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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:
Just before the last national election in 2016, when I was serving as a school district superintendent, a veteran high school teacher told me that he’d never been so stressed out in his career. Teachers are often asked to cover civics, social issues, current events and other topics many of us won’t dare broach this Thanksgiving—even with our own families.
And though there is little doubt that conversations about the world around us are getting more and more strained, our educators have a duty—especially now—to help our children understand our nation’s history, our civic systems, the political process, and how the media they are bombarded with every day impacts thinking and behavior during a bitter national election. Good teaching in these tumultuous times is an act of courage—and we need courageous teachers now more than ever.
Read the message I sent to NWRESD staff about teaching civility in uncivil times >> |
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My best,
 Dan Goldman
Superintendent
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This summer, NWRESD’s parent support and engagement team surveyed and/or interviewed more than 650 students and families. The group asked how we could improve our educational programs and services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Families asked for better communication; more technology support; home routine, scheduling and social emotional support; more interaction for children with their peers; additional office hours with teachers; more physical materials; and a greater emphasis on antiracism at the organizational level. They also asked to see more staff of color and people of color in curriculum materials.
We created a recap video so families and partners can see how we have integrated these suggestions in our plans for the 2020-21 school year.
Watch the Your Voice, Our Response video >>
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It was a record-breaking first quarter for our grants team. Since July 1, NWRESD has been awarded 21 grants worth more than $6.4 million for partner districts or ESD-run programs.
Preschool Promise Programs Grow Across Region
Nine northwest school districts and three regional early learning providers received NWRESD support in securing Preschool Promise (PSP) funds to launch or expand preschool classrooms. These high-quality, publicly funded preschool classrooms provide vital early learning opportunities for eligible students across the state.
Congratulations to the following schools districts:
- Astoria School District - $222,750
- Forest Grove School District - $556,875
- Hillsboro School District - $432,000
- Jewell School District - $123,750
- Rainier School District - $222,750
- St. Helens School District - $247,500
- Tillamook Education Consortium (Neah-Kah-Nie, Nestucca Valley and Tillamook school districts) - $445,500
Congratulations to the following early learning providers:
- Monkey Tree Learning Center [St. Helens] - $216,000
- Mrs. Field’s Place [St. Helens] - $74,250
- Simply Kids Preschool [Astoria] - $72,000
Read more about PSP awards >>
HSD Latino Mentorship Program Set to Expand
The Hillsboro School District received a two-year renewal grant from Meyer Memorial Trust to sustain and expand its mentorship program for Latino young men. This $185,000 grant will allow the district to expand the program to also serve middle schoolers. Congratulations HSD! Learn more about the HSD Latino Youth program >>
NWRESD Receives Meyer Memorial Trust Grant to Advance Internal Equity Work
This past month, NWRESD was awarded a $185,000 two-year grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust to support the development of internal staff equity teams to deepen our integration of educational equity and antiracism into our day-to-day work.
The grant will enable us to work with a racial-equity professional learning contractor to support the development of equity learning teams across our schools and sites. We are currently reviewing contractor proposals with the aim of working with our leadership team this winter and standing up learning teams by the end of the school year.
9th Grade Success Network Funding Secured
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is investing more than $1.2 million to support and sustain our regional 9th Grade Success Network over the next two years. The regional network currently consists of 30 high school teams from around the region who come together to learn from each other and better address common challenges.
This network focuses on creating culturally sustaining, deeper learning and engaging experiences for ninth graders in our region, particularly for students who have been historically marginalized. Our staff support regional educators and students to collectively reimagine the ninth grade experience. Current areas of focus include how to best support students and educators in a comprehensive distance learning environment. Congratulations to our 9th Grade Success team for securing continued funding for this important work!
If your district is interested in receiving grant writing support, please email Crystal Greene, NWRESD grants manager.
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NWRESD is seeking great candidates to join our new board equity policy advisory committee. The primary goal of this committee is to make recommendations on racial equity-focused policies and practices to NWRESD’s board of directors.
The board is interested in having a diverse committee that includes people from varied backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. People who:
- bring knowledge, experience and relationships that reflect the diversity of NWRESD’s service area community,
- have a strong interest in educational equity issues,
- can engage in the process of institutional change related to equity and antiracism, and
- have experiences across multiple dimensions of diversity are encouraged to apply.
 The committee will meet monthly to:
- address matters related to discrimination, racism or prejudice,
- promote ideas of organizational anti-racism, and
- make policy revision and creation recommendations to the board.
Members of the committee are essential for helping guide the district as we strive to meet the needs of our diverse student population. Do you know people in your community who would be interested in being considered for this committee?
Encourage them to complete an application by Monday, Nov. 9 >>
Read more about what this commitment will entail. Questions? Please email Liwaru, director of equity and family partnerships at NWRESD and director of the Cascade Alliance for Equity.
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After the Almeda fire destroyed Southern Oregon Education Service District’s Phoenix campus in September, NWRESD gathered about 20 pieces of adaptive and orthopedic equipment as well as about $1,500 in autism spectrum disorder materials to donate to the Medford-based ESD. In early October, staff from SOESD were able to pick up the items.
Donated items included standers and tumble forms, which are used to support students in accessing their educational environment, as well as accompanying trays, straps and support cushions.
“Regional Programs around the state came together to support our colleagues at SOESD," says Cathy Jensen, executive director of K-12 special education at NWRESD. "We gathered equipment and materials from our warehouses and shelves to help educators get student programs back up and running.” |
 “It warms my heart to know that we were able to help,” says Emma Stotler, the equipment center specialist at NWRESD who organized the donated items (pictured above).
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In collaboration with the Northwest Regional Educator Network (NREN), Joseph J. Hernandez, NWRESD’s chief human resources officer, is steering work to roll out a pilot for the NREN. The NREN pilot seeks to uncover transformative human resources practices this school year.
In partnership with Mariana Zaragoza, regional educator network coordinator, the team hopes these transformative human resources practices will encourage and support an equitable human resources process in many realms especially related to retaining and recruiting diverse staff and educators.
Human resources staff from the 20 school districts within the NWRESD region are invited to team up with Joseph and our NREN.
The work will be centered on continuous improvement, which refers to a process in which schools, districts or other organizations commit to quality improvement efforts that are evidence-based, integrated into the daily work of individuals, contextualized within a system, and iterative.
 Stipends are available for interested human resources professionals or support staff, but spots will be limited to one participant per district.
One pilot project already underway will test the effectiveness of anti-bias training for staff on hiring panels. This change idea will be shared on a larger scale for implementation in surrounding districts throughout the region. Overall, the pilot will explore forming a diverse task force rooted in human resources equity practices and will collect data related to educators of color and their experience going through the hiring process and reasons for leaving. The hiring task force includes people of color both in educator and leadership roles.
Interested in participating? Complete this form >>
You can also read more about the work the Northwest Regional Educator Network is doing to diversify educators in our region. Questions? Please email Joseph.
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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 are 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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