This has been a tough week. We wrapped last week with lots of questions and mostly tentative answers. This week has brought more new things to consider as well as what I believe will be resolution on some of the open questions that tie into your own need to plan for your families needs. As we have processed and will continue to process the parameters of our return, I thank each of you for reaching out individually and collectively to voice your concerns and share your perspective. I readily acknowledge that many of the answers to our questions have left a significant number of you with incredibly difficult decisions to make. Please know that I stand ready to help brainstorm and workshop possibilities with you or even just to listen and be someone with whom you can safely vent frustrations.

What follows will be fairly heavy in terms of information to process, but the urgency of a rapidly approaching transition does not lend itself to a more gradual release. As you will see later in the post, we have a Q/A doc we will link to, and I will be attending to it throughout the long weekend all the way until Tuesday when we will meet in grade levels.

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Calendar Items:

• Monday 1/18 – MLK Day
• Tuesday 1/19
  • 6th grade meeting – 2:30pm (Stancliff’s WebEx)
  • 7th/8th grade meeting – 3:15 pm (Stancliff’s WebEx)
• Thursday 1/21
  • Last synchronous WebEx day with periods A-4
• Friday 1/22
  • Last synchronous WebEx day with periods 5-7
• Monday 1/25
  • All staff report to building (follow CDL contract hours)
  • Teachers in rooms
  • Start of asynchronous instruction (See link below for guidance)
• Tuesday 1/26
  • Small group building walk throughs focused on safety and logistics (time/group assignment to follow)
• Wednesday 1/27
  • SIW (details to follow)
• Mon – Thurs 2/1-2/4
  • Second week of asynchronous instruction
  • Orientations (See link below for details)
• Friday 2/5
  • Last day of term
  • Grades entered by 4:00 PM

Transitions Updates and Links:

Staff Toolkit – This link takes you to a document that has OHA and BLO mandates and guidance related safely transitioning back to our building.

Schedule – As far as I know, this is the final version of our hybrid schedule including Wednesday slots

Master Schedules – Here you will find one Google Sheet with two tabs, one for each of the three week rotations.

Orientation Schedule – Refer to this to see what Mon-Thurs. will look like in the week of Feb.1.

Asynchronous Guidance for 1/25-2/8 – This document was created by the Teaching and Learning staff with input from middle school teachers and admin. This is guidance and we will review in grade level meetings.

Q/A form

BLS “Ready Set Learn” Guidance

ODE Ready Schools Safe Learners

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On the Radar . . .

It can be a sensitive topic when folks voluntarily share or are asked about whether or not they have received the vaccine. Please consider using a high amount of discretion on this topic as there are private/personal health issues for our staff and their families they should not feel pressured or compelled to talk about.

As most of you probably heard, Governor Brown announced that a first round of COVID-19 vaccines will be made available to public school employees beginning he week of 1/25. Stay tuned for details on how you will access the vaccine if you want to receive it.

As we continue to move through tough times together, our classes will provide us with opportunities to help our students navigate complex and often controversial issues. This is part of our work, and can be a source of powerful learning for our school community when done well. Please direct your attention (snuck a to-do in here) to the following resource for guidance: Difficult dialogue checklist, BLS resources for equity, Board policy on studying controversial issues, and Staff participation in political activities.

Having looked at the dates above, it should be clear that the opportunities to be in front of kids via WebEx for synchronous classes are quickly fading. Please make sure to use your final sessions to make sure students understand the expectations of the two asynchronous weeks.

Mike LaTorre, Melissa Scott, and I will be meeting weekly to connect on issues that our staff would like to address, so you can connect with them or with me in any given week and we will workshop solutions or find answers together.

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Shout Outs . . .

. . . to YOU!! Despite how hard things are right now, everywhere I look, I see people who are part of our school community taking care of each other and supporting one another in their needs. Thank you for having each others’ backs, and for being an example of kindness and compassion!

Happy birthday to Amy Brunner! (1/20)

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THANK YOU . . .

I just want to lead today with a note of gratitude for your thoughtful participation in our question and answer session on Friday afternoon. We had a very robust turn out and covered a lot of ground. One of the things I observed, and frankly that is characteristic of our staff, is that there was a tremendous amount of mutual support within the group and a willingness among you to both ensure that all voices are heard and to bring your colleagues concerns to the table if they were not able. As we move forward our sense of solidarity and respect with and for one another will be critical in navigating challenges.

I know that for some folks the conversation did not yield answers to all of your questions, and in many cases, it simply generated more. Many of you have reached out individually with other questions or concerns, and we honor and appreciate your openness. I hope you know and feel that Mary and I hear you, and that we will continue to do everything we can to support our staff as we move forward.

I spoke with Jim Boen, immediately following our meeting in an effort to communicate the sentiment of our conversation, and will do so again this morning with the other middle school principals, who I know have fielded many of the same concerns in their buildings. Jim is going to send out district wide, middle school specific communication this week that I believe will help provide context for some of the parameters and decisions.

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CALENDAR ITEMS:

• Wednesday 1/13
  • Hybrid planning team (2:00-4:00)
• Consult dates and schedules for transition to hybrid here.

TO DOs:

Licensed staff, please ensure that as we move through these last few weeks that your Synergy settings are dialed so that NGs and Ps are showing in your gradebook rather than Fs and Ds. If you are still seeing Fs and Ds in your Synergy gradebook, and need help with your settings, please reach out to Mary, Lyndsey or me.

All staff, please consult the hybrid folder regularly. As plans and information from both the district and our internal safety and hybrid planning teams solidifies, we will add them here.

ON THE RADAR:

Next week we will have grade level meetings, and one the purposes will be to go over SLGGs and observation guidelines. Please do not worry for two seconds about either of these items now, and know that we are doing are absolute best to streamline the SLGG piece so it is a building wide approach that we work on as whole. We will also preview how we will leverage our SIS data to transition effectively to term 2.

For classified staff, I am told that the district will be reaching out soon related to returning to work leading up to and during hybrid.

SHOUT OUTs:

Hopefully you were all able to see the incredible work that Pat Robert’s students have been doing in art this term. What an inspiration! Great job Pat!

(Remember, if you see awesomeness in our school community, please let me know so I can include it here)