First full week is almost done! We’ve had a great start to the school year and things are looking and feeling almost normal. Thanks for all you’re doing for our kids and families.
Curriculum – Just a reminder that before you purchase any type of curriculum, please run it by us. Recently, not at the elementary level, a school made a large purchase for something that the district already had. Getting approval is important for a couple reasons. First, curriculums often go through adoption processes and we need to make sure that processes are followed correctly and the curriculum meets our programming. Second, if it is something that we already approve of, we may have access to it already and could save you some money. Thanks for checking!
From Jennifer Hauth – Please share with your staff: Classroom 180 Book Study – Join fellow educators in this supported book study to learn the 5 domains and supporting indicators of the Classroom 180 Framework. Learn how you can create a more trauma-informed classroom to meet the needs of our students. Book Study in Collaboration with the Bend-LaPine Student Success and Culture of Care Coaches. Join Virtually: 9/22 4:30-6:30 & 11/17 4:30-6:30. Coursework completed on your own via Canvas with optional Office Hours. Optional: 1 OSU Credit.
Another from Jennifer – Several admin have asked for their own logins to Care Solace, currently we have School Counselors, Student Success Program, Nurses, School Psychs and Public Health Specialists registered. If you or someone on your school campus would like a login, please use the link below. Everyone else is still able to access the resource through our web site, the login just allows for the Warm Handoff by a staff member. All staff does not need to create an account to have access and I do not see this being an expectation for teachers.
- Registration link for Care Solace, it take less than 1 minute.
- A video on the Care Solace Story.
- A video on Care Match.
- A video on Care Solace for Staff.
From Scott McDonald – This is a reminder that school office staff are the first level of support when it comes to assisting our families. Questions about ParentVue, BLpay and general student information system requests, should all be addressed by our school staff. Currently our IT team is handling many questions related to these areas through the Student-Request email account. This account was developed as an additional way for parents to get help when schools are not in session or in emergencies, not a primary means of support. Unfortunately, this email account has become the default route for parents to get information and support, with 463 emails in that que as of this morning!
This is not an efficient way for our families to get the support that they need. Our IT team member who has been fielding these questions is working to create a guidance document, to share with office staff who may be new or unfamiliar with addressing these questions.
As always, our help desk team will be ready to help your office staff be successful for any one-off or sticky questions. Please help us communicate this important support structure.
From Scott Bojanowski – As we start this week off with wildland fire smoke across our district, we want to send out reminders on how to find the current AQI information using the Oregon DEQ Air Quality Index Map. Please use this website (Oregon Air is available as an app for mobile devices too), to determine the AQI closest to your school or facility. And here is the link to the OHA chart for school outdoor activities during wildland fires.
From Culture of Care – As the school year gets up and running, your Culture of Care team wanted to reach out and share what we are up to! Lots of resources, opportunities and collaboration across our region this year. Please check it all out using the link below and let us know if you have any questions. Culture of Care September 2022 Update
The Red Zone – Things to do or share
As promised evaluation info from Paul Dean in Human Resources – We are back to our normal evaluation procedures for 22/23. Here is the digital link to the Certified Professional Growth and Performance Evaluation Manual. Below is the specific page regarding the observation requirements and timeline.
Another from Paul – UKG Communication/Trainings: Here is video #2 regarding UKG Implementation and Training Timeline. It was shared with Office Managers during my weekly WebEx meeting with them and will be shared with all BLS staff on Tuesday.
An Important Ask
When we push out the first UKG training in a week, BLS staff will benefit from single sign on (SSO) and be able to login to UKG using their BLS username and password.
Any assistance that you can provide in reaching out to specific staff members that you suspect are not accessing their BLS email address to monitor school/department/district communications, providing them with documentation on setting up multi-factor authentication (MFA) and having them login to the BLS email, would be greatly appreciated! They can also receive assistance from the IT Help Desk (x1200) in setting up MFA and accessing the BLS email.
Staff who have not set up MFA, will not be able to login to UKG and therefore won’t be able to request leave, submit timesheets and perform other critical tasks.
Bias Lesson Update – After talking with Kinsey we got some further clarity on the bias lessons. There are two lessons for elementary, a k-3 version and a 3-6 version. Third grade can choose which one to use but the 4th and 5th grade teachers should use the 3-6 lesson. There was some concern about slide #9 and the video on that slide in the 3-6 slide deck. That slide can be skipped if needed and teachers can only use the video on slide #8. Speaking of slide #8, the question of the term “trans” being used was brought up. These videos were piloted in several 3rd-5th grade classrooms last spring, with no complaints. Transgender identities exist in our communities—this is a fact, not an opinion, and ‘trans’ is not a bad word. Many required Health and SS/Ethnic Studies standards (as early as kindergarten) require that we acknowledge gender diversity and transgender identities, and that we teach about the history and experiences of LGBTQIA+ people (the T standing for trans). Beyond those related teaching and learning standards, ODE has an LGBTQIA+ Student Success Plan that also requires that we openly address and support this community.
I hope this clarifies some of the questions about the lessons. Thank you again for working to meet the September 30th target. We let Kinsey know that questions might be coming her way and she is ready to answer them!
Also, please take another look at the family letters. Kinsey has since added a comment box with directions about linking the specific lesson a teacher will teach.
SeeSaw Update – we feel confident that the SeeSaw situation has been resolved and that SeeSaw has put in place measures to avoid future issues. We are in the process of re-evaluating our own settings for SeeSaw and hopefully we can begin using it again by the end of the week or the beginning of next week. We will send a paragraph teachers may forward to their parents announcing when it will be used again. Please know that this was not a breach of our own system and at no time were any of our teacher or student accounts compromised.
Calendar
- Monthly checklist
- 22-23 Dibels Schedule
- September 19 – start of school visits
- September 19 – timesheets due
- Sept 22, 23 – Skip and Tammy out of the office but available via text or phone
- September 26, from 8:30-9:30 District Safety Team meeting (all of you who are Safety leads need to attend)
And Finally…
How the tables have turned…
