Welcome Kelly Schmidt and Heather Bailey to the secondary team! Kelly will be the next principal at Cascade and Heather will be the next principal at High Desert. We are so excited to have you both join the team!
To Do
Standards Based Grading Early Adopters? We need to know…
Please work with staff to identify any early adopters of standards-based grading in Synergy for next fall. Once you know who may be moving forward in your building, please fill out this FORM. One form per building please. Do not send it out to staff.
Early adopters will be required to attend a two hour training during in-service week.
Deadline for completion is June 6th. Please contact Stephen with any questions.
From Departments
From Human Resources
Secondary Assistant Principal Pool Now Open
We’ve officially opened our recruitment process for the Secondary Assistant Principal Pool, with separate tracks for Middle School and High School roles. While this pool currently reflects just one confirmed vacancy (resulting from Mary Thomas’ exciting move to Realms as Principal), we are still determining where the resulting opening will ultimately land.
If you’re currently in an elementary role and are interested in exploring a move to secondary – or if you’re in a secondary AP role and considering a shift – please connect with Ryan before applying to talk through how this process works and what possibilities might emerge.
Stay tuned for more updates as things evolve.
BLAST Classification and Title Change
We’re excited to share a small but meaningful update to the titles used on our BLAST salary schedule. Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, we will be eliminating the Dean of Students title from the schedule and moving to a single title of Assistant Principal for all staff in these leadership roles.
What’s changing? Only the title. The calendar days and salary schedule remain the same. This update is simply a move toward consistency and clarity across our school leadership structure.
Why the change? The work our Deans of Students do every day is already aligned with that of Assistant Principals, and in many ways indistinguishable in terms of impact, leadership, and responsibility. This adjustment brings greater alignment to the title and the role, something we believe better reflects the incredible contributions of these team members.
We’re grateful for the leadership of all our school administrators and are excited to continue supporting this important work under a shared title. If you have any questions about the change, feel free to reach out to Ryan.
New Hiring Practices
In the coming days, you’ll see a new Hiring Guide along with updated hiring documents available through the Administrator/Office Manager box on your UKG home screen. These tools have been developed over the past year as part of a comprehensive review of legal requirements and best practices in the hiring process.
The Hiring Guide is designed to support you in your role by providing a consistent set of expectations for all hiring actions. It reflects federal EEOC guidance, widely recognized HR standards, and our district’s commitment to equity, transparency, and excellence. Its goal is to bring clarity to each step of the hiring process and ensure that our values are reflected in every hire we make.
Going forward, the documents included in the guide will be required for all hiring actions. Requests submitted using outdated forms will be returned for correction.
Thank you for your continued partnership in aligning our practices with our shared expectations. As always, Human Resources is here to support you, whether you’re navigating a complex situation or looking for a thought partner to help strengthen your team.
FYI: Payroll Year-End Guidance Sent to Office Managers
Last week, on May 22, the payroll team sent year-end guidance and key timeline reminders to all district office managers and timekeepers. This communication included:
Final deadlines for timesheet and leave sheet submissions
Year-end payroll processing notes
Reference materials to support staff wrap-up
We wanted to ensure you’re aware of this communication, as you may see increased questions at your sites related to time and leave entry or final pay. Office managers were provided this information in advance to help prepare and guide employees.
If questions come up, the team is here to support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] or call (541) 355-1123.
As you all plan for your annual end-of-the-year activities on campus (carnivals, field days, etc.), we wanted to encourage school teams to be thinking about our students who tend to struggle during unstructured activities and events.
Please work with your various teams on campus to identify students who may need extra scaffolding and/or supports to participate in these fun end-of-the-year events.
Thank you all for your continued leadership and enjoy these last few weeks of school.
HS Only
Here is the 2025-26 ABC calendar for the high schools on the rotator schedule.
MS Only
Principal evaluations: I will be scheduling evaluations with principals beginning the week of June 16. Plan to have your SLGGS andself reflection completed and submitted in UKG by Friday, June 13.
Principals, you are required to have the evaluation process completed for Assistant principal evaluations completed prior to administrators leaving for the summer. Please let me know if you need help or have questions about this.
Calendar
June 10 and June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up for one session! Mandatory AI Training
May 31: HS only: Deadline by which Distracted Driving assembly or advisory lesson is completed
June 3: MS ONLY – End of Year Horizontal/Celebration – 4:30 @ Gabe’s House
June 6: Standards Based Grading Early Adopters for the fall identified by school HERE
June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
June 12: Last Day students—half day
June 13: Last Day staff work day
June 17: MS and HS Administrator End of the Year wrap up. SBG focus! 8:00-11:00 @ Mountain View HS
Where in the World
This week we are highlighting Stephen’s new happy place. He is surprising his boys with a new puppy, so shhh! Meet Griffey, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
If you haven’t already done so, start calendaring your certified and AP/Dean evaluations.
From Departments
From Ryan in HR:
Extra Duty Rosters
HR would like you to review the current and projected vacancies for any Extra Duty positions at your site. To the extent possible, it would be extremely beneficial for all involved – employees, admin, HR, Payroll – to have all year-round and fall Extra Duty positions filled before the end of the current school year.
Please remember that all Extra Duty positions must be filled through a competitive hiring process.
Thank you SO MUCH for the quick response to the SafeSchools trainings that were outstanding or unaccounted for. It was incredible to see the quickness with which that list got smaller. The list will be updated every Monday, so please check back.
New Blast Roles
The recruitment for two new vacant BLAST positions has commenced.
We are currently recruiting for an Elementary Assistant Principal; we have two known vacancies for the 25-26 school year: one at North Star, as Lynne Tat is in that role in an Interim capacity for this school year; and one at Juniper, as Jessica Scott is taking a leave of absence for the 25-26 school year. By posting this as a pool posting, we are looking to maximize an ever-shrinking calendar.
Walt Norris, current Director of Custodial and Sustainability, will retire effective June 30. After a review of the current state of the Custodial Department and a review of organizational methods in other districts, a decision was made to delimit the Director of Custodial and Sustainability classification and to create a new classification, the Director of Facilities Operations, to lead the combined Custodial and Maintenance departments. This position will report to Doug Pigman, the Executive Director of Facilities and Maintenance and will begin July 1, 2025.
If you have any questions about these vacancies, please connect with Ryan.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month
Canopy, the district’s Employee Assistance Plan provider, is available to ALL employees. Canopy has free, confidential resources designed to help employees thrive and includes these kinds of services:
✔ 24/7 Confidential Counseling – provides access to professional, real time, support anytime, anywhere. ✔ Personalized Coaching – offers one-on-one guidance to help you set goals and find balance. ✔ On-Demand Learning – includes webinars, tip sheets, and resources to support your mental wellness.
Check out this flyer to learn more and find out how to access Canopy’s services.
The Synergy grade book test environment will need to be refreshed on 6/1. Staff will not be able to play in the standards-based grade book sandbox after 5/31 until trainings begin in August.
From Kinsey – Office of Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
Summer groceries/food access:
Can you please share this in your next school newsletters (for families and for staff)?
