Students went back to school this week across the state. KLCC caught up with Eugene 4J School District's Superintendent.
Dr. Gustavo Balderas is in his second year of service as superintendent. During his first year a bond measure allowed the district to build new schools and begin construction on a couple others. This week students are in new buildings at Howard Elementary and Roosevelt middle school.
And this year, for the first time since 2008-09 students will have a school year free of unpaid days off for staff, known as furlough days.
Balderas: "When you have a furlough day it really impacts the family. Someone has to stay home, you need to find babysitting for kids. It impacts the community, and it impacts staff, and it impacts the paycheck. But more importantly it impacts students."
He says for 6th graders this is the first time they will experience a full school year.
When Balderas welcomed staff at an event last week, he called the presidential election a "contentious storm brewing." He says he wanted to emphasize that bullying and discrimination are not tolerated in Eugene schools.
Balderas: "We get together as Lane County superintendents monthly, and we saw in the region here, especially Bethel and Springfield and here at 4J, some tension rising in the student body, in particular at the high school level."
He says campaign rhetoric may impact kids and families.
Scores released Thursday show Eugene students performing slightly better on the state mandated Smarter Balanced test in 2015-16 than the previous year. Balderas calls it an "autopsy" report—an after-the-fact indicator.
Balderas: "It's good to see how we're doing compared to others, but really the day to day instruction that happens, that's what's most important."
The district continues to combat large class sizes, and Balderas plans to hire more teachers and a counselor for each elementary school.
Balderas: "We've allocated $2.5 million in general fund dollars for additional staffing."
While hiring teachers and eliminating furlough days are exciting developments for this year, Balderas says he's also looking to the future.
Balderas: "We're in the process of completing a strategic plan that's going to guide for the next 5 years. It needs to be board adopted; it will be presented to the board this fall. It includes more articulation of programs, for example, career technical education, looking to expand those programs. Looking at our alternative schools, and also articulating our dual immersion programming, which we have four dual immersion schools."
Balderas says an area he really wants to improve is partnerships with community businesses.
Balderas: "With our career technical education, I think that's something that we could do better here in 4J is connecting with local workforce to make sure what we're doing in schools really impacts the local workforce."
4J superintendent Gustavo Balderas says his overall goal is keeping the focus on kids and supporting teachers.
Follow Kyra Buckley on Twitter @krbuckle.
