TO DO:

• In whatever you have planned for your spring break, I trust that you’ll have a great time! Some of you are heading out of town, some of you looking forward to staying in town.  And, if you are sticking around and looking for some fun with family and/or friends, I suggest you consider being a part of the first time a Questival has been brought to Bend. Our daughter talked us into participating in a Questival last year in Portland and it was a lot of fun – and you get a free Cotopaxi swag bag too! This would be a fun way to spend the first 24 hours of your break (and have the rest of the week to recover if needed).
• Let me know if you’d like to have an update on either/both of your School Improvement and School Discretionary budgets.  I have a snapshot of your spending as of 3/14/18 and would be happy to share this with you if you’d like.

THIS AND THAT:

• The photo in this week’s update was taken Monday evening at the Moda Center in Portland.  All of those kids in the blue shirts are part of AVID at LPMS and took in a Trailblazers game in between their campus visit to Linfield and Mt. Hood CC.
• Principals, you will likely get a call or email from Erin Feeney, OSU-Cascades Education Placement Internship Coordinator, sometime next week.  Erin is beginning to work on MAT teacher candidate placements for next fall and I’ve asked her to work directly with you.  Again, it is your decision of what subject and how many you would like to host at your building. I let Erin know that I was going to give you a heads-up regarding her reaching out.  If you need to contact Erin here is her info: 541-322-3189, [email protected]
• Hats off to the OBOB team from CMS that took first place at regionals and has qualified for state competition on April 7!
• Thanks to each of you for your work in planning, preparing and communication around the student walk-out earlier this week.  After hearing from each of you, it sounds like this student initiated activity went off well.  Approximately this many students from each of our schools participated: CMS – 400+, HDMS – 350, LPMS – 50, PCMS – 630, PBMS – 150+, REALMS – 130+, SVMS – 200. The picture at the top is of students who participated at REALMS.
• I will be out of the office next Thursday and Friday.  Christie and I will be leaving after work next Wednesday as we drive to the LA area.  Friday we’ll be watching our daughter run track (the 400 hurdles and 4×400 relay), likely for the last time. It is kind of a weird feeling when you know you’ve come to the end of something you’ve done with your children hundreds of times over the course of years.  If you need anything either of these two days please don’t hesitate to call my cell.  I would be happy to speak with you unless you call during the two minutes on Friday when my daughter is running!

REMINDERS:

• We are meeting at Realms MS on Monday afternoon (3/19) at 3:30pm as a Horizontal group. Here is the agenda. We may be finished earlier than 4:45… 🙂
• And speaking of meetings, please mark your calendar (if you haven’t already) that we will be meeting at 3:15 on Monday, April 2 at PBMS.  The singular focus for this meeting will be to discuss 2018-19 staffing plans. Because of this additional early April meeting, we will not meet on April 16.

TO DO:

• A key piece to creating school staffing plans is the completion of the ACR process. The deadline for ACR’s has passed and you have met to approve these.  Please verify with me after your school has dropped and added all ACR students. Once I hear back from each of our middle schools I’ll let Brad know our student numbers are as accurately assigned as they can be and he can work on FTE allocation.
• Please take some time, if you haven’t already, to read over the two emails Jay sent you on Tuesday of this week regarding guidance for the March 14 student (17 min.) demonstration.  Let me know if you have any specific questions regarding this.

THIS AND THAT:

• There is plenty going on in our nation right now that does not build trust in our public education system. Many/most of the things occurring are out of our control, but you are continually acting or making decisions that either building or diminish trust from your stakeholders (whether you like it or not).  Some days I build trust with you and others I interact with (including some of your parents) better than I do on other days. I thought this article, A Principal Remembers How She Built Trust, had some simple and timely reminders for me – and hopefully for you as well – on ways to build trust with those you work with, alongside and for.
• A couple of updates around staff who are currently on leave.  Certified staff on leave this year have received a letter requesting their feedback (by March 15) as to whether they will be returning next fall, or resigning the portion of their FTE that they have leave for (some current leave employees are taking full-time leave, some part-time leave).  Classified staff letters, with the same requested feedback, will be sent out on April 2, with a requested response no later than April 30.  The timing of these leave letters are based on contract language with both of these bargaining teams. I have asked HR to communicate with you when they receive a return letter so you can prepare accordingly with your staffing plans for next fall.
• It has been reported by a few employees in our district that they have received a BLSend email recently that they could not open with their password.  What has been learned is that someone has created a “look alike” to our secure email system (they have not hacked into our system, but have created one that looks similar to the receiver).  If you look closely you will see that the web link is not part of our system and there is likely not a name attached of whom you are receiving this email from.  If you receive one of these emails, please delete it. If you try to enter this “look alike” with your password, it is very possible that your password is trying to be copied.  If this happens to you, it is advised that you change your password immediately.  I don’t know how prevalent this is occurring, but wanted to alert you.
• Spring conferences (for all but LPMS) dates are April 11 & 12.  You may, with your teacher vote, schedule yours as follows: 4/11 – regular SIW schedule, followed by “conference prep” for SIW time, followed by conferences 3:15 – 7:15pm; 4/12 – conference all day and end at 7:15pm; 4/13 – non contract day for teachers (due to the 8 hours of conference time they completed the two evenings prior).  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.

