As we turn the corner into June next week, it’s hard to believe there are only a handful of days left with our students and staff. This time of year is often packed with activities, deadlines, and final events—but in the midst of the busyness, don’t forget to pause and soak in the moments that make it all worthwhile. From heartfelt goodbyes to joyful celebrations, these are the memories that stay with us. Let’s finish strong—and take time to truly enjoy the journey.
From Julie Richards, Curriculum and Instruction: Please share with your classified staff
Are you interested in helping to check-in, unpack and organize our new Elementary Mathematics Curriculum? If so, we are hiring internal classified employees to work for 2+ weeks from August 6th-the 19th. If you would like to apply to be a part of this team follow these steps:
login to UKG
Go to 3 bars at top
click on my info
click on my career
click on search for jobs
search for “Elementary Mathematics Materials Distribution”
click on Apply Now
Please reach out to Julie Richards with any questions you have.
From Eric Powell – Student Support
Hello School Leaders!
As you all plan for your annual end-of-the-year activities on campus (carnivals, field days, etc.), we wanted to encourage school teams to be thinking about our students who tend to struggle during unstructured activities and events.
Please work with your various teams on campus to identify students who may need extra scaffolding and/or supports to participate in these fun end-of-the-year events.
Thank you all for your continued leadership and enjoy these last few weeks of school.
From Ryan Kelling – Human Resources
Secondary Assistant Principal Pool Now Open
We’ve officially opened our recruitment process for the Secondary Assistant Principal Pool, with separate tracks for Middle School and High School roles. While this pool currently reflects just one confirmed vacancy (resulting from Mary Thomas’ exciting move to Realms as Principal), we are still determining where the resulting opening will ultimately land.
If you’re currently in an elementary role and are interested in exploring a move to secondary – or if you’re in a secondary AP role and considering a shift – please connect with Ryan before applying to talk through how this process works and what possibilities might emerge.
Stay tuned for more updates as things evolve.
BLAST Classification and Title Change
We’re excited to share a small but meaningful update to the titles used on our BLAST salary schedule. Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, we will be eliminating the Dean of Students title from the schedule and moving to a single title of Assistant Principal for all staff in these leadership roles.
What’s changing? Only the title. The calendar days and salary schedule remain the same. This update is simply a move toward consistency and clarity across our school leadership structure.
Why the change? The work our Deans of Students do every day is already aligned with that of Assistant Principals, and in many ways indistinguishable in terms of impact, leadership, and responsibility. This adjustment brings greater alignment to the title and the role, something we believe better reflects the incredible contributions of these team members.
We’re grateful for the leadership of all our school administrators and are excited to continue supporting this important work under a shared title. If you have any questions about the change, feel free to reach out to Ryan.
New Hiring Practices
In the coming days, you’ll see a new Hiring Guide along with updated hiring documents available through the Administrator/Office Manager box on your UKG home screen. These tools have been developed over the past year as part of a comprehensive review of legal requirements and best practices in the hiring process.
The Hiring Guide is designed to support you in your role by providing a consistent set of expectations for all hiring actions. It reflects federal EEOC guidance, widely recognized HR standards, and our district’s commitment to equity, transparency, and excellence. Its goal is to bring clarity to each step of the hiring process and ensure that our values are reflected in every hire we make.
Going forward, the documents included in the guide will be required for all hiring actions. Requests submitted using outdated forms will be returned for correction.
Thank you for your continued partnership in aligning our practices with our shared expectations. As always, Human Resources is here to support you, whether you’re navigating a complex situation or looking for a thought partner to help strengthen your team.
From Jessica Houser in Payroll
FYI: Payroll Year-End Guidance Sent to Office Managers
Last week, on May 22, the payroll team sent year-end guidance and key timeline reminders to all district office managers and timekeepers. This communication included:
Final deadlines for timesheet and leave sheet submissions
Year-end payroll processing notes
Reference materials to support staff wrap-up
We wanted to ensure you’re aware of this communication, as you may see increased questions at your sites related to time and leave entry or final pay. Office managers were provided this information in advance to help prepare and guide employees.
