Month: October 2025

October 30, 2025

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Happy Halloween!!

From Tammy and Karen

As we wrap up a long week of parent-teacher conferences (and the loooong days that you put in), we want to take a moment to express deep gratitude for the time, energy, and heart you’ve poured into building strong partnerships with families. These conversations strengthen the bridge between home and school—and your commitment shines through in every one of them. As we head into the long weekend, we hope you’ll take time to rest, recharge, eat too much candy, and enjoy a well-deserved break!

Please take a moment to sign up for the next round of Site Visits! For November, we will be doing a “Gratitude Tour!” We want to hear about all of the things you are grateful for at your school!

Important Links

Notes from our Team:

From Kinsey -Advocacy, Policy, and Equity

SNAP Benefits and our Community – FYI: 

As you may have seen, the anticipated federal shutdown is expected to disrupt SNAP benefits beginning in November. Many families in our community may experience reduced access to food for an unknown period of time. Local food banks are already reporting strain as they prepare to absorb the increased need.

We will share resources and reminders of local food services in the next Family Spotlight.  In the meantime, please feel free to 1) print, distribute, and share these bilingual food resource lists with all families and with your staff (Bend, South County, Redmond), 2) if you feel moved, consider donating time, funds, or other support to any of these local services (you can easily google any of their websites and find the Donation button 🙂), and 3) if your PTA or Booster Club wants to support food access, encourage them to support these local services.  

For those who visited the Giving Plate for our Community Engagement Bingo activity this week, thank you.  Your presence meant a lot to their over-stretched team, now more than ever.  (Missed it but want to visit and count that Bingo square?  Contact me!) 

MAC Survey – Action Needed: 

With the SNAP food assistance program being frozen and our students being impacted, this is a great time to remember just how critical our FAN Advocates are for our community.  Your participation in the MAC Survey process (completing your training ASAP, claiming time on the survey day in mid-November) brings in funds that pay for FAN Advocate positions, so that we have folks on staff who can help families navigate.  Thank you for prioritizing this!  Contact your FAN Advocate if you have questions.  

From Paul Dean in Operations

Work Order Submission Best Practices

When submitting a work order that requires greater visibility at your site, please include @[insert principal’s email], @[insert custodian’s email], and @[insert office manager’s email] in the comment section of the request. Doing so will:

  • Ensure that key staff are aware of the request, helping to reduce duplicate work orders.
  • Allow all recipients to receive automatic updates as the work order progresses.

To help our maintenance staff be better prepared and efficient:

  • Provide as much detail as possible in the Description/Summary section. This information helps staff bring the right tools and materials and may prevent multiple trips.
  • When possible, attach photos showing the repair issue. Photos help clarify the request and document the condition of the area needing repair.

From Jennifer in Student Well Being

College and Career Day: 

It’s that time of year again. November 20th is College and Career Day in Bend-La Pine Schools. As with last year, we are looking to draw attention to the multitude of pathways available to students after they graduate high school. This is a K-12 day! We want all students to be dreaming about what options they have after they leave our schools.  
 
Here are a few things you could do at your site to make the day a success.  It would be great if classrooms or advisories could look to do something for just 10-15 minutes this day.
Dress as a professional
Encourage students and staff to dress up as someone from a career they are interested in.  Remember there are a lot of great careers out there!
Wear college colors
Encourage students to wear the colors of a favorite college.  Remember, college can mean community college, trade school, 4-year university, etc.  Be careful with wording here as college brand clothing can be expensive and prevent students from feeling like they can participate.  Colors are more inclusionary.  
Consider incorporating videos or lessons bringing awareness to careers and colleges. 
Our 6-12 sites could lean into some of the activities in SchooLinks.  All secondary students have required activities to complete through BLS School Counseling curriculum and to complete their Educational Plan and Profile, so this would be a perfect opportunity to complete one of these required activities.  Consider onboarding 6th and 9th grade students on this day if you haven’t already done so.  Students are required to take a “Find your Path” assessment when first logging in that will jumpstart the college and career exploration process.
Comprehensive School Counseling Program and Lessons could be completed this week: High School and Middle School 
Wayfinder also has some great resources, especially their integration with Roadtrip Nation and their Future Ready Collection K-12. For middle school, these have been added for the week of November 17th as potential advisory lessons in our scope and sequence.
Here is a great website from the State of Oregon called Career Journeys.  There are amazing short videos, lesson plans and other activities any teacher could do.
Also available is the Career Connected Learning Central Oregon website which allows exploration of career paths close to home.
Consider inviting parents from the community in to talk about their careers.  
This could be done in a variety of ways from advisory to lunch opportunities.  You could also ask parents to submit a short video of them talking about their jobs and stitch them together for students.  Remember our visitor and volunteer requirements if you decide to invite parents into schools.
 
We hope you’ll join in the celebration.  Please send pictures of your participation to Becca Burda.  

Wayfinder data Available:
Wayfinder Waypoints data from the summative assessment is now available for your MTSS meetings. I will work with elementary admin on Tuesday, November 4th to go over how to use it. High and middle school admin leads, I will meet with you all in our smaller teams in the next two weeks. Reach out with any questions. Elementary and Middle school Counselors will be trained on Wednesday, November 5th during shared SIW. We are still working to schedule time with high school counselors.

From Lindsley – Elementary Literacy Coach

I am putting the following in the TLC blog- it is specific to 2nd grade but if you see cursive taking instructional priority in other grade levels at your school, you could use the same questions to get alignment through your building.

