Category Archives: Uncategorized

February 1, 2024

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Here’s to seeing no shadow tomorrow!!

Do Now:

Important! Please work together with your Office Manager to compare your Red Rover absences with each staff absence in UKG. I recently discovered a school site where a staff member had been gone a lot. When I went to the business office to see the report in UKG, they only had 2 days documented from back in October. Red Rover showed the person out a lot more than that. This is a big problem! This staff member is not getting any of their sick days deducted and even took unpaid days without permission. All staff must be using UKG to request all absences (personal days, sick days, school business, jury duty, unpaid, etc.). It is very important you follow up on this and make sure staff are registering all absences (whether or not they need a sub) in UKG. Thank you!

Title Schools—Please work to get all your documents into your folders so you can stay caught up. Here is the link to the Mid-Year check-in slides from Tuesday. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Meryll or Tammy with any questions.

Train Your Brain: It is now the time of year when we begin planning for this program. Here is the link to the sign-up sheet. Principals, please sign up on this sheet for your spring session by February 16th at the latest.

Please register for a CFEE (Coaching for Educational Equity) Training if you have not yet participated in one. It is a 4 day commitment and we are committed to seeing that all leaders in Bend-La Pine have had the training. Get a jump start and plan for it now. See Kinsey’s section below.

Please make a plan with your staff around teaching to meet Erin’s Law between February and May. Here the resources for both the family letter and instruction. Principals, please document and ensure lessons were taught via this form.  Return to April Jorgenson in Teaching and Learning when complete. You can refer to last week’s blog for other resources as well.

SRO Cards, posters, goodies to Kayla in Safety by Feb 9!

Finally, we are looking for teachers to share their practice and ideas with other teachers at our Feb 28th Educator Network Day.  Please have them sign up here if they have an idea for a session and are willing to facilitate that session.

Reminders:

New Notes:

From Kayla and Scott in Safety: As a reminder, volunteers need to be 18 years or older to serve in a supervisory capacity at schools. Minors are not able to attend field trips as chaperones or work as volunteer coaches as it poses a liability for the district. This information is reflected on the District Volunteer Page.

From Sean in Student Services: Learning Specialist Transfer and Hiring process for 24-25 school year:

Hi all, we want to give you a preview of the process for hiring certified Learning Specialist for next year.  

  1. Currently, we are identifying schools that will have opening for Learning Specialists for the 24-25 school year.  These are folks that are resigning or are temporary.  You will be contacted if you are on the list.
  2. If you are on the list of schools in need of a Learning Specialist, you will be invited to the transfer interviews, currently scheduled for Monday, March 4(2:30-5:00).  We will have a pool of candidates available that have requested a transfer and indicated that one of their choices is your school.  
  3. If you are at the transfer interviews and a candidate is not selected for your school, you will be invited to the pool interviews scheduled on Tuesday, March 11 (1-5 PM).  Also, if you now have an opening because of the pool interviews, you will be invited to participate in this pool interview process.  
  4. There will be three postings for Learning Specialist.  A La Pine area pool posting, an elementary pool posting, and a secondary pool posting.  During this interview process, we will be looking at new candidates that have applied for learning specialist positions in your perspective pool.  
  5. Once we complete the initial round of posting, interviewing, and hiring for all schools, any additional hiring will be completed at the building level with Student Services admin support.  This means the posting will be specific to your school and you will be the hiring manager with support from student services admin.

Please let Josh, Colleen, or myself know if you have any questions.

From Jenny White (SEL). This week’s highlight from Wayfinder is Creating Connections Collections.

The goal of the collections are to foster meaningful connections and cultivate empathy  along with enhancing belonging in classrooms and beyond. Engage students in interactive activities, discussions, and reflective practices that promote understanding, kindness, and authentic connections that empower them to build a more compassionate and connected world.

Directions on how to find your collections.

Name Pictionary

This is a fun connection you could do at a staff meeting or you could have your staff create these fun name cards at a staff meeting or SIW and then put them up in the lunch room for staff to guess throughout the week. (maybe the top winner can win a prize)

Link to the lesson. Link to directions

From Kerry Morton, Math Coach. The Math Curriculum Review Team will be requesting another time to share a nugget from our work between now and April 10th. Based on your SIW schedule, this can be a quick 15 minute session or a full SIW. The sessions will continue to focus on math equity and pedagogy. Getting feedback about instructional materials will start in the 2024-2025 school year. Please reach out to Kerry Morton or Julie Walker with any questions or concerns.

From Culture of Care: Click on the photo below for a great idea! Reminds me of Rosland’s Mindful Music first thing in the morning.

From Dave VanLoo in TLC: OSAS state testing season is quickly approaching. Here is a very detailed summary document I put together to help get you started. Please share this with your school test coordinators (STC). Let me know if you want to meet in person about OSAS logistics. I am happy to come out to your school and support you with this.

From Kinsey in Policy, Advocacy, and Equity:

Policies (follow-up from Wednesday’s admin meeting):  Thank you for your attention and engagement with the policies that govern our work and decision-making.  Reach out with questions, ideas, or if you’d like training/PD for your team:

Here is the policy revision cycle we discussed at the admin meeting.  Here is a direct link to the input form if you have identified a particular policy issue that needs attention.  Please share as applicable (particularly with staff members or student groups who have an interest in advocacy).  Here is the link to the policies currently in the ‘consult’ stage of review/feedback (e-bikes, diploma types, religion, etc), so you can monitor upcoming changes and/or give feedback.  Here is where you can search within any of our current policies.  

Action Requested re: Bias Incidents: As this semester closes, please look back through emails/calls from me to be sure you have closed out the investigation and response on each bias incident report.  This includes replying to those messages (if we weren’t partnering on response) with the consequences and outcomes.  

Reporting each alleged incident and documenting all response steps takes a bit of effort up front, but is well worth the investment (compared to the hassle when concerns arise from incomplete processes or records).  If your team would like to discuss bias incident reporting, response, or prevention with Kinsey and/or the equity coaches, please reach out.  Thank you!

Asian Family Night/Lunar New Year Event: Flyer invitations English and Chinese versions​—thanks for sharing with your staff and families!

Racial Equity Professional Learning: Our school district is committed to sending all administrators and supervisors to CFEE. CFEE stands for Coaching for Educational Equity.  This is a four-day intensive workshop focused on racial equity and the impact of Oregon’s unique history on our current education systems. Sending all leaders to this workshop aligns our shared understandings, common language, and core values as a cohesive leadership team.  This alignment supports our strategic priorities, equity stance, and decision-making across the district.

A large portion of our team has already attended!  If you aren’t yet a graduate of this workshop, please register for one of the upcoming sessions, or reach out to Kinsey if you have further questions.   Level leaders and department supervisors will share additional level-specific guidance with their teams, and Kinsey will be in touch with your registration confirmation or wait-list status.

Emerging Student Needs: The Office of DEI is closely tracking some actively-shifting trends we know you are experiencing regarding populations of extremely vulnerable students in your schools: unhoused, immigrant, unaccompanied, and other vulnerable youth.  While these students often do not manifest externalizing behavior challenges, we recognize they have highly specialized needs impacting your school.  We recognize, too, that these students require and deserve immediate care and resources that may be unfamiliar or less accessible to your teams.  

We will be dedicating time at an upcoming Admin PD to address this topic together.  In the meantime, please remember (and remind staff) to feel free to slow down, learn about each student individually, and build relationships.  A great leadership move you could do right now would be to shadow a student for a couple periods or ask a few content teachers how they’re feeling with supporting these vulnerable students in their classes.  As always, if you have an overwhelming need or unique case that needs immediate support, please reach out to relevant support staff (family liaisons, language specialists, FAN, McKinney-Vento coordinator, counselors, equity coaches, etc).  .

From Tammy and Lisa:

Most of you have now had your Winter DIBELS assessments. Now is the time to dig into that data! Do you have your mid-year Core Effectiveness (100%) meetings scheduled yet? Need some help? Let Lisa, Tammy, and Julie know! We would be happy to support.

Heads Up! We will be reaching out to schools soon, as we need your help to pull off 4 days of principal interviews. Like we did last year, we will be asking 1 principal and 1 assistant principal to support the schools who have all day interviews, as both admin and office staff will be out at the schools where interviews will be happening that day. Many of you supported this last year and said you thoroughly enjoyed spending the day in a colleague’s school! Between some of you being on the Assistant Superintendent’s hiring panel, being on the panel of each principal interview, or being asked to cover another school, most of your schools will be pitching in to help in one way or another. Gooo Team!

Quick reminder: Please remember to give KIDS Inc a 2 week notice prior to asking that they move spaces within the building. We know that things come up and space is at a premium. Just a reminder that our current contract is outlined with the expectation above. Thanks!

Important Dates

  • Feb 2: Groundhog Day! and report card work day from home or at school!
  • Feb 8: Deputy Superintendent Hiring Day
  • Feb. 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night–Pilot Butte Middle School, 5:30
  • Feb 9: SRO appreciation due to Kayla today!
  • Feb 13: ICCL/Admin training 3:00-5:00—will be in your building with your team only. You will receive the information to unpack with your team for this.
  • Feb 13: Elk Meadow Principal Hiring Day
  • Feb 14: North Star Principal Hiring Day
  • Feb. 15: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day
  • Feb 15: Jewell Principal Hiring Day
  • Feb 16: Bear Creek Principal Hiring Day
  • Feb 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work
  • Feb 21: Admin PD at Perseverance Hall at BSH–3:00-4:30
  • Feb 27: 3:00-5:00. Elementary Leadership, at North Star Elementary
  • Mar. 1: Education Foundation Grants are due: www.blpedfoundation.org

And finally…the February Drawing Challenge! Can you take a couple of mindful minutes each day to draw the daily item? Go for it!