Need help with buying groceries for your family? The state of Oregon offers a program that can help families with school-age children who need help with access to food while school is out for summer. For details and to apply, see flyer:
¿Necesita ayuda con alimentos para su familia? El estado de Oregón ofrece un programa que ayuda a las familias con niños de edad escolar a comprar alimentos durante las vacaciones de verano. Para más detalles y para aplicar, véase este volante:
Evaluations: I am working on summative evaluations for FAN Advocates and Family Liaisons. You consistently engage with them and see their work in your buildings weekly–if you have any feedback to contribute to their evaluation, please send it my way or give me a call. I appreciate your partnership and insights.
Staffing: Curious who your school’s Advocate, Liaison, or Language Specialist will be next year? The goal is to keep these positions as stable and consistent as possible year to year, as this is key for relationships and trust with families, colleagues, and students. Until/unless you hear otherwise, assume these roles will be filled by the same people you currently have assigned.
Like other departments, Maintenance is responding to budget constraints and limited staffing. Our Outside Services Team, therefore, is adjusting our fertilization schedule to better manage available resources and align with sustainability initiatives.
Instead of applying fertilizer during early spring (spring break), we will now fertilize in late June or early July, with an additional application for athletic fields in the fall. This change—along with scaling back from the previous 3–4 applications per year—will save the district thousands of dollars and significantly reduce water usage, which aligns with conservation efforts encouraged by both the City of Bend and the BLS.
These adjustments will also allow our crews to focus on other critical turf maintenance tasks, such as edging and weed control, which we can better manage as the grass growth slows. Rest assured, playing surfaces will remain safe and the turf healthy.
We’re also prioritizing aeration this year—something we haven’t done consistently in the past. This will have a major positive impact on the overall condition of our fields.
Finally, we are in the process of organizing a dedicated field maintenance crew and hope to bring on summer help soon to accelerate this work.
Thank you for your patience and support as we implement these changes.
As you get closer to the finalizing the courses that teachers will be teaching, please communicate with them about the assignments for next year. If you have staff who are leaving or entering your building, please update your synergy option set. The email that goes out to teachers in which they request curricular tools is tied to the option set. We want to make the transition to a new site as comfortable as possible.
When you are ready to have teachers request curriculum, please send this email and cc Dean
Hello –
You will receive an email from ‘BLS Instructional Technology’ this week with the subject ‘<first name>’s Instructional Tools Requests. This email is authentic and is sent by our Instructional Technology department. Please find time before May 31 to review this email and request any instructional tools you wish to use for next year.
Beginning next week we have four weeks left for teachers to make requests. This is a tight timeline, especially for teachers teaching new courses. We need some time to engage with teachers for curricular tools that may be denied or that we need more information about before purchasing over the summer. Please send the email as soon as possible under these difficult conditions.
Middle School Only
From Dean:
We will have a training at Pacific Crest for all Science teachers to engage in the new Science curriculum, LabAids. These are required trainings for teachers to attend. If a teacher is teaching multiple grades, they may choose a grade level. Some teachers may choose go to more than one. Colleen Behrens has worked with them if that is the case. Subs are paid for with curriculum dollars.
6th grade, Tuesday, May 27th
7th grade, Wednesday, May 28th
8th grade, Thursday May 29th
__________
More Science News!
Beginning the 3rd week of August Science materials will be delivered to your sites. Colleen is working with the warehouse to help facilitate the delivery. For most sites there will be 6 to 8 pallets of materials delivered. Science teachers will be paid 4 additional hours to clear out the current science materials and move new materials in at the beginning of the year. The funding for this will come from the curriculum budget. Please send the timesheets to me for approval.
The following email was sent to teachers from Colleen informing teachers.
Hi Science Team,
Thank you all for taking on the important (and sometimes daunting!) task of clearing out old science materials to make room for the new LabAids equipment coming your way. I know this is overwhelming for many of you. Your effort is truly appreciated.
Each of you will receive a total of 4 hours of additional pay at the curriculum for recycling and clearing out outdated materials and unpacking and organizing new instructional materials once they arrive. You can choose to claim the hours this school year, next school year, or split them between the two.
LabAids materials will be delivered to your school the week of August 18.
I’ll coordinate with Distribution and your lead building engineer to ensure pallets are delivered and unpacked smoothly. I’m also working with the high school clubs to find students to volunteer to help unpack the pallets. More details to come.
Thank you again for your time and dedication. Please reach out with questions and concerns.
____________
The Math bypass test will be given at schools the first week of June for 6th and 7th grade students. Any student may take the test. A student may self-select, a teacher may refer or a parent may refer.
June 2nd: LPMS
June 3rd: Three Rivers and High Desert
June 4th: Pilot Butte and Pacific Crest
June 5th: Cascade and Sky View
June 6th: Realms
High School Only
Reminder: Please drop your communication to families about graduation in this file. Thank you to CHS and LPHS!
We will have a mandatory training for Physics Teachers at Mountain View for teachers to engage in the new Physics curriculum, PEER Physics. The training will be Monday, May 19th through Wednesday, May 21st.
Hello and happy Thursday! This is a friendly reminder that we need the Class of 2025 questionnaire completed no later than Tuesday, May 20 so we have enough time to turn around translation for the newsletter. I know these details are all coming together right now, so I appreciate your work on this.
We look forward to sharing the celebrations!
Calendar
May 20: Val/Sal pictures and a quick blurb about each student due to Becca and Scott M
May 20: HS Counselor Celebrations 1:00-4:00 @ Wall Street Lab (Principals and admin who oversees counseling required to attend)
May 20: Excellence in Education Event 4:30 @ Mountain View HS Auditorium
May 20, June 10 and June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up for one session! Mandatory AI Training
May 22: MS Horizontal – 3:00 @ Pilot Butte
May 23: High Schools announce Val and Sal today!
May 26: Memorial Day, No School
May 27: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
May 28: Perseverance Awards Ceremony 5:30 @ The Loft on Bond Street
May 28: Dual Immersion Graduation Ceremony 5:30 @ Aspen Hall
May 29: MS Counselor Celebrations 8:00-11:00 @ PBMS (Principals and admin who oversees counseling required to attend)
May 31: HS only: Deadline by which Distracted Driving assembly or advisory lesson is completed
June 4: All Admin PD at Aspen Hall, 3:00-4:30
June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
June 12: Last Day students—half day
June 13: Last Day staff work day
June 17: MS and HS Administrator End of the Year wrap up. SBG focus! 8:00-11:00 @ Mountain View HS
Happy National Principals Day to our building leaders! Thank you for all you do.
To Do
YouthTruth Data:
Please send a detailed explanation of when and how you shared/processed Youth Truth Data with staff, students, and families to Stephen or Katie. Be sure to include what data you included in those conversations (staff, student, family).
Don’t forget next week is certified/teacher appreciation week. Here are some resources from Wayfinder if interested.
From Departments
From Scott in Technology:
iPad Roll-In is Coming!
As many of you know, all students will be turning in their iPads before the last day of school. Since we are transitioning to keyboard-equipped devices at all high schools, every student will receive a new or different device for the 2025–26 school year.
