Recently, Julie Smith, Director of Special Programs for Pendleton School District, discussed some new strategies the district has used to support students during the 2024-25 school year. Here are highlights from that conversation with Dr. Smith.
How is student support different now?
The COVID pandemic drastically shifted the landscape for communities, families, children, and schools. Five years later, schools are still working to refine systems of support to better meet the new and different needs of our students. Our systems were built around pre-pandemic student needs. Using a data-driven approach, the district looked at the high number of students who needed significant levels of support and realized we needed to develop a more proactive system.
What is the current system used at PSD?
All Pendleton schools utilize Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) within our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) for students. The MTSS system has three support levels — Tier 1, 2, and 3. Tier 1 is delivered in the classroom to all students. Some students receive additional support through Tier 2. Some students receive high levels of individualized support through Tier 3.
PSD elementary schools have child development specialists and behavior support specialists providing Tier 2 and 3 supports.
- Sunridge Middle School (SMS) and Pendleton High School have school counselors.
- Elementary schools and SMS have spaces dedicated for students to take a structured break.
- Kindergarten through eighth grade use a check-in/check-out system as support in Tier 3.
- Additionally, schools provide small group and individual support in Tier 3.
District and school leaders identified there was a higher number of students needing Tier 3 support, indicating practices at the lower tiers of support may not be as effective as they could be. The team worked to identify what was working and what needs adapting to strengthen our system.
How is Pendleton School District responding?
In May 2024, I reached out to colleagues at the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) I had worked with on school improvement projects. The ODE partners agreed to support the district as a pilot developing technical assistance tools potentially for other districts asking for support.
Pendleton School District’s K-8 Administrative Team spent a full day training with ODE experts in Behavior Support Systems at the beginning of the 24-25 school year. Building administrators developed action plans to share with their building leadership teams based on this training and an assessment of where they might refine their systems of support. Building leadership teams worked to adjust the PBIS system based on individual building needs.
- ODE partners visited our schools in November 2024 as a follow up. ODE provided us with school-level data to help inform building administrators of how the changes they made are affecting school climate and culture.
- ODE individually followed up with each building administrator to refine action plans set at the beginning of the school year through virtual meetings.
- ODE partners will meet with our administrative team in June to evaluate the impact of the changes and help them set goals and action plans for the 25-26 school year.
What are your takeaways from this process?
Building administrators, counselors, teachers, and paraprofessionals are working hard to meet the needs of every student every day. They are working to identify what is working well and what is not working well. We are trying to be proactive while responding to the needs of students who need a high level of support. We want to work in partnership with our families, community partners, and the Oregon Department of Education to make our schools welcoming and inviting for every person who enters our schools.
PSD Works to Strengthen Behavioral Systems of Support for Students
/in News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgRecently, Julie Smith, Director of Special Programs for Pendleton School District, discussed some new strategies the district has used to support students during the 2024-25 school year. Here are highlights from that conversation with Dr. Smith.
How is student support different now?
The COVID pandemic drastically shifted the landscape for communities, families, children, and schools. Five years later, schools are still working to refine systems of support to better meet the new and different needs of our students. Our systems were built around pre-pandemic student needs. Using a data-driven approach, the district looked at the high number of students who needed significant levels of support and realized we needed to develop a more proactive system.
What is the current system used at PSD?
All Pendleton schools utilize Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) within our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) for students. The MTSS system has three support levels — Tier 1, 2, and 3. Tier 1 is delivered in the classroom to all students. Some students receive additional support through Tier 2. Some students receive high levels of individualized support through Tier 3.
PSD elementary schools have child development specialists and behavior support specialists providing Tier 2 and 3 supports.
District and school leaders identified there was a higher number of students needing Tier 3 support, indicating practices at the lower tiers of support may not be as effective as they could be. The team worked to identify what was working and what needs adapting to strengthen our system.
How is Pendleton School District responding?
In May 2024, I reached out to colleagues at the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) I had worked with on school improvement projects. The ODE partners agreed to support the district as a pilot developing technical assistance tools potentially for other districts asking for support.
Pendleton School District’s K-8 Administrative Team spent a full day training with ODE experts in Behavior Support Systems at the beginning of the 24-25 school year. Building administrators developed action plans to share with their building leadership teams based on this training and an assessment of where they might refine their systems of support. Building leadership teams worked to adjust the PBIS system based on individual building needs.
