“Therefore send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee (me) . . .” Having worked with nurses, families, and staff on the process of verifying whether or not one is fit to return to a public school setting after experiencing symptoms, I now have the opportunity to go through the process myself. I’ve had one negative rapid test, and will verify again Monday morning, and hopefully be back in action. Is there ever a convenient time to miss work? Probably not. Coming down the final stretch of the COVID-19 year certainly would not qualify.

I would have preferred to explain some of what follows in our meeting this morning, but I can circle up with anyone who needs it to clarify.

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CALENDAR ITEMS

• Monday, 5/24
  • Rotation A
  • 8th grade state testing (science) during advisory
  • Make-up night for families that missed the 5th grade move-up orientation back in March (5:30 in English; 6:00 in Spanish)
• Tuesday, 5/25
  • Principal hiring process (staff/community forum at 5:00 PM here: https://bls.fyi/pbmsforum)
• Wednesday, 5/26
  • Fire Drill at 8:30 AM.
  • 2:00 PM grade level deliberations on student recognition awards (This will be hard to do on Webex. Let’s have 6th grade meet in Ruth’s room, 7th grade in Kale’s room, and 8th grade in Nicole’s room.) Spread sheet to follow.
• Thursday, 5/27
  • 8th grade state testing (science) during advisory
• Friday, 5/28
  • 8th grade state testing (science) during advisory

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To Do’s

Teachers, please use this template to send out our 3rd advisory outreach email (or phone call if you prefer or feel it is needed) to your advisory students next week. Wednesday seems like a great day to do this unless you are inundated with calls from quarantined students. Please reach out to the admin you normally work with when this is complete. (No later than Friday 5/28)

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On the radar . . .

Everyone should have received guidance from Lora today regarding the updates to RSSL and mask requirements. Here it is, if you missed it.

For teachers, this is the time of year when we use Wednesdays to collaborate with our PLCs on assessment calibration/reflections and also updates to our course descriptions. Please consider using some of the unstructured Wednesday time to work with your peers on these topics. I will work with Lyndsey to let you know what the best format would be if you want to make updates. If you do not have an old copy you can start by viewing them here on our site.

Some staff have wondered why students that have had a C19 designation in attendance resolve quickly. Here is a link to the document that staff (including me 😉 get from district nursing crew when they have have to be out. You can see on the second page how symptoms are designated. In some cases where there is quick turnaround, students may have had a symptom that resolved right away and were able to quickly get a test with their doc’s signature.

The last week of school will obviously look a bit different this year. The student recognition slide show will be sent to families, and also viewed during school. Monday through Wednesday will be regular days and Thursday will be 10:35-3:00, and we will follow this schedule (that may be subject to minor changes). As you will see, we will do short versions of all classes. 8th grade students will stay down on the lower field for activities from lunch until the end of the day.

Middle School staff will be asked to set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on Monday, May 31st. This communication will come from Chad in IT. Chad will also be reaching out to identify 1 or 2 people in our building to set up MFA and be a support resource for others in your building. The deadline for setting up MFA will be Monday, July 26^th.

From HR: Starting next week, and for the remainder of the year, we will not be approving any more personal days unless a substitute can be found.  If we have already approved a personal day, then we will honor that decision.  Moving forward, however, if an employee, either classified or certified, asks for a personal day, we need to know that positions will be covered before okaying the request.  As a reminder, there are special agreements with both associations that employees will be paid for unused personal days.

Here is a free summer learning opportunity. The topic is Trauma-Informed Engagement Practices through the process of continuous improvement.

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Shout out’s . . .

. . . to our awesome Web leaders who have been persistent in pushing for creative ways to keep school fun and positive. I get three to five email proposals a week! Please pass along the love!

Birthday wishes got o Mark Fierro (5/25). Enjoy your day!

