Thank you for the quick turnaround on the WINN Program. I know this was a lot to ask. It seems like I have been making a few of these requests recently. I might need to make a deposit into my “I need to ask a favor” account soon because the balance is probably getting low. On the topic of WINN, I know some of you might be wondering just how long this program will be running. Right now the answer is until the end of the year. But next week the governor might upend these plans – we just don’t know. To somewhat prepare for something that might not happen, please complete this information doc.
Department News…
From Kinsey Martin – With conferences approaching, prioritizing appointments that require interpreters will be important. Please work with your Language Specialist to coordinate blocks of time that your building will need an interpreter for each language spoken by your families. The specialist will submit your building’s preferences (before spring break) and we’ll work to fill with interpreters. Some adjustments may be needed to ensure coverage across buildings–we aim to have all adjustments finalized by April 2. Thank you for your flexibility and support for this!
Spring Break Meals – Please share with your families that Nutrition Services is planning to have 3 grab and go sites (Bend High, MVHS, and La Pine High) on Monday, March 22nd from 11:30-12:30 for Spring Break. We plan to serve 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 5 suppers in 1 bag on that day. If you could spread the word to the building administrators that would be great!
From Dave VanLoo – Students and principals have been loaded into NNAT3 and we believe the system is ready to go.
From our Tech Department – This is a “to do” and “reminder”… Don’t forget (for yourself and your staff) to use BLSend whenever you are sharing student information electronically. If information needs to be shared that includes more than one piece of student information (name, assessment results(s), other identifiable info) then this should not be sent via regular email (Outlook) – but rather BLSend.
Another from our Tech Department – Here is a reminder – and call to action – from IT regarding technology security…
Our MFA info can be found at the portal page here.
If admins are using their personal mobile devices for district email, and they don’t get MFA set up by April 1, they will lose that ability until they get MFA setup. I think it’s important to note (as Brad said yesterday) this MFA requirement isn’t just coming from IT. This is something required for district cybersecurity insurance.
Our Help Desk (ext 1200) and our team of IT field techs are available for MFA support. I’ve also asked the techs to check in with their building admins to see if they need any additional MFA support.
From Becky Rehwalt – FYI your office staff got this info from Becky this week. Students in the 4th and 5th grade that will begin attending on Wednesdays should be added to the Synergy ‘Wednesday’ Group, SC-W. These students are also assigned to Group SC-MTh or SC-TuF in Synergy. On the days a student is scheduled onsite the PV absence code will not be assigned. Attendance should be done for WINN students like other in-person days.
From Instructional Tech – Our Instructional Technology Team has done a bit of rebranding and will now be known as the BLS EdTech Team (to avoid confusion between IT for Instructional Tech, and IT for Informational Tech.) They’re also excited to start sharing a bi-monthly newsletter, BLS EdTech Bytes. You can find the first edition linked here. Administrators who use the web version of Outlook will find it contains an easy & useful tip this week…so be sure to check it out for that and other exciting topics.
Updates, Reminders, Info and Rants…
Retention – We expect more inquiries than normal about retention this year. This is to be expected because some parents are concerned with lost learning time. To help your staff navigate this topic during conferences Kelle H. shared the message she recently shared with her staff. I would suggest that everyone share something similar.
Here’s Kelle’s message:
- DO NOT BRING UP RETENTION. If a parent brings up retention, listen to their concern and let them know that you will talk with me.
- Retention is a topic that often comes up at conferences.
- We have heard more than the typical interest in retention for the next school year.
- Retention will be handled the same way as in past years.
- Teachers should not bring up the topic of retention at conferences.
- If a parent brings up retention, the teacher should listen to their concern and let them know they will talk with the principal.
- All retention conversations should start with the principal.
- If a parent is seriously interested in retention, they can initiate the process by completing this form.
Specialists and conferences – since conferences are virtual this year this makes the participation by specialists a bit difficult. Here are a few options you might consider:
- Has your specialist been working extra to help out with duties and extra projects? If so, consider trading some time with them.
- Would it be helpful for your specialist to host grade-level, virtual open houses or info sessions for parents?
- Do they need time to create asynchronous lessons and time to get ahead?
- Maybe a combination of all of the above?
Make sure you plan ahead with your specialists and if you have any questions or other ideas send them my way.
Summer school interest survey – Please have any interested staff complete this summer school survey.
Field Trips – Unfortunately we are unable to have any types of field trips this year. That would include class trips to neighborhood parks or nature areas. We need to be able to control the areas we are ensure the safety of our students. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Visitors – A reminder that visitors this year are very limited. Except for a small group of people and organizations, our buildings and classrooms are off limits. If you have any questions about this or are getting any push back please give me a call.
Kindergarten – Like last year we won’t be able to do our traditional kindergarten registration and welcoming campaign. Alandra is planning on a district-wide postcard campaign that will provide families with information on Kindergarten so hopeful that will spur registration. This is still in the planning stages but as soon as a draft is ready I will share it with you. In addition to the postcard, what other ideas do you have to replace our traditional practices? We will take some time on Monday during Horizontal to brainstorm and share ideas. The goal is that we have a collection of activities that each school is doing or can choose from.
Dreambox and Lexia – just a reminder to keep monitoring the dashboards of each and have conversations with teams or individual teachers about usage. These two systems are what we are leaning on for student data. If students are not using Dreambox and Lexia we cannot make informed decisions. If you need any help with these systems just let me know.
Calendar
- Sunday 3/14 – Don’t forget to turn your clocks forward one hour this Sunday morning!
- Monday 3/15 – 3:30 – 4:30 Horizontal
- After Spring Break – we will be having Horizontal every Monday. Every other meeting will feature a guest presenter – Julie, Dave, Kinsey or Sean.