This morning Superintendent Castillo issued a statement to the media regarding safety at OSD. The statement was made in response to a public records request regarding behavioral incidents at OSD dating back as far as pre-1999. The reporter from the Statesman Journal has given me the courtesy of responding to questions related to the records, and she will be offering her report in the next day or two. Newspaper stories aside, I would like to respond to some of the comments in the statement.

The superintendent said, in part, there is a need to “take a more systematic and proactive approach to guarantee the proper education and safety of our students.” To that end, the superintendent identified 5 actions ODE is taking. On the face of it, these would seem to be appropriate actions; however, the implication that these are new ideas or new actions is disingenuous.

“Conducting all-staff trainings re: policies and expectations, including positive behavior support training.” Every year on the first day of in-service in August, all staff attend a required
Mandatory Reporter training conducted by trainers from Child Protective Services, Department of Human Services. Anyone who is absent from the meeting is required to view the training video. A record is kept each year verifying that all staff received training. In addition, supervisors review staff handbooks, child abuse reporting protocols and other safety procedures during their meetings in August, and again throughout the year as issues may arise or the need is identified.

“Working with Attorney General and with the Secretary of State’s Audits division to undertake a performance audit and a review of school policies and procedures.” During the summer of 2006, the Oregon School for the Blind and the Oregon School for the Deaf entered into a contract with the Oregon School Boards Association to review all policies and procedures for both schools for completeness and legal sufficiency. This work is already well underway and should be completed within the next several months.

“Hiring a management consultant to report on leadership/management needs of the schools with a focus on recommendations for staff training.” In December 2004, a retired state administrator was put under contract by ODE. I was told his focus was going to be to review the management and organization of each of ODE’s departments, and that he was beginning with OSD. I worked with this individual in late December, January and February. He interviewed me and laid out a plan for interviewing leadership and others at OSD, though only one or two of the interviews actually occurrred before he decided to put OSD’s review on hold and move to the School for the Blind. In February 2005, a retired school administrator was put under contract by ODE to review my leadership and management skills, and to assess school
climate. Again, I worked closely with this person and asked staff to make themselves available to him. Around May 2005, I was told by ODE officials that a “safety audit” was going to be conducted, and that the “leadership work” was going to be put on hold until the safety audit was completed. For a third time I fully cooperated with the investigator, provided whatever documents she requested, and asked staff to talk openly and candidly with her about any issues she wanted to address. I viewed this as an opportunity to get feedback on areas
we could improve on, and I presented it in a positive light to the OSD community. It has always been my intention to communicate to staff that feedback is desireable and improvement should be continuous. The safety audit investigator completed her work at OSD in June 2005. In
August 2005, I requested information on the result of the report so I could address any identified problem areas as part of inservice when staff returned at the end of August. I received no response to my request.

From December 2004 through June or July 2005, these three contracts/studies were initiated and paid for by taxpayer money. None of the three studies was completed, or at least none yielded a report that was given to me to help me improve my performance or improve the safety of the school. One has to question the use of state resources for three efforts that resulted in no outcomes, and in hiring another management consultant to do fundamentally the same work that was already done.

“Appropriate curriculum that can be used to educate students and parents about personal safety and disclosure.” A review of the safety protocols listed on the OSD website, a review of the information made available in the CEASD accreditation report, or a call to school officials would provide considerable information about safety curriculum and activities currently in place at OSD. These include but are not limited to: No, Go, Tell (elementary); Second Steps (elementary/middle school); Circles (multiply disabled); DARE (middle school); individual counseling; harrassment education; small groups. I hope ODE will work with the counseling and guidance department and the supervising teachers to understand what is currently in place before changing to a new curriculum.

OSD has been proactive about reviewing and improving its safety protocols and counseling supports for many years. OSD was selected this year to participate in Cohort C of the Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Curriculum project through ODE. One of the reasons OSD was selected was because of the strength of the counseling program and staff and all the processes already in place. The steering committee participating in the Cohort C work is representative of all departments on campus, illustrating the school-wide focus on supporting students in this area.

My purpose in writing this is to validate the significant attention and work the staff at OSD has done over the past 7-8 years in the area of safety. It would be a disservice to the conscientious staff in all departments on campus to give the impression that safety has not been of the highest priority, or that it would require outside intervention to move safety to the top of staff’s attention. It is my belief that you would not find a group of staff more knowledge about their responsibilities or more attentive to student behavior than what
exists at OSD.

Jane Mulholland