High School Rock Stars!

To Do:

From Lora: Administrators: Next Wednesday, 2/21, beginning at 3:00 in Perseverance Hall at BSHS, we will be doing a deep dive into the new collective bargaining agreements with BEA and OSEA. It is important for you to review the highlights of the certified CBA ahead of time and record questions and concerns:

Highlights of certified CBA 23-27

FAQ’s on CBA’s

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Information:

From Jess: Please share and promote with your families via website, social media, newsletters etc. Here is the communication in both Spanish and English.

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From Paul in HR: Classified Performance Evaluations

Classified staff who are to be evaluated this year will appear in your Performance and Evaluation Hub on Tuesday, February 13.  They will receive the following email/notification on Tuesday:

We are kicking off the classified performance evaluation process for 2023/24.  If you were not evaluated last year, then you can expect to complete the following tasks between now and July 1.

• Fill out a goal setting form
• Complete a self-reflection (optional)
• Sign a summative evaluation completed by your direct supervisor 

Your supervisor will choose to undertake these steps either (a) digitally through UKG or (b) by providing with your paper copies of these forms which they will upload into your UKG personnel file.

If they choose to use UKG’s digital workflows, then you will need to monitor your notifications/to-do’s within UKG to complete each of these tasks electronically.  Due dates for digital workflows will be:

• March 1 for goal setting
• April 1 – May 1 for self reflections (optional)
• May 1 to July 1 for summative evaluations

Your supervisor will communicate with you on which method they plan on using for your performance evaluation process for this school year.

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From Kinsey: Black History Month door-decorating contest: This information was shared with your DEI ICCL reps.  Here are pictures from last year.  Can you please reinforce mesasging with your team so your school is represented?  Photo submissions due Feb 27, winners (with prizes!) will be announced Feb 29.  

Incoming student nights/family orientations: Don’t forget to schedule interpreters via Linguist Link for upcoming events with families visiting your school (example: 5^th Grade Family Nights at middle schools, Academic Info Nights, orientations).  Plan in advance for how the interpreter will be used and how multilingual families will access each stage of the event.  Language Specialists and Family Liaisons can help you develop a plan.

Upcoming religious dates:  Here are religious observances occurring during school days in Feb-March.  We have current students and staff who observe these days, so please plan accordingly:  

• Ramadan: Mon, March 11 – Tues, April 9.  This observance includes complete fasting while the sun is out as well as additional prayer.
  • Students: Teachers should avoid high-stakes exams during this time—if unavoidable, provide accommodations for students as needed.  PE teachers and coaches should work with Muslim students modify physical activity as needed.  
  • Families: Be thoughtful about evening events asking families to come to school after dark, or afternoon events centered around food/meals that might exclude Muslim families.
  • Employees: Be thoughtful about staff celebrations (PTA events, social committee) centered on meals during this time period.  
  • Support: If an employee or student needs accommodations that you are not able to easily provide, or if you want to talk through supports, reach out.

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From Scott in IT: During the summer of 2024, Synergy Gradebook users will be moving from the older “classic” version to the current recommended version.  Your IT team is working behind the scenes even now to ensure a smooth transition. Because of this, you may start to see new buttons or features appear in various Synergy applications.   Many of which will not be active until we cutover to the new version. We will try to announce these changes before they occur to prevent confusion. The first such change will impact the “TeacherVue” application. Users may see the following buttons (widgets):

Hall Pass .   

Kiosk Mode 

Clicking on these buttons will present an Access Denied error (or similar) until such time as they are enabled.

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From Dave: OSAS state testing season is quickly approaching. Here is a very detailed summary document I put together to help get you started. Please share this with your school test coordinators (STC). Let me know if you want to meet in person about OSAS logistics. I am happy to come out to your school and support you with this. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mOiq0TreI7wihCJL3c8XWl1DicngbXM4LuTQ46H4fyk/edit?usp=sharing

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AP Update from Kerry Stern, our AP College Board Regional Support Representative:

We have a lot of exciting opportunities this month related to AP professional development and our Pre-AP program. There are important deadlines associated with accessing each, so I am sending this your way. Let me know if you want to schedule follow up on the below to find which opportunities make sense for your district and school sites.

Free Pre-AP Opportunity

To support schools as they ensure students have the skills necessary to succeed in college and career, including AP courses, College Board will make all Pre-AP Courses, free of charge for the 2024-25 school year. All your school needs to do is enroll 12th-grade students in AP Pre-Calculus or 10th-grade students in any of these AP courses:

1. English 10: AP Seminar
2. AP Computer Science Principles
3. AP African American Studies 

You can choose any (or all) of the 9 Pre-AP Courses to offer students in 9th and 10th grade, free of charge. Fill out this INTEREST FORM by March 1^st in order to get your school on our list of interested sites; this form is NOT binding; it simply gives us an opportunity to gauge interest. You can always decide to forgo this offer, even if you filled out the form. If you do not wish to fill out the interest form, Pre-AP courses will continue to be available to you, at full cost ($1500 per course).

AP Access Courses

Throughout the year I have spoken with many districts and schools about the courses that have the largest impact for students, including AP Seminar, AP Precalculus, AP CSP, and our newest course – AP African American Studies.  As schools are finalizing their primary schedules and enrolling students over the next few months, I wanted to include a summary of the most important links for these opportunities below.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you or school sites want to have any final conversations about where these might fit best in driving access and equity to advanced coursework in your district.

AP Precalculus (free PD opportunity when adding 5 or more new sections)

• Adopt the Course – Main Page
• Learn About the Course
• Brochure
• Flyer
• Introducing the Course: Webinar Recording (California team members can link to our recent webinar as well/instead)

English 10: AP Seminar (free PD opportunity when adding 5 or more new sections)

• Adopt the Course – Main Page
• Getting Started
• Brochure
• Flyer
• Rethinking Your English Sequence (Includes Teacher and Administrator Case Studies)

AP Computer Science Principles

• Course Overview
• Course and Exam Description
• Research Findings
• Recruitment Toolkit

AP African American Studies

• Main Course Adoption Page
• Brochure 
• Course Framework – 2024-25 
• Exam and Project Details  
• About the Course (including details about how cost for teaching resources will hopefully not be a barrier for school sites) 

 Additional Important Deadlines

• March 15, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET: Spring course orders and fall order changes deadline.
• April 30, 11:59 p.m. ET: Deadline to indicate students’ fee reduction status in AP Registration and Ordering.

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Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

February 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday; use non-contract time if you don’t work

February 20: HS Administrator Work Session @ CHS 8:00-9:30

February 21: Admin PD at Perseverance Hall at BSH–3:00-6:00 (new contract work session)

February 21: Academic Information Night @ LPHS 6:00-7:30

February 28: Educator Network Day during SIW

March 1: Education Foundation Grants are due: www.blpedfoundation.org

March 4: 9th grade orientation 6:00pm BSHS, CHS, LPHS, MVHS, SHS

March 5: HS Administrator Work Session @ BSHS, Future Center room 102 8:00-9:30

March 5: Life and Career Readiness Fair 6-7:30 @ Caldera

March 13: College information night 5:30-7:00 @ Caldera

Click HERE to check out 29 minute-long Black History highlights that you might not know from cbschicago. In what ways are your students learning about Black History this month? What about throughout the year?

To Do:

From Scott and Kayla: Thank you for staying up to date on the emergency drill tracker this year. Please take a look to see if you have drills that you still need to add to the tracker.

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Reminders/Action Items:

SRO Appreciation:  SRO Cards, posters, goodies should be with Kayla as of today!

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Here is a document showing our Upshift Roles by school. Reach out if you have questions!

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From Stephen: As mentioned in the blogs last week, we are getting ready to host our first Life and Career Readiness night on March 5th.  Here is a link to language for communication with your families.  It’s been translated into Spanish as well.  Feel free to send it as a standalone communication or include it in your newsletter if the timeline makes sense.  We are very excited for this event and want to work with you to get families there.  

Please let me know if you have any questions.

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From Dave: OSAS state testing season is quickly approaching. Here is a very detailed summary document I put together to help get you started. Please share this with your school test coordinators (STC). Let me know if you want to meet in person about OSAS logistics. I am happy to come out to your school and support you with this. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mOiq0TreI7wihCJL3c8XWl1DicngbXM4LuTQ46H4fyk/edit?usp=sharing

Information:

Important Reminder about Civil Rights complaint from Stephen:

Here is a reminder of where we are when it comes to forecasting and scheduling students after the Civil Rights investigation last year. Reach out if you have questions!

Here are the highlights for administrators and counselors to be aware of as they forecast this year.

1. We can no longer use grades as a pre-requisite for a course.  We CAN have courses as a prereq.  However, if the students passes, even with a D, they can take the next course.
2. We can no longer use teacher recommendations as a prerequisite.  School staff must let a student take the course as long as they’ve met the course prereqs.
3. We cannot have fees as a barrier to a course or in our course descriptions.
4. Counselors cannot suggest or hint that a particular course would be too challenging for a student.  They can lay out the time and work requirements but it is up to the student to decide if the course is right for them.
5. Teachers should be communicating with students about the next courses in their subject area but cannot suggest a student avoid a course based on current performance.  Again, as long as a student passes, they get the choice and should not be swayed by teacher opinion.

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From Lora: For our leadership meeting Wednesday, 2/21, we are extending the meeting to last from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM, with substantial snacks provided, so that level leaders and HR leaders can dig into these provisions in more depth. Here are a couple of notes about the linked documents:

1. Color coding: GREEN highlighted items mean these will go into effect upon ratification/board approval-February 14. YELLOW highlighted items will go into effect no later than the day after spring break. ORANGE highlighted items will go into effect next year. 
2. The highlights I have sent to you are not all the changes to the CBA, but they are the ones of concern to site administrators. 
3. The highlight documents are paraphrased. We will send you the exact language from the new CBA as soon as possible. 

