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(Above) Marshell Hooker, Malheur ESD director of early learning, gives a book to a young student during the annual stORytime event at Four Rivers Cultural Center recently.
Once Upon a Time: Malheur ESD's Story Time Event Captivates Young Minds and Hearts
ONTARIO – Ice cream, books, school mascots, volunteer readers and plenty of swag greeted more than 300 kindergarten students at Four Rivers Cultural Center last week as part of the annual stORytime event.
The event, now in its 12th year, is spearheaded by Malheur Education Service District’s Early Learning Hub but also receives sponsorship help from an array of local firms and organizations.
The stORytime program aims to introduce Malheur County kindergarteners to literacy as part of a wider effort to get youth “to learn to read, go to school and graduate,” said Tonya Faughn, a Malheur ESD, Early Learning Hub program and finance specialist.
“Kids need books, and they need to read,” said Faughn.
When the kindergarten students arrive at FRCC they are funneled to a specific classroom where volunteers are ready to read a book to them.
When the volunteers finish reading a specific book, they ask the students questions and talk about literacy. From there, students move into the Meyer McClean Performing Arts Theater where they enjoy music and entertainment – including school mascots – and a special guest reader. This year the guest reader was former educator Connie Cabrera.
The visit to the theater is special, said Rod Belknap, Malheur ESD Early Learning Hub assistant director.
“I think that’s my favorite part. For most of those kids that is probably the first time they have been in an auditorium,” he said.
The day radiates a “lot of firsts” for the students, said Belknap.
“It is the first time on a bus, the first time in the cultural center, first time in an auditorium,” he said.
After the auditorium session, students move to the swag table where each youth receives a book and a Storytime T-shirt and then they stroll outside for lunch.
After lunch, each kindergartener receives ice cream donated by Rogue Credit Union.
Each kindergarten class also secures the opportunity to get a class picture snapped.
Marshell Hooker, Malheur ESD Early Learning Hub director, said the event “sets the tone for their school year.”
“I like that it puts literacy in the forefront for everyone,” said Hooker.
The event can trace its roots to 2015 as part of a now-expired state education program. Back then, the local effort was led by Sherri Hironaka, a former Ontario School District administrator – who still volunteers at the event - and Kelly Poe, the former director of the early learning hub for the Malheur ESD. Funding for the program eventually evaporated but the stORytime event proved so successful it continued, fueled by donations, volunteer help and sponsorship from local businesses.
“Now it is part of our community structure,” said Hooker.
The event proved to be popular for kindergarteners. Sra. Ariana Gastelum Nuñez, a kindergarten teacher from Four Rivers Community School, said her students found stORytime to be “very engaging.”
“They were excited to practice listening in both languages and actively responded, participated, and asked questions that connected the stories to their everyday lives,” said Nuñez.
Nuñez said the atmosphere of stORytime was “very positive and productive.”
“As a teacher, it was rewarding to see how engaged they were in learning about books – and how excited they felt to take one home as a bonus,” said Nuñez.
Belknap said the program would not be possible without help from the community. He said Rogue Credit Union should get a “special shout out” for donating $5,000 to cover the cost of books and T-shirts. Other sponsors include Big Sky Sportswear, FRCC, Four Rivers Community School and Friends of the Ontario Library.
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Dedicated ESD team strives to empower students to change narrative on youth mental health
VALE – The Malheur Education Service District team charged with saving lives works in a non-descript room down a long hall an outfielder’s throw from the main entrance in Vale.
No grand signage marks the room where six ESD employees – members of the Student Wellness Team - strive to educate teachers, administrators and students throughout Malheur County about suicide prevention.
The goal of the team is to keep students alive and tutor and train those who work with youth every day.
“I like that I can help people get trained so they can recognize students who are struggling,” said team member Kevin Purnell.
Purnell is a school safety and prevention specialist who works with four other individuals including Jenn Goldthorpe, Dannette Hackman, Kirsten Ried and Miraiha Mendoza. The team is led by Susuki, the Malheur Education Service District’s Student Wellness coordinator. Goldthorpe, Hackman, Ried and Mendoza are school counselors. Goldthorpe focuses on Adrian and Vale School Districts while Hackman works with Harper, Juntura and Annex schools. Mendoza supports the Nyssa School District and Ried is the counselor for Huntington and Jordan Valley.
The mission of the team is to enhance student wellness. Student wellness is a term that encapsulates an array of subjects, including suicide prevention, behavioral safety assessments, bullying, cyber-bullying and cyber awareness. Yet each of those subjects, as varied as they appear, can all tie into suicide prevention.
