To Do

Complete by December 6th:

We need your assistance in ensuring that all staff members have completed their required SafeSchools training, which was due on October 31. Please take a moment to review your roster to identify any employees who have not yet fulfilled this requirement.

These trainings are a vital part of our commitment to employee awareness and understanding of expectations across sensitive subject areas. Your follow-up plays a crucial role in reinforcing this awareness.

If you need help accessing or reviewing your rosters, please reach out to HR-Tech for support. 

For any other questions or concerns, feel free to email me directly.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.

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Notification sent to families by December 6 (repeat):

From Dave:

OSAS Testing Annual Notices and Opt-Out Forms

The Bend-La Pine website has been updated with the 2024-25 fillable PDF annual notice and opt-out forms that we are required to share with families. There are separate notices and opt-out forms for ELA/Math testing (grades 3-8 & 11) and the SEED survey (grades 3-11). Please share these resources through your commonly used channels (e.g., School newsletters, parent emails) and have copies available for parents to pick up in the office by the applicable dates listed below. 

https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/academics/academics-overview/oregon-department-education-resources

ODE English Language Arts and Math State Testing

Consistent with the requirements of ORS 329.479, ODE has developed an annual notice (available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage) that describes these assessments, identifies the timeframe when the assessment will most likely be administered, and identifies an adult student’s or parent’s right to excuse the student from testing. Districts and public charter schools must provide parents with the ODE-developed annual notice at the beginning of each school year. In addition, districts and public charter schools must provide parents with separate notice at least 30 days prior to administering the statewide summative assessments in Math and ELA using the ODE-provided 30-day notice and opt-out form (also available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage), or a district-created form that exactly reproduces the language of the ODE-provided form. School districts and public charter schools must use the language of the 30-day notice and opt-out form provided by ODE to communicate with all parents about state testing requirements and their right to opt out for high school students by January 5, 2025, and for students in Grades 3-8 by March 2, 2025. 

From Departments

From Paul in Operations:

School Building/Site Modification Proposals Form

Administrators are to follow the steps on this form if someone on your staff is considering a project that impacts your school facilities by altering/modifying an existing building or by adding a new structure to your site.  Reach out to your Level Leader and COO if you have any questions.

Inclement Weather Department Information

The following departments want to remind administrators about snow day tasks:

Safety/IT – Please refer to the Bend-La Pine Schools Inclement Weather Guidelines 2024-2025 for essential information 

Transportation:  Snow Routes can be accessed at this link

Custodial:

Snow maps exist at each site with the custodian/principal. Those snow maps contains the three priorities:

Front entrance

Bus loop

Back entrance

Ice melt is applied on asphalt ONLY

Basalt (good traction and does not damage the concrete) is applied and kept on the sidewalk throughout the winter season to retain traction and is intentionally not cleared off 

Custodians report to work regardless of school closure decision

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From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI:

Immigration/Undocumented community members:

If you receive inquiries about our practices related to immigration enforcement or undocumented individuals, here is the English version of our FAQ document (Spanish and Chinese versions available as well).  This is intended to be an FYI/talking points for you.  You are welcome to share this document with staff for the same purpose, and/or make copies available for students or families who ask.  

I have received questions about what a school should do if someone (ex: an immigration official) approaches the office asking for student, staff, or family information related to immigration status.  First of all, this is extremely unlikely to occur.  If this happens, please contact me immediately before providing or confirming any information.  You can say, “I need to confirm district policy and procedure for this request before I am approved to share any information.”  

Thank you for sharing this with your office team, so they feel informed on the response required in this very unlikely scenario.  

Calendar

November 25-29: Thanksgiving Break

December 3rd: Admin/ICCL Training 4:15 – Location TBD

Where in the World

Didn’t have a submission this week again. If you haven’t submitted a picture yet, please do! Instead, here is a picture of a visitor I had this morning. We live in a pretty cool place.

To Do

To be completed by December 6th:

Please send the following communication out regarding parent contacting staff in your next parent communication.

