District News

March 2-6 is Classified Employee Week. This week, we are honoring and recognizing the dedicated support staff who serve our students, schools and district. Classified employees are the “backbone” of the public school system, providing support and working directly with students, staff, parents, volunteers, business partners and community members. Classified employees are secretaries, educational assistants,…

Congratulations to MHS student Brian Barnes, the new Oregon wrestling champion, for winning the 190-weight pound class and to the entire MHS Wrestling team for their fourth-place finish as a team at the state wrestling tournament this past weekend. Thanks to the relentless efforts of Aspen Nelson (2nd place, 113 lbs), Alvaro Flores (3rd place, 106 lbs),…

This is National School Breakfast Week, which recognizes the importance of starting the school day with a nutritious breakfast to help students succeed in school. This year McMinnville schools expects to have served more than 320,000 breakfasts. This year, the District has offered free lunch and breakfast daily to every student as part of a pilot…

A new grant from Wells Fargo and the Portland Trailblazers Foundation will improve learning space for students in the R.I.S.E. program. R.I.S.E. stands for Reaching Individual Students Every Day. It is a behavioral growth program for students with special needs. The Take it to the Court grant  is for $6,000. It will fund outdoor sport courts and…

Noah Miller, a Duniway Middle School eighth grader, has been selected as Oregon’s top middle level youth volunteer in the 2015 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program. As a state honoree, Noah will receive a $1,000 award, an engraved medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for a series of national recognition events in…

It’s not too late to catch the current theatrical production at McMinnville High School. The current show is Harvey, a play about a man and his imaginary rabbit friend, Harvey. The production is directed by MHS drama teacher Bethany Mason.  The play opened last weekend. There are shows tonight, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m….

Duniway Middle School was represented in the regional compeition of the Oregon Battle of the Books last weekend at Silverton High School. The students, all sixth graders, made it through the first round and were eliminated in the second round of competition.  The team, pictured left to right, includes Joslyn Hui, Dana Vollmer, Kassandra Matthews and Jazmine Jones….

The McMinnville High School Unified Sports Basketball Team won first place at the statewide tournament last Saturday. Unified Sports® is a program that combines approximately equal numbers of Special Olympics athletes and athletes without intellectual disabilities (known as unified partners) on sports teams for training and competition. The team is coached by Colleen Rentz, Charlotte Smail…

Last week, students from the District’s Community Transition Program volunteered as helpers at the Willamette ESD annual Circus Day for preschool students in the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Program. The Community Transition Program provides support and training for students in high school special education programs who are 18-21 years old and transitioning…

This month, EASA students received a check from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The $1,000 grant will support the collaboration of EASA and Natural Resource Pathway students who are designing unmanned vehicles to collect agricultural and forestry data. “This is a huge honor and recognition of our pathway programs taking our initial…