This and That:
Staffing: A few staffing updates:
- Melinda Brown will be taking a leave of absence to support her mother-in-law who has recently entered hospice. Melinda’s last day will be this Friday and she anticipates being out through early January. We will miss you, Melinda, and will be sending you and the family good thoughts.
- I am thrilled to announce that Sara Borman will be starting in our open SPED EA position on Tuesday. This should help provide some much-needed relief. Please give her a warm welcome!
- We are currently in the midst of a screening process for our office manager position. We hope to narrow the field to 2-3 candidates and hold final interviews this Thursday afternoon.
SIW Schedule: SIW this week is School Discretion. I meant to make last week a “payback” week for the open house events that classroom teachers have been hosting throughout September. So… this week will be team time for those positions that do NOT participate in the after-hours open house events and an option to leave once students are out the doors for those positions that have participated in open house events. Please see Kelle if you have any questions.
Substitutes: Unfortunately, we are already experiencing sub shortages. Below is what that currently means for us. For the most part, our sub situation will work very similar to last year:
- Buildings are not allowed to request subs for professional development at this time. We will have to look to after school options for PD. I will share some alternative options with you all soon.
- Continue requesting subs via the normal Subfinder request process and/or through Sue.
- There are only 5 district subs hired by Bend-La Pine to cover elementary and secondary. These subs are only deployed for last-minute positions that have not been filled and can not be requested or plugged in ahead of time.
- If a position doesn’t fill, we will have to look internally to figure out how to cover that position (which usually impacts other services in the building.) For that reason, please avoid taking a last-second leave unless it absolutely can’t be avoided.
- Staff are responsible for arranging subs ahead of time for their personal days.
Teaching and Learning:
TLC Update: Here is a link to this week’s TLC Update. A couple of highlights to check out: support for getting started with Newsela, and a social-emotional/ well-being checklist for students & adults,
COVID/ Safety Related Information:
Questions/Concerns about COVID-19 related matters?: Please follow this flowchart. If in doubt about what to do, you can always check with Frank or Kelle. Frank is our Safety Team Lead, and Ann Hollenberg is our School Nurse. Here is a link to our COVID anonymous safety concerns form.
To Do:
(High Priority) Vaccination Survey from HR: 100% of staff need to complete the Frontline vaccination form they received via email this past week. If you cannot find the email from Frontline, check the “clutter” and “junk” folders in your email as we have seen it go to all three places. This survey asks staff to upload their vax card or their waiver form. *Note from Kelle-Please reach out if you’d like any support with uploading your documents – I’d love to support you.
Master Schedule Updates: If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to update the Master Schedule and Wednesday Master Schedule with your intended curricular blocks by Wednesday 9/29. The Master Schedule link is at the top of the Eagle Essentials website and the 2021-2022 Standards of Practice links can be found on the right-hand side of the TLC Blog to help guide you. Additionally, please be sure to show the following blocks of time on the schedule: Dreambox, Lexia, Number Corner, Templates. I am planning to start mini observations during the first week of October and want to be able to target specific times of the day. The first observation will likely be during template time.
Committee Sign-ups: The long-awaited committee sign-ups are finally ready. As we discussed during in-service, we are going to try something different this year. I am asking every staff member to sign-up for as many committees that excite you (all certified must choose at least one). Because ICCL is a paid position, if you are on ICCL, please choose at least one additional. Classified staff – I’d love to have you be a part of these teams as well. Because most of them will be meeting after your hours, I have money set aside to timesheet you for the additional hours. Some of the committee titles are in red and some are in black. The committees in black do not need any more people to sign-up. Committees in red can add anyone who would like to join. Please sign-up here.
Important Dates:
- SIW Schedule for the year
- Tuesday: Lockdown drill, ICCL meeting
- Wednesday: SIW,
- Thursday: QPS/ IPS (you have been contacted if this applies to you this week)