On Wednesday of this week, we trained office managers on use of ParentSquare. Our family liaison team also attended this training. We learned more about how schools currently use School Messenger, including to message secondary students. This is helpful as we prepare for School Messenger to end on June 30 and we transition to use of ParentSquare as our primary family messaging and engagement tool.
Next week we will invite all district staff to activate their ParentSquare accounts. We are not ready for you (outside of our 5 South County pilot schools) to begin using ParentSquare to communicate with your families, but you will see some content we plan to share from the District level now through summer. Schools may begin using ParentSquare in August, and teachers will be able to use it once trained in early September.
Bringing families into the ParentSquare fold will take time, and we’d like to begin around the end of the school year. Parents will receive an invite to verify their accounts, set preferences, and download the ParentSquare app. We will schedule reminders to those who don’t respond to the initial invite. It’s important to know that even if a parent never responds to these invites, they will still receive our ParentSquare communications — as emails — but they won’t benefit from the full features of ParentSquare, such as setting their message preferences or using the handy mobile app.
We’re looking at dates when we can offer school administrators basic training on using ParentSquare and will communicate those details soon.
Our training opportunity for all teachers and any other staff who need to be ready to communicate with families will be the second day of in-service week:
PARENTSQUARE BASIC TRAINING
Tuesday, Sept. 1, 10-11 a.m.
Teams meeting (link to be shared later) with a trainer from ParentSquare
Note that this will begin shortly after the Superintendent’s Welcome Back program at 8:30 a.m. You may want your team to remain together in the same space.
On Wednesday, Sept. 2, we will provide follow-up ParentSquare support opportunities at the District-led PD (elementary at Caldera, secondary at Pacific Crest).
After school starts, we would like to visit every school for drop-in sessions for staff who’d like to ask questions or get help using ParentSquare.
Please reach out if you have questions on any of this. Thanks!
From Rodger Moore, Director of Facility Operations
To help schools manage classroom relocations smoothly and minimize disruption to instruction, the district is developing a standardized process for both same-school and inter-school moves. The procedure is intended to outline clear responsibilities for administrators, teachers, custodial teams, maintenance, and IT staff to help ensure moves are coordinated efficiently. The district is currently testing our work order platform Hero HQ for submitting move requests and coordinating details such as scheduling, technology needs, furniture, and specialty equipment. Additional procedures, expectations, and implementation guidance will be communicated in an upcoming Level Leaders’ Blog once the workflow and support processes are finalized.
Large-scale moves, such as the Realms transition, will be exempt from this process.
Please read this week’s Special EDge to get more information about:
Review End of Year Check-out Process
Complete High Cost
Paperwork Deadline – June 5!
ESY Case Managers – Reach out to Sara Young with new students who qualify and continue to reach out to families you haven’t heard from
Utilize the Student Services Launchpad
Save the Date for upcoming events
MS Only
Ed Tech Training
Be on the look out for communication from the Ed Tech team about in-service training on tech tools including Jamf. Please coordinate a time for your staff in the fall.
Calendar
June 4: Graduation week begins!
June 11: Last day of school!
June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS
June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00
June 16: HS Administrator Retreat 8-4 TBD
June 16: MS Horizontal on MAPS – 8:30 – 10:13 @ Ed Center
June 19: Juneteenth Holiday!
June 22: MS Principal Retreat – 9-1 @ Deschutes Central Library
Who in the world?
Congratulations to an Curfew who won the drawing this week!
He correctly identified the image as Dr. Karen Mapp, who led an outstanding session on family engagement last Thursday!
Dr. Mapp, a Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a leading family and community engagement expert whose research and practice focus on cultivating partnerships among schools, families, and communities for enhancing student achievement and school performance.
Below is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:
Please review ALL your audits on this dashboard including the new Discipline & Attendance Mismatched audit. These audits need to be resolved prior to the end of the school year.
Additional updates for discipline audits have been added to the School Discipline Audits analytics report dashboard. Specifically, an updated version of the “Discipline & Attendance Mismatch” report is at the bottom of the dashboard (you will need to scroll down to see it).
Jason Westmoreland [[email protected]] would like additional feedback on this audit specifically. Are there changes that would be helpful, are there any false positive or incorrect entries shown, or is there any confusion surrounding how to resolve the audits?
To access the discipline audits (until we are able to publish this to a PAD Tree location), you will need to use the Quick Launch, by typing ‘Synergy Analytics Home Page’ and selecting the entry.
Once you are on the Synergy Analytics Home Page, click the ‘hamburger’ under the label, and expand the navigation links. Find the Discipline option and select it.
You may be presented with a number of options to choose from (I recommend exploring when you have time), however, to review discipline audits, you will need to select the ‘School Discipline Audits’ dashboard from the Audits group.
