HSD News Round-Up

Pictured: Hockinson students and community members dance, play, and sing along at the Dec. 5 Stone in Love concert. Check out the link below for a second chance to experience this memorable night of music, nostalgia, and community online.

Also, catch up on HSD community service activities, important dates in 2025, the selection of HHS and HMS students for prestigious Honor Bands, how to join the district's Bond Oversight Committee, and other news from around the HSD.

District Office staff are working over Winter Break, but on different schedules. Because there are days on which no reception staff are available, District Office will be closed over Winter Break (Mon. Dec. 23 - Fri. Jan. 3). The District Office will be open to support families starting Monday, Jan. 6.

About 300 community members and students of all ages attended the Thursday, Dec. 5 Stone in Love concert at Hockinson High School. The event raised nearly 1,000 cans of food for the annual HSD/Fire District 3 Holiday Canned Food Drive to support local families in need.

Thank you to iQ Credit Union, AAA Boosters, PWT, Hockinson Main Street Team, Hockinson Chevron, and Hockinson Community Education for sponsoring this community event. Click here to view a full recording of the concert. The energy level really picks up when the HHS Cheerleaders become part of the show!

Hundreds gathered at the Friday, Dec 6 Community Tree Lighting for the 6th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. HMS Band students, led by guest conductor Megan Miles, set the mood for the event by performing holiday music before Santa Claus arrived to illuminate the 20' Noble Fir donated by neighbor Trent Peterson. This event would not have been possible without the hospitality of Hockinson Community Church, involvement of all HSD school administrators and Fire District 3 Cadets, and food and drink donations from Chartwells and Hearth. The Hockinson community also deserves a shout out. Hundreds of attendees made spirits bright and their generous donations will help the FD 3 Fire Cadet program travel to the MERTS Center in Astoria, OR for ongoing training.

Ainsley is taking Career & Technical Education (CTE) job readiness classes like woods and fine arts at Hockinson High School while exploring a variety of future opportunities.

Ainsley is a well-rounded student, excelling in honors and dual-credit courses and actively participating in a wide range of activities. This year, she has taken on officer roles in both Skills USA and FBLA, helping grow SkillsUSA participation at HHS. Ainsely is also a cheerleader and involved in ASB and Band, showcasing her leadership and creativity across-the-board.

Aiden is taking Career & Technical Education (CTE) job readiness classes like entrepreneurship and business at Hockinson High School to prepare for a future in business. He’s a standout student, ranking in the top 10% of his senior class and excelling in advanced and dual credit courses.

This year, Aiden is serving as President of FBLA and has organized multiple successful fundraisers to support the program. He played on the school's first-ever Boys Tennis team and is active in ASB, National Honors Society, and the Environmental Club.

Hockinson High School

Congratulations to the following Hockinson High School students for being selected to participate in North County Honor Band (NCHB), Lower Columbia River Music Educators Association Honor Band (LCRMEA), Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) Northwest High School Honor Band, Western International Band Clinic Honor Band (WIBC), and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) All-Northwest Honor Band:

• Logan Armstrong: NCHB, WIBC Honor Bands; Oliver Armstrong: NCHB Honor Band; Kimberly Asplund: WIBC Honor Band; Avery Berg: NCHB Honor Band; Emma Boehi: NCHB, LCRMEA, PLU, WIBC Honor Bands; Sarah Boehi: NCHB, LCRMEA, PLU Honor Bands; Tyler Bridges: NCHB Honor Band; Levi Brown: NCHB, PLU Honor Bands; Carter Castle: NCHB, PLU Honor Bands; Cami Christensen: NCHB, PLU, WIBC, NAfME Honor Bands; Jayden Corey: NCHB, WIBC Honor Bands; Jameson Fyfe: LCRMEA Honor Band; Evelyn Gaudet: NCHB, WIBC Honor Bands; Nyah Gomez: NCHB, LCRMEA, WIBC, NAfME Honor Bands; Grant Hebert: NCHB; Thilo Kluth: NCHB, LCRMEA, PLU, WIBC, NAfME Honor Bands; Cadyn Lanier: LCRMEA, PLU, WIBC Honor Bands; Parker Leibfried: NCHB; Makoa Lewis: NCHB, LCRMEA, PLU, WIBC Honor Bands; Gavin Matheson: NCHB; Jahlen Miller: NCHB; Elizabet Olmedo Lopez: NCHB; Lela Pierce: NCHB, PLU Honor Band; Mason Seal: NCHB; Jack Smith: NCHB, WIBC Honor Band; John Stone: NCHB; Abby Troxel: NCHB, WIBC Honor Band; Danny Tubbs: NCHB; Landon Walters: NCHB, WIBC Honor Band; Brenden Weber: NCHB, LCRMEA, WIBC Honor Bands; and Ella Wolf: NAfME Honor Band.

Hockinson Middle School

Congratulations also to the following Hockinson Middle School students for being selected for North County Honor Band:

• Linnea Currens, Mia Fox, Grace Mullen, Aiden Palmer, Blake Ritter, Tristan Schoening, and Kaii Van Baalen.

At its Dec. 9 Regular Meeting, the HSD School Board approved the HSD Facilities Planning Committee (FPC) recommendation to form a HSD Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) to monitor all aspects of bond-related projects to ensure that bond funds are used as intended, efficiently, and transparently.

