Oregon Rising effort aims to ‘dream the future’ of schools

Parents, students and teachers came together Thursday evening to share their thoughts and ideas on what they want for the future of Oregon’s school system. Summit High School in Bend hosted the statewide public outreach campaign Oregon Rising.

“Tonight, it’s all about dreaming, and what do we want our K-12 system to be like for our public students?” asked Jay Mathisen, deputy superintendent for Bend-La Pine Schools.

Attendees answered this question.

“Embracing diversity and understanding that the more we learn about the differences amongst each other, we’ll realize that we’re really not all that different,” said Oscar Gonzalez.

“More mentors, more individualized learning for each student, getting kids out into the community,” said Summit High teacher Travis Overley.

The responses varied, but the goals are the same — improving Oregon’s educational system.

“If you look at the statistics, you know, 38th in terms of overall performance, 39th in terms of funding, how we fund our schools. And I think our students deserve a lot better, and we can do a lot better,” Overley said.

Almost 200 schools statewide are hosting similar events. The campaign is hoping to collect surveys from at least 10,000 Oregonians.

Oregon Rising officials say this is the first phase, and the focus right now isn’t on funding. It’s about starting conversations.

To take the survey or find more information on the campaign, head to www.oregon-rising.org.