Eagle News - Sept 22, 2025

A few weeks ago we presented our School improvement goals. Our school selected two main areas of focus for improvement this year:

• Reading: We will focus on improving literacy for all students attending our school.
• Attendance: We will improve the overall student attendance compared to previous school year.

We’re working hard this year to improve student attendance. Last year, 74% of our Eagles attended school regularly, and our goal is to raise that to 77%. We’ll continue celebrating good attendance with incentives and assemblies, and each classroom is aiming to keep attendance above 77%. Thank you for supporting your child in being at school every day—together we can reach our goal!

In reading, our focus is twofold: helping students maintain grade-level skills and providing additional support to those who need to strengthen missing skills. With our dedicated staff, we’re committed to ensuring every Eagle continues to grow as a reader. Our Professional Development days will be guided by these two main areas of focus.

Expect to hear more about our work together in the weeks ahead.

Go Eagles! 🦅

Warmly,

Alfredo Belanger, Principal

Antonio Ramos, Asst. Principal

We have much to celebrate in our Hispanic community, among students, families, and staff. We encourage you to find opportunities to celebrate Hispanic Heritage throughout the year, and especially from September 15 to October 15.

This past Tuesday, our 2nd, 4th, and 5th graders enjoyed a field trip to Powerland Heritage Park. Students toured the steam engine museums and even had the opportunity to ride restored trains. The museums partnered with Oregon Operation Lifesaver to highlight the importance of train track safety throughout the day.

A big thank-you to our amazing parent volunteers and dedicated teachers who made this memorable experience possible!

As you drop off your child in the morning, please remember to slow down and watch carefully for students and families walking to school. Our parking lots and sidewalks can be very busy, and a few extra seconds of patience help keep everyone safe. Thank you for helping us create a safe start to the day for all of our Eagles!

Our school and district follow the standard response protocols at iloveuguys.com. We have five main kinds of responses that we practice, depending on the kind of emergency we’re facing:

• Evacuate - we use this when we need to move students from one location to another for safety reasons. Most commonly, people think about these as “fire drills.” but we might need to evacuate for lots of different reasons. Students have planned paths for exiting and relocation during an evacuation, and they remain unified and supervised outside the building until the Evacuation protocol is lifted.

• Hold - we use this when students need to stay out of hallways or other areas, most often either for safety reasons or for when there is a medical emergency and we want to preserve the patient’s dignity and to give first responders a clear path to an exit. Students remain where they are until the Hold protocol is lifted.

• Shelter - we use this when students need to take protective actions based on a specific danger or hazard, such as an earthquake or a tornado.

• Secure - we use this to secure the perimeter of the school when there is a potential threat outside of school. In the Secure protocol, in addition to exterior doors remaining locked, students remain inside, and no one is allowed to enter or exit school buildings until the Secure protocol is lifted.

• Lockdown - we use this to keep students safe when there is imminent danger inside the school. From parental custody disputes to intruders to an active assailant, Lockdown uses classroom and school security actions to protect students and staff from the threat. In a Lockdown protocol, interior doors are locked and students stay silent and out of sight until the Lockdown protocol is lifted.

At a minimum, at Washington Elementary School we practice the following every school year:

• At least one monthly Evacuation drill

• At least one annual Secure drill

• At least two annual Lockdown drills

• At least two annual Shelter drills focused on responses to earthquake safety

We have already conducted our first evacuation drill with students.

Your child’s safety is our first priority. If you have any questions about our safety drills and response protocols, or any other safety concerns, please don’t hesitate to call us at (971)-983-3050

• Monday 9/22 - Professional Development day (No School)
• Monday 9/22 - Parents' Club Meeting (PUENTE)

• Thursday 9/25 - Second Grade Field trip - Oregon Zoo
• Thursday 9/25 - Vision Screening for K, 1 and 3rd grade
• Saturday 10/4 - Woodburn Fire District Safety Fair

Want to keep up to date? Check out out WSD Event Calendar

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to us! You can reach administrators by email at Abelanger@woodburnsd.org or Aramos@woodburnsd.org or by phone at (971) 983-3050, or by clicking on the "Contact" button at the bottom of the newsletter. We'd love to hear from you!

Home of the Eagles

Email: Abelanger@woodburnsd.org & Aramos@woodburnsd.org

Website: http://washington.woodburnsd.org/

Location: Washington Elementary School, East Lincoln Street, Woodburn, OR, USA

Phone: (971) 983-3050

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoodburnWashingtonElementary