001Recording in progress. Here we go. Ready? Thank you. I'd like to call to order the meeting of the Centennial School District Governing Board on this Wednesday, May 13th at 6:30 p.m. Welcome. What a crew. This is really exciting to see so many people here this evening. We do have a few little housekeeping things to get started with and then we're going to get into what we feel is the most kind of exciting and fun part of a meeting and that is honoring students and honoring staff. So, board of directors, um, I need to have approval of the board meeting agenda as presented. >> Motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as presented. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. I.
002>> I. >> We often raise our hands as well because we do have an audience that is out there and in case they can't hear us, they can see what we're doing. So, thank you very much. We're going to go ahead and start um with our recognitions and presentations tonight. And the first thing that we want to do is recognize our Asian and American and Pacific Islander in our student body in our staff in in our community. And we have a resolution that we'd like to read into the record. So, I'm going to start that resolution and then we're going to board members to read it as well. Whereas from May 1st through May 31st, 2026, the United States recognizes Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And whereas Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities represent over
00348 ethnicities, speak more than 300 languages, and bring unique histories, traditions, and perspectives that contribute to our collective learning and growth. And >> whereas Asian and Pacific Islander Americans have lived and work in or worked in Oregon for more than 200 years, contributing to the state's rich history, economy, and culture. And whereas Asian and Pacific Islander Americans have helped advance our communities through their contributions to all fields of education, business, the arts, economic development, science, technology, public service, and civic life. And whereas despite these contributions and leadership, the role of Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities in the US history has been constantly overlooked and undervalued in the literature, teaching, and study of American history. And >> whereas the Centennial School District serves a richly diverse student body where Asian-American and Pacific Islander learners and families
004are essential contributors contributors to the cultural, academic, and civic life of our schools and communities. And whereas the Centennial School District Board is committed to celebrating and appreciating each student for the district and vibrant contributions made by sharing cultures, languages, ideas, belief, and values within a school community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the board of directors for the Centennial School District, hereby recognize May 1 through May 31, 2026 is National Asian-American and Pacific Islander Islander Heritage Month. and encourage staff, students, and the community to observe, recognize, and celebrate the culture, heritage, and economic contributions of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community to Oregon and the United States through culturally relevant activities and to deepen the understanding of the experiences that have shaped our nation. >> Thank you, board members. Now,
005we're going to move to a part of our agenda that is one of our yearly celebrations. And we're going to have our chief communication officer, Christine Andrich, lead us off, unless Superintendent Owens, anything you'd like to start us off with? >> It was well cued. >> I thought so. >> I'm not going to steal any thunder from Chief Andre, so I'm just going to go ahead and turn it over to her uh to recognize some of our fantastic employees this evening. Thank you, board of directors and Superintendent Owens. Um, it is an honor tonight to present our three recipients of the 2026 Triple C award. Um, each year Centennial presents Triple C awards to honor employees who demonstrate the values of caring, commitment, and/or creativity through their work in our district. Nominated by their colleagues,
006the winners of the trip C award have been recognized for ways in which their efforts have benefited the students, staff, and community of the Centennial School District. This year, we have three winners who exemplify the triple C values as employees of our district. We will present all three winners and then ask that the winners and their nominators stay briefly afterwards for some photos, which director Shields will take care of or vice chair Shields. All right. So, first I'd like to congratulate Adrien Harden. >> Adrienne has been with the Centennial School District for 25 years at Centennial High School and currently at Centennial Virtual Academy, teaching a variety of career and technical courses, American Sign Language advisory and online courses, and I'm sure there's many more that weren't in my information packet. In her nomination, Adrienne's
007impact was described as both immediate and long lasting, evident in the success of her students and the systems she has built to support both learners and staff. Passionate about the success of her students, Adrienne has been a leader in creating opportunities for students that prepare them for their future accomplishments. Her nominator highlighted Adrienne's 20-year leadership of the Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA program. Through this program, numerous Centennial students served in FBLA state officer positions with one student serving as a national officer of the program. Students also competed and placed at both state and national level uh FBLA competitions. Several alumni shared their experiences with the FBLA program and the lasting impact it has had on their career and personal success. One student noted, "With her guidance in high school, I was able to
008make a lot of connections throughout my personal life, in college, and in the community. Going into college, I felt I was more prepared from a business acumen perspective, but as well as workforce readiness compared to many of my peers. I felt I was a well-balanced student with a blend of leadership skills, community service, and involvement in multiple activities in high school. This is all through Adrienne's leadership and her passion for student success because she cares. Adrienne has also established a culture of community service and engagement that inspires students to be active agents of change in their own community. She's helped lead student service activities such as the Eagle Screamfest, fundraisers for organizations such as the Makea-Wish Foundation or Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and a Habitat for Humanity project in which CHS students and staff participated
009in a group build contributing to a local housing development. Many in this room are also likely familiar with another such servicebased project started by Adrienne and her business leadership students, the Food for Families Food Pantry, which is currently based out of the school bus that members of our community see parked in the south parking lot at Centennial High School. Established in 2013 as part of a student FBLA project, this nonprofit initiative was developed under her guidance from the ground up. Adrienne supported students through the process of applying for nonprofit status, raising initial capital of $30,000, securing district resources, writing a comprehensive business plan, and establishing a partnership with the Oregon Food Bank. And I think a lot of us know just how impactful that is in our community. Over the past decade, Food for Families
010has grown to serve more than 350 families and distribute approximately 300,000 pounds of food each month. This program now employs three part-time staff members, all alumni, and is preparing for expansion into a dedicated facility. Food for Families was founded on the principle of community helping community while providing students with real world business experience. Its impact is deeply felt across generations with former students and their families continuing to rely on the program. In addition, Adrienne shows up to support her colleagues through leadership and action. She has served as an instructional leader and committee member in various roles, has mentored 11 student teachers as they entered the profession, and even created a caring cart postcoid to raise staff morale, securing grant funding to provide a wagon filled with snacks and other treats for staff throughout the building.
011While Adrienne's contributions to her school and the district across her career in Centennial are far too many to fit into a single presentation, I would now like to provide her nominator and a few special guests the opportunity to share their own reasons why Adrian was nominated for this award. Good evening. My name is >> Okay. Good evening. My name is Jen Lung and I work with Adrienne Harden at the high school. In 2000, Adrienne Spencer Harden took Centennial by storm. She built a top-notch FBLA program that significantly altered the lives of every student that she taught. After working for decades, decades, Adrienne, I can say that she sees solutions, whether it be to hunger, barriers to graduation, or finding creative ways to boost staff morale. I cannot think of many programs that Adrienne doesn't have
012her fingerprints on. There are five pages size 10 font that speak to the difference that she has made in the Centennial School District, not just at the high school and not just out in the community, but also at the elementary school level as well. But you don't have to take my word for it. People were fighting for spots to speak. Let's go. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Steven Digby, a class of a teacher. still a teacher. >> To those in the back, my name is Steven Digby, class of 2007. Um, I just want to say I joined my senior year in the affforementioned FBLA. We won first in state, second in nation. Um, and there's many things uh second nationally. There's many things I take away in this almost 20 years late 20
013year later program that I'd like to mention tonight. And that's this. You can do things the wrong way or Adrian's way. And I'll let you be the judge of which is encouraged. Um Adrienne's way is simply that is simply this. Um an educator an educator's role is not to demand perfection but encourage students to be v vulnerable and push themselves beyond what they perceive their comfort zone at the time. Um Adrienne's way is why I felt wildly overprepared at Oregon State going into the college of business even competing against many folks who came from college prep schools from around the country. Go Bees. Um, I'm now a top performer in a highly visible software software sales role. And because of Adrienne's way, I often fly anywhere in the country to speak comfortably in a room
014full of strangers just like tonight. And Adrienne's Way is why there was, as mentioned, a waiting list of alumni um waiting to share and speak tonight and honor how impactful she was during our most formidable years. And so to the legacy leaders here tonight and those who are on the call um and to you Adrian, thank you for holding us to a higher standard. We all appreciate it. We all see it and we all deserve it. You can hold that for me. Time myself. My name is Tyler Oavdo. Voted class clown of 2008. I was always the kid that got on the report card. Pleasure to have in class. Understands the concepts talks too much. There was one person who took that talks too much and really made it work. Now, as Stephen mentioned, as
015others will say, I am very comfortable in a room full of strangers. At Adrienne's last birthday party, I may have sang a little bit of karaoke as well, and that's okay because I feel brave now. I get a lot of of power that I have learned from her. She helped me harness my screw balless. She helped me figure out how to take my cutesy charm and turn it into a professional world. I just recently was going through a tough time at work. And I had a real bad manager who really had it out for me. And through my networking, through the skills that I learned back when I was in high school of nitpicking people's presentations, making sure they were dressed nicely enough to be able to speak and be able to show up and
016be prepared every day, show up early. This work helped me get a new job. I just started on Monday and now I feel so much happier because I was able to again take high school lessons. Stephen mentioned it going into Oregon State. I was like, "Man, this is so easy. I learned this in high school." Like, it's great when you have not a teacher, but an educator. Someone who cares enough to take it that extra next step. Not just saying, "Hey, you did this wrong. Boom. Hit you with the stick." She's going to explain to you why she hit you with that stick. It's going to help you understand how to get past that point. And the commitment has been very helpful and to me of even still, she was the one at my officient
017for the wedding when I moved to North Carolina for a few years for work. She was the first person I called. Anytime I feel a little lost, there is a star to guide me and it is Adrian. Ellie, I think it's your turn. Hi everybody. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Y >> perfect. Okay. Hi everyone. Um it's nice to see you all. My name's Ellie Mangum. Um I graduated from Centennial High School in 2016. Uh and I was a part of FBLA for all four years. I actually met Spencer right after she had Keegan and she was on maternity leave. Uh, but she came back for Eagle Screamfest and she likes to say that I was this quiet, shy girl with bright pink hair and I would pro do anything she said. Um, and
018she really poured into me all four years that I was in FBA. Um, and I think she really helped me blossom in my confidence. Um, I'm not in the room tonight because I am actually was invited to uh a national conference with healthcare leaders from across the country. So, I'm meeting with CFOs and CEOs from federally qualified healthcare clinics. Um, and part of the reason why I am so confident uh with talking with these leaders is because of all of the time and energy that Spencer spent on me um teaching me how to speak properly and elegantly and answer questions and all of the hours she spent reading our reports um for national competition. But on top of that, uh I was also one of the students to help start the food for families uh
019food pantry program at Centennial High School. Um, and part of the reason why it has still been going, you know, 10 years later is because of her guidance, uh, and her encouragement and her support. Um, the organization would absolutely not be be here without her. Um, we fed 17,000 families in the community with over 700,000 pounds of food. Uh so we are making a direct impact on our community um in helping people where sometimes they have nowhere else to go. Um we've had families come and say they had to make the decision between paying their electricity bill or paying for their family's meal that night. Um, and because of our organization and because of Spencer's work in helping us begin this organization and continued support, uh, we're able to support thousands of families in this,
020uh, Centennial community. So, I'm so glad we are taking the time to recognize Spencer for all the work she's done and for all of the time she has poured into uh, all of us. Um, so yeah, thanks for letting me speak. Thank you all for sharing and I know we probably had a lot more people but what we don't want to do is short change Adrienne herself for her chance to talk. So Adrienne this is your opportunity. >> That's going to be less than that. Uh thank you everybody. I really appreciate this. It's um it's quite an honor. Um I want to thank Jen for being an amazing colleague and friend and uh the nomination. You can't see him back there but Dr. Ramberg's back there. He's been my uh supervising administrator for far too
021long and uh when I say so I have an idea he usually very supportive and he's been super supportive of all of us and the um wild ideas that I come up with. Um more importantly as you can see there are a lot of former graduates here. Um and they really are at the heart of why I do what I do. And um I've been truly blessed to be a part of their lives and continue to be a part of their lives as they have become adults. We were just talking about how old they are because like to me they're still 19 and they're not apparently. I don't know. Um but just to um continue to be a part of their lives and their journey is really beyond measure. Like just so so fortunate that
022um that that they're all here. Um and obviously um at the heart of everything I do is family. And um I have a super amazing and supportive family. Um my in-laws are here, my brothers in the back, my parents are on the call. um they're usually the first ones to write the checks um to to to do a lot of this stuff and um uh they're they're just really really supportive people and then obviously um I have an amazing patient and caring husband and a beautiful daughter that are so lucky that they get to live with me and um as you can imagine it could be a wild ride at times. So again, thank you so much. And just one point of note, I've been here 26 years, which is more than half my life,
023which is crazy to think that I've grown up here. So thank you, Centennial. All right. Thank you, Adrian. on the slide deck. Too far. Here we go. All right. Next, I'd like to congratulate our second triple C award recipient, Justin Dal. Justin has been in the Centennial District for eight years. No, eight years. Yes, eight years. And serves as the lead secretary at Palut Elementary. In his nomination, it was shared, "Justin consistently goes above and beyond in his role, demonstrating an exceptional level of customer service, dedication, and reliability that positively impacts students, staff, and the overall environment of the building. In his role of providing administrative support, Justin is described as the person everyone turns to, approaching every task with urgency, professionalism, and genuine care. Justin takes ownership of the needs that arise throughout the
024day from both students and staff and strives to meet those needs with dependability and dedication. His nominator highlighted the reliability and trust that Justin has earned with staff at Palute who know he will follow through no matter the situation. In addition to his commitment to service, Justin is also known for the positive energy he contributes to the school environment. Justin's nomination noted he builds strong, respectful relationships with students and staff, helping to foster a welcoming and supportive school community. In my own position as chief communications officer, I have seen firsthand Justin's eagerness to provide a high standard of quality and consistency related to family and community communications and engagement. Justin regularly reaches out to our communications department with a focus on maximizing communications mediums and learning how to better leverage tools and resources to make
025sure that all members of the school community have the information they need. Last year, he demonstrated leadership in helping to expand utilization of our parent square platform for tasks such as conference scheduling. And he's provided critical feedback to our department that will impact the structure and organization of our elementary school websites going forward. These are just a few examples of the way that Justin continuously strives for excellence within his role. Outside of school, his school, Justin also demonstrates a willingness to serve the overall Centennial School District through participation in activities, meetings, and committees to contribute his voice and perspective. As an example of this, Justin is currently serving on the district's facilities advisory committee, participating in meetings, campus tours, and collaboration with fellow committee members to help shape the next iteration of our district's long
026range facilities plan. And now, I'd like to open up the opportunity for Justin's nominator to share a few words about why she nominated him for this special award. Guess I'll stand. Um, hi, my name is Kate Garrett. I am the secretary and registar at Powell Elementary. Uh, I work with Justin every day. When you trap two people in a box for eight hours, you get to know each other really well, really fast. Um, Justin is the best of the best. Um, he has become a mentor to me and truly one of my best friends. He goes above and beyond for staff, students, really what anyone he comes across. He is the vice president of our uh classified union. He uh is truly just the best. Honestly, that's really what I have to say. Um he's
027he gets to work early, he stays late, he will follow through every task. Um and is just you're the best man. >> Thank you. And now we will hear from Justin himself. surprise. >> It's honored to be nominated and selected. Um I truly enjoy my time here at Centennial. Really want make it better. Um so really try to give it my all for everything that I do. Like she said, do come in early, stay late, and just because I love what I do and the people I work with. So I appreciate this and thank you very much. Thank you, Justin. And finally, I'd like to congratulate our third trip C award recipient, Pia Watsi. Did I say that last name right? Yes. Pia has been with the district for three years and serves as the
028nutrition and wellness coordinator in our dining services department. Her nomination described her approachable and uplifting presence, noting her positive attitude, warm smile, and can do mindset that make her someone that staff naturally turn to for support and collaboration. Pia's work and dining services is grounded in a commitment to provide healthy, nutritious, and culturally relevant meals for all Centennial students. She successfully relaunched the fresh fruit and vegetable program and regularly leverages partnerships to bring locally or regionally sourced ingredients into the district. PIA has also collaborated with dining services staff to expand cafeteria menu offerings, ensuring that Centennial's diverse student population sees their cultures and identities reflected in meals served in all school cafeterias. This effort has not only increased student participation in school meals but supports efforts in schools to foster belonging and inclusion. This work
029was also significant towards the dining services department winning a 2025 recognition award from the US Department of Agriculture for innovation in the preparation of school meals. PIA has played an important role in the operational effectiveness and staff morale of the dining services department. Her nominator highlighted Pia's efforts to build strong relationships across departments and foster a team oriented environment where people feel valued and supported. Pia takes a lead role in mentoring new managers, offering guidance, encouragement, and hands-on support. She additionally utilizes her bilingual skills to communicate and provide staff training in multiple languages, ensuring effective, clear, and inclusive communication across her diverse teams. Pia supports staff districtwide through her leadership of the working on wellness or wow committee. Under her direction, the program has expanded to provide staff with wellness opportunities such as yoga classes,
030nutrition education, and continued wellness challenges that promote a culture of staff health and well-being districtwide. Pia's investment in the Centennial community, both as a staff member and a parent, is evident in her frequent attendance at a variety of music programs, sporting events, and other school activities, demonstrating her genuine investment in the lives of Centennial students beyond our school cafeterias. She is also participating in the facilities advisory committee, bringing her operational knowledge to this volunteer role. Pia is described as bringing an energy and enthusiasm to her work that is both contagious and motivating. As described in her nomination packet, Pia's contributions extend beyond operational improvements. She is shaping a culture. And now I would like to provide her nominator an opportunity to share some more information. >> Hi, I'm Kim Burns, the director of dining services.
