The Fish Basket

Hello Team,

I hope you all had a great week. Remember we are not having a middle level meeting on Monday, December 13. Instead, I am suggesting we meet over at 10 Barrel East, to socialize, connect, share stories, and have some fun with a White Elephant gift exchange. The gift should be of $15-to $20 value and not to exceed $20. You can also find something in your garage! Central office admin are invited too, everyone, please ensure to RSVP.

You might have seen an email from Eric Powell regarding students and masking. Please reach out to him if you are having this difficult behavior crop up in you building. The team downtown is working on a response. Stay tuned as more information coming. If you have a concern or question around this behavior, don’t hesitate to contact me or Eric.

Have a great weekend! And let it snow!!

To Do

From Lora – ​​Substitute Teachers for Professional Learning – (please note, there are some changes to “dedicated subs”, that conflict with what we have shared in the past)

Let me start with the good news: in the last six days of school, we have had zero unfilled certified sub jobs on three of those days. It appears that some combination of the HDESD hiring/training additional subs and the bonus for subs who accept multiple jobs in a month is helping to reduce the number of unfilled jobs in the district.

But while we’re monitoring the data on a weekly basis, we’re not yet at the point where we can allow school/district staff to hire subs for staff professional development. At this point, the district is NOT authorizing the use of certified subs for any professional learning/team work time/staff leadership retreats, etc. Even if your school has “dedicated subs,” (subs that will work only at your site), you may not use these subs for the above purposes. The rationale is two-fold: 1) not every site has this option available to them, and 2) at the last minute, those “dedicated subs” may be needed to cover for a teacher in your building who is taking authorized leave (sick leave, personal, bereavement).

We have had a few teachers/schools with exceptional needs, and they have been authorized to use subs for professional learning. Please contact your level leader directly to discuss the issue if you believe you might have such a need. You will need their approval before requesting subs.

From April re: SIF Budgets – April is in the process of  transferring the funds for the schools’ SIF budgets and she has processed the ones where the budget in your staffing document is completed.  Please complete your SIF budget by January 7th. April will check this off her list and get you your funds.

From Julianne –  She will check-in with you individually and cover the new Test to Stay/Modified quarantine protocols released by the state. Please let me if you have any questions about this one.

From Stephen DuVal

Please set aside around 30 minutes in January or February for your equitable grading team member(s) to update your staff on the team’s work.  They will have a presentation to cover and provide avenues for staff to provide feedback.  If your building does not have a rep, please reach out to Stephen DuVal to discuss a method for communicating with staff.

Here is a list of building representatives.

Middle SchoolsCMS – Katie Lyons – Jake Slodki – Leticia GuestHDMS – Ingrid Hoban – Libby Estenson – Nishka Morton – Lauren Houslet – Dave McKaeLPMS
 – Jessica ColburnPCMS – Mary WellingtonPBMS – NO REPRealms MS – Roger WhiteSVMS – Christine Clark

High SchoolsBSHS – Erin Hoffman – Amy SabbadiniBTA @ MHS – Alex GreenwoodCHS – Jess Calbreath – Kolina Watt-Garcia – Alex Baltodano – Rayne CedergreenLPHS – Pam PriceMVHS – Brandi Ross – Jason Gibbs – Sharon Sieveking – Michael HicksRealms HS – NO REPSHS – Erin Carroll

Youth Truth Survey

Please be sure to send the following message to your families in order to increase participation. Feel free to adjust the message to fit your personal school.

Dear Parent or Guardian,

We are writing to let you know that we are asking your child to participate in the YouthTruth Student Survey in the coming weeks. The YouthTruth Student Survey is a nationally recognized survey used in hundreds of schools and districts across the country, surveying hundreds of thousands of students. The survey asks students about their experiences in the school and with their teachers, including how engaged they are at school, the rigor of their coursework, and their preparedness for the future. Our school, other schools, and researchers may use such information for developing plans to help schools and teachers improve. For information about this survey, please visit http://youthtruthsurvey.org, or speak to a school administrator.

Although we want to hear from all students, participation in this survey is voluntary.

Your child’s ratings will not be identified in any reports because results are shared at the group level. Personally identifiable information will not be released to any third party.

Please be aware that under federal law, you have the right to review a copy of the questions asked of your child. If you would like to do so, you can view a copy of the survey at school.

Spanish

Estimado padre o tutor,

Le escribimos para hacerle saber que le estamos pidiendo a su hijo/ que participe en la Encuesta de Estudiantes YouthTruth en las próximas semanas. La Encuesta de Estudiantes YouthTruth es una encuesta nacionalmente reconocida utilizada en cientos de escuelas y distritos de todo el país, examinando cientos de miles de estudiantes. La encuesta le pregunta a los estudiantes acerca de sus experiencias en la escuela y con sus maestros, incluyendo la forma en que están comprometidos en la escuela, el rigor de sus cursos, y su preparación para el futuro. Nuestra escuela, otras escuelas, y los investigadores podrán utilizar dicha información para el desarrollo de planes para ayudar a las escuelas y a los maestros a mejorar. Para obtener información acerca de esta encuesta, por favor visitehttp://youthtruthsurvey.org, o contacte a la escuela. Aunque queremos saber de todos los estudiantes, la participación en esta encuesta es voluntaria.

Las calificaciones de su hijo/a no serán identificados en los informes porque los resultados son compartidos a nivel de grupo. Información de identificación personal no será revelada a otros grupos terceros.  Tenga en cuenta que bajo la ley federal, usted tiene el derecho de revisar una copia de las preguntas de su hijo/a. Si desea hacerlo, puede ver una copia de la encuesta en la escuela.

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This and That

From Jennifer Hauth

Student Success/BRYT Fidelity Indicators:  We know you are all working hard to get you Student Success Program up and running in each of your buildings, but do you often wonder where you are at in your implementation or how you are doing? Here is an important one-page implementation document with 7 different fidelity markers of what you need to have in place during this school year.  Please know that to have a Student Success program in full implementation and running smoothly, will take several years, like 3-5 (yes, we said years, not weeks or months). This one page document has broken down what year one implementation will look like.  This would be a good document to review with your Student Intervention Team and to do a quick check in of where you are at.  Are you on track? Do you need to make plans to address any of the items?  Do you need help?  Don’t hesitate to reach out to your Student Success Coach, Jennifer Hauth, or Juan Cuadros.  

From Dave – Just an FYI that the Youth Truth survey will be conducted in January.  More info coming soon for you, your staff and your families.

From Stephanie Bent – Due to COVID-19 we will again be offering a blended model for the First Aid/CPR class.  The class will be done online with a hands-on skills assessment to follow.  The online portion of the class should take about three (3) hours with the skills assessment to follow with a first aid/CPR trainer that will take about 20 minutes.  The online course can be done to fit your schedule.  Your First Aid/CPR card will not be issued until all portions of class are completed.

The process will be as follows: 

1. Sign up for the class in Performance Matters. Stephanie Bent will send you a link from HSI/Medic to get started ([email protected]).   
2. Please check your Junk Mail if it does not appear in your regular inbox.  
3. After each section of the online session, there will be a one or two question quiz. 
4. When scheduled, the hands-on skills assessment schedule will be emailed to you to register if you have completed the online portion.  You can only do the in-person skills assessment after you have completed the online portion of the class.   
5. The in-person skills assessment will be done in 30-minute increments with 1 to 6 person ratio (20 minutes for the class and 10 minutes to clean and sanitize equipment). 
6. First Aid cards will not be sent out until both portions of the class are completed.  

The class currently in Performance Matters opens 12/3/2021 with a completion date by 1/28/2022.  If interested, please sign up now. 

From Dean Richards

On the next Educator Network Day, January 12, most of the PLCs will have some time to discuss the syllabus requirement for second semester.  The following was sent to District ICCLs and others leading the conversation on the 12^th.  Principals will receive a documents to share with teachers in next week’s blog to communicate location and major agenda items to share with teachers. 

After conversations with Lora, and collaboration with the TOSA team, we’ve come up with a list of syllabus expectations that we can use to help teachers prepare to complete this task.  