Once you have selected the appropriate dashboard, there will be multiple audits available on the page. The new ‘Discipline & Attendance Mismatched’ audit is at the bottom of the page (you will need to scroll down using the far-right scroll bar – multiple scrolls may be nested).
The audit is intended to show you where ISS/OSS discipline and attendance are not matched on a given day. Based on what actually happened with a specific student / disposition, you should correct either the disposition Dates & Days, or the Attendance codes for those days (and appropriate periods).
Remember that you can expand individual reports in the dashboard to expand the entire display window by using the four arrows pointing to the corners. This will expand the report to use the whole screen for easier navigation.
NOTE: If you have questions regarding how to resolve these audits (or any audits on this dashboard) please connect with Jason Westmoreland (x1222)
From Departments
From Lisa, Deputy Superintendent
Check out this Spring Update regarding Technology and Assessments for the 26-27 school year.
We are currently processing curriculum requests for next year. Approximately 75% of teachers have submitted requests so far. The form will remain open, but please note that May 31 is the deadline for receiving feedback on submissions. Requests submitted in June may not receive feedback, which is especially important if a request is denied.
Please remind colleagues to complete the curriculum request form. They can find related messages from BLS Instructional Technology ([email protected] (opens in new tab)
Updates to curriculum requests are posted on the same page.
As you know, state law prohibits us from requiring families to provide school supplies for their children’s education. Even suggesting contributions in a way that creates undue pressure or expectation for family donations is inappropriate and doesn’t align with our equity values. Please be sure your staff clearly understand this expectation and the reasons for it.
That said, some families would really like to contribute, and I know we’re all interested in maximizing community support to take the edge off our budgets. To balance these competing interests, here are some recommended practices:
Make it very clear to families that there is no obligation for any family to contribute any school supplies.
Avoid publishing classroom- or grade-specific “lists” that can create a sense of obligation.
Let families know that, for those who have extra supplies at home or who simply enjoy purchasing and contributing supplies to prepare for school each fall, the school will accept voluntary donations of general, unused supplies during your fall Welcome Back/Curriculum Night events.
Have school-wide “Optional School Supply Donations” buckets/tubs available in the front lobby during fall events, rather than having families take supplies to a particular teacher or classroom (where donations are more attributable to individual students, which increases pressure).
Pride Month:
June is Pride Month! Bend-La Pine Schools will have our regular booth at the summer Pride festival on June 6th–drop by and visit!
Encourage your teachers to cover LGBTQIA2S+ history (supported by Oregon required standards) by implementing some of the lessons, read-alouds, and activities available on our district Equity Resources page (click on Cultural Calendar, then scroll to June). Here are some teacher prep tips, and/or contact the Advocacy Coaches for instructional support.
Feeding protocols have been updated, completed, and sent to records
Evaluations finished and uploaded
Medicaid logs are completed in SEAS until last day served
All equipment lists are updated
When you have completed this meeting and have all of your paperwork complete, the admin who supports your site (Josh, Colleen, or Sara) will let your building administrator know that you have the GREEN LIGHT from Student Services to check-out for the year! 🙂
If you have any questions, please reach out to the coach who supports your site!
We are currently investigating the option to discontinue Adobe Creative Cloud licenses for all students in grades K–8. Instead, we are exploring a targeted approach by providing licenses specifically for CTE classes and other courses where Adobe tools are required for instruction.
Our usage data shows that student use of Adobe Creative Cloud applications outside of CTE and journalism classes is limited. As a result, we are hoping to reduce costs by focusing licensing on programs and classes where the tools are actively used and instructionally necessary.
If you currently use Adobe Creative Cloud with students in your class, please add your request to the Instructional Tools Request document so we are aware of your instructional need. Requests and approvals will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Thank you for your understanding and partnership as we work to balance instructional needs with responsible stewardship of district resources.
This change will not impact staff Adobe Creative Cloud Accounts.
From Rodger Moore, Director of Facility Operations To help schools manage classroom relocations smoothly and minimize disruption to instruction, the district is developing a standardized process for both same-school and inter-school moves. The procedure is intended to outline clear responsibilities for administrators, teachers, custodial teams, maintenance, and IT staff to help ensure moves are coordinated efficiently. The district is currently testing our work order platform Hero HQ for submitting move requests and coordinating details such as scheduling, technology needs, furniture, and specialty equipment. Additional procedures, expectations, and implementation guidance will be communicated in an upcoming Level Leaders’ Blog once the workflow and support processes are finalized.
Large-scale moves, such as the Realms transition, will be exempt from this process.
From slide 11 Canvas/Syllabus statements for supplemental materials
In response to students’ learning needs, current events, or newly available sources, I will periodically supplement our major text with other materials.
If you do not want your student to read/view any supplemental materials, please let me know. Your student can wait to read/view the material until after they have shared it with you.
State requirement: One year at the high school level. MS every year.
