The first full week of March is designated as Classified Employee Appreciation Week. At Clackamas ESD alone, we have more than 50 types of classified jobs. These are people who touch every corner of our agency’s work and the districts we support, from providing hands-on help to teachers, children and families, to filling endless behind-the-scenes roles to keep buildings and teams safe, cared for and high-functioning.
This Classified Employee Appreciation Week, we’re highlighting five of our more than 250 classified staff members and contractors, to provide a peek into the diverse ways this large group of employees lives our mission of service. We appreciate our entire classified team and the meaningful work they do.
Doug McDonald is a Clackamas Education Service District educational assistant in our early intervention and early childhood special education program. Doug supports children in community preschool sites who exhibit delays or disabilities that affect learning and receive early childhood special education services.
Studies show that children who have had a positive preschool or an early intervention experience do better when they reach K-12 school than if they hadn’t had that experience. Doug is there to give children exhibiting delays or disabilities the extra support they need to be successful academically, socially and emotionally and enter kindergarten ready to learn.
“One little guy was having difficulty socially for a long time. I just kept trying to help him understand how to interact with his peers,” Doug shares. “And now, when he comes in, all the other kids are happy to see him and call his name. He just gets this big grin on his face, and it’s so neat to see him want to be there and becoming more and more successful with his social interaction, academics and ability to focus. He’s made a lot of progress.”
Doug works closely with his students to model behavior that will help them learn and get along with others. He believes being in an inclusive classroom environment with typically developing peers is the best way for kids who exhibit delays or disabilities to build their skills.
“I’m excited that our kids are being successfully assimilated into the classroom with the inclusion program. Very, very few seem to have a hard time with it. Once their peers become accepting of them, and the teachers learn how to work with them, you see some wonderful stuff happen,” Doug explains. “In a way, kids learn more from watching their peers than having an adult over their shoulder going ‘blah blah blah.’”
Doug sees inclusive classrooms benefiting typically developing children as well.
“If kids are used to being around a broader range of people, the chances are better that they will become more empathetic, accepting and sensitive to all people,” Doug believes.
Doug began working for Clackamas ESD as an educational assistant 24 years ago. He previously worked in an adult group home, and while he found meaning in helping people, he wanted better benefits and a regular schedule that aligned with his wife’s as a teacher.
“In a way, I stumbled into being an educational assistant,” Doug admits. “But once I started, I realized how rewarding it was and stuck with it.”
Doug also continues to work at Clackamas ESD because of how much he appreciates his colleagues.
“They all work very hard and are wonderful with kids. I feel like I’ve learned just as much or more about how to work with kids by just watching them and seeing the great stuff that they do,” says Doug.
Even after nearly 25 years, the long-term impact of Doug’s work continues to awe him.
“A couple of times, I have received an invitation or heard from a parent of a kid I worked with who is now graduating high school or going to college, and you think back— wow! I was a part of that kid’s life, and maybe I made a difference,” Doug says with a smile.
