Last week, thanks to a FOIA request, we learned that 197 educators have left Newberg schools. Although the school board will claim that this exodus follows national trends, we now know for certain that Newberg is losing educators at an alarming rate, taking talent, institutional knowledge, and stability with them, and thus having an adverse impact on children in the district.
Meanwhile, the school board continues singing its favorite tune: Everything is awesome, and there’s nothing wrong here. You can hear the latest iteration of that song from the board meeting last Tuesday night, where the newest proposed changes–a trimester system for all!–will magically save every residual problem left over from the last board.
You could also hear that everything is awesome in the offering put out by the school district’s communication department, where incumbent Shelley Kolb interviews Superintendent Steve Phillips in a video that seems to promote Kolb and Phillips more than what’s actually happening in any of the schools. Everything is awesome, especially when the superintendent is making what amounts to a campaign video for a school board that oversees his work and decides his salary. More about that some other time.
For now, we wanted to share the story of someone who works as a parent leader in Newberg, and who serves as a volunteer in two different schools within the district. “I see a lot right now that is not right” in the district, she says. “But also not being shared.”
She articulates two concerns that are directly impacting children:
Paper or Pads?
The Newberg School District is asking individual schools to cover the cost of menstrual supplies, rather than provide funding itself or take funding from the state. The Menstrual Dignity Act, signed into Oregon law in July 2021, requires that all K-12 schools provide free menstrual products in its bathrooms. According to this parent volunteer, the current school board, following right-wing outrage about the act, chose not to accept money from the government allocated for this law, and are telling schools to pay for period products from an account intended for paper, tissue, and other classroom supplies.
“In many cases it is the Resource Room Funds being used,” the volunteer said. “We are learning, as these funds are low at the end of the year, that our offices are having to choose pads over paper. Otherwise, our students will be going without.”
Now, some folks might say that girls can just do what girls have done for decades, bringing their own products from home. Indeed, that seems to be what the board is suggesting. The Menstrual Dignity Act was built on the understanding that one in five girls miss school each month because they lack appropriate period products, and that sometimes, those living in poverty have to choose between expensive period products or food for a family. Because school resource rooms understand the importance of menstrual equity, they have made sure to cover the funding gap, but the school board policy to not take Menstrual Dignity Act funding means that everyone loses, including children and educators, who won’t have full access to the supplies they need to learn.
Unfilled Positions
The board and superintendent have claimed that most positions in the district are filled; at the April 11 board meeting, Human Resources Direct Scott Lindenberger said that a job fair had netted a whole host of candidates eager to teach in Newberg schools (though one observer at the same job fair noted that lines by the Newberg table were far shorter than for most other schools). Lindenberger also pointed out that there were a number of special education teachers applying to Newberg jobs . . .
. . . which is huge, if true, because many positions in Newberg are not filled, especially in special education. A parent tells us that “my daughter is still receiving speech online. Psychologists are still online. We have counseling and sped (Special Education) staff that have never been in these positions and I question their qualifications.
“WE HAVE NOT FILLED ALL OUR POSITIONS,” the parent added (emphasis hers). “Our buildings are still struggling to date. We are just running on less and under-qualified staff.”
At a later time, our site plans to address the poor treatment special education students are receiving in the district. Children with a right to educational access are not receiving the accommodations they deserve, because the Newberg schools cannot attract special education teachers, nor have they retained the highly-trained educators who once worked in the district.
This school board insists on parents’ rights. Director Brian Shannon read his entire proposed parents’ rights statement into the record on April 11, and the board has decided to continue convening a parents’ rights committee. And yet, parents with students who need disability accommodations are not able to get the assistance they are assured by law, their rights ignored by a board who wants to demand again and again that everything is awesome.
The election for a new school board is in five weeks. We have a chance to right this sinking ship, to give students the support they need, and to return hope to parents, educators, and volunteers who badly want their children to thrive.
Do you work in the Newberg school district or did the Newberg school board compel you to leave this district? We would love to hear your story, and can publish it anonymously on our site. Your voices, and your words, matter to us, and to the transformation of our school board. Feel free to email us at betternsdschoolboard@gmail.com.Newberg deserves better.Your vote on May 16 matters.
Newberg Neighbors for a Better Community 