Announcer (00:01): Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas School District. This is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director, Curtis Long.

Spring Mountain student (00:13): Have you seen the improvements made to every school building in the past few years? Wow.

Curtis Long (00:19): Quiet on the set. We're starting today's podcast at Spring Mountain Elementary School, where some very outgoing first and second graders are helping us film a special video in honor of our seven North Clackamas school board members.

Spring Mountain student (00:31): What do you wanna be when you grow up?

Curtis Long (00:33): That's second grader, Louisa McCoy, whose natural charm in front of the camera, led her to be the narrator of this video and ask Spring Mountain Kids what they hope to be when they grow up.

Spring Mountain student (00:42): Someday I hope to be a professional wrestler. Teacher, zookeeper teachers,

Curtis Long (00:48): Louisa then asks her fellow Spring Mountain Hawks an important follow up question.

Spring Mountain student (00:51): Who's helping you achieve that goal?

Curtis Long (00:53): And while most kids have a predictable elementary school answer

Spring Mountain student (00:57): My mommy, my Dad my teacher,

Curtis Long (01:00): Take a listen to what second grade whiz kid Anna Krum came up with.

Spring Mountain student (01:03): I also have seven school board members working hard to ensure my success.

Curtis Long (01:07): Okay, maybe we gave Anna a few hints about what to say, but she delivered that line flawlessly, didn't she? So how do the seven Superstar volunteers on NCSD School Board ensure the success of more than 17,000 students? Well, let's let Spring Mountain students explain.

Spring Mountain student (01:22): And North Clackamas is a group of seven everyday citizens who go above and beyond to make sure we're successful. They spend hours and hours of the on time away from the family. They hold two meetings every month, plus work session, plus attend district activities and performances.

Curtis Long (01:39): Great job Spring Mountain kids. Anything else our podcast listeners should know about our district school board members.

Spring Mountain student (01:44): They build partnerships and make sure we have supplies and technology to help us succeed. All their decisions affect 17,000 students like us in our district. They make sure our taxpayers money is spent widely. Did you know the're volunteers? They don't get paid?

Curtis Long (02:01): Well. As a matter of fact, first grader Theo Hiller, we did know that. And today on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, we speak one-on-one with two of our newest school board members, both elected less than a year ago. In the spring of 2023, they'll share why they decided to take on such a time consuming volunteer job. What makes them most proud to be a part of North Clackamas? And what do they see as the biggest challenges ahead for Oregon Public Schools? Plus, it gives us a chance to simply say to both of them.

North Clackamas students (02:28): Thank You April Dobson!

Curtis Long (02:31): And

North Clackamas students (02:32): Thank you Paul Kemp!

Spring Mountain student (02:34): No question. We love our school board.

Curtis Long (02:37): We sure do. Louisa, and now onto the podcast. Paul and April. First off, thank you so much for taking time outta your busy schedules to join us today. And I wanna give each of you a chance to tell us a little bit about yourselves as we get started. April, let's start with you. Tell us about your connections to our school district before you join the school board and what you do when you're not doing board work.

April Dobson (02:58): Well, hi Curtis. Thanks so much for having me on. Pleasure to be here.

Curtis Long (03:01): We're happy to have you. It's not easy to schedule two board members at one time, but we got you both in one room.

April Dobson (03:06): Well let's see. My, my story in the district starts with, I think my three kids who are attending Adrienne C. Nelson High School and Happy Valley Middle School at the moment. And I think, you know, we moved here in 2016 and, and getting to know the community and getting to know the schools just led me to want to be more involved. So I started showing up at board meetings and getting to know the board members and the issues that they were talking about, and it led me here.

