Happy Thursday everyone. November and December are two of our most fragmented months of the year. Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Winter break really cut into valuable learning time. For that reason, maintaining momentum with instruction and community building is important, as routine, predictability and safety is comforting for students during the holiday season, when many of them struggle.
Updates, Reminders, Info and Rants…
Things to Share or Do section – just a reminder that at the end of this blog post we will try to isolate those things that definitely have to be shared with your staff.. This doesn’t mean you can’t share other things – that’s your decision. We just want to make sure everyone gets certain things out.
Subs – We probably don’t have to tell you that despite our best efforts, we are still facing shortages of subs most days of each week. We hope this situation will improve with new subs being onboarded, bonuses being offered, and decreasing COVID rates, but FOR THE TIME BEING: The district has suspended ALL school-day professional learning activities for staff who need subs. Our expectation is that staff will also not be approved for school-day professional learning provided by partners like the ESD or other private providers. If you have anyone who has scheduled a day out for PD they will need to cancel that absence. Please reach out if you have any questions.
HB 3294 – Very recently, we were made aware of HB3294, the Menstrual Dignity Act. You can read the details of the Act here. Maintenance will be installing feminine hygiene dispensers in a couple of your student bathrooms. I know this might cause some alarm but it is needed and is required. We have asked them to install the dispensers but not stock them quite yet. They will be empty for a while to allow students to get used to seeing them and also allow us to decide on a messaging approach. I should have gotten this information to you sooner but I thought I had some time before they were getting installed. I apologize.
From April – It’s time once again to start working on leave sheets (the period is shorter this time due to the holiday week approaching). The time period that we are recording leave for is 10/18/21 – 11/07/21. Those with electronic calendars (administrators) can fill in their calendar and let me know when they are done. Everyone else (paper leave sheets) can send me their leave sheets or email me with their dates of leave and I can fill them out for you. If you did not take any leave during this period (10/18 – 11/07) just let me know and I will note it. We are required to turn in a leave sheet whether we have taken leave or not.
From Lindsley – We have been working with OSU for four years to improve the content of their literacy courses, including a focus on in-class experiences with students. I am looking for a site to host the Reading Content course for the OSU interns in January and February.
If you are interested in hosting this for five half-days on Fridays, please read below for more information.
- I will be working with a teacher to provide the interns with an in-class experience for each session lasting about 60 minutes. This would include a 15 minute, whole group, mini-lesson (taught by me or teacher) while the interns observe and 45 minutes where the interns would work in small groups with students. It will include 23 interns.
- I will work with the interns for the remaining three hours in a common space. This could be an empty classroom, media center, common space, or the HVAC room.
- This will include some of our instructional coaches so that they can practice their coaching skills with the interns.
- I will work hard not to impact your school. You could ask Rochelle how this went in the past at Pine Ridge.
- The dates are January 14, 21, 28, and February 11,18.
- The times would be 8:00-11:50 a.m.
Contact Lindsley Gehrig if you are interested by November 11th
Regarding STAS – We want you to be aware of some structural changes with the STAS (Student Threat Assessment System) in Bend-La Pine. STAS now falls under the umbrella of Student Services that Eric Powell, Assistant Director of Student Services, provides for our schools. Eric and Sean Reinhart are leading that work and part of the regional team.
From Eric Powell: With the new changes for STAS within our district, I am happy to jump into this role to support our STAS efforts. For School Administrators, School Psychologists, and School Counselors, this STAS 101 document can serve as a good point of reference for any STAS-related questions. Here is the link: STAS 101 (BLS)
We will be having a STAS training facilitated by Misty Groom on December 1 & 8 (from 1:30-4:30pm) in our Special Programs Secondary ‘Cafeteria’ for all NEW BLS STAS staff (downstairs at the Ed. Center). I will be sending out an Email to all required staff about these training opportunities. We can also invite interested administrators wanting a deeper refresher on the process. Staff can choose to attend either the December 1st or December 8th training opportunity (we wanted to offer two dates to work around as many scheduling conflicts as possible).
Don’t hesitate to reach out to Eric if you have any questions. He is a valuable resource for us all.
Things to Share or Do…
Be on the lookout for an email tomorrow from HR – This email will be very specific about the necessity of all staff to follow covid guidelines (improper mask wearing is the biggest compliance issue) and the role we have as leaders to follow through with disciplinary actions when staff are not following the guidelines. We all know the rules and we are now going to hold people accountable who don’t follow them. We just want to be sure you see the email and follow the guidance in it.
Evaluations – Here is the agreed-upon evaluation process for the 2021-22 school year. A couple of important notes:
- Both the number of observations and the evaluation domains and standards have been adjusted. Note that for certified staff “of concern,” administrators can use additional domains and standards, with proper notification to employees.
- ODE JUST provided additional guidance on SLGG’s, stating that one should be related to academic progress and one related to SEL. At the bottom of the one-pager is a link to a resource document from Dave.
- Administrators need to review the adjusted evaluation criteria and the required number of observations with their staff.
- Here is a link to the SLGG form
From Scott Bojanowski – Thank you for showing the SRP (Standard Response Protocol) brief training video to your school staff this fall. If you forgot to document the day you reviewed the video, click here to document that. As a reminder, the following are Standard Response Protocols: Lockout, Secure, Evacuate, Shelter, and Hold. In Bend-LaPine, we use the I Love U Guys Foundation program.
We now need to provide the full one-hour training to new employees and any staff that may have missed the full training this fall, or anyone that just wants the full training as a refresher. Any new hires since January 2021 need to attend one of the training dates below, between now and May 2022. These training dates are in PD Place on the portal for sign-up and they will receive one hour of professional development for attending. Please contact your new hires and have them sign up for one of the following trainings.
WHEN: Choose one of the following dates: 11/10, 12/8, 1/12, 2/9, 3/9, 4/6, 5/11
WHEN: 3:00-4:00, one hour in-person
WHERE: Ed Center room 314
Amazon Shopping – Because of some inappropriate material that has started appearing on Amazon we are blocking the Amazon shopping website for students. This will only apply for students so teachers and staff will still be able to access the site.
Flu Shots – please remind staff about flu shots. Maybe post the shot schedule in several spots in your building. Let’s try to keep our staff healthy and at work.
Review the new observation and eval criteria – just a reminder that administrators need to review the adjusted evaluation criteria and the required number of observations with their staff.
Calendar
- SIW schedule
- Horizontal Meeting Schedule
- Tammy and Skip visitation schedule
- Monthly checklist
- November 4 part II of Restorative Practices, 3:30-5:30
- November 2-5 – Skip is out
- November 7 – fall back!
- November 8 – Horizontal Meeting 3:00-4:30 @ High Lakes (this time we really mean it)
- November 17 – admin training day 1:30 – 3 and elementary admin happy hour 3:30 – 5. More info to come
- November 11 – Veterans Day – no school
- November 12 – potential sub shortage – review your personal leave limits
- November 22-26–Thanksgiving Break, No school
- December 13 – Horizontal meeting – location TBD
- December 15 – Horizontal leadership – Critical Friends protocol for Design plans with Lora – 1:30 – 3:30, location TBD
- January 1st – SLGG’s due
And Finally…
Don’t forget to change your clocks on Sunday!