Article 16 Highlights Article 18 Highlights CBA Highlights

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From Paul:

Classified Performance Evaluations

Classified staff who are to be evaluated this year will appear in your Performance and Evaluation Hub on Tuesday, February 13.  They will receive the following email/notification on Tuesday:

We are kicking off the classified performance evaluation process for 2023/24.  If you were not evaluated last year, then you can expect to complete the following tasks between now and July 1.

• Fill out a goal setting form
• Complete a self-reflection (optional)
• Sign a summative evaluation completed by your direct supervisor 

Your supervisor will choose to undertake these steps either (a) digitally through UKG or (b) by providing with your paper copies of these forms which they will upload into your UKG personnel file.

If they choose to use UKG’s digital workflows, then you will need to monitor your notifications/to-do’s within UKG to complete each of these tasks electronically.  Due dates for digital workflows will be:

• March 1 for goal setting
• April 1 – May 1 for self reflections (optional)
• May 1 to July 1 for summative evaluations

Your supervisor will communicate with you on which method they plan on using for your performance evaluation process for this school year.

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From Stephen and Jess: As mentioned above, on March 5th, we will be hosting a districtwide Life and Career Readiness (LCR) event aimed at families with students in grades 6 through 12.

One of the highlights of this event will be the introduction of SchooLinks, our College and Career Readiness Platform, which we have been in the initial stages of rollout for all middle and high schools within our district. SchooLinks presents an invaluable resource in guiding our students toward their post-secondary aspirations and ensuring they are well-prepared for the transition into higher education or the workforce.

In conjunction with the LCR event, we will be hosting a SchooLinks trainer in person on March 5th.  During this day, we are providing our school counselors with time to familiarize themselves with the SchooLinks platform and to begin developing tier 1 agreements for its integration into our comprehensive school counseling program. It is essential that our counselors are equipped with the necessary tools and knowledge to effectively support our students in navigating their educational and career pathways.

To facilitate this professional learning opportunity, we have outlined a schedule for our counselors to begin this developmental work. We would like your support in allowing your counselors to be out of the building during the times below to take full advantage of this opportunity. We understand that this may pose some logistical challenges, but this training is very important to counselors’ professional development.

Below is the schedule for the training on March 5th:

9:00 – 10:30 am: MS Counselors Scope and Sequence Work

11:00 – 12:30 pm:  MS and HS Counselors: Course Planner & Personalized Plan

1:30 – 3:00 pm:  HS Counselors: Scope and Sequence Work 

We appreciate your understanding and support as we continue this important initiative. By working together, we can ensure that our students are equipped with the necessary resources and support to achieve their college and career aspirations.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Stephen or Jess Calbreath.

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From Kinsey and the DEI Team:

Black History Month door-decorating contest: This information was shared with your DEI ICCL reps.  Here are pictures from last year.  Can you please reinforce mesasging with your team so your school is represented?  Photo submissions due Feb 27, winners (with prizes!) will be announced Feb 29.  

Incoming student nights/family orientations: Don’t forget to schedule interpreters via Linguist Link for upcoming events with families visiting your school (example: 5^th Grade Family Nights at middle schools, Academic Info Nights, orientations).  Plan in advance for how the interpreter will be used and how multilingual families will access each stage of the event.  Language Specialists and Family Liaisons can help you develop a plan.

Upcoming religious dates:  Here are religious observances occurring during school days in Feb-March.  We have current students and staff who observe these days, so please plan accordingly:  

• Ash Wednesday: Wed, Feb 14.  Students who observe this day may wear ashes on their forehead.  Teachers and coaches should not ask them to remove or wash off the ashes.  If other students mock or tease them, please report this as a bias incident.  
• Ramadan: Mon, March 11 – Tues, April 9.  This observance includes complete fasting while the sun is out as well as additional prayer.
  • Students: Teachers should avoid high-stakes exams during this time—if unavoidable, provide accommodations for students as needed.  PE teachers and coaches should work with Muslim students modify physical activity as needed.  
  • Families: Be thoughtful about evening events asking families to come to school after dark, or afternoon events centered around food/meals that might exclude Muslim families.
  • Employees: Be thoughtful about staff celebrations (PTA events, social committee) centered on meals during this time period.  
  • Support: If an employee or student needs accommodations that you are not able to easily provide, or if you want to talk through supports, reach out.

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From Aimee Snyder:

Expectations for Sources of Strength Classes and Clubs

As you make decisions on Sources of Strength classes or clubs, use this list of options to select the best model for your school and use this list of roles and expectations to ensure that your Adult Advisors/Teachers and Peer Leaders are able to meet those expectations.  

If your school will have Sources of Strength as a class, direct your counselors to only forecast students who want to be a Sources of Strength Peer Leader and if they can commit to meeting the Peer Leader expectations (see the Peer Leader role on the back of the expectations doc).  It’s best to have adults nominate students to be Peer Leaders. 

Your school’s Public Health Specialist will be coming to you with these resources and results from your school’s Sources of Strength Team Self-Assessment to ask you to make improvement plans to ensure your program is effective at preventing suicide, substance use, and violence. 

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

February 15: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day!

February 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday; use non-contract time if you don’t work

February 20: HS Administrator Work Session @ SHS 8:00-9:30

February 21: Admin PD at Perseverance Hall at BSH–3:00-6:00 (new contract work session)

February 21: Academic Information Night @ LPHS 6:00-7:30

March 1: Education Foundation Grants are due: www.blpedfoundation.org

Next week is National Schol Counseling Week Link !

How are you celebrating YOUR counselors?

To Do:

Please send this message to your families on Monday: Families and students on the semester schedule will be able to view semester 1 grades in ParentVUE this week.

New to ParentVUE? It’s the parent web portal allowing access to a student’s education progress including grades, attendance, assignments, current IEP, progress reports, and school announcements. If you have not yet used ParentVUE, contact your student’s school or email us, and you will be sent an activation letter with instructions.

Canvas is also used by all Bend-La Pine middle and high school teachers as an extension to in-class instruction. On Canvas, teachers post assignments, share instructional support materials, give feedback, and communicate with students and their parents/guardians.

PLEASE NOTE: Bend Tech Academy and Realms Middle School and High School are on a trimester system.

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UKG and Red Rover: Important! Please work together with your Office Manager to compare your Red Rover absences with each staff absence in UKG. It was recently discovered at a school site where a staff member had been gone a lot. With a deeper dive with the business office to see the report in UKG, they only had 2 days documented from back in October. Red Rover showed the person out a lot more than that. This is a big problem! This staff member is not getting any of their sick days deducted and even took unpaid days without permission. All staff must be using UKG to request all absences (personal days, sick days, school business, jury duty, unpaid, etc.). It is very important you follow up on this and make sure staff are registering all absences (whether or not they need a sub) in UKG. Lastly, it is not the responsibility of the office manager to intervene with the staff member, but they bring it to you when it raises a red flag. Let me know if you have any questions.

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From Kinsey: Action Requested re: Bias Incidents:

As this semester closes, please look back through emails/calls from me to be sure you have closed out the investigation and response on each bias incident report.  This includes replying to those messages (if we weren’t partnering on response) with the consequences and outcomes.  

Reporting each alleged incident and documenting all response steps takes a bit of effort up front, but is well worth the investment (compared to the hassle when concerns arise from incomplete processes or records).  If your team would like to discuss bias incident reporting, response, or prevention with Kinsey and/or the equity coaches, please reach out.  Thank you!

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SAVE THE DATE! BLS COLLEGE INFORMATION NIGHT

Families and students are invited to learn more about Oregon colleges during Bend-La Pine Schools’ College Information Night on March 13 from 6 to 7:30 pm at Caldera High School. Families and students in grades 10-11 are invited to attend. To kick off the night there will be a presentation from Bend La Pine Schools (BLS) School Counseling and Oregon college representatives. Attendees will then visit a mini-college fair with representatives from all nine public universities in Oregon, Central Oregon Community College and various community partners. Representatives from BLS High School Counseling and School to Career will also be on hand to talk about key steps for families to prepare for college. 

Updated flyers and communication plan for schools will be coming soon, but wanted to get this on your calendars!

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From Dave: OSAS state testing season is quickly approaching. Here is a very detailed summary document I put together to help get you started. Please share this with your school test coordinators (STC). Let me know if you want to meet in person about OSAS logistics. I am happy to come out to your school and support you with this. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mOiq0TreI7wihCJL3c8XWl1DicngbXM4LuTQ46H4fyk/edit?usp=sharing

Reminders/Action Items:

• HR:
  • Performance Module Overview Document – Certified Staff
  • UKG Performance Evaluation Guide for District Administrators
  • Slides from the October 25 BLAST training
  • Link for 2022/23 Evaluation
  • edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf
  • Bend-La Pine Schools: Modified Evaluation System for Certified Staff, 2023-24
  • SLGG google form – Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy.  These can be uploaded into UKG (instructions to follow)

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Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions–Inputting discipline information into Synergy needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident and/or suspension.

Information:

From Kinsey:

Policies (follow-up from Wednesday’s admin meeting): 

Thank you for your attention and engagement with the policies that govern our work and decision-making.  Reach out with questions, ideas, or if you’d like training/PD for your team:

Here is the policy revision cycle we discussed at the admin meeting.  Here is a direct link to the input form if you have identified a particular policy issue that needs attention.  Please share as applicable (particularly with staff members or student groups who have an interest in advocacy).  Here is the link to the policies currently in the ‘consult’ stage of review/feedback (e-bikes, diploma types, religion, etc), so you can monitor upcoming changes and/or give feedback.  Here is where you can search within any of our current policies.  

Racial Equity Professional Learning: Our school district is committed to sending all administrators and supervisors to CFEE. CFEE stands for Coaching for Educational Equity.  This is a four-day intensive workshop focused on racial equity and the impact of Oregon’s unique history on our current education systems. Sending all leaders to this workshop aligns our shared understandings, common language, and core values as a cohesive leadership team.  This alignment supports our strategic priorities, equity stance, and decision-making across the district.