Happy Monday to all. Short update here. I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend. I was out in the sunny weather for hours and hours only to have the “enjoy” part of that equation usurped by a not quite finished paver project in the backyard. There is nothing like a daily equipment rental fee to motivate, and, unfortunately, I will have at least one more opportunity to rent some equipment I probably I have no business operating.

Thanks to all for a great week last week, between grinding out some state testing and trying to contain the energy of the 8th grade kickball final on Friday we me have inadvertently struck a balance between work and fun. I commend all who were involved on their positivity and can-do attitude.

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Calendar Items:

• Monday, 5/17
  • Rotation B
• Wednesday, 5/19
  • Principal applicant screening (see Mary for details if you are part of that group)
• Friday, 5/21
  • Staff meeting (9:00-9:30 in Stancliff’s Webex)

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On the Radar . . .

I/S and L/L teachers if you are willing, OSU-Cascades is fairly urgently seeking placements for student teachers, so please reach out if you are interested.

If you are fielding questions from students about relaxed mask mandates, you can let them know, that right now, Governor Brown as said that schools will still be requiring masks through the end of the year.

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Shout out’s . . .

. . . go to everyone who rallied last week to fill in for each other. We had a lot of positions that did not fill, and it took a full team effort to get things covered. Special thanks to Heather for organizing the daily scramble!

Happy Friday to all! It wouldn’t be a week in the COVID-19 year without an update to how we do school. Thank you for your patience and grace as we awaited the details of the Wednesday schedule. Below, you will find links to Wednesday programming and schedule.

I appreciate everyone who came out this morning to wind down our week of celebrating teachers. I am so grateful to be able to work with such a talented and committed group of educators. This year has challenged our profession at every level, and everyone has found unique ways to keep our students and our school moving in the right direction. As we head into the final month or so, I will thank you in advance for continuing to meet students where they are at both intellectually and emotionally, and for continuing to bring energy and positivity to your instruction.

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CALENDAR ITEMS:

• Monday, 5/10 – Rotation A; volleyball and wrestling begin
• Wednesday, 5/12 – New schedule (Click here)
• Thursday, 5/13 – BSH counseling visit for IB/ELL connections (afternoon pull out in library for students involved)

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TO DO’s:

All staff, please carefully review the following parameters associated with Wednesdays moving forward.

Teachers, please review the information from this flyer about ongoing opportunities to become nationally board certified. The district is eager to have teachers from the same buildings and levels work together.

Teachers, just a reminder to keep CANVAS as up-to-date as possible with assignments and resources to support students who have to quarantine.

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ON THE RADAR:

Look for confirmation from Mary via email that you are dialed in and set up for state testing. She will be bringing pencils, folders, and mints for your students.

Here is the most update guidance from OHA on gatherings.

As the weather warms up, here is some BLS guidance on fans and propping doors:

There is nothing in RSSL directly related to how to address proper use of fans and the safety of opening exterior doors during warm weather days (or for added ventilation) so our team of health professionals who meets on Fridays gave input into acceptable use.  

Fans can only be used if they are pulling fresh air in from the outside (stationed by a window or exterior door) not if they are only circulating existing air in the classroom (therefore, ceiling fans should not be used).

Any exterior classroom door that is within the fenced area of a school can be opened.  Exterior doors not within a fenced area can be opened but must be closely supervised (ie. closed when no adult is monitoring it).

Dean Richards and Michelle Oaks did an interview with Steve Cook in the Secondary Blog this week.  Here are the transcripts of their conversation:  

A Conversation with our New Superintendent, Dr. Steve Cook (part 1)

A Conversation With our New Superintendent, Dr. Steve Cook (part 2).

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SHOUT OUT’s . . .

Thank you again for all you do Teachers!

Thank you to Mary for organizing and getting us coached up on state testing and to staff for stepping up to support the effort in advisory!

To all of the mothers in our midst and for those that do a fair bit of mothering for our students here, have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Birthday wishes this week go to . . . Mrs. Perry (5/11) and Mrs. Stokes (5/12)! Enjoy your birthdays!