High School Rock Stars!

To Do

This is National School Psychologist Week! Did you show appreciation for your School Psych? Link to org chart.  

This year’s theme, “Finding Your Path,” reflects the ways that school psychologists help students, families, and school communities set and achieve their goals. Join us by taking this week to chart your course to explore how each person can celebrate the work of school psychologists and learn how school psychologists make a difference every day.

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From Kinsey — Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Transgender Awareness Week   

November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week.  Next week your building will receive a kit with ideas and supplies for simple ways to support your transgender students or colleagues. 

Please connect with your Advocacy ICCL representative (or watch your mailbox) for those kits, and encourage your staff to participate.  

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HS Administrators only: With the new cell phone policy being implemented in January, we know there have been some concerns about students’ access to college applications, FAFSA, and similar platforms that may require authenticator or password retrieval.

After meeting with IT, we confirmed that students in grades 11 and 12 do have access to their personal email accounts on their iPads. This means they can retrieve verification codes or reset passwords as needed without relying on their school email or phone. 

Students in grades 11 and 12 can access their personal email through logging into Safari.

This ensures students can continue accessing essential college and financial aid tools while allowing us to uphold the new “off and away, bell to bell” cell phone policy and maintain focus during class time. It might be worth a quick advisory lesson to walk students through accessing their personal email on their iPad before January—especially since they won’t be able to use their phones for password retrieval when they add their personal email.

Please work with your counselors to support students to access their personal emails prior to the January cell phone implementation.

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From Jessica Houser:

Please make sure employees at your site are aware of this important payroll update.

For the November and December payrolls, all employees will receive a paper paystub (or a live check if not enrolled in direct deposit) mailed directly to their home address on file. Payday remains the last business day of each month.

This change ensures every employee can easily access their pay information during school breaks when most staff are off-site or not connected to the district network. From now on, paystubs and paychecks will no longer be routed to school sites for pickup or distribution.

What to Know

• All employees will automatically receive mailed paystubs in November, December, June, July, and August.
• Employees who want paper paystubs in additional months can email Payroll to opt in. (This election resets each year.)
• Employees can update their home address in UKG.
• Those who need help setting up direct deposit can review the “How To” guide on the Payroll Portal or reach out to Payroll.
• Substitute and extra-duty employees will continue to receive paper paystubs automatically every month.
• Employees can still view electronic paystubs through Employee Online when using a district device or network connection.

Thank you for sharing this information with your teams and helping ensure every employee has consistent access to their pay details.

From Departments

From Eric Powell in Student Services

Moving forward, when documenting a Child Abuse Report that your school is making, will you please store the Child Abuse Form in the following ways:

1. Building Principal or Department Supervisor maintains a copy of the report
2. Send (Email is fine) a copy to Eric Powell in Student Services

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From Kinsey, Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Family Engagement:    -For your review (share as applicable)-

Family Liaisons: Here are our Spanish-speaking liaisons, and here are reminders on how to use their services.  We also have part-time Black/African American, Asian, and Youth Partnerships Liaisons–if you’d like to connect with one of them, let me know.

FAN Advocates: Here are reminders on their role.  Remind your staff: FAN does not coordinate Christmas gifts for families and hasn’t for over 10 years.  FAN resources are maxed out prioritizing basic needs (food, utilities, etc).  There are many community-based organizations that do support religious or holiday-based requests like Christmas gifts: Here, here, and here are a few resources.  

Concerns/celebrations: If you have concerns about your liaison or advocate (inconsistent attendance, lack of responsiveness, etc), I need to know right away.  Of course, if you have a note of appreciation or celebration about them, send me those too!

Translation/interpretation: Remember, CAFE members are not your primary resource for language services.  Also, please don’t ask them to “quickly review” your AI/Google-translated communication.  Use Linguist Link for translation/interpretation requests.  Here are reminders on differences between these services.  

Food Access and Your Parent Groups:   -For your review (share as applicable)-

In the absence of SNAP benefits for families in need, some of you have parent groups organizing to gather food and distribute it to families.  This is great, if/when boundaries are respected.  Share these talking points with your parent group, as applicable.  

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From Ryan Kelling, Human Resources:

Earlier this week, all Classified staff received an email announcing the opening of applications for the 2025 cohort of Bend-La Pine’s Alternative Pathways Program (APP), a district-supported opportunity for Classified employees to pursue licensure for Certified roles that offers tuition reimbursement, paid student teaching/practicum leave, and other supports as needed as they pursue their license. The announcement was also shared in the most recent edition of this week’s Staff Spotlight.

The APP focuses on hard-to-fill positions and places a particular emphasis on supporting multilingual and bilingual staff, helping us strengthen our connection to students and families while developing our future educators and leaders.

I’m asking that you all take a moment to think about who in your building or department might be a great candidate for this program, both those who have already expressed an interest in becoming licensed educators and those who may not yet see their own potential. A shoulder tap from you might be the spark that helps someone find the confidence they need to take this step.

Applications are open through December 2, 2025. If you’d like more info on the program, you can email Ryan Kelling or visit the  Employee Portal.

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From Gabe, Director of Activities and Athletics:

The highlights of this week: November 3rd, 7th, 2025 SMORE the To Do:

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From Jess, District COSA:

Here are the counseling updates for this week!

HS Only

We will pay for the subs of teachers who attended the COCC articulation meeting on September 10. Request the account code from April J.

Calendar

November 12: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)

November 12: Review slides for SBG Parent Night @BSHS 2:15 in classroom next to PH

November 12: All Admin Meeting @ BSHS 3:00-4:30

November 13: Tier 2 Academic Intervention Team @ BSHS 2:30-4:00

November 18: HS Administrator work session @BSHS 9:00-11:00

November 19: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)

November 19: SBG Parent Night @ SHS 5:30

November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break

Where in the World

Congrats (and Happy Birthday) to Reno Holler for winning the “where in the world” image last week.  The image was of center field at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Wrigley was built in 1914 and the original vines were purchased and planted in September 1937.

This week, it’s Who in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.

Important Docs:

Here is the BEA CBA.

Here is the OSEA CBA. This is currently an internal document. Please do not distribute.

Reminders/Action Items:

Part Time teacher schedules: Prior to school beginning, be sure you have met with each of your part time staff to review their schedule and SIW commitments for the year. HERE are the guidelines around schedules which includes the MOU guiding the use of admin discretion time.

Each teacher should be given their schedule on a google doc. Those schedules need to be in your school’s folder and shared with me.

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Administrator responsibilities: Please let me know when you have updated the names for the HS Teams and Leads and your UpShift Team.

Information:

Here is the plan for August 28: Counselors, special education teachers, SSC and SSI will be in training at Caldera HS 8:00-4:00. Here is the plan for counselors. Here is the plan for special education, SSC and SSI.

HS classroom teachers will meet in person in the gym at Pacific Crest MS 12:30-4:00.

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From Kinsey and Scott: This was shared in the family news letter this week: Did you hear the good news? ALL Bend-La Pine Schools qualify for the federal Community Eligibility Provision program. That means every student is eligible to receive one free breakfast and one free lunch each school day. No application needed!

If your family needs assistance with exam fees, athletic participation fees, travel sports scholarships and other resources, please fill out the form linked below and return it to the Bend Senior High office or your Family Access Network (FAN) advocate. All information is confidential.

English application

Spanish application

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From Laura Clark: Reminder for Secondary Admins:

As the school year begins, please allocate time during the first week for the introduction to the Synergy New Gradebook. If your Digital Learning Support (DLS) positions are not yet filled, please assign a staff member familiar with TeacherVUE to lead this session.

