We want to thank the Hockinson community for its enthusiastic support at today's first-ever HHS Homecoming Parade. 💙

Due to its early start time, we're aware that many families and residents were unable to attend in person. So here are a couple of links to videos of the parade. One is a street-view recording by HSD Superintendent Steve Marshall...which features his spontaneous commentary. He apologizes that he wasn't very prepared. (As in, at all!) https://youtu.be/N74wsYKp4LU?si=lGxKO7IMpNmkkCfa

The second is an aerial recording courtesy of Brandon Redeau, made with equipment for the middle school's CTE Video Productions class:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OvQghxp3YmWlZHzS23135bDC9zBg_9mG/view?usp=sharing

&

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GSKSlrxCwuvqrXAhY1_l3Z9Idf4vYqTR/view?usp=drive_link

A Reminder to HSD Families & Hockinson Community:

159th St. will be closed tomorrow, Fri. 9/26, from approximately 2:00 to 3:30 pm for the first-ever HHS Homecoming Parade. Please check the 9/19 message to parents or 9/21 Facebook post for the parade map. We have been in contact with First Student and do not anticipate an impact on busing.

Friday is going to be a big day for HHS and Hockinson:

#1. It's a community-wide Spirit Day -
All HSD staff are encouraged to wear school or district spirit wear. Residents are also invited to wear blue or Hockinson gear!

#2. Three local businesses are running Homecoming specials -
A 24 oz Hawks Hoco energy drink at Hearth (all day), a free ice cream cone with the purchase of a large pizza at Hockinson Market (3-7 pm) and a free small fountain drink with a deli purchase at Hockinson Fuel Co. (3-7 pm)

#3. The Homecoming football game against RA Long kicks off at 7 pm at HHS. Come cheer on the Hawks to victory!

Thank you, Hockinson! We appreciate your flexibility and support of our students.

2025 HHS Homecoming Parade Slated for NEXT Friday, Sept. 26

Dear Hockinson Community:

We realize that this news is late in getting out, but it's nonetheless EXCITING! Hockinson High School Leadership students will be hosting a Homecoming Parade on Friday, September 26, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

This is a special opportunity for our students, staff, and community to come together in celebration of school spirit and pride. Our theme this year is “Once a Hawk, Always a Hawk.”

Parade Details

Parade Route: The parade will travel along 159th Street from back MS Parking Lot turning at Parkinen and ending behind the high school. View Parade Map.

Staging Area: Parade participants will stage behind Hockinson Middle School prior to the start of the parade.

Road Closures: To ensure the safety of all participants and spectators, 159th Street will be closed to traffic from approximately 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

We apologize for any inconvenience for our neighbors who live along the parade route. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding as we work to make this a safe and memorable event for our students and families. Consider yourself invited to come outside, cheer, and show your Hockinson spirit as the parade passes by your home!

Thank you for your support of Hockinson High School and our students.

Link to Parade Map: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h3WosmwbFk02p5EzFra9KsISQHvcUw1ue34zhmQEdy4/edit?tab=t.0

Hello Families.

On Friday, September 12, Superintendent Steve Marshall sent a message to HSD parents containing information relating to the release of the district's Spring 2025 assessment results. You can view his message "Upward Together: A First Glimpse at the HSD's Spring 2025 Assessment Results" here.

The 2025-26 school year is off to an exciting start. The Sept. 9 edition of the HSD News Round-Up features back-to-school highlights including teacher trainings that support student learning and belonging, College in the High School course offerings that prepare HHS students for future options, efficiency upgrades that save taxpayer dollars, and more!

On July 29, 2025, Superintendent Steve Marshall sent out following update on the district's 2025-26 budget to HSD staff and families:

Dear Hockinson Community,

I wanted to take a moment to follow up on my message to you from May 14 and inform you that the 2025-26 budget was formally approved at last night’s regular HSD School Board meeting. I also wanted to provide you with some additional context about next year’s budget.

The annual process of developing a budget is never easy, but it was especially challenging this time around. Like many districts across Washington, we are facing a growing gap between the funding we receive from the state and the actual costs of running our schools. This situation has forced us to make some difficult decisions, but we have done everything possible to minimize the impact on our students.

Our approach to this budget shortfall involved careful reductions that were furthest from the classroom and preserved the services and learning opportunities that our students rely on. Wherever possible, our district has cut costs relating to materials, supplies, curriculum and technology. Unfortunately, we also had to make cuts to our staffing.

Here are the specific areas where we will see staffing reductions for the 2025-26 school year:

Central office school administrators
- Removal of professional development stipends
-Reduced hours, implementation of three furlough days or waived IPD* increase
- Reduced work days for curriculum and instruction staff

Classified employees 
- Reduced custodial support for schools
- Reduced hours for state- and federally-funded employees
- Implementation of one to three furlough days

Certificated employees
- Reductions through attrition, with a focus on maintaining current staffing levels where possible

* IPD (Implicit Price Deflator) is a measurement of inflation that the State of Washington uses in determining changes to funding levels. The IPD for the 2025-26 school year is approx. 2.5%

Over the last few months, district and building leaders have notified all staff impacted by reductions.

The HSD operates efficiently and is committed to fiscal responsibility. These reductions are occurring not because our district has unrealistic expenses but because state K-12 education funding is not keeping up with rising costs. If the state had maintained the same percentage of its budget for K-12 education as it did in 2019, school districts would have received an additional $6 billion over the past five years. Instead, public education’s share of the state budget dropped from 52.4% in 2019 to 43.1% in 2024 while staffing, insurance, fuel, electricity, and operations costs increased significantly. Learn more on our budget webpage.

For the 2025-26 school year, the state funding we will receive will fall short about $1 million of what is needed to fully fund our schools. We are fortunate to have a voter-approved levy that provides local funding for support programs and services through next year, but it does not bridge the entire gap. This has left us with the difficult task of keeping students’ educational experiences the top priority, weighing the impacts to our staff and schools, and ultimately balancing our budget.

I am hopeful that this is the final message I have to share on this topic, but you can count on future updates should our circumstances change. Thank you for taking the time to read this update and thank you for your understanding and continued support of our schools.

Sincerely,


Steve Marshall
Superintendent
Hockinson School District