In this newsletter: A message of gratitude, information for a virtual town hall, and distance learning for all guidance.

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Hello everyone,

Representative Rachel Prusak here with a message of gratitude. I know things have been hard lately and I wanted to check in and remind you we’re in this together.

I’ve heard from my friends and colleagues on the front lines who are scared but keep going to work everyday and they too are thankful people are staying home to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.

I’m thankful for The firefighters, the paramedics, the police officers, the nurses, the doctors, the resp therapists, and all essential healthcare workers. I’m also thankful for those of you that are staying home. While staying home may not feel like you're helping - you are!

I’m Thankful to the organizations and individuals who donated Personal Protective Equipment. If frontline medical workers aren’t protected, our communities aren’t safe.

For me it's been hard - because I miss seeing my patients. I miss hugging them. Caring for them over the phone isn’t the same. For some of my patients I am their only physical connection besides their meal delivery.

Which brings me to more gratitude. I’m thankful for the volunteers delivering food to homebound seniors and to all the food pantries in HD 37 and across Oregon who are serving so many people right now. I’m Thankful for Everyone in our food supply chain from the farmers, the truckers, and the grocers.

I know this is hard and we’re all scared. Please take care of yourself and each other. Please continue to Stay Home and Save Lives. Thank You.

Sincerely,
Representative Rachel Prusak

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** The Mental Health of Our Communities Virtual Town Hall
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Thursday, April 2 at 6 PM

This is a deeply challenging time for many communities and uncertainty is making things even harder. While we've seen people come together in new, previously unimagined ways and these connections have made a huge difference in our day-to-day lives, we are still seeing social isolation and uncertainty play an enormous impact on our mental health. Given this reality, I will be hosting my first virtual town hall focused on mental health.

I'll be joined by a behavioral health expert, school board members, educators, students, and parents to discuss resources on digital wellness and mental health with a focus on youth mental health and behavioral health. It's going to take everyone - parents, teachers, and students, to help in this effort to be healthier together!

Take some time to explore resources on digital wellness and mental health and come with your thoughts and questions. [link removed]

Please register in advance for this meeting. There is space for 100 participants.
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After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.


** Just Out: Distance Learning for All Guidance
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Currently ODE, superintendents, educators and school boards are working hard on an historic transformation of our education system to maintain care, connection, and continuity of learning for students. These are very challenging times and I hope we can offer patience, grace, kindness, and compassion to everyone as we find ways to navigate these uncharted territories.

Message from Colt Gill, Director of the Oregon Department of Education and Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction:

“Education without face-to-face interaction between students and teachers will look and feel different and cannot be fully replicated across a distance. It will not and cannot happen overnight. We need the grace and patience of our state’s leaders, our communities, our families, and our educators as we learn together to move powerfully to ensure care, connection, and continuity of learning happen in entirely new ways for our students.

I was recently reminded of the power of student and teacher relationships in a classroom setting. Over two decades ago I was a 4th grade teacher at Creslane Elementary School in Creswell, Oregon. I worked with an amazing Educational Assistant, to cook some noodles in an unusual way to help bring a book to life for my students. Here is the story from Colin Lyons, one of my former students, who is now a candidate for Oregon Teacher of the Year, ‘Mr. Colt Gill, was my 4th grade reading teacher in Creswell (and my first superintendent when I worked in Bethel SD). I attribute my career path to him and a random day when he cooked us worms to try and eat with ketchup and mustard after reading Thomas Rockwell’s How to Eat Fried Worms. It was a silly event, but memorable and my tiny 9 year old brain gravitated to wanting to emulate him and his passion.’

I share this story for two reasons. First, it underscores how our relationships and interactions with students can have a lasting impact and more than we might realize at the time. We must be caring, intentional and reaffirm a sense of community and continuity in all our actions. We need to be clear-headed regarding the experiences our children will lose over the next two and half months – proms, field trips, graduation and award ceremonies, and simple classroom activities that shape lives.

The loss of these experiences should not mean students lose the opportunity for connection, belonging and optimism in the future. Every caring adult has a role and responsibility to play in guiding our students through this moment of challenge and uncertainty. It is a time to highlight the assets and resilience we see in our children and let them know how much we value them.

Second, the passion that Colin referred to runs deep in educators. Educators are the most caring, flexible, and determined people I know. They are true professionals. Educators, as they partner with families in new and deep ways, can make this work for Oregon’s children.

We must move into this shift with honesty regarding known and unknown challenges:

The vast majority of Oregon educators have not taught online and some districts have varying levels of experience, capacity, and technology tools. Let’s take this head on utilizing our resourcefulness and creativity understanding not all distance education will be online. Meaningful education can be provided through educational materials distributed in packets, via individual and group calls, and other efforts that may be employed to ensure continuity of learning.

Imagine a family with a 7th grader and a 10th grader, each with 6 or 7 different teachers and classes with one computer to share between the students. We must find ways for their classes to be scheduled in ways they can access all the content.

For our younger students, the success of distance education overwhelmingly relies on parents and adult family members to be active partners with teachers. It will be important for parents to know their role to support, including making time outside interactions with their child’s teacher to serve as tutors, helping to ensure attentiveness to the instructional time with teachers, providing structure to the daily schedule and helping support connectivity and continuity of technology at home, and more. Primary students going through the rigors of learning to read requires the support of a teacher “scaffolding the lesson” minute-by-minute to meet the needs and strengths of the student. This will look different within distance learning and we have to find ways to partner teachers and parents to nurture learning within this context.

In Oregon last year 22,215 students lacked “a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence”. The number of children experiencing houselessness is likely to grow this year. We will need to think of creative strategies to provide access to learning for students in these situations where a tablet or laptop and hotspot connection to the internet may not be the most practical way to provide access to learning for some students.

ODE will work with relevant state agencies and ESDs to address data from the Oregon Broadband Commission regarding potential connectivity issues communicated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). We also recognize that there are parts of the state yet to be served by broadband or cell connectivity. This will require flexibility for these schools to serve students during the school closure in ways consistent with the specific needs of their communities and families.

And, family needs, strengths, make-up and values play a significant role. Some families work hard to limit screen time and will have to navigate new patterns in the home. In some homes older siblings must care for younger siblings and family members because parents and other caregivers must work. We all have to work together to communicate expectations for learning while making allowances for the specific customs and routines of families within their home environment.

These are a few of the issues our state and our schools will be working to meet head-on at the same time they are beginning to deliver Distance Learning for All. The effort carries its challenges, through them we will center on equity. Our school house doors were open to every single student in our state, and as we shift to Distance Learning for All we must ensure our education services are accessible to every student in our state. We will do all we can to meet the needs and strengths of students with disabilities, emerging bilingual students, talented and gifted students, and students navigating poverty and houselessness.

Our children and educators deserve more than we can provide right now; we must let this thought drive our innovation and help us strive to overcome disparities and build resilience in our students and educators. This effort will call on all our creativity and talents as well as deep partnership with families to reach all students to provide care, connection, and continuity of learning.”
Click here ([link removed]) for the Distance Learning for All Guidance.

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Rachel for State Representative . 1980 willamette falls drive . Suite #120 - PMB#135 . West Linn, Or 97068 . USA

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