Think abouts…
The college boards recently decided to discontinue the state and national AP scholar awards because they were deemed unhealthy. Interesting. Information is on the college board website and highlighted in this article.
https://www.thoughtco.com/ap-scholar-award-what-you-should-know-5101249
| AP Scholar Awards: What You Should Know – ThoughtCo That said, these awards should be put in perspective, especially for highly selective colleges and universities. For example, if you’re applying to one of the prestigious Ivy League schools, nearly all competitive applicants will have taken numerous AP classes (or IB, Honors, or dual enrollment classes), and the score cut-offs for the awards are actually lower than what successful applicants …www.thoughtco.com |
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To Do:
Ninth Grade On Track meetings: Prior to Thanksgiving Break, you should complete your first Ninth Grade On Track meeting. Any teacher teaching 3 or more 9th grade classes should attend. Contact Dean if you have questions about how to structure this meeting.
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Family and student notification of a Breathalyzer test: JFG-AR provides that students who wish to attend extra curricular activities can be breathalyzed prior to being admitted to an event. With the return of dances to our high schools, we are re-instituting the pre COVID practice of breathalyzing each student prior to being admitted to some extra curricular events. Beginning this year, every student will be breathalyzed prior to admission to a dance or participation in graduation ceremonies and those who test positive will not be admitted to the event. If a student tests positive, parents/guardians will be contacted and will be responsible for ensuring their student gets safely home. Families and students must be notified of this practice as outlined in section 8 of the JFG-AR and staff will follow this COVID-19 Safety Protocol, designed by our safety team, when breathalyzing students.
Attendance at Activities
• In the case where students are attending student activities that are considered a privilege
such as school dances; the school may test students for alcohol prior to allowing their
admission.
• Students will be notified that every student wishing to attend the activity will be given a
Breathalyzer test. The school will make a reasonable attempt to test all students attending.
Those who test positive will be evaluated further, may not be granted admission and may
suffer additional consequences.
Every school is required to send this notice to families and students prior to your next dance: Here is the notification sent to families and students in English and Spanish: We continue to re-establish many traditions and events that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and ( name of school) is excited to bring back a wide range of extracurricular events for our students and families. In accordance with policy JFG-AR, Bend-La Pine Schools stands committed to school safety and will require all students to use a breathalyzer before entering dances and for seniors prior to the graduation ceremonies during the 2022-23 school year. This was our standard practice pre-pandemic and will be followed by high schools across the district. Students who have a positive reading for their blood alcohol level will not be allowed to participate and parents/guardians will be contacted. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed by staff administering the breathalyzer. If you have any questions please feel free to call your student’s school at (541-355____) with any questions. We encourage you to use this reminder as an opportunity to talk with your child about school rules and your family values–our partners at Deschutes County have wonderful resources for supporting this conversation. Thank you for your partnership in keeping our school events safe and fun for everyone.
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From Stephen: November 18th is College and Career Day in Bend-La Pine Schools. This year we are looking to draw attention to the multitude of pathways available to students after they graduate high school. Here are a few things you could do at your site to make the day a success.
- Dress as a professional
- Encourage students and staff to dress up as someone from a career they are interested in. Remember there are a lot of great careers out there!
- Wear college colors
- Encourage students to wear the colors of a favorite college. Remember, college can mean community college, trade school, 4-year university, etc. Be careful with wording here as college brand clothing can be expensive and prevent students from feeling like they can participate. Colors are more inclusionary. As much as we know about the Ducks and Beavers, let’s expand our students’ awareness to what’s out there.
- Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges.
- Here is a great resource from the State of Oregon on Career Journeys. There are videos, lesson plans and other activities.
- Here is a great resource full of college videos. Students could scroll through and watch short videos on all kinds of colleges.
- Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers.
- This could be done in a variety of ways from assemblies, to advisory, to lunch. You could also ask parents to submit a short video of them talking about their jobs and stitch them together for students. Remember our visitor and volunteer requirements if you decide to invite parents in.
If you do decide to take it up a notch with college and career activities, please be sure to let Stephen and Alandra know.
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From Kinsey: I am excited to share a new opportunity we are offering our staff and colleagues! This fall we are launching Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), available to all Bend-La Pine Schools’ employees.
You might remember our employee survey last fall, on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Our leadership team’s analysis of the survey responses illuminated many culture and climate improvement opportunities for our staff, colleagues, and ourselves.
The purpose of these ERGs is to provide spaces for employees to network and build community (Joy!) with one another around common interests, identities, and experiences.
Two asks of you, as a leader:
- Please review this information, so you can help answer questions about our ERGs (and let me know if you have questions, or would like support addressing any questions that come to you);
- Communicate about this opportunity to the staff in your school/department. To be mindful of employees who have part-time schedules or limited email access, please:
And of course, we hope that you will participate yourself! There is no better way to build your own self-care and leadership skills, or to show your staff that you care deeply about their identities and experiences, than to make time for some human connection and Joy!