2nd grade RGR Handwriting – recommend sticking with print through the end of the program

  • At about unit 13, it will shift to cursive. I recommend continuing to do the lessons for all the rich sentence-level grammar, but continue with print (could use this paper)
    • Why no cursive? Ask yourself and your teams these questions.
      • What standard supports cursive instruction? 
      • Are your students all fluent with print yet?
      • Unless your class is at 100% reading at benchmark, how could the additional time it takes to learn cursive be spent teaching them to read?
        • If they are at 100%, which technology would better serve students today- typing fluency or cursive fluency?

Action Items

  • Consider printing and distributing information about food resources to your community!
  • Review Paul Dean’s tips for submitting work orders
  • Start thinking about celebrating College and Career Day on November 20th.
  • Bring computers to November 4th Horizontal meetings so we can look at Wayfinder Data together.
  • Don’t forget Daylight Savings Time ends on November 2, 2025!

Important Dates

  • October 31: No School and School Improvement Plans are due today.
  • November 4: Horizontal Meeting 3:00 – 4:30 at the Board Room
  • November 11: Veteran’s Day–Enjoy!
  • November 12: All Admin PD from 3:00 – 4:30 at Perseverance Hall
  • November 14: Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day
  • November 18: PLC 1 and PLC 2 Meeting Day 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
  • November 20: College and Career Day
  • November 24-28: Fall Break and Thanksgiving

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Stephanie Jensen!

Stephanie is the Assistant Principal at Buckingham Elementary! She has been a leader with BLS for 10 years. Prior to that she worked at Sisters School District as a Reading Teacher and ELD teacher, which means she has a vast knowledge of instructional strategies and she is passionate about ensuring kids have everything they need to feel a sense of belonging. She believes in the Power of Moments, and likes to create experiences for teachers, kids, and families that are meaningful and memorable. She is always on the go, literally– she even has a treadmill under her desk so she can keep up the steps after the kids are gone! Congrats to a great leader, teacher, and mom! Stephanie, let us know your drink of choice!

October 23, 2025

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

What is that you ask?

Vector trainings of course! Elementary leaders as of 1:30 today still have 63 Vector trainings to complete (4 of you still have all 10!) If you did not get a celebration text from Tammy today that you are done, please log into your system and get them done, as some of you still have 1 that was assigned later hanging out there. Have you checked your staff completion rate lately? Please do that as well and poke those who are not done to get ‘er done. Thank you for prioritizing this as important and urgent.

From Tammy and Karen

Keep this in mind, as you move about your year. We know this is the hard season for a lot of reasons, but even on the hardest of days, there are small steps and celebrations you are making forward, which are going to take you places!

As we head into conference week, we just wanted to wish you all an amazing time connecting with families, staff, and catching up with yourself, because we know that pile called “to do during conference days” is getting big! Let us know if there is anything we can do to support!

Important Links

Notes from our Team:

From Julie in Curriculum and Instruction

Winter/Spring DIBELS schedule

From Ryan in Human Resources

To support consistency across schools and ensure appropriate use of substitute coverage, guidelines outlining expectations by role classification for the 2025–26 school year have been developed.

These guidelines can be accessed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X5QnwsfOyZIeS2UlkhPjl3EbIDWMXSPvkg_mPJUYIgA/edit?usp=sharing

Please review and share with office staff and others responsible for approving or entering substitute requests. These guidelines reinforce responsible staffing decisions while maintaining operational continuity and student support.

From Jennifer in Student Well Being

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow, October 25 is the last day for grades 3-5 Waypoints fall assessments. The K-2 Waypoints are open until November 21.

From Dave VanLoo in Teaching and Learning

ODE requires schools to report OSAS results to parents annually. Individual student reports (ISR) with ELA, Math, and Science scores from spring 2025 testing have been loaded into Synergy.  Here is a folder with brief instructions for staff, parents, and students to access OSAS state test scores in a variety of ways in Synergy. All users can view and download the one-page ISR that ODE creates each year. Teachers also can view lists of prior year OSAS scores for their classes in TeacherVue. Whether Spanish ISRs are loaded for a student is based on the ‘resolved’ language in Synergy. Schools should be prepared to print an ISR for any parent who requests it and may continue to print ISRs as makes sense. Teachers who want to use ISRs at conferences can quickly pull them up in real time and display them on any screens that are available to them.

From Michelle Rhoads in Transportation:

We’re excited to announce 2025 Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day on November 14. This special event is an opportunity to celebrate Ruby’s courage by walking to school and  is the perfect opportunity to teach students about the Civil Rights Movement and connections to collective efforts for change.

The history of Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day: On November 14, 1960, Ruby Bridges bravely integrated William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. In May 2018, a group of fifth graders from Martin Elementary School in South San Francisco, California, learned about Ruby and asked their school board to pass a resolution making November 14 Ruby Bridges Day. This day honors Ruby’s historic role in advancing civil rights and serves as a reminder of the importance of equality, justice, and education for all children. Communities across the country participate in this event to recognize Ruby’s courage and to inspire future generations to continue her legacy. Here is a video about Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. Here is a link to the Ruby Bridges Foundation.

Your school is encouraged to promote this special day in meaningful ways. Here are some ideas on how to participate, found on the Oregon Safe Routes to School website. English Bingo Below, Spanish Bingo Below.

For information on how to participate in this event, please contact Michelle Rhoads, Bend – La Pine Schools Active Transportation Coordinator, [email protected] , phone 541-355-5721.

