Congratulations to our colleague Chris Boyd for being selected as the Administrator of the Year! Chris has been with Bend-La Pine Schools for 11 years and is in his fifth year as principal at Caldera High School, the district’s newest school. He has been Caldera principal since the doors opened in the fall of 2021.

To Do

Reminders for HS: teach these two lessons before winter break:

Cellphone lesson

SBHC lesson (MVHS and BSHS – skip slide 8).  AND send home the SBHC family letter and permission form.  

From Tami Pike:

Please ensure that your school’s first aid kits: classroom fanny packs, front office orange first aid bags, and gym wall first aid kits are regularly reviewed and restocked. This task can be completed by non-nursing staff.

From Departments

From Gabe, Director of Activities and Athletics:

November 17th-21st, 2025

Jess Calbreath, COSA

School Counseling Updates: Nov 20, 2025

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From Sean Reinhart, Jennifer Hauth, and Jamie Gunter

The Student Services Team is reaching out with yearly reminders of our protocols and procedures around suicide risk and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), as required by Adi’s Act (Senate Bill 52).  We will be providing a series of updates to ensure that administrators have information on updated protocols. 

Reminder: Safe Oregon

Safe Oregon tips involving suicidal ideation or non-suicidal self-injury require follow up with your school based mental health staff (follow up screening and entry into Student Safe each time). Refer to the student services slide deck or reach out to Sean, Jamie, Scott, or Kayla. 

Reminder: Screening Staff

As per our Adi’s Act plan, staff who can risk screen and safety plan with students include school counselors, school psychologists, and student success clinicians. ASIST trained school nurses and student success staff can collaborate with their school based mental health professionals after screening on next steps in safety planning and lethal means calls home. Policy requires that a student is screened and parent/caregivers are notified the same day that a concern is noted. Same day notification to administrators is also a requirement, as is the entry of all screening information and contact details intoStudent Safe. All administrators have access to the Student Safe system, and if anyone would like a 1:1 walkthrough, please reach out.

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From Heather Tang:

Here’s a quick reminder about the Tobacco Quit Kits. These kits are a valuable resource to support students in their journey to quit smoking, vaping, or using chewing tobacco.

The kits include: 

• Distraction tools to help resist the urge to use tobacco.
• Resource information to support students through the quitting process.

How to Distribute Quit Kits

• Quit Kits are intended to be distributed during the second nicotine module of the Teen Intervene program by UpShift Specialists.
• In special cases, they may be distributed outside of Teen Intervene, but only if a student demonstrates a strong commitment to quitting.

Schools and staff can request kits using our request form:

• Order up to 5-10 kits at a time.
• Delivery will be confirmed within 5-7 business days.
• To streamline the process, we recommend designating one UpShift team member to handle all kit requests for your school.

Ready to request your kits? Please complete this form.

If you have any questions or need additional support, please reach out. We’re here to help!

Additional Resource: 

The CDC has a quick, one-page guide to help school staff understand youth vaping and tobacco use.It includes tips for how you can support young people and key health facts. Download it in English or Spanish. Please feel free to pass along to staff. 

ENG PDF

ESP PDF

HS Only

From Michele in Transportation:

2026 Oregon Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School High School Task Force: Applications accepted now until December 11^th at 5pm. Apply for the 2026 High School Task Force – Oregon Safe Routes to School

This is open to Oregon students enrolled in grades 9 – 12 for the 2025-2026 school year. Leif Méndez, who was a 12^th grader at Caldera High School last school year, served on the inaugural ODOT SRTS High School Task Force. I’m hoping another BLS high school student will apply and be selected for this opportunity.

I invite your recommendations on where and how else to promote this. I have already asked BLS Communications to include it in the December Family Newsletter.

Calendar

November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break

December 1: SBG Parent Night @ LPHS 5:30

December 2: Learning Walk session @ MVHS 9:15 room D1

December 3: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)

December 3: SBG Parent Night @ MVHS 5:30

December 5: HS Principal Connection @ BTA 9:00

December 5: Transcript process training for HS admin who have not been trained 10:00 @ BTA

What in the World Happened Here?