There will, of course be plenty of follow-up questions, but as a guideline, here are six items that should exist on the syllabus documents, across all content areas:

1. ​contact information
2. course overview, including overview of units studied
3. a list of curriculum resources most often used (including a suggested disclaimer about current events, importance of responsiveness, and opening the door to some resource use not listed – here is what Lora recommends and which can be used all or in part: In response to students’ learning needs, current events, or newly available sources, for example, I will periodically supplement our major texts with other materials. If you do not want your student to read/view any supplemental materials, please let me know. Your student can wait to read/view the material until after they have shared it with you. )
4. Grading policy/information about how students will be assessed
5. a link to grade level/subject area standards or an embedded list of the specific standards you rely on
6. a link to this document from the Canvas homepage, so it is easily found by both parents and students

Our current plan is for me to loop secondary administrators in so that we can identify any areas where their staff messages might be out of sync with the above and smooth those edges, and then for subject area TOSA’s and ICCL’s can act as resources for their content area teams around this expectation.

I expect to finish the administrative communication cycle this week, so teachers can have the above list next week.  Also, I recognize that there may need to be subject-area specific additions (such as safety information on science syllabi…) Stay tuned.

One way you can provide support in the meantime is:  if you have a syllabus that contains the five content pieces, would you share it with me?  Being able to provide some exemplars to teachers will be helpful, so others can see examples of how the five content items might be organized.

Thank you so much!

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• December 10th & 13th-Juan out of building. If you need assistance access Lora, Katie, Skip or Dean-I will be available by phone or text.
• (Canceled) December 13-Horizontal Meeting 7:30-9:00 @Sky View Middle School-Here is the Draft Agenda (Canceled)
• December 16-Middle School Social 4:45 pm or soon thereafter @10 Barrel East (Please be sure to RSVP-This will be important for our White Elephant Protocol/Gift Exchange.)
• December 20-December 31 No school
• January 1st-SLGGS Due
• January 7th-SIF Budgets are due

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Fish On…

Hello Fellow Thermo-Riders,

Happy December! It is time to begin reflecting on the past year as we look to the new year to come! I appreciated our principal’s breakfast this week and I want to give Chad a shout out for a new circle prompt, hero or villain? I can say more in person. Anyway, I shared with the group that we are meeting on Tuesday, December 7, at Bend SHS at 8:00 am in the new building (towards the back of campus). This meeting is in regards to grades pass back in Canvas & synergy. Both principals and assistant principals are required to attend. Contact me directly if you have a conflict.

Also, I am canceling our middle school meeting for Monday, December 13, @Sky View MS. In replacement, let’s meet at 10 Barrel East. (62950 NE 18th St, Bend, OR 97701) on Thursday, December 16, @4:45 or soon thereafter. Let’s make this cheerful by conducting a “white elephant” gift exchange. The cost of the gift should not exceed $20 but no less than $10, or find something in your garage! BTW, this is an open invitation to all other admin too! Let’s have some fun! Please RSVP.

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To Do

From Eric Powell – STAS Level 1 To Do – If you have not already done so, would you please click on the link below to update your building’s Level 1 team information?
BLS STAS Level 1 Teams (Link)

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This and That

From Garra Shulter — In response to new United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules, Bend-La Pine Schools will no longer offer “grab and go after school snack/supper” for all students in the new year. Instead, as of January 3, 2022, “snack/supper” will be available only to students enrolled in after school academic programs, such as Kids Inc., 

Breakfast and lunch will continue to be provided for all students at no cost for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year.

Outside Masking – You saw the communication that came out yesterday re: outside masking.  The goal is to get it to you first then to staff.  In a nutshell the big change is that masks are not required outside during recess or lunch.  The exception would be if you are bringing an entire class outside for instruction or for an event.  Even with this change in practice we think it is still recommended for BLS staff to wear our masks when we are outside at recess, managing drop off/pick up and greeting parents. 

From Sean:  re: SSC/SSI Proposed Evaluation Domains and Standards – One critical aspect of creating a new role in BLPS schools is determining the evaluation rubric.  Please see the below proposal for this year’s evaluation rubric.  This was vetted through a representative group of SSC’s/SSI’s, and Admin.  The group believed this was a great match and would work well for this year.  At this time, I would like you all to take a look at the proposed eval rubric and provide your feedback HERE.  In the future, the plan is to design a rubric specific to the student success program and your new roles.  I am also sending this exact email to SSC/SSI for their comments.  I hope to have this process finalized and determined prior to leaving for winter break.  Thanks in advance for your participation.  

Student Services Coordinator Rubric

Proposed Domain: Standards

• 2.4 – School Culture: Communication
• 2.5 – School Culture: Relationships
• 3.9 – Programs and Services: Assessment
• 3.10 – Programs and Services: Records
• 3.11 – Programs and Services: Intervention
• 4.12 – Professional Responsibilities: Professionalism
• 4.13 – Professional Responsibilities: Self-Improvement

From Kinsey re: Multilingual Department Staff Supervision – You should have received an email this week with updates on Family Liaisons and Language Specialists (schedules, case loads, mini-observations, and evaluations).  

Thanks for reviewing that information, and letting Kinsey know if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

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Reminders

Personal Days – Thank you all for closely monitoring personal day use so you don’t exceed 5%.  For most schools 5% equals 2 teachers however for some that number might be a bit more or a bit less.  When in doubt either round up or give me a call to discuss the leave request. I expect the day before winter break to be another high absence day – fingers crossed we are able to fill all the jobs.

Classified evals – Paul inquired with OSEA union leadership last year and they were not interested in limiting the number of domains for evaluation.  While we haven’t asked this year, we can, but we don’t anticipate their position changing. Stay tuned.

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• December 6-Juan working remotely but available by text, phone, email.
• December 7th-Canvas/Synergy Work Session meeting 8:00 am @ Bend Senior High School
• December 10th & 13th-Juan out of building. If you need assistance access Lora, Katie, Skip or Dean
• December 13-Horizontal Meeting 7:30-9:00 @Sky View Middle School-Here is the Draft Agenda (Canceled)
• December 16-Middle School Social 4:45 pm or soon thereafter @10 Barrel East
• December 20-December 31 No school
• January 1st-SLGGS Due

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Fish On…

Team,

I am thankful for your level of service and care you give each day to our students, staff and school communities. You all are amazing leaders and I know that you place students at the heart of your work. During this holiday break, make it break. But if you need to call or text me for any reason, don’t hesitate. I will be available. If it can wait, let it wait and we can connect upon your return. Have a wonderful break!

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To Do

From Scott Bojanoswki (To Know)

SRO Assignments Update

From Juilianne Repman (To Know)

BinaxNOW Testing Kits

As a reminder, you may continue to use the BinaxNOW Testing Kits until your supply runs out. If more tests are needed anytime, please send a request to: [email protected]

On 10/12/21, all registered schools received the following message regarding BinaxNOW testing kits expiration update:

Dear School Testing Administrator,

The current Delta surge has depleted the federal supply of Abbott BinaxNOW tests, and regular distribution has not yet resumed. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services allows for temporary use of expired pandemic testing supplies when the supply chain is disrupted until non-expired supplies become available. The Oregon Health Authority is temporarily allowing the use of expired Abbott BinaxNOW test kits if individual test kit quality controls remain functional. Because each Abbott BinaxNOW test includes a quality control process, these expired supplies are anticipated to continue to provide accurate test results. Any test without an appropriate quality control check should be discarded. 

These tests have been distributed to schools statewide and this guidance applies to all public and private schools participating in the K-12 diagnostic testing program. The Oregon Health Authority will notify schools via. email once the Abbott BinaxNOW supply chain has been restored and the temporary use of expired supplies ends.

Thank you,

Jamekaa Baker-Flowers

School Testing Coordinator, Operations and Policy Analyst 3

ODHS | OHA SHARED SERVICE 

COVID-19 Response and Recovery Unit (CRRU)

​​From Jackie Wilson

Here are the Standard Operating Procedures for Holiday Shutdowns. Please see that these can be done before you break for the week.  In addition, here is a monthly update.

1. Holiday shut down – As the Thanksgiving break is upon us, please help remind staff that they are responsible for shutting down all classroom electronics at the power strip to prevent unnecessary energy use over the holiday and to empty and unplug any mini-fridges. The Standard Operating Procedure (Holiday SOP) is attached to review.
2. Sustainability updates – Compost is back at Miller elementary school, West Side Village, and at the Bend High Commissary Kitchen. It is a great step in reducing our impact.
3. Energy updates – Caldera High school is just starting to gather billing data but is performing pretty great in terms of energy. Here is September billing data for some comparisons. 
   1. Caldera – 32,800 kWh
   2. Summit – 95,100 kWh
   3. Bend High- 106,011 kWh
   4. Mountain View -97,203 kWh
   5. REALMS -32,040 kWh
   6. LPHS -68,644 kWh

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This and That

From Alandra Johnson

Holiday/Thankfulness: If your school engaged in an activity around gratitude, thankfulness or giving, please let us know (examples: student art or writing about what they are thankful for, canned food drive for the holidays, etc.). We will be sharing art, photos and stories during Thanksgiving break and would love to include efforts from as many schools as possible. Email Alandra details and a photo.

From Jennifer Hauth

“Culture of Care is offering Free Virtual Drop-In Wellness Circles for all educators and helping professionals across the region to reduce stress, bolster resilience and build connections on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month (3:45-4:15 pm).  All are welcome! The Zoom link will be sent after you register with your email. For specific questions, email Dr Amy at [email protected]. 

Sessions begin Nov 15, 2021 & Dec 6, 2021 (3:45-4:15pm); then the 1st & 3rd Monday (3:45-4:15pm) thereafter.”

More from Jennifer Hauth

Are you currently using social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum or strategies in your classroom or school building? Please take a moment to apply to be on our SEL steering committee by Friday, December 3rd. We are looking for certified, classified and administrators to serve on the team. Student and family input will be part of the process as well. We will meet monthly beginning in mid-December.

SEL Steering Committee Survey

From Brad Henry

BLS has an agreement with Bend South and Bend North little leagues to allow them to place a yard sign at the front entrance of our schools each year for a short period of time. They are the only non-District group that actually has permission to do this, and it is in the MOA.

This year, Brad Henry gave them permission to place a sign for two weeks between Thanksgiving and the holiday break.  In addition they can place a sign from Jan 20 – Feb 28.  One sign at each school.

The City may be changing or enforcing their sign ordinance beginning Jan 1, so this could change.

From Human Resources

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Our School District offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to help staff navigate life stressors and/or manage life changing events.  The EAP program is administered by Reliant Behavioral Health (RBH).  The services they offer at no cost to Bend La-Pine School district staff members (minus substitute teachers) are outlined below. 

Portal link: https://portal.bend.k12.or.us/employee-info/content/employee-assistance-program

Portal content:

Bend-La Pine School employees have access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Work-Life Services through Uprise Health. This benefit is free and extends to anyone living in the employees home. The following support services are available:

·    24-hour crisis support

·    Confidential counseling

·    Work-life services, includng finance and legal services

·    24-hour on-demand emotional wellness support

·    Peer support groups

·    Digital mental health services

Call: 800-395-1616

User access code: OEBB

From Eric Powell

From Monday’s meeting:

Here is the link to the BLS Restorative Practices Admin. Support sheet (which includes many helpful links including the STAS 101 document). I also placed the link under the Safety page.
BLS RP Link

This just in: HB 3294 Toolkit 

With the passing of the Menstrual Dignity Act by the 2021 Oregon Legislature and Governor Brown, Oregon is the first state to have legislation requiring free menstrual products in every student bathroom in all schools. In order to honor the needs of all menstruating students and the districts who serve them, ODE has created this toolkit which provides information on the requirements of this law, equity-centric recommendations, and resources to consider when building district and school-wide implementation plans, teams, and when purchasing physical dispensers and products.  Ideally this toolkit would have arrived prior to the installation of the dispensers at your school – very unfortunate.  We will be discussing the use of the toolkit and make some recommendations for how to use it.  For now please do not send the letters linked within.

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Reminders

From Julianne Repman

C19 Code Synergy and Attendance Reminder 
When a student is quarantined, the office will place a C19 on the school days that fall during a quarantine. The C19 code is an excused absence. If the quarantine extends past 10 days, the student will need to be inactivated.

HOWEVER…

If the student attends class virtually, the attendance office may enter PVQ. Present Virtual Quarantine (PVQ) is a School Activity code that does not generate an all-day value.  This code may be used before 10 consecutive absent days.

Teachers will not have access to C19 or PVQ. Only the office staff will have the ability to enter these codes.

A suggestion from Rachel Mavis: If a student would like to attend class(es) virtually, a counselor or teacher may call the student and parent to arrange a plan for the student to attend virtually. The student and parent need to know the expectations regarding virtual attendance.  Then the counselor or teacher may work with the office staff on the dates for the PVQ code.

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• November 22-26 No School
• December 2 Middle School Principals (only) Breakfast 7:30-9:00 @The Original Pancake House 1025 SW Donovan Ave, Bend. (RSVP thanks)
• December 13-Horizontal Meeting 7:30-9:00 @Sky View Middle School-Here is the Draft Agenda
• January 1st-SLGGS Due

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Fish On…

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Thermo Riders,

Remember, pivot, shift and be ready to be nimble as things are constantly moving and will move suddenly. As Dewitt Jones would say, “if you can see it, you will believe it.” With that in mind please be ready to continue our work with our School Design Plans on Monday at Pilot Butte MS. Please review the following document to get ready for our conversation: BLS Excellence/Equity Strategic Priorities Here are some questions to consider for Monday:

• How do you map out the BLS EESP in your building?
• How do you unpack this in what you do with your staff?
• What are the adult actions? What are some concrete examples that EESP is in concert with your School Design Plan? See you then, Juan

To Do

From Human Resources (Ensure you take this message seriously)

BLS Administrative Staff –

This is a reminder of District masking and illness reporting requirements, and of your responsibility as supervisors to enforce the requirements. Unfortunately, we’ve received several reports of both inconsistent compliance and inconsistent enforcement of the standards. 

FACE COVERINGS

Staff remain obligated to wear a well-fitting, appropriate mask or face covering when at district sites, unless they are actively eating (and distanced from others) or in a private, fully enclosed workspace. Some staff may be required to wear 3-play medical grade masks as a mitigation measure to a vaccine exception, or a KN95 mask when indoors supervising unmasked students under 12 years of age.

“Appropriate mask or face covering” means a cloth, polypropylene, paper, or other face covering that covers the nose and the mouth and that rests snugly above the nose, below the mouth, and on the sides of the face. The following are not face coverings because they allow droplets to be released: a covering that incorporates a valve that is designed to facilitate easy exhalation, mesh masks, lace masks, or other coverings with openings, holes, visible gaps in the design or material, or vents.

Masks that allow light through, such as sports masks, and vented masks are not appropriate, and are not allowed for use while working at Bend-La Pine Schools. See here for the limited exceptions to the forms of appropriate masks.

ILLNESS REPORTING

Also, all district staff are required to report illness to their supervisor, particularly COVID-19 primary symptoms, exposure, a positive test result, or a directive to quarantine or isolate. Supervisors must pass on reports of primary COVID-19 symptoms, exposures, and positive cases to the Health Services Team for follow-up investigation.

In addition to reporting to their supervisor, staff can also report their status via this new tool:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLC1rRILWcqZSTu3RyJOA68L9AVR7vKudyhJi75Q07utINow/viewform

FAILURE TO COMPLY

Failure by staff to comply with the face covering and illness reporting protocols, or by administrators or supervisors to enforce protocols, may result in progressive discipline. Please document and follow these progressive discipline measures:

1. Verbal warning
2. Written Directive
3. Letter of Reprimand (contact Steve Herron or Paul Dean if you are escalating to this step)
   

Do not delay your responses in the face of continued defiance, as you may compromise the District’s ability to respond progressively. 
Please let me know if you have any questions about these reminders.
Thanks – Steve

More from HR (to know)

Human Resources: Email Groups

Over the past 12 months, HR has welcomed several new confidential staff members, supervisors and directors.  To provide better service, we’ve also shifted some roles/responsibilities within our department.  To assist you and your staff in knowing how to best direct your HR questions, we’ve created HR email groups so that you no longer need to remember the individual(s) responsible for a specific task and can easily connect with the most appropriate HR department.  

In your email “To” cell, if you begin to type “hr-” and select the search directory, then you’ll see the list of possible HR email groups.  We’ve created a HR reference google doc to capture the new email groups, the tasks/responsibilities within each department, staff members’ names and their phone extensions.  If you ‘Star’ it within google drive or bookmark the page, you’ll have it for easy reference.  This is a live document, and we’ll update it regularly.

HR Holiday Services

With the upcoming holiday seasons on their way, we wanted to communicate that there will be limited HR services during Thanksgiving and Winter Break.  For new hires, Thursday, November 18th & Thursday, December 16th will be the last day to offer positions before each respective break.    

Steve H (503-539-1044) will the emergency HR contact over Thanksgiving and Paul (541-350-3168) will be the emergency contact over Winter Break.

From Stephen DuVal

Principals please find coverage for the last 15 minutes of class on Wednesday 11/17 for the equitable grading team members on your staff, so they can make it to Bend High by 2:45 pm.