If questions come up, the team is here to support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] or call (541) 355-1123.
From Kerry Morton in Teaching and Learning
It’s that time! Bridges & Number Corner Recycling and Disposal!
In the email, it indicates the custodians should check with admin about where the containers should be placed
Please share this flyer with your teachers about the process for recycling the materials. Miller, High Lakes, and Pine Ridge will only receive the bin for binders since you are donating materials.
“To the world you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.” It’s so easy this time of year to set sights on summer break and put the year behind you. But, never forget the impact you are all making in the lives of students on a daily basis. Love them hard, as in a few weeks, you will miss that daily smile, high 5, kind hello, and admit it, even the occasional stink eye. .
From Tammy and Karen
Stay strong! Karen and I are very appreciative of you all, as we know that many of you are delivering hard messages about the state of the budget next year and how it is impacting your buildings. With the connection topic at our site visits (share one thing you appreciate about yourself) I’ve been sharing that what I appreciate about myself is my sense of optimism and the knowledge that it may be hard, it may be uncomfortable, it may be sad, but we will get through it. “The success rate of making it through the worst days of my life is 100%, and you can’t get a much better success rate than that!” Not sure who said it, but I have learned to embrace it. What makes hard times better is each other. Please reach out to me, Karen, your colleagues, if you need to process anything. We are here to listen!
Horizontal reminder for next Tuesday: A reminder, we are meeting for horizontal next Tuesday (May 27) at Highland, starting at 3:00. We will be hosted by Highland and Three Rivers. Not to worry, we will be tuning in together at 3:50 for Dr. Cook’s state of the district message. Looking forward to seeing you all there!
Tomorrow (Friday) is our last session of Ice Cream and Inclusion in which we get to know our Assistant Principals even better! Reminder, we will meet on the front steps of the Ed Center at 1:30. We will walk from there to Goody’s on Wall St. to get the yummy stuff! A.P.s/Deans, if you have not yet made a session, this is your last chance! See you soon. Unfortunately, I have had a couple of big things these past two Fridays and have had to miss (I was really sad) but don’t you worry, I will be there for you all tomorrow!
Classroom Guidance from Maintenance & Custodial Departments
While there is no board-adopted policy that explicitly governs classroom furniture or decorations, our BLS operational practice has been to guide schools as follows:
District-Purchased Furniture: Bend-La Pine Schools assumes responsibility for the cleaning, movement, and maintenance of furniture that has been purchased by the district.
Staff-Purchased Furniture or Items: Any furniture or furnishings that are brought in by staff members are considered the responsibility of the staff and/or school site. This includes maintenance, movement between rooms, and cleaning as needed.
Regarding classroom decorations and wall attachments, there are fire code restrictions that must be followed. These include limits on how much and the type of material that can be affixed to walls and ceilings, as well as requirements to maintain adequate clearances and pathways for emergency egress. Decorations/furniture should not obstruct exits or create fire hazards that would impede safe evacuation in the event of an emergency.
Additionally, per OSHA safety requirements, any shelving units or storage furniture that exceed a certain height (typically 5 feet or higher) must be properly secured to walls to prevent tipping hazards. This applies to both district-owned and staff-supplied furniture and is an important consideration for student and staff safety during daily use or seismic activity.
Lastly, we ask staff to be mindful of classroom lighting. Excessive use of supplemental lighting (e.g., lamps or string lights) should be minimized, as the district is actively pursuing sustainability initiatives to reduce energy consumption and meet long-term environmental goals. Use of natural light and district-installed lighting should generally meet classroom needs.
If admin have questions about whether a particular room adheres to these requirements, you may reach out to Walt Norris or Dan Dummitt for assistance.
From Josh Marks, Student Services re: SLPs
“SLP Updates
Based on the collective feedback and careful consideration, our SLP team is going to move forward with some programmatic shifts for the 25/26 school year. These shifts are designed with several key goals in mind:
· Increase equity among our SLP team with regard to services
· Provide additional time for collaboration
· Enhance flexibility within our team
· Ensure excellent service to our students and families
Here are the details of the upcoming changes:
1. New Staffing Assignment Model: Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, we will be adjusting how staffing assignments are made for Speech-Language Pathologists. Assignments will now be made in teams. A group of schools will be assigned to a group of SLPs, allowing for more collaborative and flexible service delivery.
