To Do
Message to Counseling Admins: Please communicate the following to your counselors:
We will only be conducting in-person 8th grade forecasting visits at middle schools that serve as large feeder schools to our high schools.
If a middle school does not feed into a high school attendance area, staff from that school will not be sent for in-person forecasting. Instead, they can provide support virtually and participate in 8th Grade Parent Night events.
Additionally, we will not be visiting private schools in person for forecasting this year.
There will be more discussion on this topic December 9th in an admin/counseling meeting.
From Departments
From TLC:
We have made an adjustment to the ACR/Forecasting timeline.
Change:
Enrollment for the 26-27 school year will still open on December 10. The change is that the ACR/Choice HS timeline will open Monday, Jan 5. The deadline for submission remains Jan 23.
From Jenn in Student Services:
College and Career Day
It’s that time of year again. November 20th is College and Career Day in Bend-La Pine Schools. As with last year, we are looking to draw attention to the multitude of pathways available to students after they graduate high school. This is a K-12 day! We want all students to be dreaming about what options they have after they leave our schools.
Here are a few things you could do at your site to make the day a success. It would be great if classrooms or advisories could look to do something for just 10-15 minutes this day.
- Dress as a professional
- Encourage students and staff to dress up as someone from a career they are interested in. Remember there are a lot of great careers out there!
- Wear college colors
- Encourage students to wear the colors of a favorite college. Remember, college can mean community college, trade school, 4-year university, etc. Be careful with wording here as college brand clothing can be expensive and prevent students from feeling like they can participate. Colors are more inclusionary.
- Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges.
- Our 6-12 sites could lean into some of the activities in SchooLinks. All secondary students have required activities to complete through BLS School Counseling curriculum and to complete their Educational Plan and Profile, so this would be a perfect opportunity to complete one of these required activities. Consider onboarding 6th and 9th grade students on this day if you haven’t already done so. Students are required to take a “Find your Path” assessment when first logging in that will jumpstart the college and career exploration process.
- Comprehensive School Counseling Program and Lessons could be completed this week: High School and Middle School
- Wayfinder also has some great resources, especially their integration with Roadtrip Nation and their Future Ready Collection K-12. For middle school, these have been added for the week of November 17th as potential advisory lessons in our scope and sequence.
- Here is a great website from the State of Oregon called Career Journeys. There are amazing short videos, lesson plans and other activities any teacher could do.
- Also available is the Career Connected Learning Central Oregon website which allows exploration of career paths close to home.
- Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers.
- This could be done in a variety of ways from advisory to lunch opportunities. You could also ask parents to submit a short video of them talking about their jobs and stitch them together for students. Remember our visitor and volunteer requirements if you decide to invite parents into schools.
We hope you’ll join in the celebration. Please send pictures of your participation to Becca Burda.
Wayfinder data Available:
Wayfinder Waypoints data from the summative assessment is now available for your MTSS meetings. I will work with elementary admin on Tuesday, November 4th to go over how to use it. High and middle school admin leads, I will meet with you all in our smaller teams in the next two weeks. Reach out with any questions. Elementary and Middle school Counselors will be trained on Wednesday, November 5th during shared SIW. We are still working to schedule time with high school counselors.
From Paul in Operations:
Work Order Submission Best Practices
When submitting a work order that requires greater visibility at your site, please include @[insert principal’s email], @[insert custodian’s email], and @[insert office manager’s email] in the comment section of the request. Doing so will:
- Ensure that key staff are aware of the request, helping to reduce duplicate work orders.
- Allow all recipients to receive automatic updates as the work order progresses.
To help our maintenance staff be better prepared and efficient:
- Provide as much detail as possible in the Description/Summary section. This information helps staff bring the right tools and materials and may prevent multiple trips.
- When possible, attach photos showing the repair issue. Photos help clarify the request and document the condition of the area needing repair.
