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Monthly highlights about the work our ESD is doing in the community |
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To our partners and community members:
When we opened the school year with our staff, I was direct: “this year will be incredibly challenging.” And so far, the 2020-21 school year has delivered on this promise. But the ways in which we respond to life’s most challenging moments often shape who we will become as individuals and as an organization. How we learn, respond and grow together during this time of incredible adversity will ultimately make us better educators and push us to more fully achieve our agency vision: Every student educated, equipped, and inspired to achieve their full potential and enrich their communities.
Oregon Department of Education’s All Students Belong guidance bears a particularly profound opportunity to examine and improve our practice.
Families entrust educators with their children and they depend on welcoming, warm and inclusive school communities. Bullying, hate speech and symbols can cause immediate and sometimes irreparable harm. When students experience intolerance, hate or racism, their well-being and ability to learn are compromised.
These experiences cause individual and community stress, which puts everyone involved (those harmed, those causing the suffering, and those charged with responding) at elevated risk for physical, emotional, and social illness. From many years of experience in schools, I can assure you that when one person in a school community experiences intolerance and hate, everyone in that school community is negatively affected.
Punitive responses, such as suspension, frequently ignore this multidimensionality in favor of immediate resolution. Alone, punishment does little to alter biases and attitudes. Response to bias, bullying, hate or intolerance must account for the systemic factors involved and create opportunities for learning and healing as a school community.
With ODE’s All Students Belong guidance, school and education service districts are charged with examining policies and practices to ensure they will create the conditions for welcoming and inclusive school environments.
This fall, our Board established a new equity policy advisory committee, co-led by Sharif Zakir Liwaru, equity and family partnerships director, and Joseph J. Hernandez, chief human resources officer. This advisory will review our policies and help launch us into our next steps in becoming an antiracist organization. If you are interested in serving on this advisory committee, or have recommendations for how to implement this guidance in our programs, please email Joseph or Liwaru.
We will keep our partners updated on this work. In the meantime, please enjoy the following updates from your ESD! |
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My best,
 Dan Goldman
Superintendent
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Communication is the essence of human connection, and human connection contributes to a student’s identity and sense of belonging. Cultural and linguistic diversity among educators is paramount, particularly for those who help students overcome speech, language and communication barriers.
A new partnership between NWRESD’s Speech-Language Pathology Program and Pacific University’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders will diversify the field of speech-language pathology (SLP) throughout our region.
This fall, the program, called the Diverse Speech-Language Pathology Pathway, will support 10 SLP graduate students who are racially and/or linguistically diverse by providing them mentorship and real-life experience within our comprehensive distance learning telepractice model.
“Students with communication needs will benefit profoundly from this rising field of diverse professionals,” says Ana Lia Oliva, coordinator of speech-language pathology and augmentative communication and assistive technology services at NWRESD. “We look forward to supporting their success as they engage in their graduate-level practicum learning in our local communities.”
Join us in welcoming these graduate students in the following school district communities: Astoria, Banks, Neah-Kah-Nie, Nestucca Valley, Rainier, Seaside, Tigard-Tualatin, Tillamook and Vernonia school districts.
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Daniel Bair, a student who experiences vision loss, was recently featured by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Daniel has received orientation, mobility and vision services from NWRESD’s team since he was 3 years old.
This past spring, Daniel graduated from Forest Grove High School. While there, he was active in choir and goalball—a sport developed specifically for people who experience vision loss. Daniel first started his goalball career at NWRESD and played on the ESD team for many years. He is now on the state team for Oregon (the next level up from the ESD teams) and has had the opportunity to travel around the country for tournaments.
 Daniel Bair (second from right) with his Northwest Regional ESD goalball team, the NW Scorpions, in March 2020 at Baker Prairie Middle School in Canby, Oregon.
Daniel excelled academically in high school, too, and took several advanced placement courses. He also participated in a summer work experience program through the Oregon Commission for the Blind. He worked in north Portland at James John Elementary with Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN), a community program that offers after-school activities for children and social services for parents.
During the 25-30 hours he worked there, he managed child safety, provided learning opportunities and developed curricula. Emily Recchia, a teacher of students with blindness and visual impairments at NWRESD, was Daniel’s job coach during his time with the SUN program. Emily says Daniel especially enjoyed leading lessons that engaged students with braille and goalball.
“He embraces life's adversity through his great sense of humor, is an excellent self-advocate, and is genuinely a kind person anyone would want as a friend,” Emily says.
