When Alex Leaver arrived last fall as the new principal for Welches Elementary and Middle Schools, he heard the community was tight-knit and compassionate. Over the course of his first year on the job he saw it in action at the school, but perhaps no time more evident than during last January’s flood.

“The community had a reputation of being really supportive of each other, and I found that all to be really true,” Leaver said. “(The flood) was just really characteristic of things.”

At the school, the spirit of community manifested in other ways, including the
restoration of a nature trail to use as a classroom space and for the
community’s use. Leaver noted that while the work started off with local
middle and high school students, community organizations, including the Mt.
Hood Green Scene and the Hoodland Women’s Club, also helped out.

“It’s becoming what I hoped it would be: a community piece,” he said. “I
believe schools need to leave legacies for other kids and members of the
community. I think that’s important to do.”

Others in the community stepped forward to help out elsewhere at the
schools, such as when Leaver put a call out for help with the school basketball
backboards. Mark Johansen volunteered to take them down, re-galvanize and
paint them.

Meanwhile, when it came to the students, Leaver found they took on a similar
mind set toward helping their community by leading a donation drive for the
victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, raising money to fight
cancer, and, most recently, painting a giant map of the United States on the
playground.

The middle school’s service learning class spearheaded the map project – a
gift for their younger counterparts in the elementary school.

“That’ll be around for years and years,” Leaver said. “It’s remarkable. That
makes me just really proud of the middle school kids.”

Leaver added that he was impressed with the work done in the classrooms,
both by students and teachers. He pointed out that kindergarten students
learned how to structure sentences into paragraphs, a strong indication of
positive results down the road.

He credited the teaching staff, which was mostly intact when he started, for
helping the students achieve what they did.

“Those teachers were in place when I arrived,” Leaver said. “Bottom line,
what they’re doing with the kids (is) the magic they create.”

While Leaver looks forward to next year, he sees enrollment in the elementary
school declining, although the middle school enrollment should remain steady.
That could lead to possibly losing up to two elementary teachers due to the
lower student population.

“When you look at the demographics of the Mountain community, it’s largely
stable, but it’s also aging,” Leaver said. “What I hear anecdotally is people
with kids are working elsewhere, and with the price of gas they are trying to
live closer to work. Those who have kids moved out are comfortable and
staying there.”

The two schools will also lose the Teacher on Special Assignment position held
by James Milliken, who will become the director of the Oregon Trail Primary
Academy, a new charter school in the district. Leaver said it is possible the
position may not be refilled for the next school year.

Leaver anticipates both schools to have new equipment to improve wireless
computer access and new security equipment installed over the summer.
And he plans to bring a heavier emphasis in reading literacy next year, with
staff development time devoted to that area.

“I’m really looking for it to take off next year,” he said. “I want to see our kids
reach higher than they’re currently reaching. To do that, I want to see we as
the adults ... doing our very best.”