District Staff News
January 27, 2020
As hard as I tried to jinx us, we only ended up with a delay for school on Friday, January 17. I'm glad we had the opportunity to get in part of the school day. Conditions simply didn't warrant a closure. We did have some concerns about transportation near the Carus area, which prompted the additional delay. Thanks to everyone who worked quickly to adapt the school day to get in as much as possible - including lunch. We had lots of questions about whether lunch would be served at elementary schools. Many of our kids look forward to lunch. We're happy we could come through for them.
January was a sprint! It absolutely flew by, but we were busy working on several initiatives:
- Student Success Act Our first committee meeting is tomorrow as we work to develop a plan to increase academic achievement and reduce academic disparities while addressing students' mental and behavioral health. Thank you to all who applied to be on the committee. We have representation from every school and every level, and we're pleased at the number of parents who answered the call to serve. We will update you on the plan's development as the committee gets to work.
- Bond Development Committee While we had to delay a couple of community meetings, the Bond Development Committee is making progress toward creating a bond package it may recommend to the Board of Directors.The delays in this work are happening for good reason: the committee wants to get it right. Members need some more time to think through projects and to analyze costs. When the group is ready, there will be a community meeting.
- Positive School Climate Our school climate and administrative teams have been
working on synthesizing our discipline and referral procedures. We reviewed the flow chart that indicates whether a referral should be handled at the classroom or office level. Additionally, we reviewed our new incident referral form that will now be used K-12. We created one form so we have consistency across the system. This will help all of us properly document discipline. This is important work as we’ll be able to track challenging behavior throughout a student’s entire educational career.
I want to thank the volunteers who serve on the Canby School District Board of Directors. We recognized them at our Board Meeting on Thursday as part of Board Appreciation Month. Each Board Member received student art and small tokens of thanks from throughout our district. We also shared the posters of appreciation, created by many of our schools. Thank you to the student artists who contributed their talents to these gifts, and the teachers and staff who helped direct them. Please join me in thanking our Board of Directors for their service: Chair Angi Dilkes, Vice Chair Mike Zagyva, Stefani Carlson, Dawn Depner, Sara Magenheimer, Tom Scott, and Rob Sheveland.
Thank you for all you do for our students! I hope you have a great week!
2019 Graduation Rates Released
Newly-released data from the Oregon Department of Education shows 86.4% of Canby School District’s students graduated within four-years during the 2018- 2019 school year. This graduation rate is on par with the district’s 86.65% rate in 2018. Canby School District continually exceeds the state’s graduation rate, which is up to 80% for the 2018-19 school year.
While Canby School District exceeds the state graduation rate, there is opportunity for growth, particularly when it comes to reducing the achievement gap. There is a 10% difference in the number of white students graduating in four years, compared to those in the Hispanic/Latino community. Students navigating poverty and those with disabilities also lag behind their peers. However, students who completed English Learner programs in Canby are seeing success. 92.54% of Former English Learners graduated in four years. That rate is higher than the district’s and the rate among white students.
Former English Learners are just one of the student groups where graduation rate gains have been made over the last three years. Students navigating poverty and those experiencing homelessness graduated a higher rate in 2019 than the previous two years.
“It’s encouraging to see growth among some student groups who have historically been underserved,” said Superintendent Trip Goodall. “Our efforts to equitably support all students are having some impact; however, we need to do more to ensure all students graduate. As we develop our Student Success Act plan, we are targeting programs, services, and supports that give each student what they need to succeed.”
Research shows students who are chronically absent are less likely to graduate. A student is defined as chronically absent when they miss 10% of school, which is just two days a month. Currently, 38% of 12th grade students in the district are chronically absent. When the root cause of absenteeism is addressed, attendance typically improves and students make academic gains. For information on how families can support their student’s attendance, visit https://every-day-matters.org/.
“We need a strong partnership with the parents in our district to ensure students are coming to school, they’re engaged in school, and they’re achieving in school. We know that support at home in these areas can lead to academic gains,” said Superintendent Goodall. “While we address how best to fix our achievement gaps, we hope the partnerships we have with our
parents, and our community, can help all students feel supported and valued in our schools as they work to reach their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers that keep any student from reaching the graduation stage.”
February 3-7 is School Counselor Week!
Please be sure to thank your School Counselor for all the work they do as a part of our learning community! https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/NSCW/NSCW2020.jpg
HIPAA vs. FERPA.
HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 pertains to medical records. FERPA, the Family Education RIghts and Privacy Act of 1974, pertains to school records. It is easy to get confused just what these laws our and where they apply. This article, from Frontline, helps to clarify this question as well as answer some common misperceptions.
https://www.frontlineeducation.com/blog/top-5-ferpa-hipaa-misconceptions-for-schools/
SpEd 101
ODE is encouraging all schools within Oregon to move toward more and more inclusive practices. A step in this direction, is making sure that all educators understand what SDI (specially designed instruction) in an IEP for a student is and how it can be offered. Brad Lenhardt, from ODE, offers the following:
"Specially designed instruction" means adapting the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address an eligible child's unique needs and ensure his access to the general curriculum so he can meet educational standards. 34 CFR 300.39 (b)(3).General education teachers who are poised to take part in co-teaching with special educators may not understand how SDI can be delivered in the classroom and how it differs from instruction designed for every child." Our teachers can give us the definition of [SDI] and tell us strategies, but they don't always understand what it all means," said Amanda Bruce, a low incidence consultant at the Ohio Valley (Ky.) Educational Cooperative. "They don't understand that they are instructing the special education students, and the special education specialist is ensuring those students have access to the curriculum."
Encourage general education teachers to review these misconceptions and truths about SDI and an example of what SDI for students with disabilities may look like in the classroom:
-Myth: SDI is just for academics.
Truth: SDI can focus on a student's behavioral issues, communication needs, physical difficulties -- anything depending on the student's needs, Bruce said. "If the student has a significant cognitive disability, SDI may address the student's basic needs," she said.
-Myth: SDI is best delivered in a special education classroom.
Truth: Students must learn in the least restrictive environment under the IDEA, so they may receive SDI at the same time as their typically developing peers in the general education classroom, Bruce said. For instance, as most of the classroom is engaged in guided reading, a group of students with specific learning disabilities may receive explicit phonics instruction in the classroom, said Lynn Schwallie, a literacy consultant at OVEC.
-Myth: The IEP explains what SDI is so parents understand.
Truth: Parents may not understand from reviewing their child's IEP what his instruction is going to look like in the classroom, Bruce said. It is important for general and special educators to know how to talk with parents about what students are expected to learn in accordance with education standards, what SDI means, and what it will look like for their child. You may want to create a visual aid to help parents understand.
-Myth: SDI is just about accommodations.
Truth: SDI may involve accommodations, modifications, assistive technology, and other supports and services. "Accommodations just change how the student is learning or accessing the content," Bruce said. Modifications are for students who need changes to the content they are learning, she said. For example, a student may benefit from a special educator's pre-teaching of vocabulary through explicit instruction before the general educator discusses a text that includes that vocabulary, Bruce said. But SDI may also involve having the student find the vocabulary words in the full text rather than reading and discussing the text. "For SDI, you have to find out what the core instruction lesson is so that you can find the access point for every student," she said. "You have to spend time talking and planning together to design instruction that meets the needs of all the kids."
For instance, you may see that a student reads fairly accurately, but slowly, with long pauses in between each word, Schwallie said. You may decide that the student would benefit from the SDI of repeated reading in a small group led by the special educator while the general educator works with another group on a different concept, such as guided reading, and a third group is independently reading and responding to the text. In a co-teaching setting, she said, the special educator would take the lead in planning, designing, initial delivery, and monitoring of the SDI in the student's IEP. The general educator would support the SDI through some repeated reading when she teaches in the future, Schwallie said.
Bruce and Schwallie spoke about this at the 2019 Kentucky Exceptional Children's Conference.
- Kathy
The technology team has been battling a crazy amount of recent sickness -- I’m sure it’s at least partially related to touching hundreds of keyboards each week. Almost half the team has been out sick at least some point in time since holiday break. This being said, we appreciate your patience as we get caught up with support tickets and routine tasks.