This and That

From Dean Richards

Secondary Blog: More Lessons Learned from the Equitable Grading Think Tank: Retakes/Redos & Extra Credit

More about SLGGs

I have had some questions regarding the development of SLGGs by your Student Success Coaches and Student Success Instructors.  With the uniqueness of their role, we have determined, for the purposes of writing SLGGs, that they will be considered TOSA’s.  The guidance from ODE states: 

Teachers on special assignment (e.g. TOSA, instructional coach, mentor teacher) who do not provide instruction to students are not required to set SLG goals. However, they must participate in the evaluation process and may include measures of their impact on school and district goals for student achievement. 

Therefore, they NOT be required to develop SLGGs.  

Also, we are currently developing a rubric for evaluation of Student Success Coordinators and Student Success Instructors.  It will likely be selected areas from 2 domains.  We will gather input from some SSCs/SSIs, admin, and BEA in the process.  Stay tuned for more information.  

Thanks and let me know if you have any questions.

Bend-La Pine Schools Healthy Schools Program

Bend-La Pine Schools is partnering with Deschutes County Health Services to launch a Healthy Schools program. This program is funded 50% by Bend-La Pine Schools and 50% by Deschutes County Health Services. 

Healthy Schools will embed a Public Health Specialist into each high school by the 2023-24 school year. 

Each Public Health Specialist will serve both their high school and the middle school/s that feed into that high school. Two high schools will join the program every school year. For the 2021-2022 school year, the following schools will be receiving direct public health services from their Public Health Specialist: 

• La Pine High and La Pine Middle Schools
• Bend Senior High and Pilot Butte Middle Schools

Healthy Schools aims to: 

• Improve supports for social, mental, emotional, and physical health needs available in or through schools
• Increase students reaching Oregon’s Positive Youth Development benchmark 
• Reduce unmet physical and mental/emotional health needs amongst students
• Reduce disparities by race/ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation, and income levels

Each Public Health Specialist will serve their high and middle schools by: 

• Serving as a designated School Health Coordinator
• Assessing and reporting school health needs and improvements using collaborative processes
• Creating and implementing a collaborative, data-driven school health improvements plan
• Facilitating coordination, collaboration, and integration across internal and external teams/programs
• Providing or coordinating trainings and coaching to improve school health practices
• Facilitating implementation of district and school initiatives, such as Social and Emotional Learning, Equity and Inclusion, and School Design Plans

Healthy Schools is using the CDC-recommended comprehensive Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child approach (see the model below). 

These slides provide more information about the Healthy Schools program, if interested in reading more: https://tinyurl.com/HealthySchoolsPHAB2021

For questions about the Healthy Schools program, contact Aimee Snyder, DrPH, the Healthy Schools Supervisor: [email protected]; 541-408-3630

From Alandra Johnson

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Reminders

BRYT Fidelity Indicators  

I know you are all working hard to get BRYT up and running in each of your buildings, but do you often wonder where you are in the implementation process, or how you are doing? Here is an important one-page implementation document (I also placed the doc under the BRYT tab on the blog homepage) with 7 different fidelity markers of what you need to have in place during this school year.  Please know that to have a BRYT program in full implementation and running smoothly, it will take several years, like 3-5. This is work is a marathon and not a sprint. This one page document has broken down what year one implementation will look like.  This would be a good document to review with your Student Success Team and to do a quick check-in of how processes are going.  Are you on track? Do you need to make plans to address any of the items?  Do you need help?  Don’t hesitate to reach out to your Behavior Coach, Jennifer Hauth, or Juan.  

Evaluating Student Success Coaches/Instructors and EAs

This is just an FYI to let you know that school site Administrators are responsible for the evaluation/observations of these staff at your schools.  Please make sure that these staff know who at your site is responsible for their evaluation.   In addition, these positions are falling under the state guidelines of TOSAs and they will NOT have to develop SLGGs.  

Also, we are currently developing a rubric for evaluation of Student Success Coordinators and Student Success Instructors.  It will likely be selected areas from 2 domains.  We will gather input from some SSCs/SSIs, admin, and BEA in the process.  Stay tuned for more information.  

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• November 15-Horizontal Meeting 7:30-9:00 @Pilot Butte Middle School Here is the Draft Agenda
• November 22-26 No School
• December 2 Middle School Principals (only) Breakfast 7:30-9:00 @The Original Pancake House 1025 SW Donovan Ave, Bend.
• December December 13-Horizontal Meeting 7:30-9:00 @Sky View Middle School
• January 1st-SLGGS Due

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Fish On…

10 Habits of Successful Teachers | Brain Blast#edchat #teachers pic.twitter.com/LGgrFipzRM

— Todd Finley (@finleyt) November 9, 2021

Hello,

I hope you all had a great week. I apologize to those schools that I was scheduled to visit today. I was double booked today, I was in a workshop conference today. Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend.

To Do

From TLC

As the year settles in, please place a copy of your master schedule here or email to Dean Richards. This information will help TLC reach out to teachers and as we schedule our visits. 

We have now hired all of the District Level ICCLs across content areas.  This team will provide district level guidance on curricular questions and support other teachers in the disciplines.  

In order to support this district level team we would like a list of building ICCLs Please put a list of your ICCLs here.  There is a middle school and a high school tab.  Please place your ICCL names in the correct tab.

Regarding STAS  

We want you to be aware of some structural changes with the STAS (Student Threat Assessment System) in Bend-La Pine.  STAS now falls under the umbrella of Student Services  that Eric Powell, Assistant Director of Student Services, provides for our schools.  Eric and Sean Reinhart are leading that work and part of the regional team. 

STAS Update (from Eric Powell)

Please review and bookmark this “STAS 101” document (LINK) to help stay up-to-date on the STAS process for our district. If you have a STAS question, you can always call me directly to process and plan (541) 355-4810 [work] or (541) 639-6693 [cell].
For any new staff needing to be trained in STAS, we have sent them a calendar invite for a training on either December 1 or December 8 (from 1:30-4:30pm). If you would like to attend to get re-trained, please let me know and I can send you the invite.
Thank you!

Be on the lookout for an email tomorrow from HR  This email will be very specific about the necessity of all staff to follow covid guidelines (improper mask wearing is the biggest compliance issue) and the role we have as leaders to follow through with disciplinary actions when staff are not following the guidelines. We all know the rules and we are now going to hold people accountable who don’t follow them.  We just want to be sure you see the email and follow the guidance in it.

Evaluations – Here is the agreed-upon evaluation process for the 2021-22 school year. A couple of important notes:

• Both the number of observations and the evaluation domains and standards have been adjusted. Note that for certified staff “of concern,” administrators can use additional domains and standards, with proper notification to employees. 
• ODE JUST provided additional guidance on SLGG’s, stating that one should be related to academic progress and one related to SEL. At the bottom of the one-pager is a link to a resource document from Dave. 
• Administrators need to review the adjusted evaluation criteria and the required number of observations with their staff.
• Here is the Form

From Scott Bojanowski  Thank you for showing the SRP (Standard Response Protocol) brief training video to your school staff this fall. If you forgot to document the day you reviewed the video, click here to document that. As a reminder, the following are Standard Response Protocols: Lockout, Secure, Evacuate, Shelter, and Hold. In Bend-LaPine, we use the I Love U Guys Foundation program. 

We now need to provide the full one-hour training to new employees and any staff that may have missed the full training this fall, or anyone that just wants the full training as a refresher. Any new hires since January 2021 need to attend one of the training dates below, between now and May 2022. These training dates are in PD Place on the portal for sign-up and they will receive one hour of professional development for attending.  Please contact your new hires and have them sign up for one of the following trainings.

WHEN:  Choose one of the following dates:  11/10, 12/8, 1/12, 2/9, 3/9, 4/6, 5/11

WHEN:  3:00-4:00, one hour in-person

WHERE:  Ed Center room 314

This & That

HB 3294 Very recently, we were made aware of HB3294, the Menstrual Dignity Act.  You can read the details of the Act here.  Maintenance will be installing feminine hygiene dispensers in a couple of your student bathrooms.  I know this might cause some alarm but it is needed and is required.  We have asked them to install the dispensers but not stock them quite yet.  They will be empty for a while to allow students to get used to seeing them and also allow us to decide on a messaging approach.  I should have gotten this information to you sooner but I thought I had some time before they were getting installed.  I apologize.

