TO DO:

Our district has a supply of PPE, specifically masks and gloves, available for you to request. You should have enough RSSL-approved PPE to provide for every staff member in your building that is needing it. Many of you have already accessed this and have adequate supply on hand. If you haven’t yet, please work with your Office Manager to request what you need. _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t lately, you might want to take a look at the Willamette ESD Reopening Metric Dashboard. I like the new look. (Make sure you select Deschutes Co. if it isn’t already set there for you.) _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t made a plan for this yet, you may want to begin thinking about what schedule of classes you want students to follow during their one orientation day during the week of Feb. 1. Because it is the end of the semester, student schedules will still show classes they are currently enrolled in. If you’d like students (particularly your 6th graders) to attend their second semester classes (because they may not know where they are all located), then know that these will not be the courses appearing in Synergy during that week. ________________________________________________________________________________

You might consider taking another glance at our Supervisor’s Guidelines one more time. This is a document meant to help you think through your responsibilities at school related to Covid-related requirements and safety. You’ve seen it before, but it may be helpful to review it again so these are fresh on your mind.

THIS and THAT:

I wanted to use a bit of my blog space this week to thank you all for the honest and open conversations that you participated in this past Wednesday afternoon. (Obviously, I was only in one of the two MS groups – but I know you well enough to safely assume similar conversations were happening in both spaces.) We don’t spend enough time talking with each other. We spend even less time talking with each other about what it means to be a leader of equity. I really appreciate those in the group I’m with who shared their struggles, passions, hopes, and personal stories around how to be a person who sees and acts on the behalf of others (especially those that don’t look like or have similar experiences to you/us). One thing that I have really appreciated about these PD opportunities has been the time for listening, talking, and challenging one another. Thank you for being a partner in this journey to becoming a better person and leader – as well as a voice for those who do not share the same privilege we enjoy. ________________________________________________________________________________

Here are the most recent numbers regarding where MS students will be engaged in school for semester two: We have a response from 78% of our total MS population. Of those that have responded, 2,775 have indicated they will be in Hybrid. For BLPO there are 216, and for district CDL there are 222. (There are roughly 70 students per grade level that have selected district CDL.) _________________________________________________________________________________

Following are a few updates from Tami Pike:

Just wanted to give you all a “heads up” that with the increased number of staff set to be receiving their COVID vaccinations over the next few weeks, there will more than likely be an increased number of staff calling out sick (especially with the second dose). If individuals complain of COVID symptoms (even if it may be from the vaccine), we will still be following our exclusion guidelines for COVID symptoms. This means that a staff person could potentially be out for 10 days or be tested for COVID. If the result is negative, the employee could return to in-person work when they receive a signed Return-to-Work Form from their medical provider and symptoms have improved or resolved.  *I am very short on nursing substitute coverage. If one or more of our nurses is out due to COVID symptoms, school staff will need to step up and provide direct student care (including isolation room support). *Please continue to complete the staff absence report form for any staff that are out due to COVID illness symptoms so that one of our district nurses can follow up and provide further guidance. 

Quarantine time has changed from 14-days to 10-days when an individual has been exposed to a positive COVID-19 case. 

For students who are unable to wear a mask (due to a disability and/or medical condition), precautions need to be taken for the student to safely be in the general education classroom. For example,  students who cannot wear a mask should have an area designated in the classroom specifically for their desk (such as the back of the classroom, near a window, with plexiglass surrounding their desk). Extra precautions should be taken to ensure that the student remains clear of other students while waiting in line to go out to recess, bathroom, etc. 

Notification of a positive COVID-19 case (in a school building) will be sent out to parents and school staff within 24 hours of case confirmation. Separate communication will be sent to parents in cohorts affected by the case. Information in this communication will include quarantine instructions (if warranted).

Attendance Voice Mail MessagingTo help track illnesses, we are encouraging schools to add the following to their attendance phone line recordings:
“To help with illness tracking in our schools, please include any illness symptoms your student has when reporting your student absence.”
Nurses have been receiving some push back from school offices who do not want to change their current attendance recordings. If we could have (at least some) parents indicate what their student symptoms are, this would help reduce the number of calls our nurses would have to make to parents regarding why their students were out. If a student is out due to tooth pain or broken bone,  a nurse would not need to make a phone call to that parent because they would have indicated the reason/symptom (hopefully). It will save time!!

Ordering KN95/N95/Medical grade masks for your school staff may not be a good idea. 

1. On average, staff will need 5 masks per month. Are you prepared to continue to replenish these supplies on regular, monthly basis? We are not sure how long this pandemic will continue. What happens if PPE supplies nationwide run low (which some supplies already are) and masks aren’t available? Staff will be upset and fear that they are not adequately protected when the CDC and RSSL Guidelines did not indicate that masks were needed for all staff to begin with?
2. Can you guarantee that these KN95 masks are FDA approved medical grade masks? _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a link to the most up-to-date spreadsheet regarding your building spaces square footage. Gyms have been added to this list for sure, as well as some possible other smaller spaces that were missed previously. _________________________________________________________________________________

This is likely not new information regarding locking/unlocking of doors at your school, but hopefully serves as a confirmation!

Front entry doors should remain unlocked during the school day for students to enter. Please keep your lobby doors locked leading into the school, and only open them to allow students or staff to enter the school.

Please ensure all your other exterior doors remain closed and locked unless being physically supervised by staff to allow students to enter or exit. Once the staff member leaves the exterior doorway, the door should be locked and closed. ________________________________________________________________________________

We had a meeting yesterday afternoon regarding whether (and if “yes,” how) to take attendance daily on all of our students during Hybrid instruction. We didn’t leave with an answer. Katie will be talking with Lora about the options we discussed and I hope to have a final answer for you by our meeting on Tuesday.

REMINDERS:

You are well aware that these next two weeks are designated as asynchronous teaching/learning. As a reminder, here is the document Dean worked on with a smattering of MS teachers to provide guidance for these two weeks (Jan. 25 – Feb. 4). _________________________________________________________________________________

When students return beginning on Feb. 8 (this is still the plan as far as I know… but I’m not putting any money down yet to say for sure it will stay with this date), here is the document that Dean and his team of MS teachers worked on regarding guidance around Hybrid asynchronous teaching/learning. The highlighted sentences in this document are a placeholder for what has not been decided yet. Please DO NOT share this attendance language with your staff yet. Again, I hope to a final answer fo you by Tuesday afternoon. ________________________________________________________________________________

MS Horizontal next Tuesday at 2:00. Here is a link to the draft agenda. (You’ll be able to find any updates also with this link.). ________________________________________________________________________________

Next Tuesday is a MAC Survey day.

TO DO:

I do not need to tell you that people in our community (staff in our school community as well as families in our broader community) are feeling maxed, anxious, and worn out. While at the same time I believe there is also an element of feeling empowered. Some of this empowerment, I believe, is positive and healthy, while other displays of empowerment are not. Last week’s unlawful event at the US Capital may be a prelude to other unlawful and/or disruptive events that may occur in the coming days. I am asking that each of you share the following information related to talking about controversial issues with your staff (specifically those connected with the current political climate – but any topic that may potentially be controversial). First, talking about tough topics is absolutely something that must be a part of a student’s educational experience. These should not be avoided – if done right. Here is a very helpful checklist for a teacher to consider. (All steps are not required, but are rather meant to be a support when planning, conducting, and reflecting on teaching/dialogue related to equity and anti-racism.) To set the stage for controversial conversations to be productive and not reactionary or isolated, the classroom climate must be developed intentionally over time–our LEAD Cohort’s website has tools for steadily building a climate of equity dialogue. We also have district Administrative Regulation (GBG-AR) regarding Staff Participation in Political Activities. I’d like to highlight the third and fourth paragraphs. In essence, I interpret these as saying that teachers can talk about politics in their classroom, but the keys are to make sure both sides of the issue/topic are presented/represented, and that the teacher’s own viewpoints need to be represented as personal and not that of an official district stance. Finally, it may be helpful to remind staff of this BLS Election Guidance that was sent out earlier this fall. All of these documents should be seen as support for teachers in how to prepare for and facilitate difficult conversations within the classroom learning environment. ________________________________________________________________________________

