To Do
- Share syllabus requirements with staff
- Submit 2025-26 BLAST Non Contract calendar to Stephen and Katie (VPs, submit to your principal.
- A new website and ParentSquare are coming! Complete this SURVEY for communications by August 1.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Please share this information with your teachers regarding August 27:
We are excited to invite all secondary teachers and administrators to a special Standards-Based Instruction and Grading Mini-Conference at Pacific Crest Middle School on August 27 from 8:30 to 12:15, for the District Directed Professional Development Day.
This engaging professional development event will begin with our keynote, “Instructional Pillars and What’s in the Box?”, followed by almost 20 choices repeated over three interactive sessions selected designed to deepen understanding of the SBIG framework. Participants will explore how proficiency in district standards—not behavior—drives grading, how feedback via rubrics empowers student learning, and how practices like the decaying average and reassessment opportunities support growth. Sessions will highlight practical strategies, technology tools, communication approaches, and ways to design assessments that truly measure learning. Join us to connect with colleagues, learn from expert presenters, and prepare for a smooth, impactful shift to Standards-Based Grading.
Due to parking concerns, buses will run from Bend Senior High School, Caldera High School, La Pine High School and Mountain View High School. Buses will leave Bend schools at 8:00, and La Pine High School at 7:45. We encourage you to ride the bus or carpool to the site.
After the morning sessions, please provide PLC/Department time for teachers to debrief their sessions. Here are some guiding questions you can use, or develop some of your own.
SSC, SSI, School Counselors, School Psychologists will not participate as they will be in training at Caldera HS all day!
From Departments
From Ryan in Human Resources:
Our New Certified Administrator Orientation will be held on Thursday, August 21 at North Star.
- Breakfast: 7:00 AM – Bend Breakfast Burrito will be catering; enjoy a burrito, muffin, coffee, and connection time with our new hires.
- Program Start: 8:00 AM
Any school or department that hired a new Certified employee is required to send a representative so that you can connect with that person/people, but all are welcome to attend, and we encourage you to join us in welcoming our new staff.
If you’re unsure whether your school needs to send a representative, please email me directly.
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From your Student Services Administrators
This was sent to all student services staff members today:
Welcome back to the 25-26 school year!
Please see the attached schedules for in-service week for returning certified and classified staff and new certified and classified staff.
New staff (certified and classified), you have additional onboarding, so please make sure you are looking at the new certified or new classified schedules.
ALL certified staff, the schedule for the District PD day is embedded in the calendar on August 27th with a link labeled District PD Day.
If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].
We look forward to seeing you!
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From Scott in IT:
Greetings,
Our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for student device use was updated during the 24-25 school year. The new version is what our families are receiving in their enrollment materials. I have linked the updated AUP here. Sections that you may want to be familiar with include:
• Grade 6-12 Insurance Device Damage and Loss Guidelines
• Device Use
•The Student Pledge
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From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Equity:
(HS Admin Only) Cell phone policy changes:
If you are interested in participating in a discussion, review, and feedback session regarding district policy for the new cell phone requirements, please contact Katie and I by Thursday the 21st. We would love to see at least one administrator from each high school. We’ll reach out to folks after that to schedule the conversation.
In the meantime, here are talking points you can use with your staff.
Policy Notes:
Updated Attendance policy (updated per conversations and feedback throughout last year). Please be familiar with the changes to procedures and responsibilities, share with your office and MTSS staff, and bring any questions to the September horizontal admin meeting. Related: Employee Attendance policy–good reminders for all of us!
Updated Grades and Credits policy final version. Feel free to share this directly with your teachers and counselors (secondary in particular), if helpful.
Here are the reference slides from the policy training last April. Topics/Guidance includes:
-Law enforcement, student searches, DHS,
-ICE (here’s additional ICE guidance),
-controversial subjects (share the policy with your teachers),
-parent requests for teachers, etc.
Please share those reference slides with applicable staff, print, and/or bookmark as needed–you don’t want to be looking for these in a time-sensitive situation.
Updated transportation policy: We updated the series of policies related to transportation. One important change for you (and ADs/coaches):
Either we provide the bus, or students/families need to coordinate their own rides—employees, including coaches, should not coordinate groups of students with drivers of private vehicles. Parent volunteers or team parents are welcome to coordinate with other volunteers, but district employees are not involved in non-district transportation arrangements.
Related: field trip permission forms have been updated (all languages available on the Portal): please share with teachers and office staff.
Have a recommendation regarding a policy issue? Please use this form to suggest updates, request changes, identify gaps in policy language, etc.
Looking for the policy that covers a particular topic? Need help interpreting a policy for a particular situation? Contact me!
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From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Equity:
Here is follow-up from the complaint training this week. Please save, file, or bookmark as needed (also sent via email):
Flowchart for navigating complaints, policies, and timelines.
Your Dashboard–put this in your Bookmarks Bar! The link leads to your personal school-specific view (Smartsheet is magic).
Form for reporting a complaint or a bias incident.
- Available on the district website: ‘Engage with Us’ blue rectange –> Complaints
- Available as an app/icon on student and staff iPads
- Poster with QR code, for community spaces on campus (lobby, staff lounge, gym, stadium).
Reach out to me if I can support any investigations or responses to complaints, bias incidents, or policy interpretation or decisions. Triz is your go-to for employee issues that your admin team identifies directly (not a complaint brought to you by a third party), or for determining personnel actions if your complaint investigation has confirmed there was employee misconduct, policy violation, or performance issues.
Appreciate your (competitive) engagement in the training. I learned a lot about how to play Jeopardy! I hope you learned a bit about complaint navigation. I’d love any feedback on the training or this topic as it arises.
Thank you~
MS Only
- UPDATE: Part Time Schedules done by 8/22
- Send staff-facing Admin team responsibility document to Stephen by 8/31
- Fill out inservice week times in MS admin calendar/planner by 8/22
- Fill out Teams/Leads by 8/31
HS Only
August 18, 2025 Counselor and HS admin meeting: Counselors and the admin who oversee the counseling department should attend this virtual meeting from 10-11. We’ll be reviewing key aligned practices that are especially important as we launch into the busy start-of-year season, including:
- Grades and Credit AR Review
- Partial Credit Updates
- BLSO Guidelines and Process with SmartSheet
- Expanded Options
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By August 22: Part Time HS Schedules should be linked HERE
By August 22: link/complete your inservice plan document and your teams/leads doc in the HS Admin calendar/planner
By August 29: link SIW plan to HS Admin calendar/planner
Calendar
August 21: New Teacher Work Day
August 22: Middle School Advisory Meeting – Ed Center Rm 312 – 11-1
August 25: Certified return to work
August 26: District Welcome Back – Virtual – 8:30-10:00
August 27: District PD Day
September 3: 6th/9th grade only days!
September 4: 6th-12th grade students back to school!
Where in the World
Congratulations to MacKenzie Groshong who won our first drawing last week!!!
Each week there will be an image of a landmark from someplace in the world. Any admin who responds with the correct location (be specific!) by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Here is the image for this week:
