During the Sept. 22 North Wasco County District 21 School Board meeting, Superintendent Carolyn Bernal, along with Teaching, Learning and Assessment Director Lauren Merklin, Human Resources Director Sandy Harris, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Kara Flath and Amy Hampton presented the year one priorities of District 21’s five-year strategic plan.
North Wasco County School District Superintendent Carolyn Bernal
The plan, which was initially presented in the Aug. 25 school board meeting, identifies priority areas within D21 that the district will focus on meeting set goals and action plans over the course of the next five years. The identified priority areas are the student experience, teaching and learning, community engagement, staffing and facilities. During the meeting, the presentation outlined the goals and priorities the district will be focusing in these areas over the course of the 2022-23 school year.
Student experience
The presented year one priorities for the student experience include addressing equity though providing professional learning opportunities, identifying and sharing the district’s equity story, beginning work on restorative practices with students, developing and administering surveys throughout the district schools, as well as holding roundtables between the superintendent, school principals and students “to ensure that we are hearing from our students,” said Bernal in the presentation.
“We’re heavily focused this year on actually hearing from our students and really engaging in the student voice,” said Bernal.
Teaching and learning
Priorities for teaching and learning include three professional learning focus areas, including restorative learning, professional learning communities (PLC), and learning intentions, with the PLCs prioritizing and unpacking standards and beginning to create curriculum roadmaps. The district plans on forming a professional development committee, as well as beginning work on multi-tiered systems of support, as the only system currently in place within the district is for reading, according to the presentation. Other priorities include engaging the student voice in the recently adopted English language arts curriculum alignment, researching and gathering data on student engagement and learning, as well as data on current student transitions between schools and after graduation and creating a plan to standardize that information.
Community engagement
Year one priorities for community engagement include increasing community event engagement and including all cultural groups in school ceremonies, continuing the advancement of the district’s equity committee work, increasing the district’s communications and media relations, as well as the accessibility and readability of the district’s budget reporting.
Staffing
Staffing priorities for year one includes determining the feasibility of a hiring pool and continuing the “grow-your-own” educator pipeline, which, according to the the final strategic plan posted to the NWCSD website, is a program in collaboration with Oregon State University placing teachers in training at NWCSD schools, as well as beginning “exposure and training for students while still in high school.” Other priorities include creating an advisory group for BIPOC staff, as well as establish practices and protocols, both by school and district-wide, for staff to seek support and guidance in order to provide a sense of belonging in within the district.
Facilities
Year one priories for facilities include creating facilities work groups consisting of a variety of participants, including both district staff and community members, to create work plans in regard to improving the district facilities, which includes a long term plan to improve athletic facilities. Other priorities include establishing a facilities projects page on the NWCSD website and beginning communications regarding the district’s bond planning process, finishing all police walkthroughs and campus safety audits as well as updating district security cameras and creating an overall welcoming environment throughout each district building.
“If it were to summarize what our priority is, its communicating everyone in the public and understanding … the condition of our facilities and the challenges that we face,” said CFO Flath in the presentation.
“That’s the work ahead of us … that we’ll focus on this year,” said Bernal, who said regular progress updates will be given throughout the year.
The entire Sept. 22 school board meeting can be found on the District 21 Media Channel on YouTube or the NWCSD Facebook page.
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