As part of National School Lunch Week, October 13-17, 2025, Pendleton School District is celebrating the district’s nutritional services. First, some numbers:
How many meals does the district provide every day to students in schools?
Pendleton Early Learning Center: breakfast 166, lunch 221
McKay Creek Elementary: breakfast 85, lunch 142
Sherwood Heights Elementary: breakfast 149, lunch 301
Washington Elementary: breakfast 168, lunch 324
Sunridge Middle School: breakfast 179, lunch 397
Pendleton High School: breakfast 116, lunch 246
How many nutrition services employees work in PSD schools? 22 employees
Suzanne Howard, Director of Nutritional Services, works for Sodexo, the company that PSD contracts with for food services in all its schools. Howard recently highlighted a few new things for the 25-26 school year.
The first is a new menu site called Nutrislice (https://pendleton.nutrislice.com/menus-eula), which gives parents more access to information about the food that is being served in their students’ school. “In one click, they can look at the ingredients, the nutrient label, the allergens, and carb counts to make decisions for their child’s meals,” Howard said. Parents can filter by allergens to see which meals their child should not eat that week; nutrition services will work with parents to adjust menus for allergens for students.
Another new item is in the elementary schools – a new Bright Bites menu. Over the summer, Howard and her team re-decorated the kitchens at the schools to make them more colorful, engaging, and kid friendly. They also adjusted menus to include more of the food items that kids like to eat, including some new items. Elementary students recently tried Texas chili, which the kids loved. Nutrition services are also increasing options for fruits and vegetables, including more cooked vegetables like roasted squash, roasted broccoli, seasoned carrot coins, and parmesan green beans, which students have enjoyed.
At Sunridge Middle School, they added a pizza line, which has decreased congestion in the serving area. New at Pendleton High School is Chopsticks, grab-to-go Chinese food, which has been extremely popular.
What does Howard want people to know about today’s school meals? “This is not the old lunch program. We really pride ourselves on the quality of our food, and the students are our customers.” Howard said she wants students to use their voices to make suggestions about the food program. She also encourages parents to have lunch at their child’s school to experience the meals (check with your school about how to do this).
The mission of the nutrition services program is to provide healthy meals to students so they can do their best learning, Howard said. “Students who are hungry cannot focus as well and could potentially have behavior challenges.”
Breakfast and lunch are free every day for all enrolled students in the Pendleton School District, with no paperwork or sign-up required.
To provide feedback about Nutrition Services, email Suzanne Howard or provide information to nutrition services employees at your child’s school.
McKay Creek Elementary Holiday Concert 2025
/in District Site News, McKay Creek School News /by rthornburgMcKay Creek Elementary students worked hard on their songs and music for their Holiday Concert, which they were happy to perform for their families in December. Check out their great voices and cheer!
Culinary Program Creates Holiday Fare
/in District Site News, High Schools News /by rthornburgStudents in the Pendleton High School Culinary Program have been busy preparing holiday food this month.
They recently made baked goods for a bake sale for employees of the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution (EOCI). Creations included cookies, brownies, Swiss rolls, and cinnamon rolls.
Then they prepared dinner for the EOCI Employee Christmas Party for about 120 people on December 12, 2025. The menu was homemade dinner rolls, Caesar salad with homemade croutons, apple harvest salad with roasted sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, potato dish, maple and cumin glazed roasted carrots, grilled New York steaks, and chicken thighs. Kaden Clark, PHS Food Teacher, said he is letting the students choose what to make for dessert.
Clark said he wants students to feel confident about preparing food for a large group. “Sometimes, catering events or preparing food for a large group can be intimidating, so I want them to feel good about their skills in the kitchen. I know they can do it,” Clark said. He also wants them to understand how much planning and labor go into preparing food, as well as the business side of it.
Jasmine, PHS Senior, was helping prepare the homemade dinner rolls for the EOCI dinner. She said she enjoys the teamwork of preparing food. Senior Sophia said she likes the thrill of having to get everything done in a timely manner.