REMINDERS:

• Tomorrow evening is the Education Foundation annual Trivia Bee at the Tower Theatre.  If you have never attended I can guarantee you there will be good food and fun to be had, starting at 7:00pm.  This is the major fundraiser for the Ed Foundation of the year, with dollars being given to schools in the form of athletic scholarships and teacher grants.
• This weekend is Daylight Savings Time… don’t forget to change your clocks!

TO DO:

• During my March visit with you at your building I’d love to spend a few minutes reviewing/discussing where you are currently at in relation to your SLGGs. I will consider this your “mid-year review” of goals.  You do not need to prepare any special presentation, we can just talk about where you are and what data you have so far that supports this. Thanks!
• March 1 has come and gone and I believe you met this morning to exchange ACR forms.  Would you please notify me when your building has completed both the “drop” and “add” of ACR students in Synergy?  This will be very helpful in confirming the most accurate number of students that you will have in 2018-19 – from which your staffing plan will be based on (this month).

THIS AND THAT:

• Wonderful News! The state of Oregon has issued a “temporary administrative order” with an immediate effective date that in essence states that substitute teachers should be treated as a regular teacher in terms of “breaks” and meal periods.  In other words, you can immediately return to treating subs as you have prior to this year.  One other item of clarity in this “order” is that you cannot require subs to work during their prep period.  If they volunteer then absolutely provide them with a task – but you cannot require them to take on extra tasks during prep time. The ESD will be communicating with all of the substitutes soon, but I do not see any reason why you cannot change your substitute (break/lunch/start & end times) practices now.
• Your work with people provides both some of the most rewarding and challenging experiences you face. Therefore, the better you understand those you work with (in your building) and for (parents and community) the deeper the trust and richer the relationships. A recent article highlighted in Marshall Memo had some insights around this topic that I want to pass along. Daniel Pink had some interesting things to say regarding life (daily) rhythms. I hope you take the time to read the entire article, but here is an overview of his piece entitled Hidden Rhythms Within Each Day:Research over the last 100 years has come to three conclusions about the impact of time of day on humans:
  • Each day, our cognitive abilities change in regular, predictable ways: a peak, a trough, and a rebound (about 20 percent of people have the reverse sequence).
  • People’s daily low point can be the equivalent of drinking the legal limit of alcohol.
  • We’re more and less effective at some tasks at different points in the daily cycle.
• You may have already been contacted, or may in the near future be contacted, by someone with the following group.  If you are, know that they are not representing our district.  Their intentions are good, but do not come with authority that you implement any of the changes they may suggest.  If you are contacted, a tactic to consider is to have them join you at a Site Council or PTA/PTO meeting if/when you discuss school safety regarding your building.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.
• Next week there will be interviews for HS Assistant Principal (multiple schools) and REALMS MS Administrator.  It will be nice to have these positions filled soon!

REMINDERS:

• See you at Leadership on Monday afternoon at 3:15. Quite a few topics on the agenda that you won’t want to miss! (e.g. “Walkout” recommendations, 2018-19 staffing, budget & comp plan update, HR hiring info/job fair, student behavior supports for next year, etc.)

TO DO:

• Take care of yourself this weekend.  I know this has been an especially stressful week for most of you and Monday will come soon enough. Please take the time to recharge and refresh as your staff will be looking to you as a model of how they should be responding.

THIS AND THAT:

• Congrats to Wendy for being named the next principal at HDMS!  We had a very talented pool of candidates and she did very well to come out on top.
• Unless you are PCMS or HDMS, I’ll be coming to your building in the next week (if I haven’t already) to talk about the security at your front entrance.  The question we’ll be putting a plan together for is “How can we better secure your front entrance during the day?” Or another way to ask it might be, “How can we better assure visitors immediately check-in through the main office once they enter your building?” I’ll reach out to you to schedule a time, but wanted you to have a heads-up regarding this.

