October 17, 2024

The Karen countdown has begun!!!

From Tammy

Wayfinder: For those of you interested in using Waypoints as a measure for your belonging or SEL School Design work, the window to take the assessment is extended to November 15. There are some great ideas on how to use this assessment and I’ve been talking with people at site visits if you are interested.

Also, just a freindly reminder that Wayfinder is our core curriculum for SEL and this year there is the expectation that teachers are teaching the skill lessons (only 20 lessons total, so 1 a week for 20 weeks). Log into your Wayfinder Dashboard to see who is using the system and how you can best support the use of this program. Reach out to your coaches or Jennifer Hauth for ideas for PD!

Important Links

SLGGs—plug and play for the year
Title 1 Compacts to be done at conferences for all Title 1 Schools
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:

Attendance policy: Last call for any feedback on content as we update the attendance policy.

The draft linked above includes all language from both OSBA’s sample and our current version. We’ll weave them into one coherent policy, but we left all the language from both in order for you to review and give input on preferences regarding any/all of it.
Please share with relevant office staff and ask for their insights.
Feedback we’re looking for:
- Anything in this language that contradicts our preferred practices, or anything missing that we should add to capture current processes working well in your buildings;
- Requests for training or procedural support related to this policy topic;
- Please don’t make specific red-line edits—I’m just looking for your general thoughts on what’s helpful for you to codify in policy.
Send your feedback to Kinsey via email or phone call, by October 25
Related to attendance: We’ll be offering an admin PD group to dig into best practices for home visits. More on that soon!

Upcoming events and key dates: Please mark your calendars for these events:

District-wide 7th annual Latino Family Night:
- Thursday, November 21st 5:30-7:30pm at MVHS
- The Woodburn High School student mariachi band will be performing! Come grab some dinner, check out their performance, and connect with families, students, and staff for some games and fun!
- Invitation here. Family Liaisons and Latino Family Advisory members will provide you with some copies, but feel free to share in staff and family newsletters.
MAC Survey Day: This will happen sometime the week of Nov 11. Please make sure your FAN Advocate can get in front of staff ahead of that week, to introduce themselves and remind about procedures. Also, thank you for prioritizing your own time to claim an activity that day if at all possible. Without you doing that, we can’t afford to have FAN Advocates in our schools (eek).
LGBTQIA2S+ Alliance principal conversation:
- Our Alliance group would love to connect with principals (or an administrator from each school) for some conversation and to learn about what you’re proud of at your school, as far as LGBTQ student/family supports, resources, and experiences they can seek out.
- Please plan to join us Tuesday, January 21st. (I’ll remind you later—just mark you calendar 🙂)
Reminder: 3 years’ worth of Holidays/”Do Not Schedule” Dates

From Becca Burda in Communications:

Please share with your staff and check out the special opportunity for admin too!

Celebrate a successful start to the school year at Educators’ Night Out at the High Desert Museum! It is Thursday, October 24, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

New this year – join the HDM for a special presentation for school administrators! We’ll share about upcoming grant opportunities and projects. Administrators will also have their own opportunity to win a raffle (we’ll even give you more tickets for each educator from your school you bring with you!)
Delicious snacks from the one of the best chefs in Central Oregon – Luckey’s Woodsman
Fabulous door prizes from local businesses like Bar Rio, Bend Pet Express, Greg’s Grill, Mountain Supply, and so many more!
Register by October 22 here!

From Scott Bojanowski in Safety. Please review the updated AQI protocols on our staff portal. We have updated the AQI map resources for administrators to use to make real-time decisions on AQI readings near your schools. We will now be using the EPA Air Now Smoke and Fire Map or the Watch Duty AQI Smoke and Fire Map applications that provide real-time AQI readings.

We will also be forming a stakeholder committee to review the AQI thresholds for cancellation of outdoor recess, sports, and activities. We will use the feedback from that committee to make future decisions and potential updates to our AQI threshold levels.

The public facing district website AQI page will be updated with this information in the next few days.

From Triz delaRosa in HR: Here is a quick guide designed to assist you as you navigate the UKG Evaluation tab in your dashboard. This guide will help you determine which of your staff are on cycle for evaluation this year. It’s intended as a “how-to” resource for using the dashboard report effectively. (See the email from Triz for more information.)

Action Items

Check out your Wayfinder Dashboard–do you have anyone needing support?
Send Kinsey feedback on the new attendance policy.
Schedule a few minutes for your FAN advocate to get in front of staff at a staff meeting before 11/11 to talk about MAC survey day
Share information from Educators’ Night Out—sign up if you want to go!
Review new AQI protocols

Important Dates

October 23: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall (Bend High) 3:00-4:30
October 24: Educators Night Out at the High Desert Museum, 6:00-8:00
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–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
November 13: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
November 19: Horizontal meeting, @ Bear Creek, hosted by BCE and Miller, 3:00-5:00