Emailing Your Student’s Teachers

Dear Families,

We know how important communication is for supporting your student’s success. We encourage you to reach out to your student’s teachers anytime you have questions, need updates, or want to share information. For a quick and easy way to contact your student’s teachers, follow these steps in ParentVUE:

1. Log in to ParentVUE.
2. Click on the “Class Schedule” button within your student’s account.
3. Look to the right side of the screen, where you’ll see your student’s teachers listed in blue.
4. Click on a teacher’s name, and an email form will open, allowing you to initiate a direct message to that teacher.

This tool makes it easy to stay connected, and our teachers are here to support you. Whether you have questions, feedback, or just want to touch base, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

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Watch the webinar by January 5:

From Dave:

YouthTruth Survey

This year we will be giving the YouthTruth survey to staff, families, and secondary students. The survey window is January 6 – January 31. Please find a few minutes to watch this short kick off webinar (you can watch it on 1.25 or 1.5 speed).

Elissa, our YouthTruth representative will be emailing school on Monday, November 18 with instruction for accessing the Survey Implementation Guide. I will follow up with additional information and resources as we get closer to the survey window. Thank you.

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Notification sent to families by December 6:

From Dave:

OSAS Testing Annual Notices and Opt-Out Forms

The Bend-La Pine website has been updated with the 2024-25 fillable PDF annual notice and opt-out forms that we are required to share with families. There are separate notices and opt-out forms for ELA/Math testing (grades 3-8 & 11) and the SEED survey (grades 3-11). Please share these resources through your commonly used channels (e.g., School newsletters, parent emails) and have copies available for parents to pick up in the office by the applicable dates listed below. 

https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/academics/academics-overview/oregon-department-education-resources

ODE English Language Arts and Math State Testing

Consistent with the requirements of ORS 329.479, ODE has developed an annual notice (available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage) that describes these assessments, identifies the timeframe when the assessment will most likely be administered, and identifies an adult student’s or parent’s right to excuse the student from testing. Districts and public charter schools must provide parents with the ODE-developed annual notice at the beginning of each school year. In addition, districts and public charter schools must provide parents with separate notice at least 30 days prior to administering the statewide summative assessments in Math and ELA using the ODE-provided 30-day notice and opt-out form (also available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage), or a district-created form that exactly reproduces the language of the ODE-provided form. School districts and public charter schools must use the language of the 30-day notice and opt-out form provided by ODE to communicate with all parents about state testing requirements and their right to opt out for high school students by January 5, 2025, and for students in Grades 3-8 by March 2, 2025. 

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Notification sent to families at least 5 days prior to administering the SEED survey:

From Dave:

ODE SEED Survey

Oregon law (House Bill 2656) requires each school district to make the SEED Survey available to students in grades 3-11. Parents or guardians may decline, either verbally or in writing, to have their student participate in the SEED Survey. Schools will provide parents with notice of administration and the process for declining participation at least 5 days prior to administering the SEED Survey. Students may also decline, at any time, either verbally or in writing to participate. Students may also decline to answer individual questions on the SEED survey.

From Departments

From Scott in IT

Synergy Mail Issue and Resolution

The latest update to our student information system included a change in Synergy Mail, which removed the ability for recipients (families) to reply directly to the sender (teacher). This change was intentional by the vendor but was not communicated to any IT teams or any of their 6,500 school customers nationwide. As a result, we were delayed in communicating the issue and providing a solution.

As of today, November 14th, our BLS IT team has implemented an in-house fix that restores the direct reply functionality for recipients of messages sent via Synergy Mail. We understand that this issue may have disrupted important communication between teachers and families. Please let me know if there is anything my team or I can do to support you in reestablishing communication.

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From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Office of DEI:

Bias Incidents and Hate Speech:

When does a student’s comment to a peer or text on a t-shirt invoke our policies around sexual harassment, bias, bullying or intimidation, and when is it something permissible or protected?  What if a student is using a hand gesture that is known to be a communication of hate or oppression?  How do you balance intent vs impact, political speech, and a culture of dignity and belonging focused on learning?  If you have a tricky situation, need some policy guidance, or just want a thought partner, please reach out!  If you’d be interested in a collaborative conversation with other building administrators on how to navigate these incidents right now, please email me so I can gauge interest and need.  

As a reminder, please respond promptly to any complaints or bias incidents reported, including circling back with the reporter at the conclusion of your response.  This is a powerful way to show your commitment to the wellbeing and dignity of each member of your school community.

