be very similar to previous guidance, except that this one has the possibility of lasting much longer than the March 17 walk-out, and thus consequences could also increase.  After you receive it and have an opportunity to review it, please give me a call with any questions.
• Jay sent out an email this past Tuesday evening regarding a survey that some of your teachers will be involved with.  BEA is hiring a retired teacher to come to some of our schools in order to survey some teachers during her/his prep.  This is part of a larger OEA effort to identify leaders from their membership and hear about successes and challenges from their members. Approximately half of our schools were surveyed last year, and the attempt is to survey the other half this year.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.
• This article is a bit longer than I like to share with you, I apologize. This one comes from a great website, MindShift, that “explores the future of learning in all its dimensions. We examine how learning is being impacted by technology, discoveries about how the brain works, poverty and inequities, social and emotional practices, assessments, digital games, design thinking and music, among many other topics.” [This is likely a site you’ll want to save to your “favorites” if you haven’t already.] To give you a taste of the type of quality article you’ll find there, here is 20 Tips to help De-escalate with Anxious or Defiant Students. [Thanks to Robi for sharing this website with me!]

REMINDERS:

• As a reminder, I had previously cancelled our Horizontal meeting this month when I thought were needed to meet right after spring break.  Even though that meeting was non needed, we will still not be meeting as a Horizontal group this month.  Our next meeting is May 21 at LPMS.

TO DO:

• If you are interested in providing any feedback on the proposed changes to the student discipline “matrix” – please have that emailed to either Sal or I no later than next Friday (4/13).
• Please keep me posted/updated on any questions or changes you make to your staffing plan for the next few weeks. As you know, our budget is very tight and I want to be sure I provide you with the correct and most timely information possibly as we head into the posting, interviewing and hiring season.

THIS AND THAT:

• Alandra is beginning work to put together our district calendar/student handbook for next year.  We will again be highlighting students throughout the calendar section.  The theme for students will be: “watch me…” (…perform, practice, compete, complete, etc.) If you would like to nominate any student from your school to be considered for this, please use this link to make your nomination.  Deadline to nominate is April 23!
• If you have a partition coming as part of the temporary safety initiatives (until your front lobby area is remodeled), then you should see it soon!  The partitions have arrived, but the “feet” to hold them upright have not.  You might see these delivered and go up as soon as next week.
• As soon as Monday you will receive communication around collecting parent feedback on school start times.  It is intended that you’ll have opportunities for parents to receive information and provide input during conferences next week.  More details to come!
• Some of you have heard about (or been asked about) an initiative called “stop the bleed.” An update that I recently heard is that all of our district nurses will be trained for “stop the bleed” and those who renew their 1st aid and CPR training will also receive this additional training in the future. I believe we are also looking into the cost of providing a “stop the bleed” kit to every school.
• I wanted to let you know that Paul Dean, who has been working in Spain as a MS principal the last few years, will be returning to BLS this next fall.  He will be the placed at HDMS as the Assistant Principal to work with Wendy and her great team there. Paul was the principal at Highland and VP at CMS prior to leaving for Spain.  If you’d like to reach out to Paul prior to his return, his email is: [email protected]
• And speaking of filling MS admin positions, the REALMS MS administrator position has been offered to Dirk Matthias, a current principal at a charter school in Utah who has extensive EL background.
• I had to share one photo from spring break that brings a smile to my face.  This is our daughter, McKenna, whom we travel to the LA area to watch run. (I have a few photos from the track meet if anyone wants to see those too!)  The next day she took us to the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino.  It was a beautiful day and stunning surroundings – as you can see!

REMINDERS:

• HS Assistant Principal interviews are occurring today.  The goal is to hire three individuals from today’s pool of outstanding candidates. BSHS, MVHS, and SHS each are looking to fill one VP opening.
• Buckingham principal interviews will occur on Monday. I will be assisting with that process, but will be able to check email and phone messages throughout the day so I’ll work to get back to you as quickly as I can.

TO DO:

• Whatever you have planned over these next stretch of days, please allow yourself some separation from thinking of work.  We’ll be on the home stretch after break and you will have many emotional and time demands – so make sure you take care of yourself next week.

THIS AND THAT:

• Creating staffing plans are both an art and a science.  Brad has mastered both of these to produce the most accurate building plans with the information that he is given at the time (and his historical knowledge of how students numbers trend in the coming months). I want to use most of my blog type today to provide you with some updates around next year’s staffing plans that I have learned since we spoke on Monday afternoon:
  1. All of your FTE allocations are based on a 26.2/1 ratio, just like last year
  2. Unlike the elementary and high school levels, I will not be given any additional “unassigned” FTE to distribute to the middle schools.  Any/all additional FTE based on building student population projected growth has already been assigned to that building. (Both elem & HS levels were given very small amounts of “unassigned” FTE due to the fact that they need to make overall FTE reductions at both of these levels that exceed the number of “unassigned” FTE. Jay and Gary were given this FTE to make some decisions on where to soften the hardest blow.) This is a change from what I shared with you on Monday afternoon.
  3. If, at the middle school level, we grow in student population by at least 50 students (we are now projected at 4132 overall) then I will advocate that we are allocated an additional 1.0 FTE. If additional FTE is provided then we will determine how to allocate this. Likely this will look like a discussion with the schools (and myself) that have contributed to the bulk of that growth.
  4. Therefore, at this time we do not need to come to a consensus on how to allocate “unassigned” FTE – because there currently is not any “unassigned” – and our scheduled meeting on Monday, April 2 is not necessary as that was the sole purpose of meeting.
  5. If you haven’t already, you’ll be wondering soon about when you can post open positions that you’ll have. Here are the processes that need to be in place prior to any postings: a) your 2018-19 staffing plan needs to be approved by me, b) once your posting needs are clarified (via approved staffing plan) I need to then verify with Jon Lindsay and Jay that no HS position reduction needs to be transferred into an open MS position. [Each comprehensive HS will lose FTE as a result of smaller student numbers – due to our two new HS options.  Most of the hired FTE for these two new HS options will come from within our district, but this will trigger some necessary transfers based on licensure needs at our secondary schools.]
  6. This afternoon (Wednesday) you will likely receive an invitation to view your building staffing plan from JoAnne.  This should be sent to both principals and assistant principals.
  7. This year, staffing plans will be found in the “Team Drives” within Google Docs. You will find next year’s (2018-19) at the top, with this current year’s plan directly below it. (Thought you might want to have that one handy for reference.)
  8. Let me know if you have any questions (at all) regarding your staffing plan!

REMINDERS:

• In case you missed it, the two school start time choices that Shay has recommended the school board consider (after collecting input from our community in the form of surveys and meetings at each of our schools later this spring), are: 1) Keep current start times; or “flip” and “slide” to 2) Elem: 8:00 – 2:30, MS: 8:45 – 3:40, HS: 8:45 – 3:45. If a decision is made to change to option #2, then this would be implemented beginning the fall of the 2019-20 school year.
• Job Fair at the fairgrounds in Redmond from 12:0 – 6:00 on Thursday, April 5.  Thank you in advance for your time at this event.  It makes for a long day, but we have recruited and hired many teachers due to first contacts made here in this setting.
• So you probably noticed that you are receiving this week’s update a few days early.  As a reminder, I am sending you this update today because I’ll be driving to the LA-area with Christie starting Wednesday evening in order to watch our daughter at her track meet (which will actually be in San Diego) on Friday. Feel free to give me a call on my cell if you need anything!