From April It’s time once again to start working on leave sheets (the period is shorter this time due to the holiday week approaching).  The time period that we are recording leave for is 10/18/21 – 11/07/21.  Those with electronic calendars (administrators) can fill in their calendar and let me know when they are done.  Everyone else (paper leave sheets) can send me their leave sheets or email me with their dates of leave and I can fill them out for you.  If you did not take any leave during this period (10/18 – 11/07) just let me know and I will note it.  We are required to turn in a leave sheet whether we have taken leave or not.

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Reminders

From Lora Nordquist

Principals,

We probably don’t have to tell you that despite our best efforts, we are still facing shortages of subs most days of each week. We hope this situation will improve with new subs being onboarded, bonuses being offered, and decreasing COVID rates, but FOR THE TIME BEING: The district has suspended ALL school-day professional learning activities for staff who need subs. Our expectation is that staff will also not be approved for school-day professional learning provided by partners like the ESD or other private providers. 

Please reach out if you have any questions.

Lora

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• November 7-Roll back clock!
• November 11-Veterans Day
• November 12-Potential Teacher Sub Shortage
• November 15-Horizontal Meeting 7:30-9:00 @Pilot Butte Middle School Here is the Draft Agenda
• November 22-26 No School
• December 2 Middle School Principals (only) Breakfast 7:30-9:00 @The Original Pancake House 1025 SW Donovan Ave, Bend.
• January 1st-SLGGS Due

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Fish On…

Hello Wave Riders,

It seems like the weeks are coming and going at a good clip. Remember, slow down and enjoy the ride. There is a lot going on around us and we need to look up once an a while to notice all the wonderful things students and teachers are doing. Have a great weekend.

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To Do

Important  It was brought to our attention at a level leaders meeting, and personally, we have experienced it and seen it for ourselves, that there is inconsistency from school to school,  in what information is being shared or in most cases, not shared, with staff.  It is extremely important that the information we ask you to share is getting shared with all staffs or things we ask you to do are getting done.  We realized that part of the problem is how we are communicating to you, what needs to be shared.  To help improve that, we will be indicating in red, the section that has information that you must share or do.  The expectation is that you would at the very least, put that info in your next weekly staff newsletter.  Sometimes it will be things that you can directly copy and paste, and other times it may be something you need to modify a bit to fit your school. 

From Lora Nordquist

Evaluation and SLGG Requirement Updates  Below is the final revision of the requirements for mini observations as well as a few highlights.  

• Here is the link to the Certified Evaluation Update
• Both the number of observations and the evaluation domains and standards have been adjusted. Note that for certified staff “of concern,” administrators can use additional domains and standards, with proper notification to employees.
• ODE JUST provided additional guidance on SLGG’s, stating that one should be related to academic progress and one related to SEL. At the bottom of this one-pager is a link to a resource document from Dave. Take a look at the document – it has information, steps to take and suggested SLGG’s to possibly use.  You may now move forward with doing SLGGs with your staff.  Let’s target January 1st as our due date for SLGG’s.
• Administrators need to review the adjusted evaluation criteria and required number of observations with their staff.
• Talent Ed is in the process of being set up by Stephanie Bent to reflect these new changes. 
• SLGGs can still be done using the paper method that has been used in previous years. E-Version

Concern for 11/12 – We have looked ahead to November 12th and see that district wide 87 teachers have already arranged to be gone that day.  Most of these absences were entered as a personal day – which required your approval ahead of time.  Per our collective bargaining agreement, no more than 5% of your building staff can be out on a personal day, which for most of you is no more than 2 people.  We have noticed several schools that have exceeded that.  Please have your office manager go into the system to see if that is your school.   Check to see that you have pre-approved the personal day absences already listed. If you have not, please connect with those teachers and approve or deny the personal day as it fits your allowable amount of staff that can be absent on a personal day.   At this time, you cannot exceed that 5%.  This is especially important during this time of limited subs.  Be prepared with a classroom coverage plan as we may re-assign subs to different locations for that day if there are situations more dire than your site.

From TLC

Our middle school Math curriculum, DESMOS has some new quality-of-life improvements for our teachers and students! One of those upgrades is a consumable notebook for each student, which we are able to download from their site. The notebooks are organized by unit and give students an opportunity to both take notes, see and track vocabulary, as well as record practice problems. District Math ICCL and teacher at Cascade MS Tara Butler-Kruger from Cascade has edited each unit workbook to add pages for students to record their reflections as well as other resources to help our students stay organized. This resource has been shared with all Middle School Math teachers via their Google Drive. These notebooks support ALL of our students and allow the teacher to see where individuals need added support. The cost to print each book from the BLP print shop is roughly $1.20 per student per unit and our DESMOS curriculum has 8 units at each grade level.

You may have your Math teachers asking for this resource. At Cascade MS, where this project originated, these books were paid for out of the Principal Supply Budget and SIF.

A friendly but serious reminder – at our COVID safety meeting we were reminded that if you, or any of your staff members, has suspected symptoms or has tested positive for COVID you must notify your school nurse.  Additionally, all staff must be wearing approved masks correctly at all times. As an administrator it is your responsibility to ensure these practices are being followed.  Please look for an email from Steve Herron that further discusses these topics.

Did you miss the due date like I did?  We used to have December 31 as our date to finish Safe Schools aka Vector training.  The new date is October 31.  In between passing out candy keep your slide moving!  Please remind your staff.

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This & That

From Kinsey Martin

“Religion and Holidays” Equity Audit
The “holiday season” we are entering is a great opportunity to reflect on how we, as a public school system, uphold both the protection of religious liberty as well as the separation of church and state.  
Like most issues that are important to who we are as individuals and as a community, our understanding of respect and inclusion is constantly shifting and expanding.  This comes with awkwardness, discomfort, and an urgent need to calibrate and talk openly together.  
LEAD Cohort members will be reaching out to coordinate an opportunity to check our current practices against our collective values, rights, and responsibilities.  Here is the reflection tool that will be used.  This is just an FYI for now–if you have questions or concerns, or want to talk this through before your LEAD Cohort member approaches you, please reach out to Kinsey.

Need Masks? – We just received 5,000 of the newer better fitting KN95 masks. To request some of them send an email to [email protected].

From Jennifer Hauth

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FvY-E6kqjbaRA-EcDHhVcM24jrmLo-QeCW1zgVXUbPY/edit#heading=h.przrt2vkrwbb

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Reminders

From Julianne Repman

In case of an emergency response at your school or site; LockDOWN, Secure, Evacuation, Shelter, Hold, schools must call 541-355-8888 as soon as it is safe to do so (after lockingDOWN the school and calling 9-1-1, for example). You do not need to call the line for medical transportation from your site that is not critical.

Voicemail left here is sent to a variety of Cabinet-level leaders who begin to stop deliveries, stage buses, make changes to food service, and other activities to support your situation. This system is in place to expedite support to you and limit the need for you to ‘dial for dollars’ in an emergency, when looking for help. It also improves communication as all recipients of the message hear the same updates – reducing conflicting information.

541-355-8888 must be called at the end of the event, as well.

This protocol was revisited at Safety Day this fall and with Office Managers at their annual training. This phone line has been in place for many years. Thanks to all of those who continue to use it and a reminder to those new members of the team who might appreciate a quick reminder.

Feel free to call Julianne if you want to test out the phone line or have questions.

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• October 29-Civil Rights Training due
• October 29-SRP videos must be viewed by staff and students
• October 27-28 Work day and Conferences
• November 1, 7:30 am Horizontal Ed Center (Draft of school design due) Be ready to share. Coffee and treats provided (Here is the Protocol that Lora will be using)
• November 11-Veterans Day
• November 12-Potential Teacher Sub Shortage
• November 15-Horizontal Meeting 7:30-9:00 @Pilot Butte Middle School Here is the Draft Agenda
• November 22-26 No School
• December 2 Middle School Principals (only) Breakfast 7:30-9:00 @The Original Pancake House 1025 SW Donovan Ave, Bend.

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Fish On…

Dear Thermo Riders,

I hope your week was productive. I really enjoy coming out to your buildings and talking to you about your work. It was great to see all of you in person at this week’s horizontal meeting. Big ups to High Desert MS for hosting and for the coffee and donuts. On this topic of meeting, I am creating another opportunity for principals to connect with me and with each other. This is an open invitation for principals only. This will be a 7:30-9:00 am middle school principal breakfast twice a month on the first and third Thursday of each month (Starting on November 4th). The agenda will be Check-ins (temperature-check) problems of practice, successes, & other. Breakfast will be covered and we will meet at-The Original Pancake House: 1025 SW Donovan Ave, Bend, OR 97702. Let me know if you have any questions.