031I was happy to nominate Pia for this award. Um everything that's been said already is true. We've definitely added a lot of cultural diverseness into uh dining services really making our um nationwide this year. Getting the USDA award uh was truly an honor for Centennial and um it was really great to see um PIA's innovativeness being um being shown. Um unfortunately we didn't get to go to the conference. Um it was right about the time that they did a lot of USDA cuts. Um, but one of the things that did happen from that was we were able to um use our recipes out in um in the country and get a lot of um state uh recipes back in. We're looking forward to launching those next year as well. Um I won't go back through
032with what um everything that's just been said, but what I will say is a really great example of how we're um taking care of this was yesterday we had a wonderful boat to school uh launch at Centennial Middle School. Um we worked with Pacific Seafood. We worked with some local um Oregon Department of Education and um fish in. We worked with Chef Greg over there, the new culinary teacher at Centennial Middle School. The students themselves learned how to fillet uh fish live. They were they were able to do that. Then they brought it into our kitchen. We were able to uh cook it and serve it yesterday as a fish taco day. And the Centennial Middle School students got to have not only a wonderful farm to school, farm to table, really seafood to school
033table uh experience, but they also had a culturally relevant experience and a hands-on experience because they got to eat the food that they actually originated and that was really cultivated by Pia herself and she was really in her element yesterday watching her work with that was really amazing. I know Christine was there too. It was really fun and it's going to be on KGWTV Monday. So, as kind of a a piece on that. So, we're really uh grateful. But I just want to say um P has been here three years and um as a dining services director who's only been here four years, we really elevated I think um the dining services team and um school meals um themselves and want to continue to do that and with Pia and the uh helping me in
034the lead uh lead that I don't see us not uh su doing a success as well that so um thank you so much to uh Pia who to me is my right hand but really both hands out there um doing a lot of the operational hands-on um uh things where um I'm more on the administrative side and I really appreciate that. She's a trained chef and it shows um our staff really enjoys um or gets nervous when she comes in because they're going to have to be learning something new or be finding a new way to do things which has been an amazing opportunity. Um I'm really excited to see what we can continue to do year after year. So thank you. >> Thank you. And now we'll give Pia a chance. Thank you very
035much, Kim, for the nomination and honored to accept this wonderful um award. Um it's been a lot of fun working and getting to just teach our managers and our kitchens how to cook different foods and bring in some really interesting dishes to Centennial. And it's really great to be in the community and see the kids just appreciate the new things that we bring on. So, I'm really grateful. Thank you very much. All right, let's give a final round of applause for this year's trip award recipients, Adrien Harden, Justin Da, and Pia Watson. I can't follow that. Congratulations. It's terrific. I think um all of the recipients are uh are definitely deserving. Um and I would say um with Adrian in particular, I've been waiting a decade to see your nomination um because I think that
036you encapsulate um all that is Triple C and Centennial. So much appreciation for your efforts. Uh Justin, as um Christine was going through the accomplishments and all that you do, I was waiting to hear. Okay. OSA that was on there. I didn't hear about your football that you've been doing as well. He's an assistant um football coach for the high school and then also contributes to the youth football association as well. So, if it's a if it's a day ending in the word day, Justin's here and he's doing it. So, just appreciate everything that he does above and beyond. And Pia, I remember uh meeting you at the CHS football game where Justin was probably coaching and uh you were talking about the kids that you have in the district. um and then shortly thereafter
037you were a staff member and the impact that you've made is been uh immediate and recognized um with all of the things that were already described. So just appreciate um the wealth of uh quality and talent that we have between the three employees that are being recognized and I think that they represent the best of Centennial. So um much appreciation and appreciate the presentation by Chief Andre. So thank you so much. Um well, congratulations to all three of you. Uh you all are not just um great members of Centennial School District, you're all great members of the Centennial family and our community. and you all go above and beyond um what your tasks may be and uh it's just really incredible uh what you all all three of you do and uh you know Adrian
038you know sorry to you know I I'm so happy that you're recognized for all the effort and energy I get the honor to see what happens behind the scenes every day and the magic that happens with this lovely woman and uh just really really incredible. Great job, honey. And thank you to all the students. I mean that you guys truly are why she does what she does and why you guys keep her going. And thank you so much for showing up for her today and it means a lot. And thank you to all the family that came. And uh Jen, nice job. Well done. Reed, thanks for coming. Great job for you, too. So, thank you. >> I think TripleC is one of my favorite meetings of the year because I know we have so
039many staff that are doing so many incredible jobs that we could pick any one of them, but the three that we highlight highlight at this meeting. I'm just so excited to get to know more about your story. I've known each of you and tonight I feel like I got to know more about your story and more about what you do here and we're just so grateful to have you all in Centennial. Thank you for continuing to show up every day. That's what makes it work. Appreciate you all. Thank you. >> Congratulations to all three of you. Um it's it's simply wow is all I have to say. It's it's truly amazing to hear the work that you contribute day in and day out to our our students in our community. When I think of what
040a well-rounded educational experience should be, it's it's something that um takes nourishes the mind, the body, and the soul. And we're doing that. And the three of you absolutely embody that every single one of those elements. And it's it's it's awesome. And I'm I'm so glad that you're part of the centennial and that I get to see and witness what you do every day for for our entire community. Congratulations again. Thank you so much. >> Well, so much has been said already, but it is just such a great um privilege to honor your hard work and that extra effort that you put in. And it's just so evident from your colleagues and the people you've ex you know who has benefited from your experience. And so, thank you so much for your work and it's
041just so great to be able to honor you like this. Hi, Director Newman. Do you have anything to add? >> Thank you. I was I was wasn't sure if you were calling on me or not. Um, it was really wonderful just to hear everyone coming to to speak um to speak about about each of you. Uh that says a lot to really hear what other people have to say about you. Um I've uh come across all of you in different points in my in my short uh period on the board and I've been really impressed already and um like like director Lynn said, so much has been said already, but uh I do want to also extend my thanks and gratitude and congratulations to all three of you. Thank you everyone for attending this evening.
042What we're going to do right now is give you an opportunity to celebrate with the honored person that you are here to um hear about and maybe say a few words to them. So, we're going to take a short break. Do not leave without pictures. It is a requirement just to be clear. Um, and then what we will do after our break is we'll be moving into our recognition of our high school club awards. So, let's break and I'll see you back here and five, seven something minutes. We'll corral you. >> Recording stopped. recording in progress. We're going to come back together with our next celebration this evening. This is our recognition of the Centennial High School Club Awards. And Superintendent Owens, I'd love for you to start us off, please. >> All right. Our
043Centennial High School has um our high school has so many accomplishments. Uh this last weekend, we had a performance arts of a musical. Last time we were here at a board meeting, we had our athletics presentation and now we have some additional presentations with our CHS club awards. So, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to principal of Centennial High School, Marin Miller, and he is going to initiate the recognitions for our various clubs. >> All right. Well, thank you everybody. We have um several people here tonight. So, very excited to um have and be able to award so many of our academic and clubs. And so one of the things we're going to be starting off with tonight and this program has been growing is recognizing our biiteracy seal. So talking a
044little bit about this is Reed Scott Schoffsbach is going to be talking a little bit about this. And what's really cool is that the biiteracy seal has been growing every single year. And as that has been growing, it is awesome to see our students continuing to achieve and then getting this biiteracy seal. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Good evening, board. It's great to see you. My name is Reed Scott Schwabach, and I am back at Centennial working in the Spanish department. I'm here representing the world language educators as well as all of our educators, not just at the high school school, but in the entire district who work with our students to celebrate their home language and home culture and to work with them on their English language development. The seal of biiteracy recognizes students achievement
045as a heritage speaker of their home language as well as English. And we're here today to recognize 13 seniors who are graduating with the seal. The seal is recognized in all 50 states as a mark of excellence in languages. And so it is not just an Oregon seal by literacy is actually a national seal by literacy. And even better than celebrating tonight's seniors, we have over 50 students who have already qualified who we are going to be making sure that they are recognized when they graduate. and that is from our freshman, our sophomore, and our junior students. So, I want you to really feel proud of the work we're doing to celebrate our students, to celebrate their heritages and their languages and their English language development, and to have them graduate from Centennial as a
046sealed biliteracy student. So, tonight we're going to be recognizing the following seniors. And when I say your name, if you are here, please stand and we'll hold our applause to recognize them at the end. And then students, we'll be taking a photo after everyone's recognized. So tonight we're going to Okay, we're gonna start with Megan Estrada Gonzalez Brandon Sanchez Alvare. If you are here and able, please stand. Leslie Ray Silva, Stephanie Perez, Julian, Amy Martinez, Danielle Lukin, Evelette, Veretta, Stephanie Couch, Hernandez, Elizabeth, Pereira Estrada, Anna Oscawar, Shayla, Alex, Alexa Santiago, Luis, Allison Martinez, Romelex, and Gracia Montiel Medina. Please stand and be recognized. And again students, we are so proud of your work. We are so proud of your bilingualism, your biiteracy, and we look forward to seeing what you do with all your creativity
047and your languages after graduating from Centennial. >> Let's give them all another round of applause. >> Thank you. And if you can go ahead be seated and then afterwards we're going to be taking your pictures after we recognize everybody tonight. All right. Our next set of awards we're very honored our Nwok um art festival and we are going to be hearing more about that from teacher um Hardin. Hi, I'm Jennica Castillo Harden and I am very privileged to be one of the one of two art teachers at Centennial High School. And unfortunately, my couple of my seniors that were going to be here tonight were at the last minute unable to come, but I wanted to um represent the incredible work that they have done. Um the other teacher, Michael Grubar, and I were able
048to bring um 13 students to the Nwok art uh show and conference and competition. And we had four of our students that placed so which was really wonderful. And we're also competing against high schools that have AP art um studio programs and things like that. So, and I did bring one of the pieces uh from Ingred. Oh, I have a list of our students I'd like to honor. I can Where did it go? Here. Oh, and you have it right there, too. Um, so Azie Holland won first place in character design. Antonet Ker third place black and white drawing. Ingred Magadan third place acrylic painting and repres representational um category. and Audrey Curry uh third place in pottery. So this is uh Ingred Mugodan's uh acrylic painting. The other students have their artwork with them
049so I wasn't able to do that but here uh acrylic painting. I'm very very proud. >> Hi, Kelly McCarti is our um drama theater teacher. Could not be here tonight. So, I also want to announce or let you know we're very proud. On April 9th through 11th, we had 18 drama students travel to Salem compete in the state drama um competition. com. Um they competed with over 2,000 other students, had a great opportunity and showcase. We want to congratulate although she couldn't be here tonight, Nicole Allen won Superior and then um a perfect score was a state qualifier in solo acting competition. Let's give Nicole Allen a round of applause. All right. So, this next one hot off the presses. So, I don't even have it printed out yet. All right. Another just exciting announcement.
