Category Archives: Uncategorized

From Tammy and Karen

January site visits are in full swing, and it has been an inspiring experience to hear about your celebrations and witness these successes firsthand! There’s something truly special about seeing the light in your eyes as you share the accomplishments, hopes, vision, and dreams for your schools. We are deeply honored to partner with such dedicated, insightful, and visionary leaders, and we are here to support you every step of the way!

We hope you enjoy the three-day weekend and find time on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to channel his love, peacefulness, hope, resilience, and vision for yourself, your family, and your community!

Staff Probationary Letters: Please be sure you have completed and uploaded all of your Renewal Recommendation letters into the appropriate school folder within this google drive no later than January 24th. We have moved up the deadline this year, so please don’t let this timeline slip by.

Progress Report Deadlines: Please see the detailed information below from Ryan Kelling about progress report teacher work day and deadlines.

SLGGs: Please use the same template that the certified staff uses for their SLGGs. When you have them filled out, you need to send them to Karen and I as well as attempt to upload them to the paperclip in your UKG. Some of you already have them done, so please just send them our way by Monday, 1/20. Thank you!

Important Links

• January 8^th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–Bear Creek is looking for Youth Truth engagement ideas!
• FAQs for Special Education Inclusion Topics—Keep checking in here! BEA and BLS supported

Notes from our Team:

From Human Resources – Ryan Kellling: Per Article 15.8 of the CBA, Certified Employees are not required to report to their work site on end-of-term work days but must remain available by phone. Supervisors may require in-person attendance if there are articulable concerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities.
To ensure clarity, we are setting the following expectations that will take effect for the second semester of 24-25 SY:
Progress Reports Submission Deadline: Special Education Progress reports must be submitted by 4:00 PM on 1/31 this semester.
Middle/High School progress reports must be finalized in Synergy by 4:00 PM on 1/31.
Elementary progress reports must be finalized by 4:00 PM on 2/3.

Work Location for End-of-Term Days: Employees who have met the deadlines in regards to grading and/or progress reports in previous semesters, and who have met other expectations surrounding the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be permitted to work from an off-site location on end-of-term work days.
Employees who have not met these deadlines, and/or for whom their supervisor has further articulable concerns about the timely completion of professional responsibilities, will be required to work from their assigned school site.
Next Steps for Administrators: Notify employees with past concerns about timely completion of responsibilities – with detail regarding those concerns – as soon as possible (no later than 2 weeks before any potential end-of-term workday) if they will be required to work onsite on end-of-term work days. This communication will be followed up in writing with specific articulable concerns shared.
This practice encourages timely completion of professional responsibilities while maintaining flexibility for those employees meeting expectations.

From Janet Bojanowski: During the January 22^nd Office Manager meeting, we will have a discussion on de-escalation led by Eric Powell, Scott Bojanowski, and Kayla Martin. This will include sample scenarios to work through and time for you to bring forth any scenarios you would like to share/discuss. We would like to remind you that your full office staff is invited and encouraged to attend these trainings. Schedule is as follows; however, you are welcome to join either session if the time works better for you. Elementary Team: 1:15-2:15pm followed by the Secondary Team from 2:30-3:30

From Jennifer Hauth – Social, Emotional, and Mental Wellbeing: Two schools from elementary have expressed interest in using the Waypoints summative assessment for mid-year data. We have opened the mid-year summative assessment from January 20^th – February 20^th for optional use. The year-end assessment will still be available from May 12th to June 13th. Here is information that was sent out at the beginning of the year, if you need additional information on how to access the assessments.

Summative Waypoints allow educators to measure student growth of Wayfinder’s six Core Skills across the school year. By administering the summative Waypoints assessments, educators can understand areas of strength and growth for individual students and the class to make informed, data-driven decisions about instruction. Here is the info on Waypoints, including the new Waypoints Implementation Guides to help teachers set up the reason we are assessing students as well as instructions.  The final summative assessment for students will be open May 12^th through June 13^th for students.

From Jenny White – Life and Career Readiness: Principals, here is an activity from Wayfinder called Rock Paper Scissors Battle that you can use during a staff meeting or SIW.  Link to the Activity in Wayfinder

From Dave Vanloo–School Improvement: 9 school days remain to survey (surveys close end-of-day Friday, January 31^st). HOW IS YOUR SURVEY PROGRESS? Follow along at http://www.ytsurvey.org/Bendprogress25.

This Week’s Pro-Tip: To boost participation, try doing a social media blast! Click here for sample Student Survey posts, and click here for sample Family Survey posts.

From Andrea Wilson – Benefits and Risk Management: A reminder that employees and students should not bring pets with them to work or school. ING-AR: Animals in the Classroom or on School Property reviews the conditions and process for by which animals can visit classrooms or be on school property. If you have any questions regarding staff who identify a need for service animals, please reach out to the Human Resources Benefits team at [email protected]

Policy, Advocacy, and Equity – Kinsey Martin

FAN Food Resource: The Giving Plate provides our families in need with weekend food through their Snack Bag program.  Recently, they let us know that their donations and volunteer resources are down, while the number of families they’re serving has been up: from 130 to 700 families weekly.  They are unable to meet demand and need to prioritize their core services, so the Snack Bag program is discontinued.  

While this is disappointing news, there are still many ways families can access food resources.  Please see the links at the bottom of this letter, with bilingual handouts listing current food resources in Bend and South County.  FAN Advocates have shared this letter with impacted families.  Feel free to print copies of the handouts linked there, to have available in your main office.

Want to help out?  One of the best ways you can support our families is to volunteer or donate to awesome programs like The Giving Plate or directly to FAN, so they can maintain their services and programs that benefit our families.  🙂

Immigration Guidance: Please read this information carefully, and reach out with any questions.

Presidential Inauguration: Reminder: Post-inauguration, some students will be walking into your building with big feelings.  The incoming administration has openly communicated upcoming changes intended to directly impact particular populations (immigrants, trans people, etc).  

Please ask your counselors to make themselves as available as possible for drop-ins if students need extra support next week.  If your team knows a particular student or colleague struggled after the election in November, make time on Tuesday to have a trusted adult or friend intentionally check in with them.  Thank you for your increased presence, vigilance, empathy, and grace next week. 

Action Items

• Please read this Immigration Guidance document carefully, and reach out with any questions.
• Write staff probationary letters (use the form that was sent) and upload to the google drive by 1/24
• Inform teachers about the 5:00 deadline for progress report submissions on Sun. Feb 2 and review Ryan’s communication about expectations for timely completion.
• Complete SLGGs on this form and email to Tammy and Karen and upload to UKG
• Arrange for your office to be covered on Jan 22, so all office staff can attend a meeting at SIW
• Youth Truth—check your participation rates and brainstorm ideas for increased participation.
• Pay close attention to the information in Kinsey’s section.

Important Dates

• January 13: TAG Meeting at the Ed Center from 3:45-5:30. Please make sure your admin rep and TAG teacher rep are there.
• January 15: Safety Cadre Meeting—one admin should attend. PBMS from 1:30-3:30
• January 20: No School – Martin Luther King Jr Day Holiday
• January 22: SIW: EL planning time
• January 29: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30–read chapter 1 in the Thriving Leaders book prior to coming.
• January 31: Progress Report work day, optional/mandatory training for you to come
• February 2: Progress Reports due by 5:00
• February 4: Horizontal meeting at Ensworth, 3:00-5:00 Hosted by ENS, BUC and LRE

And finally…

From Tammy and Karen

Welcome 2025! Here’s hoping the first blog of the year finds you rested and ready to stay the course with all the great work that is going on out in our schools and district! We appreciate and celebrate you!

What schools do Tammy and Karen support? We know many departments are unaware of how we have divided up schools this year. This link is to provide you with a list of which schools Tammy is the lead support person and which schools Karen is the lead support person. As always, we support them all, but this helps you know who to call first.

Staff Probationary Letters: Earlier today, you received a couple of emails from Triz de la Rosa in Human Resources regarding the letters you need to fill out recommending your year 3 probationary teachers moving to contract status. It is imperative that you have those done and uploaded to the Google folder no later than January 24th. We have moved up the deadline this year, so please don’t let this timeline slip by. Which truly means, please don’t make Karen and I reach out to you at the last minute because you didn’t do them. Wink, wink!

Progress Report Deadlines: January 31 is the official day that staff should be working on report cards and the official cutoff for elementary reports is Sunday, Feb 2 at 5:00 pm. Please make sure you communicate that early and often, so that we are not caught in a situation where a school has not submitted their cards and rollover to the next semester becomes tricky.

January 31 Progress Report Work Day: Per Article 15.8 of the CBA, Certified Employees are not required to report to their work site on end-of-term workdays but must remain available by phone. If a supervisor has articulable concerns about a Certified Employee’s timely completion of professional responsibilities, they may require the Certified Employee to report to the work site. Please reach out to Tammy or Karen if you have any questions about this.

For our January Site Visits: The next round of site visits over the next 2 weeks, Karen and I are dividing and conquering, each visiting our individual schools. The visits after that will be joint visits. In case you missed it in your calendar invite, here is our agenda. We really want to focus on celebrating your school and helping you achieve your hopes and dreams for the remainder of the year.