Laura has already shared the slideshow, “Synergy New Gradebook Highlights,” with last year’s Canvas Support Team on August 21, anticipating that the DLS team might not yet be fully identified. Many members of the CST are likely to apply again this year.

The new gradebook view is now available for exploration in TeacherVUE. You can access the slideshow using the following link: Synergy New Gradebook Highlights

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From Paul Dean Chief Operations Officer:  Here is the weekly BLOG to our operations team.

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From Ryan in Human Resources:

Welcoming our new teachers:

This year’s New Certified Employee Orientation will be Monday, August 26^th at Pacific Crest (thank you, Golden Eagles, for accommodating us).

Breakfast service begins at 7:00, and the program begins at 8:00 with welcome remarks from Dr. Cook. The new hires then go into position-specific sessions at 9:00 for the remainder of the day.

To ensure a warm and welcoming experience for new Certified staff members, each building or department onboarding a new Certified employee should have an administrative representative present to greet them. This representative’s role is to make the new staff member feel comfortable and supported, and to help avoid any socially awkward situations that come with not knowing anyone at a party.

We are excited to announce the creation of two new extra duty positions, a new ICCL position within our elementary and middle school buildings, specifically focused on Talent and Gifted (TAG) efforts and a Green Team Advisor for all sites. 

Please request to post both jobs in UKG. 

The ICCL (TAG) role will be integral in enhancing our support for TAG students and ensuring that our practices are in line with our district’s high standards.

The responsibilities of this new position will mirror the existing ICCL efforts, but with a targeted emphasis on TAG professional development and systems. This means that the individual in this role will be dedicated to fostering growth and improvement in our approach to identifying and servicing TAG students.

Key responsibilities include:

• Attending monthly meetings with district TAG leadership to strengthen existing systems and stay informed on best practices.
• Gaining deeper insights into identifying and servicing TAG students.
• Developing strategies for differentiation in the classroom to better cater to the needs of gifted learners.

Additionally, the person in this role will serve as a crucial conduit for TAG processes and services, ensuring that all staff within our building are well-informed and equipped to support TAG students effectively.

We believe this new position will significantly enhance our ability to provide exceptional educational experiences for all students by adding enrichment to our classrooms.  

Reach out to Stephen DuVal for more information about the specifics of the role.

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24/25 Green Team Advisor – New position

The Green Team Advisor has been added to the extra duty schedule.  Each high school and middle school will find this added to their list of year round extra duty positions on the Extra Duty Google Doc.  Each elementary school will be added to the Extra Duty Google Doc as they complete their hire.

The Green Team Advisor will serve at each school to educate and engage the school community with the knowledge and influence to be leaders in a sustainable society, use resources wisely and support the district’s efforts to make the school’s operations and activities more environmentally sustainable. Additionally, this position will support compost efforts at schools where programs are in place.

• This new position will be paid on level F of the extra duty salary schedule.
• There will be 1 FTE at each school site.
• This new position should be posted and hired through UKG.
• This position will be for one year only and if funds allow can be hired again the following year.

If you currently have someone who has filled this role in the past, they will need to apply for the position for this year. 

Calendar:

Inservice Week Certified work calendar for the week of August 26

Here is the SIW/professional development calendar for 24-25

• August 26: New Teacher training – one admin rep needs to attend to welcome your new staff (but of course all are welcome!). @Pacific Crest Middle School, breakfast service begins at 7:00, and the program begins at 8:00 with welcome remarks from Dr. Cook.
• August 26: optional Wayfinder admin training on at PCMS at 2 pm in the Cornice room
• August 27: District Welcome Back! An interactive whole school event. 8:30-10:00 – Prepare your staff for a quick shout out in front of the camera!
• August 27: PT Q and A with Steve H. – Teams meeting 1:00-2:00
• August 27: Inclusion EA’s report to work
• August 28: District Training Day – 12:30-4:30 virtual and district led with classroom teachers. Counselors, Student Success Coordinators and Instructors and Special Education Teachers will be in ALL DAY trainings at Caldera HS.
• August 29: PT Q and A with Steve H. – Teams meeting 2:30-3:30
• August 29 and 30: Training for inclusion educational assistants new to the district 8-11am; other EA’s report to buildings.

Important Docs:

Here is the BEA CBA.

Here is the OSEA CBA. This is currently an internal document. Please do not distribute.

To Do:

Part Time teacher schedules: Prior to school beginning, be sure you have met with each of your part time staff to review their schedule and SIW commitments for the year. HERE are the guidelines around schedules which includes the MOU guiding the use of admin discretion time.

Each teacher should be given their schedule on a google doc. Those schedules need to be in your school’s folder and shared with me.

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Administrator responsibilities: Please let me know when you have updated the names for the HS Teams and Leads and your UpShift Team.

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Your Front Office should be open for business: Currently, the Ed Center is receiving an over abundance of calls from families stating “I tried calling the schools, but no one is answering their phones.” The ask is that you work with your office staff to make sure that the phones are covered and messages are answered. We would like to help, but so many of the calls are school specific.

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Update staffing plans to reflect your staff names and positions accurately (certified and classified tabs). April and I will schedule a time to review your plan with you in the coming weeks.

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PD Structure and Feedback : Please remember to use the theme of thriving throughout the year. A big piece of this is how we conduct our professional development. An ask of you is to make sure you use the three signature practices for adults when leading our staff.

Additionally, we are asking you to collect feedback from staff after you conduct professional development. Here is the beta form we will use until there is a better collection tool.

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Input into Professional Learning: Please take a moment to fill out this quick survey regarding some on-going professional learning opportunities we want to put on for all admin throughout this year. We will use your input to design professional learning for administrators this year.

Information:

District Athletic Director: We have contracted with Dave Hood, Retired BLPS educator and current Executive Director of OADA to support our middle and high schools and strengthen our athletic systems.

Dave will be partnering with us in several capacities including organizing and facilitating monthly athletic director meetings, revising our district athletic and coaches handbooks, facilitating identified work groups to improve processes and trainings, reviewing the evaluation systems for athletic directors and coaches and improving communication between athletes, coaches and families. 

Please welcome Dave to your schools and events, as he plans to be out often!

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From Paul Dean Chief Operations Officer: Paul sends a weekly BLOG to his operations team. There are several topics relevant to building leaders, so I will share the link with all of you.

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From Sean Reinhart in Student Services:

Thank you to those of you who have become CPI trainers to assist with the implementation of SB 283! We appreciate you!  We want to ensure we help kick you all off on the right foot to feel successful in these trainings, so we have prepared some tools, tips, and tricks to get you started!

Please join us on Friday, August 23rd, from 9-12 in the Education Center Board Room 314 to connect and plan for trainings. Here is the agenda of the meeting:

• Review the grant training requirements
• Go over prepared slide decks for your staff trainings
• Review Visuals
• Review Information on what to send out prior to trainings
• Create a plan how you can complete these trainings – with a buddy!
• Answer questions

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From Jennifer Hauth in Social Emotional and Mental Well Being: Please check out this great back to school resource for families from Care Solace. Sharing this in your next newsletter or a quick email is a great way to build that family and school connection by providing families with some resources to support a smooth transition to school!

Also, the Culture of Care with the HDESD has some amazing trainings to support staff and school culture throughout the year. Here is a flier of what is available.

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From Kinsey in Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:

Upcoming dates to note: Rosh Hashanah is coming up (evening of Wed Oct 2 to evening of Fri Oct 4—learn more here​).  Please check your school calendar and do not schedule Curriculum Night or other special student/family events during those evenings.  

More dates to come, just wanted to get you this one now since it’s coming up fast.  Thank you for your commitment to the dignity and belonging of all our families!

