From Steve Cook:
Dear Team,
I have a couple of announcements before we head off into spring break that I wanted to share with our district and school leaders. Two moves of note are the following:
- Tammy Doty has been promoted to executive director of elementary schools and is now a member of Cabinet. While it is atypical for me to appoint people into positions, after multiple conversations with our chief human resources officer and our deputy superintendent, it became abundantly clear that Tammy’s levels of responsibility mirror those of the current level leaders. Tammy will be among the leaders choosing the second executive director of elementary schools, who will begin in the summer of 2023.
- Back in November, we commissioned a departmental review of our DEI department, including our ELL services, to give us a better picture of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the two departments. This review was conducted by the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators. (This report in its entirety is available upon request.) It contains some very important points of feedback and recommendations, along with several commendations. The weaknesses and opportunities were not surprising to us, but external recognition of those assessments was valuable. Most of the opportunities for growth, improvement, and system recommendations tie directly to increasing resource allocation. As a result of these recommendations, I am moving forward with the following staffing changes/additions:
- Kinsey Martin will become the executive director of policy, advocacy, and equity (job description here ), reporting directly to the superintendent.
- The district will post the position of director of multilingual services (job description here).
- The district will post four half-time positions for a team of LEAD/Equity TOSA’s (coaches) (job description here).
I am excited that these steps will directly support our goals and also reflect our deep and growing commitment to promoting equitable experiences and outcomes for all our students, as well as better serving our multilingual students and families. I would also add a very strong vote of confidence in the work of Kinsey Martin, for keeping up so much of this critical work over the past couple of years. As you will read in this review, she has been integral throughout this process. And while Skip Offenhauser’s retirement is a loss, I believe that the elementary leadership remains in capable hands with Tammy Doty’s skills as a building and district leader, as well as her deep knowledge of elementary instructional practices.
Best, Steve
Updates, Reminders, and Department Info…
From Kinsey re: Multilingual Staff Evaluations and Staffing – Just a reminder that I am supporting a portion of mini’s and formals for each Language Specialist, Mutilingual and LEAD TOSAs, Dual Immersion Coaches, and probationary-status Dual Immersion teachers. For itinerant Language Specialists, let me know if you want to coordinate end-of-year evaluations differently than in prior years.
Family Liaisons are not on a formal evaluation cycle this year, but feedback conversations are ongoing–always feel free to send me feedback (concerns, appreciations) throughout the year on your site’s assigned liaison, as it is helpful for me in supporting their work across buildings.
Multilingual staffing/school assignments for next year may shift slightly—there are several retirements, etc, on the team, as well as population shifts across schools. I’ll be in touch with each principal to talk about any changes to your site, but in the meantime if you have ideas, questions, etc, on multilingual staffing or services please reach out!
From Kinsey re: Dress Code – Right after spring break, the LEAD/Equity TOSAs will have a student mini-lesson ready for you regarding the dress code. I would recommend reserving some time at a staff meeting in early/mid-April to conduct the actual lesson with your staff, as it provides a great opportunity to discuss bias and to calibrate your interpretation of the rules together. That would also allow your teachers to become familiar with the lesson before teaching it to students. The lesson is geared for 6th-12th grades, but easily accommodated for 5th grade; a family letter will be included as well. As the weather warms up, proactive conversations with staff, students, and families about clothing choices will help avoid misunderstandings, surprises, or unintended harm—thanks for your partnership.
Upcoming ICCL/Admin Collaboration:
- When: April 4th
- Time: 3:15-5:15
- Where: Various locations listed below
Purpose: Share a promising practice with colleagues around Tier One Culture and Climate or Tier One Instructional Practice (specifically foundational skills). Choose what you share based on a goal you have been working on as an ICCL team this year.
| Host: Bear Creek | Host: North Star | Host: Silver Rail |
| HighlandJuniperAmityEnsworthBuckingham Facilitator: Julie/Kinsey | Lava RidgeWestsidePonderosaHigh LakesMiller Facilitator: Skip/Colleen | La PineRoslandThree RiversJewellElk MeadowPine Ridge Facilitator: Tammy/Sean |
What to prepare:
- 10 minute presentation highlighting an effort your ICCL team is proud of
- After each presentation, teams will reflect on the following questions:
- What did you hear that is an affirmation of current work in your building?
- What did you hear that resonated with you and you would like to aspire to?
- What did you hear that you would like to expand on?
The Red Zone – Things to definitely read, do or share
From Julie: Please share in your staff blogs – Educator Network Day is April 19th from 2:00-3:15- please sign up to facilitate a session!
Forward to Elementary Media managers – All elementary media managers will meet on the Educator Network Day, April 19th from 12:45-2:15 at PBMS library. Topics to be covered include:
- Survey
- Adding titles to the catalog
- Uploading MARC records
- Cleaning up homeroom assignments under Admin tab so that overdue/lost emails go to current building staff
- Media Manager Q&A
From Scott Mc Donald – During Spring Break week (March 27-31), IT will be making some changes to the “electronic” web help desk ticket system (https://bls.fyi/help). The most significant changes will be to the category layout used for creating new tickets. Our hope is that the enhanced ticket system will be clear and intuitive for everyone. If you wish to provide any feedback or have questions about the changes, please reach out to our “human” Help Desk at extension 1200.
Spring Conferences: We have been talking with Sarah Barclay about the upcoming spring conferences and the importance of making sure your teachers DO NOT start conferences prior to the end of the work day (3:15 for most) on Wednesday the 12th. The BEA has bargained to have a full work day and it is important that the day is used as that.
End of the year:
- June 16 – the last day of school for kids- remember this is an early release day
- June 14 – the last Wednesday of the year – this is not and early release day
- June 19 – this is a holiday
- June 20 – this is the final work day of the year for teachers BUT if they complete all their end of the year work and responsibilities and have everything “checked off” by their administrator then they do not have to report to work on this day.
- June 22 – this is our all admin CEL day. Mandatory attendance.
Calendar
- March 27-31–Spring Break!
- April 17 – transfer interviews – more info from Ryan coming soon
- April 4–Admin and ICCL workshop—see note about locations above
- April 4 – Choice school lottery
- April 7–Interview Day for Rosland and La Pine Elementary Principals
- April 7 – choice school family notifications 9 am
- April 10–Principal PD–Boardroom 3:00-4:30
- April 11 – HORIZONTAL CANCELED
- April 13 – (7:15-3:15)–Conference Work Day (no conferences per BEA)
- April 13 – 4 hours evening and 12 hours April 14 (most schools choose this conference calendar to get April 14 off)
- April 14 – Admin CEL 8:00-2:00 at Bend High Perseverance Hall
- April 25 – Horizontal
And Finally…