In January 2025 the FPC will meet to review applications from interested residents of the Hockinson School District. The FPC will select five applicants based on their backgrounds and experience relevant to the implementation of the projects included in the February 11, 2024 Bond request. Those same five applicants will make up the Oversight Committee should voters approve the bond. If interested, apply here by 5 pm Sunday, Jan. 12.

The Hockinson school bond on the February 11 ballot would fund the construction of a second elementary school to alleviate overcrowding at HHES, safety improvements at all Hockinson schools, remodeling at HHES, a Career & Technical Education building at HHS for job readiness classes, a replacement track and synthetic turf field at the high school, and an outdoor covered area at the middle school. The bond would cost about $44/month for the owner of a $750,000 home in Hockinson. Learn more here!

What will the bond cost?

The total proposed bond amount is $87.75 million spread out over a maximum term of 21 years. The district cannot collect more than the total collection amount proposed to and approved by voters. For example, if the community grows and more people move to Hockinson, the district does not collect more than the total approved collection amount. Instead, the overall cost of the proposed bond is spread out across more households, resulting in lower tax rates.

Hockinson’s previously approved bond will decrease in 2025 and will be paid off by 2035. Approval of the current bond proposal will result in an estimated $0.68 increase per $1,000 of assessed value.

Individual score reports from the Spring 2024 Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) results were sent home with students the Week of Dec. 2. We received these printed summaries from the OSPI at the end of November and realize that they got home to you well after-the-fact. Next year we will print the results in-house at the end of August and you can expect to receive them in early September.

How did Hockinson’s students do overall?

Compared to Washington state average test scores, our students did very well. In math, English Language Arts (ELA), and science, Hockinson School District students outperformed the state across all elementary, middle, and high school grade levels tested.

Compared to Spring 2023, we saw scores improve in four out of seven grade levels in English Language Arts (ELA) and math. However, we did see a decrease in science scores across the three grades tests (5, 8, and 11). Our school and district teams are collaborating on ways to address this, including continuing to:

• Analyzing last year’s achievement data to identify priority skill areas that our teacher teams will collaborate on during early release Wednesdays;

• At HHES, expanding the school-wide focus on reading to include more writing practice and vocabulary skills;

• Grade-level and content-specific teacher teams aligning content expectations for students; and

• Communicating the importance of participating in standardized tests with Hockinson families.

On this final point, we want to emphasize the value of the SBA at measuring student learning and skill development over time. It is also a powerful diagnostic tool for our educators. Finally, this assessment helps to inform you about how your student(s) is doing individually and it also informs our community about how our students are doing collectively. You can view your child's scores in "Test Scores" tab in Skyward Family Access and the HSD’s overall state report card here.

Planning Ahead

We look forward to see how much our students are learning this year. Here is a preview of the anticipated 2025 SBA testing dates:

• HHES: May 6-30, 2025
• HMS: May 6-30, 2025
• HHS: April 21-25, 2025 and May 19-23, 2025

Sue Thompson, former HSD Counselor and current fitness instructor, rallied her Jazzercise community again this year and they donated over $1,100 for the annual HSD/Fire District 3 Holiday Canned Food and Toy Drive. Thank you, Jazzercise! The group's generosity will go a long way to support our local families in need.

- HHS Teams Up to Support Pink Lemonade Project: This fall, students at Hockinson High School organized fundraising events and, with the support of the AAA Boosters, raised nearly $3,000 which on Nov. 29 was donated to the Pink Lemonade Project, a local non-profit organization that supports those who have been diagnosed with, or are recovering from, breast cancer.

- Dec. 23-Jan. 3: Winter Break - No School

- Mon. Jan. 6: School resumes & Citizen Advisory Committee Meeting at 6-7:30 pm @ Zoom

- Tues. Jan. 7: Silver Social Topic: Easy, Healthy Recipes at 11 am @ HCC

- Mon. Jan. 13: School Board Work Session at 6-8 pm @ Zoom only

- Thur. Jan. 16: Bond Information Night at 7 pm @ HHS

- Sat. Jan. 18: One-act play: Totally Red! at 10 am, 2 pm & 7 pm @ HHS MPR

- Mon. Jan. 20: MLK Day - No School

- Fri. Jan. 24: Semester Break - No School

- Sat. Jan 25: Bond Open House at 2pm @ HHS

- Mon. Jan. 27: School Board Regular Meeting at 6-8 pm @ HCC and Zoom

- Mon. Feb. 3: Citizen Advisory Committee Meeting at 6-7:30 pm @ Zoom

- Mon. Feb. 10: School Board Work Session at 6-8pm @ Zoom only

- Tues. Feb. 11: Election Day - Remember to Vote

- Mon. Feb. 17: Presidents' Day - No School

- Mon. Feb. 24: School Board Regular Meeting at 6-8pm @ HCC and Zoom

ICYMI: In case you missed a previous newsletter, our Round-Ups are archived here!

Email: justine.hanrahan@esd112.org
Website: https://www.hocksd.org/
Location: 17912 NE 159th St, Brush Prairie, WA 98606, USA
Phone: (360) 448-6400