Hillsboro School District Superintendent Mike Scott shared an initial communication with staff and families about the potential for a school closure on Wednesday, May 8, in response to an anticipated teacher walkout.

April 18, 2019

Dear Hillsboro School District Staff and Families,

As many of you know, the Oregon Education Association (OEA) has called for a statewide "Day of Action" on Wednesday, May 8, in which teachers are encouraged to participate in a walkout in hopes of spurring the Legislature to act on providing stable and adequate funding for K-12 education.

As a district, we, too, have been in conversations with our elected officials about the need for a predictable and sufficient funding stream for K-12 education, and we support efforts to reach that end; however, we cannot endorse an employee walkout.

That said, we do appreciate that our local teachers’ union, the Hillsboro Education Association (HEA), has engaged in conversations with us about this day in advance so we have an opportunity to problem-solve and develop contingency plans.

At this time, it appears that a number of our licensed staff members intend to participate in the walkout. We are also hearing the same information from districts around us. Because of the uncertainty around our ability to have enough of our own staff members or substitutes to ensure adequate supervision and safety for students, it is likely that we will need to cancel school on May 8.

If that were to occur, we would make special arrangements for activities that simply cannot be rescheduled, such as Outdoor School, AP and IB testing, athletic and activity championships, etc. We would also develop a plan for the time to be made up at the end of the year. For students in grades K-11, that would likely mean attending school for a full day on Friday, June 14, as opposed to a half day, with year-end activities like Field Day pushed to that day to preserve instructional time earlier in the month.

We continue to have collaborative conversations with HEA about the Day of Action and its impacts on the Hillsboro School District, and once we have more details to share we will do so. We anticipate having a final decision about May 8 made and communicated by Monday, April 29, at the latest.

Thank you for your support, understanding, and flexibility as we work to do what is best for our students.

Respectfully,

Mike Scott
Superintendent

“El Camino” grant will fund hands-on experiences for girls in grades 5-8 to foster interest in STEM-related career fields

April 17, 2019, Hillsboro, OR – The Hillsboro School District (HSD) and the Chicas Youth Development Programs (Chicas) of Adelante Mujeres are pleased to announce that their proposal, “El Camino,” was awarded $250,000 by the Intel Foundation through its She Will Connect U.S. grant program.

Translating to “the pathway,” El Camino has three main components:

1. Adelante Chicas STEM Clubs ($50,000). In a unique partnership between HSD, Chicas, and the City of Hillsboro’s Water Department, students involved in Adelante Chicas after-school clubs will get to participate in a special program in either the spring or fall of 2019. This program involves learning about the life cycle of water and the processes the City uses for making this important resource available to the public in a safe and efficient manner. Students will test water purity and learn about the importance of water conservation. They will also evaluate water usage in their own schools and provide recommendations for reducing consumption. Students will also be invited to participate in the Chicas Summer STEAM Camp, where they will be led by high school students in exploratory STEM learning activities. More than 300 students will participate in the after-school and summer programming.
2. Middle School Instructional Units ($90,000). Paxton/Patterson is a premier provider of STEM curriculum, with pre-designed units focusing on a variety of disciplines, such as Alternative Energy, Pneumatics, Robotics, Structural Engineering, and more. Units will be purchased and put into use at all four HSD middle schools to be used by staff within the instructional day.
3. STEM After-School Opportunities ($110,000). During the 2019-20 school year, HSD will offer more opportunities for girls in grades 5-8 to participate in after-school STEM learning programs, such as Robotics, STEM Career Exposure, Coding, Computer Sciences, Natural Sciences, Health Sciences, Engineering, and Design. Programming will differ by building, but will be available to all elementary and middle schools.

Piloted in Arizona in 2017-18 with a $1 million investment, the She Will Connect U.S. program aims to expose middle school girls to STEM disciplines and inspire them to consider STEM career fields, as women remain underrepresented in those fields. After seeing measurable success from the pilot, the program was expanded for 2019-20 with $1.25 million in grants available to collaborating organizations in California, Texas, Oregon, and Washington.

The grant awarded to HSD and Chicas was one of just eleven total grants, three of which benefit students in Oregon.

“We want to help inspire young people and expand access to opportunities that will help them succeed using the power of technology,” explains Gabriela González, Deputy Director of the Intel Foundation. “Initiatives such as She will Connect U.S. open doors for young women to explore educational and career paths that may have been unknown or felt out of reach.”

