To Do

1. Fill out your teams and leads for various departments in the spreadsheet Stephen or Katie shared.
2. HS – Link your Training week/SIW plan and slides in the HS Admin Handbook
3. Add the APs to the appropriate section of Robi’s document for the Strategy Studio.
4. Middle School – Complete your inservice week planner document.
5. Resolve any remaining 25-26 evaluation to dos. Contract Jessica and Triz in HR with questions
6. Work on School Design Plans – Action plans and Data Indicators due October 19

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From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:

Training: Change in Plans!          – Action needed –

In last week’s blog, I asked you to review guidance this fall with your staff regarding email communications and confidential student information.  I’m sure you carefully studied every detail and built your entire inservice schedule around it 🙂—so apologies for the change in plans!  But, please pause on that training for now.

At Leadership Launch, I shared that new state laws require school districts to provide one hour of training for all employees on immigration enforcement, ICE activity at school activities, and related policies. Because much of the state’s guidance also addresses confidential student information, we’re going to combine these topics into one required training. This will allow us to cover FERPA and confidentiality in communications and records alongside the new immigration protocols in a more integrated way.

We’ll provide the training materials soon, along with a few options for delivery. The one-hour training will include 30 minutes of asynchronous learning and 30 minutes during a staff meeting.

Action needed now: Please reserve 30 minutes at a staff meeting between Sept. 1–30. More details and materials are coming soon.

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From Kayla in Safety:

Please update your school’s Safety Cadre designee here. Invites to follow once the roster is updated!

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Share this information about Inventerprise 2027 with your teachers

Departments

From Triz in Human Resources:

25-26 Evaluation clean up Reminder

Please remember to update any outstanding documentation required in your google drives from the lists that were shared with you last week at launch.  We will be closing those google folders soon to prep for the new year.  We appreciate all the great work you did with utilizing this system and we look forward to providing an even better tool for the coming year.  Everything must be uploaded by end of day Friday, August 21, 2026.

BENFITS:

OEBB Open Enrollment Happening Now! August 15 – September 15. 

This applies to all insurance-eligible employees and affects coverage from October 1, 2026 – September 30, 2027. 

LEARNING & HELP OPPORTUNITIES

• One-on-One Support: The Benefits Team offers phone, in-person or virtual meetings – book your appointment here
• August 19 from 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM: OEBB & Plan Providers Virtual Meeting – register here
  • Can’t attend the virtual meeting? Recordings can be found here.
• August 20 from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM: On-Site Help Session at Summit
• August 24 from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM: On-Site Help Session at Mountain View
• August 25 from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM: On-Site Help Session at Ed Center
• August 26 from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM: On-Site Help Session at La Pine High School Library

Where to Enroll: Enrollment must be completed online at www.OEBBenroll.com by midnight, September 15.  

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From Eric in Student Services:

If you would like designate a secretary/data entry staff member to have discipline data entry access (to help input student discipline incidents on your behalf), please ask them to sign up for a training with Melissa Mitsch in IT: LINK HERE

The training they will sign up for is: September 3, from 1:00-2:30pm in the Wall St. Lab (the above link takes them to a calendar of available trainings). 

At this training they will learn to input information you give them using this form (LINK HERE). This is the Office Discipline Referral Form (ODR). Staff being trained will be instructed to only enter discipline information entered on this form (so, if you go this route, I’d recommend printing and reviewing so you have them ready to go on day 1).

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From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:

1. Family Liaisons and FAN Advocates:    – For your awareness –

At this time, I anticipate no changes to your school’s assigned Latino Family Liaison or FAN Advocate. You can find caseloads here (Liaisons) and here (FAN).

Remember that we also have colleagues serving districtwide as our Black/African American Liaison (Rita Bacho), Asian American Pacific Islander Liaison (Lin Hong), and Youth Partnerships Liaison (Suz Coffman). These positions are very part-time and provide support across the district on an on-call basis.

All Liaisons and FAN Advocates officially return Sept. 1, but they will do their best to attend family events in the next couple weeks. Feel free to email them directly with invitations and inservice week plans.

2. Community Partnerships:     – For your awareness –

We work with many wonderful local service providers, nonprofits, and agencies, with different levels of formal partnership. Some relationships are covered by formal agreements that allow ongoing collaboration; others have limited agreements for specific projects; and some do not currently have partnership status with us, which limits the ways we can collaborate.

These different arrangements are designed to support and protect your school’s work and help prevent complications later. For example, a community organization may contact you about providing staff training or requesting that you share information with students, or you may want to invite an organization to participate in an event such as Open House.

If you’re considering working with a community partner and aren’t sure what’s already in place, please reach out to me.  I’m happy to clarify whether we have an agreement/MOU, explain its scope, or discuss whether developing an agreement would help meet your needs.

One upcoming opportunity: Welcoming Week is Sept. 10–19!  If you’re interested in supporting this national effort to make communities more welcoming for immigrants, consider attending one of these sessions here in Bend.

For this opportunity, you’re welcome to share the information with staff and/or make flyers available to students and families on your Community Bulletin Board/Resource space.

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From Lisa:

We will continue to use the PD feedback form until it gets changed later this fall. Please give staff time to complete an evaluation include after each PD session!

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Request for school leader subs:

Building leaders are required to notify your level leader when you are out of the building for a day or more. Approval for school leader subs are requested through your level leader and requests will be prioritized for approval accordingly: there is one administrator in the school, there are two administrators in the school and they are both out, the school leader will be out for an extended period of time.

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From our new BLPO Administrator, Julie Stoinski:

BLPO Update

We are getting K12 Log-ins for all Admin Leads and Counselors so that you have access to look up your students. Please look for an email from K12-confirmation. It is not spam. If you run into issues setting up your login, contact Tanya Everts.  

Summer:

Below is the grading timeline for students who finished their summer course(s):

• 8/21: Summer classes end
• 8/28: K12 teachers finalize grades
• 9/2: Outstanding grades post to the final report
• 9/11: All grades fully transcribed

Lori Craft is the point of contact for high school teams, and Tanya Everts is the point of contact for middle school teams.

Fall:

HS Enrollment Guide: HS BLPO Enrollment Rev. 8/26

MS Enrollment Guide: MS BLPO Enrollment Rev. 8/26

Please note these are internal documents only. We are finalizing the family facing documents and will provide them next week. We will provide the enrollment guide and training to secondary counselors.

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From Sean in Student Services:

New To The District (NTTD) Inclusion EAs – CPR training:

This is a heads up that all NTTD Inclusion EAs will be participating in a CPR training on Thursday, September 3^rd from 8-12.  The training will be held in person at the Education Center.  Our department will notify each of these new employees via email. HERE is a copy of what we are sending the NTTD Inclusion EAs, which includes the scheduled for the entire welcome back week.  

Thank you for your understanding.  This will go a long way toward our need to have every new Inclusion EA being prepared to work with students on day 1.  CPR training is essential to allow EAs to support students with feeding needs.  

Further, we will also host CPR refresher trainings for current employees through-out the school year.  More to come on that!

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From Jenn:

Student Well-being Blog Updates

On September 2nd, BLS School Counselors and Student Success Staff will gather for a productive day of training, planning, and collaboration at HDMS from 8 am to 4 pm. We will also have a full day training for school counselors and student success staff on providing Tier 2 and 3 interventions. The training will be on October 8th from 8 am to 4 pm at Aspen Hall. More information to come.

Please see our updated BLS School Counseling Handbook, a comprehensive resource designed for school counselors, administrators, and educational leaders with important procedures and forms.

