{"id":480,"date":"2021-08-13T12:57:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T19:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/skip.offenhauser\/?p=480"},"modified":"2021-08-13T12:57:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T19:57:24","slug":"august-13-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/skip.offenhauser\/2021\/08\/13\/august-13-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"August 13, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 13, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well so much for making goals.  One of my goals was to ease up on the Weekly Note and make it much easier for you to digest.  I have already failed!  This is a long one folks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Updates, Reminders, Info and Rants\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reminder – <\/strong>School offices should be open and phones should be on.  Please put office hours on your website and have signs outside your doors<\/a> for any time the office might be closed.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Houses – <\/strong>at the retreat we discussed designing a welcome back\/open house for kindergarten that controlled group size, duration, distancing, and other precautions to avoid any transmission.  Many of you have approached us about having an event like this for other grades or for the whole school.  After some serious thought and in light of the elevated covid numbers and the encouragement to do all we can to mitigate the spread and keep people out of quarantine, we are encouraging you to be creative in designing virtual welcome back events, class meet and greets, etc. with your families.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BLPO and CDL kids from last year – <\/strong>in June all these kids were moved back to your school.  Are they actually returning?  This needs to be verified and the quickest way is to call them and ask if they are returning or continuing online. Once you have your answer, update your staffing plan accordingly. Your office manager or secretary can run a report that identifies these kids.  Please do this asap. FYI – If they are continuing with online learning they will need to register with BLPO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviewing and Hiring<\/strong>–Before you do any kind of interviewing right now (certified or classified) please call Skip or Tammy to have it confirmed that you can proceed, even if you have someone leave.  Enrollment is all over the board and while some schools are much lower than projected, just as many are much higher and we need to make sure that the teachers are going to the right places.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staffing Plans  – high priority<\/span> – <\/strong>Today we went into your staffing plans and updated them according to Synergy (as of 2:00 Friday).  As new students enroll or drop, please change the numbers to reflect that.  We needed to quickly identify our schools of concern and it was easiest right now to do that for you, but from here on out, it\u2019s up to you to update.  Thank you to all who already had that done.  Please make sure you update under the \u201cactual\u201d column and then change the class sizes under \u201cnotes\u201d as well as on the certified staffing page.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The power of circles – <\/strong>I am still reflecting on the power of circles and the information that Tammy shared at our retreat.  I would encourage all of you to dive deeper into this practice and protocol this year.  For those of you who want more information on this here is the book Tammy recommends:  Restorative Circles in Schools; A Practical Guide for Educators.  It\u2019s a quick read and wonderful information on how to use this highly effective structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAQ<\/strong>–This last year we had a running list of frequently asked questions regarding RSSL information and more.  Thanks for the reminder Kelle!  Once again, we are creating that document where you can ask the questions you need answered and think others may have as well.  We will answer it daily. You can locate that in the shared drive.  Here is a link to it as well.   FAQ<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shared Drive<\/strong>–Forgot where that is?  See here how to access it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Supply lists and donation requests <\/strong> – By August 20th please review your websites and Facebook pages for any information that references supply lists, solicits donations for supplies, or asks for donations to the school or PTA.  This information needs to be removed.  As a reminder, you are allocated $10 per student for supplies, but feel free to use your discretionary dollars if you need more.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Paul, EA Work Calendar info  – <\/strong>Our HR\/Payroll staffs want to make sure that we are all on the same page regarding the calendars that your EAs will be following for the 2021-22 school year.  I’d suggest that you work with your office managers and EAs to review this calendar<\/strong><\/a> to make sure that they are clear on their assigned start\/end and non-contract dates.  If there is any uncertainty about which calendar applies to an EA, please reach out to Derek or Kelly in our office and they will assist you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All EA \u2013 Student Instruction, Inclusion, Student Success, ELL, Transition Co-Op employees have moved to new work calendars for District approved in-classroom trainings to better prepare them before the return of our students. If you have a different titled EA at your site, they will follow their original calendar. I have attached our new Classified calendars for your review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find an EA on a calendar that is not aligned to your needs, you do have the flexibility to add days by having them timesheet for the extra time (paid from your school’s budget) or by having them trade one day for another.  If you choose to do this, the EA would need to be involved in the collaborative conversation and be willing to make those adjustments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovation Conference \u2013 Aug 25 and 26 \u2013 mark the date! – <\/strong>As we stated earlier, the Innovation Conference is August 25 and 26.  The schedule is still being finalized but we do know that Mary Ehrenworth will be the keynote speaker on the 25th<\/sup>.  We\u2019ll also have administrator sessions on Leading Power Standards from Doug Reeves on the 25th<\/sup>.  The elementary admin session is tentatively scheduled for 1:00 – 2:15 with Doug Reeves on the 25th<\/sup> and it is mandatory<\/strong> that all our elementary admins attend this session. Look for another all-district email reminder and sign up to go out the first part of August with the final schedule included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iPad insurance–<\/strong>Purchasing iPad insurance is not mandatory for a child to receive an iPad.  However, if a family does not want to have to pay the high cost of iPad repair due to damage or loss, purchasing the Bend-La Pine Schools\u2019  iPad insurance will be in their best interest.   We will be getting a flyer out to schools to give to families about how they can go about paying for this.  They can purchase insurance online starting today until the last Friday in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supe\u2019s On!<\/strong>–If you haven\u2019t had a chance to listen to Dr. Cook\u2019s podcast, \u201cSupe\u2019s On!\u201d, it is a great way to also find out important information going on in our district.  The first one was safety (mainly covid) with Julianne Repman, the last one was our Covid protocols with Nurse, Tami Pike, and throughout the year he will be having special guests on a variety of topics.  You can tune in at bls.fyi\/podcast<\/a> on the district website, or find it on Apple podcasts or Spotify. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership Retreat slideshow<\/strong> – We have several of you reach out for this.  Here it is<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elementary Retreat Materials – <\/strong>Here is the video<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>that Tammy created from the summer pics you sent in.  It is also in our slideshow.  As you watch it reflect on the colleagues that encircle you and remember that all of them are here to support you. And if you are looking for a new Spotify playlist here are the songs<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>that everyone sent in.  A very interesting collection of tunes.  Would anyone like to guess who submitted Baby Shark?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safety and Secure Schools day –<\/strong> this is on the 17th at Summit HS.  Breakfast starts at 7:30.  Lunch is from 11:30 – 12.  Mandatory Title IX and Title VI training will follow in the auditorium from 1-2:30<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Calendar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n