2024 Elections: I would encourage you to plug this topic into an SIW or staff meeting early in the fall: Here is our policy around staff engaging in political activities.  Teachers should know they may not “promote or oppose the nomination or election of a candidate,” and if they engage in discussion on an election topic they must “consider all candidates for a particular office or any side of a particular political or civil issue.”   

Conversations about the election will come up this fall, whether through planned lessons or unplanned student dialogue.  Teachers should prepare for either situation.  Here are 10 steps for teachers to prepare, navigate, and respond to sensitive discourse.  

Additionally, here and here are two great resources for teaching about the election and online news sources.  Our district Equity Coaches can support teachers with these conversations—just reach out.​

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From Eric Powell in Student Services. This is a reminder about the SIRC & STAS refresher that we will now be hosting each year in partnership with the High Desert ESD. Only the Administrator lead for your school site needs to attend this meeting each year, so please forward this invite to a different administrator at your school if you are not the threat assessment (SIRC and STAS) lead for your site.

This 2-hour training will serve as our annual touchpoint for threat assessment. For those who have not attended the full SIRC and/or STAS training, you would also need to attend that training with Misty or Lillah at some point as well (That is the link that was in the blog 2 weeks ago).

Calendar:

Inservice Week Certified work calendar for the week of August 26.

• August 19: BLS SIRC & STAS Administrator Refresher Training 8:30-12:30 @ Ed Center: Board Room – this is for administrators who have already had the full training. Administrators who have not yet been trained should register for a training with Misty Groom
• August 19: HS Training: Managing Performance–Investigations, 12:30-4:30
• August 26: New Teacher training – one admin rep needs to attend to welcome your new staff (but of course all are welcome!). @Pacific Crest Middle School, breakfast service begins at 7:00, and the program begins at 8:00 with welcome remarks from Dr. Cook.
• August 26: optional Wayfinder admin training on at PCMS at 2 pm in the Cornice room
• August 27: District Welcome Back! An interactive whole school event. 8:30-10:00 – Prepare your staff for a quick shout out in front of the camera!
• August 27: Inclusion EA’s report to work
• August 28: District Training Day – 12:30-4:30 virtual and district led with classroom teachers. Counselors, Student Success Coordinators and Instructors and Special Education Teachers will be in ALL DAY trainings at Caldera HS.
• August 29 and 30: Training for inclusion educational assistants new to the district 8-11am; other EA’s report to buildings.

Important Docs:

Please let me know when you have updated the names for the HS Teams and Leads. 

Here is the BEA CBA.

Here is the OSEA CBA. This is currently an internal document. Please do not distribute.

To Do:

Each high school will present your Culture and Climate Launch for your staff with your high school colleagues at our work session August 13. Include these components in your launch.

Here are the slides from our Leadership Launch on August 5 and 6. Feel free to use these resources in your professional development planning:

August 5: Steve C, Lisa’s slides; Kinsey’s slides; Ryan, Katie, Steve H and Lisa’s Slides; Stephen and Tammy’s Slides

August 6: Eric and Sean’s Slides; Stephen and Jenn’s Slides; HS School work session Slides.

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Share your folder of Part Time Teacher schedules with me.

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Update staffing plans to reflect your staff names and positions accurately (certified and classified tabs)

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If you haven’t done so already, sign up here for one of the HR Trainings called, “Managing Performance–Investigations” from 12:30-4:30on either August 15th or 19th.

Information:

As we head into the planning of our inservice weeks, please make sure you share this strategic priorities document with your staff. It is important in defining what we are about, communicating a common message, and having a vision for where we are headed.

Use this document to show how every professional development session you plan for your staff links back to our overall district plan.

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Providing supplies to students:

Just a reminder that we cannot require students/families to purchase any materials necessary for a grade in their classes.  ALL of the materials students need for instruction must be provided by the school using building operation funds.  This is Oregon law.

Calculators:

This example comes up yearly in our high schools. Math teachers require a specialized calculator in advanced courses and, in some cases, teachers tell their students to purchase them and bring them every day.  These calculators cost about $120.00 each.  Since they are required for these upper-level classes, the school must provide them for students. 

An effective practice to address this need is to keep a set in the library for check out (similar to checking out a book).  I encourage you to connect with your librarian to make sure you have enough for students to check out.

Other examples:

Your science teachers want to require that every student has a three-ring binder.  The school must provide the binders.

There are many consumable materials needed in elective classes – such as paint and clay in art classes, wood in construction and food in culinary.  The school must provide these consumables.

Your role: Proactively communicate and collaborate with your teachers to ensure students have what they need for class.  We don’t want to unnecessarily burden families.  

Role of FAN:

Also, FAN is a resource to help with personal items such as backpacks and water bottles, but not school supplies.

FYI: this message will be in the upcoming family newsletter:  In Bend-La Pine Schools, all of the materials students need for instruction are provided. Families are welcome to provide personal items such as backpacks, water bottles, and headphones.

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From Colleen and Josh in Student Services: Update on Inclusion EA schedule:

Thursday 8/29 and Friday 8/30 – 8AM-11AM: All “new to the district” inclusion EAs will receive onboarding training.  Student Services central office team will host this “two mornings”  training to support the great start for our new inclusion EAs.  At the end of each session, EAs will return to the buildings to work the rest of the day with your teams.  This training will coincide with the instructional EA trainings that will occur on those same days. Inclusion EAs will report to work on Tuesday 8/27, Thursday 8/29, and Friday 8/30.

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Personal Finance and Careers credits:

Dean attended the ODE webinar about these two diploma requirements for the Oregon Diploma.  Please read the information he shared below, particularly the slides.  

There is valuable info to process and think about as we plan, such as what endorsements are needed to teach the courses.  

• Slide Deck
• Document to capture questions
• Oregon Kitchen Table final report
• Oregon’s Newest Diploma Requirements webpage where updates will be posted.
• Personal Financial Education Standards
• Higher Education and Career Path Skills Standards
• Recording of the session
  • Passcode: Egn6fE!7

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From Kinsey, Policy, Advocacy, and Equity: Family Liaisons and FAN Advocates: I know you are wondering who your Liaison and FAN Advocate will be this year.  We had some August changes with staff on those teams, so I am still completing hiring.  After hiring, I will finalize school placements but those will likely not be confirmed for another two weeks.  

In the meantime: If your school has August family events, please invite the Liaison and Advocate who have been serving your school most recently, and assume they’ll be with you again until/unless you hear otherwise.  (My goal is to make minimal changes to placements this year, so hopefully you’ll experience consistency within those roles.)  Liaisons and FAN are not back on contract until the last week in August, but some might be available for your earlier family events.  In addition to inviting those roles, don’t forget to request interpreters via Linguist Link.  

If you have questions or an urgent need related to family engagement or family support, reach out!

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From Ryan Kelling in Human Resources: There is work that needs to be done to get the 2024/25 UKG evaluation process up and running; in the meantime, schools may begin their SLGG process by copying/filling out the Google Form template and keeping a copy of it until the process launches in October. 

Here are useful links:

• SLGG Google Form – Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy.  These can be uploaded into UKG (instructions to follow)
• SLG Goals for Social Emotional Learning & Engagement is a great resource for those creating school wide or team SLGGs for non-academic areas
• State SLGG Guidance
• Teacher and Administrator Evaluation & Support Systems: Frequently Asked Questions

Staff can then attach a pdf of their completed form when the goal-setting task appears in their UKG To Do list.

Coordination of the entire the entire Certified Evaluation process and managing the Performance module within UKG will take up a significant part of the yet-to-be-hired HR Director’s first 60 days, so more communication will be shared once that vacancy is filled.