Counselors and Student Success staff will track all student interactions using Synergy’s MTSS Activity Tracker Module to enhance access to intervention data as we continue to develop our MTSS dashboard. Our Medicaid Billing Analyst will use this data to submit for Medicaid reimbursement but the interface for staff will be similar to last year. We will train staff on all things documentation at our district directed PD Day on September 2^nd at HDMS. 

Wayfinder/TSEL:

Please see image below for TSEL commitments by level as well as the Core Skills Screener student survey window (formerly known as the Summative Assessment) for 3-12. The K-2 teacher observed window will be out shortly. All new staff to the district will be trained on how to login and use Wayfinder on August 27th at the new staff orientation.

Outside Behavioral Health Providers:

Outside Behavioral Health Providers requesting to see students during the school day. Please share with your front office staff.

• Memo of approved providers for this school year

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From Scott in IT:

YouTubeBuddy Pro Is Here! 

As many of you know, students will no longer have direct access to YouTube on their district devices. At the same time, YouTube content can be a valuable instructional resource. Many of our teachers create and share video content through YouTube, and some of our adopted curriculum resources include embedded YouTube videos. 

YouTubeBuddy Pro is a custom web application designed specifically to give students access to educational YouTube content that is needed for instruction, without providing students unrestricted access to YouTube.

Even better, the process of managing video content requires no additional work for teachers! Staff can make YouTube videos available to students in two ways:

1. Add the YouTube video link to your Canvas course. YouTubeBuddy Pro will take it from there. Note- videos in active or archived courses have already been added to the library.
2. Add the video directly to your YouTubeBuddy Pro playlist.

That’s it!

Want to Learn More?

There are a number of features to explore in YouTubeBuddy Pro, and we’d love to share more with you.

Please reach out to the IT Help Desk or to me directly if you would like Vince Valenti, YouTubeBuddy’s developer, to provide a tour for your staff. These sessions are also a great opportunity for us to hear directly from teachers about what works, what doesn’t, and how we can continue improving the experience.

Ready to get started?

There are already 32,000 videos in the library! Go check it out!
Log in to your YouTubeBuddy Pro account at:

bls.fyi/youtubebuddy

We’re excited to get this tool into the hands of teachers and students, and we appreciate everyone’s partnership as we work to make it the best it can be.

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From Gabe in Activities and Athletics:

Week #1 – August 17th-21st, 2026 – SMORE

HS Only

Reminder of Topics to Cover During Inservice

• Tier 1 Climate and Culture (Includes code of conduct and behavior entry and code of conduct review)
• Tier 1 Instruction – 5D
• SBIG Guarantees and Resources
• Ed Tech changes
• MTSS (if pilot school)

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Regarding the administrator responsibilities on the teams and leads document, the administrator who oversees the counseling department will also be the lead for BLPO.

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Please add your Open House and Parent Conference Dates HERE

Calendar

August 25: MS Advisory Planning – Central Library 9:30 – 4:00

August 25: AP Strategy Studio – Central Library 1:00 – 4:00 (principals join 1-2)

August 26: SIRC training for new administrators 8-4, Ed Center room 203

August 27: New certified employee orientation – Silver Rail – All day

August 31: certified staff report back – Tier 1 covered

September 1: Welcome back – Virtual – 8:30 am

September 1: Parent Square training – Virtual – 10:00 am

September 2: Certified staff PD Day – Pacific Crest (for most) – 8:00 am (ELD @ Library, Counselors @ HDMS)

Have you seen it?

Each week 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 now office managers!)

Principals/APs/Office Managers, please fill out this SHORT form to let us know which movie or show you love. We’ll pull one each week for the blog.

Congrats to Kristy Knoll, Summit HS VP, for correctly identifying the movie this week as Jaws!  Commonly referred to as the first summer blockbuster, Jaws debuted in 1975 and made Steven Spielberg a household name.  The iconic ” You’re gonna need a bigger boat” line was ad-libbed and not in the original script.

This week we are highlighting one of Dean Richard’s favorite movies! Have you seen it? Let Stephen and Katie know!

Welcome to the 26-27 school year! If you know of people needing to receive this blog who aren’t on the email list, please let Katie and Stephen know.

To Do

1. Fill out your teams and leads for various departments in the spreadsheet Stephen or Katie shared.
2. Add the APs to the appropriate section of Robi’s document for the Strategy Studio.
3. Middle School – Complete your inservice week planner document. High School – Link your plan in the handbook
4. Resolve any remaining 25-26 evaluation to dos. Contract Jessica and Triz in HR with questions.

Departments

From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Email Communication Guidance:    – Action needed –

We reviewed this guidance with admin teams last spring, and used this quiz as the activity to do that.  Please cover this information with staff at some point this fall. 

Based on conversations with union leadership last year, I don’t recommend you just email out the guidance document.  Instead, please offer some conversation at a staff meeting, or with your ICCL team at least.  The topic fits nicely with the roll-out of ParentSquare, or with start-of-year conversations about staff-wide norms and agreements (resolving problems, attending meetings, dignity and belonging between colleagues, etc).  Let me know what questions you have.  

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From Scott Maben, Communications:

ParentSquare 101: Basic training for school administrators and office staff

We will offer two opportunities to learn basic functions of ParentSquare on Thursday, August 20, at the Education Center. Both sessions will be in the Board Room and will be recorded for later viewing.

The first session is from 9 to 10 a.m. The second session is from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Please look for your calendar invites and share them with other office staff you’d like to received this training.

Both sessions will cover:

• Launching ParentSquare and setting preferences
• How to share a Post (standard message)
• Direct Message
• Smart Alerts
• Custom Groups

This is an optional training opportunity for school admins and office staff. We will record this session and share a video link afterward.

Launching ParentSquare:

Please use the following URL to sign in to ParentSquare:
https://bls.fyi/parentsquare

You should be automatically signed in, but if you are prompted for authentication use your BLS email address and password.

The URL above is what you should always use to access ParentSquare.

Questions? Scott Maben, ext. 1006

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Changes to Leave Sheet submissions:

With the transition of some duties within the Teaching and Learning Department, all principal and assistant principal leave sheets will now need to be sent to Kristan Shobe for processing.  Timesheets will still be submitted to Stephanie Bent.  

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School supplies:

As you know, state law prohibits us from requiring families to provide school supplies for their children’s education.  Even suggesting contributions in a way that creates undue pressure or expectation for family donations is inappropriate and doesn’t align with our organizational values.  Please be sure your staff clearly understand this expectation and the reasons for it.

That said, some families would really like to contribute, and I know we’re all interested in maximizing community support to take the edge off our budgets.  To balance these competing interests, here are some recommended practices:

• Make it very clear to families that there is no obligation for any family to contribute any school supplies. 
• Avoid publishing classroom- or grade-specific “lists” that can create a sense of obligation. 
• Let families know that, for those who have extra supplies at home or who simply enjoy purchasing and contributing supplies to prepare for school each fall, the school will accept voluntary donations of general, unused supplies during your fall Welcome Back/Curriculum Night events. 
• Have school-wide “Optional School Supply Donations” buckets/tubs available in the school front lobby during fall events, rather than having families take supplies to a particular teacher or classroom (where donations are more attributable to individual students, which increases pressure).  

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From Lillah in Safety:

STAS/SIRC Training August 26 

For all administrators or other staff that will be a part of your Level 1 team who have never been trained in STAS/SIRC or who were last trained over 5 years ago, please come to Conference Room 203 in the admin building on August 26 from 8:00-4:00. Lunch will be provided. Please fill out this survey so we can get an accurate count for food. Note that there will be another training on Sept. 23, 2026.  Come for a free lunch, stay for the training!