How can you carve out time for Sources of Strength? Jennifer, Karen and I have received a few emails asking how to make time for the new counseling lessons around suicide prevention. Know that the counselors have been working this week on actually condensing the lessons into fewer than originally communicated (2-4 depending on grade level). Here are some ways in which you can help make time for that:

• If your school has weekly or bi-weekly counselor time in the classrooms or a specials spot (all schools with full time counselors should have this), this is a topic that the counselor will teach during their time.
• With 20 Wayfinder core instruction lessons per grade level, 4 Erin’s Law lessons, and 35 instructional weeks, you can take the time teachers set aside for those topics each week and bring the counselor in to teach Sources of Strength lessons for 2-4 more.
• Partner with the counselor to brainstorm other ideas if those two don’t work.

Reminder: Wayfinder is about Social Emotional Learning, Erin’s Law is about child abuse prevention, and Sources of Strength is about suicide prevention. They are all different and should not be replacing each other.

Time Sheets: Please work to ensure time and leave sheets are correctly filled out before submitting them. Office managers received an email earlier with an example of what is required to be filled out. If an employee has omitted information (the most common mistake) or has another error, please have your office manager work with them to correct the form before submission. Thank you.

ACR Update Process: We have updated the timeline for ACR approvals for the 2025-2026 school year. Here is the new timeline. This does not include a process for approving case by case ACRs that come to us throughout the year.

Please update staffing plans: Please go into your staffing plans and update them with the current enrollment numbers per grade as well as the number of students in each session. This is important, as we look at that when approving/denying ACRs. You don’t want to be caught with a low number from fall but in reality it’s much larger. When you do that, please change the date that is red to the date you have updated it. Please have that done by next Wednesday.

SLGGs: At this time, UKG may or may not be working accurately to upload your SLGGs in that system, so we are asking that you use the same template that the certified staff uses for their SLGGs. When you have them filled out, you need to send them to Karen and I as well as attempt to upload them to the paperclip in your UKG. Some of you already have them done, so please just send them our way by Monday, 1/20. Thank you!

END Update: For next SIW 1/15, a reminder that your counselors, SSCs, and School Psychs will be meeting at Caldera from 2:30-4:00. There is a plan to compensate them for the time beyond the regular work day.

Important Links

• January 8^th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–Bear Creek is looking for Youth Truth engagement ideas!
• FAQs for Special Education Inclusion Topics—Keep checking in here! BEA and BLS supported

Notes from our Team:

Did you know? Last year 6 students in the US were killed by their own bus, 3 of which were in school bus loading zones. We still have schools releasing before 2:15 and students in loading zones without adult supervision. Our buses, at some sites when approaching, have to swing over the curb to make a turn. This is critical there are no students anywhere near that move. Please be out to the bus loading zones to check that your staff and students are not too early and following this very important safety guideline. Thank you!

Kindergarten Ask: It’s that time of year again when Head Start is looking for a couple of kindergarten teachers from Bend La Pine to come and speak to their parents about kindergarten registration. The ask is typically about 30 minutes and covers the following:

• Answer any questions parents might have about a kindergarten day, what they learn
• Speak about kindergarten registration, how and when and what support may be available
• Choice Option Schools, including Dual Immersion

Please let Tammy know if you have a kindergarten teacher who may be interested. We will take two of them and pay them for one hour. Thank you!

From Stuart Eaton in HR: Here is a link with the directions on how to enter parts of the evaluation process (SLGGs, mini’s, formals, etc.) in UKG.

From Nick Shein in the Business Office: We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and winter break!  When you get settled after the new year, please note that the IRS has announced a 3 cent/mile increase to the mileage rate for 2025.  The new rate is 70 cents/mile, and applies to all mileage driven after January 1, 2025.  Below is a link to the Portal page with the electronic mileage forms for in-District travel with both the 2024 and 2025 rates.  There is also an AP-106 for other travel.  Please note that the mileage reimbursement rate is determined by the date of travel, not the date the reimbursement is submitted or paid. Please contact Nick Shein at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Link to the Sharepoint site with the information.

From Janet Bojanowski: During the January 22^nd Office Manager meeting, we will have a discussion on de-escalation led by Eric Powell, Scott Bojanowski, and Kayla Martin. This will include sample scenarios to work through and time for you to bring forth any scenarios you would like to share/discuss. We would like to remind you that your full office staff is invited and encouraged to attend these trainings.

Schedule is as follows; however, you are welcome to join either session if the time works better for you. Elementary Team: 1:15-2:15pm followed by the Secondary Team from 2:30-3:30

Note from Tammy and Karen: This SIW day is EL work time for teachers and you don’t need to lead it, so please cover the office (answer phones, walk-ins, etc.) while the office staff is away. They appreciate the support!

One Class at a Time Awards: Mid Oregon Credit Union is seeking your assistance in nominations for our KTVZ One Class at a Time awards. Selected nominations will be chosen monthly during the school year for innovative classroom education, projects and learning that represent positive student experiences and highlighted with a KTVZ news story and a $1000 award to support the program.

Please have your principals, teachers, advisors, staff send the requests to Kyle Frick, at [email protected] for consideration for the selection process.

From Sean Reinhart:  Child Count 2024. Each year on December 1, we report the number of students on IEPs, as well as other demographic information to ODE.  This “count” is what determines our level of funding for the next year.  You can find a table with 2024 data, as well as historical trends HERE.  

Here are a few highlights from this last year:

• No remarkable trends up or down in disability type last year
• Total students on IEPs is 2027 (up from 1931 in 23/24)
• Total IEPs district percentage is 12.1% (slightly up from last year and up 3% since 20/21)

From Jennifer Hauth and your building counselors: (Note from Tammy and Karen: Please make sure that at least one building admin attend this celebration, so mark your calendars!)

From Paul Dean, Chief Operations Officer, A big shout-out to La Pine and Mountain View high schools (especially CTE teacher Cameron Salvitelli) for submitting the first Facility/Site Modification proposals.  Their proposals were approved by the Executive Leadership Team this past week.  

If you would like to view their proposals as exemplars on how to complete Part I and also view the department feedback that they received in Part II, they are linked here (LPHS and MVHS).  We’d also like to recognize Three Rivers for their recent proposal for a mural on their wall ball court.  They did a great job of filling out the form and the proposal is still in the approval process.

Please remember that filling out this form is a requirement before schools may proceed with any project that impacts your facilities or grounds.  When in doubt, contact your level leader and/or Paul Dean and we’ll advise you.

From Dave Vanloo–School Improvement: This is a quick reminder that YouthTruth is now open through January 31. Here is a link to a document to help you get started. More information and resources are available once you log in to YouthTruth.  Let me know if you have any questions. 

From Deputy Superintendent- Lisa Birk

A reminder: another survey I would like you to share with your team is from one of our partners, COREN. This will give an opportunity for all staff to describe professional development interests. COREN supports many learning opportunities within BLP, and this information benefits both their organization and ours in the sense that it gives us access to supports for our current needs. Right now, participation has been limited so any encouragement you can do to give feedback is helpful. This survey ends on January 10th.

Policy, Advocacy, and Equity – Kinsey Martin

Classroom placement policy: Here is a draft of a new policy going out for public feedback, with a tentative adoption date of mid-February.  This establishes that principals are the final decision-makers with regard to classroom placements.  This should help navigate student, staff, or parent requests or refusals to have a particular teacher or student in a class, or where there is disagreement on a student’s schedule.  The “principal or designee” language allows you to delegate this authority to counselors or coordinators, at least for initial placements or non-controversial requests for changes. 

Upcoming events: Please share this communication in your next weekly staff memo, and participate in any/all of these as you are available.  In particular, encourage your building to be well-represented in our 3^rd annual Door-Decorating Contest (adult teams can participate too, if you have enthusiastic or artistic front-office, counseling, or other non-classroom staff).  Thank you!

CAFE Program training: Do you have a newly-hired staff member who speaks another language?  Would they like a $1,000 annual stipend for using their multilingual skills to support family communication?  Due to multiple requests, we are adding one more round of CAFE Program testing and training for this school year.  This extra round will take place in late January—further opportunities will not be available until next fall, so please help ensure relevant bilingual employees are aware and signed up in UKG’s Learning platform.  (Once a staff member has been tested and trained, they do not need to repeat those steps.)

Do Not Schedule dates: As your team begins to schedule important dates for spring, summer, and fall events, please be sure they are aware of our Do Not Schedule dates.  Thank you for re-sharing this with your office managers, activities directors, athletics staff, counselors, and PTA/Booster Club leaders.  

Action Items

• Write staff probationary letters (use the form that was sent) and upload to the google drive
• Inform teachers about the 5:00 deadline for progress report submissions on Sun. Feb 2.
• Update staffing numbers by 1/15/25
• Complete SLGGs on this form and email to Tammy and Karen and upload to UKG
• Arrange for a class or two for us to visit who are exemplary in your two celebrations
• Ensure that the timesheets your school submits are correctly filled out and are not missing info
• Make sure bus lanes are clear of students and supervised by adults
• We need 2 K teachers willing to attend a 30 min Head start meeting to talk about Kindergarten
• Arrange for your office to be covered on Jan 22, so all office staff can attend a meeting at SIW
• Mark your calendar for end of year counseling celebration
• Got a one class at a time nominee? Send it to Kyle Frick
• Youth Truth—how are you going to get your participation rates up?
• Coren survey for all staff by 1/10
• Pay close attention to the information in Kinsey’s section.