I have begun to collect (mostly from you, but a few of my own as well) questions that are HR-related. Jon will be able to attend the first 30 min. our MS Horizontal next week to address them. If you have a question that is not on this list so far, please add it. Deon Logan will also be joining us so you can meet him. He is the newest member of the HR admin team. _________________________________________________________________________________

As you know, we are asking all parents to complete a survey for each of their kids in the district to inform us of what their plan is for second semester learning format. As of the time of me hitting “save” on this blog, there are total of 1,978 MS responses. This represents 48% of our total MS students. Of those, 1,740 said they are planning on Hybrid, 112 plan on BLPO, and 126 are planning on the District CDL. ________________________________________________________________________________

Here are two updates that you will likely want to share with your staff: First, a student who starts semester 2 in either BLPO or District CDL will be allowed to take classes within these programs and also take elective classes (e.g. Spanish, band, etc.) at their neighborhood school as long as there is room (think social distancing requirements) in the class they want to take. Transportation is the responsibility of the parent – it will not be provided by the district. Also, if the student wants to take more than one class at your building and these classes are not back-to-back in the schedule, you do not need to find a place for this student to wait on campus based on the restraints placed on us due to this pandemic.

Secondly, in the Leadership meeting today Paul wrote in the chat that we need to pause all in-person choir and band classes for a week. Because these classes are not meeting at the MS level, this pause should not affect any of your teachers/students. I want to provide you a quick snapshot of the conversation that will take place regarding this: A music representative (one who is passionate about being able to work with kids in the classroom) will be meeting with Paul and other health professionals next Friday to explain why allowing band and choir – having choir in this discussion was new to me – should be allowed to occur at school, inside. From there this health advisory board will make a recommendation regarding this. The district will consider this recommendation before making a final decision on what to allow as we start Hybrid in a month. Stay tuned… ________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

We don’t have a lot of applicants for the posted SEL EA positions. If you do have an applicant that you’d like to hire – and that person currently works in another building in our district – you may offer this individual a job (after going through the hiring process), but they will not come work at your site until the building they are being taken from can replace them. We are not going to pilfer one school to fill a position at another school. Also, if it is helpful, you may convert these 7 hours of classified into certified hours. If you are thinking of doing this please let me know. ________________________________________________________________________________

And speaking of SEL EA positions, these positions will look very different in scope of tasks and responsibilities this spring then they will next year (fingers crossed) when we also hire a certified staff and open up BRYT classrooms. I say this for you to know that you should not grow accustomed to what this person does for you this second semester to continue into next fall. ________________________________________________________________________________

I’ve spoken with Alandra about creating a video highlighting all of our middle schools that can be used as part of our 5th-grade forecasting process. She is in agreement that this would be great! And, that it will not be available this spring (as the priority now is to have one created for 8th graders highlighting our high schools). So please plan on creating your own videos (or using the one you already have) for this year. Likewise, you should plan to have all parent events associated with next year’s transition of this year’s 5th graders into your building will be conducted virtually/remotely. As you think through how this will look at your site, please plan for your Spanish speaking families to receive the same information and opportunities your English speaking families receive. _________________________________________________________________________________

The week of Jan. 25, as you know, is scheduled to be an asynchronous instruction week and time for you to meet and train your staff on the new safety systems and other processes that you’ll be implementing in Hybrid. How much time you’ll have daily for meetings/trainings is still to be determined. Attendance will not be taken this week. All students will have a VP attendance code. _________________________________________________________________________________

If anyone asks: “When will ‘deep cleaning’ occur?” please tell them that this will happen nightly. Your custodians will be busy not only cleaning but also spraying down classrooms and offices so that each morning all surfaces have been disinfected. And, this reminds me, you may want to let your staff know that if they leave papers out, the next morning they will show signs of curling. ________________________________________________________________________________

Gloves are not required to be worn when teachers clean desks during classroom transitions. However, if a teacher would like to wear gloves, please request these via PPE request process that your Office Manager is likely aware of. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is an update from Dana: FAN Advocates should be working from the building as we all transition to in-person learning.  I have asked them to connect with you as they revise their work schedule.  FAN Advocates need to be visible and available to students, staff and families on a weekly basis.  They are aware that bell schedules have changed, and they will need to change their schedules also.  The MAC survey is coming up in the next two weeks.  More to come.  Mara Stephens will be leaving our district in February.  I will introduce our new Homeless Liaison as soon as we have someone on board.  As always, please call/email Dana Pedersen if you have any questions regarding FAN or homeless education.   _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

Please remind your staff (and model yourself) of the importance with checking in and out of the building every day (for those who are coming into the building). This is the established way of knowing who interacts with whom if/when a positive case is found. _________________________________________________________________________________

MS Horizontal next Tuesday at 2:00. See you there! _________________________________________________________________________________

We have a district admin equity PD with BRYT this next Wednesday from 3:00 – 4:30. We will be meeting in-person at PCMS (same rooms as before). Thank you in advance to Scott O. and Vanessa for helping to facilitate our two groups. If you haven’t yet, please have your feedback on someone else’s goals completed before Wednesday’s training.

TO DO:

Here is a link to a folder where you can drop your 5th grade forecasting video (of your school), if you have one. You can always access this folder from the BLS Docs folder within the Collective folder. _________________________________________________________________________________

All administrators are INVITED (not required) to attend a virtual leadership team meeting in Lora’s Webex room on Friday, 1/15, at 1:00 for updates on returning to school. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please make note of this needed communication with transportation regarding LIPI… As you know, the last day for LIPI transportation is Jan. 29. As you also know, we are planning to start asynchronous teaching on Jan. 25. If you are going to continue LIPI during the week of Jan. 25, you do not need to communicate anything to transportation (as they are planning on picking up kids through that week). If you are planning on NOT having LIPI during the week of Jan. 25, then please notify both your LIPI families AND transportation of your new end date for LIPI. [NOTE: it would be best to either fully have LIPI the week of Jan. 25, or fully not have LIPI that week – in other words, do not have some LIPI students come in and others not attend that week.] ________________________________________________________________________________

Please communicate with your staff (certified and classified) that they all need to report back to your building no later than Monday, Jan. 25th. This is the first day of asynchronous teaching and two weeks before Hybrid starts. Feel free, if it helps take any heat off of you, to say that “you’ve been asked/told” to share this information (from me). (HS staff will be asked to report back on this same day, while elementary will return starting next week.). _________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

Here are a couple of important items from Lora:

1. Student teachers: We have checked with TSPC and our partners at George Fox and OSU-Cascades, and student teachers can be hired with restricted licenses for the remainder of this school year. I have shared with the programs that the student teachers need to follow the regular application process if they are interested. NOTE: the OSU-Cascades student teachers would need substitutes for 8 Fridays between now and the end of the year. IF a principal believes that the OSU-Cascades student teacher is still the best candidate, the district will cover the sub costs as professional development.
2. Many of our board members, as well as myself, want to be visible in the schools as we re-open (even with small groups) or now with small group instruction-WITHOUT BEING IN THE WAY. PLEASE send us emails to help out with recess, kindergarten orientation, or the first weeks at school, lunch supervision, etc. Anything that could be a genuine help to you and your staff! ________________________________________________________________________________

You currently do not have a square foot measurement or maximum individuals count for your gym – like you do for your other school spaces. I found out today that this will occur. I don’t have a timeline, but I assume it will happen in the coming weeks. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here are a few items from Paul:

COVID Update: An administrator cheat sheet has been created to assist building leaders in planning for in-person learning.  I’m still waiting for a link to the cleaning protocol and will let you know when that is ready.  I hope this helps consolidate your thinking with a task-orientated checklist.  