This will be a massive undertaking—the first time in 12 years that we are either replacing or swapping all 17,000+ student devices in a single summer.
To make this a success, we need your help:
Communicate early – Remind students to back up their work, update their devices, and locate their charging bricks and cords.
Create a school-specific plan – Connect with your IT Client Services representative to understand the process and build a plan to collect student iPads before the end of the year.
Recruit help – This is not a job for media/library staff alone. Plan to involve available staff, students, or volunteers to support the roll-in process.
I’ll be sending more detailed instructions, tips, and ideas for iPad roll-in over the coming weeks.
Next week, we will be sharing a list of employees who have not yet completed their required SafeSchools trainings with supervisors via email.
These trainings are a critical component of our ongoing commitment to maintaining a safe environment for all students and staff. They also serve to establish a shared understanding of protocols and expectations that can be applied consistently in any situation.
Supervisors will be responsible for ensuring that all employees they supervise complete the trainings as soon as possible. These trainings may be completed during work hours. Certified employees are already compensated for this time, and Classified employees may be provided paid release time if necessary.
Looking ahead, we recognize the need to improve communication around training deadlines and will work to establish clearer expectations next year, including potential accountability measures for non-completion.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter and for helping reinforce our collective responsibility for school safety.
BLAST Vacancies:
The recruitment for two more vacant BLAST positions has commenced.
We are currently recruiting for an Athletic Director/Assistant Principal at La Pine High School and for the Principal vacancy at Elk Meadow Elementary School.
The AD/AP vacancy is a result of the MOA moving these positions to the BLAST schedule.
The Elk Meadow vacancy is due to Ben Johnston’s resignation.
If you’d like to learn more about either vacancy, please connect with Ryan.
Please go into your bookmarked Complaint Dashboard and ensure each complaint submission is either resolved or actively being investigated:
The “Resolved By School” column should say: Yes if resolved, No if still under investigation (and within the timeline for investigation and response), or Help Requested if you need support. Click on the row for that complaint, and scroll down to change this status.
Complete these fields for each complaint: 1) Confirmed Bias Incident (Yes, or No if not founded or if it’s a general/other complaint), 2) Response Steps, 3) Other Notes (this one’s optional). Feel free to paste links to Google Docs, or attach documents with notes/findings/communications.
Weekend Snack Bags:
The Giving Plate is resuming their weekend snack bag program! As a reminder, this program provides extra snacks for students in need, to supplement food access over the weekend.
Please note:
Families must complete a form to qualify and begin receiving this resource.
FAN Advocates continue to be the point of contact for family qualification/permission forms and for snack bag distribution to students.
If your school’s parent volunteer network has stepped in to organize snack bags during the Giving Plate’s pause in service, please let them know this program is resuming and they can phase out their coordination. Better yet, if this is an issue your Booster Club/PTA cares about, they can volunteer with the Giving Plate as individuals or a group–that effort will directly benefit food access for students in your schools.
Thank you for working on the Curriculum Option Set! I know that not all schools have it completed, and I understand that there may be a delay in sending the curriculum request email due to late staffing plans. Instructional Technology is prepared to invite teachers to make requests for next year. Before those emails are sent, I want to confirm that you have shared the current plan for what teachers will be teaching next year and the content of the email will not be a surprise to them.
Instructional Technology would also like to have you communicate with your staff that the curriculum request emails will be arriving in their inbox. Please cut and paste this email to your staff:
Hello –
You will receive an email from ‘BLS Instructional Technology’ this week with the subject ‘<first name>’s Instructional Tools Requests. This email is authentic and is sent by our Instructional Technology department. Please find time before May 31 to review this email and request any instructional tools you wish to use for next year.
Once you have communicated the current plan with your teachers and sent this email, please let Dean know with a quick email that you are ready for them to receive the email.
Middle School Only
May Meetings: Time to sign up for a May visit with Stephen. Please choose a date this month for a 60 minute check in. Here is my Calendly link or you can use Outlook directly.
Calendar
May 2: Deadline: Option Sets must be built for curriculum process
May 7: National School Nurse Day! Show some love to your nurse this week!
May 7: District Safety Cadre Training @ 1:30 – mandatory for all safety admin leads
May 7: Safety Cadre Meeting, 2:00-3:30, location TBA
May 14: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30 Read Chapter 4!
May 20: HS Counselor Celebrations 1:00-4:00 @ Wall Street Lab (Principals and admin who oversees counseling required to attend)
May 20: Excellence in Education Event 4:30 @ MVHS Auditorium
May 20, June 10 and June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up for one session! Mandatory AI Training
May 22: MS Horizontal – 3:00 @ Pilot Butte
May 26: Memorial Day, No School
May 27: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 TBD (moved from May 20)
May 29: MS Counselor Celebrations 8:00-11:00 @ PBMS (Principals and admin who oversees counseling required to attend)
May 31: HS only: Deadline by which Distracted Driving assembly or advisory lesson is completed
June 4: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
June 12: Last Day students—half day
June 13: Last Day staff work day
June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ TBD
Where in the World
This week we are highlighting our wonderful TLC Accounting Specialist, April Jorgenson who identified Anini Beach on Kauai as her happy place. Beautiful!
Reminder: Please share student, staff, and parent Youth Truth data with your stakeholders by April 30th.
From Departments
From Lisa in the Superintendent’s Office:
This year we have done a lot of work on policy and implementation discussion related to AI use in BLPS. This training is MANDATORY for all school admin and you may choose between 4 options (5/20, 6/10, 6/17). Please refer to the document below to sign up for a time. They are listed in Yellow.
As a reminder, Optional PD opportunities are available for all. As always, if you have an interest in a specific topic, please feel free to let me know so we can work on standing up some trainings. Have a great day. -L
It has long been the district’s goal to have curriculum ready for teachers on the first day of their contract in August. Each year we do our best to improve our process that will allow us to meet that goal, or at least move us closer. This year we continue to need your support. In order to move toward a more automated process for ordering instructional tools and materials specific to the courses certified staff will teach, each school will need to create an abridged option set in Synergy shortly after finalizing section allocation.
We are not requesting a full option set. Instead, we are asking you to create an option set that only contains one section per prep (for our purposes, a prep is the combination of a teacher and a course – for example, Jane Smith/Modern World History). You will not need to enter meeting days or rooms for these sections, and you will not need to enter both semesters of a yearlong course. All sections can go into period 1. Grade levels and credit do not matter. We simply need one section of a course in the option set for each person who will teach it. Please name this option set ‘Curriculum Option Set’ so that it is easily identifiable.
Last year, Mountain View did a test build of this curriculum option set based on 2023-24 section allocation, with the addition of newly approved and forecasted 2024-25 courses. At one section per teacher prep, i.e., one section of each course each person would teach, the process took just under two hours including double-checking for accuracy. Attached are brief instructions for creating the curriculum option set as quickly and easily as possible.
