High School Rock Stars!

Congratulations on orchestrating terrific graduation celebrations this year! I applaud you and your staff for personalizing the experiences for our seniors and their families! Be sure to give a shout-out to those folks behind the scenes who helped our schools pull it together such as our facilities and maintenance and communications teams! Special appreciation to Reno who helped coordinate our vendor selections!

In planning for next year….this law was recently passed to allow students to wear tribal regalia at graduation. Also, we will include land acknowledgments in our graduation ceremonies next year.

To Do:

Please register your school team for the BRYT High School Summer Kick Start work session scheduled for June 23 from 9-2 @ Pacific Crest Middle School. School teams made up of your Building Admin team, Student Success Coordinator, Student Success Instructor, Grad Coach will work on MTSS planning for the 2021-22 school year. This work session is in person.  This day is an opportunity for your building team to hone in on roles and goals for BRYT next year.  Teams will dig into MTSS systems, team planning for next year, and meeting structures, and communication plans.  We will need each team member to RSVP HERE so we can plan accordingly. Lunch provided!

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This message is from Jackie Wilson, the district Sustainability Coordinator. Please pass along to your staff…

As the school year begins to come to a close, please be aware of the BLS holiday standard operating procedure. This document is meant to help you guide the staff in how to close down at the end of the school year.  Please make sure all of the staff has seen this document as we rapidly approach the summer holidays. Thank you for a wonderful school year. We look forward to a healthy 2021-2022 school year.

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Please share this internship opportunity with Deschutes County with your 10-12 grade students!

If you are considering paying any of your new hires to participate in professional development this summer please review and follow this one-page guidance before doing so. Reach out to Paul in HR if you have any questions regarding this.

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Information:

Probationary Classified Staff of Concern: Are you aware of the probationary period for classified employees? Before the probationary period ends, our process for removing an underperforming employee is straightforward, but after this period ends, it is more cumbersome. IN Article 11 of the OSEA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the probationary period is defined as:

Each new employee hired into the bargaining unit shall serve a probationary period equivalent to the number of work days in that employee’s normal work year or 185 work days, whichever is shorter.

185 days is roughly a school year for employees working in schools.  You can email Derek Duenas for alpha A-L, or Kelly Marty for alpha M-Z, to verify how many days someone has been employed in the district if you have a new hire of concern.  The 185 days can span over two school years since it is work days and not calendar days that are being counted.

If you have concerns about a probationary classified employee please don’t hesitate to engage in a conversation with that person now, identify 1-3 concrete and measurable performance goals (you can use the new evaluation form as a reference), and set a date 2-3 weeks out (or for the beginning of the following school year) for a progress monitoring check-in.  If, after two progress monitoring meetings, you still don’t see a significant improvement, please email me (Paul Dean) to discuss the next steps.  From the CBA:

The purpose of the probationary period shall be to:

1. Train the employee to meet the District required work standards.
2. Assist an employee whose work performance fails to meet District required work standards.
3. Terminate an employee whose work performance fails to meet District required work standards.

You may extend the probationary period as described in the CBA:

• In the event the district determines there are performance concerns with the employee, the probationary period may be extended for a period of up to forty (40) work days.
• If there are performance concerns with a probationary employee and a decision is made to extend probation for that employee, the employee will be notified not later than five (5) days before completion of the probationary period described in 11.2 above.

Please be diligent in supporting probationary employees, working with them to learn and improve, document meetings regarding areas of concern and reaching out to HR if you need assistance before their probationary period ends.

If you need to reference this information at a later time, here is a Google document with the same information (and may be easier to locate in the future).

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Importance updates from Paul:

Rapid Testing Update

We are no longer required to offer Rapid Testing to symptomatic students and staff at the secondary level due to Deschutes County case rate falling below the 200 cases/100K for the prior two weeks.  If a parent requests a Rapid Test when you’ve notified them to come and pick up their symptomatic child, you can certainly give them the test or refer them to their health care provider.

Please do not dispose of unused tests but store them somewhere at your site until we more fully understand what OHA wants us to do with them in August.

Indoor Masking for BLS Employees After June 21

Please continue to follow indoor masking requirements through June 18.  Next week, we will email guidance for indoor masking for June 21st and beyond.

Quarantine Requirements

OHA has pivoted once again and is now allowing the local health authorities to reduce the mandatory 14-day quarantine to a 10 day.  Tami Pike has consulted with our friends at Deschutes County Health and here are the new guidelines we’ll be following:

Updated Quarantine Guidance for BLS Staff and Students 

Starting 6/11/21 

With the recent changes to OHA quarantine guidance, Bend-La Pine Schools will be making the following updates to our current practices starting on Friday, June 11.  

10 Day Quarantine for BLS Students 

For Bend-La Pine students, the quarantine time period will be decreased from 14 days to 10 days for an unvaccinated individual identified as a close contact to a positive case.  

Students who are currently quarantined for 14 days, may return to school after day 10 post exposure (returning on day 11) as long as no COVID-19 symptoms have developed during the quarantine time. There is no testing out of quarantine time for students. 

Quarantine Options for BLS Staff 

Non-vaccinated Bend-La Pine Staff who have been identified as a close contact to a COVID-19 positive individual must have one of the following completed before returning to work:  

1. May return to work after 7 days (on day 8), with a negative PCR or NAAT test collected within 48 hours before ending quarantine and have remained symptom free.  

OR 

2. May return to work 10 days after their last exposure to a person with COVID-19 without a COVID-19 test as long as the employee has not developed any COVID-19 symptoms.  

*All staff must be cleared by a BLS COVID Support Team Nurse (Maria Buagas, Teri Gallion, or Tami Pike) before returning to in-person work.​*​  

More guidance to come for staff working over the summer as well as for students participating in district-sponsored activities over the summer.  

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From our IT Director: Here is some “hotspot” information that includes some repeat information to share/remind families (1st paragraph), as well as new information (see link in 2nd paragraph)…

All students who have a district-issued hotspot at their home are asked to return the hotspot and charging equipment to the school front office by June 18th.  Service to all hotspots will end on June 18th.  Any hotspot that has not been returned to school will cease to function beyond this date.

Additionally, John Aubry and I (Scott McDonald) have devised a plan for collecting and distributing Hotspots for student use over the summer.  You likely received this document last Friday or earlier this week. We are trying to keep it simple, but we certainly know that this exchange will occur at the busiest time in the school year.