Another student in Foods IV, PHS Senior Cole, was cutting carrots for roasting. He said he has learned quite a bit about the business side of the food industry, like if you mess up a big order, that’s a lot of time and money lost. But his biggest takeaway? “I enjoy making the food and especially eating the food.”
Sunridge Middle School Winter Concert
/in District Site News, Sunridge News /by rthornburgWhat a wonderful night of music! 🎶 Families and friends gathered to enjoy the Winter Instrumental Concert and celebrate the talent and hard work of our Sunridge Middle School musicians. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the evening so special.
Science Class at the Umatilla River
/in District Site News, Hawthorne High News /by rthornburgStudents in a science class at Hawthorne Alternative High School are enjoying some hands-on learning at the Umatilla River this semester.
According to Andrew Sneed, Science Teacher, the students visit the Umatilla River multiple times and collect macroinvertebrates. They then quantify and classify each species. “With our collected data at the end of the semester, we will calculate the biodiversity index of macroinvertebrates in the river,” Sneed said.
A macroinvertebrate is a large (visible to the naked eye) invertebrate (animal without a backbone) that lives in or near water, such as insects, snails, crayfish, and worms. Macroinvertebrates serve as a key indicator of aquatic ecosystem health because their presence and types reflect water quality.
In December, students used nets to collect samples, then sorted and collected the macroinvertebrates. The following day, they used a macroinvertebrate field guide to classify and quantify the samples. At the end of the semester, student groups will create a poster that shows the biodiversity index equation and a graph to show the level of biodiversity in the river.
Sneed said students really enjoy and look forward to going to the river. “It gives them hands-on experience and interaction within their own ecosystem and how seasonal changes affect different species. A big takeaway we talked about in December is how water temperatures affect the abundance of different species compared to collections during warmer seasons of the river.”
Native American Heritage Month
/in District Site News, News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgNovember is Native American Heritage Month. CTUIR shared some of their traditions, including drumming and dancing, at each of the schools. Thank you, CTUIR singers and dancers.
Tribal Dance Presentation at PHS
/in District Site News, High Schools News /by rthornburgPendleton High School students and staff enjoyed a tribal dance presentation in Warberg Court on Friday, November 14th, as part of Native American Heritage Month. Thank you to the singers and dancers from CTUIR for sharing your cultural traditions with us.
National School Bus Safety Week – October 20-24, 2025
/in District Site News, News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgNational School Bus Safety Week – October 20-24, 2025
The Pendleton School District and First Student, the transportation company that transports PSD students, will focus on safety during National School Bus Safety Week, October 20-24.
First Student has a whole week, called Safety Stand-Down Week, to reinforce their focus on safety and their mission to provide the safest ride to and from school. A Safety Stand-Down is an event where leaders pause to talk directly to employees about safety and provide education and training on specific safety topics. Some activities they will do during the safety week are Mirror Grid Monday, Turning Tuesday and Wind-y Wednesday (serpentine route set up), safety meeting and pledges.
“It is a learning and reminding week, but also a fun week as well,” said Patrick Phillips, Senior Location Manager at First Student.
Here are some safety strategies First Student and the district are using this school year:
First Serves – a positive reinforcement coaching for students instead of a referral, disciplinary system. Bus drivers utilize Bus Bucks to reward appropriate behavior on the bus; each school has a reward system for the bucks.
Kindergarten bus tags –students at the Pendleton Early Learning Center wear bright orange tags attached to their backpacks that have their bus route number clearly visible. These youngest students also must be put on the bus and taken off the bus by a family member.
FirstView — an app that parents can download on their phones that tracks their student’s bus. Parents can also set a boundary around their stop that alerts them when the bus is near the stop. “On our side of the app, tracking the buses looks like a whole bunch of green ants going and we can see where all of our buses are,” Phillips said.
Tiffany Jennings, First Student Location Manager, said there are about 2,000 Pendleton School District students registered to ride the bus.
What do Phillips and Jennings want bus-riding students to remember?
SAFE – sitting back to back, seat to seat, floor on floor & body parts and belongings inside windows
RESPECTFUL – hands and feet to yourself, voices at a whisper
RESPONSIBLE – follow adult directions, food and drinks in backpack
What about parents? Phillips said it’s helpful for parents to remember that sometimes traffic issues arise, like a train blocking several railroad crossings in town, which necessitates buses routing around, which takes more time.
