Secondary Blog October 10, 2025

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To Do

Principals: By now, all students who have classes with SBIG early adopters should have reviewed the student-friendly slides shared last month.  If this has not happened yet, please prioritize this.

Student SBIG Slides

MS SBIG Explainer

HS SBIG Explainer

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Implementing important changes to the Grades and Credit AR:

*If you have not already done so, review the important bargained change about the timeline for teachers to update grades in Synergy.

    *Also, send communication to families about mid term grades: Note that schools are required to send communication to families about checking ParentVue mid way between each trimester and semester, as well as at the end of each term:

    *6 weeks for trimesters (week of October 13)

    *9 weeks for semesters (week of November 3)

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    Share this with Early Adopters: Beginning Wednesday, November 5th and every Wednesday after, secondary leadership will be offering an OPTIONAL SBIG drop in for early adopters via Microsoft Teams.  The 30 minute drop in will be from 8:00 to 8:30 and will be a Q and A format.  Please share this news with early adopters at your site.  The invite will be shared next week.  Cascade and Realms are also welcome to attend even though they are not technically early adopters.

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    From Kinsey – Office of Policy, Advocacy, and Equity: 

    Election Season and Political Topics – Action Item:

    Please share this principal/supervisor message with your staff:

    Dear staff — As election season approaches, this is a good time to revisit our expectations around political topics in our school and workplace. While this November may not bring the same intensity as a presidential election year, maintaining neutrality in our professional capacity remains essential.

    Here is our policy around staff engaging in political activities.  This is a great tool outlining boundaries and appropriate use of district equipment, time, and resources in relation to election topics.  District leadership asks that each employee read the information in those links carefully. Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification.

    In addition, we know students may initiate conversations about politics, candidates, or ballot measures. To help navigate these moments: Here are 10 steps for teachers to prepare, navigate, and respond to sensitive discourse.  Our district Advocacy Coaches are also available to support you in facilitating respectful and balanced discussions.

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    From Ryan in Human Resources:

    Quick Reminder: Check Your UKG To-Do List

    Please take a moment this week to log into UKG and check your To-Do list.
    Pending Personnel Actions (PAs) can hold up key processes like pay changes and assignment updates if they’re not approved in a timely manner.

    Regularly reviewing your To-Do list,  even when you don’t expect anything pending, helps keep workflows moving smoothly and ensures your employees are set up for success without delay.

    This should be done regularly, but is particularly important on and around the Payroll cutoff dates, which can be found on the Portal on the Payroll page. 

    If you have any questions about what’s showing in your queue or how to clear an item, reach out to [email protected] for support.

    Thank you for helping us keep things running efficiently.

    From Departments

    From Triz in Human Resources: Thought I would take a moment to remind you that the due date for SLGG’s is quickly approaching.  (October 15, 2025)

    Probationary and temporary certified staff and Contact staff ON & OFF the evaluation cycle should be completing this task. 

    Goal Setting & Evaluation Tools:

    Student Learning Growth Goals (SLGGs) (ONLY Teacher, SPED Teachers, and Teacher Librarians- all other specialists use alternate goal-setting plan):

    Please let Jessica Lamay (HR Tech) and I know if you need any assistance with your evaluation google doc.  We are here to support you.

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    From Ryan in Human Resources:

    Extra Duty Procedures for 2025–26

    We have a number of new Extra Duty positions this year and want to make sure everyone understands the procedures for tracking, and maintaining these roles. The details below outline how schools should handle placements for the new positions, updates to existing roles, and ongoing expectations for managing extra duty assignments.

    Newly Bargained Positions (Effective 25/26)

    • K–12 Green Team Advisor – Range F
    • Elementary Music Director – Range E
    • Elementary Yearbook Coordinator – Range E
    • Elementary Battle of the Books Coordinator – Range E
    • High School Link Crew

    Placement Process for 25/26

    • If someone is already performing the duties of one of these new positions, please email [email protected] to have the stipend assigned no application needed this year.
      • If no one is currently performing the duties of these positions, they must be filled through a competitive process – posting, interviewing, and hiring.
    • Future changes will follow the standard extra duty process: the current person resigns, the school requests a posting, and HR processes the hire.
    • Each school is allocated 1 FTE per position.

    Ongoing Procedures and Reminders

    • Start Date: All year-round extra duty positions begin on September 1; complete hires before this date to avoid prorating.
    • Automatic Roll-Forward: Positions continue year to year unless HR is notified that duties have ended.
    • Annual Verification: Each August, HR will request confirmation of who will continue in each role.
    • Step Advancement: Each year an employee holds the same position, they move one step on the extra duty salary schedule.

    Google Docs Tracking

    Updates to Existing Positions

    • High School Musical Directors: Formerly offered every other year, this stipend is now available annually when a musical is produced. Total FTE remains 2.0 per school.
    • HS/MS Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Drama: Stipends are no longer tied to certified FTE. Staff offering the full complement of after-hours performances receive the full 1.0 FTE stipend per school.

