Welcome to the 2019-20 School Year!

We are so excited to welcome our students and staff back to our schools! After reviewing feedback from the staff and community, we've decided to send the Superintendent Memo to all staff on Fridays, and to the whole community on Mondays. It will be a simple way to increase our sense of community, as we all can share the same information of things going on around the district.

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, September 10: School Board Meeting, 7 pm

Tuesday, September 17: First meeting of the Bond Development Committee, 6 pm

(left Pic) Mabel Rush 1st Day - Principal Tim Lauer welcomes brand new kindergartners

(center Pic) Senior Parade - Senior Sicily Hampton decorates her car before the Senior Parade

(right Pic) Mt. View First Day for Sixth Grade - Assistant Principal Cassandra Thonstad helping 6th graders and their families get settled in middle school

News links of interest:

Students craft environmental education proposal—Newberg Graphic

District Librarian position returns to Newberg Schools—Newberg Graphic

Opinion: A Turning Point for Oregon Education—OregonLive

Highlights from the week:

It's so exciting to actually launch a new school year! I had the chance to get out to all of our schools in the first two days, and saw our staff doing an amazing job welcoming students and starting the year off positively. This is what our whole mission is about, meeting the needs of each learner who comes to us. I loved seeing our returning staff and new staff do what you all do best.

Joe's Thoughts:

This year I'm looking forward to all the ways we will focus on improving teaching and learning. We’ve hired Educational Excellence to lead us through development of math standards K-12; science curricula are being piloted in our middle schools; Dr. Pam Mears is our new Literacy TOSA, supporting teachers across the district; and Schoolzilla will be available to some of our teachers as a tool to see relevant data to help students.

With the passage of the Student Success Act, our district will need to hear from our staff and from our whole community about the key needs we have, as we apply for access to those funds. Our Strategic Plan will be our framework to categorize the needs that our staff and community identify.

The School Board is moving forward to pursue a Bond for facilities on the May 2020 ballot. BRIC Architecture will help us review and refine our Long Range Facilities Plan, by gathering input from our staff and from our community. We want to both take care of our buildings, and make them better able to facilitate creative learning. More information will be coming out soon for the times and dates and other ways to give input.

What matters to all of us is cultivating a culture of learning and a culture of care for every single unique student. We know each student is unique, and we believe every student can learn. Access-Equity-Inclusion-Opportunity-Understanding is our commitment to meet each student where they are.

I’m grateful for all of you. Let’s work together and move forward this year in Newberg Public Schools!

Joe

https://www.smore.com/g2r6t-superintendent-memo?ref=email-content#w-0023671609