To Do:
From Lisa:
Reminders to complete professional development feedback form AND have ALL staff to complete COREN survey by January 10.
Remember to continue to use the PD tool for PD feedback during your SIWs. The information gathered from this tool will be reviewed in January in a joint Admin/BEA meeting regarding professional development based on the latest agreement.
From Lisa’s email this week: In our efforts to continue to improve, please take a moment to give feedback on our December Admin PD time. In case you need a memory jog, we spent our time together with the goals of learning, reflecting, and connecting. We reflected on our leadership journeys, team needs, personal strengths and strengths of your colleagues, and the variety or roles you play as a leader. We also gave some awards to very deserving folks! Thank you in advance for giving your perspective.
Secondly, another survey I would like you to share with your team is from one of our partners, COREN. This will give an opportunity for all staff to describe professional development interests. COREN supports many learning opportunities within BLP, and this information benefits both their organization and ours in the sense that it gives us access to supports for our current needs. Right now, participation has been limited so any encouragement you can do to give feedback is helpful. This survey ends on January 10th.
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From Jen: “BLS Academic Information Night” January 23rd
Please share this information with your families and students in beginning the second week in January
BLS School Counselors will be hosting our “BLS Academic Information Night” on Thursday January 23rd at Summit High School. This event is essential to our CSCP and district goals, as we aim to provide families with valuable resources for academic planning. Forecasting and the SchooLinks Course Planner are integral parts of our CSCP programming, aligning with our responsibility to support students with their Educational Plan and Profile, which we update annually. While forecasting might differ slightly across schools, the information and resources leading up to class selections and course planner are quite similar.
We will have a general presentation followed by breakout opportunities for families to ask questions about their specific school site curriculum pathways and forecasting processes. You can utilize ASPIRE funds to compensate for your time, as this aligns perfectly with future planning efforts. We hope to have at least 1-2 representatives from each high school. Please refer to the sign-up sheet for various needs for the night.
We will promote this event at the district level and would love for each school to share the information through their communications as well. More details will follow!
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From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Office of DEI:
Upcoming events/dates:
Spanish-language FAFSA Night: Mon, Jan 13th. Here is the flyer. Thanks for distributing to your families and promoting through your channels! The primary audience is high school, but staff or families from any grade level are welcome if they just want to get a sense of the process.
Asian Family Night: Friday, January 31st. Food, cultural performances and crafts, and a drawing contest. More details to come—for now, save the date! (Yes, I know this is grading day 🙂 )
Black History Month Door-Decorating Contest: Submissions due Wed, Feb 19, and winners will be announced Fri, Feb 21. Prizes and recognition for the winners will be a little special this year. Complete information will be shared with your staff via your DEI-ICCL rep in early January—for now, add these key dates to your calendar!
From Departments:
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Office of DEI:
Presidential inauguration:
This year’s presidential inauguration falls on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. It is a No-School day, but some priority-population advisory groups have indicated worry for the student experience and respectful interactions on Tuesday, Jan 21st.
Our community has been relatively respectful post-election (which is great!), and we certainly don’t want to assume negative intent. That said, continued preventive efforts can’t hurt. In early Jan, make sure your teachers review norms and expectations regarding the dignity and belonging of everyone in your learning community, and the expected reporting procedures if these norms are violated (i.e. bias incident form submissions). As you welcome students back from break, a family communication/reminder regarding these school-wide expectations is helpful too.
Please ask your counselors to make themselves as available as possible for drop-ins if students need extra support on/around Tues, Jan 21. If your team knows a particular student or colleague struggled after the election in November, make a note on your calendar to have a trusted adult or friend intentionally check in with them that day.
Complaints:
Your teams are doing really great with the complaint system—thank you for your visible and thoughtful efforts to respond, investigate, support, document, and communicate for each one you receive in your Dashboard. Those take substantial time and energy, but they are investments in the trust and safety of your school culture, and your students, families, and staff notice and appreciate that.
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From Dean: This email went out to your social studies teachers this week:
Dear Social Studies Teachers,
I hope this message finds you well and that you are looking forward to the upcoming break, which I hope brings you the opportunity to rejuvenate and refresh.
