Reynolds Strong: A message from Superintendent Dr. Linda Florence
June 10, 2014. Our world changed.
One year ago today, two young lives, full of promise, were lost. We are heart-broken that such a tragedy happened.
We continue to extend our sympathy to the families who experienced the loss of their child.
We also continue to be grateful.
Grateful for our staff who intervened and called for help and to the first responders who answered those calls.
We continue to be grateful for the Troutdale Police Department and Chief Scott Anderson for leading the emergency response;
• We are grateful to all First Responders
• Multnomah County
• the Trauma Intervention Program
• the School Partnership Network and
• to the area churches and pastors
We are forever grateful for our staff, our students and our parents.
The strength of our school community is tremendous. I am so proud of the way we demonstrated our strength and expressed our gratitude each and every day since June 10th.
We are grateful to Deb France and Oh! Planning and Design for securing donations to transform the gymnasium complex over the summer last year, which allowed our students to return to something special and beautiful. We are especially pleased and grateful to our voters, who recently approved a $125 million bond to invest in upgrading our schools to be safe, secure, and sustainable.
We are grateful to Susan Bowker for organizing the hundreds of volunteers who sent messages of hope to our students who returned to school last fall; and for all Reynolds alumni: the Lancers, Chargers and Raiders who encouraged us, sent notes, and supported the school.
Thank you to Cat Burgess for organizing several expressions of support to Reynolds High School staff throughout the school year.
These gracious responses and acts of kindness gave us hope. Hope gave us strength. Those kind and generous acts, large and small, over the past 365 days are how I understand, “Reynolds Strong.”
Reynolds Strong is a call to action. That call is still needed today as it was a year ago.
If Reynolds is in your thoughts, I invite you to pledge your commitment to do something to make the community Reynolds Strong. You can record your pledge on Facebook or twitter using the hashtag #ReynoldsStrong
Some ways that you can help:
Volunteer at a Challenge Day event next fall. Challenge Day is an important support for our students as it raises awareness of our individual circumstances and transforms school climate.
Donate to a charity.
Help a neighbor.
Support Emilio, Inc. the charity that Jennifer Hoffman has dedicated the past year to building. Emilio, Inc. works to raise awareness to prevent youth violence and maintain high quality of life for our children.
Support the Reynolds Education Foundation's Peace Pole Fund. Volunteer to work in one of our peace pole garden spaces.
Be the Change!
