To Do
From Scott and Kayla in Safety:
Building leaders, please share this information with your staff next week:
In an effort to support our bus drivers and bus monitors, who sometimes are not able to access the main entrance of our schools because of where they have to park the buses, and because they are on a quick turnaround timeline, we have provided updated protocols for those employees to enter our schools during their duty hours to access staff restrooms.
There are updated protocols for district bus driver’s and bus monitor’s access to school restrooms in our Culture of Safety document on the staff portal website here, and in the Safety Resources Google Drive (for administrators and office managers) here. The updated protocols are under the Access to Buildings Procedures section, paragraph (D), subsection (2) on pages 4 & 5 of the document.
Our transportation staff’s key card access will be limited between the hours of 7:00 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.
Please reach out to the safety team with any questions.
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From Paul in Operations:
COO Ops leaders from Transportation, Facilities/Maintenance, Safety, IT and Custodial/Sustainability will be facilitating the March Leadership Team meeting.
Please submit at least one question, concern, curiosity or comment that you have for one or more of our departments at this link.
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Please share this with relevant staff:
Motivational Interviewing Training(s)
Upcoming Opportunity for Staff involved with UpShift (those delivering the Teen Intervene Curriculum, screening students, or supporting administrators)
Empower your staff with the tools they need to make meaningful connections with students and families.
Training Details
Join us for a 90-minute experiential training designed to strengthen motivational interviewing (MI) skills. Led by Heather Lynch, a seasoned Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) member, this session focuses on building confidence, fostering partnerships, and inspiring positive change with teens and caregivers.
Why Should Staff Attend?
This interactive training will:
· Provide practical MI tools and techniques.
· Enhance communication strategies.
· Support effective implementation of UpShift goals and outcomes.
Training Information and Registration Link(s):
Option 1:Wednesday, March 19th 2:30-4:15 pm at the Deschutes Public Library (507 NW Wall Street) Brooks Room
Option 2:Wednesday, April 2nd 2:30-4:15 pm at the Bend – La Pine Schools Ed Center (520 Northwest Wall Street) Room 312
Encourage your team to take advantage of this unique professional development opportunity. Together, we can build stronger connections and foster lasting positive change in our schools!
Refreshments will be provided
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From the 1/17/25 post by Ryan in Human Resources:
Be sure your certified staff are aware of the timelines for finalizing grades/progress reports:
- Progress Reports Submission Deadline:
- Special Education Progress reports must be submitted by 4:00 PM on 1/31 this semester.
- Middle/High School progress reports must be finalized in Synergy by 4:00 PM on 1/31.
- Elementary progress reports must be finalized by 4:00 PM on 2/3.
- Work Location for End-of-Term Days:
- Employees who have met the deadlines in regards to grading and/or progress reports in previous semesters, and who have met other expectations surrounding the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be permitted to work from an off-site location on end-of-term work days.
- Employees who have not met these deadlines, and/or for whom their supervisor has further articulable concerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be required to work from their assigned school site.
From Departments
From Jennifer:
National Counseling Week is next week!
National School Counseling Week (NCSW) 2025 is Feb. 3-7, 2025, to focus attention on the unique contribution of school counselors within our schools. The theme this year is: School Counseling: Helping Students Thrive. The special week honoring school counselors provides recognition for school counselors who “implement comprehensive school counseling programs, a vital part of the educational process for all students as they meet the challenges of the 21st century”.
NCSW is always celebrated the first full week in February and there are multiple resources available below to help you celebrate school counselors next week at your school site. We will celebrate our student success staff the week of March 3rd during school social worker week.
Here is a “Certificate of Appreciation” that you can use for your counselors and click on slide below for some resources to help your school celebrate this week with your counselor(s)😊
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From Scott in IT:
Here is a good news sandwich from your IT department.
Top Bun- Beginning this week, our elementary report card is now available in 11 different languages! (Jason Schneider).
Bologna- Make sure your TV / projection system is off when you leave for the day! (Scott McDonald)
Bottom Bun- AirPlay functionality has returned to normal with the latest available OS update, (Chad Brewer)
Even if you prefer to not have Bologna in your “good news” sandwich, please try your best to choke it down today. 😊
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From Kinsey — Policy, Advocacy, & Office of DEI:
Taking It Up:
Great news: we have re-scheduled the Taking It Up workshop (postponed from August)! It will be Tues-Wed, February 18-19 (full days).
