Action Items:
From Stephen and Jenn: We have adopted School Links as our comprehensive Life and Career Readiness platform. Our counselors will be trained in how to use the platform next week. Please to share this information about School Links in your next family newsletter: English and Spanish.
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From our DEI Department: September Tier I equity and inclusion strategies:
Menstrual Dignity Act:
When your staff teaches behavior expectations in different areas of the building this fall, be sure to explicitly teach the purpose and expectations for use of the menstrual products and dispensers in the bathrooms. Basic talking points and additional resources here.
Also be sure that school tours include mentioning where and how all students can access gender-neutral bathrooms and expectations for behavior in those spaces.
Classroom practices:
Share with teachers: Our district equity coaches can help teams walk through Menstrual Dignity Act, Bias Incident Lesson (more on this soon), or other sensitive topics. Reach out to the team! Additional tips and strategies available on the LEAD website.
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From Jackie: Please share the Sustainability Overview with all incoming staff. This document will give staff and overview of why sustainability is important in Bend-La Pine Schools as we start the school year.
BLS is striving to have a school wide Sustainability Advisor in each school to work with Green Teams. Details will be coming soon, but please check with staff to see if there is any interest in this position.
If you would like to stay informed on Sustainability in BLS, bookmark the Sustainability blog for resources and education ideas.
A few of the 22-23 accomplishments
- Green Teams working on Food waste reduction through Love Food Not Waste
- Cafeteria commercial composting at 9 schools and silverware at 16 schools
- Vanpool in place at Three Rivers
- 14 schools certified as Oregon Green Schools
- Earth Day celebration at Miller Elementary School
- BLS involvement in Climate Teach-in day
- Year 6 of the Strategic Energy Management program – $56,000 in energy milestones and savings
- Sustainability goals embedded in the District Design Standards
- Grant for reusable dishware kits for schools – to be used for in-class celebrations and staff celebrations – to get one for your school email [email protected]
- 400+ students involved in BLS Green Teams
Important Reminders:
From Jenn: Wayfinder Training next week is required for ALL staff next week. Here are the school scheduled times for each school staff. There will be a district representative joining each training to support.
The window for schools to implement the Wayfinder Summative Assessment is September 25-October 6. The purpose of the assessment is to gather baseline data about where our students related to our second board goal the every student has a plan for their future.
Plan to schedule in 30 min (43 questions) for ALL students to take the assessment. Notify Jennifer ASAP in what class you intend to have students take the assessment. She will then connect the course code. If this does not happen prior to the window, students will not be able to access the assessment.
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Lesson on Bike Safety: We discussed this at our meeting Monday: Please review these slides on Bike Safety with students during the month of September.
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From Scott in Communications: Our Welcome Back virtual presentation for all district staff will be Tuesday, August 29, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. This will be a Microsoft Teams meeting. Plan to gather your building staff for a group viewing of our Welcome Back event!
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Please complete this HS leads and teams document for your school by Sept 1.
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From Scott in Safety: Please review the Safe Oregon Point of Contact Roster that was sent out by the safety department on 8/21/23 to ensure your contact information is correct. Please also ensure you have the Safe Oregon Tip Line number saved in your cell phones so that you know it is the tip center when they attempt to contact you. Safe Oregon Tip Center (844) 472-3367.
If you would like to receive text alert notifications when the district puts out information about incidents taking place at schools (i.e. a school goes into Lockdown), please sign up through our district website for the BLConnect text messages.
Information:
Change in practices for all high schools:
Parking Permits:
Our high school administrators have come to agreement that schools will no longer charge for a parking permit. After discussion and reflection, our team determined this was an inequitable practice that unfairly impacted our students furthest from justice.
Schools are working to refund families that have already paid for a permit and notifications of this change will be sent to families in the coming weeks.
Managing Personal Electronic Devices:
Beginning with the 23-24 school year, our high schools will regulate the use of personal electronic devices at school. The expectation of Silent and Away will be in place during classroom time.
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From Dean: Instructional Tools Update
- This week we plan to send status updates to every teacher who made a request in the Spring via email.
- The Instructional Technology staff continues to work hard to deploy all of these instructional tools.
- In a communication this week, teachers will receive a link that directs them to a new resource that has been built by IT.
- This site, https://instructionaltools.bend.k12.or.us/, allows teachers to see everything that is currently deployed for each of their classes.
- For the next month, this content will be updated daily.
- By Tuesday, August 29th, if teachers do not see expected instructional tools, please have them email Austin James and Dean Richards to get an update.
- New tools (including from new teachers), should be requested through the link at the top of the webpage.
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From Scott in IT: The IT message is short and sweet this week. Please encourage your teaching staff to check out the “Teacher Hub” located in the Staff Portal Quick Links. This is your one stop resource shop for all new and returning teachers.
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From Stephen: Honors Diploma Process Update: The DRAFT of the revised Honors Diploma has not been approved. The current requirements to earn an Honors Diploma will remain in place for the class of 2024.
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From Dean: Since there are several new staff in the Academic Intervention role, HERE is the job description for building leaders to review. The Academic Interventionist is not assigned to teach classes. Rather, they serve a case load of about 50 students and provide Tier 2 academic support to groups of students.
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From Dana: Here is a summary of what FAN advocates are and what they do in our school system. FAN
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From Stephen: Here are a number of documents to support your families if you have staff working toward our new grading scale. Additionally, here is a LINK to the district’s grading webpage with a timeline and FAQ. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of support.
Parent Communication. BLP Grade Doc MS
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From our DEI Department:
Who is our school’s Latino Family Liaison?
Family Liaison team hiring has been ongoing since last spring–getting closer! Liaisons’ school assignments should be ready as soon as hiring is complete, by end of next week at the latest. Thank you for your patience—I know you need this information yesterday.
In the meantime, please use Linguist Link to request interpreters for back-to-school events like Open House. You can also request an interpreter to come to your office for a couple hours to make phone calls, etc. (Make sure you submit translation requests ASAP for all welcome-back newsletters and invitations to your events.)
If you need more immediate support, there are various tools available for language access. If you need a Family Liaison for a specific family support situation beyond interpretation, please contact the Welcome Center (x6820 or [email protected]). If you have other questions, reach out to Kinsey.
ICCL liaison to LEAD/equity work:
By next Thurs Aug 31, please submit here the name of your ICCL team member who will serve as the liaison/representative between your building’s leadership team and the district’s LEAD/equity work. Some context and FAQ on this ask are available here—if you or your ICCL have additional questions not addressed there, please reach out to Kinsey.
Calendar:
Here is LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24
- Inservice Week Schedule
- August 28: 7:30-9:00: New Teacher Orientation Day at Northstar Elementary
- August 29: 8:30-9:30+ District Virtual Welcome Back Event; be sure that ALL STAFF are in one location for this event. Be ready to send pics to Scott in communications!
- August 30: Building Led Professional Development
- August 30th am focus: Assessment and Feedback Practices (formerly known as Equitable Grading)
- August 30th pm focus: Tier 1 MTSS framework: Teaching and supporting the development of prosocial behaviors.
- September 6: Ninth grade only day; regular daily schedule (8:00-4:00).
- September 19: 8:00-9:30 HS Work Session