Building administrators have received their staff allocations. We are asking you to have your curriculum option set built by Friday, May 2. This should allow just over two weeks for building the curriculum option set. We are not asking for this option set to be 100% up to date all of the time. Even if some preps change in your final option set, the curriculum option set will be accurate enough to allow us to start ordering curriculum in May.
We realize this is an additional task at a time of year that can already feel overwhelming. Our hope is that this proves to be a fairly simple process for you. Our efforts now will better allow our secondary teachers to begin the school year as smoothly as possible, and for that we are grateful.
Please reach out to Kindra or myself if you have any questions.
High School Only
From Jennifer in Student Services
With the academic year drawing to a close, we wanted to take a moment to share some essential reminders and updates regarding our school counseling program expectations. It’s important that these points are communicated and completed by our students.
Calendar
April 22: HS Administrator work session 8:00-10:00 @ Realms HS
April 23: END for all teachers
April 22 and 23: All day training for Campus Monitors – mandatory
April 24: MS Horizontal 3:00 – 5:00 @ Sky View
April 30: Deadline to share/process YouthTruth Data with staff, students and families
May 1: HS only: HSS $ must be spent!
May 7: District Safety Cadre Training @ 1:30 – mandatory for all safety admin leads
May 20: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
May 31: HS only: Deadline by which Distracted Driving assembly or advisory lesson is completed.
June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ TBD
May 20, June 10 and June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up for one session! Mandatory AI Training
Where in the World
No Where in the World this week as Word Press has a bug where it isn’t allowing pictures right now. We’ll be back next week!
YouthTruth Data processing and sharing needs to be completed by April 30.
This look like:
*Process with all staff (including classified team members!): Develop a plan to review YouthTruth data that informs improvement planning during an BD SIW or a staff meeting
*Process with students: Review top two highest and lowest areas and collect/process feedback from students for improvement planning!
*Share with families: Share top two highest and lowest areas in communications with your families (digital newsletter?). Bonus points for collecting feedback for improvement planning!
Contract letters for licensed employees were sent to all licensed employees via UKG and must be returned no later than April 15.
If you have not yet completed yours, please log in to UKG to review and submit your response as soon as possible. Administrators, please ensure your staff are aware of this deadline and follow up as needed – and don’t forget to return yours too! If you have any questions or need assistance, please reach out to Candy Gelatt or [email protected]
Please be advised that we have some outdated policies regarding what is permissible when transporting students to/from off-site activities and athletic events. Please follow EEADBA-AR and do not refer to EEACD-AR, EEBB-AR or EEADB-AR. It is always advisable to contact the Executive Director of Transportation, Kim Crabtree, when you have questions regarding student transportation.
Campus Monitors are required to attend two days of training on Tuesday, April 22 & Wednesday, April 23. The training is focused on Department of Public Safety Standards and Training Unarmed Security Professional Certification. Be sure your CM’s are freed up to attend this training.
If you notice a YELLOW “Restrict!” bar on a student’s Synergy page, it most likely means they are either currently Expelled or that they have been Expelled at some point in their educational history.
Restrict!
The purpose of this practice is to ensure that schools do not unintentionally enroll an Expelled student into their school (if a family attempts to move a student from one school to another to avoid disciplinary measures, for example) AND to encourage schools to review student records for any newly enrolled students (specifically those who were ever Expelled that we are aware of).
If a student ever enrolls in your school from out of the area and the family references a past Expulsion (or you notice a prior Expulsion in the student records), please communicate with me so that I can help research the student’s disciplinary history from their former district(s) and to help us update their “Restrict” status.
If you ever notice a student with this YELLOW “Restrict!” bar, you can call myself or April Jorgenson to discuss the student and we can help you if any Synergy limitations exist while this Restrict is placed on their file.
If you click on the “Other Info” tab (next to Parent/Guardian in the Student screen) you can see the possible Enrollment Restrictions (and corresponding dates) for the specific student:
We will utilize the Enrollment Restriction titled “Other Restriction” for those students who have a past Expulsion on file (but who are not currently Expelled).
Below are the details for the upcoming writing workshop training. Substitute costs will be covered by the district.
Please RSVP to Torie Withers.
Language Arts Writing Workshop Training ✏️
Date: Thursday, April 3rd
Time: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: The Boardroom (312) in the Education Center, 520 NW Wall Street, Bend
Facilitated by: Torie Withers, Loren Renfroe, and Colin Price
Who Should Attend:
Required for new hires or teachers who haven’t previously attended writer’s workshop training
Those who have previously attended a writer’s workshop training and are up for a refresher, new lesson and unit ideas, and ample collaboration and planning time with colleagues
Workshop Focus: Learn how to structure and plan writing workshop units, including:
Teaching the writing process through the workshop model
Standards-based instructional practices: feedback and grading
Unit planning time
Language arts teachers are encouraged to attend this professional development opportunity. Consider attending as a department team to engage in collaborative planning and work time.
Please contact Torie Withers with questions. Thank you!
Check out the below links for a fun Wayfinder challenge for HS students. Please consider sharing with specific high school classes like leadership teachers, design justice, CTE media/digital arts. Three levels of financial prizes, as much as $2500😊
March 21: Certified and Support Staff Excellence in Education nominations due
March 21: EVE Survey completion DUE
March 21: BLSO closes enrollment for all students on a semester schedule.
March 24-28: Spring Break
April 3: Job Fair
April 4: BLSO closes enrollment for all students on a trimester schedule. (Exceptions can be made for graduating seniors.)
April 8: MS and HS work session 8:00-10:00 @HDMS
April 9: All Administrator Professional Development 3:00-4:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
April 11: This is the last day for semester based students to drop a class and earn a W. Any class kept open after April 11th will earn a letter grade which includes a Fail. (9 weeks from the start of the semester.)
April 14: Personal Finance Training (required for HS teachers teaching the course) @Ed Center, Room 203 8-4.
April 22: HS Administrator work session
April 22 and 23: All day training for Campus Monitors – mandatory
April 24: MS Horizontal 3:00 – 5:00
April 30: Deadline to share/process YouthTruth Data with staff, students and families
Where in the World
In this week’s Where in the World, we are highlighting Assistant Principal/Dean of Students Jamie Brock at Summit High School. Jamie’s place is the cone lap at Mt. Bachelor with her kids!
This update includes several important changes that will directly affect our work with students, specifically regarding:
High School Credit for Middle School Students
Procedures for Dropping a Class
Awarding Credit for Courses Taken More Than Once
Extended Parameters for Weighted Grades
Driver’s Ed Credit
Courses from Non-District High Schools or Post-Secondary Institutions
Katie Legace, Jess Calbreath, and Jennifer will be hosting two separate virtual office hours to discuss these changes and how we will implement them. It is expected that every counselor and the administrator overseeing counseling attends at least one of these sessions.
Scott McDonald and Karen Rush are forming an Instructional Technology Stakeholder group comprised of teachers, parents, students, administrators, and community members. We have great representation from district staff and community members, but are hoping to have parents from across the district and grade levels join the group. We have shared this information in the Family Spotlight but would love to see more applications! Will you please send out this notice to your school community members?
