The Fish Basket

Team,

I hope you had a great week and your conferences went well!

Please take a look at the following information. I want to ensure you know and have your HSS allocation for your 8th graders. Call April Jorgensen if you have any questions.

From April Jorgensen

“Each middle school has $2,000 allocated to them to spend this year, which is to be used for supporting programs, opportunities, and strategies for students in eighth grade only.  

Your HSS plans can be found here.  Once you have completed your plan, let me know and I will get it approved for you.”  

Have a wonderful weekend~Juan

To Do

From Lisa Birk

Please take three minutes to enter information about the meetings happening at your school. Lora would like this input by this Friday (10/27). Thank you! 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dzmdRV9T55x1uiNp2fMd2wXUhNA1HU5YOGGXVJ6YjxQ/edit?usp=sharing

Please read. Forecasting Timeline

From Paul Dean, Human Resources

Certified Evaluation Process

BLS and BEA have reached an agreement to modify the certified evaluation process for 2023/24.  Please share this document with your staff.  The document will be automatically sent out to all certified staff in early November through UKG/BLS email when we go-live with the Performance module.

New administrators are learning about the BLS certified performance review process during a meeting on Thursday, 10/19. We recommend that all administrators re-familiarize themselves with the Certified Growth & Performance Manual. 

Here is the slidedeck of the New Admin training.

From Josh Marks

Specialist Evaluations

Evaluations School Psychologist

Administrators you should have received an email from Colleen Funderburg and Josh Marks outlining your responsibilities for evaluations of School Psychologists. If you need additional clarification please reach out.

Evaluations Speech Pathologist     

All observations and summative evaluations for Speech and Language Pathologist are completed by the assigned sites. In the event that your SLP is shared with another site, you would work together with the other site to complete the observations and summative evaluation. 

From Dave VanLoo

YouthTruth surveys will be happening in January. This is our fourth year working with the organization. Here is a simple timeline of how the process should unfold over the next few months. All dates are from YouthTruth’s documentation. 

Nov. 14 – We will receive a brief 10-20 minute pre-recorded Kick-Off Webinar for principals to watch by Nov. 24.

Nov. 27 – YouthTruth will send principals (and any site survey coordinators listed on the submitted School Information Form) instructions on how to access their school’s unique Survey Implementation Guide. This is the first email that school-level teams will receive directly from YouthTruth.

Nov. 27 – Dec. 22 – School teams use the instructions in the Survey Implementation Guide to prepare for surveying. This should take a few hours total. 

Jan. 2 – Jan. 26 – This is the survey window for all student, staff, and family surveys.

Feb. 9 – Results will be available to schools.

More general information about YouthTruth is available on their website https://youthtruthsurvey.org/ 

From Amy Coronado

We have now switched over to our new Background Check Provider and are using the new links to background check for our Volunteers and Independent Contractors, as applicable. Each applicant should use the link appropriate for their group type.  

Please visit our Volunteer Page for the new link where potential Volunteers will complete their background check application. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the red “Register” tab. 

Please visit the Business Office page on the staff portal under the Purchasing section to view the updated  REQUEST-FOR-CONTRACTED-SERVICES-AGREEMENT form. The updated background check link is found on page 3 for those applicants needing a background check.

This and That

Performance Module 

We recognize that we released a firehose of information during Wednesday’s Leadership meeting on the Performance module. Feel free to access the following resources:

• Slides from the October 25 training
• UKG Performance Module Overview Document
• Goal setting tasks for administrators (1 min 56 seconds video)
• Observation Entry – Supervisor video (3 min 14 seconds)

We will be hosting two optional virtual drop-in sessions next week:

• Wednesday, 11/1, from 10 am – 11 am (link will be shared next week)
  • This will be a Q&A with no new information shared
• Friday, 11/3,  from 1:15 pm – 2:15 pm (link will be shared next week)
  •  We’ll begin with a rollout update
  •  Q&A afterwards

Student-Teachers

Recently, there have been a number of aspiring student teachers who have reached out directly to our schools to inquire about securing a placement at that particular site, so I’d like to take a moment to explain the process we follow for placing student teachers.

Currently, we have established agreements in place with George Fox, OSU-Cascades, and Lewis & Clark that allow us to readily accept student teachers when we can match them with a supervising teacher who suits their needs. For requests from other institutions, we require that they be directed to our Human Resources department so that we can engage the institution in the process of developing an MOA that meets both parties’ needs.

Each request beyond our established agreements is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Typically, we only consider such requests when they offer opportunities for our existing employees, such as Educational Assistants seeking licensure, or when they present a chance for us to develop relationships with individuals pursuing hard-to-fill positions like Special Education or Advanced Mathematics.

If you’re approached with any inquiries, please direct them to Ryan Kelling to continue the conversation. And if you ever have questions or need further clarification, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Ryan.

From Tracy Hawk

Hi Middle School Administrators, 

We are lucky to partner again with the CO STEM Hub to provide a full day PD for our middle school computer science teachers. Similar to last year, the STEM Hub will pay for all subs so our teachers can attend. The event will be on Thursday, January 18. 

Please respond with the names of teachers who teach any computer science in your school. I realize this may overlap with design and other technology classes, which is totally fine. If they teach any CS, that’s who we want. We need a current list for correspondence and an accurate estimation for the sub requirement. 

As we work on planning, please consider allowing the teachers at your school to participate in the PD, they will learn about the upcoming Oregon CS standards, work with high school CS teachers on vertical alignment, and have time to brainstorm and plan with their colleagues. 

From Jennifer Hauth

Virtual Attendance Process

Suggested blurb for sharing with blogs and depts:

Student medical leaves:

Occasionally a student will experience a significant medical situation that requires an extended absence.  While our attendance policy addresses basic options for this, we have developed additional guidance to support teams in navigating these infrequent situations.  Here is the current draft of this guidance.  We are sharing this now for your awareness. 

From Jennifer Hauth: Evaluations for Counseling/Mental Health Staff

School Counselors

• Site administrators are responsible for all observations and summative evaluations. In the event your school counselor is shared with another site, you would work together with the other site to complete the observations and summative evaluations.
• Job Description
• Evaluation Rubric
• SLGG Goals should be tied to these for this year:
  • As part of the BLS Comprehensive School Counseling Program, School Counselors are to develop Tier 1 and Tier 2 School Counseling Department goals that are aligned with schoolwide outcome data. They have been given guidance to use these two goals as their SLGGs.  

Student Success Coordinator/Clinician

• Site administrators are responsible for all observations and summative evaluations. 

• Job Description
• Evaluation Rubric

Student Success Educational Assistant

• Site administrators are responsible for all observations and summative evaluations. 
• Job Description
• Evaluation Rubric 

Calendar

October 26 & 27: Juan out of the office. At PBIS national conference.

November 1, 2, & 3: Juan out office: At Synergy conference.

November 2:  MS Horizontal @Pacific Crest MS at 3:00-4:30 (Cancelled)

November 9: MS Horizontal @PBMS at 3:00-4:30

November 16: Annual district-wide Latino Family Night at Pilot Butte Middle School at 5:30-7:45

November 28: Secondary principal and assistant principal meeting with Human Resources 8:00-9:30 at BSHS in Perseverance Hall

December 7: MS Horizontal @SVMS at 3:00-4:30

Fish On…

Team,

Have a restful weekend. I hope you find time to get out and enjoy these last days of awesome weather! ~Juan

To Do

From Human Resources

Certified Evaluation Process

BLS and BEA have reached an agreement to modify the certified evaluation process for 2023/24.  Please share this document with your staff.  The document will be automatically sent out to all certified staff in early November through UKG/BLS email when we go-live with the Performance module.

New administrators are learning about the BLS certified performance review process during a meeting on Thursday, 10/19. We recommend that all administrators re-familiarize themselves with the Certified Growth & Performance Manual. 

Here is the slidedeck of the New Admin training.

From Lora Nordquist

Here is the agenda for Wednesday, October 25 all administrators professional development meeting. Agenda

Human Resources

It is that time of year to complete SLGGs with staff. Here is the doc.

This and That

From Health and Services Department

District staff,

The attached guidance on reducing illness transmission is courtesy of our Health Services Department. Please help us limit the impact of flu, colds, COVID and other seasonal illnesses.

Document

From Scott Maben

Hi all! We are painting pumpkins in the Drop on Tuesday, October 24^th for Rec Night. Please pass this along to any youth or young adults in the community who may be interested in attending this fun activity!

As a reminder the Drop is a safe and supportive space for youth and young adults in Deschutes County between the ages of 14-27 to connect with each other and community resources.

We offer a variety of activities and resources for young people, including peer support, snacks, computer access, games, a Wii, a washer and dryer to do laundry and hygiene products.

