News Archive    Articles from MESD News and Other Sources

The MESD Board met Tuesday, December 13 for its final meeting of 2016. The highlight of the meeting was the Board's announcement that it will award $5,000 in college scholarships in 2017 to outstanding students pursuing post-secondary education opportunities. Funding for the scholarships resulted from the Board's participation in the Oregon School Boards Association's Promise Scholarship Program. Boards that were Promise Scholarship selected to participate in the program and completed all the requirements earned scholarship money for their districts. The program required board members to devote an additional 10 hours of service to complete a board project, conduct board self-evaluations, and participate in the Promise of Oregon campaign.

The board will receive the $5,000 check from OSBA for these scholarships and the completion of the program at the January board meeting.  Details about the scholarships, including directions for applying, are available on the board webpage. Interested parties may also contact Board Secretary Heather Severns at hseverns@mesd.k12.or.us

by Ovid Boyd, MESD Technology Services 

Oregon is a beautiful place to bike during the summer, but biking in the winter months is not as harrowing as many folks might imagine. For me, biking is my main way of staying healthy, so I’ve been a year round bike rider since I was a kid (even when I lived in the snows of Sweden and extreme cold of Northern China). If you can safely drive in it, you can safely ride in it.
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The key is to dress right. Most of us already have rainproof jackets, but you need rainproof pants and shoes too. Don’t go biking in the rain with just a jacket! I also have waterproof gloves, a hat, and socks, but you can get by without such extravagances. Lights and a handkerchief to dry your seat aren’t a bad idea either.
 
You also want to be prepared for weather changes. I keep a set of rain gear at home, and leave another set at work. Most winter days I use my nicer set both morning and afternoon, but in case the morning starts sunny, but by the afternoon it turns rainy, I still can get home comfortably. 
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For those wondering where to get rainy biking stuff, I purchased my gear from ShowersPass, a local Portland company, and am quite happy with it:https://www.showerspass.com/

We all know that sleep is important to nearly every aspect of our health and wellbeing. (If you need to be convinced, look at this from the National Institutes of Health (https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why)

We also know that screens/monitors of all types can have a negative impact on sleep. What about turning that around by using a smart phone to improve your sleep? Two members of the Wellness Committee use apps to improve sleep. ​

Margo Lalich in School Health Services uses the tool that is built into the updated iPhone system. If you go to the “clock”, click on Bedtime. Going through the prompts will help you set up your bedtime and the time you want to wake up. You can choose how far ahead of bedtime you want to be prompted to start getting ready. You can choose your wake up time, which shows how much sleep time you will get. Finally, you choose the sound that will wake you. 

This tool is simultaneously scientific and intuitive. It makes you aware of how many hours of sleep you get. Margo said, “It makes me more intentional about my sleep pattern.”

She has been going to sleep and waking up more consistently. You can choose from several wake up sounds. Each one is designed to wake a sleeper gently. The sound starts softly and gets louder. It’s not jarring. 

Margo is a public health professional who pays attention to research and health. She said she is motivated by the way consistent sleep makes her feel, and the science validates it.. 

Bradley Leininger, at Donald E. Long, has been using an app called Sleep Cycle. This app is available for free at iTunes and Google Play. https://www.sleepcycle.com/how-it- works/  Sleep Cycle uses your phone’s built-in microphone and accelerometer to track REM sleep cycles. Features like intelligent snooze allow you to set a time to wake up, like “between 6:00-6:30”, and it will wake you when you are at your lightest sleep during that window of time. When you wake up, you self rate your sleep quality. The phone can also check your heart rate when you wake up, if you hold your hand over the light. (Can you believe our modern technology?!)

Bradley has used Sleep Cycle for a couple of months. At the beginning, he often had a 46% sleep quality rating. Sleep Cycle asks questions so you can start to track the relationship between what you’re doing and how you’re sleeping. As a result, Bradley now avoids eating food or drinking coffee late at night. His very best sleep was rated 97%. He said, “You know it’s working when you see regular peaks and valleys on the chart.” 

If you have tips on sleep, please let us know. You can email mesdwellness@mesd.k12.or.us and we will include information on the Wellness page in January.