Congratulations to Leah Boon for winning last week!  The image was of Ruby Bridges being escorted to school by federal marshals on November 14^th 1960.

This week, it’s What in the World Happened Here? Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies what historical even happened here by Monday morning (Dec 1) 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. 

To Do

Parent Nights:

Reinforce our Standards Based Instruction and Grading parent nights with your families. The events are for anyone in the community, not just the host school families.

Wed Nov 19 @ Summit High – 5:30

Monday Dec 1 @ La Pine High – 5:30

Wed Dec 3 @ Mountain View High – 5:30

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College and Career Day K-12

Don’t forget to promote College and Career day on November 20th is College and Career Day!.  

• Dress as a professional
• Wear college colors
• Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges. 
• Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers.  

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

From Departments

Dr. Cook and Dr. Birk to provide all-staff virtual updates Nov. 18

Superintendent Steven Cook and Deputy Superintendent Lisa Birk will host an update for all District staff on Tuesday, November 18, with two 30-minute virtual sessions:

Session 1 – 3:05 – 3:35 p.m. (LINK to join Session 1)

Session 2 – 3:50 – 4:20 p.m. (LINK to join Session 2)

They will begin by recognizing several major accomplishments and celebrations from this school year. Other updates include:

• State and federal funding
• Long-term enrollment projections
• Facility updates
• Elementary and secondary priorities

They will provide the same update at the beginning of both meetings, then answer questions sent in from staff. Attendance is optional. If you can’t join either meeting live, we plan to share recordings with you afterward.

HAVE A QUESTION FOR DR. COOK?

Use THIS LINK to submit a question for the first meeting (3:05-3:35 PM)

Use THIS LINK to submit a question for the second meeting (3:50-4:20 PM)

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From Dean in TLC:

Interested in having your leadership team attend a virtual SBG conference? Here is a LINK to the same group who put on the previous one many attended.

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From Eric in Student Services:

We had a Community Justice Officer from Deschutes County reach out to a school this week with the following request: 

Hello,

I am _____, (Student’s) Community Justice Officer. I was wondering if I can get a copy of (Student’s) Attendance, grades, and credits. I am not sure if this is the correct email to request all three. If there is someone else, I should reach out to or if you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you.

For this specific student, we did not yet have a record of the student being on probation or an ROI to communicate with outside providers. After communicating with district legal counsel, the following was recommended as the reply to be sent to the CJO:

“We need you to provide us with a release of information or legal basis for releasing this information, such as a health or safety emergency as defined by ORS 336.187.”

If you ever get a request like this, you can also forward the requestor to me and I can work with them directly to get them needed information (as I am allowed).

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From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Advisory Lessons:

Here is the final version of the Cellphone lesson, to teach before winter break.  Here is the SBHC lesson again as well (for at least CHS, SHS, BTA, and Realms, although it’s applicable to MVHS and BSHS too if you skip slide 8).  SBHC family letter and permission form to send home.  

Student Voice Council:

We will be reaching out to a couple schools to meet with you and your SVC representatives soon (areas where we’d like the principal looped in on student issues).  If you don’t hear from us but would like a meeting to check in on communication with your students, our facilitator team, and your admin team, please let me know.

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From TLC:

Course Recoding: Clarifying Guidelines and Approvals

As we continue working to ensure accuracy and consistency in how courses are coded across our district, it’s important that everyone follows the same expectations around course recoding. Recoding should occur only in very limited instances and must always be pre-approved to maintain alignment with state standards, diploma requirements, and teacher endorsements.

When Recoding Is (and Isn’t) Appropriate

A course may only fulfill a subject area (“bucket”) if:

• It truly meets the standards of that subject area, and
• The teacher holds the appropriate endorsement in that subject area.

Recoding should not be used to make a course fit where it doesn’t belong. Even if a class seems related, it may not meet the academic standards required for a different subject credit.