A large portion of our team has already attended!  If you aren’t yet a graduate of this workshop, please register for one of the upcoming sessions, or reach out to Kinsey if you have further questions.   Level leaders and department supervisors will share additional level-specific guidance with their teams, and Kinsey will be in touch with your registration confirmation or wait-list status.

Emerging Student Needs: The Office of DEI is closely tracking some actively-shifting trends we know you are experiencing regarding populations of extremely vulnerable students in your schools: unhoused, immigrant, unaccompanied, and other vulnerable youth.  While these students often do not manifest externalizing behavior challenges, we recognize they have highly specialized needs impacting your school.  We recognize, too, that these students require and deserve immediate care and resources that may be unfamiliar or less accessible to your teams.  

We will be dedicating time at an upcoming Admin PD to address this topic together.  In the meantime, please remember (and remind staff) to feel free to slow down, learn about each student individually, and build relationships.  A great leadership move you could do right now would be to shadow a student for a couple periods or ask a few content teachers how they’re feeling with supporting these vulnerable students in their classes.  As always, if you have an overwhelming need or unique case that needs immediate support, please reach out to relevant support staff (family liaisons, language specialists, FAN, McKinney-Vento coordinator, counselors, equity coaches, etc). 

Asian Family Night/Lunar New Year Event:

Flyer invitations English and Chinese versions​—thanks for sharing with your staff and families!

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From Stephen: We will be hosting our first annual life and career readiness night on Tuesday, March 5^th from 6-7:30 pm at Caldera High School.  This event is designed for students in grades 6-12 and will feature a kickoff from our new partner SchooLinks and then transition to a career fair.  There will be community members representing a variety of industries, colleges, and our armed forces present to talk with students and families.  We will be using February to start our advertising push so look for language soon to send out to families.

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From Scott M: Enrollment for the Affordable Connectivity Program is ending February 7^th at 11:59 p.m., and will NOT be accepting new enrollments after that time. This program is going through a “wind-down” process as the FCC expects funds for this program to run out by April if Congress does not approve more funding. 

The ACP is a federal program that provides a discount of up to $30/month toward internet service for eligible households, and up to $75/month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Many households in our region qualify but have not signed up/have never heard of the program. The more people participating in ACP the better. 

More information on the Wind-Down and the ACP Program can be found here: https://www.fcc.gov/acp

Please spread the word and help get households signed up before the deadline. Households can sign up at getinternet.gov or accedeainternet.gov in Spanish.

Internet School Letter

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From Sean:

Learning Specialist Transfer and Hiring process for 24-25 school year:

Hi all, we want to give you a preview of the process for hiring certified Learning Specialist for next year.  

1. Currently, we are identifying schools that will have opening for Learning Specialists for the 24-25 school year.  These are folks that are resigning or are temporary.  You will be contacted if you are on the list.
2. If you are on the list of schools in need of a Learning Specialist, you will be invited to the transfer interviews, currently scheduled for Monday, March 4(2:30-5:00).  We will have a pool of candidates available that have requested a transfer and indicated that one of their choices is your school.  
3. If you are at the transfer interviews and a candidate is not selected for your school, you will be invited to the pool interviews scheduled on Tuesday, March 11 (1-5 PM).  Also, if you now have an opening because of the pool interviews, you will be invited to participate in this pool interview process.  
4. There will be three postings for Learning Specialist.  A La Pine area pool posting, an elementary pool posting, and a secondary pool posting.  During this interview process, we will be looking at new candidates that have applied for learning specialist positions in your perspective pool.  
5. Once we complete the initial round of posting, interviewing, and hiring for all schools, any additional hiring will be completed at the building level with Student Services admin support.  This means the posting will be specific to your school and you will be the hiring manager with support from student services admin.

Please let Josh, Colleen, or myself know if you have any questions.

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From the Ed Foundation: The Bend-La Pine Education Foundation is proud to announce a Spring 2024 classroom grant cycle! This will be on a smaller scale, but will hopefully provide a meaningful impact for educators across the district. 

Spring 2024 Grant Application: https://forms.gle/sTQXdnx9sq1dt46GAThe breakdown for the Spring Cycle: 

• Applications can be up to $850
• 3 Buckets: 
• STEM
• PE
• ART/MUSIC
• If the number of grant requests exceeds the available funding, we will fund 1 grant per school based on date received and requirements met. Teachers who did not receive funding in Fall 2023 will receive first priority. A grant report will be due by Jun 1, 2024. 
• Timeline: 
• 2/5 – Grant Application opens
• 3/1 – Grant application closes
• 3/5 – Allocations meeting 12-2pm
• 3/6-3/15 – Grant announcements and distributions

Bend-La Pine Ed Foundation.

Calendar:

LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

February 2: Grades are due and need to be posted in Synergy by 4:00pm – LPHS had 100% of their grades into Synergy by the deadline!!

February 2: Groundhog Day (Early Spring-prognostication by Punxsutawney Phil)

February 5-9: National School Counseling Week

February 6: HS Principal work session, 8:00-9:30 @ BTA Data with Dr Dave!

February 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

February 9: Appreciation Cards for SRO are due

February 15: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day!

February 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday; use non-contract time if you don’t work

February 20: HS Administrator Work Session @ SHS 8:00-9:30

February 21: Academic Information Night @ LPHS 6:00-7:30

March 1: Education Foundation Grants are due: www.blpedfoundation.org

To Do:

From Stephen and Dean: Due to the loss of two SIWs this month, we have decided to remove the February 13th Admin/ICCL meeting from the calendar as schools will not have had enough time for the 2^nd PLC conversation to occur.  Instead, we will make the April 16^th Admin/ICCL training our last this year.  This means you have until then for your teachers to conduct their follow up PLC from the 2^nd lesson. Reach out to us if you have questions. 

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From Dave Van Loo: Here is an opportunity for LA or math teachers to make some extra money and learn a bit more about testing and their content areas.

Reminders/Action Items:

Please complete your letters by Friday for your third year employees and put them in this google drive.

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Our deadline for Youth Truth has been extended to February 2. Our goal is 100% staff and student participation and 75% participation from families. Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help with implementation. We should have reports on February 16th.

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Here is the flyer invitation for our Black History Month kick-off. Please work with your ICCL-DEI rep or other relevant staff to make sure that any Black/African American students, families, and staff at your school are personally invited to this event, and that your staff are aware of the event (they’re welcome to share with students/families as they see fit).

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Education Foundation: Grants are due 3/1: www.blpedfoundation.org

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Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions–Inputting discipline information into Synergy AND parent written notification needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident and/or suspension.

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UKG refresher input: Please take this brief survey to help us identify the greatest need for our training on the 31st.

HR:

• Performance Module Overview Document – Certified Staff
• UKG Performance Evaluation Guide for District Administrators
• Slides from the October 25 BLAST training
• Link for 2022/23 Evaluation
• edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf
• Bend-La Pine Schools: Modified Evaluation System for Certified Staff, 2023-24
• SLGG google form – Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy.  These can be uploaded into UKG (instructions to follow)

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Counseling: School Counseling Blog

Information:

504 Training this week: MS and HS school leaders who serve as the 504 Coordinators in their schools participated in 504 training this week. Here is the slide show from that training and the medical talking points document. Additionally, here is the Student Services Resource Page for reference. Reach out to Colleen or Josh if you have 504 questions.

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From Dean and Eric: Due to popular demand, here are the MTSS Training and Tier 3 slides from our January 18th MTSS Training.

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From Kayla in Safety: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day is February 15th. The Safety Team is requesting your help to collect cards, notes, pictures, etc. to present to our SRO team. The goal is to highlight the positive relationship between our SROs and their schools. If you are willing, please offer your students the opportunity to share their appreciation for their respective SRO, and send any items to the Safety Team at the Ed Center no later than Friday, February 9th. We are also happy to stop by and pick them up! 

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From Jenn: National Counselor Appreciation Week is February 5-9. HERE are some suggestions for how you can show your counselors you value them!

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From Paul in HR:

***Probationary/Temporary Certified Staff*****

Reminder: Due TODAY, January 26th

• Meet with third-year staff member of concern that they are being moved on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
• Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive
• The School Board will begin reviewing your letters in early Feburary.

Resource Links

1. Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request) 
2. Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
3. Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
4. Rubrics for certified staff (link)

Performance Evaluation – Refresher

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From our Culture of Care team at the HDESD: A reminder of upcoming regional Culture of Care professional development sessions that still have space available for Central Oregon educators and school partners:

• Using Restorative Questions & Circles Effectively (Tier II): Builds on the intro course, diving deeper into using the RP questions and facilitating proactive and responsive circles.
• Tuesday, February 13th, 8:30am-12:30pm in Boardroom at Bend Education Center

• Restorative Conferencing (Tier III): A responsive process to engage with those who cause and experience harm, along with related community to bring about healing, facilitate reentry and repair
  relationships. Introduction and Circles training recommended as prerequisites.
• Tuesday, April 23rd, 8:30am-12:30pm at Trinity Episcopal, Bend
• Community of Practice sessions also available following each training for further exploration and practice.

Register for all opportunities here!

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From Kinsey:

1. Racial Equity Professional Learning:

Our school district is committed to sending all administrators and supervisors to CFEE. 

CFEE stands for Coaching for Educational Equity.  This is a four-day intensive workshop focused on racial equity and the impact of Oregon’s unique history on our current education systems.

Sending all leaders to this workshop aligns our shared understandings, common language, and core values as a cohesive leadership team.  This alignment supports our strategic priorities, equity stance, and decision-making across the district.

A large portion of our team has already attended!  If you aren’t yet a graduate of this workshop, please register for one of the upcoming sessions, or reach out to Kinsey if you have further questions.   Level leaders and department supervisors will share additional level-specific guidance with their teams, and Kinsey will be in touch with your registration confirmation or wait-list status.  Thanks~

2. Emerging Student Needs:

The Office of DEI is closely tracking some actively-shifting trends we know you are experiencing regarding populations of extremely vulnerable students in your schools: unhoused, immigrant, unaccompanied, and other vulnerable youth.  While these students often do not manifest externalizing behavior challenges, we recognize they have highly specialized needs impacting your school.  We recognize, too, that these students require and deserve immediate care and resources that may be unfamiliar or less accessible to your teams.  

