District Snow Day Messaging: Please refer to Scott Maben’s message about the new dates at the end of the year. Go over this again with staff sometime next week during a staff meeting.
Welcome Back Survey: We are working on plans for the Welcome Back event for the 2024-25 school year, to be held on Tuesday, August 27, and would like to hear from employees on the preferred format. Please use THIS SURVEY to vote until Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 5 pm. The planning team is considering three options:
A virtual meeting with school and department staffs gathering in their buildings to participate. This would last a little over an hour and may include a new interactive experience for participating teams.
In person with all District staff together in one place, with District buses shuttling staff to and from the central gathering place. This may entail a commitment of up to three hours and include breakfast and employment-related vendors.
A hybrid in-person/virtual event at multiple locations: For example: High school, middle school, elementary school, and support staffs each meet at separate schools, with a portion of the program being a virtual event to connect all staff, followed by an in-person program with a focus on interests specific to the level or group. This also could be a 3-hour event with breakfast and district buses shuttling staff to and from these four locations.
Reminders:
CPI info update from last week: Sign up ASAP. We recommend you sign up for the “Nonviolent Crisis Intervention,includes Verbal Intervention”, the second selection on the page (standard program only) training, which can be done HERE. The cost will be $4349 and you have to pay to sign up, so you will need to use your building credit card. Once you have designated who will be trained, please notify April Diehl in the Student Services Office. She will provide you with an account code so your office manager can reimburse your school account. If you have any questions, please contact Sean Reinhart.
TAG Testing Timeline: Please make sure these dates are on your radar and you have a plan for testing at your school.
ECSE Information Update: Please refer to Colleen’s recent e-mail if you have questions regarding new processes related to ECSE transitions. Please review THIS GUIDANCE with your team as you make a plan for your site.
Additional Student Services Staffing Requests: Some of you may be finding that you are coming to the end of your 70 hours of additional services supports. Remember- any requests for additional Student Services staff (including unfilled positions) need to come directly from building administrators and not from teachers. Each request will be reviewed by a team of Student Services administrators and level leaders for consideration. Some considerations when requesting additional student services staff:
All high-needs student discretionary funds (see above) must be spent first
Prior to requesting additional staff, develop a plan for how the person will be utilized, the duration of the request, the plan to fade support, and the name of the staff member facilitating the sub and plan implementation
Any additional student Services staff requested via this process would need to directly serve students under the umbrella of special education.
Wonders Reading Materials (stolen language from Pine Ridge staff letter): As we progress through this final year of instructing with Wonders curriculum there are a few moves to start planning for. Downtown is in the process of locating a purchaser to buy all teacher manuals and anthologies that are in good condition. At this time, we need to hold on to all TE’s and Anthologies. You should start sending home leveled readers after the close of a unit with your students. Come the end of the year, we are going to have a lot of material to organize. Please start sending the leveled readers home now after they have been used for this year’s instruction.
New Notes:
Curriculum, Instruction and Systems (Julie Walker):Here is the schedule for Educator Network Day on February 28th. Please see the far-right hand column for locations for administrator support at each of the classes being offered.
From Life and Career Readiness (Jenny White): This week’s highlight in Wayfinder is encouragement which can be found in the Activity Library in Wayfinder.
We are looking forward to taking some time to review the data that we received as a result of our recent survey. This will be part of our meeting on Tuesday. You can use this time to start to think about how you will roll this information out to your ICCL team and make plans for PD.
You also should now have access to your Youth Truth information. We will have some dedicated time in the future to look through these data but if you want to start planning now, please feel free. If you don’t see an easy way to access the information in your account, please reach out to Dave.
Below is our agenda for our upcoming site visits. This is a first step as we begin the process of staffing for next year. Start thinking about your needs moving forward so we can understand your vision as we meet together.
Important Dates
Feb 27: 3:00-5:00. Elementary Leadership, at North Star Elementary
Feb 28: Ed Network Day (see details above from Julie)
Did you know that the longest jump observed by a snow leopard was more than 49 feet (15 meters), even longer than the length of an average school bus! Thursday 2/29 (Leap Day) is a great day to start practicing your leaping. The Paris Olympics are only 154 days away!
ICCL Work: Please remember to have your whole staff fill out the “Implementation Practices” survey by Friday 2/16. Also, make sure your ICCL team has scheduled a date to review your building data and set next steps after February 27. Here is the Admin/ICCL slide deck where slide 11 focuses on how to review the data.
Schedule in some self-care time this coming weekend! You deserve it!
Reminders:
Time for a reminder refresh—need something? Check out this section from last week.