Important Dates

• January 13: TAG Meeting at the Ed Center from 3:45-5:30. Please make sure your admin rep and TAG teacher rep are there.
• January 15: Safety Cadre Meeting—one admin should attend. PBMS from 1:30-3:30
• January 15 and 22: SIWs that are Educator Network day followed by an SIW that is EL planning time
• January 29: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30–read chapter 1 in the Thriving Leaders book prior to coming.
• January 31: Progress Report work day, optional/mandatory training for you to come
• February 2: Progress Reports due by 5:00
• February 4: Horizontal meeting at Ensworth, 3:00-5:00 Hosted by ENS, BUC and LRE

And finally…

From Tammy and Karen

As we begin our two-week winter break, I want to take a moment to reflect on the Winter Solstice, a day that holds deep significance for me (I even have a child named Solstice). This ancient observation transcends time and culture to remind us of our humanity and our deep connection to the cycles of nature. The Solstice marks the turning point—when the darkness begins to recede and light slowly returns. It’s a powerful symbol of hope and the promise of brighter days ahead.

The Solstice also invites us to pause and to reflect on the past, the present, and the future. In moments of stillness, we gain clarity and strength. For me, this is my favorite day of the year—a time to honor both the challenges I have faced and the light that is yet to come.

As you enjoy your break, I encourage you to embrace this time of renewal. Whether in reflection or celebration, I hope you find peace and inspiration for the year ahead. Thank you for all you have done to give your community a great start this year. I look forward to all that we will accomplish together in the future.

Schedule Notes

Tammy will be out on the 19th and 20th through the break. Karen will be your main point of contact from the 19th until January 3rd.

Horizontal Meeting at Elk Meadow Elementary on January 7th from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Opening by Elk Meadow and closing by Westside Village.

Important Links

• December 11^th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–Keep connecting and supporting each other!

Notes from our Team:

From Sarah Barclay, BEA and Sean Reinhart, Student Support 

We are re-sharing to make sure you have access to this iinformation and can easily share it with your entire staff, including classified employees. Certified employees previously received this, but classified emplyees avenot.

Many of you have reached out with questions about special education programming and expectations within Bend-La Pine Schools. First and foremost, we want to acknowledge the wide-spread concerns and confusion within our District regarding this topic. Over the last five years the Bend-La Pine Schools Student Services Department, previously known as Special Education, has made changes within their department that were well intentioned, but not communicated to the larger system of employees and this has led to uncertainty and misunderstanding. The purpose of today’s communication is to provide all staff with a shared base of information that we can use to build our future decisions upon as we move toward a shared goal of better supporting all students, including those who require specially designed instruction and services.

During the 2018-2019 school year a project known as Excellence in Education gathered feedback from staff, students, and families about their experiences in our schools. After receiving and processing that feedback, the Student Services Department set out on a journey to improve the inclusion of students experiencing disability into the general education setting. The BLS vision for special education is, “Bend-La Pine Schools strive to create an inclusive culture and environment for all learners, particularly for those that experience disability. We believe, to the greatest extent possible, that all students should maximize time spent in the general education classroom regardless of their special education services or related services. To this end, it is imperative that the educational planning process begins with services in the general education setting and ends with the need for specialized services in more segregated settings.” For more detailed information about this process click here.

We are reaching out today to share answers to frequently asked questions about our model for delivering special education services in Bend-La Pine Schools and to provide clarity on how we provide Special Education services in our schools. The Special Education Inclusion Questions and Answers (click link) will be updated as more questions arise.

Are we there yet? Inclusive practices and the improvement of those practices are a process. This work will not be achieved overnight, it will take time and training, it will take collaboration and conversation. All of which are precious in the public education system. As we continue this journey the Student Services Department is committed to listening to all employees, answering questions as they arise, and working with BEA to increase learning opportunities and continued clarity on this topic. The work we do with students is complex and working together to ensure all students have access to the support they need will lead to thriving community members in the future. 

In partnership, 

Sarah Barclay, President, Bend Education Association and Sean Reinhart, Executive Director of Student Services, Bend-La Pine Schools

From Human Resources: Winter Break Coverage

The HR office will have sporadic coverage over winter break,  from December 21 through January 5. To ensure a smooth workflow, please complete and submit any hiring requests by Friday, December 20. New hiring requests should be held until the office resumes regular operations on Monday, January 6. If you are in the process of making an offer that will take place between December 21 and January 5, please contact Ryan Kelling as soon as possible to develop a plan for completing the process during this period.Thank you for helping us maintain a seamless hiring process.

From Student Well-Being – Jennifer Hauth

Elementary Counselors will be teaching new curriculum beginning in January. As part of our Source of Strength implementation at secondary, we are adding their Connecting to Help curriculum for grades 3-5 at elementary, this is just a few lessons at each grade level. This is an opportunity to build skills and language around mental health literacy and provide resources ahead of significant transitions. These lessons uplift protective factors available to students to help mitigate risk and allow them to practice strategies for lifelong health.  Protective factors addressed in these lessons include:

• A sense of belonging and connection, both at school and in the broader community
• Positive relationships with peers and adults at school
• The ability to identify emotions, utilize coping skills, and solve social problems
• Being able to talk to Trusted Adults about social and emotional challenges
• Positive sense of identity

We met as a PLC a few weeks ago and reviewed the Connecting to Help curriculum for grades  3, 4 and 5. We have a family letter that they will share with family and here are the slides from our time together: Elementary School Counselors – Connecting to Help Curriculum and review of Wayfinder MTSS Dashboard as well as the Informed Consent Process.

From Curriculum and Instruction – Julie Richards

We have had many schools reaching out asking for support leading the progress report SIW.  We would like to offer some extra support on January 8th from 2:00-3:00 via Teams.  We would ask that you have your staff in one location with your ICCL team supporting.  We will send a Teams invitation on that day in order to put it to the top of your inbox.  You will project the Teams meeting on the screen and your staff will be able to watch and ask questions.  This is optional.  If your ICCL team has already led this session and your staff if feeling pretty good about progress reports you, they do not need to attend. If questions arise, please reach out. 

STEMHub Training: Please share this flyer with teachers after the break. This event is in January and subs are covered.

Life and Career Readiness – Jenny White

Principals, here is an activity from Wayfinder called Finding Commonalities that you can use during a staff meeting or SIW.  Link to the Activity in Wayfinder.

From Deputy Superintendent- Lisa Birk

In our efforts to continue to improve, please take a moment to give feedback on our December Admin PD time. In case you need a memory jog, we spent our time together with the goals of learning, reflecting, and connecting. We reflected on our leadership journeys, team needs, personal strengths and strengths of your colleagues, and the variety or roles you play as a leader. We also gave some awards to very deserving folks! Thank you in advance for giving your perspective. 

Secondly, another survey I would like you to share with your team is from one of our partners, COREN. This will give an opportunity for all staff to describe professional development interests. COREN supports many learning opportunities within BLP, and this information benefits both their organization and ours in the sense that it gives us access to supports for our current needs. Right now, participation has been limited so any encouragement you can do to give feedback is helpful. This survey ends on January 10th.

Policy, Advocacy, and Equity – Kinsey Martin

Upcoming events/dates:

Spanish-language FAFSA Night: Mon, Jan 13th.  Here is the flyer.  Thanks for distributing to your families and promoting through your channels!  The primary audience is high school, but staff or families from any grade level are welcome if they just want to get a sense of the process.   

Asian Family Night: Friday, January 31st.  Food, cultural performances and crafts, and a drawing contest.  More details to come—for now, save the date!  (Yes, I know this is grading day 🙂 )

Black History Month Door-Decorating Contest: Submissions due Wed, Feb 19, and winners will be announced Fri, Feb 21.  Prizes and recognition for the winners will be a little special this year.  Complete information will be shared with your staff via your DEI-ICCL rep in early January—for now, add these key dates to your calendar!  

Presidential inauguration: This year’s presidential inauguration falls on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.  It is a No-School day, but some priority-population advisory groups have indicated worry for the student experience and respectful interactions on Tuesday, Jan 21st.  

Our community has been relatively respectful post-election (which is great!), and we certainly don’t want to assume negative intent.  That said, continued preventive efforts can’t hurt.  In early Jan, make sure your teachers review norms and expectations regarding the dignity and belonging of everyone in your learning community, and the expected reporting procedures if these norms are violated (i.e. bias incident form submissions).  As you welcome students back from break, a family communication/reminder regarding these school-wide expectations is helpful too.

Please ask your counselors to make themselves as available as possible for drop-ins if students need extra support on/around Tues, Jan 21.  If your team knows a particular student or colleague struggled after the election in November, make a note on your calendar to have a trusted adult or friend intentionally check in with them that day.  

Complaints: Your teams are doing really great with the complaint system—thank you for your visible and thoughtful efforts to respond, investigate, support, document, and communicate for each one you receive in your Dashboard.  Those take substantial time and energy, but they are investments in the trust and safety of your school culture, and your students, families, and staff notice and appreciate that.      