2. Elementary and Secondary Focus: Our teams will be primarily focused on either elementary or secondary levels, allowing for more specialized expertise and targeted support. There will be four Elementary teams and two secondary teams that are broken up by Middle School and High School. Lastly, please note that all of our south county schools will be part of each of these teams.
Process
In December the core SLP team explored data around workloads and caseloads. When looking at the data it became clear that inequities exist within our system. In addition, Student Services admin conducted 1:1 Interviews with all SLP staff that included a major theme of wanting more professional collaboration and connection with their peers. With this information a few different models of service were explored and debated. After the initial meeting 5 additional SLP’s were asked to join (which increased the group about half of the team). The new models were shared and debated until ultimately one model emerged as the top choice. Once the top choice was selected Student services admin set up 1:1 Meetings with the remaining SLP’s for input.
Timelines
December through March – Data sharing and exploration including meeting with all SLP’s in small groups or 1:1.
April – Email sent to all SLP’s about the pending updates to service models.
May – Initial teams were shared with SLP Staff.
June – SLP Teams will divide up schools based on workload and caseload data.
June through August – Communication to schools on SLP assignments.
As we move forward please know that our team is excited about these changes and feel they will enhance our service to schools, students and families. In addition, we believe this will lead to a more equitable, collaborative, and flexible work environment for our SLP team. With these changes services will not change or decrease at any schools. If you have any additional questions please feel free to reach out to me directly!”
From Sean Reinhart in Student Services:
You all have done an amazing job of getting your staff trained in CPI verbal intervention and CPI full course.
CPI training by the numbers THIS YEAR! ⚡
🎉 453 staff members have been trained in CPI verbal intervention or the full CPI course
🛺 Including 65 staff members from transportation
📚There were more than 25 training opportunities
✨ We now have 581 TOTAL staff members trained in CPI strategies
🛟 Every school has AT LEAST a 50:1 student to staff ratio of trained staff
We will offer a full course training for new staff during the August in-service week, so be on the look-out for that date.
From Lisa Birk, Deputy Supe:
Hi all, On June 4th, we will be cancelling our All-Admin meeting at Aspen Hall and in the future, I will avoid graduation weeks for All-Admin meetings.
Instead, we will be having a half-day training later in June in partnership with COREN as we bridge from our current Admin content to our learning for next year. We are working with the partners to nail down the date and will let you know as soon as possible. Thanks for your flexibility!
From Eric Powell and the Synergy Group in IT
New Synergy features have been enabled to assist school discipline staff with correcting discipline data entry errors via the new State Reporting Validation system.
To verify you have Tasks turned on please select the User Settings gear icon to the top right of the Synergy screen (under your Focus and just below the Sign Out and Support buttons)
Make sure Tasks are toggled ON (green background in the On side)
These tasks should now be enabled for all discipline staff (if you are responsible for discipline and do NOT see State Reporting Validation tasks after enabling them as shown above, please let me know).
You can access the tasks via two different methods (depending on your security), either via the home screen, or via the dedicated Tasks navigation button…
In either case, you can click the hyperlink associated with the Name column (the name will vary depending on whom runs the audit tasks) to access the State Reporting Extract Validation feature.
The left navigation will contain all the relevant individual audit issues Synergy has found which will impact ODE State Reporting if they are not addressed.
The right main view will contain the specific audit condition / field that corresponds to the currently selected audit in the left navigation.
The specific field which needs to be corrected should be highlighted with a blinking yellow when first selected. However, it is advisable to correct any issues you may see when reviewing these data.
In the case above, the selected audit was for the missing Disposition Start Date, but we can see that the End Date and Days Assigned are also missing.
In some cases, you may not know what the correct data to enter / update is without additional incident context, so we have added a link to the incident as a whole to the top of the Disposition view, but you may need to scroll up to the top of the window to see it.