Lastly, I want to congratulate and welcome Gabe Pagano as the new interim principal at Cascade MS. I am sad to see Vanessa go from our school system, but I wish her and her family the best. You will be missed! Jake Slodki will step up and replace Vanessa at the AP role. Welcome Jake!

To Do

From April Jorgenson

Please update your HSS plans. We are starting to see expenses come in and be posted to the HSS grant, but most of the schools don’t have anything on their plans regarding how they are planning to spend the money. 

Conferences, iPads, & WebEx

Principals – here’s some important information to pass onto your teachers and students prior to conferences.  It could something teachers consider discussing and working on today in preparation for conferences.

• Many families are planning to use student iPads for conferences. Students should practice signing into their Webex accounts at school before iPads are sent home for conferences. Here’s a direct link to the Webex: Student Sign In video for the 21-22 school year.  Please reach out if you need any help with Webex. Client Services Technicians and Instructional Coaches are here to support everyone.
  
• VERY IMPORTANT – Many classes have received the new generation 8 iPads this year. If a student has the newest iPad please ensure the device is updated to iOS 15. These generation 8 iPads must be updated to iOS 15 for optimal Webex audio performance. We have experienced dropped WebEx audio on new iPads running iOS 14. Remember, updates can take some time to download, and most times require the device to be plugged in. Plan ahead!

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This and That

From Colleen Funderburg

Since next Thursday, Oct 28^th is a MS conference day and it is also a paid work day for our inclusion educational assistants we put together some professional development opportunities that classified staff can attend. Here is the flyer.  

Classified Team members supervising classes: There may be situations in which a classified staff member is used to supervise a class.  When this happens there are important things to remember:

• They are supervising the class, not teaching the class.
• They should be introduced to the class by an administrator or licensed staff member as the someone who will be supervising the class. “Students, Mrs. Smith will be supervising you today while your teacher is gone.  If you need assistance from her as you work on your assignments, please ask her.”
• An administrator or licensed staff member should check in with the classified staff member periodically during their supervision time.
  • The classified staff member should not be asked to plan lessons or develop curriculum.

From Culture of Care Coaches

Amplify Fall Fest

From Jennifer Hauth

Cultures Aren’t Costumes Checklist for Halloween.  Maybe something to add to your newsletter. English Spanish

From Tami Pike Distinguished Administrator of the Year

BLS Message no longer sends automated exposure notification phone calls to families. If schools would like a phone message to go out to their families alerting them to check their emails, the schools can use their automated phone message system. Here are a couple of sample scripts that could be used.  This is not a requirement for schools. Some may choose not to use this method of communication.

From Human Resources

We are excited to announce that you can now check your Record of Credit through Employee Online.  Record of Credit has been added to the Personal Information tab – see screen print below.  We have entered all credits we have received up through today so this information is up to date.  We respectfully ask that when you send in new credits moving forward, you allow us a couple weeks to get them entered before following up to see if we have received them. Let us know if you have any questions. 

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Reminders

Reminder from Julianne

Media in your buildings must be pre-approved! Be sure to consult with Julianne and Alandra before you allow media in your building, whether you are requesting them or not. If media show up unannounced, please contact Alandra and Julianne before answering questions – remember that everything you say is “on the record.” with them.

From Scott McDonald

Greetings,Now that teachers are more comfortable with Canvas, it has become evident in IT that several middle school and high school teachers are not using or actively transferring grades into Synergy. Please help us by restating that Synergy is our official grade reporting tool and that grades should be updated regularly.   Additionally, please encourage families to use ParentVue as their primary source for student progress.  ParentVue shows our families “HOW” their student is doing, Canvas shows them “WHAT” their student is doing (stolen from Roger White).  Instructions for how families can join both tools are linked here. The following comparison illustrates why it is critical that our synergy grade book is properly maintained.  

Synergy

Synergy is our student information system, storing our permanent record information for our students and parents.  It is the digital hub for all data related to students Grading (report cards), State Reporting, Scheduling, Courses, Communication, Transcripts, Online Enrollment, Immunizations, Attendance, Discipline, IEP’s, etc.  Supporting data in Synergy is transferred on a daily basis to 100’s of learning applications, data analysis tools (DART), Transportation,  School Messenger communications,  LMS systems (Canvas), and many more.

Canvas

Canvas is our Learning Management System (LMS), which stores all the assignments, learning content, assessments, and details of what each student is learning.  Some supporting data is transferred daily to Synergy for assignments and grading.

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• October 29-Civil Rights Training due
• October 29-SRP videos must be viewed by staff and students
• October 27-28 Work day and conferences
• November 1, 7:30 am Horizontal Ed Center (Draft of school design due) Be ready to share.
• November 11-Veterans Day

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Fish On

Hello Wave-riders,

I hope you all had a great week. I look forward to seeing all of you in person on Monday. I hope you get a chance to get out and recharge your batteries.

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To Do

October 18th – Over these next few days please read emails from Human Resources and Paul Dean very carefully.  There will be critical information in each communication regarding vaccination status and next steps for your staff. I know that some of you have more than one person on the “list.” Let me know if you want to brief about next steps.   

From Lora Nordquist

School Design Plans’ Process

This week at our learning leadership meeting, we discussed the timeline for school design plan processes and submission. Members of our team proposed a permanent shift in our timeline: instead of developing these to launch a school year, develop plans to run from the start of second semester each year through first semester the following year.

Lots of things make sense about this. School leadership teams can plan professional learning, staffing, budget priorities, scheduling, etc. for the following year based on the priority actions in their plans.

SO…we’re going to launch this new timeline. For those schools that are well into plan development or implementation, this requires no changes. full speed ahead. For those that need additional time, you will have it.

November/December(Dates and times determined by level leaders): drafts of plans are due for peer review. January: Plans for February 2022-January 2023 due.

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This & That

From Lora

District administrators will be meeting with BEA leaders next week to discuss temporarily reducing the number of required observations of certified staff, as well as identifying “focus standards” for observation and evaluation. 

Also, while the media headlines about emergency sub licenses sound great, the change is not helpful for us. The district must manage the subs (not the HDESD), sub licenses are taking approximately 7 weeks to process (so that would be January), and they expire March 31.

From Kinsey 

Family Workshop: We will be offering our families a workshop in preparation for conferences.  This workshop (designed and delivered in partnership with our Latino Family Advisory, with input from our Equity Coalition) will cover family rights and responsibilities, how to prepare for upcoming conferences, and in particular how to navigate our high school systems.  
Spanish-language event: Thurs, Oct 21Chinese-language event: Wed, Oct 20
Please see the invitation for details (the middle page is English for your convenience).  Language Dept staff are promoting this event with our multilingual families, but please share with them from your office as well!  

From Tami Pike

Because contact tracers do not have the capacity to call close contacts, and automated calls from the district were being ignored, schools are encouraged to use their own automated voice messaging system to reach parents about their student being quarantined. The script can say something like “Hi. This is Pacific Crest Middle School. Your student has been identified as a close contact in Mr. Smith’s class or on the bus. Your student is required to quarantine at home. Please check your email that you have on file with the school for more detailed information”.

More from Tami Pike

We will be starting our vision and dental screenings for our students starting November 1st. For any questions about scheduling, please reach out directly to Matt Phillips for vision screening and Tiffany for dental screening. 

From Garra Schulter

Please share in your newsletters. Now Hiring Flyers

From April 

This is your friendly reminder that leave sheets are due on Monday, October 18th.  The dates we are recording for this period are 09/20/21 – 10/17/2021.  Those with electronic calendars (administrators) can fill in their calendar and let me know when they are done.  Everyone else (paper leave sheets) can send me their leave sheets or email me with their dates of leave and I can fill them out for you.  If you did not take any leave during this period (09/20 – 10/17) just let me know and I will note it.  We are required to turn in a leave sheets whether we have taken leave or not.

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Reminders

Sub reminder

Here is a reminder about our sub process.  Please do not try to prearrange a district sub.  They are to be used the on day-of for unfilled positions.  Additionally, if you need someone to supervise a class (not teach) you can utilize a classified staff member.  This sometimes might be needed if a sub is arriving late.  Doubling classes can also occur but should be a last resort and should only be done with like-grade levels or content areas.  Also be aware of class size limitations when doing this. 

Face covering reminder for all –   From the Oregon Health Authority: “A “face covering” means a cloth, polypropylene, paper or other face covering that covers the nose and the mouth and that rests snugly above the nose, below the mouth, and on the sides of the face. The following are not face coverings because they allow droplets to be released: a covering that incorporates a valve that is designed to facilitate easy exhalation, mesh masks, lace masks, or other coverings with openings, holes, visible gaps in the design or material, or vents.”

