HSD News Round-Up

At its Jan. 27 Regular Meeting the HSD School Board was recognized as part of School Board Appreciation Month. Superintendent Steve Marshall read a proclamation from Governor Bob Ferguson and students from HHES, HMS, and HHS expressed their appreciation through videos, t-shirts, and other gifts honoring the directors' leadership and dedication.

This year’s recognition was extra special because the Board was also recognized by the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) as a 2024-25 Board of Distinction. The WSSDA citation read: "A special congratulations for receiving WSSDA’s annual School Board of Distinction award—your efforts set a high standard for governance and impact. Whether through strategic decision-making, advocating for students, or fostering innovation, your contributions do not go unnoticed. Thank you for the vital role you play in ensuring every student has access to the education and opportunities they deserve."

A big "Thank You" to these five leaders - Kat Stupka, Anne-Elissa Carter, Patrick Carter, Teresa VanNatta, and Gordon Smith - who devote countless hours a year to guide the HSD on a voluntary basis.

Meet Makenzie Carter, an 8-grader at HMS! Makenzie is the sole “quadruple threat” athlete at HMS this year, possibly bumping that number of sports played up to five very soon. More from Makenzie:

What are your favorite classes right now?

My favorite class is definitely P.E. because I love to be active and the teacher is really fun.

What do you look forward to most at school?

I most look forward to lunch because I can hang out with my friends.

What are your favorite after-school activities?

My extracurricular activities are wrestling, volleyball, basketball, cheer, and in the spring, I’m planning on doing track. My favorite after-school activities are to hang out with my friends or be active.

Do you have any advice for incoming 6th graders new to HMS?

My advice to incoming 6th graders is to try a new hobby and remember to do your homework. Don’t put it off until the last minute.

Have you thought about any plans for the future?

One of my plans would be to get a scholarship for wrestling, because I come from a family of wrestlers and would like to make them proud. Plus, it’s what I love to do.

HMS Principal Bess Colpron had this to say about Makenzie: “She is an awesome kid! She is kind, helpful, hardworking and pushes herself outside of her comfort zone. We are so happy she is part of our HMS community!”

Thank you for sharing a bit about yourself, Makenzie. We wish you luck in your future endeavors!

Winter season is always a busy one for HMS and HHS Band students. Over the past couple months, students performed in the PLU Northwest High School Honor Band, Clark College Jazz Festival, and North County Honor Band (more below). Within the next month, musicians will also perform in the Jr. All-State Jazz Band, All-Northwest Honor Band, Clackamas Community College Band Festival, and Lower Columbia River Music Educators Association (LCRMEA) Festival.

Last weekend, 27 HHS students and 9 from HMS performed in the North County Honor Band held at HHS. These students were chosen by directors to perform alongside 106 additional musicians from 7 local high schools and 14 middle schools. The gala concert was beautiful, and included strong performance from HMS and HHS musicians. For those who missed it, view the high school performance here, and click here to view the middle school performance.

Great job, HSD Bands! Best of luck this Spring with your many upcoming competitions and performances!

We are looking backward and forward at the two latest Silver Socials hosted by Hockinson Community Education. While the topics vary from month to month, one thing stays the same: All Hockinson residents are invited.

On February 3, Hailey Landon (pictured - background), a CARES Community Risk Reduction Specialist from Clark Regional Fire shared how older homeowners can safeguard their homes to minimize falls and accidents. New Fire District 3 Chief Chris Drone (pictured - foreground) also attended. After introducing himself, Drone spoke to the staffing and equipment enhancements resulting from the recent fire levy and made attendees aware of FD3's community services such as his department's free in-home replacement of smoke detector batteries.

Coming up on Tuesday, March 4 representatives from the Clark County Assessors and Sheriffs Office will be on site to educate residents on tax relief programs for seniors and those with disabilities and the SALT program: Seniors and Law Enforcement Together!

OSPI released all 2023-24 Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium assessment results in the state on January 15, 2025. The report contained good news for Hockinson students, who outperformed 2023-24 state averages on all tests, at all grade levels.

Washington's standardized test results released this month show that Hockinson students outperformed state averages at all grade levels in math, English Language Arts, and science for the 2023-24 school year.

Our state uses the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) to measure student achievement and growth. SBA assessments are aligned with Common Core State Standards.

Tenth grade is the highest level tested in the SBA state consortium and 10th-grade students at Hockinson High School scored 17.1 percentage points higher than the state average in math. Seventh grade students at Hockinson Middle School exceeded the state average in English Language Arts (ELA) by 23.1 percentage points. Fifth grade students at Hockinson Heights Elementary School outperformed state averages by 8 percentage points in science assessments.

“These results reflect the hard work of our students and staff,” said Superintendent Steve Marshall. “Standardized tests are just one measure of success, but they are standardized and therefore allow us to compare and explore where we are excelling and where we can continue to grow.”

“We’re proud of what our students have accomplished, and we’re committed to helping them grow even further in the 2024-25 school year,” said Tim Fox, principal at Hockinson High School.

February is Career & Technical Education (CTE) Month, and HHS is celebrating a significant milestone. With 738 students enrolled in CTE job readiness courses across the fall and spring semesters, this year marks the highest CTE enrollment in the school’s history.

Career & Technical Education classes offer job readiness skills and opportunities to compete in hands-on trades competitions. In the January 2025 regional SkillsUSA competitions, Hockinson High School senior Renner James placed 1st in plumbing and 4th in carpentry. Tenth grade student Lars Sarkinen earned 2nd place in carpentry and 3rd place in plumbing. Both students will advance to state-wide SkillsUSA competitions to compete in multiple events this year.

“Classes like architecture and woods have been really helpful to get industry experience,” said Renner James, senior at HHS. James earned worksite learning credits by working part time at a local Computer Numerical Control company, and has also landed a competitive 90-hour internship with the Design CoMission program at LSW Architects in Vancouver, WA this year.

HHS offers 21 CTE courses including personal finance, engineering, construction, computer science, small business management, and woods classes. Many of these courses also fulfill high school math or English requirements and offer dual-credit opportunities through Clark College.

In our last newsletter, we shared that Hockinson Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) would soon head to the SW Washington Regional Leadership Conference to compete in a series of business-related events. They did a fantastic job! FBLA had an incredible showing at WLC, with 12 students qualifying for State–possibly 13! Five students dominated their events, earning first-place medals and the honor of being recognized on stage: Brenton McNair (Personal Finance), Christina Chhor: (Intro to Business Communication and Intro to Public Speaking),

Graysen Aldridge (Intro to Financial Math), Reyna Baba (Advertising), Sarah DeRoos (Visual Design).

Now, students are gearing up for the State Business Leadership Conference in April. They are fine-tuning their skills by reviewing their performances at the regional conference, studying their topics, and collaborating on group events.

Unfortunately, the recent inclement weather impacted the FBLA's Valentine's Day flower fundraiser. The group will be announcing a replacement fundraiser later this spring.