Calendar:

Project Wayfinder presentation June 14@3:30 in person in the Board Room. Patrick from Project Wayfinder will present this SEL Tier 1 curriculum and provide time for Q and A. Realms HS and CHS will pilot the curriculum next year.

HS Admin WebEx June 16 @ 10:30 – Join me in my WebEx room

All Admin meeting June 21@4:00 – in person at the Ed Center; McNenamins after

BRYT work session and lunch: June 23, 9-2 in-person @Pacific Crest MS. Participants include: building admin team, Student Success Clinician, Student Success Instructor, and Grad Coach. We will timesheet cert staff.

Mark these two items are on your calendar for August:

Leadership Retreat (will NOT include ICCL this year) is on August 12

Our district Safety Day (trainings) will be on August 17.

To Do:

Equitable Grading Think Tank information sent to MS/HS teachers: Last week we invited HS and MS teachers to consider participating in our district think tank. Interested teachers need to submit a short video answering three questions by Wednesday, June 9. Please remind your teachers of this opportunity. I forwarded the google doc to you today.

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High School Success Checklist: Based on our recent review with ODE, we compiled a HSS Checklist to help us ensure we designing our initiatives to align with our legal requirements to receive HSS resources. We will review this at an upcoming meeting, but want you to have it as you are planning for next year.

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What is Critical Race Theory (CRT)?: Some members of our community are inquiring about Critical Race Theory (CRT) and whether our schools are teaching it.  Critical Race Theory is a big topic that deserves substantial unpacking.  In an effort to get you some tools for responding now if you need them, here are some initial resources:
ODE’s stance on CRT here, and talking points here.  These are just for your own reference if you’d like to borrow any of their language.  This is an article about what CRT is, and how it relates to education if you’re looking to read more.
If you have families inquiring about CRT or our district’s approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion work, and you’d like a partner in that conversation, feel free to reach out to Kinsey.  

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Please share this with your teachers from our TLC Team: Our teaching and learning staff is once again excited to be planning the Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference for this August.  The conference will be held Wednesday, August 25, and Thursday, August 26th, at Pacific Crest Middle School.  Like other years ITLC will be an energizing way to start the new school year!

In light of many aspects of our current situation, ranging from unknowns about gathering size, vaccine distribution, and even interest we are going to scale down and focus this year’s conference on several large topics with the hope of giving those who participate the chance to dive deeper into the areas of equity, grading practices and social-emotional wellness.  

Each day will offer a morning keynote, and afternoon breakouts around these topics and you can choose to attend as much as you’d like.  Mary Ehrenworth will be our featured presenter for Wednesday the 25th and the team from Creative Leadership Solutions will be leading us in work surrounding Equitable Grading Practices on Thursday, August 26th.

Registration is available now in Performance Matters(after logging in you should see it in “Recommended Training”, click there, then select the “sections” tab to register separately for each day). 

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An important reminder from HR about evaluations this year: Plan to have all of your mini observations, SLGGS meetings, and evaluations completed by June 18. Here is a link to what is required this year: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iGGChkncou7ibFaEDtLCpU09ZdTWMC_ct66yRpb5eLo/edit

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Here is a reminder regarding creating and sharing your personal Equity Stance statement. Here is a link for further details. Hoping to have folks have this done by Monday (6/7).

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Information:

Here is a reminder from IT about important synergy dates this summer. These dates impact master schedule completion, and teacher, family, and counselor access to schedules.

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Hot Spots due June 18th: All students who have a district-issued hotspot at their home are asked to return the hotspot and charging equipment to the school front office by June 18th.  Service to all hotspots will end on June 18th.  Any hotspot that has not been returned to school will cease to function beyond this date.

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Important legislation recently passed removing the requirement that the four credits of Language Arts must be in English. With the change, the four credits can be in any language. The change has been made to the state diploma requirements. Reach out to Kinsey if you have questions about this change.

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Here is the last EdTech Bytes for the school year. Please share this with your teachers. In it you’ll find:

• 💁‍♀️  Tech Tip: How to quickly combine multiple pdfs
• 🎗  Reminder:Google Takeout for those leaving the district
• 🍎  Learn about Canvas on your own time

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Mark your calendars:

HS Admin WebEx June 9 @ 10:30 – Join me in my WebEx room

Project Wayfinder presentation June 14@3:30 in person in the Board Room. Patrick from Project Wayfinder will present this SEL Tier 1 curriculum and provide time for Q and A. Realms HS and CHS will pilot the curriculum next year.

HS Admin WebEx June 16 @ 10:30 – Join me in my WebEx room

All Admin meeting June 21@4:00 – in person at the Ed Center; McNenamins after

BRYT work session and lunch: June 23, 9-2 in-person @Pacific Crest MS. Participants include: building admin team, Student Success Clinician, Student Success Instructor, and Grad Coach. We will timesheet cert staff.

Reflections…

Several of us attended Day 4 of CFEE training today. We spent some time discussing this Equity-Minded Educators Document and considering how these ten aspects are seen in our work. What stood out for me is how do we make inclusion the “normal part of how we interact and operate.”

Our goal is for every administrator to attend CFEE. Please check with Kinsey about upcoming available dates.

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Here is an article from CareerPlug that prompted me to consider my unconscious biases: 9 Hiring Biases that are Hurting your Recruiting Efforts. As a summary of this article, here is a 9 Common Types of Hiring Bias cheat sheet that provides a nice summary.

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From Dave Van Loo: Here’s a new piece from Michael Fullan. It’s definitely neither a short nor a light read, but it’s a doozy. The gist basically is that the entire world is in a precarious state, the education system is irreparably broken and needs to be blown up, and right now we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to prevent the collapse of society. Seriously. He puts forth that the four drivers on the left side of the image below need to overtake the four drivers on the right that currently drive our systems.

While he addresses a lot of things bigger than education, most of this is about schools. It is noteworthy that Fullan specifically highlights the 5 strategies we’ve been focusing on as a major change in schools’ cultures of learning that attacks systems of inequity and the supports the essential systems driver of integrated Wellbeing and Learning. And he makes the case that this work needs to happen in a way that is highly collaborative and that builds another critical driver – Social Intelligence.  

To Do:

Hiring reminders and updates
Here is a cheat sheet on anti-bias practices in your hiring process.  
Hiring bilingual staff?  In order to ensure quality communication services for our families and appropriate compensation for bilingual staff, we are beginning a new employee language assessment and compensation process.  This will not begin until next year, so this is just a preview of the process, as it will impact any bilingual staff you have or are hiring now, who may support family communication.  If you have questions, please contact Kinsey.