050So, Centennial High School has been selected as one of the top five overall outstanding musical productions and has been invited for the inaugural Holt High School Musical Theater Art Show. I mean, sorry, theater award program. They'll be traveling down on June 2nd and performing in Eugene. Um, they were selected because of their showing in Chicago Teen Edition and they've already qualified in two different categories. There have been 17 or there'll be 17 high schools selected across the state of Oregon that will be um selected and showing and the top two contestants in each category will be selected to go to New York and will be part of the Jimmy awards um in the national competition. So being selected then the top five is outstanding. This is a brand new um opportunity. State of Oregon has
051never done this. We actually had three if you how many of you if you came to see Chicago it was an outstanding production. Our students did such a fantastic job. We had people come and watch it. They gathered together and they they were so impressed that we were actually vow um selected to go down to this um and um compete and show what um our students can do and we'll see what they can do if they're selected for the Jimmy awards because they did such an outstanding job. So, let's give our drama and everybody because they're showing what it means. And we want to just thank um Kelly McCarti. She may or may not know. She's retiring um this year. Has done an outstanding job. And all the students, staff, um different music, stage crews,
052families that have put their heart and soul in our drama program is paid off and it has shown. So, let's give them a ROUND OF APPLAUSE. FINALLY, I WOULD be remiss and I'm sure our student representatives will also talk more about this. But in April 24th through 26, our ASB leadership went down um and to leadership conference and for a second year in a row got the gold standard. Only 15% of schools in the state of Oregon get ASB leadership gold standard. So to get it two years in a row is an amazing accomplishment. We went down and achieved that accomplishment. So give our ASB a round of applause. That is very So those are just some of the great things happening and we would like to recognize happening at the high school. So let's
053give them all a round of applause. So after the presentation again um all of our students we would like to go ahead and get um photos when you are ready. >> So board of directors, Director Lynn, >> great job to everybody. Um it's just a great honor to be able to honor you guys again tonight. Um great job. Thank you, >> Director Harden. Uh congratulations. Great job. Uh appreciate you doing all that you're doing. Uh thanks to all the parents and guardians who are helping the students along. Thank you to all the staff that helped the students along. And uh congratulations and great job. >> Director. >> Yeah, I just want to echo what everyone has said. Our students are always super impressive. I love getting to hear about more of the artistic side of
054what our students are capable of. And so I really appreciate the um hearing more about art and drama today. And for those of you that have received that biiteracy seal, I am so impressed and so proud of you. You should and your parents and your family should all be very proud of you, too. Good work. Thank you, >> Vice Chair Morin. >> Yeah, great work. And congratulations to all of you. Uh I listening to all these accomplishments, it it makes me want to go back to high school and do it all over again. It really does. Um, but it's amazing what you're all doing and um, it's just an honor to to be able to see it. So, congratulations again and and keep making this all proud. >> Superintendent Owens. >> Yeah, I would say
055our district mission is collaborating in community um, cultivating equity and inspiring excellence. And I think that what we've seen this evening is a culmination of that. There's so many different avenues and ways for our students to demonstrate excellence and it's just great this evening to see the examples that were demonstrated in terms of the ways that they're doing that. So appreciation for uh the high school and the educators um and the students um who came this evening and shared what they're working on and the accomplishments that they're making. So thank you Mr. Miller. >> Thank you all. And as Principal Miller said, you're going to have an opportunity to gather together and take some pictures. Um, I really appreciate seeing the littlest ones here to see what their big brothers, sisters, cousins are doing. So,
056thank you for coming along and being such good and patient people amongst us. So, we're going to go ahead and take a break. Let's have our pictures and then we'll come back for our Patrick Lynch presentation. Thank you. Recording stopped. recording in progress. Absolutely. So, as I've mentioned throughout the year, um I you hear from me a lot about roadmap 27 and the things that we do at the district level and then it's great to complement that with school-based presentations so that you can see how the strategic plan is being enacted in our uh respective schools. So, this evening um we have an opportunity to hear from Patrick Lynch Elementary Principal Lesie Van Cleek who is going to be presenting about um the work that is happening at the school. And as a proud Patrick
057Lynch Elementary alumni myself, I see seem to say that a lot about a lot of the schools here, but this is another one of the schools that I attended as a student. Um, and so it'll be great to hear about what's happening um there. So I'll go ahead and turn it over to Miss Vanique and just make sure on your microphone if it's green. Perfect. >> It is now. Um, so when we were given this assignment, the idea was to really highlight students and student voice. So my video has or my presentation has a lot of video embedded. We're going to hope we can all hear. We practiced so it should be fine. Oh, hi. Um, so I'm going to talk about our school improvement plan, but the what I'm going to highlight tonight is
058belonging, which was one of our um northstar goals this year, student belonging. So the two things that we like every committee and every like group and everything that we do um we focus on these two things. Literacy. We want our kids to be able to to read, write, and speak at high level and listen at high levels no matter where they start. And then today, I'm going to highlight belonging. And so we um kind of came up with this idea of how students would be able to say that they felt. They might not use these exact words, but um I feel seen. I feel safe. I feel valued. I want to come to school. I feel brave enough to try hard things. My identity is a strength. My culture is important. School is a place
059of joy. So those are our two north stars this year. Um and this group of people on the side, those are all staff and they have had um they've played an instrumental role in um the very specific thing that I'm going to talk about, which is our fourth and fifth grade advisory program that we started this year. Oops, I went too far. Sorry. Um, so yeah. So it, like I said, tonight we're going to focus on belonging. This is a a picture of um our brand new fourth and fifth grade choir, which is part of our fourth and fifth grade advisory program. And they played at the fourth or they sang at the fourth grade recorder concert. Also a good time. So, the fourth and fifth grade advisory was born for us last about a
060year ago at the um spring 2025 data summit. Uh we were looking at our student perception data um which is um in elementary school's case third, fourth and fifth graders how they feel kind of about a range of things. Um, and one of the things that I believe really strongly, and I I think my staff does too, is that um, kids will show up and try their best if they feel comfortable and safe and welcome and if they don't, they might not. And so we looked at that data and we decided to try something new this year um, called fourth fifth advisory. The data that we looked at that we were concerned about um was only 63% of our students, third, fourth, and fifth graders answered positively um the statement, "My school is a happy
061place to be." And as they got older, the scores got lower. So like our fifth graders had the lowest scores. And actually in sort of a third through 12th grade like whole district picture, we kind of see that trend. the older kids get, the less they sort of feel like, yay, school. Um, 84% of our students agreed with the statement, "My school is welcoming and safe." And 73% of our students agreed with the statement, "I feel like I belong at this school." And that's not right. That's not um that was something we decided we wanted to tackle. So, we um came up with advisory. It's it happens on Wednesdays. We have eight teachers participating. So, our fourth grade teachers, our fifth grade teachers, and several of our specialists. We um take the fourth and fifth
062graders and we divide them. We've combined them into one big pile and divided them into eight groups. The first beginning of the year was all sort of introduction um lessons about identity, getting to know each other, things like that. And then once we sort of they became a little bit more cohesive, we started clubs. So, we're in our second round of clubs and they are thrilled. They're beyond thrilled. So, this if we can hear this video talks um this is one of our advisory teachers uh talking about why we do it. >> Hi, I'm Miss Whitehurst and I was part of the team that came up with advisory. It started from one of our data summits and looking at our student survey data and we noticed there was a gap in responses particularly about student
063voice about sense of belonging and feeling like school is a welcoming place and so we thought we'd give them a space to connect with other kids to connect with other adults in the building and to explore some interests that they may already have to make some or easy connections with other kids around. Um, and she'll she played a a big role in um helping me put this video together because right now she's advising the yearbook club and that's actually who is going to come to the portrait of a graduate um thing next week, the week after. I'll be there, I promise. Um, and so the yearbook committee um all kids, fourth and fifth graders helped me with all of these videos. Hold on. This is a student talking about why what is advisory? And at
064the very end, she talks about bullying, but it's really hard to hear her, so I'll I'll repeat it if we don't hear her understand it. >> Hi, my name is Lilith. I am in fourth grade and I'm going to tell you what advisory is. Every Wednesday after the teachers take attendance, we go to advisory. Advisory is a fun place where people can feel safe and make new friends. Some things that happen in advisory are we can show our creativity in clubs like glow and art club but we can also work together in clubs like morning announcements and yearbook. We can try new things in clubs like sports and theater is also a great way to learn not bully each other. That's a big one. >> To learn to not bully each other. That's a big
065one. >> So these are their own words. the the teacher, Miss Wadehurst, typed it up for them, but these are their words. >> Oops. Sorry. This is just a little bit of choir practice, a little bit of Beatles. >> Last one. pretty cool. So that's our music teacher. Um we also started this year or this spring actually morning announcements. So every Monday we do like a news show that we show um first thing in the morning. Um, and so this is just like a I'm going to show just a little bit of morning announcements because it's three minutes long, but it's different newscasters and like weather people um every week or and so that's run by um one of our fourth grade teachers. And then this is one of our EL teachers. He is also
066our um like our tech guru. So he edits all the videos. It's pretty rad. So this is a little bit of morning announcements. Sorry. >> Good morning, Lions. >> My name is Maya. >> And my name is Omar. Today is Monday, May 11, 2026. Let's take a look at the weather this week with Lynn at the weather station. >> Hello, man. And here is Grand for the week. Monday we b seven eight wind and to Tuesday two Tuesday two Tuesday two Tuesday we 74° and Wednesday we b 72° and today is 74° at the new day. >> So, >> thank you, Lynn. Remember, >> one of the things that we are going to do with Lynn, she's a recent arrival student from Vietnam, is next time we're going to have her do it in Vietnamese
067and have um closed captioning in English, but we thought about that later after we filmed. Um, so they give like, you know, they give like a little bit of trivia. They talk about what's coming up. um >> explore and see what where we'll be ne next year. We started to feel more ready for the big move to middle school. >> She was talking about their trip to >> a great trip. Now it's time for some interesting facts. Did you know that butterflies with their feet? >> Wait, their feet? That's so weird, but kind of awesome. Did you know honey never spoils? You can eat honey that's thousands of years old. >> No way. That means honey lasts forever. That's the sweetness fact. That's the sweetest fact I've ever heard. Finally, it's time for the joke
068of the week. Why did the football coach go to the bank? >> H I don't know. >> To get his quarterback. Haha, I haven't heard that one before. >> That's all for our announcements. Remember, at Patrick Lynch, we are responsible, on task, and appropriate, and respectful, and kind, and safe. >> Let's make it a great week, a Bye >> bye. >> They love it. We love it. >> So great. >> Um, this is just a still shot of our yearbook committee. We, um, at our school, we don't do, some schools do, elementary schools do yearbooks. We don't. we haven't found that our families have been asking for it, but they're doing a digital yearbook this year and so, um, this is our yearbook club hard at work and so working, you know, using tech skills,
069using video editing skills, using photo editing skills. Um, we got them some, um, an iPad that they can use to take p like better quality pictures. This is just a tiny clip of our theater club and they're going to be performing for the whole school in June. So this was the only club that kept the same kids both sections >> make us do her evil middling. So, so intense. So, intense of So, instead of risking people finding out she's she's a witch, she decided to she decided to use a we also have a coding club and um our the it's one of our reading teachers is the adviser for coding club because she happens to know quite a bit about coding. I did not know that about her. Um, and so they've done a few
070things with um, like how to make a website and how to make like real simple video games and things like that. It's very popular and also a little gender one-sided, which is interesting. Uh, this is another one of our students talking about how advisory is supportive. And I don't know how well you'll be able to to understand her. She talks really fast. She's nervous. Hi, my name is Bridget. I think we should do I binary again because it lets kids have fun and try a bunch of of different things. Having things that are a little fun helps kids want to come to school or distract them a little if things are really hard or if they're having a bad really bad day. I hope other schools think about doing a binary too. Um, that was
071her talking about um, my favorite part of that is when she talks about how it can distract them if they're having a very hard day. >> Oops, I went too far. >> In advisory, we get to explore new things and explore interests we already have. All right, this is just our last little selling point for advisory >> of advisory. >> So, we're super excited and and um plan to keep doing this. It's been very popular and we're looking forward to the spring perception data to see what kind of moves have been made specifically among our fourth and fifth graders. So questions. >> Start with you, Director Lynn. >> No questions, but I'm just so impressed how you're using the data to really drive the student voice and it really seems like it's coming through in
072the videos and the presentations and so it's really great to see that. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Mor. Yeah, it's really uh amazing the the the embrace of technology at such a young young age, right? And I think all of us up here could probably in the room could date ourselves in our you know we at this age and we didn't have any of this access. Now it's everywhere. It's it's so important. You know, I hear my grandmother in the back of my head when I was 13, learn how to use a computer, right? And now we're talking about kindergarteners, right? And first graders, learn how to use a computer. Um, so it's it's amazing to see them embracing that use and and you to do it as well and to have folks in the
073building that are are really, you know, shephering the the effort the effort forward and it's it's it's we talk about preparing people for, you know, the future and their the next step in their their lives and and you're doing it. So it's awesome. Yeah. >> We have another student who um the video that we're showing at the portrait of a graduate event, he talks about how some of these clubs are preparing them for their future careers. >> Yeah. Um, and I and I would love to see them I love to see them use technology for good. >> Yeah. >> Because sometimes I talk to families and they're using technology for not so good. So I'm really happy to see them learn how to use it in a positive way. Yeah. >> Perfect. Perfect. I'll see
074you at profile graduate next week. >> We'll be directors. >> I just Yeah, I want to echo that. Um, I'm really impressed with the way that you're using the data to really focus on belonging. Um, I'm cur I can't wait to see the data. I'm also really curious about the impact to attendance. And I think that is also I'm curious like with your ability to get staff sharing their interests and what they're excited about. I think that brings more of their authentic selves to the classroom and it probably increases their joy and their job as well a little bit for they get to share something of themselves. So I just I think that all around it's a beautiful program. One of my um other reading teachers, the club that she's doing right now is gardening.