Here are three things to keep in mind as you (and I) try to wash our hands somewhere between 8 and 48 times per day. :)
1. With staff out sick, the use of our helpdesk becomes more important! Our district technology team can intervene on an urgent building issue if it is in the helpdesk. We cannot do this when that issue is emailed to the tech who may be out sick.
2. We have successfully moved our first group of staff members to the new first.last email format. As we tackle the rest of the district, we want to let you know that your email signature (the few lines of text that provide your work-related contact information on a message you send) will need to change. We’ll provide you a template and instructions on how to reestablish your signature, but we wanted to give you a heads up that this is part of the email change process.
3. See anything odd, let us know: Last week a district in our ESD had a student use a personally-owned Chromebook with some easily available software to connect to the school network and crack administrative and staff passwords. The student then proceeded to use these passwords to access all kinds of protected information and technology systems. Here’s the important part: fellow students noticed that their Google profile pictures changed and reported it as an odd technology issue. The technology team followed up and found that district-wide systems were accessed inappropriately, and, a few hours later, they traced the activity back to the student who used stolen passwords. There are dozens of things the technology team could have done to better protect themselves (we’re very much in the same situation as the impacted district, and we’re working on improvements in the background), but I wanted to highlight the importance of speaking up when you see/hear about something odd…it could be a big deal.
- Bret
Our 4-day Self Defense session with Troy Soles will be on February 3, 10, 24, and March 2. Each session is in the Auxiliary Room at CHS. Middle and high school staff classes run from 3:30-4:30. Classes for elementary staff are from 4:30-5:30.
These lessons build off of each other so it is important that you attend all four classes as much as possible. Click the button below to register! Hope to see you there!
- Megan & Morgan
Every Day Matters
The district is averaging a 23.8% chronic absenteeism rate. The goal is no more than 11%, and we're up more than 7% over this time last year.
The numbers are high in every situation. The highest grade levels include 12th grade at 36.5%, followed by 11th, 7th, 8th, 1st, 10th, then kindergarten.
Chronic absenteeism is defined by missing 10% or more of the school year - which is just 2-days a month.
How can you help? Attendance Works offers this advice:
Every day a student is absent is a lost opportunity for learning. Too many absences not only can affect achievement for the absent student but also can disrupt learning for the entire class. While teachers play a key role, everyone in the school building— from the principal to the front office to the cafeteria— can teach attendance!
What does it mean to teach attendance? More than simply taking roll each day. Teaching attendance involves building awareness about how many absences are too many, encouraging students to come to school every day even when it is hard and engaging them once they are in the school building.
It can also involve helping children and families get assistance to solve a significant barrier to getting to school. Yet educators don’t need to solve the problem of chronic absence alone. When educators review student attendance data and notice absences adding up, they can encourage families to partner with other school staff, such as social workers or nurses, as well as community agencies to get needed supports.
Warning: Viral TikTok Challenge is Incredibly Dangerous
Congratulations - Our Students are Doing Amazing Things!
CHS Senior Rachel Hansen was recently named to the 2020 All-State Dance Team! Seven CHS senior dancers auditioned for the statewide honor. Rachel will represent the five-time state champion Canby Dance Team well!
And Ninety-One sixth-grader Bella Capra is the second best Junior Freestyle Indoor Skydiver in the country! She just finished competing at the National Indoor Skydiving Championship, where she also won third place in the "Dynamic 2-Way Advanced" competition with her coach.
Congratulations to these students for their incredible accomplishments!
Robotics and FBLA Students Shine
The Canby FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) Robotics teams performed very well this month the Midvalley Robotics Tournament, winning nearly all of their matches!
Cougarbots were part of the the winning alliance and also won First place Inspire Award, which is the most prestigious award for the best overall team. Mechanicougs won The Connect award which is for the team that best connects with the local engineering community, school community, and inspires young people to get involved in robotics.
Both Teams are moving on to Super Qualifiers! Great job by our students, and program director Jennifer Gingerich!
All students. All abilities. All opportunities.
Email: fostera@canby.k12.or.us
Website: www.canby.k12.or.us
Location: 1130 South Ivy Street, Canby, OR, USA
Phone: 503-266-7861
Facebook: facebook.com/canbyschooldistrict
Twitter: @canbyschools