We will be dedicating time at an upcoming Admin PD to address this topic together.  In the meantime, please remember (and remind staff) to feel free to slow down, learn about each student individually, and build relationships.  A great leadership move you could do right now would be to shadow a student for a couple periods or ask a few content teachers how they’re feeling with supporting these vulnerable students in their classes.  As always, if you have an overwhelming need or unique case that needs immediate support, please reach out to relevant support staff (family liaisons, language specialists, FAN, McKinney-Vento coordinator, counselors, equity coaches, etc).  

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From Kimberly re: Belonging Book Study: HERE is the flyer regarding a workshop on February 6th that is not intended to be an introduction to Belonging work. It is a level 2 workshop and will help you decide what comes next after initial work with the book. I have heard from some of you that my initial email for our Instructional Belonging Workshop disappeared. I apologize for the technical difficulties, and am attaching the flyer one more time so you have the opportunity to sign up and share with your colleagues who have read and worked with Belonging through a Culture of Dignity. 

As a reminder, this workshop is not intended to be an introduction to Belonging work. It is a level 2 workshop and will help you decide what comes next after initial work with the book.

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An Update from our AP regional rep:

AP Course Audit Deadline – January 31^st
January 31^st is our AP Course Audit deadline. Final deadline for initial AP Course Audit submissions, all renewals, removal of teachers and courses, addition of online/distance learning courses, and AP Course Audit form approvals for 2023-24 courses. 

While many teachers and administrators should have already completed this, I strongly recommend that school sites double check their status. If a teacher is not correctly audited by the January 31^st deadline, this can prevent them from having access to student scores and getting data correctly associated with their College Board profiles.

Learn more about the AP Course Audit.

Explore Course Audit by Role.

Additional Important Deadlines

• January 18^th (IMPORTANT): This was the deadline to submit accommodations requests and supporting documentation (if needed) through SSD Online for spring assessments. If coordinators have missed this deadline for any reason, they should still submit accommodation requests ASAP, as our team works on a case-by-case basis after the deadline to try and approve accommodations for the exams. Learn more about accommodations.
• March 15, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET: Spring course orders and fall order changes deadline.
• April 30, 11:59 p.m. ET: Deadline to indicate students’ fee reduction status in AP Registration and Ordering.

AP Digital Exams for May 2025 Exam Administration

Today, our AP program made an announcement regarding specific AP exams that will be going fully digital for the 2025 administration, and I wanted to make sure that you had the information that has been released. I have also included some reminders about our upcoming AP Course Audit deadline.

Please share with school sites and let me know if you have any additional questions about the below.

After a successful pilot and two years of large-scale digital AP^® testing, our program has announced that beginning with the May 2025 exam administration, nine AP Exams will be fully digital. Those exams include:

·       AP African American Studies

·       AP Computer Science Principles

·       AP English Language and Composition

·       AP English Literature and Composition

·       AP European History

·       AP Psychology

·       AP Seminar

·       AP United States History

·       AP World History: Modern

Paper exams can’t be ordered for these subjects in the 24-25 school year, unless students have approved accommodations requiring paper testing. Students will take exams in these 9 subjects using the Bluebook™ digital testing app. AP coordinators and proctors will administer these exams using the Test Day Toolkit web application.

I have included the full email our team sent out below my signature, in case you did not receive the details. Below are links to helpful resources schools/districts can use to begin thinking about this upcoming transition.

·       AP Digital Main Page

·       Introduction to Digital AP Testing – May 2024 – Overview video providing more details on the testing experience

·       Bluebook Main Page (Testing Application)

·       Refining Your Teaching Strategies for Digital AP Exams – Recorded webinar with a sample teacher who has incorporated the digital testing experience into their classroom

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Calendar:

January 29: KT in bargaining all day

January 31: All Admin PD @ Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

January 31: Black history month kick-off celebration

January 31: Academic Information Night @ MVHS 5:30-7:00

February 2: Teacher workday. Grades are due and need to be posted in Synergy by 4:00pm

February 6: HS Principal work session, 8:00-9:30 @ BTA

February 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

February 9: Notes of gratitude for your SRO due to Kayla!

February 15: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day!

February 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday; use non-contract time if you don’t work

February 20: HS Administrator Work Session @ SHS 8:00-9:30

February 21: Academic Information Night @ LPHS 6:00-7:30

March 1: Education Foundation Grants are due: www.blpedfoundation.org

Reminders/To Do’s:

From Paul in HR:

By Friday, January 26, principals must complete and upload all of your renewal Recommendation letters into this google drive. As of today, 80% of these are not yet complete. Refer to the blog for templates

1. We have heard from principals that VPs don’t have access to the observations. This is because you haven’t yet given access to your VP. You can do this by following the steps on page 5 of the document from Paul in our blog. Here is the info too:
   1. Go to My Info > My HR > Delegations 
   2. Add New for each AP and/or Dean
      1. Select the person
      2. Choose “Sequential Performance Review” as the workflow type
      3. Select dates from now until the end of the school year
      4. Ignore workflow group
   3. Click Add 
   4. All performance tasks will appear on each administrator’s UKG To Do lists. When any one administrator submits/finalizes a task, it is removed from everyone’s To Do lists.

3. Finalize staff goal setting and your goals in UKG.
4. Finally, make sure you have a schedule in place that allows you to complete formals and minis in a timely way. Formals should be completed by mid-February at the latest. 

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The ACR/Choice Option Deadline has been extended one week from January 19 to January 26. This was communicated in our family newsletter this week.

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Follow Your YouthTruth Completion Percentage Here: We have a goal of 100% staff participation and 75% families participating and there’s only a couple weeks left. You can make a positive impact in your return rates, by communicating with your families often and in different modes (newsletters, synervoice, emails). Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help schools with survey implementation.

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Communication with families about final grades: Plan to send a synergy voice message and email home to all parents notifying them that final semester 1 grades will be posted in synergy by the end of the day February 2.  We will also share this info in the family newsletter.

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End of semester 1: Feb 2^nd is a teacher workday and a no student day.  Teachers report in person to their schools for the purpose of finishing grading and posting final semester 1 grades in synergy by the end of the workday. It is imperative that teachers get grades in on time as this impacts how smoothly we transition to semester 2 in synergy. Please make a plan for how you can assure all report cards are done and in before you leave on February 2nd.

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From Jess and our counselors: We are hosting a BLS Academic Information Night on Wednesday January 31st for families in grades 9-11.  Here is a blurb and infographic about the event in both English and Spanish.   Please promote the event in the newsletter as well as social media.  Scott will also include this info in our family newsletter.

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Office Staff training: Office staff (all of them) will train from 1-2:30 on March 6, April 17, and May 22. Please make a plan for coverage.

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Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions–Inputting discipline information into Synergy needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident and/or suspension.

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UKG refresher input: Please take this super brief survey to help us identify the greatest need for our training on the 31st.

Information:

This week’s END will not be rescheduled. Next week January 24^th is open for schools to deliver Standards Based Grading Training #2 to staff.  This is the training that was given in Perseverance Hall on December 5^th. It should also include a follow up PLC by March 6^th.

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Education Foundation Grants–Round 2! The Education Foundation is doing a second round of classroom grants. This time, the grants will be awarded in the following three areas: STEM, PE, and Art/Music. If the number of grant requests exceeds the available funding, they will fund 1 grant per school based on date received and requirements met. Teachers who did not receive funding in Fall 2023 will receive first priority. A grant report will be due by Jun 1, 2024. The grant application opens on February 5th, closes on March 1, and will be announced March 6-15th. It’s not too early to start thinking of what you may need!

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From Paul in HR. Reminder: The following is due by Friday, January 26th for your Probationary and Temporary Staff:

• Meet with third-year staff member of concern that they are being moved on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
• Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive

Resource Links

1. Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request) 
2. Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
3. Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
4. Rubrics for certified staff (link)

Performance Evaluations

New charts have been added to Performance & Evaluation Hub within UKG to assist you in tracking your task progress

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January 22: KT bargaining all day

January 23: HS/MS 504 Administrator Leads training 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS Library

January 31: All Admin PD @ Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

January 31: Black history month kick-off celebration

January 31: Academic Information Night @ MVHS 5:30-7:00

February 6: HS Administrator work session, 8:00-9:30

February 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

Feb 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work

February 21: Academic Information Night @ LPHS 6:00-7:30

To Do:

From Jess and our counselors: We are hosting a BLS Academic Information Night on Wednesday January 31st for families in grades 9-11.  Here is a blurb and infographic about the event in both English and Spanish.   Please promote the event in the newsletter as well as social media.  Scott will also include this info in our family newsletter.

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Communication with families about final grades: Plan to send a synergy voice message and email home to all parents notifying them that final semester 1 grades will be posted in synergy by the end of the day February 2.  We will also share this info in the family newsletter.

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Follow Your YouthTruth Completion Percentage Here: We have a goal of 100% staff participation and 75% families participating and there’s only a couple weeks left. You can make a positive impact in your return rates, by communicating with your families often and in different modes (newsletters, synervoice, emails). Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help schools with survey implementation.

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Safe Schools Check In: Here is a video that you can use to track who in their building still needs to complete Safe Schools Trainings so these are completed by January 19th (remember- they were due on October 31)

Reminders:

Office Staff training: Office staff (all of them) will train from 2:30-4:00 on January 17, March 6, April 17, and May 22. Please make a plan for coverage.

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Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions: Inputting discipline information into Synergy needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident and/or suspension.

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UKG refresher input: Please take this brief survey to help us identify the greatest need for our all administrator training on the 31st.

