Superintendent's Update

As October settles in, the weather is changing and the fall colors are deepening around us. In our second month of the school year, our work is deepening too. Staff and students are developing meaningful relationships while diving into the curriculum with greater depth and focus.

This month, we continue our journey on Roadmap ‘27 - building a sense of belonging, advancing literacy, and enhancing student engagement and attendance.

Tonight, we have the chance to celebrate our community spirit with the annual Homecoming parade and festivities. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

In this newsletter, you'll find updates on our progress, a celebration of our incredible principals, and information about the benefits of regular attendance. Thank you for your ongoing dedication to our students and for making Centennial a thriving learning community.

Calling all Eagles! Join us for today's Homecoming celebration at Centennial High School. Parade starts at 5pm and will travel from Powell Butte Elementary, through the local neighborhood, and then finish at the CHS stadium. Tailgate booths will open at 5:30pm, and kickoff for tonight's home game is at 7pm. See you there!

October is National Principals Month, and we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to the amazing principals who lead our schools. Their dedication, passion, and commitment shape the educational experiences of our students and foster positive school cultures.

Every day, our principals inspire students, teachers and staff to strive for their best. They navigate challenges with grace and create environments where every student can thrive. This month, join us in recognizing and thanking these remarkable leaders. To our wonderful principals, thank you for all that you do!

In recognition of the National School Lunch Program, which serves lunch to nearly 30 million children each day, all Centennial schools will celebrate National School Lunch Week October 14-18, 2024.

This year's campaign theme, “School Lunch Pirates: Find Your Treasure,” highlights the importance of a healthy school lunch to a student’s success both in and out of the classroom. School lunches offer students fruits and vegetables, whole grains and milk, and meet federal nutrition standards limiting fat, calories and sodium in all meals. Additionally, all Centennial School District students are eligible to eat both breakfast and lunch at school free of charge, every day!

For more information on National School Lunch Week, visit https://schoolnutrition.org/nslw/. To preview our special treasure-themed school lunch menus for October 14-28, visit our website at https://csd28j.org/schoollunchweek.

Each year, the third full week in October is designated as National School Bus Safety Week. This event focuses on education and information about all the ways to make school bus transportation as safe as possible for students. Watch our District social media during the week of October 21-25 for updates on all of the things that the CSD Transportation Department does to promote bus safety in our District.

Students are invited to participate in the 2024-25 National School Bus Safety Poster Contest! The theme for this year's posters is Safety First - Safety Always. Students have until April 18, 2025 to create and submit posters to the national contest. For contest guidelines and submission form, please visit https://www.napt.org/postercontest.

One way our District supports students' sense of belonging is through the use of Responsive Classroom strategies, particularly at the elementary and middle school grade levels. Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is a set of research and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classroom and school communities for both students and staff.

The Responsive Classroom approach focuses on creating optimal learning conditions for students to develop the academic, social and emotional skills needed for success in and out of school, and building positive school and classroom communities where students learn, behave, hope, and set and achieve goals.

Over the past couple of years, we have invested heavily in providing both initial and advanced Responsive Classroom training to all K-8 grade staff, and that training will continue with all new staff in those grade levels during the 2024-25 school year. We started this training with new staff on September 26, and will continue with three additional training sessions in October, November, and January.

New teachers participating in the Responsive Classroom training on September 26, 2024.

During the 2023-24 school year, our District was once again awarded a LGBTQ2SIA+ Student Success Plan grant from the Oregon Department of Education. This Student Success Plan establishes a framework for creating safe, inclusive and welcoming schools for students who identify as LGBTQ2SIA+. Over the course of the 2023-24 school year and through September 2024, funds were used to:

• Develop Caregiver Support Guides (including translations into 5 languages)
• Provide Rainbow Club and GSA facilitators additional training and materials
• Co-sponsor a county-wide Youth Leadership Summit
• Purchase identity based library materials and supplemental sexual health materials
• Host a staff affinity space

We hope to continue building on this important work throughout the 2024-25 school year.

While we often think of literacy as being the focus of language classes, literacy skills are important to all content areas! Focusing on literacy skills in all content areas -- such as science, social studies, etc. -- empowers students to comprehend complex texts, engage deeply with subject matter, and communicate their understanding effectively.

Students can access content through listening and speaking when they engage in structured discussions that use content-specific vocabulary. This helps them process information verbally and develop language skills, fostering a deeper understanding of the material.

This year, Centennial School District educators across all content areas are focused on integrating literacy skills into instruction, providing students with multiple opportunities each day to develop these essential skills. By integrating literacy into content areas, educators prepare students for real-world demands such as reading and writing technical documents or communicating complex ideas clearly, equipping them with the ability to navigate and engage with a variety of information in their future careers and promoting lifelong learning and intellectual growth.

CHS Biology teachers collaborating about how to increase student access to learning.

Starting as early as preschool and kindergarten, regular attendance is essential for students to gain the academic and social skills they need to thrive! Research shows that regular attendance plays a significant role in reading proficiency, problem-solving skills, social and emotional wellness, self-regulation and high school graduation.

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school -- and themselves! Here's a few simple things families can do at home to help improve their child's school attendance:

• Set a regular bedtime and morning routine.
• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
• If you are concerned your child may have a contagious illness, call your school or health care provider for advice.
• If your child seems anxious about attending school, talk to teachers, school counselors or your school principal about helping your child to feel comfortable and excited about learning.
• Need additional support? Contact your school office for assistance.