It is the responsibility of the building administrator to ensure that all staff are wearing an approved mask and wearing it appropriately.

For patrons who do not comply with masking mandate: policy KK-AR

Here is the agenda for Monday’s Horizontal meeting.

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule.

• October 14 & 15 Juan out of office available by phone or Text-Limited email) For immediate assistance reach out to Dean Richards, or Katie Legace.
• October 18, @7:30 am Horizontal (agenda) at High Desert Middle School- Read pgs, 1-5, complete Water the Bamboo Assessment, & read chapter 1 and complete Water the Bamboo Uncover Your Core Values-Be prepared to discuss the values and pare the list down to 5 for our team.
• October 29-Civil Rights Training due
• October 29-SRP videos must be viewed by staff and students
• October 27-28 Work day and conferences
• November 1, 7:30 am Horizontal Ed Center (Draft of school design due) Be ready to share.

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Fish On…

Wave Riders,

I hope you all had a great week. I know there are some challenges out there, but hang in there and rely on each other for support. The work you are doing is amazing and I appreciate all of what you are doing for students and families. Be sure to read to the end of this blog. I hope the “fish on” motivates you! Have a restful weekend.

Best~Juan

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To Do

School Visits

Please check out the school visit schedule. As you look at the schedule, be thinking about what classroom(s) we ought to visit. The purpose of my classroom visits with you are to calibrate our instructional lens. School Visits Schedule

The weather is changing – as the temperature begins to drop it’s time to review the outside lunch policy:

• K-8 students will come inside for meals at 45-degrees. 
• If outside temperature + windchill is lower than 40-degrees, move meals inside.
• For example: If the air temperature is 48 degrees and there are sustained winds at 25 mph, then the wind chill temperature is 40 degrees = Meals inside

Encouraging students to dress in layers will be important as well on days where it will be close to the minimum threshold.

Subs and PD – just a reminder that you should not be scheduling any professional development or teacher meetings that involve getting a sub. Subs are in such short supply we can’t afford using them for this purpose. Sorry!

From Tami Pike

Hi Health Team!
Starting tomorrow, 10/6, IT will no longer be sending automated telephone messages to families when notification letters are sent. Families will still receive the email notifications. If individual schools wish to make calls to close contacts, they can do this at their discretion by using the automated School Messenger or make individual phone calls. Nurses/contact tracers are directed not to make close contact calls unless approved by Tami Pike. (I do not want this extra step placed on the nursing or contact tracing team.) Principals can request assistance from their own staff (assistant principals, office managers, secretaries, teachers, etc.). 
For positive cases in middle and high school classes, notification will be sent via General School Notification Letter. Notification to BLS sponsored clubs/sports/activities will continue to be sent with a cohort letter. 
No change to transportation notifications. 
Contact Tracers – There is no change to the BLS Message email process for letter notification distribution. 
Level leaders will be sending this information out to their schools in their weekly blogs Thursday and Friday. Due to time constraints and capacity, we are needing to start this process tomorrow, 10/6. Feel free to let your administrators know of this change if needed before then. 
Please email me directly if you have any questions/concerns. 

Collective Efficacy work for cert and classified staff: Next week is our first Educator Network Day (formerly know as District SIW.)  The goal of these meetings if for teachers and some classified staff to connect and discuss topics related to their disciplines and job alike responsibilities.  Each MS Administrator is assigned to one of these meetings (some in person and some virtual.) Your role is:

1. Be there for the leaders and provide them supports as needed. This includes keeping the conversations on track and intervening, as needed, with anyone stuck in a non-helpful spiral.  The expectations are that teachers/classified staff engage in productive conversations and not be grading papers etc. Cameras should remain on during virtual meetings.
2. You will be asked to track attendance at the Educator Network and submit that information to Dean.  This is so that we can track PDUs for teachers.  Next week Dean will send you a list of possible attendees.  We realize that some teachers would fit in several of the available meetings.  Hopefully anyone who is unsure about where to go can work through that with their department and admin for guidance.

If you have other questions please reach out to Dean or me.

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This & That

From the Culture of Care Team

The Culture of Care Team put this document together regarding the recent TikTok challenges and way to support students.

From Lora Nordquist

Student Teachers

I recognize we’re all desperate for substitute teachers, but TSPC has sent a directive to all teacher prep programs in the state reminding them of their liability if they allow their student teachers without substitute licenses to sub in schools. As a result, at least one of our program partners has directed their student teachers to LEAVE THE BUILDING if they are asked to cover a class without a certified teacher present in the room. Student teachers CAN be asked to present a lesson if there is a certified teacher in the room, as well.

After we finish the intense process of verifying vaccinations, HR can move forward on requesting emergency sub licenses for all our student teachers. Once that process is complete, (and we will notify you when that is done), student teachers CAN sub in their cooperating teachers’ classes without anyone else present. They should not be asked to sub in other classrooms.

Virtual Conferences

Parent teacher conferences will be virtual. Teachers have asked if they need to hold their conferences in the building. They are not required to hold conferences in the building. They may if they so choose. Teachers need to be mindful of their background setting if they conduct conferences outside of their classrooms.

More on conferences

Kinsey sent out communication earlier in the week about interpreters. Here it is again.

Thanks for prioritizing the scheduling of multilingual families who need interpreters.  ELL/Language Specialists know which families need interpreters and for which languages, and can help teachers coordinate requests, blocking these appointments together to the extent possible.  Specialists can input the blocks of time into Linguist Link for your building, to avoid duplicate requests.  

If an interpreter is not available for a teacher’s appointment or the family can’t make the appointment time, we need to provide an alternative time they can access the conference with trained, qualified interpreters.  

For bilingual staff who are interested and willing to serve as interpreters for this, there will be more information soon about this option.  Family Liaisons are not interpreters for pre-scheduled conferences–they will attend as advocates for families and cultural brokers for staff, but will be available for emergencies if an interpreter no-shows.  (Speaking of that, here’s what to expect from an interpreter–please communicate any concerns to your Language Specialist.)

Using conferences as a mini-observation for teachers?  These tips for culturally-responsive conferences are helpful look-fors and debrief topics. 

Secondary Blog

MANY OF YOU ARE TELLING US: THIS YEAR IS – somehow – bizarrely – WORSE THAN THE LAST. (How can it even be possible, you wonder? And is there anything you can do?)

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Walking Field Trips – the COVID response team decided we would begin allowing walking field trips if the following conditions are met:

• The field trip should start and finish at the school and should be directly related to curriculum standards.
• Students must wear masks.
• Students must keep 3 ft apart to the extent possible.
• Management and instruction of students has to be done by school staff – no parent volunteers can be utilized.
• Notify parents of the walking field trip but be careful not to over advertise it.  We don’t want parents “accidentally” showing up at the location.  This would be subverting our current policy on visitors and volunteers.

• Indoor music concerts and drama performances: we will allow indoor music concerts and drama performances and will be sharing specific guidelines in the coming days. One required addition is for students to submit a completed COVID Activities Participation Agreement. This is the same document athletes must submit prior to being allowed to participate in their sport. I shared this information with Keith Chaiet and Luke MacSween who are leading on this. They intend to share this with their counterparts during the Educator Network Day October 13. Please work with your music/drama teachers to ensure this doc is submitted by each student and kept at the school.

Congratulations to Stephen DuVal

Stephen DuVal has accepted a position at the Education Center as the Director of College and Career Readiness. He will not be leaving Cascade Middle School immediately. We are in the process of finding his replacement. When this becomes finalized a transition period will begin for both leaders. Meanwhile, Stephen will continue to lead Cascade and be available as a resource principal. Congratulations Stephen!

Reminder

A friendly reminder about 3 feet distancing – one of the questions that will be asked during contact tracing is “were students 3 feet apart?”  As you walk your school and observe classrooms you might want to pay particular attention to this rule and give students and staff a friendly reminder about the 3 feet rule and masking.

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

School Visits Schedule

• October 14 & 15 Juan out of office (available by phone or Text-Limited email) For immediate assistance reach out to Dean Richards, or Katie Legace.
• October 18, @7:30 am Horizontal at High Desert Middle School- Read pgs, 1-5, complete Water the Bamboo Assessment, & read chapter 1 and complete Water the Bamboo Uncover Your Core Values-Be prepared to discuss the values and pare the list down to 5 for our team.
• October 29-Civil Rights Training due
• October 29-SRP videos must be viewed by staff and students
• October 27-28 Work day and conferences
• November 1, 7:30 am Horizontal Ed Center (Draft of school design due) Be ready to share.