26-27 pilot year, no Synergy entry required.
26-27 END’s will be used to adjust, review, etc. for USH teachers.
The task is adaptable to a current task in your classroom. And similar enough (3-part task) to meet the state requirements.
Rubric language was created from ELA Speaking Rubrics/State Speaking Rubrics
Rubric language utilizes our standard: Communication and Argumentation with emphasis on speaking.
No requirements at this time to upload tasks, samples etc. to a common portal.
HS Only
From Jenn and Jess:
Reminder that all seniors need to complete the Senior Year-End Activity and Alumni Access setup in SchooLinks prior to graduation. This should be included as part of each school’s senior checkout process.
This is especially important because students need to have their alumni access set up before their SchooLinks account transitions to alumni status. Their alumni account will become their primary way to access transcripts after graduation.
I know some schools are completing this with seniors next week, but I wanted to send a quick reminder and share the current completion numbers below. Reach out to Jess with questions.
May 28: Waypoints Core Skills assessment window closes for secondary
June 4: Graduation week begins!
June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS
June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00
June 16: HS Administrator Retreat 8-4 TBD
June 19: Juneteenth Holiday!
Who in the world?
Congratulations to former history teacher Colin Bado with correctly identifying Bikini Atoll in the blog. Bikini Atoll was the site of massive nuclear testing for the US in the 1940s and 1950s. The impact on the native cultures to that area was long lasting and significant. If you are a bit of a history buff, National Geographic did a documentary that covered these tests and their impact along with the physical impacts on the ocean floor. Side brag: my brother is featured in the documentary as his team was the one to map the ocean floor.
Below is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:
Please remember to upload all your documents into your google Sheet.
From Departments
From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:
Student Voice Council: – Action requested –
We are beginning recruitment for 26-27 Student Voice Council representatives. As you’re aware, this group has an impactful seat at the district leadership table, so ensuring great representation for your school (and feeder schools) is important!
Good news: we have a very stable group who will continue next year, so we are only filling a few spots, primarily of graduating seniors. We need to fill the following seats: 1 for BSHS, 1-2 for DRHS, 2-3 for CHS, 2 for LPHS, 4 for MVHS, 3 for SHS.
What makes a good candidate? A student who is consistent, collaborative, and creative, and has something to say about school. As always, we are looking for diversity of identities, academic profiles (i.e. we don’t only need 4.0 students), and experiences in or out of school.
Current SVC members will help recruit, but we need staff engagement also! Current 8th – 11th graders are welcome to apply, and we’d love middle and high school administrators, counselors, specialists, club advisors, campus monitors, and others with student connections to help recommend students and encourage them to apply. Thanks for sharing this with your staff and school community.
From Aimee Snyder with Deschutes County Health:
Follow-up to the April 9 Blog Post: Optional Resources to Prevent “Look-alike” Substance Use Policy Violations
In addition to the optionalhigh school lesson shared in the April 9 blog post, we’ve now added these additional optional resources for both middle and high schools:
For Families – English and Spanish Family Newsletter PSA about Look-alikes as a Policy Violation
For Middle School Students – Slides and adaptation notes for a “whole school” administrator’s announcement about look-alikes
Please reach out to your Public Health Specialist for help coordinating the rollout of any of these resources.
These resources would be most effective if delivered as part of a coordinated sequence of activities that surround students with consistent substance use prevention messages from various trusted “messengers” (admin, Health teacher, peer leaders, parent/family).
From Rodger in Operations:
To help schools manage classroom relocations smoothly and minimize disruption to instruction, the district is developing a standardized process for both same-school and inter-school moves. The procedure is intended to outline clear responsibilities for administrators, teachers, custodial teams, maintenance, and IT staff to help ensure moves are coordinated efficiently. The district is currently testing our work order platform Hero HQ for submitting move requests and coordinating details such as scheduling, technology needs, furniture, and specialty equipment. Additional procedures, expectations, and implementation guidance will be communicated in an upcoming Level Leaders’ Blog once the workflow and support processes are finalized.
Large-scale moves, such as the Realms transition, will be exempt from this process.
Please read this week’s Special EDge for information about:
Complete High Cost
Note the Paperwork Deadline – June 5!
ESY Case Managers – Reach out to Sara Young with new students who qualify and continue to reach out to families you haven’t heard from
TOSA Updates
From Colleen Behrens, Science TOSA
Science Materials and Scheduling
As you build next year’s schedule, please consider how many teachers are assigned to teach the same course during the same period, as they may need to share science kits and equipment. While we are working to support teachers’ needs, the number of kits at each site is limited, so thoughtful scheduling can help ensure reliable access for all teachers.
Science Trainings
Teachers should attend the training that aligns with the course they will be teaching next year.
