Team,
As we approach the end of the first half of the school year, I kindly request that you review your enrollment and inform me if you have any space available for students who may be requesting mid-year ACR (Area Change Request) requests. Please note that this does not guarantee that these requests will be approved, but the information will aid us in making well-informed decisions. Kindly email me the requested information by the end of Monday, January 29th.
The CEFEE sign-up information is below. Let’s have our middle school group have a strong representation at CEFEE!
Continuing from yesterday’s horizontal meeting, I would like to invite everyone to read chapter 5 of Zarretta Hammond’s book, “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.” This chapter provides a strong strategy for creating a “learning alliance”, ie relationships, with our BIPOC (multilingual/Newcomer) students. If you are interested in learning more and going deeper into this topic, please feel free to reach out to me, I am available.
Have a wonderful weekend~Juan
To Do
From Kinsey Martin
- Racial Equity Professional Learning:
Our school district is committed to sending all administrators and supervisors to CFEE.
CFEE stands for Coaching for Educational Equity. This is a four-day intensive workshop focused on racial equity and the impact of Oregon’s unique history on our current education systems.
Sending all leaders to this workshop aligns our shared understandings, common language, and core values as a cohesive leadership team. This alignment supports our strategic priorities, equity stance, and decision-making across the district.
A large portion of our team has already attended! If you aren’t yet a graduate of this workshop, please register for one of the upcoming sessions, or reach out to Kinsey if you have further questions. Level leaders and department supervisors will share additional level-specific guidance with their teams, and Kinsey will be in touch with your registration confirmation or wait-list status. Thanks~
- Emerging Student Needs:
The Office of DEI is closely tracking some actively-shifting trends we know you are experiencing regarding populations of extremely vulnerable students in your schools: unhoused, immigrant, unaccompanied, and other vulnerable youth. While these students often do not manifest externalizing behavior challenges, we recognize they have highly specialized needs impacting your school. We recognize, too, that these students require and deserve immediate care and resources that may be unfamiliar or less accessible to your teams.
We will be dedicating time at an upcoming Admin PD to address this topic together. In the meantime, please remember (and remind staff) to feel free to slow down, learn about each student individually, and build relationships. A great leadership move you could do right now would be to shadow a student for a couple periods or ask a few content teachers how they’re feeling with supporting these vulnerable students in their classes. As always, if you have an overwhelming need or unique case that needs immediate support, please reach out to relevant support staff (family liaisons, language specialists, FAN, McKinney-Vento coordinator, counselors, equity coaches, etc).
Black History Month Kickoff
Here is the flyer invitation for our Black History Month kick-off. Please work with your ICCL-DEI rep or other relevant staff to make sure that any Black/African American students, families, and staff at your school are personally invited to this event, and that your staff are aware of the event (they’re welcome to share with students/families as they see fit).
From Paul Dean
Bringing this back from last week’s Blog: (Refer to last week’s Blog for the forms etc)
Probationary/Temporary Certified Staff
Reminder: Due by Friday, January 26th
From Dave VanLoo
School leaders,
As a result of multiple missed days due to inclement weather, YouthTruth has extended our survey window one week. Our new survey close date is February 2, and the new reports release date is pushed back to February 16. Let me know if you have any questions.
From Stephen Duval
Due to the loss of two SIWs this month, we have decided to remove the February 13th Admin/ICCL meeting from the calendar as schools will not have had enough time for the 2nd PLC conversation to occur. Instead, we will make the April 16th Admin/ICCL training our last this year. This means you have until then for your teachers to conduct their follow-up PLC from the 2nd lesson. Thank you.
From Paul Dean, Human Resources
***Probationary/Temporary Certified Staff*****
Reminder: Due by Friday, January 26th
- Meet with third-year staff member of concern that they are being moved 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
- The School Board will begin reviewing your letters in early Feburary.
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)
Performance Evaluation – Refresher
This and That
From Last week
The ACR/Choice Option Deadline has been extended one week from January 19 to January 26. This was communicated in our family newsletter this week.
Follow Your YouthTruth Completion Percentage Here: We have a goal of 100% staff participation and 75% families participating and there’s only a couple weeks left. You can make a positive impact in your return rates, by communicating with your families often and in different modes (newsletters, synervoice, emails). Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help schools with survey implementation.
Fundraiser for the Ochoa family.
Please share as you see best.
From Stephen Duval
From Dave VanLoo
Here is an opportunity for LA or math teachers to make some extra money and learn a bit more about testing and their content areas. Let me know if there is a better way to communicate this than the blogs.
From Kayla Martin
From Kayla in Safety: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day is February 15th. The Safety Team is requesting your help to collect cards, notes, pictures, etc. to present to our SRO team. The goal is to highlight the positive relationship between our SROs and their schools. If you are willing, please offer your students the opportunity to share their appreciation for their respective SRO, and send any items to the Safety Team at the Ed Center no later than Friday, February 9th. We are also happy to stop by and pick them up!
From Sean Reinhart
A reminder of upcoming regional Culture of Care professional development sessions that still have space available for Central Oregon educators and school partners. Register for all opportunities here!
Calendar
January 31: All admin Professional Development @Perserverance Hall BSHS at 3:00-4:30
February 2: Grades are due and need to be posted in Synergy by 4:00pm
February 2: Groundhog Day
February 8: MS Horizontal @PBMS at 3:00-4:30
February 9: Appreciation Cards for SRO are due
February 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work
February 20th: 5th Grade Family Night Time TBD by each MS
March 3: Education Foundation: Grants are due 3/1: www.blpedfoundation.org