If you’re asking yourself, “Where did the summer go?” you’re not alone. The 2024-25 school year is underway and the beginning of school brings a tidal wave of events, deadlines and activities.
West Linn-Wilsonville School District Superintendent Kathy Ludwig spent her summer looking ahead to the new year, a new long range plan and a new district theme: “Rise and Run.”
“We had a great summer! We were able to offer Summer Learning opportunities to over 300 primary students (with a strong focus on literacy), 300 middle school students (16 different summer classes to choose from) and a high school Bridging Pathways experience which also allowed those students to earn a half credit by attending. Our Summer Learning staff and teachers did an outstanding job of preparing interesting, inspiring and rigorous lessons to keep our students engaged and actively learning during those weeks,” said Ludwig, by email.
The 2024-25 school year theme for the district builds off of last year’s theme of “elevate.”
“We will continue working to elevate our students’ experiences in the classroom through helpful feedback, professional teamwork and focused leadership actions. That said, we know it’s the smaller actions we take more regularly that contribute to the larger outcomes we’re hoping to achieve. If you recall back to your middle school geometry class, the formula for creating a “slope or elevation” includes a series of smaller ‘rise over run’ steps or actions. Similarly, we want to elevate our practice and outcomes through a series of intentional actions (rises) while constantly evaluating the impacts (runs) and adjusting as necessary,” said Ludwig.
Challenges to work through
At the end of last school year, the district announced an anticipated $10 million in budget cuts for the 2024-25 school year, with additional cuts anticipated for the 2025-26 school year. According to the district, these cuts were largely due to the declining enrollment and lower state funding.
“As you are aware, this year we needed to make some difficult decisions due to budget shortfalls that resulted in some decreased staffing, adjusted programs and pared back resource spending. These are not changes we enjoy making, but being financially responsible requires us to make decisions that often aren’t easy. I am grateful to our amazing staff during this time and throughout the process; they have demonstrated gracious understanding and admirable flexibility,” said Ludwig.
She added that she hopes local leaders will take these concerns to the Legislature in January, “advocating for sound budget allocations that reflect the true costs associated with running an organization in today’s market.”
Financial challenges extend to district families as well. The district’s Family Empowerment Center works to alleviate some of these economic difficulties.
“We are also aware that for some families, the financial challenges of the back-to-school season are very real, in terms of school supplies, clothing, backpacks and school meals,” said Ludwig.
The district learned over the summer that 10 schools qualified for free breakfast and lunch for all students through the state’s Community Eligibility Provision. In the first week of school, the number of meals served increased by more than 4,000 students from the previous school year.
The future
Besides updating the annual theme, Ludwig discussed how analysis of student outcomes and achievement shifts each year, although district-wide goals remain largely the same.
The district’s four goals are:
Grow student achievement through the use of high leverage instructional and engagement strategies to raise rigor, disrupt systems of racism and generate equitable outcomes for all students while eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps.
Effectively use systems of professional growth, assessment for learning, social-emotional learning, equitable and inclusive practices to build competence, confidence and self-efficacy for every student.
Operate in an accessible and transparent manner to encourage and generate community involvement as our parents, students and community partners are an integral and valued voice in our District.
Be responsive to community growth and student learning needs of the future by conducting long-range capital improvements and financial planning through processes and practices for long-term financial stability and sustainability.
Ludwig continued that each school develops its own goals that tie into each of the larger district goals.
“What changes year-to-year, is the analysis of our student learning outcomes to see how we are performing within each of these goals and making more specific smaller goals to address the changes needed. For example, you will notice that each primary school has developed school-specific goals around literacy and mathematics outcomes to address the larger academic District Goal #1,” said Ludwig. “As superintendent, I create 5-6 year specific goals aligned to each of those four district goals. For example, there will be continued focus on enrollment projections, budget monitoring and financial planning to ensure (in District Goal #4) that we ensure long-term financial stability and sustainability.”
The beginning of this year also brings a new long range plan, something the district embarks upon every five years. The current long range planning committee recently made a recommendation to create two task forces to look at future enrollment in West Linn schools.
“The district’s first Long Range Plan was adopted in 1996, and the district has regularly updated it through working with the School Board and Long Range Planning Committee,” said Ludwig. “The goal has always been to consider community growth and enrollment projections when planning for new or remodeled school facilities that best serve our teaching staff, provide for high quality student learning experiences, and generate exceptional educational outcomes. While it is easier to look out over 4-5 years for what we expect next, we do need to consider longer-term plans further out, which is why we contract with professional demographers and city land-use planners to provide us that type of information. A 10-year outlook is the furthest they forecast, because any further out than that is subject to more uncertainty. Of course, there are also those events that are entirely unforeseeable, like a global pandemic, that can radically change the landscape immediately or longer with lingering impacts.”
Ludwig added that the district’s Educational Equity and Advisory Committee was created last year and continues to be a new partnership with the community that she’s excited about for this school year.
The beginning of a new year is also a chance to look ahead to graduation and hopes for the class of 2025.
“My hope is that it has been a year full of valuable learning and progress for our students, and that both our families and larger WLWV community feel connected and proud of our graduating high school students. My hope is that we have met or are on track to meet our many goals for the year, and that we are in a positive place for further growth in 2025-26,” said Ludwig.
Local News
Comments / 0