New state legislation
Check out this change to state policy!  Oregon is removing the word “English” from the Language Arts graduation requirements.  This officially allows credits earned via Language Arts courses taught in other languages to count toward graduation.  
What does this mean for you?
Likely, not much impact on you right now–this is designed to support Dual Immersion programs around the state in offering bi-literacy coursework throughout the K-12 program sequence.  Non-English LA courses still must be designed around grade-specific LA standards, and must use appropriate LA curriculum (World Language, heritage, and bilingual/ELL courses have their own standards, distinct from LA).  We will continue alignment efforts to ensure our LA courses are teaching LA standards, using high-quality diverse curriculum, and meeting graduation and college requirements for these credits.
In the meantime, you can work with your team on shifting your language from “English” courses/departments to “Language Arts.”  If you have questions/ideas about courses to support our multilingual learners, reach out to Kinsey!

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Information:

Please share the schedule for our last week (June 14 – 17) with your staff, students, and parent community. If you aren’t sure what that schedule is, here you go!

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be the “regular” HS schedule (bell times of 9:15 – 3:45). IPSI will run 2:10-3:45. Thursday will be a SIW release (bell times of 9:15-1:34).

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Tami sent this reminder out to your nurses. This is a helpful reminder about our process related to seniors: If you identify that one of your graduating seniors as a close contact, the Core Team is asking that you not call the family but rather provide this information asap to your building principal. Your building principal will then take this information to a district “sub-committee” to determine ways that the student may still be able to participate in graduation. Your principals have been notified about this process already from Katie Legace. Your high school administrators will be the school official notifying the parents of what the plan is for the senior.

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Support for employees: Please don’t forget that our School District offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to help staff navigate life stressors and/or manage life changing events.  The EAP program is administered by Reliant Behavioral Health (RBH).  The services they offer at no cost to Bend La-Pine School district staff members (minus substitute teachers) are outlined below.  

Counseling Resources

• 24- hour Crisis Help
• In-Person Counseling
• Telephonic Counseling
• Online Consultations

Work-Life Resources

• Childcare Resources
• Adult/Eldercare Resources
• Financial Services
• Legal Services
• Mediation Services
• Online Legal Forms
• Home Ownership Programs
• Identity Theft Services

The counseling resources come with three visits in a rolling calendar year with the possibility of additional visits on a case by case situation as determined by a RBH.  The goal is to offer counseling services for single focused short term mental health.  To find out more about your EAP, schedule a counseling appointment, or access services call RHB at 866-750-1327 or visit MyRBH.com to find out more.  Access Code is OEBB.    

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Here is a link to a Spanish-translated document that provides information about borrowed hot spots and (non-) return of iPads. Please share in your next parent communication. [Last week I shared the English translation of the hot spot communication.].

Calendar:

HS Administrator WebEx: Wednesday, June 2@ 10:30

HS Administrator WebEx: Wednesday, June 16@ 10:30

Leadership Year End Wrap Up: Monday, June 21@ 4:00 @ Ed Center (Happy Hour at McMenamins following)

HS Administrator Work Session and Lunch: Wednesday, June 23 9-2 In-Person – location TBD

Please share this message with families at your earliest convenience:

Dear Students and Families,

Once again students will be allowed to keep their loaner iPads with them throughout the summer months. This will provide students with a device to continue learning opportunities over the summer.  

If you will not be attending a Bend-La Pine Schools program or school next year, please return your iPad, charging brick and cord to your current school. Schools will be communicating their return schedule directly to families. If you will be attending a different Bend-La Pine Schools program or school next year, keep the iPad you have and take it with you to your new site in September. 

Sometimes plans change during the summer. If you find yourself moving out of the area or leaving the district during the summer and need to return your iPad, please drop it off Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Education Center located at 520 Wall Street, Bend. Please remember to also return your charging brick and cord at this time. The fee for a missing cord is $5 and a missing charging brick is $20.

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Feel free to share this free summer learning flyer with any/all on your staff. The topic is Trauma-Informed Engagement Practices through the process of continuous improvement.

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There is a new secondary science TOSA position posted. Please pass along to any teacher you think might be interested.

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From Jon and HR: We are having an extremely hard time filling all substitute requests.  Last week we ask that you keep personal days to 5% in the building.  This week and for the remainder of the year, we are going one step further.  We will not be approving any more personal days unless a substitute can be found.  If we have already approved a personal day, then we will honor that decision.  Moving forward, however, if an employee, either classified or certified, asks for a personal day, we need to know that positions will be covered before okaying the request.  

We also would like to remind you that we’ve made special agreements with both associations that employees will be paid for unused personal days.

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Please share in your next parent communication: All students who have a district-issued hotspot at their home are asked to return the hotspot and charging equipment to the school front office by June 18th.  Service to all hotspots will end on June 18th.  Any hotspot that has not been returned to school will cease to function beyond this date.

Related, but not for parent communication: If you learn of a student who is in need of a hotspot for summer work, a plan is being developed now to accommodate this request as best we can.

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There is a new secondary science TOSA position posted. Please pass along to any teacher you think might be interested and who has a science endorsement.

Information:

Thank you everyone for participating in our Wednesday leadership meeting.  Kinsey has provided us with this resource to help us complete our equity stance.  Here are your next steps in this process:

1. Complete your personal Equity Stance
2. Memorize or read it aloud at least once with an individual or group.  Ideas:

·         Colleague from your Equity PD group

·         LEAD Cohort member, community member

·         ICCL team, school staff member, Latino Family Liaison, etc

3. Ask for feedback:

·         What did you hear me say?

·         What did you not hear me say?

By June 7, share your personal Equity Stance here (no need to have it polished/final yet, just a current draft you feel good about and can pick back up in August) as a follow-up after yesterday’s session. 

Calendar:

NO HS Admin meeting next week.

Next HS Admin WebEx is Wednesday June 2 @ 10:30.

BRYT school visits are scheduled for all week!

To Do:

CFEE Training in June: The Bend-La Pine spaces for the late-July CFEE have all been filled by members of our leadership team, but there are a couple spaces left in the June session (6/28-7/1, entirely virtual).  Please reach out to Kinsey by this Tuesday if you are interested in taking advantage of this personal and professional opportunity for growth!  The expectation is that every high school administrator attends CFEE!