We are open Mondays from 2-5:30pm, Tuesdays from 5-6:30pm, Wednesdays from 2-5:30pm, and Fridays from 1-4:30pm. 

Calendar

October 25: All Admin Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall

October 26: MS Horizontal @High Desert MS at 3:00-4:30 (New date) (Cancelled)

October 26 & 27: Juan out of the office. At PBIS national conference.

November 1, 2, & 3: Juan out office: At Synergy conference.

November 2:  MS Horizontal @Pacific Crest MS at 3:00-4:30 (Cancelled)

November 9: MS Horizontal @PBMS at 3:00-4:30

November 16: Annual district-wide Latino Family Night at Pilot Butte Middle School at 5:30-7:45

November 28: Secondary principal and assistant principal meeting with Human Resources 8:00-9:30 at BSHS in Perseverance Hall

Fish On…

Team,

I want to take a minute to remind you to be working on your “instructional problem of practice” with your staff/ICCL during the month of October. I would encourage you all to share your “theory of action” with each other. Making your learning model public will demonstrate your process and each of you may learn from one another.

Have a wonderful weekend! If you are going out to see the eclipse on Saturday, enjoy!! Let’s hope there are no clouds. ~Juan

To Do

From HR: 

Building Leaders, please remind your teachers of INB-AR which is related to to discussions in class about controversial issues.

It is a requirement that parents/guardians are notified AND that teachers present topics in an unbiased manner. Here is relevant wording from the AR:

Responsibilities of the Teacher:

A teacher must be knowledgeable of the role of controversial issues in education and recognize their own potential for prejudices and biases. The teacher must recognize that their own opinions may serve to inadvertently indoctrinate students. Full knowledge of policies, the students, the school and community is essential.

Notice and Alternative Options:

Parents / guardians will be informed in advance regarding controversial issues discussed in courses either through a course syllabus or direct home communication and will be afforded the opportunity to withhold their student without penalty. Alternative activities must be made available to students who object or whose parent / guardian objects to the content.

From Dave VanLoo-(From the email he sent on Friday, 10-13)

Principals, 

This is a really quick, simple, and important task. 

By next Friday (10/20) look at this spreadsheet and designate a school test coordinator for the YouthTruth survey that will happen in January. Last year’s information is currently filled in. If it is correct there is nothing you need to do. If the cells are left blank it means that you will be your school’s YT coordinator.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18E3PKTyER0T4B_S1xN2ldmfOLy0ttFxgqWMDmftMUns/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions.

 From Leah Bibeau

We have identified some issues with how time is being submitted by teachers this month, in regards to training – we are working on a communication we would love to have you include in your blogs – it is being drafted now – what would be your cutoff in order to include this, this week?

appreciate your consideration 

Leah Bibeau

From Human Resources

What to do in UKG when staff is out for training

If a staff member is not doing their regular job due to training, they MUST submit a Time-off Request for ‘School Business’ Leave. This will not affect their accruals in any way, but it does help the district track employees who are not in their regular position. This Time-Off Request should NOT be overridden in the timesheet with a Secondary Job if it is in their regular work day.

IF the employee works later than their regularly scheduled time, only then must they add an additional line to their timesheet in UKG, on the date of training, and add those hours, selecting the appropriate Secondary Job and include a GL code if necessary.  Staff should not modify any existing lines on their timesheet.

For instructions on how to properly record this time in UKG see the following document:    https://docs.google.com/document/d/18HfaYzpt_IseySx-FE5fpl3XFUwQwMoyP4-KoVN-ABk/edit?usp=sharing

Additional Note:   When subs are needed to cover a staff members job, while they are away for training, notations of where that sub needs to be charged must be noted in Red Rover, not UKG.  Red Rover is a separate system which needs this information to ensure costs of subs are accurately tracked.  Red Rover does not talk to UKG.

From Stephen & Dean

This a reminder about the ICCL work from last week. As your ICCL team works to create the lesson you will be delivering, please put your lesson in the appropriate folder here. As you work with your team, you could find other school’s work to guide your thinking. 

This and That

From Dean Richards

We are again providing professional development supports for teachers who are seeking ways to accelerate the learning of students who are currently performing below expectations in mathematics. This day long professional development class is designed to support evidence-based instructional moves that teachers can give to accelerate learning. The main audience is the classroom teachers. Special Education teachers may also benefit from the professional learning. Ideally, a team is sent to the professional development day.

Substitute costs will be covered by buildings. 

October 25^th from 8:00 to 2:00 (This is a teacher directed SIW, teachers may stay and work with colleagues  or return to buildings) at the East Side Library. 

Topics to be discussed:

• The role of manipulatives in instruction
• Determining the content for math support
• Ways to deliver explicit and systematic instruction to increase conceptual understanding.

To attend this professional development, please email Dean Richards with a request to attend

From the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion:

Halloween costumes:

A reminder to be thoughtful as you prepare for any staff or team costume themes: avoid cultural appropriation or offensive caricatures or stereotypes.  Some examples here.  LEAD/Equity Coaches have shared with your school’s DEI-ICCL rep some resources for talking with students about this issue as well.

International events and increased awareness:

Please keep extra eyes and ears out for anti-Semitic comments or incidents right now.  Our Jewish community is deeply impacted by recent international incidents and have indicated concern for increased bias incidents in this regard.  Thank you for swiftly interrupting and reporting anything of this nature.  

Upcoming Office of DEI events:

Thurs, Nov 16th: 

Our annual district-wide Latino Family Night will be November 16^th at Pilot Butte Middle School.  Dinner 5:30pm, Opening 6:00pm, Sessions 6:30-7:45pm.  Please join us to welcome and connect with your Latino families!  Feel free to invite your staff and families directly.

Fri, Dec 1st:

Restorative Justice & Equity Town Hall for high school students.  Just an FYI for high school calendars—RJ&E will invite additional adults/BLS staff as space and ideal student-to-adult ratios permit.  

Mon, Dec 11th:

Spanish-language FAFSA Night.  More details to follow.  

From Sean Keating, PCMS

Here is what PCMS is using during the Halloween season. Use as you see best.

Here’s our costume poster

Calendar

October 19: MTSS Administrator Lead Professional Development @ 3:00-4:00 @ Ed Center Board Room

October 25: All Admin Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall

October 26: MS Horizontal @High Desert MS at 3:00-4:30 (New date) (Cancelled)

October 26 & 27: Juan out of the office. At PBIS national conference.

November 1, 2, & 3: Juan out office: At Synergy conference.

November 2:  MS Horizontal @Pacific Crest MS at 3:00-4:30 (Cancelled)

November 9: MS Horizontal @PBMS at 3:00-4:30

November 16: Annual district-wide Latino Family Night at Pilot Butte Middle School at 5:30-7:45

November 28: Secondary principal and assistant principal meeting with Human Resources 8:00-9:30 at BSHS in Perseverance Hall

Fish On…

Team,

I hope you have a restful weekend and you get a chance to get out and enjoy this wonderful fall weather! ~Juan

To Do

DHS Training Video: 

Please watch this 6 minute video as it is important learning for you regarding the state’s process in investigating child abuse in schools (that is when there is a question about something that has happened at school or on our buses). There were several of these investigations last year in our elementary schools. This will help you better understand the process should it happen at your school.

From Lora Nordquist

Questions about bargaining:

Some of you are being asked questions about bargaining from staff or families. Please know that any discussion/update on the bargaining process in this context could be considered an unfair labor practice. Instead of trying to respond with information, here’s an example of what you could say (to staff): “I am not involved in this process. Your building rep/association leaders would be good people to check with if you have questions”; (to parents) “I am not involved in this process. If the district has new information to share about the process, it will be part of our family newsletter.” 

In the meantime, Steve Cook or Steve Herron will continue to provide updates for administrators only at our monthly meetings. 

Recommendations for students for private schools:

We recently received a question from one of our local K-12 private schools about policies prohibiting teachers from writing recommendations for students to attend private schools. BLS does not have such a policy. On the other hand, staff should feel NO PRESSURE to complete these types of recommendations. My only suggestion is that in order to avoid bias, staff do not “pick and choose”…either they are willing to complete a recommendation whenever asked or as a matter of practice they politely decline.

Form Dan Dummit

Please share the following attached Doc with your staff. These are common safety violations in school classrooms that can be avoided.

From Dean Richards

Educator Network Admin Assignments

This year we are breaking up the administrative supervision for the Educator Network into 2 groups. Team 1 will be on for 10/11 and 2/28.  Team 2 will be on for 1/10 and 4/24.

Here are the assignments for Team 1 for Wednesday October 11^th. Your role at the END is to first and foremost to be present and available to support the facilitator. Your secondary duty is to take attendance. Taking attendance is important to be sure that teachers are receiving the professional learning provided. Putting a teacher facilitator in the position of taking attendance on peers places them in a very awkward position. Please print this page to have teachers scan or type the short url. 

