BSD Staff Updates

This email is to inform you that Bremerton School District is taking proactive steps to protect our staff and the organization's data by partnering with CyberHoot for dark web monitoring.

CyberHoot will monitor the dark web for instances of your work email address appearing in data breaches or leaks. The dark web is a hidden part of the internet where illegal activities often take place, and compromised data, including email addresses and passwords, can be bought and sold there.

What this means for you:

Monitoring: CyberHoot will regularly scan the dark web for your school email address.

Notifications: If your work email is found on the dark web, you will receive a direct notification from CyberHoot with instructions on what steps to take to secure your account. It is crucial that you pay attention to these notifications.

Action Required: If you receive a notification, it's important to follow the instructions promptly. This will likely involve changing your school password and potentially other personal passwords if they are similar. You may also be asked to review your account activity for any suspicious behavior.

Why are we doing this?
Protecting our staff's information and the school's data is a top priority. By monitoring the dark web, we can identify potential security risks early and take steps to mitigate them. This helps to prevent unauthorized access to school systems and protects sensitive information.

If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to reach out to me. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us maintain a secure environment for everyone.

Sincerely,

Nikhil Gautam

Director of Technology Services

As a reminder:

• ParentSquare is the district’s adopted platform and is the mandated tool for communication with students and parents.

• ParentSquare has replaced Remind*

• All staff in the District are automatically set-up with an account.

• If you have not activated your account, click to view this helpful “Getting Started” guide

• If you need additional access to features in ParentSquare, please contact your principal or supervisor.

ParentSquare is a safe, secure, and modern approach to communication and collaboration between school and home! I invite all staff to watch this 3-minute ParentSquare introduction video for a quick overview! I also encourage you to look at this with tips and helpful links to training on different features.

There are lots of training articles accessible by clicking on the question mark in the upper right hand corner, once you are logged-in to ParentSquare. There are links to training in every staff newsletter. Check out the archives here.

*WST staff still have access to Remind through the end of the school year.

Learn more here!

Check out this helpful article (with content suggestions!).

Thank you to Scotty Renner for making this helpful video showing how to rename your classes in ParentSquare!

Shout out to our CNS team, led by CNS Supervisor Ashley Guerrero! They pivoted on a dime Thursday night and Friday morning to provide sack lunches for all elementary students and regular hot lunches for our secondary students on our 3-hour delay day! One hour might not seem like a big difference but it IS when you are talking about serving meals to 4,300 students!

Thanks for your extra efforts to keep our sidewalks and parking lots shoveled and sanded and our buildings warm during our recent winter weather!!

Where would we be without our amazing transportation staff! Shout-out to Transportation Director Marco DiCicco who starts every wintery weather day at 2 a.m. driving our bus routes to assess road conditions. He also does an amazing job assessing all of the different forecasts to help us plan for weather delays and/or closures!

Our drivers did an amazing job navigating some wintery roads to get our students transported to school safely last week, and our office staff was masterful at juggling all of the parent calls! Great work everybody!

Once again, Naval Avenue Elementary took top honors in this year’s United Way Campaign, raising $2,749 to help with the major programs of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the 2-1-1 referral system, United Way Cares, and the many smaller programs that help Kitsap County be safer and healthier for all of us.

The driver behind Naval Avenue’s annual success is the very motivated campaign coordinator, Rick Cortes, who puts his heart and competitive spirit into each year’s drive. At a time when many have pulled back from charitable giving, Rick reminds his staff of the importance we all share in caring about the common good and encourages them to participate. Thank you, Rick, and all who participated in making Naval Avenue #1!

At the February 11th Board Meeting, the Board of Directors interviewed 5 candidates for board position #5. The board appointed Ben Anderson who will be sworn in at the February 20th board meeting. Read the full announcement.

POLICY NEWS:

The following policy were adopted by the board:

• Policy 4300- Limiting Immigration Enforcement in Schools

The following procedure was retired by the board:

• 4300P- Political Relationships with Governmental Agencies

The following policies were brought to the board for a first read and were approved:

• Policy 3205- Sexual Harassment of Students Prohibited
• Policy 3432- Emergencies

The following procedure was adopted by the board:

• 4300P- Limiting Immigration Enforcement in Schools

Other Business:

• Updated Booster Application Form 4120F
• Updated Form: 6114F-1 Request for Acceptance of Gifts

For more information about these meetings and to view any of these documents, visit Community.

Join us in-person or online!

Email: communications@bremertonschools.org

Website: www.BremertonSchools.org
Phone: 360-473-1000
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