To Do
- Complete your Immigration and Student Privacy training by 9/30
- Complete your school-wide Bias Incident lesson by 10/31
- Administrators: Complete your Vector safety trainings ASAP
- Everyone else: Complete your Vector safety trainings by 10/31
Staffing Plan Updates (Business Office):
Please review your staffing plans as soon as you can to make sure they are up to date. We will start comparing staffing plans to the Payroll system early next week to make sure we have all of our staff accounted for and paid from the right budget. This reconciliation process is also the first step in creating a framework that will ultimately become a position control system when we start implementing our new software system next spring. That you very much for your help with this process!
From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:
Bias Reporting Posters:
Please replace the Bias Incident Reporting Posters around your school with this updated version. (With the change in our district website last year, the previous QR Code link broke.) Please post in your lobby, counseling office, gym/stadium/athletics, cafeteria, library, staff lounge, and other spaces where students, staff, and community can access.
From Departments
From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy
Volunteer Handbook:
(We are discussing this at your horizontal admin meetings–the following is a summary for you as well as language you can share with your staff.)
Bend-La Pine Schools is excited to strengthen the experience of and support for the many amazing volunteers who serve our schools and programs. We want volunteers to feel valued, appreciated, informed, and connected to opportunities that match their interests and availability.
Volunteer feedback tells us we do this well in some areas and have room to grow in others. At the same time, new federal Medicaid changes will soon require many adults to work or volunteer 80 hours per month to maintain eligibility for benefits such as OHP. By this spring, we may see more parents and community members looking for volunteer opportunities. This creates an opportunity to support our families in maintaining critical healthcare access, while bringing additional volunteer energy into our schools and programs.
Not every classroom or program will have the same capacity or need for volunteers, but across our system, we want to find a place for everyone who wants to contribute. Our goal is that no willing community member is simply turned away when there are meaningful ways they can support our students and staff.
The Safety Department and Office of Policy & Advocacy are working on improvements to volunteer onboarding, training, communication, time tracking, and access to opportunities. One first step is a new Volunteer Handbook, designed to help volunteers feel informed, prepared, and included. This is an early draft–eventually, schools will be able to add school-specific information, and the handbook will be available online and in print.
Please share the draft with your staff and provide feedback! We especially welcome ideas about the handbook’s structure, format, accessibility, and content as we continue developing this resource.
From Sean in Special Programs:
Hello, Secondary Admin. We have four important updates about Sources of Strength.
- Extra Duty Stipends for Sources of Strength We officially have extra duty stipends for Sources of Strength Adult Advisors! Up to 2 extra duty stipends per school. Each stipend could be split to share the job duties and deliverables across 2 people, if needed. Principals will be responsible for posting, interviewing, and checking at least one references to fill the positions, and for supervising the position throughout the year.
Find more details here on the Important Info for Admin about Sources document, including the budget code and a link to a recruitment guide we made for you with the job description, deliverables for the year, interview questions and a rubric aligned to program fidelity.
*One important caveat is that Lead Adult Advisors who are the Teacher of Record of a Sources of Strength course for credit (including blended models with Sources in Leadership) cannot receive the stipend due to having a prep period and the dedicated course time as part of their contracted workload.
2. Opportunity to Request up to $5,440 for Sources of Strength Expenses We also have the opportunity for schools to request up to $5,440 for their Sources of Strength operating costs for this year, which can also be used towards other evidence-informed suicide prevention efforts as long as the school is implementing Sources towards fidelity. Find the details and the budget template to submit your request here.
3. Identify the Admin Point of Contact for Sources of Strength.We’re asking each school to identify the admin point of contact to be responsible for overseeing Sources of Strength extra duty positions and budgets, if accepting these resources. Details are here.
4. Save the Important Info for Admin about Sources DocumentSave this Important Info for Admin about Sources document as your landing page for important information or updates about Sources of Strength. We’ll keep this up-to-date if there’s any changes or new info.