January 25, 2024

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Click on the picture above to learn more, get free games, and add a bit of joy to your Monday!

Do Now:

Please complete your letters by Friday for your third year employees and put them in this google drive.

We only have a couple days left of Youth Truth! The district has a goal of 100% staff participation and 75% families participating and the last day is February 2nd. Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help with implementation. We should have reports on February 16th.

Please make a plan with your staff around teaching to meet Erin’s Law between February and May. Here the resources for both the family letter and instruction. Principals, please document and ensure lessons were taught via this form.  Return to April Jorgenson in Teaching and Learning when complete. You can refer to last week’s blog for other resources as well.


Here is the flyer invitation for our Black History Month kick-off. Please work with your ICCL-DEI rep or other relevant staff to make sure that any Black/African American students, families, and staff at your school are personally invited to this event, and that your staff are aware of the event (they’re welcome to share with students/families as they see fit). 

Finally, we are looking for teachers to share their practice and ideas with other teachers at our Feb 28th Educator Network Day.  Please have them sign up here if they have an idea for a session and are willing to facilitate that session.

Reminders:

New Notes:

From Stuart Schmidt at The Center: If you are new to our district you may not know about our third grade Train Your Brain program. This is a partnership with The Center to support our students with helmet use and helmet fitting. It is now the time of year when we begin planning for this program. Here is the link to the sign-up sheet. Principals, please sign up on this sheet for your spring session by February 16th at the latest. This allows the team enough time to coordinate with volunteers who help with the helmet fitting and make a presentation schedule for staff. Alex Walker will be taking the lead on communicating with schools and following up regarding the schedule.

From Kayla in Safety: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day is February 15th. The Safety Team is requesting your help to collect cards, notes, pictures, etc. to present to our SRO team. The goal is to highlight the positive relationship between our SROs and their schools. If you are willing, please offer your students the opportunity to share their appreciation for their respective SRO, and send any items to the Safety Team at the Ed Center no later than Friday, February 9th. We are also happy to stop by and pick them up! 

From Sean in Student Services: A reminder of upcoming regional Culture of Care professional development sessions that still have space available for Central Oregon educators and school partners. Register for all opportunities here!

  • Using Restorative Questions & Circles Effectively (Tier II): Builds on the intro course, diving deeper into using the RP questions and facilitating proactive and responsive circles.
    • Tuesday, February 13th, 8:30am-12:30pm in Boardroom at Bend Education Center
  • Restorative Conferencing (Tier III): A responsive process to engage with those who cause and experience harm, along with related community to bring about healing, facilitate reentry and repair relationships. Introduction and Circles training recommended as prerequisites.
    • Tuesday, April 23rd, 8:30am-12:30pm at Trinity Episcopal, Bend
  • Community of Practice sessions also available following each training for further exploration and practice.

From Jennifer in Student Services: National School Counseling Week 2024 (#NSCW24) is Feb. 5-9, 2024, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of school counselors within U.S. school systems. National School Counseling Week, sponsored by ASCA, highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career. National School Counseling Week is always celebrated the first full week in February. 

Here is a “Certificate of Appreciation” that you can use for your counselors as well as a sign for them to hang on their door if you choose. Click on slide below for some resources to help your school celebrate this week with your counselor(s)😊

From Kinsey in DEI:

  1. Racial Equity Professional Learning: Our school district is committed to sending all administrators and supervisors to CFEE. CFEE stands for Coaching for Educational Equity.  This is a four-day intensive workshop focused on racial equity and the impact of Oregon’s unique history on our current education systems. Sending all leaders to this workshop aligns our shared understandings, common language, and core values as a cohesive leadership team.  This alignment supports our strategic priorities, equity stance, and decision-making across the district.

A large portion of our team has already attended!  If you aren’t yet a graduate of this workshop, please register for one of the upcoming sessions, or reach out to Kinsey if you have further questions.   Level leaders and department supervisors will share additional level-specific guidance with their teams, and Kinsey will be in touch with your registration confirmation or wait-list status.

  1. Emerging Student Needs: The Office of DEI is closely tracking some actively-shifting trends we know you are experiencing regarding populations of extremely vulnerable students in your schools: unhoused, immigrant, unaccompanied, and other vulnerable youth.  While these students often do not manifest externalizing behavior challenges, we recognize they have highly specialized needs impacting your school.  We recognize, too, that these students require and deserve immediate care and resources that may be unfamiliar or less accessible to your teams.  

We will be dedicating time at an upcoming Admin PD to address this topic together.  In the meantime, please remember (and remind staff) to feel free to slow down, learn about each student individually, and build relationships.  A great leadership move you could do right now would be to shadow a student for a couple periods or ask a few content teachers how they’re feeling with supporting these vulnerable students in their classes.  As always, if you have an overwhelming need or unique case that needs immediate support, please reach out to relevant support staff (family liaisons, language specialists, FAN, McKinney-Vento coordinator, counselors, equity coaches, etc).  

From Dave in Assessment: Here is an opportunity for LA or math teachers to make some extra money and learn a bit more about testing and their content areas.

From Kimberly re: Belonging Book Study: HERE is the flyer regarding a workshop on February 6th that is not intended to be an introduction to Belonging work. It is a level 2 workshop and will help you decide what comes next after initial work with the book. I have heard from some of you that my initial email for our Instructional Belonging Workshop disappeared. I apologize for the technical difficulties, and am attaching the flyer one more time so you have the opportunity to sign up and share with your colleagues who have read and worked with Belonging through a Culture of Dignity. 

As a reminder, this workshop is not intended to be an introduction to Belonging work. It is a level 2 workshop and will help you decide what comes next after initial work with the book.

From Paul in HR:

​***Probationary/Temporary Certified Staff*****

Reminder: Due by Friday, January 26th

  • Meet with third-year staff member of concern that they are being moved on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
  • Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive
  • The School Board will begin reviewing your letters in early Feburary.

Resource Links

  1. Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request) 
  2. Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
  3. Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
  4. Rubrics for certified staff (link)

From TLC: January 24th Elementary TLC Update which includes Trauma-Informed Report Card Comments, Wayfinder Collection Feature: Self Care for Students, Movement Moments, and more.

From Tammy and Lisa:

Thanks for your time and attention on Tuesday for us to come back to center regarding our literacy expectations and practices. Your work to ensure the baseline practices in all classrooms is the most important step that you can take to put all students on the path toward reading by grade 2. If you’d like a thought partner about what your next steps might be with staff after you take an audit of classroom time, please reach out. We know this work is challenging and we are happy to support in whatever way we can!

Quick reminder: Please remember to give KIDS Inc a 2 week notice prior to asking that they move spaces within the building. We know that things come up and space is at a premium. Just a reminder that our current contract is outlined with the expectation above. Thanks!

Important Dates

  • Jan 31, All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
  • Jan 31: Black history month kick-off celebration
  • Feb. 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night
  • Feb. 15: School Resource Officer Appreciation Day
  • Feb 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work
  • Feb 27: 3:00-5:00. Elementary Leadership, at North Star Elementary
  • Mar. 1: Education Foundation Grants are due: www.blpedfoundation.org

And finally…

I’ve been in three conversations on this topic this week. Hang in there! February is just around the corner🤩!

January 18, 2024

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Do Now:

NEW and Important! Please let teachers know that report cards must be in and completed by the end of the work day on February 2. The sooner you let them know the better. In an effort to help this happen, elementary report cards are now open. When this doesn’t happen on time, the turnover in the Synergy system to the second semester doesn’t happen, attendance can’t be taken accurately, and it causes unnecessary work to fix the systems. Please make a plan for how you can assure all report cards are done and in before you leave on February 2nd. Also, here is a link to support documents that you and your staff may or may not know about for filling out report cards.

Ed Network–Again: Because we were unable to complete the training during Ed Network Day again, and all teachers need to know this information, we are asking that building leaders plan to do this during the next SIW on January 24th. If you hit any other snags along the way and need ideas to problem solve, please reach out to Tammy, Lisa, or Julie. Please use this link for the slides from Kerry for the training. Third time’s a charm!

Follow Your Youth Truth Completion Percentage Here: Need some inspiration on hooking your families into taking the survey? Check out this creative (and darn right funny) way Silver Rail showcased their musical talent and encouraged families to respond.

    You and UKG—Best practice—enter requests for non-contract, sick days, etc. in UKG as soon as you know about it.

    TAG Night Reschedule–Again: We are rescheduling our TAG night for next Wednesday night, January 24, from 6-7:30pm. Same time, same location, just a week later. See Kristy Knoll’s e-mail for a blurb you can share with your families.

