Blaine County School District Staff Connection Logo
BCSD Staff Newsletter January 2019
Superintendent Letter to Staff

Books allow me to experience other worlds, lives and ways of thinking.  Reading and sharing books with my colleagues and neighbors enhances the connections and the learning.  Beginning with a kick-off party on January 29 at the Community Library, the entire Blaine County community is invited to participate in the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read featuring  Into the Beautiful North   by Alberto Luis Urganga.  

Students representing Wood River High School and the Nosotros United Club are serving as Community Library interns and helping plan the Big Read.  They include Monica Hurtado, Citlali Dolores, Sharom Yallico, Melissa Gonzalez, and Ivan Varela.  

Other events include a Hailey Public Library kick-off event on January 31 from 5:00-6:30 and a student-led book discussion for the community on February 13 at 5:00 p.m. at the Wood River High School library.  At both kick-off events, books in both English and Spanish will be distributed. We are also providing books to students; many teachers plan to use Urganga's books in their classroom lessons. 

On March 6, the author will speak at the Community Library.   I encourage staff to participate in the Big Read and look forward to hearing what other people think of the book.  Let's talk about it!

GwenCarol
Teaching and Learning

K-2 Teachers Unpack & Prioritize ELA Standards

These amazing K-2 teaching teams gathered and synergized to unpack and prioritize the ELA standards, a project that is part of the ELA curriculum review this adoption cycle.  The teachers studied the standards through engaging activities and reflection during the workshop facilitated by Gloria Wieand and Angie Martinez. Teachers collaborated to establish which are priority and supporting standards.  This process of standards prioritization creates a collective focus across a district. Gathering evidence of student learning and grading students on priority standards with a calibrated understanding of the 3, 2 1 grading scale will help teachers provide standards-specific feedback to parents and students. Bravo K-2 teachers for your investment of time and critical thinking to increase collective clarity on what is expected of students!

Kindergarten Team


1st Grade Team 


2nd Grade Team
Communications

For Spanish translation look at the top of each news story for the underlined phrase in Spanish, " Traducción al español ." Click the link for Google translate.  While we know that Google translate is a poor substitute for professional translation, we hope that this feature gives Spanish readers greater access to our website content.  Please share this new feature with your friends and family!
  

Are you social?  Does your school club, team, or class have a social media account that represents a program in the Blaine County School District?  Then help us help you. Register your account with our Social Media Registry so that we can follow the policy and promote the "official" social media accounts that provide accurate, timely and positive information about our amazing students and staff!  Contact Heather Crocker for details.




Blaine County School District Community Campus
 
All the BCSD Community Campus Partners wish you a very Happy New Year!    WRHS will begin auditions for their spring musical "We Will Rock You" on January 9th.   We are ramping up with youth basketball and indoor youth soccer in the BCRD Gym. NAMI is sponsoring a Family to Family support class on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning January 29th.  Please contact Christina Cernansky at 208-481-0686. CSI classes begin January 14th. Please pick up a schedule of classes at their office at the BCSD Community Campus or call 208-788-2033. 

The VOICE II, Construction, Medical Technical and Drama classes continue to flourish at the BCSD Community Campus.  In case you missed a photo of the ribbon cutting, check it out!


 
Human Resources

Happy New Year!! 

KEPRO ~ Employee Assistance Program
Monthly Online Seminar ~ Building Positive Relationships at Work
When: January 15th
How to Access: Go to your EAP web site: www.EAPHelpLink.com   
Enter your code : EAPNOW and look for Online Seminars in the lower right hand corner of this homepage or you can search for them by title .


BE AWARE OF SCAMS RELATED TO THE IRS

We have heard of several news scams related to the IRS lately.  Please be aware.

Read this link  for more information from the IRS.  
  • If you receive an email claiming to be from the IRS that contains a request for personal information, then you should:
    • Not reply
    • Not open any attachments (they could contain malicious code)
    • Not click on any links
    • Forward the email as-is to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov
    • Delete the original email.
  • If you receive an unsolicited text message claiming to be from the IRS, then you should:
    • Not reply
    • Not open any attachments
    • Not click on any links
    • Forward the text as-is to the IRS at 202-552-1226 (standard text messaging rates apply)
    • If possible, in a separate text, forward the originating number to the IRS at 202-552-1226
    • Delete the original text.
The IRS will not:
  • Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.
  • Demand that you pay taxes and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.
  • Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For instance, require that you pay with a prepaid debit card.
  • Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
  • Threaten to bring in police or other agencies to arrest you for not paying.
If you don't owe taxes , or have no reason to think that you do:
  • Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.
Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the "FTC Complaint Assistant" on FTC.gov. Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" in the notes.
Buildings and Grounds
 
Amber Avila
The Buildings and Grounds Department is pleased to announce the addition of Amber Avila to our organization as our new Administrative Assistant.  She will replace Scott Davis who will retire after serving the District for over 30 years in various buildings and in multiple capacities.

Amber will be relocating to the Maintenance Building from the Wood River Middle School where she has been engaged as a paraprofessional in the Autism Spectrum program for the past four years.  Prior to that she worked as a substitute throughout the District. Amber also has a wealth of experience in a construction/maintenance environment, having successfully managed the office of a local public utility for a number of years.

We will be visiting each of the facilities over the next few weeks to allow her the opportunity to meet administrators, secretaries, custodians, kitchen staff, teachers, etc.   Please join us in wishing Scott Davis well and in welcoming Amber Avila to the Buildings and Grounds Department!