schools
november19
2015
Schools Update: Teacher Mentor Program
By Aaron Miller
The first two years of teaching can
be quite an experience: addressing State
learning standards, developing lesson
plans, effectively managing a classroom
of 25+ students, developing assessments,
correcting papers, evaluating student
work, communicating with parents….
the list goes on and on. Teaching is a
hard job, and once you step into “your”
classroom, it can be quite overwhelming
to be on your own.
Fortunately for new Vernonia
School District (VSD) teachers there is
the St. Beaver Mentor Program. This
program developed by the Beaverton
School District (BSD) provides support,
training and mentoring services to new
teachers in the St. Helens (SHSD) and
Vernonia School Districts, hence the
name “St. Beaver.”
Mentor teachers from the BSD
must apply and be selected to work
as mentors with beginning teachers in
the VSD and SHSD. Once teachers are
matched with an appropriate mentor
(they are matched by the grade level
or subject area that is taught), they go
through training together that includes
classroom-based mentoring, New
Teacher Summits, and Learning Labs to
ensure that each teacher receives at least
90 hours of high quality mentoring and
a minimum of 9 formal observations by
their mentor teacher.
This work fosters self-reflection
to accelerate growth toward professional
teaching standards, and supports
knowledge of curriculum and grade level
standards to strengthen the ability of new
teachers to plan and differentiate highly
effective instructional programs.
Currently there are five teachers
from the VSD taking advantage of this
program.
Second year Vernonia High
School band teacher Matt Urban has
found the experience “invaluable.”
“I have now begun to design
School Board Report
At the November 12, 2015 Vernonia
School Board Meeting:
Board Appoints Wagner to Fill Vacan-
cy – After entertaining applications from
Bob Perry and Susan Wagner, the Board
appointed Wagner to fill the vacancy
left by the resignation of Jim Krahn last
month. Several Board members noted
that both Perry and Wagner were excel-
lent candidates, which was reflected in
the silent vote the Board held to make
their appointment; Wagner received
three votes and Perry received two. The
Board voted unanimously when the mo-
tion was made to appoint Wagner later in
the meeting.
District Report Cards – The District
has received Oregon Report Cards for
their schools. The Report Cards provide
a profile for each school; rates Prog-
ress of students over time in English
Language Arts, Math and Science; the
Outcomes students are achieving in re-
gards to college and career readiness,
graduation, and continuing education;
and the Outcomes for students in key
groups that include economically disad-
vantaged, students with disabilities, and
talented and gifted students. This year’s
Report Card did not provide an Overall
School Rating; the U.S. Department of
Education allowed Oregon to temporar-
ily suspend rating this year as the state
new lessons that have an activity at the
beginning and end designed to help
students get more invested in the lesson,”
says Urban, “and we are working on
ways to impart information that I had
only previously been imparting by
lecture.” This methodology is helping
keep students more engaged in their
lessons.
Laura Blacker, a second year
Vernonia Elementary School teacher, has
had similar positive outcomes from her
work with her mentor teacher.
“This is a fantastic resource for
a small district like ours,” says Blacker,
“because it allows collaboration and
sharing of great ideas for support of our
students’ growth and learning. Most
of these teachers are also using the
13
EngageNY math curriculum so we can
support one another with this shift in
instruction.”
In addition to the information,
Blacker is also very pleased with the
support she receives directly from her
mentor teacher. “My mentor, Jenny, is
wonderful. She has observed a math
lesson in my classroom and gave me
really nice feedback that has helped
me improve my instruction across all
subjects. She is a really great problem
solver and has connected me with
wonderful resources.”
Beginning VSD teachers and
their students are truly benefiting from
this partnership. If you have questions
regarding the St. Beaver Mentor program,
please contact Superintendent Miller.
Vernonia Students of the Month
October 2015
transitions to new assessment standards.
Superintendent Report – Superinten-
dent Miller provided the Board with a
report on what happened concerning
communication during a Police Incident
on Riverside Drive on October 13. Mill-
er told the Board he did not receive any
communication from law enforcement
to alert him of the incident. He said he
called police at 7:10 am and was told
children who were walking to school
were being routed away from the inci-
dent. Miller says he made the decision
that the area directly around the school
was not in danger, decided not to can-
cel school and sent out a full coverage
call to parents at 7:19 and again at 7:28.
The School was put on “Lock In” which
means no student may leave once they
are in the building and no one else is al-
lowed in. He says he was informed by
both county and local law enforcement
once the incident was concluded. Miller
told the Board the school held a previ-
ously scheduled Lock-Down/Evacua-
tion Drill on October 14, which included
local police and fire personnel. Student,
staff and administration practiced lock-
down and evacuation procedures.
Miller told the Board that, based
on the Board’s request, their meeting in
April will be held at the Mist School.
Miller told the Board he is
continued on page 14
The Vernonia Volunteer
Ambulance Association
will be holding an informal Q&A meeting at the
VRFPD conference room on Tuesday, December 1
at 6pm. Come learn about full scholarships and
other great incentives to being a volunteer!
Snacks and cocoa provided!
Delaney Draeger
Grade 4
Delacey is ac excellect acd mature studect who
cocsistectly does her best. She says her favorite
subgect is math. She gust ficished her soccer
seasoc where she played goal keeper. At home
she keeps a fish tack acd is tryicg to cocvicce her
father to let her get a salt water tack because salt
water fish are a lot cooler thac fresh water fish.
She also likes to climb trees.
Cody Hathcoat
Grade 6
Cody is a very polite acd respocsible studect who
takes pride ic his work. His teachers say he is a
goy to have ic class. Cody says his favorite subgect
is math. Ic his spare time he likes to play video
games. He also has a two year old pet hedgehog
camed “Socic.”
William Scheuerman
Grade 10
William's favorite subgect is ecgiceericg with Mr.
Shockey. He plays trumpet ic the school bacd. As
a Boy Scout he is very close to earcicg his Eagle
Scout, havicg completed a progect to refurbish
parts of the play structure at Acdersoc Park. Ic his
free time he builds with legos, is icterested ic
model railroadicg, acd ecgoys researchicg WWII
history.
Sponsored by Vernonia’s Voice
Scouting For Food
The Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts of Troop 860 will be partici-
pating in the Cascade Pacific Council’s “Scouting for Food”
campaign again this year on December 5th beginning at 9am
to benefit Vernonia Cares
Scouts will be leaving plastic bags
at people homes on the morning of
Wednesday, November 25th. Please
leave bags with canned goods on
your porches. There will also be a
drop off site at the Vernonia Dental
Office for anyone who would like to
donate after the 5th. Office hours
are Monday – Thursday 8am-5pm.