Curtis Long (03:31): And Paul, how about you tell us about what you do outside of school board activities. Well,

Paul Kemp (03:34): First, thanks for having us. Of course. I appreciate it and glad to be on the school board before having kids. Back in 1990, my wife and I, we were looking for an area to move to with good schools that had some other factors. And we chose Happy Valley and the school district here. And we had a lot of friends who were teachers knew this was a good district and this is where we wanted to raise the kids or future kids <laugh>. And so both the kids, my son and daughter, both went K through 12 here and have gone on and gotten their college degrees and got some great opportunities while they were here. And I was a pretty active volunteer, especially when the kids were a little bit older. And, um, got to know a lot of the folks in the administration and then through some other volunteer work, got to know some of the other board members. And then when the opportunity came up and was asked to run for school board, I chose to do that. And happy to be here.

Curtis Long (04:22): And we're certainly glad that both of you did. And both of you are here today. I know both of you're in your first year as an NCSD School board member as we get started here. I think the first question that would come to many of our listeners' minds is why run for a school board position?

April Dobson (04:35): I think for me it was a, it was like a call to service. You know, I, I care deeply about having a robust public education system in Oregon and the opportunities that that provides for, for every student. And, and it seemed like I had the, the time and, you know, the means and the motivation to, you know, fulfill these obligations and, and advocate, you know, for the really diverse wants and needs of our student community.

Paul Kemp (05:01): I was thrilled actually when I was asked, and it wasn't on my radar, but in some of the other political things that I've been involved, volunteered for, I should say. And I've been hearing more and more through other advocacy work, how important it is to run for local office school boards, being one of them. And I've always felt that public education system, a strong one, is a fundamental duty of our, of our government. And I was always involved with the schools. And my daughter's a teacher. I have a lot of friends who are teachers and, and I have a lot of friends around the country that are teachers. And I've heard a lot from them and some of the challenges, especially lately with Covid and so on. And, and there's a lot of challenges with the schools, again, Oregon and across the country. And I'm not afraid of stepping up to a challenge Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and look forward to that. And, um, hoping to provide a reasonable voice on the school board for the next four years, five years. Glad to have the opportunity.

Curtis Long (05:55): What I think what people a lot of times don't realize is this is a volunteer position. It's all volunteer and you have lives outside of the school board. I'm interested how you organize your time. This is a big volunteer position. How do you organize your time? And you both have families, you have other things going on, you have jobs. How do you organize your time with such a demanding position?

Paul Kemp (06:14): I already have certain nights of the week that I set aside for these things. Mm. And I try to do my reading ahead of time and I make notes. And we have pre-board meetings with the superintendent, which is good. We can get some things outta the way there questions answered. And I've also been a very active volunteer in a number of organizations and causes over the last 20 years. So I've just reduced some of the other volunteer work and have allocated that time to the school board. And it's, it's fairly easy now at this stage in my career. And my company I work for is supportive of being on a school board. So they, they understand it and, um, they'll make time if necessary to accommodate the schedule.

Curtis Long (06:53): Oh that's great.

April Dobson (06:54): Well, I think the, the literal answer to your question, Curtis, is block scheduling <laugh>. But I think the philosophical answer is we expand Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> It's what, you know, anyone who, who's been a parent knows, uh, anyone who's involved in education or really any other, any other career that touches on, you know, human services. You expand, you expand to meet what is needed. And you know, as Paul said, you know, he's found time in his life to expand and meet this need. And, and I have too. We just, you just make room. You just have to keep making room for all the things that need to be done.

Curtis Long (07:27): And we certainly appreciate that you do make room. Now you mentioned safety as one of your primary concerns for students, of course. And are there any other issues that currently motivate you to sit on the North Clackamas school board or did motivate you to run for that office?