Information:

END is rescheduled: We are rescheduling the Educator Network Day for next Wednesday, January 17.  Here is the attendance QR code. The plan we were going to follow January 10 will be the exact same plan for next Wednesday.  

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From Kinsey: Adjustments to these two administrative regulations (AR’s) related to graduation were approved by the board at the January 9 board meeting. They are IKFB-AP (Graduation Exercises) and IKFB-AR (Wearing Items of Cultural Significance in Graduation Exercises). Principals, thank you for sharing your input on the AR’s and for communicating your school’s guidelines to support these AR’s with students and families.

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End of semester 1: Feb 2^nd is a teacher workday and a no student day.  Teachers report in person to their schools for the purpose of finishing grading and posting final semester 1 grades in synergy by the end of the workday. It is imperative that teachers get grades in on time as this impacts how smoothly we transition to semester 2 in synergy.

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From Paul in HR: Building leaders – now is a good time for a refresher on the UKG Performance module as you progress through your formal and mini-observations.  Below is a list of resources (this list can be found on the Performance & Evaluation Hub tab when you scroll down to the bottom of the page).

Performance Module

• UKG Performance Module Overview Document – Certified Staff
• UKG Performance Evaluation Guide for District Administrators
• Slides from the October 25 BLAST training
• Link for 2022/23 Evaluation
• edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf
• Bend-La Pine Schools: Modified Evaluation System for Certified Staff, 2023-24
• SLGG google form – Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy.  These can be uploaded into UKG (instructions to follow)

Helpful tip – Please enter as much information as possible in your formal/mini observations as they are our official BLS Observation record of what you observed and the feedback you provided (in case we need to reference them years from now).  It is permissible to insert a link within the General Comments section of the observation entry if you utilized another google drive document as your primary repository of observation debriefs.

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From Leah in the business office: If you used any Non-contract time over the holidays, those requests need submitted asap, the closing day for this pay period is January 14. Instructions for submitting requests can be found on the portal Employee-How to Use UKG__Requesting Time-off.pdf .

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From Dana our FAN Administrator: FAN staffing has been a challenge this year due to resignations and leaves.  Thank you all for your patience as I have adjusted staffing and most recently, made some changes in staffing assignments.  I am committed to staffing our Dual Immersion schools with Spanish speaking Advocates.  This has caused some shifts in assignments, as the last round of hiring yielded some great candidates, but none of them speak Spanish. Here is the current list of Advocates and their assigned schools. Two new Advocates are in the process of being hired now.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.  

Calendar:

Here is LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

January 8: HS Counselors visit Realms HS (1:30) and BTA (3:45)

January 9: HS Principal Planning Session Part 2 7:30-10:00 @ Realms HS

January 10: Educator Network Day

January 15:  No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17: Secondary Office Staff meeting (all office staff at your site attends) 2:30-3:30 @ Ed Center Board Room.

January 23: HS/MS 504 Administrator Leads training 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS Library

January 31: All Admin PD @ Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

Jan 31: Black history month kick-off celebration

February 6: HS Administrator work session, 8:00-9:30

Feb. 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

Let’s be the hope for our children and for each other…

To Do:

HS Counselor information event Monday: Thank you for ensuring that all of your counselors attend the information tours of Realms HS and BTA next week! The event is scheduled for this Monday, January 8. HS counselors will begin at Realms HS at 1:30, then head to BTA for a presentation at 3:30. Roger and LaKisha, the principals will each do a brief presentation and tour of their schools. MS counselors will visit the schools as well, but in opposite order. Administrators, if you would like to join, you are more than welcome.

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YouthTruth is here!  Here is a “Cheat sheet” developed by Dave to help schools with survey implementation. Among the many things included in here are links to YouthTruth’s standard parental notification and opt-out form in English and Spanish. Reach out to Dave with questions.

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Educator Network Day is this Wednesday, January 10. Here is the info about sessions on that day. The admin teams from CHS, LPHS, MVHS and RHS are signed up to help this week. Please be sure to have teachers check in on this QR Code. Thank you for supporting these important opportunities for teachers to collaborate.

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UKG support: Part of our time together at the ALL administrator training on January 31 will be devoted to Q and A and refreshers related to UKG. We would love to know from you the area in which you’d most like support. Thank you for completing this brief survey to help us plan our time.

Reminders/Action Items:

From Paul in HR:

Principals & Supervisors: This email marks the time for us to pivot in earnest to our renewal/non-renewal and extension/non-extension process. BLS aspires to place the best teachers possible in front of students, and as such we want to be very deliberate in renewing third-year Probationary/Temporary status teachers. 

The primary means for removing underperforming Probationary/Temporary staff member before they reach Contract status is non-renewal of their contracts prior to the end of their third year of probation; once a teacher attains Contract status, separation of a deficient performer from the District becomes a much more labor-intensive process. 

******Please note a change in practice for Temporary 3 certified staff.  We are now required to follow all Probationary 3 practices for Temporary 3 certified staff. When you write a letter of support for a Temporary 3 staff member, then you are obligating your school to employ this person for the 2024/25 school year and beyond*********

If you have a third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff of concern, I trust that you have been in conversation with HR/Your Level Leader regarding the remediation measures that must be extended and completed before the School Board’s meeting in March, where the renewal/non-renewal process culminates. If you have not yet undertaken the requisite measures with a third-year Probationary/Temporary staff member that you don’t believe should be granted Contract status, we are fast approaching the point beyond which you will not be able to meet deadlines to non-renew that teacher.

As you may also recall from experience or new administrator training, those of you with third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff being recommended for Contract status need to generate letters of support for each one. The School Board wants each of us to be able to articulate the specific reasons any third-year Probationary/Temporary teacher should move to Contract status, and they take time to read every letter you prepare. 

Timeline

No later than Friday, January 5th: 

• You should have emailed[email protected] regarding any third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff about whom you have concerns with
• Met with and notified those staff member that they are being placed on Focused Performance Review (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
• Begun writing your letters of support for third-year probationary/temporary certified staff with whom you are recommending for Contract status

No later than Friday, January 26th

• Met with and notified third-year staff member of concern that they are being placed on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
• Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive

Resource Links

1. Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request) 
2. Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
3. Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
4. Rubrics for certified staff (link)

Information:

During the Educator Network Day next week, language arts teachers will be working on site.  Their task is to develop an aligned CDA administration plan for each grade level.  Completed plans will be submitted to Michele and Torie, who will collate and share the plans with you, Dean, and Katie.

These plans are being developed in response to the request from language arts teachers district-wide to set conditions for extrapolating meaningful data from the CDA.  Because meaningful site-wide, common assessment data results if administration conditions are aligned, teachers have been asked to develop a plan for each grade level at each site, and have been encouraged to align around the following topics:

1. a window of time for CDA completion
2. an agreement about how much class time to spend on the CDA
3. a plan for practices to avoid AI outcomes – (We strongly recommend students keeping a written record of their process (writer’s notebook), and handwriting a draft or the entire essay.  
4. an agreement about bringing in other sources, or deleting 1-2 sources, and what that should look like
5. a plan for counter-argument work, if applicable

Michele and Torie have been working with Dean and Katie to develop a clear plan for the next two years of CDA work in language arts.  Site-wide alignment on the when and how of CDA administration is the first step.  Information about the full two-year plan will be available soon.

Thank you so much for your support!

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Sources of Strength class for 2024-2025: Be sure to include this course on your online course requests (OCR) for this spring so we know how many students are interested. We will advocate for S of S with our grant partners after we know the level of student interest.

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From Stephen regarding COCC changes: As we move in to the New Year, we are excited to introduce the launch of COCC’s Office of High School Partnerships (OHSP). This office reflects a reorganization of the College Now program and other existing high school partnership programs. The goal for this office is to provide strategy, infrastructure, and support for COCC’s high school partnerships with a focus on accelerated learning opportunities. Our hope is that by centralizing efforts and resources around accelerated learning, COCC will be better able to support and expand opportunities for our K12 partners. As COCC’s OHSP continues to develop, additional information will be shared, including information on key initiatives and services provided. Below please find information regarding the OHSP team and an important note regarding recruitment and outreach work.

OHSP Team

• Krissa Harris, Director of High School Partnerships ([email protected])
• Erika Carman, College Now Program Coordinator ([email protected])
• Courtney Nolta, Instructional Specialist ([email protected])
• TBD, Career Connected Learning Systems Navigator (position currently open)

Please note, all recruitment and outreach efforts will continue to be managed by COCC’s Recruitment and Outreach team. This includes high school visits, admissions support, COCC campus visits, Preview Day and other events.

Recruitment and Outreach Team

• Kayleen Schweitzer, Assistant Director of Recruitment and Outreach ([email protected])
• Sarah Hopkins, Admissions Coordinator ([email protected])
• Sofia Stranieri, Admissions Coordinator ([email protected])
• Jill Ridling, Health Careers/Public Health Outreach Coordinator ([email protected])

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From Kinsey:

ASL Interpreters:

Wondering how to request an interpreter for American Sign Language (ASL)?   In your Linguist Link account, when you enter the “new project” page to make a new request, you’ll see instructions for accessing ASL support.  Please share this update with applicable staff.

CAFE Program:

Need an interpreter or translator in a pinch?  An updated list of CAFE Program members is available here (it also lives on the Portal’s Equity page, under ‘Employee Resources’).  You are welcome to contact anyone on the list, not just those at your site!  Please continue to use Linguist Link for the majority of your requests—CAFE members are bilingual staff who can support as linguists if you have a time-sensitive matter, but should not be relied on for these services regularly.  

District Family Nights:

Please mark your calendar for two upcoming events:

     –Wed, Jan 31st: Black History Month kick-off celebration

     –Thurs, Feb 8th: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

Both will be evening events with dinner included.  It would be great to have our leaders support our families by attending either or both of these events.  More info to follow—for now, save the dates!