What are your takeaways from this process?
Building administrators, counselors, teachers, and paraprofessionals are working hard to meet the needs of every student every day. They are working to identify what is working well and what is not working well. We are trying to be proactive while responding to the needs of students who need a high level of support. We want to work in partnership with our families, community partners, and the Oregon Department of Education to make our schools welcoming and inviting for every person who enters our schools.
McKay Students Artwork for District Art Show
/in District Site News, McKay Creek School News /by rthornburgStudents at McKay Creek Elementary have been creating artwork for the Pendleton School District Art Show in May 2025.
District Recommends New Sunridge Middle School Assistant Principal/Athletic Director
/in News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgThe Pendleton School District will recommend that the board approve Doug Gunter to be the new assistant principal/athletic director of Sunridge Middle School, effective July 1, 2025.
With the recent announcement that Sunridge will have a vacancy for an assistant principal, the district decided to draw from the strong applicant pool of principal applicants to fill this position for the 2025-2026 school year.
The position of assistant principal/athletic director was offered to Doug Gunter, and he has accepted. Doug was a finalist in our recent SMS principal search, and he comes highly recommended by his colleagues and current supervisor.
Mr. Gunter has been a teacher and executive director at Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School for the past 12 years in the Salem-Keizer School District, and taught at Adam Stephens Middle School before that, also in Salem-Keizer. We’re excited to have him join the SMS team, the Pendleton School District, and the Pendleton Community.
Mr. Gunter will officially take over as assistant principal/athletic director on July 1st. He is replacing Caleb Patterson as he has accepted a position in La Grande.
District Recommends New Sunridge Middle School Principal
/in District Site News, News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgThe Pendleton School District School Board will be asked at their next board meeting to approve the recommendation to hire Angie Horton to be the new principal of Sunridge Middle School, effective July 1st, 2025.
Horton is currently a principal in the Warrenton Hammond School District. Horton has held Principal, Vice Principal, Behavior Support Classroom Teacher, and a 3rd Grade teacher positions in her district. Before her time in Warrenton, she was a Child Treatment Specialist at the Grande Ronde Child Care Centre in La Grande.
Mrs. Horton attended Wallowa High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and business administration in 2001 from Eastern Oregon University, a master’s degree in Special Education in 2019 from Western Governor’s University, and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Western Governor’s University in 2022.
Mrs. Horton will officially take over as principal on July 1st. She is replacing Principal, Piper Kelm, who is retiring effective June 30th.
Pendleton School District Announces Superintendent Selection
/in News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgThe Pendleton School District Board of Directors is pleased to announce that a contract for Superintendent of the Pendleton School District has been offered to Dr. Michelle Jensen, of West Linn, Oregon.
Dr. Jensen is currently a Primary School Principal in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District. She has worked in her current position since 2019. Previously, she worked in the Hermiston School District as a counselor from 2005 to 2014 and Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives from 2014 to 2016; and as a principal in the Hillsboro Oregon School District from 2016 to 2019.
Eleven individuals applied for the position, and the Board interviewed two finalists for the position on March 10. Dr. Jensen will assume the duties of Superintendent beginning July 1, 2025.
Dr. Douglas Nelson and Mrs. Heidi Sipe of McPherson & Jacobson L.L.C. served as consultants in the search process. Mrs. Sipe will continue working with the Pendleton School District Board of Directors and Dr. Jensen in helping establish performance objectives for her.
Basket Weaving in 3rd Grade at McKay Elementary School
/in District Site News, McKay Elementary /by rthornburgThere is a sign hanging in Noele Mead’s third grade class that says, “Perseverance is pushing yourself to work through challenges and obstacles.” Students have been practicing this concept while working on a basket weaving project for several weeks.
Mead wanted to start the basket project in November during Native American Heritage Month, but it didn’t work out. Gayla Blankenship, Indian Education Coordinator from CTUIR (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation), works with students at McKay Creek Elementary and is teaching the basket weaving. Blankenship said baskets like these are traditional root-gathering bags, and the hands-on learning the students are doing relates to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) curriculum.
