Month: March 2026

March 19, 2026

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

From Tammy and Karen

#1. We hope you all enjoyed our PLC and mClass time as much as we did yesterday! Thinking about all the different topics that the 4 PLCs will be digging into these next few months is exciting. Thank you for all your engagement in the activities. Here are the slides from the PLC time. If you did not take the PD survey, please remember to do that.

#2 We also received the following email today from Amplify in regards to the survey they gave. We know you care about being team players and supporting our partners. Please take a moment and respond to their ask:

“Charmaine mentioned that each session had about 15–20 participants, and we’ve only received a handful of responses to our survey. The feedback is really important for understanding how the session went for our team.

Could you send out a quick reminder to the participants with the survey link? Getting more feedback will help us. You can copy paste the line below:

The Amplify PD team values and is looking for your feedback. If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AmplifyPDsurvey with Customer Code (for the 1st session at 8am): 1087315 and Customer Code (for the 2nd session at 9:45am): 1087316.”

#3. Last minute reminder that staffing plans are due before you take off tomorrow for spring break! Karen and I are work tomorrow and part of next week and need your plans for the tasks we have to accomplish. Thank you!

#4 Lastly, we hope you have an amazing week off, taking time to rest, enjoying the special people in your life, filling your lungs with fresh air, and doing all your favorite things! Be safe and we will see you all on the flip side of break!

Important Links

Notes from our Team: 

From Rodger Moore, Director of Facility Operations

I am writing to inform you of an upcoming adjustment to our landscape irrigation practices in response to current budget constraints.

To ensure responsible resource management, the district will be implementing a strategic reduction in landscape irrigation across our campuses. As a result, overall landscape aesthetics may fall below our typical district standards in certain areas. You can expect to see dry or brown grass in locations where reduced irrigation will not impact student use or safety.

Please note that maintaining safe and functional environments remains our top priority. Athletic fields and high-use play areas will continue to receive focused irrigation to ensure they remain green, safe, and suitable for student activities.

We appreciate your understanding as we take these necessary steps to balance fiscal responsibility with the needs of our students and facilities. If you have any questions or would like additional details, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

From Michelle Rhoads in Transportation

Please orient yourself and pass on to your PE teachers, this attached information page about an upcoming professional development opportunity related to bicycle safety. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me to answer questions. A separate day for the La Pine Schools will be held on April 15.

From Lisa–Acting Superintendent in Dr. Cook’s Absence

Join us virtually March 31 for staff updates

Acting Superintendent Lisa Birk will host an update for all District staff on Tuesday, March 31, with two 30-minute virtual sessions:

  • Session 1 – 3:05 – 3:35 p.m. (LINK to join Session 1)
  • Session 2 – 3:50 – 4:20 p.m. (LINK to join Session 2)

Action Items

  • Complete Amplify and BLS PD surveys from yesterday
  • Complete your initial thinking for staffing plan by end of day today
  • Pass on the PE professional learning to your PE teachers

Important Dates

  • March 23-27: Spring Break!
  • March 31: All staff virtual update–see information above
  • April 8: All Admin PD 3:00 – 4:30
  • April 14: Elementary Horizontal 3:00 – 4:30 location TBD
  • April 15: Educator Network Day for SIW
  • April 21: PLC3-PO and Phly Like Canadians meet from 3:00-4:30
  • April 28: The #1 PLC and We Are the Winners meet from 3:00-4:30

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Gary DeFrang!

This week’s Duck winner is Gary DeFrang, Principal at Lava Ridge. Gary has been an administrator in our district longer than most of us (22 years!) splitting his time of service between High Desert Middle School and Lava Ridge Elementary. He is the proud dad of two amazing boys, who have and are attending Bend-La Pine Schools. Fun fact, did you know that Gary was a collegiate swimmer at the University of Washington, where he was a standout on the team? He often lead the Huskies with his powerful backstroke! You can still find Gary to this day, swimming regularly to keep up with all those lions on the playground.

March 12, 2026

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Countdown to Spring Break! What fun plans do you have?

From Tammy and Karen

As we move into the staffing plan process, we want to provide school leaders with a clear and thoughtful approach to navigating this important work. Over the next few days, we will be scheduling times to visit schools to review staffing plans together. These conversations are intended to support you in reflecting on your plan, verifying key data points, asking questions, and ensuring that the documentation is complete. In some cases, Jennifer Hauth and members of the Student Services leadership team may also join these conversations if they are available. It has been wonderful to collaborate across departments on these important plans. Above you will see a cool infographic that Tammy put together using Notebook LM (p.s. if you haven’t tried out this tool, we recommend you look at it.) We hope this guide can help make this process smooth, thoughtful, and supportive for your school community.

END: Thank you all for your support last week in attending the Educator Network Days! This is just an FYI: Here is the attendance information of the Educator Network Day from last week. We don’t believe that elementary has a problem with people not attending the sessions, but it has been brought to our attention that missing END as a district has been problematic, so take a quick peek to confirm that your list is accurate. 

