Kitsap Education

Robin Waite, owner of Kitsap’s new soccer franchise, the Pumas, brought a very interesting proposal to a joint meeting of the Bremerton School Board and the Bremerton City Council Thursday night.

Waite, whose team will begin playing games at Bremerton Memorial Stadium in May, wants to develop a soccer stadium on the site of the old Bremerton Junior High/East High School on Wheaton Way.

Waite envisions retaining the school’s gym and the buildings to be renovated and turned into offices. A commercial strip could be developed closer to Wheaton Way.

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The Bremerton School Board will host a study session with the Bremerton City Council tonight at the district offices, 134 N Marion Ave. It starts at 5. The agenda includes the naming of facilities, which my sources in the sports department tell me involve the naming of the gym at Bremerton High School after two well-known coaches.

Also, the board and the council will talk about a proposal to locate a middle school and some community facilities on the west side of town (I’m assuming this is a very long-range proposal.) And revitalization of the old East High/Bremerton Junior High site.

And finally, the school board will meet in executive session to discuss an applicant for the interim superintendent position.

Dan Steele, of the Washington State School Directors Association, sends out an awesome email almost every day during the legislative session updating folks on what’s happening in Olympia with education. Today was a big day because it was the policy committee cutoff deadline, rendering many bills dead.

Here’s Dan’s update:

With the arrival of today’s policy committee “cut-off” — the first of many self-imposed legislative deadlines — numerous bills are now technically dead. All bills must have passed out of their original house policy committee (that is, House bills adopted by House policy committees; Senate bills adopted by Senate policy committees) by today in order to remain alive. Bills in fiscal committees must be passed out of their original house fiscal committee by Monday, March 2 in order to remain alive. Remember that budget bills and bills considered “necessary to implement the budget” are exempt from these early cut-off deadlines. Also remember that no bill is officially dead until the session adjourns. Most legislative rules, including rules relating to cut-off dates, can be waived by the Legislature.

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In his address to Congress last night, President Obama listed education as his third-highest priority for getting America back on track. He asked Americans to pursue at least one year of education beyond high school and he promised to help people pay for college too.
This line in the speech particularly caught my attention:
“And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country — and this country needs and values the talents of every American.”
Rarely in recent history have I heard anyone refer to graduation as a patriotic duty of sort. Puts things in a different perspective – a better one.

PTA folks and activists will rally in Olympia on Thursday to urge legislators to preserve school funding.

Washington state PTA is hosting the rally day in conjunction with the League of Education Voters.

The schedule is:

Thursday February 26th

Washington State Capitol Campus

Olympia, WA

11:45 AM      Gather on the north steps of Legislative Building (Capitol Dome)

12:00 PM     Rally on the steps of the Legislative Building

1:30 PM        Brown bag lunch with Rep. Ross Hunter to discuss the status of education finance reform proposals.

2:15 PM        Edie Harding from the State Board of Education to discuss the role of the State Board and answer your questions.

2:45-4 PM     Networking, appointments, attend hearings, tour the campus.

Information about the money in the federal stimulus package for schools is beginning to trickle out. The Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction will broadcast a video conference today at 1 pm for school administrators. There isn’t a lot of specific information about individual district numbers yet though. And though there was a lot of talk about stimulating the economy with funding for school construction, there isn’t any specific construction money in the package.

Nathan Olson, an OSPI spokesman, said the money will come in a bunch of different pots: Title I, IDEA (special education,) education fiscal stabilization, technology, school lunch equipment assistance, test-score improvement and assistance for homeless students.

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The timeline in the search for a new Bremerton superintendent may change slightly because board member Louis Mitchell will be out of town early April. The board talked the change last night at a special study session but did not make any definite changes as board members Pat Jones and DeWaybe Boyd were absent.

Community activist Colleen Smidt, who attended the meeting, said the candidate interviews could be moved to April 18 and the final board vote to April 21-23.

Earlier today I posted that the timeline for the Bremerton schools superintendent search would not change. But school spokeswoman Patty Glaser called me back about an hour ago to let me know that a study session tonight the board will talk about changing the timeline. Board member Louis Mitchell will be out of town from the end of March until mid-April, at the same time the board is supposed to be interviewing candidates for the job. So there will be discussions about those conflicts.

If you hurry you can still be at the study session. It starts at 6 at the district’s offices.

North Kitsap School Board member Dan Delaney is making good progress in his recovery from a serious stroke a few weeks ago. He’s reading and typing on a computer, according to an online journal being kept by his wife, Kalen. You can read her updates here. We’re all thinking of you Dan. Keep getting better.

Although there has been talk recently in the community that the dates on the timeline for the Bremerton school superintendent search have changed, district spokeswoman Patty Glaser said today that they remain the same as previous circulated.

School board member Louis Mitchell will be out of town for the first two weeks of April, when the board is scheduled to interview job candidates. He would be back for a potential final vote on April 16, though. Colleen Smidt, of Bremerton Community 4 Kids, was concerned that the board would decide to hold the final vote before Mitchell’s return. She was glad to hear this afternoon that the dates have not been changed.

 ”We want to try to make this process as fair and as transparent as possible,” Smidt said.

According to the school district’s website, the timeline is:

March 27 Deadline for applications

April 11 Interviews (by school board and observers)

April 14-16 Final three candidates visit the district to meet with staff and community

April 16 Board deliberates

April 23 Final selection no later than this date

July 1 New superintendent begins

The board will meet in a study session tonight to talk about a flier describing what the district seeks in a new superintendent. The meeting is set for 6 pm at the district offices, 134 Marion Ave.