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Superintendent’s Update

Shared with the Corvallis School Board during the August 15, 2019 meeting

New Staff Introductions

I am pleased to welcome new leadership staff to our team.

Nicole Hendricks was hired as assistant principal at Crescent Valley High School. Nicole is from southern California where she worked as a special education classroom teacher, Special Education Department Chair at the middle school level, and most recently as a high school vice principal. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Master of Arts in Education, both from Cal State University Bakersfield.

Also at Crescent Valley, Mark Henderson will serve as Assistant Principal and Athletic Director. He comes to our district from Monroe, Washington where he has worked as a math teacher, Principal, Dean of Students and Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at the high school level since 2008. He has coached at the high school level including Fastpitch and football. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Pacific Lutheran University and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from City University in Bellevue, Washington.

Salvador Muñoz was hired as Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at CHS in 2019. He came from Salem-Keizer Public Schools where he worked as a Spanish teacher at the high school and middle school levels since 2007 and as a high school Behavior Specialist since 2017. He also is currently an Assistant Coach for the Willamette University Men’s Soccer team and has coached at the high school level including soccer, track, golf, and basketball. He has extensive experience in behavior support strategies to ensure all students have the tools they need to be successful. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and Education and a Master of Education with an ESOL focus (English for Speakers of Other Languages) from Oregon State University.

Jennifer Still will serve as interim principal at Jefferson Elementary this year. She has worked  as a school counselor and most recently worked with the LBL ESD and Oregon Department of Education to align our district with statewide initiatives and best practices to promote regular attendance. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Masters in School Counseling from Oregon State University. She also holds a Preliminary Administrator License from Lewis and Clark College.

We are also pleased to have Bailey Payne as our new Sustainability Specialist.  Bailey worked as Waste Reduction Coordinator for Marion County for a decade and was also the regional coordinator for Oregon Green Schools for 120 schools in Marion County. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) Staff Training

Project GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) is an instructional model that aims to help educators provide differentiated strategies to integrate instruction of grade-level content for a diverse population of learners including emergent bilinguals. This summer 24 of our teachers representing all levels participated in a 6-day training (2 days research and theory and 4 days demonstration lessons with students). The demonstration is a unique opportunity for teachers to observe students utilizing the strategies. This is the third time we have offered the GLAD summer training since 2016. We have now trained over 70 teachers. We are proud to see these powerful strategies utilized in schools. The strategies are not only engaging to students, but they also make learning visible.

Summer Programs

Summer Field Ecology Camp

With the support of our community and the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation, our staff was able to provide a number of learning opportunities. Through a CPSF grant, 12 high school students from CHS and CVHS, and College Hill participated in the Summer Field Ecology Camp. This was a nine-day program that started right after the end of the school year. Thanks to science teacher Eva Riedlecker-Wolfe and educational assistant Angela So, this was like a summer camp experience and students earned a half credit in science. Eight of the 12 students responded in a survey that the camp made them like science more than they already did. One of the common comments was the appreciation of the snacks and lunch provided. One student noted, “The food that was included in the camp was helpful because not all of us have the time or money available to prep a lunch every day.”

Credit Recovery

Credit recovery was held at CHS this summer for students from CHS, CV and College Hill.  By the end of the session, students had earned 76 half credits. This is an important program that allows students to move forward towards graduation. A big thank you to our summer credit recovery staff: Kathleen Muravez, Jane Kiekel, Alison Hintzman, and Chieko Weiler.

Kindergarten Academy

Over the past three weeks, nearly 100 incoming kindergartners have participated in our kindergarten academy.  This is a chance for our youngest students to learn the expectations of school, get comfortable in the learning environment, and make new friends.  Incoming kindergarten students who have not participated in preschool are invited to attend. A big thank you to Kathy Feser for coordinating the program across our elementary schools.

Farm to Summer Challenge

The summer meal program is managed by our Food and Nutrition Services Department and is an important service for kids during the summer break. So far this summer we have served 28,000 meals to kids in our community! Our staff also participated in the Farm to Summer challenge in July. The challenge took place throughout Oregon communities to celebrate the school districts that source local products for their school meal programs. I attended one of the events at the Lancaster Apartments Community Room on a day that students were eating local blueberries and making smoothies by riding the Food Hero Blender Bike.   We were notified this week that Corvallis School District is one of five districts across the state of Oregon recognized for our commitment to the program.

Bond Oversight Committee

The purpose of the committee is to ensure bond revenues are used only for the purposes consistent with the voter-approved 2018 bond measure and consistent with state law. Committee member Chris Rochester resigned from the committee for personal reasons. Continuing committee members are Richard Arnold, Amy Crump, Brad Hamlin, Jennifer Richmond, Emily Valdez, and Gordon Zimmerman. The school board liaison to the committee is Jay Conroy.

The vacant position will be filled through an application process that will be shared with families and through our regular communication channels. For those who are interested in applying to serve, please visit the district website. This vacancy will be filled prior to the next Bond Oversight Committee meeting in October.