COVID hinders reopening buildings to families

Coincidentally, some public comment before the presentation centered around school engagement and the frustration parents feel at not being allowed inside buildings to volunteer or for family events due to COVID restrictions.

Board Chair Chrissy Reitz encouraged those giving comment to stay for the presentation, saying it would help to answer some of the questions raised.

“Strengthen partnerships with our families and community” is goal five of seven in the district’s 2026 Strategic Plan, passed by board members in July by a 4-1 vote.

Ortega-Cooper said the district is working to ensure the that the implementation of that goal — and corresponding action plans — is systematic, intentional and sustainable.

“We have established specific goals and we are going to monitor because we really want to be able to replicate everything that works for our families and our students,” she said.

The five objectives set within this goal are based on information gathered from district stakeholders last year, Hoppe said: Increase participation in family activities hosted by schools; foster inclusiveness with families; engage the diverse community when gathering information and making decisions; showcase successes of students and staff through effective public relations to promote brand image throughout the community; regularly gather and analyze feedback from school district stakeholders to continuously improve our service to students.

“Now, we are really excited to move forward on all of our action items, and when we started going through our planning and timeline, it was hard not to check ‘this year’ on all of them. We want to get going on everything,” Hoppe said. “But we also know that we all have a lot of operational responsibilities to manage and so as a group, we looked at action items and decided what was realistic for this school year — where can we really build a strong foundation in which to build (on) over the next few years as our strategic plan spans the next five years.”

A closer look

This year, the district is looking to increase participation in school activities (objective one) with help from new school engagement specialists. Recently, Cascade Locks and Parkdale elementary schools held virtual “read aloud” events that saw more than 60% school community participation. Kids received school logo mugs and treats provided by Rosauers and the nutrition services department.

“(It was a) fun family activity encouraged some connecting with families and students within our current COVID world,” she said.

To foster inclusiveness (objective two) and engage the entire community (objective three), Ortega-Cooper said the district is looking at how to not only invite families to participate but create a true sense of belonging. With this in mind, board meetings are now professionally translated by Linguava, and materials sent home are in both English and Spanish. The district is also actively ensuring that its committees are a true representation of the community.

“We need to research culturally sensitive practices, and really talk to the people that we are affecting,” Ortega-Cooper said. “That’s the groundwork we are doing now.

“It is our hope that we will welcome families in our buildings —that’s part of our long term goal, that’s what we want to do, so we’re planning for it,” she said. “And in the meantime, we’re going to do it following the guidelines that are needed, but we are planning for that too.”

As for showcasing the successes of staff and students (objective four), “We want our community and our families to know that they are getting exceptional education and support services at their schools,” said Hoppe. “We want to share about all the great things that our students are accomplishing in their schools as part of their journey within Hood River County School District and we are really proud of our staff and the quality of staff that we have.”

Families got a chance to participate in the last objective, to regularly gather and analyze feedback from school district stakeholders (objective five) in December, when the district sent out a survey to all families to gage all of the values outlined in the strategic plan.

That parents want back into schools is one message it’s received. To that end, the district is planning a community gathering in the spring — most likely an outdoor fair-type event that showcase each school and district departments and programs as well as food, music and other entertainment.

“We’re so fortunate to have the addition of our family engagement specialists and our principals who are really engaged in this work, it is such a team effort …” said Hoppe.

“I don’t want to finish without thanking our elementary family engagement specialists and … other members of the staff, like the student support coordinator and youth outreach coordinator at the middle school level, and at the high school level, the prevention specialists and the youth outreach coordinators,” Ortega-Cooper said. “They have come up to help in this effort, because that’s really what it takes, for people that are in the building to do the work.”

“We heard comment today in public comment that show how passionate people are about what you’re doing so it’s encouraging to me that you’re as passionate as you are about what you’re doing here so thank you for that,” said Board Member Jen Kelly. “I think it goes a long way to build unity and trust in our community.”