Examples:

• First Aid/CPR ≠ Health
• While both are Social Studies, World History ≠ U.S. History – (World Studies = WS | U.S. History = US)
• Sources of Strength ≠ Health

Courses with Pre-Approved Recode Options

Some courses have been reviewed and approved to count toward either a Science (SC) credit or a Career & Technical Education (CTE/FA) credit — depending on the student’s needs and the teacher’s endorsement.

However, each course may only count toward one area at a time, not both.

Course	May Count As	Notes
Human Anatomy / Physiology	Science (SC) or CTE (FA)	May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit
Biotechnology	Science (SC) or CTE (FA)	May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit
Intro to Animal Science / Plant Science / Pre-Vet Medicine (MVHS)	Science (SC) or CTE (FA)	May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit
Natural Resources Science	Science (SC) or CTE (FA)	May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit

These courses do not replace the district’s three-year science pathway required for all BLS students (Physics, Chemistry, Biology).

Approval Process

To ensure consistency and compliance:

All course recode requests must be vetted and approved by the Director of Curriculum & Instruction and team.

 Please Submit requests via the Google Form 

Why This Matters

Accurate course coding protects transcript integrity, ensures students receive the correct credits toward graduation, and supports clear communication with families and postsecondary institutions. By following these guidelines, we maintain equitable and consistent academic standards across the district.

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From Gabe, Director of Activities and Athletics:

The highlights of this week: November 10th-14th, 2025

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From Sara Young, Director of Student Services:

We are excited to introduce the new Special EDge Student Services Blog.

Calendar

November 18: HS Administrator work session @BSHS 9:00-11:00

November 19: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)

November 19: SBG Parent Night @ SHS 5:30

November 20: MS Horizontal @ CMS 3:00 to 5:00

November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break

December 1: SBG Parent Night @ LPHS 5:30

December 3: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)

December 3: SBG Parent Night @ MVHS 5:30

When in the World

Congrats to Sarah Huddart who won the recent Who in the World competition!  

Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019. Omar is the first Somali American in the United States Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota. She is also one of the first two Muslim women (along with Rashida Tlaib) to serve in Congress.

This week, it’s When in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image AND THE YEAR 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.

To Do

This is National School Psychologist Week! Did you show appreciation for your School Psych? Link to org chart.  

This year’s theme, “Finding Your Path,” reflects the ways that school psychologists help students, families, and school communities set and achieve their goals. Join us by taking this week to chart your course to explore how each person can celebrate the work of school psychologists and learn how school psychologists make a difference every day.

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From Kinsey — Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Transgender Awareness Week   

November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week.  Next week your building will receive a kit with ideas and supplies for simple ways to support your transgender students or colleagues. 

Please connect with your Advocacy ICCL representative (or watch your mailbox) for those kits, and encourage your staff to participate.  

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HS Administrators only: With the new cell phone policy being implemented in January, we know there have been some concerns about students’ access to college applications, FAFSA, and similar platforms that may require authenticator or password retrieval.

After meeting with IT, we confirmed that students in grades 11 and 12 do have access to their personal email accounts on their iPads. This means they can retrieve verification codes or reset passwords as needed without relying on their school email or phone. 

Students in grades 11 and 12 can access their personal email through logging into Safari.

This ensures students can continue accessing essential college and financial aid tools while allowing us to uphold the new “off and away, bell to bell” cell phone policy and maintain focus during class time. It might be worth a quick advisory lesson to walk students through accessing their personal email on their iPad before January—especially since they won’t be able to use their phones for password retrieval when they add their personal email.

Please work with your counselors to support students to access their personal emails prior to the January cell phone implementation.

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From Jessica Houser:

Please make sure employees at your site are aware of this important payroll update.

For the November and December payrolls, all employees will receive a paper paystub (or a live check if not enrolled in direct deposit) mailed directly to their home address on file. Payday remains the last business day of each month.

This change ensures every employee can easily access their pay information during school breaks when most staff are off-site or not connected to the district network. From now on, paystubs and paychecks will no longer be routed to school sites for pickup or distribution.