Daniel received college scholarships, including one from the Ford Family Foundation, and is now attending the University of Oregon. He is considering becoming a teacher—maybe even a teacher of the visually impaired—but he is also taking the time to explore what other things he might enjoy in his first years in college.
Read Daniel’s story >>
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For the 13th year in a row, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFAO) has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Northwest Regional Education Service District for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
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The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by NWRESD’s fiscal team.
Tami Montague (pictured above), chief financial officer, and André Schellhaas (pictured at right), assistant director fiscal compliance, were recognized for this achievement at NWRESD’s September Board of Directors meeting.
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When COVID-19 arrived in the Pacific Northwest in March, it hit the migrant community particularly hard. Families turned to the NWRESD migrant education program team for help accessing rental assistance, food, personal protective equipment such as masks, cleaning products and health supplies such as thermometers.
They also leaned on our team for emotional support. Like everyone else, they were grieving the lost expectations of a summer that would not be fully realized. They were worried about money and work and their family’s safety.
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 A migrant family receives a food bag and kindergarten prep learning materials for the summer program.
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An impromptu food pantry sprang up in the garage of one of our migrant education program staff members.
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When a mother tested positive for COVID-19, Rosa Gilbert, bilingual migrant education program manager and title III consortium manager, talked her through what the quarantine period would look like. Not being able to provide home-cooked meals for her children for 14 days was unthinkable to this mother. Being the provider of food and nourishment for her children was part of her identity. Rosa assured her that her eldest son would be able to prepare meals for his younger siblings. Then she drove to her house with masks, hand sanitizer and a bag of easy-to-prepare meals and snacks. This mother is now fully recovered.
In all, the team distributed 500 cloth masks, close to 1,000 N95 masks and 100 bottles of hand sanitizer. They’ve also distributed 175 food bags. |
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 Cesar gets excited for kindergarten prep summer school.
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 Maria practicing Chicka-Chicka 1-2-3 on her chalkboard for kindergarten prep summer school.
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Fortunately, none of the families they work with lost their lives to COVID-19. But several have lost loved ones and in some cases, have been unable to travel home to grieve.
In addition to all of this pandemic-related work, the team also ran four different summer programs like they do most summers—partnering with NWRESD's Early Learning Hub, Northwest STEM Hub, Diverse Educator Pathways and the Professional Learning team. |
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 Maria shows off her social-emotional learning feelings project.
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 Jennifer and her mom proudly hold their end-of-summer certificate.
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It has been a summer unlike any other and we congratulate our migrant team for rising to the occasion and making a difference in the lives of hundreds of our region’s most vulnerable families. They have demonstrated leadership, inspired action and encouraged others in our region to deepen their partnerships with families during these challenging times.
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 Amanda Casian, family engagement specialist and migrant recruiter in Clatsop County
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 Iridian Cazares, administrative assistant and data specialist
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 Rosa Gilbert, bilingual migrant education program manager and title III consortium manager
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 Andrea Gonzalez, family engagement specialist and migrant recruiter in Tillamook County
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 Jose Milian, graduation specialist
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 Eredi Pintor, lead migrant recruiter
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 Sandra Silva, school readiness specialist
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Our equity and family partnerships team has curated a list of dozens of resources for educators on their journey to becoming antiracist. While originally intended for NWRESD staff, popular demand has encouraged us to share these resources with educators across the region.
The slide deck below offers historical context as well as dozens of recommendations for books, films, podcasts, articles and social media accounts to follow. It also offers tips for selecting children’s books.
See the slides >>
If you’re interested in receiving equity training from our professional trainers at your school district, email Sharif Liwaru, director of equity and family partnerships. |
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The Oregon Department of Education is publishing "Adapted At-A-Glance Profiles" (school and district reports) on Oct. 15 using data that has been previously published prior to COVID-19. Districts are able to request a preview of these starting Oct. 1.
To get the pre-release of your At-A-Glance Profile, please email Karen Brown-Smith and Peter Campbell.
Because this is a manual process, ODE is asking that only superintendents, principals or staff with access to the At-A-Glance profiles section of the Achievement Data Insight (ADI) application on the ODE site request these documents.
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Every month, our teams submit one-page reports to our board of directors. These reports include highlights, challenges and plans for the future and are available from our early learning, special education, instructional, equity, technology, human resources and fiscal teams.
See our board agendas for links to these program updates >>
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We're hiring for a number of positions. Please share these opportunities with community members who might be interested. View all of our open positions >>
Highlighted positions:
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