“We have a great working relationship and good communication with the Pendleton School District,” Phillips said, “which makes it easier to ensure bus safety for students every day.”
National School Lunch Week
/in District Site News, News - District & All Schools /by rthornburgAs part of National School Lunch Week, October 13-17, 2025, Pendleton School District is celebrating the district’s nutritional services. First, some numbers:
How many meals does the district provide every day to students in schools?
Pendleton Early Learning Center: breakfast 166, lunch 221
McKay Creek Elementary: breakfast 85, lunch 142
Sherwood Heights Elementary: breakfast 149, lunch 301
Washington Elementary: breakfast 168, lunch 324
Sunridge Middle School: breakfast 179, lunch 397
Pendleton High School: breakfast 116, lunch 246
How many nutrition services employees work in PSD schools? 22 employees
Suzanne Howard, Director of Nutritional Services, works for Sodexo, the company that PSD contracts with for food services in all its schools. Howard recently highlighted a few new things for the 25-26 school year.
The first is a new menu site called Nutrislice (https://pendleton.nutrislice.com/menus-eula), which gives parents more access to information about the food that is being served in their students’ school. “In one click, they can look at the ingredients, the nutrient label, the allergens, and carb counts to make decisions for their child’s meals,” Howard said. Parents can filter by allergens to see which meals their child should not eat that week; nutrition services will work with parents to adjust menus for allergens for students.
Another new item is in the elementary schools – a new Bright Bites menu. Over the summer, Howard and her team re-decorated the kitchens at the schools to make them more colorful, engaging, and kid friendly. They also adjusted menus to include more of the food items that kids like to eat, including some new items. Elementary students recently tried Texas chili, which the kids loved. Nutrition services are also increasing options for fruits and vegetables, including more cooked vegetables like roasted squash, roasted broccoli, seasoned carrot coins, and parmesan green beans, which students have enjoyed.
At Sunridge Middle School, they added a pizza line, which has decreased congestion in the serving area. New at Pendleton High School is Chopsticks, grab-to-go Chinese food, which has been extremely popular.
What does Howard want people to know about today’s school meals? “This is not the old lunch program. We really pride ourselves on the quality of our food, and the students are our customers.” Howard said she wants students to use their voices to make suggestions about the food program. She also encourages parents to have lunch at their child’s school to experience the meals (check with your school about how to do this).
The mission of the nutrition services program is to provide healthy meals to students so they can do their best learning, Howard said. “Students who are hungry cannot focus as well and could potentially have behavior challenges.”
Breakfast and lunch are free every day for all enrolled students in the Pendleton School District, with no paperwork or sign-up required.
To provide feedback about Nutrition Services, email Suzanne Howard or provide information to nutrition services employees at your child’s school.
National Principals Month
/in District Site News, Elementary School News, High Schools News, Sunridge News /by rthornburgOctober is National Principals’ Appreciation Month! We’re taking a moment to celebrate the incredible principals who lead with heart, vision, and dedication every single day. Our principals work tirelessly to create schools where students feel safe, supported, and inspired to learn. Their leadership uplifts staff, strengthens families, and shapes the future of our community.
💚💛 Join us in saying thank you to our principals for all they do to make a difference—one student, one classroom, and one day at a time.
#ThankAPrincipal #PrincipalAppreciationMonth #LeadershipMatters
Welcome to PSD – Bailey Weinke
/in District Site News, Sunridge News /by rthornburgBailey Weinke
PE Teacher
Sunridge Middle School
Bailey was born and raised in Pilot Rock and graduated from Pilot Rock High School in 2015.
She attended Eastern Oregon University to earn both her bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science and her master’s degree in Secondary Education.
What is Bailey most excited about working in the Pendleton School District? “I am super excited to be working with all the great students who attend PSD and be a part of such a caring team of coworkers.”
In her free time, she enjoys traveling, coaching sports, and helping out on her family’s ranch.