New Notes:
From Jenny White (SEL/LCR): This week the Wayfinder highlight is an activity around LOVE and JOY. Directions on how to find the activity in WAYFINDER
From Curriculum, Instruction, and Systems (Julie Walker)
Here is the template we will be using for mid-year core effectiveness meetings. Please make a copy if it doesn’t force you to do so. Please reach out to your instructional coach, Julie Walker, Lindsley Gehrig or Kerry Morton for support.
From Lora for Admin PD: Next Wednesday, 2/21, beginning at 3:00 in Perseverance Hall at BSHS, we will be doing a deep dive into the new collective bargaining agreements with BEA and OSEA. It is important for you to review the highlights of the certified CBA ahead of time and record questions and concerns:
Thank you!!!! From the bottom of our hearts, thank so so much for all of you who interviewed, who was on an interview team, or who left your school to support another school while their teams were out for the interviews. We could not have done it without you! What a gift to work with such an amazing group willing to pitch in where needed.
Staffing: We talked with Brad this week, trying to get a better understanding about what to expect with the upcoming staffing season and how the significant budget shortfall will impact your staffing plans. We all know there will be cuts and some of you will feel it more than others, due to the nature of some school enrollments growing and some enrollments shrinking. We will also feel a pretty significant cut in HU funding as well. Over the course of the next three weeks, Lisa and I are going to schedule joint site visits with the sole purpose of giving you time to talk to us about your schools, your hopes, the realities of potential cuts and thoughts you may have about supporting students differently. We’ll send out an “agenda” with the specific questions we’ll want you to have time to process before we come.
Just remember, that when things are hard, your rate of making it through the hardest days of your life is 100%. Can’t beat that! We’ll get through this too, side by side, one step at a time.
Important Dates
Feb 16: Bear Creek Principal Hiring Day
Feb 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work
Feb 21: Admin PD at Perseverance Hall at BSH–3:00-6:00–with substantial snacks! (This will cover the new contract–you won’t want to miss this!)
Feb 27: 3:00-5:00. Elementary Leadership, at North Star Elementary
Click HERE to check out 29 minute-long Black History highlights that you might not know from cbschicago. In what ways are your students learning about Black History this month? What about throughout the year?
Do Now:
Title Mid-Year Update: Title Schools—Please work to get all your documents into your folders so you can stay caught up. Here is the link to the Mid-Year check-in slides from Tuesday. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Meryll or Tammy with any questions.
SRO Appreciation: SRO Cards, posters, goodies to Kayla in Safety by Feb 9!
Ed Network: Still looking for teachers to share their practice and ideas with other teachers at our Feb 28th Educator Network Day. Please have them sign up here if they have an idea for a session and are willing to facilitate that session.
Reminders:
State Testing: Here is a very detailed summary document Dave put together to help get you started. Please share this with your school test coordinators (STC). Let me know if you want to meet in person about OSAS logistics. I am happy to come out to your school and support you with this.
CFEE: Please register for a CFEE. This year, options are April 9-12 virtually, June 24-28 in the valley or July 22-26 in the valley. Click on THIS INTEREST LINK.
Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions–Inputting discipline information into Synergy needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident and/or suspension.
TAG Testing Timeline: Please make sure these dates are on your radar and you have a plan for testing at your school.
SLGG google form – Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy. These can be uploaded into UKG (instructions to follow)
Planning for subs? Consult the admin calendar here and avoid scheduling your building PD days on the days colored mauve.
From Paul in HR: Classified Performance Evaluations
Classified staff who are to be evaluated this year will appear in your Performance and Evaluation Hub on Tuesday, February 13. They will receive the following email/notification on Tuesday:
We are kicking off the classified performance evaluation process for 2023/24. If you were not evaluated last year, then you can expect to complete the following tasks between now and July 1.
Fill out a goal setting form
Complete a self-reflection (optional)
Sign a summative evaluation completed by your direct supervisor
Your supervisor will communicate with you on which method they plan on using for your performance evaluation process for this school year which will be either (a) digitally through UKG or (b) by providing with your paper copies of these forms which they will upload into your UKG personnel file.If they choose to use UKG’s digital workflows, then you will need to monitor your notifications/to-do’s within UKG to complete each of these tasks electronically. Due dates for digital workflows will be:
March 1 for goal setting
April 1 – May 1 for self reflections (optional)
May 1 to July 1 for summative evaluations
From Jenny White (SEL/LCR): Something to share with staff- This collection from Wayfinder engages students in fun interactive games that promote engagement. This collection include games the encourage cooperation, adaptability, and connection. Directions on how to find the collection in Wayfinder.
