Team,
It was great to see kids back in our hallways, and I impressed with how well you all prepared for students and staff to return. 6th grade only day was a success and I know we have some details to iron out, like supervision but I think this group can find solutions. I totally appreciate your questions, comments, and concerns when it comes to safety and security for our schools. And all general questions are welcomed! Don’t hesitate in asking!
Have and awesome weekend! ~Juan
Middle School Group Agreements
To do
Important Professional Development Dates
Administrators, please ensure you have communicated our administrator/ICCL training dates to your ICCL members. These trainings will occur from 4-6 on the following dates.
10/4, 12/6, 2/7, and 4/4
We are working on locations and will communicate those out at a later date.
Principals’ Professional Learning Session this Mon the 12th:
Here is the agenda for our time together. Please note the location and plan accordingly so we can start right at 3:00pm. All you need to bring is something to write with!
Team Norms:
Last spring I had said I would share these resources with you in the fall, for developing Team Norms with your staff or within PLCs. Feel free to use whatever’s helpful, and please let me know if you’re looking for something more specific! Tip: consider having explicit norms for communicating together productively (where to take specific questions or concerns, use/mis-use of email, etc).
This and That
From Scott Bojanowski
Here are important emergency numbers and the new SRO assignments. See you at the first District Safety Meeting September 26.
Student Success Program Class Sections
After much discussion, we will no longer have Student Success as a section that students take as a class. This was only happening at a few schools but this support is designed as an intervention and is meant to be a culture of transition vs. a culture of containment. After reviewing the data from last year, it appeared that some students were being served for extended periods of time and sometimes the whole day. While we want students to have access to as much support as is needed, this program does not have a curriculum and students should have access to their general education classrooms for content. Our team will partner with teachers to support students. This is similar to how students work with our school counselors, students have access to individual and group support but they are not scheduled with a school counselor each day.
From Scott McDonald
New Staff Portal and MFA
The most common feedback from the launch of the new portal has centered around how often staff are asked to complete Multifactor Authentication (MFA). Please consider sharing our new MFA Tips link with your staff. Making the suggested changes will considerably reduce the number of times a user is asked to complete MFA.
MS Bookings – Appointment Calendar
We have had several requests from users to provide a tool for appointment scheduling. In response, we have enabled “Bookings”. This solution is a great starting point because it automatically links to your Outlook calendar. A few of us in IT have been using it this summer and are happy with the results. You can learn more about Microsoft Bookings by going to this site. Otherwise, it is pretty simple to set up:
- In a web browser search for Microsoft 365. Sign in with your district log in credentials.
- Find the “waffle” icon in the top right corner and choose “Bookings”.
- Name and create your appointment calendar.
- Click “Bookings Page” to get a link to share with your audience.
You can communicate your Bookings calendar by adding the link to your outlook email signature or however you see fit.
From Tami Pike
Fanny Pack First Aid Kits
We have received numerous requests for fanny pack first aid kits. Schools were provided with a supply when they first came out. We are currently out of filled fanny pack first aid kits. We have new fanny packs on order. We will send out communication to office managers when they are back in stock.
Fanny Pack prices:
Filled first aid packs – $32.50 each
Empty first aid fanny packs – $5 each
COVID-19 Positive Reporting
Please remember to complete the Bend-La Pine Schools COVID-19 Reporting Form when staff report that they have COVID-19. It is preferred that staff report to their office manager, so the school is aware of the absence. Our COVID-19 support team do not report absences to schools. **No need to text Tami, Michelle, or the school nurse. We will be notified when a new form has been submitted.
**Please note that there is not a COVID-19 support team member on call for COVID-19 cases reported after 5pm on weekdays or on the weekends/holidays. A COVID-19 support team member will follow up with positive cases on the next school day.
From Steven Duval
Here are some supporting documents for staff and families explaining how the 0-4 scale will look in Canvas.
First, here is a parent and student document explaining what parents will see when they log into their Canvas account. I will send this off to translation today.
Secondly, here is a PowerPoint that can be used with staff around using 0-4 in their Canvas Gradebook
Finally, here is a technical explanation of how Canvas calculates a grade. This is for staff. I also recommend you read it as a leader to better understand what is happening within Canvas.
Update from HR on UKG system transition
Welcome Back to the 2022-23 School Year — we’re excited about some new things we’ve been working on in Human Resources and the Business Office, and want to provide you with an update on the infrastructure systems project you may have heard us talking about throughout the past few months!
Last school year, the district contracted with a company called UKG to purchase its human capital management system, which is comprised of several modules: Time & Leave Management (which will replace Kronos, for those who were already on automated timekeeping), Human Resources Information Systems (Employee Profile and Position Control), Training, and Evaluation. This product will replace several current manual processes and non-integrated automated systems. The first of these modules to “Go Live” this year will be Time & Leave Management, followed by the HRIS features mid-year, and finally by the Training and Evaluation functionality which will become effective next school year.
Implementation of the first of these phases, Time & Leave Management, is coming up very quickly, and we have a lot of immediate work in front of us to train folks up for its use. Automated Time & Leave Management functionality will be utilized for the entire organization; BLS will move completely away from paper time and leave management, and pivot entirely to a single electronic submission and approval process. The current goal is to move into this functionality beginning with the October 17th – November 6th time keeping period, with “Go Live” on October 17th.
Time reporting will be slightly different for hourly employees than for salaried employees: hourly employees will both enter time worked and also submit leave requests for paid and unpaid leave times, whereas salaried employees already have presumptive calendars assigned to them and will generally submit only leave requests for paid and unpaid leave times from work (an exception to this general rule is that salaried employees will use the system to submit authorized timesheeted hours worked outside of the scheduled calendar). Leave requests and timesheets will automatically forward to employees’ Supervisors, who will review and either approve or return the submission back to the employee for revision or additional information.
Human Resources and the Business Office are presently working together to develop training materials and videos that we can share with you, and in turn with your staff, together with planning in-person and WebEx training sessions, so that everyone can easily and efficiently learn how to use the Time & Leave Management reporting system. One aspect of the Time & Leave Management tool that we are particularly excited about is that there will be some functionality that is accessible from a smart phone app — this will assist in making the Time & Leave Management tool more equitably accessible to those who do not work in assignments with convenient computer access.
So, stay tuned — we will be reaching out with additional information over the next several weeks and months as we move towards “Go Live” with the Time & Attendance Management module, and then later this year with the HRIS module. We thank you in advance for your patience with the inevitable growing pains this will entail, yet look forward to working together in implementing this exciting work process improvement tool throughout the year. Here is a video that outlines the transition. Warmly – Steve and Leah
Calendar
September 12: Principal PD 3:00-4:30 in Fireside Room of the Trinity Episcopal Church (469 NW Wall St, right by the Ed Center) BLS Principal Meeting
September 21: Upshift Coordinator Training 1:30-2:30 location TBD
September 21: Upshift Specialist Training 2:30-4:30 location TBD
September 22: Middle School Admin Work Session: 7:30-9:00 Sky View Middle School
September 26: Assistant Principal/Dean Work Session 7:30-8:30 at Ed Center in Board Room
September 26: District Safety Team meeting 8:30-9:30 (Safety leads required to attend)
Fish On