From Kinsey – Office of Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
SNAP Benefits and our Community – FYI:
As you may have seen, the anticipated federal shutdown is expected to disrupt SNAP benefits beginning in November. Many families in our community may experience reduced access to food for an unknown period of time. Local food banks are already reporting strain as they prepare to absorb the increased need.
We will share resources and reminders of local food services in the next Family Spotlight. In the meantime, please feel free to 1) print, distribute, and share these bilingual food resource lists with all families and with your staff (Bend, South County, Redmond), 2) if you feel moved, consider donating time, funds, or other support to any of these local services (you can easily google any of their websites and find the Donation button 🙂), and 3) if your PTA or Booster Club wants to support food access, encourage them to support these local services.
For those who visited the Giving Plate for our Community Engagement Bingo activity this week, thank you. Your presence meant a lot to their over-stretched team, now more than ever. (Missed it but want to visit and count that Bingo square? Contact me!)
MAC Survey – Action Needed:
With the SNAP food assistance program being frozen and our students being impacted, this is a great time to remember just how critical our FAN Advocates are for our community. Your participation in the MAC Survey process (completing your training ASAP, claiming time on the survey day in mid-November) brings in funds that pay for FAN Advocate positions, so that we have folks on staff who can help families navigate. Thank you for prioritizing this! Contact your FAN Advocate if you have questions.
From Gabe Pagano, Director of Activities and Athletics:
Here is the weekly for Athletics. October 27th-October 31st, 2025 Please remember, you can forward this to any coach, program, group of coaches, or folks you feel might benefit from the information in the Weekly Agenda. I am doing my best to title information blocks for high school or middle school to save you time in reading or sending out.
HS Only
High School Only: School-Based Health Center Access – Action Needed:
As we discussed in August, students at CHS, SHS, Realms, and BTA will now have access during the school day to the School-Based Health Centers at BSHS and MVHS. District transportation will be provided at no cost to students, families, or your school.
Students who need to visit a SBHC should connect with your FAN Advocate (or nurse as the back-up). That staff member will coordinate the appointment with Mosaic, arrange transportation, handle permission slip and attendance documents, and collect basic demographic information for the pilot.
Early next week, we will send your families this parent letter and a permission slip (Spanish and Chinese versions, too), so you don’t have to worry about that.
One action item for you: Please share this advisory lesson with teachers to deliver anytime between now and fall break (if possible). Advocacy Coaches are available to support. BSHS and MVHS: your students already have SBHC access, but the lesson is still a helpful reminder of available services — your teachers can simply skip slide 8.
Attention HS leaders: This information will be shared in our next spotlight.
Did you know that veterans of the Armed Forces may receive a high school diploma if they attended high school before their military service and were honorably discharged?
Under Oregon law, a school district shall award a diploma to a veteran who resides in the district or to a veteran who attended school in the district and lives elsewhere in the state. Diplomas also may be issued on behalf of deceased veterans at the request of a family representative.
These diplomas may be issued to veterans who served during specified wars and military operations or in designated combat zones over the past century.
The intent of this program is to help veterans obtain high school diplomas when veterans do not graduate because they left school early for military service, or if they need educational credentials to qualify for jobs and promotions.
Calendar
Weeks of October 26-November 3: HS Fall Conferences
November 4: HS Learning Walk @ Caldera HS 8:30-11:30
November 4: MS Learning Walk @ PBMS 8:30
November 5: Early Adopter teams – optional Q and A for Early Adopters! Weekly every Wednesday!!
November 6: Course Proposals Due!
November 7: HS Principals connection: Cell Phone Policy implementation 9:00am @ Caldera
November 12: All Admin Meeting @ BSH 3:00-4:30
November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break
Where in the World
Congrats to to Becky Aylor who correctly identified the image from last week as Rosa Parks!
Rosa Parks is famous for her courageous refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, which helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement. Her action sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a pivotal, 381-day protest that ultimately led to the desegregation of Montgomery buses. Parks is often called the “mother of the civil rights movement” and is recognized as a symbol of nonviolent protest against racial segregation.
This week, it’s Where 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.
