By Anne Scheck

English language learners in the lower grades at Central School District indicate average levels on state testing in English proficiency, but middle school scores drop into the low-performing range. The pattern continues at Central High School.

That was part of the statewide data Superintendent Jennifer Kubista EdD shared at the last school board meeting. For English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA), students in kindergarten through 5thgrade appear “on track,” she said. However, beginning at 6thgrade and beyond, the ELPA tests show troubling trends, compared with elementary school results, she said. 

Absenteeism is associated with relatively low achievement, so special attention is being paid to students who “have struggled with attendance,” Dr. Kubista said. For example, a character called “Captain Attendance” at Independence Elementary School “flies through” frequently to acknowledge good attendance. 

Low attendance not only correlates with learning challenges, but “it’s actually tied to our funding,” she pointed out. State dollars are linked to the number of students present more than 90% of the days they are enrolled, she explained.

The top goal adopted by the district is student growth and achievement. But the second priority is family involvement. District-wide community chats that were held last year by Dr. Kubista -- and at the beginning of this academic year -- have provided a good foundation for families to connect, said Sharman Ensminger, director of equity, access and instructional technology for the district. Now, district staff are working on a formal plan to bring more family involvement into the schools, she said.

A pilot program in Polk County that will place 30 high school students in business internships is scheduled to kick off Dec. 1, with plans to go to different school districts when they’re also ready to start, said Brent DeMoe, the county’s family and community outreach director.  Mr. DeMoe announced the plan at the Board of Commissioners meeting last Tuesday. 

The inaugural effort, which will place 10 students per school-year term, begins at the Morrison Campus Alternative School in Dallas. “We want to give them the opportunity to be ‘job-ready’ when they graduate,” explained Morrison teacher Charlotte Vidrio.

Students get school credit for successful participation in the internships, and they are being offered the chance to receive dual community-college credit by Chemeketa, according to Roxanna Glang, a psychology professor at Chemeketa who is assisting with the program. 

Career and technical education (CTE) – internships, in particular – are a top objective of Central School District, said Julia Heilman, director of student services for the district. In a presentation at the recent school board meeting, she said the district is seeking to expand CTE.  “This is really to help support the success of students in school, career, college, work and community,” Ms. Heilman said.

As part of "Fight Crime: Invest in Kids," a group that's working to raise awareness of the role preschool can play in getting kids on a good educational pathway, Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton and Independence Police Chief Robert Mason, among other county law-enforcement officials, spent time recently at the Oregon Child Development Coalition in Independence. During their time there, the duo read a whimsical story to an audience of enraptured preschoolers. 

On behalf of the Lions Club, District Governor Steve Moser awarded Central School District 13J a sum of $10,500 for emergency preparedness this month at the Henry Hill building in Independence. The grant was received by Jason Clark, director of safety and security for the district; The school district contributed $500, bringing the total to $11,000. Mr. Clark was joined by Terry Cable, president of the Central Lions Club and Mike Ward, secretary of the Lions Club, and Rod Bach, also of the local Lions Club. Ben Stange, chief of Polk Fire District No. 1 and Kimber Townsend, were also present. Ms. Townsend will provide disaster instruction and expertise. Mr. Moser, former president of District 13J’s school board, represents Lions Club District MD-36R, that runs from Polk County westward to the Oregon Coast and south to Florence.

The incidence of sexually-transmitted disease is on the rise across the county -- repeating a pattern that’s been seen for the past few years, according to county medical reports. Gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis “continue to go up,” said Kristty Polanco, public health administrator for Polk County. The agency is attempting to pin down with more precision the most contributory factors, Ms. Polanco said. The findings were reported at a recent meeting of the Polk County Board of Commissioners. 

A 70-acre tract of land for mixed-use housing was annexed into the city of Independence last week, and a direct effect on the school district appears to be the potential increase in the number of families. The plan includes 100 new homes in southwest Independence; State estimates put typical population gains from new subdivisions at two-per-household in the Willamette Valley, over a range of ages. 