From Dean, Katie, Stephen, & Juan

Thank you all for your support and participation at the ICCL/Admin meeting the week. The conversations were great. As your ICCL team work to create the lesson you will be delivering, please put your lesson in the appropriate folder here. As you work with your team, you could find other school’s work to guide your thinking. 

This and That

From Paul Dean, Human Resources

Performance Evaluation Module

After some internal discussion with administrative staff who oversee the UKG Suite of Products, we’ve decided to pause the launch of the Performance module for two reasons: (1) we have some people/supervisors mismatched and want to avoid workflows of goal setting and observations forms from landing in an incorrect To Do mailbox, and (2) we’ll be meeting with district leadership on Wednesday, October 25th and will be providing a more extensive overview of the module functionality and answer your questions at that time.

Please continue your mini/formal observations as you’ve been doing and we’ll provide you with information on the 25th about how to enter that data into the Performance module.  For those administrators who are preparing to work with their staff on creating student learning growth goals (SLGGs) during the month of October, you may have staff use this google form. Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy.  On the 25th, we’ll review the method that certified staff will use to upload the goal setting form into the Performance module.  

For those creating school wide or team SLGGs for non academic areas, I came across SLG Goals for Social Emotional Learning & Engagement that I think is a great resource.  Here are two more resources that I think will be particularly helpful:

1. State SLGG Guidance
2. Teacher and Administrator Evaluation & Support Systems: Frequently Asked Questions

UKG Data Check – ReminderWe are asking building leaders to confirm that their staff assignments in UKG are correct.  You may navigate to your My Team tab, then go to My Saved Reports and Staff Assignments to view your people and positions.  If you see something that isn’t accurate, please use this google form to identify the corrections needed at your site.

From IT

Teachers, questions pertaining to standards grading setup and maintenance in Synergy Gradebook, need to be addressed at the site level with Tier 1’s and veteran teachers.  Additional resources are available through ‘TeacherHub’ website and the Canvas course ‘Teaching with Synergy’

From Colleen Funderburg

Professional Development for Inclusion Educational Assistants

We are very excited to share that we are partnering with The National Resource Center for Paraeducators, NRCP, to provide monthly professional development opportunities for all Inclusion Educational Assistants. These trainings are designed to help deepen the understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Please read more about these trainings HERE. Your learning specialists and inclusion EAs were provided this information earlier this week in our Special EDge.  For additional questions please contact Krista Hought and Stephanie Smith. 

CPI Trainings

We are offering additional CPI training.  An initial CPI training is scheduled for Thursday, October 26.  This is a non-workday for elementary and middle school inclusion EAs due to conferences.  If your inclusion EA has not been trained and chooses to attend, the student services department will pay for the timesheet.  This training should be in UKG soon!  Upcoming CPI refresher and initial training will be scheduled on February 2, 2024.  

Student Services Coaches – Roles and Responsibilities

Our team of eight is incredible and we are fortunate to have so much expertise and specialized skill sets.  Because they are so amazing, they are often requested to support in ways that are not aligned with their roles and responsibilities. They have three domains of focus: Staff Development, Leadership/Contribution to Learning, and Working with Teams. Please familiarize yourself HERE to read more about expectations and how they can support you and your special education teams. If you have any additional questions about how your student services coach can support your school and teams, please contact Colleen or Josh.  Additionally, if you need a quick reference for who is assigned to support your site, check out our ‘2023/2034-Who is Where Quick Guide’.

Wayfinder Summative Assessment: 

The deadline to complete the Wayfinder Summative Assessment has been extended through next week. Our minimum participation goal is 75% . Congrats to MS for having a high return rate.

From Scott Bojanowski

From Scott B: Schools are off to a great start with their safety training to staff and students and completing their first fire drill and lockdown drill of the school year.

A reminder, please ensure that once your school has completed your drill(s) for the month, to update the drill tracker with the date you completed your drill, and the drill evaluation form and save the form in your schools google safety resources folder.

Please reach out to Kayla or I with any questions.

What data do you need?

Thank you to the school leadership teams who have completed  this survey. The information we collect will help us to better understand how schools use and access student data.  School leadership teams are encouraged to discuss these questions as a team and complete the survey as a group.  

Calendar

October 11: Educator Network Day

October 19: MTSS Administrator Lead Professional Development @ 3:00-4:00 @ Ed Center Board Room

October 25: All Admin Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall

October 26: MS Horizontal @High Desert MS at 3:00-4:30 (New date) (Cancelled)

October 26 & 27: Juan out of the office. At PBIS national conference.

November 1, 2, & 3: Juan out office: At Synergy conference.

November 2:  MS Horizontal @Pacific Crest MS at 3:00-4:30 (Cancelled)

November 9: MS Horizontal @PBMS at 3:00-4:30

November 28: Principals & Assistant Principals Hold this date and time on your calendar: Secondary principal and assistant principal meeting with Human Resources 8:00-9:30 at BSHS in Perseverance Hall

Fish On…

Team,

The below article was shared with me and I thought to do the same. I am calling this: One to Grow on.

Nonbinary teen wins…

I think you all are doing wonderful work for our schools, students, and families! ~Juan

To Do

UKG Data Check

We are asking building leaders to confirm that their staff assignments in UKG are correct.  You may navigate to your My Team tab, then go to My Saved Reports and Staff Assignments to view your people and positions.  If you see something that isn’t accurate, please use the link below.

Please don’t undertake this task until Monday, October 2 and complete this google form with your corrections by Friday, October 6th

Performance Evaluation Module

We are going to use the week of October 2nd to complete our testing (thank you Julie and Sky View MS staff for helping us with this) and then roll out communications regarding the launch of Certified goal-setting, observations and evaluations processes.  Certified staff can expect an introductory notification through UKG regarding the launch of Performance by October 6th.
Administrative/supervisor are invited to view the google document Performance: Certified Evaluation to begin to acclimate yourself to this module.  It includes short video tutorials.  I am scheduled to conduct a Performance training with all administrators on Wednesday, October 25th at Bend Senior High School, but you’ll need to be interacting with this module for Certified goal-setting and Observations prior to the 25th. I will schedule a couple of weekly virtual drop in sessions and advertise those in next week’s blog to assist with any questions that you have.

From Sean Reinhart

Need emergency EA Support Now? You have funds for that. All building discretionary budgets contain a line item titled “High Needs”.  These dollars come directly from the Student Services discretionary account for buildings to use.  The purpose of these funds is to support building administrators to quickly staff for students with high needs.  The funds are available to use at your discretion for supplemental subs and equates to 70 hours of a substitute classified educational assistant.  This is an annual allocation, and the typical carryover (10%) rules will apply as with all other discretionary monies.   These funds are only to support high-need students that you believe require additional staffing.  Some other considerations when utilizing the high needs students discretionary funds:

• The high needs student discretionary funds are not exclusively tied to students on an IEP or 504 and can be used with any student.
• Supplementary substitutes should never work directly with a high needs student.  Rather, the substitute should fill-in for our trained staff that can work with high needs students.

Additional Student Services Staffing Requests:  Any requests for additional Student Services staff (included unfilled positions) need to come directly from building administrators and not from learning specialists.  Each request will be reviewed by a team of Student Services administrators and level leaders for consideration.  Some considerations when requesting additional student services staff:

• All high needs student discretionary funds (see above) must be spent first.
• Prior to requesting additional staff, develop a plan for how the person will be utilized, duration of the request, plan to fade support, and the name of staff member facilitating the sub and plan implementation.
• Any additional student Services staff requested via this process would need to directly serve students under the umbrella of special education (unlike the 70 hours above).

This & That

From Jennifer Hauth

Wayfinder Assessment

Thank you to all of the schools that started or completed the assessment this week. Shout out to Bend High (75%)and La Pine Middle (80%) for the highest stundet completion rates so far! We know there were some bumps for student logins, but we are hopeful those have all been sorted. If you have not started/finished, please make sure you have time scheduled next week for all of your students to complete the assessment (about 30 minutes). All students will access Wayfinder through the Clever app on their ipads. Please do a test run with a few students/teachers to make sure everything is working. Here is the one-pager as you are helping students login. Also, if student are not able to see their “To-do” list on their ipads, please make sure  that students rotate their ipad screens to see if that helps, or try to use their fingers to pinch in/out to see if they can find the to-do list. The assessment closes at the end of the day on Friday, October 6^th.  Your school will have access to the results of the assessment on your admin dashboard for all of your students in the six core skills. The results will show celebrations in what strengths your students already have and help guide your school team in areas of growth as a school community.

From Culture of Care

Culture of Care has two upcoming opportunities we want to make sure you’re aware of (and to please pass along to others!): 

1. Introduction to Trauma-Responsive & Restorative Leadership

Fall 2023 Leadership PD Opportunities
If you missed the one in August this will be a repeat for new participants!

