August 13th

Leadership Launch Revisited

We were excited to see everyone for the Leadership Launch on August 5th/6th. The slide below captures our theme for the year: Thriving Staff.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be asking each department to shape a plan to amplify staff/stakeholder voice, utilize feedback loops and create meaningful professional development opportunities. Here are some of the slide decks presented during the two days:

Please make tentative plans for all COO Ops leaders to meet four times a year on Wednesdays October 9th, January 15th, March 12th and April 23rd from 2 pm – 3:30 pm. Our core team of Doug, Scott B, Scott M, Kim and Walt will discuss this topic further when we meet on August 15th.

Managing Performance – Investigations

All BLAST members that serve in a supervisory role are expected to attend a professional development training titled Managing Performance – Investigations put on by our legal department and our human resources team. This PD session will be delivered on three separate occasions, from 12:30pm – 4:30pm, on August 15^th and 19^th. To help HR manage group size and verify attendance, please choose the training you will attend HERE.

Taking It Up – August 20th and 21st

To sign up for the August Taking It Up sessions, sign into UKG and follow these instruction for August 20 and 21. I’ll be a table leader during these two days and look forward to seeing some of you there.

Taking It Up is a provocative 2-day seminar focused on helping us align language, knowledge, and build our collective understanding and skills to interrupt systems within our schools that are creating barriers for our students to access education, and by working together we are able to understand and interrupt the institutionalized barriers that hinder the elimination of the school district’s racial achievement disparities. The focus on working from the inside out will challenge us to step out of our comfort zone and create new entry points for becoming aware of, understanding, and interrupting inequitable policies and practices in ourselves and in our schools.

Departments

Custodial

The team has been busy completing gym resurfacing with a new finishing product and getting offices ready for clerical/admin staff returning to buildings.

The custodial team is working with the facility request team to tighten up cleaning guidelines for Park & Rec programs.

Safety

The safety team has fully moved into their new space on Brinson (@REALMS campus). They, along with their SROs, attended a state and national conference in July. BLS is viewed as one of strongest SRO programs in the state. A MOU has been signed allowing SRO’s restricted access to camera footage directly connected to a school investigation.

The Campus Safety Monitor position descriptions were updated in the spring and new training for them will be rolled out in stages over the course of the year. Discussions are taking place about having Monitors being supervised by the Safety Department like the custodians report to the Custodial Department.

Facilities/Maintenance

Phase 1 of the BSHS modernization project is fully underway with no delays due to the auditorium demolition. The auditorium demolition has taken down the north and west walls as of 8/13. The east wall and the stage/fly loft are the next areas to be demolished. Obtaining safety clearance for staff to be able to return to the front office, the production kitchen and the Commons in the coming week(s) remains a top priority.

Elk Meadow and LPHS exterior rekeying is close to completion. A new work order system rollout is underway.

Transportation

Thank you Maintenance for “spiffing” up our location for the Winnie the Pooh event 🙂

IT

Land Use

Sharon and Doug obtained a grant for $125,000 from the Metroplitan Planning Organization (MPO) to pay for the design a multi-use path near High Desert Middle School and to construct a part of the path (segment 2A) near High Desert Middle School. The plan is to seek additional grants once designed. 

Important Calendar Events

Upcoming Events

• August 15 and 19: Training: Managing Performance–Investigations, 12:30-4:30

• August 27: District Welcome Back! An interactive whole school event. 8:30-10:00

• September 4: First Day of School