Reminders:

New Notes:

Education Foundation Grants–Round 2! The Education Foundation is doing a second round of classroom grants. This time, the grants will be awarded in the following three areas: STEM, PE, and Art/Music. If the number of grant requests exceeds the available funding, they will fund 1 grant per school based on date received and requirements met. Teachers who did not receive funding in Fall 2023 will receive first priority. A grant report will be due by Jun 1, 2024. The grant application opens on February 5th, closes on March 1, and will be announced March 6-15th. It’s not too early to start thinking of what you may need!

Curriculum, Instruction and Systems (Julie Walker) 4 important items to share out with your staff:

  1. Teaching Erin’s Law

Child abuse is a sensitive topic and is delivered most effectively by a student’s trusted adult which is traditionally a classroom teacher. It is recommended to teach one lesson per month in February-May. The next option is to teach one lesson per week during the month of April. In either case, please DO NOT teach a lesson in the week prior to Spring Break as there are often disclosures that occur following taught lessons. Two adults (Teacher/Counselor/SSC/Admin/School Psych & teacher) could be present during these lessons in order to support students and each other. If you have a teacher who has experienced abuse and feels distressed with the idea of teaching this topic, please provide alternate options for their students to be instructed. If you know of a student that has already experienced abuse, please work with the student and family to create an alternative plan for the student during instruction if they feel it is necessary.

Teachers will need to send out a family letter two weeks before teaching a lesson. 

Here the resources for both the family letter and instruction.

Principals:  Please document and ensure lessons were taught via this form.  Return to April Jorgenson in Teaching and Learning when complete

2. Check out this one-pager on marking lessons as complete in Wayfinder.

3. It is time to give the Middle Of Program (MOP) in Reading Playgrounds. Here is a how-to video. Please reach out to instructional coaches with any questions.

These are detailed fact sheets around MOP for each program 

Countdown

Blast

HD Word/Plus

The timeline we recommend for each grade level is on these curriculum maps.  Below are the CLIFF notes of the time frames:

Kindergarten: After Unit 16 in January. Consider a pause and review after MOP

1st grade: after unit 14 in January, MOP

2nd grade:  after unit 14 in January, MOP

3-5th: after unit 14 in January, MOP

4. Last but not least, we are looking for teachers to share their practice and ideas with other teachers at our Feb 28th Educator Network Day.  Please have them sign up here if they have an idea for a session and are willing to facilitate that session.  

From Jenny White (SEL). Wayfinder activity for a staff meeting or opener for SIW:

This activity in Wayfinder could be a fun activity to build community among staff and reinforce the need to fill our own buckets.  It is Refill Your Bucket Resource Board Share these directions on how to find the lesson in Wayfinder with your staff.

From Paul in HR. Reminder: The following is due by Friday, January 26th for your Probationary and Temporary Staff:

  • Meet with third-year staff member of concern that they are being moved on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
  • Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive

Resource Links

  1. Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request) 
  2. Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
  3. Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
  4. Rubrics for certified staff (link)

Performance Evaluations

New charts have been added to Performance & Evaluation Hub within UKG to assist you in tracking your task progress

From Tammy and Lisa:

We know at times it is hard to think of going into school when there is a closure for weather related circumstances. Staff safety is important to us all. When you get the call, and know that you still need to report as close to start time as safely possible, know that we understand you may need to take some extra time to get there and may miss what would typically be the start of the day. If you could please work with your custodians (who are there much earlier) to have a system where they put a sign out front (sandwich board, easle, etc.) where student drop off is located, you won’t need to worry about that one kiddo who’s parent dropped them off, not seeing that they didn’t make it inside, leaving the child standing at a locked school door in freezing conditions for who knows how long. Most of you make it to work by then, but on days like this week, when it may take longer to get there safely, having a back up like this is peace of mind. It is also a good back up if you choose to not come in and take a non-contract day instead.

Thank you for all your patience and kindness this week with canceled school days, frozen pipes, school crisis, and the illness going around. You have all stepped up and taken good care of each other and your staffs. We appreciate the extra that we know you give in times like this.

Important Dates

  • Jan 19 and 22. Tammy in all day bargaining both days
  • Jan. 23, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Buckingham Elementary
  • Jan 24, New Date: Educator Network Day
  • Jan 30, 2:30-3:00 Title Schools meeting on Teams (check calendar for link)
  • Jan 31, All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
  • Jan 31: Black history month kick-off celebration @ PCMS
  • Feb. 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night @ PBMS
  • Feb 19: President’s Day—This is not a paid holiday, so use non-contract if you don’t work
  • Feb 27: 3:00-5:00. Elementary Leadership, at North Star Elementary

And finally…

If ever there was a reason to hunker down and be cozy this weekend, this is it!

January 11, 2024

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Do Now:

  • Ed Network: Because we were unable to complete the training during Ed Network Day and all teachers need to know this information, we are asking that building leaders plan to do this during the next SIW on January 17th. If you already have something scheduled that can’t shift for that day, you can complete this with your staff on the 24th instead. If you hit any other snags along the way and need ideas to problem solve, please reach out to Tammy or Lisa. Please use this link for the slides from Kerry for the training.
  • Follow Your Youth Truth Completion Percentage Here: The district has a goal of 100% staff participation and 75% families participating and there’s only a couple weeks left. You can make a positive impact in your return rates, by communicating with your families often and in different modes (newsletters, Seesaw, phone call reminder). Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help schools with survey implementation.
  • Safe Schools Check In: Here is a video that you can use to track who in their building still needs to complete Safe Schools Trainings so these are completed by January 19th (remember- they were due on October 31).
  • From the Business Office: If you used any Non-contract time over the holidays, those requests need submitted asap, the closing day for this pay period is January 14. Instructions for submitting requests can be found on the portal Employee-How to Use UKG__Requesting Time-off.pdf .
  • TAG Night Reschedule: We are rescheduling our TAG night for next Wednesday night, January 17, from 6-7:30pm. Same time, same location, just a week later. See Kristy Knoll’s e-mail for a blurb you can share with your families.

Reminders:

  • Office Staff training: Office staff (all of them) will train from 1-2:30 on January 17, March 6, April 17, and May 22. Please make a plan for coverage.
  • Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions–Inputting discipline information into Synergy needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident and/or suspension.
  • UKG refresher input: Please take this super brief survey to help us identify the greatest need for our training on the 31st.
  • TAG Testing Timeline: Please make sure these dates are on your radar and you have a plan for testing at your school.
  • Planning for subs? Consult the admin calendar here and avoid scheduling your building PD days on the days colored mauve.
  • Title: Title School To Do List
    • Also, for Title, please don’t forget to get pre-approval before making your purchases and purchases should be aligned with your goals.
    • For your school design templates, please start working on the family engagement sections as well.
  • Student Services:
  • Counseling: School Counseling Blog
  • Safety: Updated SRO List as of 1/2/2024.

New Notes:

Scheduling meetings from Erich: I came across this cool tool within Outlook because I was getting really tired of all the adds on Doodle. Hopefully this comes in handy. THIS DOC will show you how to create a poll with multiple dates and times. You can email to folks outside of BLP as well. 

From Curriculum, Instruction and Systems (Julie Walker):

  • Please share with your staff:
    • Eastern Oregon is offering a science of reading course. It is advertised as a ‘lighter’ version of the LETRS training. Read here to learn more about this opportunity. If you are interested in signing up please fill out this survey by the end of the school day on Tuesday, January 16th. There are limited seats. Please reach out to Lindsley Gehrig with any questions.  The cost of this training will be covered by Bend La Pine. 
    • During the February 28th Educator Network Day is about sharing our practice with other educators- a powerful form of professional learning. If you have a topic and ideas to share, please sign up to be a facilitator.  You will be paid 4 hours at curriculum rate for your planning and preparation.  More information and sign up here.
  • Please share in your next family newsletter: Community feedback opportunity for Language Arts curriculum materials. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K3rRBQjzf24AXR-d1z-fwi1dL9kEO95GBQq-5ih-SL0/edit?usp=sharing
  • From Jenny White (SEL): Here is a Wayfinder activity on courage that you can share with your staff. Click on this link to get the directions on how to access the resources in Wayfinder’s Activity Library. The direct links are on the last slide or found below. 

High Needs Student(s) Discretionary Fund Reminder:

All building discretionary budgets contain a line item titled “High Needs”. These dollars come directly from the Student Services discretionary account for buildings to use. The purpose of these funds is to support building administrators to quickly staff for students with high needs.  The funds are available to use at your discretion for supplemental subs and equates to 70 hours of a substitute classified educational assistant. This is an annual allocation and the typical carryover (10%) rules will apply as with all other discretionary monies. These funds are only to support high-need students that you believe require additional staffing. Some other considerations when utilizing the high-needs students’ discretionary funds:

  • The high-needs student discretionary funds are not exclusively tied to students on an IEP or 504 and can be used with any student
  • Supplementary substitutes should never work directly with a high-needs student.  Rather, the substitute should fill in for our trained staff who can work with high-needs students

Additional Student Services Staffing Requests: Any requests for additional Student Services staff (including unfilled positions) need to come directly from building administrators and not from teachers. Each request will be reviewed by a team of Student Services administrators and level leaders for consideration. Some considerations when requesting additional student services staff:

  • All high-needs student discretionary funds (see above) must be spent first
  • Prior to requesting additional staff, develop a plan for how the person will be utilized, the duration of the request, the plan to fade support, and the name of the staff member facilitating the sub and plan implementation
  • Any additional student Services staff requested via this process would need to directly serve students under the umbrella of special education (unlike the 70 hours above).

TLC Link Update: January 11th Elementary TLC Update The Elementary Curriculum and Instruction website has been updated to provide more relevant information and resources to you. If you are interested in learning more about these changes, check out this video!

From HR: Now is a good time for building leaders to do a refresher on the UKG Performance module as you progress through your formal and mini-observations.  Below is a list of resources (this list can be found on the Performance & Evaluation Hub tab when you scroll down to the bottom of the page).

FAN Update from Dana Pedersen: FAN staffing has been a challenge this year due to resignations and leaves. Thank you all for your patience as I have adjusted staffing and most recently, made some changes in staffing assignments. I am committed to staffing our Dual Immersion schools with Spanish speaking Advocates. This has caused some shifts in assignments, as the last round of hiring yielded some great candidates, but none of them speak Spanish. Here is the current list of Advocates and their assigned schools. Two new Advocates are in the process of being hired now. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.  

From Jennifer Hauth: HERE are some upcoming training opportunities for supporting LGTBQ+ students and families, from the Oregon Family Acceptance Project that may be of interest.

From Tammy and Lisa:

Data Literacy: As you probably can tell, we are focusing on becoming more consistent using the data we collect this year. THIS DOCUMENT has an interesting graphic in the center that highlights a drastic decrease from expectations around data to actual data use. As we continue baseline training on our data tools, it makes sense to think about how training on the same topics will look in your school. We can’t expect use without modeling, training, and monitoring data fluency.

Lexia Update: One instructional/data tool we have in Lexia. Early this week, we were able to meet with our Lexia consultant to get updates about our school usage as well as tools to support implementation. We will talk more about our measurement tools in ELA during our Jan. 23 Horizontal. Remember, all students who are not at benchmark should be engaging in some level of Lexia in addition to teacher instruction. Here are a couple of documents to consider regarding implementation:

Important Dates

  • Jan. 15 No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Jan. 17: Office staff meeting 1:15-2:15 (plan for them to be away from 1-2:30)
  • Jan 17: New Educator Network Day
  • Jan. 23, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Buckingham Elementary
  • Jan 31, All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
  • Jan 31: Black history month kick-off celebration
  • Feb. 8: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

And finally…

CLICK HERE to learn about another spin-off game that you could alter for some easy staff fun this month!

January 4, 2024 (AKA first Blog of 2024)

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Do Now:

  • Ed Network Day–share this plan so all staff know where to go and use this link for the slides from Kerry for the training.
  • Plan for your office staff (all of them) to be away from 1-2:30 on January 17, March 6, April 17, and May 22. Please make a plan for your office to be covered in some way then which may include EA coverage.


From Paul in HR: This email marks the time for us to pivot in earnest to our renewal/non-renewal and extension/non-extension process. BLS aspires to place the best teachers possible in front of students, and as such we want to be very deliberate in renewing third-year Probationary/Temporary status teachers. 

The primary means for removing underperforming Probationary/Temporary staff member before they reach Contract status is non-renewal of their contracts prior to the end of their third year of probation; once a teacher attains Contract status, separation of a deficient performer from the District becomes a much more labor-intensive process. 

******Please note a change in practice for Temporary 3 certified staff.  We are now required to follow all Probationary 3 practices for Temporary 3 certified staff. When you write a letter of support for a Temporary 3 staff member, then you are obligating your school to employ this person for the 2024/25 school year and beyond*********

If you have a third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff of concern, I trust that you have been in conversation with HR/Your Level Leader regarding the remediation measures that must be extended and completed before the School Board’s meeting in March, where the renewal/non-renewal process culminates. If you have not yet undertaken the requisite measures with a third-year Probationary/Temporary staff member that you don’t believe should be granted Contract status, we are fast approaching the point beyond which you will not be able to meet deadlines to non-renew that teacher.

As you may also recall from experience or new administrator training, those of you with third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff being recommended for Contract status need to generate letters of support for each one. The School Board wants each of us to be able to articulate the specific reasons any third-year Probationary/Temporary teacher should move to Contract status, and they take time to read every letter you prepare. 

Timeline

No later than Friday, January 5th: 

  • You should have emailed[email protected] regarding any third-year Probationary/Temporary certified staff about whom you have concerns with
  • Met with and notified those staff member that they are being placed on Focused Performance Review (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
  • Begun writing your letters of support for third-year probationary/temporary certified staff with whom you are recommending for Contract status

No later than Friday, January 26th

  • Met with and notified third-year staff member of concern that they are being placed on Support Strategies (contact Lora regarding what this improvement plan needs to look like)
  • Completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder with this google drive

Resource Links

  1. Here is the google drive link of third-year probationary/temporary certified staff (some P2/T2 are also included by administrator request) 
  2. Here is a draft template/sample Renewal Recommendation letter for your guidance (make as many copies of the letter as you need)
  3. Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual (edition_5_-_evaluation_manual_-_certified_teacher.pdf)
  4. Rubrics for certified staff (link)

Reminders:

New Notes:

5th grade poster contest: Oregon State Police needs your help getting the word out about the 2024 Missing Children’s Poster Contest.  The National Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest is a nationwide contest for 5th grade students and is designed to promote awareness among teachers, parents/guardians and children and engage them in discussions about safety. You can find out all about it here at this link.

From Leah Bibeau in the Business Department

In the past, much of the BLAST time off was collected in a google doc. Since we now have UKG, leave must be requested and recorded in UKG. Please be sure to get those requests in before or during the time period that you are gone. Submissions after the timesheet has closed require an additional submitted form from you and are extremely labor intensive for the payroll staff. If you used any Non-contract time over the holidays, those requests need submitted asap, the closing day for this pay period is January 14. Instructions for submitting requests can be found on the portal Employee-How to Use UKG__Requesting Time-off.pdf . Please feel free to reach out to payroll with any additional questions. 541-355-1123 or [email protected]. Thank you from your payroll department!

From Jenny White, SEL TOSA–Wayfinder activity for a staff meeting or opener in a SIW: This activity in Wayfinder highlights empathy and compassion.  A great activity for staff and then they can bring it to their classrooms.  Teachers will be giving compliments in a round robin format on index cards or a piece of paper anonymously. 

Compliments Round Robin from Wayfinder

Compliments directions (PDF)

Slide Deck

Directions on how to get to Wayfinder’s lesson directly

From Curriculum, Instruction and Systems (Julie Walker)

  • January 10th is Educator Network Day-Teachers will stay in the building and the focus is math standards work.  Time:  1:45-3:15.
  • Use these slides for the Educator Network Day and please share them with your ICCL team.  These slides have the embedded videos and such you will need. 
  • The Instructional Coach for your building will drop off the needed paper materials.

Early Literacy Success Initiative- HB 3198

FYI….Early Literacy Success Initiative Grant submitted and will be presented to school board for approval on January 9th. 

A team of teachers, administrators, specialists and coaches met a few times this fall to plan for the use of the grant funds over the 23-25 biennium.  The team relied on two documents to guide the vision and direction of how Bend La Pine will use the funds. 

  1. Oregon Literacy Framework
  2. Essential Practices in Early Literacy

The team identified areas of strength in our early literacy programs and areas for potential growth.  The allowable uses for grant funding are in the following areas:

  1. Professional Development
  2. Instructional Coaching
  3. Evidence-Based Curricular Materials
  4. High Dosage Tutoring
  5. Extended Learning Programs

Here is the plan that will be presented to the school board on January 9th.  If you have questions, please reach out to Julie Walker

The timeline for submitting this grant was extremely short.  My hope is that we can cover this topic in more depth at an upcoming horizontal meeting. 

Language Arts Adoption Update

The Language Arts Review Team (made up of 30 teachers, specialists, coaches and administrators) will update the school board on January 9th with a report on the adoption process and the recommendation of EL Education as our K-5 Language Arts Curriculum.  After that,  the board will take feedback for a month and then will take action at the February 13th board meeting.  Currently,  we have 30 teachers field testing materials and giving feedback on recommended professional learning.  Please reach out with any feedback or questions.  

From Policy, Advocacy and Equity (Kinsey Martin)

ASL Interpreters: Wondering how to request an interpreter for American Sign Language (ASL)?   In your Linguist Link account, when you enter the “new project” page to make a new request, you’ll see instructions for accessing ASL support.  Please share this update with applicable staff.

CAFE Program: Need an interpreter or translator in a pinch?  An updated list of CAFE Program members is available here (it also lives on the Portal’s Equity page, under ‘Employee Resources’).  You are welcome to contact anyone on the list, not just those at your site!  Please continue to use Linguist Link for the majority of your requests—CAFE members are bilingual staff who can support as linguists if you have a time-sensitive matter, but should not be relied on for these services regularly.  

Please mark your calendar for two upcoming District Family events:

     –Wed, Jan 31st: Black History Month kick-off celebration

     –Thurs, Feb 8th: Lunar New Year celebration/AAPI Family Night

Both will be evening events with dinner included.  It would be great to have our leaders support our families by attending either or both of these events.  More info to follow—for now, save the dates!

From Tammy and Lisa:

Synergy MTSS Input. Please add your name to this document if you’d like to be part of the Elementary MTSS Work Group as we create our tools in Synergy!