What is CFEE?  Coaching for Educational Equity is a deep-dive into the impact of Oregon’s history on ourselves as educators and on the students and families we serve.  To date, over 40 leaders in Bend-La Pine Schools have already participated, and it is our intent to continue growing our CFEE-graduate cohort over time.  Thanks for considering this opportunity to develop shared knowledge, language, and leadership for equity.

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Please be ready to name your Val and Sal on May 28 and send this information about each of these students to Alandra:

• Name
• Photo
• Title – Val or Sal or other
• Post-Secondary Plans
• Contact info (we may try to do a short feature on each, if possible, so a way to reach the students would be great)

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Michele Oakes sent you the following email last week. Please share it if you have not already done so.

As part of our work with the Regional Educator Network, BLS has defined a need to increase the number of counselors in our district, especially those who identify as BIPOC.  As you know, counselors support our students, teachers, families and community.  As we increase the number of BIPOC counselors in our district, we will positively impact the students and community that we serve. 

 
In order to determine who is interested, we have created a survey for staff. Please send this survey to all certified and classified staff.https://forms.gle/NMyVf19aSyP4tfna7

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From Alandra: We are planning to share a press release celebrating our Excellence in Education award recipients May 21, hoping that will give enough time for schools that want to make the awards a surprise (if you have a conflict, let Alandra know and we may be able to push back the release date). Alandra is also collecting photos of the honorees and is looking for 1-2 events to attend, so if you have something fun planned for your recipients, let her know.

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You will be receiving an email from Marsha Baro regarding a requirement (SB 155) to display a poster that is a reminder for reporting sexual conduct and child abuse. Please post this where you have other required documents for staff to see.

Information:

If you have a concern about a decision to quarantine a student and wonder if it should be overturned, please contact Tami Pike, our Head Nurse. It is not the role of an administrator to overturn a quarantine as educators are not health professionals. If you are concerned, reach out to Tami and she will work collaboratively with your school nurse and other local and state health professionals to determine if the quarantine should be altered.

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Paul’s updates from his email sent 5/11 at 2:27: In this email, he provided a number of timely Covid updates, including: Gov. Brown’s changes to county metrics that may move Deschutes Co into a “low risk” category soon; the move from a 10-day to a 14-day mandatory quarantine beginning this Monday; a message that we are not following or enforcing in other program quarantines (yes, a youth could be quarantined at Boys and Girls Club, but attend school); an approved vaccine for 12-15-year-olds may be available/given at one or more of our MS buildings outside of school time – parent permission required; and the balance between poor air quality and Covid requirements. Whew!

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Mask wearing update from CDC: You have likely read or heard about the CDC updating their guidance around mask wearing and folks who have been vaccinated. And you also probably heard that Gov. Brown is going to move Oregon requirements regarding mask-wearing (indoors and outdoors) to align with this new CDC guidance. What you may or may not have caught in the small print (so to speak) is that Gov. Brown also said that for schools, we will continue to follow current RSSL guidance regarding social distancing and mask-wearing for the remainder of this school year (see end of third paragraph). In other words, no changes for us (as of now anyway!) in how we do school this spring.

Calendar:

CANCELED: HS Administrator WebEx: Wednesday, May 19 @10:30

Thursday, May 20 at 1:00 location TBD: HS Principal in-person discussion and sharing: SEL

CANCELED: HS Administrator WebEx: Wednesday, May 26 @10:30

Paul and Courtney from BRYT will be in Central Oregon the week of May 24. They have scheduled a visit at each school with each school team! Dean is sending out a confirmation of your school meeting day and time. During their week, we have scheduled a HS building admin meeting for Thursday, May 27 from 10:15-11:30 in our board room. If you would like to stay for a pizza lunch until 12:00, let me know! This will replace our HS meeting for the week of May 24.

More good reads…

From Dave Van Loo: This article is great and touches on an abundance of topics we’ve discussed in Excellence and Equity meetings this year. Plus, the theory of change balancing actions with beliefs is right in line with the professional learning processes on which we’ve been training horizontal teams lately. https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/equity-work-too-much-talk-too-little-action

From Kinsey: This is a great article with an awesome response to a parent upset about “woke” curriculum and instruction:
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2021/05/homeroom-antiracist-education/618796/

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To Do:

Share this note from Dean and Michele with your teachers: Since November, we have been putting out a weekly/bi-weekly blog featuring a variety of content: tech strategies, instructional strategies, background in important issues, etc.  Your administrators have been linking you to the content when they felt it would be helpful and/or when they felt you had the bandwidth to benefit from it during this uniquely challenging year.

From this point on, we are changing our method of delivery and sending it straight to you.  We hope you find it a welcome source of information and support.

For the remainder of the year, we will be launching an exploration of the topic of equity, a topic administrators have been participating in regular thinking and conversations about.  To support your planning for next year, we want to begin bringing some of these conversations to you.  

This post is a two-part series: an interview with our new superintendent Dr. Steve Cook.  It’s a great chance to be introduced to Steve and his thinking about equity:  

A Conversation with our New Superintendent, Dr. Steve Cook (part 1)

A Conversation With our New Superintendent, Dr. Steve Cook (part 2)

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Reminder about observation agreements: This was shared with you previously (several months ago), but I wanted to remind you of the certified observation agreements that we have in place for this year. If you have any questions regarding this document please let me know.

Information:

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Information from Jon and Paul in HR: We have contract language specific to personal days.  Building leaders only need to allow 5% of our certified staff and 5% of our classified staff to take personal days on a given day. 

We are having a very difficult time filling substitute requests. Keeping personal day requests to the 5% could help us as a district.  If staff do not use personal days this year, then they can bank one or get paid for them at the end of the year. 

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Here is an updated chart from OHA and our Governor’s office regarding allowable limits to indoor and outdoor facility numbers. This is based, obviously, on which category our county is currently at in risk level. Just an FYI.

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Hot Weather – Fans and Doors: There is nothing in RSSL directly related to how to address proper use of fans and the safety of opening exterior doors during warm weather days (or for added ventilation) so our team of health professionals who meets on Fridays gave input into acceptable use.   Fans can only be used if they are pulling fresh air in from the outside (stationed by a window or exterior door) not if they are only circulating existing air in the classroom (therefore, ceiling fans should not be used). Any exterior classroom door that is within the fenced area of a school can be opened.  Exterior doors not within a fenced area can be opened but must be closely supervised (ie. closed when no adult is monitoring it).
Educational Assistant Application Process: In order to reduce barriers for people who want to apply for entry-level positions in BLS, we are going to remove the cover letter and three recommendation letters requirements for all EA positions. We will still require a resume and our reference check requirement will fulfill the same role as the recommendation letters.  We hope that by reducing these tasks during the application process, we will have more people seeking employment opportunities in these hard-to-fill jobs.
Visitor Entry: Your staff members have been doing an excellent job limiting visitors in your building.  Please allow BEA President, Sarah Barclay, to visit if she comes by your school.