April Dobson (07:39): There's a couple that are on the top of my mind right now. And one of the other things I do outside of school board is sit on the legislative and funding committee for the Parent Community Leadership Alliance, which is a, an advisory committee to the district. And we're right now in the middle of lobbying our state legislators for the kind of support that public education, you know, really needs and has needed, you know, in Oregon for a long time. So, top of mind, our secure and stable funding for public education, it is unreasonable to expect schools to do all of the jobs they do to make all of the systems work if they don't know how much money they're gonna have from year to year for summer learning programs. And so that's one of the things that I'm interested in and that I'm fighting for. And that led me to run for school board. And another thing that comes to mind is the disparity right now between the cap that the state of Oregon has on funding for special ed programming, which is 11%. And, and the differential between that and what our district in particular needs, 17% of the students in our district qualify for special education funding, but only 11% will get it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So, um, advocating, you know, for those kids and, and meeting their needs is a really big priority for me.

Paul Kemp (08:55): Well, one of the things that I work in, uh, engineering and, and then do a lot of construction support work over the last 35 years. And, um, one of the things that I would like to put a little more emphasis on while I'm here on the board is we had this great Sabin Schellenberg School, probably the best in the state with a variety of trades. And I know from working on industrial construction sites, there's a real high need for tradespeople. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and people in the STEM field, both our company, we are struggling to hire people. We need more engineers. So what they have at Sabin Schellenberg is a great entry to get students some skills in high school that they can leverage and go to good paying jobs right outta high school if they aren't oriented towards the college path. And other kids who they can get some good skills and good experience at Sabin Schellenberg that may motivate them to go into the STEM field in college and so on.

Paul Kemp (09:54): And not just in construction. There's a lot of fields there. A lot of great experience at Sabin Schellenberg. I have a particular knowledge in the construction trades and some of those, but there's some great opportunities there. And after touring it, I was even more impressed. I know my son took classes there. I also know from talking to folks in the district, kids that take two classes there have a much higher percentage of graduation rates. And graduation rates in Oregon are lower than the national average. And I think we need to get more students involved and to understand the opportunities that are at Sabin Schellenberg and also where those opportunities would lead them once they graduate high school. I've talked to superintendents for various construction companies in the area. A lot of them know about that program. And I've, everybody that knows about the program has spoke very highly of it. So I just wanna do what I can. And in that area, any other, other important issues are, like April said, stable funding. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> for our education system. We've had a problem, I think with that in the state with some law changes that occurred quite some time ago in our district. We're lucky in the fact that one of the things the state has allowed local districts to do is to operating levies. And we live in an area where our community supports that, but that's not true in every area. Right. And I think we're

Curtis Long (11:11): Very lucky.

Paul Kemp (11:12): Yeah. We, we are very lucky and we had great support in the last election, but it would be nice to see that playing field leveled across the state and get better funding for all of our school districts rather than just the base level. And then some other districts who have the means are able to provide more for their students, which I, I think needs improvement at the state level.

Curtis Long (11:31): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and Paul, you mentioned our Sabin Schellenberg Career Technical Center. That's certainly a strength of our district. You mentioned graduation rates, which just released not too long ago. That our district has outpaced the state average now for 12 straight years. Still an area for improvement for all of us, but certainly a strength of ours. Where, where do you two see the district's biggest strengths?

April Dobson (11:49): Well, I will 100% echo Paul's comments on Sabin Schellenberg. It's really an extraordinary opportunity for students to get experience in trade career and technical skills. It's a gem, a shining example, I think. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> for the whole state. I was just last night at, um, a gathering of school board members from a bunch of different districts. And, and everyone is admiring and envious of our Sabin Schellenberg program. It's a really unique thing to our district. And we are, I think, rightly, very, very proud of it and the amazing work that the students do there. And then I think also, as Paul mentioned, the community involvement. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, something unique about our district is how much the community cares about education, how much they're invested in making sure that kids get what they need and, and that we provide, you know, as many opportunities as possible in the future for them.

