We have been working on a way to simplify how teachers take attendance and landed on a plan this week. I appreciate those of you who have worked on this plan, including the teachers who helped to design and pilot it. We will begin this new attendance strategy at all of our high schools beginning with the start of the second six weeks on Monday, October 26. Please share out this information with your students and staff early next week.
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Share this with your teachers about “Grade Passback”: As we added the “Grade Passback” feature to Canvas for more and more schools this week teachers started to experience errors and failed Synergy Gradebook sync’s. In cooperation with our IT Wizards, we were able to determine that these errors were caused by the load that all of the data from these initial sync’s placed on our network. Things now appear to be running well, but with precaution our team is asking teachers, if at all possible, to run their sync’s during their prep periods. This should spread out requests and therefore distribute the load.
- Make sure you have done your prep work for the grade passback.
- Run the sync during your prep if possible, to spread out the sync requests. If this is not possible, avoid peak times.
- Initiate the passback through the grade book by choosing “Actions” and then “Sync to Grade Passback Service.”
- The Grade Sync page will not automatically refresh to view the progress of your sync. We recommend refreshing the browser instead of using the “refresh” button on the page to see the progress of the sync.
- Review the details of the grade sync to watch for errors. “Grading Category” and “Not a Valid Score” are examples of error categories that can be addressed by teachers. “Http put” or “Http get” errors are network errors that IT will address.
- IT will watch our results and advise on any next steps if needed
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In preparation of this Wednesday’s 3:30 Excellence and Equity Collaborative training, each of you (everyone!) is being asked to create, bring, and be ready to share with your group an I Am poem. Here are the prompts to follow in creating this poem. (Plus an example poem from our presenter).
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Share this with your new teachers: Thank you for supporting this PD for our newest teachers! The first of three upcoming Disciplinary Literacy Trainings is coming up on October 28th from 2:00-4:00. Please read through the overview of the trainings here. This training is for new hires (not just new teachers.) There are a few exceptions: Special education teachers, English Language Teachers, Counselors, DI teachers, World Language teachers, teachers under .5 FTE. If you would like a specific list of your teachers attending please reach out to Dean.
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Please share this with your staff: To report staff absences, please complete the Staff Absence Form rather than emailing or texting Nurse Maria or Nurse Tami. (See link below.)
https://forms.gle/pUAvs7J3wh3HRfqP8
| Staff Absence Report docs.google.com |
Nurse Maria and Nurse Tami will be notified automatically when a new absence is reported on the Staff Absence Report Form and will follow up with the employee.
If it is an urgent matter requiring immediate attention, please TEXT both Nurse Maria 541-647-7952 and Nurse Tami 541-350-8387 on the same message and one of them will call you asap. Please let Tami know if you have any questions.
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Please make sure to discuss your LIPI plan with your safety team, which needs to include your school nurse. Your team should review and approve all of the safety guidelines and questions prior to bringing students into the building. Additionally, please share these safety guidelines with your staff and your parents (post on your website?), so these plans are transparent to all. If you have questions about safety guidelines, please contact Paul Dean.
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Drop out Detective in Canvas: We have scheduled a demo with the vendor for next Friday, Oct 21 at 10:00 to view the benefits of a couple of tools on Canvas. One tool is to help teachers and counselors to track student progress and the other one is a tool for students. If you are interested in learning more, contact Amy, Dean or Michael Hicks.
Information:
I mentioned to you earlier this week in our Horizontal Meeting that we have made some changes to our calendar of leadership meetings and professional development. The first change is that we will no longer have any “informational” Leadership meetings for the rest of this year (those that were scheduled to meet the first Wednesday of the month). Information that needs to be shared will be done through horizontal teams. Second, professional development focused on our Instructional Framework will be scheduled in place of these Leadership meetings. The dates for these can be found here (red column). If you have any questions about these changes – or leadership meetings this year in general, please let me know.
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And speaking of leadership-type meetings (and noted above), next Wednesday you should have an Excellence and Equity Collaboration meeting on your calendar. We are meeting at SVMS from 3:30 – 5:00pm. NOTE: We are meeting in person like we did in August. You can take a look at this page if you don’t recall where you met last time. Courtney Tucker with BRYT will be facilitating these meetings for us. We are asking the first two people in each group to facilitate the discussions during the breakout sessions: Michael Hicks and Gabe Pagano will co-facilitate one group; Karen Stiner and Dean Richards co-facilitate a group; and Susie Heydon and Roger White co-facilitate a group.
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This week, ODE sent out a joint letter and a resolution stating the support for the Black Lives Matter movement. We will be discussing how this shift impacts our work with community, staff and students in the future. More to come.
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Safety Updates from Paul: District Family Connections Team Update: Our district teams meets every other Friday and very much wants to support your school’s efforts to keep students engaged and supported with their physical needs. Thank you for listing your school’s contact on this spreadsheet.
A few schools are experimenting with a mobile bus model to deliver food, clothing, supplies, instructional materials and other items to students’ homes and needy neighborhoods. Email Paul if you like to inquire how this might work at your school.
Some of you requested community resources to support your families. Here are helpful links: BLS Family In Need Website – https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/parents/families-need Bend Food Resources English/Spanish
We will be working with the tech department to run attendance reports per school to measure the level of student engagement and then reaching out to schools to see how we can support your work.
