Join us in celebrating our incredible Student Success Coordinators, Clinicians, Instructors and Educational Assistants the week of March 3rd – March 7th! This coincides with School Social Work Week & Classified Appreciation week.
Student success staff are instrumental in supporting students with significant social, emotional and mental health needs. These amazing humans work tirelessly to provide intensive care coordination, family engagement, academic support and emotional support.
Our student success staff serve as vital members of a school’s education team, playing a central role in creating partnerships between the home, school, and community to improve student well-being and academic success.
Please take a moment during this week to celebrate and acknowledge the student success staff in your building! Thank you.
From Departments
From Scott in Communications:
ALL-STAFF MEETINGS MARCH 13 WITH DR. COOK: Please remind all your building staff of the virtual meetings with Dr. Cook on Thursday, March 13. These 30-minute virtual meetings are open to all District employees, with two afternoon time slots to accommodate different work schedules.
Dr. Cook will provide updates on bills making their way through the state Legislature and how they could impact our work to build a budget for next school year. He also will touch on directives related to public education coming out of Washington, D.C. Dr. Cook will leave time to answer a few staff questions. PICK YOUR TIME!
3:05 to 3:35 p.m. (best for elementary schedules)
3:50 to 4:20 p.m. (best for secondary schedules)
We will provide meeting links closer to the date. Attendance is optional, and we will provide recordings of both meetings afterward.
Regarding administrator professional development March 5:
In preparation of our next admin PD meeting, please be sure to complete the Leadership Intention activity from Chapter 1 of Thriving Leaders. Here is the document in case you want a digital copy.
We will also be talking about Chapter 2, so please read that prior to attending on Wednesday!
Submittals are now being accepted for our Excellence in Education awards. This honor is designed to recognize BLS employees who have distinguished themselves during the 2024-25 school year with their leadership, innovation, outstanding professional practice, and positive contributions at work and in the community.
We invite you to recognize and celebrate the outstanding contributions of our staff by submitting individuals who exemplify “service above self.”
Depending on your role, you may have the opportunity to recognize either a Certified Staff Member, a Support Staff Member, or both from your school or department.
Certified Staff honorees should stand out for their dedication and excellence in areas such as character and leadership, innovation and creativity in their field, outstanding instructional practices and student outcomes, inspiring all students to succeed, community engagement, and contributions to the betterment of the district, school, students, and colleagues.
Support Staff honorees should distinguish themselves through exceptional character and leadership, innovation and creativity in their role, exemplary customer service, mastery in their profession, inspiring all students to succeed, community engagement, and/or contributions to the betterment of the district, school, students, and colleagues.
Please select one Certified Staff Member and/or one Support Staff Member who embodies these qualities and makes a meaningful impact in your school or department.
We need to talk once again about security and keeping our organization and personal data safe. Email phishing and scams continues to be our number one threat. And lately, the bad guys have been busy. Fortunately, there are actions both we in IT and you can do to protect our data:
Report any suspicious email message– Use the “Phish Alert” button in Microsoft Outlook to flag any suspicious message. Of course, do not click any links in the email before reporting!
Note External Messages– Along with the yellow banner, you will now see the label “External” beside any message that is not from a Bend-La Pine user. In some cases, you may also see additional information about the sender.
Only use Microsoft Outlook!- The security features that we invest in and maintain as a district are only available on Microsoft Outlook mail clients and tools. Please do not add your work email to any other mail application (examples include Apple Mail, Gmail, etc.).
Soon, we will be disabling the ability for users to view their work email on third party applications. There will be additional messaging to support users who will be impacted by this change.
Finally, you might have noticed our email phishing campaign has become a lot harder lately. That is because the bad guys are also getting trickier as well. Do not be afraid to over report when you are suspicious of a message!
HS Only
Principals: At our upcoming one on one meetings, we will discuss your school’s YouthTruth Data. Be prepared to discuss themes and next steps.
AP training requests are DUE on this sheet by March 18. Even if you do not know the teacher who will need the training, submit a request.
MS Only
March Meetings: Time to sign up for a March visit with Stephen. Please choose a date this month for a 60 minute check in. Here is my Calendly link or you can use Outlook directly.
Calendar
March 3: CTE and Elective Exploration Fly Up Day!
March 5: Administrator PD – 3:00-4:30 @ Bend High
March 10: TAG Admin/ICCL 3:45-5:45 @ Ed Center – Board Room
March 10: Incoming 9th grade orientation night 6:00 @ BSHS, CHS, LPHS, MVHS, SHS
March 12: Life and Career Readiness Night 5:00-7:00 @ Caldera HS
March 13: 3:05 or 3:50—Take 30 minutes to participate in the All Staff Update with Dr. Cook
March 21: Certified and Support Staff Excellence in Education nominations due
March 21: EVE Survey completion DUE
March 24-28: Spring Break
April 14th: Personal Finance Training (required for HS teachers teaching the course) @Ed Center, Room 203 8-4.
Where in the World
In this week’s Where in the World, we are highlighting Jennifer Hauth! Here she is with her family before the December Chiefs game against the Texans. Her husband is from KC, MO so they have been long time Chief fans, even before Mahomes and Kelce😊
Bend La Pine Teachers have created a Personal Finance Canvas shell course that meets the new standards. While we have not yet heard about the waiver, we would like to provide training to schools moving forward with a .5 Personal Finance course.
The training will be on Monday, April 14th, in the Education Center Room 203 from 8 to 4. The training will consist of a remote training by Next Generation Personal Finance, an open sourced curriculum that makes up much of the Canvas course. The authors of the Canvas Course, Bekki Tucker (CHS) and Jesse Kurtz-Nichols (BSHS) will walk teachers through the shell. The rest of the time will be spent becoming acquainted with the tools and planning for instruction. Subs will be paid for out of district funding.
If you know the teachers who will be teaching the course, please let Dean know so he can send a invitation to the teachers.
Please review these messages and share with your staff:
Family Liaisons and Translation/Interpretation:
Remember that our Family Liaisons are not translators/interpreters–these are distinct positions with different functions, required skills, and pay rates. Here are details about how to effectively engage Family Liaisons to support our work. If you need someone to translate or interpret a family communication (including for time-sensitive requests) please review the various options available to you here.
Immigration information:
Make sure your team is very clear that they are prohibited from asking about or documenting students’ or families’ immigration status, even when doing so might be well-intentioned.
If staff want to coordinate extra support for students or families who might be undocumented, it should be organized based on an educational purpose, not based on immigration status. Sttudents/families themselves then choose to opt into or access these, without needing to disclose their status or without staff needing to know it. Examples:
A counseling group for students with anxiety (rather than a counseling group for undocumented students),
flyers for local Know Your Rights workshops made available to all parents or via PTA group lists (rather than sent home with families we believe are undocumented), etc.
Title IX and gender support protocols:
I have received several questions about the status of our gender support protocol. Yes, our procedures for supporting gender-expansive students are still in place. Thank you for initiating this process when a student indicates a need for support.
Regarding Title IX more generally, while the national landscape is bringing some policy-based changes to our Title IX procedures (generally reverting back to our procedures from a few years ago–more on that later), please continue to contact me for any concerns or complaints related to Title IX, which includes:
discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity;
sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking;
It has come to my attention that we have fifty or so students district wide who assist our nutrition staff during the lunch period and are provided payment for their time through petty cash or snack bar credit. After reviewing the practice we have determined that payment for student time (cash or credit) is not allowable. As a result, effective immediately we are discontinuing this practice. Students are still welcome to assist in the kitchens should they choose to volunteer their time.
I recognize that this has always been a meaningful and great experience for our student helpers, and over the next week we will be evaluating allowable incentives to continue to reward and encourage students who want to do this valuable work. I hope to have those incentives communicated to you by next week. In the meantime, if needed, please support your nutrition leads and managers at schools tomorrow as they talk to students about this change.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
“Testing season” is quickly approaching. Here are a few resources to help with planning and organization. Please reach out with any questions or suggestions. I’m happy to come out to schools and meet with you as is helpful.
Here is an updated for 2024-25 OSAS Essential Information and Planning Resources document for school test coordinators. This resource is meant to compliment ODE’s resources and highlight some of the most important big ideas. This document will be updated as needed. Please save and use as a resource https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EJzxywh4ykm_WHT7uA4pNBpQsT2csXarETHJvtXquQE/edit?usp=sharing
This week, we are highlighting Darla Brandon, AP at La Pine Middle School. Darla states, “Over winter break, my husband and I went on an unexpected road trip adventure, traveling through 5 states. We visited Reno, Las Vegas, Red Rock National Park, Valley of Fire State Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park. We eventually met back up with my son, his wife, and my daughter in Reno where we enjoyed the New Year playing at the arcade, conquering escape rooms, and competing in a goofy gameshow together. I love to hike and travel to new places. But more importantly, I cherish the moments I have with those I love!”
Read and share this information with your staff by February 21:
From Paul in Operations:
Field Trip/Athletic/Club Transportation
All district staff are required to communicate with their administrators and the Transportation Department prior to scheduling an off campus trip. Below are reminders to keep everything moving smoothly and in compliance.
Submit ALL trip requests through BusHive as early as possible (months ahead). You may not arrange transportation for any school sponsored trip without first requesting through BusHive. Transportation staff will assist you with arranging ANY transportation for your trip.
Questions about your trip? Call Daniel Lopez X5706 (Bend) Call Scott Steinhauer X5753 (La Pine)
Don’t have a BusHive log in- Call Daniel Lopez X5706 (Bend) Call Scott Steinhauer X5753 (La Pine)
Charter Buses- We do NOT use these unless we have no other options.
Schools cannot book these trips directly. You must contact Daniel Lopez X5706 (Bend) Call Scott Steinhauer (La Pine)
We are required to document use of any charter plus, plus a copy of the parent notification letter. ODE requires we maintain a documentation file for charters.
We have not used charters for several years. We have drivers & school buses available.
Drivers of students must hold an ODE certificate (Bus, Type 20, Type 10) for school sponsored event transportation.
Student transportation must be provided in an ODE approved vehicle. (Bus, Type 20, Type 10).
Rental vehicles- contact Transportation prior to renting any vehicle being used to transport students.
What about after a game? A student wants to go home with another family, but came to the game on a bus? This is between the student and the parent. The teacher, AD, coach should not be involved in this conversation, other than you know the student has permission from their parent to go home another way. If the teacher/AD arranges or organizes transportation for a student, the liability is on the school district- meaning we use ODE approved transportation. This area can be “grey”. Be very careful not to organize transportation outside of ODE approved transportation.
We understand that trips have been taken in the past that do not follow these protocols- we are working to clarify policies and procedures.
Staff members who fail to follow these requirements may be subject to disciplinary action.
Questions?? Give us a call- we are here to help! 541-355-5702
March Leadership Team Meeting
COO Ops leaders from Transportation, Facilities/Maintenance, Safety, IT and Custodial/Sustainability will be facilitating the Please submit at least one question, concern, curiosity or comment that you have for one or more of our departments at this link.
As we move through the school year, it’s important to ensure that we are handling employee resignations in a timely and compliant manner. If you receive a resignation—whether verbal or written—it is critical that you notify HR immediately.
Why This Matters
Oregon law requires final paychecks to be issued within strict timelines. Delays can result in statutory penalties and, if not processed on time, overpayments that require collection efforts. To avoid compliance issues, send all resignations to HR immediately (hr-certified@ for licensed employees; hr-classified@ for non-licensed employees).
What You Need to Do
Report Resignations Right Away – As soon as an employee notifies you of their intent to resign, ask them to deliver that information to you in writing via email and then forward that notification to HR. If the resignation is verbal and a written resignation will prove difficult to obtain, confirm the details with the employee and document the conversation before sending it to HR.
Do Not Hold Resignations – Even if an employee has given a long notice period, HR needs to process it immediately to ensure proper payroll and benefits adjustments.
Be Mindful of Final Paycheck Deadlines – Employees who resign with at least 48 hours’ notice (excluding weekends/holidays) must receive their final paycheck on their last day worked. Employees who resign without notice must be paid within five business days.
Failure to meet final paycheck deadlines can result in financial penalties for the district, as well as frustration for the departing employee. This is easily preventable by ensuring that all resignations are sent to HR as soon as they are received.
Your prompt attention to this process helps us maintain compliance, support smooth transitions for staff, and avoid unnecessary complications. If you have any questions, please reach out to the HR team for guidance.
Thank you for your diligence and partnership in this important process.
From Departments
From the Business Office:
Leave sheets only need to be submitted if you have used leave during the pay period. Please do not submit blank leave sheets.
SPED Law and Financial Management will be happening this Thursday. If you want to come this week, please sign up before tomorrow close of business!
Other trainings available before Spring Break are related to SIOP, Evaluations and Feedback, Positive Behavioral Support Planning, and Instructional Frameworks. Click the link above to sign up.
If you have an idea for a future training, let me know!
The First Step app, which includes important safety resources such as the Safe Oregon Tip Line and 988, is being removed from secondary student iPads due to technical issues. The BLS IT department will be pushing the two apps out individually to student iPads so that students may access help for school safety and/or mental health anytime they need it.
Safe Oregon Tip Line
School Safety tip line to report and respond to student safety threats.
988
Talk or text for mental health struggles, emotional distress, drug or alcohol support, or if you just need someone to talk to; mental health counselors are here to support 24/7/365.
This change will be effective Feb. 24, 2025.
Questions or need support? Reach out to Jamie Gunter, [email protected].
From: Aimee Snyder, DrPH | Adolescent and School Health Supervisor
Communicating to Families about Sex Ed
A Head’s Up: The newsletter content below about what to expect for Sexuality Education in Bend-La Pine Schools will be in the Feb 26 Family Spotlight. If you’re concerned about any questions that may come your way from this district newsletter, here are the district’s talking points about sexuality education. You can also contact Dean Richards and your Public Health Specialist for help with any questions you have.
An Option for You: It is also an option to include this family communication about the district’s Sex Ed in general in your school newsletters. Your Public Health Specialist will bring this ask to you so that you can decide when/if it goes out in your school newsletter. This is an optional addition to what is required by law for family communications about Sex Ed.
Requirements for Sex Ed Family Communications: Comprehensive Sexuality Education is required every year in 6-8th and at least twice in high school. Per Oregon law, parents and guardians must be notified prior to the instruction, have the opportunity to review the learning materials, and can opt out their student in writing. Unless your school has organized a different process, the default practice is to have secondary Health teachers email out one of these district family opt out letters and collect opt outs via email. As admin, you don’t need to do anything to meet this requirement, other than checking in with your Health teachers to make sure they have what they need to email out their opt-out notifications and deliver their Sex Ed units.
Calendar
February 19: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
February 25: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
February 27: MS Horizontal 3:00-5:00 @ High Desert
March 3: CTE and Elective Exploration Fly Up Day!
March 10: Incoming 9th grade orientation night 6:00 @ BSHS, CHS, LPHS, MVHS, SHS
March 12: Life and Career Readiness Night – 6-12 @ Caldera HS 6-8pm
We are highlighting our School Resource Officer’s and Deputies in this week’s Where in the World! They have been celebrated at schools this week and were honored at the school board meeting Tuesday night! We are so grateful for our partnerships with the Bend Police and Sheriff’s Departments and value these important relationships!
Please send questions that are coming up around our standards-based instruction and grading to Stephen and Katie Lyons in anticipation of our Admin/ICCL meeting on 2/11. Refer back to an email from Stephen titled “Admin/ICCL 2/11” if you need more details.
Apologies for not having the QR code for PD feedback last week at Bend High. If you attended this training, please fill out the feedback for our session. As a reminder, we looked at Chapter 1 of Thriving Leaders and Kristy Knoll rapped Ice Ice Baby.
From Departments
From Tami Pike:
Field Trip Reminder
To prioritize student safety, please notify the school nurse about any upcoming field trips at least two weeks in advance. Last-minute notices can create safety concerns and may interfere with the care of other students, as the nurse needs time to review health conditions and medications. This applies to both middle and high school students. There have been instances where a nurse only learns of a field trip when an announcement is made over the school intercom.
This is a friendly reminder that time and leave sheet cut-off is Sunday, February 9th. All completed time and leave sheets you receive for sign off are due to the Payroll Office by Monday, February 10th.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] with any questions or if you need additional support.
Care Solace is a care coordination service to help students, staff, and their families find mental health and substance use treatment matched to their needs. Care Solace’s multilingual and culturally sensitive Care CompanionTM team is available 24/7/365 to quickly connect individuals to community providers regardless of need.
Register & Login to your Care Solace Account
If you missed the registration email for your Care Solace account, reach out to Lisa McNulty. Administrators, School Counselors, Student Success Clinicians/Coordinators, School Psychologists and Nurses have accounts.
