April 23, 2026

From Tammy and Karen

Karen and I just want to acknowledge how hard this week has been and how proud we are of you all for buckling down and doing the hard things. Our rational brains know how the system works with budget reductions; you can’t buy what you want when you don’t have money. But, the decisions, conversations, and feelings that you and your staff are experiencing are about people you care about and it hits right at the heart, and that hurts. Knowing that, take care of yourself and your people. When the time is right, I like leaning into the phrase, “Yes…and….” when it come to things like this. Yes, this is hard, upsetting, confusing, etc….and what new opportunities will present themselves for change, growth, collaboration, etc. that you haven’t thought about before? You got this!

Important: Please update your staffing plans with names, certified and classified as soon as possible. This is necessary for the next conversations around classified employees. In addition, For all the title schools, I have gone into your plans and placed all the certified positions, and in some cases, classified ones as well. Please do not adjust those, as they have been budgeted for and are done. They support your current certified FTE and school improvement plans. As in the past, when the dust settles later this year (August/Sept) we may be able to add more funds to be used for materials and/or classified hours.

Important Links

•  April 22nd Elementary TLC Update
• Special EDge  (April 23 Edition)
• BLS School Libraries Newsletters!
• 1-Page Student Management guide
• Dates to recognize groups
• CPI Trained Staff List (let Sara Young know if you see staff who are not at your school)

Notes from our Team: 

From Julie in Curriculum and Instruction

Middle School Transition and Math Bypass Testing for 5th grade: An assessment needs to be given for some 5th grade students who could potentially skip 6th grade math if they meet the requirements. This assessment will only be given to 5th grade students whose teacher nominates them based on their math proficiency being exceptional, parents request their child take the test, or students who nominate themselves. This assessment will use iReady and takes approximately 45 minutes to complete on the iPad.  

FAQ you can provide families

Testing coordinators need to schedule this assessment for some time in May and pull the identified students to a space and administer the assessment before the end of the year. 

From Kinsey in Policy and Advocacy

1. Chronic Absenteeism: Family Engagement and Attendance:  (Action needed)

We know you are working hard to get kids to school.  As part of our broader efforts to improve student attendance under the leadership of Eric and his team, and in alignment with our ongoing work on student voice, dignity, and belonging, in addition to our school design plan improvement cycles, we will be taking a closer look at the connection between family engagement and chronic absenteeism.  Research shows that specific, practical family engagement strategies can significantly improve student attendance across K–12.

On Thursday, May 21 from 8:00–12:00 (and continuing into next school year), national expert Dr. Karen Mapp will join us in person to help us reflect on our current work, identify school-specific and districtwide coordinated efforts, and plan concrete, evidence-based strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism. This is a valuable opportunity to reflect on this year and begin planning for next year.

Your Advocacy ICCL rep will attend, with substitute costs covered by the Office of Policy and Advocacy. If there are one or two additional staff members (ex: family engagement committee members) who would benefit from participating, they are welcome as well—we can support some additional substitute costs; please contact me if interested in adding participants. Please also plan for an administrator to join us. This work will directly inform your 2026–27 school design plan and provide practical tools to strengthen attendance efforts.

More information to follow—for now, please mark your calendar.

2. ELL/Multilingual Services (From Liza):  (FYI)

Hello admin teams! I wanted to inform you about a change in ELPA test scores this school year, per ODE:

• There is a new ELPA score called “Early Proficient.” 
• “Early Proficient” means the student scored very close to proficient, so they may be able to exit English Language Learner (ELL) status.
• Next steps: Language Specialists will connect with the families of students who have scored “Early Proficient” and set up meetings to discuss their options during their case management periods. See the attached family flyer.
• The decision must be made by a parent, guardian, or by the student themselves if they are an adult (18 yrs. or older).  All forms are due by June 11, 2026. 

Your Language Specialist will be connecting with you on this new process.  If you have additional questions, please reach out to me directly. Happy to support!  -Liza

From Jason Westmorland in IT

Admins at schools will need to correct data in the ‘School Discipline Audits’ dashboard prior to June for ODE State Reporting.

NOTE: Due to a bug in Synergy, these reports are being hindered from being published directly to PAD Tree locations / screens in Synergy, however, once those issues are resolved they will be much easier to locate and use (by simply using Quick Launch or PAD Tree navigation). Level Leaders should also have access to these reports & should monitor them to verify their schools are making progress cleaning up audits.

Users may have to sign out and back into Synergy to see these changes.

NEW REPORTS

Currently, there are two dashboards being exposed to Principals & VPs, the ‘School Discipline Reports’ & ‘School Discipline Audits’ Analytics reports.

