From Tammy and Karen
What an incredible day we had at the High Desert Museum! Thank you all for bringing your attention, insight, and wonderful sense of fun to our meeting. From engaging presentations and a lively round of Jeopardy to delicious food, cool air conditioning, and the adventurous GooseChase, it was a day packed with energy and connection. We let our adventurous sides shine and made memories that will last—especially during the High Desert Hijinks! Click the photo above to watch the one-minute video reveal of our winning team. This was truly an event to remember, and it wouldn’t have been the same without each of you.
Next week will be very busy as you prepare to welcome staff and students! Please review the Priority Matrix to ensure that all of the Urgent and Important Items are complete! Please also update your staffing plans (with numbers, sections, and certified staff) on Friday (8/15), and Tuesday and Thursday next week.
IMPORTANT FOLLOW UP FROM MONDAY
Slides from Monday, 8/11: This link will take you to a copy of the slides from Monday with links to the trainings you will need to do during Inservice Week. We have also linked them below:
- The Tier 1 slide deck has been amended with most requests. (We changed the language to “appropriate staff” and we added a slide about the code of conduct and students with disabilities. We also added a slide saying elementary will skip slides 25-28–staff will not be loading discipline incidents into Synergy, so you can delete those slides when you make a copy.
- The Code of Conduct review team which met to review the code and update it for this year and included an elementary admin rep, worked on a definition for “respect”. The definition is in the glossary and the concept of respect has slightly expanded to include “kindness” to the concept of Respect. So now it reads:
- Respect: Treating everyone with consideration, dignity and kindness, just as you would like to be treated.
- It is still something we want to teach and hope kids adhere to, but when narrowing our expectations to a few, was something that could get misused and the original team opted to eliminate it.
- It is important you read through the Tier 1 slides and read the presenter notes at the bottom before you present to your staff. That is where the details are as far as what you need to do and when, what staff needs to access, like the actual Code of Conduct.
- Tuesday, 8/19 at Highland in the library from 10-11, we will be meeting to go through the Synergy Student Support form for all of you interested in practicing with it in real time. If you come, please make sure at least one class has been loaded into Synergy for your school so that you can access a class.
Area Change Requests: Area Change Requests are closed for the start of the 25-26 school year. If you get families calling you or your office staff, please let them know that they are closed. Please, under no circumstances let a family know that you have or do not have room in a grade. We get multiple families each year upset because they say the called the school and were told there was room, when we may need to deny them for various reasons.
Karen will be out on FMLA leave on Monday Aug. 18th through Wednesday Aug 20th. If you need any support, please start by contacting Tammy. I will be checking email but have many appointments scheduled so won’t be immediately available. Thank you all for your patience and kindness as I support my parents in Minnesota.
Important Links
- June 4th Elementary TLC Update
- 1-Page Student Management guide
- Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice *New space for the 25-26 school year (24-25 are archived and you can access those conversations here too)
- FAQs for Special Education Inclusion Topics—Keep checking in here! BEA and BLS supported
- Check out the new Administrator Hiring Guide —Go to UKG, recruitment tab, and choose the hiring guide on the right hand side of the page.
Notes from our Team:
From Ryan Kelling – Human Resources
Our New Certified Employee Orientation will be held on Thursday, August 21 at North Star.
- Breakfast: 7:00 AM – Bend Breakfast Burrito will be catering; enjoy a burrito, muffin, coffee, and connection time with our new hires.
- Program Start: 8:00 AM
Any school or department that hired a new Certified employee is required to send a representative so that you can connect with that person/people, but all are welcome to attend, and we encourage you to join us in welcoming our new staff. If you’re unsure whether your school needs to send a representative, please email me directly.
From Kim Crabtree -Transportation
Reminder that all students that will ride the bus must register. If you have a newsletter from you school going out shortly, can you please push out this information to your families. You can copy and paste the message that was sent to you last Friday that Becca put together. We are still about 2500 students short from last years numbers. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
From Kinsey Martin – Policy, Advocacy, & Equity:
Policy Notes:
Updated Attendance policy (updated per conversations and feedback throughout last year). Please be familiar with the changes to procedures and responsibilities, share with your office and MTSS staff, and bring any questions to the September horizontal admin meeting. Related: Employee Attendance policy–good reminders for all of us!
Updated Grades and Credits policy final version. Feel free to share this directly with your teachers and counselors (secondary in particular), if helpful.
Here are the reference slides from the policy training last April. Topics/Guidance includes:
-Law enforcement, student searches, DHS,
-ICE (here’s additional ICE guidance),
-controversial subjects (share the policy with your teachers),
-parent requests for teachers, etc.
Please share those reference slides with applicable staff, print, and/or bookmark as needed–you don’t want to be looking for these in a time-sensitive situation.