HR Update: A letter is going out to all classified staff to determine their return to work intent now that the K-12 phased-in plan has been communicated.  OSEA is reviewing the draft letter and we’ll copy you on the email to classified staff either this afternoon or early Monday when it is sent out.  As a reminder, please be actively reaching out to both your certified and classified staff as we transition in-person education so that you can respond to any workforce issues of people taking a Leave of Absence. We will not be holding people to 60 days of prior notice due to these unique times.  We encourage administrators/supervisors to post anticipated open positions ASAP for HR approval.  

Return To School Email: I’ll be crafting a Return To School email next week to address some of the most popular topics around meals in school, ventilation, masking, and cleaning protocols.  Expect that the all-staff email to be sent mid-week.  ________________________________________________________________________________

Some of you are involved in the “alternative to suspension” work connected to Deschutes County. They just announced that they have a new name (tagline) for this program, and it is now called: “UpShift – changing responses to youth substance use.” Please begin using this new tagline (UpShift) when referring to this program (alt. to suspension, treatment, or counseling sessions via this program). _________________________________________________________________________________

SEL EA positions are posted on our website (as of 1/6/21). These postings are “open till filled” and we need to wait at least five days before screening for interviews… which means you can begin screening next Wednesday, Jan. 13, and interviewing after that. Remember, you always need to interview at least two candidates for any position. These are temporary positions for this year and the job responsibilities (hopefully for this year only) will also include some Covid-related tracking/processing at your site. _________________________________________________________________________________

An important document to have up to date is this Covid Checklist. As you update it/make changes, please make sure you send Amy Stafford a copy of your updates so she can then update your plan on our district’s webpage. This will be reviewed at your site visit with Paul (and I).

REMINDERS:

See you all next Tuesday at 2:00 for our MS Horizontal (my room). A good chunk of our time will be spent talking about what asynchronous teaching and Wednesday teaching will look like. _________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget to comment on your peer’s equity goals within this spreadsheet in the coming days – prior to our next Excellence and Equity PD on Jan. 20. Modeling has been provided to you by our friends at SVMS. _________________________________________________________________________________

Third-year probationary letters are due to HR by Jan. 22. Please reach out to Jon with any questions related to these. _________________________________________________________________________________

YouthTruth Survey window is open until Jan. 22. _________________________________________________________________________________

Principals, please plan on completing your SLGGs in TalentEd no later than Monday, Feb. 1. Assistant Principals, please work with your principal to determine when yours are due.

TO DO:

Here is a date to add to your calendar… There will be a results training (how to view and interpret) for the YouthTruth survey on Feb. 11, from 1:00 – 2:30. Here is the link for attending: https://zoom.us/my/youthtruthjimmy. ________________________________________________________________________________

I believe you have all seen this – but it may have been a while, so I’m sharing it with you again as it may become more relevant as we draw nearer to the reopening of schools to our students. This chart was designed as a tool for navigating who decides (or who needs to be asked) Covid-related questions. It would be great if your staff was aware of whom to contact if they have a question – so please share it with them in an upcoming communication from you. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please check your classrooms and other doorways to make sure all areas of your building comply with the fire code, including that no obstruction (like a student desk) is within a 3 ft x 3 ft area in front of each classroom door (interior or exterior facing). _________________________________________________________________________________

I’m not sure, at the time of writing this, if this will be the first time you are receiving information regarding Inclement Weather during CDL, or if you’ll have already received it from HR by this time. Either way, please read over this one-pager and communicate it with your staff (again, if HR has not already shared it with all district staff). _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is another document to share with your certified staff. The SLGGs, observations, and evaluation process this year has been modified to better accommodate distance learning. And speaking of SLGGs, principals, please plan on having your goals turned in to me no later than Monday, February 1st. You will find this year’s SLGG form for administrators in TalentEd/Perform after the break. In the meantime, here is a preview of what it will look like. (Thanks to Skip for personalizing this form for admin!) _________________________________________________________________________________

If you haven’t already (and about 1/2 of you have), don’t forget to add your three (Admin PD) equity goals to the spreadsheet, under the tab that corresponds to the facilitator of our last training (Ryan or Julie). Again, two of these goals should be pretty attainable (and maybe even already attained) and one a “stretch” goal. Having this completed by today is ideal (so you don’t have to complete it over the break) before we have you reflect on other’s goals in early January.

THIS and THAT:

Coming soon! Jon will be communicating with you (soon) regarding third year probationary letters. As a reminder (principals), each year you write a letter for any current third year teacher, that then is shared with the School Board as part of the process used to determine whether to move that employee to contract status. Letters are due to HR by January 22. Jon will also be interested to know (if he doesn’t already) the names of any employee that needs to be supported more formally. ________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget that the YouthTruth survey window is from Jan. 4 – Jan. 22. I’m sure you are all on it in terms of scheduling and communicating this. For this survey, we are not requiring there to be a consent form sent to parents. Information was shared with parents in the latest district newsletter. In essence, this is a universal, voluntary survey that can be accessed by anyone (if the link is shared). A parent’s verbal or written communication that they don’t want their child to take this survey will suffice. Please notify your parents, if you haven’t already, that they may preview the questions being asked on this survey. Here is the document that has the survey questions and can be shared with parents. MS questions begin on page 10. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this and I’ll work to find you an answer! _________________________________________________________________________________

Remember our conversations regarding Student Success EAs? (These are the positions that will be part of our future BRYT classrooms – supporting kids both academically and with mental health – and we had hoped to post positions for prior to this break.) We just recently got word that the job description has been approved and a salary schedule attached to it (column K in the OSEA contract). We are now ready to get these posted in early January. Sean R. is working on a generic posting that you can all use to create this posting for your school. The goal will (now) be to hire these positions prior to the end of semester 1. One role this person can take – until students are back in our buildings on a more regular basis – is that of LIPI support. _________________________________________________________________________________

From Dean Richards and Michele Clements…

So far, the survey feedback is trending towards keeping these blog posts as a weekly fixture for the foreseeable future, and towards sending it straight to staff via an email list that includes you and your staffs.  If you didn’t get a chance to provide your feedback, please follow this link – you’ll be in an out in less than a minute: Distribution and Frequency Survey.

This week’s post contains a session cut from Mountain View.  Joel Clements, long-time English teacher and BEA rep at MVHS has used a no-zero grading policy for many years.  He hosted two sessions to help educate and field staff questions and support making the change. We have the best ten minutes of that session on the blog.  Also, an annotated chart showing the different grade outcomes in a variety of scenarios.  And finally, a couple of supplemental resources for those wanting more. Can We Live Without Zeros? ________________________________________________________________________________

Last week I shared a comic regarding some abridged versions of Fairy Tales. This week I wanted to share some abridged versions of Christmas Classics. ‘Tis the season, after all! Hope you enjoy them…

REMINDERS:

We’ll be meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 5 @ 2:00 for our next Horizontal. Because this is the first Tuesday of the month, Dave VL will be facilitating a workshop/discussion around our BLS instructional framework. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here are a couple of documents that may be nice to review as we inch closer to bringing students (in larger numbers) back into our buildings. Both of these relate to physical distancing requirements in schools. This one is a one-page FAQ document from Ready Schools, Safe Learners guidance. And this one pulls a few aspects of social distancing requirements from this same document and comes complete with a photo!

