HOOD RIVER — From new staff to new positions, the theme of the Sept. 14 Hood River County School District Board of Directors meeting was the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
Held at the Nathaniel Coe Administration Center, the meeting also introduced student envoys Giselle Gonzalez, Hood River Valley High ASB president, and John Beckman, ASB vice president, who will give reports on high school activities and share student viewpoints this year.
Board Vice Chair Chrissy Reitz asked the two how the first week back had gone; Gonzalez said that it was nice being back at school after a year of distance learning and another year of readjusting to the in-school environment. “But I feel like this year it’s very welcoming and it’s just nice to be with my friends again and having my teachers there with me,” she said.
She also said that, as a senior, there are a lot of opportunities, and being an envoy to the school board is one of them. “I’m excited to be here,” she said.
Beckman echoed the sentiment, saying, “I think that we have done a really good job this year on creating a welcoming environment, not just for the freshman but all students who are returning from maybe a couple shaky years … I’m excited to see the progress that we’re going to make this year.”
Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn relayed what he had seen during the first week of school at various district sites. “I had the opportunity to visit each school and the transportation/maintenance office — in fact, a couple of you were able to join me on those visits,” he said to the assembled board. “What impressed me the most was how welcoming, happy and excited students and staff were at all the places I visited. It left me feeling really excited and proud of the work of our staff to get this year off to a positive start.”
He stressed that intentional efforts to create safe, welcoming and inclusive learning environments for students is a cornerstone of the district’s strategic plan “to prioritize health and safety as a critical component of school success.
“We know that when we nurture a safe, caring and inclusive learning environment, our students are emotionally regulated and ready to engage in rigorous learning activities,” Polkinghorn said.
Human Resources Director Catherine Dalbey, in the Recognition and Good News portion of the meeting, shared a slide show of new teachers by Communications Director Stephanie Hoppe.
“We have a great new crew of teachers,” Dalbey said, noting the slide show focused on 38 of them. “We also have 10 hires that were temporary in the 2021-22 school year that have now moved to regular positions for this school year. We have four licensed staff that are on leave of absences this year so we do have some people in temporary positions.”
The group has 237 years of combined experience between them — for some, this is their very first year, while one has 34 years of teaching experience. Thirteen of those new hires are either Hood River Valley High School graduates or originally from Hood River, Dalbey added.
“It’s nice to see so many of them who are from Hood River coming back,” said Board Member Brandi Sheppard.
“There are three new teachers up at Parkdale that all graduated together and they’re all back together teaching, and they’ve been friends at least since I knew them in middle school,” Dalbey said. “It’s really fun to see them back at it.”
Reitz said, “It’s really a change of thought process to bring people in that actually have real world experience. I think it’s very, very cool because that’s a wealth of knowledge they bring to our students. Yay for us for looking outside the box and bringing those people in.”
“We have within this group have people that have had very traditional pathways to education — four years of college and student teaching and then into the classroom — and then people that are more on a non-traditional pathway, and there are a lot of benefits to both,” Dalbey said.
“I’m excited to see that we have that mix,” said Board President Corinda Hankins-Elliott. “We’ve been looking for teachers and we knew there was going to be a shortage a long time ago and I know how hard you’ve worked and your team has worked. And just watching these people who have graduated come back — that’s the wonderful thing about a small community, and the fact that we can do that here is really special.”
Dalbey also shared that there are nine teacher candidates in the Columbia Gorge Community College-Oregon State University teacher pathway program working within district schools this year, as well as one school counselor candidate.
“We’re actively trying to train and get all these people ready, so hopefully their going to be contracted teachers and counselors or specialists as we move forward,” she said.
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