Superintendent Statement regarding 2/14 incident

February 20, 2025 –

Sheridan & Willamina Communities,

Sheridan School District’s five-year goals include the following:  

• Promote a culture of high expectations from the entire community.
• Build community support through transparency, communication, and engagement.

On Friday, February 14 several incidents occurred at SHS that show we have work to do in order to achieve both of these goals. We do not currently have a culture of high expectations within our schools or the community and we need to build better internal and external support for all of our programs. 

Sheridan School policy states that all students and visitors are entitled to an environment where they are safe and welcome. (Full text of Policy ACB, Every Student Belongs.)

We ask our students to be constantly learning from new experiences and as a District we must demonstrate the same behavior and learn from these events.

After many conversations with students, coaches, community members and administrators from both schools we have a better understanding of the gaps that existed in our approach to maintaining an environment free from discrimination and harassment. 

Effective immediately we will be introducing on-duty staff before events, so everyone is aware of who is available should an incident need to be reported. We are improving our communication regarding expectations for students, staff and guests and are training staff to better address inappropriate behavior. Expectations for coaching staff and students, including grounds for potential removal from those roles, are also being addressed.

Over the past weekend and in the coming weeks, we are working to be as transparent as possible with our larger community with regards to steps we are taking to resolve the gaps we have identified and to convey our sincere apologies to those who have been impacted. Sheridan community, we ask for your support as we learn together and build a culture that allows for learning and growth.

Our schools and community events must be a place where everyone feels safe to learn, play, work and visit. We are absolutely committed to this and will continue to educate ourselves and make changes based on what we learn in order to achieve a welcome and safe environment for our students, staff and community. 

With Respect, 

Dorie