High School Rock Stars!

TO DO:

We are asking all principals to make an announcement regarding next year’s staff work hours during SIW on Wednesday, January 23. Our intention is to coordinate its release district-wide as best we can. Additionally, after the SIW announcement, please send this message out to all of your employees so those who were present can have it in writing, and those who were not present can be informed. Lastly, after the announcement is made, please let me know of any questions that arise that you feel might be good to communicate an answer to a larger audience than just your building (coming from the district).

Please provide your feedback to me by next Friday (January 25) on the following question: Would you recommend having our annual district Leadership Academy (building admin and ICCL leaders) this next fall on Aug. 7 or Aug. 14?

Please verify that the gates around your building are locked during the school day. Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.

Informational:

The Attendance Area Review Committee has completed its work and passed on their recommendation report to Shay for consideration and final decision. Shay will be making an announcement regarding elementary boundary changes for next year sometime on Jan. 29. Although these changes do not directly affect your students, you may want to become familiar with the process and outcomes of this work as questions arise and to be prepared for a similar process to occur next fall for all MS and HS boundaries (for new HS opening in fall 2021).

Here is some information regarding an essay contest sponsored by the American Legion. It is organized by grade levels and there is a cash prize for winners. Feel free to pass along as you see fit.

Calendar:

Jan 22 – HS Admin Meeting – SHS @3:15

Jan 23-31 – Orientations for Incoming 9th grade students

Jan. 25 – last secondary counselor training focused on the Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Plan (CGCP).

Jan 31 – HS Principals Meeting – Ed Center, room 312 @7:15 am

Feb 8 – Choice School apps due

TO DO:

Principals: Thank you for getting your SLGGS, minis-observations and self-evaluations completed and entered into Talent EdPerform. The deadline for renewing (or not) probationary teachers is fast approaching. Work with Jon and me on these situations.

At our individual principal meetings this month we spoke of completing drafts of your School Design Plans. Here are the templates for each of the “buckets” Academic Excellence,  Thriving Citizen and Future Ready along with the list of Future Ready Skills for that goal. A few of you still need to complete yours for your school. We will look those over in February.

Have you scheduled your STUDENT SHADOW? You have until Feb 1 to Get Er Done so the HS ADMIN TEAM can hit our 100% participation mark! Here are the necessary docs you will need: a description of the parameters for participating, some interview questions, and a Google form for your reflections.

Informational:

On Friday, January 4^th, the district sent a fire & life safety message in the Staff Spotlight to all staff, reminding them of several important practices. We want to emphasize two of these to all administrators:

• Staff should check for any blocked or impaired fire/life safety devices in their classrooms or workplaces. If they have any potential issues, these are to be reported to administrators and/or staff custodians. These issues should be addressed as quickly as possible.
• It is a violation of the law to alter, remove, or tamper with any fire safety components.

DHS is in the process of implementing a statewide Child Abuse Hotline which will be completed in April 2019. It started on November 1, 2018, in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook Counties. The reporting number has changed and it is 541-693-2854. Here are some informative points about this resource:

• They are working to correct some telephone line problems
• There will be the ability for the caller to leave their return phone number in case they can’t wait for someone to answer
• They are in the process of hiring 75% additional staff to handle these calls!
• They have implemented an email address for people to send concerns/feedback to:
  • [email protected]

Dr. Ross Greene is coming to central Oregon on May 17, 2019. He is a Clinical Psychologist who has authored several books, a documentary film, and an intervention model. Consider going and/or sending a team from your building!  Here is additional information regarding his visit.

Calendar:

Jan 22 – HS Admin Meeting – SHS @3:15

Jan 23-31 – Orientations for Incoming 9th grade students

Jan. 25 – last secondary counselor training focused on the Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Plan (CGCP).

Jan 31 – HS Principals Meeting – Ed Center, room 312 @7:15 am

Feb 8 – Choice School apps due

To Do:

Probationary Teachers:  Here is info from Jon regarding the processes we need to follow in working with probationary staff:

It is time to start thinking about the renewal/non-renewal process. If you have an employee that you don’t want to renew, then we have some work to do in this area before the public board meeting February 12th.

