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. Our staff is
amazing.”
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