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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2017)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, AUGUST 18, 2017 KeizerCommunity KEIZERTIMES.COM McNary to reward positive behavior Submitted Distinguished Young Women of Keizer, Sydnie Gould, left, and Ivy Parker, right, both incoming seniors at McNary High School won awards at the state competition on Aug. 11. Keizer women win at state competition Keizer Distinguished Young Women Sydnie Gould and Ivy Parker participated in the state program at Cheme- keta Community College on Saturday, Aug. 11. Gould was named the fi rst alternate and Parker took home the spirit award. Jessika Nanez, of Wasco County, was voted Distin- guished Young Woman of Or- egon. Christina Mueller, of Klamath Falls, received the scholastic award. Distinguished Young Wom- en of Oregon is part of a na- tional scholarship program that promotes and rewards scholarship, leadership and tal- ent in young women. GIC class coming to MHS By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary High School will offer a new math class, begin- ning with the 2018-19 school year. When principal Erik Jes- persen and assistant princi- pal Susanne Stefani visited Loveland, Colo. last spring to check out a pair of contextu- alized math programs, Alge- bra in Manufacturing Process, Entrepreneurship and Design (AMPED); and Geometry in Construction (GIC), they were so impressed that they decided to bring the latter to McNary. Stefani wished the class was available back when she was in school. “As someone who hated math in school, this was ex- citing to see,” Stefani said. “It would’ve changed everything for me.” With AMPED, students ran t-shirt and skateboard businesses, designing them in math class and then building them in a shop. In GIC, stu- dents worked in teams in the classroom and then put on hard hats to build a Habitat for Humanity house. “It was actually inspiring to watch,” Stefani said. “They have to learn Pythagorean theorem. They do it by build- ing. It’s just an alternative to geometry and anyone who wants to do it can do it. It’s not for a certain set of kids.” McNary staff also visited a high school in Portland, where students were building homes for Dignity Village. “We’re so pumped about it that we offered to host work- shops,” Stefani said. On Aug. 7-10, teachers from all over the country, as far as New York, Illinois and Hawaii came to McNary to learn the curriculum from the Loveland, Colo. instructors. Bill Kirkwood, a former architect, who teaches algebra and geometry at McNary, will lead the GIC program along with a Career and Technical Education teacher. By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary High School is pushing a more positive behavior system, where instead of only focusing on the students who are doing something wrong, kids will be rewarded for making good choices. The system, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), was brought to McNary by former assistant principal Jay Crystal. But new assistant principal Dan Borresen wants to take it to another level. “It’s a system that takes several years to put into place and get kids to buy into,” Borresen said. “He (Crystal) started it and we’re just tweaking it and adjusting it and making it more school- wide. We’re going to really push those supports where kids can see it.” Borresen and behavioral specialist Brad Emmert will do that by using ‘bold cards,” which are named after McNary’s mission statement of “Bold enough to be the best educating, nurturing and inspiring.” Staff will have the cards to be given to students they witness making good choices. The kid will then write their name on the card and turn it in for a monthly drawing. “I’ve got a lot of businesses now that are supporting us with coupons, gift certifi cates and even money to buy some things for the kids,” Borresen said. “Our community is so supportive of this school. It’s amazing.” A busi- ness or any- one wanting to donate to the bold card program can contact Bor- Borresen resen at 503- 399-3233. “We want to encourage our kids to be a part of our McNary family and be good people and help one another while they’re doing it,” Borresen said. McNary also has a new option for students struggling with behavior—a new study area called the Celt Center. “Instead of taking a kid that normally may have been in trouble or sent home, I’m not going to send them home,” Borresen said. “We’re going to get them in that room (Celt Center) and let them cool off and calm down and then we’re going to get them work from their teachers.” Since many teachers use Google classroom, the Celt Center will be equipped with computers as well as an aide profi cient in study skills. “The system is designed not to get kids and remove kids from school,” Borresen said. “We want to keep them in a school setting for as long as we possibly can. There are times when a kid is going to make a series of choices that ends up “We want to encourage kids to be good people.” —Dan Borresen getting them sent home but we want to do everything we possibly can to keep the kid engaged in classes.” McNary staff has also been asked to try to understand what a student might be dealing with at home and build relationships and work with kids that traditionally they might have written referrals for. Last school year, 2016- 17, McNary cut its teacher referrals down from 649 to 405. “This is teachers doing everything they can to keep the kid in class,” Borresen said. “Our staff has bought it. Because this is a lot of work, we’ve got 35 kids in a class and a young woman or young man who’s really struggling to follow directions. That’s asking a lot of them. Teachers already I think get asked to do too much but the fact that they were able to do everything they can says a lot about how good our staff is. 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