To Do Reminder

Reminder: The Waypoints Assessment for grades 3-12 is open NOW: 

This required assessment opens September 18th and closes October 25th for grades 3-12. Student results will become available for all admin/counselors on the Wayfinder MTSS dashboard once all schools have completed the assessment, or October 27th. If all schools are done before October 24th, we will close the assessment so the data is available sooner.

This is a good data point to include in your School Improvement Plan under your Climate and Culture goal.

End of the year assessment is scheduled for: April 28^th – May  30^th

From Departments

From Educational Technology

We have some exciting things to share! The first one is an especially big deal. Please pass these onto your staff. 

New Resource: Swank 🎥

Swank is our district’s new streaming service for feature films, offering a library of 215 titles, with the option to request additional films when needed. It provides a simple, legal way for teachers and administrators to use movies in the classroom and for school events, while replacing personal streaming services and hardwiring devices. Learn more in our Introducing Swank blog post.

Getting Started with typing.com 

With keyboards now in the hands of high school students, typing.com is available through Clever to help build typing skills. Learn more in our Getting Started with typing.com blog post. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:

1. Student Anti-Bias Lessons:

The 25-26 anti-bias student lessons are here!  As a reminder, this is an annual lesson for all students K-12, required to be completed before Oct 31.  While there is a sequence of suggested lessons, there is only one required lesson.  For self-contained classes or longer advisory periods, you can fit it into one session; for shorter periods, plan on two sessions to complete it.

The lessons have been refreshed with improved slides, updated content, and new activities.  For 6th-12th grades, there is a new video featuring the voices and experiences of our very own students!  (Fun fact: it was filmed and produced by a recent BLS graduate.)  

Principals, please be sure to:

1. review the materials yourself (watch the student video!),
2. consider adding in your own message to personalize the lesson (see Slide #3 on the HS slide show for an example of a principal’s message to the school)
3. share all lesson materials with your teachers asap,
4. ideally, provide planning time for teachers to review the updated materials,
5. make a copy of the Family Letter, hyperlink your level’s slides, edit any of the message as you see fit, and send to your families at least a few days before the lesson is taught,
6. contact the Advocacy Coaches if you’d like prep or co-teaching support for your teachers,
7. be in classes and participate in the lesson with students if possible,
8. send any feedback from your teachers or families afterward, if applicable.

2. Policy note on requests to distribute information from community members: 

If you have local community partners or external groups requesting to share information with families or students, please direct them to the Community Bulletin Boards in your lobby area.  Some select partners and organizations can distribute materials more directly, but those are limited:  

Here is policy guidance on those levels of distribution, and here is a reference chart.  Principal or designee needs to approve, and all materials should support our values.  Related: Here is our Advertising policy on what businesses or groups can be displayed for donation/advertising-related purposes.  

Let me know if you have questions!  

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Ryan Kelling in Human Resources:

We have gotten some questions on the application of Article 15.4 of the BEA/BLS CBA should apply to itinerant staff – that is, those employees who work at more than one site – and are asking for some input on current practice. The contract language outlines expectations for Certified Employees to attend a set number of after-school/evening events each year. For itinerant staff, however, the application of this requirement is less clear and may require collaboration between sites.

To help us determine a standard practice moving forward, we’ve created a short Google Form with background information and a request for feedback. Please take a few minutes to review the form and share your perspective. https://forms.gle/4yqAkmMwbYLSMqKNA

Only administrators who currently supervise itinerant staff need to respond. Your input will be important as we work to establish clear and consistent expectations for these situations. Please fill this out by Wedensday, September 17, so that we can review and offer guidance.

Let Ryan know if you have any questions.

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From Scott in IT

iPad Keyboards and Headphones

We’ve received several questions regarding peripheral purchases (keyboards, headphones) for iPads—specifically whether IT will be providing anything further to support the new devices at both middle and high schools.

Keyboards

• IT purchased 5,900 keyboards for high schools and 1,500 lightning dongles for middle schools so existing keyboards can continue to be used.
• In the coming weeks, keyboards no longer needed at the high school level should begin trickling down to middle schools.
• This should allow all keyboard needs for grades 6–12 to be covered at no additional cost to schools.

Reminder: Last spring, we communicated that the replacement cost of lost bricks and cords would be forgiven for all families and schools. This normally represents a significant expense, so schools should not incur these charges this year.

Headphones

Headphone replacements will need to be handled by schools. Many of you have already placed orders through IT—thank you. Melissa is expediting these as they come in.

• Pricing:
  • Headphone adaptors (USB-C to 3.5): $9
  • USB-C headphones (without mic): $16

For middle schools purchasing new keyboards, an updated option is now available that includes an additional USB-C port. Pricing is very similar to what schools have paid in the past.

Special Programs
Many special programs are providing headphones for their students (e.g., Read180, ROAR). Students may also use their own headphones if permitted by the school.

Please share this information with your staff, and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.

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From Gabe:

Athletics and Activities SMORE

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From: Dave Van Loo, Director of School Improvement:

Rapid Online Assessment of Reading (ROAR)

• What is ROAR?

This year ROAR is a new assessment tool to screen students for potential reading difficulties. ROAR consists of a suite of measures that have been validated K-12 in over 20,000 students across 20 states; each measure is delivered through an online platform, is fully automated, and does not require a test administrator. ROAR rapidly provides precise indices of reading ability with greater precision than many standardized, individually-administered reading assessments. easyCBM is not required or recommended as a screening tool. Our plan is to give ROAR to all 6th-8th graders this fall, by the end of September or early October. Two key purposes this will serve are (1) Universal screening for potential reading difficulties and (2) To provide us with data on the adequacy of currently available curriculum and intervention supports to meet student needs in our middle schools. ROAR is available to use with individual students in grades 9-12 as is helpful. Contact Dave VanLoo with any questions or to find a time to meet about ROAR. 

• Information for school staff

Here is a resource for school staff to support implementation of ROAR. 6th-12th Grade ROAR Assessment Help Sheet

• Information for middle schools to share with families via newsletters or other communication methods. (Please note that opting out of ROAR applies only to research happening at Stanford University. This does not opt the student out of taking ROAR at their school.) Feel free to edit this text to meet your school’s needs. 

Our school is using a new tool to help meet students’ learning needs. The Rapid Online Assessment of Reading (ROAR) is a set of student-friendly, game-like activities that assesses important reading skills and provides valuable information to teachers. More detailed information and resources for families are available at this link ROAR Family Guide.pdf. 

ROAR comes from Stanford University and results are used in research to improve teaching, learning, and assessment in schools. If you wish to have your child’s performance on ROAR excluded from this research, complete the form linked in this letter ROAR Research Information Sheet – English and Spanish.pdf. Submitting this form does not exclude your child from participating in our school’s universal screening assessment systems. It simply means that their results will not be included in Stanford’s research studies.  

2025-26 District Assessment, Testing, & Surveys

Here are two updated documents summarizing common standardized tests and surveys for the current school year. One is a schedule showing when different assessment activities occur. The other is a general overview of the purpose and logistics of these assessments. Both of these documents will continue to be updated throughout the year as is beneficial. Please reach out with any questions.

BLP Testing Schedule 2025-26

Major Tests & Surveys 2025-26 Bend-La Pine
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From our Operations Team:

From The Facilities Custodial Team:

Thank you for your survey feedback.  Here are links with more information.

•  BLSD Custodial Memo Survey Feedback.docx
•  BLSD Custodial Survey Analysis.docx

From Paul:

We are initiating a districtwide enrollment forecasting study in partnership with FLO Analytics, a firm specializing in K–12 demographic and facility planning. Their work will support our ongoing efforts to align resources, programs, and facilities with student needs.

FLO will be analyzing:

• Historical and current enrollment trends
• Housing development and land use data
• Grade progression and demographic patterns
• Heat maps identifying where students live, what school they attend and how this is expected to change in the next 10 years

The forecast will be completed in the first quarter of 2026  and is designed to inform future planning conversations. We will share the findings in a way that supports transparency and collaboration as next steps emerge.  Please direct any questions about the process to me

From Transportation:

Thank you for your patience as we continue to work through our backlog of requests from families.  If you have an immediate need don’t email [email protected].  Instead, please contact our office directly via phone.

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From: Aimee Snyder, DrPH | Adolescent and School Health Supervisor

Sources Adult Advisor (AA) Refresher Training, Sept 22 12:30-4pm, Bend High Perseverance Hall

All existing Sources of Strength Adult Advisors (AA) working with your school’s Peer Leaders are expected to take a refresher training this year. 

We’re offering a district-wide AA Refresher training on Sept 22 from 12:30-4pm in Bend High’s Perseverance Hall.  Direct AAs to register for the Refresher Training using this link.  

Sub costs will come out of your school’s $5,000 Sources budgets.  Direct staff who need subs to include “Sources AA Refresher” as the reason for their sub requests in lieu of an account code.  Contact Kristan Shobe with any questions about Sources budgets and account codes. 

Each school should have 2-3+ AAs to meet fidelity criteria: usually one Lead AA and 2+ supporting AAs.  The 1:7 adult-to-student ratio is how the program works using social networks to connect students to supportive adults for help and mentorship. 

The district is working on making extra duty stipends available for AA supporting and mentoring Sources Peer Leaders.  To qualify, the AAs will need to have taken a new AA or refresher training in the past year or this year.  More details to come on the stipends, which are pending formal agreement with BEA and processing from HR.

A new AA training will be offered in Spring.  If you have new AAs who will need to be trained, talk to your Public Health Specialist about whether the new AA could attend the Fall Refresher training or if they would need to wait until Spring for the new AA training.  

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From Culture of Care and COREN:

As you may know, COREN and Culture of Care will be merging. While we are still determining the structure of this consolidation, we want to ensure you have access to our ongoing services and the data for the work Culture of Care completed with your district last year. 

• Culture of Care 2025 Update for Districts

Please let us know if you have any questions.

MS Only

Please ensure your TAG admin and ICCL are up to date in the Teams and Leads document.

HS Only

Pay for ACT and PSAT Proctors: We will pay for the cost of proctors for both tests.  Staff earn curriculum rate ($37.86 per hour) and it’s usually for about 3 hours.  Please send the timesheets to April J.

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From Jenn Hauth:

Please remember to add this to your newsletters/socials this week and next for senior families. Please include the flyer link, the time and the location. We really want to make sure we have a good turn out as this is the only college night for seniors.

We are excited to announce our upcoming College Application Kickoff Night! This event will take place on Wednesday September 17^th from 6-7:30 pm at Caldera High School. This event is designed to support our 12th grade students and their families as they begin the college application process.

During the evening, families will:

• Receive an overview of the college application process
• Learn how to navigate the College Application Manager in SchooLinks
• Gain awareness of the many postsecondary planning supports available at our schools
• Connect directly with school counselors and STCs from each high school

📎 Please see the attached communication that can be shared directly with families. We encourage you to include and highlight this event in your schoolwide communications and post it on your school’s social media channels.

Calendar

September 16: HS Administrator WS 9-11@ LPHS

September 18: HS Counselor/Administrator PLC 8-10 @ BSHS/ Perseverance Hall – Admin overseeing counseling departments required to attend

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

Coming mid November: Course Requests DUE! We will share more info soon.

Where in the World

Congratulations to our winner from last week: Ashley Cooper, Assistant Principal at Summit High School! The picture was of Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island.  A must see if you’ve never been!

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.

Here is the image for this week:

We hope you had a great first week!

To Do

MS/HS Principals: Please fill out this form with your final list of early adopters. CMS and Realms, please fill out if your folks meet the criteria listed in the survey even if they’re not technically early adopters.

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Student SBG Slides

Please find a way to have your early adopters share the following slides (or the same content) with their students.

MS SBG Explainer

HS SBG Explainer

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Waypoints Assessment for grades 3-12: 

This required assessment opens September 18th and closes October 25th for grades 3-12. Student results will become available for all admin/counselors on the Wayfinder MTSS dashboard once all schools have completed the assessment, or October 27th. If all schools are done before October 24th, I will close the assessment so the data is available sooner. End of the year assessment is scheduled for: April 28^th – May  30^th

o     Overview of resources. One pager for new Admin.

o    3-5 Implementation Guide

o    6-12 Implementation Guide and 6-12 Teacher Directions

o    Admin Tutorial Video

The assessment takes 15 to 20 minutes and can be completed on a student’s Ipad, using Clever and then selecting Wayfinder. Here are instructions for how it will appear in Student View. 

• For students in grades 3–5: When they log in to the Wayfinder platform, the Waypoints assessment will be clearly visible at the top of their dashboard. It will appear as a box containing the assessment’s name with a “Start” button next to it.
• For students in grades 6–12: When students log in, the Waypoints assessment will be displayed in their “To-Do List,” which is typically located on the right side of the page. On a smaller screen like an iPad, the To-Do List may appear at the top of the screen. Students will see the name of the assessment and a “Start” button. 

Students can leave and return to the assessment at any time, as their progress is automatically saved. 

Please make sure that all teachers understand the “Why” behind the assessment and that the student results will help to identify students in need of additional skill building groups. They need to read the instructions to the students so 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.

Finally, we don’t need to get parent permission for Waypoints. However, there is a letter that you can make a copy of to use for your newsletter if you would like.

This was information was shared with all school counselors:

For the 2025–26 school year, we recommend not completing a school-wide needs assessment by school counselors. Between Synergy’s Early Warning System (EWS), Wayfinder’s Waypoints Assessment, and your school’s Request for Assistance (RFA) process, we should have sufficient data to identify students who may need additional targeted support. If, after consultation with your administrative team, you determine that an additional needs assessment is still necessary, please connect with Jennifer Hauth and Jess Calbreath before moving forward.

If your school chooses to administer a needs assessment, please follow the guidelines and best practices listed on this document.

From Departments

From Ryan in HR:

UKG To-Do’s
You may have outstanding Personnel Action (PA) items in your To-Do section in UKG that require your approval for employees, whether they are new hires or returning staff. Please take a few moments this week to review and approve these items. Timely approval ensures that employees are correctly rolled over in the system, properly credited for their service, and paid without delay.

If you have any questions or need assistance with the process, please reach out to HR-Tech ([email protected])

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From Jess in TLC:

Dear Counselors and Administrators,

We are excited to announce our upcoming College Application Kickoff Night! This event will take place on Wednesday September 17^th from 6-7:30 pm at Caldera High School. This event is designed to support our 12th grade students and their families as they begin the college application process.

During the evening, families will:

• Receive an overview of the college application process
• Learn how to navigate the College Application Manager in SchooLinks
• Gain awareness of the many postsecondary planning supports available at our schools
• Connect directly with school counselors and STCs from each high school

📎 Please see the attached communication that can be shared directly with families. We encourage you to include and highlight this event in your schoolwide communications and post it on your school’s social media channels.

This is a wonderful opportunity to launch an exciting season for our seniors, and we hope to see strong family participation.

Thank you for your partnership in supporting students through this important next step!

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From Kinsey – Policy and Advocacy:

Cell phone policy:

As of Sept 9th, you’ll find here the updated policy draft related to cell phone use in schools.  This is going out for community feedback on Sept 9; feedback will be incorporated as applicable into the final version for adoption October 14.  Much of this language derives from state legislation and as such cannot be significantly modified.  Secondary admin have also provided great input already.  However, if you, your staff, or your students and families have feedback on these drafts, please share (see feedback form available on the webpage linked above).  Engagement in our policy process is always valued and appreciated.

Office team trainings:

All Office Managers and Registrars will be out of your building for required trainings during afternoon SIW on the dates below.  Please plan accordingly for alternative coverage or office closure on these afternoons.  Thank you!

Sept 17, Oct 22, Dec 3, Jan 14, March 11, April 29, May 27

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From Andrea in HR:

Certified Personal Leave Request Process Change

Human Resources is making a change to how certified employee personal leave requests are processed for the 2025-26 school year. 

Historically, HR has been responsible for approval / denial of all certified employee personal leave requests. This created an unnecessary step for both sites and HR, especially since the BEA collective bargaining agreement does not require it.  

Beginning this school year, HR review will only be required when a certified employee personal leave request falls within the restricted time frames outlined in the BEA contract. 

Approval or denial of all personal leave requests that are outside of the restricted time periods will be the responsibility of building principals. Please familiarize yourself with the criteria outlined in Article 7.8 regarding Personal Leave and ensure these guidelines are followed when processing requests. 

7. Personal Leave

7.8.1      The District recognizes that a Certified Employee may need time off for personal reasons. Two (2) working days paid leave of absence may be used as personal leave. If a bargaining unit Certified Employee works less than ninety-five (95) workdays (not including unpaid leave), the District shall provide only one (1) day of personal leave. Personal leave may be used for personal reasons if a qualified substitute is available. Personal leave may also be used for the employee’s illness/injury and the illness/injury of the employee’s immediate family. Personal leave shall be used in increments of at least four (4) hours when a substitute is required by the district. If a substitute is not required by the district or if the district approves internal coverage, personal leave shall be used in increments of one (1) hour. Certified employees scheduled for less than eight (8) hours in a particular workday will not have personal leave deducted more than the number of hours scheduled.