REMINDERS:

• The TELL Survey closes next Wednesday.  Please encourage your teachers to complete this if they have not already, as not all of our middle schools have reached a 50% participation rate – the lowest percentage at which a school will receive their building results.
• Next Wednesday is a district SIW.  I know that science teachers will meet at CMS and math at SVMS.
• Reminder that I’ll be harder to reach Monday – Wednesday next week due to an all-day training and accreditation visit.  If you need me please send me a text and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.
• If you are keeping track of MS admin openings, we’ll be interviewing for is REALMS on Friday, March 9.

TO DO:

• Please, please, please… Check your calendar and verify that you have Move Up Day on May 22 (Bend schools). Gary is also going to communicate this date again with all of the elementary schools.  I have heard comments such as “We haven’t selected a date yet” or other schools saying that it is occurring on a different date. It might not be a bad thing to have someone (office manager?) reach out to your feeder schools to make sure this date is on their calendar as well.  Also, we have agreed that elementary schools would be responsible for requesting a bus if it is needed. [Robi, I believe your Soar Up date is May 24.]

THIS AND THAT:

• Here is a resource for your social studies teachers.  The folks at Teaching Tolerance have put together some detailed instructional materials related to many topics, this one on teaching American Slavery. The resources include what you would typically find, as well as student texts, podcast, quiz, and a middle school focused “inquiry design model” entitled: Can words lead to war?
• Not to be left out, here is a poster for your ELA teachers (or any teacher that asks students to create something with their original ideas) around what the various levels of plagiarism look like.
• ODE is making some changes on how to track student attendance, and one is certain to catch your attention. Beginning next fall, athletes who complete or travel to a competition during school hours will be considered absent (see yellow highlight at bottom of page 1) for time missed.  This year, time missed by athletes are not counted as absences because they are considered a school event.

REMINDERS:

• There are a few upcoming days/events I’d like for you to be aware of that will make it a bit harder to reach me.  Reaching out by text will likely elicit the quickest response on these days:
  • Monday, Feb. 19 is President’s Day.  Enjoy the day away from work!
  • Tuesday, Feb. 20 will be HDMS Principal interviews all day.  You are all invited to attend the community forum at 4:00pm that evening at HDMS.
  • Monday, Feb. 26 is an all-day training for counselors that I’ll be participating in as well.
  • Tuesday & Wednesday, Feb. 27 – 28 I’ll be in Redmond for a school accreditation visit. This will be my first experience as an evaluator for this process so I am not sure how responsive I’ll be, but will get back to you as quickly as possible if you leave me a message.

TO DO:

Stephen and Katie have welcomed the newest DuVal into their family.  Crosby Reed DuVal was born this week, weighing 7 lbs, 3 oz. and 20 inches long. As you can see, all are happy and healthy!  Congrats Stephen! I’m glad Stephen is taking the next few weeks to be at home as a full-time dad and husband!

THIS AND THAT:

• You are probably aware that Jay McTighe is considered by many as an educational expert in curriculum design and assessment. In a recent article (that I found in Marshall Memo 721) entitled “What Matters When we Assess Learning” Jay not only outlines what matters, but also provides some practical examples of how these things can be implemented into teaching. If you are considering or spending any time at your building talking about student assessment of learning (and for learning!) then this might be an article that you share with your teachers for reflection or further discussion.
• As you recently learned, beginning next year our middle schools will be offering Algebra I to advanced math students instead of Geometry. Qualified students may take Algebra I within your building, through BLPSO, or at their feeder high school.  If you are considering having a section of Algebra I taught at your school, the endorsement your math teacher needs (according to TSPC website) is one of the following: basic math, foundational math, or advanced math. (Thanks to Tara Butler @ SVMS for sharing this info.)

REMINDERS:

• Don’t forget that the Tell Survey is open for your certified teachers to complete, and the district-created survey for all classified employees.
• Remember, we decided to switch our Feb. and March Horizontal meetings.  We will not meet on Feb. 12, but we will meet on March 19 instead.
• We will be interviewing for HDMS principal position on Tuesday, February 20.  I hope you consider coming to the evening forum that afternoon from 4:00 – 5:00pm at HDMS.  I’ll share all of the finalist names with you next week.  (I’m waiting until then because multiple of our candidates indicated that his/her staff was not aware of them applying for other jobs and I don’t want to be the one to share that story for them.)

