October 9, 2020

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Happy Friday Everyone.  It’s been great to get into some of your schools this week. If you haven’t signed up for your visit please do so as quickly as possible.  Also, please sign up for Paul’s Covid Checklist meeting.  My meetings are a time to check in with you on some basic things such as your calendar, schedules, budgets and then to just discuss what is going well,

Now for the ever exciting update…

Horizontal Meeting Schedule – I called a few of you to get a feel for continuing Horizontals on a weekly basis.  The consensus was that keeping weekly meetings would be a good idea with the understanding that I will cancel liberally as needed. So until further notice please keep Monday from 3-4 reserved for our Horizontal meetings.

Monday 10/12 Horizontal Meeting– you are going to get a separate email either later today or this weekend with directions for Monday’s horizontal.  At this meeting we’re going to take some time to go over some of the regular topics (please send me if you have anything you want to cover) and then we’ll transition to a breakout room exercise around standards of practice for administrators.

20-21 EBISS  – As we start to think about what EBISS might look like this year we have had a team working through a few recommendations for screeners, progress monitoring, interventions, decision rules, etc.  These are a work in progress and are meant to provide teams with a conversation starter.  I would like to meet with each school EBISS teams to discuss your plan and any supports you might need.  Please sign up for a visit here. 

TLC Elementary Update – you will get this link via email but here it is now.  This is a whole separate update and it has some really important information you should be aware of.

For your parents –  There will be a parent/caregiver Lexia session next Wednesday, October 14th from 1:00-2:30.  We will record this session.  Let your families know and send families this link.  The session will also be recorded for later viewing. 

Mini Observation news and guidance from Jon – As you know, we agreed with the BEA to have a committee work on our Performance Evaluation Manual and make recommendations on what should and shouldn’t be evaluated in a CDL model.  For now, we are going to put SLGSs and Evaluations on hold until we get the committee’s recommendation.  We have received several calls asking if principals should be doing mini observations and/or formal observations.  You are welcome to start observations.  We realize that some teachers are a little anxious, to say the least, about being observed on Webex.  This is a great time to remind teachers that we use a collaborative/coaching model for observations.  We are here to help improve instruction and to facilitate a positive learning environment so that students can grow, succeed, and achieve.  We can argue that teachers need more support now, than they have needed in the past.  Also, don’t forget that TLC has developed some classes and materials for teachers that need some support.  We’ll get through this together.    Thanks.

Evaluation info – ODE has recently shared guidance regarding Educator Evaluations for 2020-21. Here is a copy of this guidance. As a reminder, the district is going to pull a team of teachers, BEA, building and district administrators together to discuss any modifications that may be in place for us this year. 

Threat Assessment News from Misty – If staff have previously attended the Threat Assessment Training, it is only necessary to participate in a 1 hour refresher course as part of Best Practices for Threat Assessment.  I would like to work with each of you in securing a date for this.  

If there are new staff that will be participating in Level 1 or Level 2 Assessments (i.e. school admin, school counselors, psychs, SRO. etc) they will need to receive the full threat assessment training – 1 full day.  

We are partnering with John Van Dreal who created the Student Threat Assessment System through Salem Keizer School District that we use regionally to put on a 1 day training in November (date TBD) for our schools.  This may be a virtual training or in-person depending on the county metrics at the time.  I will provide more details as I know.

Please let me know a date/time for your teams that works best for a STAS refresher in the near future.  I would like to break these into smaller groups (i.e. La Pine area schools, middle schools, etc). 

Also, I will need to obtain a list of new staff who will need the full STAS training.  Again, this training will be for new admin, counselors, psychs, and SROs.  

Call or email Misty if you have any questions.

WebEx News… Through the efforts of Scott McDonald and Vince Valenti there will be a big change coming with how Webex is set up that will improve security for teachers using Webex with their students.  This change has not occurred yet, but it is expected within the next week.  It may be a good idea to begin sharing this information with your teachers.   There has been a high level of frustration with Webex “bombing” in the past few weeks so most will see this information as very good news.  

This is what’s happening with the changes…

The students will log into Webex in a similar fashion to how teachers log into Webex. 

The teachers will have “host” accounts.  These accounts allow them to schedule and create sessions.

The students will have “attendee” accounts. These accounts will only allow them to attend sessions.

Users from outside the district will not be able to attend Webex sessions that are created by teachers.   

Look for new instructions for how students will join Webex meetings in the next few days.  By the way, the next update of Webex will also have the most requested item by teachers.  A mute button that students can’t unmute! 

Metrics Info – Here is a page on our district website that would be a nice one to bookmark and share with your staff. Recently added to this page is a very simple and clear metric chart that highlights the individual metrics per week, as well as the potential first day we could return in a Hybrid format. 

As you are aware, the special invitation ODE meeting earlier this week didn’t reveal any new changes to state metrics or ODE guidance related to schools opening. Jim Boen found a couple of sentences in the Portland Tribune (Oct. 7, 2020) that caught his eye. Governor Brown was quoted as saying: “Our Oregon health experts together with school administrators will be reevaluating our school metrics in the coming weeks, and we’ll have an update for you on that very soon.” Asked if “reevaluating” meant lowering the benchmarks for schools to reopen, Brown indicated the answer is yes: “We’re still exploring this issue, but I think it’s fair to say that the statewide metric, frankly, is quite challenging for communities around the state. And my top priority is to make sure that we get our kids back into school safely.”  Hmmmmm.

