District News

The 2018-19 school year officially launched today with the annual Welcome Back event that highlights past successes and maps a path for the year to come. This year’s program themes was “Equity” and mixed motivation, inspiration and humor to showcase the idea that education works best when people work together and find common ground. The…

The district’s 27 new licensed staff were welcomed into McMinnville Schools today. The McMinnville School Board was on hand to meet new staff and building administrators introduced each new staff member. Superintendent Maryalice Russell gave a brief overview of teaching goals and expectations and board chair Barbara Carter both delivered a formal welcome.  New employees…

District student activities and sports will be conducted inside during the National Weather Service’s air quality alert resulting from the northwestern wildfires.

Columbus, Grandhaven and Sue Buel elementary schools will receive grant funding for outdoor school programs in the 2018-19 school year. The funding will cover the overnight camp at OMSI’s Camp Gray in Newport, Oregon, that Columbus and Grandhaven have participated in over the past few years. Sue Buel will expand its current two-day program exploring…

Marci Ingram, McMinnville School District’s homeless liaison and dropout prevention specialist, and Kelly Janssen, counselor at Grandhaven Elementary, teamed up to participate in the annual KGW School Supply Drive. “We participated in the drive in years past,” said Ingram. “Last spring, they called and asked if we would be willing to appear in a spot…

The McMinnville School District has been awarded a $2.4 million grant for a five-year project, “STEAM Ahead: Makerspaces are Creative Places.” The project will be implemented in all district schools and serve preschool through 12th grade students with before- and after-school programs featuring STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Arts) and CTE (Career Technical Education)…

Patton Middle School Assistant Principal Debbie Hilfiker (center) will move to Sue Buel Elementary as principal for the 2018-19 school year. Sue Buel Principal Darlene Geddes (left) will join the McMinnville High School administrative team to support career technical education aligned to Measure 98 funding. MHS Dean Allison Eitzen will move to Patton Middle School…

The first summer Career/Technical Education (CTE) seminars kicked off this week with sessions on construction and UAVs (“unmanned aerial vehicles, better known as drones). Rising middle school through high school freshmen in the McMinnville School District (MSD) were invited to participate in several free sessions of CTE summer offerings starting this week. Students built “Tiny…

Wascher Elementary has been selected as a 2018 national “Model School” by the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE). A team of five staff members including Principal Kourtney Ferrua; teachers Kat McNeal, Alese Peterson and Cameron Croisant; and specialist Shauna Zavala will present the story of Wascher’s success at the annual Model Schools Conference…

About 120 middle school students attended the McMinnville School District’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) camp this week.  “We had so many kids sign up this year that we added some additional teachers,” said camp director and McMinnville High School science teacher Andrea Brown. “Every teacher brings something different to their teaching so even…