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Social media: #SheWillConnect; @WeAreIntel, @IntelPolicy, @IntelNews

Construction of a new library/media center addition and classrooms will add 18,000 square feet to the building

April 12, 2019, Hillsboro, OR – Evergreen Middle School is proud to announce the groundbreaking ceremony for its library/media center addition on Thursday, April 18, 2019, at 2 p.m.

The project was made possible by the passage of the District’s 2017 Bond. The addition of the library/media center, new classrooms, courtyard area, expanded commons and other renovations to the building, will renew and revitalize the campus and enable Evergreen to accommodate up to 200 more students as its enrollment grows. Soderstrom Architects has produced a virtual tour of the additions and renovations at http://vimeo.com/319521721.

Alumni, community members, and media are welcome and invited to the ceremony.

What: Groundbreaking ceremony for Evergreen’s new addition

Where: Evergreen Middle School, 456 NE Evergreen Road, Hillsboro, OR 97124

When: Thursday, April 18, 2019, 2 p.m.

Agenda: Student performance

Opening remarks and welcome by Principal OJ Gulley

Comments by a School Board member or Superintendent Mike Scott

Comments by Evergreen staff member and student

Groundbreaking and photo opportunity (at approximately 2:15 p.m.)

Light refreshments provided

Media availability with speakers

RSVP:  Media are asked to RSVP to Chief Communications Officer Beth Graser at aserbe@hsd.k12.or.us">graserbe@hsd.k12.or.us or 503-844-1772.

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For the first time ever, students from all four of the District’s high schools will participate in the international competition

April 11, 2019, Hillsboro, OR – The Hillsboro School District is pleased to announce that students from all four of its comprehensive high schools will be participating in the World Robotics Competition, being held April 16-20, 2019, in Houston, Texas.

FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) teams from Glencoe and Liberty High Schools rose to the top flight of regional competition at the Pacific Northwest District Championship in Tacoma in early April. Team 6443 AEMBOT from Liberty led the 6th place alliance through quarterfinals while Team 4488 Shockwave from Glencoe led the finalist alliance. Both teams won district-level awards: AEMBOT for Creativity, and Shockwave for Innovation in Controls. In the end, both teams placed in the top 10 out of 151 teams in the Pacific Northwest—Shockwave #4 and AEMBOT #9—and qualified for the World Championships.

The Awesome Nerds (Team 8371) FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC) team—a neighborhood team that includes students from Century and Hilhi—will join the large-scale FRC teams from Glencoe and Liberty at Worlds. FTC robots fit easily on a table and include ten or fewer student members, whereas FRC robots weigh approximately 120 pounds and have teams with fifteen to forty students.

The FIRST® Championship is a four-day event comprising four competitions: the FIRST® Robotics Competition Championship, the FIRST® Tech Challenge World Championship, the FIRST® LEGO® League World Festival, and the FIRST® LEGO® League Junior World Expo. The FIRST® Championship is typically held in conjunction with the FIRST® Robotics Conference, which covers a wide variety of topics in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and robotics. 

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The mission of FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills that inspire innovation and foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

The 2017 bond-funded synthetic turf field and lights enable year-round daytime and evening access

March 25, 2019, Hillsboro, OR - Century High School is proud to announce the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its lighted, synthetic turf field on Monday, April 1, 2019, at 2:30 p.m.

The project was made possible by the passage of the District’s 2017 Bond. The field and lights will allow students to practice and hold athletic and activity events outside, year-round, during the day and evening. The turf field and existing track also will be valuable recreational resources for the broader Century community.

Alumni, community members, and media are welcome and invited to attend the ceremony.

What:       Ribbon-cutting ceremony for Century’s lighted, synthetic turf field

Where:    Century High School, 2000 SE Century Blvd., Hillsboro, OR 97123

When:      Monday, April 1, 2019, 2:30 p.m.

Agenda:   Choir member: National Anthem
Opening remarks and welcome by Principal Martha Guise
Comments by a School Board member and Superintendent Mike Scott
Comments by Century students
     ASB President Lauren Nguyen
     Band member Sunny Cai
     Boys’ athletics representative Chance Sparks
     Girls’ athletics representative Katie McKinley
Ribbon-cutting (at approximately 2:50 p.m.)
Drumline send-off
Light refreshments provided
Media availability with speakers

Media are asked to RSVP to Chief Communications Officer Beth Graser at aserbe@hsd.k12.or.us">graserbe@hsd.k12.or.us or 503-844-1772.

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