Hello From Zach and Roger
Hey, Crew! We hope you are all having fun and memorable vacations. Before we get to the updates and logistics, here’s what we’ve been up to!
Roger – Camping, the Coast, and California… those are the three C’s of summer so far. Just missing the C for Canada this year! Lots of playing in the waves and now I am (finally) dusting off my mountain bike and getting back on the trails – fun! More adventures yet to come.
Zach – I spent 10 days “back east” where Cat and I celebrated our engagement with family and friends, which was wonderful. ALSO they surprised me with tickets to Fenway Park for my birthday! (vs. Yankees, with rain delay and a dramatic 10th inning!).
Meet Our Growing Team!
Wow, good news, our team is GROWING! We are excited to introduce several new staff members to the team. Actually, we have about as many NEW staff as we have returning Realms HS folks – so our team is doubling!
Recently Hired:
- Danny Diamond – Math/Science Teacher
- Greg Norris – PE/Health Teacher
- Tyler Running – Social Studies Teacher
- Brandon Russell – SPED Case Manager
- Makaela Thompson – Math Teacher
- Kristin Utter – Counselor
- Brittany Warren – SPED EA
Joining Us From Skyline:
- Renee Hamilton – Spanish
- Greg Oliver – Online Student Support Specialist (POLO)
- Steve Reeves – Social Studies
- Kem Templin – Campus Security & Restorative Practices Support
- Rob Wooldridge – English & Construction CTE
Still To Hire:
- New Curriculum & Counseling Secretary
- New SPED EA
- If you know of god candidates for ANY of these positions, PLEASE let Roger or Zach know ASAP!!
Check out our FULL STAFF LISTING here.
Informal Summer Social Opportunities!
Want to get together and meet some of our new team members, swap summer stories and generally revel in the fact that we are still a month away from school?!
We are inviting you to two OPTIONAL summer social opportunities in the coming weeks. No pressure to attend but it might be an awesome way to get to know each other, welcome new folks and get excited about the year to come.
Tuesday August 3rd at Crux Fermentation. 5:00 – 6:30PM.
Wednesday August 11th at Bevel. 5:00 – 6:30PM.
Extra Duty Openings – We Need You!
ICCL: Instructional Coach & Curriculum Leader… ASAP!
We have 4 ICCL positions for next year! This is a REALLY important role at Realms High School! Given our emphasis on core practice 35: shared leadership, we believe in and have created ICCL routines and practices to ensure that this team has an important influence on school direction!
We would love a balanced team: some “pre-existing” RHS teachers, former Skyline teachers and even new to Brinson team members are encouraged to consider this. There is a qualification on the job description that stipulates you must be a “contract teacher” in BLS (past probationary 1-3 status) however this is NOT a requirement. The Bend La Pine Official Job Description (including pay) and Link to Application are here. Our ICCL team typically meets weekly (before or after school) to direct and plan professional development, collaborative staff wide and departmental planning, and other critical school wide initiatives! If you are interested, give Roger a call (541-390-8685) or send an email ASAP!
Yearbook Coordinator & News Staff Coordinator
We have the green light to add either or both of these positions for next year. In the past, our yearbook has been tackled by whoever has some time and motivation, but life would be better for all of us if this was a position! We have ALSO talked about having a student run government and/or student run newspaper/announcements and the News Staff Coordinator could be a position to make either of these happen. If you are interested in EITHER of these positions, please let Roger know ASAP. Both positions pay at Step B of the Extra Duty Stipend Scale.
Intramural Supervisor – Kem Templin
Excited to have a person on board who can help us direct/coordinate after school clubs and activities! Many of our students are interested in club and intramural activities. Thanks Kem!
Activities Director (for Intensives) – Jen Rule
Jen has been our logistics coordinator for Intensives. With more students and more staff, Intensives will be, well, more intense! Jen’s role is to help coordinate and manage. Thanks Jen!
Master Schedule & Teaching Assignments
Zach, Roger and Jen have been working on the master schedule this summer and are currently in the middle of building individual student schedules to make sure “everything works”. We expect to finish that process this week (week of July 27) and get things “locked in”. For now, you can expect a few changes!