By Jan. 9th: Please have a conversation with me about any certified employee that you have some concerns about.  If you have a concern about an employee, we need to start making a plan for how to move forward with that person.  We may decide to start with informal supports or go to our formal process.

We have several options when we are talking about probationary employees of concern. One option is to non-renew a probationary contract.  This is formally done at the Board Meeting in February.  If we decide to move toward non-renewal, we will need to have some discussions with the teacher, with the BEA, and with the board during Executive Sessions.  If you are having concerns with a probationary teacher, please make sure we talk about it.  Once a teacher becomes contract it can be a much harder process.

I also need to know about contract teachers that you have a concern about.  You may only be supporting the person informally, which is great, but I still need to know about them.  If you have started the formal support system, which includes Focus Performance Review, Support Strategies, and/or a Plan of Assistance, you must contact me so that we can work through it together.

Due by Jan. 21st:  Probationary three letters of support.  We need to be hiring and putting the best teachers in front of students.  It is an important decision when moving an employee from probationary status to contract status.  After participating in the board process last several years, I have a better feeling for what the board is looking for in these letters.  The board takes moving a probationary employee to contract status very seriously. They really want to know that each of you have specific reasons why each one of these employees should move to contract status.  I have attached a spreadsheet of probationary three employees and a sample of a stellar probationary letter from Matt.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give Jon a call.

• Here is an important note from Steph Benett applications for Base Camp:  We are posting our teaching positions for Base Camp so they can have a table at the 9th grade Orientations scheduled for the end of January.   We will leave it open until Jan. 8th and can keep it open if we don’t have applicants for your school.  We have heard very good things from students that attended camp last year.  They felt much more prepared and less anxious starting the year.  Counselors will be referring 30 students from each MS and then we will open it up as a lottery for others to attend.  Please notify your teachers ASAP and include this link:

https://portal.bend.k12.or.us/employee-info/content/base-camp-teacher

MORE ABOUT BASE CAMP:  Base Camp is a two- week program for incoming 9th graders.  Base Camp will run from Aug 5th-Aug 15, Monday through Thursday from 8:00-1:00. Base Camps will take place at all large comprehensive high schools, with two-three teachers from each high school. Preferred teachers would be teachers from the high school to ensure students will have a connection to staff members at the start of the year.

Information:

• For the past few weeks, the principals have gathered input from their staff related to the question of whether to offer early bird classes and/or athletic practices during the 2019-20 school year.  As a team, they made recommendations to Shay and Jay, which have been approved for the 2019-20 school year:

Early Bird Classes:

• No classes will be scheduled prior to the regular 8:45 start time. We will consider offering early bird courses the following year after living with the new schedule for a year.

Early Bird Athletic Practices:

• Each sport has the option of offering no more than two practices each week prior to the school start time of 8:45.
• Practices will end by 8:00, so teacher-coaches are available to assist students in classrooms, participate in meetings by 8:15 and/or prepare for the day. This allows students to access teachers for help and get ready for their day.
• Swim practices can continue in the am due to impacted facilities usage at Juniper Swim and Fitness.

• Research related to our Start Times:  Staff is the most important communicator in regards to how we message our schools and the practices we follow.  As questions come to us related to the Start Time change for next school year, it may be helpful to have easy access to research and thinking related to the Start Time committee work and discussion.  Here is a link to the Start Time website, which describes the district process we followed and media related to the discussion:  https://www.bend.k12.or.us/survey2018  Here is a link to Shay’s note to staff: https://spark.adobe.com/page/xnRolUehLw0VJ/
• Also, here is an article Michael Hicks shared with his staff about early, positive results related to start times changes in Seattle.  Here is another article about Seattle.
• Every five years, each Oregon high school is required to go through the accreditation process.  AdvanceED oversees this process and part of the committee involved is made up of administrators from other schools.  AdvancED is currently looking for administrators to volunteer to serve on teams around the state.  If you are interested in assisting, please respond on this  link for expressing interest to be a part of an AdvancED Review Team.It will take less than 5 min. to fill out and will go directly to the person responsible for setting up the review teams across the state.  Travel and meals are covered and being on a team is a great way to take a peek behind the curtain prior to one of our schools hosting their own review.  Another benefit is the opportunity to learn about the good work other high schools are doing in our state.

