Category Archives: Schools

By Dan Werle | CNA Media Team

Students in Concordia are facing significant educational challenges and changes due to the pandemic. School buildings continue to be closed to reduce the spread of COVID-19, so virtual learning is a must. How’s it going? CNews checked in with a few families.

Noah Marmor, an 11th grader at Metropolitan Learning Center, studies online. He acknowledges the unprecedented challenges.

“I think learning should be a little lax. There is only so much you can learn in a certain amount of time.” Outside of school, he said, “The lack of physical interaction makes learning social skills difficult.”

Lis Charman’s and Brad Trost’s daughter, 13-year-old Meade, attends Metro Montessori School virtually.

“The biggest bummer for Meade is the absence of outdoor school,” Lis reported. It would have provided the girl and her classmates opportunities to cook, camp and learn problem-solving skills in the wilderness.

Lis added that Meade is sad at spending more time away from peers. “Meade and I both get energy from being with people.”

Lora and Matthew Lillard help with distance learning for their three Faubion students, 8th grader Dean, 6th grader Fiona and 4th grader Leo.

They like the slow start of distance learning to work through some of the logistical and technological kinks in the new systems. Both reconfigured their workdays to offer tech support.

They have also learned multiple platforms like Canvas, Remind, Clever, Seesaw, Zoom, Google Classroom and Google Meet.

Anne Koski is the mother of a 7th grade daughter at Faubion School and a 4th grade daughter at ACCESS Academy. “She’s adapting really well and she’s more comfortable speaking over Zoom,”

Anne said of her 7th grader. And Anne appreciates the opportunities the online platforms allow that daughter. “She logs into Canvas, does her work and can be more autonomous.”

Like others, Anne recognizes the pandemic has made social skills development more challenging for her 4th grader.

“The carrot has been removed from school,” Anne acknowledged. “Their favorite parts of school – P.E., recess and lunch – are different or gone. She has a single ‘pod’ friend we’re considering arranging play dates with.”

Anne owns Homegrown Fit and offers suggestions – proven effective in her own home – for parents developing at-home workstations for their children and themselves.

She offers a free, four-minute video at YouTu.be/b6O_UYjxeX4.

“Sitting in a chair at a desk for long periods of time is not healthy,” she said. “Consider making a workstation flexible.” That means working from the floor, a desk and standing. “Mixing it up is the way to go.”

Dan Werle lives in Concordia with his wife, Anna, and their dogs.

More than 50 Vernon School staff members – in more than 40 vehicles – toured the neighborhood April 17 to raise the spirits of their students – and themselves.

School closed March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The school community learned April 9 that schools won’t reopen before the end of the academic year.

Countless students and their families observed social distancing recommendations at their curbs and in Alberta Park. They wore face masks and waved home-made and printed school signs at the passing cars.

The parade was organized by Aimee Havens, 6th grade language arts and literature teacher. The parade was especially bittersweet for 1st grade teacher Kristi Kucera. She retires in June after 21 years teaching at the school.

“I burst into tears midway along the route,” she reported. “I realized the parade was the closest I would get to say good bye and hug the multitude of students.”

Photos by Lloyd Kimmeldorf and Mandy Davis.

By Nancy Varekamp | CNews Editor

In a few weeks Madison High School students will pack their schoolbags and head to classes – at Marshall High School. In the meantime, the Madison building is two months into 24 months of renovation and modernization.

The $201.5 million for the project was approved by voters in 2017, along with funds for projects at Kellogg Middle School, and Lincoln and Benson high schools.

“Madison’s proposed modernization will completely reconfigure and update learning spaces with a focus on indoor environmental quality, sustainability and historic preservation,” reported Harry Esteve, Portland Public Schools communications director.

Major items in the project are:

• Cafeteria, commons and an atrium will connect all major wings and three classroom levels to the main entrance.
• Science labs will consolidate near the front of the school.
• Performing arts will move into a stateof-the-art music and theater facility.
• Community resources will continue to include a child care center, clinic and food pantry.
• Athletics facilities will feature an entirely new gym building with a 1,700-seat main gym, auxiliary gym, weight room, wrestling/dance room and a new softball field.
• Career technical education specialty labs – for digital design, engineering, robotics, digital art, biomedical, sculpture, construction and sustainable agriculture – will adjoin new maker space.

Square footage of the school buildings will be 292,000, an increase of 170,000 square feet to accommodate 1,700 students. Enrollment in the 2017-18 school year was 1,146.

General contractor is Fortis Construction Inc., a local, employee-owned firm. Fifty subcontractors and many more second-tier subcontractors will provide a workforce expected to peak at 300.

As for the students during the next two years, assistant vice principal Lajena Broadous said only the Marshall building will be different.

“The same great Madison teachers, staff and programs will be there. There’s even a new turf field and track.”

Depending on where they live, students will use private and/or public transit to commute to Marshall, 3.8 miles south of the Madison campus.

Nancy Varekamp is semiretired from her career in journalism, public relations and – her favorite work engagement – writing and editing targeted newsletters.

By Sarah Sweitzer, Dean, College of Health & Human Services, Concordia University & Karen Morgan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Exercise & Sport Science, Concordia University

Program aims to provide health & wellness for student, community success

Progress is underway on construction of the new Faubion School + Concordia University facility. This collaborative effort – known broadly as “3 to PhD®” – will open in fall 2017. Partners include Concordia University, Portland Public Schools’ Faubion School and Trillium Family Services. The vision is to create safer, healthier, and more educated communities. This article focuses on the “health” part of this vision.

Input from community members, teachers and school leaders identified a strong vision which included the need for health and nutrition education and services. Health and nutrition was deemed so integral to students’ ability to learn and thrive that, in response, the west wing on the first floor of the new building will be dedicated to developing a culture of wellness. 3 to PhD uses the latest research in nursing, social work, psychology, nutrition, and exercise and sports science.

Health and wellness efforts are already underway, including:

Concordia’s College of Health & Human Services and Faubion School created a Youth Advisory Council on health and wellness, thanks to a grant from Kaiser Permanente. This group held a Spirit Week, and advocated for schoolbased health centers at the Oregon State Capitol.

Concordia students worked with Faubion students and held their own version of the Food Network’s series “Chopped” to promote healthy cooking, with help from Pacific Foods of Oregon, a major 3 to PhD collaborator.

Trillium Family Services provides a full time behavioral health specialist at Faubion, through innovative mental health promotion funding through the state of Oregon.

Concordia social work students engaged with local schools and churches to survey community members about health and fitness needs, thanks to a grant from United Way of the ColumbiaWillamette.

A free community seminar series focused on Senior Healthy Aging was launched, thanks to support from The Jackson Foundation, which included foot care, scam prevention, and more.

Concordia students helped facilitate Faubion recess games and fitness awareness and testing.

To address food insecurity, a backpack program, started by nursing students at Concordia and supported by Pacific Foods, has expanded from long weekends to also include holidays and summer.

Ongoing community input and engagement will be integral to continuing and expanding these health and wellness efforts. We want to hear from you! Please share your thoughts at CHHS@cu-portland.edu.

Learn more about 3 to PhD, or visit FaubionBond.pps.net.