Superintendent’s Update

Shared with the Corvallis School Board during the February 6, 2020 meeting

National School Counseling Week

This is National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), to focus public attention on the unique contribution of professional school counselors.

We have made significant efforts in our district to support the mental health and wellness of our students. Our school counselors play an important role in helping students navigate stress and develop social-emotional skills.

This year we have added support for our highest level students who are navigating stress and trauma which allows our school counselors to play a role in prevention and skill-building.
Elementary students receive instruction in bullying prevention including how to recognize, refuse, and report bullying. At the secondary level, counselors are working to be proactive and work with students who lack engagement in school. Thank you to all of our school counselors.

Inclusive Teaching Practices Professional Development

Teaching staff at CHS have been participating in professional development sessions on SIOP (which stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol.) The SIOP model helps teachers plan and deliver lessons that allow English learners to acquire academic knowledge as they develop English language proficiency. 

• This learning series culminated in an optional activity to make fire to remind educators of the importance of igniting curiosity in their students and then fanning and feeding the flames of learning.
• This activity is a real-world example of teamwork, collaboration and mutual support! Thank you to mentor teacher Suzanne McFarland-Price for your inspired leadership of this work.

Bonds, Buildings, and Ballots

I was invited to attend the OSBA Bonds, Ballots and Buildings Conference that will take place this Friday. I will be part of the “Learn from the Winners” Panel for a presentation and discussion of what led to the successful passage of the 2018 facilities improvement bond.

It’s hard to believe it has been two years since the board approved the language for our bond measure and all of the groundwork that was completed with our long-range facilities plan.

• The bond passed with a 68% approval rate and I attribute that to the fact that we spent time in a visioning process and rooted our work in the five core values of educational design.
• Those values – collaboration, community, real-world learning, inclusivity, and adaptability – are all clearly evident today as we prepare to break ground on our first major projects this spring. You’ll be hearing more about our plans for groundbreaking ceremonies next month.

Program Highlight- Dual Language Immersion Teaching Staff

Supporting students from diverse backgrounds and cultures is at the core of creating a safe and welcoming school environment for all. The Corvallis School District Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program, established nearly a decade ago, celebrates and nurtures our growing population of Emerging Multilingual students (EM) and provides a pathway to educational success.

<Watch the Video>

We currently have about 500 emerging multilingual students in our schools. While not all of them attend DLI schools, this program was put in place for these learners. It is about preserving a language that is at most risk. It’s providing students with academic language in Spanish.

Our goal is that when DLI students graduate from our district, they have the ability to communicate academically in two languages and the ability to build meaningful connections, gain a deeper understanding of self and others, and a more culturally sensitive perspective. As a reminder, our DLI schools are Garfield and Lincoln Elementary, Linus Pauling Middle School, and Corvallis High School.