Click the incident number link to see the incident in its entirety, and for the student in question, make the appropriate entries / corrections to resolve the audit.
Once you feel you have resolved the specific audit condition, you can mark that resolved by clicking the green circular checkbox in the left navigation as seen below, so you know you have already addressed that issue when you return to this screen at a later time.
NOTE: Each individual audit case will have its own checkbox – even if a single field update fixes more than one audit at a time.
Some of the common audits at this time include:
This audit is letting you know that either you have not specified any date ranges or Days assigned for the suspension / expulsion, or you have put in a range that is invalid / illegal (suspensions must be for 0.5 days minimum, and not exceed 30 consecutive days).
This audit is letting you know that either a single incident has multiple suspensions that overlap on a day (or more) – or that there are multiple incidents for the student for which the same school day has been suspended.
Typically, if you did a 0.5-day ISS followed by a 0.5-day OSS this would be a false positive audit, and no changes would be needed – just mark the audit complete via the checkbox and move on
However, if multiple incidents are involved, you may have to transition to the Student Incidents screen to find incidents that have dates close together which may have suspensions that need to be modified to best describe what actually happened.
NOTE: If you have any questions on how to resolve these kinds of audits, please let Ted Helton or Jason Westmoreland know, and they will assist you.
This audit is letting you know that a suspension end date (or a start date) is not a valid school day. Please review your school calendar and determine if he Start / End Dates for the disposition are correct – update as needed, and verify the Days Assigned is also correct for that range.
NOTE: Currently, there is an issue with Expulsions which have an End Date in the following school year. If the incident is an expulsion, please disregard this audit and check it complete. We are working with Edupoint to allow us to exclude this audit when it is an Expulsion, but we don’t have an ETA at this time for that fix.
This audit is effectively the same as a missing Start Date audit – DsplnDtTxt corresponds to the ODE Collection file format field for when the discipline started for that student relative to the incident & suspension type in question. Simply fix the Start Date and mark this complete.
There are over 100 possible audits Synergy can detect, so if you get one you are unclear about, contact Ted Helton or Jason Westmoreland for assistance.
Please have the discipline staff at your school review these audits and make corrections prior to leaving for the summer (no later than June 19th). All incidents for the entire school year should be entered by that time as well.
Action Items
Remind your staff of end of the year furniture expectations (see Paul’s notes)
Pat on the back to all our CPI trainers! Because of you, so many people are trained—thank you!
Remove June 4 All Admin training from your calendars, but look for a training later in June
Make sure your Synergy Discipline Data is all fixed before you leave for summer.
Principals, complete your Year End Summative Reflection by May 26, comment on areas of pride and areas of growth.
Important Dates
May 26: Memorial Day, No School
May 27: June Horizontal (Changed from June 3rd) at Highland – HLD and Three Rivers host
May 27: Dr. Cook’s State of the District at 3:05 and again at 3:50
June 5: Counseling Celebration in the board room, 7:30-9:30
June 5: TAG Team meeting, 3:45 in the boardroom
June 12: Last Day students—half day
June 13: Last Day staff
June 17: Elementary End of Year Celebration! 2:00 Somewhere!
Congratulations to Tammy on her OUT OF THIS WORLD award at the Administrative PD. Having the opportunity to work beside her each day is an honor and I can vouch for the fact that her skills are ASTRONOMICAL!!!
Looking forward to our second session of Ice Cream and Inclusion in which we get to know our Assistant Principals even better! Reminder, we will meet on the front steps of the Ed Center at 1:30. We will walk from there to Goody’s on Wall St. to get the yummy stuff!
Extra Duty Rosters: HR would like you to review the current and projected vacancies for any Extra Duty positions at your site. To the extent possible, it would be extremely beneficial for all involved – employees, admin, HR, Payroll – to have all year-round and fall Extra Duty positions filled before the end of the current school year. Please remember that all Extra Duty positions must be filled through a competitive hiring process.
SafeSchools Update. Thank you SO MUCH for the quick response to the SafeSchools trainings that were outstanding or unaccounted for. It was incredible to see the quickness with which that list got smaller. The list will be updated every Monday, so please check back.