Important Links

Notes from our Team: 

From Jennifer in Student Wellbeing

Please see below for an opportunity here in Bend for district administrators that are helping to lead this work😊 Learn how to strengthen our Wayfinder implementation to help meet our strategic initiatives. I will be there and I think it would be great to have some of you join, especially those of you that have not attended any Wayfinder trainings in the past. 

From Patrick Cook-Deegan – CEO and Founder of Wayfinder:

I’d like to personally invite you to join us for the Oregon Community Workshop on Friday, April 17 at Tetherow Resort in Bend.

This will be a focused, working session with district leaders from across Oregon on how schools are implementing Wayfinder to:

  • Meet Oregon’s mandated TSEL standards
  • Align with SB3 requirements
  • Strengthen instruction for the Oregon Health Education Standards

More than 115 Oregon districts are already bringing this work to life with us. During the workshop, we’ll share concrete implementation strategies, lessons learned, and practical tools you can take back to your district or school site immediately.

Event Details

8:30 AM – 2:30 PM (breakfast and lunch provided)
Tetherow Resort
61240 Skyline Ranch Rd
Bend, OR 97702

This will be interactive and collaborative—not a sit-and-get session. You’ll experience Wayfinder activities firsthand and connect with peers navigating similar priorities.

RSVP here.

From Shelby Paulson from Library Services

Thursday, May 7th is the 2nd annual School Library Symposium. This is a library-specific PD event for classified and certified school library staff in our region. This event is free of charge to remove barriers and encourage attendance.

From Marta in Superintendent’s Office

A NEW and updated Frequently Called Numbers document is available on the Portal! https://bendlapine.sharepoint.com/SitePages/Frequently-Called-Numbers-List.aspx#all-fcn-numbers

Action Items

  • Fill out Excellence in Ed Nomination by 3/20
  • Document Erin’s Law being taught
  • Complete your initial thinking for staffing plan by end of day on March 19th
  • Bookmark the new Frequently Numbers List

Important Dates

  • March 18: Teacher work day (8 hours) Conferences (4 hours)
  • March 18: Elementary Admin PD 8:00-11:15 a.m. Lunch provided after
  • March 19: Conferences (12 hours)
  • March 20: No School
  • March 23-27: Spring Break!
  • April 8: All Admin PD 3:00 – 4:30
  • April 14: Elementary Horizontal 3:00 – 4:30 location TBD

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Scott Edmondson!

This week’s Duck winner is Scott Edmondson, currently the Principal at Highland Magnet at Kenwood.  Prior to Highland, Scott was Principal at RE Jewell, and Sky View Middle School.  Scott is a beloved principal and known to be able to be the leader that struggling school communities need to bring a caring and kind culture to a school.  Fun fact, if you are to google Scott, you just might get the following…and it’s all true!  “Scott Edmondson, a longtime educator in Bend, Oregon, gained recognition as the ‘Worlds Strongest Principal’ around 2010. While leading Sky View Middle School, he won a world championship in powerlifting, bench-pressing over 585 pounds. He later served as principal at R.E. Jewell Elementary and was named principal at Highland Magnet at Kenwood School in 2023.”  In addition, Scott can spend hours educating you on all things Sasquatch, so if you are so inclined, hit him up for some good stories. That is, when he is not spending time with his family, as he is a proud dad and grandpa as well. Congratulations Scott!  Let us know your drink of choice, and we’ll send it your way. 

March 5, 2026

Posted on by — No Comments ↓
Screenshot

From Tammy and Karen

We just wanted to take a moment to extend appreciation for you and they way in which we will all be working together to navigate this next season of staffing with grace and understanding. To reiterate what Lisa said, it is important that we are all the face of optimism and positivity as we eventually roll out information to staff and support the work moving forward. Confidentiality is of the utmost importance, so when in doubt of whether or not you can say something, please reach out to us for clarification before saying anything.

Karen and I will be reaching out to get some time with each of you as we get your staffing plans. We will be delivering them to you at that meeting.

Updated Conference Guidance for Teachers: Below is a link to updated guidance for teachers on how they can conference with staff. This was discussed with BEA and you all, so the hope is it provides clarity to the concerns. Not a lot is different, just said differently to hopefully add clarity. Please share with staff and reach out with any questions.

Conference Information for Teachers

Repeat–Mark Your Calendar! We are looking forward to time together with you all on March 18th at the Education Center. We will start at 8 and work together until 11:15 a.m. Afterwards, we invite you to stay for lunch with us in the Board Room. You will be working with your PLC groups and spending 90 minutes getting training on Amplify and 90 minutes starting your next cycle for our PLC work. We have learned a lot over our meetings together this fall and winter and are looking forward to applying some of these changes to our work together moving forward. We will share more information at our Horizontal Meeting next week.

Important Links

Notes from our Team: 

From Kayla in Safety

Reminder that Wednesday, March 11 is our Safety Cadre Training #3

  • Secondary- 8:00AM-9:30AM in the HDMS Library
  • Elementary- 1:30PM-3:00PM in the NSE Library

We will be having an informational presentation from our Deputy District Attorney on the juvenile justice process followed by a tabletop exercise. Please coordinate with your level-leader to have one member of your admin team present.