075It's environmental club. And today they um made tea um using uh herbs or using tea, whatever leaves from our actual garden at school um through the growing gardens program and they made bomb and they came and gave it to some of the staff. Um and they were so so so excited and Sarah, I think the teacher might have been more excited. >> So everyone's attendance might be better on Wednesdays. Yeah, >> Director Harden, >> uh, thanks for sharing a snapshot inside the school, uh, inside Patrick Lynch and I appreciate, you know, the different subjects that are being taught. Yeah, >> you know, it's not just core subjects that the students are learning. Uh, I hope it leads to numbers of engagement. That's what everyone's hoping for and higher attendance and and uh, thank you for
076sharing. >> Thank you. Yeah, they've also talked about how they've made friends people they with people they didn't know before uh because we really mixed them up quite a bit at the beginning and it took them a couple weeks not to just stare at each other >> and now they've they've met new people and I would be we will pull apart the data and look at Wednesdays specifically because it's very very popular and I'm super super proud of it even though it wasn't my idea by myself. >> Director Newman, I can see you now. Yeah. Uh, thanks for sharing this. This was really fun to see. Um, every school has been has had a different sort of angle. This has been a really fun one to see. Um, I I echo the other director's comments.
077I'm really looking forward to seeing uh seeing the data >> seeing how you use the data and how the data uh what we might see um next next time around. And this just seemed fun. like it was like a great uh almost like um introduction to what what middle school and high school could be like with a little bit more choice. >> Yeah, >> superintendent. >> Thank you. >> Um actually, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to you here in Easton to see I forgot um on the last couple of presentations we've had um about having you comment. So, not to put you on the spot, but you are here. So, Great. Um, first of all, go Lions. I was um I'm an alumni from Patrick Lynch. Um, and it's honestly cool
078how to see how everything has developed. I think when I was there, we didn't have all of this. So, it's nice to see that students are engaging more what they want to do and what high school could look for them. So, thank you. >> Thank you. I believe it's really cool and a great opportunity for the students in the elementary to school to have outlooks on what future careers they can have and just the opportunities that they have. And it's just a looks like a really fun time that I wish I had when I went to Patrick Lynch in elementary years ago. So, >> so there's a line from Patrick Lynch to ASB seems like. >> So, I would say is a few things and one is a question you and you probably mentioned this
079but I just didn't um catch it is when do the clubs happen? Is it during the school day or is it after school? >> Yeah. So, Wednesday's late start. Um, and we like um I think one of the kids said after the teachers take attendance, the fourth and fifth grade teachers take attendance. Um, all the advisory teachers. So, it's our music teacher, our two reading teachers, the fourth and fifth grade teachers, and then we have one club that is run by um two of our Spanish speaking staff, our bilingual liaison, and our title one assistant. Um, so there's eight clubs and they all kind of come to the intermediate wing and pick up their various groups um and take them to different spots in the school. So, um, what else did you say? >> That
080was one you asked. >> I was just wondering if it was inside or outside of the school. >> Oh, yeah. So, they do it right after we take attendance and because we don't start specials so PE music library until a little bit later on Wednesdays. So, we have time. It's about 45 minutes long. >> So, what I would say in addition to that, thank you. is um and a few of the directors have mentioned this as well. I speak to you about the data summit but sometimes I feel like what I share is a little high level and etherical and it's good to see a concrete example of how that data is then impacting the student experience in terms of the choice making that the educators are making relative to the data that they're seeing
081and how they um can best impact that. And so this was a really good example of how that is permeating the school environment. The other thing I would say is um unfortunately uh Principal Van Clee is going to be moving on after this year um to another adventure um and we've really appreciated um having her leadership and you can see concrete examples of what she's provided the school. I would say that um as part of the process for selecting and identifying her successor Dr. Dr. Katsuda, and this is fitting because it's kind of a Patrick Lynch day, but Dr. Katsuda and I were at Patrick Lynch this morning uh speaking with a group of parents at a parent cafe >> and um they were speaking so uh wonderfully about the school in general. It was
082just a great experience to hear about the great things uh that are happening there, but specifically around the sense of belonging uh that's happening and the number of staff and teachers who know their students even though they might not be their teacher um and other students that are asking to be friends with their child and things of that sort. And so just examples from parents about how that sense of belonging is uh filtering through uh the community there. So it's been uh great to see that. um being reflected not only in what we saw but then also in the anecdotes from parents as we've gone through uh the process. So um thank you for the presentation and also uh best wishes on your future endeavors. >> Thank you. was excellent and it's so fun to
083hear the students and I appreciate the videos and that effort that it takes to get a young one to speak like that >> even when they speak quickly but that that kind of confidence building in them as well >> and to tell them that they shared it with the school board >> I will they know >> boy >> yeah I'm super proud of them >> so thank you >> thank you >> board members If you indulge me, I'm going to move the student representative report up because you guys have been sitting here for quite a while and I know you have so many things to do. So, if you wouldn't mind giving your report right now, that's okay. Hello school board. Um, thank you for this privilege and honor. Um, this will be, I think,
084my last presentation and then it'll be in making the slides. So, that's so great. I'm not the most advanced in um Canva if you guys know what it is, but um yeah. So, all right. First up, we had our yearly prom and this year we had a special spot. We had it on the Portland Spirit which cruised along the Wamut River. It went from 7 to 10. It was an amazing experience. There was really beautiful views and we went across the skyline at night through Portland and it was really nice to see and it was just a really fun fun night. And for many students at our school, it was their first time ever being on a boat in the water. So, not only was it a prom, it was also an experience for many
085kids in our school that they've never had before, which was truly amazing to see. So, it created lasting memories and prom this year was just a truly special event for many students in our school. Um, Mr. Miller already talked about this, but I think is it two weeks ago or a week ago? Um, yeah, two weeks ago, our student council went down to Seaside for the Oregon Association of Student Council's statewide conference and we won the gold standard twice in a row. Well, yeah. Um um as he mentioned only 15% of Oregon student councils receive this award and we um we recognize the hard work and the leadership that our student council has provided but we also wanted to recognize the students and the staff because they also received this award. It's not just student
086councils because um everybody contributes to our events, everybody shows up and it's really the school's award. Uh we also received the Gusto award. Um this was during a high school chant competition and um we won against Hill High. Hill High is typically known as being very loud and um we really like really wanted to win against Hill High and everybody showed out and our new vice president actually did the warm in front of conference. So, so it was great. And then, um, here on the picture, um, Cody, our senior class president, and I received the award, and we brought it back home. Unfortunately, we couldn't, um, bring it today because it's already hung up on our student council room. Yeah, maybe Alex will do the worm right here. Um um uh we also did the
087CHS workshop at the conference. Different schools and organizations do workshops and we've emphasized a lot on our teddy bear drive. So that um something I learned or heard at the conference was that if an idea works at our school and it's a good idea, it should also work around other schools. So, I really thought that the Teddy Bear Drive, the Unity Week, the Eagle Care Drive, which um we heard about with Miss Harden, and how the Eagle Drive um tied in with food for families. So, I really wanted to highlight these three events because I think they should be able to work everywhere. Oh, and then um we also have a picture of our whole student council. I think about 48 of us went and we were I think like top three schools with the
088most amount of people. Last last week was staff appreciation week. So of course as student council we wanted to show love and appreciation to all the staff in our building that gives hard work to us and that really care about us. So we celebrated our teachers and our staff by doing something special special each day of the week. One day we provided coffee. We also handed out goodie bags to each and every staff. We organized painting activities and we wrote notes of positive messages to show our gratitude for everything they do. And we also went up personally to if any member of student council or any student had any like close relationships with teachers and they wanted to show their appreciation and go up to them. We gave them opportunities to go up and just
089speak with them one-on-one and just tell them how much they've appreciated them and how much they've cared for them through their high school experience. And majority I mean all teachers appreciate hearing that from their students because they just care so much and it's really nice for us to be able to tell them how much we actually get from it and how much their appreciation for us us we we also appreciate it and we're really thankful for all the hard work they do. >> Yes. And um touching back on teacher appreciation, I think for the um the notes that students hand out to the teachers, um we recorded them and some teachers like we saw how their like we got an instant smile out of them and some of them like um almost started crying and
090we're going to make a a video with all of those and we're going to showcase it on our Instagram and I'll send it to Missy. so that all of you can be are will be able to see. Um, next up we have our new leadership. Um, my term has ended and um, tonight I am excited to recognize and introduce the newly elected student body leadership team for Centennial High School for the upcoming school year. These two students have already shown tremendous dedication to our school community and we are excited to see their impact they will continue to make as seniors next year. Our newly elected ASB president Eston Hopkins. He has cons consistently demonstrated leadership commitment and school spirit throughout his time at Centennial. Prior to being elected, President Een served as the ASB vice
091president where he played an important role in supporting student activities and strengthening school culture. Outside of student government, he actively is involved with both track and cross country, showing some showing same dedication and perseverance in athletics that he brings to leadership. East is also a proud former student of Patrick Lynch Elementary. um we are confident that he will lead Centennial in the with positivity, integrity and pride with um in the school. I would also like to introduce our newly elected ASB vice president, Alex Downing. Ale Alex is incred incredibly involved and dedicated student leader who brings passion, professionalism, and a strong sense of community to everything he does. He is actively involved in speech and debate, national honor society, and key club, demonstrating both academic success, and a commitment to service. As a former Butler
092Creek Elementary student, Alex has already made a meaningful impact at Centennial, and we know that he will continue to be an outstanding representative for our students, body, and vice president during his senior year. Together, Eastern and Alex represent the leadership, involvement, and school spirit that makes Centennial such a strong community. Please join me in congratulating them and their new new election and welcoming them into the new role. >> All right. And lastly, um from the deepest from the deepest part of my heart, um thank you for um all of all of this and thank you for letting me present to all of you. Um, being a representative at the school district has really opened a lot of doors for me, so I really appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Vice Chair Morin, >> thank you
093both. Uh, you're here. Does it mean you're graduating? >> Yes. >> All right. Fantastic. Congratulations to you. Can I put you on the spot for a moment and ask what's next? >> Oh, >> yeah. So, I'm going to Oregon State. um majoring in biochemistry and then going on to medical school. >> Okay, nice. >> Great, man. Well, hey, it's been it's been such amazing to have you all year long and best of luck to you. Come back and tell us what you're doing in future. >> Director Silowski, >> thank you both for your year of service. Um and I look forward to what the new team's going to bring next year and I just wish you all the best. um going forward, you you're the confidence and um man, the portrait of a graduate is
094you like as I as I've been seeing you grow, it's just so great to see. Um and thank you for coming and sharing your world with us and letting us in. >> Well said, Rose. Well said. Um congratulations on graduating. You're here. Uh, thank you for everything, Eastston. Looking forward to seeing you again next year and I'm sorry I didn't catch your name. >> Alex. Right on. I'm look forward to working with you next year as well. And congratulations on being elected, the ASB officers, and uh, thanks a lot for the report. Great to see here some more good times happening at CHS. >> Director Lee, >> great job. Um, thank you for all your hard work. I know it's not easy to put in this extra work on top of your guys' school, on
095top of your other pursuits. Um, and so thank you. You know, I know it's not easy coming here on a Wednesday night all the time. So, thanks a bunch for all your guys' work and we look forward to the new leadership. >> I have a question. How did you decide on the prom being on the water? And when you mentioned that it was some new experience for so many of the students, were you thinking about when you made that decision? >> Yeah, I think one of the lead components of making the decision from um from being on the water to the forestry center was the the experience that many students aren't able or especially in our school district that many students are below the poverty line. So, just being able to provide that experience to
096many different students and especially because um talking with our adviserss, he mentioned how tickets to a regular um boat is more expensive than us doing it on prom. So, especially with the ASB sticker, many students got the opportunity to go to prom on a boat at a much lower rate. >> Anything more to add to that? Um yeah, we we just knew it would be a great experience for all the students in our school and when we saw the opening for it, we knew we needed to go hard for it and just try to get it as soon as possible and we did and it was an amazing prom night. >> It's talk about thinking out of the box. That was excellent. Director Newman. >> Yeah. Uh I would like to echo the other directors.
097thanks for and gratitude for um coming to us every month and telling us what's going on at the school. I think I've mentioned before that my daughter who's a freshman is kind of tight lipped about what's happening. So I'm often hearing more from you than I am from her. So I appreciate everything you've uh been telling us this year and um congratulations and on graduation and uh hope your next endeavors are exciting. Thanks, >> Superintendent Owens. >> All right. Uh, what I would say here is you hear um I've appreciated going to Centennial High School and seeing a friendly face. One of the things when you get into uh leadership positions in schools is the thing that you gain is the um ability to make a broader difference and the thing that you lose is
098contact with students. So, it's been nice to go to Centennial High School and see somebody that I recognize and have some rapport with. And I know that we called on you earlier this year when we needed help um with uh speaking with our local legislators as they were embarking on their legislative session. And you did a good job of representing our school district. And in terms of your representation, I've just been impressed at your selflessness and your thoughtfulness in terms of the student body and even what you just said about why the uh prom location was selected where it was um has to do with um you thinking about the needs of the student body and um and advocating for those and being very selfless in the process. So appreciate that. and uh Eastston. One
099of the things I appreciate about um the student rep format is I've seen a lot of stu student representatives over the years and um it's nice to have been able to start with you as a junior and continue with you as a senior in terms of continuity and to see the growth and maturity um just over the course of a year has been impressive and I think that you delivered your report with no notes um and so that's just a testament to the um confidence and uh development just over the course of this year. and Alex, looking forward to having you and congratulations on being elected to your position. >> And Elmer Eagle is looking at you. This is a token of our appreciation for all of your hard work this year and coming and
100being with us every other Wednesday or at least one Wednesday a month. Great job you two. And you here, you know, go bees. So, um, board members, we're going to take a short five minute break just, um, so our student representatives will have an opportunity to scadaddle and anything that we need to do in a short five minutes, let's do it. So, thank you guys. Thank you. >> Recording stopped. Let's pull ourselves together. Recording in progress. >> Welcome back. Um, we are going back to the order in our agenda and I was informed that we do have someone who is here to speak um, virtually. So, what I need to do is read this statement into the record first and then we will hear from um our constituent and then we will back to report.
