Central School District 13j

Unified team brings together students from different walks of life

Team to compete in first home game Thursday, March 6

INDEPENDENCE – In fourth period physical education, students teamed up to play basketball. As the game commenced, the camaraderie outweighed the competition. Players cheered for each other and encouraged each other. This is no ordinary team, it's Central High School's first Unified Basketball team.

Unified Sports puts students of different abilities on the same court. Athletes are students experiencing disabilities. Partners are students who are abled bodies. 

"It's been going really well," said Coach Lucas Wenberg. "Kids are really excited. It's helping them physically, mentally – they're always excited to go play and compete."

Read the full story here.

Come support the team

What: Home game for CHS Unified Basketball vs. Clatskanie

When: 3:45 p.m. on March 6

Where: Central High School Panther Pit

TMS students take recycling to the next level

While all Central schools recycle consistently, students want to learn how they could improve the program at Talmadge Middle School. To begin, students made a recyclables collection box in each PRIDE, or home room, class. They decorated it to fit the teacher. Abby, from Aaron Currier's eighth-grade leadership class, said she helped decorate her PRIDE teacher's box with a beach theme. 

"I had everyone put their name on a sea animal," Abby said. 

So far, students have collected 2,100 pounds of paper and recovered $55 from water bottles and cans. Read the full story here.

You Matter. You Being Here Matters.

Your student matters to us! We value their presence in school each day. Last week we shared information about the weekly attendance postcard that will be coming to you via text message by early March. We’d like to share a postcard sample with an explanation of each part.

As a reminder, we will send the postcard to you attached to a text message, coming from a phone number unique to your student. When you receive the first postcard message, please be sure to save the unique phone number in your phone contacts. You might consider naming the contact something like “Attendance for [Your Student’s Name].”

We are excited about this postcard’s potential for increased opportunities for us to work together to say to your student, You Matter. You Being Here Matters.

To the left is the sample postcard for a fictitious student, with details about the information in each part.

Interested in serving your community?

Central School District will have three positions on the May 2025 ballot for joining the Board of Directors. If you live in zones 2, 4, or 6, consider applying. 

The Board of Directors are charged with: Legislative or Rule-Making, through district policies; Judicial Authority, acting as a court of appeals; Executive/Administrative Authority, appointing the superintendent. To learn more about the Board Powers and Duties, see Policy BBA.

Central School District also has open positions on the Budget Committee, which will begin meetings in late April. The Budget Committee's purpose is to approve the total dollar amount in the budget, and to recommend levels of spending, but not to determine the programs. To learn more about the responsibilities of the Budget Committee, see Policy DBEA. To apply for the Budget Committee, click here.

PowerSchool incident information

PowerSchool, a provider of cloud-based software, providing services to over 60 million students and over 18 thousand educational organizations, experienced a data\ security incident (“PowerSchool Incident” or “Incident”). Their services include document management, enrollment assistance, form provision and content collection, curriculum and instruction assistance, behavioral support, college application and employment assistance, and a number of other services. Central School District is a customer of PowerSchool and was notified that its current and former students, educators, and parents and guardians of current and former students may have been affected by the PowerSchool Incident.

Read more here.

Central School District 13J Mission Statement | Misión
Building an inclusive culture of belonging and learning for the success of the whole child, whole educator, and whole community.  | Construir una cultura inclusiva de pertenencia y aprendizaje para el éxito de todo el niño, todo el educador y toda la comunidad.

2024-25 Theme: We plant seeds for learning; grow student success; harvest wins; and
celebrate bright spots for all students and each other. |
Tema 2024-2025: Sembramos semillas de aprendizaje; cultivamos el éxito de los estudiantes; cosechamos éxitos; y celebramos los logros de todos los estudiantes y los de unos a los otros. 

CSD Budget Committee seeks members


INDEPENDENCE/MONMOUTH – Central School District is seeking five community members to serve on the Budget Committee. 

Members of the Budget Committee meet about three times a year in the spring to review the proposed budget and provide input. 

Becky Jay served on the Budget Committee for many years. She said she served because of her support of public education, and wanting all children to have a great public school experience.


"Knowing what is in the School District budget, why it is there, how big each pot of money really is, and where the District is having to tighten its belt is information that the public really needs to understand," Ms. Jay said. "Rather than complaining, I wanted to know how Central School District allocates its funds."

Read the full release here.


El Comité de Presupuesto de CSD busca miembros

INDEPENDENCIA/MONMOUTH – El Distrito Escolar Central busca a cinco miembros de la comunidad para servir en el Comité de Presupuesto. El comité es una parte importante del proceso de toma de decisiones del distrito para establecer prioridades presupuestarias locales.

El proceso del Comité de Presupuesto proporciona un foro para que los ciudadanos del distrito discutan prioridades para mantener buenas escuelas, programas y facilidades; cómo lidiar con los requisitos estatales y federales; y cómo asignar mejor los recursos.