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From Heather with Deschutes County:

As we begin the year, we are asking building admin teams to identify the staff members best suited to serve in this year’s UpShift roles. This will help us track returning team members and identify who may need training in the coming weeks. Please review and update the BLS UpShift Roles & Responsibilities document with anticipated staff assignments by end of day Wednesday, September 24. UpShift is now included in the District’s Substance Use Prevention and Intervention Plan. Please continue to use the UpShift FAQ document for ongoing updates and answers to common questions.

MS Only:

Reminder of Topics to Cover During Inservice

• Tier 1 Climate and Culture (Includes code of conduct and behavior entry)
• Tier 1 Instruction – 5D
• SBIG Guarantees and Resources
• iPads and Homework
• Jamf training and expectations
• MAP training
• MTSS (if pilot school)

Calendar:

August 17: MTSS pilot schools training

August 25: MS Advisory Planning – Central Library 9:30 – 4:00

August 25: AP Strategy Studio – Central Library 1:00 – 4:00

August 27: New certified employee orientation – Silver Rail – All day

August 31: certified staff report back – Tier 1 covered

September 1: Welcome back – Virtual – 8:30 am

September 1: Parent Square training – Virtual – 10:00 am

September 2: Certified staff PD Day – Pacific Crest (for most) – 8:00 am (ELD @ Library, Counselors @ HDMS)

Have you seen it?

For the last two years, this section was called Where in the World? and was first an opportunity to learn about a person on our team and then became a quiz about your knowledge. We’d like to combine those themes into one with a new direction.

Welcome to 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 now office managers!)

To start, we’d like to collect your favorite movie or TV show so we have a bank to work from for the year. Principals/APs/Office Managers, please fill out this SHORT form to let us know which movie or show you love. We’ll pull one each week for the blog.

For this week, we’ll start with our fearless leader. Dr. Cook’s favorite flick is shown below. The screen shots may get progressively harder as we go on! Recognize the movie? Let Stephen and Katie know!!

Congratulations on another successful school year. We hope you take some time to relax and enjoy our beautiful summer weather!

To Do:

From Kinsey:

From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:

Formal Complaints:    -Action required-

Please go into your Dashboard and ensure you have completed your investigations and communication about each complaint or bias incident in your Dashboard.  Be sure to mark it as “Resolved By School” when you have included notes, links/attachments, and other documentation.  Reach out if you need support. 

Community Engagement Bingo:    -Action requested-

Time for prizes!  Want to win a gift card ($25-$49.99) to places like El Sancho, Spork, downtown shops like Almadorada Coffee, and more?

If you attended any of the community visits and/or did a home visit this year, please note that here so we can celebrate your leadership and enter you into the raffle.  For each Bingo square you completed, your chances of winning will go up!  We’ll draw names at our June 15 admin lunch.  

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HR Evaluation Update:

Finalizing your Summative Evaluations?  Please remember the following steps to assist HR.

To allow HR to have access to all of the required pieces of the evaluative process, files must be dropped into the HR provided Google folders, in addition to being linked into the workbook.

What happens if you don’t?  Files are not accessible to HR and we have the potential of losing data.

If they are only shared in the spreadsheet without residing in the folders it is possible the files may get lost.

Correct:

Incorrect:

If you need technical assistance in accessing any of the documents or folders/workbook shared again, please reach out to Jessica Lamay.  

Thank you all so much, for your continued help in making staff evaluations successful!

From Departments:

TLC:

Here is the sign about office hours over the summer.

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From Rodger Moore in Facilities:

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Here is the Standard Operating Procedure for classroom relocations, as well as instructions for submitting a classroom relocation work order in Hero HQ.

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From Eric Powell (Student Services):

As you continue to review your end-of-the-year discipline audits (based on previous guidance from IT), please do not hesitate to call or Email me with any Incidents that are being flagged as having errors. I plan to spend time next week reviewing audits district-wide and I can help correct any ‘issues’ to help you finish the year. I know you all have so many things going on right now, so please do not hesitate to reach out!!

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From Kinsey:

CFEE:

We have a last-minute opening for the week-long CFEE (racial equity workshop that all of Cabinet and many of our leaders have attended).  June 22-26 in Salem, expenses covered.  If you’re interested or know someone who is, reach out asap—first come first served.

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From Jennifer Hauth:

Here is information on the HDESD Summer Institute flyer, and a direct link to the registration form for easier sharing. Please distribute to your networks! Registration closes 7/31.

• 2026 Summer Institute Flyer
• Register Here!

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From Sara Young:

Welcome to the VERY LAST Special EDge of the year! In this very short blog, you’ll find information about:

• End of Year Equipment Reminder
• End of Year Check-out Process
• HDESD Summer Institute

Happy Summer! ☀️

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From Gabe:

Here is the weekly.  Not much of a change from last week.

June 8th-12th, 2026 – Weekly SMORE

MS Only:

From Educational Technology

For Middle School: The EdTech team will provide Jamf Teacher training with other EdTech topics at each middle school during in-service week. Administrators will sign up for a session when they meet on June 16. 

To request a professional learning opportunity or have a conversation about the ways our EdTech team can help at your school, please contact [email protected].

HS Only:

From Educational Technology

For High School: Our team is available to provide professional learning for high school staff on any EdTech topic that may benefit your school. Based on teacher feedback, areas of interest include AI literacy and classroom implementation, device-based behavior management strategies, and purposeful technology use. 

To request a professional learning opportunity or have a conversation about the ways our EdTech team can help at your school, please contact [email protected].

Calendar:

June 12: Self Assessment due to Katie or Stephen

June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS

June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00

June 16: HS Administrator Retreat 8-4 @ CHS – breakfast and lunch provided

June 16: MS Horizontal on MAPS – 8:30 – 10:13 @ Ed Center

June 19: Juneteenth Holiday!

June 22: MS Principal Retreat – 9-1 @ Deschutes Central Library

Where in the World:

Congratulations to Leslie Reif, who correctly guessed the image from last week!  The image was of the Lodge at Lake Quinault located in the Olympic National Forest in Washington.  It was built in 1926. 

Below is the image for this week. No contest as this is the last blog for the year. Thanks to all for playing and we’ll come up with something new for next year!

To Do:

Celebrate our Seniors beginning tonight!

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Reminder:

Be sure to identify and assign those seniors close to graduating to work with a teacher of seniors next week!

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Send your Self Assessment to Katie or Stephen by Friday, June 12

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Triz in HR:

Important Deadlines for the Evaluation Process:

Please remember to upload all your documents into your google sheet.

From Departments:

From Andrea in Human Resources:

Safety Committee Meeting Minutes

Please upload all Safety Committee Meeting minutes to your site’s shared Google folder no later than June 30. 

Questions? Please reach out to Andrea Wilson.

BLAST Leave Records

BLAST members: If you have not already done so, please submit your leave records documenting all leave taken, including non-contract time, during 2025-26 school year. If using the digital leave record, please remember to print, sign, and submit the completed record to our payroll office. Paper leave records may also be used to document your time. Thanks for helping us close out the school year accurately! 

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From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:

Dr. Karen Mapp’s Family Engagement and Attendance Workshop:

Thanks to all who attended—such great energy to get us through the end of the year!

Next steps: 1) As you work on SIWs, school design plans, and family events for next year, pull up her slides and your notes so you can build on that learning.  2) Be on the look-out for more opportunities with her team in the fall, and a copy of her book heading to your school soon.  

Community Engagement Bingo:

Time for prizes!  Want to win a gift card ($25-$49.99) to places like El Sancho, Spork, downtown shops like Almadorada Coffee, and more?

If you attended any of the community visits and/or did a home visit this year, please note that here so we can celebrate your leadership and enter you into the raffle.  For each Bingo square you completed, your chances of winning will go up!  We’ll draw names at our June 15 admin lunch.  