New Blast Roles. The recruitment for two new vacant BLAST positions has commenced.
We are currently recruiting for an Elementary Assistant Principal; we have two known vacancies for the 25-26 school year: one at North Star, as Lynne Tat is in that role in an Interim capacity for this school year; and one at Juniper, as Jessica Scott is taking a leave of absence for the 25-26 school year. By posting this as a pool posting, we are looking to maximize an ever-shrinking calendar.
Walt Norris, current Director of Custodial and Sustainability, will retire effective June 30. After a review of the current state of the Custodial Department and a review of organizational methods in other districts, a decision was made to delimit the Director of Custodial and Sustainability classification and to create a new classification, the Director of Facilities Operations, to lead the combined Custodial and Maintenance departments. This position will report to Doug Pigman, the Executive Director of Facilities and Maintenance and will begin July 1, 2025. If you have any questions about these vacancies, please connect with Ryan.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Canopy, the district’s Employee Assistance Plan provider, is available to ALL employees. Canopy has free, confidential resources designed to help employees thrive and includes these kinds of services:
✔ 24/7 Confidential Counseling – provides access to professional, real time, support anytime, anywhere. ✔ Personalized Coaching – offers one-on-one guidance to help you set goals and find balance. ✔ On-Demand Learning – includes webinars, tip sheets, and resources to support your mental wellness.
Check out this flyer to learn more and find out how to access Canopy’s services.
From Kinsey – Office of Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:
Summer groceries/food access: Can you please share this in your next school newsletters (for families and for staff)?
Need help with buying groceries for your family? The state of Oregon offers a program that can help families with school-age children who need help with access to food while school is out for summer. For details and to apply, see flyer:
¿Necesita ayuda con alimentos para su familia? El estado de Oregón ofrece un programa que ayuda a las familias con niños de edad escolar a comprar alimentos durante las vacaciones de verano. Para más detalles y para aplicar, véase este volante:
Family engagement staff: Evaluations: I am working on summative evaluations for FAN Advocates and Family Liaisons. You consistently engage with them and see their work in your buildings weekly–if you have any feedback to contribute to their evaluation, please send it my way or give me a call. I appreciate your partnership and insights.
Staffing: Curious who your school’s Advocate, Liaison, or Language Specialist will be next year? The goal is to keep these positions as stable and consistent as possible year to year, as this is key for relationships and trust with families, colleagues, and students. Until/unless you hear otherwise, assume these roles will be filled by the same people you currently have assigned.
From Kayla and Scott- Safety. Thank you for a wonderful year of training- we value your active participation and feedback with our four sessions this year! Here are the slides from our Cadre training session last week. We followed up with executive leadership on who our designated licensed administrators are for reporting. The language in the slides was, “Any employee who has reasonable cause to believe that abuse has occurred is required to:
• Report to DHS or law enforcement
• Notify Designated Licensed Administrator (DLA)”
For now, please advise staff to continue notifying DHS of child abuse/mandated reports with our current procedures. If questions arise, please reach out to our team or Kinsey Martin.
Operations – Paul Dean
Grounds and Athletic Fields Like other departments, Maintenance is responding to budget constraints and limited staffing. Our Outside Services Team, therefore, is adjusting our fertilization schedule to better manage available resources and align with sustainability initiatives.
Instead of applying fertilizer during early spring (spring break), we will now fertilize in late June or early July, with an additional application for athletic fields in the fall. This change—along with scaling back from the previous 3–4 applications per year—will save the district thousands of dollars and significantly reduce water usage, which aligns with conservation efforts encouraged by both the City of Bend and the BLS.
These adjustments will also allow our crews to focus on other critical turf maintenance tasks, such as edging and weed control, which we can better manage as the grass growth slows. Rest assured, playing surfaces will remain safe and the turf healthy.
We’re also prioritizing aeration this year—something we haven’t done consistently in the past. This will have a major positive impact on the overall condition of our fields. Finally, we are in the process of organizing a dedicated field maintenance crew and hope to bring on summer help soon to accelerate this work.