Hybrid Learning: The following document has been reviewed by the health professionals and our local county health partners to assist staff in safety measures when designing learning tasks. Risk Mitigation in Implementing Instructional Best Practices. Please email Paul if you have other instructional best practices that you’d like us to create a safe practices checklist for.
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Air Quality Index PROCESS REMINDERS
Bend-La Pine Schools service area spans 1,600 square miles. Three DEQ AQI reporting stations track air quality within the district boundaries; two in Bend and one in La Pine.
STAFF:
When readings are over 200, staff working outdoors should be moved indoors.
In La Pine, we watch the DEQ station and utilize the most recent reading.
In Bend, we watch the two DEQ stations and take the higher of the two for the Bend area.
We do not use the 5-3-1/Visibility Scale for conditions at or over 200 AQI, unless the DEQ monitors are down for three or more hours.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES:
Decision makers should be familiar with the following: https://www.osaa.org/health-safety/air-quality and https://sharedsystems.dhsoha.state.or.us/DHSForms/Served/le8815h.pdf.
Decisions should be based on a combination of the nearest active AQI monitor reading (Bend NE 8th & Emerson, Bend Pump Station, La Pine Rural Fire Dept 103) AND 5-3-1/Visibility Scale.
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Here is this month’s ELL newsletter. There are a number of pieces of useful information here – including a teaser regarding interpreter/translation services.
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Here is important information from Scott: During our meeting last week, I referenced information about required drills that I would share from Scott. Here it is! Whomever oversees emergency drills should spend some time and dig into this. First, here is our Portal page with district safety training and drill info. (Note: The BLS “guidance” document is worth the read as you plan your drills this year.) Second, the following is a summary of the guidance from the ODE Ready Schools, Safe Learners that requires schools to continue to conduct drills/education during CDL and is on page 6 of the BLS Safety Drills Guidelines:
In accordance with ORS 336.071 and OAR 581-022-2225 all schools in the district (including those operating a Comprehensive Distance Learning model) are required to instruct students on emergency procedures in the school setting and conduct drills to practice emergency procedures. Emergency drills will continue throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic as per existing rules, statutes, and board policy.
We have posted the information about fire and emergency drills during CDL on our district website under the “Emergency Preparedness” page: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/home/emergency-preparedness
Drills can and should be carried out as close as possible to the procedures that would be used in an actual emergency. For example, a fire drill should be carried out with the same alerts and same routes as normal. If appropriate and practicable, COVID-19 physical distancing measures can be implemented, but only if they do not compromise the drill.
Staff should be trained in changes to drills prior to return to school and conducting any drills in the school setting. All standard collaboration (i.e. fire department, alarm company) and documentation remains required.
We have also updated the BLS COVID-19 Cleaning Protocols document to reflect the change to our new cleaning and disinfecting product. I’ve asked Deby in IT to update the Return to Schools website with this current document. https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/home/return-school
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An update from Jon… As you know, we agreed with the BEA to have a committee work on our Performance Evaluation Manual and make recommendations on what should and shouldn’t be evaluated in a CDL model. For now, we are going to put SLGSs and Evaluations on hold until we get the committee’s recommendation. We have received several calls asking if principals should be doing mini observations and/or formal observations. You are welcome to start observations. We realize that some teachers are a little anxious, to say the least, about being observed on Webex. This is a great time to remind teachers that we use a collaborative/coaching model for observations. We are here to help improve instruction and to facilitate a positive learning environment so that students can grow, succeed, and achieve. We can argue that teachers need more support now, than they have needed in the past. Also, don’t forget that TLC has developed some classes and materials for teachers that need some support. We’ll get through this together.
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Here is some info from Misty regarding STAS trainings…
Student Threat Assessment System (STAS) refresher training will be via Zoom this year in order to meet Best Practice and Fidelity standards of the Threat Assessment Model. A Google Doc is attached for sign up. Training sessions are grouped together by school-level and a maximum of three schools will be able to sign up for the training time. The refresher training should be attended by the school’s Level 1 team which includes; school’s admin team, school counselor, school psychologist, and school resource officer. It is not necessary that school psychs and SROs attend multiple sessions if they serve more than one school. Following the school’s sign up a link for the training will be Zoom link sent to the contact person listed on the sign-up document.
Training times begin the week of October 26th, I am hoping that you will share the sign-up link and details in your weekly blog as well as an email to assure that each school is able to find a time that Level 1 Teams can attend.
Please email me with any questions or feel free to call me on my cell at 541-521-8833. Misty
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DVPfeNJVi50qbGV7uEhfMPRho5MdmwunA4p0cQZoIkU/edit?usp=sharing.
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I found this article of particular interest and was helpful to me in framing our current situation. https://elemental.medium.com/your-surge-capacity-is-depleted-it-s-why-you-feel-awful-de285d542f4c
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This editorial for The Oregonian was submitted by a local Pediatrican, Dr. Kate Broadman. I thought you might find it of interest.
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This AR which is focused on Grades and Credit, was recently updated. You should be familiar with this AR. Pay particular attention to the final section entitled CONDITIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE CREDIT LEARNING EXPERIENCES as it provides for more flexibility around granting high school credit.
Calendar:
Excellence and Equity training on Wednesday from 3:30 – 5:00pm. HS leaders will be meeting at SVMS.
HS Administrator WebEx Thursday, October 22 @ 8:00 am