• Friday, September 29th: 8:30am-10:30am (a 2 part series)
• & Friday, October 6th: 8:30am-10:30am 
• Leading through Grief, Stress & Crisis; Staying Grounded in our Values & our Why; Working WITH Others; Fair Process; Structured Safety, Support & Accountability; Leading with Circles
• East Bend Library (62080 Dean Swift Rd. Bend)
• Register here!

2. Introduction to Restorative Practices

23-24 Restorative Practices PD Schedule

• Tuesday, October 3rd: 8:30am-12:30pm
• Overview of fundamental theory and practices, including the Continuum, Social Discipline Window, Fair Process and Circle Planning & Facilitation.
• Limited sub funds available (note in your registration if requesting)
• High Desert ESD (2804 SW 6th St. Redmond)
• Register here!

From Scott Bojanowski

Safety Site Visits – 

Starting next week, Kayla and I will be visiting one school per week to partner with your administration team to conduct a safety site visit.

A few days prior to our visit, you will receive an email from us with the checklist of safety related areas we will be visiting. 

We will typically be at your school for 2-3 hours per site visit. We always welcome you to walk with us during our visits to highlight safety strengths and concerns for your building, but we understand it’s not feasible for you to spend the entire time with us during our visits. 

These visits are not a “gotcha” moment, but more of an opportunity for the district safety team to spend time in your schools partnering with you to ensure you have the safest learning environment possible. 

Please reach out to us with any questions. 

From Dean Richards

MS

We are again providing professional development supports for teachers who are seeking ways to accelerate the learning of students who are currently performing below expectations in Language Arts. This day long professional development class is designed to support evidence-based instructional moves that teachers can give to accelerate learning. The main audience is the classroom teachers. Special Education teachers may also benefit from the professional learning. Ideally, a team is sent to the professional development day.

Substitute costs will be covered by buildings. 

Language Arts: 

October 16^th from 8:00 to 4:00 in the Wall Street Lab (basement of the Education Center) 

Topics to be discussed:

• Increase understanding of the role of foundational skills in reading
• Strategies for teaching multisyllabic words
• Strategies for improving word and world knowledge
• Comprehension strategies

To attend this professional development, please email Dean Richards with a request to attend

A Mathematics acceleration is planned for late October. Details to come.

HS

There is a professional development day that is designed for middle school teachers, but may be of interest to hish school teachers who are teaching students well below current grade level expectations in Language Arts. This professional learning class would be appropriate for teachers teaching in co-taught or in credit recovery situations.  Special Education teachers may also benefit from this professional development. A Mathematics course is planned for late October, details to come.

Substitute costs are covered by building budgets.

Language Arts: 

October 16^th from 8:00 to 4:00 in the Wall Street Lab (basement of the Education Center) 

Topics to be discussed:

• Increase understanding of the role of foundational skills in reading
• Strategies for teaching multisyllabic words
• Strategies for improving word and world knowledge
• Comprehension strategies

To attend this professional development, please email Dean Richards with a request to attend

From Jennifer Hauth

Outside Service providers meeting with students on campus during school hours: Memo

Calendar

October 3: ICCL and building administrator training and work session location (TBD) (Topic Equitable Grading)

October 5: Juan visiting schools

October 5: MS Horizontal @Cascade MS at 3:00-4:30

October 11: Educator Network Day

October 19: MTSS Administrator Lead Professional Development @ 3:00-4:00 @ Ed Center Board Room

October 25: All Admin Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall

October 26: MS Horizontal @High Desert MS at 3:00-4:30 (New date)

November 2:  MS Horizontal @Pacific Crest MS at 3:00-4:30 (Cancelled)

Fish On…

Team,

Here is the topic from this afternoon’s virtual meeting: UpShift.

The role entails:

1.       Contacting parents/guardians

2.       Obtaining parent/guardian consent

3.       Entering (or initiating the process for entering) synergy data 

4.       Screening Students for risks level

5.       Referring to either and UpShift specialist for Teen Intervene or CareSolace. 

Principals-please identify at least one person on your admin team to be the UpShift Coordinator in your building. The coordinator will be responsible for tasks 1-3 when a student is offered and accepts Upshift. The UpShift Specialist will be responsible for tasks 4 & 5. A person needs to be trained in order to manage UpShift. There is a training on Tuesday, September 26th. Here are the details: 8:am-10:30am at Trinity Episcopal Church – Brooks Hall (469 NW Wall St, Bend, OR 97703)

Let me know if you have any questions.

Have a great weekend~Juan

To Do

Principals – Leadership teams from each school are being asked to complete this surveyso we can better understand how schools use and access student data.  You are encouraged to discuss these questions as a leadership team and complete the survey as a group.  

Survey questions are organized into groups with a number and a letter (e.g., 1a, 1b, 2a, etc.). Each number and letter combination (e.g., 1a) really is a multi-part question. If you answer the first question about the type of data, be sure to answer all follow up questions specific to those data. Please be as specific and descriptive as possible when answering these questions.  

Please complete the survey by Wednesday, October 4.  Contact Dave VanLoo with any questions about the survey.

From Sean Reinhart

Please see the link flyer for upcoming training opportunities from our Culture of Care Coaches.  Thanks

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qdFJg0_lduC1mJG-KQaVt0Xfq0beH1W/view

From Kinsey: Workshop registration

Time-sensitive: Please identify two Social Studies teachers in your building who will attend this workshop on Thursday, October 5^th.  Their substitute will be paid for, and lunch will be provided.  🙂     

Once you’ve confirmed your two participants, have them register ASAP please (registration form in the link above).  

Administrators are welcome to join.  If you can’t stay all day, the morning portion is recommended, and you’re welcome to stay for lunch—just please rsvp using the registration form.  Thanks!

From Lora Nordquist

Years of Service Apples

In the coming days, your level leader will deliver the “years of service” apples to the appropriate building principals. Please find a few minutes in a staff meeting or at the start of an SIW to formally recognize the outstanding staff who have served our district for many years. 

Possible (Temporary) Changes to Supervision and Evaluation Requirements for Certified Staff

Paul Dean and I are working with Sarah Barclay on some temporary changes to the supervision requirements for certified staff who have contract status. Our hope is to help relieve some of the observation burden for our administrators. STAY TUNED! In the meantime, as we’re waiting to bring UKG fully on board for this process, you can complete observations using any tools you regularly use. This information can be uploaded into UKG at a later date. 

From Stephen DuVal

If you haven’t already done so, please make sure you set aside some time for your teachers to set up their gradebooks together with support from your CST (Canvas Support Team) member and other experts in the building.  Taking 20 minutes now to ensure all setup is correct can save a ton of time and heartache later in the semester.  Each school has chosen a method for reporting grades with Synergy and/or Canvas, so please ensure your building team is the tier one support for this process.  As a reminder, here is a checklist for staff when it comes to Canvas minimum requirements.  We also recommend reviewing these items with your staff and counting it as a mini observation.

From Paul Dean, Human Resources

Classified Daily Break Requirements

This is a reminder to all administrators/supervisors regarding mandatory classified breaks/meals from Article 16.5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Per the CBA, classified staff who are scheduled for more than six hours receive:

• a 15-minute paid morning break as close to the middle of the morning workday as possible (between the start of the workday and the 30-minute meal period)
• a 30-minute duty free (no students) meal period as close to the middle of the workday as possible, and 
• a 15-minute paid afternoon break as close to the middle of their afternoon workday as possible

(You may view Article for 16.5 for breaks/meals for employees working less than 6 hours)

We understand current staffing challenges, but these breaks and meal periods must be arranged and scheduled per the contract.  We ask that you double-check with your classified staff in the next week to confirm that they have written schedules and that those schedules include the appropriate break/meal times. 

OSEA leadership is committed to supporting their members and will reach out to building/level leaders if they are notified that someone is not receiving their regularly scheduled breaks.

UKG Data

We anticipate checking in with school administrators next week to confirm the accuracy of staffing data within UKG.  We’ll provide a google form for you to log incorrect staff in your My Teams view.  We appreciate your patience as we continue to work through PAs and system updates.

Performance Evaluation Module

The district (Lora) and BEA are in discussions to modify the number of mini-observations and reduce the number of standards to be evaluated for all certified contract staff (probationary/temporary staff requirements won’t change as we must conform to ORS rules).   We will likely have the same amount of mini’s for both on & off cycle staff.  Stay tuned for more information on this.  

In the meantime, please continue your normal classroom visits while we get ready to roll out the Performance Evaluation module in UKG.  You’ll have the opportunity to enter prior mini’s once the new module is launched.