Thank you for your patience and support as we implement these changes.
Action Items
Share Summer Food access information in your newsletters to families
Review Extra Duty rosters and let HR know if there are changes ([email protected] )
Ensure your Non-Contract time is up-to-date in Employee Online
Principals, complete your Year End Summative Reflection by May 26, comment on areas of pride and areas of growth.
Important Dates
May 26: Memorial Day, No School
May 27: June Horizontal (Changed from June 3rd) at Highland – HLD and Three Rivers host
June 4: All Admin PD at Aspen Hall, 3:00-4:30
June 5: Counseling Celebration in the board room, 7:30-9:30
June 5: TAG Team meeting, 3:45 in the boardroom
June 12: Last Day students—half day
June 13: Last Day staff
June 17: Elementary End of Year Celebration! 2:00 Somewhere!
And finally…May 16th is National Classic Movie Day! What is your favorite? Let me know and I will give it a go! I am old enough that my favorite movie is now considered a classic!
For the May and June All Admin PD, there has been a change in location. Next Wednesday’s training will be at Sky View Middle School at the same time, from 3:00-4:30. The June 4 training will take place as Aspen Hall, out Shevlin Park Road. Please check the locations and make sure you give yourself enough leeway to make it on time. No more Perseverance Hall for this year.
As most of you know, we opted to keep the next Horizontal on Tuesday, May 27 at Highland, hosted by Highland and Three Rivers, with Lorin Page flying solo! (We know that Tim, Scott, and Heidi will make it easy on her!)
Tomorrow (Friday, May 9) starts our first session of Ice Cream and Inclusion (It’s actually Gelato, so someone also recommended the name ‘Gelato and Gellin’ 🙂 , in which we get to know our Assistant Principals even better! Reminder, we will meet on the front steps of the Ed Center at 1:30. We will walk from there to go get the yummy stuff!
Principals—by now, you may have see the end of year “Self-Reflection” show up in UKG. You can now go in to UKG and fill it out. It should have been adjusted to only reflect one score per domain and not one for every standard. Please leave comments for areas you feel especially proud about and areas in which you want to grow. We would like those completed by May 26 please. Toward the end of May we will be scheduling your Summative Evaluation meetings.
The Wayfinder Waypoint Summative Assessment is now active! If your school has completed the Fall Summative Assessment, please ensure that both teachers and students participate in the End of the Year assessment. This assessment will measure student growth in Life and Career Readiness skills.
Instructions for Students: Students can access the assessment in the Wayfinder app on their iPad under the To Do List.
The assessment will remain open until June 12th and is expected to take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Please note that it may take longer for educators to observe students in grades K-2.
After your school has finished the assessment, feel free to schedule a meeting with Jennifer to review your data dashboard and discuss goals for the upcoming year.
Payroll–Jessica Houser
Friendly Reminder: Report Year-to-Date Non-Contract Time by May 11
As we approach the end of the fiscal year, all administrators are asked to ensure that their non-contract time—from July through the current pay period—is fully reported in the system no later than May 11, the Time and Leave cutoff.
Missing or outdated entries may lead to an inaccurate display of leave balances, which can create confusion when trying to understand remaining entitlement for the year.
If you have leave to report from any prior month, not just the current pay period, please complete a leave sheet with the accurate dates of the absence. We will process prior leave entries using the same approach as current-month reporting.
To review your leave usage and remaining balances, log into Employee Online and view the bottom section of your most recent pay stub.
Thank you for your attention to this important task and for helping ensure accurate records as we close out the fiscal year.
Check out this upcoming training on Change, put on by Dr. Amy Yillik, with the Culture of Care.
Dealing with Change If you’ve been to any of my trainings on wellness, you’ve probably heard me quote Dr. Bruce Perry with “Change activates our stress response.” As I navigate this season of my life in the world we live in, I am 100% confident that change is the one thing I can count on. Whether we are navigating the failing health of a loved one, worried about the state of education in the United States or managing the day to day surprises that pop up, we are in change-so our nervous systems are in stress! SCRR in conjunction with Oregon Well-Being Trust is facilitating a virtual process space “Steadying Ourselves in Uncertain Times” on Monday May 12 3:30-4:30.