TO DO:

Not sure if you’ve seen this article or not, but I was drawn to the headline: Gladstone band instruction evolves during distance learning. You might think that I read it because I was curious about what this HS is doing regarding teaching band during CDL (and you would be mostly correct). You might think I read it because I, as a former band student, was curious about what they are doing (you’d be not so correct). Actually, I am curious about how they are approaching the teaching of band during CDL, but mostly I read it because it is an article about my alma mater (go Gladiators!!). Now that I’ve read it and watched the linked storytime video (you’ve got to watch it – including the outtakes at the end!) I want to pass it on to you as an article that your music teachers (for sure!) will appreciate – as well as many of your other teachers I’m guessing. _________________________________________________________________________________

At our Horizontal meeting earlier this week I gave you a heads-up that I need you to do an inventory of needed and surplus seating in each of your classroom spaces for Hybrid. Here is a simple Google doc to document the extra seating that you have in your building. Please begin this inventory and have it completed by next Friday, Dec. 18. [Reminder, account for the number of seats you need for Hybrid, plus 25% to be safe – then complete the spreadsheet by communicating what you have beyond that.] _________________________________________________________________________________

Another follow-up from Horizontal that includes an action on your part… Becky and Laura have created a beautiful “cheat sheet” of the steps teachers need to take in both Synergy and Canvas in order to bring these grading systems up-to-date with the changes we’ve made this year (P/NG and “no zeros”). Here is that document – that I’d ask for you to share with your teachers. (Note: they may have already seen this document posted in Canvas.).

THIS and THAT:

Amy Tarnow and I circled back together to discuss students moving from “brick and mortar” schools (yours) to BLPSO at times other than semester breaks. (We also discussed this at Horizontal.) Here is where we landed: If a MS student wants to move from HDMS (for example) into BLPSO on Jan. 4, then we will first attempt to award final, first semester grades whenever possible. As Ryan pointed out at our meeting, some classes (e.g. Algebra or Spanish) may not be able to be issued final grades as there are potential HS credit implications. The steps in this process will be that if a student wants to make this move in January, then Tanya Everts will contact you to determine if final grades are appropriate (and you’ll work with your counselor/teachers as needed to decide). You will then hand off this transfer process to whomever normally handles these at your site. Let me know if you have any questions regarding this. _________________________________________________________________________________

And speaking of Amy, the following few items are some updates from her… Grade Guardian for Teachers:  Teachers will have access to their own dashboards in Grade Guardian by Monday, December 14th.  Aspire EDU will be hosting their first training for our teachers from 2-3 on Wednesday, December 16th.  We will post a global announcement in Canvas on Tuesday letting staff know about this synchronous training opportunity.    For those who are unable to attend, additional trainings will be offered after the holiday break. A recording of the December 16 training will be posted in the Canvas Grade Guardian 101 – Instructor Module. Teachers may self-register for this course through this link:  https://bls.instructure.com/enroll/B4P3CF

Here is some bonus material (not from Amy, but Christie McCormick) regarding Grade Guardian that may be useful for you to know…

1. The training (which is more like an overview of what GG does) is open to and intended for all middle and high school teachers. We encouraged your Canvas First Responders to attend so that they can be the site go-to help, if anybody needs clarification. Because individual teachers will have a much clearer view of their own students’ situation with the GG dashboard, I think it would be good for them all to have the basic understanding of how the tool can work for them. That being said, the self-paced GG module, which teachers can get here is probably enough.
2. Supporting staff, like administrators and counselors, called “allies” in Grade Guardian, will be able to track students, regardless of how teachers use or do not use the tool. The collaborative awareness and support will be best, of course, when all users are on board.

WebEx Update:  We still don’t have a definitive answer to what has been causing the increase in WebEx issues we have seen since Thanksgiving.  However, through work with the company it has been determined that rolling back to a previous version of the app is helpful.  As of this morning, this version will install automatically before you host your next WebEx meeting (you must start your meeting from the https://bls.webex.com/ website).  It is our hope is that teachers and students will see some stability return to their WebEx meetings with the implementation of this change.  If you continue to hear about problems with WebEx meetings after today, we would appreciate it if you would take a moment to describe them on this form. 

How to check your WebEx Version:

1. Start a Webex Meeting
2. Go to “WebEx Meeting” in top menu bar by the apple
3. Go to “About Webex Meeting”
4. You should be on version 40.11.5.11

Tier 1 Training: 

Our Instructional Tech team will be hosting a Tier 1 support meeting geared towards helping your Tier 1 staff support our middle and high school students with CDL. It will be a good chance for these staff to connect with our team, get a basic overview of Canvas and WebEx functions, and ask other questions. Roy Fuller has already sent the following information to these people on your staff.  If you have others who are helping in this capacity and might not be on his list, please feel free to pass it on: 

Tier One Support Session: Supporting Your CDL Role

When: Wednesday, December 16, 8:00 – 9:00 AM

Where: Christie McCormick’s room: https://bls.webex.com/meet/christie.mccormick

What: 

• Overview of Canvas basics (the student experience)
• How to use WebEx to help students
• Q&A (what is working, what is not working, etc.)

_________________________________________________________________________________

I used to try and at least skim, if not read the Marshall Memo each week it came out. To be honest, it has been months since I’ve done so. However, for some reason, I decided to take a breath, make myself pause, and see what Kim Marshall had to share this week. What I found is a great article that I think you may all be able to find a nugget (a reminder, an aha, a new idea) in. We all, at times, need to have difficult conversations – and Kim provides this article from a principal in Minnnesota to help us prepare for them. _________________________________________________________________________________

I’m learning to become more of a book reader. Growing up I was always outside and doing something active. I read when I had to, not out of enjoyment. Over the years I’ve worked at spending more time reading (and my sore muscles have thanked me for it). However, I’m still always up for a quick summary of a title I haven’t read yet (or have forgotten the premise of the book). Maybe that is why this comic hit different for me…

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As you likely have read/heard about, OSAA has moved back the start of HS competitions. Our district plan for MS athletics is that we’ll begin the first of our three seasons on Feb. 22, with the third season ending on June 11. Each of the seasons will run for five weeks. (Each will end on a Friday and the next will begin on the following Monday – no break between seasons.) We’ll see if this holds true, or will need to be adjusted again based on our pandemic situation in the coming months. ________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

Don’t forget that next Wednesday you have an opportunity to hear from our two Superintendent finalists in a Q & A style forum. There will be two sessions, one for each finalist, instead of both appearing together. The forums will each be an hour in length and will start at 9:30 and 10:45am. If you haven’t yet, please submit a question that you’d like our candidates to answer. If you are willing to ask this question yourself (I’d love to have MS represented in asking questions!) then please include your name with your question so I know who to circle back to. More to come on how to login to these virtual sessions will be coming. Please come in spite of the fact that I’ve been asked to facilitate these. 😁 _________________________________________________________________________________

Our last Horizontal before the New Year will be Tuesday at 2:00. Just in case you were wondering if we were going to meet over the break. 🤔😂

TO DO:

Please remind your staff to not come to work if they are feeling ill (even if it is just a case of the sniffles). If they do come to work and end up having to test for COVID – and test positive – then contract tracing kicks in and likely will place additional staff into a quarantine situation. _________________________________________________________________________________

Next Wednesday morning I am planning on providing you with step-by-step instructions for your teachers (for both Canvas and Synergy) to follow regarding both the P/NG and “no zero” grading changes. Many of your teachers will have already completed much or most (even all?) of these steps by then – which is great – but want to make sure you have (prior to SIW next week) all of the steps necessary for teachers to take that will maintain smooth and accurate grade reporting. ________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

