Think abouts...
Check out this interesting article from an experienced teacher writing in “The Conversation.” The author shares about how her students learn more by offering feedback, not assigning a grade, “One student, a senior, thanked me for treating them like adults. As for my interest in equity, I found that students who were less well prepared did indeed develop their skills; their growth was substantial, and both they and I recognized it.” This is not a new concept and Dylan Williams provides ample research to support this strategy.
To Do:
Leading Equitable Schools “Unconscious Bias in Schools” Book study for Principals: Monday April 4 is our next session for our study of Unconscious Bias in Schools. In preparation, please read chapters 4-6. Want to be better prepared for next time? Mark your calendars for Monday, May 9 and be ready with chapters 7-10.
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From Lora: LEAD Cohort Promotion
The LEAD Cohort is part of our district’s key strategies to support staff in promoting dialogue on equity and anti-racism, so that teachers can facilitate positive and safe critical conversations in all classrooms. We cannot wait for bias incidents to occur to communicate our values of inclusion and equity: we must be proactive and intentional in ongoing work, and in normalizing conversations about tough stuff before incidents occur-or better yet, to prevent them happening at all.
Please ensure that teachers in your building clearly see your explicit support for their implementation of LEAD Cohort strategies. They will know you expect them to engage in this work when you…
- are familiar with the LEAD website strategies and resources yourself,
- share those resources with them directly,
- encourage peer sharing and engagement with district LEAD Cohort representatives,
- look for the strategies in practice during mini-observations, and
- reflect alongside your teachers and ask questions about LEAD strategies during debrief conversations.
The resources on the LEAD website are constantly changing and being updated. (Coming soon: more video examples of the lessons, and specific Ethnic Studies, Language, Health, and other standards identified throughout the links and descriptions.) Check it out here, and consider bookmarking and/or sharing via your own staff blogs.
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From Ryan in HR – Here is the link to the Central Oregon Job Fair sign-up sheet for administrators. The job fair will be April 11 from 12:00 – 6:00 pm, with lunch provided for administrators. We will be meeting with candidates from 1:00 – 6:00 and are continuing the past practice of asking all administrators to be present to interview candidates for a two-and-a-half hour shift. Buildings with two or more administrators need to have at least one admin present at all times during the event.
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Please share this with your teachers, from Stephen DuVal: Hello, we are looking to start a list of high school staff interested in starting new college dual credit articulations. Dual credit can be a great opportunity for students to earn college credit while they take a course in their own high school. Often, articulation is easier than you may think, and we are looking into ways of qualifying staff who on the surface may not have the required credentials. If you are interested in exploring an opportunity, regardless of qualification, could you please fill out this form?
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An important message from Kim Crabtree about field trips: Transportation can now offer field trips on a limited basis between route times, 9:30 AM- 1:30 (buses must be back to your school by 1:30)
Transportation for field trips is NOT available on Wednesdays.
Trip requests must be submitted (by teacher or office manager) and approved (by office manager or principal) no later than 3-4 weeks prior to the trip date.
Trip requests are then forwarded to Executive Directors for prioritization approval.
From the prioritization and approval list, transportation will look for availability. This is the FINAL approval step.
Transportation will then approve/decline 1-2 weeks prior to the trip.
We are receiving a lot of requests very late and individual emails (we really do not want these 🙂); our routers are becoming overwhelmed. I am hoping that the above message can help alleviate some confusion. If you are declining due to lack of subs, can you please let the school know (because they are then calling us can trying to negotiate). Please share this process with your staff. Thank you for your help, Kim Crabtree!
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To Do Reminders:
Please take note of these important due dates:
Please submit your mitigation plan for your PROM by April 4. We will review them at our April 7 COVID meeting.
Please submit your safety plan AND indoor contingency plan for Graduation by May 2. We will review them at our May 5 COVID meeting. There are two circumstances that will require us to move graduation indoors and therefore need a contingency plan: unsafe smoke levels and lighting/thunder.
Be sure to allow a time during your ceremony in which Dr. Cook accepts the class. He is also planning to do a 20 min speech during each graduation. Plan accordingly.
22-23 HS School design plans are due by May 13. Here is the link to the School Design folder. HERE is a link to the essential questions Dave Van Loo prepared to guide thinking about plan design.
Information:
Parent Conferences: are in person and are scheduled for the weeks of April 11th and 18th. We agreed to run parent conferences similarly to an open house format and are scheduling them so we can provide interpreters for those families who need them. Here are the dates by school: BSHS April 11 4-8; BTA@MHS April 14 4-8; CHS April 18 4-8; LPHS and MVHS April 19: 4-8. Realms, please share your date when you have it.
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Role of Canvas: At our recent principal breakfast, we spoke of revisiting the role of Canvas. Canvas will continue to continue to be our learning management moving forward. However, how teachers and students use and access this tool will likely look different now that we are no longer quarantining students. Dean will be working with our Instructional Tech team and First Responders to design a proposal.
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Student Teachers – FYI – if you have a university reaching out to you or to teachers directly for student teacher placement please refer them to Ryan Kelling in HR. He is going to be the point of contact for our universities on this topic. We are being very purposeful in our placements, as great teachers are grown by working with great teachers.
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Check out Summer professional learning opportunities – Click here!
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Visitor Update – Starting Monday, April 4th, you may have a visitor come to school that fits the “Guest Speaker and Outside Presenter” Administrative Regulation definition. They must sign into Raptor and wear the name tag. Guests and Visitors must be supervised by school staff at all times and may not work alone with students.
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Volunteers – If you have a parent signed up to volunteer, they must abide by our volunteer rules, meaning that they need to go through the volunteer application system, upload vaccination card/exception paperwork and be approved. They also need to sign in and wear the Raptor sticker when they are there to volunteer. There have been some parent volunteers that work with the ESD and BLPS, that have come in using their work credentials/name badges and argued about needing to sign in the system. All volunteers need to follow the same protocols.
Calendar:
HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year
Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.
April 4: Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools–Principals only. 3:30-5:00 Board Room
April 4, 5 and 6: Katie out.
April 5: Principal Work Session rescheduled for April 14 8:00-9:00@ Ed Center room 312
April 7: Learning Walk LA and SS 1:00-3:00@BSHS
April 12: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS
April 14: Principals WS (staffing/transfers) 8:00-9:00 @ Ed Center room 312
April 14: Learning Walk LA and SS 1:00-3:00@ CHS
April 18, 19, 20: Katie at a conference in Virginia