101So, you guys are in the right spot to stay where you are. >> Excuse me, Chair Shields. Can we do the minutes? >> Oh, well, darn it. And I said I was on top of it and I am not. All right. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes of April 22nd, 2026? >> Motion to approve the minutes from April 22nd. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the amen minutes as presented and let's take our vote. And um Director Newman, I'm watching so you can like raise a hand or do what you need to do. Thank you so much. All right. All those in favor of approving the minutes for April 22nd, indicate by saying I >> I welcome. Thank you so much for and thank you so much for reminding
102me that um during the public forum section of the agenda, individuals are welcome to share constructive feedback on district operations and programs. The purpose of this agenda item is for you to inform us of your views. By board policy, the board will not hear comments regarding any district staff member and the use of appropriate respectful language is expected. Board members will not respond to public comment and will defer matters of operations and programming to the superintendent. This portion of the meeting will be limited to a total of 30 minutes. Your statement should be concise and will be limited to three minutes. Your time will be monitored by our board executive assistant. Speaking order will be based on the date and time we receive the request. If there are more than three individuals requesting to speak
103on the same topic, we ask that responses be consolidated. If request to speak out number the time available. Those individuals not speaking are encouraged to provide their written comments to Miss Grindle for distribution after the meeting. Please address your remarks to me as your board chair, not to specific board members nor the public. Thank you. And please when called state your name and spelling if that's helpful and your association with the Centennial School District. So, I understand we um we did have several speakers that were going to attend this evening, but um Principal Miller, I believe that you were able to answer questions and concerns and so thank you very much. It's always good to get questions answered um in that format so there can be some give and take in terms of a discussion
104since this is more not not a way to do that kind of give and take. So, thank you so much for taking care. And then, um, for our virtual, uh, Miss Grindle, can you tell me who we have, um, to here tonight to speak? >> Yes, we have Drew Rosa online to speak. >> All right. Ah, there I can see you there. >> Hello. >> Wish I could be there in person. I'm uh at a NEA conference in Arizona, so I am here virtually. >> Thank you. Go right ahead. All right. Well, good evening uh board members, superintendent, and community members. On behalf of Centennial Education Association, I first want to thank the board and district leadership for uh the recognition shown during teacher appreciation week. Uh we truly appreciate the acknowledgement of the work
105we do for as educators, specialists, counselors, and licensed staff. Um and for everything that we do every day with our students and families. I also wanted to share that Centennial Education Association was recently honored uh with a presidential citation uh at the Oregon Association Representative assembly award ceremony for our work with bargaining organizing standing strong with our members. Um this rec this recognition reflects the work of our educators bargaining team and the community supporters who helped us reach a settlement before a strike became necessary. We also are proud to now have signed and finalized the 25 through 28 collective bargaining agreement. Uh I really quickly also wanted to congratulate this year's triple C award winners. Uh Adrienne has been one of the strongest voices for our educators and in our union and we deeply appreciate
106her advocacy and leadership. Justin, my secretary at Palibute, always somehow make sure I get my forms turned in on time. But more importantly, he is one of the true support systems of the school community. And Pia has gone above and beyond to ensure students feel seen and cared for through meals provided at our schools. She even met directly with my students to help identify halal meals options that they could actually enjoy eating. That kind of care matters. As we look forward, we want to shift the energy and organizing built during the bargaining towards helping strengthen the district for the future. One of the most urgent issues facing Centennial and districts across Oregon is the state's special education funding cap. Oregon only funds special education services up to 11% of the district student population, while districts
107like Centennial are serving numbers closer to 18. That gap creates significant financial strain because districts are legally and morally obligated to provide those services regardless of funding. We are also asking for collaboration from the board, district leadership, staff, families, and community partners to advocate together for meaningful changes to state funding, especially reforming sped caps so that districts like ours are not penalized for student ser for serving students with greater needs. We believe the same collaboration that helped us settle our contract can now help strengthen the Centennial School District and better support the students we all serve. Thank you. >> Thank you. And we have no other public comment this evening. So, we're back now. We're back to the agenda. Here we go. Superintendent Owens, um the next topic is safe routes to schools and PEOT
108report. Would you like to start us off, please? >> All right. Thank you, uh, Chair Shields. We have a great relationship with Safe Routes to Schools. It's only matured over the years. There's been a lot of great accomplishments that have happened through that collaboration and ultimately um, student safety has been uh, at the forefront. There's been infrastructure projects that have been worked on as well as um, student education. So, that's multiaceted. Um, and so we really appreciate the partnership. And here to represent this evening, we have our safety and security coordinator, Neil O'Donnell, as well as Janice McDonald from Safe Routes to School and Ian Ree um our safe routes to school coordinator that we have for Centennial School District through safe routes to schools funding. So, I'll go ahead and turn it over to
109uh Mr. O'Donnell to go ahead and kick us off. >> All right. Good evening and thank you very much. Give me one moment to get this uh slideshow set up. Good evening, board chair Shields, members of the board. My name is Neil O'Donnell, and I am the district safety and security coordinator for CSD. And in that role, I also supervise the safe routes to school program. This program has grown leaps and bounds since receiving the Oregon Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School Grant and the hiring of our safe routes to school coordinator, Ian Reese. Ian has brought amazing resources, partnership, and direction to the program. Tonight, I'll be sharing and talking about some of the accomplishments Ian has had direct involvement in and giving some opportunity for our partners to share out as well.
110One of the keys to supporting safe travel to and from school is the use of traffic safety equipment, apparel, and other items. We partnered early in the school year with Paulen Hotels who donated 70 bicycles to our students at Meadows Elementary. Ian applied on behalf of the program and was the recipient of a $5,000 Metro grant and we were able to use the funding to provide traffic safety equipment and high visibility apparel tailored to the unique needs of each of our schools. Ian applied again on behalf of the program and received a separate $5,000 grant through ODOT, which allowed us to acquire 300 bicycle helmets and over 1,000 Centennial branded bicycle reflectors. Finally, in partnership with Oregon Walks, we have been able to establish walking school buses at four different grade schools with leaders at
111each school. Education is also a key part of our safe routes to school program. This year, in partnership with Bike Works by Pierre, we delivered 60 pedestrian safety classes within our PE programs. This has helped us to reach our goal of over 50% of our fourth and fifth grade students receiving this education. Our district district has also piloted pedestrian safety education within elementary music classes. This unconventional approach has allowed Centennial to be the model for integrating safety curriculum across neighboring districts. Our hands-on programming continues to expand through all grade levels. From scooter tracks and obstacle courses at Butler Creek Elementary to the upcoming 3-week balance bike classes for Patrick Lynch Elementary, we are ensuring our youngest students gain confidence on their wheels. For our older students, we are partnering with TRAT to provide essential route
112planning and writership etiquette for those using summer youth passes. These efforts are bolstered by our work with we belong PDX which bridges the gap between classroom instruction and real world application through public transit field trips and learn to ride clinics. Our international walk and roll to school day in October was a huge success featuring routes led by Portland city council president Jamie Duny, Palute Principal Jared Austin, and Portland Fire and Rescue volunteers. We ensured every student felt included. Even those who took the bus were dropped off blocks away to join the march and greeted at the finish line by the CHS cheerleaders and Buster the remotec controlled bus. In addition, our dining services team dressed up in inflatable vegetable costumes serving grab-and-go breakfast to all of the participants. We also use these events to honor
113history and heritage. In November, we celebrated civil rights icon Ruby Bridges across eight of our schools featuring book giveaways from Multma County libraries and our inaugural story walk where students read I am Ruby Bridges on large-scale outdoor displays. We carried this momentum into our first ever walk dedicated to Dolores Wuerta using the book Lola out loud and the thunderous rhythms of the CHS drum line to celebrate migrant labor rights. One additional event to note. Last year, Parkland Elementary celebrated the Parade of Nations. By partnering with Peabot to close eight city blocks, we created a vehicle-free corridor where students proudly wore traditional garments and carried flags representing their home countries, bringing neighbors and families to the sidewalks to cheer for the diverse culture that makes Centennial unique. The school will be doing a similar event this
114year, which they plan to keep more so to the school property. In regard to infrastructure, speed cushions have been installed on Southeast 174th Avenue, helping to slow traffic by Palute Elementary in the backside of Centennial High School. These aren't just road improvements. They are safety measures that help support slowing traffic throughout the school day. We have also had additional support from city councelor Candace Avalos who joined us for a site visit around Oliver Middle School where concerns had risen around the homeless community and the camp setup specifically on our safe routes to school designated path. Her advocacy has already led to tangible results including coordinated efforts with local partners in the neighboring churches to ensure school routes remain clear and accessible. directly addressing one of the primary concerns parents have shared regarding walking to school.
115As we look ahead to 2027, Peabot is slated to begin construction on a significant multimodal sidewalk project around Southeast 174th, creating a seamless safe path for the entire community there. This will be the focus of our tier 2 safe routes to school grant when we receive it. providing additional education to our students at Palute Elementary on what to do within a construction zone, creating a drop off site on the west side of the school to help divert our families away from Southeast 174th, and there will be other additional focuses to come as well. We're also empowering our students at Oliver Middle School to be the experts of their own experience through piloting a walk audit. By having students identify specific active transportation challenges in their own neighborhoods, we are creating a datadriven model that we
116look forward to expanding into our other schools as well. Ian and the transportation department have begun monthly meetings to collaborate around safety as it pertains specifically to our bus stops within district. They identify high priority bus stops and implement targeted solutions including infrastructure upgrades, increased monitoring, and even potentially moving the bus stop altogether. Through partnership with multiple stakeholders, Ian has been able to coordinate a bus driver bike rodeo where drivers biked through the rules of the road, bringing empathy and awareness of what a cyclist may think, feel, etc. when on the road. and has also brought um been able to bring professional development for our drivers by organizing an OD approved training. This was a 90-minute training session that allowed the drivers to earn 1.5 OD classroom credit. This class was taught by the street
117trust and in conjunction with Multma County and focused on travel using high occupancy vehicles. The incredible acceleration of our safe routes to school program is a direct result of our powerful network of allies. We owe a debt of gratitude to our co core partners ODOT, Peabot, Metro, Multma County, Bike Works by Pierre, the city of Gresham, TRAT, and Oregon Walks whose expertise and resources vital to the success of our program. And now, while we celebrate the bikes, the grants, the parades, the fun stuff, the true heart of this work is much simpler. Ensuring every single student in the Centennial School District gets to and from school safely every single day, no matter how they choose to travel. And before I pass it off to my cohort here, Ian Ree, as mentioned, is here today. Ian,
118if you wouldn't mind standing for a moment. Ian has brought fantastic vision and direction to this program at Centennial. He's been here less than two years and has accomplished so much to this point. We are truly thankful for his vision, his just desire with transportation, and we're very excited to see him as he moves forward and we get ready to go into tier 2. And with that, I'd like to pass it off to my colleague Janice McDonald from Peabot and let her share a few words as well. >> You're here. >> Thank you. Um, I second that about Ian. >> Hello everyone. Thank you for having us here tonight. Uh, my name is Janice McDonald and I am the city of Portland safe routes to school manager. We have been proud partners with uh Centennial
119School District for nearly 20 years and we hope to continue that as we renew our intergovernmental agreement in 2027 with you. Um first I just want to say thank you like all those accomplishments. Nice job y'all. I love it. Um and then I just want to share a couple of things from uh our perspective and in how our work has grown in this school district. Um, as you heard in Neil's presentation, there are many partners working to support the school district and because the district is spread across um cities, uh, it does make school travel kind of challenging and different roads are maintained by city of Gresham or city of Portland, Multma County and which makes addressing safety concerns challenging. And years ago, the agencies and partners that um Neil mentioned came together to try
120to make it a little bit easier for the school district to be able to unify our side of how do we bring resources to the school district and it became better. But one of the real advantages of having a dedicated safe routes to school coordinator within the school district is now that there's a single point of contact to help navigate the external partnerships and connect to the right person to get the the resources to the right places within your school district. Um, you will also like Neil's presentation, Centennial's safe routes program has grown significantly over the past year and Ian has been an incredible internal partner. Uh what I have seen in my gosh 14 years of safe routes to school is the building enthusiasm within the school communities. Bringing in additional partners to support
121education and encouragement activities. connecting educators to trainings where teachers are being trained. So then they can bring the education into the classroom and not relying on our capacity as a program and helping strengthen this works uh districtwide. And our shared goal is to build a sustainable program, one that equips educators to continue this work long term and helps create a culture where getting to school is safe, active, and enjoyable for students. We want kids arriving to school energized, ready to learn, and building healthy habits that can last a lifetime. Um, the principal of Patrick Lynch was really focused on belonging. And I think that through safe routs to school programs such as the walking school bus, such as like classroom activities around um pedestrian safety education do help bring that sense of belonging and that
122that um fun and joy that kids can feel. Uh I also um believe that it can give them skills so that as they move about the world into adulthood that they're able to go to any place and be able to have confidence in traveling. Um you also talked about attendance and it has been shown that um at one of the schools in PPS that where there's walking school buses along that route there are uh the attendance is increasing for those students. And then um we've also been told that when there's bike safety education at schools, kids have a tendency to show up on those days. So there are ways that our program can also help with both attendance and that sense of belonging. Um after this meeting, Neil is going to share a um a
123PDF of a presentation of um infrastructure that is um kind of describes our infrastructure like thoughts and some upcoming projects. Some of them he mentioned and so if you have they come with it comes with notes. So if you have questions or comments feel free to reach out. And I know none of this is possible without the support of both district leadership and also schoolboard support. So I really appreciate all of the support that has been given to both our program throughout the 20 years, but also the very recent commitment and and support that has happened with the grant and the new position and the upcoming grant. I think that the work that we're going to do with PAL but is going to be incredible. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Yeah,
124>> we have questions from board members. So, we're going to start with Director Harden. >> Um, I don't have any questions, but I want to say thank you uh thank you to all three of you uh very much for doing what you uh for your efforts and energy in the safe house school. uh when I started on the board, I think it was year two uh that I was on it, there was a group of parents uh from one particular school that, you know, were within the boundary and they weren't able to get picked up, but then they also didn't want to walk to school because there weren't sidewalks along the route and it just they didn't feel safe in that manner. So seeing the progress and the energy that you guys are putting into
125this really has an impact and really makes a difference and I just really appreciate you guys doing this. This is a very important thing and u just keep continue and let us know how we can help you. >> Thank you >> Director. >> Yeah, thank you guys. I really appreciate all that you have done. Um, I have been talking to James about sidewalks on 174th for a very long time. And so even before you even said that, I write I wrote that down as my question and then you answered it. So I'm just really excited. Let's go phase two. Thank you for all your support and what you bring. >> Vice Chair, >> thank you to the three of you for really spiriting these efforts. It's, you know, uh, chronic absenteeism is something we talk
126a lot about, right, in the state of Oregon. And, um, one of the biggest barriers to that is people being able to get to school, sidewalks, you know, um, streets that are safe enough to to go out. My kids go to Pleasant Valley, you know, it's on an island, right, surrounded by high moving, you know, traffic and the county just like, right? And so it's so it's great to, you know, have you there too, Eden. and I know you've done some work around um those that school as well and and to kind of help alleviate some of the the challenges over there. Um and it just goes to show how important it is. So if there's to directors point, there's anything we can do as a school board to advocate on your behalf for funding
127and things like that, let us know because um you know, we see the impact of it. We want to make sure that others are seeing it and not just hearing it and also hearing it from us that you know, the folks that are most affected by it um which you know, the parents like Director Harden said. But again, thank you for doing that. I'm looking forward to seeing what you're gonna send after and probably have some questions on that, too. >> Yeah, thank you all. Um, want to give special thanks to Ian. I see him a lot lot of community meetings. We work a lot in the community together and so thank you. We're so lucky to have him in Centennial working with us. Um, and um, these events are just amazing and it's amazing
128to see. I've heard from other community members how much we would love to support and um show up for some of these events. It would be great uh to get a little pre-n notification to help outreach to the community and really help support and collaborate with these events like the the parade of nations. It was amazing. >> Absolutely. We can definitely take a look at how to share the information out and make that happen. >> Director Newman. >> Yeah, thank you. I think we all agree that this is a really pressing uh concern. I I mean, I've looked at something as simple as how could I ride my bike to a board meeting from my house near Butler Creek Elementary and I can't find a safe route. Um we're just kind of a tricky tricky
129spot for that where we are with the geography of our district. Um I am almost overwhelmed with all the different activities and events you were you held and the multiaceted nature of them. Um I really think it's great. I loved seeing all the the uh community partnerships um as part of the effort too. So really just thank you and I will love to continue hearing more. >> Thank you Director Newman. I have um maybe just a specific question in the um walking school bus. Where do your volunteers come from? I guess there's a I'm guessing there's a morning group that walks and then there's the afternoon group that walks back. So, how do you find people who are willing to give up time in their day to do that for our students? So the very