Action Items

  • Get your Winter and Spring DIBELS dates on your main calendars
  • Review Substitute guidelines and share with office staff
  • Review with your 4-5 grade teachers how to get OSAS scores for conferences and print for parents if requested
  • What is your plan to celebrate Ruby Bridges Day? Don’t have one and want to celebrate? Check out the resources and call Michelle Rhoads for some inspiration and help.

Important Dates

  • October 29: Teacher work day (8 hrs)   Conf. (4 hrs.) Admin will have a ½ day Amplify training on this date. (Half in the morning and half in afternoon–check your calendar invite)
  • October 30: Parent Teacher Conferences, 7:15-7:15
  • October 31: No School and School Improvement Plans are due today.
  • November 4: Horizontal Meeting 3:00 – 4:30 at the Board Room
  • November 11: Veteran’s Day–Enjoy!
  • November 12: All Admin PD from 3:00 – 4:30 at Perseverance Hall

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Tom Lence !

Tom is the Assistant Principal at High Lakes Elementary, where he was a teacher there prior to becoming Assistant Principal. Did you know that Tom and his wife taught in China prior to coming to Bend-La Pine Schools? Tom has also recently discovered that he likes to hunt rocks, so if you know of any good rock hounding areas, hook him up with the coordinates! He is the proud dad of two daughters and proud husband of Tami, a teacher at Silver Rail. Thanks for all you do, Tom, for the High Lakes Lynx and Bend-La Pine Families. We’ll be bringing you a beverage of your choice soon!

October 16, 2025

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

October: When the Lost and Found pile achieves legendary status

From Tammy and Karen

We have had great site visits with you this month and have been so impressed with your productivity in getting SLGGs, SIPs, and everything else done. We recognize that you have also been so busy building community with your staff, students, and their families! This time of year, our calendars are full and our patience sometimes… less so. However, this is also the best time to slow down and take a pause when we feel that “October Overwhelm” creeping up on us. Remember that being rooted in purpose means we don’t have to rush to prove our growth — it’s steady, grounded, and real. So refill your coffee, smile at a student story, and give yourself permission to thrive slowly. Even trees take their time turning colors.

Important Links

Notes from our Team:

From Julie in Curriculum and Instruction

It’s time to begin delivering Erin’s Law lessons.  Here are the resources for your teachers.  Please share with your staff. 

From Jennifer in Student Well Being

3- 12 Waypoints open until Friday October 24th end of day. Thank you to all of you that have had your students complete the assessment. School-wide student data will be ready for review on Monday, October 27th.

K–2 Waypoints Assessments Instructions for Teachers

  • The custom Waypoints formative assessments are now open in the app for K–2 teachers. Here are the questions.
  • Julie emailed these instructions to all K-2 teachers, and they will be listed in the TLC blog next week.
  • Please have teachers complete them by November 21.
  • You’ll find them listed in your “To Do List” on your Wayfinder Teacher Page as “2025 K Beginning of Year,” “2025 1st Beginning of Year,” etc. Each includes only six questions aligned to the Life and Career Readiness priority standards reflected on the progress report. These are educator observed Waypoints and they are not on student iPads.  Detailed instructions here.  I have turned off the K-2 Educator Observed Summative assessment so that will no longer be visible for K-2 teachers.
  • Tip:  Have a class list with questions listed across the top.  Think about students who might fall into the sometimes (2-developing) or rarely/never (1-beginning) category.  Use this rubric to observe these students first. Then use professional judgement and observation to consider where the rest of your class is in their development.   In addition, when teaching Wayfinder lessons, notice which lessons are focused on the priority standards and observe how students respond to the corresponding lessons.  

From Lillah Lehner in Safety:

All STAS/SIRC Teams:

After completing a Level 1 STAS or SIRC assessment, please upload the 2 page Outcome and Safety Plan into Synergy>Student>Documents tab>STAS/SIRC is a new Doc Category tab. The Doc Comment will be Outcome and Safety Plan.

The following people will have access to this document:

  1. Principals and Assistant Principals
  2. Counselors
  3. Student Success
  4. Athletic Directors
  5. SPED specialist such as Pych’s
  6. District Directors/Executive Directors

Please call Lillah Lehner in Safety with questions: 541-355-8854

From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Student organizing: clubs, petitions, etc:

Students have the right to gather and organize–examples include forming new clubs, circulating petitions, etc.  However, we can put certain limitations on these activities, when done thoughtfully.

Here is the relevant policy with guidance for you.  A couple reminders: No new student clubs should be forming without principal approval.  If you believe a club, petition, or other student-organized activity is going to cause a disruption and should be prohibited, please contact me so we can discuss specific considerations.

Please remind staff about this policy and ask that they contact you if they are hearing about clubs or other student organizing that would require procedural considerations under this policy. 

Family engagement calendar: 

We now have an Outlook calendar to communicate and coordinate district-wide family engagement events and key dates!  It includes district-wide events where families are the audience, such as Financial Aid night or Latino Family Night, as well as the “do not schedule” dates for religious observances.  

This is a staff-facing tool, for awareness, access, and coordination of school, district, and program-specific family events.  Please work with your office staff to add this calendar to your school Outlook calendar—instructions here.  

If you are planning a district-wide event and would like it added to this calendar, please contact Dalia Juárez or email [email protected].  

From Dave VanLoo in School Improvement

OSAS Testing Annual Notices and Opt-Out Forms

The Bend-La Pine website has been updated with the 2025-26 fillable PDF annual notice and opt-out forms that we are required to share with families. There are separate notices and opt-out forms for ELA/Math testing (grades 3-8 & 11) and the SEED survey (grades 3-11). Please share our website with links to the required forms using whatever methods you typically communicate with families and have copies available for parents to pick up in the office by ODE’s dates and timelines below. 