Care Solace creates monthly mental health messaging and social media posts for you to use in your communication with your school community. Send this content to your school families and staff as a resource, share it on your social media, or share it at school events.
Print and Distribute Flyers Around Campus
Post flyers around the school for students and staff to provide additional information about Care Solace. You can find these flyers in the Care Community in the Resource Center.
Configure Your Email Signature & Out-of-Office Notification
Add information about Care Solace to your email signature and out-of-office messaging. This will promote access and ensure support outside of school hours or when staff members are away from work.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI:
Winners!
Thank you to all who participated in the Asian Family Night’s Year of the Snake drawing contest. Submissions came from:
Pacific Crest
Buckingham
Lava Ridge
Ponderosa
Highland
Pine Ridge
Juniper
Bear Creek
Miller
The winners from the submissions above will be announced shortly—stay tuned!
Having some FOMO? Here’s another opportunity:
February is Black History Month. Your school’s DEI-ICCL rep should have shared with staff some teaching and learning opportunities related to this important topic. This includes our annual Door-Decorating Contest!
Please encourage your teachers (and non-teaching staff—counselors, athletics, front-office teams, principal’s office, Superintendent’s office, transportation etc) to participate! Don’t be left off the list of schools engaging in this important work of representation, belonging, equity, and celebration in what might otherwise feel like a time of fear and frustration for many students and colleagues of color in our community. Some details you can share with them here.
MS Only
Fly Up Day: Check an email from Stephen about Fly Up Day logistics.
Calendar
February 11: HS Administrator work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
February 11: ICCL/Secondary Administrator 4:15-6:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
February 19: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
February 25: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
February 27: MS Horizontal 3:00-5:00 @ High Desert
This week, we are highlighting Austin James, in Instructional Technology. Austin states, “As an avid hiker, I’m at home when I’m on the trail. In April 2024, I hiked the Seven Hanging Valleys trail in the Algarve region of Portugal. It winds along the clifftops of the southern Portugal overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs shown are those at Praia da Marinha and Praia da Mesquita.”
Building leaders, please share this information with your staff next week:
In an effort to support our bus drivers and bus monitors, who sometimes are not able to access the main entrance of our schools because of where they have to park the buses, and because they are on a quick turnaround timeline, we have provided updated protocols for those employees to enter our schools during their duty hours to access staff restrooms.
There are updated protocols for district bus driver’s and bus monitor’s access to school restrooms in our Culture of Safety document on the staff portal website here, and in the Safety Resources Google Drive (for administrators and office managers) here. The updated protocols are under the Access to Buildings Procedures section, paragraph (D), subsection (2) on pages 4 & 5 of the document.
Our transportation staff’s key card access will be limited between the hours of 7:00 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.
Please reach out to the safety team with any questions.
COO Ops leaders from Transportation, Facilities/Maintenance, Safety, IT and Custodial/Sustainability will be facilitating the March Leadership Team meeting.
Please submit at least one question, concern, curiosity or comment that you have for one or more of our departments at this link.
Upcoming Opportunity for Staff involved with UpShift(those delivering the Teen Intervene Curriculum, screening students, or supporting administrators)
Empower your staff with the tools they need to make meaningful connections with students and families.
Training Details
Join us for a 90-minute experiential training designed to strengthen motivational interviewing (MI) skills. Led by Heather Lynch, a seasoned Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) member, this session focuses on building confidence, fostering partnerships, and inspiring positive change with teens and caregivers.
Why Should Staff Attend?
This interactive training will:
· Provide practical MI tools and techniques.
· Enhance communication strategies.
· Support effective implementation of UpShift goals and outcomes.
Training Information and Registration Link(s):
Option 1:Wednesday, March 19th 2:30-4:15 pm at the Deschutes Public Library (507 NW Wall Street) Brooks Room
Option 2:Wednesday, April 2nd 2:30-4:15 pm at the Bend – La Pine Schools Ed Center (520 Northwest Wall Street) Room 312
Encourage your team to take advantage of this unique professional development opportunity. Together, we can build stronger connections and foster lasting positive change in our schools!
Be sure your certified staff are aware of the timelines for finalizing grades/progress reports:
Progress Reports Submission Deadline:
Special Education Progress reports must be submitted by 4:00 PM on 1/31 this semester.
Middle/High School progress reports must be finalized in Synergy by 4:00 PM on 1/31.
Elementary progress reports must be finalized by 4:00 PM on 2/3.
Work Location for End-of-Term Days:
Employees who have met the deadlines in regards to grading and/or progress reports in previous semesters, and who have met other expectations surrounding the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be permitted to work from an off-site location on end-of-term work days.
Employees who have not met these deadlines, and/or for whom their supervisor has further articulable concerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be required to work from their assigned school site.
From Departments
From Jennifer:
National Counseling Week is next week!
National School Counseling Week (NCSW) 2025 is Feb. 3-7, 2025, to focus attention on the unique contribution of school counselors within our schools. The theme this year is: School Counseling: Helping Students Thrive. The special week honoring school counselors provides recognition for school counselors who “implement comprehensive school counseling programs, a vital part of the educational process for all students as they meet the challenges of the 21st century”.
NCSW is always celebrated the first full week in February and there are multiple resources available below to help you celebrate school counselors next week at your school site. We will celebrate our student success staff the week of March 3rd during school social worker week.
Here is a “Certificate of Appreciation” that you can use for your counselors and click on slide below for some resources to help your school celebrate this week with your counselor(s)😊
Great news: we have re-scheduled the Taking It Up workshop (postponed from August)! It will be Tues-Wed, February 18-19 (full days).
Substitute costs will be covered as applicable. A notice will go out to staff early next week with instructions to sign up. Space will be limited and this powerful workshop usually fills quickly, so encourage folks to sign up fast. If you are a leader in our district who has not attended the week-long CFEE workshop or this two-day version that is Taking It Up, please consider arranging your schedule to attend.
If you are a CFEE grad and willing to serve as a table facilitator, please email me ASAP. Administrators, I am happy to cover the cost of a substitute for a teacher-leader in your building to serve as office support while you’re out (if you have an admin intern you could tap, etc).
Linguist Link:
If you are experiencing issues with Linguist Link services (interpreters not showing up, no responses to your messages, poor quality of linguist services), please A) send a note via the “message all” feature of your project/request in the LL system, and/or B) shoot me an email to let me know.
There are some transitions going on within those contracted services, but I have been reassured this should not impact the quality of service you receive. As a reminder if you’re ever in a pinch, here are the various resources and levels of support available to you for translation/interpretation.
We are very excited to be adding a Director of District Activities and Athletics to bring our secondary school athletic and activity programs together under one vision. This role is focused on ensuring that every student has access to consistent, high-quality extracurricular experiences, no matter which school they attend. By aligning programs across the district, we’re creating more opportunities for students to grow, connect, and succeed—academically, socially, and emotionally.
This will be a BLAST position and we’ll be posting this position on our site Monday and sharing it widely across the region to attract a strong pool of candidates. If you’d like to learn more about the role or have any questions, please connect with Ryan.
We want to take a moment to clarify differing practices in our district with regards to animals on school grounds. We have many playgrounds with this sign:
However, 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.
In order to align our signage with our policy, we will be removing all fence signage pertaining to animals. In place of those signs, our maintenance department will install one of the signs below. They will communicate with the head engineer and building principal regarding where you want the new sign placed.
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.
HS Only
2025 Oregon Music Hall of Fame
College Scholarship Applications
OMHOF is pleased to announce that applications for our college scholarship program are available again with a deadline of February 14, 2025. Each applicant should be studying music and graduating spring 2025 from an Oregon High School and continuing to college in the fall of 2025 with a major or minor in music. We strive to inspire the continuing higher musical education by offering assistance with college expenses, so that these music students may aspire to a higher level of performance and success in their field of interest. Thanks to the generous contributions of EPB&B (11th year in a row), our scholarships rose from $1000 each to $2500 each (6 total) for 2024, including a special winner who will major in music education! ! In addition Oregon Music Hall of Fame is pleased to announce a new scholarship program, Gloria Johnson Scholarship for women studying Broadcasting, Teaching, Performance, Music Industry degrees. This $2500 yearly scholarship program is open to all women continuing their musical studies at the College/University level seeking a degree in these fields.
All items must be mailed together, in order to qualify. All applications are fillable online, but must be printed, signed, and mailed (no digital copies accepted).