ALL-STAFF MEETINGS MARCH 13 WITH DR. COOK: Please remind all your building staff of the virtual meetings with Dr. Cook on Thursday, March 13. These 30-minute virtual meetings are open to all District employees, with two afternoon time slots to accommodate different work schedules.
Dr. Cook will provide updates on bills making their way through the state Legislature and how they could impact our work to build a budget for next school year. He also will touch on directives related to public education coming out of Washington, D.C. Dr. Cook will leave time to answer a few staff questions. PICK YOUR TIME!
3:05 to 3:35 p.m. (best for elementary schedules)
3:50 to 4:20 p.m. (best for secondary schedules)
We will provide meeting links closer to the date. Attendance is optional, and we will provide recordings of both meetings afterward.
When you received your school’s 25/26 discretionary funds dashboard last week, you may have noticed that the line item called “High needs” in no longer in your budget. Several years ago, the Student Services department transferred funds from our discretionary budget and placed them directly into each school’s discretionary budget. The intent was to allow you to procure 70 hours of substitute EA time quickly and without having to go through our office. For next year, we have decided to hold those funds in our discretionary budget. When the need arises and you need extra staffing support due to new student move-ins, etc., please reach out to Student Services Admin and we will collaborate with your team to provide support. Please reach out with any questions.
Here is a reminder of the important dates for Bend La Pine Online the remainder of the year.
March 21st – BLSO is closing enrollment for all students on a semester schedule. (Exceptions can be made for graduating seniors.)
April 4th – BLSO is closing enrollment for all students on a trimester schedule. (Exceptions can be made for graduating seniors.)
April 11th– This is the last day for semester based students to drop a class and earn a W. Any class kept open after April 11th will earn a letter grade which includes a Fail. (9 weeks from the start of the semester.)
May 2nd– This is the last day for trimester based students to drop a class and earn a W. Any class kept open after May 2nd will earn a letter grade which includes a Fail. (6 weeks from the trimester start.)
May 18th– Last Day for All Seniors. This is a firm deadline. All K12 teachers have been given this final day for seniors and will grade them out based on this date. No work submitted after this date will be graded.
June 8th– Last Day for all 9th-11th graders. All K12 teachers have been given this final day for 9th-11th grade students will issue a final grade based on work submitted up to this date. No work submitted after this date will be graded.
Courses will not be extended beyond May 18th for seniors and June 8th for all other students.
Due to a platform change, we are unable to reopen or extend any incomplete class from this Spring into Summer.
Final Grades will be transcribed based on the grade percentage at the time of the class closing and can not be changed or updated later on.
Students who did not finish their class or are dissatisfied with their Final Grade are not able to improve their grade over summer or in the fall.
There are absolutely NO Extensions or Reopening of a Class.
Students in grades K-8 will now find a new icon on their iPad home screen directing them to the research databases hosted on our media center websites. Utilizing carefully curated research databases, instead of generic search engines, is crucial for fostering responsible information-seeking in the vast sea of online resources. Check out Quick Access to Safe and Reliable Research for more information. If you’d like support with research projects in your classrooms, please reach out to your instructional coach or our instructional technology team, Robbie Faith and Tracy Howk.
Shout out to our Wayfinder winners! Below are photos of Darla Brandon representing all of LPMS as our middle school winner and Amy James of Mountain View High School taking home the high school award.
Calendar
March 10: TAG Admin/ICCL 3:45-5:45 @ Ed Center – Board Room (MS ONLY)
March 10: Incoming 9th grade orientation night 6:00 @ BSHS, CHS, LPHS, MVHS, SHS
March 12: Educator Network Day
March 12: Life and Career Readiness Night 5:00-7:00 @ Caldera HS
March 13: 3:05 or 3:50—Take 30 minutes to participate in the All Staff Update with Dr. Cook
March 21: Certified and Support Staff Excellence in Education nominations due
March 21: EVE Survey completion DUE
March 24-28: Spring Break
April 14th: Personal Finance Training (required for HS teachers teaching the course) @Ed Center, Room 203 8-4.
Where in the World
In this week’s Where in the World, we are highlighting Becky Aylor, Assistant Principal at Mountain View High School. Becky states, “I’m an adventure seeker—whether it’s lounging on Hawaii’s beaches, riding through the Arizona desert, or snowmobiling in the Cascades. When I’m not exploring with Hubs, I love spending time with my adult son, Sebastian, his wife, Josie (pictured here), and my epic grandkids, ages 2 and 4.
PS. My “talent” is blinking during photos…I ALWAYS have sunglasses on to avoid the groans of having to retake…again and again.
Bend La Pine Teachers have created a Personal Finance Canvas shell course that meets the new standards. While we have not yet heard about the waiver, we would like to provide training to schools moving forward with a .5 Personal Finance course.
The training will be on Monday, April 14th, in the Education Center Room 203 from 8 to 4. The training will consist of a remote training by Next Generation Personal Finance, an open sourced curriculum that makes up much of the Canvas course. The authors of the Canvas Course, Bekki Tucker (CHS) and Jesse Kurtz-Nichols (BSHS) will walk teachers through the shell. The rest of the time will be spent becoming acquainted with the tools and planning for instruction. Subs will be paid for out of district funding.
If you know the teachers who will be teaching the course, please let Dean know so he can send a invitation to the teachers.
Please review these messages and share with your staff:
Family Liaisons and Translation/Interpretation:
Remember that our Family Liaisons are not translators/interpreters–these are distinct positions with different functions, required skills, and pay rates. Here are details about how to effectively engage Family Liaisons to support our work. If you need someone to translate or interpret a family communication (including for time-sensitive requests) please review the various options available to you here.
Immigration information:
Make sure your team is very clear that they are prohibited from asking about or documenting students’ or families’ immigration status, even when doing so might be well-intentioned.
If staff want to coordinate extra support for students or families who might be undocumented, it should be organized based on an educational purpose, not based on immigration status. Sttudents/families themselves then choose to opt into or access these, without needing to disclose their status or without staff needing to know it. Examples:
A counseling group for students with anxiety (rather than a counseling group for undocumented students),
flyers for local Know Your Rights workshops made available to all parents or via PTA group lists (rather than sent home with families we believe are undocumented), etc.
Title IX and gender support protocols:
I have received several questions about the status of our gender support protocol. Yes, our procedures for supporting gender-expansive students are still in place. Thank you for initiating this process when a student indicates a need for support.
Regarding Title IX more generally, while the national landscape is bringing some policy-based changes to our Title IX procedures (generally reverting back to our procedures from a few years ago–more on that later), please continue to contact me for any concerns or complaints related to Title IX, which includes:
discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity;
sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking;
It has come to my attention that we have fifty or so students district wide who assist our nutrition staff during the lunch period and are provided payment for their time through petty cash or snack bar credit. After reviewing the practice we have determined that payment for student time (cash or credit) is not allowable. As a result, effective immediately we are discontinuing this practice. Students are still welcome to assist in the kitchens should they choose to volunteer their time.