As we prepare to return to work in 2025, I want to inform you that we will be hiring a Social Studies TOSA for the remainder of the year. This position will start at the beginning of the second semester, February 3rd, and will last through the end of the school year. This is a TEMPORARY position for the duration of the 24-25 school year.
The specific tasks for this role include:
- Supporting peers on standards work
- Preparing for the Social Science adoption process for the 25-26 school year with implementation in 26-27
- Continuing the work on Tribal History/Shared History requirements from ODE
- Continuing work on Personal Finance requirements from ODE
There are two positions posted in UKG for flexibility. This role can be a full-time position for one individual, a part-time position for one individual, or a part-time position for two individuals with specializations. If you are interested, please apply for the amount of time you wish to work in support of your peers. There is no need to apply for both positions.
I understand that this is a unique position that may lead to some questions, so please reach out to me and I’ll get you answers.
Thank you for your dedication and hard work. Enjoy your break!
Best regards, Dean Richards
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From Sean and Sarah Barclay:
BEA Members and Colleagues,
Many of you have reached out with questions about special education programming and expectations within Bend-La Pine Schools. First and foremost, we want to acknowledge the wide-spread concerns and confusion within our District regarding this topic. Over the last five years the Bend-La Pine Schools Student Services Department, previously known as Special Education, has made changes within their department that were well intentioned, but not communicated to the larger system of employees and this has led to uncertainty and misunderstanding. The purpose of today’s communication is to provide all staff with a shared base of information that we can use to build our future decisions upon as we move toward a shared goal of better supporting all students, including those who require specially designed instruction and services.
During the 2018-2019 school year a project known as Excellence in Education gathered feedback from staff, students, and families about their experiences in our schools. After receiving and processing that feedback, the Student Services Department set out on a journey to improve the inclusion of students experiencing disability into the general education setting. The BLS vision for special education is, “Bend-La Pine Schools strive to create an inclusive culture and environment for all learners, particularly for those that experience disability. We believe, to the greatest extent possible, that all students should maximize time spent in the general education classroom regardless of their special education services or related services. To this end, it is imperative that the educational planning process begins with services in the general education setting and ends with the need for specialized services in more segregated settings.” For more detailed information about this process click here.
We are reaching out today to share answers to frequently asked questions about our model for delivering special education services in Bend-La Pine Schools and to provide clarity on how we provide Special Education services in our schools. The Special Education Inclusion Questions and Answers (click link) will be updated as more questions arise.
Are we there yet? Inclusive practices and the improvement of those practices are a process. This work will not be achieved overnight, it will take time and training, it will take collaboration and conversation. All of which are precious in the public education system. As we continue this journey the Student Services Department is committed to listening to all employees, answering questions as they arise, and working with BEA to increase learning opportunities and continued clarity on this topic. The work we do with students is complex and working together to ensure all students have access to the support they need will lead to thriving community members in the future.
In partnership,
Sarah Barclay, President, Bend Education Association
Sean Reinhart, Executive Director of Student Services, Bend-La Pine Schools
Calendar
- December 23-January 3. Winter Break
- January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
- January 2: HS Curriculum Guides on district website
- January 6: First Day back from break
- January 7: HS Administrator and Counselor work session (rescheduled from Dec 10) 8-10 @Mountain View HS
- January 10: COREN survey deadline
- January 13: Spanish-language FAFSA Night 5:30-7:30 @ Education Center boardroom
- January 14: MS and HS Administrator work session 8-10 @Caldera HS
- January 15: Safety Cadre Meeting 1:30 @ PBMS (Safety admin leads should attend)
- January 15: SIW Educator Network Day
- January 23: BLPS Family Academic Night @ Summit HS
- January 28: HS Administrator work session 8-10 @ Mountain View HS
- January 29: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
Where in the World
Thank you for all the entries! Keep ’em coming.
This week we are highlighting Kristy Knoll’s happy place! One of my happy places is coming down from the top of Black Butte. My oldest daughter and I hike it every summer, usually on Labor Day, as a way to mark the end of summer and get ready for the school year. We were able to find a “no smoke” window in this picture, and it was a perfect hike. The picture is on the way DOWN from the top because the hard work is done and it’s easier to enjoy the view.