Bend-La Pine Schools :: Oregon Department of Education Resources 

ODE English Language Arts and Math State Testing

Consistent with the requirements of ORS 329.479, ODE has developed an annual notice (available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage) that describes these assessments, identifies the timeframe when the assessment will most likely be administered, and identifies an adult student’s or parent’s right to excuse the student from testing. Districts and public charter schools must provide parents with the ODE-developed annual notice at the beginning of each school year. In addition, districts and public charter schools must provide parents with separate notice at least 30 days prior to administering the statewide summative assessments in Math and ELA using the ODE-provided 30-day notice and opt-out form (also available through ODE’s Test Administrationwebpage), or a district-created form that exactly reproduces the language of the ODE-provided form. School districts and public charter schools must use the language of the 30-day notice and opt-out form provided by ODE to communicate with all parents about state testing requirements and their right to opt out for high school students by January 4, 2026, and for students in Grades 3-8 by March 1, 2026. 

ODE SEED Survey

Oregon law (House Bill 2656) requires each school district to make the SEED Survey available to students in grades 3-11. Parents or guardians may decline, either verbally or in writing, to have their student participate in the SEED Survey. Schools will provide parents with notice of administration and the process for declining participation at least 5 days prior to administering the SEED Survey. Students may also decline, at any time, either verbally or in writing to participate. Students may also decline to answer individual questions on the SEED survey.

Please contact Dave with any questions.

From Sean Reinhart, Jennifer Hauth, and Jamie Gunter

The Student Services Team is reaching out with a yearly reminder of protocols and procedures around suicide risk and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), as required by Adi’s Act (Senate Bill 52).  We will be providing a series of updates to ensure that administrators are informed on updated protocols. 

Reminder: Postvention

Please review the updated protocols in the BLS Sudden Death Response Procedures For Building Admin & Staff. We will review this information at the December 3, 2025, Safety Cadre. 

  • View the updated sudden death response procedures.
  • Review with all of your building staff on these procedures.
    • Ask all staff to contact their building administrator if they become aware of any information on the death of a staff member, student, or parent in your school community. 
  • If a Staff member reaches out to an administrator:
    • Thank the reporter and ask that they don’t contact other individuals and share the news they have heard. Oftentimes the information is inaccurate or incomplete and unknowingly propagating rumors can cause harm.
    • The building administrator reaches out to Sean, Jennifer, Scott, or their Level Leader (in that order until the first person is reached).
    • Student Services will walk you through next steps. 

Best-practice postvention around notification helps to prevent further harm or contagion, ensures accuracy and consistency, protects and respects the family, supports emotional safety, and lays the foundation for healing and recovery. If you have questions or concerns around this process, please reach out.

From Lindsley Gehrig – Instructional Coach

Here is a self-paced Acadience progress monitoring training to share with school leadership teams. I hope this serves as a solution for schools needing to train staff on progress monitoring. This training is still a work in progress but can be shared now to get folks started. 

Challenges of training folks like we have in years past:

  • Pulling staff from buildings for large training
    • Duty/lunch schedules disrupted
    • Sub shortages
  • Training within each building
    • 19 individual schools 
    • Instructional coaches focusing on early literacy instruction and math curriculum adoption
    • Schools not having access to an experienced assessor (interventionist or learning specialist)

I recommend leadership do the following to set folks up for success:

  • Dedicate time within the staff members’ schedules
    • They do not need to be done all at once, you can focus on one subtest at a time
    • I think about 30+/- minutes per subtest
  • Have people do it together!
    • They can calibrate and discuss
    • Problem-solve together

From Scott McDonald – Information Technology

Synergy Mail Delivery Issue

It has come to our attention that on occasion, certain Synergy (ParentVUE) messages are currently being marked as “spam” and are not able to be viewed by families with a TDS email address.  We have already engaged both Synergy support and TDS to identify the cause and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, please be aware that teachers using Synergy mail may occasionally receive a  “bounce back” message from families who are unable to view their message.   We will provide an update as soon as normal delivery is restored.

Looking for a few administrator iPads-
As we transition students over the next two years to the iPad 11, we will be lean on older device inventory.   If you are an administrator and you rarely use your iPad for your position, we hope you will “volunteer” to turn in your iPad to your IT Client Service representative.   Thank you in advance for your help. 

Action Items

  • View and Print the BLS Sudden Death Response Procedures For Building Admin & Staff.  If you have an event at your school, reach out to Sean, Jennifer, Scott, or your Level Leader (in that order until the first person is reached).
  • Look at Lindsley’s self-paced Acadience Course and follow her tips for success.
  • Share Erin’s Law information with staff.
  • Waypoints Assessment window closes on October 24th. Please remind staff and check out your progress in Wayfinder.
  • Please work with your office staff to add the Family Engagement calendar to your school Outlook calendar—instructions here.  
  • Review Opt Out notices and contact Dave VanLoo with any questions
  • Never use your iPad? Consider returning it to IT for reuse!

Important Dates

  • October 16: TAG Admin ICCL 3:30 – 5:30 Education Center Board Room
  • October 21: PLCs 3 and 4, 3:00 – 4:30. (PL C3PO @ Silver Rail and We Are the Winners @ La Pine)
  • October 22: Elementary Safety Cadre 1:30 – 3:00 at Silver Rail Elementary
  • October 29: Teacher work day (8 hrs)   Conf. (4 hrs.) Admin will have a ½ day Amplify training on this date. (Half in the morning and half in afternoon–check your calendar invite)
  • October 30: Parent Teacher Conferences
  • October 31: No School and School Improvement Plans are due today.
  • November 4: Horizontal Meeting 3:00 – 4:30 at the Board Room
  • November 11: Veteran’s Day
  • November 12: All Admin PD from 3:00 – 4:30 at Perseverance Hall

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Ned Myers !