TO DO:

• If you are looking for a PD opportunity specifically designed with middle level in mind, this may be the one for you.  Association for Middle Level Education is sponsoring a one-day training in Milwaukie (just outside Portland) on April 13, 2018.  For additional information and registration access, simply click on this AMLE link.

THIS AND THAT:

• Likely you do not receive the Midstate Electric magazine, a publication sent to South County residents who are part of the Midstate Electric Cooperative. I want to share an article out of the January, 2018 edition of this magazine that highlights the trip of a couple of Doctors that you know and work with. Hope you take a few minutes to check it out!
• At our last MS Horizontal meeting we spent some time talking about culture… what is it, what you do/don’t do to create it, how it affects your building, etc. (Thank you again Chris, Lisa and Robi for your insights and willingness to share and make us all think about this!) This (short but insightful) article, found in Marshall Memo 721, touches further on the idea of how you can communicate with others in situations where common ground is hard to find. In “Validation 101” the author highlights three strategies that I agree are a great place to start in difficult conversations: paraphrase the main thing you are hearing the other person say, acknowledge their emotion, and communicate acceptance. Even if in the end you have to “agree to disagree” with their stance, I believe these are good strategies to consider as part of your conversation.
• The following upcoming event information is from Alandra, whom you can reach out to if you have any questions.  I hope you consider attend, as I am confident you will leave having learned new insights of how to better support our Latino students/community.For the second year running, our district is hosting a Latino Family Night and we would love to invite principals or other school reps to attend.Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at Mountain View High School in the cafeteria/commons.  (Dinner starts at 5:30 – content will start at 6 p.m.)Details to know:Shay will deliver a message and introduce our liaisons.We will also have breakout sessions on:
  • Special programs
  • High School Opportunities
  • Choice Option Schools
  • A Parent Panel
  • Technology Tools (bus app, tip line, raptor, etc.)

REMINDERS:

• I’ll see you all at our Leadership meeting on Monday, starting at 3:15.  Please bring your laptop with you (at least one per school) as you’ll be doing some quick typing (very little) at the end of our time together.
• On Tuesday next week I’ll be at LPMS all day for Challenge Day.  If you are interested in participating please let Scott O. know as they may have an opening during one of their four Challenge Days next week.
• You received an email from Shay a week ago talking about the TELL Survey (https://telloregon.org), a 20-30 minute survey for all certified school employees in Oregon.  We have also developed our own classified survey again this year so we can hear from all of our employee groups regarding their perceptions around their work/conditions.  Please plan to carve out time for your employees to complete the corresponding survey during work hours (if at all possible) during the month of February.

TO DO:

• Change of date!  In announcing the dates next fall for Take It Up training I provided you the an incorrect date.  The REAL dates are: August 13 & 14, 2018.  Sorry for any confusion.
• You should have all received an email from me either today or yesterday regarding the Oregon Student Wellness Survey.  This is the one we agreed to participate in every other year.  The window for administration is Feb. 1 – April 6, but you need to allow parents the opportunity to opt out their (grade 6 or 8) child prior to providing this survey.  You should have all the information you need in the email I passed along to you, but feel free to ask questions if you have any!

THIS AND THAT:

• Teri did a wonderful job of representing MS at this month’s district safety meeting.  She brought up the question/concern around communication with schools who are not in the midst of an event (that warrants staff, student and/or parent communication), but is still connected (e.g. feeder school) and seems like should know more details of what is occurring.  This will be a topic of further conversation that Teri or I will keep you posted on.  Three other items also came up at this meeting that Teri asked me to pass along:
  • Raptor (visitor management system) is operation in all of our elementary schools and a couple of our middle schools now.  The plan is that beginning next fall this system will be up and running in all of our schools K-12.  If you would like to move towards implementation prior to September please contact Scott Bojanowski regarding this.
  • It is likely that you have a building team/committee that meets periodically to discuss safety issues/concerns.  What may not be occurring as often is that there are minutes created and saved from these meetings.  This bullet is to notify you that meeting minutes from these discussions may be asked to be saved in a Google Doc in the coming month(s).  Nothing to do now, just a heads-up… unless of course you’ve never met with a team of folks in your building regarding safety – then you should start doing that!
  • And another reminder… If you or any of your staff (new to the district since March, 2017) should have attended a Standard Response Protocol (SRP) Training.  Contact Scott Bojanowski if you or another staff member needs this training so you can learn when the next offering will be.
• This is the time of year when it takes a conscious effort to stay (persistently) positive and upbeat.  It is likely also the time when your students, staff and parents need this modeled to them the most.  Following is a short article I read out of Marshall Memo earlier this fall that I thought was worth passing along to you now: What Leaders Can Say to Spark Effort and Courage  “Skillful leaders use encouraging language every day,” says Dan Rothwell in this Leadership Freak article. Here are his suggestions for opening lines to spark effective effort in others, each followed by specific actions:
  • I appreciate…
  • I notice…
  • You’re great at…
  • Thank you for…
  • I’m impressed with..
  • You help us get where we want to go when you…
  • You’re making progress on…
  • You encourage others when…
  • Great effort when you…
  • Congratulations on…
  • You’re making a difference for…
  • I’m encouraged when you…

