Congratulations to our colleague Chris Boyd for being selected as the Administrator of the Year! Chris has been with Bend-La Pine Schools for 11 years and is in his fifth year as principal at Caldera High School, the district’s newest school. He has been Caldera principal since the doors opened in the fall of 2021.
To Do
Reminders for HS: teach these two lessons before winter break:
SBHC lesson (MVHS and BSHS – skip slide 8). AND send home the SBHC family letter and permission form.
From Tami Pike:
Please ensure that your school’s first aid kits: classroom fanny packs, front office orange first aid bags, and gym wall first aid kits are regularly reviewed and restocked. This task can be completed by non-nursing staff.
From Sean Reinhart, Jennifer Hauth, and Jamie Gunter
The Student Services Team is reaching out with yearly reminders of our protocols and procedures around suicide risk and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), as required byAdi’s Act (Senate Bill 52). We will be providing a series of updates to ensure that administrators have information on updated protocols.
Reminder: Safe Oregon
Safe Oregon tips involving suicidal ideation or non-suicidal self-injury require follow up with your school based mental health staff (follow up screening and entry into Student Safe each time).Refer to the student services slide deck or reach out to Sean, Jamie, Scott, or Kayla.
Reminder: Screening Staff
As per our Adi’s Act plan, staff who can risk screen and safety plan with students include school counselors, school psychologists, and student success clinicians. ASIST trained school nurses and student success staff can collaborate with their school based mental health professionals after screening on next steps in safety planning and lethal means calls home. Policy requires that a student is screened and parent/caregivers are notified the same day that a concern is noted. Same day notification to administrators is also a requirement, as is the entry of all screening information and contact details intoStudent Safe. All administrators have access to the Student Safe system, and if anyone would like a 1:1walkthrough, please reach out.
Here’s a quick reminder about the Tobacco Quit Kits. 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 request 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 complete this 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.
This is open to Oregon students enrolled in grades 9 – 12 for the 2025-2026 school year. Leif Méndez, who was a 12th grader at Caldera High School last school year, served on the inaugural ODOT SRTS High School Task Force. I’m hoping another BLS high school student will apply and be selected for this opportunity.
I invite your recommendations on where and how else to promote this. I have already asked BLS Communications to include it in the December Family Newsletter.
Calendar
November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break
December 1: SBG Parent Night @ LPHS 5:30
December 2: Learning Walk session @ MVHS 9:15 room D1
December 3: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)
December 3: SBG Parent Night @ MVHS 5:30
December 5: HS Principal Connection @ BTA 9:00
December 5: Transcript process training for HS admin who have not been trained 10:00 @ BTA
What in the World Happened Here?
Congratulations to Leah Boon for winning last week! The image was of Ruby Bridges being escorted to school by federal marshals on November 14th 1960.
This week, it’s What in the WorldHappened Here? Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies what historical even happened here by Monday morning (Dec 1) will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Don’t forget to promote College and Career day on November 20th is College and Career Day!.
Dress as a professional
Wear college colors
Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges.
Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers.
We hope you’ll join in the celebration. Please send pictures of your participation to Becca Burda.
From Departments
Dr. Cook and Dr. Birk to provide all-staff virtual updates Nov. 18
Superintendent Steven Cook and Deputy Superintendent Lisa Birk will host an update for all District staff on Tuesday, November 18, with two 30-minute virtual sessions:
They will begin by recognizing several major accomplishments and celebrations from this school year. Other updates include:
State and federal funding
Long-term enrollment projections
Facility updates
Elementary and secondary priorities
They will provide the same update at the beginning of both meetings, then answer questions sent in from staff. Attendance is optional. If you can’t join either meeting live, we plan to share recordings with you afterward.
HAVE A QUESTION FOR DR. COOK?
Use THIS LINK to submit a question for the first meeting (3:05-3:35 PM)
Use THIS LINK to submit a question for the second meeting (3:50-4:20 PM)
From Dean in TLC:
Interested in having your leadership team attend a virtual SBG conference? Here is a LINK to the same group who put on the previous one many attended.
From Eric in Student Services:
We had a Community Justice Officer from Deschutes County reach out to a school this week with the following request:
Hello,
I am _____, (Student’s) Community Justice Officer. I was wondering if I can get a copy of (Student’s) Attendance, grades, and credits. I am not sure if this is the correct email to request all three. If there is someone else, I should reach out to or if you have any questions, please let me know.
Thank you.
For this specific student, we did not yet have a record of the student being on probation or an ROI to communicate with outside providers. After communicating with district legal counsel, the following was recommended as the reply to be sent to the CJO:
“We need you to provide us with a release of information or legal basis for releasing this information, such as a health or safety emergency as defined by ORS 336.187.”
If you ever get a request like this, you can also forward the requestor to me and I can work with them directly to get them needed information (as I am allowed).
From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:
Advisory Lessons:
Here is the final version of the Cellphone lesson, to teach before winter break. Here is the SBHC lesson again as well (for at least CHS, SHS, BTA, and Realms, although it’s applicable to MVHS and BSHS too if you skip slide 8). SBHC family letter and permission form to send home.
Student Voice Council:
We will be reaching out to a couple schools to meet with you and your SVC representatives soon (areas where we’d like the principal looped in on student issues). If you don’t hear from us but would like a meeting to check in on communication with your students, our facilitator team, and your admin team, please let me know.
From TLC:
Course Recoding: Clarifying Guidelines and Approvals
As we continue working to ensure accuracy and consistency in how courses are coded across our district, it’s important that everyone follows the same expectations around course recoding. Recoding should occur only in very limited instances and must always be pre-approved to maintain alignment with state standards, diploma requirements, and teacher endorsements.
When Recoding Is (and Isn’t) Appropriate
A course may only fulfill a subject area (“bucket”) if:
It truly meets the standards of that subject area, and
The teacher holds the appropriate endorsement in that subject area.
Recoding should not be used to make a course fit where it doesn’t belong. Even if a class seems related, it may not meet the academic standards required for a different subject credit.
Examples:
First Aid/CPR ≠ Health
While both are Social Studies, World History ≠ U.S. History – (World Studies = WS | U.S. History = US)
Sources of Strength ≠ Health
Courses with Pre-Approved Recode Options
Some courses have been reviewed and approved to count toward either a Science (SC) credit or a Career & Technical Education (CTE/FA) credit — depending on the student’s needs and the teacher’s endorsement.
However, each course may only count toward one area at a time, not both.
Course
May Count As
Notes
Human Anatomy / Physiology
Science (SC) or CTE (FA)
May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit
Biotechnology
Science (SC) or CTE (FA)
May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit
Intro to Animal Science / Plant Science / Pre-Vet Medicine (MVHS)
Science (SC) or CTE (FA)
May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit
Natural Resources Science
Science (SC) or CTE (FA)
May count as Science credit only if teacher is endorsed and student needs the credit
These courses do not replace the district’s three-year science pathway required for all BLS students (Physics, Chemistry, Biology).
Approval Process
To ensure consistency and compliance:
All course recode requests must be vetted and approved by the Director of Curriculum & Instruction and team.
Accurate course coding protects transcript integrity, ensures students receive the correct credits toward graduation, and supports clear communication with families and postsecondary institutions. By following these guidelines, we maintain equitable and consistent academic standards across the district.
November 18: HS Administrator work session @BSHS 9:00-11:00
November 19: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)
November 19: SBG Parent Night @ SHS 5:30
November 20: MS Horizontal @ CMS 3:00 to 5:00
November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break
December 1: SBG Parent Night @ LPHS 5:30
December 3: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)
December 3: SBG Parent Night @ MVHS 5:30
When in the World
Congrats to Sarah Huddart who won the recent Who in the World competition!
Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019. Omar is the first Somali American in the United States Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota. She is also one of the first two Muslim women (along with Rashida Tlaib) to serve in Congress.
This week, it’s When in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image AND THE YEAR by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
This is National School Psychologist Week! Did you show appreciation for your School Psych? Link to org chart.
This year’s theme, “Finding Your Path,” reflects the ways that school psychologists help students, families, and school communities set and achieve their goals. Join us by taking this week to chart your course to explore how each person can celebrate the work of school psychologists and learn how school psychologists make a difference every day.
November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week. Next week your building will receive a kit with ideas and supplies for simple ways to support your transgender students or colleagues.
Please connect with your Advocacy ICCL representative (or watch your mailbox) for those kits, and encourage your staff to participate.
HS Administrators only: With the new cell phone policy being implemented in January, we know there have been some concerns about students’ access to college applications, FAFSA, and similar platforms that may require authenticator or password retrieval.
After meeting with IT, we confirmed that students in grades 11 and 12 do have access to their personal email accounts on their iPads. This means they can retrieve verification codes or reset passwords as needed without relying on their school email or phone.
Students in grades 11 and 12 can access their personal email through logging into Safari.
This ensures students can continue accessing essential college and financial aid tools while allowing us to uphold the new “off and away, bell to bell” cell phone policy and maintain focus during class time. It might be worth a quick advisory lesson to walk students through accessing their personal email on their iPad before January—especially since they won’t be able to use their phones for password retrieval when they add their personal email.
Please work with your counselors to support students to access their personal emails prior to the January cell phone implementation.
Please make sure employees at your site are aware of this important payroll update.
For the November and December payrolls, all employees will receive a paper paystub (or a live check if not enrolled in direct deposit) mailed directly to their home address on file. Payday remains the last business day of each month.
This change ensures every employee can easily access their pay information during school breaks when most staff are off-site or not connected to the district network. From now on, paystubs and paychecks will no longer be routed to school sites for pickup or distribution.
What to Know
All employees will automatically receive mailed paystubs in November, December, June, July, and August.
Employees who want paper paystubs in additional months can email Payroll to opt in. (This election resets each year.)
Employees can update their home address in UKG.
Those who need help setting up direct deposit can review the “How To” guide on the Payroll Portal or reach out to Payroll.
Substitute and extra-duty employees will continue to receive paper paystubs automatically every month.
Employees can still view electronic paystubs through Employee Online when using a district device or network connection.
Thank you for sharing this information with your teams and helping ensure every employee has consistent access to their pay details.
From Departments
From Eric Powell in Student Services
Moving forward, when documenting a Child Abuse Report that your school is making, will you please store the Child Abuse Form in the following ways:
Building Principal or Department Supervisor maintains a copy of the report
Send (Email is fine) a copy to Eric Powell in Student Services
Family Engagement: -For your review (share as applicable)-
Family Liaisons: Here are our Spanish-speaking liaisons, and here are reminders on how to use their services. We also have part-time Black/African American, Asian, and Youth Partnerships Liaisons–if you’d like to connect with one of them, let me know.
FAN Advocates: Here are reminders on their role. Remind your staff: FAN does not coordinate Christmas gifts for families and hasn’t for over 10 years. FAN resources are maxed out prioritizing basic needs (food, utilities, etc). There are many community-based organizations that do support religious or holiday-based requests like Christmas gifts: Here, here, and here are a few resources.
Concerns/celebrations: If you have concerns about your liaison or advocate (inconsistent attendance, lack of responsiveness, etc), I need to know right away. Of course, if you have a note of appreciation or celebration about them, send me those too!
Translation/interpretation: Remember, CAFE members are not your primary resource for language services. Also, please don’t ask them to “quickly review” your AI/Google-translated communication. Use Linguist Link for translation/interpretation requests. Here are reminders on differences between these services.
Food Access and Your Parent Groups: -For your review (share as applicable)-
In the absence of SNAP benefits for families in need, some of you have parent groups organizing to gather food and distribute it to families. This is great, if/when boundaries are respected. Share these talking points with your parent group, as applicable.
Earlier this week, all Classified staff received an email announcing the opening of applications for the 2025 cohort of Bend-La Pine’s Alternative Pathways Program (APP), a district-supported opportunity for Classified employees to pursue licensure for Certified roles that offers tuition reimbursement, paid student teaching/practicum leave, and other supports as needed as they pursue their license. The announcement was also shared in the most recent edition of this week’s Staff Spotlight.
The APP focuses on hard-to-fill positions and places a particular emphasis on supporting multilingual and bilingual staff, helping us strengthen our connection to students and families while developing our future educators and leaders.
I’m asking that you all take a moment to think about who in your building or department might be a great candidate for this program, both those who have already expressed an interest in becoming licensed educators and those who may not yet see their own potential. A shoulder tap from you might be the spark that helps someone find the confidence they need to take this step.
Applications are open through December 2, 2025. If you’d like more info on the program, you can email Ryan Kelling or visit the Employee Portal.
We will pay for the subs of teachers who attended the COCC articulation meeting on September 10. Request the account code from April J.
Calendar
November 12: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)
November 12: Review slides for SBG Parent Night @BSHS 2:15 in classroom next to PH
November 12: All Admin Meeting @ BSHS 3:00-4:30
November 13: Tier 2 Academic Intervention Team @ BSHS 2:30-4:00
November 18: HS Administrator work session @BSHS 9:00-11:00
November 19: Optional Early Adopter Drop in 8:00-8:30 (virtual)
November 19: SBG Parent Night @ SHS 5:30
November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break
Where in the World
Congrats (and Happy Birthday) to Reno Holler for winning the “where in the world” image last week. The image was of center field at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Wrigley was built in 1914 and the original vines were purchased and planted in September 1937.
This week, it’s Who in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Message to Counseling Admins: Please communicate the following to your counselors: We will only be conducting in-person 8th grade forecasting visits at middle schools that serve as large feeder schools to our high schools.
If a middle school does not feed into a high school attendance area, staff from that school will not be sent for in-person forecasting. Instead, they can provide support virtually and participate in 8th Grade Parent Night events.
Additionally, we will not be visiting private schools in person for forecasting this year.
There will be more discussion on this topic December 9th in an admin/counseling meeting.
Enrollment for the 26-27 school year will still open on December 10. The change is that the ACR/Choice HS timeline will open Monday, Jan 5. The deadline for submission remains Jan 23.
From Jenn in Student Services:
College and Career Day
It’s that time of year again. November 20th is College and Career Day in Bend-La Pine Schools. As with last year, we are looking to draw attention to the multitude of pathways available to students after they graduate high school. This is a K-12 day! We want all students to be dreaming about what options they have after they leave our schools.
Here are a few things you could do at your site to make the day a success. It would be great if classrooms or advisories could look to do something for just 10-15 minutes this day.
Dress as a professional
Encourage students and staff to dress up as someone from a career they are interested in. Remember there are a lot of great careers out there!
Wear college colors
Encourage students to wear the colors of a favorite college. Remember, college can mean community college, trade school, 4-year university, etc. Be careful with wording here as college brand clothing can be expensive and prevent students from feeling like they can participate. Colors are more inclusionary.
Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges.
Our 6-12 sites could lean into some of the activities in SchooLinks. All secondary students have required activities to complete through BLS School Counseling curriculum and to complete their Educational Plan and Profile, so this would be a perfect opportunity to complete one of these required activities. Consider onboarding 6th and 9th grade students on this day if you haven’t already done so. Students are required to take a “Find your Path” assessment when first logging in that will jumpstart the college and career exploration process.
Comprehensive School Counseling Program and Lessons could be completed this week: High School and Middle School
Wayfinder also has some great resources, especially their integration with Roadtrip Nation and their Future Ready Collection K-12. For middle school, these have been added for the week of November 17th as potential advisory lessons in ourscope and sequence.
Here is a great website from the State of Oregon called Career Journeys. There are amazing short videos, lesson plans and other activities any teacher could do.
Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers.
This could be done in a variety of ways from advisory to lunch opportunities. You could also ask parents to submit a short video of them talking about their jobs and stitch them together for students. Remember our visitor and volunteer requirements if you decide to invite parents into schools.
We hope you’ll join in the celebration. Please send pictures of your participation to Becca Burda.
Wayfinder data Available:
Wayfinder Waypoints data from the summative assessment is now available for your MTSS meetings. I will work with elementary admin on Tuesday, November 4th to go over how to use it. High and middle school admin leads, I will meet with you all in our smaller teams in the next two weeks. Reach out with any questions. Elementary and Middle school Counselors will be trained on Wednesday, November 5th during shared SIW. We are still working to schedule time with high school counselors.
From Paul in Operations:
Work Order Submission Best Practices
When submitting a work order that requires greater visibility at your site, please include @[insert principal’s email], @[insert custodian’s email], and @[insert office manager’s email] in the comment section of the request. Doing so will:
Ensure that key staff are aware of the request, helping to reduce duplicate work orders.
Allow all recipients to receive automatic updates as the work order progresses.
To help our maintenance staff be better prepared and efficient:
Provide as much detail as possible in the Description/Summary section. This information helps staff bring the right tools and materials and may prevent multiple trips.
When possible, attach photos showing the repair issue. Photos help clarify the request and document the condition of the area needing repair.
From Kinsey – Office of Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
SNAP Benefits and our Community – FYI:
As you may have seen, the anticipated federal shutdown is expected to disrupt SNAP benefits beginning in November. Many families in our community may experience reduced access to food for an unknown period of time. Local food banks are already reporting strain as they prepare to absorb the increased need.
We will share resources and reminders of local food services in the next Family Spotlight. In the meantime, please feel free to 1) print, distribute, and share these bilingual food resource lists with all families and with your staff (Bend, South County, Redmond), 2) if you feel moved, consider donating time, funds, or other support to any of these local services (you can easily google any of their websites and find the Donation button 🙂), and 3) if your PTA or Booster Club wants to support food access, encourage them to support these local services.
For those who visited the Giving Plate for our Community Engagement Bingo activity this week, thank you. Your presence meant a lot to their over-stretched team, now more than ever. (Missed it but want to visit and count that Bingo square? Contact me!)
MAC Survey – Action Needed:
With the SNAP food assistance program being frozen and our students being impacted, this is a great time to remember just how critical our FAN Advocates are for our community. Your participation in the MAC Survey process (completing your training ASAP, claiming time on the survey day in mid-November) brings in funds that pay for FAN Advocate positions, so that we have folks on staff who can help families navigate. Thank you for prioritizing this! Contact your FAN Advocate if you have questions.
From Gabe Pagano, Director of Activities and Athletics:
Here is the weekly for Athletics. October 27th-October 31st, 2025 Please remember, you can forward this to any coach, program, group of coaches, or folks you feel might benefit from the information in the Weekly Agenda. I am doing my best to title information blocks for high school or middle school to save you time in reading or sending out.
HS Only
High School Only: School-Based Health Center Access – Action Needed:
As we discussed in August, students at CHS, SHS, Realms, and BTA will now have access during the school day to the School-Based Health Centers at BSHS and MVHS. District transportation will be provided at no cost to students, families, or your school.
Students who need to visit a SBHC should connect with your FAN Advocate (or nurse as the back-up). That staff member will coordinate the appointment with Mosaic, arrange transportation, handle permission slip and attendance documents, and collect basic demographic information for the pilot.
Early next week, we will send your families this parent letter and a permission slip (Spanish and Chinese versions, too), so you don’t have to worry about that.
One action item for you: Please share this advisory lesson with teachers to deliver anytime between now and fall break (if possible). Advocacy Coaches are available to support. BSHS and MVHS: your students already have SBHC access, but the lesson is still a helpful reminder of available services — your teachers can simply skip slide 8.
Attention HS leaders: This information will be shared in our next spotlight.
Did you know that veterans of the Armed Forces may receive a high school diploma if they attended high school before their military service and were honorably discharged?
Under Oregon law, a school district shall award a diploma to a veteran who resides in the district or to a veteran who attended school in the district and lives elsewhere in the state. Diplomas also may be issued on behalf of deceased veterans at the request of a family representative.
These diplomas may be issued to veterans who served during specified wars and military operations or in designated combat zones over the past century.
The intent of this program is to help veterans obtain high school diplomas when veterans do not graduate because they left school early for military service, or if they need educational credentials to qualify for jobs and promotions.
Calendar
Weeks of October 26-November 3: HS Fall Conferences
November 4: HS Learning Walk @ Caldera HS 8:30-11:30
November 4: MS Learning Walk @ PBMS 8:30
November 5: Early Adopter teams – optional Q and A for Early Adopters! Weekly every Wednesday!!
Congrats to to Becky Aylor who correctly identified the image from last week as Rosa Parks!
Rosa Parks is famous for her courageous refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, which helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement. Her action sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a pivotal, 381-day protest that ultimately led to the desegregation of Montgomery buses. Parks is often called the “mother of the civil rights movement” and is recognized as a symbol of nonviolent protest against racial segregation.
This week, it’s Where in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Reminder: DUE tomorrow, October24: Earlier this week, you were sent a list of your PROB 2 staff. By Friday, review your Probationary 2 staff list and reach out to Triz if you have any performance concerns. Ensure that any performance concerns are being addressed and that you’ve identified anyone who may be a potential non-renewal. With the passage of HB 2900—effective January 1, 2026—we must also evaluate any Probationary 2 staff who may have already achieved contract status in another Oregon district. These individuals should be considered like a Probationary 3.
If you have staff on the list with performance issues, please reach out so we can discuss next steps, and I can provide support.
Be ready to show ISR’s in Synergy or print student reports when requested: ODE requires schools to report OSAS results to parents annually. Individual student reports (ISR) with ELA, Math, and Science scores from spring 2025 testing have been loaded into Synergy. Here is a folder with brief instructions for staff, parents, and students to access OSAS state test scores in a variety of ways in Synergy.
All users can view and download the one-page ISR that ODE creates each year. Teachers also can view lists of prior year OSAS scores for their classes in TeacherVue. Whether Spanish ISRs are loaded for a student is based on the ‘resolved’ language in Synergy. Schools should be prepared to print an ISR for any parent who requests it and may continue to print ISRs as makes sense. Teachers who want to use ISRs at conferences can quickly pull them up in real time and display them on any screens that are available to them.
Here is the plan for administrator assignments for the END sessions this year. Just a reminder that this is a HS Only END session because K-8 is involved in parent conferences. Here is the information about the END sessions next week as well as admin assignments and HERE is the attendance QR code. Please copy and ask teachers to check in.
From Departments
From Ryan in Human Resources:
To support consistency across schools and ensure appropriate use of substitute coverage, guidelines outlining expectations by role classification for the 2025–26 school year have been developed.
From Gabe Pagano, Director of Activities and Athletics:
Here is the agenda for the week. Please remember, you can forward this to any coach, program, group of coaches, or folks you feel might benefit from the information in the Weekly Agenda. I am doing my best to title information blocks for high school or middle school to save you time in reading or sending out. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
College Articulations in CTE: Lisa Keown and Katie are working with COCC to increase our CTE Dual Credit opportunities for our students taking CTE classes. Lisa will begin this discussion with CTE teachers next week during the HS ONLY END session. Let us know how we can better support efforts to increase college dual credit for our families and students!