Paul Kemp (12:41): Yeah. I mean, you know, way back when we were choosing to move to this area before kids, you know, one of the factors was we were asking people about how well the community supports our district, and it's very strong. Yes. We saw that right away when we moved in. And of course, as, as the kids got older and were into school and so on. And the community support for the schools is tremendous. And it makes a big difference regardless of funding levels and all kinds of other things. Community support of your schools is important. And we saw that here. And I think that is a strength. And I would say that has maintained, I mean, I've been in the district of over 33 years now, or 33 years. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I haven't seen much of a change in that at all. And, um, that's one strength against Sabin Schellenberg is another, the increasing graduation rates, you know, they're, we've also been focusing on improving some reading skills and some other targeted programs and math skills. So I think the district is working, you know, identifying problems and then going after to solve those problems and increase those reading skills, math skills, graduation rates. And we see the outcome of those when they tackle 'em.

April Dobson (13:48): And I think also based on, um, my experience at a, at a game last night, another strength of our district is the Adrian c Nelson girls varsity basketball team. Go Hawks <laugh>.

Curtis Long (13:57): Oh. A little plug for the Nelson Hawk basketball team. Uh, that's great. Very well deserved. I know that all of our sports teams working very hard this winter season between basketball and wrestling and cheerleading. Lots going on in our district. Now you mentioned the community involvement and the community support. We have, I think some members of our community, there's a misconception that a school board in Oregon gets to decide what's taught at certain grade levels. For example, let's take second grade writing. The NCSD school board doesn't determine what writing skills our second graders should learn. I looked it up. There are 41 second grade writing standards required by the Oregon Department of Education, including, all right. Listen to this one. Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book. They are writing about state and opinion supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section By the way, that is for second grade. What role do school board members play in what's taught in local schools?

April Dobson (14:52): I think that the misunderstanding lies in viewing education more as some sort of political game as opposed to what it really is, which is a science. Sure. Right. There's a science to education. And, and so those standards are informed by that science for school board members. What we're there to do is to basically take a, a 10,000 foot, you know, view of what the school district is doing. And, you know, we have a few accountability measures in place just to make sure that the district and our, our superintendent are meeting the mission and goals that are set out. But as far as the, you know, curriculum goes, this is like you mentioned, Curtis, you know, a state level standards issue. And then the fine details of meeting those standards are developed by the doctors that we have Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, the education doctors that we have on staff at the district whose job it is to, to meet those standards with, you know, with curriculum choices. So we are really at a level where we have nothing to do with what is taught on a particular day in a particular classroom, <laugh> in a particular school to second graders. Right. But we're here to, to back up, you know, the, the students and staff and, and the hard work of the administrators to make sure that we are meeting Oregon schools for students and uplifting as many of these kids as possible every day.

Paul Kemp (16:06): I think the school board basically has one person to, to oversee. And that is the superintendent. The superintendent's job is to guide the school district and make sure they're reaching their goals that are set forth by the state of Oregon and federal government in teaching standards and skill levels and so on. And that, again, is a 10,000 foot or 30,000 foot view of what goes on in the classroom on a, on a daily basis. I know as a parent, when my kids were in school, you know, we would look at the syllabus if, if they issued one, we would look at our kids' homework, we would work with them on the homework. We would see what they're reading. And, you know, we were involved. I mean, we would, we've been able to email teachers for years. And my ex-wife and I, we, we always went to the conferences together.

Paul Kemp (16:53): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> whether before and after we were divorced. So we were engaged with our students' education and knew what was going on. And also were very aware if they were struggling at all, you know, we wanted to know what we could do, talking to the teachers. So I think that's, that's part of every parent's job Yeah. To do that and be aware of what's going on. And of course, if you're upset with things or things aren't going away, you have your contacts at the school district that you can reach out to. It. It starts with the folks at the school district level, not with the school board. And there's a channel for everything. But ultimately the school board is, is elected by the school district voters. And, you know, we are put here on their faith to do, to run a school district the way that they wanna see it run and achieve the goals that the school district's supposed to meet.