7.8.2      No more than five percent (5%) of the bargaining unit Certified Employees in a school or two (2) bargaining unit Certified Employees, whichever is greater, may take personal leave on a given day. The Superintendent or their designee may make exceptions due to unusual or highly extenuating circumstances. Exceptions made by the Superintendent, or their designee will not be revoked.

7.8.3      Leave shall not be taken during the first week of the students’ school year, the last week of the semester/trimester or the last two weeks of the school year. Leave shall not be taken during parent conference days. The Superintendent or their designee may make exceptions due to unusual or highly extenuating circumstances. Exceptions made by the Superintendent, or their designee will not be revoked.

7.8.4      The District will not rescind personal leave once approved by the Human Resources Department or Superintendent/designee.

7.8.5      The District will allow the following options for the use of personal leave:

7.8.5.1   Certified employees will be allowed to bank up to two (2) days of unused personal leave for future use, but no more than four (4) days of personal leave (two current year personal leave and two banked personal leave) will be available in any given year. 

7.8.5.2   Reimburse Certified employees for unused personal leave up to two (2) days at the daily sub rate of pay. The District shall provide Certified employees payment within thirty (30) days of the last workday of the contract year. 

We will be sharing this information with Office Managers on Friday, September 5, along with some more detailed instructions. In the meantime, please reach out with any questions. We hope this change will help make the process easier and more efficient for everyone!

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From Sara in Student Services:

Please pay close attention to #4

From Gabe Pagano Director of Activities and Athletics:

September 1st-5th, 2025 – Weekly SMORE

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Check out this Recognition and Appreciation Calendar that Robi Cole put together.

Calendar

September 11: HS Tier 2 Academic Intervention Team meeting 2:30 @ SHS

September 16: HS Administrator WS 9-11@ LPHS

September 25th: MS Horizontal @ PCMS 3-5

Where in the World

Congratulations to our winner from last week: Jamie Brock. Isak Heartstone, a large wooden troll sculpture located in Breckenridge, Colorado, along the Trollstigen Trail.  Isak was created by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo who has created several trolls around the world.  Check out this map to see where else you can find Dambo’s work! 

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.

Here is the image for this week:

Thank you for an amazing welcome back week! We are so impressed by the number of teachers choosing to be early adopters! That is a testament to your leadership and hard work!

Thank you all for your attendance at the Standards Based Grading Mini Conference.  Below is an electronic version of the 1-page handout.  On page 2 is a link to the folder of all of the slides from the mini sessions. Handout from Mini Conference 

To Do

MS and HS Principals: plan on sending out this SBGI letter: Family letter to your families by next week. Scroll down for the Spanish version and be sure to remove the MS/HS grade chart based on your level

HS Principals only: Please send this letter as well, regarding College Dual Credit: Family Letter – College Dual Credit (Spanish Translation should be ready within the week and will be added)

Feel free to add your school logo and your signature, but do not change the contents of the either letter.

MS/HS Principals: Teachers who are Early Adopters need to send this letter to the families for every class in which SBGI will be implemented. Scroll for the Spanish version.

Chris and I shared the SBGI district communication plan in our session Wednesday morning which includes letters, graphics and templates that may be helpful for schools and teachers. Here are the slides. We also included screenshots that may be helpful to share with families and students.

From Departments

Grades and Credit AR changes approved by School Board:

Changes to the Grades and Credit AR were approved at the last board meeting.  

During a bargaining session with BEA, it was determined the amount of time a teacher must have feedback in the gradebook (SYNERGY) from the time in which an assignment was due.  

Teachers are required to update their gradebook 3 weeks after an assignment was due to them. Thank you for reviewing this change with your teachers.

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From Sean Reinhart and Aimee Snyder:

$5,000 Budget Per School for Sources of Strength

Each school has the opportunity to receive $5,000 for operating Sources of Strength-Secondary for the 2025-2026 school year.  

Work with your Healthy Schools Public Health Specialist to develop a plan and budget that will aim to meet Sources fidelity by the end of the school year.  See the BLS Sources of Strength Budgets and Fidelity document with more details. 

Once schools have a plan/budget that will meet Sources fidelity, remaining funds can be used for other evidence-based/-informed suicide prevention efforts, such as timesheeting for coordinating school-wide Wayfinder lessons or school health teams that coordinate multiple positive, inclusive school climate activities over a 4-8 week time period. 

This is a two-year grant, specific to suicide prevention. Funds will not rollover. Unspent funds will be reallocated across Sources schools in the 2026-2027 school year and must be spent by the end of that school year.

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ICCL Reminder from Human Resources

We still have several schools who have not completed their ICCL hires for 2025-26.

• Please take a look at the ICCL Master List and verify the employees listed for your site are correct.
• If you need to hire, please follow the ICCL posting and hiring process (check-out line 281 on the ICCL Master List with ICCL Instructions).
• Any ICCL questions should be directed to Candy Gelatt in Human Resources: [email protected] or x1116.

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BLS School Counseling Program Updates for 2025-26

As we start the 2025-26 school year, we want to share important updates regarding our Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP) and how you, as administrators, can be a support to the implementation of CSCP at your school. On August 27, BLS School Counselors gathered for a productive day of planning and collaboration. You can view their slide deck here to see the impressive work being done.

We are pleased to introduce the BLS School Counseling Handbook, a comprehensive resource designed for school counselors, administrators, and educational leaders. Inside, you’ll find:

• The mission, vision, and beliefs of our program
• District priorities and goals
• Roles of counselors and administrators
• Program design, implementation, policy and aligned practices
• Tools, templates, and practices for effective support

Here are the key expectations for this year:

• Complete School-Level CSCP Planning Template – due May 2026, outlining:
  • Annual Calendar – due Oct. 2025
  • Administrator Yearly Planning Conference – held by Oct. 2025
  • Student Outcome Goals (Tier 1 & 2) – due Nov. 2025 (these can be used as SLGGs)
  • Use of Time Study – by Apr. 2026
  • Tiered Program Supports (by domain & tier) – by Apr. 2026
  • Annual Data Review – by May 2026
  • End of Year Results Presentation – May/June 2026

Additionally, counselors will now track student interactions using Synergy’s MTSS Activity Tracker Module, moving away from Student Conference, to enhance access to school counseling data as we continue to develop our MTSS dashboard.

For your reference: School Counselors Professional Learning Calendar with Shared SIW and END Dates.

Wayfinder Updates:

​​We are hopeful to have the Wayfinder admin dashboards have more accurate data but Synergy is currently sending too much data through Clever to Wayfinder. I have put in a help desk ticket but in the meantime, you can edit your teacher list using the following steps:

Here is the helpdesk overview on How to Edit User Data on Admin Dashboards. 

• If you select “unclick content views” and only have “content completions,” then make sure to assign the workbooks or a collection as the featured content. 
• For counselors and support staff, please mark them as “content views,” not “content completion.”
• If there are people in the app that do NOT use Wayfinder, unclick both “content views” and “content collections.”

Other Resources:

• Staff Leader resource library: Staff slide decks, implementation ideas, mtss overview 

Student Success Intervention Updates

Student Success Coordinators/Instructors(Not Clinicians) will now track student interactions using Synergy’s MTSS Activity Tracker Module, moving away from the Synergy Intervention tab to enhance access in all interventions that students are receiving in one place as we continue to develop our MTSS dashboard. Here are the training slides from their PD day on the 27th.

We are excited to be moving forward with our Student Success Clinicians embarking on the Medicaid Billing endeavor! They were all trained on the SEAS Medicaid billing platform and here are the slides from yesterday. As a result of documenting the important clinical work that they are doing, our district can be eligible to be reimbursed for most of the vital services that they are providing.  

In light of these changes, it is essential that our Student Success Coordinators and Clinicians are receiving their weekly prep and case management time to ensure that they can engage in their documentation and provide care coordination for their students and families that they work with.  

For Full-time Elementary Student Success Certified Staff

• Case Management Minutes:  An elementary specialist has a scheduled total of no fewer than 215 minutes per week for case management responsibilities. This time is set aside in blocks of no less than 30 minutes for these responsibilities.
• Prep Time: An elementary Student Success Clinician is scheduled for a minimum of 385 minutes of preparation time per week. This time includes a period of at least 30 minutes per day, uninterrupted, within the student day for grades K-5.

For Full-time Secondary Student Success Certified Staff: 

• Case Management Minutes:  A secondary specialist has a scheduled total of no fewer than 215 minutes per week for case management responsibilities. This time is set aside in blocks of no less than 30 minutes for these responsibilities.
• Prep Time: A secondary Student Success Clinician is scheduled for no fewer than 300 minutes of preparation time per week.  Preparation time shall include at least one daily preparation period equal in length to a normal class period.

For your reference: Student Success PD Calendars 25/26 with Shared SIW and END Dates.

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From Paul Dean:

Animals on school grounds: We want to take a moment to remind school about our district practices with regards to animals on school grounds.  We do not have any district policy that prohibits dogs outside of school hours on our property.  ING-AR: Animal Visitors under Owner Responsibility reads:

• Owners walking animals on school grounds must follow city or county ordinances regarding leashing and sanitation. 
• Principals and their designees have the authority to exclude persons and their animals from play fields when he/she determines that there are associated health and/or safety concerns. 

Last year, we created and distributed one of the signs below to your school.  

We have created this Community Use Violation Notice [and here is a Spanish Version] that you may copy, edit, print, laminate and zip tie to your gate(s) when you are restricting public access by locking your gates.  

If you would like to order additional signs ($65 each), please submit a work order request along with a budget code.  Maintenance will collaborate with you regarding where to place your additional signs.  Please reach out to Dan Dummitt for further assistance with signs. 

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From Kayla in Safety:

SafeOregon has been updated and the entire admin team at each secondary school will receive emails and calls. Our new AD/APs at the comprehensive high schools have been added to callout list for SafeOregon. Additionally, now that all Deans are listed as APs they have been added to the callout list. 

Linked here are the Safe Oregon Protocols. All new admin were briefed at the New Administrator orientation. Reach out to Kayla with questions.

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From Gabe Pagano Director of Activities and Athletics:

August 25th-29th, 2025 – Weekly SMORE

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From Jess Calbreath, Lead Counselor

Counselor updates for August 29, 2025

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From IT:

Parents will be able to view schedules in ParentVue on August 29.

HS Only

By tomorrow, August 29: link your SIW plan to HS Admin calendar/planner

Calendar

September 3: 6th/9th grade only days!

September 4: 6th-12th grade students back to school!

September 11: HS Tier 2 Academic Intervention Team meeting 2:30 @ SHS

September 16: HS Administrator WS 9-11@ LPHS

Where in the World

Congratulations to our winner from last week: Paul Hutter. The answer was La Forchette, Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

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.

Here is the image for this week:

To Do

After the morning sessions on 8/27, please provide PLC/Department time for teachers to debrief their sessions. Here are some guiding questions you can use, or develop some of your own. It is important to have your teachers participate in this work as part of the entire day of training.

SSC, SSI, School Counselors, School Psychologists will not participate as they will be in training at Caldera HS all day!

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Look for an email from Lisa tomorrow with information on the new BLAST leave sheet and process.

From Departments

From TLC:

Curriculum Update 

We are working hard to get all the final curriculum purchased and deployed. However, we know that there will be a few curricula that fall through the cracks. Teachers will be able to see all the curricular tools that have been assigned to their courses here: https://instructionaltools.bend.k12.or.us/ . If you hear from a teacher that they do not have access to something they requested, they should check there first to see if it is deployed. 

We know that there are some teachers who have new requests due to a reassignment or now want a new curricular tool. Additionally, there are always a few tools that for no fault of the teacher, do not get deployed.   We have created a process to record their need and expedite the curricular resource. 

Here is a Google form that can be used to help us understand any missed curriculum. Please share with office staff who may be working with teachers in need of curriculum.

Health Curriculum textbooks, Live Well, will begin to arrive next week.  Northwest Text Depository has emptied their shelves for us, but it looks like they are a few short. Skyview and 3Rivers will arrive mid-September. Teachers and students will have access through Canvas to digital text.  

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Standards Based Instruction and Grading Mini-Conference

On Wednesday, August 27th all teachers and administrators will be meeting at PCMS for our SBIG Mini conference. Please encourage your staff member to take a bus from LPHS, BHSH, MVHS or CHS to alleviate parking issues.  We will have parking spots at PCMS, Miller Elementary, and Summit (for those who want a bit of a walk), but that will not be enough!

Also, please encourage staff to bring a device to access the Google Folder of presentations (available next week) and other resources. 

Here is the 1-page document that teachers will receive when they walk into PCMS. This is for your information, do not share with staff. Presenters are still working to load presentations into the folder. General information was in last week’s blog post. 

After the morning sessions, please provide PLC/Department time for teachers to debrief their sessions. Here are some guiding questions you can use, or develop some of your own.

SSC, SSI, School Counselors, School Psychologists will not participate as they will be in training at Caldera HS all day!

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From Ryan Kelling in HR:

Updated Requirement: Interviews for All Vacancies

In the past, Administrators and Supervisors were not required to conduct interviews when the number of applicants matched the number of vacancies. While this may have streamlined the hiring process, we have since identified it as a poor practice because it removes the opportunity to evaluate the applicant’s skills, knowledge, and ability to meet the demands of the role. This approach does not align with our commitment to selecting the most qualified candidates through a fair and thorough process.

Effective immediately, all candidates must participate in an interview before being considered for hire, regardless of the number of applicants or vacancies. 

This ensures that:

• Each candidate demonstrates proficiency and readiness for the role.
• We maintain a consistent, equitable hiring process across the organization.
• Hiring decisions are based on observable qualifications and competencies.

This shift strengthens the integrity of our selection process and supports our goal of bringing the most capable talent into every position. Please plan accordingly when scheduling your hiring process.

If you have questions about this change, please call me.

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From Jess Calbreath, Lead Counselor:

School Counseling Program Updates 

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From Gabe Pagano Director of Activities and Athletics:

Athletics and Activities weekly updates

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From Eric Powell in Student Services:

10-Day Inactivation Process to Attendance Staff

On August 27, your secretarial staff who input/track daily attendance will receive the following information regarding changes to our 10-Day Inactivation process. 

Here is a link to that information: 10-Day Inactivations

The key highlights for you to know about are:

*Synergy will auto-send attendance letters to families after a student has missed 6 consecutive school days (Unexcused or Unverified ONLY)

*Synergy will auto-send attendance letters to families after a student has been 10-day Inactivated

*Both of these letters request families to connect with the school to schedule a meeting focused on supporting the student return to school

*At days 3, 6, and 9, school teams are asked to designate a staff member to reach out to the family to check on the student

*If a student is 10-day inactivated, your school team can fill out a Request for Assistance to ask the District’s Tier 3 Attendance team for support with a Home Visit or family outreach

Thank you!

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Also from Eric:

The Synergy/Tier 1 Slides for your staff if you need them are LINKED HERE

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From Karen Rush with Ed Tech:

AI PD & Resources in One Place

Everything you need for the Artificial Intelligence PD is on the new AI in BLS website, including the full slide deck for your upcoming staff training, and the AI syllabus statement and Acceptable Use Scale, to be included in course syllabi. 

The training takes about 90 minutes. We’ve scheduled it during August in-service so staff can explore AI early, with the hope that leveraging it can help lighten their workload as the year gets rolling. 

There’s no need to be an AI expert. Just open the deck and guide your staff through it. The goal is to share accurate, useful, and timely information as we navigate the meaningful use of AI across the district.

Questions? Reach out anytime: [email protected]

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Specific note for TRS, SVM, BSH, CHS, LPH, and SHS

Over the weekend of Aug 16, student schedules from your school were inadvertently released to Canvas. This was not the fault of school staff. A misconfiguration in our system released these data prematurely. The issue was identified on Aug 18 and steps were immediately taken to prevent any further sharing of student schedules to Canvas. On Aug 19, our Canvas admins removed the student schedules from the Canvas environment. At this time, we are aware that some families were able to view schedules for their students. Those schedules were not finalized and have since been removed. We are now in a state where student schedules will become available in Canvas on Aug 28.

If you hear from a parent or guardian, please let them know that drafts were inadvertently shared and may contain errors.  Actual schedules will be available on Aug 28.  

This issue did not affect teachers.

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From Rachel Mavis in IT:

NEW Attendance Features!

L10 – New late (Tardy) code for Teachers and Office staff will use for students who arrive 10 minutes + after class start time.  In the past teachers have been required to use Absence Unverified. By using a super late code, the student will be marked in class – but super late.

ParentVUE Attendance – Parents will have the option to submit attendance through ParentVUE.  The attendance request will go into a queue, where the office staff will Accept or Deny. More details and information will be released soon.

MS Only

Please wrap up your part time schedules and share them with me this week!

HS Only

Cell Phone Policy: If you are interested in representing our HS team in a discussion, review, and feedback session regarding district policy for the new cell phone requirements, please contact Katie and Kinsey by Thursday the 21^st – today!  We would love to see at least one administrator from each high school.  We’ll reach out to folks after that to schedule the conversation.