Oregon Music Hall of Fame
PO Box 82173,
Portland, OR 97282
Here’s to creating the music of tomorrow through focused musical studies today,
We have two mandatory trainings coming up. The first is related to Mandatory Subjects of Bargaining and the other is related to AI Guidance for the 2025-2026 school year. We will have several options to take these trainings over the next few months in an effort to accommodate many different schedules. Each training is 2 hours long. On January 31st (the report card workday), we will have three options to complete the Mandatory Subjects of Bargaining training. Sign up by clicking HERE. Other trainings opportunities for this and the AI training will happen on various Thursdays throughout the winter and spring. More details to come.
Bring your laptop to Bend High on Wednesday for our admin PD. We will be discussing chapter 1 of Thriving Leaders. There is not a requirement to read the chapter ahead of time but if you want to walk in more prepared, feel free to do so.
Principal, Assistant Principal, and Dean Evaluation Information:
These are updated and in our system. You can attach your SLGGs using the paperclip if you haven’t already. You level leader needs this too
All of the details for each scoring area can be accessed by clicking on the question mark to the right of the rating section. You will also notice that Domain 9, 10, 11, and 12 have more specific information than they have had in the past. This is to be more in line with the current district work with which we are engaged. If you have questions about these sections, please reach out to your level leader.
Dave will be leading a testing topic training on 2/6 from 8-10. If you want to come this week, please sign up before tomorrow close of business!
Other trainings available before Spring Break are related to SIOP, Evaluations and Feedback, SPED and SPED Law, Financial Management, Positive Behavioral Support Planning, and Instructional Frameworks. Click the link above to sign up. Note: Sign up by tomorrow (1/24) if you want to attend the 1/30 SIOP training.
If you have an idea for a future training, let me know!
#1 – Discipline Incident Wizard to be “LIVE” in Synergy by February 5th
Our IT staff have been working on many Synergy-related projects of late (Thank you!). By February 5th, we will have the ability to access the “Discipline Wizard” in Synergy to enter Incidents. Please review the walkthrough linked HERE to familiarize yourself with this new tool. We referenced this Wizard at the Welcome Back Administrator training (when we launched the Code of Conduct). Now that the known issues with the Wizard have been fixed by Edupoint, we can begin utilizing this helpful resource!
Jason & Ted in IT have offered to help with trainings for the Wizard (as needed), so please reach out if you want any additional support in this area.
#2 – Message Directly from Jason & Ted Regarding IDS Reports (Helpful Accessing Reports!)
Earlier this year, it was not possible to run Synergy incident reports (IDS reports) which would display violation details like what many staff were used to in prior years due to the Code of Conduct changes. However, it is now possible for an IDS report (for example, IDS401: Student Discipline Listing or IDS403: Discipline Disposition List) to identify the violation details by selecting the “Use Sub Codes” checkbox on the Options tab of the report.
Example:
Additionally, it is recommended to change the output type on the Sort / Output tab to Excel (or CSV) for use with Excel (which makes it easier to read and work with).
This should allow you to answer questions related to the details of violations / dispositions.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Jason Westmoreland or Ted Helton for assistance:
Quick Message Regarding SIRC/STAS Assessments and the Important “Outcome and Safety Plans”
For any SIRC (Level 1) or STAS (Level 0 or Level 1) assessment that your team works through, we are required to submit the assessment materials utilized AND an Outcome & Safety Plan. The Outcome and Safety Plan is what we attach to the incident in Synergy, so this document and the accompanying safety planning is vital to the process.
Here is the link to our SIRC/STAS Threat Assessment Guide for specifics: LINK HERE
Heading into the second semester is a good time to remind staff of Canvas expectations. Again, these expectations are at a much lower bar than when we were in the pandemic and there is no requirement to use Canvas for grading. However, we still need to keep our families and students informed of what we are doing in our classrooms.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI:
MAC Survey:
The next MAC Survey will occur the week of Feb 3rd–specific date coming soon. If you are in the cost pool you will be notified, and it will be important you complete your training asap. Even if you don’t claim any activities on the survey day, just being a trained administrator in the cost pool helps our funding. If you can attend any meetings that day where claimable activities might be discussed, that would be a huge help. Remember, this survey process brings in critical funding for FAN Advocate services. Thank you for your partnership!
Immigration Guidance:
Principals, be sure relevant staff have access to the district immigration guidance shared with you last week. You may share with any/all staff, but at a minimum, it is expected that your entire front-office team be very familiar with the full guidance.
Please print the ICE Protocol (the document linked in the first section) and post for staff reference at the station where your check-in person sits and greets visitors. Reach out if you have questions or concerns.
Help celebrate our SROs! SRO Appreciation Day is Saturday, February 15 but we want to celebrate them all week long. Beginning Monday, February 11, do something special for your SRO. Please pick the day of the week that works best for your school.
Need some ideas?
Ask students and staff to make them thank you cards
Bring them donuts or other tasty morning treats
Serve them lunch
Decorate their office
Help us share the love on social media. Send your imagery to Becca Burda, Assistant Director of Communications, and we’ll keep the gratitude flowing online.
Middle School Only
CTE Fly Up: As a reminder, you will need to set aside two advisory times in February for your 8th grade students to plan for CTE fly up day. One will need to be the week of the 17th and the second will need to be the week of the 24th.
February Meetings: Time to sign up for a February visit. Please choose a date this month for a 60 minute check in. Here is my Calendly link or you can use Outlook directly.
Calendar
January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
January 24: Probationary Letters due to HR
January 28: HS Administrator work session 8-10 @ Mountain View HS
January 28: HS Principal meeting on careers class 10:00 -10:30 @ Mountain View HS
January 29: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
January 30: MS Horizontal – Pacific Crest – 3:00 – 5:00
January 31: Grading day for semester schools
February 11: HS Administrator work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
February 11: ICCL/Secondary Administrator 4:15-6:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
February 19: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
February 25: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
February 27: MS Horizontal 3:00-5:00 @ Sky View MS
YouthTruth Survey window: The survey window is open until the end of January! The goal of each school is to get the highest participation from staff, students and families! Reach out to Dave if you have questions
Reminder: Post-inauguration, some students will be walking into your building with big feelings. The incoming administration has openly communicated upcoming changes intended to directly impact particular populations (immigrants, trans people, etc).
Please ask your counselors to make themselves as available as possible for drop-ins if students need extra support next week. If your team knows a particular student or colleague struggled after the election in November, make time on Tuesday to have a trusted adult or friend intentionally check in with them. Thank you for your increased presence, vigilance, empathy, and grace next week.
Thank you to those principals who have submitted your SLGSS to your level leader. Please do so if you haven’t already.
From Departments
Mark your calendars! Our District Leadership Launch is scheduled for August 6 and 7. All administrators are expected to attend. Principals, please work with your deans to adjust their calendars accordingly.
The Giving Plate provides our families in need with weekend food through their Snack Bag program. Recently, they let us know that their donations and volunteer resources are down, while the number of families they’re serving has been up: from 130 to 700 families weekly. They are unable to meet demand and need to prioritize their core services, so the Snack Bag program is discontinued.
While this is disappointing news, there are still many ways families can access food resources. Please see the links at the bottom of this letter, with bilingual handouts listing current food resources in Bend and South County. FAN Advocates have shared this letter with impacted families. Feel free to print copies of the handouts linked there, to have available in your main office.
Want to help out? One of the best ways you can support our families is to volunteer or donate to awesome programs like The Giving Plate or directly to FAN, so they can maintain their services and programs that benefit our families. 🙂
Per Article 15.8 of the CBA, Certified Employees are not required to report to their work site on end-of-term work days but must remain available by phone. Supervisors may require in-person attendance if there are articulableconcerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities.
To ensure clarity, we are setting the following expectations that will take effect for the second semester of 24-25 SY:
Progress Reports Submission Deadline:
Special Education Progress reports must be submitted by 4:00 PM on 1/31 this semester.
Middle/High School progress reports must be finalized in Synergy by 4:00 PM on 1/31.
Elementary progress reports must be finalized by 4:00 PM on 2/3.
Work Location for End-of-Term Days:
Employees who have met the deadlines in regards to grading and/or progress reports in previous semesters, and who have met other expectations surrounding the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be permitted to work from an off-site location on end-of-term work days.
Employees who have not met these deadlines, and/or for whom their supervisor has further articulable concerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be required to work from their assigned school site.
Next Steps for Administrators:
Notify employees with past concerns about timely completion of responsibilities – with detail regarding those concerns – as soon as possible (no later than 2 weeks before any potential end-of-term workday) if they will be required to work onsite on end-of-term work days. This communication will be followed up in writing with specific articulable concerns shared.