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UKG Weekly Training
This week’s training How To Submit a Leave Request in UKG.mp4 (3 minutes) is ready for viewing with your staff at an upcoming meeting. Please remind them that:
- All current and past UKG materials may be found in the Staff Portal>Human Resources>UKG or via this link
- Leave accruals within UKG are NOT accurate as we are still in the UKG testing platform
- Employees should enter a BLS Help Desk Ticket if they encounters a problem logging in
Upcoming trainings will be:
- Timekeeper/Admin approval/deny/change of employee leave requests (November 4th)
- Staff member submission of extra time worked (November 11)
- Staff member submission of monthly leave/time sheets (November 11)
- Timekeeper/Admin approval/denial/change to monthly leave/time sheets (November 18)
Information:
New Course Proposal Process: Here is the process for submitted a New Course Proposal request. Schools interested in requesting that a new course be added to the district standard course list for 22-23 need to submit request on the course request form by November 9, 2022:
1. Teachers are required to get approval from their building administrator prior to requesting district approval to add a course to the standard course list. Teachers do not enter courses into the request form.
2. A building administrator or curriculum secretary enters the course into the course request form.
3. Our district secondary team reviews each course request the week of November 14.
4. Building leaders and curriculum secretaries are notified of approval/denial prior to thanksgiving break.
Reach out to Jess Calbreath, Rachel Mavis or Jo Kienzle if you have questions.
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From Eric: Keep this reference document handy for easy review of district processes related to student management including a link to the Assistant Principal/Dean trainings. There is a wealth of helpful information on this sheet. At the VP/Dean training this Monday, Eric highlighted this template to use for writing behavior and safety plans. The template can be used for all students (Gen Ed and IEP).
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HS Administrator work session slides: During our HS work session this week, we discussed chapters 1-4 in Joe Feldman’s book: Grading for Equity and debriefed the Bias Lesson. Our book study continues at our Dec 13th work session with Chapters 5-9.
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This week’s blog is written by Linda Adams, Mathematics Instructional Coach. She explores ways to give all students a chance to dig into the important content that you teach each day. My favorite part is the analogy in that is in blue text. Take a minute to read through ways to hear from all student in your class each day.
We continue to get great shout outs about the amazing work that is happening at our schools. There are five shout outs this week. If you would like to praise a colleague, please fill out this form.
Who’s Voices are You Hearing in Your Classroom
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From Tami: STOP THE BLEED TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR BLS EMPLOYEES
Bend Fire and Rescue
| Wednesday, November 2 3-4pm Mountain View High School Auditorium | Tuesday, November 8 430-530pm Bend High School Black Box Theatre Room |
Maximum number 75
Staff must sign up on Performance Matters to reserve a spot.
Can’t make any of these dates? We will send out future training information when the details are set.
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Reminder: Student Health Survey: Begin preparing to implement this survey to all of your juniors:
1. Last week: you should have already communicated to your staff that we are implementing the survey to JUNIORS this year and how this will happen in your building.
HERE is a helpful powerpoint about the survey and the role of the survey coordinator.
2. This week: week of October 24): You should have sent home this Letter to parents. Adjust to your school and send.
3. Beginning next week: Weeks of October 31st and November 7: Two-week window for ALL Juniors to take the survey on their iPads.
Here is a link to a shared Google folder containing necessary and helpful materials. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gkoP6xZydelW_uxhdgNs4ZgRqQo5HL0G?usp=sharing Let me (Dave) know if you have questions or need anything. Thanks!
Calendar:
Weeks of October 31st and November 7: Two-week window for ALL Juniors to take the survey on their iPads.
November 1: CEL embedded session 8:00-2:30 @ LPHS – Principals only
November 2: Office Manager Meeting 2:30 @ High Lakes Elementary
November 2: Equitable Grading Think Tank Meeting 2:45 @ High Desert MS
November 8: HS Administrator Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ Caldera HS
November 9: New Course proposals due for 23-24 HS curriculum guide. Submit your proposals on the course request form.
November 11: Veteran’s Day – No school
November 14: Principal PD session 3:00-4:30; Brooks Hall, Trinity Church by the Ed Center
November 18: Principal Breakfast 7:30 @ Original Pancake House
November 18: College and Career Day! Plan school wide events to promote post secondary education AND wear your college colors!
November 29: Please save this date for a district-wide Spanish-language FAFSA Night (in partnership between Bend-La Pine Schools, COCC, and Juntos). More information to follow.
And Finally…Something to read… We came across this page that talks about the power of student voice. This is relevant to read prior to our CEL work next week at La Pine High School.