The group also collaborates with local police and various other agencies such as Lifeways, the Malheur County Juvenile Department and the Oregon Department of Health Services to educate students and staff regarding suicide prevention.
Purnell – who worked as an educator and administrator for more than 30 years – said young students today face a bewildering assortment of challenges.
“Quite frankly, it is a tougher world out there now. There is so much coming at them, social media, cell phones,” he said.
Purnell said a variety of factors can play a role suicide ideation.
“I don’t know if you can narrow it down to just a few things. It could be all sorts of things we just don’t know about. That’s why we need to pay attention to kids. You know, know your kids,” he said.
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Nationally the frequency of suicide among youth during the past decade remained high, though it’s declined since the end of the Covid pandemic.
The most recent CDC data showed a decline in suicide rates among youth in 2022. The overall suicide rate among youth aged 10 to 14 dropped 18% compared to 2021. For those aged 15 to 25 the rate plunged 9% compared to 2021.
Those short-term statistics for people like Purnell are good news but the overall trend for youth suicide remained high for more than 10 years. Statistics recorded between 2007 and 2021 show the suicide rate in ages 10 to 24 climbed by 62%.
In Oregon every school must retain a suicide prevention plan which is a key foundational element to preventing deaths, said Goldthorpe.
“We believe a comprehensive plan is essential so that every person in the district from administrators, teachers, and support staff know their role if they see a suicidal attempt, gesture, or in ideation,” said Goldthorpe.
Goldthorpe said another key goal to prevent youth suicide is to approach the challenge in an initiative-taking way.
“We want to give them (youth) the tools they need by reducing the stigma around asking for help, teaching skills they need to increase their resiliency, and to create supportive environments where they feel like they belong and can succeed,” said Goldthorpe.
She said the effort includes all district staff.
“At Adrian School District’s most recent suicide prevention training that their school counselor and I gave, bus drivers, kitchen staff, janitorial staff, instructional assistants, administrators and teachers were all given our suicide prevention procedure,” said Goldthorpe.
She said the training included methods to identify “warning signs, identifying trained staff to support their students and teaching the procedures they follow.”
Another challenge is erasing shame among youth tied to an effort to seek mental health assistance.
“There is often a stigma regarding help seeking, especially around the topic of suicide. Students may feel isolation or shame regarding their feelings. This may draw them into more isolation and help seeking in unhealthy ways - via risky behavior, unhealthy online support, or negative peer support,” she said.
That’s why, she said, the existence of a viable suicide prevention plan is crucial.
“When we have a comprehensive plan, we can provide a variety of healthy supports at different levels to address a variety of warning signs that we may see. This ensures that everyone in our school can provide a tiered approach to support suicidal risk and create a culture of care and belonging,” said Goldthorpe.
Risk factors, said Goldthorpe, can include a wide array of issues such as prolonged stress, stressful life events, or rejection.
“We like to combine teaching student’s healthy skills they need to build their resiliency with creating healthy activities that help them to feel a sense of purpose and belonging,” said Goldthorpe.
Susuki said the mission of her team isn’t “just about fixing problems.”
“It is about building strong relationships and providing professional development to make sure every student feels safe, supported and on track to graduate,” she said.
The members of the Student Wellness Team take their job seriously and their business is saving lives.
Youth from around the county participated in a Skill Up For Life session in Ontario last summer. The Skill Up For Life program is designed to help students learn skills to become part of the local and regional workforce. The program is spearheaded by the Oregon State University Extension Office in Ontario.
New program aims to equip youth for success in the workforce
NYSSA – A program to teach youth key skills to help navigate the local and regional workforce is slated this month at the Nyssa Christian Fellowship Church.
The three-day, hands-on Skill Up For Life training sessions will be held from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 10, Oct. 17 and Oct. 24, at the Nyssa church.
The program is aimed at youth between 7th and 12th grade and is designed to allow students to earn professional employment certificates in such areas as suicide prevention and CPR.
The program is spearheaded by the Oregon State University Extension Office in Ontario with support from a variety of local agencies including the Malheur Education Service District.
“It is real world experience. It is not an ongoing 12-week course but a very intensive action-oriented approach,” said Barbara Brody, associate professor of practice, family & community health for the OSU Extension Office.
Along with certificates in suicide prevention and CPR, students can secure professional endorsements in childcare – dubbed Safe Sitter – and First Aid. Participants can also secure a valid food handler’s card.