This practice encourages timely completion of professional responsibilities while maintaining flexibility for those employees meeting expectations.
We are providing the following information from Article 14.1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to ensure you are aware of the reimbursement policy for certified employees who use their personal vehicles for school or professionally related activities, including those staff who travel between sites in the course of a day due to split assignments:
Certified employees approved to use their own automobiles for school or professionally related activities will be reimbursed at the current IRS mileage rate.
Employees required to drive their own personal automobiles in the course of their work will also be reimbursed at the IRS mileage rate for the distance traveled between regular district work assignments.
Certified employees who reside in La Pine and are required to attend meetings in Bend are eligible for mileage reimbursement.
The reimbursement process is consistent with IRS guidelines, which set the standard mileage rate and helps ensure that employees are not financially disadvantaged for using personal vehicles in the course of their work.
Reimbursement requests should be submitted using the AP-106 form and will be charged to your building’s discretionary funds. For staff who work at multiple sites, a good way to balance the budgetary implications across schools may be for the involved schools to rotate responsibility for these payments on a monthly or quarterly basis.
This information is shared so you can address any questions or reimbursement requests that may arise from employees. While there’s no need to proactively disseminate this information, we encourage you to refer to this information if you have questions or require clarification as to our practice.
Thank you for your attention to this and for your support in ensuring consistent understanding of contract provisions.
A reminder that employees and students should not bring pets with them to work or school. ING-AR: Animals in the Classroom or on School Property reviews the conditions and process for by which animals can visit classrooms or be on school property. If you have any questions regarding staff who identify a need for service animals, please reach out to the Human Resources Benefits team at hr-benefits@bend.k12.or.us
We still have space available for our upcoming Restorative Conferencing training on 1/30/25 (8:30am-12:30pm at COCC Redmond). This is the tier 3 formal, scripted circle used to repair specific and significant harm between individuals. This session is free and open to educators and our partners.
Grammy MUSIC teacher nominations! Nominate a teacher by March 15, 2025 for this prestigious award. Teachers do not need to be nominated to apply – they simply need to complete our application form by March 31, 2025.
If you have any questions or need any additional information, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you for helping us recognize the contributions of our outstanding music educators!
Calendar
January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
January 23: BLPS Family Academic Night @ Summit HS
January 24: Probationary Letters due to HR
January 28: HS Administrator work session 8-10 @ Mountain View HS
January 28: HS Principal meeting on careers class 10:00 -10:30 @ Mountain View HS
January 29: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
January 30: MS Horizontal – Pacific Crest – 3:00 – 5:00
February 11: HS Administrator work session 8:00-10:00 @ Summit HS
February 11: ICCL/Secondary Administrator 4:15-6:30 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall
February 19: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
February 25: HS Principal work session 8:00-10:00 @ Caldera HS
This week we are highlighting Reno Holler’s happy place! “47 years ago (that’s right folks… I’m talking the 1970’s) I spent my high school Summer’s with my then girlfriend/now wife (the lovely Cindy) and my band playing music in the bars of Canada. Back then you could be under the age of 18 and play music in the pubs. We played primarily in Alberta and British Columbia. I still recall very vividly the first time we explored Banff & Jasper. The color of the water, the glaciers and the 18,000,000 ravenous mosquitoes are what impressed me the most. I have told many people that, in my opinion, the Canadian Rockies are the most beautiful spot in North America. A few years back Cindy and I returned and took our two sons (Logan & Devon) to see their first glaciers, eat their first helping of Poutine, and experience Canada’s two seasons (Winter & Almost Winter). These pictures are from the restaurant on top of the Jasper Skyline Tram, A must see for those that do not suffer from a fear of heights. I would show you a picture of Cindy and I in our rock n’ roll regalia, but it involves me with a Mullet and the firewall is blocking that image at the moment. (it really is for the best. Once you’ve seen a Mullet, you can’t unsee it).
Please refer to your email from Triz De La Rosa regarding your probationary/temporary 3 staff. The deadline to write letters of support is 1/24. It is essential you complete this task by that date.
As you know, UKG is not yet ready to receive your SLGGs for this school year. We have had some conversations with building leaders about holding on to these documents in order to upload them when you have the green light from UKG. As we wait, Katie and Stephen are requesting building principals send their SLGGs to their respective level leader by next Friday (1/17).
Reminders to complete professional development feedback form AND have ALL staff to complete COREN surveyby January 10.
Remember to continue to use the PD tool for PD feedback during your SIWs. The information gathered from this tool will be reviewed in January in a joint Admin/BEA meeting regarding professional development based on the latest agreement.
From Lisa’s email this week: In our efforts to continue to improve, please take a moment to give feedback on our December Admin PD time. In case you need a memory jog, we spent our time together with the goals of learning, reflecting, and connecting. We reflected on our leadership journeys, team needs, personal strengths and strengths of your colleagues, and the variety or roles you play as a leader. We also gave some awards to very deserving folks! Thank you in advance for giving your perspective.
Secondly, another survey I would like you to share with your team is from one of our partners, COREN. This will give an opportunity for all staffto describe professional development interests. COREN supports many learning opportunities within BLP, and this information benefits both their organization and ours in the sense that it gives us access to supports for our current needs. Right now, participation has been limited so any encouragement you can do to give feedback is helpful. This survey ends on January 10th.
Our move to Synergy EWS for student grade data has required all grades to be posted and up to date within Synergy beginning this year. While grades within Canvas can still be used, a question has arisen regarding our purchase and use of Grade Guardian. Is there still value to our schools that would justify the cost of this program?
To get a better sense of how our sites are interacting with Grade Guardian, please pass along this survey by next week to those in your building who may use the feature. If it is helpful, here is a spreadsheet with email addresses of folks we have listed as Grade Guardian advisors.
Please remind your TAG administrator and TAG ICCL that we will have our second mandatory meeting on this Monday the 13th in the board room from 3:45 to 5:30.
From the Superintendent’s office (on behalf of Mid Oregon and KTVZ):
Please send out to your staff. We would love a lot of BLS representation!
Just checking in at the end of the year to ask your assistance in nominations for our KTVZ One Class at a Time awards. Selected nominations will be chosen monthly during the school year for innovative classroom education, projects and learning that represent positive student experiences and highlighted with a KTVZ news story and a $1000 award to support the program.
Please have your principals, teachers, advisors, staff send the requests to me for our selection process.
Kyle Frick
Vice President, Marketing & Community Relations Post Office Box 6749 Bend, Oregon 97708 541.585-1802 541.389.0103 Fax [email protected]
From Scott in Safety: (For your admin who oversees safety)
Reminder: The second of our four safety cadre trainings will be taking place on Wednesday, January 15th at the PBMS library from 1:30 – 3:30 PM. Snacks will be provided.
Please work to ensure time and leave sheets are correctly filled out before submitting them on. Office managers received an email earlier with clear information on what is required if there are any questions. If an employee has omitted information (the most common mistake) or has another error, please have your office manager work with them to correct the form before submission. Thank you.
From Departments:
From Stephen and Katie: Master Schedule Training Change
The master schedule training originally planned for both 2/11 and 2/12 has be condensed into just one day on February 11th. High School will attend in the morning and Middle School will attend in the afternoon. More info to come.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI:
Classroom placement policy:
Here is a draft of a new policy going out for public feedback, with a tentative adoption date of mid-February. This establishes that principals are the final decision-makers with regard to classroom placements. This should help navigate student, staff, or parent requests or refusals to have a particular teacher or student in a class, or where there is disagreement on a student’s schedule. The “principal or designee” language allows you to delegate this authority to counselors or coordinators, at least for initial placements or non-controversial requests for changes.
Upcoming events:
Please share this communication in your next weekly staff memo, and participate in any/all of these as you are available. In particular, encourage your building to be well-represented in our 3rd annual Door-Decorating Contest (adult teams can participate too, if you have enthusiastic or artistic front-office, counseling, or other non-classroom staff). Thank you!
CAFE Program training:
Do you have a newly-hired staff member who speaks another language? Would they like a $1,000 annual stipend for using their multilingual skills to support family communication? Due to multiple requests, we are adding one more round of CAFE Program testing and training for this school year. This extra round will take place in late January—further opportunities will not be available until next fall, so please help ensure relevant bilingual employees are aware and signed up in UKG’s Learning platform. (Once a staff member has been tested and trained, they do not need to repeat those steps.)