At our Horizontal last Tuesday, I raised the question of whether our MS Hybrid schedule actually needed to be the “second semester MS schedule.” I’ve discussed this with Patty G. and she assures me that making the change in Synergy (that she would make) between which classes occur daily in the CDL schedule and the Hybrid schedule is a relatively easy one (I need to give her a week’s notice) is very doable. Therefore, we do not need to move to our Hybrid schedule until it is time to do so. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a 2020-21 evaluation update… Although not quite finalized yet, I wanted to provide you with an idea of what to expect for this year. By state law, all probationary teachers are required to have two formal observations (pre meeting, observe, post meeting). You will need to still do this. Additionally, plan on one mini for probationary teachers. For contract teachers, plan on doing three minis for teachers on eval cycle and two minis for teachers non on cycle. Additionally, the domains/standards that you’ll be asked to report on (summative eval) will be greatly reduced for this year. This will be true not only for teachers, both other certified specialists as well (counselors, psychs, etc.). It is the target to get you all of the final details on this prior to the holiday break. ________________________________________________________________________________

As you are likely aware, Deschutes county is now categorized as being in “extreme risk” level by the state due to our increase and large positive Covid cases. Here is a chart that outlines what this means to our county. Although K-12 schools are exempt from these restrictions, we are using these guidelines to inform our district decisions around safety protocols. _________________________________________________________________________________

This is a document that would be good for you to read and have knowledge of – but not necessarily share to a broader audience (think “have in your back pocket”). If and when you are asked about whether your school is meeting required instructional minutes for CDL, this is a document that Dean Richard and Paul Dean put together to outline how every BLS middle school is meeting this requirement. _________________________________________________________________________________

The second Disciplinary Literacy training for new hires will be January 13^th from 2-4.  Please prioritize the attendance for your staff.  This training will focus on metacognition on the Habits of Mind and Habits of Interactions within specific academic disciplines.  If you have questions please reach out to Dean Richards. _________________________________________________________________________________

I found this interactive article out of the New York Times on the Marine Corps basic training depot in San Diego very hopeful. (Years ago, as a HS counselor, I spent a week learning about the process a new Marine recruit goes through – so also found many of these photos and descriptions to be fondly reminiscing.) They have been able to keep the spread of coronavirus under wraps, and that brings me hope that with our precautions and plans in place – we’ll be able to also when kids return to school. (Obviously, we do not plan on having our students sleep at our schools, so I recognize there are some big differences in our situation.). _________________________________________________________________________________

This may likely not be occurring, but wanted you to have this guidance just in case… If any (2 or more) staff members need to travel together in the same vehicle for work-related purposes, then all staff should wear a mask during the entire travel time (and then follow mask protocols after that as well). Let me know if you have any questions on this. _________________________________________________________________________________

If you have two minutes for a little perspective-check or a reminder of all that we have to be thankful for (I needed it), then here is a short video highlighting a SPED teacher from Phoenix-Talent School District that lost her home in this fall’s fire.

REMINDERS:

I’m looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday at 2:00 for Horizontal. And, we have a special guest coming! 👏. _________________________________________________________________________________

As Katie reminded us all yesterday (via email), we have our rescheduled Equity and Excellence training (with Courney from BRYT) this next Wednesday from 3:00 – 4:30. Here is the Zoom link to access the training. And, don’t forget to have your homework completed! _________________________________________________________________________________

Likely you have already… but it not, please share both the MS 2020-21 Grading update (Spanish and English) and the MS Hybrid Schedule (Spanish and English) with your staff and parent community. _________________________________________________________________________________

At our Horizontal earlier this week Michele C. led us through an example of Webex best practices that could be used by teachers within the virtual classroom. Here is a link to the one-page overview of what was shared. _________________________________________________________________________________

TO DO:

George Fox is looking for a health placement for a MAT candidate. Do you have an outstanding health teacher who might be interested in working with this candidate? This placement would run from Jan. 4 – April 23, 2021. Other requirements can be found here. If you have a health teacher who is interested in serving as the Cooperative Teacher, please let me know. _______________________________________________________________________________

In the blog three weeks ago (10/30/20) I included an item regarding free tutoring services for Bend-area middle schoolers. There are 20 slots available, so I assigned you all (Bend-area MS) a certain number of slots. As of today, only six of those slots have been taken. Because the grant funds used to pay for this free service expire on Dec. 31, 2020 – I am going to open up the 14 remaining slots on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have a student attending a Bend-area MS that could benefit from free tutoring, please help make a connection soon as there are only a few weeks remaining. Here is part of what I shared three weeks ago: Because we have limited funding to start, we’d like to enroll students directly through referrals from school leaders, counselors, and teachers, who know best which children have academic and financial need. Please share this private link with families/students whom you’d like to refer to this program: Request a Free Tutor (This is a separate registration process from the one available on the Bloom Tutors website.)
For more information and general inquiries, please go to the Bloom Tutors website: https://bloomtutors.com. ________________________________________________________________________________

At our next Horizontal (Dec. 1) we’ll be spending some time looking at and discussing Equitable Grading Practices. Following are two documents that I’d like for you to review prior to our meeting. The first is from Corvallis SD. The second is some thinking that Katie and HS admin have begun to discuss. Looking forward to our conversation! ________________________________________________________________________________

This one is a not today or tomorrow “to do” item, but one that I wanted to get on your radar. Our elementary schools have gone through a process of contacting subs they have used in the past in order to gauge their availability during Hybrid (and even in-person) instruction. As you know, we are using very few subs during CDL, but our need will drastically change beginning with Hybrid. You may want to begin having your Office Manager (or other) reach out to subs you have used (or possibly expanding that list) in the past to inquire about their availability. Our elementary schools found their sub interest/availability is dramatically reduced – even from the fall of last year. Reach out to me if you’d like to process this further. _______________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

As you recall, a few weeks ago you helped provide survey links to parents and students in order to capture their feedback regarding CDL this fall. Principals, I’ve added you as “collaborators” to this survey so you can see the results. You will also be able to add others from your building as collaborators if you would like to (I leave this up to you). Here are the links (accessible to principals only at this time) for the student survey, family survey, and Spanish language family survey. ________________________________________________________________________________

Just over a week ago we spent much of our Horizontal meeting time talking about the high numbers of F grades earned after the first six week of this school year. At the end of that meeting I asked a question about what you might commit to doing – an action step – in order to have fewer students failing class(es) at your school. Some of you were able to answer (put on the spot really) and others of you were not. Some of you talked about identifying/personally getting to know who these students are, others talked about opening up your building to non-English speaking families to share (or gather) information. One thing that I am going to commit to doing (that I also think I heard from one ore more of you) is using the translation service available to call a couple of MS families of non-English speakers… to hear more about what their experience is and how we might improve it for them and their child. I will have this done prior to our next Excellence & Equity training on Dec. 9 (as it fits in with our homework assignment!). _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is some information from Amy T. that is both timely and informative…

WebEx Security Updates

Just a reminder that our WebEx instance will be upgraded to be more secure on Monday, November 30th.  At that time, students who are logged in will be able to go directly to their teacher’s WebEx room, whereas those who are not logged in will be in the waiting room until they are let in by their teacher.  We are recommending that teachers have all students login to WebEx before that date.

Hot Spots

Leaders, we have passed out more than 1000 hot spots for internet access and have once again run out of inventory.  Of the 1000 devices that have been distributed, about 200 have never been used or are not currently active.  Could you please help us get those back so they can be distributed to families who need them?  A note in your parent communication would be great.  Something to the effect of “If your family has a wireless hot spot that is not being used, please return it to our school office so we can redistribute it to families in need.  It has become increasingly hard to get these devices and our inventory is limited so your help with this is appreciated!”

One more reminder about hot spots:  Please know that these are NOT intended for staff, as staff can work on site.  If they have been distributed to staff members we appreciate your getting them back so they can go to students and families in need.