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From IT and Ed Tech:

MS / HS YouTube Access: Please share this with teachers

IT would like to update instructional staff who have essential content in their coursework that is only available via YouTube.  Over the past few weeks, the primary focus in IT has been simplifying the teacher experience for allowing instructional videos while continuing to block all other YouTube content.  Our current solution has roughly 7,000 videos that have been submitted by teachers.  When our high school students move into this environment, we are predicting around 30,000 videos will be submitted during the first year!  With that volume in mind, we have made several improvements over our current allow-list process that will be explained further here.

Currently, our method for submitting YouTube videos is a bit cumbersome. It requires at least three actions by the teacher and could take up to a week before the video becomes available to students.

Planned Improvements

• Teaching staff can submit YouTube videos directly to the allow list.
• Any video submitted by teaching staff will be assumed to be essential for instruction and will not require Ed Tech or administrative review.
• Submitted videos will be available within 30 minutes of submission.
• Students will use the same link submitted by the teacher, eliminating the need for teachers to copy and paste embed links.
• This improved method requires only one action by the teacher and could allow the video to be available to the students in as few as thirty minutes.

Potential Enhancements

• We are currently researching the ability to automatically scan all Bend-La Pine Schools Canvas courses for YouTube video links and automatically add them to the allow list.
• This enhancement would significantly reduce the workload for staff who need students to access YouTube content on their iPads.

What can you do?

When staff return in the fall, IT will have a mechanism to collect YouTube links that folks need for instruction.  Until then, you might consider keeping a running list of the YouTube “must have” videos for submission when the tool is ready.  Or, do nothing and enjoy a beautiful summer! Just know that we are taking this matter seriously, and plan to deliver you the most effective and efficient solution possible before your students return to the classroom.

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From Gabe:

June 1st-5th, 2026 – Weekly SMORE

MS Only:

From Stephen and Jess Scott:

Here are some relevant documents regarding TAG.  Please familiarize yourself with them.

The TAG ID process flow-chart

A NEW editable PDF of the TAG ID Case Study Form

Remember, we don’t automatically ID students based on screening from a test.  However, we do flag students in the 97th percentile or above for a case study conversation that could lead to an identification.  Additionally, the 97th percentile is a starting point we CAN identify students with other high percentiles if we look at need and other factors impacting a student.  Please reach out to Jess Scott or Stephen DuVal with any questions.

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From Aimee Snyder: 

Please remember to identify the admin and 1-2 staff to attend the workgroup session on August 25. Please have the people attending for your school register through this link. 

The workgroup will review and revise the middle school Wayfinder/Advisory scope and sequence to make sure it’s meeting the needs of schools and aligns with best practices for bullying and substance use prevention. 

Bend-La Pine Schools received a grant to be able to timesheet up to 14 school staff (~2 per school) for this workgroup. Please register yourself and your staff, or let me know if you will not have staff attending (so that another school may be able to bring more staff).

HS Only:

From Jenn:

Please make sure all seniors complete the Senior Year End Activity, as we need their personal emails and where to send their final transcripts.

Schoolinks is also where they will access their transcripts in the future so they need their alumni accounts😊

Calendar:

June 11: Last day of school!

June 12: Self Assessment due to Katie or Stephen

June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS

June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00

June 16: HS Administrator Retreat 8-4 @ CHS – breakfast and lunch provided

June 16: MS Horizontal on MAPS – 8:30 – 10:13 @ Ed Center

June 19: Juneteenth Holiday!

June 22: MS Principal Retreat – 9-1 @ Deschutes Central Library

Where in the World:

Congrats to Kelly Beaudry for correctly identifying the image from the blog as Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park.   It is the largest hot spring in the US and a must see!

Below is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:

To Do

Principals: Update your staffing plans.

From Departments

From TLC:

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From Scott Maben, Communications

Update on ParentSquare rollout and training plan

On Wednesday of this week, we trained office managers on use of ParentSquare. Our family liaison team also attended this training. We learned more about how schools currently use School Messenger, including to message secondary students. This is helpful as we prepare for School Messenger to end on June 30 and we transition to use of ParentSquare as our primary family messaging and engagement tool.

Next week we will invite all district staff to activate their ParentSquare accounts. We are not ready for you (outside of our 5 South County pilot schools) to begin using ParentSquare to communicate with your families, but you will see some content we plan to share from the District level now through summer. Schools may begin using ParentSquare in August, and teachers will be able to use it once trained in early September.

Bringing families into the ParentSquare fold will take time, and we’d like to begin around the end of the school year. Parents will receive an invite to verify their accounts, set preferences, and download the ParentSquare app. We will schedule reminders to those who don’t respond to the initial invite. It’s important to know that even if a parent never responds to these invites, they will still receive our ParentSquare communications — as emails — but they won’t benefit from the full features of ParentSquare, such as setting their message preferences or using the handy mobile app.

We’re looking at dates when we can offer school administrators basic training on using ParentSquare and will communicate those details soon.

Our training opportunity for all teachers and any other staff who need to be ready to communicate with families will be the second day of in-service week:

PARENTSQUARE BASIC TRAINING

• Tuesday, Sept. 1, 10-11 a.m.
• Teams meeting (link to be shared later) with a trainer from ParentSquare
• Note that this will begin shortly after the Superintendent’s Welcome Back program at 8:30 a.m. You may want your team to remain together in the same space.

On Wednesday, Sept. 2, we will provide follow-up ParentSquare support opportunities at the District-led PD (elementary at Caldera, secondary at Pacific Crest).

After school starts, we would like to visit every school for drop-in sessions for staff who’d like to ask questions or get help using ParentSquare.

Please reach out if you have questions on any of this. Thanks!

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From Rodger Moore, Director of Facility Operations

To help schools manage classroom relocations smoothly and minimize disruption to instruction, the district is developing a standardized process for both same-school and inter-school moves. The procedure is intended to outline clear responsibilities for administrators, teachers, custodial teams, maintenance, and IT staff to help ensure moves are coordinated efficiently. The district is currently testing our work order platform Hero HQ for submitting move requests and coordinating details such as scheduling, technology needs, furniture, and specialty equipment. Additional procedures, expectations, and implementation guidance will be communicated in an upcoming Level Leaders’ Blog once the workflow and support processes are finalized.  

Large-scale moves, such as the Realms transition, will be exempt from this process.

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From Gabe:

The weekly SMORE is light.

May 26th-May 29th, 2026

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From Sara in Student Services:

Please read this week’s Special EDge to get more information about:

• Review End of Year Check-out Process
• Complete High Cost
• Paperwork Deadline – June 5!
• ESY Case Managers – Reach out to Sara Young with new students who qualify and continue to reach out to families you haven’t heard from
• Utilize the Student Services Launchpad
• Save the Date for upcoming events

MS Only

Ed Tech Training

Be on the look out for communication from the Ed Tech team about in-service training on tech tools including Jamf. Please coordinate a time for your staff in the fall.

Calendar

June 4: Graduation week begins!

June 11: Last day of school!

June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS

June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00

June 16: HS Administrator Retreat 8-4 TBD

June 16: MS Horizontal on MAPS – 8:30 – 10:13 @ Ed Center

June 19: Juneteenth Holiday!

June 22: MS Principal Retreat – 9-1 @ Deschutes Central Library

Who in the world?

Congratulations to an Curfew who won the drawing this week!

He correctly identified the image as Dr. Karen Mapp, who led an outstanding session on family engagement last Thursday!

Dr. Mapp, a Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a leading family and community engagement expert whose research and practice focus on cultivating partnerships among schools, families, and communities for enhancing student achievement and school performance.