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Encourage your teachers to consider: We are currently in our recruiting season for National Board Certification.  We are holding several virtual informational sessions for teachers who are interested in becoming National Board Certified.  One thing that we know is when an administrator tells a teacher “Have your considered National Board certification? You would be great for this!” Teachers take notice, appreciate the compliment and usually pursue this path for their professional learning.  Please send this flyer to your teachers and feel free to attend if you would like to learn more about the process, supports and TSPC reimbursements.  In addition, BLS has found that when school teams do this work together, it strengthens the team, teaching practice and impact on student learning.  We are offering additional supports for school teams who decide to pursue National Board certification together (information for you).  We have added extra sub days, resources, and time with a NB mentor to support teams.  Contact Michele Oakes if you have any questions or would like to learn more about National Board Certification.

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Space at CFEE in June: The Bend-La Pine spaces for the late-July CFEE have all been filled by members of our leadership team, but there are a couple spaces left in the June session (6/28-7/1, entirely virtual).  Please reach out to Kinsey by this Tuesday if you are interested in taking advantage of this personal and professional opportunity for growth with CFEE!  

What is CFEE? Coaching for Educational Equity is a deep-dive into the impact of Oregon’s history on ourselves as educators and on the students and families we serve. To date, over 40 leaders in Bend-La Pine Schools have already participated, and it is our intent to continue growing our CFEE-graduate cohort over time. Thanks for considering this opportunity to develop shared knowledge, language, and leadership for equity.

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From Terry Cashmen: I wanted to give you a heads up that we are at a critical level with the number of staff that we have in many of our classified jobs. 

Due to this, I am asking Walt to have the custodial staff at each school that has a reader board put the following message on them: Make a Difference  Explore Jobs at BLS

The head custodian will let the building administration know about our request and if any of you have a concern with this, please notify me directly.

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False alarm: Several schools have reported receiving information about a teacher appreciation contest with the winning event to be held at Crux. While well-meaning, this looks primarily to be a great advertisement for the brewery and would be in conflict with our policy. We should not advertise or solicit nominations for this event, but the group can advertise on their own. Thanks! The email has been from the following: Amanda Laird and Jennifer Graham [email protected]

Calendar:

Mother’s Day is Sunday! A shout out to all of our mom’s!

Monday, May 10 @1:30 – Graduation Mtg in my WebEx room

Wednesday, May 12@10:30 – HS Administrator Meeting in my WebEx room

Think about…

From Dave Van Loo: This article certainly doesn’t assuage concerns about the state of academic rigor or the poor quality of reading instruction in schools.

To Do:

Graduation Safety Plans: Schools are required to have a safety plan for graduation. The good news is Scott B is available to partner with you on writing those safety plans. Please reach out to him for assistance.

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Increased pay for summer staff: We are adjusting the pay for both classified and certified employees who work in our district summer learning program. Please share this with your staff and encourage any interested to apply.

Certified (teachers and student services/deans) will get a stipend of $5500 for 3 weeks of summer school and 3 days of training.  This is 120 hours of expected work.

Classified will get a $3500 stipend for 3 weeks of summer school and 2 days of training.  This is 112 hours of expected work.

Classified hired in the afternoon will work half days for $1750.

HR has edited the current job postings to include the new stipend.  Postings will be up for another 10 days.

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Temporary change to our county’s Crisis Response Team: Nita’s last day as the Tri-County School Response Team Coordinator will be this Friday, April 30th. If you are needing these services this week, please contact Nita as you normally would. 
Starting May 1st to September 30th, our temporary Coordinator will be Dave Holmberg. As of May 1st, if you are needing the Tri-County School Response Team, please call Dave Holmberg at 541-362-1548.  (NOTE: This phone number will remain the same once a permanent coordinator/team leader is hired.)

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Deadline to enroll in District CDL or BLPO: Please share the following message – or this content in your own words – to your parent community: In the best interest of student learning, next week will be the last week to change from one district educational placement to another (e.g. home school to D CDL or BLPO to home school). Beginning May 1, students will not be allowed to transfer out of their current learning program into a different one within the district. [There may be exceptions to this … so reach out to me if you have a situation that needs to be reviewed.]

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From Alandra regarding Teacher Appreciation Week (next week!): This year we are doing things a little differently for Teacher Appreciation Week. We are inviting families to submit a note of appreciation for a staff member and we will print those on postcards and send them internally to the person. Please help us spread the word to families, as we hope to fill staff mailboxes with notes of gratitude and appreciation. Share the following with families (Or share our post on Facebook): 

Has a teacher or other staff member made a positive difference for your family this year? We would love your help saying ‘THANK YOU’ to help recognize all that our teachers, counselors, school nurses and other certified staff have contributed this year. When you fill out this form, we will send a personalized thank you card directly to the staff member. We will also share these highlights from your stories throughout the week.

Please have submissions in by May 5, 2021. Here are three unique “thank you” images that you can feel free to use: Gracias, Thank You 1, and Thank you 2. Visit the following link to share some appreciation, https://bls.fyi/staffappreciation!

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HR request related to postings: When you are requesting to post a position, please use Templates instead of “New” or “copy from existing”. Here are the instructions.

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Information:

Covering the cost of AP Exams for F/R students: ODE is not subsidizing our F/R lunch students this year. Please plan to use site funds to subsidize your F/R students or students with financial hardships so they will not have to pay for their exams. We do not want to create another barrier for our students to access these exams. If you have concerns/questions or need help covering the cost of exams, let me know.

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Update on graduation vendors: Reno has been taking the lead on researching our vendors for graduation. We should decide on our audio vendor early next week and our vendor for event set up (chairs, stage, tents) shortly thereafter. After we select the vendors (it will be two since there is not one company that does it all), we will give them the name of your school contact to work directly with them on the specifics for your school’s ceremony. Thank you for taking this on, Reno!

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Board members at your graduations: Janet is working with our board members regarding who will attend each school’s ceremony. One board member will attend the choice school graduations and two will attend the four comprehensive high school graduations. Janet will let you know who will attend your ceremony. Lora and I will each attend all of the graduations. Be sure to set aside 15 minutes for Lora’s speech. She has been waiting for this moment.

