Congratulations on orchestrating terrific graduation celebrations this year! I applaud you and your staff for personalizing the experiences for our seniors and their families! Be sure to give a shout-out to those folks behind the scenes who helped our schools pull it together such as our facilities and maintenance and communications teams! Special appreciation to Reno who helped coordinate our vendor selections!
In planning for next year….this law was recently passed to allow students to wear tribal regalia at graduation. Also, we will include land acknowledgments in our graduation ceremonies next year.
To Do:
Please register your school team for the BRYT High School Summer Kick Start work session scheduled for June 23 from 9-2 @ Pacific Crest Middle School. School teams made up of your Building Admin team, Student Success Coordinator, Student Success Instructor, Grad Coach will work on MTSS planning for the 2021-22 school year. This work session is in person. This day is an opportunity for your building team to hone in on roles and goals for BRYT next year. Teams will dig into MTSS systems, team planning for next year, and meeting structures, and communication plans. We will need each team member to RSVP HERE so we can plan accordingly. Lunch provided!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This message is from Jackie Wilson, the district Sustainability Coordinator. Please pass along to your staff…
As the school year begins to come to a close, please be aware of the BLS holiday standard operating procedure. This document is meant to help you guide the staff in how to close down at the end of the school year. Please make sure all of the staff has seen this document as we rapidly approach the summer holidays. Thank you for a wonderful school year. We look forward to a healthy 2021-2022 school year.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please share this internship opportunity with Deschutes County with your 10-12 grade students!
If you are considering paying any of your new hires to participate in professional development this summer please review and follow this one-page guidance before doing so. Reach out to Paul in HR if you have any questions regarding this.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Information:
Probationary Classified Staff of Concern: Are you aware of the probationary period for classified employees? Before the probationary period ends, our process for removing an underperforming employee is straightforward, but after this period ends, it is more cumbersome. IN Article 11 of the OSEA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the probationary period is defined as:
Each new employee hired into the bargaining unit shall serve a probationary period equivalent to the number of work days in that employee’s normal work year or 185 work days, whichever is shorter.
185 days is roughly a school year for employees working in schools. You can email Derek Duenas for alpha A-L, or Kelly Marty for alpha M-Z, to verify how many days someone has been employed in the district if you have a new hire of concern. The 185 days can span over two school years since it is work days and not calendar days that are being counted.
If you have concerns about a probationary classified employee please don’t hesitate to engage in a conversation with that person now, identify 1-3 concrete and measurable performance goals (you can use the new evaluation form as a reference), and set a date 2-3 weeks out (or for the beginning of the following school year) for a progress monitoring check-in. If, after two progress monitoring meetings, you still don’t see a significant improvement, please email me (Paul Dean) to discuss the next steps. From the CBA:
The purpose of the probationary period shall be to:
- Train the employee to meet the District required work standards.
- Assist an employee whose work performance fails to meet District required work standards.
- Terminate an employee whose work performance fails to meet District required work standards.
You may extend the probationary period as described in the CBA:
- In the event the district determines there are performance concerns with the employee, the probationary period may be extended for a period of up to forty (40) work days.
- If there are performance concerns with a probationary employee and a decision is made to extend probation for that employee, the employee will be notified not later than five (5) days before completion of the probationary period described in 11.2 above.
Please be diligent in supporting probationary employees, working with them to learn and improve, document meetings regarding areas of concern and reaching out to HR if you need assistance before their probationary period ends.
If you need to reference this information at a later time, here is a Google document with the same information (and may be easier to locate in the future).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Importance updates from Paul:
Rapid Testing Update
We are no longer required to offer Rapid Testing to symptomatic students and staff at the secondary level due to Deschutes County case rate falling below the 200 cases/100K for the prior two weeks. If a parent requests a Rapid Test when you’ve notified them to come and pick up their symptomatic child, you can certainly give them the test or refer them to their health care provider.
Please do not dispose of unused tests but store them somewhere at your site until we more fully understand what OHA wants us to do with them in August.
Indoor Masking for BLS Employees After June 21
Please continue to follow indoor masking requirements through June 18. Next week, we will email guidance for indoor masking for June 21st and beyond.
Quarantine Requirements
OHA has pivoted once again and is now allowing the local health authorities to reduce the mandatory 14-day quarantine to a 10 day. Tami Pike has consulted with our friends at Deschutes County Health and here are the new guidelines we’ll be following:
Updated Quarantine Guidance for BLS Staff and Students
Starting 6/11/21
With the recent changes to OHA quarantine guidance, Bend-La Pine Schools will be making the following updates to our current practices starting on Friday, June 11.
10 Day Quarantine for BLS Students
For Bend-La Pine students, the quarantine time period will be decreased from 14 days to 10 days for an unvaccinated individual identified as a close contact to a positive case.
Students who are currently quarantined for 14 days, may return to school after day 10 post exposure (returning on day 11) as long as no COVID-19 symptoms have developed during the quarantine time. There is no testing out of quarantine time for students.
Quarantine Options for BLS Staff
Non-vaccinated Bend-La Pine Staff who have been identified as a close contact to a COVID-19 positive individual must have one of the following completed before returning to work:
- May return to work after 7 days (on day 8), with a negative PCR or NAAT test collected within 48 hours before ending quarantine and have remained symptom free.
OR
- May return to work 10 days after their last exposure to a person with COVID-19 without a COVID-19 test as long as the employee has not developed any COVID-19 symptoms.
*All staff must be cleared by a BLS COVID Support Team Nurse (Maria Buagas, Teri Gallion, or Tami Pike) before returning to in-person work.*
More guidance to come for staff working over the summer as well as for students participating in district-sponsored activities over the summer.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From our IT Director: Here is some “hotspot” information that includes some repeat information to share/remind families (1st paragraph), as well as new information (see link in 2nd paragraph)…
All students who have a district-issued hotspot at their home are asked to return the hotspot and charging equipment to the school front office by June 18th. Service to all hotspots will end on June 18th. Any hotspot that has not been returned to school will cease to function beyond this date.
Additionally, John Aubry and I (Scott McDonald) have devised a plan for collecting and distributing Hotspots for student use over the summer. You likely received this document last Friday or earlier this week. We are trying to keep it simple, but we certainly know that this exchange will occur at the busiest time in the school year.
Calendar:
Project Wayfinder presentation June 14@3:30 in person in the Board Room. Patrick from Project Wayfinder will present this SEL Tier 1 curriculum and provide time for Q and A. Realms HS and CHS will pilot the curriculum next year.
HS Admin WebEx June 16 @ 10:30 – Join me in my WebEx room
All Admin meeting June 21@4:00 – in person at the Ed Center; McNenamins after
BRYT work session and lunch: June 23, 9-2 in-person @Pacific Crest MS. Participants include: building admin team, Student Success Clinician, Student Success Instructor, and Grad Coach. We will timesheet cert staff.
Mark these two items are on your calendar for August:
Leadership Retreat (will NOT include ICCL this year) is on August 12
Our district Safety Day (trainings) will be on August 17.