Below is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:

To Do

Principals: Update your staffing plans.

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From Jason in IT:

Please review ALL your audits on this dashboard including the new Discipline & Attendance Mismatched audit. These audits need to be resolved prior to the end of the school year.

Additional updates for discipline audits have been added to the School Discipline Audits analytics report dashboard. Specifically, an updated version of the “Discipline & Attendance Mismatch” report is at the bottom of the dashboard (you will need to scroll down to see it).

Jason Westmoreland [[email protected]] would like additional feedback on this audit specifically. Are there changes that would be helpful, are there any false positive or incorrect entries shown, or is there any confusion surrounding how to resolve the audits?

To access the discipline audits (until we are able to publish this to a PAD Tree location), you will need to use the Quick Launch, by typing ‘Synergy Analytics Home Page’ and selecting the entry.

Once you are on the Synergy Analytics Home Page, click the ‘hamburger’ under the label, and expand the navigation links. Find the Discipline option and select it.

You may be presented with a number of options to choose from (I recommend exploring when you have time), however, to review discipline audits, you will need to select the ‘School Discipline Audits’ dashboard from the Audits group.

Once you have selected the appropriate dashboard, there will be multiple audits available on the page. The new ‘Discipline & Attendance Mismatched’ audit is at the bottom of the page (you will need to scroll down using the far-right scroll bar – multiple scrolls may be nested).

The audit is intended to show you where ISS/OSS discipline and attendance are not matched on a given day. Based on what actually happened with a specific student / disposition, you should correct either the disposition Dates & Days, or the Attendance codes for those days (and appropriate periods).

Remember that you can expand individual reports in the dashboard to expand the entire display window by using the four arrows pointing to the corners. This will expand the report to use the whole screen for easier navigation.

NOTE: If you have questions regarding how to resolve these audits (or any audits on this dashboard) please connect with Jason Westmoreland (x1222)

From Departments

From Lisa, Deputy Superintendent

Check out this Spring Update regarding Technology and Assessments for the 26-27 school year.

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From Dean:

We are currently processing curriculum requests for next year. Approximately 75% of teachers have submitted requests so far. The form will remain open, but please note that May 31 is the deadline for receiving feedback on submissions. Requests submitted in June may not receive feedback, which is especially important if a request is denied.

Please remind colleagues to complete the curriculum request form. They can find related messages from BLS Instructional Technology ([email protected] (opens in new tab)

Updates to curriculum requests are posted on the same page.

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From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:

School Supplies:

As you know, state law prohibits us from requiring families to provide school supplies for their children’s education.  Even suggesting contributions in a way that creates undue pressure or expectation for family donations is inappropriate and doesn’t align with our equity values.  Please be sure your staff clearly understand this expectation and the reasons for it.

That said, some families would really like to contribute, and I know we’re all interested in maximizing community support to take the edge off our budgets.  To balance these competing interests, here are some recommended practices:

• Make it very clear to families that there is no obligation for any family to contribute any school supplies. 
• Avoid publishing classroom- or grade-specific “lists” that can create a sense of obligation. 
• Let families know that, for those who have extra supplies at home or who simply enjoy purchasing and contributing supplies to prepare for school each fall, the school will accept voluntary donations of general, unused supplies during your fall Welcome Back/Curriculum Night events. 
• Have school-wide “Optional School Supply Donations” buckets/tubs available in the front lobby during fall events, rather than having families take supplies to a particular teacher or classroom (where donations are more attributable to individual students, which increases pressure).  

Pride Month:

June is Pride Month!  Bend-La Pine Schools will have our regular booth at the summer Pride festival on June 6th–drop by and visit!   

Encourage your teachers to cover LGBTQIA2S+ history (supported by Oregon required standards) by implementing some of the lessons, read-alouds, and activities available on our district Equity Resources page (click on Cultural Calendar, then scroll to June).  Here are some teacher prep tips, and/or contact the Advocacy Coaches for instructional support.  

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From Jenn:

Waypoints closes next Friday for 6-12.  If you all want to look at completion rates by school see instructions below:

For 3-12, go to the Waypoints tab; the overview shows the percent completed (make sure you are filtered to student-reported and summative). 

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From Tami Pike:

Please review the Bend-La Pine Schools Protocol and Procedures for Management of Concussions ~ May 2026 update. More information about concussions can be found on our BLS website under Health and Wellness.

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From Student Services:

As we prepare for the end of the year, we wanted to share a new check-out process with you all!

1. Please schedule a bookings appointment or phone call with the records clerks.
   • You may book now but these meetings will not take place until the beginning of June.
2. During this meeting, the Records Clerks will be checking:
   • Learning Specialists:
     • All IEPs are completed and finalized
     • All progress notes are completed and finalized
     • All equipment lists are updated
     • High cost and staffing needs are submitted
     • Restraint and Seclusion paperwork have been turned in
     • If required for your role: All Senior Paperwork
   • Psychologists:
     • Evaluations finished and uploaded
     • Location of test kits have been verified
     • For PILOT participants: Medicaid logs are completed in SEAS until last day served
   • Speech and Language Pathologist:
     • All IEPs are completed and finalized
     • All progress notes are completed and finalized
     • Medicaid logs are completed in SEAS until last day served
     • Evaluations finished and uploaded
     • Audiometers have been turned in
     • If required for your role: All Senior Paperwork
   • Occupational Therapists:
     • Feeding protocols have been updated, completed, and sent to records
     • Evaluations finished and uploaded
     • Medicaid logs are completed in SEAS until last day served
     • All equipment lists are updated

When you have completed this meeting and have all of your paperwork complete, the admin who supports your site (Josh, Colleen, or Sara) will let your building administrator know that you have the GREEN LIGHT from Student Services to check-out for the year! 🙂

If you have any questions, please reach out to the coach who supports your site!

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From Scott and Karen:

Dear Middle School and High School Teachers,

We are currently investigating the option to discontinue Adobe Creative Cloud licenses for all students in grades K–8. Instead, we are exploring a targeted approach by providing licenses specifically for CTE classes and other courses where Adobe tools are required for instruction.

Our usage data shows that student use of Adobe Creative Cloud applications outside of CTE and journalism classes is limited. As a result, we are hoping to reduce costs by focusing licensing on programs and classes where the tools are actively used and instructionally necessary.

If you currently use Adobe Creative Cloud with students in your class, please add your request to the Instructional Tools Request document so we are aware of your instructional need. Requests and approvals will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Thank you for your understanding and partnership as we work to balance instructional needs with responsible stewardship of district resources.  

This change will not impact staff Adobe Creative Cloud Accounts.

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From Rodger Moore, Director of Facility Operations
To help schools manage classroom relocations smoothly and minimize disruption to instruction, the district is developing a standardized process for both same-school and inter-school moves. The procedure is intended to outline clear responsibilities for administrators, teachers, custodial teams, maintenance, and IT staff to help ensure moves are coordinated efficiently. The district is currently testing our work order platform Hero HQ for submitting move requests and coordinating details such as scheduling, technology needs, furniture, and specialty equipment. Additional procedures, expectations, and implementation guidance will be communicated in an upcoming Level Leaders’ Blog once the workflow and support processes are finalized.  

Large-scale moves, such as the Realms transition, will be exempt from this process.

TOSA Updates:

Admin Blog- SS Updates

MS

Post week of 5/18

Social Studies Speaking CDA all grades.  Pilot.

Work during END’s to make adjustments and get feedback.

Teacher leadership on this is present and forward moving.

Post week of 4/20/26

Slides from 4/23 Horizontal 

• Slide 6 scope and sequence link
• Slide 7-9 scope and sequence graphics
• From slide 11 Canvas/Syllabus statements for supplemental materials

In response to students’ learning needs, current events, or newly available sources, I will periodically supplement our major text with other materials.