I hope you will find it helpful. -Dr Amy
Social Emotional and Well Being–Jennifer and Jess
From Tammy and Karen: Reminder, it is an expectation that all schools with counselors send at least one administrator to this celebration on June 5, from 7:30-9:30. (Note the date change)
Action Items
Note the change in location for next week’s All Admin PD. It is from 3:00-4:30 at Sky View Middle School
Principals, Do your Year End Summative Reflection by May 26, comment on areas of pride and areas of growth
Ensure your Non-Contract time is up-to-date in Employee Online
Leave Sheets Due by Monday
Important Dates
May 5-9: Teacher Appreciation Week
May 6: Horizontal meeting 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. at Silver Rail, SRE and Rosland host
May 7: National Association of School Nurses National School Nurse Day (Proclamation here.)
May 7: Safety Cadre Meeting, 2:00-3:30, location TBA
May 14: All Admin PD at Sky View Middle school, 3:00-4:30 Read Chapter 4!
May 26: Memorial Day, No School
May 27: June Horizontal (Changed from June 3rd) at Highland – HLD and Three Rivers host
June 4: All Admin PD at Aspen Hall, 3:00-4:30
June 5: Counseling Celebration in the board room, 7:30-9:30
June 5: TAG Team meeting, 3:45 in the boardroom
June 12: Last Day students—half day
June 13: Last Day staff
June 17: Elementary End of Year Celebration! 2:00 Somewhere!
And finally…Today is National Coconut Cream Pie Day! In honor of that special day, here is a recipe in case you are now drooling!
Happy School Principal’s Day to each and everyone of our awesome Elementary Administrators Teammates! Tammy and I want to take a moment to shine a light on you and tell you how deeply appreciated you are. The care, leadership, and love you pour into your schools every single day does not go unnoticed. You show up every day for students, families, and staff with strength and compassion—and in doing so, you create environments where children feel seen, safe, and inspired to grow. Thank you for your unwavering dedication, your steady presence, and the joy you bring into the work. We are so grateful to be on this journey with each of you!
Horizontal Meeting: Tuesday, May 6th at Silver Rail. 3:00- 5:00 p.m.
Karen’s Schedule: I will be in Minnesota assisting my mom during a surgery on Monday, May 5 and Tuesday, May 6. I may not have access to email or phone that day (hospitals and airports), so if you have an urgent need, please reach out to Tammy! Thanks for your kind support as I take time to care for my parents.
*Note: TLC and Instructional Coaches will begin preparing for summer professional learning beginning the week of May 5th. Instructional Coaches will only be in buildings: Tuesday, Wednesday PM and Thursday.
Life and Career Readiness-Jenny White Principals here is the LINK to a Wayfinder activity you can do with your team before a staff meeting or SIW.
Admin: Share this with teachers in your newsletters
Teachers below are the activity highlights for the week.
Kindergarten: Secret Spyglass – Students practice thinking about the future and share their hopes with each other.
1st grade: Big Mistake – Students listen to the story Regina’s Big Mistake, by Marissa Moss, and identify and celebrate areas of learning where they might make mistakes.
2nd grade: Cars that Can’t See – Students explore trusting someone while navigating uncertainty through an embodied partner activity.
3rd grade: Someone I Trust – Students engage in a visualization about the experience of feeling safe in a classroom.
4th grade: A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words – Students recreate a simple drawing with their eyes closed, relying solely on the descriptions and directions of a partner.
5th grade: I Can’t Believe My Eyes – Students practice paying attention and problem solving by looking at optical illusions.
This document links EL Module 1, 2, 3 and 4 with Wayfinder’s 20 Minute lessons that teach the skills students need and Collections that go with the unit.
Technology – Scott McDonald
iPad Roll-In is Coming! As many of you know, all students will be turning in their iPads before the last day of school. Since we are transitioning to keyboard-equipped devices at all high schools, every student will receive a new or different device for the 2025–26 school year.