Black History Month door-decorating contest: This information was shared with your DEI ICCL reps. Here are pictures from last year. Can you please reinforce messaging with your team so your school is represented? Photo submissions due Feb 27, winners (with prizes!) will be announced Feb 29.
Incoming student nights/family orientations: Don’t forget to schedule interpreters via Linguist Link for upcoming events with families visiting your school (example: 5th Grade Family Nights at middle schools, Academic Info Nights, orientations). Plan in advance for how the interpreter will be used and how multilingual families will access each stage of the event. Language Specialists and Family Liaisons can help you develop a plan.
Upcoming religious dates: Here are religious observances occurring during school days in Feb-March. We have current students and staff who observe these days, so please plan accordingly:
Ash Wednesday: Wed, Feb 14. Students who observe this day may wear ashes on their forehead. Teachers and coaches should not ask them to remove or wash off the ashes. If other students mock or tease them, please report this as a bias incident.
Ramadan: Mon, March 11 – Tues, April 9. This observance includes complete fasting while the sun is out as well as additional prayer.
Students: Teachers should avoid high-stakes exams during this time—if unavoidable, provide accommodations for students as needed. PE teachers and coaches should work with Muslim students modify physical activity as needed.
Families: Be thoughtful about evening events asking families to come to school after dark, or afternoon events centered around food/meals that might exclude Muslim families.
Employees: Be thoughtful about staff celebrations (PTA events, social committee) centered on meals during this time period.
Support: If an employee or student needs accommodations that you are not able to easily provide, or if you want to talk through supports, reach out.
From Tammy and Lisa:
New Contract Information: Based on the actions that happen during the next few days related to the tentative agreements, we plan to use our February 21st Admin Training to discuss contract information. Assuming you all have some questions, we’d like to ask that you add your wonderings to THIS GOOGLE DOC in preparation for our team discussion. We want to make sure all your questions are answered and this will help make sure that we don’t miss any.
Sustainability: As a reminder, one of our executive limitations in Bend La Pine relates to our sustainability efforts. Please take a look at THIS DOCUMENT which outlines our responsibility as schools to sustainability. All schools MUST be practicing the bullets outlined within Level 1 at the very least. If you are not yet there with waste stations, boat stacking, or silverware, please connect with Jackie Mueller by February 16th so she can meet with your team to help you with implementation next steps. If you are further along, what target bullets might your school strive for next?
Sustainability Vision from the EL-7 directed Sustainability Plan – 2021 Bend-La Pine schools will educate and inspire students and staff to be leaders in a sustainable community, use resources wisely and support the district’s educational and operational goals
Support for Admin Hiring: Thank you all for your flexibility and willingness to support new schools as we work to hire four administrators next week! We hope your days are filled with fun and excitement and the days at your home site are smooth and easy. ❤️
Admin/ICCL Feb 13: During this time of year, you are likely meeting as a school team to go over your mid-year student data outcomes (output data). Although this is important information about which to reflect, it is even more important to recognize and evaluate the adult actions that are essential for strong outcomes. This is your input data. During your time on Feb 13th, you and your leadership team will reflect on the current baseline practices at your school, discuss ways in which support can be best delivered, and brainstorm how you can plan for ensuring these practices are consistent and predictable for all students in all classes. On Friday afternoon, you will receive a slideshow and a survey that you will use to guide your ICCL time together. If you have questions after looking through the slides, please reach out to Tammy or Lisa for support.
Important Dates
Feb 9: SRO appreciation due to Kayla today!
Feb 13: Admin/ICCL Meeting 3-5 pm at your site (details to come in separate e-mail on Friday evening)
Feb 13: Elk Meadow Principal Hiring Day
Feb 14: North Star Principal Hiring Day
Feb. 15: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day
Feb 15: Jewell Principal Hiring Day
Feb 16: Bear Creek Principal Hiring Day
Feb 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work
Feb 21: Admin PD at Perseverance Hall at BSH–3:00-4:30 (This will cover the new contract)
Feb 27: 3:00-5:00. Elementary Leadership, at North Star Elementary
Curious about what AI might look like in classrooms? HERE is a recent article that highlights some ways teachers are using these tools. Have you played with any AI technology recently?
Important! Please work together with your Office Manager to compare your Red Rover absences with each staff absence in UKG. I recently discovered a school site where a staff member had been gone a lot. When I went to the business office to see the report in UKG, they only had 2 days documented from back in October. Red Rover showed the person out a lot more than that. This is a big problem! This staff member is not getting any of their sick days deducted and even took unpaid days without permission. All staff must be using UKG to request all absences (personal days, sick days, school business, jury duty, unpaid, etc.). It is very important you follow up on this and make sure staff are registering all absences (whether or not they need a sub) in UKG. Thank you!
