This summer has been busier than usual in our district. From professional development for staff and learning opportunities for students to the early activities of bond program planning, the summer months have gone by very quickly. The first day of school for all students is September 5 and we are excited to launch a successful school year. Public education is one of the few professions that gives us the opportunity to start fresh once a year. I am excited to get the new school year underway.
Staff Welcome Back Rally and Professional Development Fair
We traditionally gather all staff at a welcome back event the week before school starts. This year’s event will be held at Crescent Valley High School on August 29 and all board members are invited to attend the opening session. We will begin the morning with coffee and the opportunity to connect with our colleagues from 7:30-8:15 am. The morning program begins at 8:15 am in the gym. Vince and I will share some opening remarks and I hope board members will plan to attend.
The remainder of the day will include a variety of professional development sessions led by staff from across the district. Some of the sessions include suicide awareness and prevention training, educational specifications for elementary schools (led by DLR Group) and digital citizenship and ChromeBook device fundamentals for high school staff. This day is an important opportunity to gather all staff in one place and re-commit to our vision of supporting all students to be engaged learners and to feel safe, welcome, and known in all of our schools.
Summer Learning
While most people have the idea that our students and staff are “off-duty” during the summer months, our summer schedule of classes and professional development activities definitely provides a counter-narrative!
Trainings that our staff attended include Guided Language Acquisition Development, Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, Project-Based Learning, Health and Safety Training for all building leaders and their lead office staff, AP Spanish Language Institute, World Peace Games teacher training, and AVID training for middle and high school teachers.
Summer learning opportunities for students included high school credit recovery for English and math, AVID Boot Camp, math enrichment for middle schoolers, World Peace Games Camp at Linus Pauling, and Kindergarten Academy.
Kindergarten Academy is a three week, half day program that served approximately 75 students at Adams, Garfield, Lincoln, Mt. View, Wilson. The program was developed to support the transition of some of our youngest learners into school. I had a chance to visit Garfield earlier this week and it was exciting to see the students comfortable in the school and learning the routines of kindergarten.I would like to thank our Teaching & Learning Department for implementing the program and the Corvallis Public School Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust for funding support.
Summer Meals
Our free summer meal program provides access to healthy and nutritious food to children in our community and we have increased our marketing and promotion efforts, posting even more signage in the community, working with area organizations, such as Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services, to let families know free meals are available.
We partner with many local summer programs, such as Benton County Libraries in Corvallis and Philomath, OSU KidSpirit, Adair Village, Corvallis Parks & Recreation, Southside Church, Osborn Aquatic Center, Philomath Youth Activities Center, and the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis. We also provide meals for the Kinder Academy, the LPMS Math Academy for incoming 6th graders and the Drama Club at CHS.
Parents have given positive feedback on our meals and appreciate the local fruits and vegetables that are offered, such as the cherries from Poole Family Farms and apples from Riverwood Orchard. Meals will be served through August 31 and all children 18 and under are eligible to participate regardless of household income.
Architectural Services Selection Process
The architect selection process formally began on July 16, 2018 with the issuance of a Request for Proposals for architectural services. A selection committee comprised of district and Wenaha project management staff reviewed and scored all 11 proposals and provided recommendations for interviews. Based on that work, six firms were invited to participate in the interview process. Evening meetings were held August 13, 14, and 15 where each firm (two firms each evening) participated in a question/answer session with our Architect Selection Team and then facilitated a community engagement exercise with participants from the community.
The interview process was designed to increase community participation and input in the selection process. Many participants and all of the invited architect firms shared positive feedback about this community engagement opportunity. Before getting started with the architects, we provided an overview of the bond program process and our core values for educational design to our community participants. They were asked to share their impressions of the facilitation style and inclusiveness of each firm and that information was used to better inform the selection committee’s recommendation.
At the conclusion of the evening meetings, all participants were given the homework assignment of sharing the core values with someone after the evening’s activities. Throughout the bond program, our core values for educational design will be a touchstone in our planning and design decisions and my hope is that these core values will begin to be embedded in our discussions and community outreach in the months ahead.
For all Superintendent Updates from this school year and last, please visit the Superintendent’s Updates page.