Superintendent's Update

Fall has arrived in the Centennial School District. The changing colors of trees, cooling temperatures, and darkening nights remind me of some of my personal fondest memories of this season as a Centennial student, particularly the excitement of a new school year, making friends, and participating in athletics. While fall represents the ending of the year in many ways, I also like to see this as a new opportunity to continue our work together for our students.

Homecoming Parade

With school fully underway, there is much happening in the Centennial School District. Recently, students and families from each school across the District marched in the Centennial High School Homecoming Parade for the first time since 2019. It was a pleasure to participate in this great community event. Pictures of the parade can be found at our Centennial School District Facebook Page.

Strategic Planning

In the 2022-2023 school year, Centennial will be engaging its internal and external partners in a community-wide process to develop a long-term Strategic Plan for the school District. The Strategic Plan is scheduled to be completed in Spring 2023 and will articulate clear goals for student learning, growth, and success, along with specific recommendations for how those goals would be accomplished.

Our Strategic Planning process began last Thursday and Friday, with Student Voice Focus Groups involving each of our District’s schools. Students are the reason we exist as a District and are central to our Strategic Planning Process. Therefore, it makes sense for us to start with our students as we help plan for the future.

To introduce you to this year’s Strategic Planning process, I invite you to watch the following short video which will give you an orientation to the process we will undertake. You can also visit our Strategic Planning webpage, which will continue to be updated.

There will be several ways for you to engage in the process throughout the year.

I look forward to our collective work together this year as we reach for a better future for our students.

Sincerely,

James Owens, Superintendent

Centennial School District is delighted to have a wonderful team of principals across our schools and enthusiastic to join other schools across the country this October as we celebrate National Principals Month.

This month-long celebration serves as an opportunity to bring awareness to the tireless work and dedication of school principals. Principals across our Centennial schools in particular, wear many hats and work extended hours each day. Not only are they visionary leaders and agents of student success, they are also supervisors, mentors, counselors, peers, caregivers, substitute teachers and custodians, leading and caring for their schools. There is no single word to truly describe what they do for our students and staff. And personally knowing each one of them myself, I truly believe they are a great group of dedicated leaders who have a passion for the work they do.

Did you know that National Custodian Day is every October 2? In case you missed it, Centennial School District is thankful and happy to celebrate our District’s Custodial Team during National Custodian Day. They work diligently to keep our schools and buildings clean and ready to welcome our students, families and employees. Their continued work is a pivotal contribution to our Centennial family.

National Custodian Day recognizes the hard work it takes to keep our schools and buildings clean and safe for all.

Our custodians are our first line of defense on germs for the safety of our students, employees and visitors. We currently employ over 20 custodians across 12 buildings and offices. They care for our schools, classrooms, office buildings and grounds. They cover over 517,000 square feet! Talk about putting in your steps for the day. That’s why we love National Custodian Day!

So, in case you missed National Custodian Day, please take a moment to show your appreciation to the custodians who clean our office buildings and schools across our District.

If you know someone who would like to learn more about available custodial opportunities and becoming a part of this great team, visit our Centennial School District Careers Page here.

Centennial School District is honored and humbled to partake in the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This day is observed on the second Monday of October to honor the cultures and histories of the Native American people. Centered around reflecting on their tribal roots and the tragic stories that hurt but strengthened their communities, Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a reminder of how Centennial School District is a diverse community of learners.

National School Lunch Week is celebrated October 10-14, across the country to raise awareness of how critical and important child nutrition programs are across school districts.

With nearly 60 employees, the Centennial Dining Services Department, including campus food service personnel, drivers, and office staff, has served over 16,000 breakfasts and over 55,000 lunch meals to date!

The department also supports After School programming where dinner and snacks are provided to participating students and our districtwide Summer Meals program serves over 13,000 meals. In addition, the department supports district catering, in-service training, back-to-school nights, and field trips.

Every campus team prepares breakfast and lunch on-site at least two hours before the start of meal services and is responsible for ordering and receiving products and produce, meal preparation, serving, and clearing up their respective sites each day. That means that meals are prepared daily by staff members.

Plus, we have a satellite team who prepares over 1,200 breakfast and lunch meals for our partners throughout Portland, including the Multnomah Education Service Center and the Albina Head Start.

We are proud of the tremendous work each team member performs across our schools and for our students.

Edwin Ntiranyibagira is a senior at Centennial High School (CHS) and this year's Student Representative to the Centennial School Board. Edwin brings to the board a first-hand account of student activities. As student representative he provides the board members a recap of past and upcoming campus events.

After graduating from CHS, he plans to attend the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland. He is passionate about sports and photography and one of his career goals is to do freelance photography and/or work for EA Sports. As student representative for the Centennial School Board, his goal is to share the voice of his fellow CHS students and provide campus updates. Edwin’s last name means "He Has Not Forgotten Me.”

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has announced children ages 5-11 in Oregon are now eligible for the new updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosters. Updated bivalent boosters are recommended for anyone ages 5 and older who has completed a primary COVID-19 vaccine series or prior monovalent booster dose.

Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 helps protect our Centennial community and keep students learning in-person all year long. OHA and the Oregon Department of Education recommend everyone interested in receiving the new booster make a plan and get vaccinated.

To find a location nearest you visit OHA’s Get Vaccinated Oregon website or for more information visit the OHA COVID-19 blog.

More information is available in this OHA bulletin. OHA encourages everyone interested in receiving the new COVID-19 booster to check with their provider to see when the booster is available, or check the OHA COVID-19 blog or the Get Vaccinated Oregon site for locations around the state.

The Centennial School Board is seeking applications from interested persons who wish to serve in the vacant Board Director Position 6 -- At Large through June 30, 2023.

The current opening to the board comes after the resignation of Centennial School Board Vice-Chair, Erica Fuller. The board members accepted her resignation and voted unanimously to name Director Pam Shields to the Vice-Chair position.

The Centennial School District serves 5,800 students in Portland and Gresham. Any resident of the district that is a registered voter and has lived in the district for one year or more may be considered for appointment to this position.

The application can be found here. Please return it to board@csd28j.org no later than Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.

Current Centennial Board members will screen applications at the Nov. 9, 2022 Board Meeting.

Selected applicants will be contacted sometime during the following week to schedule interviews.

For more information, contact Albert Rosales-Korrea, CSD Chief Communications Officer, at alberto_rosales@csd28j.org.

Construction progress is really coming along steadily and continues on key projects across Centennial School District campuses as part of 2020 Bond. Work crews continue to work extended or irregular hours to maintain adequate learning environments for our students and staff. And while not all projects are visible from the outside of each of the sites, plenty of work is happening behind the scenes as bricks are laid, walls go up, and electrical and security cabling gets installed.

Dozens of projects continue to move forward simultaneously across several Centennial School District campuses as part of the 2020 voter-approved $65 million bond. As the construction continues, the Centennial School District Bond Oversight Committee actively monitors and reviews the construction progress through periodic updates on key projects.

We hope you are as eager as we are for the completion of these projects. Our students and staff will benefit greatly from their use and are probably as excited as we are to see the end results.

To learn more about the Centennial 2020 Bond and process, visit the 2020 Bond Page. You can also view the Bond Project Updates page to view additional photos and details. To read more about the Bond Oversight Committee click here.

Parents, guardians, and community members: Learn about what makes Centennial School District a great place to work! We offer rewarding career opportunities such as a Teacher, Education Assistant, School Secretary, School Bus Driver, Dining Services Technician, and more!

Visit our careers page to see our position openings: www.csd28j.org/careers!