Team,
Happy 2024! I hope you are getting your sea legs back! Have a restful weekend. ~Juan
To Do
From Paul Dean Human Resources
Principals & Supervisors –
This email marks the time for us to pivot in earnest to our renewal/non-renewal and extension/non-extension process. BLS aspires to place the best teachers possible in front of students, and as such we want to be very deliberate in renewing third-year Probationary/Temporary status teachers.
The primary means for removing underperforming Probationary/Temporary staff member before they reach Contract status is non-renewal of their contracts prior to the end of their third year of probation; once a teacher attains Contract status, separation of a deficient performer from the District becomes a much more labor-intensive process.
******Please note a change in practice for Temporary 3 certified staff. We are now required to follow all Probationary 3 practices for Temporary 3 certified staff. When you write a letter of support for a Temporary 3 staff member, then you are obligating your school to employ this person for the 2024/25 school year and beyond*********
If you have a third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff of concern, I trust that you have been in conversation with HR/Your Level Leader regarding the remediation measures that must be extended and completed before the School Board’s meeting in March, where the renewal/non-renewal process culminates. If you have not yet undertaken the requisite measures with a third-year Probationary/Temporary staff member that you don’t believe should be granted Contract status, we are fast approaching the point beyond which you will not be able to meet deadlines to non-renew that teacher.
As you may also recall from experience or new administrator training, those of you with third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff being recommended for Contract status need to generate letters of support for each one. The School Board wants each of us to be able to articulate the specific reasons any third-year Probationary/Temporary teacher should move to Contract status, and they take time to read every letter you prepare.
Timeline
No later than Friday, January 5th:
- You should have emailed[email protected] regarding any third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff about whom you have concerns with
- Met with and notified those staff member that they are being placed on Focused Performance Review (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
- Begun writing your letters of support for third-year probationary/temporary certified staff with whom you are recommending for Contract status
No later than Friday, January 26th
- Met with and notified third-year staff member of concern that they are being placed on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
- Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive
Resource Links
- Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request)
- Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
- Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
- Rubrics for certified staff (link)
From Dean Richards
Here is the Admin assignments for next week’s Educator Network Day (END). Take a look at both links. One link is the assignment sheet and other one is for attendance.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lCiW2TWiXM-secTcsbkfRG7MAAYGsrjdJ72QqviTVAc/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13AO19aAkzlR2nv1gfkgwyZVzH27vrdUNlFnRKEArB18/edit?usp=sharing
From Lora Nordquist
Team,
In communications from the Education Foundation, I learned that the foundation received multiple classroom grant requests for calculators. We should consider calculators essential supplies for our students provided by their schools/the district, not supplemental or enrichment tools funded by grants. In the future, site administrators should not sign off on classroom grant requests for essential supplies.
If you are having difficulty financing necessary supplies for your students, please work with your level leader to identify possible budget sources for funding these.
Let me know if you have questions.
From Business Office
UKG administrator reminder:
In the past, much of the BLAST time off was collected in a google doc. Since we now have UKG, leave must be requested and recorded in UKG. Please be sure to get those requests in before or during the time period that you are gone. Submissions after the timesheet has closed require an additional submitted form from you and are extremely labor intensive for the payroll staff. If you used any Non-contract time over the holidays, those requests need submitted asap, the closing day for this pay period is January 14. Instructions for submitting requests can be found on the portal Employee-How to Use UKG__Requesting Time-off.pdf . Please feel free to reach out to payroll with any additional questions. 541-355-1123 or [email protected].
Thank you from your payroll department
This and That
From Kinsey Martin
ASL Interpreters:
Wondering how to request an interpreter for American Sign Language (ASL)? In your Linguist Link account, when you enter the “new project” page to make a new request, you’ll see instructions for accessing ASL support. Please share this update with applicable staff.
CAFE Program:
Need an interpreter or translator in a pinch? An updated list of CAFE Program members is available here (it also lives on the Portal’s Equity page, under ‘Employee Resources’). You are welcome to contact anyone on the list, not just those at your site! Please continue to use Linguist Link for the majority of your requests—CAFE members are bilingual staff who can support as linguists if you have a time-sensitive matter, but should not be relied on for these services regularly.
District Family Nights:
Please mark your calendar for two upcoming events:
–Wed, Jan 31st: Black History Month kick-off celebration
–Thurs, Feb 8th: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night
Both will be evening events with dinner included. It would be great to have our leaders support our families by attending either or both of these events. More info to follow—for now, save the dates!
From Kayla Martin
Hello,
We have an update on SRO. Officer Chris Smelser started this week replacing Amy Ward at Bend High SHS. The document is attached, and I have also linked the SRO folder for admin and OMs to reference for the most current version of our SRO documents.
From Jennifer Hauth
Here are upcoming training opportunities for supporting LGTBQ+ students and families. Please share.
Oregon Family Acceptance Project School Training
Inaugural Oregon Civics Bee
We wanted to make sure you saw the information about the inaugural Oregon Civics Bee, which the OBI Foundation is launching in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Foundation. The Oregon Civics Bee, presented by US Bank, is a chance for middle school students to engage in an important topic that is all too often neglected.
How can you help?
Please share this information with your network and community. That’s it! We are just trying to get the word out. More info is at the link above and a flyer is attached. A Spanish-lanugage flyer is available at the site.
How does it work?
Middle school students (grades 6, 7 & 8) enter the competition by submitting a 500-word essay based on the prompt in the competition portal (at that same URL) not later than January 22. A panel of judges will select 20 finalists to compete in the Oregon Civics Bee, presented by US Bank, on May 30 at Willamette University. (Some travel stipends will be available for students traveling from further away.) At the May 30 event, students will participate in a quiz-style competition to narrow the field to three finalists who then engage in a Q&A session with judges about their essay topic. The winner receives $1,000 and an invitation to the National Civics Bee in DC (fall 2024). Second and third place receive $750 and $500, respectively.
Calendar
January 11: MS Horizontal @HDMS at 3:00-4:30
January 15: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 23: 504 Training for Admin Leads @Mountain View High School at 8:00 to 9:30
January 25: MS Horizontal @PCMS at 3:00-4:30
January 31: All admin Professional Development @Perserverance Hall BSHS at 3:00-4:30
February 2: Groundhog Day
February 8: MS Horizontal @PBMS at 3:00-4:30
Fish On…