Ned is the Assistant Principal at Pine Ridge Elementary! If you are in need of some fast energy, fun socks, a skip in your step, or advice about where to have fun in the Bend area, then Ned’s your guy! Ned is a native of Bend and a graduate of Bend High School. To say he is enthusiastic about his school, the district, and his home town would be a big understatement! Congratulations Ned! Let us know your coffee drink of choice and we will deliver!

October 9, 2025

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Time for a good laugh!

The Black Eyed Peas can sing us a tune, but the chick peas can only “hummus” one.

From Tammy and Karen

I saw that joke this week and laughed my head off. I hope it brought you the same chuckle it brought me!

Before we jump into the news of the week, we just wanted to take a moment and once again, wish you all a happy Principal Appreciation Month! We witness the amazing work you are all doing at your schools to bring clarity to what is taught, to build a sense of belonging for your staff, students, and families, and to share your belief in the positive impact that everyone is making on a daily basis with our students. We see you and appreciate you!

Leave sheets due: This is a friendly reminder to email Tammy, Karen, and April J your leave sheet no later than Monday, 10/13). If you are an AP, please have your principal sign before sending them our way. If you do not have any leave, we ask that you please email us to let us know you did not have any leave. If you don’t do that, we have no way of knowing who forgot to do their timesheet and who didn’t have any leave. You could also email a leave sheet with the words “no leave taken” across it if you would rather document no leave that way. Thank you!

Important Links

Notes from our Team:

From Julie in Curriculum and Instruction

Please take 5 minutes during a staff meeting for your staff to share a “nugget” they took away from Educator Network day.  We received great feedback and this is an opportunity for your staff to share what they learned with their colleagues.

It is has come to our attention that some of the center materials are defective or have broken already.  Amplify Desmos Math plans to warranty the materials for us. However, we need to know which items at which schools need replacement.  Please ask teachers to complete this form for items that are defective.

From Jennifer in Student Well Being

Educator Network Day Success for Counselors and Student Success:

We had a great turnout yesterday at HDMS. Here is the slide deck with outcomes for our trainings this year:

  • Formalize and implement a clear framework for Tier 2 & Tier 3 mental health/social emotional interventions. 
  • Establish a clear process to Identify, Match + Fit, Provide + Monitor, and Evaluate.

Waypoints open until Friday October 24th end of day. Thank you to all of you that have had your students complete the assessment. 

The K-2 formative assessment will be live for teachers on October 15th and will be open until November 21st. The assessment is only 3-4 priority standards and six questions.. For K-2, the custom Waypoints will appear in the teachers’ to-do lists on the dashboard when they log in (starting 10/15). They will be labeled Kinder Beginning of Year, 1st Beginning of Year, etc. Instructions.

Great job Summit (75%), La Pine Middle (84%), Westside Village (56%) and Buckingham (52%) for the highest completion rates for this week. Elementary will have lower completion rates as they do not have k-2 completing the assessments until October 15th.

Class of 2025 Results are in! From thousands of college applications to exciting post-grad plans, the Class of 2025 kept busy shaping their futures last year. Using SchooLinks data, we are excited to share a snapshot of their accomplishments and next steps. 💙 Check out the full story here by Jess Calbreath: secure.smore.com/n/f3z05

From Scott and Kayla in Safety: Please take a moment to review this document reminding you of the protocol for calling 8888.

From Tami Pike, Director of Health Services:

First Aid CPR Certification Required for Medication Administration

Per Administrative Policy JHCD-AP, staff who administer medication must hold current First Aid and CPR certification. Bend-La Pine Schools provides free CPR/First Aid certification and renewal training for all staff. The course includes a 4-hour online component followed by a 20-minute in-person skills check. Instructions for registering for the training can be found here.

For any questions regarding CPR/First Aid training, please contact nurse Oliver Tatom by phone at 541-355-6922 or email at [email protected]

From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Dignity and Belonging: Community Engagement 

Here is the Bingo card from our leadership meeting.  Please keep a copy throughout the year that you cross out as you go.  

This spring, completed copies will go into our raffle for some great prizes!  We will share the number of leaders from each school/dept who completed the full Bingo, and celebrate the creative ways your team engaged with the community in this process.  

Community Visit #1: The Giving Plate sign-up.  The dates for this tour/visit are coming up, so sign up soon! Here is our home visit guidance.  Feel free to share with staff as applicable, and ask your Liaison or FAN Advocate if you can join their next visit.  

Election Season and Political Topics – Action Item: Please share this principal/supervisor message with your staff:

Dear staff — As election season approaches, this is a good time to revisit our expectations around political topics in our school and workplace. While this November may not bring the same intensity as a presidential election year, maintaining neutrality in our professional capacity remains essential.

Here is our policy around staff engaging in political activities.  This is a great tool outlining boundaries and appropriate use of district equipment, time, and resources in relation to election topics.  District leadership asks that each employee read the information in those links carefully. Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification.

In addition, we know students may initiate conversations about politics, candidates, or ballot measures. To help navigate these moments: Here are 10 steps for teachers to prepare, navigate, and respond to sensitive discourse.  Our district Advocacy Coaches are also available to support you in facilitating respectful and balanced discussions.

