Superintendent's Office

Dear PTS families,

Happy Friday! What a week! Thank you all for your patience, perseverance and resilience as we continue to navigate winter weather closures and delays! Between the assessments, family engagement events and a very full athletics/activities schedule, it has already been a whirlwind winter, and we still have a month to go before spring break.

As you may know, many of our students have been busy participating in midyear assessments, and the results from those tests have me feeling very optimistic. Math and reading scores are not the only numbers by which our schools are judged, but the growth that our students have shown from the fall to the winter confirms that our methods are working and working well. Our third graders, for instance, have experienced a 19% growth since the fall iReady assessments, marking the third year in a row that our third-grade class saw at least 17% growth from fall to winter. 

If you zoom in on some of the numbers, there is a LOT to celebrate. Sixty-six percent of Orchard Hill’s third graders are at or above grade level in reading, and 52% of our third graders have hit that mark districtwide. No doubt, the future in PTS is bright! Our math assessments were similarly impressive, with our third graders improving by 20%, our fourth graders by 14% and our fifth graders by 12%. Though our middle schoolers did not improve quite as dramatically, they are also trending up, with our sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classes all making strides ranging from four points (eighth grade) to 15 points (seventh). 

Of course, there is still a lot of hard work to be done, but I thank you for being great partners in education and our staff for being the passionate, dedicated, and creative educators (aka unsung heroes) who continue to orchestrate the inspiring PTS comeback story. It’s exciting to come to work every day knowing that our students are being so well cared for by this amazing team!

Beyond winter testing, our schools have been absolutely hopping. At Phoenix High, the first-year bowling team is headed to state, as is junior swimmer Quin Davis, who has the top qualifying time in two events and will try to become the Pirates’ first boys state champion since 2005 this weekend in Beaverton! Good luck, Quin (update: Quin advanced to the finals in both of his events earlier today). At PES, the school’s Day of Service project was even better than expected, with students volunteering and pitching in to help various local organizations, including our own Early Learning Center, the fire department and the animal shelter, just to name a few. 

Speaking of community service, our district is taking on two Sparrows this winter, with PHS supporting Katy and TES raising money for Emiliano. Phoenix High’s leadership students are organizing a “Show Up for Katy” campaign that will include two great events – the Phoenix High’s Got Talent program on March 13 and the always fun – though not always competitive – Staff vs. Students Basketball Game showdown on March 17. Let’s show up for Katy, PTS! Additionally, both TES and PES have exciting mural projects in the works that will beautify those buildings, the Pollinator Project Rogue Valley led a fascinating flower project with our Phoenix-Talent Rising Academy students today at Orchard HIll, and 242 PHS students made the honor roll with a GPA of 3.5 or better (including 114 perfect 4.0 GPAs). And yes, we have baby goats.

Have a great weekend, everybody, and thank you for making PTS a community that always steps up to support its students, whether that means attending a Love of Learning event, running with students during the Mustang Mile or cheering your voice hoarse at a basketball game.

Brent Barry, 

PTS Superintendent