I recognize that this has always been a meaningful and great experience for our student helpers, and over the next week we will be evaluating allowable incentives to continue to reward and encourage students who want to do this valuable work. I hope to have those incentives communicated to you by next week. In the meantime, if needed, please support your nutrition leads and managers at schools tomorrow as they talk to students about this change.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
“Testing season” is quickly approaching. Here are a few resources to help with planning and organization. Please reach out with any questions or suggestions. I’m happy to come out to schools and meet with you as is helpful.
Here is an updated for 2024-25 OSAS Essential Information and Planning Resources document for school test coordinators. This resource is meant to compliment ODE’s resources and highlight some of the most important big ideas. This document will be updated as needed. Please save and use as a resource https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EJzxywh4ykm_WHT7uA4pNBpQsT2csXarETHJvtXquQE/edit?usp=sharing
This week, we are highlighting Darla Brandon, AP at La Pine Middle School. Darla states, “Over winter break, my husband and I went on an unexpected road trip adventure, traveling through 5 states. We visited Reno, Las Vegas, Red Rock National Park, Valley of Fire State Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park. We eventually met back up with my son, his wife, and my daughter in Reno where we enjoyed the New Year playing at the arcade, conquering escape rooms, and competing in a goofy gameshow together. I love to hike and travel to new places. But more importantly, I cherish the moments I have with those I love!”
Please send questions that are coming up around our standards-based instruction and grading to Stephen and Katie Lyons in anticipation of our Admin/ICCL meeting on 2/11. Refer back to an email from Stephen titled “Admin/ICCL 2/11” if you need more details.
Apologies for not having the QR code for PD feedback last week at Bend High. If you attended this training, please fill out the feedback for our session. As a reminder, we looked at Chapter 1 of Thriving Leaders and Kristy Knoll rapped Ice Ice Baby.
From Departments
From Tami Pike:
Field Trip Reminder
To prioritize student safety, please notify the school nurse about any upcoming field trips at least two weeks in advance. Last-minute notices can create safety concerns and may interfere with the care of other students, as the nurse needs time to review health conditions and medications. This applies to both middle and high school students. There have been instances where a nurse only learns of a field trip when an announcement is made over the school intercom.
This is a friendly reminder that time and leave sheet cut-off is Sunday, February 9th. All completed time and leave sheets you receive for sign off are due to the Payroll Office by Monday, February 10th.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] with any questions or if you need additional support.
Care Solace is a care coordination service to help students, staff, and their families find mental health and substance use treatment matched to their needs. Care Solace’s multilingual and culturally sensitive Care CompanionTM team is available 24/7/365 to quickly connect individuals to community providers regardless of need.
Register & Login to your Care Solace Account
If you missed the registration email for your Care Solace account, reach out to Lisa McNulty. Administrators, School Counselors, Student Success Clinicians/Coordinators, School Psychologists and Nurses have accounts.
Care Solace creates monthly mental health messaging and social media posts for you to use in your communication with your school community. Send this content to your school families and staff as a resource, share it on your social media, or share it at school events.
Print and Distribute Flyers Around Campus
Post flyers around the school for students and staff to provide additional information about Care Solace. You can find these flyers in the Care Community in the Resource Center.
Configure Your Email Signature & Out-of-Office Notification
Add information about Care Solace to your email signature and out-of-office messaging. This will promote access and ensure support outside of school hours or when staff members are away from work.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI:
Winners!
Thank you to all who participated in the Asian Family Night’s Year of the Snake drawing contest. Submissions came from:
Pacific Crest
Buckingham
Lava Ridge
Ponderosa
Highland
Pine Ridge
Juniper
Bear Creek
Miller
The winners from the submissions above will be announced shortly—stay tuned!
Having some FOMO? Here’s another opportunity:
February is Black History Month. Your school’s DEI-ICCL rep should have shared with staff some teaching and learning opportunities related to this important topic. This includes our annual Door-Decorating Contest!
Please encourage your teachers (and non-teaching staff—counselors, athletics, front-office teams, principal’s office, Superintendent’s office, transportation etc) to participate! Don’t be left off the list of schools engaging in this important work of representation, belonging, equity, and celebration in what might otherwise feel like a time of fear and frustration for many students and colleagues of color in our community. Some details you can share with them here.
MS Only
Fly Up Day: Check an email from Stephen about Fly Up Day logistics.
Calendar
February 11: HS Administrator work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
February 11: ICCL/Secondary Administrator 4:15-6:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
February 19: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
February 25: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
February 27: MS Horizontal 3:00-5:00 @ High Desert
This week, we are highlighting Austin James, in Instructional Technology. Austin states, “As an avid hiker, I’m at home when I’m on the trail. In April 2024, I hiked the Seven Hanging Valleys trail in the Algarve region of Portugal. It winds along the clifftops of the southern Portugal overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs shown are those at Praia da Marinha and Praia da Mesquita.”
We have two mandatory trainings coming up. The first is related to Mandatory Subjects of Bargaining and the other is related to AI Guidance for the 2025-2026 school year. We will have several options to take these trainings over the next few months in an effort to accommodate many different schedules. Each training is 2 hours long. On January 31st (the report card workday), we will have three options to complete the Mandatory Subjects of Bargaining training. Sign up by clicking HERE. Other trainings opportunities for this and the AI training will happen on various Thursdays throughout the winter and spring. More details to come.
Bring your laptop to Bend High on Wednesday for our admin PD. We will be discussing chapter 1 of Thriving Leaders. There is not a requirement to read the chapter ahead of time but if you want to walk in more prepared, feel free to do so.
Principal, Assistant Principal, and Dean Evaluation Information:
These are updated and in our system. You can attach your SLGGs using the paperclip if you haven’t already. You level leader needs this too
All of the details for each scoring area can be accessed by clicking on the question mark to the right of the rating section. You will also notice that Domain 9, 10, 11, and 12 have more specific information than they have had in the past. This is to be more in line with the current district work with which we are engaged. If you have questions about these sections, please reach out to your level leader.
Dave will be leading a testing topic training on 2/6 from 8-10. If you want to come this week, please sign up before tomorrow close of business!
Other trainings available before Spring Break are related to SIOP, Evaluations and Feedback, SPED and SPED Law, Financial Management, Positive Behavioral Support Planning, and Instructional Frameworks. Click the link above to sign up. Note: Sign up by tomorrow (1/24) if you want to attend the 1/30 SIOP training.
If you have an idea for a future training, let me know!
#1 – Discipline Incident Wizard to be “LIVE” in Synergy by February 5th
Our IT staff have been working on many Synergy-related projects of late (Thank you!). By February 5th, we will have the ability to access the “Discipline Wizard” in Synergy to enter Incidents. Please review the walkthrough linked HERE to familiarize yourself with this new tool. We referenced this Wizard at the Welcome Back Administrator training (when we launched the Code of Conduct). Now that the known issues with the Wizard have been fixed by Edupoint, we can begin utilizing this helpful resource!
Jason & Ted in IT have offered to help with trainings for the Wizard (as needed), so please reach out if you want any additional support in this area.
#2 – Message Directly from Jason & Ted Regarding IDS Reports (Helpful Accessing Reports!)