Do Not Schedule dates:
As your team begins to schedule important dates for spring, summer, and fall events, please be sure they are aware of our Do Not Schedule dates. Thank you for re-sharing this with your office managers, activities directors, athletics staff, counselors, and PTA/Booster Club leaders.
A big shout-out to La Pine and Mountain View high schools (especially CTE teacher Cameron Salvitelli) for submitting the first Facility/Site Modification proposals. Their proposals were approved by the Executive Leadership Team this past week.
If you would like to view their proposals as exemplars on how to complete Part I and also view the department feedback that they received in Part II, they are linked here (LPHS and MVHS). We’d also like to recognize Three Rivers for their recent proposal for a mural on their wall ball court.
Please remember that filling out this form is a requirement before schools may proceed with any project that impacts your facilities or grounds. When in doubt, contact your level leader and/or Paul Dean and we’ll advise you.
We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and winter break! When you get settled after the new year, please note that the IRS has announced a 3 cent/mile increase to the mileage rate for 2025. The new rate is 70 cents/mile, and applies to all mileage driven after January 1, 2025. Below is a link to the Portal page with the electronic mileage forms for in-District travel with both the 2024 and 2025 rates. There is also an AP-106 for other travel. Please note that the mileage reimbursement rate is determined by the date of travel, not the date the reimbursement is submitted or paid.
This is a quick reminder that YouthTruth is now open through January 31. Here is a link to a document to help you get started. More information and resources are available once you log in to YouthTruth.
From Heather Tang at Deschutes County: UpShift Update
Happy New Year! Here’s a quick reminder about the Tobacco Quit Kits introduced last year. These kits are a valuable resource to support students in their journey to quit smoking, vaping, or using chewing tobacco.
The kits include:
Distraction tools to help resist the urge to use tobacco.
Resource information to support students through the quitting process.
How to Distribute Quit Kits
Quit Kits are intended to be distributed during the second nicotine module of the Teen Intervene program by UpShift Specialists.
In special cases, they may be distributed outside of Teen Intervene, but only if a student demonstrates a strong commitment to quitting.
Schools and staff can request kits using our Google Form:
Order up to 5-10 kits at a time.
Delivery will be confirmed within 5-7 business days.
To streamline the process, we recommend designating one UpShift team member to handle all kit requests for your school.
Ready to request your kits? Please completethis form.
If you have any questions or need additional support, please reach out. We’re here to help!
Additional Resource:
The CDC has a quick, one-page guide to help school staff understand youth vaping and tobacco use.It includes tips for how you can support young people and key health facts. Download it in English or Spanish. Please feel free to pass along to staff.
From Janet Bojanowski in the Superintendent’s Office:
The following was shared with Office Managers. Please support their attendance on 1/22.
During the January 22nd Office Manager meeting, we will have a discussion on de-escalation led by Eric Powell, Scott Bojanowski, and Kayla Martin. This will include sample scenarios to work through and time for you to bring forth any scenarios you would like to share/discuss. We would like to remind you that your full office staff is invited and encouraged to attend these trainings. Building administrators have been asked to support the front office, if needed, to provide the opportunity for everyone to attend.
Schedule is as follows; however, you are welcome to join either session if the time works better for you.
Each year on December 1, we report the number of students on IEPs, as well as other demographic information to ODE. This “count” is what determine our level of funding for the next year. You can find a table with 2024 data, as well as historical trends HERE.
Here are a few highlights:
Total students on IEPs is 2027 (up from 1931 in 23/24)
Total IEPs district percentage is 12.1% (slightly up from last year and up 3% since 20/21)
No remarkable trends up or down in disability type last year
From Sean and Sarah Barclay: Updated Q & A (repeat)
Sean and Sarah recently sent out the following to all certified staff. Please read and make sure you are familiar with this information.
Greetings Dedicated Educators,
You may recall that back in October we released a BLS Special Education Inclusion Question and Answer document to better ensure a common set of information regarding our Special Education Programming within Bend-La Pine Schools. Since that time additional questions have been raised thus, we are reaching out today with added and updated information. Thank you for continuing to engage in this conversation with us and bringing to our attention topics that need additional clarification within our system. We believe that we all do our best work when we have a common set of knowledge to build and create upon. Please find the updated Q& A in the link below:
From Jen: “BLS Academic Information Night”January 23rd (repeat)
Please share this information with your families and students beginning the second week in January
BLS School Counselors will be hosting our “BLS Academic Information Night” on Thursday January 23rd at Summit High School. This event is essential to our CSCP and district goals, as we aim to provide families with valuable resources for academic planning. Forecasting and the SchooLinks Course Planner are integral parts of our CSCP programming, aligning with our responsibility to support students with their Educational Plan and Profile, which we update annually. While forecasting might differ slightly across schools, the information and resources leading up to class selections and course planner are quite similar.
We will have a general presentation followed by breakout opportunities for families to ask questions about their specific school site curriculum pathways and forecasting processes. You can utilize ASPIRE funds to compensate for your time, as this aligns perfectly with future planning efforts. We hope to have at least 1-2 representatives from each high school. Please refer to the sign-up sheet for various needs for the night.
We will promote this event at the district level and would love for each school to share the information through their communications as well. More details will follow!
Middle School Only
January Meetings: Time to sign up for a January visit. Please choose a date this month for a 60 minute check in. Here is my Calendly link or you can use Outlook directly.
There has been a slight change to the schedule for the master schedule training originally planned for February 11th and 12th. We will now have our middle school folks attend on the 11th only from 12-4. Please fill out the MS tab on this document to let us know who will be attending from your site. Each site does need to participate.
Round one of our instructional walkthroughs will be hosted by CMS on January 23rd from 9:30 to 11:00. Up in this round will be Gabe Pagan, D Foster, Nick Smith, and MacKenzie Grossing. Please clear your calendar in order to attend. Thanks for hosting Gabe!
As you know we currently block student access to YouTube for students in grades K-8. For the most part, this change has been well received by both staff and families. That said, we know that many teachers (especially middle school elective, math, etc) have been adversely impacted by the loss of YouTube for students. Fortunately, our IT team has been able to create an inhouse solution (YouTubeBuddy) that will allow teachers to request specific YouTube videos to become viewable on student devices. Since these videos will be open to all Bend-La Pine students, we are requiring that administrators be notified on the request in the case there are any unforeseen issues.
How to request student access to a YouTube video:
Copy and paste the URL of your Youtube video into an email. Lists of mulitiple YouTube videos are welcome. These should be listed in a google sheet or Microsoft Excel document.
Send your list of videos to [email protected] and also to your administrator, or administration team.
You will receive a reply when the videos have been made accessible for student use. Detailed instructions linked here.
Both our IT and Instructional Tech team hope that YouTubeBuddy will help your students access the materials that have been missing from your curriculum this past few months.
Calendar
January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
January 10: COREN survey deadline
January 13: TAG Admin/ICCL meeting – 3:45-5:30 @ Educator Center boardroom
January 13: Spanish-language FAFSA Night 5:30-7:30 @ Education Center boardroom
January 14: MS and HS Administrator work session 8-10 @Caldera HS
January 15: Safety Cadre Meeting 1:30 @ PBMS (Safety admin leads should attend)
January 15: SIW Educator Network Day
January 23: BLPS Family Academic Night @ Summit HS
January 28: HS Administrator work session 8-10 @ Mountain View HS
January 29: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
January 30: MS Horizontal – Pacific Crest – 3:00 – 5:00
Where in the World
Thank you for all the entries! Keep ’em coming.
This week we are highlighting our Language Arts TOSA Torie Withers’ happy place! “My happy place is skiing snowy slopes with my family, a tradition spanning three generations. Starting at age three at Mt. Bachelor, I learned alongside my sister with my parents leading the way. Although my dad always finds a way to push the limits—getting our family hopelessly lost while skiing in out-of-bounds terrain in Canada when I was a kid, or cutting it way too close to closing time to ski the get-back from the backside of Bachelor—his adventurous spirit taught us more than skiing; he instilled a profound love for the outdoors. Now, watching my own children discover these same slopes, I’m grateful to live where nature continues to strengthen our family’s connections to each other and the beautiful place we live.”
Reminders to complete professional development feedback form AND have ALL staff to complete COREN surveyby January 10.
Remember to continue to use the PD tool for PD feedback during your SIWs. The information gathered from this tool will be reviewed in January in a joint Admin/BEA meeting regarding professional development based on the latest agreement.
From Lisa’s email this week: In our efforts to continue to improve, please take a moment to give feedback on our December Admin PD time. In case you need a memory jog, we spent our time together with the goals of learning, reflecting, and connecting. We reflected on our leadership journeys, team needs, personal strengths and strengths of your colleagues, and the variety or roles you play as a leader. We also gave some awards to very deserving folks! Thank you in advance for giving your perspective.
Secondly, another survey I would like you to share with your team is from one of our partners, COREN. This will give an opportunity for all staffto describe professional development interests. COREN supports many learning opportunities within BLP, and this information benefits both their organization and ours in the sense that it gives us access to supports for our current needs. Right now, participation has been limited so any encouragement you can do to give feedback is helpful. This survey ends on January 10th.
From Jen: “BLS Academic Information Night”January 23rd
Please share this information with your families and students in beginning the second week in January
BLS School Counselors will be hosting our “BLS Academic Information Night” on Thursday January 23rd at Summit High School. This event is essential to our CSCP and district goals, as we aim to provide families with valuable resources for academic planning. Forecasting and the SchooLinks Course Planner are integral parts of our CSCP programming, aligning with our responsibility to support students with their Educational Plan and Profile, which we update annually. While forecasting might differ slightly across schools, the information and resources leading up to class selections and course planner are quite similar.
We will have a general presentation followed by breakout opportunities for families to ask questions about their specific school site curriculum pathways and forecasting processes. You can utilize ASPIRE funds to compensate for your time, as this aligns perfectly with future planning efforts. We hope to have at least 1-2 representatives from each high school. Please refer to the sign-up sheet for various needs for the night.
We will promote this event at the district level and would love for each school to share the information through their communications as well. More details will follow!
Spanish-language FAFSA Night: Mon, Jan 13th. Here is the flyer. Thanks for distributing to your families and promoting through your channels! The primary audience is high school, but staff or families from any grade level are welcome if they just want to get a sense of the process.
Asian Family Night: Friday, January 31st. Food, cultural performances and crafts, and a drawing contest. More details to come—for now, save the date! (Yes, I know this is grading day 🙂 )
Black History Month Door-Decorating Contest: Submissions due Wed, Feb 19, and winners will be announced Fri, Feb 21. Prizes and recognition for the winners will be a little special this year. Complete information will be shared with your staff via your DEI-ICCL rep in early January—for now, add these key dates to your calendar!
From Departments:
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Office of DEI:
Presidential inauguration:
This year’s presidential inauguration falls on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. It is a No-School day, but some priority-population advisory groups have indicated worry for the student experience and respectful interactions on Tuesday, Jan 21st.
Our community has been relatively respectful post-election (which is great!), and we certainly don’t want to assume negative intent. That said, continued preventive efforts can’t hurt. In early Jan, make sure your teachers review norms and expectations regarding the dignity and belonging of everyone in your learning community, and the expected reporting procedures if these norms are violated (i.e. bias incident form submissions). As you welcome students back from break, a family communication/reminder regarding these school-wide expectations is helpful too.
Please ask your counselors to make themselves as available as possible for drop-ins if students need extra support on/around Tues, Jan 21. If your team knows a particular student or colleague struggled after the election in November, make a note on your calendar to have a trusted adult or friend intentionally check in with them that day.
Complaints:
Your teams are doing really great with the complaint system—thank you for your visible and thoughtful efforts to respond, investigate, support, document, and communicate for each one you receive in your Dashboard. Those take substantial time and energy, but they are investments in the trust and safety of your school culture, and your students, families, and staff notice and appreciate that.
From Dean: This email went out to your social studies teachers this week:
Dear Social Studies Teachers,
I hope this message finds you well and that you are looking forward to the upcoming break, which I hope brings you the opportunity to rejuvenate and refresh.
As we prepare to return to work in 2025, I want to inform you that we will be hiring a Social Studies TOSA for the remainder of the year. This position will start at the beginning of the second semester, February 3rd, and will last through the end of the school year. This is a TEMPORARY position for the duration of the 24-25 school year.
The specific tasks for this role include:
Supporting peers on standards work
Preparing for the Social Science adoption process for the 25-26 school year with implementation in 26-27
Continuing the work on Tribal History/Shared History requirements from ODE
Continuing work on Personal Finance requirements from ODE
There are two positions posted in UKG for flexibility. This role can be a full-time position for one individual, a part-time position for one individual, or a part-time position for two individuals with specializations. If you are interested, please apply for the amount of time you wish to work in support of your peers. There is no need to apply for both positions.
I understand that this is a unique position that may lead to some questions, so please reach out to me and I’ll get you answers.
Thank you for your dedication and hard work. Enjoy your break!
Many of you have reached out with questions about special education programming and expectations within Bend-La Pine Schools. First and foremost, we want to acknowledge the wide-spread concerns and confusion within our District regarding this topic. Over the last five years the Bend-La Pine Schools Student Services Department, previously known as Special Education, has made changes within their department that were well intentioned, but not communicated to the larger system of employees and this has led to uncertainty and misunderstanding. The purpose of today’s communication is to provide all staff with a shared base of information that we can use to build our future decisions upon as we move toward a shared goal of better supporting all students, including those who require specially designed instruction and services.
During the 2018-2019 school year a project known as Excellence in Education gathered feedback from staff, students, and families about their experiences in our schools. After receiving and processing that feedback, the Student Services Department set out on a journey to improve the inclusion of students experiencing disability into the general education setting. The BLS vision for special education is, “Bend-La Pine Schools strive to create an inclusive culture and environment for all learners, particularly for those that experience disability. We believe, to the greatest extent possible, that all students should maximize time spent in the general education classroom regardless of their special education services or related services. To this end, it is imperative that the educational planning process begins with services in the general education setting and ends with the need for specialized services in more segregated settings.” For more detailed information about this process click here.
We are reaching out today to share answers to frequently asked questions about our model for delivering special education services in Bend-La Pine Schools and to provide clarity on how we provide Special Education services in our schools. The Special Education Inclusion Questions and Answers (click link) will be updated as more questions arise.
Are we there yet? Inclusive practices and the improvement of those practices are a process. This work will not be achieved overnight, it will take time and training, it will take collaboration and conversation. All of which are precious in the public education system. As we continue this journey the Student Services Department is committed to listening to all employees, answering questions as they arise, and working with BEA to increase learning opportunities and continued clarity on this topic. The work we do with students is complex and working together to ensure all students have access to the support they need will lead to thriving community members in the future.
In partnership,
Sarah Barclay, President, Bend Education Association
Sean Reinhart, Executive Director of Student Services, Bend-La Pine Schools
Calendar
December 23-January 3. Winter Break
January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
January 2: HS Curriculum Guides on district website
January 6: First Day back from break
January 7: HS Administrator and Counselor work session (rescheduled from Dec 10) 8-10 @Mountain View HS
January 10: COREN survey deadline
January 13: Spanish-language FAFSA Night 5:30-7:30 @ Education Center boardroom
January 14: MS and HS Administrator work session 8-10 @Caldera HS
January 15: Safety Cadre Meeting 1:30 @ PBMS (Safety admin leads should attend)
January 15: SIW Educator Network Day
January 23: BLPS Family Academic Night @ Summit HS
January 28: HS Administrator work session 8-10 @ Mountain View HS
January 29: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
Where in the World
Thank you for all the entries! Keep ’em coming.
This week we are highlighting Kristy Knoll’s happy place! One of my happy places is coming down from the top of Black Butte. My oldest daughter and I hike it every summer, usually on Labor Day, as a way to mark the end of summer and get ready for the school year. We were able to find a “no smoke” window in this picture, and it was a perfect hike. The picture is on the way DOWN from the top because the hard work is done and it’s easier to enjoy the view.
Principals: Please verify that all of your Language Arts teachers have attended a required Book Club training. Our Secondary LA TOSA, Torie Withers, can confirm who has attended, if that is helpful. The next training is Tuesday:
Language Arts Book Club Training
Date: Tuesday, December 17
Time: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: The Big Room, Environmental Center 16 NW Kansas Avenue, Bend
Who Should Attend:
Required for new hires or teachers who haven’t previously attended
Those who have previously attended and are seeking collaboration with colleagues and planning time
Training Focus: Learn how to structure and plan book club units, including:
How to approach and plan a unit
Selecting unit themes
Teaching reading skills and discussion strategies
Choosing mentor texts and book club offerings
Unit planning time
Language arts teachers are encouraged to attend this professional development opportunity. Please direct questions and RSVPs to Torie Withers. Thank you!