Grade Guardian 

We are excited to start our implementation of Grade Guardian in early December. The vendor will be offering two options for live, synchronous training for “Advisors and Allies” which include administrators, counselors, grad coaches and student success instructors on December 3rd and 4th.  Both sessions are at 1 PM.  The “Advisors and Allies” live sessions and Canvas course are for staff who are not tied to any individual course sections in Synergy. Please register by using this form:  https://forms.gle/ZDwv2sTsoGkPfB569

For those that would like to start their learning ahead of these vendor-led sessions, you can enroll in a Canvas “Grade Guardian 101 – Advisors” course by clicking this link:  https://bls.instructure.com/enroll/LCL76A

You will need a Canvas account to access both the Grade Guardian 101 course, and Grade Guardian itself.  If you don’t yet have an account, please request one by filling out this form:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfWl16wzrdMgviSumkOq5e5lUkC-H2-i_bkI4WWaSK0KsfAhw/viewform

Please note that training for teachers, ELL staff, SPED staff (and others as needed) will happen after these initial sessions.

After School Specials

And finally, here is some information regarding a few available technology trainings for staff, or “After School Specials.” ________________________________________________________________________________

Here is an opportunity for an opportunistic teacher! Stanford is offering a free course for MS/HS teachers around “How to Teach Online” that will be offered November 21 & 22. _________________________________________________________________________________

As you may recall, our district, due to what we believe are privacy issues, do not place a copy of STAS documents in a student’s permanent record. However, we do upload and keep a record of these documents hidden (accessible by admin and whoever enters discipline incidents at the building) within Synergy. This video is of Amy Stafford describing (and showing) how an admin can access STAS documents within Synergy. If you have an incident at your school that requires a STAS process, please continue to inter-district mail (or BLSend) these documents to Amy who will keep an original copy, as well as upload it into Synergy. Also, STAS documents have been updated on the Portal – so please use this version rather than any you might have saved on your computer or in a file drawer. ________________________________________________________________________________

I’ve been a part of a few conversations around students not having cameras on during Webex instruction. As you know, this is not a mandate (that all students have cameras on) – and also can be very frustrating to the teacher. Here is an article that I just found in the Marshall Memo that had what I thought was both good philosophy and ideas regarding better student engagement in this area. It is a one-page read, so I hope you all take a few minutes to check it out! ________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a flyer that outlines some best practices for schools who have social media accounts. ________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

[This was in last week’s blog, but some of you may have missed it as I added it late!] Building admin, if you have an awesome classified staff member who brings diverse talents, background, and/or expertise to our district and might be interested in becoming a certified educator in a hard-to-fill role, please reach out to them to recommend they consider attending the Info Session coming up next week.  See this flyer for details (this has been shared with all classified, but personal invitations go a long way). ________________________________________________________________________________

As I mentioned to you earlier this week, as part of the Governor’s “two week pause” we are not adding additional students to LIPI at this time. We are, however, continuing to offer LIPI to those students who have been participating. You can continue to work on lists and processes for adding additional students so you are ready to go when LIPI expansion is once again given the green light. _________________________________________________________________________________

I trust you will all take some time away from thinking about or engaging in your professional work next week. Walking away temporarily will help you be fresher when you come back – so please allow yourself to take a break. Then, I’ll see you all December 1 at 2:00 for Horizontal! _________________________________________________________________________________

The following is a copy and paste from last week – and only needs to be reviewed if it has not been completed yet… As I have previously mentioned, we have contracted with YouthTruth to conduct student surveys with us. There is some “pre-work” that needs to begin occurring – prior to the survey window of Jan. 4 – 22, 2021. At least one building administrator at every MS needs to become familiar with all things YouthTruth. Today I’m sharing two of the things that this administrator needs to do. First, here is a 20-minute kick-off Webinar to watch. This Webinar contains important information regarding these student, staff, and family surveys. This needs to be viewed no later than Nov. 20th. Second, here is a survey timeline that has been developed between YouthTruth and BLS. Please read over and become familiar with this. Third, on Nov. 23 you will receive an email from Whitney Ivie, from YouthTruth, regarding how to access the Student Implementation Guide, so you’ll have time to prepare for this survey before the window opens. _______________________________________________________________________________

This last “reminder” isn’t for you – but definitely is for me. I will forever (really… forever) remember the moment you created for me at this week’s Horizontal meeting. Intentional or not, this was definitely a “Power of Moments” (always looking for a way to pitch the Heath Brothers!) moment for me. Thanks again to Matt for organizing and for all of your willingness to participate. It really meant a lot. And, when I tell my kids about this I’m pretty sure they will all want to have a shirt in an effort to support their mother’s candidacy! 😉

TO DO:

As I have previously mentioned, we have contracted with YouthTruth to conduct student surveys with us. There is some “pre-work” that needs to begin occurring – prior to the survey window of Jan. 4 – 22, 2021. At least one building administrator at every MS needs to become familiar with all things YouthTruth. Today I’m sharing two of the things that this administrator needs to do. First, here is a 20-minute kick-off Webinar to watch. This Webinar contains important information regarding these student, staff, and family surveys. This needs to be viewed no later than Nov. 20th. Second, here is a survey timeline that has been developed between YouthTruth and BLS. Please read over and become familiar with this. Third, on Nov. 23 you will receive an email from Whitney Ivie, from YouthTruth, regarding how to access the Student Implementation Guide, so you’ll have time to prepare for this survey before the window opens. _______________________________________________________________________________

I’ve been able to touch base with each principal regarding changing (for this year only) our end of term marks for grading. In essence, for MS students during the 2020-21 school year, final grade mark options would include: A, B, C, P, and NG. (P’s and NG’s would replace D’s and F’s). I am very close to gaining final approval for moving forward with this change. I’ll let you know when this does become final, as I’d like for you then to communicate this change with your staff – and then your families also. If you’d like to talk through the reasons for this change please reach out to me. Lastly, some of you have already issued final quarter 1 grades. Once final approval is gained, I’d ask that you have the appropriate secretary at your school make these changes to all D and F grades issued for quarter 1. Here is a document that will help you in making these changes. Again, please do not share these changes until I give you the green light to communicate. ______________________________________________________________________________

Every year we need to communicate with parents regarding statewide assessments. It is that time of year. At this time we are assuming that there will be statewide assessments this next spring, so we need to communicate with parents. The information that needs to be communicated with your families has been added to your school webpage; all that we need you to do is let them know that it’s there in your next newsletter communication. This information should be found within the “Our School” tab on your website, then the bottom right side of the page has information regarding opting out. ________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

Today Governor Brown hosted a press conference to announce a two-week freeze across our state. Here is one news outlet’s summary of that announcement. Reading this summary will likely bring a number of questions to mind in terms of how these restrictions will relate to us here locally – and specifically at BLS. Due to these restrictions just being heard, how this will affect our work have not been determined yet. I will keep you posted as I continue to learn more. _______________________________________________________________________________

We have discussed, and no doubt you have wondered about, the timeline of students/staff returning to school. Last week this was shared with elementary administrators (as their schools will be affected first by this transition), but also want to communicate this with you. As you will see, secondary schools will move to hybrid after “demonstrated evidence of safe elementary transition.” This is not defined how how long it will take to demonstrate this safety, but we do know MS/HS will come shortly after elementary makes this transition. I can also say with great confidence that we will not meet needed metric benchmarks on Monday, Nov. 16, so the soonest possible will be Nov. 23rd. _______________________________________________________________________________

The snow this week has brought up some questions regarding how we are viewing “snow days” this year. The answer may be complicated – based on whether we are talking about CDL or Hybrid. We are working on updating our snow day/school closure language. Today I will provide you with an abbreviated CDL (only) plan. Checking of roads and communicating of closures will occur as they have in the past. What is different, obviously, is that instruction will continue in CDL, whether facilities are closed or not. (Teachers will teach in CDL, students will engage and learn in CDL regardless of whether schools are closed.) If a weather-related closure is called for, then transportation will not run and schools will be closed to students and families (e.g. no LIPI or grab and go lunches served). Please feel free to share this with your staff. ________________________________________________________________________________