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From Lora: In communications from the Education Foundation, I learned that the foundation received multiple classroom grant requests for calculators. We should consider calculators essential supplies for our students provided by their schools/the district, not supplemental or enrichment tools funded by grants. In the future, site administrators should not sign off on classroom grant requests for essential supplies.

If you are having difficulty financing necessary supplies for your students, please work with your level leader to identify possible budget sources for funding these.

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From Paul in HR:

Hello District Administrators: You may have noticed that you received a UKG notification a week ago regarding the start of the 2023/24 performance evaluation process for district administrators.  You simultaneously received a To-Do item to complete your yearly goals.  

During the October 25th district leadership meeting at Bend Senior High School, I reviewed with you how to navigate this process.  To further assist you, I’m including some resources below and will also be presenting this information during the January 31st leadership meeting at BSHS.  

• UKG Performance Evaluation Guide for District Administrators
• Slides from the October 25 BLAST training
• Goal setting tasks for administrators (1 min 56 second video)
• Staff member’s goal setting process (3 min 38 second video)
• Virtual Performance Q & A on Thursday, 1/11, from 10 am – 11 am.  Drop in at any time by Clicking here to join the meeting

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Updates from our Public Health Partner: Greetings Bend – La Pine Schools UpShift Teams! Welcome back to the second half of the school year. We have some important notifications and reminders to share with you:

Challenges in UpShift Roles or Implementation: If your school site is facing challenges filling UpShift roles or implementing the program efficiently (data tracking, finishing sessions, etc.), we are here to help. We will be coordinating with teams to schedule strategizing sessions as needed. Each school site should have:

·         Admin Support

o   Entering incident into Synergy

o   Coordinates disciplinary response 

·         An UpShift Screener

o   Could be the same Admin Support

o   Conduct 3-part screening tool

o   Route student to appropriate path of care

o   Contribute to tracking sheet

·         At least one UpShift Specialist

o   Delivers Teen Intervene to students and potentially families

o   Ensures survey completion

o   Contributes to tracking sheet

Care Solace (High Risk/Tier 3 Referrals): Care Solace has added an “UpShift Tab” that automatically populates when referrals related to substance use/addiction are entered. If you enter a substance use disorder (SUD) related referral into Care Solace originating  from the UpShift screening, PLEASE ensure to check the corresponding box (see example below).  

Survey Links Reminder

Another quick reminder about the survey links – the QR codes for the BLS student pre/post surveys and the family survey have been updated to Survey Monkey instead of Google Forms. If you are still utilizing the Google Forms links, please unbookmark them and switch to the Survey Monkey links.

UpShift Participation Tracking Forms: PLEASE ensure that your UpShift participant tracking forms (Google Sheets) are up-to-date as possible! Accurate tracking is crucial for effective program management and support.

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From Leah in the Business Office: UKG administrator reminder:

In the past, much of the BLAST time off was collected in a google doc. Since we now have UKG, leave must be requested and recorded in UKG. Please be sure to get those requests in before or during the time period that you are gone. Submissions after the timesheet has closed require an additional submitted form from you and are extremely labor intensive for the payroll staff. If you used any Non-contract time over the holidays, those requests need submitted asap, the closing day for this pay period is January 14. Instructions for submitting requests can be found on the portal Employee-How to Use UKG__Requesting Time-off.pdf . Please feel free to reach out to payroll with any additional questions. 541-355-1123 or [email protected].

Thank you from your payroll department

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From our College Board Partner, Kerry Stern: With 2023 ending, I wanted to send along one final AP district email with three quick, but important, items to close out the year:

1.       AP Access January Webinar: Which Courses Can Have the Biggest Impact for Students

2.       African American Studies – Available for All Schools in in Fall 2024

3.       Reminders for the Start of 2024

Please share this with your school sites before or after their holiday break. I am looking forward to what is ahead in 2024, and I am wishing you and your loved ones a joyous and restful close to the year.

AP Access January Webinar: Which Courses Can Have the Biggest Impact for Students? – January Webinar

Join us (and invite your school leaders) for an informational webinar and discussion on the role that AP African American Studies, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Precalculus, and AP Seminar can play in increasing access to advanced coursework.

              When: Thursday, January 25^th

Time: 3:00-4:00pm (PST) / 4:00-5:00pm (MST)

              Register Here

AP African American Studies – Available for All Schools in Fall 2024

After more than three years of work by scholars, teachers, and the Advanced Placement Program, I’m excited to share that the AP Program released the revised operational course framework for AP African American Studies this month. This framework will guide the full nationwide launch of the course in the 2024-25 academic year. This dynamic and robust course introduces students to the rich history, culture, and literature of African Americans and the larger African diaspora.

Below are some helpful resources as your schools consider adoption of the course, but please do not hesitate to reach out if there are any ways I can support conversations and considerations that are happening in your district.

·       AP African American Studies – Course Brochure

·       Course Framework – 2024-25

·       Exam and Project Details

·       About the Course (including details about how cost for teaching resources will hopefully not be a barrier for school sites)

·       Main Course Adoption Page

Reminders for the Start of 2024

• January 18: Deadline to submit accommodations requests and supporting documentation (if needed) through SSD Online for spring assessments. Learn more about accommodations.
• January 31: AP Course Audit deadline. Final deadline for initial AP Course Audit submissions, all renewals, removal of teachers and courses, addition of online/distance learning courses, and AP Course Audit form approvals for 2023-24 courses. Learn more about the AP Course Audit.

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From Jenn: Here is an informational flier with upcoming training and resources to support our LGBTQ students.

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From Kayla in Safety: Officer Chris Smelser started this week replacing Amy Ward at Bend High SHS. Here is the SRO folder for admin and OMs to reference for the most current version of our SRO documents: SRO Google Drive

Calendar:

Here is LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

January 8: HS Counselors visit Realms HS (1:30) and BTA (3:45)

January 9: HS Principal Planning Session Part 2 7:30-10:00 @ Realms HS

January 10: Educator Network Day

January 15:  No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17: Secondary Office Staff meeting (all office staff at your site attends) 2:30-3:30 @ Ed Center Board Room.

January 23: HS/MS 504 Administrator Leads training 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS Library

January 31: All Admin PD @ Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

February 6: HS Administrator work session, 8:00-9:30

To Do:

From Jess and Katie: High School Choice Options Applications and the area change request process are opening after the winter break and are due January 19, 2024.  Bend Tech Academy and Realms HS are inviting ALL high school counselors to come for an information session and tour to learn more about what unique opportunities are available to students at each of these choice high schools

The visit will take place on Monday January 8^th from 1:30-3:45 pm.  We will start at Realms HS and then transition to BTA.  

HS administrators, please prioritize and create time for your counselors to visit these two schools on Monday, January 8.  It is important for our HS counselors to understand recent changes to these schools and what opportunities they offer students!

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Information:

From Paul in HR:

Principals & Supervisors –

This email marks the time for us to pivot in earnest to our renewal/non-renewal and extension/non-extension process. BLS aspires to place the best teachers possible in front of students, and as such we want to be very deliberate in renewing third-year Probationary/Temporary status teachers. 

The primary means for removing underperforming Probationary/Temporary staff member before they reach Contract status is non-renewal of their contracts prior to the end of their third year of probation; once a teacher attains Contract status, separation of a deficient performer from the District becomes a much more labor-intensive process. 

******Please note a change in practice for Temporary 3 certified staff.  We are now required to follow all Probationary 3 practices for Temporary 3 certified staff. When you write a letter of support for a Temporary 3 staff member, then you are obligating your school to employ this person for the 2024/25 school year and beyond*********

If you have a third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff of concern, I trust that you have been in conversation with HR/Your Level Leader regarding the remediation measures that must be extended and completed before the School Board’s meeting in March, where the renewal/non-renewal process culminates. If you have not yet undertaken the requisite measures with a third-year Probationary/Temporary staff member that you don’t believe should be granted Contract status, we are fast approaching the point beyond which you will not be able to meet deadlines to non-renew that teacher.

As you may also recall from experience or new administrator training, those of you with third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff being recommended for Contract status need to generate letters of support for each one. The School Board wants each of us to be able to articulate the specific reasons any third-year Probationary/Temporary teacher should move to Contract status, and they take time to read every letter you prepare. 

Timeline

No later than Friday, January 5th: 

• You should have emailed[email protected] regarding any third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff about whom you have concerns with
• Met with and notified those staff member that they are being placed on Focused Performance Review (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
• Begun writing your letters of support for third-year probationary/temporary certified staff with whom you are recommending for Contract status

No later than Friday, January 26th

• Met with and notified third-year staff member of concern that they are being placed on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
• Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive

Resource Links

1. Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request) 
2. Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
3. Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
4. Rubrics for certified staff (link)

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From Scott: Season’s Greetings from IT,

Parents can take an active role in how and how often school issued iPads are used while at home. Sending the following information home may be beneficial before the long winter holiday.  

There are two device monitoring applications available for Bend-La Pine families. The application descriptions and set up instructions are linked below.  

1. Apple Screentime   Screentime is simply a group of features found in the settings menu on most all Apple devices.  Using Screentime is probably the easiest method to start for most families. Screentime allows parents to restrict applications and set time limits for device use.  Just remind parents to to turn off their “secret” passcode before the student returns to school! 
2. JAMF parent This application is installed on the parent’s phone and has a few alternative features that are not available in the screentime settings. It is important to note that any restrictions applied in JAMF parent will not function during normal school hours (7:30AM-4:30PM) Monday through Friday.

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From Jackie: Sustainability Updates

Holiday SOP

With the winter break upon us, it is time to remind staff about the Holiday shutdowns in schools. HVAC will be set to unoccupied mode in schools which means the temperatures will be set to 58 in the buildings. Please remind staff to shut down electronics, empty all mini-fridges and unplug them, close blinds, and turn down lights. The Raptor computers remain on for updates, but the screens can be turned off. The Standard Operating Procedures can be found here.