At the Independence City Council meeting, two of the councilors – Shannon Corr and Jennifer Ranstrom-Smith – asked if school administrators had been informed of the proposed expansion. Mayor John McArdle said he had spoken with former superintendent Buzz Brazeau about it before Mr. Brazeau left the district in 2017. Councilor Ranstrom-Smith then observed that local schools already are at capacity, adding that she found the issue “concerning.” She noted that in 2006 Henry Hill was an elementary school on the south side of Independence, but it no longer is open for students. Instead, it was converted to district offices.  

Later, when Superintendent Jennifer Kubista was asked privately at the meeting if she’d been contacted by the city about the annexation, she responded only: “I am here to learn.

Breakfast will be available for late-coming students at all three elementary schools and at Talmadge middle school, even if students enter the building after the morning bell has rung. “We want to offer them the opportunity to eat” even if they’re not on time, explained Alex Singer, head of food service for the school district. 
 
More funding for free school meals is part of the School Success Act, but money won’t kick in till 2020. Meanwhile, for students in the district, “we want to take away the worry of hunger,” he said. Independence Elementary School has the highest poverty rate of any district school, according to a report at the November school board meeting. 

An unusual weather pattern of windless fog that trapped poor-quality air across the region is making the days to come potentially unhealthy for some segments of the population with respiratory problems, despite sunny blue skies this week. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has said the air quality concerns will remain till Tuesday, Nov. 12.

By most measures, students in Central School District 13J lagged behind state averages on English language arts and math – but 7th-graders showed consistent growth year-over-year from mid-elementary school onward. 
 
“This is what we need to look at, and we need to try to determine what’s happening – and if we can learn why, that can be very helpful to us,” said Jennifer Kubista EdD, superintendent of the district. Dr. Kubista made her observations at the final “community chat,” which was held at the Henry Hill Hawk meeting room this past week. However, she unveiled the test scores at the last school board meeting, prompting one board member to note the data sets were beginning to show trends. 
 
The results were based on the previous years’ “Smarter Balanced Assessment” test, which showed this particular group, ages 12-to-13, improved more than 4% per year, for an overall rise of 16.6%. “Data collection is just so very important,” Dr. Kubista said. By having the same test annually and, in general, the same students taking it as they move through grades, “we can get information that is valuable.” 
 
In a brief interview after the community chat, Dr. Kubista added that the data-building effort at the district is being designed so that different categories, even individual students, can be tracked over time to give a clearer picture of gains and losses in periodic testing. “We aren’t there yet, but we’re headed there,” she said. 

A technical-training career track could become a more successful path for some students. That point was made at a town hall forum held by the City of Independence this month – and Dr. Kubista said she’s in full agreement.
 
Asked during the meeting if such career preparation at the high school level has merit, Dr. Kubista said she is an advocate of it, noting that radiologic technicians earn as much as $75,000 annually -- and they don’t require a four-year college degree. 
 
Career and technical education sustain high-school student involvement, she said. In fact, it’s linked to “on-time graduation,” she added. In addition, it means some high school graduates can “hit the ground running” in terms of immediate job opportunities, she said.  

Roth Grocery’s current home won’t become the school district’s new headquarters, once it vacates Independence and moves to a new building under construction at the S Curve – despite the popular rumor that relocation would free up the Henry Hill building to return to an elementary school. “No, this isn't the case,” said Dr. Kubista, quashing the gossip. However, a long-desired Taco Bell is likely to land next to the new Roth’s store, fulfilling a decade-long wish for the fast food eatery by students at Central High School. An email and phone call to Taco Bell’s headquarters in Irvine CA failed to elicit a denial.  