Regarding Electives… you will see in the master schedule above that there are some as of yet unnamed elective courses (in red) that some of our teachers have in their schedules. We need to get these locked in soon! STAY TUNED for more info from Zach on this. In the meantime, you can see the list of possible electives we put on our forecasting survey to 10th – 12th graders and the numbers of students that signed up for each. Take a look, and if you have an unnamed elective in your schedule, please start thinking about what YOU are most interested and qualified to teach! It is not critical that the electives we offer are on this forecasting list, however they are the best place to start!
If you have questions about this our master schedule, please let Zach know – he is in charge of the master schedule process! [email protected]
Major Dates Calendar
Our “major dates calendar” has been published to the District and to families and the Excel version is on the District website here. I prefer this Google Sheets version as it includes more detail!
- As a choice option school Realms HS has permission to take a couple of extra non contact days each year for professional development around our EL Education goals and work plan.
- Our trimesters are a little different than Bend Tech’s trimesters. We made these decisions to try and account for Intensives, Student Led Conferences and more.
- More to come on the internal Google Sheets version of our calendar
Major Dates: Family Excel Version
Major Dates: Internal G-Sheets Version
Facilities Related Deets
Room Assignments – Given our expansion and new staff, a few room switches were inevitable… we have tried to keep as many existing staff in their current rooms as we can while at the same time re-arranging dy “departments” (ish) and making space for our new team members! Here is the CLASSROOM MAP.
BIG THANKS TO DENNIS – In addition to deep cleaning the whole building this summer, Dennis has jumped into the job of moving classroom contents for any teachers who have to move classrooms this year (you are in red on this map).
New staff – accessing campus: If you are new to the Brinson campus and want to spend some time in the building getting the lay of the land, feel free to contact Roger or Zach and we can get you in…. and even get your building key signed out to you!
August Trainings & Opportunities
EL101 – New to Realms High School and new to EL Education?
EL Education is central to our mission as a choice option school in Bend La Pine. The District pays for our contract with EL and this includes both on site and off site professional development opportunities for members of our staff.
We are offering two “EL Education 101” trainings for new-to-RHS staff members (they are the same, hoping our new team members can make it to one OR the other!). These are strongly encouraged, though not required. In these trainings you will dig deeper into some of our “Core Practices” at EL, including the Three Dimensions of Student Achievement, Crew, Student Engaged Assessment, Learning Expeditions and more! The trainings will be co-facilitated by Tony Altucher (our EL Education School Coach) and a combo of Zach Harju and/or Roger White.
- Session/Option 1: August 17th & 18th (Tues/Wed). 8:30am – 2:00pm
- Session/Option 2: August 24th & 25th (Tues/Wed). 8:30am – 2:00pm
$100/day time-sheeted stipend.
New-to-RHS staff, please RSVP here so we know if you can attend or not!
Restorative Justice Training
FROM ERIC POWELL: Here at the Ed. Center (Room #224) we are hosting a Restorative Practices training for staff August 19-20 from 9am to 3pm each day.
Certified staff could potentially use this as an opportunity to fulfill their Day 189 and 190 requirements.
SIGN UP HERE: IIRP Training LINK
Feel Free to Say Hi at Basecamp Starting Aug 2nd!
We have 40 or so 9th graders (with a handful of 10th graders sprinkled in) enrolled in our summer Basecamp at RHS this August. Basecamp will be held August 2nd – 5th and 9th – 12th starting each day at 9:00AM and ending by 1:00PM.
Thanks to Karla Luff Lopez for coordinating and to Anita, Seelig, Kat and our new SPED teacher Brandon for jumping in to lead the work…. it should be awesome! If you want to see their agenda, CLICK HERE.
If you want to stop in and meet some kids or say hi, PLEASE FEEL FREE… I know that our 9th graders would love to meet some of you!!
Back to School Dates For Staff
We are still awaiting details from the District on how the normal before school Work Time, PD, Planning is going to rll. If you remember, last year we had a delayed start to the school year due to Canvas and COVID, and next year’s certified calendar has yet to be released!
Know that certified teachers will be expected in the building Tuesday August 31st – Friday September 3rd. There are a couple of more “contracted days” beyond those, but again, we are awaiting more info from the District.
Monday August 30th is “New Teacher Orientation”, usually run by the District, and on that Monday the RHS returning staff USUALLY uses the day for in house planning and classroom set up time.
Again, stay tuned for more details as soon as I have them!