News

South Albany High School has been making gains in student achievement in the last few years, and on Tuesday, they had a chance to share their strategies for success with other schools.

The school hosted about 100 educators from other schools around the state for an AVID program showcase. AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a national college and career preparation program that includes elective programs and strategies to improve critical thinking and study habits.

“It was a huge honor to have been chosen to host the showcase and it went extremely well,” said AVID coordinator Ben Sell.

There are currently 252 kids in AVID elective classes at SAHS, but AVID is a schoolwide program. Sell said they showcased teachers utilizing AVID strategies in their non-AVID classes as well. “All our students benefit from it,” he said.

Sell said, “There were two really great things about yesterday.  It was amazing to see our AVID students acting as tour guides and leaders.  They did a fantastic job fielding questions from educators all day long and represented the school and the AVID program extremely well. The other awesome thing was just getting the opportunity to share all the great work the teachers in our building are doing with fellow educators and to receive such glowing feedback on our schoolwide implementation from AVID state leadership.”

Read the story in the Democrat-Herald

If you ran in the iRun fundraiser for Albany Public Schools Foundation last weekend — or if you supported a runner — you will likely find your photo in the event gallery from Jodi B. Herrling Photography.

Dozens of photos are available. Check out the gallery.

A vacancy has opened on the GAPS Budget Committee. Applications for this volunteer position are now being accepted to complete the three-year term, ending on June 30, 2019.

Applications are due by March 23.

Budget Committee Vacancy Timeline

March 12:  Vacancy during new business agenda. Vacancy declared.

March 13:  Vacancy is publicly announced. Applications are available online.

March 23:  Applications due to the District Office.

April 2:  Completed applications are emailed to Board members.

April 9:  Board work session to interview applicants, 5 p.m.

April 9: Regular Board meeting. Board members select new Budget Committee member, 7 p.m.

April 16:  Budget Committee meeting. New committee member participates.

If you have questions, please email Jim Haggart.

Earlier this month, South Shore Elementary School’s first Oregon Battle of the Books team competed at the regional finals competition. The students competed well and placed in the top 16 out of 49 teams. They were the only GAPS team at the competition.

South Shore staff shared the news of the competition on their website. Here is the recap. Congratulations, South Shore Super Squad. Great job!

After winning our first two battles, our kids were feeling great! They were ready for the next round! They won both battles in the next round, making them undefeated!

We had a little break while the judges added up points for all 49 teams. The 16 teams with the highest scores got to move on.

We knew we did well, but we weren’t sure if we had enough points to move on. As they announced the top 16, tension built. They announced 1, 2, 3 (crossing fingers), 4, 5, 6 (come on, say south shore), 7, 8, 9… (it’s ok! We did great no matter what), 10, 11, 12, (all is good. We did our best), 13, 14, 15, (and just as we lost hope), 16 SOUTH SHORE!!!

The kids jumped up! They were so excited!!! And of course their entourage went wild! Parents had tears, kids were hugging, pictures were taken!

We were the only first year team to make it to the top 16. We were the only team from Albany. We were competing against teams that have been doing this for many years.

As the other 33 teams left the school, the intensity rose. We entered single elimination, and unfortunately, we did not move on to top 8.

It was an incredible experience. The kids all had a great time and had the best sportsmanship!!