News

West Albany junior Patrick Spence is the next YMCA Oregon Youth Governor. Spence, who also serves as a student representative on the School Board, campaigned for the office at a Youth and Government legislative conference last weekend. He was one of four students running for the office.

Youth and Government is a program for high school students across Oregon. It provides the opportunity to experience the legislative process firsthand and for the student voice to be heard.

Spence’s campaign platform includes increasing student participation rates in the statewide program. Oregon has a lower student participation rate than most states. His platform includes increasing visibility and reaching out to other schools.

As governor, Spence will travel to Washington, D.C., in June.

Congratulations to the FBLA club on their success this weekend at the State Conference in Portland! These future business leaders competed in various business tests and performance events. Conner Riley placed in the top 10 in Help Desk, Haley and Riley Spears placed in the top 10 in Marketing, and Grant Farley and Alex Neil placed third in Entrepreneurship, which qualifies them to compete at the National Conference in Baltimore, Maryland in June!

Last month, the district’s new Anti-Bullying Task Force presented recommendations to the School Board.

The task force, which is comprised of GAPS staff, parents, and community partners, has had two community forums. At the first forum, a definition of bullying was presented, along with various statistics and facts related to bullying and its effects on students. The group also began to look at the scope of bullying in our community, both at the school level and in the community at large.

At the second forum, the Task Force formulated concrete suggestions for the school Board to consider to address the problem.

The forums yielded recommendations for improvements to school climate that included curriculum and behavioral supports to improve school climate; new rules and policies to prevent bullying and education about policies and consequences; staff training in bullying prevention; and programs to improve coordinated prevention efforts.

Anti-Bullying Task Force Recommendations to the Board

Read the story in the Democrat-Herald

Before spring break, West Albany High Schools earned a distinction by Special Olympics of Oregon for inclusiveness. The school was named an Oregon Unified Champion School.

Representatives from Special Olympics presented the school with a Unified Champion banner during a school awards assembly, where they were also presented with the OSAA Unified Basketball Championship trophy for prevailing in the recent unified basketball tournament.

The Unified Champion award honors schools for creating a socially inclusive climate.

“The Unified Champion Schools approach incorporates Special Olympics sports, leadership and related activities that empower youth to be change agents in their communities. This is a paradigm shift from a focus on events to that of a whole school movement for inclusion.

Special education and general education students alongside educators and administrators are encouraged to collaborate to create supportive classrooms, school-wide activities and opportunities for growth and success for all.

When everyone in a school fosters a socially inclusive school climate that emphasizes acceptance, respect and human dignity for all students, schools become places where no student is isolated because of the degree or type of disability or the services required to meet his/her needs.

Together we are creating a Unified Generation that Chooses to Include.”

Congratulations, Unified Sports!

Special Olympics Champion Schools website

Photo credit: Special Olympics Oregon

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.

Starting April 2, 2018

In order to control paper waste and related costs, as of April 2018 students may print to the Production Center printer ONLY.

Printing may be picked up in the Production Center at lunch, or between 3:00 and 3:15.

All printing over 50 pages per semester will be charged @ 5¢ per page.

The prep work is nearly done for the major bond-funded construction projects. Planning has included seeking permits, planning for logistics for each site, creating a work timeline and, of course, designing the projects.

Construction work will start as soon as school is out at South Albany High School, West Albany High School, the new elementary school near Timber Ridge, the replacement of Oak Grove Elementary and the middle school vocational/CTE classrooms.

It is an exciting time. We will share more details as the work progresses. Here are design concept videos for each project:

West Albany High School
South Albany High School
New elementary school near Timber Ridge
Oak Grove Elementary School replacement

Questions about the bond? Check out our new Frequently Asked Questions page.