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)

Welcome to the most anticipated winter break in recent memory! What an intense few months it has been! Just a few items for your consideration as we wrap up the week and prepare for a couple of weeks of rest from our hard work.

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TO DO:

Have an amazing and well-deserved winter break! Despite the travel and get-together limitations associated with COVID-19, I hope that everyone unplugs, relaxes, gets outside, and enjoys these next couple of weeks with an eye of optimism looking ahead to 2021!

(I will update this section on the back end of break and send a reminder)

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ON THE RADAR

Santa. He will literally be on the radar here. The Hallmark Channel. Activities and people that bring you joy. A good book or two. Relaxing music. Time to reflect and look ahead. Yummy baked goods. Zoom calls with family. A variety of beverages and spirits. And, hopefully, good times had by all . . .

(I will update this section on the back end of break and send a reminder.)

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SHOUT OUT . . .

. . . to our collective PBMS GIANTS community. As I am sure all of you are, I have been overwhelmed the last week or two, and frankly all of this fall and early winter, by the seemingly endless supply of energy and creativity that you bring to your work and to our kids. Your willingness to try new things, repeatedly head back to the drawing board, and share your learning with your peers has kept students and adults engaged and aspiring for more. And while not all of us are holding WebEx meetings with students on a daily basis, our staff who are behind the scenes are doing an amazing job supporting our students families and each other. Our collective mindset is one of resolve to make the most of what is possible given the circumstances, and I know our students, families, and broader school community feels it, so thank you!

Special thanks to Heather for all of her hard work organizing our gifts this year, and all of our staff who made this week festive and fun!

Happy birthday to our staff who have spent a lifetime getting “combined” birthday and Christmas gifts!

Letty Hellerud (12/24), Kristi Bourlai (12/27), Brett Brunner (12/28), Lisa Brooks (12/31)

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CALENDAR ITEMS:

• Wednesday 12/16
  • Safety team meeting (9:00 am)
  • Staff meeting (2-3 pm in Stancliff’s WebEx)
  • Superintendent search public forum (5:00 pm & 6:15 pm) Click here for more info.
• Thursday 12/17
  • Hybrid planning (3:00 pm)
• Friday 12/18
  • Social (1:00-1:30)

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TO DO:

Teaching staff:

If you were not able to this week, please make sure that you have updated your Synergy grade book settings with the new scale that includes the P/NG. Click here for instructions. As we mentioned in grade level meetings, timely and accurate entry of summative grades into Synergy will allow us to update the new spread sheet that Mary created for tracking student progress.

In that same spirit, if you have an advisory class, please look for communication early next week around giving families an update before we head to break.

Please use this document that Mary sent out on Thursday to sign up to host one of the social activities. Stand by for protocols managing student behavior.

All staff:

Please work from home if you are experiencing any symptoms that could potentially be related to COVID-19. If there is anything you need from us in the way of support for working from home, please let us know.

Please continue to follow safety protocols when working here on campus, including wearing a mask when not in a private enclosed work space, social distancing whenever possible, and using the QR code to check in and out.  

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ON THE RADAR

For teachers that are new to Bend-La Pine Schools, remember there is a training on 1/13 from 2-4 pm that will focus on metacognition, Habits of Mind, and Habits of Interactions within specific academic disciplines. If you have questions please reach out to Dean Richards.

Our Hybrid Planning Team has met twice now, and we are working out site specific details in the following areas: 3 week rotations, classroom sanitation logistics, student movement in hallways, student movement in classrooms, adult movement in classrooms, library access, and staff collaboration. Our goal is to create a “quick-guide” for adults and one for students and families that summarizes what we believe will be best practices. We will also develop a schedule for sharing the information in advisory and other forums ahead of our return to a hybrid model.

Bend-La Pine Schools is participating in the Youth Truth survey after returning from the winter break. It consists of three components: student survey, staff survey, and family survey.  The student survey will be administered in Individuals and Societies classes. We will communicate with students, staff and families ahead of the survey administration.

Middle School Athletics will continue to follow the high school athletics calendar, which was recently updated to include 3 different seasons between Feb. 22 and June 11.

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SHOUT OUTs

Thank you to Val Overley for being a rock star! Her peers would want her and everyone else to know: “She has created endless hours of Canvas Videos for staff and students to help us navigate through all things Canvas. She is a super problem solver and is more than willing to find the answer to any question as she patiently walks us all through tech challenges. Not only is she a tech queen, she also writes and develops amazing digital learning lessons for her students. She is awesome.”

Happy birthday to the following individuals: Val Overly and Kim Crosby (12/13), Chuck Clair (12/14) Patty Brun (12/16) & Todd Brown (12/18) Enjoy your day!

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TOOLS & RESOURCES

Please refer to Scott McDonald’s emails from this week if you are continuing to experience issues with WebEx glitches. Here is the form to report issues to folks at tech.

Here is a link for District Tech Tips and Tools for CDL