Curtis Long (17:42): And we hope we're meeting our goal of allowing you to get to know two of our newest North Clackamas school board members, April Dobson and Paul Kemp. So far we've learned how these two longtime volunteers now squeeze their schedules even tighter since being elected last spring. And how they navigate state standards when it comes to curriculum still to come. How do they address family concerns inside and outside of the boardroom?

April Dobson (18:04): But we still have a role to play as advocates, and you just take that responsibility very seriously. You know, when you take on the mantle of being a board member and being advocates for these kids means knowing what's going on with them. It's all to serve the kids. So if parents have something that they wanna share with us, we are there to listen.

Curtis Long (18:21): And what are the best parts about serving on a school board?

Paul Kemp (18:25): There are a lot of positives being on the school board, otherwise, I'm not sure why some of 'em run, but one thing just about volunteering in general is just the other people you get to volunteer with. That's the best thing about volunteering is so many other people, regardless of the cause or the organization, are just great people to be around.

Curtis Long (18:40): Hear more from these two great people to be around in the second half of the Proud To Be NCSD podcast right after this.

Commercial Announcer (18:49): Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? The North Clackamas school district is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire before and after school caretakers, custodians, and bus drivers in North Clackamas. We promise it won't take you long to learn why our employees say they're proud to be in NCSD apply today on the North Clackamas School district website, or call 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000. That's 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000.

Curtis Long (19:43): I was gonna ask you about that because you are volunteers in this position yet part of your job, especially at school board meetings sometimes is listening to parents or maybe having discussions with parents who are upset over curriculum subjects or maybe other things happening in the district that not necessarily you have control of. How do you handle things like that?

April Dobson (20:02): Well, I think from the level of a board member at a meeting, you know, we're not really allowed to have interaction, um, with the people who are making community community comments, but, but they're always welcome. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. You know, I think just to kind of riff on what Paul said, we may or may not have had our own students in the district at any given time, but, you know, when we take on the role of board member, you know, I feel like you're taking on responsibility for 17,200 students. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And we may not be able to be as involved as we are as parents with individual kids, but we still have a role to play as advocates. And you just take that responsibility very seriously. You know, when you take on the mantle of being a board member and being advocates for these kids means knowing what's going on with them. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> from their educational needs to what's happening in their families at home. We wanna advocate, you know, for the, for the whole child. So taking in information from community members, it's, it's all to serve the kids. So if parents have something that they wanna share with us, we are there to listen.

Curtis Long (21:04): In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge our district is facing right now? Is it funding?

April Dobson (21:08): It's funding and, and it's workforce issues. Hmm. And, and the two are tied together. Right. Inextricably linked. We need to be able to plan and we need to be able to provide adequate services. We need to be able to meet the needs of every student. And it's not an unreasonable goal. It's really unfortunate that in the state of Oregon, we have underfunded education for decades. I was in high school when they passed Measure five,

Curtis Long (21:31): So was I

April Dobson (21:32): Started right. We're all dating ourselves here, <laugh>. And they started, you know, stripping away the funding that public schools had counted on, um, for generations. But, you know, we're in our third generation now, Curtis, since measure five mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Right. And, um, and things aren't getting better in public schools. They're getting worse. And you know, what we've seen again for decades is administrators, teachers, volunteers, students holding public education together with string and scotch tape. And, and it can be really frustrating. We want to see better for our kids and, and we wanna see better for Oregon. There is not one crisis that Oregon is facing that wouldn't be made better by fully investing in public education and giving our kids the opportunities that they deserve. So yeah, I think professional development for teachers and funding for special education and having our summer programs always open to as many students as would like to attend.