If you do not want your student to read/view any supplemental  materials, please let me know. Your student can wait to read/view the material until after they have shared it with you. 

Social Science shared drive (updated access)

BLP Middle level Social Studies Guide

Upcoming PD

• 5/29 TCI-Curriculum Full Day Training @ Ed Center

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HS

Post week of 5/18

Social Science Speaking CDA for all students in a USH class including AP/IB classes.

• State requirement: One year at the high school level. MS every year.
• 26-27 pilot year, no Synergy entry required. 
• 26-27 END’s will be used to adjust, review, etc. for USH teachers.
• The task is adaptable to a current task in your classroom.  And similar enough (3-part task) to meet the state requirements.
• Rubric language was created from ELA Speaking Rubrics/State Speaking Rubrics
• Rubric language utilizes our standard: Communication and Argumentation with emphasis on speaking.
• No requirements at this time to upload tasks, samples etc. to a common portal.

HS Only

From Jenn and Jess:

Reminder that all seniors need to complete the Senior Year-End Activity and Alumni Access setup in SchooLinks prior to graduation. This should be included as part of each school’s senior checkout process.

This is especially important because students need to have their alumni access set up before their SchooLinks account transitions to alumni status. Their alumni account will become their primary way to access transcripts after graduation.

I know some schools are completing this with seniors next week, but I wanted to send a quick reminder and share the current completion numbers below. Reach out to Jess with questions.

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Calendar

May 25: Memorial Day Holiday, no School

May 28: Waypoints Core Skills assessment window closes for secondary

June 4: Graduation week begins!

June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS

June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00

June 16: HS Administrator Retreat 8-4 TBD

June 19: Juneteenth Holiday!

Who in the world?

Congratulations to former history teacher Colin Bado with correctly identifying Bikini Atoll in the blog.  Bikini Atoll was the site of massive nuclear testing for the US in the 1940s and 1950s.  The impact on the native cultures to that area was long lasting and significant.  If you are a bit of a history buff, National Geographic did a documentary that covered these tests and their impact along with the physical impacts on the ocean floor.  Side brag: my brother is featured in the documentary as his team was the one to map the ocean floor.

Below is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:

To Do

From Triz in HR:

Important Deadlines for the Evaluation Process:

Please remember to upload all your documents into your google Sheet.

From Departments

From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:

Student Voice Council:    – Action requested –

We are beginning recruitment for 26-27 Student Voice Council representatives.  As you’re aware, this group has an impactful seat at the district leadership table, so ensuring great representation for your school (and feeder schools) is important! 

Good news: we have a very stable group who will continue next year, so we are only filling a few spots, primarily of graduating seniors.  We need to fill the following seats:  1 for BSHS, 1-2 for DRHS, 2-3 for CHS, 2 for LPHS, 4 for MVHS, 3 for SHS.

What makes a good candidate?  A student who is consistent, collaborative, and creative, and has something to say about school.  As always, we are looking for diversity of identities, academic profiles (i.e. we don’t only need 4.0 students), and experiences in or out of school.  

Current SVC members will help recruit, but we need staff engagement also!  Current 8^th – 11^th graders are welcome to apply, and we’d love middle and high school administrators, counselors, specialists, club advisors, campus monitors, and others with student connections to help recommend students and encourage them to apply.  Thanks for sharing this with your staff and school community.

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From Aimee Snyder with Deschutes County Health:

Follow-up to the April 9 Blog Post: Optional Resources to Prevent “Look-alike” Substance Use Policy Violations

In addition to the optional high school lesson shared in the April 9 blog post, we’ve now added these additional optional resources for both middle and high schools:

• For Families – English and Spanish Family Newsletter PSA about Look-alikes as a Policy Violation
• For Middle School Students – Slides and adaptation notes for a “whole school” administrator’s announcement about look-alikes 
• For School Admin and Staff – Top 10 Best Practices for Substance Use Prevention in Schools
• For Anyone – List of Cessation / Quitting Resources for Youth and Adults 

All these resources can be found here: Resources for Preventing Look-alike Substance Use Policy Violations document

Please reach out to your Public Health Specialist for help coordinating the rollout of any of these resources. 

These resources would be most effective if delivered as part of a coordinated sequence of activities that surround students with consistent substance use prevention messages from various trusted “messengers” (admin, Health teacher, peer leaders, parent/family).

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From Rodger in Operations:

To help schools manage classroom relocations smoothly and minimize disruption to instruction, the district is developing a standardized process for both same-school and inter-school moves. The procedure is intended to outline clear responsibilities for administrators, teachers, custodial teams, maintenance, and IT staff to help ensure moves are coordinated efficiently. The district is currently testing our work order platform Hero HQ for submitting move requests and coordinating details such as scheduling, technology needs, furniture, and specialty equipment. Additional procedures, expectations, and implementation guidance will be communicated in an upcoming Level Leaders’ Blog once the workflow and support processes are finalized.  

Large-scale moves, such as the Realms transition, will be exempt from this process.

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From Gabe:

Here is the weekly. May 11th-15th, 2026

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Please read this week’s Special EDge for information about:

• Complete High Cost
• Note the Paperwork Deadline – June 5!
• ESY Case Managers – Reach out to Sara Young with new students who qualify and continue to reach out to families you haven’t heard from

TOSA Updates

From Colleen Behrens, Science TOSA

Science Materials and Scheduling

As you build next year’s schedule, please consider how many teachers are assigned to teach the same course during the same period, as they may need to share science kits and equipment. While we are working to support teachers’ needs, the number of kits at each site is limited, so thoughtful scheduling can help ensure reliable access for all teachers.

Science Trainings

Teachers should attend the training that aligns with the course they will be teaching next year.

High school

May 19^th – MVHS- all day PEER Physics 

May 21^st – MVHS- all day Savvas Chemistry 

Middle School

May 28^th– Bend Science Station – All  day 6^th grade science teachers**

May 28^th– PCMS – All  day 7^th  and 8^th grade science teachers

**Teachers who will be teaching both 6th grade and either 7th or 8th grade next year will need to choose which session to attend.

MS ONLY

Dean and Linda will be proctoring the iReady Bypass Test at middle schools between May 22^nd and May 29th. Please be sure to communicate with families about this opportunity. 

Here is the link to the communication.

Calendar

May 13: All Admin Training 3-4:30 @ MVHS

May 13: Excellence in Ed Awards 4:30-6:30 @ MVHS

May 14th: MS Only – TAG Admin/ICCL Meeting @ Ed Center 3:30 – 5:00

May 14: Latino Family Night 5:30 @ MVHS

May 15: HS Principal Connection 8-10 @ RHS

May 19: Secondary Administrator work session @ CHS 9-11 – focus on SBIG

May 25: Memorial Day Holiday, no School

May 28: Waypoints Core Skills assessment window closes for secondary

June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS

June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00

Where in the World

Congratulations to Becky Aylor for correctly guessing the image from last week!

The image was of the The Cinque Terre, Italy:  The Italian candy land of colour, the five villages that make up the Cinque Terre provide the perfect oasis for escaping the Italian summer heat and the perfect test for colour blindness.

Below is the image for this week. (Hint: It’s famous for its role in US atomic testing). Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:

To Do

Update your staffing plan to reflect recent changes!

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HS Principals: Send out the senior message regarding pranks to your seniors and families of seniors next week. The message will be sent centrally from District Office tomorrow

HS Principals: Collect/bring feedback from your admin team on the ACR process proposal. Prepare to share at May 15th meeting.

