News

This is Classified School Employees Appreciation Week. Thank you to all of our dedicated support staff, who make learning possible for students.

Classified employees work with students, educators, parents, volunteers, business partners and community members.

Classified employees support the smooth operation of offices, the safety and maintenance of buildings and property, and the safe transportation, healthy nutrition and direct instruction of students.

Classified employees are educational assistants, office support specialists, bus drivers, custodians, maintenance workers, food servers, translators and more.

Thank you, classified employees, for your work on behalf of GAPS students!

There is a need for skilled workers in our local industries and around the country. Employers are seeking trained workers, and they are working with schools to help build skills that students can build on in college or take directly to the workforce.

If Ballot Measure 22-165 is approved by voters, renovations are planned for all middle schools to add instructional space for career technical, or vocational technical, education.

Both high schools would also get new CTE space. The first phase of the replacement at West Albany High School includes new classrooms, and South Albany High School would get new classrooms and a new multipurpose room/gym.

This video shows the type of programs the schools are considering for expansion.

Find more information about Ballot Measure 22-165.

Transportation Supervisor Russell Buttram posted the following reminder about bus safety rules.

Except for highways divided by paved median strips or barriers, drivers in all lanes of traffic must stop and remain stopped while red lights flash.

Read more information.

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If Ballot Measure 22-165 is approved by voters, all schools will see facility improvements.

Projects are planned to meet the following priorities:

• Make critical facility upgrades
• Make energy improvements
• Address security, safety, seismic needs
• Rebuild/remodel schools to offer vocational technical classes
• Relieve school overcrowding

See the project list for information about projects planned for each school.

Ballot Measure 22-165, the proposed bond to address critical school repairs, overcrowding and growth and add vocational programs, will be on the May 16 ballot.

Learn more about the measure:

• Fact sheet
• Community presentation
• Bond information web page

If you have questions, contact the District Office or your neighborhood school.

Vocational technical training, also known as Career Technical programs and applied learning, helps students learn about possible career paths and prepare for the workforce. These programs also increase the chance that a student will graduate.

The Oregon Department of Education has data that shows students are more likely to graduate if they participate in a vocational technical, or CTE, program:

According to the Oregon Department of Education, “The 2013-2014 four-year cohort graduation rate for CTE concentrators in Oregon was 85.7%; for all students (including CTE concentrators) it was 76.4%. An Oregon CTE concentrator is a student who has earned one or more credits in a technical skill course(s) within an Oregon state-approved CTE Program of Study.” 

Projects in Ballot Measure 22-165 would include remodeling existing classrooms and building new instructional space to allow hands-on activities in high-demand career fields.

A recent work group identified current and planned vocational technical education programs that would be added to all middle and high schools if the bond passes in May.

Read the program development report for more information.

Find more information about Ballot Measure 22-165.

When: August 6th – 11th
Who: Incoming Sophomores (10th grade)
Where: Central Washington University
Cost: FREE
Applications are due end of March 2017
Download the attached flyer for more information!