Latino Family Night:

Please drop by our 7^th annual district-wide Latino Family Night if you are able (invitation here–feel free to share).  The Woodburn High School mariachi band will perform (pictured here), and there will be dinner, partners, games, and fun! 

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From Jen:

It’s that time of year again.  November 21^st is College and Career Day in Bend-La Pine Schools.  As with last year, we are looking to draw attention to the multitude of pathways available to students after they graduate high school.  This is a K-12 day!  We want all students to be dreaming about what options they have after they leave our schools.  

Here are a few things you could do at your site to make the day a success.  It would be great if classrooms or advisories could look to do something for just 10-15 minutes this day.

• Dress as a professional
  • Encourage students and staff to dress up as someone from a career they are interested in.  Remember there are a lot of great careers out there!
• Wear college colors
  • Encourage students to wear the colors of a favorite college.  Remember, college can mean community college, trade school, 4-year university, etc.  Be careful with wording here as college brand clothing can be expensive and prevent students from feeling like they can participate.  Colors are more inclusionary.  
• Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges. 
  • Our 6-12 sites could lean into some of the activities in SchooLinks.  All secondary students have required activities to complete through BLS School Counseling curriculum and to complete their Educational Plan and Profile, so this would be a perfect opportunity to complete one of these required activities.  Consider onboarding all your students if you haven’t already done so.  Students are required to take a “Find your Path” assessment when first logging in that will jumpstart the college and career exploration process.
  • Wayfinder also has some great resources, especially their integration with Roadtrip Nation and their Future Ready Collection K-12. For middle school, these have been added for the week of November 18th as potential advisory lessons in our scope and sequence.
  • Here is a great website from the State of Oregon called Career Journeys.  There are amazing short videos, lesson plans and other activities any teacher could do.
  • Also available is the Career Connected Learning Central Oregon website which allows exploration of career paths close to home.
• Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers. 
  • This could be done in a variety of ways from assemblies, to advisory, to lunch.  You could also ask parents to submit a short video of them talking about their jobs and stitch them together for students.  Remember our visitor and volunteer requirements if you decide to invite parents in.

We hope you’ll join in the celebration.  Please send pictures of your participation to Becca Burda.  

Calendar

November 19: HS Assistant Principals work session – 8:00-10:00 @ BTA

November 21: College and Career Day! Send pictures to Becca

November 21: MS Horizontal – 3:00-5:00 @ Pilot Butte MS

November 25-29: Thanksgiving Break

Where in the World

Didn’t have a submission this week, so I am sharing this celebratory picture of our Administrator of the Year, Scott Olszewski:

To Do

Survey for future Admin/ICCL sessions: Please share the following survey with your staff.

In an effort to best plan our future professional development, please take a moment to fill out our Standards Based Grading PD Request survey. This survey is a follow up from the survey many of you filled out after the August 28th training at Pacific Crest.

From the Departments:

From Lisa (also emailed on 10/31):

Hi everyone,

We are about to begin our optional Admin PD trainings based on a variety of topics that you indicated in September that were of interest for you. These trainings will be delivered on Thursdays, either in the morning from 8-10 or in the afternoon from 2-4. These are voluntary- but you must sign up by the Friday before at 12 to confirm. That way, if no one signs up, the presenter doesn’t have to create an entire training for no customers. You will be notified about the location in an e-mail from your presenter the Monday of your training week.

Please sign up using the link next to each training (by the Friday before the training) and remember, this is our first attempt at this. We look forward to providing some just-in-time to match your needs. If you have ideas for topics or other information that you’d like me to know, please contact me directly. I am always interested in feedback and how we can help you feel the most prepared for the work you are doing each day. Thanks in advance for jumping in alongside us! 

Upcoming Trainings

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From Jennifer:

Hello,

I hope the 2024-2025 school year has started smoothly and successfully for your team and students. Patrick Cook-Deegan, Founder + CEO of Wayfinder who lives in Bend would be honored to spend some time at your school. His goal is to deepen his understanding of how the Wayfinder product and implementation is impacting your school community. 

He is eager to learn firsthand about what’s working well and where there may be areas for improvement. Patrick would welcome conversations with anyone on your team—whether a principal, counselor, teacher, or even a student—who can provide authentic insights on both the strengths and challenges of the Wayfinder experience.