This will be a massive undertaking—the first time in 12 years that we are either replacing or swapping all 17,000+ student devices in a single summer. To make this a success, we need your help:
Communicate early – Remind students to back up their work, update their devices, and locate their charging bricks and cords.
Create a school-specific plan – Connect with your IT Client Services representative to understand the process and build a plan to collect student iPads before the end of the year.
Recruit help – This is not a job for media/library staff alone. Plan to involve available staff, students, or volunteers to support the roll-in process.
I’ll be sending more detailed instructions, tips, and ideas for iPad roll-in over the coming weeks. Please also check out this link for information.
Thank you in advance for your support!
From Ryan Kelling–Human Resources
SafeSchools Training Update: Next week, we will be sharing a list of employees who have not yet completed their required SafeSchools trainings with supervisors via email.
These trainings are a critical component of our ongoing commitment to maintaining a safe environment for all students and staff. They also serve to establish a shared understanding of protocols and expectations that can be applied consistently in any situation. Supervisors will be responsible for ensuring that all employees they supervise complete the trainings as soon as possible. These trainings may be completed during work hours. Certified employees are already compensated for this time, and Classified employees may be provided paid release time if necessary.
Looking ahead, we recognize the need to improve communication around training deadlines and will work to establish clearer expectations next year, including potential accountability measures for non-completion. Thank you for your attention to this important matter and for helping reinforce our collective responsibility for school safety.
BLAST Vacancies: The recruitment for two more vacant BLAST positions has commenced.
We are currently recruiting for an Athletic Director/Assistant Principal at La Pine High School and for the Principal vacancy at Elk Meadow Elementary School.
The AD/AP vacancy is a result of the MOA moving these positions to the BLAST schedule.
The Elk Meadow vacancy is due to Ben Johnston’s resignation.
If you’d like to learn more about either vacancy, please connect with Ryan.
From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Equity:
Complaint Management: Please go into your bookmarked Complaint Dashboard and ensure each complaint submission is either resolved or actively being investigated:
The “Resolved By School” column should say: Yes if resolved, No if still under investigation (and within the timeline for investigation and response), or Help Requested if you need support. Click on the row for that complaint, and scroll down to change this status.
Complete these fields for each complaint: 1) Confirmed Bias Incident (Yes, or No if not founded or if it’s a general/other complaint), 2) Response Steps, 3) Other Notes (this one’s optional). Feel free to paste links to Google Docs, or attach documents with notes/findings/communications.
Weekend Snack Bags: The Giving Plate is resuming their weekend snack bag program! As a reminder, this program provides extra snacks for students in need, to supplement food access over the weekend. Please note:
Families must complete a form to qualify and begin receiving this resource.
FAN Advocates continue to be the point of contact for family qualification/permission forms and for snack bag distribution to students.
If your school’s parent volunteer network has stepped in to organize snack bags during the Giving Plate’s pause in service, please let them know this program is resuming and they can phase out their coordination. Better yet, if this is an issue your Booster Club/PTA cares about, they can volunteer with the Giving Plate as individuals or a group–that effort will directly benefit food access for students in your schools.
Do Not Schedule dates: As you start to schedule dates and events for next year, don’t forget to schedule around these dates.
Action Items
Think of a difficult conversation and one other topic to bring to Problem of Practice time at Horizontal meeting.
May 6: Horizontal meeting 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. at Silver Rail, SRE and Rosland host
May 7: National Association of School Nurses National School Nurse Day (Proclamation here.)
May 7: Safety Cadre Meeting, 2:00-3:30, location TBA
May 14: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30 Read Chapter 4!
May 26: Memorial Day, No School
May 27: June Horizontal (Changed from June 3rd) at Highland – HLD and Three Rivers host
May 30: Counselor Celebrations, 7:30-9:30 in the board room, at least one admin is required to attend, but both are encouraged!
June 4: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
June 12: Last Day students—half day
June 13: Last Day staff
June 17: Elementary End of Year Celebration! 2:00 Somewhere!
And finally….It’s May 1 and time to break out the Meaningful May daily calendar from Action for Happiness! Visit the site at https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar