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A note from Paul about planning for Events/Activities/Celebrations During School Hours (Follow RSSL): We have received many questions surrounding the type of activities that are allowed during school hours.  RSSL requirements must be adhered to for these events.  Some things to prioritize in your planning:
Location: Outside is preferred to inside

Audience:  Parents are not permitted as they don’t qualify as ‘essential visitors’.   This applies to outdoor events too.  Student audiences are allowed.

Occupancy: No limit to the number people in a given space but you must adhere to physical distancing requirements

Physical distancing: Students can be 3 ft apart.  Students-to-adult and adult-to-adult are to be 6 ft apart (to the maximum extent possible)

Food: Onsite eating should align with normal school meals/snack time

Performing Arts:  At this time, we are not allowing indoor theatre arts, band or choir performances with audiences.   When the county case rate is below 200 cases/100K, we will revisit the possibility for indoor performances.  Outdoor performances are permitted with student audiences.  

Masking: Masks must be worn at all times except when seated and eating at a designated meal/snack time.

Collaboration: Run your plans through your school safety team for their input. 

Coordination:  Your school should have an events/athletics calendar that identifies what spaces will be used on specific days and times to ensure no overlapping event

Custodians/Nurses:  Keep custodians and nurses informed of events/activities

Level Leaders: Keep your level leader in the loop during special event planning

COVID Czar:  Identify the person in charge of maintaining all safety practices for your event

Community Gatherings After Hours On Our Campuses

When events occur outside of the instructional day, RSSL is no longer applicable. 

County Risk Sector: You must adhere to the risk sector guidance at the time of the event so you’ll need to create multiple scenarios to adapt to the possible changing levels with our county.  Confirm Deschutes County Risk Level here. 

County Guidance: County Risk Sector Guidance changes at the governor’s discretion so you’ll need to check back regularly for updates.  The chart is a big picture overview, and if you want to dig deeper based upon a specific activity, there is a helpful interactive Oregon Coronavirus site.

Location: BLS recommends that events be planned for outdoors and then moved indoors or cancelled should the weather require it.

Occupancy: 

For indoor limits Refer to the County Risk Sector categories of Indoor Recreation and Fitness Establishments (for a physically active event) or Indoor Entertainment Establishments (for an entertainment event)

For outdoor limits Refer to the County Risk Sector categories of Outdoor Recreation and Fitness Establishments (for a physically active event) or Outdoor Entertainment Establishments (for an entertainment event)Outdoor Recreation and Outdoor Fitness Establishments (K-12 Sports)

Audience:  Parents are permitted but designate a ratio per student that ensures you don’t exceed maximum occupancy limits.  

Physical distancing: All must be 6 ft apart (to the maximum extent possible)

Food: No onsite eating is allowed (this is a BLS COVID Core Team decision)

Performing Arts:  At this time, BLS is not allowing indoor theatre arts, band or choir performances with audiences.   This may be reconsidered if county case rates drop below 200/100K.

Masking: Masks must be worn at all times by all 

Collaboration: Run your plans through your school safety team for their input (or with Dave Williams if it is associated with athletic programs).

Coordination:  Your school should have a events/athletics calendar that identifies what spaces will be used on specific days and times to ensure no overlapping events

Custodians/Nurses:  Keep custodians and nurses informed of events/activities

Level Leaders: Keep your level leader in the loop during special event planning

COVID Czar:  Identify the person in charge of maintaining all safety practices for the event.

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OAKS testing and BLPO students: BLPO and D CDL staff will be communicating with and testing (or collecting opt-out forms for) their students. You do not need to track or account for these kids as both of these programs will be taking care of this. (If you happen to receive an opt-out form from a student in one of these programs, please send that form to the appropriate administrator (BLPO = Amy Tarnow; D CDL = Wendy McCullough).

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HS students will be able to take BLPO classes free of charge this summer.

Calendar:

Monday, May 2 @ 8:00 – HS Principals WebEx: discuss feedback from teachers on possible schedule modification

Monday, May 2 @1:30 – HS Principal WebEx: graduation

Wednesday, May 5@ 10:30 – HS Administrator WebEx

Think abouts…

From Dave Van Loo: This webinar does a stunningly good job of demonstrating how curriculum and instructional practices interact to impact student learning experiences. It also highlights how shortcomings evident in our YouthTruth data are pervasive national issues related to curriculum and instruction. I think this is seriously well worth the time for anyone in an instructional leadership position in our district. (And this one is available at x1.25 or faster speed). This is the first in a 4-part series. The other three have yet to happen.  

https://www.edreports.org/resources/article/adopting-materials-through-an-equity-focused-lens-why-materials-matter

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Thoughtful piece with big ideas that really align with the meetings on professional learning we’re now having with administrators and coaches–

https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-ways-experienced-teachers-can-get-more-out-professional-development?utm_content=linkpos6&utm_campaign=weekly-2021-04-21&utm_source=edu-legacy&utm_medium=email

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Good read with some interesting ideas about the importance of that final year in middle school: Doomed by Eighth Grade.

To Do:

Don’t forget to continue to work on completing your observations and feedback conversations.

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Canvas IS our Learning Management System: As a follow-up to Lora’s message yesterday about continued Canvas use, here is a support document that can help you communicate key to-do’s to your staff regarding the Canvas LMS system.  It is important that teachers continue the 3 minimum requirements of posting weekly agendas, creating assignments, and providing feedback in Canvas.  It is also critical that they continue to regularly sync Canvas and Synergy.  Updated information in both Canvas and Synergy not only allows access for our students who are quarantined at home but also allows your counselors and staff to accurately track and monitor student progress, which is especially important as we support our seniors toward their post-secondary plans.

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A note about athletics and CDL: We all love our athletics/activities, enjoy watching our students perform, and we know how impactful these times can be for kids. With the rising case rates and the increase of transmission and quarantine within our schools, a few coaches within our district have been encouraging athletes to return to CDL from in-person or to just not come to school, to lower the risk of quarantine.  Dave has met with athletic directors relaying the message that our coaches should cease this practice.  Building leaders, please reiterate to your athletic departments and coaching staff that our coaches should not be encouraging students to move to CDL to keep them in their sports. If athletes are choosing to stay home to avoid quarantine, they risk being truant, which can result in the inability to participate in athletics and activities.   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please communicate to your families (parent newsletter) and students (announcements) that May 1 is the deadline to switch to Bend-La Pine Online or our District CDL option. After that date these two programs will not be accepting new students for the remainder of this year.

