Jim Davison acknowledged by WSSRA

DAYTON—The Dayton School Board met at 6 p.m. on August 16, 2023, in the High School library. School Board members present were Chair Jeffrey McCowen and Grant Griffen. Superintendent Rich Stewart was also present. Zac Fabian and Aneesha Dieu used Zoom to establish a quorum. One seat on the board remains vacant.

The board approved the consent agenda, which included approval of prior minutes, bills, and payroll, hiring Kerry Johnson as a Title 1 Paraprofessional, and accepting the resignation of Amber McDonald as a Title 1 Paraprofessional. Included in the consent agenda was the acceptance of two donations, $1,000 from Portland General Electric for student programs and a ‘64 Case tractor to the Vocational Agriculture Department from Brian Johnson.

Action item 6.1, scheduling an early release day, was removed from the agenda and replaced with item 6.2, which was the proposal to approve a new science curriculum for the Middle School. Clint Reser, a middle school science teacher, followed up on the proposed Open SciEd curriculum he presented a few months ago. He suggested using the curriculum in sixth grade this school year, expanding it to seventh and eighth grades afterward.

The district welcomed public and parent review until August 16, providing a hardcopy and online link to the Open SciEd program. The curriculum focuses on hands-on, observational learning rather than lectures and book learning. The new curriculum could be expanded to high school later. The board approved adopting the Open SciEd curriculum for middle school by a vote of 3-0.

Dayton Schools begins on August 29, 2023.