    Questions? Reach out to [email protected]

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    Educator Network Day Success for Counselors and Student Success:

    We had a great turnout yesterday at HDMS. Here is the slide deck with outcomes for our trainings this year:

    • Formalize and implement a clear framework for Tier 2 & Tier 3 mental health/social emotional interventions. 
    • Establish a clear process to Identify, Match + Fit, Provide + Monitor, and Evaluate.

    Waypoints open until Friday October 24th end of day. Thank you to all of you that have had your students complete the assessment. 

    Great job Summit (75%), La Pine Middle (84%), Westside Village (56%) and Buckingham (52%) for the highest completion rates for this week. Elementary will have lower completion rates as they do not have k-2 completing the assessments until October 15th. The K-2 formative assessment will be live for teachers on October 15th and will be open until November 21st. The assessment is only 3-4 priority standards and nine questions total. For K-2, the custom Waypoints will appear in the teachers’ to-do lists on the dashboard when they log in (starting 10/15). They will be labeled Kinder Beginning of Year, 1st Beginning of Year, etc. Instructions.

    Here is the Educator-Observed Waypoints overview page (the 1 1/2 minute video gives a quick visual overview).

    Class of 2025 Results are in!

    From thousands of college applications to exciting post-grad plans, the Class of 2025 kept busy shaping their futures last year. Using SchooLinks data, we are excited to share a snapshot of their accomplishments and next steps. 💙 

    Check out the full story here by Jess Calbreath: secure.smore.com/n/f3z05

    Referrals to Alternate Programs

    We reviewed the new process with all high school counselors and the admin over counseling about the new referral form. PPT slide 12. 

    Sagebrush (Day treatment -Partial Hospitalization) Referrals

    All referrals to this level of treatment need to come from a therapist or physician in the community. Some misinformation was shared with school teams over the last month that our counselors/clinicians can make direct referrals. There has been no change in practice.

    Ranking Messaging for Schools

    Just a reminder that we do not rank students. Here is the messaging from three years ago that was developed. Please reach out to me and Katie if you have any questions.

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    First Aid/CPR tracking:

    Your school’s online First Aid/CPR tracker has been updated through October 7, 2025.  Here is the data by school. 

    As a reminder, staff are allowed to be trained outside of the BLS trainings with the exception being online trainings are not allowed.  If you have staff who have taken a class outside of the district trainings, please make sure to send Michelle Spetic a copy of their First Aid/CPR card with expiration date so the information can be added to Business Plus (thus adding it to your report).   

    According to EBC-AP, all employees are expected to know where first-aid supplies and equipment are kept in their work areas. Each school shall have, at a minimum, at least one staff member with a current first aid card for every 60 students enrolled and in attendance for school-sponsored activities where students are present. Names of the first aid cardholders need to be posted. 

    Nurse Oliver Tatom is responsible for the first aid/CPR training classes.  Nurse Michelle Spetic enters all First Aid certifications in BusinessPlus, and I will continue to run the reports. 

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    Cyber October IT update- 

    Just who is Bend-La Pine IT and what is the best way to get a hold of them?

    There are 30 people who work in the basement of the Education Center who represent our IT team.

    The document linked here shows you a little bit about what each person does and how best to reach them.

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    UpShift Update from Heather:

    Thank you for updating the BLS UpShift Roles & Responsibilities document with your anticipated staff assignments. Based on this information we are scheduling 2 trainings, one for Coordinators and one for Specialists. If you or identified staff need trained, please complete the Strawpoll(s) below or pass along as needed: 

    Additional Resources:

    ·         UpShift Protocol: Please revisit the “Response to Substances” section in the Student Code of Conduct (page 12) for updates. The linked protocol includes detailed opt-out information.

    ·         Please visit the UpShift FAQ document for ongoing updates to questions that may arise

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    From Gabe, Director of Activities and Athletics

    Here is the weekly agenda. 

    Calendar

    October 14: HS LA Learning Walk: 8:30-11:30 @ BSHS

    October 16: Climate and Culture Task Force 8-12@ Ed Center

    October 16: Tier 2 Academic Intervention team meeting 2:30 @ MVHS

    October 16: TAG Admin/ICCL training (MS only) – 3:30 – 5:30 in the boardroom

    October 21: HS Administrator work session 9-11 @ MVHS

    October 22: First District Safety Cadre Meeting 8-9:30 @ PBMS

    October 23: MS Horizontal – 3-5 pm @ LPMS

    October 29: HS ONLY END Session 3-4 K-8 is in parent conferences

    October 29-30: MS Fall Conferences

    Weeks of October 26-November 3: HS Fall Conferences

    What in the world?

    Congratulations to our winner from last week: Sean Keating for guessing the Who in the World image correctly! It was of Thurgood Marshall, who was sworn in as the first Black Supreme Court Justice on October 2nd, 1967!

    To continue with the What in the World theme from two weeks ago, 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.