Action Items

• Enjoy a wonderful break! Unplug and restore!
• Sign Up for January Site Visits (For your newly assigned school lead: Karen or Tammy, not both!)
• Ensure all complaints are addressed before winter break.
• Share the COREN survey with staff and Complete the COREN SURVEY by January 10
• Complete the Admin PD Survey
• Protect January 22 SIW for a FULL 90 minutes of EL planning for your staff

Important Dates

• December 19-20: Tammy is out–connect with Karen if you need anything.
• December 23-January 3. Winter Break!
• January 6: First Day back from break!
• January 7: Horizontal Meeting at Elk Meadow from 3:00-5:00, hosted by Elk Meadow and Westside Village
• January 15 and 22: SIWs that are Educator Network day followed by an SIW that is EL planning time
• January 29: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

AND Finally- Go for Blackout or add your own squares so that we all get a BINGO over the break!

Happy Snowy Day!

From Tammy and Karen

It has been so wonderful visiting all of the schools together! The schools have been assigned and we are ready to share the lead contact for each school. At this point, if you have questions or needs, feel free to contact your school lead first without needing to reach out to both of us. As always, if your school lead is not available and you need more immediate support, feel free to reach out to either of us. We will still continue to do co-site visits every other month. For January, we will be meeting with you one-on -one. We are excited to continue to work together to make our elementary programs an amazing place to be!

Please sign up for a January Site Visit with Karen or Tammy!

Tammy will be the lead for the following schools:

• Bear Creek
• Buckingham
• Elk Meadow
• Ensworth
• Highland
• North Star
• Jewell
• Rosland
• Westside Village

Karen will be the lead for the following schools:

• Amity Creek
• High Lakes
• Juniper
• La Pine
• Lava Ridge
• Pine Ridge
• Ponderosa
• Silver Rail
• Three Rivers
• WE Miller

Tammy will be out on the 19th and 20th through the break. Karen will be your main point of contact from the 19th until we return on January 6th.

Facilities Modifications: Please be sure to complete this form if you are doing any kind of modification to your building, such as murals, installed art (e.g., tiles), garden boxes, benches, greenhouses, etc.  Reach out to your Level Leader and COO if you have any questions.

Lavender Lady: A woman named Janet Mager and a group of her friends have offered to provide lovely lavender filled neck pillows for all of staff at our elementary schools. They currently have 700 available. Over the course of the next few weeks, Janet will be reaching out to determine time to bring these to your team. It is up to you how you want her to do that. She he could just drop them off or she would also love to be able to hand them out in the staff room. You decide!

January SIWs on the 15th (END) and 22 (protected). Reminder–Educator Network Day is January 15th, followed by an EL planning day on January 22. On January 22, this whole 90 minutes is protected for teachers to have time digging into and planning the second EL module that they will be in the middle of doing. The Educator Network Day (END) on the 15th will get them going with loads of information, but will not provide the needed time to do some deep and intentional planning. Please use this time for what it is intended to be used for and do not schedule any other topics to be covered during this 90 minutes. Thanks!

Important Links

• December 11^th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–Keep connecting and supporting each other!

Notes from our Team:

From Human Resources: Administrator Survey

We are launching an Administrator Assignment Preferences Survey to give licensed administrators an opportunity to share their preferences regarding assignments. This survey is designed to:

1. Gather insights into your preferences for school level, region, and program involvement.
2. Help district leadership evaluate potential reassignments that align individual strengths with district needs and to refresh school cultures where needed.

What the Survey Will Ask: The survey will ask for detailed input on:

• School Level: Indicate your preferences for working at the elementary, middle, or high school levels, or in district-wide roles.
• Region: Specify any regional preferences across the district.
• Program Involvement: Share your interest in specific programs or focus areas, such as Special Education, STEM, Advanced Placement, Social-Emotional Learning, or others.
• Additional Considerations: You’ll have space to share any other factors or context you’d like us to keep in mind, including professional goals or areas for growth.

Why This Matters: This survey is part of a broader effort to ensure our schools remain vibrant, innovative, and engaging places for students and staff alike. While we will make every effort to honor individual preferences, it’s important to note that some decisions may need to prioritize district-wide goals, ensuring the best outcomes for our school communities.

Next Steps: To provide additional clarity and answer questions, this topic will be included in the agenda for the January horizontal meetings. These discussions will allow for deeper engagement and dialogue about the process and its purpose. We understand that this may prompt reflection and questions, and we are committed to approaching this process thoughtfully, transparently, and with collaboration at the center. If you have any immediate concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Level Leader, Ryan Kelling, or Lisa Birk.Thank you for your openness and engagement as we work to create the strongest possible learning environments for our students and staff.

From Human Resources: Winter Break Coverage

The HR office will have sporadic coverage over winter break,  from December 21 through January 5. To ensure a smooth workflow, please complete and submit any hiring requests by Friday, December 20. New hiring requests should be held until the office resumes regular operations on Monday, January 6. If you are in the process of making an offer that will take place between December 21 and January 5, please contact Ryan Kelling as soon as possible to develop a plan for completing the process during this period.Thank you for helping us maintain a seamless hiring process.

From Human Resources: Green Team

As we continue to advance sustainability initiatives across our schools, we are asking each building administration team to designate one member to act as the first level of support for your site’s Green Team. Please share the name of your designated administrator with Karen or Tammy by Friday, December 20. This role is not about leading the Green Team but simply being available as a point of contact and support for the individuals spearheading sustainability efforts in your building.

Each site has a 1.0 FTE Green Team Advisor, which is on the Extra Duty schedule. This is a new role this year and must be filled via the recruitment process. What was formerly our Custodial department is now Custodial and Sustainability, led by Walt Norris, Director of Custodial and Sustainability. Walt is actively recruiting a Sustainability Coordinator, who will soon serve as the direct liaison for all Green Team Advisors. Once this position is filled and up to speed, they will provide additional guidance and support for sustainability efforts across the district.

From Instructional Technology – Robbie Faith

Thank you for participating in our MagicSchool AI training on Tuesday with your ICCL teams. Please reach out to Robbie Faith or Tracy Howk if you would like to schedule a training for your school or have any questions.  If your team would like to run your own MagicSchool training, you can find our presentation and printable activity here. Our goal is for all staff members to learn best practices for using AI and how to successfully navigate the numerous tools available to them in MagicSchool. 

From Curriculum and Instruction – Julie Richards

Math Curriculum Review Team Update: This letter will go out to all teachers tomorrow:

The Math Curriculum Review Team has been actively engaged in the curriculum review process since the fall of 2022. We want to take a moment to thank them for their dedication to this important work.

This year, the Math Curriculum Review Team and field testers have been involved in evaluating various math materials as part of the ongoing review process. After field testing one set of materials, STEMScopes, the team determined that it did not meet the criteria established in our rubric. Consequently, information about this program will not be shared at your school. However, if you are interested in exploring STEMScopes on your own, you can access it here. Additionally, you can review the detailed results from both the Math Curriculum Review Team and the field testers.

Looking ahead, we are excited to begin our next field test. Starting in early January, the team will be teaching Experience Math and gathering valuable insights. If you have any questions or need further clarification, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Julie Richards, Kerry Morton, or any member of the Math Curriculum Review Team. Thank you for your ongoing support and understanding.

From Curriculum and Instruction – Julie Richards

Progress Report (Report Card) presentation: Building ICCLs and administrators received training on the new progress reports this week. They will be rolling out the information to their buildings soon. Here is the presentation with video links on each slide to explain the new progress reports, especially in regard to literacy priority standards in case you want a sneak peek. 

Life and Career Readiness – Jenny White

Principals, here is an activity from Wayfinder called Convergence that you can use during a staff meeting or SIW. 

From School Improvement – Dave VanLoo

Youth Truth: Here is a one-page document to help with our YouthTruth survey in January. Reach out to Laura Clark if you have question about the Canvas module or Dave with any questions about YouthTruth.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d3E1_MIbWrZKqfvnr0Jj2g_tpyj9elAbNlW9oC4UvB4/edit?usp=sharing

Policy, Advocacy, and Equity – Kinsey Martin

Save the date: Our district-wide Spanish-language FAFSA Night will tentatively be Mon, Jan 13th 5:30-7:30pm.  More details and flyers to follow, but for now please reserve this date (avoid scheduling school-based events that evening, if possible) and share with applicable staff like counselors, ELL, etc.

Complaints: Please see Kinsey’s recent email about complaint management.  Thank you for checking your Dashboards to be sure all complaints there are addressed (or more recent ones are at least in process) prior to heading into winter break.  Reach out if you would like support on them!

