Everyone – Please be sure to read the email from Dr. Cook earlier today regarding the upcoming Educator Survey. He is asking for your help in promoting a high level of participation among your eligible staff. This survey could be very helpful for us as at this time. We have heard from some instructional staff this year, directly and indirectly, with concerns about current conditions and big changes we are pursuing across our district. It’s critical that we hear from a greater share of our certified staff, and we want to be able to compare our results to statewide results. We are counting on the Elementary team to provide time for staff to complete this survey.
Updates, Reminders, and Department Info…
Train Your Brain – Another reminder to sign up for this year’s Train Your Brain presentations The Center is hoping to get everyone signed up by the 17th. Let’s do our best to hit that mark so they can get their schedule solidified. Click here to sign up.
2023 KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training – Please remind your staff to complete their security awareness training by February 28th. If you have any questions, please contact your site tech, or call the help desk at extension 1200.
Sustainability – click here for news and updates from Jackie Mueller, including a cool Three Rivers project!
How’s Your Lexia and Dreambox usage going? – just a reminder to keep delivering the message about the importance of incorporating these tools into the day and using their dashboards to help guide instruction.
District Safety Team – Tom Lence and Tammy are the Elementary reps on the District Safety Team. We meet monthly to go over any safety concerns in all departments and levels. Please let Tom or Tammy know of any safety concerns that come up that you would like them to bring up to the larger team to problem solve.
UKG Project Update (a repeat from last week – the date is fast approaching!!)
UKG Site Maintenance – In preparation for our anticipated Go Live date of February 13, staff will not be able to access UKG features starting on February 2nd. This will allow our implementation team to perform site maintenance and users (except a select few) won’t have access to any UKG functionality. Attempts to login between February 2nd and the 13th, will receive the following message.
UKG Recruitment Trainings – Thank you to North Star and Mountain View for hosting our first two trainings. We are still editing the powerpoint to reflect administrator feedback. Prior to February 13th, we will share the powerpoint with all admin and office managers. Admin/Supervisor In Person Sign Up Link
Fri 2/10 – In Person Recruiting/HRIS
- 9:30 – 11 am @ LPHS
- 2 pm – 3:30 pm Virtual (Paul’s Webex Room)
Fri 2/17 – In Person Recruiting/HRIS
- 9:30 – 11 am @ Ensworth
- 2 pm – 3:30 pm @ Caldera
Job Postings During Frontline To UKG Transition – We are attempting to close as many job postings as possible by February 10th so you can screen, interview and hire candidates through Frontline. Positions that are open past February 10th will need to be screened, interviewed and hired through UKG. During the weekend of February 11th/12th, our UKG implementation team will transition open positions to UKG (you don’t need to do anything) and we’ll copy applicant data over to UKG so that those who applied through Frontline will now have their data within UKG.
Time and Leave FAQs – Here is a document that we will update as new questions arise.
The Red Zone – Things to definitely do or share
From Instructional Tech – Our instructional technology team is partnering with the Central Oregon STEM Hub to offer a Computer Science SIW on the Educator Network Day next week. This session will provide hands-on stations to learn more about the loanable equipment available, including Ozobots, Spheros, and Bee-Bots. The team would love to see as many schools represented as possible. If you know someone on your staff who would enjoy this session, please encourage them to sign-up here or in Performance Matters. Reach out to Tracy Howk or Robbie Faith with questions.
Principal PD Session on 2/13. We’ll start in the boardroom at 3:00 and you can find the agenda here.
From Kinsey: Equity Topics in Health- and Wellness- Related Instruction:
Thanks to those who joined our workshop this week to improve our awareness, preparation, and courage with regard to these topics. Here are some follow-up resources from that conversation:
Menstrual Dignity Act: We are continuing the phased installation and implementation of hardware and products in all bathrooms, in accordance with state expectations and timelines. More soon on next steps in that roll-out. In the meantime, here is the updated Toolkit the state released a couple months ago. Section IV: Education has relevant tools for K-12 classroom conversations and instruction. Please take a moment to review that section with relevant staff (ICCL, counselors, nurses, multilingual staff, and/or front-office members). Your building is welcome to teach lessons on the topic if you’re ready to dive in, but the only ask for the moment is that you review and discuss the toolkit with staff, to raise awareness and familiarity with the topic and resources. Doing this now will help your staff feel more informed and comfortable when we take next steps with implementation over the upcoming months. If you have questions, please reach out to Kinsey or a LEAD/Equity Coach.
Erin’s Law: Here are the Kid’s Center slides from the workshop. As a reminder, more information and training specifically on health curriculum/materials to support Erin’s Law (formerly we used Safe Touch) implementation will come from the elementary curriculum team. We have a couple schools piloting a new curriculum for Erin’s Law. The rest of the schools will use the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center materials that we used last year. Julie will be sending out information soon with a timeline and links for implementation.
LEAD/Equity TOSAs: Our equity coaches are available to partner on preparing family communication ahead of controversial/sensitive lessons, to co-plan or co-teach, or to help pull resources and materials for teams. Don’t forget about the follow-up anti-bias lessons!
FREE ESOL Endorsement:
Principals, please share this with your certified staff. Reach out to Kinsey if you get questions:
Certified teachers: Interested in getting your ESOL endorsement for free?
Bend-La Pine Schools has a partnership with OSU to cover all tuition and costs associated with ESOL certification. Our goal is to increase the number of classroom teachers who are highly-trained in supporting culturally- and linguistically-diverse learners and families. We have had several cohorts of teachers selected for this opportunity in prior years, who have earned their ESOL endorsement with no cost, moved over on the pay scale, and are better equipped to serve our students and families!
If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, you must apply by April 3. Additional details here.
Calendar
- Feb 13 – Admin PD 3-4:30
- Feb 14 – Elementary Horizontal – CANCELLED
- Feb 15 – SIW–Educator Network Day
- Feb 16 Silver Rail Principal Interview Day
- Feb 17 Ponderosa Principal Interview Day
- Feb 20 Presidents’ Day No School
- Feb 21 Pine Ridge Principal Interview Day
- Feb 22 – New Admin Learning Lab
- Feb 22-24 Tammy out at NABE Conference
- Feb 28 – Elementary Horizontal–Ensworth
And Finally…
And for those of you who need a little more hope…..
