Good day and hello honorable Springfield School District Board Members,

We write to you with a request that you and the other members of the school board perform your duties of providing oversight of district policies and guaranteeing transparency for all stakeholders in our school community by directing district leadership to amend its Division 22 Assurances Report for 2023-24 to reflect the fact that the district was out of compliance in the area of District Curriculum 581-022-2030.  

Please recall that the board was informed by a group of twenty-one teachers via email and by a written public comment in April, 2024 that the district was at that time out of compliance with ODE regulations with respect to science instruction.  

Under the Division 22 Assurances for District Curriculum 581-022-2030, it states:

 “Each school district shall provide a planned K–12 instructional program.  The planned K–12 instructional program shall include Common Curriculum Goals adopted by the State Board of Education to include:

Content Standards as defined in OAR 581-022-0102 (10) for the following:

Language Arts

Mathematics

Science

Social Science (including, history, geography, economics, and civics)

The Arts

World Languages

Health Education 

Physical Education…”

We believe that a common sense understanding of what constitutes a “planned K-12 instructional program” for a particular subject area should include the following:

1. An explanation of the “common curriculum goals”, i.e., specific grade level-aligned standards and student learning outcomes that were expected to be met.  

2. A description of how this program linked grade level-aligned standards and student learning outcomes at one grade level to the next grade level, as well as articulation for the entire district from kindergarten to the high school level.  In other words, there was a well-thought out plan that provided a throughline from kindergarten to twelfth grade for a child’s education in the subject area.

3. Evidence that the district adopted, purchased, and provided school staff with ODE-approved, grade level-aligned curriculum in order to implement its program.

4. Evidence that each school had sufficient instructional time allocated in its building schedule to make sure that the subject area instruction took place and student learning outcomes were assessed.

The district appears to be in compliance in the area of language arts instruction as it is clear that there is a “planned K-12 instructional program” in this subject area.  Should you ask, we are confident that someone in district leadership could quickly provide you with documentation for 2023-24 concerning language arts instruction at the elementary level detailing what the priority grade-level standards were, what student learning outcomes needed to be met, how the student learning outcomes at one grade level were tied to those at other grade levels, the name of the ODE-approved, grade level-aligned language arts curriculum that was adopted, purchased, and distributed to buildings, and copies of building schedules showing how many minutes were allotted to language arts instruction each week.  

We ask that you and the other board members request a report to be given to you within thirty days that provides specific information for 2023-24 regarding the “planned K-12 instructional program” in the areas of science, social studies, the arts, and health education.  If the district had such an instructional program for 2023-24 for these subject areas, it would take very little time or effort for someone at the leadership level to provide you with evidence of this.  

We assert that there was no such program for science, social studies, the arts, or health education that met all of the criteria above.  We report that for the 2023-24 school year:

1. There was no district-wide K-12 instructional program shared with school staff detailing instruction or assessment with respect to “common curriculum goals” for science, social studies, or art.   

2. There was no program articulated with teachers detailing how instruction in science, social studies or art were linked between grade levels, nor was there a plan shared that detailed a child’s educational throughline in these areas as they moved from kindergarten to twelfth grade.

3. There was no ODE-approved, grade-level standards aligned curriculum available for elementary teachers to use for science, social studies, or art instruction.  (Please keep in mind that the Wonders language arts curriculum for grades K-5 is not approved by ODE as a curriculum for science or social studies instruction, and most of the reading passages in Wonders are not aligned with grade-level standards for science or social studies.)

4. The time allocated at the elementary level for instruction in these areas was insufficient for providing necessary and required instruction and assessment.  In some buildings, zero minutes were allotted for art instruction, and a combined total of between 75 and 150 minutes were provided for teaching all three subjects of science, social studies, and health.  This means an elementary teacher might only be able to teach 15 to 30 minutes of science or social studies or health per week.  In contrast, most elementary students received between 550 and 700 minutes per week of language arts instruction.

At this time, these four items above are still currently true, meaning that the district continues to be out of compliance with ODE requirements for District Curriculum 581-022-2030.

In addition to amending the Division 22 Assurance Report for 2023-24, we request that you immediately call for a written report to be shared with all stakeholders detailing how the district will get in compliance with a “planned K-12 instructional program” for science, social studies, the arts, and health education for the years to come, especially with regard to grades K-5.  In particular, this report should describe how the district will get in compliance in the area of science for the 2025-26 school year.  According to ODE’s schedule for curriculum adoption, science curriculum adoption was supposed to happen in 2023 - 24, so we are already behind schedule. Please do not allow another year to pass with our district failing to meet the needs of its youngest students when it comes to instruction in science, social studies, the arts, and health. 

Sincerely, 

Concerned teachers of the Springfield Public Schools: 

Lenora Davis

Emily Miller

Anya Petroff-Howarth

John Lovdokken

Dante Fumagalli

Cliff Schutte

Terese Wagner

Lee Corette

Cheyenne Verano

Samuel Pabst

Ilsa Trumer

Meridien Howe

Andrew Davis

David Frost

Carrie Patterson

Kim Winkelman

Laura Farrelly

Cynthia Sleight

Aaron Mowery

Veronica Elsner

Haley Alexander

Shoshana Brice

Sierra Squires

Emma Mullen

Jill Smith

John Whisler

Clark Morberg

Nikki Danner

Trista Meduna

Jeffrey Perry

Scott Crowell

Christine Sales

Pascale Eugenio

Karen Blachly

Tinamarie Stanley

Leah Taylor

Lionel Clemons

Lelia Zsiga

Jessica Orsini

Jennifer Stern

Kyle Johnson

Jim Olsen

Kimberlee Montoya

Leah Price

Brenda Ogan

Franchesca Sandoval

Laura Nelson

Mark Bond

Caleb Kostechka

Sarah Bowman

Ryan Elliot

Adam Fine

Alex Watson

Erin Allman

Harmony Diaz

Hannah Arnold

Kate Aly-Brady

Allison Sharpe

Bryanna Jones

Brandon Ferguson

Kristin Woodford

Tracy Lindsey

Sonja Ljungdahl

Morgan Rees

Amy Techau

Michael White

Mariah Stevens

Tim Eastland

Scott Boyer

Miranda Wilborn

Mikell Harshbarger

Paul Keppo

Kathy Smith

James Down

Keaton Lovendahl