Thank you for investing your passion, time, and expertise in Blue Valley Schools! We are honored that you chose us to be part of your life story. Blue Valley Schools is committed to providing you with the support, information, and resources necessary to make a smooth transition to our district and, for some, the beginning of your career in education. As part of our induction process, all educators new to Blue Valley Schools participate in Blue Valley Onboarding. 

INFORMATION TO NOTE

DATES

August 3-8, 2023

LOCATION

Blue Valley Onboarding will kick off at 8:00 AM at our Hilltop Conference Center on Thursday, August 3rd. Hilltop Conference Center is at 7700 W. 143rd Street, Overland Park, KS 66224. Please plan to arrive early to find your seat (attendees will sit with fellow new educators from their school building and their principal). 

After the initial welcome session at Hilltop, the other professional learning sessions will take place in various buildings, including your new school building, and a few will be virtual. All session locations will be listed, along with the exact times and session description in SCHED (https://BVO2023.sched.com). The schedule will be up by Mid-July. Please plan on checking the site as we get closer to August for any updates. 

TIMES

Onboarding is scheduled for 8:00 - 3:45 PM each day; this may vary from your contract time once the school year begins.

LUNCH

A daily lunch break will be from 12:00 - 1:00 PM. Lunch is on your own, so please plan accordingly. 

DRESS

Most of the time, the dress is business casual. On the first day of Onboarding, you will meet the Board of Education, our Superintendent, and your new supervisor. Please consider the impression you want to make. We recommend professional attire for the first day (August 3rd). For examples and ideas regarding business casual attire, check out this blog post on Indeed. 

WHAT TO BRING

Please bring your district-issued device (e.g., MacBook). You can pick up your device at one of our Technology Access Onboarding sessions in July (see below for additional information). If you have any forms for Human Resources, please bring them or schedule an appointment with our Human Resources Department (913-239-4000). Past participants have also found it helpful to have a writing instrument and a notepad. 

TECHNOLOGY EARLY ACCESS ONBOARDING REGISTRATION - NOW OPEN

As part of the onboarding process, you will need to plan to attend a technology access onboarding session. During this time, you will pick up your district-issued device (e.g., MacBook), sign into our network, and learn how to access our management and learning systems (e.g., Outlook, Canvas, etc.). Technology access onboarding sessions will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout July (the exact dates are July 11, 13, 18, 20, and 25th).  

Registration in advance is required. The Registration Form is COMING SOON!

You will need to plan on picking up your device after the welcome session on Thursday, August 3rd, and attend an orientation session on Tuesday, August 8th, starting at 1:00 PM at Hilltop Conference Center if you are unable to participate in a session in July. 

All new to Blue Valley Schools certified employees must complete technology-access onboarding. Once you have completed this aspect of onboarding, you can begin to use our network. The earlier you complete it, the earlier you will have access to your BV email, where you will find the most to-date information regarding the start of the 2023-24 school year and BV resources, including Canvas, our learning management system. 

BLUE VALLEY MENTORING PROGRAM (BVMP)

The Blue Valley Mentoring Program (BVMP) is a one (for initial specialist licenses) or two-year (for initial teaching licenses) mentorship dedicated to developing and retaining exemplary educators through relational learning and personalized mentoring support. The BVMP focuses on bringing out the best in each educator, uncovering strengths, and building emotional resiliency. The following beliefs guide the program:
●    Align support with well-defined and meaningful standards, 
●    Personalized support is most effective, 
●    Focus on developing reflective practitioners and the individual style of each educator,
●    Mentoring is collaborative and supportive, not evaluative, 
●    Cycles of improvement centered on goal setting, data collection, analysis, and reflection are the best practice to enhance instruction. 

Mentoring is best practice, and it is also a requirement of the KSDE for any educator on an initial license to upgrade to a professional one. If you are new to your role and (or) KSDE issued you an initial educator license, we will enroll you in our mentoring program. Use this link to look up your KSDE educator license. Please contact Dr. Kelly Wessel, Director of Human Resources, with any questions about the mentoring program ([email protected]) or if after August 10th you have been informed about being enrolled or from your district-assigned mentor.