Calendar:

Inservice Week Certified work calendar for the week of August 26.

• August 13: Secondary Work Session 8-4 @ Caldera HS Media Center. We will provide coffee and light snacks in the am and Longboard Louie’s for lunch
• August 15 or 19: HS Training: Managing Performance–Investigations, 12:30-4:30
• August 19: BLS SIRC & STAS Administrator Refresher Training 8:30-12:30 @ Ed Center: Board Room – this is for administrators who have already had the full training. Administrators who have not yet been trained should register for a training with Misty Groom
• August 26: New Teacher training–all admin attend! Time/place TBD (it will be first thing in the morning)
• August 27: District Welcome Back! An interactive whole school event. 8:30-10:00
• August 27: Inclusion EA’s report to work
• August 28: District Training Day – Building led in am; District led in pm. Your Counselors, Student Success Coordinators and Instructors and Special Education Teachers will be in trainings at Caldera HS. You will mostly have classroom teachers in your building.
• August 29 and 30: Training for educational assistants 8-11am

To Do:

From Jenn: Wayfinder Leads in school are asked to complete this SURVEY by June 18. This will help us know what Wayfinder materials to order for your school.

Just a reminder that we adopted Wayfinder as our Tier 1 curriculum to address the TSEL standards implementation required by the state beginning July 24.

Principal support looks like:

• Supporting your Wayfinder lead administrator completes this survey by June 18.
• Ensuring appropriate staff attend the training requirements listed at the end of the email  

Here is the message in the survey:

Welcome to Year 2 of Wayfinder implementation, our Life and Career Readiness Curriculum. 

As of July 2024, the state is requiring that we all teach the Transformation Social, Emotional Learning (TSEL) standards in our schools. See this LINK for more information on the requirements. Wayfinder is our adopted curriculum for meeting this requirement and for fostering a sense of belonging and purpose in our schools which leads to a positive culture and climate and is tied to Board End Goal 3: Students, families, and staff experience wellness, inclusion, and belonging in our schools as measured by the following, overall and for historically underserved subgroups. 3.3: 

Students at all three levels will implement Wayfinder curriculum, which aims to increase belonging and purpose by improving relationships and connections at all levels.

Jennifer and Diana (Wayfinder Implementation Manager) will be training staff the week of August 26th during your building discretion time. 

• On August 26th we will train new teachers on creating their accounts and accessing the Activity Library. 
• On August 28th, we will training school counselors on the new MTSS dashboard and implementing Tier 2 and 3 curriculum. 
• We will hold an optional training on the 28th for Learning Specialists, School Psychs, Student Success and Speech Paths on using Wayfinder for Tier 2 and 3.

If you have questions, please reach out!

Reminders/Action items:

• Complete evaluations: Please review these guidelines for certified evaluations.
• Close out expenditures: carry over up to 20%
• Prepare for a smooth check-out process for staff – make sure grades are 100% completed by 4:00 on Thursday, June 20.
• Roger White support: Want to help? Click this link
• From Culture of Care: Check out our latest news and workshop offerings!
• ICCL Hiring: Please refer to this document on ICCL posting/hiring.
• Tentative BEA Agreement can be found HERE
• Lewis and Clark Admin Cohort: If you know of anyone who is interested in starting their administrative (Principal) licensure program this next fall please share the flyer below with them. Flier for more information.

Information:

Compass program in Bend: Our Compass work crew has been extremely successful, providing the opportunity for 15 students to practice future read skills through work based experiences and earned academic credits towards their diploma, in a non traditional setting. Under the supervision and guidance of their teacher, Todd LaFrenz, these students have earned 20 credits over the year.

Next year, the Compass program will move to La Pine High School with Todd LaFrenz continuing as the teacher. We anticipate the same level of success for our south county students.

Thank you to Todd LaFrenz and Josh Lagalo, from COIC, for being amazing partners as we continue to create non traditional pathways for students to earn their high school diplomas!

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Here is the LINK for our HS work session this week focusing providing input on the K-12 Student Handbook to be implemented next school year AND the Learning Environment (Article 18) discussion. You are encouraged to continue to review the contents and provide feedback to Eric by June 20.

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From Kinsey:

Houselessness and de-escalation:

Our region is fortunate to have Ryan Dowd join us for a workshop.  Ryan runs a large homeless shelter in Chicago.  He will present on houselessness, de-escalation, the teenage brain and substance use, and effective communication with people in crisis.  

Friday, September 13^th at the Fairgrounds, all day.  Sponsored by Central Oregon Health Council, the HDESD, FAN, and Bend-La Pine Schools.  

I have 15 seats reserved for our administrators.  Please email me if you would like to attend.  

Racial equity:

Our district’s intention is that all staff—prioritizing our leadership—participate in Coaching for Educational Equity (CFEE, a week-long intensive workshop) and/or the two-day Taking It Up.  Many of our leaders are already CFEE graduates, so we’re well on our way.   

CFEE and TIU are valuable ways to engage in the ongoing journey of understanding oppression in Oregon’s history and education system, as well as to develop shared language as a leadership team.   

If you have not yet participated in CFEE and don’t anticipate being able to do so in the next couple years, please sign up for Taking It Up this August 20-21.  Sign up ASAP via UKG.  ​

**If you’re a CFEE grad willing to serve as a table facilitator, please email me.   

Please consider reiterating the value and importance of Taking It Up with your staff and encouraging them to sign up.  

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From Jenn and Stephen: This CTE Memo was sent to administrators, counselors and registrars this week. It applies to programs that use heavy equipment that can cause bodily harm.  A short list would be: Construction, Manufacturing Technology, Automotive. It may not be limited to these examples, however.  If there is a specific instance, feel free to reach out.

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From Jackie:

Summer Energy Conservation and SOP

Here is the Holiday SOP as a reminder about shutting down the schools when the last of the staff and students depart for the summer holiday. Completing building walk-throughs, we have seen high participation in closing schools over the breaks which is translating into savings. Here is an alternative reminder for staff and a checklist that can be shared.

Schools are going into unoccupied mode on June 24^th. The morning purge is still active to try and get the schools down to 70 but the AC will be off. Please try to be cognizant of lighting and open windows and doors in schools to try and keep it cool.

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From IT: This is a friendly reminder that Ted Holten and Jason Westmoreland are available to assist with any Discipline data entry into Synergy for which you may be struggling. If you need assistance, please feel free to email both of us and we will attempt to get back to you ASAP.

ALL 23-24 school year discipline resulting in an ISS/OSS, Expulsion, or IAES need to be entered into Synergy prior to staff leaving on Friday 6/21/24.

Please run your audits and admin reports to make sure everything is entered as you want it to be. Eric Powell, Ted & Jason will be reviewing the data and attempting to contact you regarding any issues prior to Friday.

To run your audits, using Synergy, navigate using the PAD Tree to:

BEN > School Reports > Discipline Incident Reports > Discipline Audits (make sure the arrow points DOWN to expose the audits)

Run each audit and verify the data is entered as desired.

Also, navigate to:

Synergy SIS > System > User > Admin Reports (or just type Admin Reports in the Quick Launch)

Change the Group Name to “Discipline” reports, and review the following reports:

• DI504: Incomplete Violations
• DI505: Incomplete Dispositions
• DI506: Discipline Data Entry Summary

If you have any questions about the issues identified in these reports, please let us know.

NOTE: Ted & Jason will be running additional reports and reviewing ODE audits next week. If there are any additional issues that arise from that review process, we will reach out to let you know – and work with you to resolve those issues. Additionally, Eric Powell will be reviewing sensitive incidents and may reach out directly to discuss State/Federal Reporting consequences of how data was entered to make sure you are reporting what you intended.

