Q: I am a BSD parent and full-time working single mother regarding the number and placement of non-student days throughout the school year.
 
I absolutely value our teachers and understand the need for professional development, planning and grading time. My concern is how frequently these days are scattered throughout the year. For working parents, every school closure means arranging and often paying for childcare, changing work schedules, or using PTO. As a single parent, the cumulative financial and logistical burden is significant.
 
After comparing Beaverton’s calendar with districts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, I found examples where more professional-development time is concentrated before school begins, resulting in fewer isolated closures during the school year.
 
Could Beaverton consider a similar approach; consolidating more of these days or placing them adjacent to existing holidays and breaks when possible? This would preserve important professional time for educators while reducing disruption for students and the burden on working families.
 
I understand that many factors go into creating the school calendar. I simply hope the impact on working families, particularly single-parent households, will be an important consideration in future calendar planning.
 
Thank you for considering this perspective.

Q: The middle school bell schedule makes it impossible for middle school students to engage in many after school activities that are extremely important to them. A lot of these activities start around 4 PM. It is also very disruptive for family schedules of those who have elementary and middle school students with very different schedules. Is there anyway we could move the middle school start time 45 minutes earlier? Thank you so much for your consideration.

Q: Why did you block Youtube and Spotify?

Q: We’ve seen Portland Public Schools announce a significant number of school closures for the upcoming school year. Last year, Beaverton only had one school close although through an “elective” process. What can be we expect to hear from the district about the possibility of school closures in Beaverton, what would the process look like, and how soon should families expect to know if their school could be affected?

Q: Many parents felt caught off guard this year when the district had schools announce class blending only about a week before teacher assignments were made. Given that experience, can families expect the district to be more forthcoming about potential school closures, grade-level blending, or other changes to school staffing and enrollment? How early will the district communicate these possibilities, even if decisions have not yet been finalized?

Q: Dr. Smith, as districts work to expand Career Technology and Education and meet state career readiness indicators, how can our local Army education and leadership teams best integrate zero-cost resources- such as the ASVAB Career Exploration Program, March2Success, and technical credentialing pathways- to directly support your graduation and workforce-readiness goals?

Q: This is the written form of the question I had asked you in one of the town halls, following which you requested me to reach out to you and your office for more details: 

My kid is enrolled in a Special Education class, ISC in Scholls Heights Elementary. Is it possible to allow private therapists (such as ABA, speech, or occupational therapists) into the classroom for brief periods? Having them present would allow them to provide more contextual support to students with special needs, while also helping students avoid missing school to attend off-site appointments.

Thank you for considering this, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Q: What is the district’s long-term plan for the Maintenance Department?
 
You have spoken about wanting every student to have a positive experience at school, and maintaining safe, functional, and well-kept buildings is a major part of providing that experience. However, there is growing concern regarding the direction of the department and the resource-allocation decisions being made under Ron Umali and Casey Waletich.
 
The district has spent a significant amount of money on outside contractors while its in-house Maintenance team remains understaffed and underdeveloped. Although contractors are necessary for certain work, there have been situations where in-house employees have had to repair or correct issues afterward. A stronger in-house team may be more cost-effective while providing better preventative maintenance, response times, and familiarity with district equipment.

Q: Hello, Dr. Smith! Welcome to the BSD and thanks for serving our community! My oldest child began school as a first-grader at Bethany Elementary in 2006, and we’re about to graduate our fifth and final child from Westview High School next June! In our twenty years of having students in the BSD, I’ve been saddened to see both the academic rigor and the behavioral expectations lower significantly in our schools. It has become such a concern to me that as my oldest child is now married and will soon be starting a family, I’m hesitant to encourage him to raise his family in the BSD boundaries. Do you have any plans to address the decline in academic rigor and behavioral expectations in the district? 

Q: Why my kid come home and ask me mummy am i not a good kid? I believe i am raising them right what should i do that it don't affect my kid? she is just 6 my Values respect ,kind, responsible , forgive and forget.these basic things i teach then since they start to walk. What i am doing wrong please guide me.

Q: What made you want to come to the Beaverton district? The students? The teachers? Everything? Thank you, good day!

Q: Hello Dr. Smith. I am hearing and seeing a lot of concern regarding tech in our schools. Does this also include tech on our school buses? I have privacy and safety concerns regarding cellphones on bus rides. How are students privacy and right to choose to be recorded being implemented on our buses?

Q: Every year more students want to attend the options schools than there are spots. How can we increase the size of the option schools to allow any student to attend who wants to? As a correlate, in general the elementary and middle schools in the district are well-regarded and assessed to deliver a good education, but the same is not true of the non-option high schools. How can we improve the quality of the education delivered at the high school level?