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Here is an update/request from Wendy: Dean has provided middle and high school leaders with a ‘data scoop’ using details from DART, grades, SBAC, and other indicators.
My hope is that building leaders will use these data pieces in conversations with counselors and teachers to create a priority ‘invite list’ for Sparks.
I am hoping to have the lists back to me (Wendy) by May 12.  Then the plan will be to have employees hired for summer (not an ask of your existing staff) to reach out these individual students and get confirmation RSVPs in order to create a final list of students who plan to attend Sparks. 

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Information:

This Friday’s edition of the EdTech Bytes newsletter includes:

• 📕  Lesson Idea: Newsela for all!
• 🦄  Tech Tip: technology purchasing
• 🪲  Troubleshooting: Apple Classroom set up revisited
• 🍭  PD Opportunity:  Best Practices for Blended Learning- Canvas

Check it out right here!

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June 30 – deadline of IT orders received: Here is a portion of Melissa’s email to you about IT orders: Because we are still experiencing some COVID-related availability and shipping delays, I’m getting an early start on sending out our annual reminder that our fiscal year ends on June 30. All materials purchased under the current year’s budget must be received by our department by June 30. There is no flexibility in this deadline and our accountants do follow up on dates listed on tracking and delivery. Anything received after June 30 will be returned to the vendor or that money will come out of next year’s budget.

This year, we are encouraging all 2020-21 orders to be placed by mid-May to maximize the odds of those items arriving by the deadline. This time of year is always busy, so earlier is better for getting your purchase requests in.

Calendar:

HS Principal Graduation WebEx: Monday, April 26@1:30

MAC survey day is: Tuesday, April 27

Cancelled: HS Administrator WebEx: Wednesday, April 28@10:30

Our next Equity and Excellence PD training this coming Wednesday, April 28 at SVMS. 3:30 start time (due to our all-in schedule).

Think about…

From Dave….Here https://t.co/RixMM69FtE?amp=1 is a new meta-analysis to add to the mountain of evidence that the statement “Students do too much testing in schools” is always completely wrong.

The best available evidence is that testing is a high impact strategy for increasing student learning and students do far too little of it. It is accurate to say that we do too much of the kind of testing that has little impact on student learning, and that few teachers have ever had the opportunity to learn how to use testing as a powerful lever to increase learning. That’s a shame because the impact is substantial, it works for everyone kindergarten through college, and it is basically free to implement. Something else worth thinking about is that better use of testing is quite easy to link to several of 5 strategies in Dylan Wiliam’s framework (e.g., feedback, eliciting evidence, peers as learning resources, metacognition and student ownership).

Unless you’re really interested in this topic, simply reading the abstract and the concluding remarks on p. 25 is a fully adequate 5-minute Cliff notes version.

To Do:

Required for Contact Tracing: Please reinforce the expectation that seating assignments/assigned seating will be developed and used with fidelity in all classes. Additionally, please emphasize the importance of taking accurate attendance every period.

These are key strategies in our ability to accurately contact trace.

Assigned seating and taking accurate, daily attendance, provides teachers with the ability to quickly provide contact tracers with the names of students who may have been in close contact with a COVID-19 peer and to isolate and slow the spread of the virus.

Particularly at the high school level, we have come across classroom teachers who are unable to quickly produce valuable assigned seating charts. While we hope this is an anomaly, it is an opportunity for a teachable moment and provides a chance to double-check procedures. In some instances, because we can not accurately identify the students closest to a student testing positive, the result can be more students being quarantined.

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Thank you for your interest in supporting summer learning and your patience with the process!  We are continuing to look for teachers to help support our summer learning we are calling SPARKS. Please share this information with your teachers!

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And speaking of summer instruction, the grades 6 – 12 programming has a name, its SPARKS. Wendy has created a helpful and informative document that provides behind-the-scenes information regarding what this summer will look like for students and staff. Please share this document (and read through it yourself) with your staff.

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Information:

It was verified this week that iPads will not be turned in this June. Due to summer learning opportunities, we will ask our students to hold on to their iPads (just like they did last spring).

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Principals, please send your Leave Sheet to Stephanie Bent (instead of Amy Stafford).

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Last week of school: Some of you have wondered about what the last week of school schedule will look like this year. Now that we are all-in, and assuming we stay all-in for the remainder of this year, we will be following the original calendar during these last days of this school year. Specifically, during the last week of school, Monday and Tuesday are “regular” days, Wednesday is a “regular” (full-length) day, Thursday will be an “SIW release” day, and Friday is a work day for teachers and their last day.

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Update from PAUL on Secondary School Mandated Rapid Testing:

On Monday, the latest metrics were released and because Deschutes County was over 200 cases/100K, secondary schools (not elementary) are required to offer rapid COVID-19 tests to symptomatic students/staff.  

Q14: My school is in a county that exceeds its metrics and is required to offer testing. How long does my school have to implement the BinaxNOW testing program?

A14: Schools required to offer access to this program will have two weeks to register, train for, and administer the program when or if metrics change in their county in a way that makes this program a requirement.

Our date to have this program up and running in our secondary schools is Monday, April 26th.  If your school has not ordered rapid testing kits, this should be done ASAP (COVID-19 Testing K-12 Registration Form).

Here are some resources to assist you in implementing the Rapid Testing Program:

• Step-by-Step School Guide
• OHA FAQ
• Recorded Webex testing overview with MS admin and athletic directors

I’ll open up my WebEx room ( https://bls.webex.com/meet/paul.dean ) at 8 am on Friday, April 23rd, if you have any implementation questions.

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As you finish your staffing plans, we will review them together. Let me know when you are ready to post and email me those positions so HR can get them posted.

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Calendar:

Graduation WebEx Planning: Monday, April 19 @ 1:30

HS Admin WebEx: Wednesday, April 21@10:30 – Kinsey will be joining us to review/discuss our equity goals. Our next Excellence and Equity Training is April 28 3:00-4:30.

Save the Dates:

Interview HS Student Success Clinicians: Tuesday, May 4 11:30-3:30

Our BRYT team is coming to Bend! Courtney, Paul and maybe Katherine will be visiting us the week of May 24-28! So exciting. We will schedule in 45 min for every high school BRYT team to meet with them. Stay tuned.

Here is an article that you might want to read (if you haven’t already). This is from OPB and relates to recent communication (this week) around ED approving ODE’s assessment amended waiver request. There are not a lot of specifics shared here. All indications are also that the assessments will be much shorter than normal. You’ll see at the end of the article that one district (Ashland) is going with the approach of having parents “opt-in” rather than “opt-out” as is required. At this point, BLS is not considering this approach… so plan on our normal “opt-out” approach we’ve been taking.

