Hello From Roger…
Hey, Crew! I hope you are all having fun and memorable vacations. After last school year, we ALL deserve some serious recuperation and rejuvenation. I hope you have been able to find some of that this summer.
July went quickly (too quickly!) but for me, but there were lots of highlights: 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.
I am excited about the upcoming year
Meet Our Evolving Team!
The Realms Middle School team is growing, and as you know, there have been some changes!!
Goodbyes:
- Dirk Matthias – now at Caldera HS as an ELL Specialist
- Karen Holm – retired!
- Todd LaFrenz – leave of absence to grow Forge
- Brian Endter – transferred to Bend Technical Academy
Welcome To Our New Hires:
- Brenna Netzky – Social/Emotional Learning EA
- Delaney Morse – Special Education Teacher
- Ian White – Mind & Body
- Melissa Gerner – 6th Grade Math
- TBD – Attendance/Curriculum Secretary
- Ali Boyum – SPED EA (.5) – just hired!!
Transitioning Roles:
- Lynda Beauchamp – Dean of Students (1.0)
- Amy Anderson – Student Success Coordinator/Clinician (.7 FTE)
- Caleb Campbell – increase to 7.5 Hr Educational Assistant plus XC Coach and Activities Director (used for fieldwork coordination and support)
LINK TO FULL RMS & RHS STAFF LISTING (w/ details)
Other Duties and Responsibilities
Instructional Leadership Team (ILT)
- Eric Beck and Amy Anderson as ICCL stipended members of the ILT
- Lynda Beauchamp and Roger White as Admin members of ILT
Cross Country Coaching Team
- Caleb Campbell – Head Coach
- Molly Alles – Assistant Coach on a Sports Associate Stipend
After School Supervisor – AVAILABLE!
Excited to have a person on board who can help us develop/direct/coordinate after school clubs and activities! From leadership to Magic The Gathering to new and innovative after school program ideas this person will be tasked with coordinating (not necessarily delivering) after school programming. This includes reaching out to teachers and students to get kids involved after school and also ensuring good parent communication, clear programming and liaison with office team. PLEASE CONTACT ROGER IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. Extra Duty Stipend Scale Level D ($2500-$3000) per year.
Canvas Coach – AVAILABLE!
It is looking like we MAY be able to pay a Canvas Coach again this year to help ALL of our staff be as effective as possible in our use of Canvas. This includes planning and facilitating workshops on specific elements of Canvas that are important to our approach at RMS, coaching new-to-Canvas teachers, as well as providing troubleshooting support to individual teachers through the year. STILL AWAITING DETAILS FROM THE DISTRICT ON PAY ETC FOR THIS. STAY TUNED.
Activities Director (for Fieldwork) – Caleb Campbell
Caleb will work with any teachers planning to organize fieldwork experiences for their students. Caleb will be the liaison between the teacher and the office. Caleb will support fieldwork planning by reserving busses, helping the teacher coordinate calendars, schedules and staffing, ensuring our fieldwork planning protocols and timelines are met, ensuring timely and clear communication with families et. Caleb will also be available as a fieldwork instructor and bus driver!
504 Coordinator – Amy Anderson
With support of our SEL EA Brenna Netzky, Amy will wrap the role of 504 Coordinator into her role as Student Success Coordinator/Clinician.
Tier 1 iPad and Tech Support – Lynda Beauchamp & Office Team
Lynda and Kelly will work with our Site Tech (Robyn Lyman) on all our iPad related issues. If you have other tech woes (doc cam’s projectors, laptops) you can also check in with Lynda and Kelly and they will liaison with Robyn to get you answers!
Master Schedule & Teaching Assignments
Our Master Schedule is finalized! During the drafting process we worked closely with the staff feedback that we gathered last Spring and did our best find ways to incorporate and honor the thinking you all did together. As you know, Master Scheduling is ALWAYS a juggle of inter-connected compromises… however overall I think this schedule advances some of our goals around “equity of load” for teachers, simplicity/sustainability for students, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, provides a good container for us to meet the academic and social emotional needs of our students! Here are a few salient facts/highlights:
Crew:
- 8 Crews: 3 at 6th and 7th and 2 at 8th (8th gr can access BN as a 3rd teacher as needed)
- Crew meets 3 x’s per week
- We are piloting Project Wayfinder as a supplement to our existing Crew Curriculum. There will be training on this curriculum during our return to school Inservice Week
Classes, Prep, and “Planning Load”:
- Most of our classes will be 75 minute blocks (possibly 70 depending on final start/end times and bussing)
- There is also a 45 min block (for Crew or Enrichment) each day after lunch
- On Wednesday, periods are shortened to 60 min
- Science, Math and Humanities meet 4 x’s/week (6th gr Math is 5x’s) while Art and MiBo meet 3x’s per week
- There are no Workshop classes, although we have created a new class called Enrichment, which meets 2x’s/week (1@75 min & 1@45 min) – more on Enrichment below
- We do have a 1x per week Tech class for 7th and 8th grade. Lynda/Roger will work with Jake to flesh out the plan for this (curriculum? graded or not? etc)
- All full time teachers have AT LEAST 5 preps per week
- We attempted (unsuccessfully) to ensure all teachers have 1 prep/day. Teachers with less prep have fewer “planning loads” and will receive fewer “daily duties”
RMS MASTER SCHEDULE – BY CLASS
RMS MASTER SCHEDULE – BY TEACHER
If you have questions about our master schedule, please let Roger know ASAP!!