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$ if you act fast:  You could claim $1,449.58 to use towards attendance incentives THIS year.  The first HS principal who emails me that they are committed to using the money to support attendance in 25-26, will receive the account code!

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The BLPO enrollment changes are in effect at the beginning of this school year.  HERE is the link to the guidance.

We are busy delivering congratulatory signs to students earning an outstanding exam score on an IB or AP exam or a Seal of Biliteracy.  If you are interested in helping to delivery these to the homes of our students, please reach out to Scott Maben.  The plan is to deliver them before school begins Sept 3.

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By August 22: Part Time Schedules should be linked HERE

By August 22: link/complete the inservice plan document and the teams/leads doc in the HS Admin calendar/planner

By August 29: link your school’s SIW plan to HS Admin calendar/planner

Calendar

August 25: Certified return to work

August 26: District Welcome Back – Virtual – 8:30-10:00

August 27: District PD Day

September 3: 6th/9th grade only days!

September 4: 6th-12th grade students back to school!

Where in the World

Congratulations to Julie Stroinski who won the drawing last week!

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.

Here is the image for this week:

To Do

1. Share syllabus requirements with staff
2. Submit 2025-26 BLAST Non Contract calendar to Stephen and Katie (VPs, submit to your principal. 
3. A new website and ParentSquare are coming! Complete this SURVEY for communications by August 1.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Please share this information with your teachers regarding August 27:

We are  excited to invite all secondary teachers and administrators to a special Standards-Based Instruction and Grading Mini-Conference at Pacific Crest Middle School on August 27 from 8:30 to 12:15, for the District Directed Professional Development Day. 

This engaging professional development event will begin with our keynote, “Instructional Pillars and What’s in the Box?”, followed by almost 20 choices repeated over three interactive sessions selected designed to deepen understanding of the SBIG framework. Participants will explore how proficiency in district standards—not behavior—drives grading, how feedback via rubrics empowers student learning, and how practices like the decaying average and reassessment opportunities support growth. Sessions will highlight practical strategies, technology tools, communication approaches, and ways to design assessments that truly measure learning. Join us to connect with colleagues, learn from expert presenters, and prepare for a smooth, impactful shift to Standards-Based Grading.

Due to parking concerns, buses will run from Bend Senior High School, Caldera High School, La Pine High School and Mountain View High School. Buses will leave Bend schools at 8:00, and La Pine High School at 7:45. We encourage you to ride the bus or carpool to the site. 

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After the morning sessions, please provide PLC/Department time for teachers to debrief their sessions. Here are some guiding questions you can use, or develop some of your own.

SSC, SSI, School Counselors, School Psychologists will not participate as they will be in training at Caldera HS all day!

From Departments

From Ryan in Human Resources:

Our New Certified Administrator Orientation will be held on Thursday, August 21 at North Star.

• Breakfast: 7:00 AM – Bend Breakfast Burrito will be catering; enjoy a burrito, muffin, coffee, and connection time with our new hires.
• Program Start: 8:00 AM

Any school or department that hired a new Certified employee is required to send a representative so that you can connect with that person/people, but all are welcome to attend, and we encourage you to join us in welcoming our new staff.

If you’re unsure whether your school needs to send a representative, please email me directly.

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From your Student Services Administrators

This was sent to all student services staff members today:

Welcome back to the 25-26 school year!

Please see the attached schedules for in-service week for returning certified and classified staff and new certified and classified staff.

New staff (certified and classified), you have additional onboarding, so please make sure you are looking at the new certified or new classified schedules.

ALL certified staff, the schedule for the District PD day is embedded in the calendar on August 27^th with a link labeled District PD Day.

If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].

We look forward to seeing you!

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From Scott in IT:

Greetings,

Our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for student device use was updated during the 24-25 school year.  The new version is what our families are receiving in their enrollment materials.  I have linked the updated AUP here.  Sections that you may want to be familiar with include:

      • Grade 6-12 Insurance Device Damage and Loss Guidelines

      • Device Use

      •The Student Pledge

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From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Equity:

(HS Admin Only) Cell phone policy changes:

If you are interested in participating in a discussion, review, and feedback session regarding district policy for the new cell phone requirements, please contact Katie and I by Thursday the 21st.  We would love to see at least one administrator from each high school.  We’ll reach out to folks after that to schedule the conversation.

In the meantime, here are talking points you can use with your staff.  

Policy Notes:

Updated Attendance policy (updated per conversations and feedback throughout last year).  Please be familiar with the changes to procedures and responsibilities, share with your office and MTSS staff, and bring any questions to the September horizontal admin meeting.  Related: Employee Attendance policy–good reminders for all of us!

Updated Grades and Credits policy final version.  Feel free to share this directly with your teachers and counselors (secondary in particular), if helpful.  

Here are the reference slides from the policy training last April.  Topics/Guidance includes:

  -Law enforcement, student searches, DHS,

  -ICE (here’s additional ICE guidance),

  -controversial subjects (share the policy with your teachers),

  -parent requests for teachers, etc.  

Please share those reference slides with applicable staff, print, and/or bookmark as needed–you don’t want to be looking for these in a time-sensitive situation. 

Updated transportation policy: We updated the series of policies related to transportation.  One important change for you (and ADs/coaches):

Either we provide the bus, or students/families need to coordinate their own rides—employees, including coaches, should not coordinate groups of students with drivers of private vehicles.  Parent volunteers or team parents are welcome to coordinate with other volunteers, but district employees are not involved in non-district transportation arrangements. 

Related: field trip permission forms have been updated (all languages available on the Portal): please share with teachers and office staff.  

Have a recommendation regarding a policy issue?  Please use this form to suggest updates, request changes, identify gaps in policy language, etc. 

Looking for the policy that covers a particular topic?  Need help interpreting a policy for a particular situation?  Contact me! 

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From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Equity:

Here is follow-up from the complaint training this week.  Please save, file, or bookmark as needed (also sent via email):  

Flowchart for navigating complaints, policies, and timelines.  

Your Dashboard–put this in your Bookmarks Bar!  The link leads to your personal school-specific view (Smartsheet is magic).  

Form for reporting a complaint or a bias incident.  

• Available on the district website: ‘Engage with Us’ blue rectange –> Complaints
• Available as an app/icon on student and staff iPads
• Poster with QR code, for community spaces on campus (lobby, staff lounge, gym, stadium).  

Reach out to me if I can support any investigations or responses to complaints, bias incidents, or policy interpretation or decisions.  Triz is your go-to for employee issues that your admin team identifies directly (not a complaint brought to you by a third party), or for determining personnel actions if your complaint investigation has confirmed there was employee misconduct, policy violation, or performance issues.  

Appreciate your (competitive) engagement in the training.  I learned a lot about how to play Jeopardy!  I hope you learned a bit about complaint navigation.  I’d love any feedback on the training or this topic as it arises.  

Thank you~

 

MS Only

1. UPDATE: Part Time Schedules done by 8/22
2. Send staff-facing Admin team responsibility document to Stephen by 8/31
3. Fill out inservice week times in MS admin calendar/planner by 8/22
4. Fill out Teams/Leads by 8/31

HS Only

August 18, 2025 Counselor and HS admin meeting: Counselors and the admin who oversee the counseling department should attend this virtual meeting from 10-11. We’ll be reviewing key aligned practices that are especially important as we launch into the busy start-of-year season, including:

• Grades and Credit AR Review
• Partial Credit Updates
• BLSO Guidelines and Process with SmartSheet
• Expanded Options

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

By August 22: Part Time HS Schedules should be linked HERE

By August 22: link/complete your inservice plan document and your teams/leads doc in the HS Admin calendar/planner

By August 29: link SIW plan to HS Admin calendar/planner

Calendar

August 21: New Teacher Work Day

August 22: Middle School Advisory Meeting – Ed Center Rm 312 – 11-1

August 25: Certified return to work

August 26: District Welcome Back – Virtual – 8:30-10:00

August 27: District PD Day

September 3: 6th/9th grade only days!

September 4: 6th-12th grade students back to school!

Where in the World

Congratulations to MacKenzie Groshong who won our first drawing last week!!!

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.

Here is the image for this week:

Important reminders

Safe schools training completion:

You may have questions about the time for staff to complete the mandatory safe schools trainings. This time is already accounted for so you do not need to designate more time for the completion of these trainings.

Evening events for certified staff:

Beginning with the 25-26 school year, certified staff may be required to attend three evening events. However, they must be notified 60 days prior to the event.