Earlier this year, it was not possible to run Synergy incident reports (IDS reports) which would display violation details like what many staff were used to in prior years due to the Code of Conduct changes. However, it is now possible for an IDS report (for example, IDS401: Student Discipline Listing or IDS403: Discipline Disposition List) to identify the violation details by selecting the “Use Sub Codes” checkbox on the Options tab of the report.
Example:
Additionally, it is recommended to change the output type on the Sort / Output tab to Excel (or CSV) for use with Excel (which makes it easier to read and work with).
This should allow you to answer questions related to the details of violations / dispositions.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Jason Westmoreland or Ted Helton for assistance:
Quick Message Regarding SIRC/STAS Assessments and the Important “Outcome and Safety Plans”
For any SIRC (Level 1) or STAS (Level 0 or Level 1) assessment that your team works through, we are required to submit the assessment materials utilized AND an Outcome & Safety Plan. The Outcome and Safety Plan is what we attach to the incident in Synergy, so this document and the accompanying safety planning is vital to the process.
Here is the link to our SIRC/STAS Threat Assessment Guide for specifics: LINK HERE
Heading into the second semester is a good time to remind staff of Canvas expectations. Again, these expectations are at a much lower bar than when we were in the pandemic and there is no requirement to use Canvas for grading. However, we still need to keep our families and students informed of what we are doing in our classrooms.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI:
MAC Survey:
The next MAC Survey will occur the week of Feb 3rd–specific date coming soon. If you are in the cost pool you will be notified, and it will be important you complete your training asap. Even if you don’t claim any activities on the survey day, just being a trained administrator in the cost pool helps our funding. If you can attend any meetings that day where claimable activities might be discussed, that would be a huge help. Remember, this survey process brings in critical funding for FAN Advocate services. Thank you for your partnership!
Immigration Guidance:
Principals, be sure relevant staff have access to the district immigration guidance shared with you last week. You may share with any/all staff, but at a minimum, it is expected that your entire front-office team be very familiar with the full guidance.
Please print the ICE Protocol (the document linked in the first section) and post for staff reference at the station where your check-in person sits and greets visitors. Reach out if you have questions or concerns.
Help celebrate our SROs! SRO Appreciation Day is Saturday, February 15 but we want to celebrate them all week long. Beginning Monday, February 11, do something special for your SRO. Please pick the day of the week that works best for your school.
Need some ideas?
Ask students and staff to make them thank you cards
Bring them donuts or other tasty morning treats
Serve them lunch
Decorate their office
Help us share the love on social media. Send your imagery to Becca Burda, Assistant Director of Communications, and we’ll keep the gratitude flowing online.
Middle School Only
CTE Fly Up: As a reminder, you will need to set aside two advisory times in February for your 8th grade students to plan for CTE fly up day. One will need to be the week of the 17th and the second will need to be the week of the 24th.
February Meetings: Time to sign up for a February visit. Please choose a date this month for a 60 minute check in. Here is my Calendly link or you can use Outlook directly.
Calendar
January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
January 24: Probationary Letters due to HR
January 28: HS Administrator work session 8-10 @ Mountain View HS
January 28: HS Principal meeting on careers class 10:00 -10:30 @ Mountain View HS
January 29: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
January 30: MS Horizontal – Pacific Crest – 3:00 – 5:00
January 31: Grading day for semester schools
February 11: HS Administrator work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
February 11: ICCL/Secondary Administrator 4:15-6:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
February 19: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
February 25: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
February 27: MS Horizontal 3:00-5:00 @ Sky View MS
Please refer to your email from Triz De La Rosa regarding your probationary/temporary 3 staff. The deadline to write letters of support is 1/24. It is essential you complete this task by that date.
As you know, UKG is not yet ready to receive your SLGGs for this school year. We have had some conversations with building leaders about holding on to these documents in order to upload them when you have the green light from UKG. As we wait, Katie and Stephen are requesting building principals send their SLGGs to their respective level leader by next Friday (1/17).
Reminders to complete professional development feedback form AND have ALL staff to complete COREN surveyby 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 staffto 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.
Our move to Synergy EWS for student grade data has required all grades to be posted and up to date within Synergy beginning this year. While grades within Canvas can still be used, a question has arisen regarding our purchase and use of Grade Guardian. Is there still value to our schools that would justify the cost of this program?
To get a better sense of how our sites are interacting with Grade Guardian, please pass along this survey by next week to those in your building who may use the feature. If it is helpful, here is a spreadsheet with email addresses of folks we have listed as Grade Guardian advisors.
Please remind your TAG administrator and TAG ICCL that we will have our second mandatory meeting on this Monday the 13th in the board room from 3:45 to 5:30.
From the Superintendent’s office (on behalf of Mid Oregon and KTVZ):
Please send out to your staff. We would love a lot of BLS representation!
Just checking in at the end of the year to ask your assistance in nominations for our KTVZ One Class at a Time awards. Selected nominations will be chosen monthly during the school year for innovative classroom education, projects and learning that represent positive student experiences and highlighted with a KTVZ news story and a $1000 award to support the program.
Please have your principals, teachers, advisors, staff send the requests to me for our selection process.
Kyle Frick
Vice President, Marketing & Community Relations Post Office Box 6749 Bend, Oregon 97708 541.585-1802 541.389.0103 Fax [email protected]
From Scott in Safety: (For your admin who oversees safety)
Reminder: The second of our four safety cadre trainings will be taking place on Wednesday, January 15th at the PBMS library from 1:30 – 3:30 PM. Snacks will be provided.
Please work to ensure time and leave sheets are correctly filled out before submitting them on. Office managers received an email earlier with clear information on what is required if there are any questions. If an employee has omitted information (the most common mistake) or has another error, please have your office manager work with them to correct the form before submission. Thank you.
From Departments:
From Stephen and Katie: Master Schedule Training Change
The master schedule training originally planned for both 2/11 and 2/12 has be condensed into just one day on February 11th. High School will attend in the morning and Middle School will attend in the afternoon. More info to come.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI:
Classroom placement policy:
Here is a draft of a new policy going out for public feedback, with a tentative adoption date of mid-February. This establishes that principals are the final decision-makers with regard to classroom placements. This should help navigate student, staff, or parent requests or refusals to have a particular teacher or student in a class, or where there is disagreement on a student’s schedule. The “principal or designee” language allows you to delegate this authority to counselors or coordinators, at least for initial placements or non-controversial requests for changes.
Upcoming events:
Please share this communication in your next weekly staff memo, and participate in any/all of these as you are available. In particular, encourage your building to be well-represented in our 3rd annual Door-Decorating Contest (adult teams can participate too, if you have enthusiastic or artistic front-office, counseling, or other non-classroom staff). Thank you!
CAFE Program training:
Do you have a newly-hired staff member who speaks another language? Would they like a $1,000 annual stipend for using their multilingual skills to support family communication? Due to multiple requests, we are adding one more round of CAFE Program testing and training for this school year. This extra round will take place in late January—further opportunities will not be available until next fall, so please help ensure relevant bilingual employees are aware and signed up in UKG’s Learning platform. (Once a staff member has been tested and trained, they do not need to repeat those steps.)