I wanted to let you know about some adjustments in my work schedule. I will be working from home on days that I do not have any face-to-face meetings at the Ed Center. I’m planning on doing this in an effort to do my part to curb rising Covid cases. Please feel free to call or text me on my cell if I do not answer my office phone. If I don’t answer, I’ll get back to you as soon as I am able to. Also, I am taking next Friday, Nov. 20 off, but will be available by cell phone if needed. _________________________________________________________________________________

Building admin, if you have an awesome classified staff member who brings diverse talents, background, and/or expertise to our district and might be interested in becoming a certified educator in a hard-to-fill role, please reach out to them to recommend they consider attending the Info Session coming up next week.  See this flyer for details (this has been shared with all classified, but personal invitations go a long way). ______________________________________________________________________________

Hoping that you will not need them any time soon, but wanted you to know that STAS documents have been updated (some new forms, and new fillable forms!) and are now available for you to use in the staff portal. New this year is the ‘Level 1 Threat Response Dismissal’ Form. Please use this form if there is a perceived threat but your team determines that it is not necessary to complete the Level 1 Assessment.  Additionally,  please notice that the last document on the Staff Portal is the ‘Level 1 Threat Assessment Packet.’ This packet includes the Level 1 Threat Assessment, Student Interview, Parent Interview, Student-Witness Interview, and Teacher Questionnaire, so there is no need to download each individual document.   _______________________________________________________________________________

And speaking of STAS, here is some training information from Misty Groom:

Here you will find the STAS Training Sign up Sheet. To date, 14 schools have participated in the Refresh Training and most schools have signed up for an upcoming training.  I have added new dates for the week of November 16-20.  Additionally, if none of these times work for schools, alternate dates can be made available.  Please let the admin know that they can email me to set up a time that works for their Level 1 team (admin, school counselor, school psych, and SRO). The Refresh Trainings are a part of Best Practices and Fidelity of the Student Threat Assessment System.  _________________________________________________________________________________

In the daily news clip updates from OSBA they have recently featured links to videos from communities that were devastated by wildfires this fall. This week there was a video from McKenzie School District – focused on a kindergarten teacher. It is worth taking the 1:30 to watch. As I viewed it I was reminded of the fact that no matter how difficult dealing with Covid, or CDL, or LIPI, or Hybrid, or [whatever]… I am grateful and fortunate that things could be much, much worse. _________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

We’ll be meeting as a Horizontal group next Tuesday at 2:00 in my Webex room. _________________________________________________________________________________

Next Wednesday is our next Excellence and Equity training with BRYT/Courtney. MS groups will be meeting at PCMS again, in the same rooms you were in last time. Don’t forget to complete your homework prior to our session together. And thanks in advance to Ryan and Julie for being room facilitators for this meeting. And NOTE A TIME CHANGE: We will now begin at 3:00 (instead of 3:30) and end at 4:30 (instead of 5:00).

TO DO:

This is definitely a “reminder” and could be a “to do” – or something to ignore for now altogether! If you are bringing in any students under LIPI please make sure you contact these students/families to make sure they know your plan for bringing in this student. Once transportation is confirmed they also make a call to the family to inform them of times and location for pick-up and in many cases (across our district) the family expresses surprise about their child attending school (which isn’t good) at all right now. _________________________________________________________________________________

Here is your homework assignment for our next Leadership Excellence and Equity training with BRYT/Courtney on the afternoon of Nov. 18. Please make some time to complete this and be ready to share your insights with your small team on that day. _________________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

From Paul Dean:

Off Grid

I will be out of the office and off grid Monday-Wednesday of next week.

Classified Staff

Our classified union has expressed high interest in helping their members avoid having to use their sick leave if they are required to self-isolate due to a COVID-19 exposure.  One way to make that happen was if classified staff had work that they could do from home. Here is a list of jobs (some of which can be done remotely) that OSEA wanted to be passed along to building administrators.  

Should a classified member in your building have to self-isolate and you have the ability to assign remote work for them to do in lieu of taking sick leave, they would greatly appreciate it.

Site Visits For Middle & High Schools 

I’ve visited all of the elementary schools plus Mountain View, BTA@Marshall and Bend High to walk through their safety checklist plans.  Here is a signup form so that I can assist middle and high school planning efforts as you solidify your plans for students returning for hybrid.  Look forward to connecting with you (and/or members of your safety team) during a site visit.

Return To School Phase-In Scenarios 

Unfortunately, we know that we won’t meet the metrics when they are released on November 9th.  For subsequent weeks, here is a document that explains how our phased-in transition will work.  Lora will share this information with teachers next week.

Safety Checklist Due Date Reminder

Please upload your new school’s COVID-19 Safety Checklist here before the end of the day on Thursday,  November 12th.

Family Connections

How are you family connections teams going?  One of our behavioral coaches, Amanda Schook, has been visiting some school’s family connections team meetings and shared some observations in a google doc that may help your school-based teams.  Please reach out to Paul and Amanda if your school’s FC team can use any support from our district FC team.

LIPI / Transportation

Our bus routers will not be working over the Thanksgiving break, so if you want to start a new student in LIPI after the break, please plan ahead as no work will be done on this during the week of Thanksgiving. ______________________________________________________________________________

Here is a link to a DRAFT website that the LEAD Cohort (and Kinsey putting it all together) has created. Please DO NOT share or send out to anyone on your staff at this time. This resource may be communicated broadly as soon as next week, but I wanted you to be able to preview it if you’d like. _______________________________________________________________________________

I have some great news to report! We are in the process of adding “Grade Guardian” to our Canvas system. The HS has done the most research and digging into this program, but I believe it will have valuable uses for our teachers, counselors, and admin at the MS level also. Here is a short (4:48) video and a written overview of some of the services this adds. (Rumor also has it that there is an attendance function!) Stay tuned for more. _______________________________________________________________________________

Following is a message from Alandra (please note that any involvement is voluntary!): We know the world, and even our community, can feel awfully stressful and hostile right now. We are hoping to make the discourse in our community more positive and are launching a kindness campaign with regional partners to elevate stories of kindness – with a special focus on World Kindness Day, Nov. 13. If you are interested in learning more and supporting this effort: Here is a list of ideas of how to join both in and out of school. We are hoping these resources will make it easy to join: Writing prompts, for instance; topics for advisory or freshmen foundations; a contest at the high school level; books to read at the elementary level. Additionally, we know many schools are ALREADY doing a lot around kindness. Please consider sharing with Alandra the great work you are already doing. Thank you. And if you haven’t yet watched the kindness launch video featuring our 8^th graders, be sure to do so. _______________________________________________________________________________

From nurse Tami: As we are (hopefully) heading back to in-person school (thinking positively here), the nursing team feels that it would be extremely beneficial for students, parents, and staff to hear from their school nurses about healthy practices and precautions to take for COVID.  We are asking for schools to share nurse/health-related information at the same time you send out your school newsletters so that families and staff will become familiar with looking for these communications regarding COVID-19 information and updates. We are finding that with LIPI, many families (and some staff) are not aware (even with the COVID Communication Guidance) of the signs and symptoms to look out for and when to keep their student home. This communication will serve as the first nurse/health-related information to go out with your school newsletters. Please know that I will be reviewing and approving the information before it gets sent to you. [Future health information will come directly from your school nurse to you – and not via this blog – so be looking for that!]. _________________________________________________________________________________

As I have mentioned to you (more informally than formally), the district will be using a group called YouthTruth to conduct student and staff surveys this winter/spring. The first of these will occur in February, 2021. In order to prepare for this, next week you’ll receive a link to a recorded webinar training that you’ll need to watch by Nov. 20. This webinar will provide you with an understanding of the survey and administration logistics. During Thanksgiving break you will receive additional information from YouthTruth. _______________________________________________________________________________

Here are a series of updates from Amy T:

iPad Insurance

Across our district, the purchase of iPad insurance is down more than 60% from previous years.  We anticipated this would happen, and also realize it is causing concern.  In preparation, extra funds were budgeted to cover damaged devices.  Our advice to principals is to use your best judgement when assessing fines.  If damage looks like blatant misuse or abuse you should fine the student for damage.  If damage appears to be accidental and in the course of normal use you do not need to assess a fine.  Going forward, we will be revisiting the topic of insurance for future years and hope to come up with a different solution for dealing with damaged devices.