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Last week I included this request to share with your parents. I’m including it here again as I’m also including the Spanish version of the letter

In a recent, previous, blog I shared a return to athletics medical clearance informational letter with you (after a positive COVID result). That form has been updated and I’ve been asked to share this update with you and ask that you also share it with your families in a future communication. Here is the English version of this letter. Here is the Spanish version.

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Here is an important reminder from Scott! Please share it with your staff and ask them to let him know if they are interested:

Here is a link to the ECS curriculum and the sample course description for course catalogs.http://www.exploringcs.org/for-teachers-districts

For Teachers & Districts – Exploring Computer Science: NEW! Unit 5 or 6 Alternative: Artificial Intelligence Students gain an understanding of AI terminology while considering AI’s social, moral, and ethical impacts. Students design smart cities, homes, and schools and learn to build, train, and test an AI system through a NVIDIA platform.www.exploringcs.org

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Here is the sample course description: Think-Make-Explore Computer Science: Computer Science For All and Exploring Computer Science: This class is for everyone – no experience needed. Sign up with a friend! There are lots of opportunities to learn together.  Make web pages, design your own program, design and control devices, learn what artificial intelligence is and why you care, understand how data is captured and used, learn how technology influences your life experience, investigate how technology impacts society, and create your own new technologies instead of being consumed by others’ creations.
Computer Science is changing everything. Entertainment, medicine, transportation, communication, public policy, agriculture, fashion, art, energy, society, and design all rely on computer science. Be part of that change, and have fun doing it!

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Information:

Equity Updates from Kinsey:

Pronoun communication:
In the staff Spotlight newsletter next week, we will share this communication.  This is an FYI, so that you have the info in advance.  This is not required of anyone, but if you’re interested in modeling this inclusive practice yourself before it goes out to all staff, the bottom of the document can help you update your signature. 

Equity lens:
This time of year brings lots of opportunities to make important decisions.  Here is our district Equity Lens (special thanks to Matt Fox’s students for the design of this document!).  We will use these questions during our April 28 admin Equity PD session, but feel free to use them before then, too.  Consider discussing each question with your team (an interview panel, your master scheduling team, etc) as you make decisions together in the upcoming weeks. 

New sign:
On this document, see top of page 2 for a picture of the new sign that you’re getting (and why you’re getting it).  Just a heads-up that manufacturing is complete and they are on their way–yours should be delivered before the end of April!  LEAD Cohort members or Language Specialists can help your office team find a great spot for it in your front entry.  Reach out to Kinsey if you have questions about any of this info!

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From Alandra: Reminder on Elected Officials and Candidates in our schools: If an elected official would like to visit your school or speak with a class, please send them to Alandra or Julianne before you confirm the visit. Please also ask clubs and classes who would like to host elected officials or candidates for elected office to run the visits through the Comms Dept. first. A lot of unintended consequences. 

In advance of the May election, this is also a great time to share and review our handy dandy Election Guidance document, which outlines key dos and dont’s for public employees related to elections. Please share this resource with your staff.

When staff members visit another school, they need to: Enter through the front door; sign in; wear their badge in a visible place. This is especially important because, with masks, it can be harder to identify even staff that are familiar. Let me (Alandra) know if you have any questions!

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From Dana: Homeless Student Enrollment:  A question came up recently regarding timeframes for enrolling students with an IEP who qualify for services under the McKinney-Vento Act. Below is the clarification Sandy Schmidt, our new Homeless liaison, received from Dona Bolt at ODE: 
The McKinney-Vento Act supersedes federal, state, and local laws, including IDEA, in the provision of immediate enrollment for homeless students. The McKinney-Vento Act requires districts and schools to immediately enroll eligible students, regardless of whether they lack records, immunizations, etc., and there are no exceptions for students on IEPs. There are even higher expectations for districts with MV subgrants, such as Bend-La Pine SD Schools, that their schools support compliance with the MV Act.

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Paul shared this information in an email earlier this week.

Instructional Programs

We know that many people rely upon outside speakers to provide real-world context to course content.  We want virtual tools like WebEx to be the primary option for speakers to engage with our students.  In unique situations where the instructional needs require an onsite demonstration, building leaders can approve speakers to meet outside with students while maintaining normal safety measures.  

Some examples of when this might be appropriate:

• A K-9 demonstration with law enforcement partners
• High school AP physics students teaching a science lesson to a MS/ES class (in outdoor classroom space)
• A botanist visiting a school garden

We still want to restrict non essential visitors so parent volunteers are not allowed at this time during normal school hours.   

Community Gatherings After Hours In Our Schools

We are getting lots of questions regarding sports banquets, awards celebrations and other school-specific gatherings.  Since these events occur outside of the instructional day, we have to refer to the County Risk Sector Guidance instead of RSSL.

This chart is a great overview of the limits placed on gathering sizes and is based upon Deschutes County COVID infection rate.  On Friday, our county is moving from the Moderate to the High category.  The next county reset will be released on Tuesday, April 20th and effective on Friday, April 23rd (it resets every 2 weeks).  

To assist in interpreting the chart, as of Friday, outdoor gatherings in Deschutes County are limited to 15% of outdoor occupancy limits and indoor limits are a maximum of 25% occupancy or 50 people, whichever is smaller.  Since most of our indoor cafeterias, gyms and auditoriums have large occupancy capacity, in most situations you’ll be limited to no more than 50 total people for an indoor event.   Click here for steps to determine outdoor occupancy

BLS recommends that events be planned for outdoors and then move indoors should the weather require it.  For both indoor and outdoor events, BLS requires that:

• No serving of food/drink is permitted  
• Events be coordinated so that there is no overlapping use of spaces with sports/other activities
• Custodians be involved so that they are aware of cleaning needs
• A specific person is responsible that all COVID-19 safety measures are met

Fundraising

As you know, we have had strict limits on fundraising this school year.  As of May 1, we are allowing school groups to fundraise once again.  Please encourage your groups to be extra sensitive in their promotions as many people are still feeling financial impacts from the pandemic. 

Calendar:

Graduation WebEx: Monday, April 12@ 1:30

HS Administrator WebEx: Tuesday, April 13@2:30

Interview for LPHS Principal position – All day; Community Forum at 4:15

Next Friday is a non-work day (as trade-off for evening conferences).