Do Not Schedule dates:
As your team begins to schedule important dates for spring, summer, and fall events, please be sure they are aware of our Do Not Schedule dates. Thank you for re-sharing this with your office managers, activities directors, athletics staff, counselors, and PTA/Booster Club leaders.
A big shout-out to La Pine and Mountain View high schools (especially CTE teacher Cameron Salvitelli) for submitting the first Facility/Site Modification proposals. Their proposals were approved by the Executive Leadership Team this past week.
If you would like to view their proposals as exemplars on how to complete Part I and also view the department feedback that they received in Part II, they are linked here (LPHS and MVHS). We’d also like to recognize Three Rivers for their recent proposal for a mural on their wall ball court.
Please remember that filling out this form is a requirement before schools may proceed with any project that impacts your facilities or grounds. When in doubt, contact your level leader and/or Paul Dean and we’ll advise you.
We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and winter break! When you get settled after the new year, please note that the IRS has announced a 3 cent/mile increase to the mileage rate for 2025. The new rate is 70 cents/mile, and applies to all mileage driven after January 1, 2025. Below is a link to the Portal page with the electronic mileage forms for in-District travel with both the 2024 and 2025 rates. There is also an AP-106 for other travel. Please note that the mileage reimbursement rate is determined by the date of travel, not the date the reimbursement is submitted or paid.
This is a quick reminder that YouthTruth is now open through January 31. Here is a link to a document to help you get started. More information and resources are available once you log in to YouthTruth.
From Heather Tang at Deschutes County: UpShift Update
Happy New Year! Here’s a quick reminder about the Tobacco Quit Kits introduced last year. These kits are a valuable resource to support students in their journey to quit smoking, vaping, or using chewing tobacco.
The kits include:
Distraction tools to help resist the urge to use tobacco.
Resource information to support students through the quitting process.
How to Distribute Quit Kits
Quit Kits are intended to be distributed during the second nicotine module of the Teen Intervene program by UpShift Specialists.
In special cases, they may be distributed outside of Teen Intervene, but only if a student demonstrates a strong commitment to quitting.
Schools and staff can request kits using our Google Form:
Order up to 5-10 kits at a time.
Delivery will be confirmed within 5-7 business days.
To streamline the process, we recommend designating one UpShift team member to handle all kit requests for your school.
Ready to request your kits? Please completethis form.
If you have any questions or need additional support, please reach out. We’re here to help!
Additional Resource:
The CDC has a quick, one-page guide to help school staff understand youth vaping and tobacco use.It includes tips for how you can support young people and key health facts. Download it in English or Spanish. Please feel free to pass along to staff.
From Janet Bojanowski in the Superintendent’s Office:
The following was shared with Office Managers. Please support their attendance on 1/22.
During the January 22nd Office Manager meeting, we will have a discussion on de-escalation led by Eric Powell, Scott Bojanowski, and Kayla Martin. This will include sample scenarios to work through and time for you to bring forth any scenarios you would like to share/discuss. We would like to remind you that your full office staff is invited and encouraged to attend these trainings. Building administrators have been asked to support the front office, if needed, to provide the opportunity for everyone to attend.
Schedule is as follows; however, you are welcome to join either session if the time works better for you.
Each year on December 1, we report the number of students on IEPs, as well as other demographic information to ODE. This “count” is what determine our level of funding for the next year. You can find a table with 2024 data, as well as historical trends HERE.
Here are a few highlights:
Total students on IEPs is 2027 (up from 1931 in 23/24)
Total IEPs district percentage is 12.1% (slightly up from last year and up 3% since 20/21)
No remarkable trends up or down in disability type last year
From Sean and Sarah Barclay: Updated Q & A (repeat)
Sean and Sarah recently sent out the following to all certified staff. Please read and make sure you are familiar with this information.
Greetings Dedicated Educators,
You may recall that back in October we released a BLS Special Education Inclusion Question and Answer document to better ensure a common set of information regarding our Special Education Programming within Bend-La Pine Schools. Since that time additional questions have been raised thus, we are reaching out today with added and updated information. Thank you for continuing to engage in this conversation with us and bringing to our attention topics that need additional clarification within our system. We believe that we all do our best work when we have a common set of knowledge to build and create upon. Please find the updated Q& A in the link below:
From Jen: “BLS Academic Information Night”January 23rd (repeat)
Please share this information with your families and students 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!
Middle School Only
January Meetings: Time to sign up for a January visit. Please choose a date this month for a 60 minute check in. Here is my Calendly link or you can use Outlook directly.
There has been a slight change to the schedule for the master schedule training originally planned for February 11th and 12th. We will now have our middle school folks attend on the 11th only from 12-4. Please fill out the MS tab on this document to let us know who will be attending from your site. Each site does need to participate.
Round one of our instructional walkthroughs will be hosted by CMS on January 23rd from 9:30 to 11:00. Up in this round will be Gabe Pagan, D Foster, Nick Smith, and MacKenzie Grossing. Please clear your calendar in order to attend. Thanks for hosting Gabe!
As you know we currently block student access to YouTube for students in grades K-8. For the most part, this change has been well received by both staff and families. That said, we know that many teachers (especially middle school elective, math, etc) have been adversely impacted by the loss of YouTube for students. Fortunately, our IT team has been able to create an inhouse solution (YouTubeBuddy) that will allow teachers to request specific YouTube videos to become viewable on student devices. Since these videos will be open to all Bend-La Pine students, we are requiring that administrators be notified on the request in the case there are any unforeseen issues.
How to request student access to a YouTube video:
Copy and paste the URL of your Youtube video into an email. Lists of mulitiple YouTube videos are welcome. These should be listed in a google sheet or Microsoft Excel document.
Send your list of videos to [email protected] and also to your administrator, or administration team.
You will receive a reply when the videos have been made accessible for student use. Detailed instructions linked here.
Both our IT and Instructional Tech team hope that YouTubeBuddy will help your students access the materials that have been missing from your curriculum this past few months.
Calendar
January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
January 10: COREN survey deadline
January 13: TAG Admin/ICCL meeting – 3:45-5:30 @ Educator Center boardroom
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
January 30: MS Horizontal – Pacific Crest – 3:00 – 5:00
Where in the World
Thank you for all the entries! Keep ’em coming.
This week we are highlighting our Language Arts TOSA Torie Withers’ happy place! “My happy place is skiing snowy slopes with my family, a tradition spanning three generations. Starting at age three at Mt. Bachelor, I learned alongside my sister with my parents leading the way. Although my dad always finds a way to push the limits—getting our family hopelessly lost while skiing in out-of-bounds terrain in Canada when I was a kid, or cutting it way too close to closing time to ski the get-back from the backside of Bachelor—his adventurous spirit taught us more than skiing; he instilled a profound love for the outdoors. Now, watching my own children discover these same slopes, I’m grateful to live where nature continues to strengthen our family’s connections to each other and the beautiful place we live.”