Give your UKG refresher input. A part of our district admin PD time together on January 31 will be devoted to Q & A and refreshers related to UKG. We’d love to know from you the area in which you’d most like support. Please take this super brief survey to help us identify the greatest need.

SIW Planning Doc. In case you want a clean copy of the SIW planning doc from horizontal this week, here is a clean copy for you.

Safe Schools Check In Here is a video that you can use to track who in their building still needs to complete Safe Schools Trainings. If you still have staff out of compliance, please nudge them to get ‘er done.

Documenting in Synergy–Majors/Minors/Suspensions–Inputting discipline information into Synergy needs to be done within 24 hours of an incident. Sending a student home is considered a suspension and absolutely needs to be documented in Synergy. Synergy is the place to document that. If you have any questions about whether or not to document something, reach out to us and we’ll help you process.

Follow Your Youth Truth Completion Percentage Here: The district has a goal of 100% staff participation and 75% families participating. You can make a positive impact in your return rates, by communicating with your families often and in different modes (newsletters, Seesaw, phone call reminder). Let families know their input is valuable and what your school plans to do with the information you get from the survey. For staff, set aside 30 minutes at a staff meeting or SIW to have all staff take the survey. Also let them know why the data is important to your school and what you plan to do with the information.

Important Dates

  • Jan 3-18. Site Visits are scheduled. Don’t know your day? Check your invite.
  • Jan. 10. Educator Network Day, in your buildings from 1:45-3:15
  • Jan. 15 No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Jan. 17: Office staff meeting 1:15-2:15 (plan for them to be away from 1-2:30)
  • Jan. 23, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Buckingham Elementary
  • Jan 31, All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

And finally…write one good thing.

How the 2023 National Teacher of the Year Brings Joy to Her Classroom

December 14, 2023 (AKA last blog of 2023)

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“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke

Do Now:

  • Mark your calendars with our leadership learning opportunities now, so you can schedule around them. All administrators should be in attendance during Horizontal, ICCL, and District Admin PD unless an unusual event occurs.
  • Plan to bring your School Design Plan and calendar with you to our January Horizontal at Miller Elementary (Tuesday when we return!!).
  • Plan for your office staff (all of them) to be away from 1-2:30 on January 17, March 6, April 17, and May 22. Please make a plan for your office to be covered in some way then which may include EA coverage.
  • Get ready for all things YouthTruth as we begin again in January. Use this Cheat Sheet to get rolling!

Reminders:

New Notes:

Ed Network Day: The SIW plan for Educator Network Day on January 10th from 1:45-3:15 will be lead by Admin/ICCL and will be dedicated to introducing and planning for the changes to the Oregon Math Standards. Please share this plan with your staff. To help your team prepare, Here are the slides from Kerry.  Included in the presentation are a couple slides at the beginning to help you prepare the END.  Reach out to Kerry Morton or Julie Walker with any questions.

Translation/Interpretation: For any translation or interpretation requests that you’ll need completed/filled by the first week in January, please ensure you submit the request to Linguist Link before Friday, December 15th to avoid incurring additional costs you may be responsible for. For example, if you plan to send a family newsletter or email between Jan 2-5, please submit that document to translation before winter break. Please share this reminder with your staff.

Black History Month Save-the-Date: Our Black Family & Student Union is organizing a kick-off event to launch February’s Black History Month. The event will take place Wednesday, January 31st. Mark you calendar!  

Also, please consider inviting the Equity Coaches to a staff meeting, SIW, ICCL meeting, or PLC gatherings in January to connect with your teachers about their plans for thoughtfully incorporating Black History Month themes into their instruction.  

New to Sharezies: There is a new formal observation form that you might use as you complete these that includes the rubric areas that are of focus this year. Feedback is welcome as you try it out! Jessica Scott has added all new info in the TAG Folder including the video of the last meeting if you missed it. Silver Rail has added the December to Remember staff activity outline. Finally, Pine Ridge also has some Solution-Focused Circles videos that might help with problem-solving tricky situations with students or others. Please reach out to Nichole if you are interested.

From Culture of Care Coaches: Parents may be interested in some of these events from the Parent Learning Series.

Raptor Student Safe: Raptor Student Safe is a new platform to enter, collaborate, and track data round NSSI (non suicidal self injury), suicidal ideation (suicide risk screens) and behavioral safety (threat) assessments for school teams.

At the January 10 Educator Network Day, the Student Services Team will train school counselors, school psychologists, student success coordinators and nurses on how to enter NSSI and suicide risk screens into this system. After this END training, school risk screening teams will enter these screens into this system moving forward and will be better able to collaborate and track student safety concerns in their buildings. 

All building administrators have access to their school site(s). Here is the BLS Raptor/StudentSafe Navigation Walkthrough document. Please make sure that you can log in to Raptor StudentSafe (using your district email address, no password required). Any technology issues or related problems, please contact our district Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Jamie Gunter at [email protected]. 

From Special Programs: Just a reminder that there are few organizations who can operate or observe within our buildings. Here is the Administrative Rule related to visitors in our schools: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/application/files/8216/9332/8866/KK-AR_final_8.11.23.pdf Overall, this practice operates out of this regulation because there are many individuals who ask for this type of access. Because it is a disruption to learning, it reduces our ability to ensure confidentiality, and it is very difficult to manage the credibility of differing credentials that are often associated with these requests, we only allow this type of practice when there is a formal MOU with an organization, such as the one we have with Deschutes County. We are happy to partner with outside providers when the parent provides an ROI and would be happy to have them be part of team meetings or get the insight of the different adults with whom the child works; however, this should not happen as observations when school is in session. 

From Cascade: Please share this flyer with your families in TAG. It outlines Cascade’s TAG info night on January 10th.

From Sustainability: Please share this info about Forest Classroom with your teachers in grades K-2 that is coming up on February 8th from 9-3:30. Subs are covered by the Children’s Forest. Register here:  https://forms.gle/vmer5ZAwNpzqCmPm9

From Curriculum, Instruction and Systems: Here is an activity in Wayfinder that is a fun activity to get staff moving and laughing. Direct Link to the PDF. Directions on how to find the lesson in Wayfinder

From HR: Please see separate e-mail from Paul regarding the process for Temporary and Probationary year three employees at this time of year.

From TLC: December 13th Elementary TLC Update The update for this week is the shortest of the year and only includes: report card info, Wayfinder, and movement info. Have a wonderful and safe Winter Break! Reach out to your elementary support staff for any needs or supports.

Holiday SOP: With the winter break upon us, it is time to remind staff about the Holiday shutdowns in schools. HVAC will be set to unoccupied mode in schools which means the temperatures will be set to 58 in the buildings. Please remind staff to shut down electronics, empty all mini-fridges and unplug them, close blinds, and turn down lights. The Raptor computers remain on for updates, but the screens can be turned off. The Standard Operating Procedures can be found here.

The Good of the Green Team: BLS has green team leaders in all but 5 schools this year and they are doing amazing work. Here are a few updates. Summit High students partnered with Miller to collect usable toys and are hosting a gift give for families at Bear Creek. Northstar, Ensworth, and Buckingham students completed waste audits to get baseline data for waste reduction efforts. Amity Creek is starting the 2024 school year with plates. BSH put waste stations throughout the school and Caldera Green team is inspiring students and staff to bring reusables to their pancake breakfast. The High School Green Leadership Coalitions wants to remind you all to have a great holiday and to reduce waste in how we wrap presents.

From IT: Parents can take an active role in how and how often school issued iPads are used while at home. Sending the following information home may be beneficial before the long winter holiday. There are two device monitoring applications available for Bend-La Pine families. The application descriptions and set up instructions are linked below. 

  1. Apple Screentime   Screentime is simply a group of features found in the settings menu on most all Apple devices.  Using Screentime is probably the easiest method to start for most families. Screentime allows parents to restrict applications and set time limits for device use.  Just remind parents to to turn off their “secret” passcode before the student returns to school!
  2. JAMF parent This application is installed on the parent’s phone and has a few alternative features that are not available in the screentime settings. It is important to note that any restrictions applied in JAMF parent will not function during normal school hours (7:30AM-4:30PM) Monday through Friday.

From Tammy and Lisa:

Planning for subs? We are still having difficulties with subs in buildings and principals are starting to want to use sub days for teams to plan together. When you are planning, please consult our Admin Calendar (linked at the top of this page and HERE). Please try to avoid the days colored in mauve as these are also days when several people are out in our district requiring subs already. Planning for teams to meet on other days will increase your likelihood of success when trying to secure subs.

Important Dates

  • Dec. 18-January 1: Winter Break—See you all back in 2024!
  • Jan. 2, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Miller Elementary
  • Jan. 10. Educator Network Day, in your buildings from 1:45-3:15
  • Jan. 15 No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Jan. 17: Office staff meeting 1:15-2:15 (plan for them to be away from 1-2:30)
  • Jan. 23, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Buckingham Elementary
  • Jan 31, All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

And finally…

As Tammy gets ready to travel to London today, I thought I’d put out the idea of a quick staff challenge using the site https://www.geoguessr.com/. It’s an app too. In the computer version, individuals can go to the site, choose Classic Maps> World and play a 5 minute game. The challenge is to use google earth to look around and guess where in the world you are. The end guess shows how long you took to guess (max 5 min or 360 seconds) and how many miles you are from the actual location. You could have people compete and the person with the lowest combined time (in seconds) plus miles away would be the winner. I am obsessed with the app version and have come within one mile of the location on one occasion! Happy guessing!

December 7, 2023

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Do Now:

  • Please share this document with teachers on how to mark a lesson/activity complete in Wayfinder. Checking it off is part of a successful implementation to the program. In doing this, you will be able to see how the implementation is going in your schools as well.
  • Schedule a time between now and January for your DEI ICCL member to present to staff (see below for details)
  • Make sure to include us (Tammy and Lisa) in your staff/family newsletters. We are loving reading all about what is going on (and you have all been busy!)
  • Mark your calendars with our Horizontal and ICCL/Admin meetings now, so you can schedule around them. Click on the 23-24 admin calendar above for all the dates.

Reminders:

New Notes:

From Jennifer: Re: Update on where to put DHS and Suicide Risk Screen paper work:

Filing Guidance (DHS & Suicide Screens) 

o    There has been some confusion with building administrators and support staff on where to “hold” forms after a completed suicide risk screener or DHS report. Here are some reminders:

o    Suicide Risk Screener with Safety Plan: Notification goes to principal, written form stays with the person who completed the screener and safety plan – typically counselor/psych/SSC. A copy should be sent by the staff member that completed the process  to April Jorgenson via BLSend or district mail. 

o    DHS Reports:  Written form goes to the working file of principal (or designee) and a copy is sent to April Jorgenson via BLSend or district mail.

o    The written record of both the DHS form or Suicide Risk Screener/ Safety Plan should never be placed in the student’s cumulative folder

Office Manager/Staff Meeting Change: Office Managers have spoken and we have heard! After conversations the Level Leaders had with Janet and Marta regarding the feedback they have received about the monthly Office Manager meetings, the format will be changing, to include the whole office staff at your sites. There is so much information that really should be heard by the whole office and it will build the collaboration and support of one another to hear it together.

We all sat down to look at the calendar from now to the end of the year to plan out the dates, which we know are important, as it will be leaving your office needing to be covered by someone else in your building on these Wednsdays (timesheet someone, admin cover, etc.). We are giving you those new dates now, but know that Janet and Marta will share them out again in a future email. We just wanted you to be aware of the change that is coming and not to be caught off guard when it happens. While Office Managers get this blog, the rest of the office staff may not, so please let them know as well.

The new dates are as follows: 1/17, 3/6, 4/17, and May 22. The elementary teams will be meeting from 1:15-2:15 and the secondary teams will be meeting from 2:30-3:30. Locations will be determined at a later date and will be communicated.

OSU–Outdoor School Survey–You can get paid $25! OSU manages the Outdoor School grants for the state and they need information from the districts they support. We are one of those districts and they have received very few surveys from BLS. They are seeking some input through this survey on the following topics:

  • Roles and time you invest in coordinating and reporting on outdoor school
  • Suggestions for how OSU’s Outdoor School team could make your job easier
  • Strategies and lessons learned that might be helpful to others new to coordinating and reporting on outdoor school

Let’s help them out and take the survey—it will pay off—literally!! The survey takes about 15 minutes, and you’ll get a $25 gift card!

From Julie in Curriculum, Instruction, and Systems: Please share with your staff, these direct Links to Partner Up activities in Wayfinder: Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th

The SIW plan for Educator Network Day on January 10th from 1:45-3:15 will be lead by Admin/ICCL and will be dedicated to introducing and planning for the changes to the Oregon Math Standards. Please share this plan with your staff.

New to Sharezies: Check out this link to a form being created to support formal observations. It has been created based on conversations with some of you and you may find it helpful to document pre conversation, observation notes, and the post observation conversation.

From Scott in IT: Greetings! We have a couple of items to share as we look toward winter break.

Signing into Synergy: This is the final reminder regarding a change of process for staff who sign into Synergy Mobile applications. From now on, be sure you choose  “Sign In with BLS” whenever you are given the option.

The regular Username and Password fields will no longer provide access beginning this coming weekend.

Video streaming tips for classroom AV: Now that all our schools have Apple TV’s available in their classrooms, there has been some confusion about how best to stream video.   Apple TVs use  “Apple Airplay” to share what is on your computer with your classroom projector or flat panel TV. It is a very handy service that allows teachers to project wirelessly.  However, Apple Airplay does not support most video streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.   It is important to note that this is a function of Apple Airplay that protects image quality and unintended buffering (delays).  NO, this is not a district setting that can be enabled or changed 😊.   On the rare occasion that video streaming is necessary in the classroom, teachers must use the HDMI cord and dongle that was originally provided with every classroom AV system. 

Does your classroom have a ceiling mounted projector? Be sure to unplug your HDMI cord from the wall plate and store it when not in use.  Wall plates are easily damaged by feet and vacuums.  Not to mention, they will cost your school $500 to replace if damaged! 

From Dave Here is a “Cheat sheet” to help schools with survey implementation. Among the many things included in here are links to YouthTruth’s standard parental notification and opt-out form in English and Spanish.

From Tammy and Lisa:

Here are the slides from the ICCL/Admin training this last week.

Here is a great one-pager on Family Engagement (ideas and measures) that Steve shared with us this week. Check it out!

Thanks for all your engagement this last Tuesday at our ICCL/Admin training. The school design work continues! Remember, you can continue to refine and adjust your plan as you learn about being more specific with the tasks and making measurable goals. This document is a great place to start in planning out your PD during school discretionary SIW days. Remember, those days are important to providing PD for your staff as we continue to grow and refine our skills. Until the day all students are at 100%, we will continually have learning to do. Our Instructional Coaches are amazing resources to reach out to to discuss next steps for your staff learning.

Important Dates

  • Dec 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 : Dates that Tammy will be at bargaining–Lisa is on call if need be
  • Dec 12 (3:30): TAG Meeting- Meeting Link Here
  • Dec 15: Tammy out
  • Dec. 18-January 1: Winter Break—See you all back in 2024!
  • Jan. 2, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Miller Elementary
  • Jan. 10. Educator Network Day, in your buildings from 1:45-3:15
  • Jan. 15 No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Jan. 23, 3:00-5:00 Elementary Leadership, at Buckingham Elementary
  • Jan 31, All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

And finally…

November 30, 2023

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If you are looking for a quick and easy staff spark, try out the idea below. La Pine had this going before break and Amanda has since found some good ones for December online. Happy swapping!

Do Now:

  • SLGGs are due tomorrow! Here is a link summarizing the SLGG uploading into UKG.
  • For our ICCL/Admin training on Tuesday, please print 8 copies of the Goals and Activities Page of your School Design Plan to bring with you. During our time together, you will share your goals with other schools as well as how you arrived at the activities you have chosen. Schools will share ideas and give feedback to one another which may cause you to make changes or add new activities to your list.
  • Complete your SIF Budget (down to $0) if you haven’t already!
  • Schedule a time between now and January for your DEI ICCL member to present to staff (see below for details)
  • Make sure to include us (Tammy and Lisa) in your staff/family newsletters.

Reminders:

New Notes:

From Dave re: State Assessments: Below is information regarding Oregon’s state testing notices and forms that we are required to provide to families. One change this year is the SEED survey is required to be made available to all students in grades 3-11. There is a SEED notice and opt-out form that is separate from the OSAS notice and form. You will see that the opt-out process is much more relaxed for SEED. At a minimum I would recommend posting documents on your school’s website and providing a link in a newsletter.  

  • OSAS 30-Day Notice and Opt-Out Forms for 2023-24: Per ORS 329.479, “At least 30 days prior to the administration of statewide summative assessments, a school district or public charter school must send to parents and adult students a notice about the statewide summative assessments.” This statute also requires ODE to “establish a form to excuse a student from taking a statewide summative assessment.” Based on the 2023-24 testing windows, districts and public charter schools must distribute the 30-Day Notice on or before March 4, 2024 for grades 3-8.
  • Forms: ODE has updated the combined 30-Day Notice and Opt-Out Forms in English, Spanish, and 12 additional languages for the 2023-24 academic year. All forms are published as both fillable and non-fillable PDFs within the “Forms” menu on the Test Administration page. Additional information is available in section 5.3 of the Oregon Test Administration Manual (TAM). The TAM and forms and many other resources are available here. https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/assessment/Pages/Assessment-Administration.aspx
  • SEED Survey, Notice, and Opt-Out Form for 2023-24: In 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23, schools and districts chose whether to offer the SEED Survey to their students. Beginning in 2023-24, in compliance with HB 2656, districts must make the SEED survey available to all students in grades 3-11 who are enrolled in Oregon public schools or programs. SEED notification and opt-out forms must be shared at least 5 days prior to administering the survey.
    • The SEED Survey gathers data from students statewide, in grades 3-11. The content of the survey varies by grade level. The survey measures student perceptions in four core constructs: • Access to learning resources • Opportunity to learn • Self-efficacy • Sense of belonging. More information on the SEED survey can be found on the SEED survey webpage.