From Gabe in Activities and Athletics:
Week #6 – September 21st-25th, 2026
From Sara in Student Services:
Here’s a late version of this week’s Special Edge! Please read and take an extra close look at this week’s TRAINING CORNER! 📣
TOSA Corner
From Julie Montoya – World Languages:
We are excited to ramp up for the school year!
Our Bend-LaPine students can have a wide variety of language skills beyond the traditional classroom path. As such, many of our high school teachers have worked hard to provide placement test and communicate with parents to ensure that students are landing in the appropriate language level course.
We are excited to increase our upper-level World Language course work articulation with COCC for college credit. This year, in addition to BSHS, Mt. View and Caldera will have dual credit available.
From Colleen Behrens, Secondary Science TOSA
Chemistry Teachers will have a professional development day on October 6th. Teachers have received the following information.
Date and Time: Tuesday, October 6, 8:30 a.m.–3:30 pm at Summit High School Room A112.
What to bring:
- Savvas Chemistry Teacher Editions
- Charged Laptop
- Any standards-based assessments you have administered this year or last year.
- Water bottle and your lunch. The Grove is close by too.
Subs: Put in now with your office manager. Red Rover “school business” Notes: Chemistry per Stephanie Bent
From Lisa Keown – CTE Coordinator
🎉Celebrations
CTE Revitalization Grant
A huge congratulations to Chuck Hill at Bend Senior High School on receiving a 2026–2027 CTE Revitalization Grant! The grant will support exciting upgrades to the Metals program, including new industry-standard equipment and improved air filtration. These upgrades will enhance shop safety, expand hands-on learning opportunities, and help more students earn industry-recognized credentials.
New District CTE Logo
Congratulations to Tai Lopez, a student in Matt Fox’s Graphic Design class, for winning our district CTE logo contest! District staff voted on student submissions, and Tai’s design came out on top.
📅 Upcoming Teacher PD – Fall HDESD POS Meeting Dates
The following teacher professional development meetings are hosted by the High Desert ESD (HDESD). Teachers will have the opportunity to connect with industry partners, collaborate with colleagues, and receive important program updates. CTE teachers should plan to attend the meeting for their program area.
- September 29 (Tue): Business and Culinary
- October 1 (Thu): Computer Science and Digital Arts
- October 6 (Tue): Construction, Manufacturing, and Engineering
- October 8 (Thu): Agriculture and Natural Resources @ RVHS
- October 13 (Tue): Health
- October 22 (Thu): Automotive, Criminal Justice, and Education
🦺 Safety Update
Our CTE PPE order has started arriving at the district office and is being distributed to school sites!
MS Only
From Julie at BLPO:
Internal Only new guidance for recommending BLPO supplemental math: HERE
Change: The supplemental course needs to be completed by the end of the school year. Please review with your counselors and math depts. We will work on messaging to share with families.
Calendar
September 29: AP Strategy Studio #2– Instruction 9-12 @ CHS
October 1: AP Strategy Studio #2– Attendance 9-12 @ CHS
October 8: MTSS Training for counselors, SSC, and admin who oversee counselors 8:30-4:00 @ Aspen Hall
October 13: HS Admin Work Session – 9-11 @ CHS
October 16: Due: Bus Evacuation video shown and documentation submission
October 28/29: Middle School Conferences
October 30: Waypoints screener closes
October 31: Vector Trainings must be completed
Have you seen it?
Congrats to to Anne Marie who correctly guessed Paul Hutter’s movie from last week!
The movie is “Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”. Did you know that Jedi can’t marry? This is because the Jedi Order forbids emotional attachments, believing they lead to fear, possessiveness, and the dark side of the Force. Who knew?
Ready for another round of 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 office managers!)
Going with a little more difficultly this week. Check out the image from D Foster’s favorite movie! Recognize the movie or TV show? Let Stephen and Katie know.