  And here are Rothwell’s suggestions for inspiring courage:

  • Let’s give it a try.
  • What’s the next imperfect step you could take?
  • What would you like to try?
  • What are you learning?
  • If you weren’t nervous, what would you do next?
  • I’ve seen you rise to challenges in the past.
  • You’re on the right track.

   

  “12 Sentence Starters That Inspire Courage” by Dan Rothwell in Leadership Freak, August 7, 2017, http://bit.ly/2b30btd

• And speaking of being aware of our words, here is a 10 minute animated video with Carol Dweck talking in the background regarding research data around fixed and growth mindsets – and how our words can help or hinder student success.  When watching this video it reminded me of not only the child in the classroom learning, but also the one sitting in your office due to misbehavior and how this might be applied (and how you might respond) to a child in this situation.

REMINDERS:

• This is likely a reminder, but could also be new info for you… This year’s Central Oregon PBIS conference will be held on Monday, April 23 at the Riverhouse.  The keynote is none other than Dr. Anita Archer and my guess is that she will draw a crowd. If you are considering attending – or having others from your building attend – I’d suggest you register sooner rather than later to make sure you reserve your spot(s).
• We will have our next district Leadership meeting on Monday, Feb. 5 @ 3:15pm.

TO DO:

• Check out this article from the Cascade Business News.  Always nice to have a few of our own showcased!  A combined 9 days… you two are amazing! (Read to find out what this means.)
• Consider whether you’d be willing to participate in one of two upcoming Challenge Day experiences that will be occurring at LPMS and SVMS. If you would be able to spend a day at one of these two schools during the week of Feb. 5 please let Robi or Scott know. If you have not been a part of a Challenge Day in the past, I would encourage you to consider seeing what it is all about… as you will certainly be impacted in a positive way from this experience.

THIS AND THAT:

• This short article comes from Marshall Memo 701, Sept. 4, 2017. The title: Being Candid Without Being a Jerk says it all. Having difficult conversations is part of your job. You may not think of persistence being connected to having tough conversations, but I believe it is.  I agree with the author who suggests you shouldn’t have these conversations when “you can’t wait any more” to have them. In doing so you’ve waited too long and you won’t be in the right frame of mind. Ask yourself if there someone you should be having a conversations with, but have been putting off?
• Much has been said regarding having and promoting a growth mindset. If you believe one’s words can either build up or diminish a growth mindset, then these two pages of sentence starters should be helpful. Let me know if/how you share these at your building and I’d be happy to pass this along to others within our Tribe so we can continue to learn from each other!
• As you may recall, I spoke with you (principals) regarding the thought of having your students participate in the Student Wellness Survey every other year – and leave the off-year (and very similar) other survey alone.  All of you agreed this would work.  So, every other year the Student Wellness Survey will be conducted – starting this year.  The window is basically February – March. I’ve added a number of documents related to this survey in our TRIBE Data folder, and linked to them here.  These include a Parent Permission letter in both Spanish and English, a FAQ and Timeline handout (more for you than parents), and a Sample Survey.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding any of these and thank you for participating!  I’ll pass along more info regarding this year’s survey when I receive it.
• Here is an opportunity and local resource that you might consider becoming involved with: My name is Spring Olson, I own the Central Oregon Seed Exchange and also function as an science and agricultural educator here in Deschutes County.  We are expanding our Seed to Schools program this year (we provide a vegetable or flower seed packet to each child per school) from Elk Meadow Elementary School into more schools here locally. If you have any classes that might need seed for growing or educational purposes, let me know…here to help!