Action Items

• Sign Up for January Site Visits (For your newly assigned school lead: Karen or Tammy, not both!)
• Designate one member from each building administration team to support the Green Team. Please submit by December 20.
• Reach out to Robbie Faith or Tracy Howk if you would like to schedule school training or have questions related to MagicSchoolAI. (Ps we generated this list using Raina)
  1. Reach out to Robbie Faith or Tracy Howk for scheduling school training or questions.
• Save the date for the Spanish language FAFSA night on January 13th from 5:30-7:30 PM.
• Ensure all complaints are addressed before winter break.
• Protect January 22 SIW for a FULL 90 minutes of EL planning for your staff

Important Dates

• December 19-20: Tammy is out–connect with Karen if you need anything
• December 23-January 3. Winter Break!
• January 6: First Day back from break!
• January 7: Horizontal Meeting at Elk Meadow from 3:00-5:00, hosted by Elk Meadow and Westside Village
• January 15 and 22: SIWs that are Educator Network day followed by an SIW that is EL planning time
• January 29: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

Finally From Mr. Snowflake in IT

Watching everyone attempt to create a “six-pointed snowflake” was a special moment taking me back to my first year of teaching at Three Rivers Elementary 26.5 years ago.  

Before the winter holiday, a Sunriver resident named Jerry Sawyer would volunteer in my class to teach art lessons, one of which was how to create a true six-pointed snowflake.  He would talk about how every snowflake was unique, forged around a central piece of dust, and always started its journey from the sky as a crystal with six points.  Shout out to Pat McClain who is now teaching at Bend High and was a student in that class.  Most year’s since then I have done my best to channel “Mr. Snowflake” in the other schools where I have worked.  The “assessment data” on the floor yesterday demonstrated that many of you have yet to master the six-pointed snowflake.  This video will share the steps to create your own six-pointed snowflake.  Share with your staff if you wish. At the very least, you will have the answer key in the case you are tested again next year.  Thank you for reading.  And remember-dimple, snow cone, coyote head, torch!

Do Good December

From Tammy and Karen

We hope your week off was relaxing and rejuvenating and the week back has been a happy one! We have been in several schools so far this week and it is looking and feeling good out there, with lots of learning happening all around!

Elementary Get Together! There has been interest in doing some kind of get-together, with 5 different ideas noted. Three of the different ideas are all tied with 4 votes a piece. One thing that stands out in the voting is that about 66% of the votes are for doing something after our All Admin PD on 12/11, and 33% for a different day (12/17), 4 of the 5 activities are around gathering at a place to have a beverage. So, since we will all be wearing our festive sweaters on next Wednesday (12/11) Let’s head to the Mid-Town Yacht Club (it’s one of the options people voted for that was most centrally located) and continue the festivities for as long as you want to stay. Cheers!

January SIWs on the 15th (END) and 22 (protected). Reminder–Educator Network Day is January 15th, followed by an EL planning day on January 22. On January 22, this whole 90 minutes is protected for teachers to have time digging into and planning the second EL module that they will be in the middle of doing. The Educator Network Day (END) on the 15th will get them going with loads of information, but will not provide the needed time to do some deep and intentional planning. Please use this time for what it is intended to be used for and do not schedule any other topics to be covered during this 90 minutes. Thanks!

Please Share with Families (it’s timely). Please share this flier with your families about a special Spanish Family event next Wednesday, put on by the Deschutes Public Library. They would love to grow the engagement in this event and we can help!

Important Links

• November 20th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–Keep connecting and supporting each other!

Notes from our Team:

Curriculum, Instruction and Systems–Julie Richards. EL additional training opportunity (space limited)

Sign up for full-day sub-release planning days and/or after-school planning times.

We are excited to offer additional support/planning times for Expeditionary Learning.  If you are interested in participating in these first-come first-serve opportunities (space is limited due to sub capabilities), please Sign up here. An email will be sent to folks the following week regarding getting subs. Space is limited so please do not get subs until you are notified that there is room for you on the specific dates

Full-day w/sub provided:

• Jan 21st – 4th and 5th only(Education Center boardroom)
• Feb 4th – K and 1st only (Education Center boardroom)
• Feb 12th – 2nd and 3rd only (Education Center boardroom)

Afterschool w/timesheet (curriculum rate)-any grade level welcome

• Feb 3rd     3:30-6:30 (Education Center boardroom)
• Feb 10th  3:30-6:30 (Education Center boardroom)

From Kinsey in Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI

FAN and the Holidays: Just a reminder that FAN does not coordinate Christmas/holiday gift needs for families.  This has been the case for over 10 years.  FAN resources are maxed out prioritizing basic needs (utilities/heat, rent, clothing, hygiene supplies, food, etc).  There are many community-based organizations that do support religious or holiday-based requests like Christmas gifts, such as Salvation Army, Giving Plate, etc.  Here, here, and here are a few sample resources.  

What is the ask of you and your staff: 

• If you have a family seeking support with Christmas gifts or holiday resources: Please refer them to those community-based agencies, not your FAN Advocate. 
• If you have individuals wanting to donate holiday gifts and toys to families in need: Please refer them to those organizations, who are collecting and distributing toys and holiday donations.
• If your students/staff want to be directly involved in supporting FAN’s work: Organize a “Winter Weather Drive” to gather desperately-needed winter clothes for our students and families in need, not just for those who celebrate Christmas.  Thank you!

From Lisa, the Deputy Superintendent. We look forward to seeing everyone at Perseverance Hall on Wednesday (12/11) from 3-4:30. During our time, we will be dropping into little snippets of the book, Thriving Leaders, while also eating and being merry. Please don your best/worst ugly/creative sweater too. Yes, it’s a competition- prizes await.

You do not need to bring your book this time, but please:

• Wear your sweater to the meeting
• Think about an object that represents your leadership journey (before the meeting)
• Think about all of the teams/groups you supervise and their differing needs (before the meeting)

Action Items

• Wear your ugly sweater to Admin PD at Perseverance Hall on 12/11
• Continue the festivities at the Midtown Yacht Club right after
• Protect January 22 SIW for a FULL 90 minutes of EL planning for your staff
• Share flier with families
• Encourage staff to sign up for the newly added optional EL planning days
• Review how you can support families in need at your school for the holidays and beyond
• Think about an object that represents your leadership journey
• Think about the teams/groups you supervise and their differing needs

Important Dates

• December 10: Admin and ICCL Training—Jewell Elementary, 3:00-5:00
• December 11: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
• December 11: Midtown Yacht Club—after the All Admin meeting!
• December 19-20: Tammy is out–connect with Karen if you need anything
• December 23-January 3. Winter Break!
• January 6: First Day back from break!
• January 7: Horizontal Meeting at Elk Meadow from 3:00-5:00, hosted by Elk Meadow and Westside Village
• January 15 and 22: SIWs that are Educator Network day followed by an SIW that is EL planning time
• January 29: All Admin PD at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30

And finally… Click here to see the video!

From Tammy and Karen

As you head into this well-deserved Fall Break, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for your hard work and dedication. Each one of you shows up for your community every day for every member of your community. We especially appreciate the many ways you support one another—your teamwork and mutual encouragement make all the difference, and it’s truly inspiring to see. You’ve all earned this time to relax, recharge, and spend quality moments with your loved ones. Enjoy every minute, and thank you again for all that you do!

TAG ICCLs: If your building does not currently have a TAG ICCL teacher, please identify one and them to this list (go to TAG tab on the worksheet). As a reminder, all schools need to have a staff member join this team. If you have questions about the team, ask Jessica Scott or Stephen Duval for more information.

Please submit your Calendar of non-contract days to both Karen and Tammy by December 6th. You will also start completing time cards for your leave. There is information about the timesheet on the Staff Portal in the Payroll page.

Slides from Horizontal Meeting

Interested in doing something fun together? Since we do not have a horizontal in December, do you want to get together to enjoy each other’s company and have some fun and connection? If so, click on this link, to recommend a date/time and activity (happy hour, bowling, painting, etc.–your ideas are endless!) You can vote for an idea on this link as well. The idea/day/time with the most votes will be announced in the Blog on December 5.

Important Links

• November 20th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–This week there are questions about PLCs and MTSS – share your great ideas and ask your questions!
• TAG Folder of helpful things

Notes from our Team:

Life and Career Readiness from Jenny White

Principals, here is an activity from Wayfinder called Interest Swap that you can use during a staff meeting or SIW. You can also share the Wayfinder Activity Highlights below in your weekly connection with teachers.

• Kindergarten: Words of Encouragement – Students contribute words of encouragement to a resource in the classroom.
• First: Celebrate Me Dance Party – Students dance to celebrate their uniquely awesome selves.
• Second: Words of Encouragement – Students contribute words of encouragement to a resource in the classroom.
• Third: Celebrations – Students celebrate something they’re proud of.
• Fourth: Future Me – Students imagine their future selves offering advice for today.
• Fifth: Letters of Gratitude – Students write a letter of gratitude to someone in their lives.

First Aid Reports from Stephanie Bent. Please check this document to see if you need staff trained in First Aid. Schools listed in red are required to train more staff.

Policy, Advocacy, and Office of DEI from Kinsey

Immigration/Undocumented community members: If you receive inquiries about our practices related to immigration enforcement or undocumented individuals, here is the English version of our FAQ document (Spanish and Chinese versions available as well).  This is intended to be an FYI/talking points for you.  You are welcome to share this document with staff for the same purpose, and/or make copies available for students or families who ask.  

I have received questions about what a school should do if someone (ex: an immigration official) approaches the office asking for student, staff, or family information related to immigration status.  First of all, this is extremely unlikely to occur.  If this happens, please contact me immediately before providing or confirming any information.  You can say, “I need to confirm district policy and procedure for this request before I am approved to share any information.”  

Thank you for sharing this with your office team, so they feel informed on the response required in this very unlikely scenario.  

Operations Update from Paul Dean

School Building/Site Modification Proposals Form Administrators are to follow the steps on this form if someone on your staff is considering a project that impacts your school facilities by altering/modifying an existing building or by adding a new structure to your site.  Reach out to your Level Leader and COO if you have any questions.

Inclement Weather Department Information. The following departments want to remind administrators about snow day tasks:

• Transportation:  Snow Routes can be accessed at this link
• Custodial: Snow maps exist at each site with the custodian/principal. Those snow maps contains the three priorities:
  • Front entrance
  • Bus loop
  • Back entrance
  • Ice melt is applied on asphalt ONLY
  • Basalt (good traction and does not damage the concrete) is applied and kept on the sidewalk throughout the winter season to retain traction and is intentionally not cleared off 
  • Custodians report to work regardless of school closure decision
• Safety/IT – Please refer to the Bend-La Pine Schools Inclement Weather Guidelines 2024-2025 for essential information 

Action Items

• Include Karen in texts and emails
• Share ideas of a get together here.
• Complete time sheets for any leave for this pay period.
• Complete the calendar of non-contract days for this year and send to Karen and Tammy.
• Identify teacher to attend TAG ICCL (if not already done)
• Check first Aid compliance document
• Share immigration information with office team

Important Dates

• November 25-29 Fall Holiday Break, (if you take time off, use non-contract for all days except Thanksgiving itself)
• December 10: Admin and ICCL Training—make sure your ICCL team knows! 3-5–location TBD
• December 11: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
• December 19-20: Tammy is out–connect with Karen if you need anything
• December 23-January 3. Winter Break!

From Tammy and Karen

At this point we are joined at the hip with all our site visits, conversations, and more! As we continue to onboard Karen, please make sure when you are emailing and texting us, that you include both of us. At this time, we have not yet officially divided up the schools, as we will be continuing partnering this next month. After all these site visits and prior to winter break, we will send a list of who the primary contact is for each school starting the first of the year.

Horizontal Meeting-–This next week our horizontal meeting will include our EL moments, and an hour with HR that will cover performance management including evaluation, feedback and corrective action. We will also have time for one round of problems of practice, so come prepared with something that you want some input from colleagues about. We will not be diving into the book this time, so no need to bring it unless it supports something you want to talk about in your problem of practice. Our meeting will be at Bear Creek starting at 3:00 on Tuesday and will be hosted by Bear Creek and Miller. See you all there!

Important Links

• November 6th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–Have you helped out your colleague yet? Several more need some advice!
• TAG Folder of helpful things

Notes from our Team:

From Triz in HR

Certified Evaluation Information as of 10-31-24. We have edited all the certified profiles so that they don’t refer to specific dates in any of the instructions or notifications. The intent of this is to streamline editing from year to year and make successive launches more timely.

Within the sub profiles, goals, observations, self-reflections and the like, dates can be chosen to auto launch and populate the review. We have set the profiles to do the following:

Anchor Date: the date that the system will use for assigning evaluation profiles and sub profiles.

First Review: this date will assign a specified profile the first time.

Auto Assign: toggles whether to initiate the profile automatically. Uses the Anchor and First Review dates to determine what launches.

These allow us to set up an ongoing eval start date, but also have this year start on a later date, since it is a new build.

We have set the profiles to do the following:

Main Profile, this is just messaging that the evaluations are available and scheduled to Administrators; Anchor 8-20-2024; First 11-5-24 – Auto Assign.

Goals (Mini#1); Anchor; 9-7-24; First 11-5-24 – Auto Assign.

Formal 1; Anchor 11-1-24; First 11-5-24 – Auto Assign.

Formal 2; Anchor 1-15-25; First Same – Auto Assign

Mini #2; Anchor 7-1-24; First 2-15-25 – NON Auto Assign

Mini #3; Anchor 7-1-24; First 3-15-25 – NON Auto Assign

Mini#4; Anchor 7-1-24; First 4-15-25 – NON Auto Assign

Self Reflection; Anchor 4-1-25; First same – NON Auto Assign

Summative Eval; Anchor 5-1-25; First same – NON Auto Assign

Year End Goal; Anchor 5-1-25; First same – Auto Assign

Contract teachers don’t have formals or mini 4 in their profile, so only the first goal and year end goals will auto assign.

From Dave in TLC

OSAS Testing Annual Notices and Opt-Out Forms. The Bend-La Pine website has been updated with the 2024-25 fillable PDF annual notice and opt-out forms that we are required to share with families. There are separate notices and opt-out forms for ELA/Math testing (grades 3-8 & 11) and the SEED survey (grades 3-11). Please share these resources through your commonly used channels (e.g., School newsletters, parent emails) and have copies available for parents to pick up in the office by the applicable dates listed below.  Opt Out link here

ODE English Language Arts and Math State Testing. Consistent with the requirements of ORS 329.479, ODE has developed an annual notice (available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage) that describes these assessments, identifies the timeframe when the assessment will most likely be administered, and identifies an adult student’s or parent’s right to excuse the student from testing. Districts and public charter schools must provide parents with the ODE-developed annual notice at the beginning of each school year. In addition, districts and public charter schools must provide parents with separate notice at least 30 days prior to administering the statewide summative assessments in Math and ELA using the ODE-provided 30-day notice and opt-out form (also available through ODE’s Test Administration webpage), or a district-created form that exactly reproduces the language of the ODE-provided form. School districts and public charter schools must use the language of the 30-day notice and opt-out form provided by ODE to communicate with all parents about state testing requirements and their right to opt out for high school students by January 5, 2025, and for students in Grades 3-8 by March 2, 2025. 

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

YouthTruth Survey. This year we will be giving the YouthTruth survey to staff, families, and secondary students. The survey window is January 6 – January 31. Please find a few minutes to watch this short kick off webinar (you can watch it on 1.25 or 1.5 speed). Elissa, our YouthTruth representative will be emailing school on Monday, November 18 with instruction for accessing the Survey Implementation Guide. I will follow up with additional information and resources as we get closer to the survey window. Thank you. Watch the kick off webinar here.

From Kinsey – Policy, Advocacy, & Office of DEI:

Bias Incidents and Hate Speech: When does a student’s comment to a peer or text on a t-shirt invoke our policies around sexual harassment, bias, bullying or intimidation, and when is it something permissible or protected?  What if a student is using a hand gesture that is known to be a communication of hate or oppression?  How do you balance intent vs impact, political speech, and a culture of dignity and belonging focused on learning?  If you have a tricky situation, need some policy guidance, or just want a thought partner, please reach out!  If you’d be interested in a collaborative conversation with other building administrators on how to navigate these incidents right now, please email me so I can gauge interest and need.  

As a reminder, please respond promptly to any complaints or bias incidents reported, including circling back with the reporter at the conclusion of your response.  This is a powerful way to show your commitment to the wellbeing and dignity of each member of your school community.

Latino Family Night: Please drop by our 7^th annual district-wide Latino Family Night if you are able (invitation here–feel free to share).  The Woodburn High School mariachi band will perform (pictured here), and there will be dinner, partners, games, and fun!  

From McScott in IT: (Please share with your teaching staff right now please)

Synergy Mail Issue and Resolution. The latest update to our student information system included a change in Synergy Mail, which removed the ability for recipients (families) to reply directly to the sender (teacher). This change was intentional by the vendor but was not communicated to any IT teams or any of their 6,500 school customers nationwide. As a result, we were delayed in communicating the issue and providing a solution.

As of today, November 14th, our BLS IT team has implemented an in-house fix that restores the direct reply functionality for recipients of messages sent via Synergy Mail. We understand that this issue may have disrupted important communication between teachers and families. Please let me know if there is anything my team or I can do to support you in reestablishing communication.

Two things for family newsletters:

Science Night at Lonza: Here is a link you can include in your family newsletter about an awesome family science opportunity at Lonza. Check it out!

Boys and Girls Club has the following spots available for after school care. Please reach out to them if you are interested here at this link!

• 1 full time spot available for a kinder, 2/3rd grader, 3/4 grader, and 5th grader–downtown location
• 7 full time spots for 1/2 graders–downtown location
• 10 spots open at the east side location for 1st-5th grade

Action Items

• Include Karen in texts and emails
• Come with a Problem of Practice for Horizontal on Tuesday at Bear Creek
• Note: What do you need to Assign in UKG and what is assigned for you and the date it was done.
• Share the OSAS information with Families as required, but remember we do not encourage people to opt out of the assessment (lots to digest from Dave, so please read carefully)
• Watch Youth Truth webinar by Jan 6
• Share Scott’s information with teaching staff asap
• Consider supporting our Latino families and attend the 7th annual Latino night on 11/21
• Share the two items in your family newsletter–if you didn’t already do it last week

Important Dates

• November 19: Horizontal meeting, @ Bear Creek, hosted by BCE and Miller, 3:00-5:00
• November 25-29 Fall Holiday Break, (if you take time off, use non-contract for all days except Thanksgiving itself)
• December 10: Admin and ICCL Training—make sure your ICCL team knows! 3-5–location TBD
• December 11: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
• December 19-20: Tammy is out–connect with Karen if you need anything
• December 23-January 3. Winter Break!

And finally…we can’t over look the power of connection, with families, each other, nature, pets, etc.

Did you know you can join the “Action for Happiness” movement? It’s a fun way to focus on the little things that bring you and others joy. Who doesn’t need a little happiness in their lives now and then? Check it out here!

From Tammy and Karen

We have had a great time swinging by all your schools this last week, either at a site visit, breakfast, or a pop in! For Karen’s first time seeing your schools, she was excited with how much great learning students were doing, the collaboration among adults, and respect between and about colleagues that she saw and heard. If there was a $1 for every time she said,” I have to pinch myself that this is real!” we could fully support our ever decreasing budget! Thanks for all your support!

Site Visits: For the next round of site visits (which will be between now and winter break) Julie, Karen, and I will be doing them together. These visits are going to help support your work, as we would like to plan on visiting 2 classrooms during EL time in which you need to do a mini observation. (please arrange these with staff ahead of time—this is required) After spending about 10 min in each room, our focus is going to be on having you talk about the specific feedback and conversation that you will be guiding with the teacher when you debrief. Think of it as a rehearsal time and a way to get 2 minis done! Make sure you sign up for times that EL is happening. You will receive the link to choose visits tomorrow, first come first serve!

Karen’s Contact: Please put Karen’s contact into your phone. It is: Karen Rush, (oops–if you haven’t done this yet, we needed to remove the number, please text Tammy for the number, as we want to protect Karen’s privacy on the greater internet.) Please send her a text with your first and last name and then she will add you in her phone. (As a side note, she loves unicorn emojis!!!)

Important Links

• November 6th Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–New Question–Please help a colleague!
• TAG Folder of helpful things

Notes from our Team:

From Sean in Student Services: Re: EA SUBS!

We have been engaged with the HDESD regarding the difficulty with filling substitute EA needs.  The HDESD has been very helpful, and we developed several strategies that you should know.

1. The HDESD has increase the hourly wage for classified/EA subs based on the vacancy and job type.  Formerly, all classified/EA subs were paid $17 per hour.  This will be accompanied by a new Enhanced Recruitment Efforts which will involve Social Media Campaigns, Inter-District Parent Communication, and Community Outreach.

EA I – $18/hour	EA II – $20/hour	EA III – $20/hour
Alternative Ed	Behavior Support	Inclusion
Regular Instruction	Student Success
ELL	Office Staff

2.  Cross-Role Flexibility: We have granted the HDESD the authority to automatically place licensed substitutes (paid at the higher licensed rate) in the EA 2 and EA 3 category (see above)  if a sub request is still unfilled the day before the vacancy.   This will remainder in place until the end of the year.  If the request id for a long-term sub, then a licensed sub can fill an EA 2 or EA 3 position for 1 week at a time, while a non-licensed sub is recruited.

3.  Incentive pay structure for high-demand days: We are currently working on an incentive pay structure for the 30 most high demand days of the year.  Non-licensed subs that accept sub positions on these days will receive a $25 bonus for the day.  Further, we are under current discussion to extend and modify this as needed.

The HDESD will send up monthly reports so we can monitor if these measures are increasing our sub fill rates.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.

From Jennifer in Social, Emotional, and Mental Well-being: I hope the 2024-2025 school year has started smoothly and successfully for your team and students. Patrick Cook-Deegan, Founder + CEO of Wayfinder who lives in Bend would be honored to spend some time at your school. His goal is to deepen his understanding of how the Wayfinder product and implementation is impacting your school community. 

He is eager to learn firsthand about what’s working well and where there may be areas for improvement. Patrick would welcome conversations with anyone on your team—whether a principal, counselor, teacher, or even a student—who can provide authentic insights on both the strengths and challenges of the Wayfinder experience.

Attached is a sign-up sheet for Patrick’s visit. Please select a date and time that works best with your school schedule. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. 

Optional Admin PD trainings:

It’s not too late to sign up for some of the optional PD trainings that are scheduled from now to winter break.

11/14	8-10SIGN UP HERE!	TOPIC: Instructional Frameworks We will unpack three different instructional frameworks and discuss how these can be utilized for learning in our buildings. As we discuss, we will begin to consider what a BLP instructional framework might include in the coming years.	2-4SIGN UP HERE!	Home Visits (1 of 3): In this three-part training, administrators will collaborate to understand the different purposes and structures of home visits, what the administrator’s role should be in comparison to other staff roles, and how best to use home visits in service of school priorities, student needs, and family engagement efforts.  The group will collaboratively develop a home visit protocol for the district, addressing values, safety considerations, communication, and other recommendations.
11/21	8-10SIGN UP HERE!	TOPIC: Special Education and SPED LawIn this session, we will cover a variety of special education law topics, including some hot topics and lessons learned, procedural reminders, and application of new laws that came out of the 2023 legislative session.  There will also be time to answer your specific questions.	2-4SIGN UP HERE!	UKG Informational UpdateThe business office will provide an informative session on UKG and training on the paper time and leave process. This is an opportunity to deepen your understanding of our payroll system, learn how to prevent time fraud, and clarify any questions you may have about this transition.
12/5	8-10SIGN UP HERE!	Evaluations and FeedbackGet your UKG questions answered and spend some time long-term planning for your observations and evaluations. We will have a couple of examples for you to consider, tools to help frame your feedback, and people to help get everything related to evals lined up.	2-4SIGN UP HERE!	Financial ManagementIn this training, we’ll explore budgeting principles and basic financial reporting. This session aims to equip you with valuable skills to enhance your school’s financial oversight, and we’ll also have a Q&A segment to address any specific questions you may have. I look forward to seeing you there and sharing ideas on how we can make a positive impact in our schools! -Dan
12/12	8-10SIGN UP HERE!	TOPIC: Instructional Frameworks(same as 11/14)We will unpack three different instructional frameworks and discuss how these can be utilized for learning in our buildings. As we discuss, we will begin to consider what a BLP instructional framework might include in the coming years.	2-4	Home Visits (2 of 3)See above
12/19	8-10SIGN UP HERE!	Positive Behavior Support Planning 101Our students need our support and planning for this can be really challenging. Come and spend time with our PBSP work group to get your questions answered and dive into planning for students who need us most!	2-4SIGN UP HERE!	Equity: Resource ToolboxCome and check out what the LEAD coaches have been up to! Spend time exploring our not-yet-published resource toolbox and give feedback to make sure it meets your ongoing needs.

From Life and Career Readiness–Jenny White Principals, here is an activity from Wayfinder called Spark, Stretch, Struggle that you can use during a staff meeting or SIW.

Two things for family newsletters:

Science Night at Lonza: Here is a link you can include in your family newsletter about an awesome family science opportunity at Lonza. Check it out!

Boys and Girls Club has the following spots available for after school care. Please reach out to them if you are interested here at this link!

• 1 full time spot available for a kinder, 2/3rd grader, 3/4 grader, and 5th grader–downtown location
• 7 full time spots for 1/2 graders–downtown location
• 10 spots open at the east side location for 1st-5th grade

Action Items

• Fill out time and leave sheets in UKG one last time
• Sign up for a site visit when you get the link!
• Text Karen your first and last name for her contacts (flood her with unicorns) (get # from Tammy)
• High-Five Sean when you see him for his hard work on the EA sub situations
• Choose a date/time to talk with Patrick from Wayfinder
• Optional Admin PD sign up
• Share the two items in your family newsletter

Important Dates

• November 8: Safety Cadre Meets at the Ed Center Boardroom, 1:30-3:30
• November 10: Time and Leave sheet are due in UKG—last time before we go paper
• November 11: Veteran’s Day–No School
• November 13: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
• November 19: Horizontal meeting, @ Bear Creek, hosted by BCE and Miller, 3:00-5:00
• November 25-29 Fall Holiday Break, (if you take time off, use non-contract for all days except Thanksgiving itself)
• December 10: Admin and ICCL Training—make sure your ICCL team knows! 3-5–location TBD
• December 11: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
• December 19-20: Tammy is out–connect with Karen if you need anything
• December 23-January 3. Winter Break!

And finally…we all need a little Ted Lasso pep-talk in our lives!

Having fun this Halloween season!!

From Tammy and Karen

Thank you! Your engagement, collaboration, and genuine inquiry in yesterday’s EL training was noticed and appreciated. There was a lot to dive into and hopefully you have a better understanding of the ins and outs of what your staff are doing on a daily basis. I think we walked away with a greater appreciation and understanding of the importance of protocols, the structure of a module, and the teacher being the lead facilitator (which is so hard!). Also appreciation for all the coaches who were there to support us in this new learning. As you got to witness first hand, they are a wealth of knowledge and here to support!

Mini and Formal Observations: Please make these a priority as we head into November! Formals are due before Thanksgiving break and first minis are right there as well! Giving meaningful and timely feedback is an important part of improving student outcomes. See the email from Triz De La Rosa.

Important Links

• SLGGs—plug and play for the year
• October 23rd Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–New Question–Please help a colleague!
• TAG Folder of helpful things

Notes from our Team:

From Kerry Morton, Math TOSA and Coach: Math Adoption Update!