Reminders:

• Just a reminder that Skip Offenhauser oversees our Health Advisory Board which is responsible for reviewing and approving materials used in our schools related to many topics such as suicide awareness, tobacco cessation, sex trafficking, sexuality, etc. materials must be approved for use as well any guest speakers on these topics.  Please reinforce with your teachers that if they have materials or speakers that they would like to see approved, have them share these resources with Skip and the team.  Teachers should not be using materials or inviting speakers of these topics to their classrooms without this approval from the Health Advisory Board. 
  

  Calendar:

• Dec 24-Jan 4 – Winter Break!
• Jan 7 – Begin Choice School communication
• Jan 22 – District Multicultural Night – MVHS
• Jan 22 – HS Admin Meeting – SHS @3:15
• Jan 31 – HS Principals Meeting – Ed Center, room 312 @7:15
• Jan 23-31 – Orientations for Incoming 9th grade students
• Feb 8 – Choice School apps due

To Do:

• Thank you for communicating with you teachers to temporarily cease the use of classroom visits by “In Our Backyard” as a resource for Human Trafficking curriculum.  This organization and the curriculum they provide has not been approved by our Health Advisory Committee.   There is concern about best practices and our readiness to respond to students who may be triggered (or reach out for support) by the presentation.   Skip has been working with the Health Advisory Committee and they are about to begin a review of all groups interested in providing Human Trafficking information to students.  Please reach to me or contact Julianne or Skip if you have specific questions related to this request.
• Student Shadowing- Competition is heating up about the Student Shadow Showdown!  The HS Team is going for 100% participation!  The challenge is to EACH OF US is to spend a half day shadowing a student in one of our schools, then interviewing the student after the shadow. When you schedule your Student Shadow, let Alandra know when and where if you are comfortable having her share your story.  Let’s highlight this positive connection with our students.  Beverages of choice to the winning level!
• Mini Observations/SLGGS – I appreciate your efforts to stay on track with completing evaluation processes AND entering them into TalentEd Perform.  By winter break, please complete the following:
  • SLGGS for all certificated staff including administrators
  • Self Evaluation (deadline is May)
  • Observations:
    • Probationary/Temps: 2 observations (one formal)
    • Contract teachers on evaluation year: 2 mini observations (one can be non classroom)
    • Contract teachers not on evaluation year: 1 mini observation

Informational:

• Contact Kimberly Strong at the HDESD if you have questions about the Mini Grants available to impact Chronic Absenteeism.  Here is the Grant Application, if you are interested.  If you missed the required webinar scheduled for today, strategize with Kimberly about alternative ways to get that information.  The deadline to apply is January 18
  
• Employee Start Time Survey Data:  I appreciate your help encouraging staff to complete the survey on three options for employee start times for next year. At our District Leadership Team – DLT – (made up of classified, certified and administrative employees) meeting earlier this week, we reviewed the survey results from high school staff.  Feel free to discuss and/or share the results with others, but know that no decision has been made yet.  The current plan is that a recommendation will go to Shay by the end of January.
• Our next District SIW is Wednesday, December 19.  Here is the schedule of meetings.
• Gallup Poll Resources:  Recently, you were sent an email from Gallup with directions on how to download your school results.  Dave Van Loo has shared some helpful resources related to interpreting that data.  Huddle Card information describes the four areas surveyed and the Scorecard Workbook can be used with staff to analyze results.  Here is the district data.
• State Budget Update:  This year, the Governor’s Recommended Budget includes clear priorities to better fund k-12 schools. Still a long way from being approved, it is nonetheless welcome news to have funding Oregon schools closer to the national average (QEM) than it ever has been in recent memory. Here are some highlights of the Governor’s Recommended Budget.
• I am a member of the OSU Cascades Advisory Board.  We meet each quarter and learn about programming and offer input on upcoming changes/programs.  At our meeting this week, the lead teacher described a new program launching Fall 2019:  Art, Media and Technology .  This is a major that could interface with many of our CTE programs, particularly Media Arts and Computer Science AND it is offered in our backyard!
• In addition, COCC and OSU-Cascades now offer a Degree Partnership Program (DPP).  This is phenomenal news for students who are looking to stay in Central Oregon for a two, then four year degree.  Through this program, students can benefit from advising at COCC and OSU-Cascades in planning their program.
• New Course Requests Process:  At our Principals meeting last week, we spoke of the New Course Request process for adding course to our District Standardized Course List.  Normally, we would review those requests together in December, in time to add courses to your curriculum guides and in preparation for forecasting.  Since we moved up our timeline for Incoming 9th Grade Orientations this year, please send those requests to me for approval.   Here are the docs needed to submit that a new course be added:
• Instructions for Completing Course Proposal,
• New Course Proposal Form
• Sample Completed Form

Calendar:

Monday, Dec 17 – Grad Coach meeting – 1 admin from each school attends – 2:00, Ed Center, Room 203

Wednesday, Dec 19 – District SIW

Dec 24-Jan 4 – Winter Break!

Jan 22 – HS Admin Meeting – SHS @3:15

Jan 31 – HS Principals Meeting – Ed Center, room 312 @7:15

TO DO:

Student Shadowing- At our leadership meeting last Monday, Jay presented the opportunity/challenge of spending a half day shadowing a student in one of our schools, then interviewing the student after the shadow. While this activity has many benefits, what is key for OUR group to know is that Jim and Gary have been trash talking this week about how their K-8 teams will easily defeat the HS ADMIN team in a competition!  Ha, I say!  We have been challenged to see who can get the highest percentage of LEVEL Administrators to complete a shadow and input their reflections onto this Google form.  I have refrained from “trash talking” because actions speak louder than words.  In fact, let’s challenge our GRAD COACHES to participate, as well!  Let’s show them how it’s done, HS TEAM!  Beverages of choice to the winning level!

Check out the the Mini Grants available to impact Chronic Absenteeism.  Here is the Grant Application, if you are interested.  Contact  Kimberly Strong at the HDESD and  the deadline is January 18, so don’t delay!

Informational:

At our HS Principals meeting this morning, we spoke of the Administrative Regulation related to Grades and Attendance.  I have attached the reg here for your convenience:  IKAD-AR: Grades and Attendance

Principals agreed today to implement a practice of requiring parents to sign off on their child having an open block, which we will implement next year.  Here is the Document we agreed to use as the basis for the district template (thank you, La Pine HS!), with each school adding specifics related to student supervision during open blocks.  I am working with Skip and IT to see if there is a way to streamline this process digitally.

Calendar:

Monday, Dec 10 – Counselor CTE Day – please send your counselors to this event!

Tuesday, Dec 11 – Informational Meeting on the Co-Teaching PLC – interested teachers/administrators should attend, 3:15 @ BSHS Library

Monday, Dec 17 – Grad Coach meeting – 1 admin from each school attends! – 2:00, Ed Center, Room 203

Wednesday, Dec 19 – District SIW

Friday, Dec 21 – HS Principal mtg cancelled

Dec 24-Jan 4 – Winter Break!

TO DO:

*Principals:  At our meeting this Friday, Dec 7, we will decide on our recommendation in regards to allowing “early bird” classes and morning athletic practices for next year.  Please take some time to reflect on this and discuss with your leadership team prior to our meeting and be ready to share your thoughts.  Shay will make a final decision, but he is interested in your input.

*As you know, we need to notify our parents each December about the option to OPT OUT of SBAC.  The deadline for sending these out is next week.  You may send these letters in whatever format you typically use to communicate with parents.   For example, if you typically send an electronic communication to parents, please send this Opt-Out letter as an attachment.  When you send the Opt-Out form (Spanish, English), please also include this district created cover letter along with it. (The Spanish version of this letter will be provided to you as soon as it is available next week.) NOTE: this cover letter is currently signed “Your Principal” at the end, so please replace this with your name.