As we continue to advance sustainability initiatives across our schools, we are asking each building administration team to designate one member to act as the first level of support for your site’s Green Team. Please fill out your admin in the MS lead or HS lead spreadsheets under the Green Team tab.
This role is not about leading the Green Team but simply being available as a point of contact and support for the individuals spearheading sustainability efforts in your building.
Each site has a 1.0 FTE Green Team Advisor, which is on the Extra Duty schedule. This is a new role this year and must be filled via the recruitment process.
What was formerly our Custodial department is now Custodial and Sustainability, led by Walt Norris, Director of Custodial and Sustainability. Walt is actively recruiting a Sustainability Coordinator, who will soon serve as the direct liaison for all Green Team Advisors. Once this position is filled and up to speed, they will provide additional guidance and support for sustainability efforts across the district.
From Departments
From Dean: Science curriculum adoption update
Middle School:
Teachers from CMS, HDMS, PBMS, PCMS, SVMS, 3 Rivers and LPMS are currently field testing LabAids in grades 6, 7 and 8.
The following teachers are participating:
6th grade: Valerie Overely, Kelly Houston, Laruen McKeehan, Dean Pru’domme, Katie, Lyons, Jake Slodki and Matt Killebrew
7th grade: Sarah Durfee, Jane Shein, Mark Alvarado, Stacy Welsh, Madison Hargett, Hannah Perkins, Jake Slodki and Matt Killebrew
8th grade: Melody Craig, Tara Termes, Jackson Blackburn, Mark Segesta, Deidre Crabtree & Stephanie Kimbrell
This field test will wrap up by the end of January 2025.
High School:
A big thanks to Colleen Behrens and the Science Curriculum Adoption Team for their dedication during the science instructional materials vetting meeting on December 5th. The team members included:
BSHS: Ron Crawford, Heidi Friesen
BTA: Missie Wikler
CHS: Sarah Trakselis, Case Bateman, Kathleen Glogau
MVHS: Jon Nichols, Gillian Kellock
LPHS: Suzanne Jones
SHS: Greg Lampard, Lisa Lamb
During the meeting, the team reviewed four curricula for the NGSS Physics program to be implemented next year: OpenSciEd, PEER Physics, Patterns, and BioZone. PEER Physics emerged as the top choice and will move forward for field testing in the second semester/trimester. The team will continue to explore curriculum options for Chemistry and Biology in the coming months.
Roll out of new Science Pathway:
25-26: NGSS Physics for all Freshman
26-27: NGSS Physics continues and NGSS Chemistry for all Sophomores
27-28: NGSS Physics, NGSS Chemistry and NGSS Biology for all Juniors.
Next week an email will go out to Social Science teachers about a temporary SS TOSA position for the rest of this year. We will be posting an internal only SS TOSA that will help lead standards, professional development and begin the adoption process. This position will be temporary until the end of the year and begin second semester (2/3.) It is posted in the range of .5 to 1.0. It will be available for both middle and high school social studies teachers to apply. We understand that this may cause some stress to your system with needing to hire a new teacher for second semester. Please reach out to Dean if there are any questions or concerns.
From Eric: RE: Reviewing your “Incident Approval Queue”
If you don’t do this regularly, please remember to view your “Incident Approval Queue” in Synergy to Approve/Deny any Incident your school enters into Synergy. Any incident we enter as Administrators needs to be “Approved” this way as well, so many schools may have Incidents waiting to be posted that they believe were posted already. Here is a screenshot of what the screen looks like and what to search for in Quick Launch (we currently have 153 incidents district-wide waiting to be Approved/Denied!).
If you want to discuss this process, please call me at 4810.
The HR office will have sporadic coverage over winter break, from December 21 through January 5. To ensure a smooth workflow, please complete and submit any hiring requests by Friday, December 20. New hiring requests should be held until the office resumes regular operations on Monday, January 6.
If you are in the process of making an offer that will take place between December 21 and January 5, please contact Ryan Kelling as soon as possible to develop a plan for completing the process during this period.
Thank you for helping us maintain a seamless hiring process.
We are launching an Administrator Assignment Preferences Survey to give licensed administrators an opportunity to share their preferences regarding assignments. This survey is designed to:
Gather insights into your preferences for school level, region, and program involvement.
Help district leadership evaluate potential reassignments that align individual strengths with district needs and to refresh school cultures where needed.
What the Survey Will Ask: The survey will ask for detailed input on:
School Level: Indicate your preferences for working at the elementary, middle, or high school levels, or in district-wide roles.
Region: Specify any regional preferences across the district.
Program Involvement: Share your interest in specific programs or focus areas, such as Special Education, STEM, Advanced Placement, Social-Emotional Learning, or others.
Additional Considerations: You’ll have space to share any other factors or context you’d like us to keep in mind, including professional goals or areas for growth.
Why This Matters: This survey is part of a broader effort to ensure our schools remain vibrant, innovative, and engaging places for students and staff alike.
While we will make every effort to honor individual preferences, it’s important to note that some decisions may need to prioritize district-wide goals, ensuring the best outcomes for our school communities.
Next Steps: To provide additional clarity and answer questions, this topic will be included in the agenda for the January horizontal meetings. These discussions will allow for deeper engagement and dialogue about the process and its purpose.
We understand that this may prompt reflection and questions, and we are committed to approaching this process thoughtfully, transparently, and with collaboration at the center. If you have any immediate concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Level Leader, Ryan Kelling, or Lisa Birk.
Thank you for your openness and engagement as we work to create the strongest possible learning environments for our students and staff.
Here is a one-page document to help with our YouthTruth survey inJanuary. Our goal is 90% completion for students, 95% from staff and 50% from families. The window is January 6-31. Reach out to Laura Clark if you have question about the Canvas module or Dave with any questions about YouthTruth.
Our district-wide Spanish-language FAFSA Night will tentatively be Mon, Jan 13th 5:30-7:30pm. More details and flyers to follow, but for now please reserve this date (avoid scheduling school-based events that evening, if possible) and share with applicable staff like counselors, ELL, etc.
Complaints:
Please see Kinsey’s recent email about complaint management. Thank you for checking your Dashboards to be sure all complaints there are addressed (or more recent ones are at least in process) prior to heading into winter break. Reach out if you would like support on them!
Just for fun
From Mr. Snowflake in IT
Greetings,
Watching everyone attempt to create a “six-pointed snowflake” was a special moment taking me back to my first year of teaching at Three Rivers Elementary 26.5 years ago.
Before the winter holiday, a Sunriver resident named Jerry Sawyer would volunteer in my class to teach art lessons, one of which was how to create a true six-pointed snowflake. He would talk about how every snowflake was unique, forged around a central piece of dust, and always started its journey from the sky as a crystal with six points. Shout out to Pat McClain who is now teaching at Bend High and was a student in that class. Most year’s since then I have done my best to channel “Mr. Snowflake” in the other schools where I have worked. The “assessment data” on the floor yesterday demonstrated that many of you have yet to master the six-pointed snowflake. This video will share the steps to create your own six-pointed snowflake. Share with your staff if you wish. At the very least, you will have the answer key in the case you are tested again next year. Thank you for reading. And remember-dimple, snow cone, coyote head, torch!
Calendar
December 17: HS Principal Breakfast @ 7:30
December 19: Middle School Horizontal – 3:00 @ Cascade MS
December 23-January 3. Winter Break
January 6-31: Schools implement YouthTruth survey!
January 2: HS Curriculum Guides on district website
January 6: First Day back from break
January 7: HS Administrator and Counselor work session (rescheduled from Dec 10) 8-10 @Mountain View HS
January 14: MS and HS Administrator work session 8-10 @Caldera HS
January 15: Safety Cadre Meeting 1:30 @ PBMS (Safety admin leads should attend)
January 15: SIW Educator Network Day
January 28: HS Administrator work session 8-10 @ Mountain View HS
January 29: All Admin PD 3:00-4:30 @ Bend HS in Perseverance Hall
Where in the World
Thank you for all the entries! Keep ’em coming.
This week we are highlighting Lindsey Warner’s happy place! Congratulations to Lindsey, who got married in November!! Lindsey wrote: My happy place is anywhere with my husband, Charles. However, if I had to choose a place it would always be the beach! We honeymooned on Kauai and Maui in November; the weather was amazing, the beaches were beautiful, and the trip was perfect. We saw whales, dolphins, and turtles while on Maui. In Kauai we saw a lot of chickens and a monk seal.
We also attended a 49ers vs Seahawks game in San Francisco on our way to Hawaii. Go Hawks!