Conference Update – As most of you know, the district is cancelling formal conferences this fall. In our Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL) model, staff are making frequent informal contacts with families. We believe continuing CDL on October 28th, 29th, and 30th will be the most valuable use of those days.

For some classified staff, particularly educational assistants, these dates were not included on their work calendars. No staff members can be REQUIRED to report on these dates if they weren’t scheduled as work days. However, if a school or program administrator believes they need EA’s to support student learning on these dates, with the approval of a special programs administrator or a level leader, they may invite staff to report to work. EA’s who work on these dates can timesheet their additional hours.

Calendar modification – Due to the change in fall conferences, our district’s calendar has been updated. Here is a copy of the calendar, with this change indicated. It will also be posted on the website soon, if not already.  In case you get questions: 

  1. Our printed calendars, arriving in the mail home to families any day, includes the no school/fall conference days in October. 
  2. An updated version, which shows the change, is available on the website: English and Spanish

LIPI – Considerations for selecting students for limited in-person instruction (LIPI) should follow the same guiding principles as selecting students for interventions within your school MTSS/EBISS system.  The building MTSS/EBISS teams will study student (all students) data on an ongoing basis in the area of attendance, behaviors, and course performance (secondary) or subject proficiency (elementary).  The teams will also consider course requirements and the feasibility of meeting those requirements in the CDL setting.  Please use this document as a guide.  Once you come up with a plan please share it with me.  Also, remember to start small and involve teams in the plan creation.  Asking teachers to teach CDL and LIPI is not possible so get creative with staffing and scheduling.

LIPI transportation info from Kim – Thank you for all the LIPI submissions! Our drivers are excited to be back with students. I have had quite a few questions regarding LIPI and our process- I am listing below the most common questions and answers. 

  1. Do we need to find out if the student needs/wants a bus ride prior to submitting the LIPI form?   Yes!  With routes changing daily and weekly, routers start putting routes together as soon as we receive a submission. Deleting a student creates quite a bit of additional work.
  1. How do families receive their bus stop times? We give each family a phone call. Typically, the afternoon before their first day. This is another reason deleting a student is difficult, families would need to be called again with updated times.
  1. Can we make last minute additions- this family really needs services? Unfortunately, No. Routers need the lead time to put this together. Routing is very complex with different students each day. 

Here are the links again to the form. You must use your Bend La Pine google account to sign on. 

MS/HS: https://forms.gle/4kXkXqmMQft4QpQF6  

Elem: https://forms.gle/gHMoq4V16tyqdnXv6 

Attendance – please remind your teachers about the attendance procedures.  As a refresher here is the link to the practices we need to follow – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uUAEIIge-0NPPJf1XAGQ8MaeLglX17MJxo710XL0_u4/edit

LIPI Attendance Information from Becky – Here is some information that you should share with your attendance secretary and teachers.  

LIPI Students Onsite Schools now have students onsite.  These students may have been onsite last week as well. These students should have the PV absence code removed when they are onsite.  The absence code should be blank (indicating the student is present and onsite).  The students are onsite at the most, 2 hours.  Remove the PV absence code on…

  • Middle and high schools:
    • The section(s) and/or teacher associated with the visit  OR
    • The section(s) that is closest to the time the student is onsite
  • Elementary schools
    • The homeroom section either the AM or the PM, depending on when the student is at the building  OR
    • The section(s) and/or teacher associated with the visit (either the AM or the PM)

Your teachers can remove the PV code.  If you want your teachers to remove it, please let them know.  The PV codes populate during the Mass Change Attendance process, early in the morning.  Removing the PV absence code ahead of time is not an option right now.

More LIPI students onsite in the future? Yes, probably.  The LIPI may broaden to help additional students.  We will work on a process to help with the attendance piece for these students as well.  Stay tuned!

Blank absence code = Student is present and onsite.

Tamarack and Transition Co-op students at the Education Center:  We will begin to use the Groups with Mass Change Attendance as planned for the hybrid schedule.

Kindergarten Exclusion Day info from Nurse Tami – After consulting with the Immunization Program Coordinator as well as the Communicable Disease Program Supervisor from Deschutes County Health Services, Bend-La Pine Schools will not exclude kindergarten students who are not up-to-date on their immunizations during the yearly Kindergarten Immunization Exclusion Day scheduled on  Thursday, November 19th.  Due to the increasing COVID-19 case counts in Deschutes County, students not physically attending school yet, and the possibility of reporting requirement changes, we felt that it would be best to cancel the kindergarten exclusion day for 2020. *Kindergarten Exclusion Day is not a state-wide mandate but a school district mandate. 

As of right now, the yearly Oregon state immunization exclusion day is still scheduled for Wednesday, February 17, 2021. 

Please continue to educate families on the importance of having their student current on all of their immunizations.

Vaccination is a highly effective, easy way to keep your family healthy. On-time vaccination throughout childhood is essential because it helps provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases. – CDC

News from Dana – Our community partner, the Assistance League of Bend, is working to help fill the gap with clothing since Operation School Bell is not taking place this fall.

We would ask that you promote these free events through your social media or school newsletters.  (We have an MOU with this partner.)

English Flyer

Spanish Flyer

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