Jan. 9 is Law Enforcement Appreciation Day! Please join us in saying thank you to our dedicated School Resource Officers and School Resource Deputies from Bend Police Department and Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. These dedicated individuals not only help keep our schools safe, but join our school communities to form meaningful relationships with students and staff. Our schools are truly safer and better places because of our SROs and SRDs!
School Resource Officer Keely Cashman-Caceres sharing a high five with the Mountain View High School mascot:
To Do:
Due to Alandra TODAY by 4:00: Student nominations from YOUR school for our District Student Voice Advisory Council. Submit names using this form.
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From Dean and our secondary TOSA: Here are the assignments for administration during the Educator Network Day on January 11th. As before, you may trade or negotiate with others to attend different meetings based on your needs/interested. We need at least 1 administrator at each session.
Your role is not to facilitate, but rather be a presence at these meetings and support the facilitators.
Please have the teachers sign in using either the short url or QR code below. I will be providing you the list of teachers who sign in for this training.
Link for sign in for the 1-11-23 Educator Network Day: shorturl.at/cfMOQ
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February 2nd Work Day/Inservice Day Update Thursday, February 2, was originally scheduled as an additional workday for all staff to prepare for a districtwide systems performance review. However, that process has been delayed. The district decided to keep this as a non-student contact day; however, it remains a paid day for ALL STAFF, certified and classified.
Feb 2 Plan for Classified:
Principals, please share this message with anyone in your building in one of the classified roles highlighted YELLOW here. If some of these folks don’t have easy access to email, be sure to share with them in an accessible manner to ensure they receive this information. Thank you!
For other classified staff, it will be a building-directed work time.
Feb 2 Plan for Certified:
The day will be divided into half site-directed inservice and half work time.
During your inservice time, plan to reserve 30 minutes for a cyber security training (see Scott Mc Donald’s info in the blog today). HS Principals agreed that the focus of the rest of your site-directed inservice will be on some component of equitable grading.
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From Lora: Feb 3 Work Day: Some of you have reached out asking if staff can work from home on the end-of-term workday February 3rd. For a number of reasons, it’s the district’s expectation that all staff report to their sites on all workdays (with the exception of the last workday in June this year): 1) This time is designed for teachers to not only complete grading, but plan for the weeks and months ahead, if they have time-they may want to confer with colleagues as a part of that work; 2) If there are glitches with anything related to report cards and/or grading, it’s easy to find staff; and 3) This day provides great opportunities for staff connections (NOT REQUIRED FOR STAFF) such as bagels for breakfast, a PTO-provided lunch, a staff potluck, etc.
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From Dean: Feb 3 plan for administrators:
The team from the Center for Educational Leadership will be visiting us on February 3rd from 8-2. The meeting will be at Bend Senior High in the Robert Maxwell Hall. This will be a training for all building leaders, just like the meeting in August that was held at the Universalist Unitarian Church.
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From Alandra: As you know, timelines for applying for ACRs and Choice Option schools have changed significantly this year and we need your help making sure families receive this communication. We are asking every school to share the following info with families:
Applications Now Open for Choice Options, Attendance Area Change Requests for the 2023-24 School Year
Applications are now open for families to submit an Attendance Area Change Request or to apply for a choice option school for the 2023-24 school year. Interested families have until 3 p.m. Jan. 20 to submit a request or application for students in grades 1-12 (deadlines for incoming kindergarten students vary and are listed below.)
- Submit an ACR request – deadline is 3 p.m. Jan. 20 for grades 1-12; deadline is 3 p.m. May 1 for incoming kindergarteners.
- Apply for a Choice Option school – deadline is 3 p.m. Jan 20 for grades 1-12; deadline is 3 p.m. March 24 for incoming kindergarteners.
Solicitudes ahora abiertas para opciones de elección, solicitudes de cambio de área de asistencia para el año escolar 2023-24
Las solicitudes ya están abiertas para que las familias envíen una Solicitud de cambio de área de asistencia o soliciten una escuela de opción de elección para el año escolar 2023-24. Las familias interesadas tienen hasta las 3 p.m. el 20 de enero para enviar una solicitud o solicitud para estudiantes en los grados 1-12 (los plazos para los estudiantes que ingresan al Kinder el siguiente año escolar varían y se enumeran a continuación).
- Presente una solicitud de ACR – la fecha límite es a las 3 p.m. el 20 de enero para los grados 1-12; la fecha límite es a las 3 p.m. el 1 de mayo para quienes ingresan al kínder el siguiente año escolar.
- Solicite una escuela de opción de elección – la fecha límite es a las 3 p.m. el 20 de enero para los grados 1-12; la fecha límite es a las 3 p.m. el 24 de marzo quienes ingresan al kínder el siguiente año escolar.
If it makes sense for your school – please also share additional details found in the larger messaging (for instance, middle schools should share information about the High school choice options in their communication as well.). Reach out if you have questions and thanks!!
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From Kinsey and Katie: Below is some information that will be sent to your staff from our LEAD coaches this week. Please ensure that your social studies teachers review this information. I recommend asking your teachers to address this in class as a current event of historical significance – not to mention the fact that addressing this topic in a healthy manner aligns with the Ethnic Studies standards AND, most importantly, honors our lesbian students who consistently report feeling disenfranchised in our high schools!
Next week Oregon’s 39th governor, Tina Kotek, will be sworn into office. Kotek along with Maura Healey, the incoming governor in Massachussettes, are two of our country’s first openly lesbian women in governor positions. Oregon’s gubernatorial inauguration will occur on Jan 9th. Nothing related to politics is ever easy to cover in the classroom, but for many this is a current event that is relevant to our instruction. This might occur via our Social Studies standards (including the upcoming Ethnic Studies standards, directly relevant to this historic moment—see blue text in the link), via your classroom efforts related to the district’s Equity Stance, or via unplanned ‘pop up’ conversations when students inevitably bring opinions on the local news into your classroom.
In either scenario, it’s good to be prepared! I would like to share with you—on behalf of our district’s LEAD team—some tips and resources that might help you reflect and prepare for either teaching this civics topic directly if applicable, or responding to questions students might bring to you.
First, always use this tool to prepare yourself for productive conversation on sensitive topics. Next, check out these tips and ideas (organized by level) for addressing political topics.
Last, remember: Before controversial topics pop up, it helps if you have already practiced dialogue strategies and addressing sensitive topics with your students. Check out these resources, and let me know if you’d like to plan, teach, or debrief any of these strategies together, with me and/or with one of our district LEAD Coaches. There is strength, safety, and JOY in doing this work together!
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From Dave Van Loo and ODE: the PreACT test is required for 10th graders in March:
ORS 329.488 directs ODE to provide a statewide opportunity for Oregon’s 10th graders to access a nationally-normed college entrance practice exam. Consistent with state procurement requirements, ODE developed and published a Request for Proposals (RFP) in March 2022.
Pursuant to this competitive RFP process, ODE has contracted with ACT to deliver the PreACT in the spring of 2023 for Oregon 10th graders served in public schools in the form of a five-year contract. The test window for the 2022-23 school year is anticipated to be March 1-31, 2022 if all goes as expected. Future test windows will be offered in both October and March annually.
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From Scott McDonald–Cybersecurity Training to add to your Feb 2 PD – Since the beginning of this school year, 31 school districts across the country have experienced large scale ransomware attacks. In each case, the attackers are seeking to steal the personal information of every student and staff member. This type of attack can easily be prevented by informed and vigilant end users.
On Thursday, February 2nd, we will be pushing out a 30 minute Cyber Security training called, KnowBe4 Cybersecurity Awareness Training. All staff can expect a link in their email. They will need to be given 30 minutes during your building PD time that day to complete this training.
We last offered a similar training over two years ago. The training is informative, engaging and will only take 30 minutes of your time. Additional information will be made available prior to February 2nd. Thank you in advance for your participation and support.
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Parent Connect Workshops: Please share this information with your parents!
Deschutes County is hosting upcoming workshops aimed at helping parents prevent substance abuse. Parent Connect workshops provide families with knowledge and skills to start conversations with their adolescents around difficult topics like vaping and other drug use. The workshops are intended for parents and guardians with adolescents in 5th-9th grade – ideally before substance use begins. Here is a flier.