Abigail, a third-grade student, said she found the weaving to be fairly easy and she likes that she will have a basket at the end to give to her dad. She is using colors of blue, white, and hot pink.
Another student in the class, Bryar, said, “I like how the basket grows up as you weave and it gets harder and harder; your fingers start hurting so it makes it feel like you’re working super hard.” Bryar chose pastel colors like Easter because he doesn’t like darker colors and will use the basket for huckleberry picking.
Third grader Benson said weaving the basket has been challenging and tricky, but fun to do. He said he will use his blue and green-colored basket, reminiscent of the ocean, to carry eggs from his family’s chickens at home.
Their teacher, Mead, said the students have really made progress working on their baskets, with some even taking them out to recess to work on them. The class will end the project soon, so some students will need to finish them at home.
Mead said she hopes the class project will demonstrate to her students that not everything is easy and that perseverance really matters. “Many students thought this would be easy to do, but it’s not, and it’s important just knowing that they can do hard things.”
The Pendleton School District Board of Directors Announces Finalists for Superintendent Interviews
/in News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgFebruary 25, 2025
Contact: Douglas Nelson, Ed.D.
McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C.
541-410-8292
The Pendleton School District Board of Directors Announces Finalists for Superintendent Interviews
Pendleton, Oregon – The Pendleton School District Board of Directors is pleased to announce that they have selected two candidates to interview for their superintendent vacancy. The district had twelve applicants for the position, and candidates were vetted through a variety of reviews prior to consideration by the school board. The results of these activities were presented to the school board at an Executive Session on February 24, 2025. The two finalists were selected based on their educational attainment, depth and breadth of experience, and alignment to the priorities of the Pendleton School District stakeholder input. The candidates selected for interviews are:
Interviews are scheduled to be conducted on March 10, 2025, with both candidates. Several stakeholder groups will have the opportunity to meet the final candidates and submit input to the board about each of them. The board intends to make their selection by the week of March 17.
The Pendleton School District retained the services of McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C., to assist in conducting their search. The consultants reviewed, screened, and conducted extensive background checks on all applicants. On Monday, February 24, 2025, the consultants presented the applicants to the Board of Directors and provided them with detailed background information on each applicant.
McKay Video – School Assemblies & Student Leadership
/in District Site News, McKay Creek School News /by rthornburg2024 Pendleton School District Graduation Rates
/in District Site News /by rthornburgPSD has much to celebrate in recently released graduation rates.
On Thursday, January 30, 2025, the Oregon Department of Education released the graduation cohort and dropout data for all public school districts in Oregon. The Pendleton School District results are very strong, with a couple of very specific areas needing improvement.
The four-year cohort graduation rates are calculated by following students from the fall of their first year in high school to the end of their fourth year. This tells us the percentage of those students who graduated within four years. The Pendleton School District graduation rates represent a combination of all students who attended Pendleton High School, Hawthorne High School, and Nixyaawii Community School.
This year’s four-year cohort is made up of the students who first entered high school in the fall of 2020. This is important to note since these students started high school 100% online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been much to overcome for these students and many challenges our staff have faced head-on to ensure these students graduate. We celebrate the successes of these students and staff and thank them for their efforts.
The Pendleton School District’s four-year cohort rate is 83.2%. This is a 6.5% increase from the year before and almost 2% higher than the state average.
We have listed areas to celebrate success and a few areas of improvement. Areas of success:
Areas of improvement:
We also look at specific school rates as we celebrate successes and try to replicate them in all schools. The Pendleton High School rates increased in nearly every area and exceeds the state average in every area. PHS’s outstanding graduation rates are a great tribute to the many hours of hard work our staff and community invest in our students.
The Pendleton High School four-year cohort rate is 88.8%. This is a 4.9% increase from the year before and 7% higher than the state average.
Areas of success:
Areas of improvement:
The Hawthorne High School four-year cohort rate is 55%. This is a 10.3% increase from the year before and almost 27% higher than five years ago.
Areas of success:
The Nixyaawii Community School four-year cohort rate is 87%. This is a 14.3% increase from the year before and 6% higher than the state average.
Areas of success:
School Board Recognition Month – January 2025
/in District Site News /by rthornburgJanuary 2025 is School Board Appreciation Month. Thank you for your hard work and continued service to the Pendleton School District.