April Dobson (22:31): And having free lunches for all the students in the district like we did during COVID, which is a sad thing that got snatched, snatched away from them, um, right as they came to count on that and, and really start to thrive on that consistency. You know, all of these things are, are linked, you know, back to funding. And we really just need Oregonians and, you know, the state government to step up and say this is a priority. Education is a priority, not just when we're in a covid pandemic and everyone's trying to reinvent a plane while it's in the air. But every year until we get everything stabilized,

Paul Kemp (23:05): I would add getting a better stable funding directive and legislation in Salem would be a lot better. I know from hearing, talking to people and from hearing from my daughter who's a teacher in another district, there are a lot of teachers leaving. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and very frustrated. And covid, the covid issues really exacerbated a lot of that. And I would say my daughter, I think teaching for a lot of people is a calling. I mean, they know early on, my daughter knew early on that she loved working with kids and she wanted to be a teacher. And I, I think teaching for some is, is a calling like medicine and law and, and so on. But having a good funding base and stable support for the teachers from year after year when, when we moved into the district, my kids were lucky to have some teachers that had been in our district teaching for over 20 years.

Paul Kemp (23:55): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and had spent their entire career here. And I, I'm not sure that we're able to do that the way we used to be able to do that. Not just in pay, but also pension plans. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I've heard pension plans, uh, that pers is become an issue for people and rightly so. I mean, it has been even for me in my own career. So the pay scale and knowing that you're gonna have the money available to pay people who have almost all of them at one point or another will get a graduate degree. I don't know very many fields where almost everybody you work with has a graduate level degree that's a licensed professional. This is one of those exceptions. And those are not cheap. They cost money and they take a lot of time for folks. So we have that, and maybe this is stepping in at big time, but uh, we also have this big, uh, kicker tax coming back from the state, <laugh> billions of dollars.

Paul Kemp (24:49): And for the life of me, I realize it takes legislation to change that. But for the life of me, when we have underfunding in schools and when economy is doing well and we have this enormous amount of money we're kicking back to people. I'm not saying don't do it. Maybe we ratchet it down and set aside that money for programs that are chronically underfunded. I mean, that, that's one thought. There are a lot of issues. I don't think there's enough time in a podcast to cover all of them, but these are some, well, we could

Curtis Long (25:16): Always go to part two. Okay. Okay.

April Dobson (25:18): I've got your slogan for this, Paul. Kick it to the kids.

Paul Kemp (25:20): Yeah. There you go. I, at times, uh, have not taken the kicker.

April Dobson (25:25): Well, one thing I wanted to, to echo from what Paul said is I think education very much is a calling for a lot of people, but I also think that they're taken advantage of because of that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Right. So just because something is your calling, just because you feel highly motivated and even moved to do work does not mean you should have to do it for nothing. We need to make sure that our educators are getting reasonable compensation, you know, for the incredible work that they do. And like Paul said, it's graduate level work. I think that's a big part of what's still needed.

Curtis Long (25:55): And I'm glad you bring that up. As a former principal, I daily was amazed at what our teachers do each day they come to school with a smile on their face, ready to serve their children and would do anything for their kids if they're in elementary school for those 25 to 33 kids that they have every day, whether they're in middle or high school, and they see way more kids than that, they would do anything for them. And I think that's really a, a sense of pride in our school district that we have some amazing educators. Which leads me to my next question. We talked enough about the negative. Let's focus on the positives of being a part of the North Clackamas school board. As I know there are plenty of those. Tell us about what brings a smile to your face in this position.

April Dobson (26:30): Well, of course we love hearing from the kids. So any opportunity, you know, that we have to engage with the students is just really a pleasure and an honor. I serve on the, uh, youth Equity advisory committee as an a board member. And, and it's, uh, it's really inspiring, you know, to hear these kids talk, advocate, you know, for for themselves and actually do the work to apply pressure to the district and the board for the things that, you know, they feel like are needed the most. It's a great learning experience for them. And I serve on that committee with my colleague Glen Wachter, and I think that he would say the same. The kids are, they're really inspiring and they're really honest and it's nice to have the opportunity to hold ourselves and the system accountable to the people that it's actually serving.

