Growing up, pizza day was always Tony Smith’s favorite day at school. He would wait all week for Thursday, knowing that it was easier to slide into Friday without missing any instruction from the first half of the week.

“It was better for me to be there, get my French bread pizza, and then Fridays were always fun,” Smith said in an interview with OPB.

Smith is the new superintendent of the Beaverton School District, taking over for Gustavo Balderas, who departed last year to lead the Puget Sound Educational Service District in Washington. Smith comes from Denver Public Schools, where he was deputy superintendent.

Whether it’s what schools offer at lunchtime, or some other strategy, Beaverton’s new superintendent is looking for attendance solutions as he takes over the state’s second-largest district.

In recent years, Oregon has had one of the worst chronic absenteeism rates in the country.

Beaverton’s rate is 28.7% — better than the state’s 33.5% rate. But several student groups far outpace both the state and the district in being chronically absent, which is defined as missing 10% or more of school days. The most recent data available, for the 2024-2025 school year, shows 47.4% of Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander students, 42% of Hispanic students, and almost half of students experiencing poverty were chronically absent.

In Denver, Smith saw several strategies aimed at specific age groups work. He said the district started a coed elementary sports program that helped attendance.

“Kids would say, I can’t miss school because if I miss school, I can’t play in the game,” he said.

At the middle school level, it was about starting a drawing club and other new activities to help kids feel connected. In high school, connecting students to experiential learning through internships and job shadowing encouraged them to show up regularly.

“Kids start to be their own attendance monitors,” he said.

Is Oregon doing enough to get students to go to school?

Being a superintendent in 2026 is not for the faint of heart. Chronic absenteeism, declining enrollment and funding shortfalls are just a few of the challenges facing not just Beaverton, but districts across the country.

Smith started in the role officially on July 1, and with that, began a 100-day-plan to “Look, Listen, and Learn” about the district and the Beaverton community.

“I don’t want to make rash decisions and be reactive,” Smith said.

“I want to be thoughtful, I want to be strategic, and I want to understand where people are so that we can make collective decisions that move the district in a positive direction.”

Last school year, the Beaverton school board voted to close McKay Elementary at the end of the year. Facing a $37 million budget gap and declining enrollment, the district filled much of that shortfall by cutting 159 full-time equivalent positions. The district used $16.6 million in reserves to make up the rest.

Smith sees his role as helping the district make smart decisions about spending the district’s resources, as well as advocating in Salem for public school funding.

“While the landscape is challenging, it also presents a tremendous amount of opportunity for us to really rethink what education is for our kids in this new era,” he said.

By “re-thinking” education, he means continuing a focus on offering multiple opportunities for students to continue their education after high school, including college, military service, and “entrepreneurial endeavors.”

But in order to get students to graduate, again Smith emphasizes getting them to be at school. Smith said that means helping children feel safe, making them feel welcomed, and giving them engaging class offerings and extracurricular activities.

“We’re not just asking them to be a robot,” Smith said. “We’re actively engaging their spirit.”

In addition to serving in public school systems, Smith worked in several roles for KIPP Texas Public Schools, a state network of public charter schools and part of the national KIPP college preparatory school system.

“KIPP was really systematic,” he said. “They were clear on their instructional priorities, they were clear on the curriculum.”

In Denver, he said, those high expectations for students merged with a desire to create safe environments for students, staff and families.

“The grade level was the expectation,” Smith said. “We either helped students by scaffolding or accelerated them beyond, but all students should be at grade level.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/07/09/beaverton-school-district-new-superintendent/