The Good of the Green Team

BLS has green team leaders in all but 5 schools this year and they are doing amazing work. Here are a few updates. Summit High students partnered with Miller to collect usable toys and are hosting a gift give for families at Bear Creek. Northstar, Ensworth, and Buckingham students completed waste audits to get baseline data for waste reduction efforts. Amity Creek is starting the 2024 school year with plates. BSH put waste stations throughout the school and Caldera Green team is inspiring students and staff to bring reusables to their pancake breakfast. The High School Green Leadership Coalitions wants to remind you all to have a great holiday and to reduce waste in how we wrap presents.

Thanks so much and I hope you all have a great holiday season.

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From Stephen: Mark your calendars for March 5^th as we host our first ever Life and Career Readiness night.  In partnership with Caldera DECA, we will be hosting a career fair type event at Caldera for grades 6th-12^th from 6-8 pm.  

At this event students can explore different career paths with representatives from a variety of fields, learn more about the new future-oriented website Schoolinks and learn about postsecondary paths including college, military, trade school, gap year, and the workforce. There will be both middle and high school student information available as well as food carts. We hope you and/or others from your site can join us. We expect a big turnout and there are already over 40 different representatives signed up.  

Please reach out to Stephen or Jess Calbreath with questions.

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From Jess and our counseling ICCL’s: BLS School Counselors will be hosting an “Academic Information Night” at the end of January.  As a school counseling ICCL, we thought it would be a great idea to do a districtwide event leading into “Forecasting.”  As part of our CSCP and district goals, we are focused on providing families with resources that support our students with their academic planning.

Forecasting is a huge part of our programming each year and falls in line with our responsibility to support students with their Educational Plan and Profile (updated four year plan each year).  While the forecasting process may look a little different at each school, the information and resources leading up to students selecting classes is very similar. We thought we would do a general event and then have breakout opportunities for families to as questions for their specific school site curriculum pathways.

After the break, we will have more information to send out and share with families in regards to this event once we get our documents from translation. We just wanted this to be on your radar!

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From Aimee and our Public Health Specialists: Hello, BLS District leaders. 

Below is family newsletter content the Public Health Specialists are distributing through middle/high school family newsletters with mental health promoting activities and conversation starters for winter break.  

English Newsletter Content

A break from school creates a unique opportunity to discover the simple things we can do to care for ourselves and each other. Click here for activities & conversation starters your family can try to calm, cope, and connect. Visit https://sourcesofstrength.org/ for more information.

Spanish Newsletter Content

Tener vacaciones escolares crea una oportunidad única para descubrir las cosas simples que podemos poner en práctica para cuidarnos a nosotros mismos y a los otros. Tilda aquí para informarte sobre actividades y pautas para iniciar una conversación que tu familia puede probar para calmarse, enfrentar las dificultades y conectarse. Para más información entrar a https://sourcesofstrength.org/

You’re welcome to use this content in the district newsletter or in elementary newsletters, but it may not be relevant to all schools because they come from Sources of Strength and not all schools have Sources of Strength. Thank you, Amanda and Lani, for developing this content!

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From Sean: Raptor Student Safe is a new platform to enter, collaborate, and track data round NSSI (non suicidal self injury), suicidal ideation (suicide risk screens) and behavioral safety (threat) assessments for school teams.

At the January 10 Educator Network Day, the Student Services Team will train school counselors, school psychologists, student success coordinators and nurses on how to enter NSSI and suicide risk screens into this system. After this END training, school risk screening teams will enter these screens into this system moving forward and will be better able to collaborate and track student safety concerns in their buildings. 

All building administrators have access to their school site(s). Here is the BLS Raptor/StudentSafe Navigation Walkthrough document. Please make sure that you can log in to Raptor StudentSafe (using your district email address, no password required). Any technology issues or related problems, please contact our district Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Jamie Gunter at [email protected]. 

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Calendar:

Here is LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

December 18-January 1: Winter Break

January 2: Classes Resume

January 9: HS Principal Planning Session Part 2 7:30-10:00 @ Realms HS

January 10: Educator Network Day

January 15:  No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17: Secondary Office Staff meeting (all office staff at your site attends) 2:30-3:30 @ Ed Center Board Room.

January 23: HS/MS 504 Administrator Leads training 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS

January 31: All Admin PD @ Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

To Do:

From Jenn: Please share this document with teachers on how to mark a lesson/activity complete in Wayfinder. Checking it off is part of a successful implementation to the program. In doing this, you will be able to see how the implementation is going in your schools as well.

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Here is a great one-pager on Family Engagement (ideas and measures) that Steve C. shared with us this week.

Information:

From Stephen and Dean: Here are the slides from the ICCL/Admin training this last week.

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From the Office of DEI:

Upcoming Dates:

Mon, Dec 11th: 

Spanish-language FAFSA Night (focused on 8th-12^th graders).  Invitation here​—thanks for helping distribute/promote as applicable!  

Tues, Dec 12th: 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day.  This is a holiday celebrated by many within the Latino/Hispanic Catholic community in particular.  For your awareness and scheduling, this includes evening church activities that many of our families attend.  

Family Liaison Team:

Here is the updated information about our team of linguistically- and/or culturally-specific Family Liaisons: English version, Spanish version.

DEI ICCL Representatives:

Don’t forget to connect with your school’s DEI representative about presenting to your ICCL team between now and January sometime.  See Kinsey’s email for details or reach out if you’d like to connect! 

Translation/Interpretation:

For any translation or interpretation requests that you’ll need completed/filled by the first week in January, please ensure you submit the request to Linguist Link before Friday, December 15^th to avoid incurring additional costs you may be responsible for.  

For example, if you plan to send a family newsletter or email between Jan 2-5, please submit that document to translation before winter break.  Please share this reminder with your staff.

Black History Month Save-the-Date:

Our Black Family & Student Union is organizing a kick-off event to launch February’s Black History Month.  The event will take place Wednesday, January 31st.  Mark you calendar!  

Also, please consider inviting the Equity Coaches to a staff meeting, SIW, ICCL meeting, or PLC gatherings in January to connect with your teachers about their plans for thoughtfully incorporating Black History Month themes into their instruction.  

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From Jenn: Filing Guidance (DHS & Suicide Screens) 

o    There has been some confusion with building administrators and support staff on where to “hold” forms after a completed suicide risk screener or DHS report. Here are some reminders:

o    Suicide Risk Screener with Safety Plan: Notification goes to principal, written form stays with the person who completed the screener and safety plan – typically counselor/psych/SSC. A copy should be sent by the staff member that completed the process  to April Jorgenson via BLSend or district mail. 

o    DHS Reports:  Written form goes to the working file of principal (or designee) and a copy is sent to April Jorgenson via BLSend or district mail.

o    The written record of both the DHS form or Suicide Risk Screener/ Safety Plan should never be placed in the student’s cumulative folder

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Office Manager/Staff Meeting Change:  Beginning with the January meeting, the format for the Office Managers will be changing to include the entire office staff at your sites. Since cross training is so important in our schools, participation in these meetings is helpful for all of your office staff.

Another key purpose for this time together is the importance of building community and collaboration across schools so we can support each other. Thank you for prioritizing these meetings with your school office staff.

Janet and Marta will send an email outlining this change in the near future. They will continue to send out the agendas prior to each meeting. As needed, principals will work with office managers to determine if any office team members need to stay in the office.

Here are the dates for upcoming meetings: Jan 17, March 6, April 17, and May 22. The secondary office teams will be meeting from 2:30-3:30. Locations TBD. Reach out to me if you have questions about anything related to this.

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From Heather Tang: Here are some important notifications and reminders as we near the Winter Break: Upshift. Adolescent Substance Use Doc 

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From Scott in IT: Greetings! We have a couple of items to share as we look toward winter break.

Signing into Synergy: This is the final reminder regarding a change of process for staff who sign into Synergy Mobile applications. From now on, be sure you choose  “Sign In with BLS” whenever you are given the option.

The regular Username and Password fields will no longer provide access beginning this coming weekend.

Video streaming tips for classroom AV: Now that all our schools have Apple TV’s available in their classrooms, there has been some confusion about how best to stream video.   Apple TVs use  “Apple Airplay” to share what is on your computer with your classroom projector or flat panel TV. It is a very handy service that allows teachers to project wirelessly.  However, Apple Airplay does not support most video streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.   It is important to note that this is a function of Apple Airplay that protects image quality and unintended buffering (delays).  NO, this is not a district setting that can be enabled or changed 😊.   On the rare occasion that video streaming is necessary in the classroom, teachers must use the HDMI cord and dongle that was originally provided with every classroom AV system. 

Does your classroom have a ceiling mounted projector? Be sure to unplug your HDMI cord from the wall plate and store it when not in use.  Wall plates are easily damaged by feet and vacuums.  Not to mention, they will cost your school $500 to replace if damaged! 

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From Dave Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help schools with survey implementation. Among the many things included in here are links to YouthTruth’s standard parental notification and opt-out form in English and Spanish.

Calendar:

Here is LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

December 11 and 13:  KT in all day bargaining

December 12: HS Principal Planning Session 7:30-12:00 @ Caldera room 105; breakfast and lunch provided

December 18-January 1: Winter Break

January 2: Classes Resume

January 9: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ Realms HS

January 10: Educator Network Day

January 15:  No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17: Secondary Office Staff meeting (all office staff at your site attends) 2:30-3:30 @ Ed Center Board Room.

January 23: HS Administrator Work Session

January 31: All Admin PD @ Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

 

To Do:

Be sure your Task Force input gathering responsibilities are completed today!

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From Jess and your counselors: Spanish Speaking Financial Aid Night will take place on Monday December 11 at 5:30 pm at Bend Senior High School. Your amazing Latino Family Liaisons are working on getting the word out to families and even making some personal phone calls to ensure that we are reaching as many folks as possible. 

Please make sure your families are aware of the event and consider having an administrator from your school attend the event 😊. This shows support for your students!

Thank you to COCC, OSU Cascades, Kinsey and all of the Latino Family Liaisons for taking on the heavy lift to help organize this event!

