To Do:
If you haven’t already done so, start calendaring your certified and AP/Dean evaluations.
From Departments
From Ryan in HR:
Extra Duty Rosters
HR would like you to review the current and projected vacancies for any Extra Duty positions at your site. To the extent possible, it would be extremely beneficial for all involved – employees, admin, HR, Payroll – to have all year-round and fall Extra Duty positions filled before the end of the current school year.
Please remember that all Extra Duty positions must be filled through a competitive hiring process.
To support this work, here is a link to the current allocations and rosters for each site: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wRC0hwxXUMv5R8Ni7h82rIAiKj1ElCY7QE_5pD-Qmgk/edit?usp=sharing
Please reach out to [email protected] for clarification as needed.
SafeSchools Update
Thank you SO MUCH for the quick response to the SafeSchools trainings that were outstanding or unaccounted for. It was incredible to see the quickness with which that list got smaller. The list will be updated every Monday, so please check back.
New Blast Roles
The recruitment for two new vacant BLAST positions has commenced.
- We are currently recruiting for an Elementary Assistant Principal; we have two known vacancies for the 25-26 school year: one at North Star, as Lynne Tat is in that role in an Interim capacity for this school year; and one at Juniper, as Jessica Scott is taking a leave of absence for the 25-26 school year. By posting this as a pool posting, we are looking to maximize an ever-shrinking calendar.
- Walt Norris, current Director of Custodial and Sustainability, will retire effective June 30. After a review of the current state of the Custodial Department and a review of organizational methods in other districts, a decision was made to delimit the Director of Custodial and Sustainability classification and to create a new classification, the Director of Facilities Operations, to lead the combined Custodial and Maintenance departments. This position will report to Doug Pigman, the Executive Director of Facilities and Maintenance and will begin July 1, 2025.
If you have any questions about these vacancies, please connect with Ryan.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month
Canopy, the district’s Employee Assistance Plan provider, is available to ALL employees.
Canopy has free, confidential resources designed to help employees thrive and includes these kinds of services:
✔ 24/7 Confidential Counseling – provides access to professional, real time, support anytime, anywhere.
✔ Personalized Coaching – offers one-on-one guidance to help you set goals and find balance.
✔ On-Demand Learning – includes webinars, tip sheets, and resources to support your mental wellness.
Check out this flyer to learn more and find out how to access Canopy’s services.
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From IT:
The Synergy grade book test environment will need to be refreshed on 6/1. Staff will not be able to play in the standards-based grade book sandbox after 5/31 until trainings begin in August.
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From Kinsey – Office of Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
Summer groceries/food access:
Can you please share this in your next school newsletters (for families and for staff)?
Need help with buying groceries for your family? The state of Oregon offers a program that can help families with school-age children who need help with access to food while school is out for summer. For details and to apply, see flyer:
¿Necesita ayuda con alimentos para su familia? El estado de Oregón ofrece un programa que ayuda a las familias con niños de edad escolar a comprar alimentos durante las vacaciones de verano. Para más detalles y para aplicar, véase este volante:
Family engagement staff:
Evaluations: I am working on summative evaluations for FAN Advocates and Family Liaisons. You consistently engage with them and see their work in your buildings weekly–if you have any feedback to contribute to their evaluation, please send it my way or give me a call. I appreciate your partnership and insights.
Staffing: Curious who your school’s Advocate, Liaison, or Language Specialist will be next year? The goal is to keep these positions as stable and consistent as possible year to year, as this is key for relationships and trust with families, colleagues, and students. Until/unless you hear otherwise, assume these roles will be filled by the same people you currently have assigned.
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From Facilities:
Grounds and Athletic Fields
Like other departments, Maintenance is responding to budget constraints and limited staffing. Our Outside Services Team, therefore, is adjusting our fertilization schedule to better manage available resources and align with sustainability initiatives.
Instead of applying fertilizer during early spring (spring break), we will now fertilize in late June or early July, with an additional application for athletic fields in the fall. This change—along with scaling back from the previous 3–4 applications per year—will save the district thousands of dollars and significantly reduce water usage, which aligns with conservation efforts encouraged by both the City of Bend and the BLS.
These adjustments will also allow our crews to focus on other critical turf maintenance tasks, such as edging and weed control, which we can better manage as the grass growth slows. Rest assured, playing surfaces will remain safe and the turf healthy.
We’re also prioritizing aeration this year—something we haven’t done consistently in the past. This will have a major positive impact on the overall condition of our fields.
Finally, we are in the process of organizing a dedicated field maintenance crew and hope to bring on summer help soon to accelerate this work.
Thank you for your patience and support as we implement these changes.