Spring Alaska Olson

Owner/Principal Ecologist

www.seedexchange.weebly.com

[email protected]
541-647-9604

REMINDERS:

• We’ll be meeting as a Horizontal on Monday at PCMS, from 3:15 – 4:45.  Here is the agenda. Please bring your laptop.  I’ll work to get us started and ended on time, so please arrive a bit before 3:15 if possible. See you all there!
• We are currently in the assessment window for round two of ACT Aspire testing this year.  The window dates are 1/8 – 2/16.  Make sure you have students take the interim 2 assessments.
• These are not reminders (yet), but I encourage you to put them in your calendar now so they can be reminders to you in the months ahead.  First, there will also be another Take It Up training on Aug. 12 & 13.  (If you did not attend this training this past fall, I encourage you to come yourself, as well as bring a team from your school.  Guaranteed you’ll be changed.) Second, there will be a year-two of a Safety Summit on Aug. 23, 2018.

TO DO:

• When I come visit you at your site this month I’d love to visit a classroom or two with you.  My goal would be to not only get into some MS classrooms (I miss that), but to also have a follow-up conversation with you regarding what your teacher debrief might sound like.  Domain 7: Support and Supervision of your summative evaluation includes a couple of standards connected to this skill so I’d love to see/hear your work as close to firsthand as possible. (I do not expect to watch you debrief with a teacher, but would like for you to walk me through how that might look.)
• This is a “to do” only if you have interest… Discussions are occurring now regarding MS STRIVE beginning in the 2018-19 school year.  (I’m sure you have heard that HS STRIVE is going to move and combine with Marshall HS, which has lead to some initial thinking and discussion for MS STRIVE – which will not be located at Marshall.)  If you are interested in having an update on this or other MS supports being discussed please let me know.

THIS AND THAT:

• You may recall that I wanted to take a themed approach to my articles I shared with you during the months of December (High Quality Work) and January (Persistence).  To kick things off at the start of the year I thought I’d share an EL Education classic, Austin’s Butterfly. I hope you take time to watch this 6:30 video (from an elementary school in Boise, ID) that talks about the power of using multiple drafts (models, critique, and descriptive feedback) to create a final product… which sounds like a great way to teach persistence!
• I’m thinking of referring to this article as the power standards of social-emotional learning. With Social-Emotional Learning, Less is More narrows down this large field of evidence into three “truly fundamental” elements of success for students. It is a quick read that may lead to personal or staff reflection of not only do these three ring true to your beliefs, and if so, how are you (we) doing with exposing and teaching our students how to understand and apply these” fundamentals”?
• Hailey asked that I share an exciting new resource now – with more to come at our Horizontal meeting on Jan. 22: We will be supporting your students with challenging behaviors through the use of a Skills Trainer. Stephanie Smith has been working in this role since November, supporting primarily at the Elementary Schools and will be filling this temporary role until at least mid-February. The secondary level will start to see Stephanie through the rest of the semester. We are excited to have her expertise in supporting students and teams- she will be fantastic! The support of a skills trainer will be used as an intervention for students to develop skills through the Behavior Coaches. Most often this conversation would occur at an IEP meeting. Stephanie will work with 4-5 students during the day across multiple buildings for three week periods of time. The students will receive this support based on their needs and the skills they need to develop or work on. Lorna, Jen, and I will be working with Stephanie to create her schedule.
• On Monday of this week you received an email from Kathi Dew regarding “Tech Trek” – a STEM summer camp for current 7th grade girls that is held on the OSU-Cascades campus.  You were sent a number of documents.  I’ve invited Kathi to take 10 minutes at our Horizontal meeting this month and explain what this is and the role you play in helping to identify students who may attend. If you have questions regarding Tech Trek prior to Jan. 22 please email Kathi directly with those. Note: Applications are due Feb. 9 (actual form states Jan. 30).
• Kevin Feldman is going to be in Eugene on Feb. 27 to conduct a workshop (thanks to Dean Richards for passing along) entitled Improving Academic Literacy.  Click on the link for more info related to this training if you are interested.

REMINDERS:

• John Lindsay sent you an email on 12.18.17 regarding needed communication with HR around a couple of topics.  First, Probationary Three Letters  of Support need to be sent to him no later than Jan. 26. (His email identified whom the 3rd year employees are at each building.) Second, no later than January 15 (next Monday is a holiday, so for sure by Tuesday) John would like you to communicate with him regarding any certified staff you have concerns with.  Hopefully you have already given John a heads-up, but if not, please do so early next week.
• Monday is MLK holiday, so enjoy the day away from work!
• We meet as a Horizontal at 3:15 on Monday, January 22 at PCMS.  I’ll send you the agenda as part of next week’s TRIBE update.