Each of the certificates offered fits a growing need in Malheur County, said Brody.
“Malheur County is a childcare desert. The certification to provide childcare is a workforce development need in the community. It fills that gap,” said Brody.
Brody said a CPR/first aide certificate is important because of its flexibility.
“They can get certified and then go to work at a pool or in other summer programs or childcare places,” she said.
A food handler’s card is also a key tool for young people who seek to enter the workforce, said Brody.
The Skill Up For Life program can trace its roots to a broader, community-wide effort devised to tackle illegal narcotic use in Malheur County. The federal funding for the effort derives from a grant through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. Malheur County is part of the Oregon-Idaho HIDTA. A HIDTA is an area – usually a geographic location – where large amounts of illegal drugs are transported or distributed.
The program is part of an “upstream prevention” strategy against drug abuse, said Nickie Shira, Malheur ESD’s director of Frontier STEM Hub.
The initial stages of the program included a community conversation held in 2023 to address substance abuse and behavioral health prevention among youth, said Brody.
“Adults came forward and said we need a youth engagement program,” said Brody.
The community sessions triggered a report that helped the extension office develop a plan to conduct a listening session of more than 20 youth from across the county last spring. The listening session aimed to find out what young people wanted in terms of recreation, employment and other tools to become self-sufficient.
“We heard that kids want safe places for themselves and their siblings and places where they can be active and have opportunities to engage with their peers and learn,” said Shira.
Shira said the listening session also showed youth “wanted opportunities to develop skills to help them move into the workforce.”
The first Skill Up For Life session was held in Ontario during the past summer, said Brody. Brody, along OSU Extension family and community health intern Yoland Diaz, are also building a broader curriculum for the Skill Up For Life program that can be easily exported to school districts.
“This is really taking the voice of youth into workforce development,” said Brody.
Workforce development among youth is a crucial, but often unrecognized, element to curbing illegal narcotic use.
According to a May 2020 American Public Health Association report, job skills training “can be an important service component for reducing substance misuse and improving employment outcomes among youths with economic disadvantages and employment barriers.”
The Skill Up For Life program is a good one, said Travis Johnson, Malheur County sheriff.
“Anytime you are engaging youth and working with them and building relationships it potentially has a big impact in a lot of ways, including lowering (illegal) drug use,” he said.
For more information, contact Brody at 541-881-1419.
Nyssa School District Invests $2.3 Million in major facility upgrades to benefit students and community
NYSSA, OR – The Nyssa School District is celebrating a historic investment of more than $2.3 million into its facilities, strengthening both student opportunities and community pride.
The improvements include a brand-new turf field at Bulldog Stadium and a dual-use community facility featuring updated playground equipment, an outdoor volleyball court, picnic tables, new trees, and energy-efficient lighting.
“This new facility is extremely valuable not only for people who want to walk, but it is also more family-oriented,” said Superintendent Ryan Hawkins. “It provides a safer and better environment for our students and our community.”
The $700,000 community facility was designed with input from elementary students, who asked for features that make play areas inclusive and fun for all.
“Our kids wanted things like ADA-compliant equipment so every child could enjoy the playground,” Hawkins said. “They wanted lots of slides—and now we have 12 brand new ones. It’s so great. The kids are loving it.”
In addition to the playground and family spaces, the district is also upgrading the basketball court in front of the district office, ensuring that the improvements reach across all age groups.
The largest investment was the $1.6 million installation of a new turf field at Bulldog Stadium. This upgrade not only provides a durable, high-quality surface for Nyssa athletes but also makes the stadium a regional resource for playoff games and tournaments.
“Our old field limited how much we could use it,” said Hawkins. “Now, with turf, more of our sports programs can practice and compete on it, and we can host more events for the entire county.”
Because a turf field is a long-term investment that, if properly maintained, can last 10 to 20 years, the district and school board are considering how to balance public access with protecting the surface.
“We want this field to be part of our district for generations,” Hawkins said. “That means making sure it stays in excellent condition while still allowing the community to benefit.”
This investment demonstrates the district’s commitment to creating safe, modern, and welcoming spaces for students and families, while also reinforcing schools as the heart of the Nyssa community.
Jennifer Goldthorpe, education service district counselor, talks about the importance of the Malheur Education Service District’s School Safety Refresher Day with Jenn Susuki, education service district Student Wellness coordinator, Tuesday, July 29, at Treasure Valley Community College.