Title Schools—Please work to get all your documents into your folders so you can stay caught up. Here is the link to the Mid-Year check-in slides from Tuesday. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Meryll or Tammy with any questions.
Train Your Brain: It is now the time of year when we begin planning for this program. Here is the link to the sign-up sheet. Principals, please sign up on this sheet for your spring session by February 16th at the latest.
Please register for a CFEE (Coaching for Educational Equity) Training if you have not yet participated in one. It is a 4 day commitment and we are committed to seeing that all leaders in Bend-La Pine have had the training. Get a jump start and plan for it now. See Kinsey’s section below.
Please make a plan with your staff around teaching to meet Erin’s Law between February and May. Here the resources for both the family letter and instruction. Principals, please document and ensure lessons were taught via this form. Return to April Jorgenson in Teaching and Learning when complete. You can refer to last week’s blog for other resources as well.
SRO Cards, posters, goodies to Kayla in Safety by Feb 9!
Finally, we are looking for teachers to share their practice and ideas with other teachers at our Feb 28th Educator Network Day. Please have them sign up here if they have an idea for a session and are willing to facilitate that session.
Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions–Inputting discipline information into Synergy needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident and/or suspension.
TAG Testing Timeline: Please make sure these dates are on your radar and you have a plan for testing at your school.
SLGG google form – Staff can either make a digital copy to complete or they can print and fill out a hard copy. These can be uploaded into UKG (instructions to follow)
Planning for subs? Consult the admin calendar here and avoid scheduling your building PD days on the days colored mauve.
From Kayla and Scott in Safety: As a reminder, volunteers need to be 18 years or older to serve in a supervisory capacity at schools. Minors are not able to attend field trips as chaperones or work as volunteer coaches as it poses a liability for the district. This information is reflected on the District Volunteer Page.
From Sean in Student Services: Learning Specialist Transfer and Hiring process for 24-25 school year:
Hi all, we want to give you a preview of the process for hiring certified Learning Specialist for next year.
Currently, we are identifying schools that will have opening for Learning Specialists for the 24-25 school year. These are folks that are resigning or are temporary. You will be contacted if you are on the list.
If you are on the list of schools in need of a Learning Specialist, you will be invited to the transfer interviews, currently scheduled for Monday, March 4(2:30-5:00). We will have a pool of candidates available that have requested a transfer and indicated that one of their choices is your school.
If you are at the transfer interviews and a candidate is not selected for your school, you will be invited to the pool interviews scheduled on Tuesday, March 11 (1-5 PM). Also, if you now have an opening because of the pool interviews, you will be invited to participate in this pool interview process.
There will be three postings for Learning Specialist. A La Pine area pool posting, an elementary pool posting, and a secondary pool posting. During this interview process, we will be looking at new candidates that have applied for learning specialist positions in your perspective pool.
Once we complete the initial round of posting, interviewing, and hiring for all schools, any additional hiring will be completed at the building level with Student Services admin support. This means the posting will be specific to your school and you will be the hiring manager with support from student services admin.
Please let Josh, Colleen, or myself know if you have any questions.
From Jenny White (SEL). This week’s highlight from Wayfinder is Creating Connections Collections.
The goal of the collections are to foster meaningful connections and cultivate empathy along with enhancing belonging in classrooms and beyond. Engage students in interactive activities, discussions, and reflective practices that promote understanding, kindness, and authentic connections that empower them to build a more compassionate and connected world.
This is a fun connection you could do at a staff meeting or you could have your staff create these fun name cards at a staff meeting or SIW and then put them up in the lunch room for staff to guess throughout the week. (maybe the top winner can win a prize)
From Kerry Morton, Math Coach. The Math Curriculum Review Team will be requesting another time to share a nugget from our work between now and April 10th. Based on your SIW schedule, this can be a quick 15 minute session or a full SIW. The sessions will continue to focus on math equity and pedagogy. Getting feedback about instructional materials will start in the 2024-2025 school year. Please reach out to Kerry Morton or Julie Walker with any questions or concerns.
From Culture of Care: Click on the photo below for a great idea! Reminds me of Rosland’s Mindful Music first thing in the morning.
From Dave VanLoo in TLC: OSAS state testing season is quickly approaching. Here is a very detailed summary document I put together to help get you started. Please share this with your school test coordinators (STC). Let me know if you want to meet in person about OSAS logistics. I am happy to come out to your school and support you with this.