From Ryan in HR

Last week, I shared the forms to submit names of the Certified and Support Staff you’d like to recognize as part of our Excellence in Education program. Resharing the links here with a reminder that nominations are due by Friday March 20th. Timely submission allows the next portion of the process to move forward so that everything can be ready in advance of the recognition evening, May 13th.

If you need the names of previous honorees from your site, please email me and I will share those with you.

From Julie in Curriculum and Instruction

Here is the form to fill out to confirm Erin’s Law has been taught in your building.  Please send to April J when complete.  

Here is the spreadsheet for SB 1003 (Dyslexia Legislation).  This spreadsheet tells you which Kindergarten students will need a letter at Spring conferences.  Click on your school and look for a green highlighted section that says, “April notifications”.  Print and fill out letters and have teachers go over with families at conferences.  If you have a student that it doesn’t make sense to send a letter for just let me know and I will remove their name (i.e. newcomer).  

Thank you and let me know if you have any questions. 

From Kinsey in Policy and Advocacy

Community Engagement Visits:   -Action requested-

Don’t forget about the chance to win a gift card ($25-$49.99) to places like El Sancho, Spork, downtown shops, and more!  A little motivation and token of appreciation for getting outside your building/office and into the community we serve.  (Bingo card here.)    

Thanks to all who visited The Giving Plate and Bethlehem Inn!  (If you missed those, it’s not too late–reach out to me.)  Our next community partner visit is in April, to the Latino Community Association.  Sign up here to participate.  

While this time of year feels particularly busy, these visits (and/or the average home visit) last 30 minutes or less, and hopefully leave you re-energized and reminded of your ‘why.’  This visit is also a tangible action you can take to support your immigrant and Latino families right now.  

Also, for those of you who recently visisted the Kids’ Center with our awesome safety team: Use that as one of your “optional” spots on your Bingo card.  One step closer to your prize!  🙂

Fundraising Listening Sessions:  -Action needed-

Don’t forget to sign up to attend one of the Fundraising and Donations update sessions.  Your parent leaders, coaches, and community members will be getting this information the following week, so we want you to feel informed and be able to give any final input.  See email from Kinsey sent Feb 27 for details (one admin per building, AD, Activities, etc).    

Taking It Up:   -Action needed-

If you have not yet attended Taking It Up, please talk with your Level Leader about their expectation for your participation in this workshop (register here).  I can cover a sub for your admin duties those two days.  Please also include this invitation in your next staff communication, and encourage folks to represent your school/dept in attending.

Black History Month Door-Decorating Contest: 

Wow–we had great participation rates this year, with kindergarten through adult groups submitting entries!    Check out the submissions.  Tomorrow, winners will be contacted via email (we’ll copy building admin so you know if you have a winner in your building–they will also be featured on social media this month) to celebrate and get them their prizes.  

Family Nights:

Save the dates: Asian Family Night = Friday, May 1; Latino Family Night = Thursday, May 14.  (These are on our district Family Engagement calendar in Outlook.)  More information to follow!

Action Items

  • Fill out Excellence in Ed Nomination by 3/20
  • Document Erin’s Law being taught
  • For Conferences, print out and pass out to identified students, the Dyslexia Law paperwork
  • Sign up for an LCA (Community Engagement Bingo) visit
  • Sign up and/or share about Taking It Up workshop
  • Sign up for a fundraising policy listening session if you haven’t already
  • Safety Cadre Meeting—3/11. See you there!

Important Dates

  • March 8 Daylight Savings Time—jump ahead one hour today!
  • March 9. Fundraising Conversation, Board Room 10:00-11:15 (option1)
  • March 11 Safety Cadre Meeting at North Star Elementary 1:30-3:00
  • March 11 Fundraising Conversation, Board Room 3:00-4:15 (option 2)
  • March 18: Teacher work day (8 hours) Conferences (4 hours)
  • March 18: Elementary Admin PD 8:00-11:15 a.m. Lunch provided after
  • March 19: Conferences (12 hours)
  • March 20: No School
  • March 23-27: Spring Break!

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Carl Hjeresen!

Carl Hjeresen (pronounced: year-uh-sun) is in his third year as Assistant Principal at La Pine Elementary. Prior to that, Carl was Student Services at Rosland Elementary for 2 years. Fun fact, way back when, Carl started his teaching career at La Pine Elementary, so he has come full circle! Another fun fact, is it was at LPE that he met this amazing 4th grade teacher, named Tracy, who later became his wife! Carl and Tracy have two amazing kids, Hadley and Tate, who are their pride and joy, and also the source of a very busy life for the Hjeresen family, going from sport to sport each season and weekend. Carl and his family, like some of you, had the opportunity to teach overseas in the middle east for several years, where they got to enjoy new cultures, new friends, and an adventurous life. We are so glad they came back, as Bend-La Pine is so lucky to have them here making a difference in the lives of so many every day! When he has a little extra time, you can probably find Carl on the golf course with a brother or two, having the time of their lives! Congratulations Carl! Let us know your drink of choice!