To provide more time for teachers to view the math materials, they will remain at your schools a bit longer.  Work with your instructional coach to find a place and timeframe for teachers to look through the three Field Test materials over the next couple weeks.

From Life and Career Readiness (Jenny White). Principal’s here is a simple activity you can do as a connection before a staff meeting or SIW. Link to Slide along with directions on how to find this activity in Wayfinder

From Scott and Becca in Communications: Did you see the latest Family Spotlight? The newsletter is solely devoted to safety and includes a message from Dr. Cook, resources for safe firearm storage, information about SafeOregon, crisis and care resources, details about our latest safety improvements and more. It can be a go-to resource when families have questions about safety in our district. Bookmark the October 30 Family Spotlight and have it at the ready!

From Paul in Operations: Building leaders are to pause any program expansion proposals (academic, athletic and extra duty, that include some form of physical building structure, building additions, or site modification) that will impact your site/facility until further notice.  We are in the process of creating internal procedures that will identify that necessary steps that will need to be taken in order to ensure compliance with regulations (i.e. Title IX, permitting, accounting), district policies, contracts and address departmental impacts.

From Kinsey in Policy, Advocacy, & Equity:

Post-Election Resources: As the presidential elections wrap up, we should anticipate and prepare to support the strong reactions, emotions, and conversations our staff, students, and families will experience.  As leaders, it is our responsibility to ensure our staff are informed, equipped, and supported regarding 1) the expectations for navigating this significant moment in time in a professional manner, 2) the resources available to them as employees, and 3) the strategies for supporting students through their own processing.

Here is a message for staff—I highly recommended you send this to your staff soon.  You are welcome to copy and paste this message verbatim, modify it to reflect your voice/style, or send something else.  Just don’t be silent on this topic!

Equity Stance Brochures: I am going to re-print the brochure versions of our district Equity Stance.  (You received one at our August administrator launch.)  If you would like some for your school (ICCL team? PTA? A stack for the staff lounge?), please let me know by Nov 8th how many you need.  

Holidays: Here is our policy on religion and holidays in schools.  Here is our “Do not schedule” dates document.  Here is a team reflection and guidance tool on holidays.  Consider reviewing these at an ICCL meeting, and/or sharing with all staff.  

From Scott and Kayla in Safety: We will be out of town next week, November 4^th through November 7^th at a conference. We will continue to monitor our emails, cell phones, and text messages to support as best as we can while out of the office. If you have any emergencies that require immediate attention, please reach out to our Chief Operations Officer, Paul Dean for immediate support.

We are happy to announce that we are now staffed with 8 School Resource Officers in the district. Our newest SRO is Officer James Ragland, who will be working out of Pilot Butte Middle School. Please use the updated SRO point of contact roster to see who your current SRO is for your school, and to reach out to any members of the SRO team for support.

Action Items

• Get going on the mini and formal observations if you are behind
• Keep Math Adoptions for a couple more weeks for staff to view
• Pause making any building modifications as a new policy is developed
• Share Kinsey’s message a.s.a.p, as Tuesday is election day!

Important Dates

• November 5: VOTE!!
• November 8: Safety Cadre Meets at the Ed Center Boardroom, 1:30-3:30
• November 11: Veteran’s Day–No School
• November 13: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
• November 19: Horizontal meeting, @ Bear Creek, hosted by BCE and Miller, 3:00-5:00
• November 25-29 Fall Holiday Break, (if you take time off, use non-contract for all days except Thanksgiving itself)

And finally…Welcome Karen! We know you are going to feel right at home here in Bend-La Pine!

.

Hang in there!

From Tammy

Conferences: I always loved conferences as a principal! What a great time to be out and about connecting with families. Welcoming them in at the door, attending a conference to let a family know how amazing their child is, offering support when students and families are struggling. The key is to be a partner–coming alongside them and letting them know how much you care about their child reaching their fullest potential. Enjoy!

First week of November: The first week of November, the 4th-8th, will be full of on-boarding for Karen Rush. That week, on Mon, Tue, Thur, or Fri, we will be stopping by your schools, to pop in to introduce her to you and your office staff (all pop ins will be morning times before lunch). We won’t be having any sit down visits that week, just a brief overview of a few school names, faces, and locations, to get her excited for her next chapter here at Bend-La Pine Schools. I am going to attempt to group schools by feeders as best as I can, so we can glimpse at middle and high schools as we go by. More to come next week!

.

Important Links

• SLGGs—plug and play for the year
• Title 1 Compacts to be done at conferences for all Title 1 Schools (now in a fillable pdf too)
• October 23rd Elementary TLC Update
• Topics of Interest/Problem of Practice–get advice from your colleagues
• TAG Folder of helpful things

Notes from our Team:

From Kerry Morton, Math TOSA and Coach: Math Adoption Update!

Math Field Test Materials – October 29-October 31, each elementary school will have all three programs available in their buildings for families and teachers to view.  Reach out to a Math Curriculum Review Team member if you have any questions about the programs: Amplify Math with Desmos, StemScopes Math, and Experience Math.

From Jennifer Hauth regarding Wayfinder and EL Integration:

To see completion rates of lessons for teachers in Wayfinder, you need to set the core lessons as the featured content. Here is a tutorial on how administrators can set up featured content for their sites (make sure to scroll down to “For Principals + School Admin”). Check out this document that links EL Module 1 with Wayfinder’s 20 Minute lessons that teach the skills students need that was shared with teachers this week.

From Scott and Becca in Communications: Help us celebrate the veterans throughout Bend-La Pine Schools on Monday, November 11! We would love to say “thank you for your service” on social media and include faces throughout the district. If you have a veteran (or more than one) in your building or department, please ask them if they would like to be included in a social media “thank you.” If the answer is yes, take their photo and email it to [email protected], along with the staff member’s name.

From McScott in Technology: YouTube Access for K-8 Students – Trial of “Allow List” Solution. As you know, we are currently blocking all YouTube content for students in grades K-8. Starting next week, we will be implementing a trial of an “allow list” solution, which will enable students to access a curated set of videos. At present, nearly 1,000 YouTube videos necessary for the SchoolLinks curriculum have been added to this allow list.

Why is this important? If this trial proves successful, we can explore expanding the allow list to include additional teacher-requested YouTube content.

We understand that limiting access to non-essential YouTube content remains a high priority for our staff, and this allow list solution is designed to support that goal without diverting from it.

From Dave VanLoo in School Improvement: Accessing OSAS test scores and ODE Individual Student Reports (ISRs) in Synerg during conferences.

Please share the following information with any staff who may need it, particularly teachers who may want to discuss OSAS during conferences.

We have been working for some time to enhance access to OSAS state test results across multiple Synergy applications. Here is a folder with brief instructions for staff, parents, and students to access OSAS state test scores in a variety of ways. All these groups can view and download the one-page ISRs that ODE creates each year. Teachers also can view lists of OSAS scores for their classes in TeacherVue. ISRs from spring 2024 testing have been loaded in English and Spanish ISRs should be there next week. Whether Spanish ISRs are loaded for a student is based on the ‘resolved’ language in Synergy.

ODE requires schools to report OSAS results to parents annually. In the past this process has been time and resource intensive and involved downloading, printing, and sorting thousands of pieces of paper. With ISRs available in both ParentVue and StudentVue, users can now access OSAS results on-demand in Synergy. This will significantly reduce the number of printed copies that end up in trash or recycling. Schools still should plan to print an ISR for any parents who request it and may continue to print ISRs as makes sense.

During conferences, teachers who want to use ISRs now have the option to quickly pull them up in real time and display them on any screens that are available to them.

Please reach out to Dave VanLoo with any questions about accessing OSAS results in Synergy.

From our Amazing Bus Drivers and Transportation Department! Please share this flyer with your families, (in your newsletters and/or posted at conferences) as our transportation department is holding their very own trunk or treat for our students at the bus garage! This event is something that the drivers are doing to show the kids how much they love them. Pass it on!

Action Items

• Prepare a space for the Field Test Materials for families to view at conferences
• Dig into Wayfinder and see that your staff is teaching the lessons—check out the EL integration!
• Give Scott and Becca in communications the names of staff you know who were in the military
• Share state testing information with staff (4th and 5th grade teachers) for conferences
• Share the Trunk or Treat flyer with families

Important Dates

• Conferences: Oct 29–3:15-7:15, Oct 30–3:15-7:15, Oct 31–7:15-3:15
• October 30: Certified work day, 7:15-3:15
• October 30: Administrator EL training–Ensworth Elementary, 8:00-2:30—lunch provided!
• October 31: Safe School Trainings need to be done by today
• November 4: Karen Rush’s first official day!!! (Maybe sooner if we are lucky!)
• November 8: Safety Cadre Meets at the Ed Center Boardroom, 1:30-3:30
• November 11: Veteran’s Day–No School
• November 13: All Admin Meeting at Perseverance Hall, 3:00-4:30
• November 19: Horizontal meeting, @ Bear Creek, hosted by BCE and Miller, 3:00-5:00

And finally…

While Karen Rush’s official start day is November 4th, we may get a sneak peek of her this coming week!