From Kinsey in Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
Policies (follow-up from Wednesday’s admin meeting): Thank you for your attention and engagement with the policies that govern our work and decision-making. Reach out with questions, ideas, or if you’d like training/PD for your team:
Here is the policy revision cycle we discussed at the admin meeting. Here is a direct link to the input form if you have identified a particular policy issue that needs attention. Please share as applicable (particularly with staff members or student groups who have an interest in advocacy). Here is the link to the policies currently in the ‘consult’ stage of review/feedback (e-bikes, diploma types, religion, etc), so you can monitor upcoming changes and/or give feedback. Here is where you can search within any of our current policies.
Action Requested re: Bias Incidents: As this semester closes, please look back through emails/calls from me to be sure you have closed out the investigation and response on each bias incident report. This includes replying to those messages (if we weren’t partnering on response) with the consequences and outcomes.
Reporting each alleged incident and documenting all response steps takes a bit of effort up front, but is well worth the investment (compared to the hassle when concerns arise from incomplete processes or records). If your team would like to discuss bias incident reporting, response, or prevention with Kinsey and/or the equity coaches, please reach out. Thank you!
Asian Family Night/Lunar New Year Event: Flyer invitations English and Chinese versions—thanks for sharing with your staff and families!
Racial Equity Professional Learning: Our school district is committed to sending all administrators and supervisors to CFEE. CFEE stands for Coaching for Educational Equity. This is a four-day intensive workshop focused on racial equity and the impact of Oregon’s unique history on our current education systems. Sending all leaders to this workshop aligns our shared understandings, common language, and core values as a cohesive leadership team. This alignment supports our strategic priorities, equity stance, and decision-making across the district.
A large portion of our team has already attended! If you aren’t yet a graduate of this workshop, please register for one of the upcoming sessions, or reach out to Kinsey if you have further questions. Level leaders and department supervisors will share additional level-specific guidance with their teams, and Kinsey will be in touch with your registration confirmation or wait-list status.
Emerging Student Needs: The Office of DEI is closely tracking some actively-shifting trends we know you are experiencing regarding populations of extremely vulnerable students in your schools: unhoused, immigrant, unaccompanied, and other vulnerable youth. While these students often do not manifest externalizing behavior challenges, we recognize they have highly specialized needs impacting your school. We recognize, too, that these students require and deserve immediate care and resources that may be unfamiliar or less accessible to your teams.
We will be dedicating time at an upcoming Admin PD to address this topic together. In the meantime, please remember (and remind staff) to feel free to slow down, learn about each student individually, and build relationships. A great leadership move you could do right now would be to shadow a student for a couple periods or ask a few content teachers how they’re feeling with supporting these vulnerable students in their classes. As always, if you have an overwhelming need or unique case that needs immediate support, please reach out to relevant support staff (family liaisons, language specialists, FAN, McKinney-Vento coordinator, counselors, equity coaches, etc). .
From Tammy and Lisa:
Most of you have now had your Winter DIBELS assessments. Now is the time to dig into that data! Do you have your mid-year Core Effectiveness (100%) meetings scheduled yet? Need some help? Let Lisa, Tammy, and Julie know! We would be happy to support.
Heads Up! We will be reaching out to schools soon, as we need your help to pull off 4 days of principal interviews. Like we did last year, we will be asking 1 principal and 1 assistant principal to support the schools who have all day interviews, as both admin and office staff will be out at the schools where interviews will be happening that day. Many of you supported this last year and said you thoroughly enjoyed spending the day in a colleague’s school! Between some of you being on the Assistant Superintendent’s hiring panel, being on the panel of each principal interview, or being asked to cover another school, most of your schools will be pitching in to help in one way or another. Gooo Team!
Quick reminder: Please remember to give KIDS Inc a 2 week notice prior to asking that they move spaces within the building. We know that things come up and space is at a premium. Just a reminder that our current contract is outlined with the expectation above. Thanks!
Important Dates
Feb 2: Groundhog Day! and report card work day from home or at school!
Feb 8: Deputy Superintendent Hiring Day
Feb. 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night–Pilot Butte Middle School, 5:30
Feb 9: SRO appreciation due to Kayla today!
Feb 13: ICCL/Admin training 3:00-5:00—will be in your building with your team only. You will receive the information to unpack with your team for this.
Feb 13: Elk Meadow Principal Hiring Day
Feb 14: North Star Principal Hiring Day
Feb. 15: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day
Feb 15: Jewell Principal Hiring Day
Feb 16: Bear Creek Principal Hiring Day
Feb 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work
Feb 21: Admin PD at Perseverance Hall at BSH–3:00-4:30
Feb 27: 3:00-5:00. Elementary Leadership, at North Star Elementary