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From Kinsey – Office of Policy & Advocacy:

“Do Not Schedule” Dates:    – Action required – 

Here is the updated (26-27 through 28-29 school years) list of key religious observance dates to protect when scheduling any academic or extracurricular events.  This applies to field trips, family nights, info sessions, tests and exams, special one-time assemblies or events, etc. 

Please be sure you have shared that document with all relevant staff: office managers, activities and athletics, counselors, family engagement team, PTA/Booster Club leadership, ICCL team, etc.

Those key observances are also all populated into our 26-27 district-wide Family Engagement calendar in Outlook.  If you add that calendar to your school or dept calendar, those “do not schedule” dates (along with any district-wide family events) will be visible to you, to avoid scheduling conflicts.

From Departments

From Ryan:

We are continuing our Classified staffing reconciliation process to ensure that all staff entitled to positions for next school year are appropriately placed. As we complete this work, we are going to temporarily pause posting additional Classified positions until those staff impacted are notified.

We expect communication regarding employees who will be involuntarily transferred to go to building leaders on Wednesday, May 13th, with the expectation that conversations with staff occur by Friday, May 15th.

Following that process, we will move forward with posting Classified positions for next year. In an effort to align our Certified and Classified staffing processes, we will also pause posting new Certified positions for the 2026–27 school year until May 15th.

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From Ryan:

A quick reminder of expectations under Policy GCPC/GDPC-AP: Reemployment of PERS-Retired Staff.

Policy Summary:
Employees who retire under PERS may request to continue working through the end of the school year.

Requests to be rehired upon retirement must be submitted in writing at least 30 days before the end of the school year.

Approval is based on:

• District need
• Satisfactory performance history

If the request is approved:

• Continued employment is Temporary through June 30
• There is no guarantee of continued employment beyond the current school year
• Final decisions are made at the discretion of the Superintendent or designee

The district may choose to reemploy a PERS retiree beyond the year of retirement:

• Employment may be offered for a maximum of one year for each hiring action
• All employment is Temporary for the single school year
• Licensed staff may be rehired for up to three years following retirement
• Different rules and limitations may apply for licensed and non-licensed staff
• A shortened hiring process may be used

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From Scott and Kayla in Safety on behalf of Bend PD

Just giving you a heads up that your school SRO may be contacting you about gathering some student generated art that they can display in the Bend Police Department. We are unsure about the amount of space they have to display these works, so please talk with your SRO before doing anything. There is also talk that it may be themed related (Nature, animals, F1 cars–wink wink etc.) Your SRO may know about that as well.  Thanks for considering helping make their space feel fun and celebrated.

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From Jess:

Here are the school counseling program updates.

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From Gabe: Here is the weekly.  Have a great week.

May 4th-8th,2026 – Weekly 

TOSA Updates

From Monica:

SS update:

All AP and IB Social Studies teachers were given the paid (sub or curricular rate) opportunity to meet as subject area/class PLC’s to plan and discuss rubric conversions.  At this time, one person from MVHS and two from Summit were interested. BHS opted for summer work.

The TOSA/TL team hoped to facilitate this work before the start of next year.  Based on the SS teacher feedback, I need to pivot and will offer END breakout sessions or some time in the fall for SS teachers to calibrate. 

Dean’s got it; there is variation in content area rubrics, type of question and points allocated. It is not always a one rubric fit all model.  This doesn’t mean we can’t calibrate on the 0-4 BLP scale.  It will look a little different than the model presented, depending on the class.

Calibration work can happen with a shift in our timeline goal.

I added building leaders from other schools to offer them an update.  

Calendar

May 13: All Admin Training 3-4:30 @ MVHS

May 13: Excellence in Ed Awards 4:30-6:30 @ MVHS

May 14th: MS Only – TAG Admin/ICCL Meeting @ Ed Center 3:30 – 5:00

May 14: Latino Family Night 5:30 @ MVHS

May 15: HS Principal Connection 8-10 @ RHS

May 19: Secondary Administrator work session @ CHS 9-11 – focus on SBGI

May 21: Karen Mapp session on Chronic Absenteeism 8-12 – Admin lead for attendance attends

May 25: Memorial Day Holiday, no School

May 28: Waypoints Core Skills assessment window closes for secondary

June 15: School Design Plan Showcase 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. @ CHS

June 15: End of Year Administrator Celebration (and lunch!) @ HDMS 11:30-1:00

Where in the World

Congrats to Quinn McAndrews for correctly identifying the island green at Coeur d’Alene Resort. The green is surrounded by water and golfers ride a ferry out to finish the hole.  The green can be moved with a cable system that allows the distance from the tee box to change depending on the day you are there.

Below is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:

To Do

From Eric:

For ALL Administrators: Please take a moment to review the “Incident Approval Queue” in Synergy for your school (you can access this via a Quick Launch search). 

We currently have 485 incidents waiting to be approved via this queue (district-wide) with some occurring all the way back in September – And our Administrators are the ones who need to approve/deny these incidents.

If you are unfamiliar with the Incident Approval Queue, please call Eric Powell (4810) and he can help you out.

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From Katie and Stephen:

Open House and staff attendance:

Just a reminder to schedule your Open House date for the fall AND send a notice in writing of your expectations regarding staff attendance 60 days prior to the event! 

Requiring certified staff member attendance at evening events:

Attending/participating in three evening events each school year is required for certified staff members. In accordance with the BEA contract, administrators must give 60 days’ written notice if you are requiring certified staff to attend/participate in an evening event.   This would apply to any evening event in which you are requiring cert staff to attend and will not be compensating them for their time(ie:  dance or event supervision in which you are NOT compensating; graduation; Academic Nights; Life and Career Events). 

Participation at parent conferences:

Attendance at parent conferences is already part of the professional responsibilities for certified staff members.  Coaches on staff who are late or do not attend parent conferences should work with administration to make up the time. Reach out to Katie, Stephen or HR Leadership with questions.  

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From Jennifer Hauth:

Please remind your teams about implementing the Waypoints Core Skills assessment for the end of the year summative😊 K-5 closes May 22^nd and Secondary closes May 28th!

From Departments

From Katie and Stephen:

Thank you for updating your staffing plans as changes occur.

Secondary schools will be presenting their School Design Plans Monday, June 15th from 9-11 @ CHS.  Each school will present for 10 minutes, and cabinet members will sign up to attend.  Please use this template for your presentation. 

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From Robi Cole:

Here is info about a COREN leadership opportunity this summer. Check it out.

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From the Ed Tech team:

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, introduced a new version of their product, designed specifically for educators, and it is now available to all BLS staff by request. It includes expanded capabilities, higher usage limits, and protections for professional use in education, going beyond what is available in a standard free ChatGPT account. You can find details about access, best practices for use, and how it fits alongside MagicSchool in our EdTech blog post: ChatGPT for Teachers. Please feel free to share. 

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From Gabe:

Here is the Weekly: April 27th-May 1st, 2026 

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From Sara in Student Services:

Please read this week’s packed Special EDge for information about: 

• Check out the Reminders from Records
• Complete High Cost
• Elementary Case Managers: ECSE Bridges Information from Krista
• Order Deadline
• ESY Case Managers – Reach out to Sara Young with new students who qualify and continue to reach out to families you haven’t heard from
• Check out the Learning Labs
• Check out the incredible work of teams in Campus Kudos!
• Utilize the Student Services Launchpad
• Save the Date for upcoming events

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From Tami Pike:

TOSA Corner

From Monica Freeman – SS TOSA:

Here is a link to updates for both MS and HS Social Studies.

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From Torie Withers, Language Arts TOSA:

Spring in secondary Language Arts means collaboration and planning. Teachers are engaging in CDA collaborations while also working through key decisions around standards and score conversions in AP courses.

