Updates, Reminders, Department Info and Rants…
From Lora – New ACR process update: Historically, building principals have had the right to revoke Area Change Requests (ACR’s) if they had concerns about students’ grades, behavior, and/or attendance. In reviewing our ACR policies and practices, our district leadership determined this practice is at best open to inconsistent application and at worst subject to bias. Whether students come to our schools as neighborhood residents, ACR recipients, or inter-district transfer students, they should be considered part of our student population and be treated equitably. Therefore, the district has decided to discontinue the practice of revoking (taking back after being approved) ACR’s.
Summer Tech PD: Interested in bringing computer science to your school? Check out and share this CS Fundamentals workshop offered by code.org and the Central Oregon STEM Hub. Tuesday, August 16th. Workshop fee is waived. Lunch and $250 project pay available to elementary teachers attending in-person. Space is limited to 30 participants.
From Kinsey: District Equity Stance: Now that each horizontal group has had time to discuss the first draft of the district Equity Stance, we’d love to capture any additional feedback you’re willing to offer! Draft here, and feedback tool here.
from Kinsey: District pronoun pins: We now have Bend-La Pine Schools’ pronoun pins for your lanyards! See this image. These are entirely optional, for folks who want to demonstrate allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community and who feel prepared to model responding to ‘why pronouns‘ if asked about their pin (don’t forget you can link that webpage in your email signature if you’re interested, too). If you want one, connect with your building’s LEAD Cohort rep or GSA advisor. We don’t have enough for our entire district workforce yet, so we’re starting with key leaders, to launch support and dialogue.
From Kinsey: CFEE Workshop: Coaching for Educational Equity is a truly impactful and intensive experience that will definitely change your perspective on education in Oregon. It’s two-day version, “Taking It Up,” is wonderful, but the full four-day version is a pretty unique experience. To date, many of our administrators, and some teacher-leaders, have attended CFEE. We would love to see everyone attend.
We have two more opportunities coming up this summer–8:00am-3:30pm, virtual format, costs covered by district, 4 spots left for each of the following sessions: June 27-30, or July 19-22. First come first served–please reply to me ASAP if you’re interested in one of those dates!
A Reminder from Lora re: Personal Days – According to our collective bargaining agreement, certified staff may NOT take personal leave the last two weeks of school (June 6-17), unless there are “unusual or highly extenuating circumstances.” If you have a certified staff member request personal leave during that time, PLEASE MAKE SURE to forward the request to HR. We want to be consistent about what is approved. Additionally, remember the limit for personal days is 5% of your teaching staff. For most of you this is 2 teachers.
The Red Zone – things to do or share
A reminder from Lora – we are rescheduling our final session of preparing to lead equitable schools to Monday, 5/16, from 3:30-5:00 in the boardroom. This may cause conflicts for some of you. Just let your level leader know if you will be unable to attend. Otherwise, we’ll see the rest of you on the 16th! Chapters 7-10 are the assigned chapters for this meeting.
Transfer interviews and Video Stream interviews – Tammy and I have just a couple more teachers to place and then we will be giving you permission to start the interview process for some of your open positions. IMPORTANT – before scheduling any interviews please review the list of people who participated in the transfer interview process or submitted responses via interview stream. I am sending you an email Friday with direction on how to access these names. We have some wonderful people who are current staff members who would make a great addition to your school. Please consider them.
IPads and Summer: The End-of-Year iPad Checklist has been added to the BLS Summer iPad Plan. Ideally a staff member at each school will be given time to walk students through these end-of-year steps to clean up storage and update the iOS. As always, reach out to instructional technology or your school’s site tech with any questions. Please note, all students doing summer school need to keep their iPads this summer and will not turn them in.
Calendar
- SIW schedule – this is the newest version
- Horizontal Meeting Schedule – there have been changes – check it out now!
- Monthly checklist
- May 16 3:30 – 5:00 – For Principals – Leading Equitable Schools training. Board room
- June 17 – Last Day of School!
And Finally…
Just because you need a laugh…