Team,
Welcome back! I hope you were able to get away, disconnect, and reconnect with family and friends this summer.
For our new friends, I want to give them a special welcome! And I want to explain how the Blog works. First, I call the MS blog the “The Fish Basket.” As some of you know I am an outdoor enthusiast and I especially love to spend a lot time next to bodies of water. Consequently, I developed a passion for fishing and I love sharing my adventures by posting a picture at the bottom of the blog. The pic might be of a fish or something like that, but often times I catch myself in beautiful places at the right time! This is my way of personalizing my weekly communication with you. So, the blog (aka the Fish Basket) is structured with following headers: To Do, This and That, Calendar, and Fish On… Level leaders send out weekly blogs one day a week and usually on Fridays for the following week. We do this type of communication so that we don’t flood your inbox. But more importantly we don’t want you to miss important information. Ensure to read the blog and don’t miss the “to do” section. The “this and that” section is informational and general information. The calendar points out events in advance. Lastly, I want to highlight that the blog is a living document and I update and upload information in the pages ribbon all the time, ie Equity, CRT, Safety etc. I hope this explanation was helpful and please let me know if you have any questions.
I look forward to seeing you all next week and have a wonderful weekend.
~Juan p.s. Remember, summer is still happening, and hang on to it!
To Do
From Lora Nordquist
Principals and Office Managers,
Just a friendly reminder that is in violation of Oregon law to require or even ask K-12 students to provide or pay for ANY supplies required for their “free and appropriate public education.” Here are the exceptions:
- Instrument rental
- PE uniforms
- (applies only to elective classes) Materials for projects that the student will keep (i.e. jewelry). Students cannot be prohibited from taking the class if they don’t pay a materials fee, they just can’t keep the projects.
For the law/policy geeks, here is the law:
https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_339.155
From ODE & Lora Nordquist
The good news is that HB 3199 passed. This is the amendment to the PE requirement that says middle schools must average 150 minutes/week of PE over the course of the school year. Assuming 45 minute classes 4 days/week and 30 minute classes on Wednesday, a full week of PE is 210 minutes.
The bad news is that our schools can offer a maximum of 10 weeks of health each year in order to meet the PE requirement. (9 weeks is fine, but it can’t be more than 10 weeks.) We will need to make sure all the middle schools are in compliance.
From Rachel Mavis
If you haven’t already, please email Rachel Mavis directly with the following information for your school: school’s bell schedule broken out by period for regular days, early release Wednesdays, and all other days they need a specific bell schedule such as assemblies.
Wayfinder Training
Recently you received a login code from Wayfinder, and an invite from Jennifer Hauth, to a 45 minute virtual admin training with Wayfinder on Friday, August 11, starting at 9:00. This training is Not optional, so please make sure you get it on your calendar. If you did not get the invite or link, please reach out to Jennifer Hauth. If for some reason, you are unable to make it, please let me know.
This and That
From Dean Richards-Math Bypass
We are wondering if any of you have had parents reaching out about students bypassing a grade in Mathematics. The bypass assessment given in June should have captured most students. However, we are looking to create an equitable system to assess students who missed the June assessment due to absence or new to the district. We will not be doing a retake assessment for students who did not pass is June.
Please let Dean know if you have any parents who have requested a bypass. This is to determine if we need large scale response or an individual one.
On a related note, BLPO will reach out to you with any students who have completed the year of Math online over the summer. These students do not need to complete the bypass assessment and should be placed in the next level course.
From Lora Norquist
BLAST Team Members,
A reminder…or perhaps a first-time invitation for some…to ALL BLAST members and their significant others that we are hosting dinner for all of you Monday evening after Day 1 of the Leadership Launch, starting at 5:00 PM. This is a great opportunity to visit with your colleagues and to enjoy a gourmet meal hosted by our nutrition services team.
Dana and Dan Pedersen have graciously volunteered to host us at their place. A note about parking from Dana:
Here are a few notes about parking:
Our address is 62880 Dickey Rd. We are on the east side of the road. At the end of the driveway, we are on the left-hand side. Please drive slowly if you come down the driveway. Many of you will have to park on the street. Dana’s cell phone number is 541.480.6364.
From Scott McDonald
Beginning this week, a new network for personal devices (Bring Your Own Device) is available in our schools and district facilities. This network is called BLS BYOD. BLS BYOD will be replacing BLS Wi-Fi (our old personal device network). Staff and students needing a wireless connection for their personal device should now use BLS BYOD. This change does not impact district issued computers, iPads or other devices. Additionally, district owned devices should never be connected to BLS BYOD.
The password to connect to BLS BYOD is knowledge. After connecting, you will be prompted for your district username and password.
From Kinsey Martin, Policy, Advocacy, and Equity
Inclusion and belonging are critically important values in our organization. A key opportunity to demonstrate these values is to respect important holidays observed by faith groups in our community. Some of these dates are not designated days off school within our district calendar, so we need to do our best to keep them free of major activities.
On the following fall dates, please do NOT schedule school family nights, special events or trips, or exams/required activities or trainings (for staff or students) that can’t be made up. In addition, share with your office, athletics, counseling, and teachers as applicable.
- Saturday, Sept 16 Rosh Hashanah
- Monday, Sept 25 Yom Kippur
Learn more about these holidays and how to accommodate here. Guidance for best practices around religion in our schools here.
More from Kinsey: Taking It Up workshop
Our district’s intention is that all staff—prioritizing leadership—participate in Coaching for Educational Equity (CFEE, a week-long intensive workshop) and/or the two-day Taking It Up. Many of our leaders are already CFEE graduates, so we’re well on our way.
CFEE and TIU are incredibly valuable ways to engage in the ongoing journey of understanding oppression in Oregon’s history and education system, as well as to develop shared language as a leadership team and staff.
If you have not yet participated in CFEE and don’t anticipate being able to do so in the next year or so, please sign up ASAP for Taking It Up this August 22-23. Please also consider including this invitation in your welcome-back message to your staff and encouraging them (particularly your ICCL members) to sign up.
Nutrition Services News:
Due to the Oregon “No Shaming Law” we are only allowed to discuss meal balances with parents or guardians. Uncollected charges are considered debts to the district and as such may need to be covered with general fund dollars which takes money from the classrooms. To avoid this, our staff work diligently in sending notifications by email, US mail, and phone calls to parents trying to get payment or a free and reduced application. When all of these efforts have failed, our staff may look to you for support. Often a phone call from an administrator is more influential.
Calendar
- August 7th: Leadership Launch-Culture of Safety and Belonging @Riverhouse on the Deschutes 3075 N. Business 97 Bend 8:00-4:00 pm
- August 7th: BLAST Dinner @Dana & Dan Pederson’s 62880 Dicky Rd, Bend 97701 Starts at 5:00pm-parking details:We are on the east side of the road. At the end of the driveway, we are on the left-hand side. Please drive slowly if you come down the driveway. Many of you will have to park on the street. Dana’s cell phone number is 541.480.6364.
- August 8th: Leadership Launch-Culture of Leading and Learning @Riverhouse Riverhouse on the Deschutes 3075 N. Business 97 Bend 8:00-4:00 pm
- August 10: Secondary Team (middle & high) Welcome Back @Bend Senior High School 8:00-4:00 pm parking details: park at the south end of the school as the front entrance will be locked.
- Guidance for planning during the week of August 28th and the week of September 4th Doc
- August 11: Mandatory Wayfinder training-Jennifer Hauth sent the link and calendar invite
Fish On…
