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Administrators delivered a presentation about state requirements during Monday’s board meeting, showing that the district is mainly in compliance, with more improvements in progress. The state ruled in May that Springfield had not been providing teachers with elementary science and social studies instructional materials that were up to state standards.
School board members and administrators grappled with a familiar subject at the Monday, Nov. 9, Springfield Board of Education meeting: how the school district is ensuring students are learning all subjects, including social studies and science.
At the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Brian Megert presented the district’s annual self-assessment on the state requirements that all Oregon school districts must follow, known as Division 22 standards.
The presentation led to a conversation about a former Springfield teacher’s 2024 complaint that the district was not providing adequate elementary science and social studies materials to meet state standards. In May, the state ruled that the complaint was valid and that the district was not in compliance.
Though the district is now on track to fix the issue by next fall, board members asked how leaders can ensure students are being taught all subjects to the standard that the state requires, knowing that the state tests only math, English language arts and a few grades of science.
Board Chair Jonathan Light said board members’ questions came from concerns from parents and students.
“We know that they’re being taught all eight subjects at some point,” Light said. “The point, I think, is more: ‘Is it adequate?’”
Megert said that administrators use school schedules (which outline when and how long students are taught each subject), quality curriculum, trust in teachers and auditing of instruction to make assumptions that standards are being met.
Megert said he will be looking into all building schedules to ensure subjects are being taught adequately, but he said he has to balance accountability measures with the need for teachers and principals to have autonomy.
Board Vice Chair Amber Langworthy, who has a child attending a Springfield elementary school, asked Megert if the district feels urgency in adopting elementary social studies materials with the knowledge that their current materials are not up to standard.
Langworthy said she felt the length of the curriculum adoption processes for science and social studies has been painful.
“It’s slow,” she said. “Everything has been moving at a snail’s pace.”
Megert said the district does feel the gravity of not having up-to-date social studies curriculum, along with the necessity of meeting all of the other state requirements and the governor’s prioritization of reading instruction.
“In every single classroom that I have been in, I am feeling a sense of urgency to make sure that our kids are prepared for that next day, the next year, the next level and beyond,” he said.
Interim Superintendent Shawn Stover added while there is urgency, curriculum adoption processes cannot be rushed — teachers must be involved and materials tested on students. Stover also acknowledged concerns about current social studies and science instruction, and said he will be looking for it as he continues to visit schools, mentioning science instruction at Maple Elementary being a highlight of his visit.
“The attention that’s been brought forward is being listened to,” he said.
Past failures to meet state standards
May’s state ruling that Springfield Public Schools was not providing elementary teachers materials to teach science and social studies that are aligned with state standards came after former Springfield teacher Mikell Harshbarger filed a complaint with the state in 2024.
The district has since launched its new standards-aligned elementary science curriculum, and will soon adopt a new elementary social studies curriculum to begin using next fall, both of which will put the district back into compliance.
While district administrators have denied that elementary school students missed out on science and social studies instruction during the years the district’s instructional materials were out of compliance, they have also said they did not have clear expectations set out for teachers on how to use the online resources available to them, and that the district did not provide the materials for hands-on science activities until last year.
The state took two years to investigate the teacher’s complaint, and last school year, community members started a public campaign and petition around it, amassing more than 800 signatures calling for the district to address it. The district repeatedly refused to comment on the matter, due to the state investigation, and administrators complained about board interference when Light reached out to the state about the status of the investigation.
Community members have continued to raise the subject this school year during public comment, and board members made elementary curriculum transparency one of their board goals of the year.