We are currently testing and making tweaks to the Performance module in preparation for an October rollout.  We have to create a different profile for each certified group that has a unique evaluation rubric.  We are prioritizing the classroom teacher rubric first as that is our largest group of certified staff.  We’ll then move to Learning Specialists, Counselors, Student Success Clinicians, School Psychologists, TOSAs and Speech Pathologists.  

This and That

From Jamie Goldman, Bend-La Pine Education Foundation

Hi All, 

Friendly reminder that the early bird applications for the classroom grants are due by September 16th for a chance to win an additional $500 to their grant. 

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thanks for your support!

Jamie Classroom Grant Doc

From Scott McDonald

Greetings from IT,

The following applies to personal devices only and not school issued student iPads.

Students have always been able to access Bend La Pine Schools digital applications from a personal device (such as a cell phone or desktop computer )while at home. This year, access from a personal device is still encouraged, but in the interest of security and data privacy, just a bit more challenging.  

Students will need to complete multifactor authentication prior to accessing BLS applications on their personal device.  Multifactor authentication adds a critical second layer of security before any student information is visible on a device that is not known by our organization.    The steps to complete multi-factor authentication can be found on the following link:

https://bls.fyi/mfa-student

Printed as well as Spanish versions of these instructions are available from the Tier One Technology representative at each school.  

It is important to note that the most efficient way  to access BLS applications is on the student’s iPad and avoiding this process all together.

From Josh Marks (from Sept 21 Horizontal)

PDF doc with Links

From Sean Reinhart

As a part of our suicide intervention efforts for our Adi’s Act plan, suicide prevention trainings are required for our staff. All of our trained suicide risk screeners, which are typically your school counselors, school psychs, some nurses, and some SSC’s attend the ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) PD every 5 years. This year, ASIST will be offered on Nov. 2 and 3, which will be required for those who have never been trained. There will be two additional ASIST trainings offered in the winter and spring for those who need to recertify.  School sites are responsible for sub coverage for staff who require it. For questions, please reach out to Jamie Gunter ([email protected])

From Jennifer Hauth

Thank you all for your continued support of Wayfinder. I have drafted newsletter content for your families. Please remember that we are not using Social Emotional learning when speaking or promoting Wayfinder. 

Elementary Text

Middle School Text

High School Text

If you have implementation or wonderings about Wayfinder, please reach out to myself and/or our Program Manager- Diana Curtaz:

Diana Curtaz

[email protected]

916.206.9784

Training Decks from In-service Week:

• K-5 Core Training
• 6-8 Core Training
• 9-12 Essentials Training (Activity Library)
• Mountain View HS Core Training

Resources to support teachers with implementation:

o    If your teachers want to learn more about Wayfinder, have them enroll in Wayfinder Academy (it is asynchronous). 

o    Here is a Collections Step-by-Step Guide + a Getting Started with Collections video.

o    The link to Wayfinder’s Tech Support.

o    Waypoints information for grades 6-12 (grades 3-5 coming in 2024!) BLS will have students in 6-12 complete this assessment between September 25^th and October 6^th.

o    Here is a Resource Guide with additional resources and support.

Sustainability 

Education 

Sustainability Advisor Position – SustainBLS

There are still a few schools that do not have a staff Sustainability Advisor in place for the school year. The SustainBLS program is one of the ways ALL schools can make sustainability, stewardship and conservation the norm across our district. Through SustainBLS, a certified staff member takes on the role of the school Sustainability Advisor and works with a school green team. This team can be a class, a select group of students or an environmental club. Our first training of the year is next Wednesday from 4:30-6:00 in the Facility Development Office behind admin.

Transportation 

Walk and Roll Prizes

Walk and Roll to school day is on October 4^th this year. If your school wants to have some give aways stickers, please apply by September 27^th to  Street trust. Teachers should be encouraged to gather information about student transportation to assist BLS. There are tallys here that can be sent to sustainability coordinator, Jackie Wilson Admin via inner district mail.

Get There Challenge with Commute Options

The Get There Challenge is an annual competition to encourage people who live or work in Oregon to drive alone less and use transportation options more. Running for two-weeks, October 1-15,  the Challenge helps promote commuting by teams will competing for recognition and prizes by logging trips taken by bike, foot, carpool, vanpool, and transit and remote workdays. Your school can create a team and sign up here. Any member of your team can be the team captain, but there needs to be one for each team. Check out the great prizes, including a $1000 gift card for the winning team. There will be a special district prize for the team with the most trips logged.

Materials Management

Recycling 101 in Deschutes County Solid Waste

With school in session, this is a perfect time to share with staff and review what can and cannot go in the blue co-mingle recycling carts in Deschutes County. Please note that plastic produce clamshells, coffee cups and copy paper reams are NOT Recyclable. 

Buildings and Operations

Total Building Energy Useage

Remember to keep building energy use in mind at the end of the day and on weekends. The building automation system sets schools to unoccupied modes over the weekend. If you have any questions or concerns about your school facility, please contact [email protected]

Calendar

September 26-October 5: Wayfinder Assessment: For ALL students; & For ALL Middle schools

September 26: UpShift Training at Trinity Episcopal Church – Brooks Hall (469 NW Wall St, Bend, OR 97703) from 8:00-10:30 Agenda

September 28: MTSS Lead Professional Development Location TBD at 3:00-4:00 (Only MTSS admin Lead for your building needs to attend-Dean sent calendar invite)

October 3: ICCL and building administrator training and work session location (TBD) (Topic Equitable Grading)

October 5: Juan visiting schools

October 5: MS Horizontal @Cascade MS at 3:00-4:30

October 11: Educator Network Day

October 19: MTSS Administrator Lead Professional Development @ 3:00-4:00 @ Ed Center Board Room

October 25: All Admin Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall

Fish On…

Calendar

Calendar

Calendar

Team,

Congratulations on a full week of school with students, staff and families! I am always impressed when I visit your individual schools and see you in action! For example, when I was over at Pilot Butte, I saw Jessica, Sarah and Mary meeting, and calibrating on how to deal with student decisions. At Sky View, one of the PE teachers had their class outside playing volleyball. The weather was perfect for it. And then there is the moment when you know you are part of the team and have a skill set to offer because I helped a Spanish speaking parent over at Cascade. These are a few examples of the amazing work you are doing every day! Lastly, I have heard nothing but positive comments with the beginning of the school year. Nicely done everyone. ~Juan

To Do

From Sean Reinhart

Please make sure members of your School STAS Level 1 team sign up for the SIRC training.

What is SIRC

The Sexual Incident Response Committee sets of assessment protocols and safety planning procedures overseen and administered by a unique collaborative team. The SIRC process is much like the STAS process, but is used when the event is sexual in nature (harassment, assault, etc..).

All Level 1 Team members must register for a full day of SIRC training if they have not previously attended. It is only necessary to attend one day (not both). There is a maximum of 50 participants for each day. Training dates have been separated by elementary and secondary levels.  Additional dates will be determined as needed.  Registration links for SIRC trainings are attached.  

SIRC Training Dates:

October 16, 2023 8:00 – 4:30 @ High Desert ESD (Middle & High School)

Registration 

October 17, 2023 8:00 – 4:30 @ Bend-La Pine School District (Elementary)

Registration

Technology Resources for Parents: 

Your IT team would like to encourage you to share the following links with your office staff and directly with families.  The links include step by step guides for parents who wish to sign up for:

Parent Vue

Canvas Observer Accounts

School Meals

Bus Information

Technology Resources for Parents (English)

Technology Resources for Parents (Spanish)

Reminders/already shared in an email:

College App Night is September 19: Please sure your families and students are aware of this event. Here is the flier in English and Spanish.

From Kinsey: Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

We are working to improve the workplace experiences and sense of belonging of our employees.  One of the many ways we are doing this is through co-designed systems of support and networking called Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).  Details here—page 2 has FAQ, in case you get questions.  

In 22-23 a few different ERGs met regularly throughout the year, with awesome facilitators and lots of fun activities!  Thanks to those of you who participated or encouraged your staff to participate.  We are re-launching groups for 23-24, and need your help:

Can you please ensure all staff are aware of this opportunity?  Here is a pre-written message you can send your staff—thanks for sharing in the next week or so.  (If you haven’t shared last week’s CAFE Program info with your staff yet–or if you’d like to send a reminder–here is that staff message again as well.)  Thanks!

From Kinsey: Here are the Bias Incident Lesson Series materials.  

• Required (by Oct 27): the revised-but-similar version of last year’s single lesson.
• Highly recommended: The other three lessons in the series are Wayfinder activities that our equity coaches have carefully selected and sequenced, to facilitate classroom climates conducive to dialogue around identity and bias.  Feel free to require the whole four-part series in your building!  🙂

Please connect with your ICCL DEI reps, to include teacher leadership in preparing the lesson roll-out for successful implementation across your building.  

Reach out to our district LEAD/Equity Coaches  to schedule support for your staff, and let me know if you have questions or concerns I can support!