The ‘School Discipline Reports’ displays reports of incidents at schools for which specific reporting requirements at the district or state level are required. These include:

• Title IX Incidents – Incidents of Title IX (sex-based discrimination) incidents at school
• Title VI incidents – Incidents of Title VI (discrimination based on race, color, or national origin) incidents at school
• Threats / Intimidation – Incidents of Threats or Intimidation at the school
• IAES (Interim Alternate Educational Settings – SPED) – Specific IAES alternate placements for SPED at school
• Expulsions – Specific expulsions at school
• Weapons & Counts – Specific weapon violations & counts by school
• Suicides – Typically these are selected in error, but should be verified.
• Homicides – Typically these are selected in error, but should be verified.

The ‘School Discipline Audit’ displays reports of incidents having some kind of known data entry issues, which will need to be verified / corrected prior to ODE data submission by June. These include:

• Discipline Missing Elements V2 – This audit displays data that is missing or mis-configured for the incidents shown
• Disposition Date Issues – This audit returns incidents / students where the date(s) associated with their State Reportable dispositions have some kind of issue and/or conflict with the ‘Days Assigned’
• Overlapping Dispositions – This audit returns dispositions assigned to students on the same day (totally more than a single day) indicating overlapping discipline
• Attendance vs Discipline Mismatched – This report is currently a work in progress and will be released at a later date before the end of the school year. It will show where suspension data & attendance don’t match.

ACCESSING DASHBOARDS

To access these reports, users will need to navigate to the ‘Synergy Analytics Home Page’ screen (using Quick Launch).

Once in this screen, they will need to locate the ‘hamburger’ icon at the top left and expand the navigation menu.

In the menu, select the ‘Discipline’ category, then locate either of these Analytics dashboards to view the reports they contain.

Each individual report can be expanded to use the whole screen (helpful for smaller screens or for the audits having many columns). You may need to SCROLL DOWN to see all of the reports on a given dashboard.

This can be done using the icon with 4 arrows pointing to each corner.

The SIS_NUMBER and INCIDENT_ID columns contain links to either the Student Incidents or Incidents screens, respectively, in Synergy so you can directly access the discipline data entry elements corresponding to that entry / row.

Additionally, these Analytics reports can be filtered, columns re-ordered or hidden and exported to Excel if needed. For details, connect with Ted Helton or Jason Westmoreland.

IMPORTANT

Items that are displayed in the reports on the ‘School Discipline Audit’ dashboard need to be corrected prior to ODE data submission. Please review these items ASAP.

Policy & Procedure questions should go to Eric Powell [[email protected]], while data entry or issues with Synergy should be directed to Ted Helton [[email protected]] and/or Jason Westmoreland [[email protected]].

If anyone that SHOULD have access to these reports does NOT have access, please contact Ted Helton or Jason Westmoreland.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know as well.

Action Items

• Update staffing plans with names asap
• Plan for Middle School Bypass Assessment for identified students
• Identify which admin will attend the Karen Mapp training on May 21, from 8-12
• Correct school discipline audit data–if you do it now, you have less to do at the end!

Important Dates

• April 28: The PLC3PO and We Are the Winners meet from 3:00-4:30
• April 29: Safety Cadre #4 at Pine Ridge, 1:30-3:00
• April 30: Life and Career Readiness Fair
• May 1: Asian Family Night 
• May 12: Horizontal Meeting, 3:00-4:30 at Pine Ridge Elementary
• May 13: All Admin PD at Mt. View High School from 3:00-4:30, (note the change of venue due to the next event)
• May 13: Excellence in Education—plan on attending to honor your two staff—at Mt. View
• May 14: Latino Family Night and KínderFiesta
• May 25. Memorial Day Holiday, no School
• May 28: School Design Plan Showcase 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

And finally… Congratulations to our Next Duck Drawing winner Andy Slavin!

Andy Slavin serves as Principal at Amity Creek Choice Option School, where he has been principal for many years. Under his leadership, Amity has really strengthened it’s identify, focused on student connection, and placed an emphasis on learning. It is also a place that feels like home, and you feel that, as you walk around the building with him and students say, “Hi Andy!”, “Andy, watch this…” or you attend morning meeting with the entire school and parent community. Andy has had an amazing education journey, spending a lot of time in education overseas, most notably in Bali! Can you imagine? When he is not at school, he loves hanging with his grandchildren (who also attend Amity), traveling with his wife, and especially enjoying the great outdoors. Congratulations Andy! Let us know your coffee order and we’ll head your way!