130first walking school bus we had came out of Pal but and we had a parent volunteer who was leading that and as Ian and I collaborated and then I kind of said Ian go forth conquer let's see how to grow this. Uh we've actually had some staff that have stepped up at some of the schools who have wanted to take leadership and ownership of some of these programs. And so that's been our next step to building this out. And so as we continue to advance it, you know, I like I'm sure a lot of us would love to see a walk-in school bus at every one of our schools. And so kind of a goal in the back of the head, but right now staff has taken a leadership role in it. And so then
131it's just building it out from there, finding more parents, more individuals within community who want to participate in this. >> Wonderful. Thank you. I appreciate that. Appreciate all the reporting. It brings back some of the memories as director Harden was talking about, but it's really nice to be focusing the future, >> where we want to be, not where we have been, where we want to be. And I think that that's something that is um >> we just need to always think about where where should we be, what can we do to help on that. And um shout out to our chief communications officer. >> Yes. >> She's put together um a fantastic calendar for us as board members. we are able now to see activities that are happening at all of the schools and I
132use that quite frequently. So, as Director Lyn had mentioned, adding that information um to that calendar would be really helpful. That way, we would just we we're getting accustomed to learning to go there to get the information about what's going on. And this is really incredibly important to our students in particular and the goals that we have for attendance and safety, etc. So, thank you so much, Superintendent Owens. >> A lot's been said so far, so I'm trying to think about what to add, but what I would add to this is um I'm trying to put together all the threads of the evening. There's been a lot that's been shared uh and a lot of different elements, but uh in some respects it's a little bit of a Patrick Lynch evening because what you were
133talking about, Director Harden, your second year on the board was a group of Patrick Lynch parents who had come >> and when I think back to the discussion that Dr. Katuda and I had with parents at Patrick Lynch this morning. One of the things that was brought up, I was going to mention this earlier was about um the need to improve attendance not only at Patrick Lynch but across the school district and in general. And thinking about the report that we just heard, safe routes to schools helps to improve attendance, whether it be a walking school bus or a way to ride your bike to school or um advocating for us to be able to have the busing that we now have to be able to provide bus service to all students within that uh
134mile, which is what the parents at that time were advocating for. Um it's all of those multiple facets. And then, you know, as you said as well, is that the bike education days are the most engaging. So, it's the um breaking down of the barriers to access and then also improving the engagement that can help influence that. So, appreciate it. The connection to our to our working in the district. >> Thank you. And you get to go home. >> I came in here. It's a great night to be here. Right. So, thank you so much. >> Good night. >> So, let's keep that energy going for director of curriculum and student learning April Olsen. >> Social science. I will do my best to uh to continue this celebratory uh mood here and it is a
135celebration because I'm coming to you tonight. Good evening all uh to share with you the culmination of a year-long um experience of um trying to um determine the most appropriate um social science curriculum to adopt for the next um seven or so year cycle. Um, so the the thing I really love about the social science um curriculum is how it uh really almost more than maybe other subjects highlights our vision and our goals. Um you can see that in our vision um that uh we are uh identifying our and um honoring our diverse community and looking for ways to equitably engage and honor all voices and thus comes through in our social science standards. Um and um as we are looking for highquality instructional materials, we center ourselves on goals number three and number four.
136Um our I do want to highlight that additionally we do have a vision for our social science uh education. Um that we envision a program where every student becomes a thoughtful engaged citizen. Um got to move stuff off my screen here. Grounded in historical insight, geographical understanding, economic reasoning, and civic responsibility and guided by Oregon's 2024 social science standards. Our curriculum fosters critical thinking, respect for diverse perspectives, and active participation in a global community. I don't like to read words on a slide, but so I won't continue all of what's on this page, but I hope that you see the intentionality behind our departments um and our educators vision for what we are hoping for um not only from social science education but from the high quality instructional materials that we're seeking. Um I will
137note bullet number four that um students will apply disciplinary practices On the um next slide is a list of those 10 practices. Um in addition um to the social science standards that may be like more traditional like understand the cause of this war um understand the timeline of the Oregon Trail. Um there are these overarching essential disciplinary practices that really um ask our students to um develop um thought patterns to develop um ways of thinking, ways of being um with each other and with their world. Um and so we were looking for materials that highlighted um each of these as well. and Oregon um as you are probably aware additionally has some um some content areas that other states do not always have that we um teach and we bring to the forefront through not
138only our social science instruction but as you see in tribal history, shared history in subject areas like ELA, math, PE, health, um Holocaust and other genocides is a newer um requirement. experiment with Senate Bill 664 as well as ethnic studies. Um and so in order to find a curriculum that encompassed all of these things that we are looking for um we uh leaned heavily on um some u work that OD has already pre-done for us. Um you'll see here on the side a list of the different um different uh curriculum um companies that were um that met the the criteria um and the um OD adoption criteria is listed here in that visual for you um for each of these of the um curriculum that applied to be considered on the Um there was a
139pretty rigorous um vetting um to create kind of this short list that you see on the side. There were at least two um different publishers to consider for each grade span. Um and so in order to do that work, we um got together a um a committee of social science teachers um as well as our curriculum department TOSAs and coaches um reviewed the state approved option starting in October. teachers um met uh with the um the support of uh the MEESD and Clackmus ESD who convened teacher groups um from across the area um regularly throughout this process to guide them um in best practices in looking through these resources and additionally allowed opportunities for kind of that cross-pollination um with other colleagues. Um so by February our committee had narrowed to the top publishers based
140on internal evaluation data addition to the evaluation data that the state uses. Um we then selected two lessons, one per publisher that a broader group of of teachers piloted. Um minimum of two lessons, but um a lot just uh uh gave us data back on the two uh two lessons that were kind of consistent across their school. Um, and then there were additionally other opportunities for staff input and community engagement that were a little bit broader than just the the folks who were doing the pilot which occurred between February and April. Um, we were collecting during that time teacher reflections as well as student feedback through some surveys that where we asked students about their experience with the different curriculum and the different lessons. And there were opportunities for community input um through um viewing
141nights that each school offered as well as you may have seen that our materials are out here um in the district through the end of this week um at the district office to look at. Our coaches then compiled all the data sets. I'll show you briefly some kind of just some screenshots of what that compilation looked like. Um and then um we have now for you a finalized curriculum recommendation um and are ready to start uh with our standards alignment and our mapping. Um, as I mentioned, we um we in addition to teacher reflections and surveys and student feedback, there were classroom observations that our um coaches and TOSAs were a part of as well, watching teachers deliver the pilot lessons. Um and um the evaluation criteria was um assessed again based on um not
142only alignment to all of our standards um but cultural responsiveness and representation, student engagement and rigor, accessibility and differentiation for diverse learners, and teacher usability and the instructional support that the materials provide. This is a um kind of a a sample of an infographic that we use that you could see those criteria along the side. Um I guess that would be the left hand side. Those are the criteria that we looked at and you can see here's uh student feedback information and teacher feedback information. Um for each of those categories um this is for the K2. We have it again for um three through five. We were additionally looking at um some supplemental materials and with newella that might be have been a nice kind of um supplement I guess is the word to um
143the curriculum that we were looking at. Um this is for our middle school and then when we get to the high school one thing I just want to note if you've looked if you looked at this in advance that the numbers are a little low and part of that is because with our trimester basis not all classes are taught each trimester and there aren't necessarily a lot of teachers teaching each individual um high school course. So, um the the um the teacher feedback while um it looks like it's less than the other grade spans. Our high school teachers were very engaged in this process. And so we have some adoption recommendations um for K through five. um both our two through uh K through two grades span and three through five grades span selected publisher
144TCI um with a series called social studies alive um the teachers like the online portion it's a digital and hard copy reported that there it was easy to access which is important for elementary teachers who are teaching a lot of different content areas and need to be able to be nimble with all of the different curriculum Um it most students said they enjoyed the lessons and gave um mostly positive feedback um that it they enjoyed that um the lessons were game-based and that students um wanted to engage in the reading. Similarly at grades six through eight um TCI was the publishing company that was selected for a a series titled History Alive. um comes in um over a hundred different languages. This um series at this grade level, which was um uh kind of gave
145me pleasure to see is that we had the most student engagement with our middle school students um with this uh the the adoption that that they we selected. Um again, easily printable and editable materials, easy for subs to access, which I think is a is an important point. um and that there were a lot of authentic and diverse perspectives. Um our high school um across all of the different um kind of subcontent areas um selected publisher McGra Hill um and who has a specific Oregon edition for their curriculum resources. um teachers um and students uh mentioned that there's a great deal of representation across race and ethn race, ethnicity, culture, and identity, opportunities for students to analyze um power and systems from multiple perspectives, affirming their own identities and lived experiences. Um they liked that
146it was Oregon standards aligned. Um, as I mentioned earlier, we um opportunities for um community engagement. Each school offered a community viewing event as well. We've had a district viewing event that wraps up this week and we will then take that information as well and um use that to help us know how better best to communicate um about our new adoption um when it comes time to do so with our parents. um budget impact. Uh you'll see some numbers that are a little bit different than the ones that may have been in your board packet. Um we are continuing to kind of refine what elements we feel like we need to um to purchase in order to have a high quality program. Um and doing some back and forth with the publishers trying to, you
147know, be good stewards of our funds um as well as bring a robust high quality instructional materials to our to our teachers. Um, so that we're we're um still kind of in the in the middle of this, but you will note that um or I would like you to note that when I come back in a couple of minutes to ask you to approve uh the purchase that we are going to have up to this amount because we are trying to um be fiscally responsible. Are there any questions? >> Director Lynn Yeah. Can you uh speak a little bit more to some of the scores? You said that, you know, we might see a little low like overall impression scores in like the 44%. Can you speak a little bit more to that and some
148of the like uh like the high school reaction of very not very culturally relevant? Um because when I've been speaking with principles and students and um in the schools, there's been an emphasis on a lack of kind of a broad cultural approach to history um and some of these subjects, especially on the like the interconnectedness of it. Um not just American culture plus others, but actually American culture as the you know conglomeration of multiple multicultural. >> Yeah, absolutely. I think um I think to the ex extent that the um the overall impression scores do seem a little a little low, they are um again kind of a uh not necessarily informed by each of the categories below. So they aren't necessarily weighted um uh as an aggregate. Um so we did lean heavily into some
149of those other subcategories like the alignment and ri rigor and the cultural relevancy where you'll see higher um scores. There are always going to be some some areas that teachers may you know not find a particular package of curriculum meets all of the needs. And so I think that goes into that overall impression score. But when we compared the two um that were piloted side by side, there was um you know there was one that was stronger than the other at both of the grade spans. I think we're always looking for um opportunities to you know to ha to show that relevancy to show um how students um you know individual cultures are reflected in the in the curriculum and this the um resources that they are used that they're using in the classroom. Um,
150no packaged curriculum is going to be perfect in that area. And that's where we lean into our teachers expertise. Um, as I mentioned kind of with Newella, finding supplemental materials and um, other um, teaching resources and instructional strategies to help bring the curriculum more to life and make those connections clear. >> Follow. Is there a data point though that drives that down to 44% or was that a single question? And then can you speak to anything specific like that they actually pointed out that was deficient and not meeting not leading them to give an overall positive impression of it. >> Yeah. I I think um if if you note the some of the comments um I think are um like I'm looking in areas of improvement is probably where you'll see some of those um
151those comments that might have brought that down. So I'm looking at for sorry about things on my screen here. This is uh for one of the um must be middle school. Um some of the areas improvement for the one that was selected was that um maybe there was too much reading, too many questions, very textheavy um uh on uh was some of the student feedback. So I would we would then hope that teachers are using that feedback to scaffold their instruction to students as they are bringing the text to them. Um some of the um again some of the opportunities for like critical thinking um are where those that teacher um expertise comes in to use the curriculum as a tool. Again, the curriculum is a tool to help us teach the standards and those
152those um you know, those habits of mind. Um so I I um again I I think it's we're going to be hardressed to find any curriculum that's going to just meet all of our needs in all of the areas. Does that answer your question? A little >> little. Thank you. Director Newman, instead of making you be last all the time, >> I appreciate that. Um, for the the TCI curricula, um, you mentioned, I think I, if I remember, if I'm remembering correctly, for both the elementary and middle school, um, one of the the positives were tied into, um, online portions. Can you go into a little more detail? What is that? What do the online portions look like? like are they do they have to be used by the students? Is it uh additional information
153or are there like built-in assessments and things like that? >> Yeah, the the textbook is available um digitally and so students will access the text digitally um and that includes opportunities for um engagement. It has assessments, all of kind of all of the things that you mentioned, but the access to the curriculum is a digital access. >> Do you anticipate any uh barriers because of the the online component or or is that kind of worked out >> for elementary? There is additionally um a student workbook that is something that we would produce um and um has an opportunity for students to um engage with paper pencil kind of more of the written um but the content um primarily is um digital whether it's the teacher displaying it or the student um accessing it um individually
154on a advice. >> Okay, I thank you and and I appreciate the uh uh detailed analysis and I was looking through it looking through it ahead of time was uh really helpful. Thanks, >> Vice Chair Morren. >> Thank you, Director Olsen, for this presentation. It looks like the process was overall very solid and the way that it was rolled out over the course of that year. Uh I do have a few questions kind of um thank you director Lynn for asking questions about the and director Newman about the content of these. Um specifically on the process though of um creating the the work groups and whatnot. Was there um I guess could you speak to the community aspect of it and where and how we may have been trying to reach out to folks who
155uh may not be English proficient or have digital access. So that's one question. Um, next would be the transition from primary to secondary levels if we're using two different publishers. And then lastly, as you mentioned on the budget part of it, um, are there supplemental materials and things that will kind of aid in all of that work also being factored into those budget costs? >> Yes. >> Sorry for the long list there. >> Nope, I'm going to try to remember all of them. Um we at both at a school level and at the district level we did share um opportunities for families to come in um in multiple languages and in in you know multiple um kind of ways whether through parent square on the on the school website. Um options were given to come
156in phys physically to preview the materials or digital links were provided for families who could look at them on their own time. um for the different publishers that happens kind of kind of not infrequently that there are different publishers at different grade bands. I think it um the strongest place to to have that alignment is K8. So um uh because at the high school the courses really are kind of differentiated more so than um than at um at the lower grades. So I I don't foresee that being a challenge with a different publisher. Um and then I think your final question, oh budget. Yes. Um we do have supplemental materials like um or resources. We have Newsella which provides additional like reading uh sources that um can be content specific um or um culturally specific
157um that we don't fund through the curriculum adoption but those resources are available um to our secondary teachers. We purchase licenses for that and have been for many years. As well as teachers have the ability to, you know, to um be creative in other resources that they wish to bring in to supplement the um teaching the standards and the content. >> Great. Thank you. And just one quick follow up on the community aspect of it. Do we have any data on how many folks community folks may have viewed or shared? >> I do not yet. Um, I don't believe it was very overwhelming turnout. I have not seen um any um any of the kind of compiled data yet, but in speaking with principles, I don't think there was very many. >> Okay. Thank you,
158>> directors. I have a followup to a similar question and I think that um when it to um sorry director Newman are the will the elementary teachers be allowed to make print copies because I think that a lot of teachers really are looking for a balance between screen time and pen to paper time and I know that when we in the past as we've leaned to really digital platforms we teachers have been told that they are not allowed to make print copies or at least that's what gets back to the board. I you know >> Sure. Sure. No, that is that's our hope and that's actually where some of the savings that you're seeing are coming from rather than purchasing an individual student workbook for every student. you know, we we have the ability to
159say like what are the units that are really going to be um taught well that align with the rest of our um you especially at K5 we try to integrate with our English language arts and so where do those natural integrations place and then we'll we'll do the in-house copying for those student notebooks for those portions of the curriculum. >> Great. And I will I just have to put my two cents in about curriculum and I feel that it's a bit of a racket and that's a lot of money that could go to like special ed supports for individual students, but I know it's got to go to somebody's pockets who's making the curriculum and that's all I'm going to I'll stop talking. >> Thank you. I appreciate you. >> Thank you. >> Director Hart.