From Ryan in Human Resources

Quick Reminder: Check Your UKG To-Do List

Please take a moment this week to log into UKG and check your To-Do list.
Pending Personnel Actions (PAs) can hold up key processes like pay changes and assignment updates if they’re not approved in a timely manner.

Regularly reviewing your To-Do list,  even when you don’t expect anything pending, helps keep workflows moving smoothly and ensures your employees are set up for success without delay.

This should be done regularly, but is particularly important on and around the Payroll cutoff dates, which can be found on the Portal on the Payroll page. 

If you have any questions about what’s showing in your queue or how to clear an item, reach out to [email protected] for support.

Thank you for helping us keep things running efficiently.

Extra Duty Procedures for 2025–26

We have a number of new Extra Duty positions this year and want to make sure everyone understands the procedures for tracking, and maintaining these roles. The details below outline how schools should handle placements for the new positions, updates to existing roles, and ongoing expectations for managing extra duty assignments.

Newly Bargained Positions (Effective 25/26)
  • K–12 Green Team Advisor – Range F
  • Elementary Music Director – Range E
  • Elementary Yearbook Coordinator – Range E
  • Elementary Battle of the Books Coordinator – Range E
  • High School Link Crew
Placement Process for 25/26
  • If someone is already performing the duties of one of these new positions, please email [email protected] to have the stipend assigned no application needed this year.
    • If no one is currently performing the duties of these positions, they must be filled through a competitive process – posting, interviewing, and hiring.
  • Future changes will follow the standard extra duty process: the current person resigns, the school requests a posting, and HR processes the hire.
  • Each school is allocated 1 FTE per position.
Ongoing Procedures and Reminders
  • Start Date: All year-round extra duty positions begin on September 1; complete hires before this date to avoid prorating.
  • Automatic Roll-Forward: Positions continue year to year unless HR is notified that duties have ended.
  • Annual Verification: Each August, HR will request confirmation of who will continue in each role.
  • Step Advancement: Each year an employee holds the same position, they move one step on the extra duty salary schedule.
Google Docs Tracking
Updates to Existing Positions
  • High School Musical Directors: Formerly offered every other year, this stipend is now available annually when a musical is produced. Total FTE remains 2.0 per school.
  • HS/MS Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Drama: Stipends are no longer tied to certified FTE. Staff offering the full complement of after-hours performances receive the full 1.0 FTE stipend per school.

Questions? Reach out to [email protected]

From Triz in Human Resources

Thought I would take a moment to remind you that the due date for SLGG’s is quickly approaching.  (October 15, 2025)

Probationary and temporary certified staff and Contact staff ON & OFF the evaluation cycle should be completing this task. 

Goal Setting & Evaluation Tools:

Student Learning Growth Goals (SLGGs) (ONLY Teacher, SPED Teachers, and Teacher Librarians- all other specialists use alternate goal-setting plan):

Please let Jessica Lamay (HR Tech) and I know if you need any assistance with your evaluation google doc.  We are here to support you. Thank you!

From McScott in IT

Cyber October IT update- 

Just who is Bend-La Pine IT and what is the best way to get a hold of them? There are 30 people who work in the basement of the Education Center who represent our IT team. The document linked here shows you a little bit about what each person does and how best to reach them.

Action Items

  • Turn in Leave sheets on Friday, 10/10
  • Make time at a staff meeting for teachers to share a nugget from END
  • Check out the Tier 2 and 3 learning from counselors/SSCs and make sure your Waypoints assessments are completed on time
  • Review 8888 protocol document
  • Check to see that you meet CPR/First Aid qualifications
  • Play Bingo and Sign up for a community visit or home visit
  • Share the election message from you to your staff (pre-made in Kinsey’s section)
  • Check the UKG “To-do” section and do it
  • Read all about the Extra Duty positions. Make sure you follow the procedures for someone already in the role or hiring someone new
  • Complete SLGGs meetings by October 15.

Important Dates

  • October 12: Timesheets due
  • October 14: PLCs 1 and 2, 3:00-4:30 at (1 @ Rosland and Phly Like Canadians @ Lava Ridge)
  • October 15: SLGGs are due by today
  • October 16: TAG Admin ICCL 3:30 – 5:30 Education Center Board Room
  • October 21: PLCs 3 and 4, 3:00 – 4:30. (PL C3PO @ Silver Rail and We Are the Winners @ La Pine)
  • October 22: Elementary Safety Cadre 1:15 – 3:45 at Silver Rail Elementary
  • October 29: Teacher work day (8 hrs)   Conf. (4 hrs.) Admin will have a ½ day Amplify training on this date. (Half in the morning and half in afternoon–check your calendar invite)
  • October 30: Parent Teacher Conferences
  • October 31: No School and School Improvement Plans are due today.

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Deborah Buduan, !

Deborah is in her third year with Bend-La Pine Schools, in the role of Principal of Rosland Elementary, one of the two elementary schools located in La Pine. If you want to see Deborah’s eyes light up, just start talking about data, as she loves meaningful and informative data that can be used to celebrate growth and identify next steps to progress the learning. The rockets are currently working through the book, Driven by Data 2.0 with some great success. Want to know more? Reach out to Deborah!

October 2, 2025

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

From Tammy and Karen

Optimism is important in our work because it helps us see challenges as opportunities rather than roadblocks. When we approach problems with a hopeful mindset, we stay open to creative solutions, build resilience in the face of setbacks, and inspire confidence in those around us. Optimism doesn’t mean ignoring difficulties—it means choosing to focus on possibilities and progress, which creates the energy and motivation needed to move forward together. We encourage you to print the October Optimism Challenge and use it as a simple way to inject some optimism into every day!