The Independence Police Department issued 58 citations and warnings this past year for “Operating a Motor Vehicle While Using a Mobile Communication Device.” Officers have found that there is often confusion as to what constitutes using a cell phone while driving, noted Independence Police Chief Robert Mason in a news release on the topic. “Basically, what regulations allow is that you can utilize hands-free devices,’’ he stated, adding that “the only time that the phone can be touched is to activate or deactivate it -- not dialing, texting, holding it to talk, entering directions or taking a selfie." Also, “we ask you to slow down for the kiddos heading to and from school, turn on your headlights, and be ready for weather-related hazards on the roads,” the chief concluded.

By Anne Scheck

TACKLING DAILY ATTENDANCE GAP

School is off to a good start this month, but Thursday seems to be the day more absences are occurring at the elementary school level, Jennifer Kubista EdD noted. Any school day that shows a relatively high level of absenteeism can be a problem – funding is directly tied to student attendance, she said. 
 
And, increasingly, chronic absenteeism is viewed as an important measure of school quality. Three weeks ago, Gov. Kate Brown issued a proclamation declaring September “School Attendance Month,” to help bring attention to the need for addressing chronic absenteeism in the state. Oregon has one of the highest absenteeism rates of any state in the nation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. 

“You have the ingredients to get this (better attendance) done in Oregon,” according to Pedro Noguera PhD, who gave the keynote speech at the annual meeting of the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, which was held last week. Dr. Noguera is distinguished professor of Education at UCLA. 

After his speech, he said that local schools in Oregon can follow the same formula as those in Los Angeles that have significantly increased their attendance rates. Teachers and administrators who call out and greet students at every opportunity have seen declines in absenteeism, he pointed out. Another important factor: Programs that allow all kinds of students to participate, such as expansion of sports and clubs beyond traditional offerings.
 
Dr. Kubista said she wants to see more emphasis on career and technical education – enabling students to have different kinds of engagement, including shop-style, hands-on experience. Some of that training was once considered a typical part of the curriculum.  

MENTAL HEALTH AT ALL SCHOOLS

A behavioral health specialist will be at every school in the district this fall – consistent with survey results last year from all local schools, which showed emotional well-being for students is a priority for families.  
 
In outreach meetings held during the 2018-19 academic year, District 13J parents and other attendees cited student health – including care for mental and emotional needs -- as the second-most important goal for the future. Topping the list was a call for examination of class size. 
 
The findings were tallied from thousands of responses gathered during the public meetings, said Superintendent Jennifer Kubista EdD. Dr. Kubista shared the results at one of the first “community chats” scheduled this fall, which was held last week at the Henry Hill meeting room. 
 
At a mental health forum last week, Steve Allen, the behavioral health director for the Oregon Health Authority, said programs that are simple, responsive and meaningful are key to success in addressing mental-health needs. 
 
“I agree with that,” said Eugene Superintendent Gustavo Balderas EdD during a brief interview at a meeting of school administrators held the same day as the mental health conference. Dr. Balderas, a graduate of Western Oregon University, was named superintendent for the year 2020 by the Oregon Association of School Executives and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators. 

Making it simple: Being able to see a behavioral-health specialist by having one right there at school is a good step, Dr. Balderas said. And for responsiveness: Knowledge that a caring person is immediately available is hugely important, he added. “For students to learn, they need to feel safe,” he pointed out. 

To make it meaningful, it’s good to establish a “baseline” so that comparisons can be made year-to-year, he said. Dr. Kubista has said she would like to establish benchmarks and data points for many of the points in the district’s plan.
The next community chat with Dr. Kubista will be held Oct. 10 at Ash Creek Elementary School from 6 to 7:30 pm.

NOTE
 
The new Student Success Act is going into effect with an estimated delivery of $1 billion to public schools -- but districts won’t start seeing the new money from the legislation until the 2020-21 academic year.

By Anne Scheck

School Enrollment: Significant Increase

Early enrollment figures suggest an increase of more than 180 students in Central School District 13J, surpassing a prediction made last year by a Portland-based consulting firm -- and closing off transfers from outside the district. The uptick has strained capacity at several grade levels, Superintendent Jennifer Kubista said at the monthly school board meeting Monday night. 

“Students who live in our community – that is our priority,” she said. Noting that the “numbers could change,” she said there were an estimated 3,180 students last year and this fall 3,363 have “stepped into the buildings.” That tally may fluctuate – it reflects only the first few days of the new academic year, she pointed out. And the data are subject to state-mandated formulas, making direct comparisons potentially imprecise so early in the process, she added. 

Several months ago, a team from the consulting agency Flo Analytics predicted an upward enrollment trend in the district at the elementary-school level for every year in the near future. In a brief interview after the forecasting was presented, personnel from the company said housing growth in the area, including several scheduled subdivisions, mean an annual rise of at least several dozen students is a fairly certain finding.

NOTE: Dr. Kubista will hold a series of “community chats” on the district’s strategic plan. The first one is scheduled for Sept. 24, 2019, at Henry Hill. Free childcare is provided for children 3 years and older. Refreshments will be provided. 

History Teacher Receives Award

Frank White, a history teacher at Central High School, was honored with the Gilder-Lehrman award Monday night – but he gave much of the credit to his students. 
 
Accepting the award, which included $1,000 for the educator, Mr. White said “none of this happens because of one person.” His students are “extraordinary” and filled with “curiosity,” which is one reason they “knocked the stuffing out” of other schools in a recent competition, he said. 
 
Mr. White was selected out of 600 applicants from across the state for his innovative and inclusive teaching style, said Amit Kobrowski, who bestowed the award. Mr. Kobrowski is an education specialist in social sciences at the Oregon Department of Education. 
 
With his wife Lola and young son looking on, Mr. White said that his passion for history comes from knowing its importance. “History is the way culture teaches us about our identity,” he said. 

Looking Ahead

A summertime rite of passage for Central High School teens – tubing on the Willamette River – may have an added layer of safety next year if the county sheriff’s concerns about trees in the water is heeded by the Oregon State Marine Board.
Citing “log jams” that can snag rafting groups – including an outing this past summer that involved his own wife – Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton said he plans to ask the board for mitigation of underwater trees. After a recent tube-rafting death, in which a woman who was wearing a life jacket became entangled and drowned, it’s clear that these submerged trees need management, he said. “She did everything right,” Sheriff Garton said of the victim. The sheriff made his comments at the Polk County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday. 

There is no age restriction on adolescents using either rafts or inner tubes to float down the Willamette River, according to state authorities. Riverview Park, a launch location in Independence, is listed as one of the most popular raft-staging sites in the area by Travel Oregon.

The Final Word

High school student Kendrah Hastings, now seated as part of the District 13J School Board after a recently completed selection process for student representation, took her place among the elected school board officials Monday. Way to go, Kendrah.

State legislators are expected to step in with a provision that could help relieve a debt approaching $75,000 that has been incurred by Central School District 13J for school lunches that have gone unpaid this past year. “I think the bill does have legs,” said School Superintendent Jennifer Kubista EdD during a recent community forum. “But it still has a way to go in the state legislature.” 
 
HB 2760 would address school meal debt by making more children and youth eligible for free school meals. Central School District 13J "could be a big winner," said Matt Newell-Ching, public affairs director at Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, which tracks family food insecurity.
 
If the bill passes, it will more than double the number of schools statewide able to serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge and without applications, also known as "community-eligibility" schools, Mr. Newell-Ching explained. Initial analysis by his non-profit group indicates that many -- or perhaps all -- schools in Central School District would be able to participate. The supplementary state funding would be able to make it possible financially, he said.
 
It's suspected that the expense to the district began ratcheting up this year because some families that cannot afford to buy student lunches became fearful of filling out the forms needed to quality for a subsidy. So the district provided lunch for students who didn’t pay. “If you aren’t able to eat you cannot focus in school,” Dr. Kubista noted. [LOOK for more coverage of this likely legislative action on new lunch funding in the column “The Civics Lesson” in the May issue of The Independent.]

Independence schools will increase an estimated 1.6% annually in the coming years, and the growth will continue through 2028, according to a research team from Flo Analytics, a Portland-based data-mining company that predicts student-population growth. The forecast was reported at District 13J’s school board meeting last month by analysts Jerry Oelerich and Alex Brasch.
 
The biggest gains will be seen at Independence Elementary School, which enrolls students primarily from the city’s core, but upticks also will occur at Ash Creek Elementary, which draws from an area west of Gun Club Road. A big jump in enrollment is likely to occur between 2023 and 2028 at Talmadge Middle School as the increase of kindergarten entrants from earlier years begins to translate into enrollment there, the analysts said.   
 
Looking Ahead: Local American Legion Post Offers Scholarships to BOYS STATE. Male high school juniors who would like to attend Boys State at Western Oregon University June 16-22 can apply for up to $350 in tuition through a scholarship program by the local chapter of the American Legion, Post 33, in Independence. Forms can be found at:  https://www.orlegion.org/boys-state.html.Though the forms indicate a Wilsonville address for mailing, the application can be sent directly for scholarship consideration to Billy Whisenant, 304 Dawn Court, Independence OR 97351. Deadline is May 27.

The school district’s tab for feeding students who cannot pay for their lunches has grown to $54,000, according to Alex Singer, director of food service. The sum “is all uncollected meal debt,” said Mr. Singer, who reported the cost at the last school board meeting, held earlier this month. The debt was incurred after the district – along with others across the state – ended the practice last year of what some had dubbed “lunch shaming.” The term referred to giving cold-sandwich substitutes or other snacks to students whose families were in arrears to the district for meals at school.
 
The reason for the relatively high debt is twofold, Mr. Singer said. There are low-income families whose earnings don’t qualify for subsidy, missing the cut-off by a mere $50 in some cases. And some families that might qualify appear fearful of filling out any paper work that would identify them, Mr. Singer said. The issue is expected to be brought back to the school board soon for further discussion. 

Tom Pessemier, who has held several key administrative roles for the City of Sherwood, was selected as the new city manager for Independence, it was announced Tuesday. Mr. Pessemier is scheduled to begin in early December.

From drones to dog-leash rules, policy changes that affect local schools -- required by statute or other regulation -- are being tackled by the district superintendent, Jennifer Kubista EdD, and the school board. From replacing archaic language to updating statements that reflect new technology, the amendments are expected to be adopted throughout this year -- and probably into the next one, too. 

An agreement between the Central Education Association (CEA) and the school district appears to bring to close a months-long battle over a new contract -- but state election campaigns have highlighted more reasons to worry about teachers. 
 
Increases in salaries to cover cost-of-living adjustments and an expanded definition of sick leave are two major tenets the CEA secured in recent bargaining with District 13J, according to district teachers. However, some experts are warning – in the wake of the ballot debates -- that two forces in Oregon threaten the stability of the instructional pipeline, even in a town like Independence. 
 
One is a robust economy, which offers the potential for new career paths. The other is the escalating price of real estate across many areas of Oregon, which is lowering the buying power of teachers, even in the semi-rural towns of the Willamette Valley.  
 
For a look at how teachers may be impacted locally in the next few years, the November issue of The Independent queried educators, economists and real-estate experts, who predict that school faculties may be hard hit in the future, due to trends in the cost of housing and opportunities in the job market. 

Oregon’s just-released 2018 Report Card shows Independence Elementary School (IES) has more low-scoring students, compared with others of the same grade in the district.  Only about one in five test-takers in grade 3 at IES, for example, meets state standards in English and math. In 2019, a special issue of The Independent will take an in-depth look at the many factors that can affect K-5 test scores -- and several are unrelated to classroom academics.