Tammy and I know you are all looking at your staffing plans and working hard to create configurations that work for your students and teachers. We know this is a stressful task so please don’t hesitate to reach out and use us as thought partners. We may not have the answers but sometimes it just helps to talk things through. As a reminder we are targeting April 14 as our day to turn in staffing plans. Of course if you need more time just let us know. Once we have all the staffing plans we will be able to assess our hiring needs and/or our placement needs for next year. Thank you again for your hard work on this task.
Updates, Reminders, Department Info and Rants…
Train your Brain – Once again the Center will be providing 3rd graders with helmets and a presentation on bicycle safety. This year we get to do it in person- yay! Here is the sign-up sheet for their presentation and helmet fitting. The Center would be considered an educational visitor so they do not have to do the volunteer background check and vax card process.
From Alandra re: Kinder Kickoff – We will begin our kindergarten kickoff promotions next week. Watch interoffice mail for a poster to hang on your Bulletin Board. Let me know if you would like an additional poster or if you would like a batch of smaller postcard/flyers to distribute. I will send graphics and blurbs for your newsletters, share on social media and our website next week as well. Please remember to add your kindergarten kickoff info to this form? Additionally, I have two volunteers to help with flyer/poster distribution, but could use at least one more.
Foundational Skills Adoption Update – We have scheduled several opportunities for staff and community to view and give feedback on the curricular materials the committee is considering. Please send staff schedule and resources out to your staff. In your newsletters that go home please share the community schedule and digital resources. We are in the process of scheduling a Spanish language session and will keep you up to date on when we have a final plan. In addition, we will have 5 sites where staff can view materials: Rosland, Silver Rail, Ensworth, High Lakes, Ponderosa. The materials will be available for viewing from April 13th-May 2nd. If at all possible it would be great if you could give your staff 1-2 hours to go view materials or plan for a staff meeting to have a committee member share the highlights of each program with your staff. Please let me know if you have any questions.
From Jennifer Hauth re: Elementary SSEA’s: – There was an error in the calendar for them this year. The calendar shows that April 13th (Wednesday) and April 15th (Friday) are non-work days for them. The calendar should have said that April 14th(Thursday) and April 15th (Friday) are non-work days for them. A training has been planned for them on Wednesday April 13th. What if they already made plans on Wednesday April 13thand can’t attend the training that day? In that case, they can attend the Middle School SSEA training on April 14th, which is what the calendar states is your work day.
From Melissa in Tech – In a blink, here we are again at the time to look at end-of-year purchasing! We’re sending this reminder out even earlier this year because we are still experiencing some availability and shipping delays. Lots of things are in our stock now or can arrive quickly, but many items like projectors, iPads, and some computers and monitors still take weeks longer than we’re used to. We are trying to maintain a reasonable number of difficult-to-obtain items in our stock, but we can’t guarantee numbers once everyone starts buying. We’ll do our best to fill your requests or offer a work-around, and the more time we have to do this before the deadline, the better our odds of success. Please keep in mind that all materials purchased under the current year’s budget must be physically received by our department by June 30, with paperwork to prove delivery date. There is no flexibility in this deadline and our accountants do follow up on dates listed on tracking and delivery. Anything received after June 30 will be returned to the vendor or that money will have to come out of next year’s budget.
This year, we are encouraging all 2022-23 orders to be placed by early May to maximize the odds of those items arriving by the deadline. This time of year is always busy, so earlier is better for getting your purchase requests in. Please don’t hesitate to email me any questions you might have. I’ll be out of the office for the rest of this week but will catch up and start placing orders next week.
The Red Zone – Things to Share or Do or Put on Your Calendar…
LEAD Cohort in from Lora – The LEAD Cohort is part of our district’s key strategies to support staff in promoting dialogue on equity and anti-racism, so that teachers can facilitate positive and safe critical conversations in all classrooms. We cannot wait for bias incidents to occur to communicate our values of inclusion and equity: we must be proactive and intentional in ongoing work, and in normalizing conversations about tough stuff before incidents occur-or better yet, to prevent them happening at all.
Please ensure that teachers in your building clearly see your explicit support for their implementation of LEAD Cohort strategies. They will know you expect them to engage in this work when you…
- are familiar with the LEAD website strategies and resources yourself,
- share those resources with them directly,
- encourage peer sharing and engagement with district LEAD Cohort representatives,
- look for the strategies in practice during mini-observations, and
- reflect alongside your teachers and ask questions about LEAD strategies during debrief conversations.
The resources on the LEAD website are constantly changing and being updated. (Coming soon: more video examples of the lessons, and specific Ethnic Studies, Language, Health, and other standards identified throughout the links and descriptions.) Check it out here, and consider bookmarking and/or sharing via your own staff blogs.
Job Fair – Just a reminder that the job fair will be April 11 from 12:00 – 6:00 pm, with lunch provided for administrators. We will be meeting with candidates from 1:00 – 6:00 and are continuing the past practice of asking all administrators to be present to interview candidates for a two-and-a-half hour shift. Buildings with two or more administrators need to have at least one admin present at all times during the event.
April 11th BRYT debrief meeting- Our admin meeting and BRYT debrief scheduled for April 11th, has now been replaced by the Central Oregon Job Fair. We apologize as we were not given job fair dates prior to scheduling the day. Never fear though, we have something that might be even better! Because Paul and Courtney will be out that week from back east, to support us and you are working hard to complete the visits by then, we wanted to reschedule as soon as we could. So, we will now be having the Admin debrief and meeting on Wednesday, April 13, from noon-2:00, during teacher prep time for conferences. That time will include a 12:00-12:30 lunch (our treat!) and time for you to hang out and chat with each other, with the debrief work happening from 12:30-2:00. We will be meeting at Trinity Church (behind the Ed Center). So, mark your calendars, 4/13, 12:00-2:00, Trinity Church, Elementary Admin Meeting and lunch!
From Josh Marks – re: Home Bound Tutoring – Teachers, if you are interested in making a few extra dollars this spring, or long term we are in desperate need for Home Instructor/Tutors. If you have any interest or questions, please reach out to Josh Marks via email or phone for specific details. [email protected] or 541-355-1060.”
Calendar
- SIW schedule – this is the newest version
- Horizontal Meeting Schedule – there have been changes – check it out now!
- Monthly checklist
- April 11–Central Oregon Job Fair–12:00-6:00 Deschutes Expo Center (Redmond)
- April 13–New date! Luncheon and BRYT debrief work, Trinity Church, 12:00-2:00
- April 14th – try to get your staffing plans done by this day
- April 18, 19, 20 – Tammy and Skip out
- April 25 – Horizontal 3:00-4:30, location TBD
- April and May – Hold a kindergarten info night this week–WebEx or in-person, your choice!
And Finally…
Today is the opening day of the baseball season (finally!). Go Padres!