Conference Information:

With conferences quickly approaching, we have several topics to go over concerning this time of the year.  

Conference Length Expectations:  In past partnership with the BEA, we landed on the following information.  If a teacher has 25 or less students, their conferences need to be between 25-30 minutes to accommodate for transition times as needed (25 min gives time for a quick restroom break, time in case one goes longer, etc.).  If a teacher has 26 or more students, their conferences can be 20 minutes, giving the teacher the ability to have a few longer ones as well as including transition times if needed.  

How we conference:  The following link to staff is a mutually developed message from Bend-La Pine and BEA that needs to be copied and pasted into your staff newsletter regarding the parameters around “how” we conference.  Following the letter to staff is a link for a family letter you can use to send to your families explaining what may happen if they choose to go on a vacation during conference times. 

Link to message for teaching staff

Letter to Families re: leaving during conferences.  Using this letter is at your discretion.  

Interpreters: Principals, work with your office team to submit your requests for interpreters ASAP via Linguist Link (do not rely on CAFE members at this point–they should be used for back-up only).  Language Specialists and Family Liaisons can help coordinate languages and appointments.  On conference nights, a front-office staff member needs to be available to support interpreters (direct them to their assignment location, clarify scheduling or meeting access info, etc).  

School supply message to share at conferences: We’ll discuss this further at some point, but for now: Ahead of conferences, feel free to share this message with your families via your upcoming school communications and/or with your PTO/PTA.  

Reminder: Teachers have been registering for the October 8th Educator Network Day.  You can see where your teachers are signing up for here. Please ask your teachers to register if they haven’t yet even if they plan to stay at their school site. Please review last week’s blog for information about locations and tasks for your school. If you have any questions please let us know!

Important Links

Notes from our Team:

From Lisa Birk, Deputy Superintendent

  • Yearly Evaluation Notification: All staff members should be notified annually as to what evaluation cycle they are on and what they can expect to experience regarding eval process. We believe most of you, as site administrators, already have this practice in place but if you don’t and you need some templates, please feel free to use the e-mail templates listed below. This is also a good time to notify the member if you plan to address any standard that is not part of the abbreviated list in their End-of-Year evaluation. Questions on your list of staff? Reach out to Triz and Jessica Lamay- they have been coming to sites to walk admin through the tools as needed. Annual Evaluation Notification Templates
  • Admin ALL PD: Take a moment and complete the feedback form for our Admin PD yesterday. Go ahead and list me ([email protected]) as the facilitator and call it Admin ALL PD 10/1.

From Kinsey in the Office of Policy and Advocacy:

Dignity and Belonging: Community Engagement 

Here is the Bingo card from our leadership meeting.  Please keep a copy throughout the year that you cross out as you go.  This spring: 

  • completed copies will go into our raffle for some great prizes!  
  • we will share the number of leaders from each school/dept who completed the full Bingo, and celebrate the creative ways your team engaged with the community in this process.  

Community Visit #1: The Giving Plate sign-up.  The dates for this tour/visit are coming up, so sign up soon!

Here is our home visit guidance.  Feel free to share with staff as applicable, and ask your Liaison or FAN Advocate if you can join their next visit.  

From Human Resources

We are excited to announce the first iteration of mid-year orientation and onboarding for new hires, beginning Thursday, October 23 and continuing every other Thursday for the remainder of the year.

These sessions are designed to ensure our new employees enter their roles feeling confident, connected, and supported. Each orientation will include:

  • Payroll, Human Resources, and Policy: An overview of organizational practices and role-specific information.
  • IT Support: Small group time to set up single sign-on and other key systems.
  • Union Introductions: Opportunities to hear from OSEA or BEA, if their position is represented.
  • Role-Specific Training: A half-day dedicated to job-specific skills and expectations.
    • For school-based staff, Level Leaders will take the lead on this portion.
    • For non-school-based staff, HR has collaborated with Directors, Assistant Directors, and Supervisors to develop tailored plans.

Important Note: All candidates who accept a position after Friday, October 10 will not be permitted to start work until they have attended one of these orientations.

This new process reflects our shared goal of ensuring that every employee starts their journey with Bend-La Pine Schools on strong footing, well-prepared to contribute and thrive. Thank you for supporting this important step in welcoming our newest colleagues. Please connect with Ryan with any questions.

Evaluation Rosters

As we keep cruising through staffing updates, your Evaluation Rosters might not be perfectly up to date yet. If you spot anyone who shouldn’t be on your site list—or someone who’s missing—please email Jessica Lamay with the names to remove/add. Thank you!

What “ON-cycle” means

Contract staff marked ON-cycle were flagged because either:

  • we do NOT have a finalized summative in UKG from last year (24-25), or
  • they’re returning to the regular schedule from the 2023–24 cycle.

If something looks off, it’s often because last year’s steps weren’t fully finalized and the item is still pending in the system.

Quick checklist (2 minutes!)

  1. Open UKG → To Do and complete/submit any evaluation steps sitting at your stage.
  2. If an assignment still looks incorrect, reach out to Jessica Lamay and Triz so we can verify and update as appropriate. We appreciate you helping us keep everything clean and current—your attention here makes the whole process smoother for staff and students. 🙌

Linking Files:

Once you’ve dropped your files into the shared site folders  

Please be sure to link them into the correct column of your workbook. 

