Photo credit: Stephanie Jensen
From Tammy and Karen
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!!!
Thank you all for your participation in the Administrator PD opportunity on Coaching. The slides and the Coaching Vs. Feedback document are available here and we would love to have your feedback on the training if you didn’t get a chance to respond yesterday. Heidi Thomas shared this great and timely article on the 5 Coaching Languages that make the end of year matter! A great read – thank you Heidi!
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!
Important Links
- BEA and OSEA Bargaining Update Website
- State Testing Folder
- May 7th Elementary TLC Update
- Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice
- FAQs for Special Education Inclusion Topics—Keep checking in here! BEA and BLS supported
Notes from our Team:
From Ryan – Human Resources
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.
To support this work, here is a link to the current allocations and rosters for each site: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wRC0hwxXUMv5R8Ni7h82rIAiKj1ElCY7QE_5pD-Qmgk/edit?usp=sharing
Please reach out to [email protected] for clarification as needed.
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!