*At our HS Admin meeting Monday, I mentioned the upcoming Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) Tier 1 training on February 20-22.  This is an outstanding training and I highly recommend you take a team.  Please see the attached flyer for details and note the additional info from Sean.  In regards to #1, I will cover the cost of 2 Gen Ed teachers from SHS, MVHS and BSHS and 1 from LPHS, Marshall, Skyline and REALMS to attend.  Include me in your email to Denise (#5) so I can plan accordingly.

1. The training is free for you and your staff.  Buildings cover the cost of subs over the number delineated above that Katie covers.
2. There has been A Lot of interested in this training.  In order to accommodate each school, we will limit each building to 3 slots.  Please send Denise Sevigny ([email protected]) a list of names.  Your first three names will be in, and the other names will be waitlisted in the order of their listing.
3. We would like at least one building administrator, that has not been Tier 1 trained in the past,  to attend from each building.
4. Please send folks that have not been trained in the past three years.
5. Please submit your names by Friday, December 7^th.   On December 10^th, we will start moving down the waitlist to fill the training.

Thank you and direct any questions to Denise or myself.

*Employee Start Times input:  I am re-sending this reminder about announcing the student Start Times for next year AND the two question survey on Employee Start Times:  Due to the changes to student start times in the coming school year, it is likely that many employees will see changes in their regular work day start and end times.  The District Lead Together (DLT) team discussed the issue and is seeking to listen broadly to employee preferences and related suggestions.  This team is made up of teachers, classified staff and administrators.  This group focuses on issues that impact student learning and employees as a team.  By Dec 7, we are asking you to run a quick face to face meeting to explain our interest in gathering employee input about work day hours and then provide a few minutes for them to complete the 2-question survey below.  Thank you for your help!

The student start and end times for the 19-20 school year are:

• *Elementary – 8:00 – 2:30
• *Middle – 8:45 – 3:40
• *High – 8:45 – 3:45

Below is the link to the high school survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BLP_HS_workday

*We will be offering a Co-Teaching Lesson Studio designed to support the work of Sped-Gen Ed and ELL-Gen Ed partnerships.  Check out the details of the Co-Teaching Lesson Studio.  I will cover the sub costs for six Gen Ed teachers to participate in the PLC work.  We have a scheduled an information meeting December 11, 3:15 @BSHS in the Library, to explain the plan and determine interest.   Please pass on this valuable professional learning opportunity to your teachers and encourage those who are interested to attend on Dec 11 for more info.

Informational:

*Last week, Sean sent out information about a School Safety Training.  The one day training is scheduled for Monday, December 10th, in Redmond,   and will be facilitated by national expert Dr. Jeffrey Sprague .

*Newspapers in Education:  Here is a message from Russ Donnelly from The Bulletin about changes coming to this program:

*The College Maps are available for you to pick up in the Board Room.  Check in with Alandra if you have questions.

*Please pass on this information to your students and staff about a VIDEO competition for students, sponsored by PACE.

Calendar:

*Leadership Team Meeting – Monday, Dec 3, 3:15@ Board Room – Social after at McNenamins

*HS Principal meeting – Friday, Dec 7, 7:15 @Jackson’s Corner.

*Counselor CTE Day – Monday, Dec 10 – please send your counselors to this event!

To Do:

*Employee Start Times input:  Due to the changes to student start times in the coming school year, it is likely that many employees will see changes in their regular work day start and end times.  The District Lead Together (DLT) team discussed the issue and is seeking to listen broadly to employee preferences and related suggestions.  This team is made up of teachers, classified staff and administrators.  This group focuses on issues that impact student learning and employees as a team.  By Dec 7, we are asking you to run a quick face to face meeting to explain our interest in gathering employee input about work day hours and then provide a few minutes for them to complete the 2-question survey below.  Thank you for your help!

The student start and end times for the 19-20 school year are:

• *Elementary – 8:00 – 2:30
• *Middle – 8:45 – 3:40
• *High – 8:45 – 3:45

Below is the link to the high school survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BLP_HS_workday

*We will be offering a Co-Teaching Lesson Studio designed to support the work of Sped-Gen Ed and ELL-Gen Ed partnerships.  Check out the details of the Co-Teaching Lesson Studio.  For partnership that choose to commit, I will cover the sub costs for six Gen Ed teachers to participate in the PLC work.  We have a scheduled an information meeting in December to explain the plan and determine interest.   Thank you for passing on this valuable professional learning opportunity to your teachers!

*The window for the BrightBytes/Clarity survey closes Nov. 30.  This is the indicator the Board reviews to track the Future Ready “bucket” under school design.  Thank you for having your staff complete this survey.

Informational:

Several building leaders and I recently attended the COPA (Central Oregon Perkins Alliance) meeting facilitated by Brook Rich and Ryan Beard of the HDESD.  Be sure to check in with your building  CTE administrator to learn about key dates and processes to follow to access CTE funding.  Ryan and Brook shared an article about trends in Oregon’s Workforce.  One not surprising trend Ryan highlighted is the need for students to have strong social skills in the work place.  With an eye to ensuring our students are Future Ready, let’s continue to think purposely about how we are teaching, expecting and reinforcing the development of social skills in our schools and, specifically, our classrooms.

• BrightBytes/Clarity survey closes Nov. 30
• Thanksgiving break is Nov. 19 – 23.
• HS Admin meeting – Monday, Nov 26 @ MVHS, 3:15.
• HS Principal meeting – Friday, Dec 7, 7:15 @Jackson’s Corner.

T0 D0:

• DHS no longer wants a paper copy of abuse referrals.  They DO want a phone call.  Please continue to fill out the reporting form, keep one copy, and send one copy to Jody in the Office of School Support.
• Check out this great opportunity with the Cascade Culinary Institute at OSU-Cascades.
• Please share this opportunity with your science teachers.  The Oregon Science Teacher Association is hosting an introduction to Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) instructional model on Nov. 30 at Redmond HS from 8:00 – 3:00.  Check out this flyer for more information!

Informational:

*At our last HS Principal meeting, we agreed to the following:

• We will decide on a district “Open Block Request” form that we will require parents and students to sign for a student to have an open block.  I will send out a draft within the next few weeks.
• An aligned ACR/Choice School process that is completed by March.  I will run this by Cabinet.
• Next year, we will run period 7 the way we run period 1 this year – three period 7’s at the end of the day.

*School start and end times for students have been decided for next year.  They exact times may change, but these are close:

• Elementary will be 8:00-2:30 (8:00-1:00 on Wednesdays)
• Middle School will be 8:45- 3:40 (8:45–1:55 on Wednesdays)
• High School will be 8:45-3:45 (8:45-2:00 on Wednesdays)

The District Lead Together team is currently working on a process to collect input on employee work times for next year. This may come in the form of your staff completing a survey in the coming weeks. The basic question relates to the amount of time we want staff “on duty” prior to and after classes.  Currently staff are required to report at 7:15, be in their rooms for tutorial and work until 3:15 (30 min before and after student start and end times).  Will we continue with tutorial before school as an expectations for teachers?  Also, consider if it makes more sense to make before or after school a longer chunk of time and the opposite (before/after) a shorter amount of time.   More information to follow once the survey has been created.

*Attendance and extra curricular participation:  Recently, we learned of clarification related to how we record student absences this year. Last year, ODE published draft guidance suggesting that students should be marked absent for time spent traveling during the school day for extra-curricular activities.  Final guidance has not yet been published by ODE.  Therefore, in 2018-2019 we will submit attendance data using the same calculations that we have used for the past several years. In other words, this year student absences for school-sponsored events (e.g. music, athletic, or field trip travel) will be considered EXCUSED absences. Please connect with your attendance secretary to verify this is how these absences have been categorized.

*Congrats to our colleagues at La Pine High School who will be piloting the Teen-Intervene Program for the high school team!

