Superintendent Newsletter - June

As we welcome June and the close of another school year, we have an opportunity to celebrate our successes while also looking ahead to the future and how we will continue to grow together. This year has been a time of change across many of our school buildings and throughout the district. Through these changes, our students, staff, and families have demonstrated resilience, commitment, and a shared dedication to providing the best possible educational experience for every child.

As we reflect on the year, each of our schools has something positive to celebrate. Whether through academic achievement, student growth, extracurricular accomplishments, or strengthened school communities, there is much to be proud of across the Coos Bay School District.

While we celebrate these accomplishments, we also recognize that important work lies ahead. Throughout the summer, our teams will continue planning and preparing for the arrival of staff in August and students in September. We remain committed to building on our successes and creating even greater opportunities for learning and growth in the year to come.

As summer begins, I encourage everyone to take time to reflect on the past year, refresh and recharge, and prepare for whatever the next step in your journey may be. Thank you for your partnership, support, and dedication to our students. I wish you a safe, enjoyable, and restorative summer.

Gary Roberts

Superintendent

Coos Bay Public Schools

To our esteemed retirees:

As the Board of Directors, we want to express our profound gratitude for the immense dedication, heart, and lifetime of service you have given to our students, families, and schools. While you each walked unique paths, your collective impact has shaped the very fabric of our community.

As you step into this next chapter, we honor each of you and the distinct legacy you leave behind.

You have kept our buildings safe, filled our libraries and classrooms with inspiration, and spoken up for students who needed an advocate. Thank you for the long hours, the patience, and the care you poured into the Coos Bay School District. We wish you lifetimes of health, travel, relaxation, and beautiful new adventures.

Student attendance remains one of the strongest predictors of academic success, including reading achievement and high school graduation rates. While attendance in Coos Bay School District has improved over the past year, we continue to have one of the lowest attendance rates in Oregon. Improving attendance during the 2026-27 school year will be critical to maximizing student growth and achievement. Every day matters, and we look forward to partnering with families to ensure students are present, engaged, and ready to learn.

To continue supporting student growth and achievement, Coos Bay School District will add instructional time for K-6 students beginning in the 2026-27 school year. The K-6 school day will be extended by approximately 15 minutes Monday through Thursday and by one hour on Fridays.

This adjustment allows us to provide additional time for reading, writing, and mathematics while better aligning our instructional schedule with past years and supporting the continued academic progress of our students.

Research conducted by ECOnorthwest indicates that increasing instructional time can improve student learning outcomes by an average of 8% in a single year and by 20% over a student's K-8 educational experience. When improved attendance is combined with increased instructional time, the projected gains become even more significant, 21% in a single year and as much as 54% over nine years. By improving attendance and maximizing instructional time, we can provide students with the educational opportunities and outcomes they deserve.

This fall, the district will begin developing a comprehensive five-year strategic plan designed to guide our work and priorities for years to come. The planning process will focus on four key areas: improving student outcomes, strengthening student and family engagement, supporting staff recruitment, retention, and development, and maximizing community partnerships and involvement.

To support this effort, Coos Bay School District will partner with Studer Education, an organization that has helped school districts throughout Oregon and across the nation achieve meaningful improvement. Through this collaboration, we will build upon our recent successes while establishing a clear vision, focused goals, and a roadmap for continued growth and excellence.

The 2026-27 school year will bring continued focus on improving teaching and learning to maximize student success. At the K-6 level, our work through Oregon Response to Instruction and Intervention (ORTIi) will continue to emphasize student engagement, meaningful classroom discussions, and increased opportunities for students to actively participate in their learning.

At the secondary level, our ongoing implementation of AVID will strengthen our focus on the WICOR framework (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading), providing students with the skills necessary for success in school and beyond. We will also continue exploring opportunities to expand intervention and enrichment programs across the district to better meet the needs of all learners.

Additionally, our Teacher Evaluation Committee has spent the past year refining our evaluation system to place greater emphasis on effective daily instruction, professional growth, and continuous improvement. District and school-level data continue to demonstrate significant academic gains, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead as we build on this momentum.