From Curriculum and Instruction:

  • Life and Career Readiness: Please share these resources in your staff memo. Wayfinder has some great resources for Community Connection. Click on this link to get the directions on how to access the resources in Wayfinder’s Collections and the direct links. 
  • Update on Language Arts Adoption: EL Education by Imagine Learning is our finalist (not yet adopted) for English Language Arts Curriculum. Currently, we have 28 teachers teaching modules and providing feedback on implementation and professional learning needs. In January we will recommend to the board and then have a month to collect additional feedback. We will go back to the board in February to present feedback and ask for board approval moving forward. 
  • Winter DIBELS Schedule (check your scheduled date)
  • Upcoming Professional Learning: Here are a few dates next week where classroom teachers may be out of the building for professional learning:
    • 12/4- Math Leadership Academy -12-4 at Miller Elementary (Teachers from North Star and Miller)
    • 12/5-Co-Learning Studio -ALL  day at Pine Ridge (only teachers at Pine Ridge)
    • 12/7- Literacy Lab for 1st and 3rd year new hires-12:00-3:15 (Teachers from across the district)
    • 12/4- Admin/ICCL meeting -3:15-5:15 -Jewell Cafeteria
    • 12/7- Kindergarten Innovation and Design Team meeting- 4:00-6:00. Boardroom
  • RGR Access for Administrators: All elementary administrators now have school-level administrator accounts created in Really Great Reading (RGR). This empowers you to take a closer look at classroom data for your school, making it easier to track and support student progress. To get started, follow these steps to access your school-level administrator account:
    • Navigate to the RGR login screen at https://playground.reallygreatreading.com/login/
    • Click the ‘Trouble logging in?’ link, which will allow you to create a password for your account
    • Enter your district email address and click OK
    • Open the email from Reading Playground that is immediately sent to you to find the access code and input it into the RGR login page
    • Follow the on-screen prompts to create your password
    • Once back on the RGR login screen, enter your email address and password to log-in

Medical Moment:

  • How to Register for CPR/First Aid Training/Renewal Course for BLS Staff
    • UKG > My Info (drop down menu, 3 stacked lines upper left side, above your initials) > My Career > My Learning > Access Learning (upper right side) > Training (top black menu bar) > Courses > First Aid (on right side) > Click on First Aid Link > Click on green Enroll Now button
    • Online Course: Once staff have registered for the CPR/First Aid course, staff will receive an email with a link for the online course portion of the training. (If you do not receive a link within the next business day, please check your junk email. If it is not in your junk email, please email Michelle Spetic at [email protected])
    • In-Person Skills Training: Once the online portion of the training is completed, staff will receive a Google form to sign up for the 20 minute in-person skills training.
    • Certification Card: Staff will receive an email with your CPR/First Aid certification card within 1-2 business days after completing the in-person skills class.
    • List of Certified CPR/First Aid Trained Staff at Your Site: Stephanie Bend sends out quarterly reports to all schools that include cpr/first aid certified school staff names.
  • OAR 581-022-2220 –Each school shall have, at a minimum, at least one staff member with a current first aid/CPR/AED card for every 60 students enrolled, as set by ORS 339.345, and 342.664 and who are trained annually on the district and building emergency plans. Emergency planning will include the presence of at least one staff member with a current first aid/CPR/AED card for every 60 students for school-sponsored activities where students are present. (This includes field trips.)

From the Office of DEI:

  • Upcoming Dates:
    • Thurs, Dec 7th: First night of Hanukkah.  Please avoid scheduling events this evening.  Also, there is a public Menorah lighting at the Old Mill the evening of Dec. 7th—details here.  Please consider attending and/or encouraging your staff to attend if interested in supporting this community celebration.  
    • Tues, Dec 12th: Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day.  This is a holiday celebrated by many within the Latino/Hispanic Catholic community in particular.  For your awareness and scheduling, this includes evening church activities that many of our families attend.  
  • Family Liaison Team: Here is the updated information about our team of linguistically- and/or culturally-specific Family Liaisons: English version, Spanish version.
  • DEI ICCL Representatives: Don’t forget to connect with your school’s DEI representative about presenting to your ICCL team between now and January sometime.  See Kinsey’s email for details or reach out if you’d like to connect!  

HR Moment:

  • Performance Module: Goals For Certified Staff
    • All certified staff were expected to submit goals through UKG by December 1.  If you haven’t engaged with your staff to complete this task, please do so the week of December 4th.
    • Classroom teachers are required to submit SLGG goals and their UKG form is organized as such
    • Everyone else is prompted to submit goals but are not asked to submit SLGGs
      • Jennifer Hauth has emailed a goal template for Student Success staff for them to copy, complete and upload to their UKG goal form
      • Josh Marks has provided a goal template for Speech staff to do the same.  All Speech teachers are now pointing to building administrators for performance related tasks (goals, mini/formal, self-reflection and summative evaluations) 
    • If a staff member has not been provided with a template from someone who oversees their program, then they are to follow the instructions within UKG to provide their own personal goals for the year
  • Upcoming optional virtual performance drop in sessions: Monday, 12/4,  from 10:00 am – 11:00 am (Click here to join the meeting)
  • IMPORTANT: Evaluation and Non Renewal Reminder
    • If you have a Probationary 3 or Temporary 3 staff member of concern, this is another reminder that you should have already entered into the Focused Performance Review process with that person AND emailed [email protected].  Here is another method of viewing the P3/T3 staff that you are responsible for.  

Care Solace and Winter Break Messaging: Some administrators have asked for accounts for Care Solace in the past but we are now creating accounts for All admin. This week you will receive an email from Care Solace asking you to create an account with a password. Currently, school counselors, student success, school psychologists and nurses are trained to do “warm handoffs” and to make referrals. If you would like to be trained, please let Jennifer know or one of your trained staff members can show you in a few minutes. Also, you will have access to the admin dashboard to see the reasons why students and staff at your school are seeking referrals for mental health support. Please continue to promote Care Solace (Spanish) via newsletters to families and staff often. 

Inclement Weather: HERE are the Inclement Weather Guidelines for the 2023-2024 school year, which detail the guidelines and procedures to be followed in the event of severe weather conditions. To stay informed and receive timely updates, please subscribe to BLConnect so that you can receive notifications via text. To learn more about how weather-related decisions are made, visit the BLS inclement weather page: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/news-events/alerts-updates

TLC Update: November 29th TLC Update about Wayfinder, movement, and reserving coding robots!

From IT: Google recently made a change to their sign in mechanism that better complies with federal CIPPA rules.  Beginning this week, they require school districts to verify any applications or websites that require students to sign in with Google. In readiness, our district performed this pre-verification work beginning last summer.  Because our primary methods for signing into applications are either Microsoft or Clever (for most student applications) our list for Google was very short. In fact, Google has never been our preferred sign in authentication provider for any application or service.  

In IT we anticipated that there would be users who would need direction to alternative log in methods. Unfortunately, there were two other factors that were more difficult for us to predict:

  1. Students and teachers were accessing our known licensed apps using Google regardless of the instructed preferred methods.  This is understandable, as there can be a bit of automatic reaction when you see “sign in with Google” vs lesser-known alternatives.
  2. There were a multitude of applications that were neither known by Instruction or IT in use in our schools. These applications were not pre-verified.

I hope that this helps many folks understand the situation and I would encourage you to review the preferred log in methods for essential applications that you use in your classroom or position. If this method is not known to you, reach out for support in the following order:

  1. Check with a colleague who also uses the application.
  2. Look for guidance from training materials or the Instructional Tools website.
  3. Reach out to an instructional coach or the IT Help Desk.

Finally, there are some limited examples where we may need to temporarily enable Google Sign On. If you feel you have something that requires immediate attention, please contact Scott McDonald.

New to Sharezies: Question Prompts to Generate Gratitude (Thanks Heidi!)

From Tammy and Lisa: Safety Net Family Night information will be coming soon so you can invite your 4th and 5th grade families. Look for it in next week’s blog!

Important Dates

  • Dec. 5, (3:15-5:15): Admin and ICCL Training, Jewell Elementary Cafeteria,
  • Dec 4, 5, 11, 13: Dates that Tammy will be at bargaining
  • Dec 12 (3:30): TAG Meeting- Meeting Link Here
  • Dec 15: Tammy out
  • Dec. 18-January 1: Winter Break—See you all back in 2024!

And finally…

If you need a way to wind down and remember all the great goodies you had last week with family, take a listen to chef and author Bryant Terry as he guides a visualization to connect with our ancestors by appreciating our families’ traditional foods. The exercise starts at 1:50 and ends at 8:00. Give a listen and maybe put the Happiness Break podcast on your list! (Click on the picture to get things rolling)

November 16, 2023

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If you are looking for a great “read” over this break, to inspire and motivate, try out this new book from Adam Grant. Adam’s books are easy to read/listen to and I find myself being inspired to challenge the way I think about things or my approach to solving problems. He also makes me want to be more curious about the way I learn and tap into the power of “what if?”. I am currently listening to Adam read this book, and would love to have a jam session with anyone who wants to jam about it! When I get done reading a book like this, I suddenly believe in myself a little bit more, and who couldn’t use a little bit more of that right now.

Do Now:

  • School Design Plan Template due
  • Make a plan for working with staff so they can complete SLGGs in the next few weeks. Due 12/1. Here is a link from Amanda, who summarized the SLGG uploading into UKG. Thanks Amanda!
  • Before you leave for break, please make sure your ICCL team has the December 5 Admin and ICCL Training on their calendars. The training is from 3:15-5:15 at the Jewell Elementary cafeteria.