Calendar:

• Veteran’s Day – no school – on Monday, Nov. 12.
• I am attending the Dual Immersion Conference Nov 14-16 next week and will be out of the office on those dates.
• BrightBytes/Clarity survey opens again next week and closes Nov. 30.
• Thanksgiving break is Nov. 19 – 23.
• HS Admin meeting – Monday, Nov 26 @ MVHS, 3:15.
• HS Principal meeting – Friday, Dec 7, 7:15 @Jackson’s Corner.

TO DO:

I need to move back our HS Principal meeting one week to Friday, Dec 7 at 7:15 and cancel the one scheduled for Friday, Nov 30.  Let me know if this does not work.

Informational:

The BrightBytes survey window will open November 12^th and close November 30^th.   Our goal is 90% participation!  Skip will be sending out directions for students and teachers in two separate emails next week.  If you have any questions about how to administer this survey please let him know.  Remember, this survey is used by Shay in his report to the board regarding our Future Ready board ends.

SAVE THE DATE!  The Education Foundation for Bend-La Pine Schools announces the Classroom Grants timeline for K-12 educators for the 2019-2020 academic year.  The grant process will open Monday, February 18, 2019 with a link to the online application form.  Grant applications must be submitted no later than Friday, March 22, 2019.  The grant application process is open to all educators in Bend, La Pine and Sunriver.  Once determinations are made, funded grants will be awarded in May 2019.  All educators will be sent additional communication with in December and January and the online link in February.  Questions can be directed to Angie Cole, Allocations Committee Chair at:  [email protected] or (541) 318-3794  OR Michelle Johnson, Executive Director, Education Foundation at: [email protected] or (541) 355-5660.  Requests for STEM, art, music & wellness projects will be accepted during the dates indicated and must complete all necessary forms for consideration.  In the 2018-2019 academic year, the Education Foundation funded over $89,000 in classroom grants — it’s highest award in 30 years of service to the K-12 educational community.  To learn more, visit www.engagedminds.org

I will be attending the OSBA conference in Portland on Thursday afternoon and Friday.  If you have an urgent need, call or text me on my cell.  Otherwise, email me and I will get back to you the following week.

Calendar: 

• Daylight Savings time ends on Sunday, Nov. 4.
• A New Administrators Training is Monday, Nov. 5 at 2:00pm in the Board Room.  Topic is Investigations.
• We have our next Leadership meeting on Monday, Nov. 5 @ 3:15. The main focus of this meeting will be around connecting you with the PD topic groups that you selected (when you completed the survey) at our last Leadership.  Hopefully you have been notified about which PLC you are in!  If not, give me a call.
• November 12 Veterans’ Day- No School
• November 19-23 Thanksgiving Break– No School
• Our next HS Admin meeting is Monday, Nov 26 at MVHS, 3:15.
• Our next HS Principal meeting is Friday, Dec 7, 7:15 at Jackson’s Corner.

Thank you for another outstanding week, Building Leaders:

I had the opportunity to attend the iNACOL conference this week.  The focus for the conference was innovation in high schools and here are several “takeaways” happening around our great nation:

• Many communities are saturated by Charter Schools because traditional schools are choosing not to innovate.  I believe our district is “ahead of the curve” in this regard as our parents/students can choose between many pathways towards graduation. 
• Districts are working on creative ways to differentiate PD for teachers and develop unique pathways for teacher leadership in PD.
• Competency based grading is becoming the norm in many parts of our nation.
• There is an organization called The Mastery Transcript Consortium that has been working on a new transcript with high schools and colleges/universities.  U of O is one of the universities involved in this work.  Here is the latest prototype. 
• I appreciated this quote from one of the keynote speakers:  “Demography does not equal destiny.”  Carlos Moreno, CEO, Big Picture Learning

To Do:

*Principals, I am proposing to align the ACR and Choice Schools processes so we complete both prior to forecasting beginning in March.  For this to happen, we would need to schedule all of our 8th grade orientation nights in January.   Yes, we will continue to schedule each of the Bend area HS orientations on separate nights and that includes Marshall, Skyline and REALMS.   I am presenting the proposal to cabinet on Monday afternoon.  Here is the proposal, if you would like to weigh in.

Information:

*At the high school level, we have been “flexible” in recent years, in regards to expecting our teachers to attend District SIW’s.  I would like your help in changing that dynamic.  We have a key structure in place to facilitate teacher collaboration through our District SIW time, now we need them to show up!  I want your help getting our high school teachers to attend those trainings/meetings outlined for their subject areas.  The next District SIW is Dec. 19.

*Principals, during our one-on-one conversation this month we will be visting about your school report card, budgets and I would like to do a walk through of 2-3 LA classrooms.  Here are our scheduled times:

• Nov 1, 8:00 – Etinier, 1:00 – McDonald
• Nov 6, 8:00 – White, 10:00 -Reese, 1:00 – Montgomery
• Nov 7, 8:00 – Hicks, 10:00 – Cassaro
• Franklin – still need to schedule.

*I have added a standing agenda item to our HS Principals meetings related to our three Choice Schools.  The purpose is to have an open discussion about myths/rumors/questions related to programming and students accessing our Choice Schools.  The intention is for us to work together to clear these up and make sure our processes are transparent.

*Here is a note from our ELL expert, Kinsey:  We are gearing up for our second year of STAMP testing, which is a language proficiency test.  Newcomers, and/or ELL students who might be at-risk or credit-deficient, can potentially earn fine arts/elective credits for their native language proficiency.  We offer this opportunity twice a year: November and April and the district will pay for a student to take the test once.  Last year, 65 students participated, and an average of 3.4 credits was awarded per student!

The ELL specialist is the primary point person for coordinating and administering this assessment in each building.  They will work with your counselors, grad coaches, and Latino Liaisons to identify students and record credits earned.  ELL specialists might reach out to your building’s test coordinator if they need support.  But mostly, this is just to inform you about this opportunity that will be happening in your buildings next month.  If you have questions, your ELL specialist has more details, and I’m happy to help as well.

*The Health Advisory Committee is in need of members. Skip Offenhauser needs at least one admin and one teacher from each level to help screen and recommend supplementary materials for Health instruction. Here is the potential commitment for this year:

• November – all committee meeting to review our screening process in the past and make recommended changes for the future (2 hrs)
• January  – review submitted applications ( 2hrs)
• February – listen to presentations, screen materials, make recommendations to school board (half day maybe a full day depending on the number of presentations.
• March – update to supplemental materials master list based on school board approval (1 hr)The Health Advisory Committee is in need of members.  Skip Offenhauser needs at least one admin and one teacher from each level to help screen and recommend supplementary materials for Health instruction.  Here is the potential commitment for this year:

That is the tentative schedule for this year.  For future years the predicted schedule would be to have three meetings:

• Fall – review submitted applications and send invitations to present to the committee
• Winter – listen to presentations, screen materials, make recs to school board
• Spring – update supplemental list

Please let Skip Offenhauser know if you are interested in being part of this committee and/or if you have any teachers at your school who would like to be part of this committee. Teachers will timesheet their time after school and TLC will pick up the cost of any subs that might be needed.

Reminders:

• The deadline to apply for the Teen Intervene Pilot is Wednesday, Oct 31.  Submit those to Lauren Wood directly.
• Don’t forget to RSVP with Debbie Watkins for the reasonable suspicion training that will occur on Nov. 28 (2:00 – 5:00pm) if you are interested.  See Debbie’s email (sent to you on Oct. 18, 4:00pm) for further details.

Calendar:

• Legace and Mathisen’s Learning Lab is Tuesday, Oct 30 at 7:15, @ MVHS.
• Boen and Mikalson’s Learning Lab is Tuesday, Oct 30 at 7:30 @ Skyline HS.
• Our next HS Principal’s meeting is Wednesday, Oct 31 at 7:15 @ Jackson’s Corner.
• Daylight Savings time ends on Sunday, Nov. 4.
• We have our next Leadership meeting on Monday, Nov. 5. The main focus of this meeting will be around connecting you with the PD topic groups that you selected (when you completed the survey) at our last Leadership.  Hopefully you have been notified about which PLC you are in!  If not, give me a call.
• Our next HS Admin meeting is Monday, Nov 26 at MVHS, 3:15.