High school
May 19th – MVHS- all day PEER Physics
May 21st – MVHS- all day Savvas Chemistry
Middle School
May 28th– Bend Science Station – All day 6th grade science teachers**
May 28th– PCMS – All day 7th and 8th grade science teachers
**Teachers who will be teaching both 6th grade and either 7th or 8th grade next year will need to choose which session to attend.
MS ONLY
Dean and Linda will be proctoring the iReady Bypass Test at middle schools between May 22nd and May 29th. Please be sure to communicate with families about this opportunity.
May 14th: MS Only – TAG Admin/ICCL Meeting @ Ed Center 3:30 – 5:00
May 14: Latino Family Night 5:30 @ MVHS
May 15: HS Principal Connection 8-10 @ RHS
May 19: Secondary Administrator work session @ CHS 9-11 – focus on SBIG
May 25: Memorial Day Holiday, no School
May 28: Waypoints Core Skills assessment window closes for secondary
June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS
June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00
Where in the World
Congratulations to Becky Aylor for correctly guessing the image from last week!
The image was of the The Cinque Terre, Italy: The Italian candy land of colour, the five villages that make up the Cinque Terre provide the perfect oasis for escaping the Italian summer heat and the perfect test for colour blindness.
Below is the image for this week. (Hint: It’s famous for its role in US atomic testing). Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:
HS Principals:Send out the senior message regarding pranks to your seniors and families of seniors next week. The message will be sent centrally from District Office tomorrow
HS Principals: Collect/bring feedback from your admin team on the ACR process proposal. Prepare to share at May 15th meeting.
Here is the updated (26-27 through 28-29 school years) list of key religious observance dates to protect when scheduling any academic or extracurricular events. This applies to field trips, family nights, info sessions, tests and exams, special one-time assemblies or events, etc.
Please be sure you have shared that document with all relevant staff: office managers, activities and athletics, counselors, family engagement team, PTA/Booster Club leadership, ICCL team, etc.
Those key observances are also all populated into our 26-27 district-wide Family Engagement calendar in Outlook. If you add that calendar to your school or dept calendar, those “do not schedule” dates (along with any district-wide family events) will be visible to you, to avoid scheduling conflicts.
From Departments
From Ryan:
We are continuing our Classified staffing reconciliation process to ensure that all staff entitled to positions for next school year are appropriately placed. As we complete this work, we are going to temporarily pause posting additional Classified positions until those staff impacted are notified.
We expect communication regarding employees who will be involuntarily transferred to go to building leaders on Wednesday, May 13th, with the expectation that conversations with staff occur by Friday, May 15th.
Following that process, we will move forward with posting Classified positions for next year. In an effort to align our Certified and Classified staffing processes, we will also pause posting new Certified positions for the 2026–27 school year until May 15th.
From Scott and Kayla in Safety on behalf of Bend PD
Just giving you a heads up that your school SRO may be contacting you about gathering some student generated art that they can display in the Bend Police Department. We are unsure about the amount of space they have to display these works, so please talk with your SRO before doing anything. There is also talk that it may be themed related (Nature, animals, F1 cars–wink wink etc.) Your SRO may know about that as well. Thanks for considering helping make their space feel fun and celebrated.
All AP and IB Social Studies teachers were given the paid (sub or curricular rate) opportunity to meet as subject area/class PLC’s to plan and discuss rubric conversions. At this time, one person from MVHS and two from Summit were interested. BHS opted for summer work.
The TOSA/TL team hoped to facilitate this work before the start of next year. Based on the SS teacher feedback, I need to pivot and will offer END breakout sessions or some time in the fall for SS teachers to calibrate.
Dean’s got it; there is variation in content area rubrics, type of question and points allocated. It is not always a one rubric fit all model. This doesn’t mean we can’t calibrate on the 0-4 BLP scale. It will look a little different than the model presented, depending on the class.
Calibration work can happen with a shift in our timeline goal.
I added building leaders from other schools to offer them an update.
Calendar
May 13: All Admin Training 3-4:30 @ MVHS
May 13: Excellence in Ed Awards 4:30-6:30 @ MVHS
May 14th: MS Only – TAG Admin/ICCL Meeting @ Ed Center 3:30 – 5:00
May 14: Latino Family Night 5:30 @ MVHS
May 15: HS Principal Connection 8-10 @ RHS
May 19: Secondary Administrator work session @ CHS 9-11 – focus on SBGI
May 21: Karen Mapp session on Chronic Absenteeism 8-12 – Admin lead for attendance attends
May 25: Memorial Day Holiday, no School
May 28: Waypoints Core Skills assessment window closes for secondary
June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS
June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00
Where in the World
Congrats to Quinn McAndrews for correctly identifying the island green at Coeur d’Alene Resort. The green is surrounded by water and golfers ride a ferry out to finish the hole. The green can be moved with a cable system that allows the distance from the tee box to change depending on the day you are there.
Below is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:
