To Do
After the morning sessions on 8/27, 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. It is important to have your teachers participate in this work as part of the entire day of training.
SSC, SSI, School Counselors, School Psychologists will not participate as they will be in training at Caldera HS all day!
Look for an email from Lisa tomorrow with information on the new BLAST leave sheet and process.
From Departments
From TLC:
Curriculum Update
We are working hard to get all the final curriculum purchased and deployed. However, we know that there will be a few curricula that fall through the cracks. Teachers will be able to see all the curricular tools that have been assigned to their courses here: https://instructionaltools.bend.k12.or.us/ . If you hear from a teacher that they do not have access to something they requested, they should check there first to see if it is deployed.
We know that there are some teachers who have new requests due to a reassignment or now want a new curricular tool. Additionally, there are always a few tools that for no fault of the teacher, do not get deployed. We have created a process to record their need and expedite the curricular resource.
Here is a Google form that can be used to help us understand any missed curriculum. Please share with office staff who may be working with teachers in need of curriculum.
Health Curriculum textbooks, Live Well, will begin to arrive next week. Northwest Text Depository has emptied their shelves for us, but it looks like they are a few short. Skyview and 3Rivers will arrive mid-September. Teachers and students will have access through Canvas to digital text.
Standards Based Instruction and Grading Mini-Conference
On Wednesday, August 27th all teachers and administrators will be meeting at PCMS for our SBIG Mini conference. Please encourage your staff member to take a bus from LPHS, BHSH, MVHS or CHS to alleviate parking issues. We will have parking spots at PCMS, Miller Elementary, and Summit (for those who want a bit of a walk), but that will not be enough!
Also, please encourage staff to bring a device to access the Google Folder of presentations (available next week) and other resources.
Here is the 1-page document that teachers will receive when they walk into PCMS. This is for your information, do not share with staff. Presenters are still working to load presentations into the folder. General information was in last week’s blog post.
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 Ryan Kelling in HR:
Updated Requirement: Interviews for All Vacancies
In the past, Administrators and Supervisors were not required to conduct interviews when the number of applicants matched the number of vacancies. While this may have streamlined the hiring process, we have since identified it as a poor practice because it removes the opportunity to evaluate the applicant’s skills, knowledge, and ability to meet the demands of the role. This approach does not align with our commitment to selecting the most qualified candidates through a fair and thorough process.
Effective immediately, all candidates must participate in an interview before being considered for hire, regardless of the number of applicants or vacancies.
This ensures that:
- Each candidate demonstrates proficiency and readiness for the role.
- We maintain a consistent, equitable hiring process across the organization.
- Hiring decisions are based on observable qualifications and competencies.
This shift strengthens the integrity of our selection process and supports our goal of bringing the most capable talent into every position. Please plan accordingly when scheduling your hiring process.
If you have questions about this change, please call me.
From Jess Calbreath, Lead Counselor:
School Counseling Program Updates
From Gabe Pagano Director of Activities and Athletics:
Athletics and Activities weekly updates
From Eric Powell in Student Services:
10-Day Inactivation Process to Attendance Staff
On August 27, your secretarial staff who input/track daily attendance will receive the following information regarding changes to our 10-Day Inactivation process.
Here is a link to that information: 10-Day Inactivations
The key highlights for you to know about are:
*Synergy will auto-send attendance letters to families after a student has missed 6 consecutive school days (Unexcused or Unverified ONLY)
*Synergy will auto-send attendance letters to families after a student has been 10-day Inactivated
*Both of these letters request families to connect with the school to schedule a meeting focused on supporting the student return to school
*At days 3, 6, and 9, school teams are asked to designate a staff member to reach out to the family to check on the student
*If a student is 10-day inactivated, your school team can fill out a Request for Assistance to ask the District’s Tier 3 Attendance team for support with a Home Visit or family outreach
Thank you!
Also from Eric:
The Synergy/Tier 1 Slides for your staff if you need them are LINKED HERE
From Karen Rush with Ed Tech:
AI PD & Resources in One Place
Everything you need for the Artificial Intelligence PD is on the new AI in BLS website, including the full slide deck for your upcoming staff training, and the AI syllabus statement and Acceptable Use Scale, to be included in course syllabi.
The training takes about 90 minutes. We’ve scheduled it during August in-service so staff can explore AI early, with the hope that leveraging it can help lighten their workload as the year gets rolling.
There’s no need to be an AI expert. Just open the deck and guide your staff through it. The goal is to share accurate, useful, and timely information as we navigate the meaningful use of AI across the district.
Questions? Reach out anytime: [email protected]
Specific note for TRS, SVM, BSH, CHS, LPH, and SHS
Over the weekend of Aug 16, student schedules from your school were inadvertently released to Canvas. This was not the fault of school staff. A misconfiguration in our system released these data prematurely. The issue was identified on Aug 18 and steps were immediately taken to prevent any further sharing of student schedules to Canvas. On Aug 19, our Canvas admins removed the student schedules from the Canvas environment. At this time, we are aware that some families were able to view schedules for their students. Those schedules were not finalized and have since been removed. We are now in a state where student schedules will become available in Canvas on Aug 28.
If you hear from a parent or guardian, please let them know that drafts were inadvertently shared and may contain errors. Actual schedules will be available on Aug 28.
This issue did not affect teachers.
From Rachel Mavis in IT:
NEW Attendance Features!
L10 – New late (Tardy) code for Teachers and Office staff will use for students who arrive 10 minutes + after class start time. In the past teachers have been required to use Absence Unverified. By using a super late code, the student will be marked in class – but super late.
ParentVUE Attendance – Parents will have the option to submit attendance through ParentVUE. The attendance request will go into a queue, where the office staff will Accept or Deny. More details and information will be released soon.
MS Only
Please wrap up your part time schedules and share them with me this week!
HS Only
Cell Phone Policy: If you are interested in representing our HS team in a discussion, review, and feedback session regarding district policy for the new cell phone requirements, please contact Katie and Kinsey by Thursday the 21st – today! 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.
$ if you act fast: You could claim $1,449.58 to use towards attendance incentives THIS year. The first HS principal who emails me that they are committed to using the money to support attendance in 25-26, will receive the account code!
The BLPO enrollment changes are in effect at the beginning of this school year. HERE is the link to the guidance.
We are busy delivering congratulatory signs to students earning an outstanding exam score on an IB or AP exam or a Seal of Biliteracy. If you are interested in helping to delivery these to the homes of our students, please reach out to Scott Maben. The plan is to deliver them before school begins Sept 3.
By August 22: Part Time Schedules should be linked HERE
By August 22: link/complete the inservice plan document and the teams/leads doc in the HS Admin calendar/planner
By August 29: link your school’s SIW plan to HS Admin calendar/planner
Calendar
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 Julie Stroinski who won the 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:
