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.