Reminders/Action Items:

Youth Truth: Kick-off webinar video (11 minutes) should have been watched by November 24th. Click HERE if it’s still on your to-do list!

Counseling: School Counseling Blog

Safety: Updated SRO List as of 11/14/23.

Information:

From Kinsey:

From the Office of DEI:

Upcoming Dates:

Thurs, Dec 7th: 

First night of Hanukkah.  Please avoid scheduling events this evening.  Also, there is a public Menorah lighting at the Old Mill the evening of Dec. 7th—details here.  Please consider attending and/or encouraging your staff to attend if interested in supporting this community celebration.  

Mon, Dec 11th: 

Spanish-language FAFSA Night (focused on 8th-12^th graders).  Invitation here​—thanks for helping distribute/promote as applicable!  

Tues, Dec 12th: 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day.  This is a holiday celebrated by many within the Latino/Hispanic Catholic community in particular.  For your awareness and scheduling, this includes evening church activities that many of our families attend.  

Family Liaison Team:

Here is the updated information about our team of linguistically- and/or culturally-specific Family Liaisons: English version, Spanish version.

DEI ICCL Representatives:

Don’t forget to connect with your school’s DEI representative about presenting to your ICCL team between now and January sometime.  See Kinsey’s email for details or reach out if you’d like to connect!  

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From Stephanie Bent: HERE is the Bend-La Pine School’s First Aid/CPR school roster through November 21, 2023. 

According to EBBA-AR, all employees are expected to know where first-aid supplies and equipment are kept in their work areas. Each school shall have, at a minimum, at least one staff member with a current first aid card for every 60 students enrolled. Names of the first aid cardholders will be posted. 

Nurse Michelle Spetic has taken over the first aid/CPR classes but Stephanie Bent will continue to run the reports.  Please contact Michelle or Stephanie, if you have questions.

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From Ryan in HR: As we head into the winter season, we want to ensure everyone is aware of our guidelines related to inclement weather.

HERE are the Inclement Weather Guidelines for the 2023-2024 school year, which detail the guidelines and procedures to be followed in the event of severe weather conditions.

To stay informed and receive timely updates, please subscribe to BLConnect so that you can receive notifications via text.

To learn more about how weather-related decisions are made, visit the BLS inclement weather page: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/news-events/alerts-updates

Please, let me know if you have any questions.

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From Paul in HR:

Performance Module 

Goals For Certified Staff:

• All certified staff were expected to submit goals through UKG by December 1.  If you haven’t engaged with your staff to complete this task, please do so the week of December 4th.
  • Classroom teachers are required to submit SLGG goals and their UKG form is organized as such
  • Everyone else is prompted to submit goals but are not asked to submit SLGGs
    • Jennifer Hauth has emailed a goal template for Student Success staff for them to copy, complete and upload to their UKG goal form
    • Josh Marks has provided a goal template for Speech staff to do the same.  All Speech teachers are now pointing to building administrators for performance related tasks (goals, mini/formal, self-reflection and summative evaluations) 
    • If a staff member has not been provided with a template from someone who oversees their program, then they are to follow the instructions within UKG to provide their own personal goals for the year

Upcoming optional virtual Performance drop in sessions:

• Monday, 12/4,  from 10:00 am – 11:00 am (Click here to join the meeting)
  • Essential Resource: UKG Performance Module Overview Document

IMPORTANT: Evaluation and Non Renewal Reminder

Secondary HT Presentation on Managing Deficient Performance  (link)

If you have a Probationary 3 or Temporary 3 staff member of concern, this is another reminder that you should have already entered into the Focused Performance Review process with that person AND emailed [email protected].  Here is another method of viewing the P3/T3 staff that you are responsible for.  

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From Tami:

How to Register for CPR/First Aid Training/Renewal Course for BLS Staff

• UKG
• My Info (drop down menu, 3 stacked lines upper left side, above your initials)
• My Career
• My Learning
• Access Learning (upper right side)
• Training (top black menu bar)
• Courses
• First Aid (on right side)
• Click on First Aid Link 
• Click on green Enroll Now button

Online Course

Once staff have registered for the CPR/First Aid course, staff will receive an email with a link for the online course portion of the training. (If you do not receive a link within the next business day, please check your junk email. If it is not in your junk email, please email Michelle Spetic at [email protected])

In-Person Skills Training

Once the online portion of the training is completed, staff will receive a Google form to sign up for the 20 minute in-person skills training.

Certification Card

Staff will receive an email with your CPR/First Aid certification card within 1-2 business days after completing the in-person skills class.

List of Certified CPR/First Aid Trained Staff at Your Site

Stephanie Bend sends out quarterly reports to all schools that include cpr/first aid certified school staff names.

OAR 581-022-2220 –  Health Services

Each school shall have, at a minimum, at least one staff member with a current first aid/CPR/AED card for every 60 students enrolled, as set by ORS 339.345, and 342.664 and who are trained annually on the district and building emergency plans. Emergency planning will include the presence of at least one staff member with a current first aid/CPR/AED card for every 60 students for school-sponsored activities where students are present. (This includes field trips.)

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From Dave Van Loo: Here is information regarding Oregon’s state testing notices and forms that we are required to provide to families. One change this year is the SEED survey is required to be made available to all students in grades 3-11. There is a SEED notice and opt-out form that is separate from the OSAS notice and form. You will see that the opt-out process is much more relaxed for SEED. At a minimum I would recommend posting documents on your school’s website and providing a link in a newsletter.  

OSAS 30-Day Notice and Opt-Out Forms for 2023-24

Per ORS 329.479, “At least 30 days prior to the administration of statewide summative assessments, a school district or public charter school must send to parents and adult students a notice about the statewide summative assessments.” This statute also requires ODE to “establish a form to excuse a student from taking a statewide summative assessment.” Based on the 2023-24 testing windows, districts and public charter schools must distribute the 30-Day Notice on or before the following dates: 

• January 8, 2024 for Grade 11 

• March 4, 2024 for grades 3-8 

ODE has updated the combined 30-Day Notice and Opt-Out Forms in English, Spanish, and 12 additional languages for the 2023-24 academic year. All forms are published as both fillable and non-fillable PDFs within the “Forms” menu on the Test Administration page.

Additional information is available in section 5.3 of the Oregon Test Administration Manual (TAM). The TAM and forms and many other resources are available here. https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/assessment/Pages/Assessment-Administration.aspx

SEED Survey, Notice, and Opt-Out Form for 2023-24

In 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23, schools and districts chose whether to offer the SEED Survey to their students. Beginning in 2023-24, in compliance with HB 2656, districts must make the SEED survey available to all students in grades 3-11 who are enrolled in Oregon public schools or programs. SEED notification and opt-out forms must be shared at least 5 days prior to administering the survey.

The SEED Survey gathers data from students statewide, in grades 3-11. The content of the survey varies by grade level. The survey measures student perceptions in four core constructs: • Access to learning resources • Opportunity to learn • Self-efficacy • Sense of belonging

More information on the SEED survey can be found on the SEED survey webpage.

https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/assessment/Pages/Student_Educational_Equity_Development_Survey.aspx

Contact Dave with any questions.

Opt out English. Opt out Spanish. Seed Notice

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From Jennifer:

Care Solace and Winter Break Messaging

Some administrators have asked for accounts for Care Solace in the past but we are now creating accounts for All admin. This week you will receive an email from Care Solace asking you to create an account with a password. Currently, school counselors, student success, school psychologists and nurses are trained to do “warm handoffs” and to make referrals. If you would like to be trained, please let me know or one of your trained staff members can show you in a few minutes. Also, you will have access to the admin dashboard to see the reasons why students and staff at your school are seeking referrals for mental health support. Please continue to promote Care Solace (Spanish) via newsletters to families and staff often. 

Signature Line to promote Care Solace and resources

Out of office MessageFamily Spotlight Winter Messaging for December 6th: Please feel free to use text for your own school newsletters.

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From Amanda Gylling: Middle/HS Admin,

Not trying to fill your inbox…just sharing what elementary admin are navigating on the fly and figure you probably are as well (or you may be steps ahead…if so, ignore this). Teachers can’t do any of these steps until we as admin have started the process for them.

To do this:

Step 1:

Step 2:

After it has been initiated, THEN they should be able to see it in their bell.

If someone has learned how to initiate all staff with one click, please share!

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From Scott in IT:  Google recently made a change to their sign in mechanism that better complies with federal CIPPA rules.  Beginning this week, they require school districts to verify any applications or websites that require students to sign in with Google. In readiness, our district performed this pre-verification work beginning last summer.  Because our primary methods for signing into applications are either Microsoft or Clever (for most student applications) our list for Google was very short. In fact, Google has never been our preferred sign in authentication provider for any application or service.  

In IT we anticipated that there would be users who would need direction to alternative log in methods. Unfortunately, there were two other factors that were more difficult for us to predict:

1. Students and teachers were accessing our known licensed apps using Google regardless of the instructed preferred methods.  This is understandable, as there can be a bit of automatic reaction when you see “sign in with Google” vs lesser-known alternatives.
2. There were a multitude of applications that were neither known by Instruction or IT in use in our schools. These applications were not pre-verified.

I hope that this helps many folks understand the situation and I would encourage you to review the preferred log in methods for essential applications that you use in your classroom or position. If this method is not known to you, reach out for support in the following order:

1. Check with a colleague who also uses the application.
2. Look for guidance from training materials or the Instructional Tools website.
3. Reach out to an instructional coach or the IT Help Desk.

Finally, there are some limited examples where we may need to temporarily enable Google Sign On. If you feel you have something that requires immediate attention, please contact Scott McDonald.

Calendar:

Here is LINK to the SIW Calendar and HS administrator work sessions and agendas for 23-24.

December 5: ICCL/Administrator Planning in Perseverance Hall @BSHS

December 12: HS Principal Planning Session 7:30-12:00 @ Caldera

December 18-January 1: Winter break

January 2: Classes Resume

January 9: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ Realms HS