Refresher day key for educators
ONTARIO – More than 40 area educators and administrators were on hand last week for the Malheur Education Service District’s School Safety Refresher Day at Treasure Valley Community College.
The safety seminar covered a wide range of topics including gang awareness in schools, suicide prevention, and school safety plans along with rules regarding child abuse reporting.
The seminar was not billed as an in-depth exploration of each issue but instead it was a way to reiterate best practices for educators, said Mark Redmond, Malheur Education Service District superintendent.
“We need to be reminded each year to put these issues to the forefront of people’s minds,” said Redmond.
Representatives from the Ontario Police Department, the Oregon Department of Education, Dave Goldthorpe, Malheur County district attorney and risk management consultant Meg Howk delivered presentations regarding different subjects.
Education service district representatives also gave presentations during the all-day seminar.
Nole Kennedy, Oregon Department of Education Wellness and Safety specialist, talked about suicide prevention, intervention and postvention methods. Kennedy pointed out that while the rate of youth suicide among white students has decreased in Oregon, the number of youths of other ethnicities taking their own lives remained high.
One key to suicide prevention, he said, was to promote a sense of belonging among students.
“Building belonging is suicide prevention and is the No. 1 suicide prevention. Connection is prevention,” he said.
Jennifer Goldthorpe, education service district counselor, talked about reentry and safety plans for students and emphasized in such instances “students come first.”
Goldthrope said the seminar was a useful review for educators across the region.
“I think it’s helpful because our administrators have a lot on their plates and having a reminder when we have this day helps them organize their thoughts and be better prepared,” said Goldthorpe.
Redmond talked to the group about the county’s truancy court while Dave Goldthrope briefly chatted with attendees regarding mandatory reporting and sexual abuse. His advice was succinct.
“When in doubt, make the report,” he told the group.
Jenn Susuki, education service district Student Wellness coordinator, said the key takeaway of the seminar for taxpayers is educators are focused on ensuring students remain safe.
“We are striving to make sure kids feel they belong and that school climates stay positive. Our job is to connect students to healthy things. So, parents and schools really have the same goals,” she said.
Cooperation is critical, she said.
“Community partners, parents and schools all have to work together,” said Susuki.
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VALE - A new state grant will help the Malheur Education Service District bolster efforts to preserve its workforce.
Retention of employees is critical for any organization and the $40,000 state grant from the Oregon Well-Being Trust allows the service district to create events, projects, and classes to enhance the mental and physical well-being of employees.
The list of valuable tools to boost employee retention runs the gamut from physical fitness classes to sprucing up existing spaces – such as a break room – where “staff can feel more relaxed,” said Kristia Simmons, Malheur Education Service District Human Resources manager.
Simmons spearheaded the effort to obtain the state grant.
“We are trying to focus on how we can make well-being a priority,” said Simmons.
The welfare of employees is a crucial part of building a strong workforce, said Mark Redmond, Malheur Education Service District administrator.
“It is huge. Anybody in an organization that can find good quality people you want to keep them,” he said.
Retaining employees typically reduces the costs of recruiting and training while setting a foundation for better productivity. A low turnover rate also means a key intangible – institutional knowledge – is preserved.
“By retaining staff, the return on our investment is well worth it,” said Redmond.
Redmond said creating a culture of trust is another important element to retention. Employees typically are inclined to remain within an organization where they have confidence in their leaders and colleagues, he said.
Redmond said the wellness grant will enhance an already robust culture within the education service district.
He pointed to recent statistics showing employee turnover at the education service district was zero.
“We had 96 employees last year and ended with the same 96. That’s damn good. We set a goal of 90% (retention) and hit 100%,” he said.
Redmond said he believes the 100% retention rate was tied to initiatives such as the wellness grant.
“That helps create the right kind of culture and at the end of the day it’s all about culture. People also want to work with high-quality, hard-working people,” he said.
Simmons said the elements packed into the wellness program are “pretty important to our staff.”
“We are able to give them a little bit of well-being wellness throughout the year. I've worked in other places where staff wellness isn’t as important,” said Simmons said.
Simmons said a good mental and physical health program pays dividends in terms of boosting morale.
“There is a huge, positive difference in the camaraderie around the office and how people perform. If you take care of employees then our employees take care of students,” said Simmons.
June 2025, Frontier STEM Hub
April 2025, Malheur ESD DC/New York Trip
March 2025, Four Rivers Community School
February 2025, Harper Charter School
January 2025, Malheur ESD STEM Program
December 2024, Malheur ESD Youth Transition Program
November 2024, Arock School District
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