See steps in the samples below:

  1. Click to select the file you are attaching in the workbook.
  2. Click the ‘chain link’ icon to copy the link to that file -OR- Ctrl/Command+C.
  1. Click on the ‘File Chip’ in the corresponding row and column for that employee/eval piece. Ctrl/Command+V -OR- Right mouse click, then click Paste, to attach the file.
  2. Tab -OR- click on the file name pop-up (as above) to complete the attachment.
  3. File is attached.

.

From Julie Richards, Curriculum and Instruction

This year the decision has been made to adjust progress monitoring requirements.  Please review 25-26 Progress Monitoring Guidelines and share with staff members. You will receive an email with a spreadsheet that lists who/what to progress monitor.  Click on your school tab.  Students who score 0-10th percentile are monitored 2x per month and 11-20th are monitored 1x per month using acadience progress monitoring materials.  If the spreadsheet indicates “NONE” that means you do not have any students in that grade level below the 20th percentile.  A school can choose to monitor additional students. ROAR is given as a benchmark: September, January and June.  It can be given as a progress monitor in November and March.  More information on when that window will open as we get closer to the date.  

You will also receive a the spreadsheet that indicates students who will need an SB1003 (aka Dyslexia screener) parent letter to be given at conferences.  Please share this with the classroom teachers and anyone that supports making the copies and filling out the letters.

From Educational Technology

Upcoming Change: Grade-Level Data Access in Core Applications

Next week, teachers will begin seeing new grade-level “all students” classes in Clever and our core instructional applications. These classes were created with input from instructional coaches to give teachers quick access to grade-level data for collaboration and planning.

For administrators, the key impact is that this update also unlocks student-level data in Amplify – something not yet available within the platform itself. This provides a short-term solution until Amplify rolls out their own data-access features later this year.

This change will go live on Wednesday, October 8th, so that teachers have access to this new class and data in time for Educator Network Day that afternoon. The message below will be shared with teachers in the TLC blog that morning.

Teacher Message – shared October 8th in TLC Update

Starting October 8, you’ll have access to grade-level data for all students in your grade,not just your homeroom. This change was developed with input from instructional coaches and in response to teacher requests, making it easier to review scores and plan during grade-level meetings.

In addition to your homeroom, a new class will appear in Clever and other core applications that includes all students at your grade level across the school. For example, if you teach 4th grade at Juniper, you’ll see a class titled Juniper – All 4th Grade Students.

Both your homeroom and grade-level classes will appear in each application, including Acadience, RGR, DreamBox, Amplify, Lexia, and ILC — with Forefront to follow. When creating assignments or assigning other digital content, be sure to select your homeroom class so materials go only to your students. Each application makes it easy to switch between classes when needed.

From Facility Operations

Annual school fire inspections start next week. Bend Fire & Rescue will begin its annual fire inspections October 9 for all schools in the city’s coverage area – everything but our Sunriver and La Pine schools. The Bend city fire inspections are scheduled to run through November 7. Jim Scott, Building Services Manager for Bend-La Pine Schools, will notify each school’s principal and office manager of its inspection date the week prior.

There is also an Open House on October that you may want to share with families! Click HERE for the flyer!

From Eric Powell, Student Support

If an Administrator at your site does not have Synergy discipline access (to enter Minor or Major incidents into the discipline module), would you please Email Eric Powell to let them know who needs access to the discipline module in Synergy? 

We are working with IT to schedule a discipline module training for any administrator who needs this access and want to determine whom to invite to this potential training.

If you don’t know what the “discipline module” in Synergy is, then you probably need this!

From Informational Technology: It is Cyber October once again!

Beginning next week look for tech info, tips and tricks both in the blog and in your email as we recognize Cyber October.

We will also be bringing back the “Phishing Derby” with some even bigger prizes for reporting suspicious emails.  

Action Items

  • Review and share information about conferences with teachers and families
  • Remind your teachers to sign up for their Educator Network Day class!
  • Check your evaluation roster for accuracy and follow the steps from Triz to complete last year!
  • Send information about Evaluation Cycles to teachers
  • Take a moment and complete the feedback form for our Admin PD yesterday.
  • Let Eric Powell know if an admin at your site needs access to the discipline module in Synergy.

Important Dates

  • October 1-2: Yom Kippur–no evening activities
  • October 7: Elementary Leadership Meeting, 3:00 – 4:30 at Education Center Board Room
  • October 8: First Educator Network Day: See the information above on 9/25 Blog
  • October 14: PLCs 1 and 2, 3:00-4:30 at (1 @ Rosland and Phly Like Canadians @ Lava Ridge)
  • October 15: SLGGs are due by today
  • October 16: TAG Admin ICCL 3:30 – 5:30 Education Center Board Room
  • October 21: PLCs 3 and 4, 3:00 – 4:30. (PL C3PO @ Silver Rail and We Are the Winners @ La Pine)
  • October 22: Elementary Safety Cadre 1:15 – 3:45 at Silver Rail Elementary
  • October 29: Teacher work day (8 hrs)   Conf. (4 hrs.) Admin will have a ½ day Amplify training on this date. (Half in the morning and half in afternoon–check your calendar invite)
  • October 30: Parent Teacher Conferences
  • October 31: No School and School Improvement Plans are due today.

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner, Laci Fisher!

Laci is the Assistant Principal at Lava Ridge. Laci always has a smile on her face and brings a lot of joy and energy to any space she enters! She is a busy mom of active kids and is going all the time! We wonder how she does it all– caffeine maybe? Laci, let us know your drink of choice and we will deliver this next week!