Fish On…

When you feel alone, or overwhelmed. Remember we are a team and we are in this together!

Wave Riders,

I can feel the weather changing. Oregon is so spectacular during the fall, and especially when you see the trees change color, the mountains start to accumulate snow, and the stunning sunrise and sunsets! Don’t forget to get out and see it!!

Have a great weekend!

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To Do

School Design Plans

On Tuesday, September 28, we met with Lora & Dave about school design plans. They shared the link with the docs. Here is the link. The original due date is October 18, at our level leader meeting, but I am going to push it back to November 1. We will meet in person on Monday, November 1, from 7:30 am -9:00 am in the board room at the Ed Center. Please bring your 1st draft to share with your colleagues. We will dedicate the whole time to design plans.

From Transportation-Tina Bandy

It is time for bus evacuation drills at your school. To keep things as simple as possible, we will use the same format as last year.  Please have teachers play the video below for their students. Students who ride the bus will receive extra training from their driver; you may see a small delay in the morning as they exit the bus.

Here is the link to the video: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/bus/transportation-videos

After all students at your school have viewed the video, please complete and return this form by October 15^th. 

From Kinsey Martin~Civil Rights Training

For your upcoming/recent Civil Rights training:

Here is an important addition to this training (you’ll see this referenced on the last slide): 

We are asking all staff district-wide (cert, class, admin) to complete a brief survey about their experiences as employees in our organization.  Here is some language you can use when you introduce this at the end of your Civil Rights training, and via email or staff memo/blog as a reminder the week after.   

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This and That

From Dean Richards & TLC

On Friday TLC sent out an email to recruit District Level ICCLs in areas where we do not currently have teacher leadership.  We hope to continue to support teachers to support other teachers by creating a collective efficacy mindset.  The positions include: Band, Orchestra, Choir, Fine Arts, MS Social Studies, HS Social Studies, CTE, and Health/PE.  We hope to continue to have more opportunities to include teachers’ voice in our curricular and instructional supports.

More from Dean Richards & TLC

The schedule for the October 13^th Educator Network Day is attached here.  We are waiting on a few teacher facilitators to give us the last bits of information.  When the Draft across the top is removed you will know that it is ready to share. All administrators are assigned to a network. If you need a switch, email Dean or Juan.

From Jackie Wilson

1. October 6th- Walk and Roll to school day. This is a great way to gather baseline data on students walking and biking to school.   Details Here: commuteoptions.org/walkroll_day
   
   
   STEP 1:Encourage your students to walk or roll to school or walk to the bus on October 6^th. Provide the link for them to register their trip on our Walk + Roll Google Form and they will receive Walk+Roll prizes (Deadline to register: 5pm on October 8, 2021).
   Google Form_English AND Google Form_Spanish
   STEP 2:On October 6^th, complete the Walk+Roll Student Tally in each class. Ask your students how they got to school the day before and on October 6^th. Print the form and return the completed form to the main office for Safe Routes to School Coordinator to pick up or fill in the google doc and email to [email protected].
   Walk + Roll Student Tally [Word]Walk + Roll Student Tally [PDF]
2. The Peoples Ecochallenge – Starts on October 6th – The People’s Ecochallenge is a 21-day challenge to take action for a better-shared future. From October 6 – 27, 2021, you commit to trying and doing new things. Fun actions encourage new habits. Small steps lead to big change. Together, we build a sustainable world and a healthy planet.  If your school has a sustainability advisor – they will get a school team together and share it with the rest of the school staff. If you do not have a sustainability advisor on staff, please see if there is a staff member who would like to be the captain of the team and reach out to [email protected]  for details. There will be great prizes for schools with the most points and participation
3. October 14th, Celebrate Farm to School Month with the main menu item, Chicken pot pie with 70 pounds of local potatoes from Sakari farms. 

From Superintendent Cook & TSPC

Superintendents,

TSPC continues to seek ways to assist you with the challenging staffing environment this school year. I wanted to provide you with two important updates.

Yesterday, TSPC filed a temporary rule that will allow districts to hire people on Emergency Substitute Licenses, which may help with the sub shortage. The license relaxes the minimum education requirement so individuals without a bachelor’s degree may qualify. To qualify, the district must ensure administrative support specific to the applicant, and shall either cover the cost of the application or support the cost through applicant reimbursement. The Emergency Substitute License will allow the individual to substitute only in the district or ESD that is sponsoring them. If the sub wants to work for other districts, those districts must work with the individual to apply for a license specific to those districts. This will provide enhanced accountability for the quality of the service provided to students as well as help districts keep their subs local to their districts. Notice with specifics has been sent to HR directors. Here is the link to further information.

I also want to update you regarding the slowdown with background checks. OSP has done a great job of catching up over the last few weeks. This is great news, but the quick increase in volume back to TSPC has also put a heavier burden on our end to get this information caught up in our system. I have offered continued overtime to my two background check staff to get this done. As I mentioned in my last meeting with superintendents, I can’t change the statute regarding the 90-day rule; however, I know that many of your districts will need to make decisions that they feel are right for students. It may be that in some districts, you will need to place those individuals in classrooms. What I can tell you is, if you have completed your own background check and absent some malfeasance in terms of staffing assignments, TSPC will not penalize those educators or the administrators assigning them.

I will share that most when we receive calls regarding, “Where’s my background check?,” about half of the time the applicant hasn’t submitted their fingerprints or their prints were not accepted by OSP. Nonetheless, we have had instances when we found an automatic clearance that has not gone through the TSPC system. My commitment to you is that we will continue to work on that. As always, please reach out to me if I can be of further assistance.

High Desert ESD

What can the Culture of Care Team do for you? Here is a link from the HDESD Culture of Care Team, letting you know of all the amazing topics that they can present to your staff.  Reach out to them with any questions.   

From Deon in HR 

Last year HR facilitated a Bias Awareness training. I am sharing a copy of that slide deck here for your review.  Thank you all again for the amazing work that you are doing! 

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Reminder

From Amy Tarnow

We are noticing Synergy gradebooks without grades and Canvas gradebooks without the nightly sync enabled. To help with this, Admins may consider sending out a reminder to enable this feature. Below is the video tutorial.
Nightly Sync for Canvas Gradepassback

From Alandra Johnson

Vaccine status deadline nearing for staff

Oregon Health Authority released its Administrative Rule requiring all educators and volunteers in Oregon K-12 schools to provide either proof of vaccination or documentation of medical or religious exception on or before Oct. 18, 2021. Read about the rule.

Bend-La Pine Schools’ employees are requested to upload proof of vaccination, religious exception form, or medical exception form to the Vaccine Status Upload page.

Questions about the vaccine mandate and the upcoming deadline? Supt. Steven Cook and the Director of Human Resources Steve Herron will answer questions during a live Webex Monday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m.

Submit a question to be addressed during the meeting using this form. 

Log on to the Webex Q&A Monday: Vaccine Q&A

Surveys & Prior Notice

Please remind your faculty that prior notice to parents/guardians is required before conducting student surveys. I know that some schools through their counselors might have already given student surveys, but in the future please give parents/guardians prior notice. For example, you can send it out in your newsletter. I am attaching the board policy.

Youth Truth Survey

This year’s Youth Truth survey will occur in January.  Dave will be sending out more information later.  It might be a good idea to review last year’s results with your leadership or other building teams  (if you haven’t already).  You can even share some of the information with staff and families in your newsletters as well. If you want to know how to do that let me know and I would be happy to work with you.

Fall Conferences

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, after we met with Lora Nordquist & Dave about school design plans, we decided as a group that our Fall conferences are going to be virtual.

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Calendar

SIW Schedule

M.S. Horizontal Meeting Schedule

• October 5th-School Visits AM La Pine, High Desert, Pilot Butte
• October 7th-School Visits PM Sky View, Realms, Cascade, Pacific
• October 14 & 15 Juan out of office (available by phone or Text-Limited email)
• October 18, @7:30 am Horizontal at High Desert Middle School- Read pgs, 1-5, complete Water the Bamboo Assessment, & read chapter 1 and complete Water the Bamboo Uncover Your Core Values-Be prepared to discuss the values and pare the list down to 5 for our team.
• October 29-Civil Rights Training due
• October 29-SRP videos must be viewed by staff and students
• October 27-28 Work day and conferences
• November 1, 7:30 am Horizontal Ed Center (Draft of school design due) Be ready to share.

Fish On…