Attached is a sign-up sheet for Patrick’s visit. Please select a date and time that works best with your school schedule.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. 

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From Sean:

Substitute EA update:

We have been engaged with the HDESD regarding the difficulty with filling substitute EA needs. The HDESD have been very helpful, and we developed several strategies that you should know.

1. The HDESD has increase the hourly wage for classified/EA subs based on the vacancy and job type.  Formerly, all classified/EA subs were paid $17 per hour.  This will be accompanied by a new Enhanced Recruitment Efforts which will involveSocial Media Campaigns, Inter-District Parent Communication, and Community Outreach.

EA I – $18/hour	EA II – $20/hour	EA III – $20/hour
Alternative Ed	Behavior Support	Inclusion
Regular Instruction	Student Success
ELL	Office Staff

2.  Cross-Role Flexibility: 

We have granted the HDESD the authority to automatically place licensed substitutes (paid at the higher licensed rate) in the EA 2 and EA 3 category (see above)  if a sub request is still unfilled the day before the vacancy.   This will remainder in place until the end of the year.  If the request id for a long-term sub, then a licensed sub can fill an EA 2 or EA 3 position for 1 week at a time, while a non-licensed sub is recruited.

3.  Incentive pay structure for high-demand days: 

We are currently working on an incentive pay structure for the 30 most high demand days of the year.  Non-licensed subs that accept sub positions on these days will receive a $25 bonus for the day.  Further, we are under current discussion to extend and modify this as needed.

The HDESD will send up monthly reports so we can monitor if these measures are increasing our sub fill rates.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.

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From Jennifer and Jess:

It’s that time of year again.  November 21^st is College and Career Day in Bend-La Pine Schools.  As with last year, we are looking to draw attention to the multitude of pathways available to students after they graduate high school.  This is a K-12 day!  We want all students to be dreaming about what options they have after they leave our schools.  

Here are a few things you could do at your site to make the day a success.  It would be great if classrooms or advisories could look to do something for just 10-15 minutes this day.

• Dress as a professional
  • Encourage students and staff to dress up as someone from a career they are interested in.  Remember there are a lot of great careers out there!
• Wear college colors
  • Encourage students to wear the colors of a favorite college.  Remember, college can mean community college, trade school, 4-year university, etc.  Be careful with wording here as college brand clothing can be expensive and prevent students from feeling like they can participate.  Colors are more inclusionary.  
• Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges. 
  • Our 6-12 sites could lean into some of the activities in SchooLinks.  All secondary students have required activities to complete through BLS School Counseling curriculum and to complete their Educational Plan and Profile, so this would be a perfect opportunity to complete one of these required activities.  Consider onboarding all your students if you haven’t already done so.  Students are required to take a “Find your Path” assessment when first logging in that will jumpstart the college and career exploration process.
  • Wayfinder also has some great resources, especially their integration with Roadtrip Nation and their Future Ready Collection K-12. For middle school, these have been added for the week of November 18th as potential advisory lessons in our scope and sequence.
  • Here is a great website from the State of Oregon called Career Journeys.  There are amazing short videos, lesson plans and other activities any teacher could do.
  • Also available is the Career Connected Learning Central Oregon website which allows exploration of career paths close to home.
• Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers. 
  • This could be done in a variety of ways from assemblies, to advisory, to lunch.  You could also ask parents to submit a short video of them talking about their jobs and stitch them together for students.  Remember our visitor and volunteer requirements if you decide to invite parents in.

We hope you’ll join in the celebration.  Please send pictures of your participation to Becca Burda.  

Middle School Only

November Meetings: If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for a November visit with Stephen. Just one time this month.  Please choose a date over the course of the month.  Here is my Calendly link or you can use Outlook directly.

Calendar

November 11: Veterans Day

November 19: HS Assistant Principals work session – 8:00-10:00 @ BTA

November 21: MS Horizontal – 3:00-5:00 @ Pilot Butte MS

November 25-29: Thanksgiving Break

Where in the World

This week we are highlighting Gabe Pagano, Principal at Cascade Middle School. Gabe says, “I love spending time on a river with family and friends.  Most of the time, I do not fall out of the boat! 5:00am, an overnight river trip, making a pot of coffee, with my binoculars in hand.”