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!
Major Dates: Family Excel Version
Major Dates: Internal G-Sheets Version
Speaking of Calendar – Here Comes Outlook!
In an effort to streamline some calendaring systems with the rest of the District, our office team will be using OUTLOOK as the calendar tool for keeping up our “Realms Staff Internal” calendar and will no longer use the Google Calendar to enter events. You should ALL have received an email inviting you to the “RMS Staff Internal” calendar which we will be using for scheduling meetings, fieldwork outings and events etc. etc. etc.
Why? Quite simply, the rest of the District uses Outlook and many meetings are “booked” through Outlook calendar invitations. Also, using Outlook allows you to see the availability of other District employees you might want to meet with. Outlook is also the default email app and integrates more seamlessly with the Outlook calendar.
Does This Mean I Can’t Use Google Calendar Any More? Actually, no, you CAN still use Google. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it, but that’s JUST ME! Outlook calendars and Google calendars CAN talk to each other.
Should I use the Outlook Web App or the “Desktop Client”? Up to you! Personally, I use the Outlook Web App and I always keep one tab (Chrome, Safari whatever) open with the calendar and one tab open with my email. There is a desktop app for Outlook, but I find it clunkier to use! Both work, you choose!
More Info On Outlook available on BLSD Staff Portal Here
Facilities Related Deets
The good news is that we have increased the number of teachers/EA’s at our school 14 to 17 this year! This means more talented, passionate adults to support the academic achievement and social-emotional growth of our kids!
The tricky thing is that it ALSO means we need to find space for everyone, and we all know our campus was ALREADY pretty tight! So, here is the plan:
The Office:
- now includes our photocopier and staff supply zone in Kelly’s office
- RW and LB will share an office (since RW will be at the HS half days)
- yep – the office will be (very) crowded and busy, so please be mindful of your conversations, your activity, and… of course, confidentiality!
The Student Success Center (formerly SRC and Staff Room):
- the west half of Casa is being re-formatted to house our Student Success Center
- still divided in half, with half being focused primarily on academic support (including SPED) and the other half on social/emotional and mental health support (including BRYT)
- 4 team members in the SSC are Delaney (SPED), and a half time SPED EA on the academic sides, and Amy and Brenna on the SEL side
The Lab:
- our desktop Mac computers are too old to function and have been retired
- we are in process of re-formatting this classroom to be the home of our new 6th grade math teacher
August Trainings & In Service Week
EL 101 Training For New-To-Realms Staff (MS & HS): 8/24 & 8/25
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 an “EL Education 101” training for new-to-RHS staff members (they are the same, hoping our new team members can make it to one OR the other!). This is strongly encouraged but not required. In this 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 (VP at RHS) and/or Roger White.
- August 24th and 25th (Tues/Wed) from 8:30-2:00.
- $100/day time-sheeted stipend.
- New-to-Realms staff: please RSVP here so we know if you can attend or not!
The BLSD “Innovation Conference”: 8/25 & 8/26
BLSD is hosting two days worth of PD and trainings at Pacific Crest. You can register for either or both days RIGHT HERE (PD Place). College credit and PDU’s available.
I have asked for more detail on the different workshops and will send it out and post it here once I get it!
Our Contracted “In Service Week”: 8/31 – 9/3 (plus 9/7)
As usual, our contracted In Service week is the week before Labor Day. Returning teachers are on a 190 day contract and new teachers are on a 191 day contract.
- For new teachers, Day 191 is the “extra day” on Monday August 30th for new staff orientation/training.
- For ALL teachers, Day#190 is a choice PD day that you can do before or during the school year
- Our “All Teachers In Service Week” is Tuesday August 31st – Friday September 3rd
- Tuesday September 7th is also a Work Day; AND, 6th Grade Orientation Day
OUR INSERVICE WEEK SCHEDULE IS HERE.
More details will be added as we get closer.
OK – What’s Up With Enrichment?!
Do you teach an Enrichment course in your schedule? If so… read here! If not, read anyway, you’ll want to be in the know!
Enrichment is a new (somewhat recycled) structure in our schedule that can be thought of as almost a blend of Electives and Workshops from the past. There is some work as a staff to do around finalizing all the details and procedures on this, and our ICCL team will take the lead, but here’s what has been envisioned so far:
Please feel free to add/edit this document with suggested Enrichment classes and use comment feature for other ideas/questions!
Wondering About COVID Related Policies Etc?
A lot is still UNDER DEVELOPMENT on this topic at the District level and I will have more to share as we get closer, however here is an excellent Google Slides primer on what the District has decided and is planned in terms of updates/changes this year with respect to COVID.
There are lots of Realms Middle School site specific details to work out: lockers, lunch/breakfast, arrival/departure routines, hallways, seating charts etc. I have begun drafting plans for these and will share during In Service week!