HSD News Round-up

We’ve reached the 80% mark of the 2021-22 school year. Wow! Our schools have done a lot in the past 8 months and more lies ahead in the next month and a half.

According to Clark County Public Health, our COVID metrics are much lower than they were two months ago. County data illustrates this recent trend: Two deaths v. over 30; lower hospitalizations; and a two-week case rate of around 70 compared to over 2,000 during the peak of Omicron.

However, these numbers have increased over the last week! We are also seeing an uptick in positive cases in Hockinson Schools. Thanks to our families’ cooperation with HSD testing and return protocols and ongoing vigilance in our schools, we appear to be containing in-school transmission. Let's keep it up so we our schools and families can finish the year in good health.

Congratulations to the HHES Green Team, which has been named the 2022 Clark County Green Team of the Year!

The Clark County Green Team of the Year Award celebrates amazing student-leaders whose environmental efforts create a healthier and more sustainable campus culture. At HHES, Green Team members have taught peers to sort their garbage to increase recycling and composting and reduce cafeteria waste. Check out this video or short article in The Columbian's “Living in the Couve” insert (pages 10-11). The HHES Green Team is led by Megan Miles, Nancy O'Neill-Bratt, and Nathan Tracey.

HSD students celebrated Arbor Day with a service project along the I-5 freeway that added native fir trees to the local landscape and will improve air quality in the future. The event was organized by HHS Environmental Club leaders Kaisho Barhnill and Sammar Thandi, Superintendent Steve Marshall, and School Board Chair Patrick Carter. Thank you to Weyerhaeuser and the Washington Department of Transportation for supporting this project as well as to HSD employee Angela Stanek and HSD students Melany Mathieu and Josh Pool for their participation. You can watch the KOIN 6 news story HERE.

Community volunteers celebrated Earth Day by sprucing up the HHES campus at an all-day work party on Saturday, April 23.

The clean-up event had two parts: Part 1 - HHES Leadership students picked up garbage on school grounds on Friday, April 22 and Part 2 - Volunteers and members of the Hockinson PWT, HSD, Hockinson Main Street Team, and Citizens for Hockinson Schools joined forces on Saturday to weed, plant, and spread bark dust across the campus.

Mission accomplished! The campus looks amazing. Check out this Before/After Photo Gallery.

Last month, the HSD received some great news: The district was awarded a $390,000 digital learning grant to expand its 1:1 device program to Grades K-4 and purchase adaptive technologies for students with special needs and disabilities. Our Technology Department immediately sought multiple vendor quotes for additional Chromebooks, Chromebook covers, wireless access points, and storage carts. In evaluating equipment needs, Technology Supervisor Craig Barnhill noted that everything needed to be new except the carts. He asked around and discovered that a Seattle-area school district was surplusing Chromebook carts that were only a few years old and were of higher quality than the ones we put out to bid. The result: The HSD created a unique 2-for-0 cost savings. It secured 27 carts for just over $2,000 (shipping), saving over $85,000 in grant dollars!

With the assistance of Clark Public Utilities, the HSD become much more energy-efficent since 2020. As part of its Strategic Energy Management initiative, Hockinson Schools have made a number of little changes that have yielded big energy savings. Examples include the district’s classroom appliance shutdown over breaks, automatic nightly computer shut offs, and frequent seasonal adjustments to our buildings HVAC schedules. Recently, the HSD followed up the 2021 exterior LED retrofit with an interior LED pilot at HHES over Spring Break. The HSD will continue to look for ways to reduce energy consumption and maximize levy dollars.

The AAA Boosters have been working hard behind the scenes for the past few months to bring back a Hockinson tradition. View article HERE.

The event showcased the talents of HSD artists across a variety of media - drawings, paintings, and sculptures. This gallery was organized by HSD art teachers Tanya Hochalter, Lori-Ann Marano, Sonja Einerson, and Nancy O’Neill-Bratt.

The April 21 Comprehensive Sexual Health Education Parent Night resources/learning materials are available for review through May 31 HERE.

Team Mean Machine finished in the Top 24 out of a field of 459 teams from around the world! More details HERE.

Congratulations to HHS sophomores Avrie Kellogg, Sophia Sermone, and Ainsley Burckhard (l to r) for qualifying for the National Future Business Leaders of America competition in Chicago, IL this June. Way to go, girls! The FBLA Advisor is Eirik Huset.

A reminder to HSD families about the Spring Smarter Balanced Testing Season (HHES: May 12-June 4 and HMS May 9-27). A glitch impacted our Fall SBA scores, but we are dedicated to putting our best assessment foot forward this spring! We need HSD students to: 1. Be here 2. Be well-rested, and 3. Bring a positive, can-do attitude so they can show all that they know!

And, finally, a reminder to parents to update their student’s Skyward student profile by May 31. The federal government has created 222 categories for ethnicity and race data in an effort to more accurately reflect individual student backgrounds. Parents are asked to select the racial category(ies) that most accurately reflects their child’s race/ethnicity.

Website: hocksd.org
Location: 17912 NE 159th St, Brush Prairie, WA 98606
Phone: (360) 448-6400
Facebook: facebook.com/HockinsonSchools