According to numbers recently released by the Oregon Department of Education, 63 percent of Estacada High School freshmen are on track to graduate.

Oregon launched its statewide chronic absenteeism plan last December, in hopes of curtailing a growing problem in the state’s public schools. Ten months later, the problem is worse than it was in 2016.

Graduation may be at the very end of the school year, but the work towards it starts now, at the beginning. It’s like a race, a marathon instead of a sprint, where graduation is the finish line and the trophies are diplomas. However, it is not so much about who is going to finish first anymore, but who is going to finish at all.

At a recent in-service training, Canby School District welcomed keynote speaker Dr. Mandy Davis, co-director of Trauma Informed Oregon; and she seems to have left an impression.