- Greg Rider, Outside Service Manager
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From Dean Richards:
As you get closer to the finalizing the courses that teachers will be teaching, please communicate with them about the assignments for next year. If you have staff who are leaving or entering your building, please update your synergy option set. The email that goes out to teachers in which they request curricular tools is tied to the option set. We want to make the transition to a new site as comfortable as possible.
When you are ready to have teachers request curriculum, please send this email and cc Dean
Hello –
You will receive an email from ‘BLS Instructional Technology’ this week with the subject ‘<first name>’s Instructional Tools Requests. This email is authentic and is sent by our Instructional Technology department. Please find time before May 31 to review this email and request any instructional tools you wish to use for next year.
Beginning next week we have four weeks left for teachers to make requests. This is a tight timeline, especially for teachers teaching new courses. We need some time to engage with teachers for curricular tools that may be denied or that we need more information about before purchasing over the summer. Please send the email as soon as possible under these difficult conditions.
Middle School Only
From Dean:
We will have a training at Pacific Crest for all Science teachers to engage in the new Science curriculum, LabAids. These are required trainings for teachers to attend. If a teacher is teaching multiple grades, they may choose a grade level. Some teachers may choose go to more than one. Colleen Behrens has worked with them if that is the case. Subs are paid for with curriculum dollars.
- 6th grade, Tuesday, May 27th
- 7th grade, Wednesday, May 28th
- 8th grade, Thursday May 29th
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More Science News!
Beginning the 3rd week of August Science materials will be delivered to your sites. Colleen is working with the warehouse to help facilitate the delivery. For most sites there will be 6 to 8 pallets of materials delivered. Science teachers will be paid 4 additional hours to clear out the current science materials and move new materials in at the beginning of the year. The funding for this will come from the curriculum budget. Please send the timesheets to me for approval.
The following email was sent to teachers from Colleen informing teachers.
Hi Science Team,
Thank you all for taking on the important (and sometimes daunting!) task of clearing out old science materials to make room for the new LabAids equipment coming your way. I know this is overwhelming for many of you. Your effort is truly appreciated.
Each of you will receive a total of 4 hours of additional pay at the curriculum for recycling and clearing out outdated materials and unpacking and organizing new instructional materials once they arrive. You can choose to claim the hours this school year, next school year, or split them between the two.
LabAids materials will be delivered to your school the week of August 18.
I’ll coordinate with Distribution and your lead building engineer to ensure pallets are delivered and unpacked smoothly. I’m also working with the high school clubs to find students to volunteer to help unpack the pallets. More details to come.
Thank you again for your time and dedication. Please reach out with questions and concerns.
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The Math bypass test will be given at schools the first week of June for 6th and 7th grade students. Any student may take the test. A student may self-select, a teacher may refer or a parent may refer.
June 2nd: LPMS
June 3rd: Three Rivers and High Desert
June 4th: Pilot Butte and Pacific Crest
June 5th: Cascade and Sky View
June 6th: Realms
High School Only
Reminder: Please drop your communication to families about graduation in this file. Thank you to CHS and LPHS!
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From Dean:
We will have a mandatory training for Physics Teachers at Mountain View for teachers to engage in the new Physics curriculum, PEER Physics. The training will be Monday, May 19th through Wednesday, May 21st.
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From Comms:
Hello and happy Thursday! This is a friendly reminder that we need the Class of 2025 questionnaire completed no later than Tuesday, May 20 so we have enough time to turn around translation for the newsletter. I know these details are all coming together right now, so I appreciate your work on this.
We look forward to sharing the celebrations!
Calendar
- May 20: Val/Sal pictures and a quick blurb about each student due to Becca and Scott M
- May 20: HS Counselor Celebrations 1:00-4:00 @ Wall Street Lab (Principals and admin who oversees counseling required to attend)
- May 20: Excellence in Education Event 4:30 @ Mountain View HS Auditorium
- May 20, June 10 and June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up for one session! Mandatory AI Training
- May 22: MS Horizontal – 3:00 @ Pilot Butte
- May 23: High Schools announce Val and Sal today!
- May 26: Memorial Day, No School
- May 27: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
- May 28: Perseverance Awards Ceremony 5:30 @ The Loft on Bond Street
- May 28: Dual Immersion Graduation Ceremony 5:30 @ Aspen Hall
- May 29: MS Counselor Celebrations 8:00-11:00 @ PBMS (Principals and admin who oversees counseling required to attend)
- May 31: HS only: Deadline by which Distracted Driving assembly or advisory lesson is completed
- June 4: All Admin PD at Aspen Hall, 3:00-4:30
- June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
- June 12: Last Day students—half day
- June 13: Last Day staff work day
- June 17: MS and HS Administrator End of the Year wrap up. SBG focus! 8:00-11:00 @ Mountain View HS
Where in the World?
We are highlighting