Red was the color of solidarity at the March 16 North Wasco County School board meeting, being worn by staff, parents and community members alike as they continued to speak on the increasingly challenging behavior being exhibited by young students within District 21 (D21).
During the staff report portion of the meeting, a presentation was given by D21 Education Association (EA) president Jodi Ketchum, along with North Wasco Educational Support Professional (NW ESP) co-presidents Sylvia Brock and Sharlene Bonham, discussing the challenging behaviors D21 elementary staff are experiencing from young students and its ongoing repercussions.
“With a number of issues and situations involving classroom behaviors, and the violence has continued to climb at a rapid pace. We have staff being injured to all degrees, some to the point of resigning. This is very concerning for us,” said Bonham, “and while we’re hopeful that things will get better, it does not appear to be going in that direction. This behavior and violence toward staff has escalated to a crisis mode. Something needs to be done as we cannot continue on this path.”
“The heartbreaking and impactful stories on the topic of disruptive learning that you heard are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Ketchum in reference to the public comments given at the Feb. 28 school board meeting. “We could submit reports from so many more staff, but this 20 minute presentation would turn into a two hour presentation.”
Submitting an Oregon Education Association (OEA) report to the board titled “A crisis of disrupted learning,” the group presentation outlined behaviors being experienced in classrooms across the state — including verbal and physical abuse against staff and other students, and the weaponization and destruction of classroom and/or district property — the potential reasoning behind these behaviors and recommendations to help alleviate the issue and protect staff and students.
“Our students and our staff do not feel safe in our schools. We are not able to continue in the state of unrest. It is not sustainable nor ethical for our staff and students to not have their basic need for safety met,” Ketchum said.
Key recommendations provided by the document include the increase of onsite student supports with a focus on mental health, reducing class size and caseloads for staff and to fully fund targeted professional development and ongoing supports for consistent, high-quality implementation. In the case of D21, Ketchum references the district’s focus on the recently implemented restorative practice initiative and the newly adopted ELA curriculum.
“Educators need more professional development and more time to be successful and moving the initiatives forward. While D21 EA and North Wasco ESP associations support the initiatives, we must have more support in moving slowly and methodically with even more training and collaboration, collaborative time among teams in order to ensure the best student outcomes,” Ketchum said.
“Currently in North Wasco School District, we do not have a clear implementation of policies regarding restraint, seclusion and consequences for such drastic behaviors. We don’t have clear implementation of a district school protocols in the event of these disruptions. We don’t have clear matrixes for principals and staff to follow at every school,” said Brock.
“As the board knows, we feel strongly that you chose a competent and thoughtful leader in Dr. Bernal; she has proven herself to be trustworthy and solution minded. Not only does she have a true open door policy, but when you walk into her office, she listens and she continues to actively work together with us to help find resolution to the significant issues our district faces,” said Ketchum. “We implore our district to continue talks with both of our unions to look at alternative models … no adult should have to come to work feeling unsafe. No child should have to come to school feeling unsafe. NWCSD is capable of providing for the needs of all of our students while ensuring it is a safe, conducive learning environment.”
Public comment
Seventeen public comments were received at the March 16 school board meeting, with 14 commenters speaking before the board, and three being submitted in writing. Most speaking in regard to student behavior and imploring the board to find solutions to keep staff and students safe at while at school.
Ginger Bradshaw, a teaching assistant with the Special Education (SPED) Department at Dry Hollow Elementary School, shared personal stories of her experience with challenging behavior of students, including having to pursue errant students around the teacher’s parking lot who later ran away a second time, and being required to intervene in student’s rough play due to short staffing at recess. “I’m serious, this is a daily sort of occurrence,” said Bradshaw. “We’ve had to clear our rooms, often because kids then start throwing chairs, trashing, it happens in teachers’ rooms as well as our department.”