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We know you’re counting down the days left in the school year but we are already hard at work on the Welcome Back program on Tuesday, August 27. This year’s virtual presentation will have a direct feed to every building! That means your school community will have a moment to stand out and shine. Throughout the program, we’ll go live to each school for 20 seconds. Find a unique way to say HELLO to all of Bend-La Pine Schools across the district. There will be prizes to the most creative greetings. Let the idea buzz around your head this summer and be ready to offer ideas to your school when you return in August. 

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

Here is the link to the Inservice Week Certified work calendar for 24-25

Here is our Professional Development Calendar for August

Here is the 24-25 Student Services Professional Learning Plan

Here is the SIW Calendar for 24-25

June 15-16: Juneteenth Community Celebration in Drake Park

June 20: BLAST end of the year luncheon 11:30-1:30 @ Ed Center

June 21: HS End of the Year Planning 8:00-10:00 @ La Pine High School

The month of July: Rest and relaxation!!

August 5 and 6: K-12 Administrator District Welcome Back

August 8: HS Kick Off Gathering 8-4 @ Caldera

August 19: BLS SIRC & STAS Administrator Training 8:30-12:30 @ Ed Center: Board Room

This week, we were reminded during a graduation speech by Interim Principal Zach Harju at REALMS, of an inspiring story, heard long ago, about lessons we can learn from geese. As you watch the video below, reflect on lessons you learned this year as a leader, how you supported others, who was there to lift you up, and what lessons we still want to continue to work on in 24-25 together as a flock.

Celebrations:

Congratulations to the graduating class of 2024!!

Read about our Valedictorians and Salutatorians in the Family Spotlight!

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A unique event: Friday, May 31^st was our Night Rescue at BTA! Students who have completed the Wilderness First Aid course participated in a simulated night search and rescue event, using the skills they have learned to find, assess, and treat victims lost in the wilderness. Students from other academies participated as the “victims”

To Do:

Complete self-evaluations a few days before you scheduled eval meeting. These need to be completed to do my part. Here is a reminder about how to complete the self evaluation:

Don’t do all 67 sections! When you go into UKG to do your self-reflection, please only put a rating in the first domain and standard for each domain.  When you put down that rating, that score should be inclusive of the other standards in that domain (just like it has been in the past).  Read each of the standards in the domain, but only give yourself one score and put it in the first domain and standard.  You are welcome to add comments for each domain if you wish.

Reminders/Action items:

• Complete evaluations: Please review these guidelines for certified evaluations.
• Close out expenditures: carry over up to 20%
• Prepare for a smooth check-out process for staff – make sure grades are 100% completed by 4:00 on Thursday, June 20.
• 504 Training option for Administrators from CASE: LINK HERE!
• Roger White support: Want to help? Click this link. or Venmo Patrick to help with a bike for Roger!
• From Culture of Care: Check out our latest news and workshop offerings!
• ICCL Hiring: Please refer to this document on ICCL posting/hiring.
• Tentative BEA Agreement can be found HERE
• Lewis and Clark Admin Cohort: If you know of anyone who is interested in starting their administrative (Principal) licensure program this next fall please share the flyer below with them. Flier for more information.

Information:

End of the year: Wednesday, June 12, is a typical SIW, students have early release and teachers have a work day. Tuesday, June 18, the last day with students, is an early release day as well. Thursday, June 20 is a teacher work day. Grades are due in Synergy by 4:00!

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From Kelly Marty, Classified Specialist in HR:

The classified work calendars for the 2024-25 school year can be found here.

You will notice that there were changes to most of the EA work calendars.  Some had an increase and others had a decrease in their workdays in 2024/25.  The changes are due to aligning ES/MS school days and the need to consolidate multiple EA calendars.  We will send out an email to the impacted EAs and notify them of the change. We will also send an email to all classified employees that will include links to the calendars on the employee portal.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

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From Stephen: It is important for your folks to attend this event!

As the school year draws to a close, we wanted to extend a save the date for the 2024-2025 College Now Kick-off. We worked with the school district to schedule on an early release Wednesday to avoid impacting teaching time. The first half of the event will focus on general College Now updates and important information in preparation for student registration. During the second half of the event, you will connect in-person with COCC faculty to collaborate on curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. Please see full details below:

College Now Kick-off Details
Date: Wednesday, September 11^th, 2024
Time: 3 to 5p.m.
Location:
Central Oregon Community College
2600 NW College Way, Bend, OR 97703
Health Careers Center Building, Room 330

Our team will send out a save the date meeting invite shortly to get it on everyone’s calendar prior to the school year ending. A formal RSVP will go out the end of August/early September.

Erika Carman | College Now Program Coordinator
Office of High School PartnershipsCentral Oregon Community College
Phone: (541) 318-3745 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.cocc.edu/departments/college-now/

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

Inservice Week Certified work calendar for 24-25.

Here is the SIW Calendar for 24-25.

June 7: LPHS Graduation @7:00 pm

June 8: SHS Graduation @10:00 am

June 8: MVHS Graduation @2:00pm

June 8: CHS Graduation @6:00pm – FIRST Graduating class in school history!

June 10: BTA Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 11: Realms HS Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 11: HS Administrator Work Session 7:30-9:30 @ BTA

June 13: 24-25 HS Professional Development Planning – send one building leader rep – if you are interested. @ BTA 8:00-10:00am

June 15-16: Juneteenth Community Celebration in Drake Park

June 20: BLAST end of the year luncheon 11:30-1:30 @ Ed Center

June 21: HS End of the Year Planning 8:00-10:00 @ La Pine High School

The month of July: Rest and relaxation!!

Kudos to Jennifer and Jess for organizing our high school counselors for our End of the Year celebration event today! Here are the slides for the presentations so you can review the important information included for each school.

To Do:

From Stephen: Please take the time to fill out this survey regarding your school’s plans for grading and gradebooks next year.  In order to support MTSS data systems, we need to ensure each school has a plan for grades to be accurate and readily available in Synergy.  This will also help us support the beginning of the year gradebook setup for staff.  Please contact Stephen with any questions.

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Graduation and name pronunciation:  Principals, please don’t forget to have whoever is reading names at graduation clarify and practice correct name pronunciation.  Synergy’s voice-recording of name pronunciation is a good resource (if/when a student has used that tool and has a recording filed there), and/or your Multilingual Services staff can help you rehearse as well. 

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Graduation: Smoke and Lightning: These are the two reasons that would require us to move our outdoor graduations inside:

Smoke: We follow the OSAA air quality guidelines for outdoor events: Once the air quality hits 150 (see below), we are required to either cancel an event or move the event inside. Please review this air quality information on our staff portal.

Air Quality Index (AQI)	5-3-1 Visibility Index	Required Actions for Outdoor Activities
51 – 100	5-15 Miles	Athletes who are unusually sensitive to air pollution should consider indoor activities only. Athletes with asthma should have rescue inhalers readily available and pretreat before exercise if directed by their healthcare provider. All athletes with respiratory illness, asthma, lung or heart disease should monitor symptoms and reduce/cease activity if symptoms arise. Increase rest periods as needed.
101 – 150	3-5 Miles	Athletes who are unusually sensitive to air pollution should consider indoor activities only. Athletes with asthma should have rescue inhalers readily available and pretreat before exercise if directed by their healthcare provider. All athletes with respiratory illness, asthma, lung or heart disease should monitor symptoms and reduce/cease activity if symptoms arise. Athletes with asthma or other lung diseases, heart conditions or diabetes may need additional rest breaks during practices / contests. Consider rescheduling to a different time and / or an area with a lower AQI. Schools should consider the impact of elevated AQI lasting for multiple days and the impact of prolonged exposure for athletes and staff on multiple practice session days when making decisions. Consider moving practices indoors, if available. Be aware that, depending on a venue’s ventilation system, indoor air quality levels can approach outdoor levels.
151 – 200	1-3 Miles	All outdoor activities (practice and competition) shall be canceled or moved to an area with a lower AQI. Move practices indoors, if available. Be aware that, depending on a venue’s ventilation system, indoor air quality levels can approach outdoor levels.
>200	1 Mile	All outdoor activities (practice and competition) shall be canceled or moved to an area with a lower AQI. Move practices indoors, if available. Be aware that, depending on a venue’s ventilation system, indoor air

Lightning: We follow the OSAA lightning guidelines for outdoor events: When lightening strikes within 10 miles of your school, we must wait 30 min to convene the event.

Reminder/Action Items:

From Lora: Just a reminder that we agreed to abbreviated standards in the fall for our summative evaluations with contract teachers. Please review these guidelines for certified evaluations.

• 504 Training option for Administrators from CASE: LINK HERE!
• Youth Truth. By May 29, meet with your ICCL teams to synthesize the information you get from the posters at the data walks, and decide what you want to focus on. Write the 2 areas of focus and link them in your School Design Plans under the Annual Plan Review Tab in the mid-year location. Thank you!
• Roger White support: Want to help? Click this link. or Venmo Patrick to help with a bike for Roger!
• Inservice Week Certified work calendar for 24-25.
• From Culture of Care: Check out our latest news and workshop offerings!
• ICCL Hiring: Please refer to this document on ICCL posting/hiring.
• Tentative BEA Agreement can be found HERE
• Lewis and Clark Admin Cohort: If you know of anyone who is interested in starting their administrative (Principal) licensure program this next fall please share the flyer below with them. Flier for more information.

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

Here is the link to the Inservice Week Certified work calendar for 24-25

Here is the SIW Calendar for 24-25.

May 31: KT out of the office.

June 1: Pride @ Drake Park (BLS Family Advisory hosting a booth)

June 6: GSA in the Park: 10-1 at Troy Field/Ed Center

June 6: BSHS Graduation 7:00 @pm

June 7: LPHS Graduation @7:00 pm

June 8: SHS Graduation @10:00 am

June 8: MVHS Graduation @2:00pm

June 8: CHS Graduation @6:00pm – FIRST Graduating class in school history!

June 10: BTA Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 11: Realms HS Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 11: HS Administrator Work Session 7:30-9:30 @ BTA

June 13: 24-25 HS Professional Development Planning – send one building leader rep – if you are interested. @ BTA 8:00-10:00am

June 15-16: Juneteenth Community Celebration in Drake Park

June 20: BLAST end of the year luncheon 11:30-1:30 @ Ed Center

June 21: HS End of the Year Planning 8:00-10:00 @ La Pine High School

The month of July: Rest and relaxation!!

August 5 and 6: K-12 Administrator District Welcome Back

August 8: HS Kick Off Gathering 8-4 @ Caldera

Congratulations to our new Deputy Superintendent, Lisa Birk!

To Do:

Thank you for announcing (specifically, notify each student (Val and Sal) and their families, staff and students) by the end of the day today!  

Please send a photo of the Val and Sal, as well as a brief bio, to our communications team (Scott Maben and Becca Burda). They will share this information with media and include in an upcoming family newsletter.

Reminders/Action Items:

• 504 Training option for Administrators from CASE: LINK HERE!
• Youth Truth. By May 29, meet with your ICCL teams to synthesize the information you get from the posters at the data walks, and decide what you want to focus on. Write the 2 areas of focus and link them in your School Design Plans under the Annual Plan Review Tab in the mid-year location. Thank you!
• Roger White support: Want to help? Click this link. or Venmo Patrick to help with a bike for Roger!
• Inservice Week Certified work calendar for 24-25.
• From Culture of Care: Check out our latest news and workshop offerings!
• ICCL Hiring: Please refer to this document on ICCL posting/hiring.
• Tentative BEA Agreement can be found HERE
• Lewis and Clark Admin Cohort: If you know of anyone who is interested in starting their administrative (Principal) licensure program this next fall please share the flyer below with them. Flier for more information.

Information:

From Scott in IT: A majority of schools were slated for either a complete swap of their student iPads or were going to be receiving replacements for 6^th and 7^th gen iPads. This swap is currently on hold. A purchase is still anticipated, but the timeline has changed.  The determining factors for this delay are:

*Moving to the next generation of iPad involves investment in peripheral technology that is greater than anticipated – namely keyboard and headphone adaptors.

*Logistical and instructional considerations that may impact school locations that actually need to swap devices.

At this time, plan on your roll-in to continue as planned outside of any devices being retired. iPads will need to be stored like in years past by student last name, next year’s teacher, etc. The Tier 1 website will reflect these changes as soon as possible. Please reach out to your building’s IT Client Services tech, a fellow Tier 1 or Roy Fuller for help or idea’s for rolling in. For a quick reference see below:

*9^th-11^th grade students will keep their device over summer

*12^th grade iPads will roll down to incoming 9^th graders

High Schools will continue to receive 9^th gens as replacements to keep device types consistent.

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From Nick Shein in the Business Office: As we approach the end of the year, we wanted to get some quick accounting information and reminders out to you all.  Please review, and reach out to Nick Shein ([email protected]) if you have any questions or concerns.

• Budgets:  A recap of the typical funds available to you can be found here in case you are looking for other budgets to charge expenses too.  It is perfectly acceptable to move allowable expenses out of your discretionary budgets and into some of these other funds as a way to balance your budgets or to preserve the spending flexibility that your discretionary budgets provide (ie discretionary can be spent on the widest variety of items).
• Carry Overs:  With the reductions planned for next year, we are allowing a carry over of 20% in your school discretionary and athletics budgets this year. That is up from the typical 10%.
• Petty cash: If you have petty cash, please make sure it is counted and reconciled before you close your school for the summer.

Guidance on Gift Cards:

• For Staff:  Gift cards for staff CANNOT be purchased with District funds at any time or for any reason.  You may, however, purchase gift cards with your personal funds (your own pocket) and give them to staff so long as the value is less than the gift threshold of $50
• For Students:  Gift cards CAN be purchased with District funds for students as prizes or incentives.  The value must be $10 or less, and the cards must only be valid for stores that do not sell alcohol, tobacco or other items inappropriate for students.  You must keep an inventory of the cards if purchasing in bulk. The exception is Title–please do not buy any gift cards with Title funds.
• For FAN:  Your FAN advocates cannot accept gift cards to be used for FAN families, so your school should not solicit gift cards for FAN.  Your PTOs are separate entities and, though inadvisable, CAN do a gift card drive for FAN if they really want too.  However, the PTO must maintain ownership of the cards and will ultimately have to donate the cards to the FAN Foundation instead of your advocate ( https://familyaccessnetwork.org/).

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

Here is the link to the Inservice Week Certified work calendar for 24-25

Here is the SIW Calendar for 24-25.

May 24: Notify students, staff and families of Val and Sal for the class of 2024!

May 30: School Counselor Celebration in board room 1:00-2:30 Come and support your counselors!

June 1: Pride @ Drake Park (BLS Family Advisory hosting a booth)

June 6: GSA in the Park: 10-1 at Troy Field/Ed Center

June 6-12: Graduation week!!

June 11: HS Administrator Work Session 7:30-9:30 @ BTA

June 13: 24-25 HS Professional Development Planning – send one building leader rep – if you are interested. @ BTA 8:00-10:00am

June 15-16: Juneteenth Community Celebration in Drake Park

June 20: BLAST end of the year luncheon 11:30-1:30 @ Ed Center

June 21: HS End of the Year Planning 8:00-10:00 @ La Pine High School

To Do:

Remember to Vote! Please add one last effort to your families to encourage everyone to vote. The levy page has information about the levy as well as videos that you may want to share with others to increase information access. LEVY VIDEO

Thank you to those who have put up a levy message on your reader board to VOTE between now Tuesday, Election Day. Please post this if you have not already.

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Projecting Val and Sal for the class of 2024 is this week! Our protocol for all high schools is to project/calculate the semester 2 grades, and, therefore, the cumulative GPA for the top 20 seniors a week or so prior to the Friday before Memorial Day (this year, that is May 24th). To qualify for these distinctions, students must earn an Honors Diploma.

All high schools announce (specifically, notify each student (Val and Sal) and their families, staff and students) by the end of the day on Friday, May 24th.  

Additionally, plan to send a photo of the Val and Sal, as well as a brief bio, to our communications team (Scott Maben and Becca Burda) which they send to the media and include in our family newsletter.

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Leave Requests for June 17 and 18: A team led by our Human Resources Department reviewed the requests for leave on the last two days of schools. Building leaders, please review the status of the requests on this document and communicate that status to staff who had made the requests. Reach out to me if you have questions.

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From Kinsey: Please take a moment to share here your feedback related to our Admin PD session this week.  Thank you for taking the time to share your perspective.

Reminders/Action Items:

• Levy information on your reader boards: Here is messaging you can add to your reader boards leading up to May 21st.
• Mini Observations and Summative Evals: Keep up the good work inputting observation data and start planning for your end of the year evaluations.
• 504 Training option for Administrators from CASE: LINK HERE!
• Roger White support: Want to help? Click this link.
• CDA Days for all HS LA teachers is on May 21 and 23. HERE is the information. We encourage a building leader from each school to check in on the day your teachers are involved.
• Youth Truth Reminder: Please process your YouthTruth data with your staff and share key positives and areas for growth, as well as next steps, with your families and students by the end of the school year. Principals, you are strongly encouraged to additionally process your school’s data with your families and students, particularly, with your principal’s student advisory team, with the intention of setting school improvement and student learning growth goals (SLGGS). However, processing with these groups is not required this year.
• Tentative BEA Agreement can be found HERE
• Lewis and Clark Admin Cohort: If you know of anyone who is interested in starting their administrative (Principal) licensure program this next fall please share the flyer below with them. Flier for more information.
• From Culture of Care: Check out our latest news and workshop offerings

Information:

From HR:

Snow Days & Time Off Approvals: Please remind your staff whose snow make-up day(s) time off was approved to enter them into UKG

ICCL Hiring: Please refer to this document on ICCL posting/hiring.

School Administrator Performance Evaluation Bug: We’ve encountered some problems with Domain 9, Standard 6 populating correctly.  If that domain/standard appears on your self-reflection or summative evaluation, please skip it for 2023/24.

From HR part II: Summative Evaluations – Due by June 30th

We are entering into the final stretch of the performance evaluation process for 2023/24.  Please refer to the self-reflection videos for information on how to interact with the ratings and submit summative evaluations forms in UKG.  It is an expectation that you meet with the people that you supervise to discuss their evaluation before Finalizing it.  

If you have an employee of concern, please be sure that your summative evaluation captures the areas of deficiency that you’ve discussed with them.  In addition, add to your summative evaluation comment box if you are moving them to Focused Performance Review for 2024/25.  

• Contact [email protected] or Stu at x1107 for technical help.  
• Drop an Outlook calendar invite to Paul if you have an employee of concern that you wish to discuss.

HR will have a virtual training for anyone who would like a refresher on how to complete Summative Evaluations on Thursday, May 16 at 11 am.  Use this link for the meeting (Join the meeting now). If you can’t make this session and would like us to schedule another one next week, please email [email protected] with your desire for an additional session.

Resources

• Here is an instruction video to share with your staff on how to complete self-reflections
• Here is an instructional video for admin on how to review, submit and finalize self-reflections
•   UKG Performance Evaluation Guide for District Administrators
• Slides from the January 31 Leadership training

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From Kinsey: Here are the policies referenced during our scenario work at the Admin PD session this week, in case any of them piqued your interest:

• Appropriate Use of Technology: AR 
• Administrator Responsibilites related to Technology: AR 
• Social Media Use and Expectations: AR 
• Hazing, Harassment, Cyber-bullying: BP 
• Personal Communication Devices: AR
• Bias Incidents: BP and AR
• Grades and Credits: AR
• Public Complaints: AR 

Have a suggestion for a policy update or revision?  Share it here!

Regarding your team’s bias incident data analysis: I’d recommend saving somewhere the link to your level/school’s data, for use next fall as you prepare staff to teach the bias lessons.  If your team would like to further discuss your data (or your response or record-keeping processes), please reach out.  

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From Jess: High School Pre ACT-Results Resource: Here is a resource to share with families and students now that they have received their Pre ACT scores. With more colleges returning to standardized testing, it is important to provide students and families with resources to support the decision-making process for post-secondary options. The linked handout includes a slide deck develop by high school counselors with more detailed information. We hope to do something similar in the fall after the PSAT.

Pre ACT Results Flyer in English

Pre ACT Results Flyer in Spanish

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Messaging about K-12 state funding from Oregon superintendents: The intent of this message (OSBA article and video) is to communicate clearly with the Legislature and governor’s office well before the 2025 legislative session opens. As school districts across the state are preparing to make major budget cuts, we want to help lawmakers and the public understand why this is happening and draw attention to the opportunity to reinforce support for public education in the 2025-27 biennium. We represent different communities, but our districts are united in advocating for a level of state funding that allows us to meet the state’s quality education goals. Superintendent Steve Cook

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From Student Services: Administrators and Supervisors, Good News our pool posting(s) for our Inclusion EA positions for 24-25 school year are now posted on our website. Please direct any interested candidates to these postings (this would include any temporary Inclusion EA’s who are interested in returning). There are three postings, one for Bend Area, one for South County, and one temporary.

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From Scott in IT: Bend-La Pine Schools IT is rolling out a security change to staff Macs that you may need to be aware of if you have installed personal software on your Mac.

There is a new process to gain administrator access on your computer for installing or updating non-standard software. If you need administrator access on your computer, please review our guidance on the staff portal:
https://bendlapine.sharepoint.com/sites/technology/SitePages/Make-Me-Admin.aspx

If you run into any issues with this process, you can contact the IT Help Desk at ext. 1200 or open an IT support ticket at https://help.bend.k12.or.us.

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

Here is the link to the Inservice Week Certified work calendar for 24-25

Here is the SIW Calendar for 24-25.

May 21: HS Administrator CBA work session: 7:30-8:00 @ MVHS

May 21: HS administrator work session 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS

May 21: National Board Info Session 4:30-5:30 in board room

May 21: Last day to submit ballots!

May 21 and 23: CDA calibration and collaboration days for all HS LA teachers @ PCMS HERE is the information

May 24: Notify students, staff and families of Val and Sal for the class of 2024!

May 30: School Counselor Celebration in board room 1:00-2:30 Come and support your counselors!

June 1: Pride @ Drake Park (BLS Family Advisory hosting a booth)

June 6: GSA in the Park: 10-1 at Troy Field/Ed Center

June 6-12: Graduation week!!

June 11: HS Administrator Work Session 7:30-9:30 @ BTA

June 15-16: Juneteenth Community Celebration in Drake Park

June 20: BLAST end of the year luncheon 11:30-1:30 @ Ed Center

June 21: HS End of the Year Planning 8:00-10:00 @ La Pine High School

Happy Birthday, Roger!!

To Do:

Mini Observations and Summative Evals: Keep up the good work inputting observation data and start planning for your end of the year evaluations.

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Reminders/Action Items:

From HR (sent in an email earlier this month): Just a quick reminder that the deadline for staff to submit their “Extended School Days Request for Absences” to building-level leaders is today.

As you start collecting these requests, please add them to the Google sheet, here. All requests must be submitted to HR by Monday, May 13^th so HR Leadership can begin the review process.

You will find that the spreadsheet includes a space for administrative notes. Please provide HR with any constraints or other information to be considered when reviewing requests.

HR aims to respond to staff by Friday, May 17th. Once the approval decisions are made, staff will need to enter their leave into UKG before the payroll cut-off (Sunday, June 16th) with first and second-level approvals to properly process payroll for the end of the year. Note, if UKG leave requests are not approved before the submission of the employee’s timesheet, the leave will not be properly recorded on their June check. This will require a “Time/Leave Change Request (Prior Period)” submission. Additionally, for those staff members requesting time off as Personal Leave, if the staff member does not have sufficient leave banks (personal leave and personal carryover), the time off may result in Unpaid Time Off.

• Levy information on your reader boards: Here is messaging you can add to your reader boards leading up to May 21st.
• Roger White support: Want to help? Click this link.
• CDA Days for all HS LA teachers is on May 21 and 23. HERE is the information. We encourage a building leader from each school to check in on the day your teachers are involved.
• Youth Truth Reminder: Please process your YouthTruth data with your staff and share key positives and areas for growth, as well as next steps, with your families and students by the end of the school year. Principals, you are strongly encouraged to additionally process your school’s data with your families and students, particularly, with your principal’s student advisory team, with the intention of setting school improvement and student learning growth goals (SLGGS). However, processing with these groups is not required this year.
• Interested staff members must indicate their interest in having their child attend KIDS Inc by filling out the KIDS Inc Interest Form and submitting an application to the program that can be found on the KIDS Inc website. The application period is May 6- May 17.
• Here is an instruction video to share with your staff on how to complete self-reflections
• Here is an instructional video for admin on how to review, submit and finalize self-reflections

Information:

Excellence in Education and Admin PD: Please note that there is a location change for our all admin PD next Wednesday from 3:00-5:00. It has been moved from Perseverance Hall at BSH to the Mountain View High School cafeteria. Our Excellence in Education Awards ceremony is from 5:00-6:00 in the MVHS auditorium.

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From Aimee Snyder: Congratulations to BTA, LPMS, LPHS and MVHS!! The message below was sent to the BLS Board of Directors directly from Matchstick Consulting, Oregon Health Authority’s contractor leading Sources of Strength statewide.  It is announcing Bend-La Pine Schools’ Sources of Strength award recipients.  

Student Winners:

Gunther Karle, La Pine High School

Peyton Thrasher, La Pine High School

Jay Beagles, Mountain View High School

Staff Winners:

Kelly Peters, Bend Tech Academy

Stuart Johnson, La Pine Middle School

Lani McQuilkin, Amanda Armstrong, and Lindsay Seibel, Deschutes County Health Services

Team Winners:

La Pine Middle School Sources of Strength Team

These are nomination-based awards for outstanding students, staff, and teams, out of the ~100 Oregon schools implementing Sources of Strength this year.  The email also includes an invite to the state’s annual Sources of Strength virtual Showcase to celebrate these awards and the Sources work that’s happened across the state. 

We plan to share the news of these awards, and other Sources of Strength successes from our schools, with the district and families over the coming weeks as the school year wraps up.  There’s three particularly good stories about campaigns out of BTA, MVHS, and LPMS that we plan to share.  Reach out to Aimee if you have questions!

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From Roy in IT: I’m reaching out to give everyone some updates to the questions some of you have been asking. Our Tier 1 website has been updated with the latest information regarding the end of year plan when it comes to iPads. We will removing all the remaining 6^th/7^th gen iPads from school’s this summer. High Schools are 9^th gen iPads.

High schools will run the same like previous years. Students will be keeping their iPads over the summer outside of 12^th graders who’s iPads will be collected and rolled down to incoming 9^th graders. The overview of that process can be found on the Roll-In for Secondary page below the middle school’s information.

Please review all the information on our Tier 1 page for spring iPad information and talk with your client services tech to start planning. I believe some of you have already dug in with the planning process and hopefully with the information provided that will help fill in the any missing pieces. Feel free to reach out directly to me if you have any questions. Enjoy the warming trend headed our way finally! Thanks everyone for another great year.

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From Colleen in Student Services: We wanted to extend an invitation to administrators and teams to join a virtual 504 Training sponsored by the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE). This Section 504 legal conference features Julie Weatherly, Esq., and is designed to provide learning opportunities to strengthen and grow the leaders in the field. There are opportunities for basic and advanced sessions.  Buildings to cover cost, group rates available.

Having attended multiple conference sessions featuring Julie Weatherly, Esq., our administrative team can attest to her engaging and informative presentations. This is an opportunity not to be missed for administrators seeking to deepen their knowledge and expertise in Section 504 compliance. LINK HERE!

Basics Training: Foundational review of anticipated new 504 regulations

Advanced Training: New hot topics and hypotheticals! Scenario-based…what would you do?

Basics Training			Advanced Training
June 10, 2024			June 11, 2024
1:00 pm-4:00 pm (CT) 11-2 pm (PST)			9:00 am-4:00 pm (CT) 7-2 pm (PST)
$250 CASE Member			$350 CASE Member
$350 Non-CASE Member			$450 Non-CASE Member
$225 Group Rate (per person for 3 or more)			$315 Group Rate (per person for 3 or more)

*NOTE:  Central Time Zone, two hours ahead.

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Lewis and Clark Admin Cohort: If you know of anyone who is interested in starting their administrative (Principal) licensure program this next fall in an all in-person, small cohort, central Oregon focused program, please share the flyer below with them.  All instructors are central Oregon leaders.  Please also share with your principals or other leaders who would know teachers who might be interested.   Flier for more information.

We will be holding an information session: Thursday, May 23, 2024, 4:30-5:30 at the HDESD in the Cascades Conference Room

Please let Lora, Lisa or Paul Andrews at the ESD know if you have any questions.

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

May 10: Leave requests by school DUE to HR by today

May 15: Admin professional development @MVHS Cafeteria, 3:00-4:30

May 15: Excellence in Education Celebration! @ MVHS Auditorium, 5:00-7:00

May 21: HS Administrator CBA work session: 7:30-8:00 @ MVHS

May 21: HS administrator work session 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS

May 21: National Board Info Session 4:30-5:30 in board room

May 24: Notify students, staff and families of Val and Sal for the class of 2024!

May 30: School Counselor Celebration in board room 10:00-11:30 (this is an updated time and I adjusted the calendar invite to reflect the earlier time) Come and support your counselors!

June 1: Pride @ Drake Park (BLS Family Advisory hosting a booth)

June 6: GSA in the Park: 10-1 at Troy Field/Ed Center

June 6-12: Graduation week!!

June 11: HS Administrator Work Session 7:30-9:30 @ BTA

June 15-16: Juneteenth Community Celebration in Drake Park

June 18: Last Horizontal meeting of the year @ Hollinshead Barn, 3:00-5:00.

June 21: HS End of the Year Planning 8:00-10:00 @ La Pine High School