Paul Kemp (27:20): There are a lot of positives being on the school board, otherwise, I'm not sure why some would run <laugh>. But, um, I mean, one thing just about volunteering in general is just the other people you get to volunteer with. That's the best thing about volunteering is so many other people, regardless of the cause or the organization, are just great people to be around. Also, getting to know and see the work level, the work at the high levels of the school district, which we're able to see and we get to meet those people. Campaigning wasn't as much fun. <laugh> as, uh, some might think it would be. Yeah. But the one good thing is, is it got me out and I had a lot of great conversations with people Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> all around the district, and it opened my eyes to some things and it also allowed me to share some information with them about the district and some misconceptions in a few cases. I think, you know, the other positive for me personally, you know, my, my dad set a standard for volunteering and giving back to communities. We we're very lucky. And so that's one of the things that has driven me to do this. And I think you see that in the other people that, that volunteer. They're just good people and they want to take their skills and take their time and put it to some good use in the community and, and give back.

April Dobson (28:36): Thanks Paul. It's fun to hang out with you too.

Curtis Long (28:38): <laugh>, that's, I always gonna say we're certainly grateful for both of you for everything that you give to our district. One final question before we let you go. What is your vision for the future of North Clackamas School District as you're just getting started in your number one of your term on the school board?

April Dobson (28:52): Oh, that's a great question. Curtis <laugh>. Um, and there's so many factors, you know, that play into it and I wish, you know, like I wish there were things we could know in advance, like, how big is North Clarks gonna get

Curtis Long (29:03): <laugh> as we continue to get bigger? Yes. As we

April Dobson (29:05): Continue to get bigger. But my vision, I think my vision stays the same no matter, you know, what our size and that is that every child in North Clackamas school feels seen and supported, encouraged and engaged. And, and, and that's what I want. That's my goal.

Paul Kemp (29:22): I would say one of the things is, uh, just to see the district thrive and have a good school system for a great community. And we, and we've seen the boundaries of Happy Valley expand. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And we've added a lot of schools. I think there's been good management and of the programs and new construction that's gone on to serve the community over the next four or five years. You know, one of the things that I've always felt is important is, and again, maybe this gets into, uh, a hot button issue for some, but learning Paul loves those. Learning our country's history is incredibly important. Warts and all. And having the books in schools that were in school when I was there, mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I feel strongly about those. And parents need to get engaged with their children's education and they can make choices for their own child, but we don't need to have people trying to change things for one child and have it impact the entire district. That's my personal opinion. So we need a robust, strong school system that's gonna challenge kids all the way around and get them to think on their own and to analyze stuff on their own and ultimately, ideally be ready to make their own decisions as an adult.

Curtis Long (30:35): Well, the title of this podcast is Proud to be in CSD, and there's a reason for that. As we start to wrap up. I think that if you toured any of our district's 32 schools and asked staff members, what makes you proud to work in the North Clackamas School District, I think the most common word you would hear would be support. We support kids of course, but we also support each other. But that culture of support doesn't happen by accident. If you're a classroom assistant for example, you have to have the support of the classroom teacher. If you're a teacher, you have to have support from your administrator during challenging times. Administrators need support from the district office and the superintendent. And all of us in NCSD, no matter what school or department you work in, need to know their supported by the school board who represents them.

Curtis Long (31:13): April Paul, thanks to you and the five colleagues who serve alongside you on the North Clackamas School Board. NCSD staff and students know, they always have a group of seven dedicated professionals who believe in us and support us in our mission to inspire graduates who are empowered to act with courage in life and to strengthen local and global economies. For that, we can't thank you enough, whether it's during Oregon School Board Recognition month in January or every month of the year. Thank you Paul and April for everything you do each day to make us all proud to be NCSD. And thanks so much for joining us today.

April Dobson (31:43): Thanks for having me.

Paul Kemp (31:44): Thank you, Curtis.

Curtis Long (31:46): Thanks for listening to The Proud to be NCSD podcast in North Clackamas. We know that education is a community effort, and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in NCSD.