CDA collaborations include scoring calibration of student essays, engagement with our newly revised priority standards and holistic rubrics, discussion of next year’s on-demand writing prompt and assessed standards, and dedicated professional learning focused on current literacy research and instructional strategies. 

Upcoming grade-level CDA collaboration dates:

• Friday, May 1: 8th Grade 
• Tuesday, May 12: 11th & 12th Grades 
• Thursday, May 14: 9th Grade
• Friday, May 15: 6th Grade 
• Friday, May 22: 10th Grade 

Additionally, our spring Text Review meeting will take place on Thursday, May 21. During this time, pending book club titles will be reviewed and considered for approval.

Please contact me with any questions: [email protected] 

MS Only:

You may have seen a note about the Karen Mapp training on May 21 in the HS admin piece last week. Middle Schools also need to prioritize sending the administrator in your school who oversees attendance.

Here is the info again: On Thursday, May 21 from 8:00–12:00 (and continuing into next school year), national expert Dr. Karen Mapp will join us in person to help us reflect on our current work, identify school-specific and districtwide coordinated efforts, and plan concrete, evidence-based strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism. This is a valuable opportunity to reflect on this year and begin planning for next year.

HS Only:

Karen Mapp Training:

Send Katie the name of the administrator who will attend the Karen Mapp training on May 21 8-12. This should be the administrator who oversees attendance. Principals are also welcome, and we encourage graduation coaches to attend. Thank you, BSHS!  We will send them an invite to the training.

Principals, please share this message with your Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and College Dual Credit Teachers:

We continue to encourage you to engage in collaboration with other AP, IB and CDC teachers in backwards designing your courses for SBGI implementation beginning in the fall. 

Our TOSAs will be reaching out to coordinate time for AP, IB, and CDC teachers teaching the same courses to work together.  The offer still stands to pay for substitutes to collaborate during the school day, or we can timesheet you up to 8 hours for work outside of the workday.  

If you are a College Dual Credit Teacher, please share the contact information for your mentor with Dean, Katie and your content area TOSA.  We are happy to connect with college mentors to provide context for the work and answer questions.

Please reach out to Katie or Dean regarding questions about collaboration, to Dean for questions about time sheeting and to your TOSA for scheduling and content planning specifics.

Open Period notification for families and students:

Beginning with 26-27, we will add the following language to our curriculum guides to notify families about open periods:

Curriculum Guide verbiage:

Students in grades 9-11 are required to enroll in a full courseload.  Students in grade 12 have the flexibility to enroll in up to 7 classes depending on their credits towards graduation.  Students interested in having less than 7 classes must consult with their counselor to ensure that they meet graduation requirements and on track for their post-high school plan.  

This language will be added to student schedules beginning with 26-27:

On student schedules:

If a student is granted an open period, it will be listed on their schedule as “Open Period.” Open periods are typically scheduled during the first or last period of the day; however, exceptions may occur.   Reach out to your student’s counselor or your school’s administration if you have questions. 

Calendar

May 4: IB/AP LA CDA Meeting

May 13: Excellence in Ed Awards @ MVHS

May 14th: MS Only – TAG Admin/ICCL Meeting @ Ed Center 3:30 – 5:00

May 19: Secondary Administrator work session @ CHS 9-11 – focus on SBGI

May 21: Karen Mapp session on Chronic Absenteeism 8-12 – Admin lead for attendance attends

Where in the World?

Congrats to to Dan Curfew for being the ONLY person to correctly guess the image from last week!  🙌

The image is of Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat (مسقط, Maskat) Sultanate of Oman.  The Grand Mosque is located in Oman outside of the capital of Muscat. Oman is on the Arabian Peninsula and hugs the Gulf of Oman, with Iran and Pakistan across the Hormuz Straight and the Arabian sea along the east coast. 

Here is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice:

To Do

Complete your option sets by Monday!

Option sets for curriculum ordering are due next week! Dean ran a virtual trainings for the HS admin leads on Monday of this week. If you weren’t able to make the meeting or have additional questions, please reach out to Dean.

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Thank you for updating your staffing plans as changes are occur.
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From Eric, please provide comments for the 26-27 Code of Conduct:

As we look toward the 26-27 school year, we wanted to give administators at each of our levels an opportunity to make comments/propose adjustments to the Code of Conduct.

Ideas presented within the comment copies for your level (below) will be reviewed and discussed at a district Code of Conduct review meeting and also processed through the District’s Culture & Climate Task Force.

Here are the comment copies (by Level):

Middle School Comment Copy

High School Comment Copy

From Departments

Office of Policy and Advocacy:

1. Chronic Absenteeism: Family Engagement and Attendance:  (Action needed)

We know you are working hard to get kids to school.  As part of our broader efforts to improve student attendance under the leadership of Eric and his team, and in alignment with our ongoing work on student voice, dignity, and belonging, in addition to our school design plan improvement cycles, we will be taking a closer look at the connection between family engagement and chronic absenteeism.  Research shows that specific, practical family engagement strategies can significantly improve student attendance across K–12.

On Thursday, May 21 from 8:00–12:00 (and continuing into next school year), national expert Dr. Karen Mapp will join us in person to help us reflect on our current work, identify school-specific and districtwide coordinated efforts, and plan concrete, evidence-based strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism. This is a valuable opportunity to reflect on this year and begin planning for next year.

Your Advocacy ICCL rep will attend, with substitute costs covered by the Office of Policy and Advocacy. If there are one or two additional staff members (ex: family engagement committee members) who would benefit from participating, they are welcome as well—we can support some additional substitute costs; please contact me if interested in adding participants. Please also plan for an administrator to join us. This work will directly inform your 2026–27 school design plan and provide practical tools to strengthen attendance efforts.

More information to follow—for now, please mark your calendar.

2. ELL/Multilingual Services (From Liza):  (FYI)

Hello admin teams! I wanted to inform you about a change in ELPA test scores this school year, per ODE:

• There is a new ELPA score called “Early Proficient.” 
• “Early Proficient” means the student scored very close to proficient, so they may be able to exit English Language Learner (ELL) status.
• Next steps: Language Specialists will connect with the families of students who have scored “Early Proficient” and set up meetings to discuss their options during their case management periods. See the attached family flyer.
• The decision must be made by a parent, guardian, or by the student themselves if they are an adult (18 yrs. or older).  All forms are due by June 11, 2026. 

Your Language Specialist will be connecting with you on this new process.  If you have additional questions, please reach out to me directly. Happy to support!  -Liza

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From Gabe:

Here is the weekly: April 20th-24th, 2026

HS Administrators Only

In regards to the Karen Mapp training on May 21, the administrator in your school who oversees attendance is required to attend. I will send them an invite to the training.

Calendar

April 22: Forestry/Natural Resources CTE PD @ COCC

April 23: Manufacturing/Natural Resources CTE PD

April 23: MS Horizontal 3-5 @ Pacific Crest

April 28: AP LA Rubric collaboration and decision making teams meeting 8:00

April 30: AP LA Rubric collaboration and decision making teams meeting 8:00

May 1: HS Principal Connection @ BSHS in Perseverance Hall 8-10

May 1: 8th Grade LA CDA Meeting

May 4: IB/AP LA CDA Meeting

May 19: Secondary Administrator work session @ CHS 9-11 – focus on SBGI

May 21: Karen Mapp session on Chronic Absenteeism 8-12 – Admin lead for attendance attends

Where in the World?

Congrats to Kelly Schmidt for correctly identifying the blog image this week.  The worlds largest prairie dog in South Dakota!

Here is the image for this week. Send us your guess for this location by Monday, win the drawing, and Stephen or Katie will bring you your school appropriate beverage of choice: