Welcome to the 26-27 school year! If you know of people needing to receive this blog who aren’t on the email list, please let Katie and Stephen know.
To Do
- Fill out your teams and leads for various departments in the spreadsheet Stephen or Katie shared.
- Add the APs to the appropriate section of Robi’s document for the Strategy Studio.
- Middle School – Complete your inservice week planner document. High School – Link your plan in the handbook
- Resolve any remaining 25-26 evaluation to dos. Contract Jessica and Triz in HR with questions.
Departments
From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:
Email Communication Guidance: – Action needed –
We reviewed this guidance with admin teams last spring, and used this quiz as the activity to do that. Please cover this information with staff at some point this fall.
Based on conversations with union leadership last year, I don’t recommend you just email out the guidance document. Instead, please offer some conversation at a staff meeting, or with your ICCL team at least. The topic fits nicely with the roll-out of ParentSquare, or with start-of-year conversations about staff-wide norms and agreements (resolving problems, attending meetings, dignity and belonging between colleagues, etc). Let me know what questions you have.
From Scott Maben, Communications:
ParentSquare 101: Basic training for school administrators and office staff
We will offer two opportunities to learn basic functions of ParentSquare on Thursday, August 20, at the Education Center. Both sessions will be in the Board Room and will be recorded for later viewing.
The first session is from 9 to 10 a.m. The second session is from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Please look for your calendar invites and share them with other office staff you’d like to received this training.
Both sessions will cover:
- Launching ParentSquare and setting preferences
- How to share a Post (standard message)
- Direct Message
- Smart Alerts
- Custom Groups
This is an optional training opportunity for school admins and office staff. We will record this session and share a video link afterward.
Launching ParentSquare:
Please use the following URL to sign in to ParentSquare:
https://bls.fyi/parentsquare
You should be automatically signed in, but if you are prompted for authentication use your BLS email address and password.
The URL above is what you should always use to access ParentSquare.
Questions? Scott Maben, ext. 1006
Changes to Leave Sheet submissions:
With the transition of some duties within the Teaching and Learning Department, all principal and assistant principal leave sheets will now need to be sent to Kristan Shobe for processing. Timesheets will still be submitted to Stephanie Bent.
School supplies:
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 organizational 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 school 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).
From Lillah in Safety:
STAS/SIRC Training August 26
For all administrators or other staff that will be a part of your Level 1 team who have never been trained in STAS/SIRC or who were last trained over 5 years ago, please come to Conference Room 203 in the admin building on August 26 from 8:00-4:00. Lunch will be provided. Please fill out this survey so we can get an accurate count for food. Note that there will be another training on Sept. 23, 2026. Come for a free lunch, stay for the training!
From Heather with Deschutes County:
As we begin the year, we are asking building admin teams to identify the staff members best suited to serve in this year’s UpShift roles. This will help us track returning team members and identify who may need training in the coming weeks. Please review and update the BLS UpShift Roles & Responsibilities document with anticipated staff assignments by end of day Wednesday, September 24. UpShift is now included in the District’s Substance Use Prevention and Intervention Plan. Please continue to use the UpShift FAQ document for ongoing updates and answers to common questions.
MS Only:
Reminder of Topics to Cover During Inservice
- Tier 1 Climate and Culture (Includes code of conduct and behavior entry)
- Tier 1 Instruction – 5D
- SBIG Guarantees and Resources
- iPads and Homework
- Jamf training and expectations
- MAP training
- MTSS (if pilot school)
Calendar:
August 17: MTSS pilot schools training
August 25: MS Advisory Planning – Central Library 9:30 – 4:00
August 25: AP Strategy Studio – Central Library 1:00 – 4:00
August 27: New certified employee orientation – Silver Rail – All day
August 31: certified staff report back – Tier 1 covered
September 1: Welcome back – Virtual – 8:30 am
September 1: Parent Square training – Virtual – 10:00 am
September 2: Certified staff PD Day – Pacific Crest (for most) – 8:00 am (ELD @ Library, Counselors @ HDMS)
Have you seen it?
For the last two years, this section was called Where in the World? and was first an opportunity to learn about a person on our team and then became a quiz about your knowledge. We’d like to combine those themes into one with a new direction.
Welcome to Have you seen it?, where we will show a screen shot from one of our team member’s favorite movie or TV show. If you recognize the screen shot, reply to Katie and Stephen with the name of the movie or show (NO AI help), and you will be entered into a drawing for a beverage to be delivered to your place of work. (Anyone can participate but the drawing will be limited to MS/HS admin AND now office managers!)
To start, we’d like to collect your favorite movie or TV show so we have a bank to work from for the year. Principals/APs/Office Managers, please fill out this SHORT form to let us know which movie or show you love. We’ll pull one each week for the blog.
For this week, we’ll start with our fearless leader. Dr. Cook’s favorite flick is shown below. The screen shots may get progressively harder as we go on! Recognize the movie? Let Stephen and Katie know!!
