October 10, 2024

From Tammy

Time Sheets: This is a friendly reminder to submit your timesheets by Sunday. You also should have submitted any requests for leave during this time as well. Thank you!

EL Training: Update: We are all set to have our Administrator EL training at Ensworth Elementary in the library on Wednesday the 30th. It will be from 8:00-2:30. Lunch will be provided, so come ready for a day of learning with your colleagues and friends.

All Admin Training: It was confirmed this week that the all-admin monthly training is on for this month. It will be on Wednesday, October 23 at Perseverance Hall at Bend High, from 3:00-4:30. I know this month has felt brutal with so many trainings and meetings and for that I apologize.

SLGGs: Back by popular demand, here is a list of plug and play SLGGs for you and your staff. There are goals for Reading, Writing, Math, Wayfinder, and generic ones for any other content. You can see an email from Ryan below regarding filling them out in UKG. As far as a timeline goes, aim for having staff turn them in by November 8.

Title 1 Compacts for Conferences: Title schools only—here is a folder with this year’s Title 1 compacts. There are compacts for 3 languages: English, Spanish, and Chinese (Simplified).

SpEd Team Meeting Template: I have shared with a few of you that Deborah at Rosland has a great template she uses when she has a weekly/bi-weekly meeting with her SpEd Department. This has really helped communication and planning within the department. Deborah has created a blank template that you are welcome to copy if you want. The first page is a long range planner and the agenda starts on page 2. Thanks for sharing Deborah!

Safety Cadre day has moved! Mark your calendars if you are the safety rep at your school. The Safety Cadre meeting has moved to Friday, November 8, 1:30-3:30 in the boardroom!

Important Links

• October 9th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–list them here! (Check out what your colleagues are doing or not doing for Halloween festivities)

Notes from our Team:

From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, Equity:

Family-teacher conferences: Please ensure you coordinate and submit requests for interpreters ASAP.  Your Language Specialist and Family Liaison can help advise and coordinate this with your office team.

Policy training resources: Thanks for attending the policy training this week!  Here is follow-up–please share with your staff and PTA/Booster Club leaders:

• Advertising:  AP and AR
• Other topics: Holidays/”Do Not Schedule” Dates 
• Linguist Link (translation/interpretation request) account set-up for all staff
• Crown Act info and poster

Bias incident student lessons: As you wrap up the teaching of those lessons across all classrooms in the upcoming days, can you please share a celebration with Kinsey about something that your building did well with these lessons?  Did you have a teacher successfully incorporate student voice?  A team who was creative with implementation?  Presence from the equity coaches that was helpful?  Please let me know what your school did well!

From Scott Maben in Communications:

Bookmark our Staff Portal for quick access to updates and staff resources

A great way to keep up on employee news, announcements, resources and tools is to check our STAFF PORTAL regularly. We are posting updates to the Portal almost every day.

We encourage all staff to bookmark the Portal on your browser. Better yet, you can designate it as one of your browser startup pages so it’s always right there. Here’s how to do that using Google Chrome:

• 1. In your Chrome browser window, click on the three vertical dots (for “More”) in the top right corner
• 2. Go down the list to “Settings” and click that
• 3. On the left, click “On startup”
• 4. Select “Open a specific page or set of pages” then “Add a new page”
• 5. Paste the site URL into the window and hit “Add” The URL for our Staff Portal is this: https://bendlapine.sharepoint.com/

You can add other startup pages as well, such as our District website (https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district) and your school website.

The “Quick Links” on the Staff Portal is a go-to resource for many of us. And keep an eye on the featured news items, which provides a mix of local news headlines and timely information we are sharing with you and our community.

From the Secretary of State: The countdown is on – checking in and hoping you’ll have participating 5^th grade classes for the upcoming 2025 Oregon Kid Governor .. the clock is ticking for candidate video submissions, they’re due at 10am on October 25^th and more information can be found here. In addition to the vital learning components, my ongoing engagement with past participants confirm the reverberating effects and experience of participating in this program are remarkable.

We’d be thrilled if you’d alert your 5^th grade teachers of the impending due date for candidates and that alternately their classroom may choose a “voting only” status, without submitting a candidate. Please feel free to reach out to Nikki Fisher at [email protected] with any questions and we look forward to the most exciting ORKG campaign season yet!

With advance appreciation for your consideration, support and partnership

From Kim, Tina, and Chris in Transportation : Just a friendly reminder: Classroom chaperones are not allowed to bring other children with them on the bus for field trips. We have had a couple of instances already this year, and it puts our driver in a difficult position to deny them a ride. Thank you!

From Ryan in HR: There is work that needs to be done to get the 2024/25 UKG evaluation process up and running; in the meantime, schools may begin their SLGG process by copying/filling out the Google Form template and keeping a copy of it until the process launches in October. 

Here are useful links:

• 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)
• SLG Goals for Social Emotional Learning & Engagement is a great resource for those creating school wide or team SLGGs for non-academic areas
• State SLGG Guidance
• Teacher and Administrator Evaluation & Support Systems: Frequently Asked Questions

Staff can then attach a pdf of their completed form when the goal-setting task appears in their UKG To Do list.

From McScott in IT. To ensure the safety, quality, and compatibility of our technology, ALL tech-related purchases must be approved and processed through our IT department.

If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, the purchase must go through IT:

• Is it a computer, tablet, or related device?
• Does it connect to or charge one of our devices?
• Does it connect to our networks or get installed on a device?

Why is this important? While it may be tempting to purchase cheaper options from websites like Amazon, our district maintains strict standards to ensure all devices are safe, reliable, and compatible with our systems. Unsafe or substandard devices can:

• Fail to work properly within our network environment
• Pose risks such as electrical shock or fire
• Introduce security threats like malware

Action Items

• Turn in your Timesheet in UKG by Sunday
• Arrange interpreters for conferences
• wrap up bias lessons
• Mark your calendar for all-admin training at Bend High, 10/23, from 3:00-4:30.
• Want to apply to be on the District Admin Advisory Team? Sign up here by 10/16
• Share SLGG information with staff
• Remind staff to make sure chaperones do not bring non-school age children to ride buses for field trips

Important Dates

• October 15: Horizontal Meeting at La Pine Elementary, 3:00-5:00 (La Pine and Juniper host) Please allow extra time for travel, depending on where you are located it could take 45 min to get there. Please do your best to be on time.
• October 23: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall (Bend High) 3:00-4:30
• Conferences: Oct 29–3:15-7:15, Oct 30–3:15-7:15, Oct 31–7:15-3:15
• October 30: Certified work day, 7:15-3:15
• October 30: Administrator EL training–all day, Ensworth Elementary, 8:00-2:30—lunch provided!
• October 31: Safe School Trainings need to be done by today
• November 4: Karen Rush’s first official day!!! (maybe sooner if we are lucky!)
• November 8: Safety Cadre Meets at the Ed Center Boardroom, 1:30-3:30
• November 11: Veteran’s Day–No School

And finally…

Registration is free for all attendees, but space is limited, so we recommend registering ASAP. This event is for partners and Wayfinder-curious leaders across Oregon.

What to Expect:

• Support your Staff and Students with Re-Aligning to their Purpose 
• Learn from a panel of Wayfinder partners across Oregon (80+ districts) 
• Learn How to Align with ODE TSEL Standards
• Understand Barriers to SEL Implementation
• Learn What’s to Come with Wayfinder Product Roadmapping 
• Address Buy-In Issues
• Networking Time

Hot breakfast, coffee, and a hot lunch will be provided. Feel free to share with colleagues, all are welcome!—> REGISTER HERE