Ranking in High School: We have had a few questions about why we do not rank in Bend La Pine Schools. Here are the talking points we have shared with administrators and counselors in the past. Please reach out to Jenn if you have questions.
Calendar
October 29: HS ONLY END Session – K-8 has parent conferences
October 29-30: MS Fall Conferences
October 30: HS Principal Breakfast @ 7:00am
Weeks of October 26-November 3: HS Fall Conferences
November 4: HS Learning Walk @ Caldera HS 8:30-11:30
November 5: Early Adopter teams – optional Q and A for Early Adopters! Weekly!
Congrats to Heather Bailey, Principal at HDMS, for correctly guessing Notre Dame, Paris France! The decorative demon was created by architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, who was responsible for the cathedral’s restoration during the 19th century. Contrary to popular belief, Le Stryge is technically a grotesque and not a gargoyle, as it does not act as a waterspout.
We’re back with Who in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Share info with World Language teachers: On November 17th from 8-11:30 we will examining our middle school and high school credit offerings. This conversation is optional, but World Language teachers are encouraged to attend. If interested, please arrange a half day sub and use the note “MS/HS World Language Alignment per April Jorgenson”
From Departments
From Scott in IT:
Synergy Mail Delivery Issue-
It has come to our attention that on occasion, certain Synergy (ParentVUE) messages are currently being marked as “spam” and are not able to be viewed by families with a TDS email address. We have already engaged both Synergy support and TDS to identify the cause and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, please be aware that teachers using Synergy mail may occasionally receive a “bounce back” message from families who are unable to view their message. We will provide an update as soon as normal delivery is restored.
Looking for a few administrator iPads- As we transition students over the next two years to the iPad 11, we will be lean on older device inventory. If you are an administrator and you rarely use your iPad for your position. We hope you will “volunteer” to turn in your iPad to your IT Client Service representative. Thank you in advance for your help.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
Advisory lessons:
As discussed in August, we have an Advisory Lesson on the new cell phone policy coming your way soon. The lesson will be included in the blog on Nov 13, and all high schools will need to teach the lesson before winter break.
Additionally, we have a student-facing Advisory Lesson on school-based health centers as well. While it has great information for students at all high schools (and middle schools!), it is particularly important for CHS, SHS, BTA, and Realms, because it includes details on the expanded access options for your students to get to the BSHS or MVHS health centers during the school day. That lesson will be shared with you in blogs Oct 23, to be taught as soon as you can, before winter break.
Student organizing: clubs, petitions, etc:
Students have the right to gather and organize–examples include forming new clubs, circulating petitions, etc. However, we can put certain limitations on these activities, when done thoughtfully.
Here is the relevant policy with guidance for you. A couple reminders: No new student clubs should be forming without principal approval. If you believe a club, petition, or other student-organized activity is going to cause a disruption and should be prohibited, please contact me so we can discuss specific considerations.
Please remind staff about this policy and ask that they contact you if they are hearing about clubs or other student organizing that would require procedural considerations under this policy.
Family engagement calendar:
We now have an Outlook calendar to communicate and coordinate district-wide family engagement events and key dates! It includes district-wide events where families are the audience, such as Financial Aid night or Latino Family Night, as well as the “do not schedule” dates for religious observances.
This is a staff-facing tool, for awareness, access, and coordination of school, district, and program-specific family events. Please work with your office staff to add this calendar to your school Outlook calendar—instructions here.
If you are planning a district-wide event and would like it added to this calendar, please contact Dalia Juárez or email [email protected].
From Triz in HR:
Calendar for the Certified Evaluation Process
Contract – On Cycle
Probationary/Temp
October
Goal Setting form sent to certified staff (upload due by Oct 15)Your in-person goal-setting meeting counts as Mini #1
November
Formal Observation #1 Cycle completed (due Nov 15)Last chance to begin Focused Performance Review (Nov 1)
December
Administrator informs HR of contract non-extension
Last chance to begin Support Strategies (Dec 5)
January 15
Submit 1st Mini Observation
Formal Observation #2 cycle completed (Jan 15)
January 30
Notify the certified staff member of contract non-extension
Notify the certified staff member of non-renewal
April 15
Please initiate Self-Evaluations for your staff. Since all certified staff are required to provide an update to their goals, staff on a non-evaluation cycle need only to log their goal update at the bottom of the self-reflection form and are not required to submit ratings. (Due May 15)
May 15
All Mini-Observations Are Due
June 15
Summative Evaluations are complete and all documentation have been submitted to the HR provided folders/spreadsheet.
From TLC:
As a reminder, with grades now managed in Synergy, Grade Guardian will no longer be purchased at the district level. Individual schools may continue their subscriptions this year (at their own expense); however, once assignments and grades are fully transitioned into our standards-based system, many of Grade Guardian’s features will become obsolete.
From Dave in TLC
OSAS Testing Annual Notices and Opt-Out Forms
The Bend-La Pine website has been updated with the 2025-26 fillable PDF annual notice and opt-out forms that we are required to share with families. There are separate notices and opt-out forms for ELA/Math testing (grades 3-8 & 11) and the SEED survey (grades 3-11). Please share our website with links to the required forms using whatever methods you typically communicate with families and have copies available for parents to pick up in the office by ODE’s dates and timelines below.
Consistent with the requirements of ORS 329.479, ODE has developed an annual notice (available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage) that describes these assessments, identifies the timeframe when the assessment will most likely be administered, and identifies an adult student’s or parent’s right to excuse the student from testing. Districts and public charter schools must provide parents with the ODE-developed annual notice at the beginning of each school year. In addition, districts and public charter schools must provide parents with separate notice at least 30 days prior to administering the statewide summative assessments in Math and ELA using the ODE-provided 30-day notice and opt-out form (also available through ODE’s Test Administrationwebpage), or a district-created form that exactly reproduces the language of the ODE-provided form. School districts and public charter schools must use the language of the 30-day notice and opt-out form provided by ODE to communicate with all parents about state testing requirements and their right to opt out for high school students by January 4, 2026, and for students in Grades 3-8 by March 1, 2026.
ODE SEED Survey
Oregon law (House Bill 2656) requires each school district to make the SEED Survey available to students in grades 3-11. Parents or guardians may decline, either verbally or in writing, to have their student participate in the SEED Survey. Schools will provide parents with notice of administration and the process for declining participation at least 5 days prior to administering the SEED Survey. Students may also decline, at any time, either verbally or in writing to participate. Students may also decline to answer individual questions on the SEED survey.
Please contact Dave with any questions.
From Sean Reinhart, Jennifer Hauth, and Jamie Gunter
The Student Services Team is reaching out with a yearly reminder of protocols and procedures around suicide risk and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), as required byAdi’s Act (Senate Bill 52). We will be providing a series of updates to ensure that administrators are informed on updated protocols.
View the updated sudden death response procedures.
Review with all of your building staff on these procedures.
Ask all staff to contact their building administrator if they become aware of any information on the death of a staff member, student, or parent in your school community.
If a Staff member reaches out to an administrator:
Thank the reporter and ask that they don’t contact other individuals and share the news they have heard. Oftentimes the information is inaccurate or incomplete and unknowingly propagating rumors can cause harm.
The building administrator reaches out to Sean, Jennifer, Scott, or their Level Leader (in that order until the first person is reached).
Student Services will walk you through next steps.
Best-practice postvention around notification helps to prevent further harm or contagion, ensures accuracy and consistency, protects and respects the family, supports emotional safety, and lays the foundation for healing and recovery. If you have questions or concerns around this process, please reach out.
From Lillah in Safety:
All STAS/SIRC Teams:
After completing a Level 1 STAS or SIRC assessment, please upload the 2 page Outcome and Safety Plan into Synergy>Student>Documents tab>STAS/SIRC is a new Doc Category tab. The Doc Comment will be Outcome and Safety Plan.
The following people will have access to this document:
Principals and Assistant Principals
Counselors
Student Success
Athletic Directors
SPED specialist such as Pych’s
District Directors/Executive Directors
Please call Lillah Lehner in Safety with questions: 541-355-8854
From Tracy in Ed Tech:
From Educational Technology
We have technology tools for iPad behavior management! There are simple ways to monitor student screens, limit access to only the apps and websites needed, and give parents control of iPads outside of school hours. Check out Five Technology Tools for iPad Behavior Management. If you’re interested in a quick 10-minute tour of these tools during an SIW or drop-in time, please reach out to [email protected]
From Jennifer in Student Services
3- 12 Waypoints open until Friday October 24th end of day. Thank you to all of you that have had your students complete the assessment. School-wide student data will be ready for review on Monday, October 27th.
Some of you have staff in your Featured Content view in Wayfinder Usage Data that do not teach at your school. We are working on that issue with Synergy/Clever. For now, please use these instructions if you want to clean up your dashboard: How to Edit User Data on Admin Dashboards
Please make sure you have communicated the fall conference schedule with families and the structure you intend to use for signing up. Additionally, please create a system to collect information on how many families attend.
Calendar
October 21: HS Administrator work session 9-11 @ MVHS
October 22: First District Safety Cadre Meeting 8-9:30 @ PBMS
October 23: MS Horizontal – 3-5 pm @ LPMS
October 29: HS ONLY END Session 3-4, K-8 is in parent conferences
October 29-30: MS Fall Conferences
Weeks of October 26-November 3: HS Fall Conferences
Where in the world?
Congratulations to our winner from last week: Kelly Beaudry (AP at BSH). The image is The Mapparium, which is a three-story, stained-glass globe located in Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, Massachusetts. It is designed to showcase the world as it was in 1935 for the purpose of providing a unique, inside- out perspective of Earth, promoting global awareness.
We’re back with Where in the World. Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Principals: By now, all students who have classes with SBIG early adopters should have reviewed the student-friendly slides shared last month. If this has not happened yet, please prioritize this.
*If you have not already done so, review the important bargained change about the timeline for teachers to update grades in Synergy.
*Also, send communication to families about mid term grades: Note that schools are required to send communication to families about checking ParentVue mid way between each trimester and semester, as well as at the end of each term:
Share this with Early Adopters: Beginning Wednesday, November 5th and every Wednesday after, secondary leadership will be offering an OPTIONAL SBIG drop in for early adopters via Microsoft Teams. The 30 minute drop in will be from 8:00 to 8:30 and will be a Q and A format. Please share this news with early adopters at your site. The invite will be shared next week. Cascade and Realms are also welcome to attend even though they are not technically early adopters.
From Kinsey – Office of Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
Election Season and Political Topics – Action Item:
Please share this principal/supervisor message with your staff:
Dear staff — As election season approaches, this is a good time to revisit our expectations around political topics in our school and workplace. While this November may not bring the same intensity as a presidential election year, maintaining neutrality in our professional capacity remains essential.
Here is our policy around staff engaging in political activities. This is a great tool outlining boundaries and appropriate use of district equipment, time, and resources in relation to election topics. District leadership asks that each employee read the information in those links carefully. Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification.
In addition, we know students may initiate conversations about politics, candidates, or ballot measures. To help navigate these moments: Here are 10 steps for teachers to prepare, navigate, and respond to sensitive discourse. Our district Advocacy Coaches are also available to support you in facilitating respectful and balanced discussions.
Please take a moment this week to log into UKG and check your To-Do list. Pending Personnel Actions (PAs) can hold up key processes like pay changes and assignment updates if they’re not approved in a timely manner.
Regularly reviewing your To-Do list, even when you don’t expect anything pending, helps keep workflows moving smoothly and ensures your employees are set up for success without delay.
This should be done regularly, but is particularly important on and around the Payroll cutoff dates, which can be found on the Portal on the Payroll page.
If you have any questions about what’s showing in your queue or how to clear an item, reach out to [email protected] for support.
Thank you for helping us keep things running efficiently.
From Departments
From Triz in Human Resources: Thought I would take a moment to remind you that the due date for SLGG’s is quickly approaching. (October 15, 2025)
Probationary and temporary certified staff and Contact staff ON & OFF the evaluation cycle should be completing this task.
Goal Setting & Evaluation Tools:
Student Learning Growth Goals (SLGGs) (ONLY Teacher, SPED Teachers, and Teacher Librarians- all other specialists use alternate goal-setting plan):
SLGG google form – Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy. These will need to be uploaded to your site’s certified folder in the Google Drive.
We have a number of new Extra Duty positions this year and want to make sure everyone understands the procedures for tracking, and maintaining these roles. The details below outline how schools should handle placements for the new positions, updates to existing roles, and ongoing expectations for managing extra duty assignments.
Newly Bargained Positions (Effective 25/26)
K–12 Green Team Advisor – Range F
Elementary Music Director – Range E
Elementary Yearbook Coordinator – Range E
Elementary Battle of the Books Coordinator – Range E
High School Link Crew
Placement Process for 25/26
If someone is already performing the duties of one of these new positions, please email [email protected] to have the stipend assigned no application needed this year.
If no one is currently performing the duties of these positions, they must be filled through a competitive process – posting, interviewing, and hiring.
Future changes will follow the standard extra duty process: the current person resigns, the school requests a posting, and HR processes the hire.
Each school is allocated 1 FTE per position.
Ongoing Procedures and Reminders
Start Date: All year-round extra duty positions begin on September 1; complete hires before this date to avoid prorating.
Automatic Roll-Forward: Positions continue year to year unless HR is notified that duties have ended.
Annual Verification: Each August, HR will request confirmation of who will continue in each role.
Step Advancement: Each year an employee holds the same position, they move one step on the extra duty salary schedule.
Google Docs Tracking
All MS and HS Extra Duty positions are tracked on a view-only shared Google Doc so schools can see current assignments.
If someone is missing or incorrectly listed, email [email protected]; payment accuracy depends on these records.
Updates to Existing Positions
High School Musical Directors: Formerly offered every other year, this stipend is now available annually when a musical is produced. Total FTE remains 2.0 per school.
HS/MS Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Drama: Stipends are no longer tied to certified FTE. Staff offering the full complement of after-hours performances receive the full 1.0 FTE stipend per school.
Educator Network Day Success for Counselors and Student Success:
We had a great turnout yesterday at HDMS. Here is the slide deck with outcomes for our trainings this year:
Formalize and implement a clear framework for Tier 2 & Tier 3 mental health/social emotional interventions.
Establish a clear process to Identify, Match + Fit, Provide + Monitor, and Evaluate.
Waypoints open until Friday October 24th end of day. Thank you to all of you that have had your students complete the assessment.
Great job Summit (75%), La Pine Middle (84%), Westside Village (56%) and Buckingham (52%) for the highest completion rates for this week. Elementary will have lower completion rates as they do not have k-2 completing the assessments until October 15th. The K-2 formative assessment will be live for teachers on October 15th and will be open until November 21st. The assessment is only 3-4 priority standards and nine questions total. For K-2, the custom Waypoints will appear in the teachers’ to-do lists on the dashboard when they log in (starting 10/15). They will be labeled Kinder Beginning of Year, 1st Beginning of Year, etc. Instructions.
From thousands of college applications to exciting post-grad plans, the Class of 2025 kept busy shaping their futures last year. Using SchooLinks data, we are excited to share a snapshot of their accomplishments and next steps. 💙
All referrals to this level of treatment need to come from a therapist or physician in the community. Some misinformation was shared with school teams over the last month that our counselors/clinicians can make direct referrals. There has been no change in practice.
Ranking Messaging for Schools
Just a reminder that we do not rank students. Here is the messaging from three years ago that was developed. Please reach out to me and Katie if you have any questions.
Your school’s online First Aid/CPR tracker has been updated through October 7, 2025. Here is the data by school.
As a reminder, staff are allowed to be trained outside of the BLS trainings with the exception being online trainings are not allowed. If you have staff who have taken a class outside of the district trainings, please make sure to send Michelle Spetic a copy of their First Aid/CPR card with expiration date so the information can be added to Business Plus (thus adding it to your report).
According to EBC-AP, all employees are expected to know where first-aid supplies and equipment are kept in their work areas. Each school shall have, at a minimum, at least one staff member with a current first aid card for every 60 students enrolled and in attendance for school-sponsored activities where students are present. Names of the first aid cardholders need to be posted.
Nurse Oliver Tatom is responsible for the first aid/CPR training classes. Nurse Michelle Spetic enters all First Aid certifications in BusinessPlus, and I will continue to run the reports.
Thank you for updating the BLS UpShift Roles & Responsibilities document with your anticipated staff assignments. Based on this information we are scheduling 2 trainings, one for Coordinators and one for Specialists. If you or identified staff need trained, please complete the Strawpoll(s) below or pass along as needed:
· UpShift Protocol: Please revisit the “Response to Substances” section in the Student Code of Conduct (page 12) for updates. The linked protocol includes detailed opt-out information.
· Please visit the UpShift FAQ document for ongoing updates to questions that may arise
October 14: HS LA Learning Walk: 8:30-11:30 @ BSHS
October 16: Climate and Culture Task Force 8-12@ Ed Center
October 16: Tier 2 Academic Intervention team meeting 2:30 @ MVHS
October 16: TAG Admin/ICCL training (MS only) – 3:30 – 5:30 in the boardroom
October 21: HS Administrator work session 9-11 @ MVHS
October 22: First District Safety Cadre Meeting 8-9:30 @ PBMS
October 23: MS Horizontal – 3-5 pm @ LPMS
October 29: HS ONLY END Session 3-4 K-8 is in parent conferences
October 29-30: MS Fall Conferences
Weeks of October 26-November 3: HS Fall Conferences
What in the world?
Congratulations to our winner from last week: Sean Keating for guessing the Who in the World image correctly! It was of Thurgood Marshall, who was sworn in as the first Black Supreme Court Justice on October 2nd, 1967!
To continue with the What in the World theme from two weeks ago, check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this image by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Yearly Evaluation Notification (more info below as well): All staff members should be notified annually as to what evaluation cycle they are on and what they can expect to experience regarding eval process. We believe most of you, as site administrators, already have this practice in place but if you don’t and you need some templates, please feel free to use the e-mail templates listed below. This is also a good time to notify the member if you plan to address any standard that is not part of the abbreviated list in their End-of-Year evaluation. Questions on your list of staff? Reach out to Triz and Jessica Lamay- they have been coming to sites to walk admin through the tools as needed. Annual Evaluation Notification Templates
Your support is key to the success of this day. This is what support looks like for our teacher leaders:
Arrive on time to the session
Support the teachers leading the session – assist with whatever they need
Make sure teachers sign in and are accounted for – use the attendance QR code. Probably easiest to print and bring a copy yourself.
Actively participate the entire time of the session (model what we expect of staff and you will learn along the way, as well).
Mark Your Calendars: 8th grade CTE Fly Up will be Tuesday, March 3rd.
From Departments
From Operations:
Annual school fire inspections start next week
Bend Fire & Rescue will begin its annual fire inspections October 9 for all schools in the city’s coverage area – everything but our Sunriver and La Pine schools. The Bend city fire inspections are scheduled to run through November 7. Jim Scott, Building Services Manager for Bend-La Pine Schools, will notify each school’s principal and office manager of its inspection date the week prior.
From Ryan in HR:
We are excited to announce the first iteration of mid-year orientation and onboarding for new hires, beginning Thursday, October 23 and continuing every other Thursday for the remainder of the year.
These sessions are designed to ensure our new employees enter their roles feeling confident, connected, and supported. Each orientation will include:
Payroll, Human Resources, and Policy: An overview of organizational practices and role-specific information.
IT Support: Small group time to set up single sign-on and other key systems.
Union Introductions: Opportunities to hear from OSEA or BEA, if their position is represented.
Role-Specific Training: A half-day dedicated to job-specific skills and expectations.
For school-based staff, Level Leaders will take the lead on this portion.
For non-school-based staff, HR has collaborated with Directors, Assistant Directors, and Supervisors to develop tailored plans.
Important Note: All candidates who accept a positionafter Friday, October 10will not be permitted to start work until they have attended one of these orientations.
This new process reflects our shared goal of ensuring that every employee starts their journey with Bend-La Pine Schools on strong footing, well-prepared to contribute and thrive.
Thank you for supporting this important step in welcoming our newest colleagues.
Please connect with Ryan with any questions.
From Eric in Student Services:
If an Administrator at your site does not have Synergy discipline access (to enter Minor or Major incidents into the discipline module), would you please Email Eric Powell to let them know who needs access to the discipline module in Synergy?
We are working with IT to schedule a discipline module training for any administrator who needs this access and want to determine whom to invite to this potential training.
If you don’t know what the “discipline module” in Synergy is, then you probably need this training!
If you can create Student Incidents via this screen, you are good to go:
From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:
Dignity and Belonging: Community Engagement
Here is the Bingo card from our leadership meeting. Please keep a copy throughout the year that you cross out as you go.
This spring:
completed copies will go into our raffle for some great prizes!
we will share the number of leaders from each school/dept who completed the full Bingo, and celebrate the creative ways your team engaged with the community in this process.
Community Visit #1: The Giving Plate sign-up. The dates for this tour/visit are coming up, so sign up soon!
Here is our home visit guidance. Feel free to share with staff as applicable, and ask your Liaison or FAN Advocate if you can join their next visit.
Animals on Campus
Thanks for the conversation on this topic at horizontals recently. As a reminder, any animals on your campus must be approved by you. Policy here. Quick reference:
If service animal for staff: direct them to Benefits.
If service animal for student: contact Student Services.
Therapy animal, classroom pets, or other visitors: request form here, principal approves/denies.
Parent bringing animal at pick-up or school activities: this is prohibited.
From Triz in HR:
As we keep cruising through staffing updates, your Evaluation Rosters might not be perfectly up to date yet. If you spot anyone who shouldn’t be on your site list—or someone who’s missing—please email Jessica Lamay with the names to remove/add. Thank you!
What “ON-cycle” means
Contract staff marked ON-cycle were flagged because either:
we do NOT have a finalized summative in UKG from last year (24-25), or
they’re returning to the regular schedule from the 2023–24 cycle.
If something looks off, it’s often because last year’s steps weren’t fully finalized and the item is still pending in the system.
Quick checklist (2 minutes!)
Open UKG → To Do and complete/submit any evaluation steps sitting at your stage.
If an assignment still looks incorrect, reach out to Jessica Lamay and Triz so we can verify and update as appropriate. We appreciate you helping us keep everything clean and current—your attention here makes the whole process smoother for staff and students. 🙌
Linking Files:
Once you’ve dropped your files into the shared site folders
Please be sure to link them into the correct column of your workbook.
See steps in the samples below:
Click to select the file you are attaching in the workbook.
Click the ‘chain link’ icon to copy the link to that file -OR- Ctrl/Command+C.
Click on the ‘File Chip’ in the corresponding row and column for that employee/eval piece. Ctrl/Command+V -OR- Right mouse click, then click Paste, to attach the file.
Tab -OR- click on the file name pop-up (as above) to complete the attachment.
File is attached.
From Scott in IT:
It is Cyber October once again!
Beginning next week look for tech info, tips and tricks both in the blog and in your email as we recognize Cyber October.
We will also be bringing back the “Phishing Derby” with some even bigger prizes for reporting suspicious emails.
From Dean: We are now past the point in time where the iReady assessment can be used for bypassing a grade level. We will open the window again in the spring for next year.
We have our first round of admin walkthroughs 10/7 at 1:30 at Sky View. Team 1 is Anne Marie, Darla, Dave, and Julie.
Please remember to link the slides for each of your BD SIW sessions under the SIW planning tab in the HS Admin Handbook.
Proposals for new courses are due November 6. Proposals will be reviewed the following week and building leaders will be notified if they are approved and will be added to the district course catalog. Use this link to submit a proposal.
It is necessary for our students taking college dual credit courses through COCC to use DUO to access their accounts at COCC. DUO is the college’s multi-factor authentication tool and is required for students (both College Now and Concurrent) to access their COCC accounts and services.
Once students are no longer able to use their cell phones in January, they will need to access DUO on their iPads. Thanks to Tracy Howk, t is now available! TO DO:Please share this with your college dual credit teachers. Reach out to Katie or Tracy if you have questions.
Please review the important information about modified diploma processes and expectations highlighted in the Special Edge for this month. If a student is approved to be on a modified diploma and is taking modified coursework, this must be reflected on the transcript using a particular course code.
Bonus question this week. Email Katie the answer to this question correctly before Friday at 3:00 and get your name entered into next week’s drawing: What are the six “to dos” that must be completed prior to getting an out of state trip approved?
Calendar
October 7: Secondary Admin Tier 1/UpShift work group – 9-11 @ CMS
October 7: MS Admin Walkthrough (Group 1) – 1:30-3:30 @ SVMS
October 8: Educator Network Day
October 16: TAG Admin/ICCL training (MS only) – 3:30 – 5:30 in the boardroom
October 23: MS Horizontal – 3-5 pm @ LPMS
October 29-30: MS Fall Conferences
WHO in the World??
Congratulations to our winner from last week: Becky Aylor for guessing the strange creature highlighted in the blog last week! It was a hagfish! Did you know that the hagfish can make enough slime equal to 400 times their own volume!? Ewww..!
So Katie went rogue last week! I’m going to keep with the theme and mix it up with WHO in the world. Any admin who correctly identifies the person (bonus points if you can state what happened on October 2nd for this individual) by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Add these important Dates for forecasting 26-27 to your calendars:
November 6 (TH) *New Course proposals due
December 1 (M): Curriculum Guide content completed at each school
January 23 (F) 1-12 ACRs Due to Ed Center by 3:00 pm (online or hard copy)
January 23 (F) Choice Option Schools Deadline (grades 1- 12) OR remain open if no lottery needed
March 6 (F) *CTE/Elective Day at high schools
March 9 (M)Incoming 9th grade Orientation Nights:
BSHS: 6 pm in the Main Gym
CHS: 6 pm in the Commons
LPHS: 6 pm in the Auditorium
MVHS: 6 pm in the Auditorium
SHS: 6pm in the Main Gym
March 10 (T) Incoming 6th grade parent night
Dates for choice option schools family nights coming soon…
From Departments
From Dean in Teaching and Learning:
The district ICCLs have been hired! These staff members support the content area TOSAs and where no TOSA is hired, they work to lead advocacy, curriculum, END and professional learning for their content areas.
If you see your staff member on this list, please congratulate them. You may feel free to reach out to any of them if there is a question from one of your staff regarding curriculum or other areas of support
Please see the updated Outside Behavioral Health Memo that discusses our approved behavioral health and case management providers, as well as, attendance codes.
The required Waypoints summative assessment is open for 3-12!
Great job Pacific Crest, Bend High, Highland and Three Rivers for the highest completion rates so far!!
If you want to see the classroom/advisory completion rates for your school, you can follow these steps to view Waypoints completions rates by class:
Switch to your School Admin role (see How to Change Your Role). If you do not see a System Admin role, please email Austin James to have this setup for you.
Click on “Waypoints” from the left-hand navigation menu
On the Waypoints page, select “Summative” on the left-hand side
In the Completion Rate box, you can view the overall completion percentage across the whole school
To view the completion percentage by class, click on the “View Details” button in the Completion Rate box
Please share this policy with your staff. I recommend asking your staff to review and following up in particular with your Music teachers and those planning holiday events.
Here is the “Do Not Schedule” document of cultural and holidays, updated with 25-26, 26-27, and now the 27-28 dates. Be sure your office staff and those who plan events and activities have this updated version.
Here (scroll down to October) are student-facing materials on Halloween and costumes.
Just a reminder that you should not be scheduling drills back to back (for example, a fire drill then a lock down drill). Please run them each as separate drills. Reach out to Scott or Kayla if you have questions.
STAS/SIRC Training
All new admin and counselors have been asked to attend one of the 8-hour sessions. REGISTER HERE.
Training dates are:
Thursday, October 2 -Mountain View High School
Monday, October 6- Pacific Crest Middle School
If you have any questions reach out to Lillah Lehner ([email protected])
CALL FOR RAPTOR PHOTOS & SUCCESS STORIES
The Safety Team has been asked to present at a national conference on best practices for visitor management. If you have any success stories of using Raptor (custom alerts, large events, etc), please share them with us. We would really appreciate the opportunity to highlight our schools’ amazing work. So far, we have only had two schools share with us!
Here is the counseling BLOG for this week. Email Katie the answer to this question correctly before Friday at 5:00 and get your name entered into next week’s drawing: Of all of the students who submitted an application to a four or two year degree last year, what percentage received an offer?
Reminder: Transportation staff are allowed to enter the building to use the bathroom. They are not required to walk around to the front of the building and “check in”. Please direct them to the nearest staff bathroom by the bus entrance. Thank you!!
We’d ask that schools submit work order for keys, locks or any other maintenance issues at a school. You can find a link to it on the Staff Portal>right hand column> toward the bottom>Hero HQ.
The benefit to the person who submits the request (it can be any staff member), is that they get to see the updates as maintenance staff addresses it. In addition, it allows our maintenance department to track and analyze the work being performed by our staff.
As an FYI, here is our Maintenance Department Structure and staff responsibilities
Calendar
September 29: LA Book Club Training 8-1@ Ed Center Board Room- Admin overseeing LA required to attend
September 30: Secondary Admin/ICCL 4:15-6:15 @ Bend High
October 1: All Admin Training 3:00-4:30 @ Perseverance Hall, Bend Senior High; read Chapters 1 and 2
October 7: Secondary Admin Tier 1/UpShift work group – 9-11 @ CMS
What in the World??
Congratulations to our winner from last week: Anne Marie Schmidt, Assistant Principal at Pacific Crest Middle School! The image was of the Dutch Windmill in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
We are mixing things up this week! Instead of an image of a location, we are highlighting an unusual animal. Any admin who correctly identifies the animal (be specific!) by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Inform your admin and ICCL team about our first training 9/30 from 4:15 to 6:15 at Bend High. We will be looking into instructional strategies that align well in a Standards-Based Instruction and Grading classroom.
Action Needed: Tier I Start-of-Year Check-In
Please take some time with your ICCL team to complete the survey below before the end of the day on October 3rd. The survey should be done together as a team (one survey per school) and will help the Task Force understand the roll-out of Tier I processes across the district. The Task Force will use this information in our first meeting together to recognize bright spots across the district, share trends back to our educator groups, understand consistency, and identify areas that may need more support as we move forward. You can access the survey using THIS LINK. We are finalizing as we speak and this link will go live at 1:00 pm tomorrow.
Please confirm with your level leader that this newly bargained language in the Grades and Credit AR has been shared and discussed with teachers:
Communication with families regarding student progress in Secondary:
1. At the beginning of the reporting period, students and parents will be informed by the teacher regarding the basis of the grades and the methods to be used in determining them.
2. All schools will provide families notification communication regarding student grades at these key times during the school year: a. For schools on trimesters: i. Progress reports six (6) weeks into each trimester ii. Final grades at the end of each trimester b. For schools on semesters: i. Progress reports nine (9) weeks into each semester ii. Final grades at the end of each semester
3. Student work will be graded and posted in the student information system within three (3) weeks of the due date in secondary sites. Students submitted as assignment after the due date must inform their teacher of the submission, and work submitted after the due date will be graded and posted within three (3) weeks of notification by the student of the submission.
4. Graded feedback will be provided throughout the term at regular intervals
Please share the following from Laura clark with teachers:
Subject: Hiding Overall Grades in Canvas
As a reminder, overall course grades in Canvas have been turned off by default this school year through Canvas school templates. This decision was made to help ensure that students and families use Synergy as the official record for course grades and to begin transitioning them ahead of our planned move to Standards-Based Grading.
Canvas continues to be a valuable tool for communicating assignments and assignment-level grades, providing feedback, and supporting student learning. However, by directing families to Synergy for overall grades, we avoid confusion that can occur when two systems display grades differently and help build consistent practices in preparation for next year.
Thank you for your continued support in keeping our grading practices clear and consistent for students and families.
Please go into your Complaints Dashboard and ensure you have either resolved the incidents submitted to date or are actively working on them. (Looking for your Dashboard? See my email titled “Complaints” sent Aug 14.)
Take time with your admin team to notice trends so far: what is and isn’t showing up in your dashboard? How is complaint response going for your team? What feedback or opportunities are showing up there? If you have questions about complaint process, timelines, etc, reach out.
Please make sure that all teachers understand the “Why” behind the assessment and that the student results will help us to identify intervention skill building groups. Teachers need to read the instructions from the implementation guides to the students. This will ensure that we get quality data to inform interventions. Wayfinder will also recommend additional skill building activities based on what students in their specific classroom need.
This week, an invitation to attend a training about Student Threat Assessment went to all new hires who are likely to be involved in this process at your site (Admin, Counselors, Psychs, etc.). Participants can choose one of two training days (October 2 or October 6). Training will be from 8-4 and lunch will be provided. If you yourself, or you have a staff member who you believe should participate, please simply sign up using THIS LINK. Questions? Contact Scott or Kayla in Safety.
Welcome back to the new school year! We hope the start of 2025–26 is going well for you and your teams.
Action Needed: We’re asking admin teams to collaborate and identify staff best suited to serve in this year’s UpShift roles. This information helps 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 your anticipated staff assignments by end-of-day Wednesday, Sept 24th.
What’s New for 2025–26: UpShift is now an “Opt-Out” program.
As of this school year, UpShift is automatically initiated following a first-time substance-related violation—unless a parent/guardian opts out within 24 hours of notification. Verbal or written parent authorization is no longer required to start the protocol.
The Student Code of Conduct was edited to remove any references to requiring parent/guardian consent and now links to an editable, public-facing UpShift Protocol.
See the “Response to Substances” page (page 12) in the published Student Code of Conduct. Click the link to the UpShift Protocol which is where it includes the opt out language.
SAVE THE DATE:Tuesday, October 7th 9:00am-11:00 we will convene secondary VP Admin (Principals optional) to discuss changes to UpShift, go over any questions/challenges, share any communication expectations and next steps.
Resources
Please visit the UpShift FAQ document for ongoing updates to questions that may arise.
From Aimee Snyder:
Last Call: Registrations for Monday’s Sources Adult Advisor (AA) Training
This is a last call for registrations for Monday’s Sources of Strength Adult Advisor (AA) REFRESHER training. We’ll accept registrations until the training starts at 12:30pm.
This is the link to register for the training. The training is Mon, Sept 22, from 12:30-4pm, at Bend Senior High School’s Perseverance Hall.
Click hereto see who is registered for your school.
We recommend for each school to send 2-3 Adult Advisors* to the refresher in order to maintain the Adult Advisor to Peer Leader ratio required for program effectiveness:
1:7 for middle schools and
1:10 for high schools.
*The minimum number of trained AAs for a school to maintain (“refresh”) depends on the size of their Peer Leader group, which is based on your school size. New AAs can attend the refresher, but they should meet briefly with your Public Health Specialist before to make sure they’re ready.
Sub coverage for your teachers will come from your school’s $5,000 Sources budgets. Sources budgets are for meeting Sources fidelity criteria, including trainings.
Contact your Public Health Specialist or Aimee Snyder with questions about this training or Sources fidelity criteria.
From Educational Technology:
We’re excited to share the new Guide for Bend-La Pine Students: AI in Your Learning. This 20-minute advisory or classroom lesson introduces students to AI use and academic integrity in a way that supports discussion and reflection. The guide is also available on our AI in BLS website. Many thanks to those of you who sparked the idea and collaborated with our team on this project.
From Kayla in Safety:
STAS & SIRC Training
All new admin and counselors have been asked to attend one of the 8-hour sessions. REGISTER HERE.
Training dates are:
Thursday, October 2 -location TBD
Monday, October 6- Pacific Crest Middle School
Safety Cadre Invites have been sent out. Reach out if you have been missed.
Dates are October 22, December 3, March 11, April 29
Secondary will be 8:00-9:30am, Elementary will be 1:30pm-3:00pm
*8888 Extension Reminder
When schools have an incident, we want to send a friendly reminder to use the *8888 voicemail. See handout attached you can share with any admin and front office staff. Handout here.
MS Only
We’re circling back to the summer email you received from Stephanie Bent, which included a list of students at your school who scored at or above the 97th percentile.
Next Steps: Please begin reaching out to parents/guardians of these students to obtain permission to move forward with the TAG identification process. Do not proceed beyond parent contact and permission at this time.
We will be introducing a new TAG form during our first district PD on October 16, so it’s important to pause further steps in the identification process until then.
HS Only
New course proposals will be due to Dean on Nov 6.
The secondary team will review them the following week and send notices to schools notifying you if they have been approved.
Calendar
September 23: Complaint Process Meeting – Invite Only 12:30 – 2:00 in Board Room
September 25: MS Horizontal @ PCMS 3-5
September 29: LA Book Club Training 8-1@ Ed Center Board Room- Admin overseeing LA required to attend
September 30: Secondary Admin/ICCL 4:15-6:15 @ Bend High
October 7: Secondary Admin Tier 1/UpShift work group – 9-11 @ CMS
Where in the World
Congratulations to our winner from last week: Dan Curfew, Assistant Principal at Pacific Crest!Potala Palace: Lhasa, Tibet was the answer. This iconic symbol of Tibetan Buddhism is the highest palace in the world. The Potala Palace complex, comprising the Red Palace and White Palace, is nestled on top of Red Hill. This landmark overlooks the Lhasa Valley at 12,100-plus feet above sea level and houses more than 1,000 rooms. The Potala Palace – which was originally constructed in the seventh century and substantially expanded by a dalai lama in the 17th century – once served as the winter home of the dalai lama.
Each week there will be an image of a landmark from someplace in the world. Any admin who responds with the correct location (be specific!) by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