Here is the relevant language in the CBA:

15.4. Certified Employees may be required to attend up to one after-school/evening event in the remainder of the 2023-24 school year, up to two (2) after-school/evening events in the 2024-25 school year, and up to three after-school/evening events per year in the 2025-26 school year, such as graduation, family engagement events, open house, etc., and use the remaining time towards Safe Schools training, as contracted “Day 190”. Site administrators will communicate required dates to all Certified Employees no less than sixty (60) days in advance.

To Do

AI PD & Resources in One Place

Everything you need for the Artificial Intelligence PD is on the new AI in BLS website, including the full slide deck for your upcoming staff training, and the AI syllabus statement and Acceptable Use Scale, to be included in course syllabi. 

The training takes about 90 minutes. We’ve scheduled it during August in-service so staff can explore AI early, with the hope that leveraging it can help lighten their workload as the year gets rolling. 

There’s no need to be an AI expert. Just open the deck and guide your staff through it. The goal is to share accurate, useful, and timely information as we navigate the meaningful use of AI across the district.

Questions? Reach out anytime: [email protected]

From Departments

From Scott Maben (Communications):

I’m excited to share that we are building our new websites this summer, with a planned “go live” date of November 1. At the same time, we are starting to plan the launch of our new communications and engagement platform, ParentSquare, in the coming school year. We will share updates with you on both projects at our admin retreat in August.

To help us now, we need each school (Principal or designee) to complete the following form no later than August 1:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSUMVGL3UMfY1YGPAYngJtDvEK4ATwrnxxwqOQhQMdfBXW0Q/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=103087345545212921575

For ParentSquare, our goal is to complete all necessary training, onboarding and user orientation in the next six months, and go live with in January 2026 when we return from winter break.

To meet this timeline, we will need to provide basic training in use of ParentSquare for all staff members who have a role in communicating directly with families. This includes administrators, office staff, teachers, counselors, specialists, and family engagement roles.  After discussion with level leaders, it was determined that SIW time will not be an option for this training, we will develop a series of four short (20-minute) presentations that you can provide during staff meetings this fall. Every school will need to make time for these staff trainings in October, November and December to ensure everyone is prepared to make the switch to our new platform in January.

ParentSquare will be our approved platform for all communications – at the District, school, classroom and program levels. Several platforms (such as School Messenger and BLConnect) will be discontinued immediately, while others will be phased out over time. The strength of ParentSquare depends on consistent use and fidelity to the platform, and it will be critical for staff to refrain from using other apps or tools outside the suite of services we will have within ParentSquare.

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From Eric (Student Services):

IMPORTANT RESOURCE GUIDE: Here is a direct link to the 1-page Student Management Resource Guide: LINK HERE 

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From Tami Pike (Student Health):

To ensure a safe and successful field trip experience, review the Field Trip Checklist in advance.

It is essential to notify your school nurse at least two weeks prior to any field trip.

If a student requires direct nursing support during the trip, please complete the updated Request for Direct Care Nursing Services form at least two weeks prior to any field trip.

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From Kim Crabtree (Transportation):

Your school principal may receive an invite from Commute Options to meet.  Commute Options partners with us to help deliver education regarding safe walking/rolling to school. Commute Options has a great bike safety program (they provide the bikes/helmets).  We work closely with them to create safe walking paths to schools for our non-bus riders. Our department has hired an Active Transportation Coordinator (Michelle Rhoads) through a 2 year grant. The grant is very specific on where Michelle’s work must be directed (5 Title 1 schools). 

We hope to build a robust program district wide to support those that do not ride a bus. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me. If you are looking for education for your students- Commute Options is your go-to at this time (we are happy to coordinate that for you also through them). 

Have a great safe start to the year!

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From Kinsey Martin (Policy/Advocacy/Equity):

Can you please share here the contact information for your school’s parent organization(s)?  

I would like to be sure your school’s parent/family perspectives are included in work like the re-design of fundraising policies, the development of a district family engagement calendar, and any trainings or activities they might want to participate in.  I don’t intend to spam them with lots of messages, and I’ll copy a member of your team in any messages I send, so you’re looped in.

Feel free to forward this to colleagues who have relevant info to provide for your school as well.  Let me know what questions you have.

MS Only

Deliverables

1. Part Time Schedules done by first day of school – Try to give Stephen a copy by inservice if possible
2. Send staff-facing Admin team responsibility document to Stephen by 8/31
3. Deliver TAG presentation information to staff inservice week (TAG admin and ICCL)
4. Share syllabus requirements with staff
5. Fill out inservice week times in MS admin calendar/planner by 8/22
6. Fill out Teams/Leads by 8/31

Calendar

August 14: MS/HS Horizontal – Caldera High School – 8-12

August 21: New Teacher Work Day

August 22: Middle School Advisory Meeting – Ed Center Rm 312 – 11-1

August 25: Certified return

August 26: District Welcome Back – Virtual – 8:30-10:00

August 27: District PD Day

Where in the World

This year we will have a twist on where in the world. 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.

So, for week one here is the image:

The last blog of the year. Have a great summer!!

To Do

From Stephen and Katie:

Principal evaluations: Plan to have your SLGGS and self reflection completed and submitted in UKG by Friday, June 13.

Principals, you are required to have the evaluation process completed for Assistant principal evaluations completed prior to administrators leaving for the summer. Please let Stephen or me know if you need help or have questions about this.

From Departments

From TLC:

Building Leaders: remind teachers that we cannot require families to purchase any classroom supplies or instructional materials that are required to meet the goals of a course.  If a student needs such an item to earn a grade in your class, the school must provide it!  This includes paper, pencils, spiral notebooks and calculators, yes, even the $100+ TI-84 calculator! 

High school leaders, many of your math teachers in advanced level courses require students to have this calculator.  In this case, schools should purchase enough to have them on hand in the library for students to check out, just like they would a book.  NO family/student can be required to purchase this expensive device.

Here is the statue that addresses this topic.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From Ryan in HR:

Following up from a previous blog entry, please know that we will require that all requests to hire use the documents provided in the new hiring guide on July 1, 2025 and thereafter. We prefer that you start using these new documents immediately.

This guide can be found by looking in your “Recruitment” tab in UKG. It is labeled Administrator Hiring Guide 

Thank you for your support for our efforts to improve practices.

If you have any questions or need support, please reach out to [email protected] 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From IT:

Please continue to monitor your school’s Discipline Incident Audits as you close out the 24-25 school year.

Audits to Run in Synergy:

BEN > School Reports > Discipline Incident Reports > Discipline Audits > Discipline Incident Missing Elements

Synergy Tasks (Home Page) > State Reporting Extract Validation – Discipline

If you have any issues/questions, please contact Ted Helton (1224) and/or Jason Westmoreland (1222)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From Tami Pike:

Dear Amazing Bend-La Pine Schools Administrators,

BLS Health Services is pleased to offer two CPR/First Aid training sessions this August for BLS administrators who need to obtain initial certification or wish to renew their certification before the school year begins.

Training Session 1:
📅 Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2025
🕗 Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
📍 Location: Caldera High School

Training Session 2:
📅 Date: Friday, August 15, 2025
🕗 Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
📍 Location: Three Rivers School

👉 To register, please sign up using this link.

Due to limited capacity, early registration is strongly advised.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

HS Only

From Heart of Oregon:

To all of you who work in education, or support educational programs through your partnerships and referrals, thank you. Your commitment doesn’t just impact individual lives; it builds a more equitable and empowered society.

At Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC), we’re proud to continue that mission through our YouthBuild and Conservation programs. We’re looking to expand our reach—and we know that strong referral partners like you are the key to finding the right young people who will thrive in our programs.

If you know students who could benefit from building a bridge to the workforce through conservation, or those who may struggle with the traditional educational route, we’d love to connect with them. At Heart of Oregon Corps, our High Desert Conservation Corps and Stewardship programs pay young people to work outdoors in our local environments while building work experience and learning skills in land stewardship. They also develop soft skills that transfer to any job a young person wishes to pursue. Meanwhile, our YouthBuild program offers 16- to 24-year-olds high school credit recovery and GED education alongside training and hands-on work in construction or child and youth development—blending education with trade skills. All of our HOC programs provide supportive placement services.

Here’s what’s coming up:

1. Our next YouthBuild cohort starts October 13th.
2. High Desert Conservation Corps is actively recruiting for a new crew in September. A great opportunity for graduates after a celebratory summer vacation! 
3. Stewardship is on rolling enrollment and currently full, but we’re happy to add your referrals to the waitlist.
4. Our summer programs are already filled for 2025, but we’re looking forward to next year’s opportunities for youth seeking outdoor summer jobs with the US Forest Service.

Please reach out with any referrals, or let us know if you’d like to discuss how we can best collaborate to serve more young people together. We’d also be happy to visit your site for a short presentation about HOC and answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for being part of this important work. Let’s keep building a brighter future—one student at a time.

Calendar

• June 13: Last Day staff work day
• June 16: End of the Year BLAST Luncheon @11:30 Ed Center boardroom
• June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up if you have not yet attended a session: AI Training
• June 17: MS and HS Administrator End of the Year wrap up. SBG focus! 8:00-11:00 @ Mountain View HS

Where in the World

We close out Where in the World this year with Brian Barringer, principal at La Pine MS, on the end of year 8th grade field trip. Have an extra scoop of ice cream this summer. You deserve it!

Our celebration of the graduating class of 2025 begins tonight at Caldera! Join us in celebrating our seniors!

June 5: Caldera High School @7:00pm

June 6: La Pine High School @7:00pm

June 7: Bend Senior High School @10:00am

June 7: Summit High School @2:00pm

June 7: Mountain View High School @ 6:00pm

June 9: Bend Tech Academy @7:00pm

June 10: Realms High School @7:00pm

To Do

Tomorrow is the deadline:

For you to tell us which of your teachers will be Standards Based Grading Early Adopters!

Once you know who may be moving forward in your building, please fill out this FORM.  One form per building please.  Do not send it out to staff.  Early adopters will be required to attend a two hour training during in-service week.

From Departments

Congratulations to Jess Calbreath for being recognized for her outstanding presentation at the PNACAC conference in May! She highlighted our College and Career programming work on SchooLinks and will be featured in an upcoming newsletter.

From Stephen and Katie:

Principal evaluations: Plan to have your SLGGS and self reflection completed and submitted in UKG by Friday, June 13.

Principals, you are required to have the evaluation process completed for Assistant principal evaluations completed prior to administrators leaving for the summer. Please let Stephen or me know if you need help or have questions about this.

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From Jennifer regarding evaluations for counselors, student support instructors and student support clinicians/coordinators:

Here are the documents that were shared in the Fall. Feel free to let me know if you need support.

School Counselors 

• People in the position
• Job Description
• Evaluation Rubric
• SLGG Goals should be tied to these for this year:
  • TIER 1 BLS School Counseling SMARTIE GOALS for 2024-25
  • Tier 2 BLS School Counseling SMARTIE GOALS for 2024-25

Student Success Coordinator/Clinician

• People in this position (Elementary, Middle and High School Tabs)
• Job Description
• Evaluation Rubric
• Goal Setting Document

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From Jess and Jennifer:

Recently our counselors celebrated their achievements this year with each other as well as their building leaders. Here are the slides from those celebrations: MS and HS

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From Human Resources RE: Classified Employees:

We are excited to share that the start dates for the 2025-26 school year are now available and posted on the Portal here.

Complete work calendars for all classified employees are nearly finalized and will be uploaded to the Portal as soon as they are ready; we appreciate your patience as we put the finishing touches on them.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

Thank you for your continued support and dedication – wishing you an enjoyable wrap-up to the end of the school year!

MS Only

Please see this document lining out our transition for removing the privlidge to attend certain events for the school year like 8^th grade celebration and extra-curriculars.  This will take effect for next year.

HS Only

From Jennifer: Wayfinder workbook orders:

If your team would like to order Wayfinder workbooks for next year, please add the numbers (if any) needed before the order is placed on June 11^th. If you are placing an order, please list the contact and address of the school for where the workbooks should be sent and make sure the numbers are all accurate by grade level as well as Spanish versions. If you have workbooks leftover from last year, please subtract those from your order number so we don’t waste books as they will be the same for next year.

If your school will not be order any workbooks for next year, please list a 0 in all of the columns so I know you have completed the spreadsheet.

Wayfinder Workbook Orders – Due June 11th

Calendar

• June 6: Standards Based Grading Early Adopters for the fall identified by school HERE
• June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS Teachers committed to designing the careers class are invited. We will cover the cost for a 1/2 day sub!
• June 11: Wayfinder Workbook Orders DUE!
• June 12: Last Day students—half day
• June 13: Last Day staff work day
• June 16: End of the Year BLAST Luncheon @11:30 Ed Center boardroom
• June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up if you have not yet attended a session: AI Training
• June 17: MS and HS Administrator End of the Year wrap up. SBG focus! 8:00-11:00 @ Mountain View HS

Where in the World

This week we are highlighting Kinsey Martin, Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy and Equity. Kinsey shared, “My happy place is anywhere in the world with these two!”

Welcome Kelly Schmidt and Heather Bailey to the secondary team! Kelly will be the next principal at Cascade and Heather will be the next principal at High Desert. We are so excited to have you both join the team!

To Do

Standards Based Grading Early Adopters? We need to know…

Please work with staff to identify any early adopters of standards-based grading in Synergy for next fall.  Once you know who may be moving forward in your building, please fill out this FORM.  One form per building please.  Do not send it out to staff.  

Early adopters will be required to attend a two hour training during in-service week.

Deadline for completion is June 6th.  Please contact Stephen with any questions.

From Departments

From Human Resources

Secondary Assistant Principal Pool Now Open

We’ve officially opened our recruitment process for the Secondary Assistant Principal Pool, with separate tracks for Middle School and High School roles. While this pool currently reflects just one confirmed vacancy (resulting from Mary Thomas’ exciting move to Realms as Principal), we are still determining where the resulting opening will ultimately land.

If you’re currently in an elementary role and are interested in exploring a move to secondary – or if you’re in a secondary AP role and considering a shift – please connect with Ryan before applying to talk through how this process works and what possibilities might emerge.

Stay tuned for more updates as things evolve.

BLAST Classification and Title Change

We’re excited to share a small but meaningful update to the titles used on our BLAST salary schedule. Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, we will be eliminating the Dean of Students title from the schedule and moving to a single title of Assistant Principal for all staff in these leadership roles.

What’s changing?
Only the title. The calendar days and salary schedule remain the same. This update is simply a move toward consistency and clarity across our school leadership structure.

Why the change?
The work our Deans of Students do every day is already aligned with that of Assistant Principals, and in many ways indistinguishable in terms of impact, leadership, and responsibility. This adjustment brings greater alignment to the title and the role, something we believe better reflects the incredible contributions of these team members.

We’re grateful for the leadership of all our school administrators and are excited to continue supporting this important work under a shared title. If you have any questions about the change, feel free to reach out to Ryan.

New Hiring Practices 

In the coming days, you’ll see a new Hiring Guide along with updated hiring documents available through the Administrator/Office Manager box on your UKG home screen. These tools have been developed over the past year as part of a comprehensive review of legal requirements and best practices in the hiring process.

The Hiring Guide is designed to support you in your role by providing a consistent set of expectations for all hiring actions. It reflects federal EEOC guidance, widely recognized HR standards, and our district’s commitment to equity, transparency, and excellence. Its goal is to bring clarity to each step of the hiring process and ensure that our values are reflected in every hire we make.

Going forward, the documents included in the guide will be required for all hiring actions. Requests submitted using outdated forms will be returned for correction.

Thank you for your continued partnership in aligning our practices with our shared expectations. As always, Human Resources is here to support you, whether you’re navigating a complex situation or looking for a thought partner to help strengthen your team.

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From Jessica Houser:

FYI: Payroll Year-End Guidance Sent to Office Managers

Last week, on May 22, the payroll team sent year-end guidance and key timeline reminders to all district office managers and timekeepers. This communication included:

• Final deadlines for timesheet and leave sheet submissions
• Year-end payroll processing notes
• Reference materials to support staff wrap-up

We wanted to ensure you’re aware of this communication, as you may see increased questions at your sites related to time and leave entry or final pay. Office managers were provided this information in advance to help prepare and guide employees.

If questions come up, the team is here to support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] or call (541) 355-1123.

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From Eric Powell:

Hello School Leaders!

As you all plan for your annual end-of-the-year activities on campus (carnivals, field days, etc.), we wanted to encourage school teams to be thinking about our students who tend to struggle during unstructured activities and events. 

Please work with your various teams on campus to identify students who may need extra scaffolding and/or supports to participate in these fun end-of-the-year events. 

Thank you all for your continued leadership and enjoy these last few weeks of school.

HS Only

Here is the 2025-26 ABC calendar for the high schools on the rotator schedule.

MS Only

Principal evaluations: I will be scheduling evaluations with principals beginning the week of June 16. Plan to have your SLGGS and self reflection completed and submitted in UKG by Friday, June 13.

Principals, you are required to have the evaluation process completed for Assistant principal evaluations completed prior to administrators leaving for the summer. Please let me know if you need help or have questions about this.

Calendar

• June 10 and June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up for one session! Mandatory AI Training
• May 31: HS only: Deadline by which Distracted Driving assembly or advisory lesson is completed
• June 3: MS ONLY – End of Year Horizontal/Celebration – 4:30 @ Gabe’s House
• June 6: Standards Based Grading Early Adopters for the fall identified by school HERE
• June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
• June 12: Last Day students—half day
• June 13: Last Day staff work day
• June 17: MS and HS Administrator End of the Year wrap up. SBG focus! 8:00-11:00 @ Mountain View HS

Where in the World

This week we are highlighting Stephen’s new happy place. He is surprising his boys with a new puppy, so shhh! Meet Griffey, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

To Do

Standards Based Grading Early Adopters? We need to know…

Please work with staff to identify any early adopters of standards-based grading in Synergy for next fall.  Once you know who may be moving forward in your building, please fill out this FORM.  One form per building please.  Do not send it out to staff.  

Early adopters will be required to attend a two hour training during in-service week.

Deadline for completion is June 6th.  Please contact Stephen with any questions.

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Please Read: Research regarding math options in high school:

Check out this summary of research that supports that taking AP Statistics over AP Calculus serves most of our students better in their post secondary journey. The research is also supports our math pathways.

From Departments

From Ryan in Human Resources:

Process

• Each school (or department) will request a posting for their ICCL hires.
• The hire will be requested and processed through UKG the same as all other hires.
• One TAG ICCL has been added to all elementary and middle schools.  You will want to post this position separately so that it is clear who is applying for the TAG position.
• You can view your current ICCL allocations, who is in the position, what budget code they are paid from and any empty positions on the ICCL spreadsheet.

For those new to ICCL hiring, here are few things that will help you better understand the process

1. All ICCL positions are two-year positions.
2. If an ICCL Leader has completed their two-year term, they may apply for subsequent terms but will be subject to the hiring process.
3. Column F on the ICCL spreadsheet shows the number of district paid ICCL positions allocated to each school, and is based on student enrollment. Student enrollment cuts can be found at the very bottom of the spreadsheet.
4. If you decide to hire more ICCL members than what the district has allocated, those positions can be paid for out of your school improvement funds  This will still be a two-year contract.
5. If you have an open district-paid position and have a current ICCL that is being paid out of SIF funds, you may choose to move the SIF-paid ICCL leader into the district-paid position and collapse the SIF-paid position.  A PA will need to be submitted for the budget code change.

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From Paul Dean: Classroom Guidance from Maintenance & Custodial Departments

While there is no board-adopted policy that explicitly governs classroom furniture or decorations, our BLS operational practice has been to guide schools as follows:

• District-Purchased Furniture: Bend-La Pine Schools assumes responsibility for the cleaning, movement, and maintenance of furniture that has been purchased by the district.
• Staff-Purchased Furniture or Items: Any furniture or furnishings that are brought in by staff members are considered the responsibility of the staff and/or school site. This includes maintenance, movement between rooms, and cleaning as needed.

Regarding classroom decorations and wall attachments, there are fire code restrictions that must be followed. These include limits on how much and the type of material that can be affixed to walls and ceilings, as well as requirements to maintain adequate clearances and pathways for emergency egress. Decorations/furniture should not obstruct exits or create fire hazards that would impede safe evacuation in the event of an emergency.

Additionally, per OSHA safety requirements, any shelving units or storage furniture that exceed a certain height (typically 5 feet or higher) must be properly secured to walls to prevent tipping hazards. This applies to both district-owned and staff-supplied furniture and is an important consideration for student and staff safety during daily use or seismic activity.

Lastly, we ask staff to be mindful of classroom lighting. Excessive use of supplemental lighting (e.g., lamps or string lights) should be minimized, as the district is actively pursuing sustainability initiatives to reduce energy consumption and meet long-term environmental goals. Use of natural light and district-installed lighting should generally meet classroom needs.

If admin have questions about whether a particular room adheres to these requirements, you may reach out to Walt Norris or Dan Dummitt for assistance.

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From Eric:

Check HERE to learn about New Synergy features that have been enabled to assist school discipline staff with correcting discipline data entry errors via the new State Reporting Validation system.

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From Josh Marks in Student Services:

“SLP Updates

Based on the collective feedback and careful consideration, our SLP team is going to move forward with some programmatic shifts for the 25/26 school year. These shifts are designed with several key goals in mind:

·         Increase equity among our SLP team with regard to services

·         Provide additional time for collaboration

·         Enhance flexibility within our team

·         Ensure excellent service to our students and families

Here are the details of the upcoming changes:

1.    New Staffing Assignment Model: Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, we will be adjusting how staffing assignments are made for Speech-Language Pathologists. Assignments will now be made in teams. A group of schools will be assigned to a group of SLPs, allowing for more collaborative and flexible service delivery. 

2.    Elementary and Secondary Focus: Our teams will be primarily focused on either elementary or secondary levels, allowing for more specialized expertise and targeted support. There will be four Elementary teams and two secondary teams that are broken up by Middle School and High School. Lastly, please note that all of our south county schools will be part of each of these teams. 

Process 

In December the core SLP team explored data around workloads and caseloads. When looking at the data it became clear that inequities exist within our system. In addition, Student Services admin conducted 1:1 Interviews with all SLP staff that included a major theme of wanting more professional collaboration and connection with their peers. With this information a few different models of service were explored and debated. After the initial meeting 5 additional SLP’s were asked to join (which increased the group about half of the team). The new models were shared and debated until ultimately one model emerged as the top choice. Once the top choice was selected Student services admin set up 1:1 Meetings with the remaining SLP’s for input. 

Timelines

December through March – Data sharing and exploration including meeting with all SLP’s in small groups or 1:1.

April – Email sent to all SLP’s about the pending updates to service models.

May – Initial teams were shared with SLP Staff.

June – SLP Teams will divide up schools based on workload and caseload data.

June through August – Communication to schools on SLP assignments.  

As we move forward please know that our team is excited about these changes and feel they will enhance our service to schools, students and families. In addition, we believe this will lead to a more equitable, collaborative, and flexible work environment for our SLP team. With these changes services will not change or decrease at any schools. If you have any additional questions please feel free to reach out to me directly!”

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From Sean in Student Services:

You all have done an amazing job of getting your staff trained in CPI verbal intervention and CPI full course. 

CPI training by the numbers! ⚡

THIS YEAR: 

🎉 453 staff members have been trained in CPI verbal intervention or the full CPI course

🛺 Including 65 staff members from transportation

📚There were more than 25 training opportunities

✨ We now have 581 TOTAL staff members trained in CPI strategies

🛟 Every school has AT LEAST a 50:1 student to staff ratio of trained staff

We will offer a full course training for new staff during the August in-service week, so be on the look-out for that date. 

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From Lisa Birk, Deputy Sup:

Hi all, On June 4th, we will be cancelling our All-Admin meeting at Aspen Hall and in the future, I will avoid graduation weeks for All-Admin meetings. 

Instead, we will be having a half-day training later in June in partnership with COREN as we bridge from our current Admin content to our learning for next year. We are working with the partners to nail down the date and will let you know as soon as possible. Thanks for your flexibility!

HS Only

Here is the 2025-26 ABC calendar for the high schools on the rotator schedule.

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Principal evaluations: I will be scheduling evaluations with principals beginning the week of June 16. Plan to have your SLGGS and self reflection completed and submitted in UKG by Friday, June 13.

Principals, you are required to have the evaluation process completed for Assistant principal evaluations completed prior to administrators leaving for the summer. Please let me know if you need help or have questions about this.

Calendar

• June 10 and June 17: Mandatory AI training. Sign up for one session! Mandatory AI Training
• May 26: Memorial Day, No School
• May 27: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
• May 28: Perseverance Awards Ceremony 5:30 @ The Loft on Bond Street
• May 28: Dual Immersion Graduation Ceremony 5:30 @ Aspen Hall
• May 29: MS Counselor Celebrations 8:00-11:00 @ PBMS (Principals and admin who oversees counseling required to attend)
• May 31: HS only: Deadline by which Distracted Driving assembly or advisory lesson is completed
• June 6: Standards Based Grading Early Adopters for the fall identified by school HERE
• June 10: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
• June 12: Last Day students—half day
• June 13: Last Day staff work day
• June 17: MS and HS Administrator End of the Year wrap up. SBG focus! 8:00-11:00 @ Mountain View HS

Where in the World

This week we are highlighting Josh Marks, Director of Student Services. Josh writes: “whether winter or summer, I enjoy spending time outdoors with my family. We like to hike and backpack in the summers and ski in the winter. Keeps me grounded year around!!”