160I do not have any additional questions. >> Um, it's they call the art of teaching. >> And when you get as many people together as I saw in those pictures, I was appreciated that type of effort. Uh, what I'd like to know is will we continue to have that kind of collaboration across um the diff, you know, obviously can't imagine K through, you know, three or trying to teach all of these things, right, with everything else they need to do. But if I had the support, if I was one of those teachers and I had a support of all of the other K5 instructors who are in our district and all of our elementary schools, seems like that's a shared responsibility potentially burden. And I don't know what we are what our plan is. We
161brought these people together to make these decisions. How do we support these individuals to continue to improve the materials as uh other directors have mentioned um if there's deficiencies by bringing in supplemental materials, bringing in their own expertise and knowing that this is adoption for how many years? >> Seven. >> So when you divide the total amount by seven, it does, you know, lower it. But then again, that means you're going to have to rely heavily because things change. So, what are we doing to help our our groups, if you will, elementary, >> middle school, >> and as you were mentioning, maybe less likely with our high school because of the different ways that >> social sciences are taught. >> Yeah, >> K8. >> That's a really great question. at um at middle school and
162high school you know that work happens through our PLC's um through our teachers who are teaching like continary or like standards who come together um you know three to four times a month um to look at the curriculum to look at the standards that they're teaching next to look at the resources that we have to you know um uh talk about consistent instructional application and then to use student data to come back and see like how did how how did that in how did the instruction work, how did the curriculum work for us and then continue that cycle of improvement. Um at elementary typically we're PLC and around ELA um or math um but our team um of coaches and tosses are really dedicated to providing ongoing opportunities at all levels. Um but I mentioned
163elementary because of the the the irregularity of PLC's around social science but to continue op providing those opportunities um throughout the year. In addition on I will just say that that the the two ESDs on the days that they brought everyone together to do the curriculum work in the a part of each of those days it was a series called social science for a better world where people are really digging into like first source um storytelling or um you know learning about other cultures learning deeper getting deeper into kind of genocide and holocaust. Um, so really it really got our educators excited and engaged and the intention is to continue social science for a better world as well into next year. >> I also appreciate the um you don't want to think about the fact
164that we have to have substitutes but we do. >> Yes. >> Right. People get ill, people have different schedules, things of that nature. and um as having to sub sometimes for my colleagues, it's really nice to have an idea of where things are going and how things are done and having access to materials like this for substitute instruction is I think a very cool thing. So, >> Thank you, Superintendent Owens. >> I guess I could have stopped. >> Not much to add except for I appreciate the uh well-rounded informed questions that our board has. I think that that helps to uh inform us and make sure that we're making the best decisions not in not only in terms of what's um being considered for purchase but then also uh what the implementation looks like as
165well so that kids are getting maximum value and benefit >> well we'll see you back here soon >> thank you >> don't be going anywhere >> Owens um it is now time for your report. >> All right. Uh, greetings, directors. Thanks for hanging in there. Um, I'd like to say it's short. It's not, >> but it'll be informative. >> We had high hopes. >> It's my pleasure and privilege to share with you this update about happenings in our district. I'm jealous of you here. He was uh being a little uh timid about his canvas abilities, but I'm still working on PowerPoint here. Um, as I'd mentioned before, I'm making a point to highlight the artwork our schools are featuring here at the district office. This month, we have art to accompany the Patrick Lynch Elementary
166Board Report. This month's art celebrates the spirit of spring with vibrant colors, flowers, and movement. Preschoolers experimented with mixing colors. Third grade students created fire horses, and fifth grade students created flowers and incense. The colorful displays have certainly brightened up our district office lobby for the month of May. Invite you to check it out on your way up. As was mentioned in the board's proclamation, May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the history, cultures, contributions, and experiences of Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders throughout our community and throughout the United States. We appreciate the many ways Asian-American and Pacific Islander students, families, staff, and community members contribute to our schools and community. And we recognize the importance of continuing to learn from and celebrate the diverse histories and experiences
167represented across the Centennial School District. As was mentioned earlier in the student report, and as you know, last week was teacher appreciation week. In the field of education, the term teacher is often used broadly to refer to licensed educators, including classroom teachers, counselors, psychologists, uh, social workers, learning specialists and other licensed staff who support students daily. In recognition of our licensed staff, we held our annual teacher appreciation breakfast last Wednesday morning at Centennial Middle School. I was pleased to join Vice Chair Moing and members of our cabinet and administrative team in recognizing and appreciating our licensed educators for their work in support of students and schools across the district. On this slide, you can see a few pictures from the event. Proud to debut our new slides for Portrait of a Centennial graduate. So, >>
168there you go. Um, on April 29th, staff from across the district participated in the fifth and final portra uh profile of Centennial Graduate Pilot Leader Work Session for the 2526 school year. The work session series has brought together teacher leaders and administrators throughout the year to deepen instructional practices connected to the district's profile of a Centennial graduate vision and to support the development of authentic student- centered learning experiences. The April session focused on strengthening the connection between instructional tasks, evidence of learning, and student demonstration of learning connected to the academically prepared competency. That's one of the six competencies. Staff engaged in collaborative cal calibration around what constitutes meaningful evidence of student learning, examined how instructional rigor is maintained throughout a learning experience, and continued planning for the upcoming student summit later this month. An important
169focus of the session was ensuring that student exhibitions move beyond simply displaying projects and instead provide students with opportunities to explain, defend, and reflect upon their learning. Staff discussed how students can articulate not only what they created, but what they learned, how they know they learned it, and why that learning matters. Speaking of the student summits, these events are coming up starting next week. As part of this year's pilot implementation work connected to roadmap 27, each school selected a p program, project, or instructional activity aligned with the objectives and competencies outlined in the profile. These events are intended to serve as interactive showcases of student learning where students demonstrate evidence of learning connected to the profile of Centennial Graduate Competencies through presentations, exhibitions, reflection, and dialogue with authentic audiences. The elementary student summit is scheduled
170for next Tuesday, May 19th, at Pleasant Valley Elementary School from 10 to 1. The secondary stu student summit is scheduled for the following week on Thursday, May 28th at Centennial High School from 10 to 1. Board members are welcome to attend either event or both. Executive Assistant Misty Grindle has placed them on your calendar already and I look forward to the possibility of seeing some of you there. On Tuesday, May 26th, the Centennial School District will conduct its spring data summit, the third and final district level data analysis cycle of this school year. This routine is a key component of the continuous improvement process outlined in roadmap 27, helping the district monitor the impact of teaching and learning practices and making informed adjustments to strengthen instruction and systems like you heard from the Patrick Lynch
171report tonight. During the summit, representative members from each school's leadership team will engage in a structured process to review and reflect on student outcome data and professional practices aligned to their school improvement plans and roadmap 27 goals. Unlike unlike prior summits that focused on individual trimester data, the session will take a year in review approach allowing teams to examine patterns and trends across the full school year. In the afternoon, school teams will begin action planning to revise and strengthen their improvement plans and instructional priorities for the 2627 school year. Last month, I provided the board with an overview of the district's planned summer learning programming for students across the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Since that time, the district has received notification that we were awarded funding through the state summer learning grant process
172for the 2026 to 28 grant cycle. Centennial applied for the maximum allowable award amount of a million and was awarded $950,000 through the competitive statewide process. As previously discussed, this year's summer programming will focus on targeted academic support with a particularly a particular emphasis on literacy transition supports for key grade levels and math skill development aligned to grade level expectations. Programming will include structured literacy opportunities at the elementary level, middle school transition supports, nth grade counts at the high school level, and credit recovery and completion opportunities for secondary students. The district's award will support implementation of these efforts over the next three summers and will provide staffing, instructional programming, meals, transportation, and related student supports connected to summer learning opportunities. I also want to acknowledge that the grant process this year was highly competitive statewide,
173including within the Portland metro region with a number of districts not receiving funding through this grant cycle. And I've heard I'm sure you've heard some of the um publicity around some of the neighboring districts that weren't awarded. Unfortunately, on April 30th, the district held the third meeting of the long range facilities planning advisory committee at Pleasant Valley Elementary. The meeting continued the work of examining long-term facility needs, enrollment trends, community access considerations, and opportunities to align future facility investments with the district's instructional vision and community priorities. During the workshop, committee members engaged in collaborative planning activities focused on developing and discussing big ideas for the future of the district facilities. Conversations included themes related to aging facilities, safety and security improvements, equitable access to programs and service services, community centered spaces, modernization of career and
174technical education opportunities, and long-term enrollment and boundary considerations. Committee members also reviewed a variety of supporting planning materials and data sets, including facility condition information, enrollment and population trend maps, student location and walkability information, kind of like what we were talking about earlier, and community asset mapping. As part of the next phase of the process, DLR group will spend the summer reviewing the con conceptual work and feedback generated through the committee workshops and developing multiple planning scenarios for consideration when the committee reconvenes in the fall for its three remaining sessions. I know that we had director Harden and Vice Chair Moing at that third session and after the report you might want to add any um thing that you took away from that as well. So, more to come on this effort likely during the
175summer board retreat. Um, over the past week, I have had the opportunity to participate in several meetings with local and regional elected officials. Last Wednesday, I joined neighboring superintendent from the city of Gresham in meeting with Mayor Travis Stoval to discuss opportunities for continued partnership between the city and local school districts, including the MOP program. On Friday, along with East County Superintendent, I met with Multma County Commissioner Vince Jones Dixon to discuss shared challenges and opportunities impacting students and families across the region. I was also able to express appreciation for keeping mental health consultants and Sun programming whole in the county budget for East County. That's important. That's been at risk for the last couple of years. And yesterday, I had the chance to meet with Portland District 1 leadership, including uh Council President Jamie
176Dumpy and Councelor Loretta Smith. Across these conversations, topics included budget conditions, state and local budget landscapes, uh summer learning programming, legislative priorities, student and family supports, community safety and well-being, and opportunities for continued coordination between school districts, local government, and community partners. This one's fun. Last Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to attend a preview reception and tour for the new East County Library in Gresham prior to its public opening later this week. The event brought together local and regional leaders, community organizers, and education partners in recognition of the opening of this significant new community resource for East Multma County. The new library is a s substantial investment in literacy, learning, technology access, and community space for East County residents. It was encouraging to see the strong regional support surrounding the opening of this new
177facility. And on the screen, you can see a couple of pictures. This past Saturday, my wife Nicole and I attended Centennial High School's spring musical production of Chicago. The production showcased a tremendous amount of student talent and collaboration across acting, music, choreography, stage production, lighting, sound, costumes, and technical theater. As you might imagine, productions of this scale require months of preparation, and a significant commitment from both students and staff. This year's production also marked the final spring musical led by theater arts director Kelly McCarti prior to her retirement at the conclusion of the school year following 30 I believe 30 years leading Centennial High School's theater program. I want to thank Miss McCarti for her long-standing dedication to students and to the Centennial High School performing arts program over the course of her career. If
178you had the chance to see that, it was pretty awesome. Finally, later this month on Friday, May 29th, we will host our annual Centennial Retirement Celebration at Pimmen Country Club to recognize staff members retiring at the conclusion of the school year. This event provides an opportunity to honor the many years of service, care, and commitment our retirees have dedicated to Centennial students, schools, and the broader community. On the screen, you will see a previous retiring class representing decades of combined service to our district. Our retirees always appreciate having board members in attendance and your presence is a meaningful way to recognize their contributions and to thank them for their service. Executive Assistant Missy Grindle has already provided a calendar invitation for the event. If you have not already done so, please indicate whether or not
179you plan to attend so our staff can plan accordingly. And with that, I invite any questions or comments you might have. And that concludes my superintendence report. Director Lynn, >> questions. Thank you. >> Director Newman, >> uh, no questions. I appreciate you, uh, calling attention to the to Chicago. It was a really a great show. >> Vice Chair Mor, >> no questions. Thank you, >> directors. >> Will there be any recording or tracking of those students dum summits? It's unfortunate that they're both during the workday. And so for those of us that have to work like I'd love to see that but is there going to be any sort of like >> that is a wonderful question and I'm waiting for it looks like Chief Andre to come up and tell us more about that.
