Oregon City School District

Oregon City School District will offer full-day kindergarten at Jennings Lodge Elementary for the 2013-2014 school year. Jennings Lodge will be the first school to offer full-day kindergarten in the district as part of a pilot program. The district will continue to offer half-day kindergarten at all other elementary schools with the extended Kinder Day option.

Oregon City High School's principal, Nancy Bush-Lange will be retiring at the end of the school year. Mrs. Bush-Lange has led the school to achieve some of the state’s top reading and math scores.

"The staff has worked very hard to increase performance expectations," she said. "In addition to offering a full menu of classes, we have supports and interventions in place to help students overcome challenges sooner than later" she added.

In 2011 Mrs. Bush-Lange was awarded Principal of the Year. At the start of 2012 the City recognized her and the entire staff of Oregon City High School as Citizens of the Year.

Oregon City, Oregon–January 15, 2013–Oregon City School District today announced that it would refinance a facilities bond from 2004.

On Monday, January 14th Oregon City School Board members voted unanimously to authorize the district to refinance the bond and benefit from historically low interest rates.

"I want to pause and congratulate the school district and acknowledge the savings that will be brought to taxpayers," said Chris Storey, School Board Vice Chair.

Download the UpFront Newsletter (PDF) which includes:

• Message from the Superintendent: State of the Schools: Strong and Future Focused
• Oregon City Pioneers Modern Kindergarten
• For Alan Rempel, Learning is a Chemical Reaction
• School Board Sets Lofty Goals for Students, District
• Family Focus Forum; Better Parenting, Happier Families
• Talented and Gifted Fair Inspires
• Oregon City High School, District, Test Scores Soar
• Oregon City Schools Ace New Reporting Requirements
• Future Focus Gives Freshmen Good Start
• Oregon City Community Education 
• School Directory and Calendar

NOTE: The bar graph on the 6th page representing writing assessment for 4th and 7th grade is for the 2007-2008 school year.  The 11th grade assessment numbers are for 2012 as stated in the title of the graph.  

UpFront Newsletter (PDF)

View Community Education classes online, with online registration!

At Gaffney Lane Elementary there is a heavily used trail path to school that would often get very muddy and wet. When Ryan Kozak, Oregon City High School student, heard about the trail and students arriving to school with wet and muddy feet, a community project idea was born. Ryan, a long time Boy Scout, has been involved in many community projects, but helping to improve the Gaffney Lane grounds would be his opportunity to take the lead.

He enlisted the help of fellow scouts and others from the community for his Eagle Scout project to improve the Gaffney Lane grounds. "It wasn't easy to put this project together, but well worth the time. I believe it serves a need in the community and will be used and appreciated for years to come," said Ryan. Under his leadership the trail path was greatly improved and a new park bench was added.

"Ryan and his troop did a great job on the path and bench. He provided a valuable and much appreciated service to Gaffney Lane and our community," said John Olson, Gaffney Lane Principal.

The World Affairs Council of Oregon selected Lynn Elliot of Jennings Lodge Elementary as their second annual K-12 Global Educator of the Year. The award recognizes outstanding teachers who take the initiative to incorporate global studies into their classroom.

Years ago, Lynn took a class at PSU that involved a trip to the Multicultural Resource Center where she met Karen Ettinger and learned about multicultural boxes that contained lesson plans, information and artifacts about a particular country. At first, Lynn was just excited about how she could use these materials and concepts in her own classroom, but then a bigger idea came to mind—Why not create a multicultural night to make global awareness a school-wide event?

The Oregon City School Board voted 5-2 to initiate the purchase of a 10.543 acre property located near Glen Oak Road because of its long term strategic value to the district. The property is adjacent to Oregon City High School, Clackamas Community College and an undeveloped city park.