Bradshaw also talked about staff who had received injuries while on the job. “Two accidents ended up in ER,” said Bradshaw. “We’re losing staff, we don’t have the subs that we need, we can’t cover all this. I’m really concerned.”
Penalo Carlson, a nurse who had been working for the school district for seven years, spoke on her both her personal and witnessed experience with the increased violence in young student’s behavior towards staff members that has ultimately led her to decide to depart her with position in the district after this school year.
“I worked three years as the only middle school nurse, and it was a big job, especially during COVID, but I never saw any level of violence, especially towards adults, that I have seen since I took the chance to transfer over to an elementary school in order to be able to continue to work,” said Carlson. “I was just amazed at the amount of small children, kindergartners, over and over again every day, assaulting adults, kicking, punching, scratching — at times drawing blood — pushing, shoving, stabbing with pencils.
“I didn’t know what I do if a student ever approached me and physically touched me in an aggressive manner, but it happened in November and I almost gave my notice at that time,” said Carlson. “It was very painful for me to decide that I will not be returning as a school nurse next year.”
Marissa Isaak, Ashley Dodson and Natasha Skov, parents who spoke at the previous board meeting on the issue of challenging and bullying behavior their students had experienced at school, spoke on their experience in a meeting they were invited to by district leadership to discuss their concerns expressed in the Feb. 28 school board meeting.
“The meeting, while respectful, did not accomplish what I was hoping. Solutions and immediate action were not presented, and there was no sense of urgency. Because we had no agenda to work off of, I felt like I was spinning my wheels rehashing my stories, concerns and feelings,” said Skov.
“Although it was a very cordial discussion, the day prior, we received an email the stated administration would not be discussing the data points and questions that we had submitted the week prior,” commented Dodson. “I was also severely disappointed that Miss Rossmiller, and Superintendent Bernal would not be speaking during that meeting, but instead just listening to points. I was hoping for another collaborative session.”
“We were informed of the efforts that the district is making to reduce the behaviors and disruptions, but not once were we validated in our concerns or validated (that) what our students have endured shouldn’t have happened,” said Isaak. “We are not asking for an overnight solution, and we are not asking to completely abandon our sort of practices; we are asking for a bare minimum of having safety in our classroom and accountability of enforcing the student handbook.”
Prior to public comment, Bernal commented on the ongoing issue during the superintendent’s report at the March 16 meeting. “I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that it has been a very trying year, and that our staff are facing significant challenges and are all exhausted. We also know that we are not alone in this, and that school districts across our state and our country are struggling through these same concerns. COVID was a challenging time. And unfortunately, as educators, we are continuing to cope with the ramifications as they manifest inside our schools. Our kids missed out on valuable milestones and learning opportunities during the shutdown, not only academically, but socially and emotionally as well. Students are coming to us with significant needs in ways we have not seen or experienced before,” said Bernal. “We continue to meet with our union leadership on a regular basis and appreciate the open dialogue we have had surrounding these hard issues. There are things we have already put in place this year, things that are currently in progress and things we are planning as we look ahead, and we look forward to sharing those at a future board meeting. I believe wholeheartedly in our district’s vision and that our schools are a place where children belong. And each student is known by name, strength and need. We undoubtedly have work to do on all fronts to ensure we continue to commit to this statement each day. But I also feel optimistic about the things we are doing and can do to help address these challenging circumstances. And I look forward to continued collaboration and conversations on these matters.”
“I noticed a sea of red, it’s awesome to see just kind of the unity amongst our staff,” said School Board Chair Jose Aparicio during the meeting. “As it been said before, many times over, you guys are the shining star of D21 and probably will always continue to be that, so thank you for what you do. I know we’ve got a challenging time ahead of us, but, I think what was mentioned, as long as we continue to collaborate together, we too will get through this.
“We’ll sit down with the superintendent, work to the path forward and work to address all the concerns that we’ve heard tonight,” he said.
The entire March 16 school board meeting is available to view at on the District 21 Media Channel on YouTube.
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