180>> Yes, Dr. Katsuda and I have been collaborating on what the plan for that's going to look like. So we'll be recording various portions of it. Um, and rather than just being a straight recording, what we've actually been working on throughout the pilot um, meetings and process is collecting footage of staff and student interviews up the projects in in the works. We'll be culminating that with footage we collected the summit and putting together one cohesive video similar to what we did last year with the profile of a graduate video that kind of tracks the pilots from beginning, intention, work throughout, and then culminating in the summits. >> Thanks for being on that, too. Director Harden. >> Uh just follow up on the facility planning committee meeting. Uh it went really well. The kind of one
181of the major topics was dream big and we all had uh divided in smaller groups and um had a huge map of the district and were able to you know as a small group dream big. What would you want to do with the schools? Where do you see them in 10 years? where do you see this area in 10 years and kind of uh come up with just ideas and each committee like there were very similar themes even though we didn't talk with each other it was very similar goals and themes amongst the different groups um and that was nice to see and some definitely some great outside the box things that I think um we could implement um I have a question about did I get you, Michael. Did I get Yeah, I got
182I was getting late. I'm having a moment. >> Um, summer programming, our neighboring districts did not get selected. And so, do we are we at capacity at our when we have our summer programming, are we at capacity for what is provided? >> Um, are >> like for the credit recovery? I yeah, that's where you're going with this. You and I had a conversation before about whether we can um >> extend an olive branch to our neighboring districts. I have floated the conversation specifically to actually to all of the East County superintendent. Um to be specific about the districts that we're talking about, Gresian Barlo, Reynolds, and Park Rose are our Multma County school districts that weren't awarded. and um I floated the idea with them as far as the ability to provide access to their
183students for the credit recovery. Um and then I've also let director Olsen know that as well just to see if it's even feasible to do or if there's interest um on their part. So at this point um we'll wait to see if they reach out um to do that. Um, I know that they're also working on advocating um to the state to the best of their ability to see if funds could be made available. Um, because it is an equity and access issue for um, you know, I think it's about 2,000 students between uh, the school districts that are not receiving access that would have with these plans. Uh, so it's unfortunate to see that they weren't awarded >> and this OSBA reported on the second pass and none of those districts got in. Yeah,
184there were four additional districts that were um added with the second pass and Gresian Barlo is right below that line. >> Um they're the next up. But um even if they are awarded um it's getting pretty late, it's miday and so um hopefully if that is going to materialize, it can happen soon so they can do the proper preparation. >> Thank you. just you feel something as important as credit recovery for students to be able to graduate on time feels like a slap when you don't have that available for your students and um especially a slap when your district is suffering the way some of our neighboring districts are suffering. So it's just felt like something if it was available >> to build on that response. You've seen the budget situations that some of our
185N neighboring districts are in and they were counting on receiving the summer school to be able to provide access to the credit recovery and now because they're not. If they're going to provide that, they need to dig into their already stretched resources where they're already making reductions and have to potentially offset the cost of doing that that they weren't expecting also. So, it just is a really unfortunate situation. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay, board members. Uh we are back to the agenda confirmation items. Do I have a motion to approve as presented? >> Some moved. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second to approve the confirmation items as listed. All those in favor indicate by saying I left in the hand. >> I >> Any opposed? Thank you. Confirmation items
186been passed. Um, we are now into board action items. Old business item here is the 2627 question about board meeting schedule a different day of the week. On this particular one, this has been postponed pretty previously. So, I'd like to have a motion so that we can at least get the discussion out about this particular topic. >> I'll make a motion to open it up for discussion. >> Okay. And it's any specific day of the week or just a changing of of it? >> I bet we keep it on Wednesday. >> I will keep it on Wednesday. Okay. All right. So, do I have a second for the discussion about the board meeting schedule to maintain the current schedule on Wednesdays? >> Second. >> Okay. I have a motion in a second. So board members,
187I'm just going to do a roll call kind of discussion about this that had been an indication by previous by a board member um about considering changing the date, not date, excuse me, day of the week and I believe that Tuesday was the day that was floated um as part of that discussion. So um speaking to the motion by the motioner, I'll start with you, Director Harden. I think we should keep it on Wednesday. Uh when we were when I was elected, meetings are on Wednesdays. So, let's that's why I think we should keep it. Other days of the week might have impacts on the community when they're here. It'll definitely have an impact on me fulfilling my service in my term, you know. Um Yes. and I look forward to moving on from this.
188>> Thank you, Director Siski. >> Um, yeah, I agree that probably keeping it on the same day of the week makes sense at this point. We um it's not just us. It's there's a lot of people involved in this decision. Um, and it was very clear when I signed up for the board that when this would be and what I was committing to and I have other commitments on other days and so I have Wednesday available for this. So I would also like to keep it on Wednesdays. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Martin. >> Thank you. Yes, I um agree there be a lot of um a lot of new communication needs to go out to the community around these topics and and it's been Wednesdays for a long time and you know I checked
189it against my own schedules too and like others I I have other commitments. Um my wife also has commitments to PTA which conflicts with the those dates. Um I have responsibilities to Habitat for Humanity and my board work there. Um, I have standing things on Mondays and my kids have four different activities every week. >> And so I I have literally built my life and schedule around Wednesday meetings for the school board and all the supplemental things that go along with it. So I I think that it makes the most sense to keep it on Wednesdays. >> Thank you, director. >> Um, I was open to moving the meetings. There are conflicting things on and other community events that happen on Wednesdays often. I was um interested to hear from Director Stanley, but of course
190it needs to be what works best for the most amount of people. So that's I'm glad to hear from everybody, but I'd love to hear from more um than just what the people here tonight. >> Director Newman, >> um I honestly don't feel strongly, at least personally, about the change about a change to Tuesday, uh which or or Thursday, which I think were days that were proposed. Um, but I'm also uh also sympathetic to and recognize that it's more than just the the seven of us on the board who are impacted by this decision. Um, if I had to make a decision right now, I would be inclined to say keep it on Wednesday for those reasons. >> Thank you, Chair Shields. I too have um built my schedule um having it on Wednesday evenings.
191Um in fact I often teach on other evenings of the week. Um so that would be difficult. It is something when we were elected this was the date and time. It's been this way for a number of years. Um I think there'd be something more compelling. I need something more compelling than our personal um desire to change it to be considering moving it to a different date. So, we've all spoken to the motion. So, the motion repeated is the motion to maintain our board meetings on Wednesday evenings. And I'm going to take a roll call vote so that we just have it as part of the record. And I will go just exactly the order that we just did. Director Harden, >> I make a motion that we keep it on Wednesdays. >> And your
192vote is >> yes on Wednesdays. >> Director Siloski, >> Vice Chair Murray, >> yes. Wednesdays. >> Director Lynn, >> nay. >> Director Newman, >> yes. >> And Chair Shields, yes. Okay. So motion carries with one nay for the board meetings to be maintained on Wednesdays. Thank you for that discussion. Um Director Olen, uh we need to have you up here in case there are questions. We have a motion to recommend the approval of the social science curriculum adoption as presented. >> So moved. I have a motion and a second to approve the recommendation for the social science curriculum adoption. Is there any discussion or questions for director Olson hearing? None. I'll put it to the vote. Um, again, I'm just going to go roll call because it's m I can make sure that I do
193not miss anybody when I get rum like this in the evenings. Director Harden. >> Uh, yes. I approve the social science curriculum adoption. >> Director Soski, >> I >> director Newman. >> I >> director Shield. Hi. That appears to be a unanimous without discussion. Wo. Well, you answered all of our questions. I mean, let's >> thank you very much. >> Thank you. Future agenda items and we will have a good of the order. I know we're getting close in time, but I promise you we will get done by 10. Oops, I squeeze. Sorry. >> Thank you, Chair Shields. Good meeting tonight. Lots of >> lots of things. Uh for the work session we have coming up in a couple of weeks, we have the superintendent's year-end report, the district equity committee annual report. Um we
194have the immigration response workg group who has been hard at work um and they have an update that they would like to provide. Uh we have the school calendar that we unfortunately pulled this time but we'll have uh back for next time. And then I'm thinking that we'll couple the board meeting calendar for the next year with that um but ventilation improvement project and then a few policies as well. >> Thank you board members. Uh any other future agenda items that have come to mind for you >> Dr. Sowski? Yeah, just an update that we met as part of the policy committee to talk about um budget committee appointments. Um and we have kind of worked our way through some stuff. There's some new stuff also coming from OSBA. So, we're getting that ready to
195come to the board soon. >> Excellent. Any other excuse me, future agenda items? Um I I have one and I don't know where this um goes so I'm just going to bring it up as a concern. I'm starting to see more and more discussion about you know we talked about cell phones and the impact on students and putting those things away and we've done it. Now there's discussion of actual screen time on computers and we were sort of hitting on it a little bit tonight and it seems like an emerging issue, emerging concern potentially and it might be one of those things that comes up and then just dies away. But if it does move as something that um educators are becoming concerned about, I think that it be behoove us to be aware of
196what those concerns are uh what the state of Oregon may be thinking. Department of Education as well because they do have impact on on that and it will definitely have impact on our curriculum. So I have concerns um as if that becomes a movement that takes a hold that we know where we would be and that we would involve people that it would be further than just the board which has been our standard. It's quite clear that we're doing the best that we can do by including all of community boys etc. We'd certainly want to have that happen if screen time, computer use, etc. Especially as it relates to curriculum becomes a challenge. So, anything else? Okay. So, we do have a good of the order before we adjourn. And I'd like to have um
197director Sutherton and director Katsoui >> Tasha >> Kasuda Katsumi is No, I have a good friend. That is that name. Get up here, please. We need you. We need you um at the desk. And I think we have something else in the other room. Do I need to go get it or does Superintendent Owens need to go get it? >> Or do we need to wait till the meeting? >> I want to wait till the meeting. >> Okay. Well, then this part this is this is the part we're going to have on the camera. Get in here. the chair gets all, you know, directive. What the heck is the chair doing? Hey, we just wanted to take a moment to specifically call out how you handled negotiations this year. It was radically different than anything
198that we as board members even had experienced before. And it took so much time um for us to understand process and then you having to continue to advocate and move forward with the board directives in mind and yet being able to come back to us and speak to us clearly about the issues, the concerns, what we need to hear. I just appreciated all of the sincerity, the openness, and the it's a good question response from Director Sutherton. So, we just wanted to take an extra moment, and I apologize just I'm just losing it everywhere tonight. Take a moment to acknowledge the ex the extra that you did on our behalf. So, Director Harden, any other words to add? Thanks a lot. Great job getting it done. Um, preventing a strike was fantastic and uh, thank
199you for all answering all the questions inside the box, outside the box, and handling all of that. >> Director Soliski, >> thank you. I really appreciate all the work that you guys do. I know that was hard and um, yeah, did it with a smile, with grace. Thank you. Chair, >> I uh said it a few times throughout the year, but I'm just so grateful to have your steady leadership and your council and guidance throughout the entire process. And um just, you know, just thank you so much for for everything throughout the year, >> Director Lyn. >> Thank you, >> Director Newman. >> Uh yeah, obviously thank you. This was I think stressful for all of us and I can only imagine the level of stress for for both of you. Um I and and
200I really appreciate that you came to us every every meeting that we had in exe every executive session with a just like a positive demeanor through all of it. Um and as as um director Silleski said with a lot of grace. So, thank you, >> Superintendent Owens. >> We have a great uh cabinet team and I know that Dr. Cassuda and Director Sutherton were point on our bargaining efforts. Um, and having been at the table myself over the years, I know that um when you said that the format was just different this time, it was it was very different um than we've been used to. and uh the grace and flexibility to be able to adapt and pivot um and to keep the um student needs and the best interest of the district at the
201forefront. financial solveny um while also balancing that with um the importance of uh the needs of our educators um and keeping all of that balanced um is appreciated. Um and I'm glad that we're able to have that done um for our community and for our staff and be able to move forward um with the other uh big projects that we work on every day as well. So just gratitude and appreciation. >> Thank you. Stay there. There's gratitude and appreciation coming in other formats, but we are going to adjourn this meeting at Whoops. >> When we're good for the order, eggs. >> All right. So, eggs and other stuff coming our way. Thank you so much. This is a long meeting. You guys did great. You always do and it's so much appreciated. And Michael, you
202can I don't know if we can keep you on or not. We have to shut down everything. Ah, Michael, we'll have to see you later. All right. We'll tell you about it.