Substitute costs will be covered as applicable. A notice will go out to staff early next week with instructions to sign up. Space will be limited and this powerful workshop usually fills quickly, so encourage folks to sign up fast. If you are a leader in our district who has not attended the week-long CFEE workshop or this two-day version that is Taking It Up, please consider arranging your schedule to attend.
If you are a CFEE grad and willing to serve as a table facilitator, please email me ASAP. Administrators, I am happy to cover the cost of a substitute for a teacher-leader in your building to serve as office support while you’re out (if you have an admin intern you could tap, etc).
Linguist Link:
If you are experiencing issues with Linguist Link services (interpreters not showing up, no responses to your messages, poor quality of linguist services), please A) send a note via the “message all” feature of your project/request in the LL system, and/or B) shoot me an email to let me know.
There are some transitions going on within those contracted services, but I have been reassured this should not impact the quality of service you receive. As a reminder if you’re ever in a pinch, here are the various resources and levels of support available to you for translation/interpretation.
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From Ryan in Human Resources:
We are very excited to be adding a Director of District Activities and Athletics to bring our secondary school athletic and activity programs together under one vision. This role is focused on ensuring that every student has access to consistent, high-quality extracurricular experiences, no matter which school they attend. By aligning programs across the district, we’re creating more opportunities for students to grow, connect, and succeed—academically, socially, and emotionally.
This will be a BLAST position and we’ll be posting this position on our site Monday and sharing it widely across the region to attract a strong pool of candidates. If you’d like to learn more about the role or have any questions, please connect with Ryan.
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From Paul in Operations:
We want to take a moment to clarify differing practices in our district with regards to animals on school grounds. We have many playgrounds with this sign:
However, we do not have any district policy that prohibits dogs outside of school hours on our property. ING-AR: Animal Visitors under Owner Responsibility reads:
- Owners walking animals on school grounds must follow city or county ordinances regarding leashing and sanitation.
- Principals and their designees have the authority to exclude persons and their animals from play fields when he/she determines that there are associated health and/or safety concerns.
In order to align our signage with our policy, we will be removing all fence signage pertaining to animals. In place of those signs, our maintenance department will install one of the signs below. They will communicate with the head engineer and building principal regarding where you want the new sign placed.
Building leaders have the authority to temporarily close school playgrounds in accordance with Facility, Playgrounds, Fields & Property Community Use Guidelines [here is a Spanish Version]. We have created this Community Use Violation Notice [and here is a Spanish Version] that you may copy, edit, print, laminate and zip tie to your gate(s) when you are restricting public access by locking your gates.
If you would like to order additional signs ($65 each), please submit a work order request along with a budget code. Maintenance will collaborate with you regarding where to place your additional signs. Please reach out to Dan Dummitt for further assistance with signs.
HS Only
2025 Oregon Music Hall of Fame
College Scholarship Applications
OMHOF is pleased to announce that applications for our college scholarship program are available again with a deadline of February 14, 2025. Each applicant should be studying music and graduating spring 2025 from an Oregon High School and continuing to college in the fall of 2025 with a major or minor in music. We strive to inspire the continuing higher musical education by offering assistance with college expenses, so that these music students may aspire to a higher level of performance and success in their field of interest. Thanks to the generous contributions of EPB&B (11th year in a row), our scholarships rose from $1000 each to $2500 each (6 total) for 2024, including a special winner who will major in music education! ! In addition Oregon Music Hall of Fame is pleased to announce a new scholarship program, Gloria Johnson Scholarship for women studying Broadcasting, Teaching, Performance, Music Industry degrees. This $2500 yearly scholarship program is open to all women continuing their musical studies at the College/University level seeking a degree in these fields.
Any questions may be emailed to: [email protected]
An application form is available here: https://www.omhof.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/OMHOF-Scholarship-Form-2024-fillable.pdf
Women in Music Scholarship: https://www.omhof.org/music-education-scholarships/
All items must be mailed together, in order to qualify. All applications are fillable online, but must be printed, signed, and mailed (no digital copies accepted).
Oregon Music Hall of Fame
PO Box 82173,
Portland, OR 97282
Here’s to creating the music of tomorrow through focused musical studies today,
J.M. Rundle
Janeen Rundle
Oregon Music Hall of Fame
Co-Founder & Director of Music Education
Calendar
- February 11: HS Administrator work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
- February 11: ICCL/Secondary Administrator 4:15-6:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
- February 19: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
- February 25: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
March 18: AP Requests DUE on this sheet
Where in the World
Keep those pictures coming!
This week, we are highlighting Mary Thomas her summer trip last year at the Kinderdijk Windmills in the Netherlands.