Updated transportation policy: We updated the series of policies related to transportation. One important change for you (and ADs/coaches):
Either we provide the bus, or students/families need to coordinate their own rides—employees, including coaches, should not coordinate groups of students with drivers of private vehicles. Parent volunteers or team parents are welcome to coordinate with other volunteers, but district employees are not involved in non-district transportation arrangements.
Related: field trip permission forms have been updated (all languages available on the Portal): please share with teachers and office staff.
Have a recommendation regarding a policy issue? Please use this form to suggest updates, request changes, identify gaps in policy language, etc.
Looking for the policy that covers a particular topic? Need help interpreting a policy for a particular situation? Contact me!
From Kayla Martin, Safety
As mentioned in Leadership Launch, we are asking you to tell us what you need from Safety/how you feel about Safety concerns. Link here. The survey is condensed (only 6 questions)- please fill this out so we can tailor our PD to what you need. As soon as we get responses, we will send your safety designee(s) a calendar invite. Thank you all for your partnership.
Please be sure to note these dates for trainings and designate your safety lead: October 22, 2025, December 3, 2025, March 11, 2026, and April 29, 2026
Elementary – 1:45 – 3:15 PM
From Education and Information Technology.
Our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for student device use was updated during the 24-25 school year. The new version is what our families are receiving in their enrollment materials. I have linked the updated AUP here. Sections that you may want to be familiar with include:
- Grade 6-12 Insurance Device Damage and Loss Guidelines
- Device Use
- The Student Pledge
AI training Everything you need for the Artificial Intelligence PD is on the new AI in BLS website, including the full slide deck for your upcoming staff training. The training takes about 90 minutes. Just open the deck and guide your staff through it. The goal is to share accurate, useful, and timely information as we navigate the meaningful use of AI across the district. Questions? Reach out anytime: [email protected]
Clever Sub Badge Training: We want to make sure every teacher has the opportunity to participate in Clever Sub Badge training. This 25-minute session walks your staff through creating a dedicated resource page for substitutes in Clever and how to generate a badge that gives substitutes secure access to teaching resources.
We know time is limited at the start of the school year, but if you have not scheduled this training for your staff, please reach out to Robbie Faith as soon as possible to get your training on the calendar.
From Sean Reinhart – Student Services
As we look ahead to the 2025–2026 school year, we want to share several important updates regarding staffing, program developments, and service delivery within the Student Services Department. These updates reflect both the evolving needs of our student population and our ongoing efforts to align resources strategically in support of schools and teams. The information below includes changes to our administrative and coaching structure, updates to special education staffing and allocation models, expansions of key programs such as The Nest and Occupational Therapy, and refinements to how we deliver speech-language and school psychology services. We encourage you to review the details carefully. Click the link below.
25-26 Student Services Overview and Update
We have also planned information sessions and Q and A for Aug. 15 from 10-11 – Teams meeting for Elementary Principals (calendar invite sent)
Action Items
- Review your priority matrix and complete the important and urgent items now if they are not done already
- Assign Featured Content in Wayfinder (check in with Jennifer Hauth with any questions)
- Get rid of old OOPS/FYI system paperwork and processes
- Update Staffing Plan sheets with numbers of students and staff assignments every other day (beginning Friday August 15). Please be sure to indicate students would be in each class on the first page.
- If you have a new certified employee in any department, send a representative to orientation on 8/21
- Encourage families to register so that their child can be added to a bus route.
- Complete Safety Survey
- OPTIONAL: Student Services Update Teams Meeting on 8/15 at 10:00 (calendar invite has link)
- OPTIONAL: Student Synergy Form Practice on 8/19 at 10:00 at Highland Magnet School
Important Dates
- August 15: Student Services Update (Teams Meeting) 10-11
- August 18: Title 1 Kick Off for all Title Schools 8-10 @ Elk Meadow
- August 19:: Optional Synergy Student Form practice 10:00- 11:00 @Highland
- August 21: Optional Wayfinder Training for Admin, 2:30-3:30 at North Star
- August 25 – 29: Inservice Week
- August 26: Welcome Back Kick Off – Virtual 8:30 a.m – 10:00 a.m.
- September 2: Optional Teacher Work Day
- September 3: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
- September 9: Elementary Leadership Meeting, 3:00-4:30 at the Ensworth Media Center
- September 16: PLCs 1 and 2, 3:00-4:30 (you will learn about these on August 11)
- September 23: PLCs 3 and 4, 3:00-4:30 (you will learn about these on August 11)
- September 22-24: Rosh Hashanah–no scheduling of evening events on these days.
AND FINALLY! CONGRATULATE OUR WINNERS! PLC Team 4 looking ready for business in their Posse Portrait.