Information:

ACR implementation change: In recent practice, students on an ACR who desire to move back to their home school are not given priority consideration over other students who submit an ACR.

Recently, a decision was made to approve any student on an ACR who would like to move back to their home school.

Process: Families/students will still complete and ACR, which will be approved. We will work with the home school on timing to minimize losing credit. Student attending Realms HS or BTA who wish to move back to their home high school should complete the Choice School application, found on our website here: Choice School AR (check out page 4 under exceptional situations). Please reach out with questions.

This and That

From Paul Dean, Human Resources

UKG: Staff Data

Human Resources/Payroll are aware that data in UKG regarding staff assignments is not currently up to date.  Please refrain from contacting either of our offices about this until a future blog entry in which we will be soliciting feedback from you on anything that is not correct.   Payroll is also working on updating accruals that are incorrect (like accumulated personal time).

UKG: Processing of PA

HR/Payroll are diligently processing PAs and prioritizing changes that impact an employee’s base compensation.  Other compensation like extra duty and ICCL stipends in which hiring was completed prior to September 1st, will appear on an employee’s September paycheck.  Anything that administrators completed after that date will likely not appear until October’s paycheck.

Other non-compensation related PA’s (positions, budget codes) will be processed in the order that they are received and be updated in UKG by mid-October at the latest.  

Certified Evaluation Update

Lora, Paul and Sarah Barclay are meeting this week to discuss certified evals for 2023/24.  We will have the following information to share with admin at the beginning of October:

• Certified goal setting process
• Mini-formal observation tracking
• On year summative evaluation list
• Summative Evaluation process and timeline

This doesn’t mean that admin can’t begin mini-ops now and tracking them on your own before we share how we plan to do this for the 2023/24 school year.  By all means, feel free to start those.

Important link to the Certified Teacher Performance Evaluation Manual

Recommended that all admin review – especially new admin

From Linda Adams

Dear Administrators,

Welcome back! Here in Teaching and Learning we are super excited for the 2023-24 school year and are lining up PD opportunities for your math teachers.

Last year we offered a one-day workshop on supporting struggling math students plus most of our high schools had at least one lesson study/studio day where teachers learned the latest in best practices and strategies for engaging all students in mathematics and to meet the diverse needs of our students. 

This year we’d like to offer that opportunity again to high school AND to our middle school teachers. We could offer up to 3 days, half or full depending on the school’s ability to partially fund this. One possibility is that teachers spend half of the day working on pedagogy and best teaching strategies and the second half working on PLC-standards work. In most cases I would facilitate the math strategies piece but am also willing to help organize the PLC work if desired.

TLC will also hold a new math teacher training, Introduction to Mathematically Productive Teaching Routines on October 3 for those who have not recently (or ever) had a best teaching strategies course for math early in October. this training will give teachers the background for the Studio-Math Teaching Strategies work during the year. Look for the flyer coming out soon with details.

We would love to start getting dates on the calendar (Mountain View already has theirs) so if this is something that you and your math team desire this year, please let us know. It is also good to consider including your math support teachers and these strategies are helpful for their classes as well. This time together also builds teams allowing them to plan more in the in between sessions.

All the best for a wonderful new school year,

Dean and Linda

Update on UpShift: 

We are continuing to implement the UpShift program at ALL high schools this year as an alternative to suspension program to vaping. At this time, you should have identified which of your building administrators will serve as the UpShift Coordinator.

Starting next week, any new UpShift team members will be trained on either the UpShift Coordinator or UpShift Specialist role at their schools.  

For those of you who have already completed an UpShift training in the past, we’ve prepared some helpful refresher videos that you can refer to as needed. Here’s what’s available:  

1.    Overview of UpShift Training Video :This video provides a comprehensive background on UpShift, explaining the ‘why’ behind it, the different UpShift roles, and how we track and monitor our efforts.

2.    UpShift Specialists Refresher Video : Designed for those who deliver the Teen Intervene Curriculum to adolescents.

3.    UpShift Coordinator Refresher Video : If you’re involved in coordinating adolescent disciplinary responses, contacting parents/guardians, or screening students for substance use disorder risk levels, this video is for you.  

4.    UpShift Google Drive Tutorial : Learn how to navigate the Bend – La Pine Schools UpShift folder and access your School – Site folder efficiently.

If you have questions or need further guidance, please reach out to me or the Public Health Specialist at your school. Your success in the program is important to us, and we’re here to support you!

Thank you for working through any implementation barriers and being committed to UpShift. Contact Heather Tang, if you have questions or need support for implementation.

From Dean Richards

Instructional Technology is aware of issues with rostering in easyCBM. This should be resolved on Monday.

Check this Out

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/video/moreno-valley-school-district-to-pay-27-million-to-bullied-boys-family/3224322/

Calendar

September 20: All Admin Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall

September 21: Juan visiting schools

September 21: MS Horizontal @La Pine MS at 3:00-4:30

September 26-October 5: Wayfinder Assessment: For ALL students; & For ALL Middle schools

September 28: MTSS Lead Professional Development Location TBD at 3:00-4:00 (Only MTSS admin Lead for your building needs to attend-Dean sent calendar invite)

October 3: ICCL and building administrator training and work session location (TBD) (Topic Equitable Grading)

October 5: Juan visiting schools

October 5: MS Horizontal @Cascade MS at 3:00-4:30

October 11: Educator Network Day

October 19: MTSS Administrator Lead Professional Development @ 3:00-4:00 @ Ed Center Board Room

October 25: All Admin Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall

Fish On

Fish On

Team,

Congratulations on the first week of school! It was great to see you all with hustling & bustling buildings full of students and staff. I think my highlight of the week was watching each of your WEB leaders creating a safe, inclusive and welcoming environments for all 6th graders! Nicely done!

As I mentioned to each you, I want to know your enrollments and know how many actual MS kids are in our schools. Please complete the following document. Please complete by Monday, September 11 at 4:00 pm.

You will notice that I will be out of the office on Monday, September 11, all good, and I will be available by text and phone. I will be monitoring email but it will be limited.

Have a great weekend, summer is still happening!!!

~Juan

To Do

From Aimee Synder

For Schools Starting Sources of Strength Classes or Clubs 

Last Call: Our last planned Sources of Strength Adult Advisor/Teacher training is on Sept 19, from 8:30-3:30pm, at the Ed Center (#314).  This is the promo flier with the registration link.  We have 12 spots left.  Share the flier with anyone you’d like to send to the Adult Advisor training so they can register.  Regardless of whether your school is doing a class or club, the ideal ratio is 1 trained Adult Advisor/Teacher for every 6-7 Peer Leaders.  

This is a list of all the Sources of Strength Peer Leader trainingshappening at schools between Sept 8 – Oct 17.  Students need a signed parent/guardian permission slip to attend the Sources of Strength Peer Leader training and the training would be required for participating in the Sources Peer Leader classes or clubs.  Jamie Gunter ([email protected]) is the person to contact about the parent/guardian permission slips.

Your school’s trained Adult Advisors/Teachers should attend your Peer Leader training because they will support the Peer Leaders at the training and then also in the Sources class or club.  The Peer Leader training is important for establishing the adult-to-peer leader relationship.  If your Adult Advisors are teachers and need sub coverage, use the $1,000 in start up funds your school received from Matchstick to cover the sub costs.  There’s also additional $1,000 mini-grants available that your Public Health Specialists are aware of and can help your school apply for.  

From Walter Norris

Please read this document and below ARs.

Document Pest Management Pest Management II

From Stephen DuVal

Principals, please send the following out to all staff.

We are looking for staff to support students with administration of the SAT this year.  This is a PAID opportunity where staff can help students on their postsecondary journey.  There are a variety of roles available on a variety of dates.  The first of which is right around the corner on October 7th.

Roles available:

Standard Proctors ($125)

Accommodated Proctor ($185)

Room Monitors ($100)

Hall Monitor ($100)

If October 7^th doesn’t work for you, please consider the next testing dates.  (All tests occur at Bend High)

                November 4, 2023

                December 2, 2023

                March 9, 2024

                May 4, 2024

                June 1, 2024

If you are interested in the 10/7 test date or any other SAT testing date, please contact Theresa Quade ([email protected]).

From Kinsey:  CAFE Program

Please read and share applicable portions with your staff:

A key tool we offer for translation/interpretation support is the Bend-La Pine Schools’ CAFE Program for staff.  Full details here.  Note: School and dept administrators should be familiar with items 5 and 6 on page 2.  

We are lauching the sign-up process to add new members to the CAFE Program.  Please help us ensure all staff have access to this information and opportunity: Here is a pre-written message you can copy and send to your whole staff (all certified, classified, administrative, and confidential staff are welcome to participate).  

Thank you for sending that message within the next week!  Additional information about CAFE, including the most up-to-date list of members, can always be found on the Portal’s Equity page.

This and That

From Sean Reinhart

Please see the following link for suicide intervention: Document

From Jennifer Hauth

Thank you all for participating in the Wayfinder trainings last week. We trained 33 schools in one tool – a huge success and lots of great feedback. Many of you have been so excited about Wayfinder and you are ready to share information with your families.  I am working with Scott Maben on content that can be shared, we want to be mindful to use Life and Career readiness when speaking about our new tool so please wait to share with families until we get some agreed upon text.

Our focus has been teachers and students for this first wave of training. Later this month, we will prioritize Student Success, Learning Specialists, School Psychs and Speech and Language for logins and training. Many secondary people in this position have received training with their school site and are waiting on a login. We are working on it😊

The Waypoint assessment that all 6^th through 12^th graders will be taking opens on September 26 and closes at 4 pm on Friday October 5^th. There are 43 questions and you should allow 30 minutes for students to compete the assessment on their ipads. You will have access to the data on your admin dashboard once the window closes.

For ongoing tech assistance, please use the process below for Austin’s team:

 Q: A teacher has the wrong grade level materials, what do I do?

A: Digital Tools- Please make sure that the teacher is loaded into Synergy correctly. In theory, Clever will synch with Synergy each night and assign the correct digital tools. If you do this and they continue to have the incorrect tool, please refer to the “Request new tool” feature listed below.

A: Workbooks- Your administrator should collect numbers for workbooks needed for the school. Then, they can USE THIS FORM to do a curriculum request which comes to Julie and Stephanie.

Q: A teacher is teaching a blend and needs both grade levels, what should they do?

A: For Digital Tools-the teacher should have the lower grade level materials. If they need another grade level to explore, please ask that they use the “Request new tool” feature listed below.

A: For the Workbooks (Middle School only. No workbooks for HS)- See above

Q: I have teachers who should have access to all grade levels (Counselors/PE teachers, Music teachers, etc.) How do we go about getting them access?

A: For Digital Tools- Make sure they are loaded into synergy correctly and then ask that they request the tools using the feature below.

Instructional Tech and Information Technology partnered to build an application where teachers can see what tools have been deployed to each of their classes. At the top of this page there is a feature where they can request a new tool.

This can be requests to add, change, or remove tools.

From Tami Pike re: Communication to the School Nurse After School Hours

Non-Urgent Student Matters For any non-urgent student health matters, please email your school nurse and they will get back to you on the next school day. Please do not phone or text after school hours.

Urgent/Emergent Student Matters For any urgent/emergent student health matters that need to be addressed immediately, please contact Tami Pike for assistance. (please text first 541-350-8387)

Employee Health Related Questions. For any employee health-related questions/concerns, please reach out to Human Resources at 541-355-1100.

WHEN TO STAY HOME REMINDER

Illness Symptoms and When to Stay Home. Bend-La Pine Schools follows the Oregon Health Authority/Oregon Department of Education’s Communicable Disease Guidance for Schools. This guidance includes when an individual should be excluded from attending school on site (including any school-related activities such as clubs and sports). 

For information on symptom-based exclusion guidelines, see page 8 of the Communicable Disease Guidance for Schools. 

• Fever – An individual must be fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications.
• Diarrhea/vomiting – Must be 48 hours since last episode.

COVID-19 is no longer an excludable disease (unless symptoms of fever, vomiting, and/or diarrhea are present). 

Parents/guardians/staff are no longer required to report positive cases of COVID-19 to the schools. COVID-19 test kits and medical grade face masks are available to students and staff upon request. Check with your school nurse about how to obtain a supply for your school.

You may also refer staff to the Health and Wellness section on our Bend-La Pine Schools website for more information about when to stay home.

Calendar

September 11: Juan out of office-You can text or call. I will have limited email.

September 14: Juan visiting schools

September 21: Juan visiting schools

September 21: MS Horizontal @La Pine MS at 3:00-4:30

September 28: MTSS Lead Professional Development Location TBD at 3:00-4:00 (look for calendar invite shortly)

October 5: Juan visiting schools

October 5: MS Horizontal @Cascade MS at 3:00-4:30

October 19: MTSS Lead Professional Development Location TBD at 3:00-4:00 (look for calendar invite shortly)

Fish On…

Team,

I hope you all had a great kickoff with staff. I was in a few schools and I totally had that nostalgic feeling of being with staff and the excitement of a new school year.

For next week, Please survey your bike rack areas to count how many E-bikes, and other E-modes of transportation students are using to get to school. Please do this for the first three days of school. Here is the doc to document. I may ask you to do it for the following week, but I will let you know.

For your review and delivery in advisory, here is the bike safety presentation in the Fish Basket under Instruction.

Here is the link to Rick’s presentation from Wednesday if any staff were unable to attend.

Have a wonderful weekend. ~Juan

To Do

From Kinsey Martin

Bias Incident Lesson-Here is the information that was sent earlier in the week: Doc

From Dean Richards

MS team,

Here is a letter to share with your Language Arts teachers regarding easyCBM.  I am more than happy to come and talk with LA teams for 20 minutes about the assessment. Please let me know if and when you would like me to come to your site. 

We did set a completion date of October 13^th for al LA easyCBMs to be complete. This is a few weeks before conferences. I would not endorse sharing risk factors with families or students at this time without the context of the assessment and its purpose. It could provide unneeded stress to families and students. This data is internal.  If I come to your site, I do provide some context with a norm based assessment that is helpful for teachers when discussing these results.

From Doug Pigman

Summer and fall can mean smoky air in Central Oregon.  The amount of smoke in the air will vary across our 1,700 square mile District, so recommended strategies to keep the smoke outside will also vary.  You can find the DEQ operated air quality station nearest you at:

Oregon DEQ Air Quality Index Map

Indoor Mitigation Strategies

First, please keep your doors and windows closed during smoke events.  I know this seems simple, but our facilities have lots of doors and windows, so it’s best to walk the building and check.  If you have smoke in the building, opening doors and windows will not help the smoke leave the building.

Second, let the filters do their job.  The filters in our air handlers will filter interior air 4 to 6 times per hour.  The units will also pull a small amount of outside air 4-6 times per hour, which is filtered as it enters the building.  Please do not shut off the air handler units!  

Third, use the air scrubbers provided to each school by our Custodial Department (541-355-6601).  This added filtration can help in areas that may be smokier than others (ie entryways).  If the smoke in the facility appears to be excessive, please call our Maintenance team at 541-355-4700 and they will evaluate the system. They may ask you to shut down the air handler system with the shut-off button at that time.

From Scott Bojanowski

Safety Reminders:

• Please ensure all of your staff are familiar with the  BLS Culture of Safety document on our staff portal. This is the document we discussed during Leadership Launch and outlines our key safety policies and procedures.

• All staff that are visiting schools or facilities outside of their primary duty location (i.e. attending training at a school other than their own), need to sign in and out with their staff ID badge at the visitor management kiosk in the front of the school during duty hours.

• All staff need to visibly wear their staff ID badges at all times during duty hours.

• Please remember to complete your first fire drill within the first ten days of school and to complete your Lockdown drill within the first 30 days of school. You can find the drill guidelines handbook and the drill completion tracking sheet on the Safety Resources Google Drive.

This and That

Jamie Goldman

Bend-La Pine Education Foundation’s fall classroom grants cycle runs from August 29th-September 30th, with funds distributed in October. Check out the flyer for more details.

2023 fall classroom grants

From Tami Pike

Health Services Support

Our district student support needs have shifted over the summer.  We have seen increasing numbers of type 1 diabetes diagnoses along with an increasing number of students with complex medical needs starting school. With these increased needs, I wanted to send out a reminder to schools about how best they can support their student population. 

• Health Room Responsibilities
  • A (non-nurse) staff person and a backup staff member, (designated by the school administrator) are responsible for the health room duties. This includes medication intake and administration, first aid, students presenting with rashes, supporting ill students, etc. Staff should follow the Communicable Disease Guidance for Schools to help determine if a student should be excluded from school.  (Pages 9-10 in the CD guidance specifically address symptoms that are criteria for school exclusion.)
  • Administrators, please remind your designated staff about their role in health room management. The school nurse can be notified for an urgent/emergent situation such as: broken bone, breathing difficulty, profuse bleeding, loss of consciousness, etc. 
• Student support
  • Due to the increased number of students with type 1 diabetes attending sites throughout the district, a (non-nurse) staff person and a backup staff member, (designated by the school administrator) should be identified to support diabetic  matters in the absence of a school nurse following the student’s health management plan. The school nurse (or designated substitute nurse) is available by phone for guidance. Nurses will do their best to assist with direct care diabetes support. However, most nurses have more than 1 site they are responsible for and unfortunately cannot be at multiple places at once. 

School Nurse Responsibilities

School nurses are responsible for developing, maintaining, and/or updating health management plans for students with chronic illnesses and disabilities (including obtaining health care provider orders for care),  staff trainings (health plans general and student specific, delegation and follow up of specific health service tasks, scheduled and emergent medication administration), direct care support, concussion management, care coordination between school teams and community health partners, suicide screening, IEP/504 participation, communicable disease prevention/management, etc. 

From Jennifer Hauth

We are getting lots of questions in our trainings around teachers not having the correct Wayfinder digital tools and workbooks associated with their name. 

1. My teacher has the wrong grade level materials!
   1. Digital Tools- Please make sure that the teacher is loaded into Synergy correctly. In theory, Clever will synch with Synergy each night and assign the correct digital tools. If you do this and they continue to have the incorrect tool, please refer to the “Request new tool” feature listed below.
   2. Workbooks- Your administrator should collect numbers for workbooks needed for the school. This should be sent in one e-mail to Julie Walker, Dean Richards, and Stephanie Bent.
2. My teacher is teaching a blend and needs both grade levels!
   1. Digital-Your teacher should have the lower grade level materials. If they need another grade level to explore, please ask that they use the “Request new tool” feature listed below.
   2. Workbooks- See above
3. My teacher should have access to all grade levels! (Counselors/PE teachers, Music teachers, etc.)
   1. Digital- Make sure they are loaded into synergy correctly and then ask that they request the tools using the feature below. 

Instructional Tech and Information Technology partnered to build an application where teachers can see what tools have been deployed to each of their classes.

https://instructionaltools.bend.k12.or.us/

At the top of this page there is a feature where they can request a new tool

This can be requests to add, change, or remove tools.

From Scott McDonald

When to use the Webhelpdesk  support ticket system.

There are several ways to communicate with your Bend-La Pine Schools IT support staff.  The most effective of which is the webhelpdesk ticket.   If you have a quick question, call the help desk or shoot an email to your client service representative.  But if you have an expectation, or a request that will require action, you should ONLY use the webhelpdesk ticket system.  Why?

• a web help desk ticket will direct your request to one of 30 IT staff that is best suited to answer your question.

• It is the only communication method that will alert IT support if it remains unanswered. (1 day happy and green 3 days yellow and SCARY RED at day 5!)

• It tracks common issues that could be addressed to benefit all BLS users.

Calendar

September 4: Labor Day

September 6: 6th Grade Only Day

September 7: First Day of School for All Grades

September 14: Juan visiting schools

September 21: Juan visiting schools

September 21: MS Horizontal @La Pine MS at 3:00-4:30

September 28: MTSS Lead Professional Development Location TBD at 3:00-4:00 (look for calendar invite shortly)

October 5: Juan visiting schools

October 5: MS Horizontal @Cascade MS at 3:00-4:30

October 19: MTSS Lead Professional Development Location TBD at 3:00-4:00 (look for calendar invite shortly)

Fish On…

Team,

I hope you had a good week. I will be out these next few days but please don’t hesitate in texting or calling me. I will have limited email access, but will be checking it. If you do need immediate attention or support, please get of hold of Lora Nordquist.

Have a great weekend. ~Juan

To Do

From Juan on 08.121.2023 blog

I want to bring this back to the top. I know some of you are still in the process of configuring teams and making decisions.

MS Teams & Leads 23_24

From Scott Bojanowski

Please review the Safe Oregon Point of Contact Roster that was sent out by the safety department on 8/21/23 to ensure your contact information is correct. Please also ensure you have the Safe Oregon Tip Line number saved in your cell phones so that you know it is the tip center when they attempt to contact you. Safe Oregon Tip Center (844) 472-3367.

If you would like to receive text alert notifications when the district puts out information about incidents taking place at schools (i.e. a school goes into Lockdown), please sign up through our district website for the BLConnect text messages.

Wayfinder

Here is the Wayfinder summative assessment information.

  Document

Scott McDonald

The IT message is short and sweet this week.  Please encourage your teaching staff to check out the “Teacher Hub” located in the Staff Portal Quick Links.   This is your one stop resource shop for all new and returning teachers.   

This and That

Family Access Network

Here is a summary of what FAN advocates are and what they do in our school system.

FAN

E-Bikes

Editorial Here is the e-bike editorial I shared with you earlier this week. I know this will be an ongoing conversation for our group.

From Stephen Duval

Below are a number of documents to support your families if you have staff working toward our new grading scale.  Additionally, here is a LINK to the district’s grading webpage with a timeline and FAQ.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of support.

Parent Communication. BLP Grade Doc MS

From Eric Powell

BLS Student Management Resource Guide

From Sustainability Coordinator 

Please share the Sustainability Overview with all incoming staff. This document will give staff and overview of why sustainability is important in Bend-La Pine Schools as we start the school year. 

BLS is striving to have a school wide Sustainability Advisor in each school to work with Green Teams. Details will be coming soon, but please check with staff to see if there is any interest in this position. 

If you would like to stay informed on Sustainability in BLS, bookmark the Sustainability blog for resources and education ideas.

A few of the 22-23 accomplishments

• Green Teams working on Food waste reduction through Love Food Not Waste
• Cafeteria commercial composting at 9 schools and silverware at 16 schools
• Vanpool in place at Three Rivers
• 14 schools certified as Oregon Green Schools
• Earth Day celebration at Miller Elementary School 
• BLS involvement in Climate Teach-in day
• Year 6 of the Strategic Energy Management program – $56,000 in energy milestones and savings
• Sustainability goals embedded in the District Design Standards
• Grant for reusable dishware kits for schools – to be used for in-class celebrations and staff celebrations – to get one for your school email [email protected]
• 400+ students involved in BLS Green Teams

Instructional Tools Update 

1. This week we plan to send status updates to every teacher who made a request in the Spring via email.
2. The Instructional Technology staff continues to work hard to deploy all of these instructional tools.
3. In a communication this week, teachers will receive a link that directs them to a new resource that has been built by IT.
4. This site, https://instructionaltools.bend.k12.or.us/, allows teachers to see everything that is currently deployed for each of their classes.
5. For the next month, this content will be updated daily.
6. By Tuesday, August 29^th, if teachers do not see expected instructional tools, please have them email Austin James and Dean Richards to get an update.
7. New tools (including from new teachers), should be requested through the link at the top of the webpage.

From the Office of DEI

Who is our school’s Latino Family Liaison?

Family Liaison team hiring has been ongoing since last spring–getting closer!  Liaisons’ school assignments should be ready as soon as hiring is complete, by end of next week at the latest.  Thank you for your patience—I know you need this information yesterday.

In the meantime, please use Linguist Link to request interpreters for back-to-school events like Open House.  You can also request an interpreter to come to your office for a couple hours to make phone calls, etc.  (Make sure you submit translation requests ASAP for all welcome-back newsletters and invitations to your events.) 

If you need more immediate support, there are various tools available for language access.  If you need a Family Liaison for a specific family support situation beyond interpretation, please contact the Welcome Center (x6820 or [email protected]).  If you have other questions, reach out to Kinsey. 

ICCL liaison to LEAD/equity work:

By next Thurs Aug 31, please submit here the name of your ICCL team member who will serve as the liaison/representative between your building’s leadership team and the district’s LEAD/equity work.  Some context and FAQ on this ask are available here—if you or your ICCL have additional questions not addressed there, please reach out to Kinsey. 

September Tier I equity and inclusion strategies:

Menstrual Dignity Act: 

When your staff teaches behavior expectations in different areas of the building this fall, be sure to explicitly teach the purpose and expectations for use of the menstrual products and dispensers in the bathrooms.  Basic talking points and additional resources here.  

Also be sure that school tours include mentioning where and how all students can access gender-neutral bathrooms and expectations for behavior in those spaces.  

Classroom practices: 

Share with teachers: Our district equity coaches can help teams walk through Menstrual Dignity Act, Bias Incident Lesson (more on this soon), or other sensitive topics.  Reach out to the team!  Additional tips and strategies available on the LEAD website.

Calendar

Site Visit Schedule NEW

August 25 & 29: Juan is out of the office. Team, I will be available by phone or text. I will have limited email service.

August 28: New Teacher Orientation Day 7:30-9:00 @North Star Elementary

August 29: Welcome Back virtual presentation for all district staff will start at 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

August 30: Building Lead Professional Development

August 30: (AM Focus) Assessment and Feedback Practices (formerly known as Equitable Grading)

August 30: (PM Focus) Tier 1 MTSS Framework: Teaching and supporting the development of prosocial behaviors ie. “How are we going to play MS in all areas of the school building?”

• Inservice Week Schedule

Guidance for planning during the week of August 28th and the week of September 4th Doc

September 4: Labor Day

Fish On…