WebEx Security Updates

On Monday, November 30th WebEx will receive another security upgrade.  As of that date, students who are logged in to the WebEx platform will go directly into their teacher’s meeting room, whereas those who are not logged in will need to be let in from the “waiting room”.  More about this change can be found in our blog entry.  Our Instructional Technology team recommends that all students log in to WebEx independent of their scheduled meetings to facilitate the process; logins can happen any time so long as they are done before November 30th.  

Apple iOS 14.1

On Wednesday, November 11th, the newest iPad operating system will be available for students to download.  Students will not have to upgrade immediately, but will be prompted at some point that the update is available.  When new updates come out, it is possible that we will start to see some challenges with the behavior of other apps.  At this point we have determined that all of our curriculum apps and frequently used tools are ready for this update, so glitches might be the result of students NOT having updated their devices.  Running the iOS update from “Settings” is a great problem-solving step if new app glitches show up.

iCloud Logins

We are also recommending that all students login to their school Apple ID to utilize upgraded iCloud storage.  This message has already been pushed out to many staff members and students, more information on how to do it can be found in this blog entry. _________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, November 9th is our fall MAC survey day. Remember anything we do on MAC day, with connecting our students to medical, mental health, dental, vision, or OHP health insurance can be claimable and result in reimbursement that directly funds our FAN advocates. Please coordinate with your FAN advocate for any support or communication regarding MAC day. _________________________________________________________________________________ 

REMINDERS:

Please make sure that your school’s main office is open throughout the day. We’ve received some feedback (across our district) that parents/community are not able to access a school to ask a question or drop-off/pick-up items due to the building being closed and/or office not being open. We definitely want our main office to be accessible during these days – just as we would normally. _________________________________________________________________________________

TO DO:

As new state metrics are being discussed, so is the growing possibility of returning to school in at least a hybrid format. As families are considering this very real possibility, they are also experiencing a range of emotions (some are very excited, while others are very anxious or concerned – and no doubt some a roller coaster of all of these). Due to this, the district has received a number of parent communications requesting that teachers or other staff do not talk with students about when a return to school is going to occur. Following is a sample message that I’d ask you to share with your staff regarding this:

We know many staff members are excited to see students back in class. But as state metrics and conditions are changing and evolving, please make sure to only communicate return to school plans with parent/guardians – and avoid sharing these details with students. We don’t want to create unnecessary disappointment for our students.  ______________________________________________________________________________

Here’s one I’d love your feedback on… I learned this week that the HS is planning on communicating a Pass/No Pass option to students very soon (instead of letter grade) – for the 2002-21 school year. This is similar to what occurred last spring. I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether we should offer/communicate this at the MS level. I imagine the default would be letter grade, with the option to go P/NP if requested. Let me know what you think. Here’s the HS draft version of the request form. ______________________________________________________________________________

Many of our Bend employees have internet service with BendBroadband. Some of these teachers (in particular) have experienced an overage of data usage due to CDL this fall (both teaching themselves and any children they have learning through this model). Following is some good news on how these teachers can not be charged for this overage usage during this crazy time. Please share the following message with your staff:

Any teacher that’s been impacted by data overage charges with BendBroadband should send an email to [email protected], from their school email address with their name and account number, requesting credit for their “data usage allowance overage charge,” and they’ll be credited. ______________________________________________________________________________

THIS and THAT:

As you are aware, there are all kinds of updates coming out of Salem today regarding reopening our schools to students. Paul sent you an email today regarding some items he wanted to make sure you were aware of. Also, here are some highlights around changes in LIPI that have been reflected in our district LIPI Plan… What is different:

• Cohort now defined as 20 students (not 10)
• Added “capacity” limitation based on new LIPI guidance
• 250 student per week limit is removed
• Updated the links to the ODE limited in-person instruction guidance which provides further guidance on 1:1 instruction in LIPI.
• Removed the phased transition table and added the link to the ODE’s new metrics document which we will follow when determining out application of LIPI. ______________________________________________________________________________

Here’s a great free tutorial resource for students. Because there is a limited number of slots for all (Bend-area only students for now, due to the funding source) of our middle schools, I’ve created a Google doc allocating you each a certain number of referrals. Please put student initials in each of your slots to indicate they are spoken for. Please make sure you do not over commit your slots and thus eliminating possible referrals from others.

Thanks to a partnership with Better Together and funding from the City of Bend, Bloom Tutors is offering free 1:1 virtual tutoring for middle schoolers, with a focus on supporting families who might otherwise not have funds to pay a tutor. All tutors are vetted HDESD substitutes- licensed and trained teachers who have completed a background check and are prequalified in subject area/grade levels. 
Bloom Tutors is working with Better Together to provide 10-20 middle school students with high-quality tutoring, through 1 or 2, hour-long sessions per week for up to 6 weeks- through winter break. Tutors are available to teach all subjects, with a priority focus on math and language arts. 
Because we have limited funding to start, we’d like to enroll students directly through referrals from school leaders, counselors, and teachers, who know best which children have academic need and financial need. Please share this private link with families/students whom you’d like to refer to this program: Request a Free Tutor (This is a separate registration process from the one available on the Bloom Tutors website.)
For more information and general inquiries, please go to the Bloom Tutors website: https://bloomtutors.com. _______________________________________________________________________________

And speaking of great news… here is another: USDA has extended the waivers for summer meals until June 30, 2021. The waivers will allow us to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to kids 18 and under for the rest of the 20-21 school year.  _______________________________________________________________________________

One more from Nutrition Services regarding holiday meals being served: We will be offering meals over the holiday breaks. They will include breakfast, lunch and supper grab ‘n’ go from 12pm-1pm on the following days:

• Monday 11/23 – we will serve meals for 11/23, 11/24, 11/25, 11/26 
• Monday 12/21 – we will serve meals for 12/21, 12/22, 12/23, 12/24
• Monday 12/28 – we will serve meals for 12/28, 12/29, 12/30, 12/31

We will be serving only at the sites below (No mobile routes).  Meals are available to all kids 18 years of age or younger.

• Bend High
• Elk Meadow
• La Pine High
• Lava Ridge
• Pilot Butte 
• Three Rivers
• Westside Village

If you have any questions or need clarification, contact Nutrition Services. _______________________________________________________________________________

There is a new Webex functionality that allows the presenter (teacher) to control the “mute” feature in ways that were not possible, well, prior to this update. Here is more on that… _______________________________________________________________________________

REMINDERS:

Next Tuesday’s Horizontal meeting will be focused on instructional PD (for you). Don’t forget, if you haven’t already, to watch this 9-min. video and reflect on (and likely ready to talk about): Why do we use the phrase Excellence & Equity when talking about and engaging in the work of improvement? Next, go to this jamboard and write down your (brief) thoughts prior to Tuesday afternoon. _______________________________________________________________________________

If you are part of the Restorative Justice trainings (Tues. & Wed.) next week, please note that there is homework to complete prior to that. I found this out by digging into the confirmation/reminder email that I received on Oct. 26 from Amber McGill and it is all outlined at this webpage. This email also communicates that participants should receive the meeting Zoom link this week. ________________________________________________________________________________

Remember that a transportation request needs to be completed for any student needing a bus ride to and/or from LIPI in your building. Here is the link to request LIPI transportation.