Reminders:

New Notes:

From Tammy and Lisa:

  • This is Tammy! I just want to let you all know (if you don’t already) that I am on the district bargaining team for the BEA collective bargaining agreement. At this point, we have bargained 8 hours/day every Monday for the last 3 weeks, but after the Thanksgiving break, we will be moving into the season of bargaining two full days a week. Not to worry, as I will make sure I get to all my schools to check-in before the winter break. Please keep texting me if you need anything, but know that Lisa is ready to step in and help if I am unable to get to you in a timely manner. Thanks for your support and understanding.
  • SIF (School Improvement Fund) Budgets! We need to approve the SIF budgets (tab on your staffing plan). Please jump into your plan and update your SIF budgets for us. Remember that you need to budget down to $0. Thank you for taking care of that–your available funds depend on it. If you have questions about how to best spend your money, reach out to us, as we would be happy to help you think through your professional learning and building needs.
  • If you haven’t already, please add us to your staff newsletters. We love to see what you are doing and to celebrate your successes and growing edges along with you.
  • Tomorrow we will be sending out invites to our individual schools, for our next site visits before winter break. Back by popular demand is an agenda ahead of time for the visit.

Medical Moment:

Please share in your next family newsletter:

Health Emergency Ready Oregon (HERO) Kids Registry is a new resource to help families prepare for medical emergencies. Below is a brief overview and attached are FAQs. We encourage you to visit our website www.herokidsregistry.org to learn more, or reach out to the HERO Kids team at [email protected] to schedule a short informational presentation. We can also provide materials for, and/or attend, community outreach events! HERO Kids has also recently released three new education videos. Each video has a different focus and are only 1 minute long. Videos are available in both English and Spanish.

Overview:

HERO Kids Registry is a voluntary, no-cost system that lets any Oregon family record critical health information about their child before an emergency. Registry information can be accessed quickly by EMS and hospital emergency departments at the moment they need it.

Registering with HERO Kids is especially useful for young people who are medically fragile, or for those who have complex conditions, developmental disabilities, or mental health conditions. Young people in a crisis can’t always communicate their needs. Family members may not be present, or they may too distressed to help. Language barriers can impede communication. HERO Kids Registry can help offset some of these challenges.

Parents and legal guardians can register their child or young adult with HERO Kids online, and there is a paper registration option for people who prefer it. Young adults aged 15-26 can register themselves. HERO Kids Registry is secure and HIPAA-compliant.

Please share this information with your families in your next family newsletter. It is specifically for Families of Students with Complicated or Chronic
Health Conditions, Developmental Disabilities or Mental Health Conditions.

HR Moment:

Performance Module 

Goals For Certified Staff:

  • All certified staff are required to submit goals through UKG 
    • Classroom teachers are required to submit SLGG goals and their UKG form is organized as such
    • Everyone else is prompted to submit goals but are not asked to submit SLGGs
      • Jennifer Hauth has emailed a goal template for Student Success staff for them to copy, complete and upload to their UKG goal form. See details here
      • Josh Marks has provided a goal template for Speech staff to do the same
      • If a staff member has not been provided with a template from someone who oversees their program, then they are to follow the instructions within UKG to provide their own personal goals for the year

Rollout Update:

  • By November 18 – All building administrators (principals, assistant principals, deans) will be able to access and complete their goal setting forms which will then flow to their direct supervisor for approval and finalization.
  • By December 2, all remain BLAST members will be able to access and complete their goal setting forms which will then flow to their direct supervisor for approval and finalization.
  • In April, all BLAST members will be assigned the self-evaluation form to complete.
  • In May, BLAST members responsible for evaluating other BLAST members will be assigned the summative evaluation form for each of those individuals.

IMPORTANT: Evaluation and Non-Renewal Reminder

If you have a Probationary 3 or Temporary 3 staff member of concern, this is another reminder that you should have already entered into the Focused Performance Review process with that person AND emailed [email protected].  Here is another method of viewing the P3/T3 staff that you are responsible for.

From Dave Vanloo: It’s time to engage principals in YouthTruth survey preparation! Here are two steps to complete in the coming days:

  1. KICK-OFF WEBINAR WITH PRINCIPALS

Please share this 11-minute pre-recorded kick-off webinar directly with school principals to watch by Friday, November 24th.

·         Principals will learn how to prepare for surveying and review important information such as due dates, survey topics, etc.

·         We recommend viewing the webinar during an upcoming principals’ meeting. If that’s not possible, ask principals to view the webinar individually and consider having them email you three salient points they learned as an accountability measure.

·         Recommended: Watch the recording at 1.5x speed! To change the playback speed, click the settings “gear” icon in the lower right-hand corner of the video screen.

New to Sharezies: How to upload SLGGS into UKG

Important Dates

  • Nov. 20-24: Thanksgiving Break
  • Nov. 28 (3:00-5:00): Elementary Horizontal Meeting at Juniper Elementary Gymnasium
  • Dec. 5, (3:15-5:15): Admin and ICCL Training, Jewell Elementary Cafeteria,
  • Nov 28, 30, Dec 4, 5, 11, 13 Dates that Tammy will be at bargaining
  • Dec 15 Tammy out
  • Dec. 18-January 1: Winter Break—See you all back in 2024!

And finally…

What ever you do this next week, know that we wish you all the best and hope that you spend time resting, healing, laughing, reflecting, and loving with family and friends. We are so thankful to get to work with such an amazing group of educators and love you all so much. Keep up the great work of leading with courage, strength, and vulnerability.

November 9, 2023

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This month (and every month) Tammy and I feel so thankful to work with people like you all! Click on the pic to learn about how giving gratitude not only feels good, it makes good!

Do Now:

  • We are currently missing about 1000 Wayfinder workbooks.  Please check your building to see if you have extra workbooks.  If you do please send back to Stephanie Bent in TLC. 
  • If you haven’t had a chance to fill out the Playground Equipment Survey please do using THIS LINK. You may want to ask people out on duty who have a good perspective of what students like most.
  • School Design Plan Template due on November 15th
  • Make a plan for working with staff so they can complete SLGGs in the next few weeks. Due 12/1.

Reminders:

New Notes:

From Tammy and Lisa: Two pieces of clarification

  • SLGGs and School Design: We’ve noticed that several goals coming in are reflecting adult changes rather than actual student growth. As you analyze your goals, consider if they are a goal for students (what you’d see students doing differently) or a way in which you might reach the goals (an adult action that might help you reach your goal). Please reach out if you’d like a thought partner as you create.
  • Observations and Goal Setting: There has been some confusion regarding goal setting and minis. You can use your goal-setting meetings with staff as a mini observation if you’d like to. That means that for contract teachers not on-cycle for evaluation, they would have a minimum of two more minis in addition to the goal-setting meeting. If you have other questions, give us a call.

HR Moment:

  • Rollout Update: All certified staff have performance profiles and should be viewable by their direct supervisors.  Follow the delegation instructions in this UKG Performance Module Overview Document if you want to share tasks with Assistant Principals and/or Deans.
  • Support: The virtual drop-in sessions have been lightly attended so I’ll reduce them to just once a week.  Click here to join the meeting on Tuesday, 11/14 from 10 am to 11 am.

Leadership Team Meeting 11/15: HERE is the agenda for our upcoming meeting. It will be at Perseverance Hall from 3-4:30.

Interventionist PLC Begins: We are looking forward to our Interventionists to work together as a PLC toward the development of our Tier 2 structures. The first is on November 16th. HERE is Lindsley’s e-mail with more information. Thanks for facilitating Lindsley!

Field Trip Ideas: With so many new administrators on the team, it would be good to share our collective genius regarding field trip ideas by grade level. If you have field trips that you have been impressed with, please add to this list (now included in Sharezies). This can help us link activities to content and reduce duplication per grade level when we choose to access our local options.

Wayfinder: Wayfinder’s Waypoint Summative and Formative Assessments were rostered to elementary school students by mistake. The questions are intended for 6th-12th and not elementary students. I am working to have these removed for elementary schools and that should happen soon. Waypoints will be available for grades 3-5 for next year and we are looking for schools that would like to pilot the questions and give feedback. Let me know if your school or certain teachers are interested.

Safe Schools Reminder: The safe school compliance videos were due to be completed by 10/31.  Below is a reminder of how staff may access them.  Please be sure to share this requirement with staff hired after September 1.

Instructional Technology: November 8th Elementary TLC Update

The update for this week includes:

  • Order form for HDWord Plus teacher resource pages for 3rd-5th teachers
  • Vocabulary Playground update
  • Dreambox Growth Report support document
  • Movement moments
  • and more!

New to Sharezies: Look back at some of the great tools colleagues have shared so far!

Important Dates

  • Nov. 10: Veterans Day–No School
  • Nov. 14: UKG Drop In Virtual Session 10-11 am
  • Nov. 15: School Design Plan Template due
  • Nov. 15 (3-4:30): Monthly Administrator PD at Perseverance Hall at Bend High
  • Nov. 15 (5:30-7:30): Education Foundation Anniversary Event RSVP HERE
  • Nov. 16: District wide Latino Family Night at Pilot Butte Middle School–dinner starts at 5:30
  • Nov. 20-24: Thanksgiving Break
  • Nov. 28 (3:00-5:00): Elementary Horizontal Meeting at Juniper Elementary

And finally…

Click on each box to link to a resource related to the idea.