See the links below for the sign-ups for the final workshops:
- A Spanish workshop in Bend – January 20
- An English workshop at MVHS – January 25
- A Virtual English workshop on January 26
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Upcoming school-based info sessions: For all Choice Options info sessions and 9th grade family nights, you must provide language access for our multilingual community. Please work with your office manager and language specialist to identify any languages (in addition to Spanish, if applicable) that you anticipate needing to support, plan ahead for how you will incorporate interpretation into your presentation and event structure (let Kinsey know if your team could use support with options for this), and then submit your interpreter requestASAP via Linguist Link. Also submit any invitations or promotional flyers for translation.
Prior to the event: share any slides, materials, or event details with the interpreter. Welcome them when they arrive and explain the plan for their services. At the beginning of the event, be sure to make it very clear to families how to access interpreter services (if the entire event will not be bilingual).
This topic can take as much time and effort as planning the actual event—thank you for your dedication to equity, inclusion, and access for our families. Reach out if you could use support.
Upcoming Community Events:
Our Office of D.E.I. has several district-wide family engagement and/or community partnership events coming up! Please check out specifics on each one, below, and mark your calendars and/or share as applicable. Principal presence at these events is critical to our families—thank you for your participation!
Latino Family Night
Flyer with details here. This has been emailed to families, posted on our Spanish FB page, and a limited number of paper copies are being distributed. Feel free to share in your newsletter or otherwise help promote.
Please also consider attending—great opportunity to deepen relationships and trust with our families!
Asian Family Night
Flyer with details here. Same requests for support and participation as for Latino Family Night, above.
Flip the Script
This is a learning and celebration opportunity, to develop community amongst and with our Black students and families, and to launch Black History Month.
If you (administrators) are interested in participating in the event, please register (using the QR code on the flyer, or direct link here) at your earliest convenience—first come first served!
Please do not yet share this flyer with certified or classified staff. At the request of our Black Student and Family Union, we want to prioritize administrator and family registration first, and then will expand to other roles.
Alliance
This (draft still!) is a youth and adult collective for LGBT student success. This is mostly an FYI for you—you are welcome if interested, but please do not share this info broadly. If you have a particular student, staff member, or family who has been seeking support related to this topic, feel free to share with them specifically. We will work with GSAs, LEAD/equity coaches, and other key roles to reach the priority populations.
Information:
Sources of strength flier.
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From Paul: UKG Update: Plans for the Business Department’s Time & Leave module and HR’s Recruitment/HRIS module remain on track for a February 13th go-live launch. Here is the communication and training plan for January and February.
UKG Testing Volunteers Sought: We are looking for a handful of administrators/supervisors to spend a couple of hours with the HR team to do some testing of UKG’s Recruiting and HRIS modules during early to mid January. Shoot an email to [email protected] if this appeals to you. We are happy to schedule it during or after work hours (with meals provided).
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From Sean: clarification around share process to allow tele-health appointments:
We do not have an MOU that allows the Cascade Youth and Family practitioners to see their clients in our schools at this time.
That said, we do have a process where students can access tele-health appointments during the school day while at school. You can find that process HERE.
If the tele-health opportunity would apply, the problem solved. If the practitioner wants to come provide services on campus, we cannot accommodate that without a specific agreement between BLP and CYF.
Calendar:
January 9: National Law Enforcement Day!
January 9: Principal Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ Ed Center Board Room
January 10: HS Administrator work session 8:00-9:30 @ BSHS, Robert Maxwell Hall
January 11: Educator Network SIW – all administrators are assigned a location Here.
January 16: Martin Luther King Jr Day – no school
January 18: Equitable Grading Think Tank Meeting 2:45-4:00 @ Caldera HS
January 18: Office Manager Meeting @ 2:30 location TBD
January 20: HS Principal and secondary TOSA check in 7:30-8:30 @ Education Center room 312
January 23: Secondary VP/Dean Professional Development 7:30-8:30 @ Education Center, Board room
January 24: HS Administrator work session 8:00-9:30 @Summit HS Library
February 2: No students; 1/2 day Site Based Training and 1/2 day work day
February 3: Teacher work day 8-4. All staff expected to work at their school.
February 3: Professional Development with CEL for all administrators 8:00am-2:00pm @ BSHS in the Robert Maxwell Hall.