What to Know

• All employees will automatically receive mailed paystubs in November, December, June, July, and August.
• Employees who want paper paystubs in additional months can email Payroll to opt in. (This election resets each year.)
• Employees can update their home address in UKG.
• Those who need help setting up direct deposit can review the “How To” guide on the Payroll Portal or reach out to Payroll.
• Substitute and extra-duty employees will continue to receive paper paystubs automatically every month.
• Employees can still view electronic paystubs through Employee Online when using a district device or network connection.

Thank you for sharing this information with your teams and helping ensure every employee has consistent access to their pay details.

From Departments

From Eric Powell in Student Services

Moving forward, when documenting a Child Abuse Report that your school is making, will you please store the Child Abuse Form in the following ways:

1. Building Principal or Department Supervisor maintains a copy of the report
2. Send (Email is fine) a copy to Eric Powell in Student Services

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From Kinsey, Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Family Engagement:    -For your review (share as applicable)-

Family Liaisons: Here are our Spanish-speaking liaisons, and here are reminders on how to use their services.  We also have part-time Black/African American, Asian, and Youth Partnerships Liaisons–if you’d like to connect with one of them, let me know.

FAN Advocates: Here are reminders on their role.  Remind your staff: FAN does not coordinate Christmas gifts for families and hasn’t for over 10 years.  FAN resources are maxed out prioritizing basic needs (food, utilities, etc).  There are many community-based organizations that do support religious or holiday-based requests like Christmas gifts: Here, here, and here are a few resources.  

Concerns/celebrations: If you have concerns about your liaison or advocate (inconsistent attendance, lack of responsiveness, etc), I need to know right away.  Of course, if you have a note of appreciation or celebration about them, send me those too!

Translation/interpretation: Remember, CAFE members are not your primary resource for language services.  Also, please don’t ask them to “quickly review” your AI/Google-translated communication.  Use Linguist Link for translation/interpretation requests.  Here are reminders on differences between these services.  

Food Access and Your Parent Groups:   -For your review (share as applicable)-

In the absence of SNAP benefits for families in need, some of you have parent groups organizing to gather food and distribute it to families.  This is great, if/when boundaries are respected.  Share these talking points with your parent group, as applicable.  

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From Ryan Kelling, Human Resources:

Earlier this week, all Classified staff received an email announcing the opening of applications for the 2025 cohort of Bend-La Pine’s Alternative Pathways Program (APP), a district-supported opportunity for Classified employees to pursue licensure for Certified roles that offers tuition reimbursement, paid student teaching/practicum leave, and other supports as needed as they pursue their license. The announcement was also shared in the most recent edition of this week’s Staff Spotlight.

The APP focuses on hard-to-fill positions and places a particular emphasis on supporting multilingual and bilingual staff, helping us strengthen our connection to students and families while developing our future educators and leaders.

I’m asking that you all take a moment to think about who in your building or department might be a great candidate for this program, both those who have already expressed an interest in becoming licensed educators and those who may not yet see their own potential. A shoulder tap from you might be the spark that helps someone find the confidence they need to take this step.

Applications are open through December 2, 2025. If you’d like more info on the program, you can email Ryan Kelling or visit the  Employee Portal.

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From Gabe, Director of Activities and Athletics:

The highlights of this week: November 3rd, 7th, 2025 SMORE the To Do:

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From Jess, District COSA:

Here are the counseling updates for this week!

HS Only

We will pay for the subs of teachers who attended the COCC articulation meeting on September 10. Request the account code from April J.

Calendar

November 12: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)

November 12: Review slides for SBG Parent Night @BSHS 2:15 in classroom next to PH

November 12: All Admin Meeting @ BSHS 3:00-4:30

November 13: Tier 2 Academic Intervention Team @ BSHS 2:30-4:00

November 18: HS Administrator work session @BSHS 9:00-11:00

November 19: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)

November 19: SBG Parent Night @ SHS 5:30

November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break

Where in the World

Congrats (and Happy Birthday) to Reno Holler for winning the “where in the world” image last week.  The image was of center field at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Wrigley was built in 1914 and the original vines were purchased and planted in September 1937.

This week, it’s Who in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image 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.