Kitsap Education

It was very interesting to read the comments prompted by a story by Tammy Adamson-McMullen about the January term at West Sound Academy,  a private school in North Kitsap. “Jan Term” offers WSA students the opportunity to take different classes: belly dancing, for example. Read Tammy’s story here. There were commenters celebrating WSA’s forethought to offer classes to kids that would spark their interests beyond regular academic pursuits. And there were folks who found the whole idea frivolous.

It made me think again about watching the food science classes at Ridgetop Junior High (a public school) in Central Kitsap. I spent most of the late morning/early afternoon today watching the eighth- and ninth-graders working in teams to create special dishes as part of the school’s second annual “Iron Chef” competition. Basically it was a lot of organized chaos with food sciences teacher Kathryn Wilkie in charge. The kids worked in three teams to create some amazing dishes: apple mulligatawney soup; apple-brined pork loin; chicken liver and apple pate; green apple chutney; apple cake with caramel sauce; homemade baguettes etc.  You can read all about it in this story.

The one thing that stuck with me throughout the time that I watched these kids was their level of enthusiasm. Everyone had a job and everyone was very focused on doing it well. These teen-agers spoke enthusiastically about making ice cream, brining meat, using a crockpot. Justice, the student assigned to clear all the plates, did so with flourish. They were all really into it.

So here’s my question: Are these classes, these “Jan Term” efforts, worth it?

It’s 9:30 on Tuesday night and I made the mistake (or strategic move, however you care to view it) of checking my work email, kitsapeducation@yahoo.com.

Sun Web editor Angela Dice, who apparently works all hours too, had just sent me an email letting me know that my post about advertising on school buses had spurred a nice little conversation on the Sun’s Facebook page. I was jazzed, as it’s always fun to get lots of comments on anything you write (the Delilah v. Mormons controversy notwithstanding.) Now if I could just lure all these nice Facebook people over to the Kitsap Education blog … hmm

Here’s a link to the conversation: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bremerton-WA/Kitsap-Sun/133049345480?sid=394df381b8fe568d677c6be33ddefabd&ref=search

Senate bill 6466 proposes allowing school districts to place advertising on school buses. Read all about the bill here.

Of course this brings up the commercialization of schools. Good thing? Bad thing? Depends on who you ask. Advertising can be pernicious, especially with regard to children. Remember the Joe Camel controversy?

Then again the money provided to the schools from the advertising could help fill the gap between what the state provides for school transportation and what it actually costs. So that’s a good thing, right? Or maybe not as folks who are critical of state education funding would say it’s one more way for the state to abdicate its responsibility for proper school funding.

As usual, there are no easy answers ….

Schools get a lot of different awards for a lot of unusual reasons, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a school district being named “business of the year” by the local Chamber of Commerce. Please feel free to correct me if I’ve gotten this wrong and school districts are being recognized by chambers all over the place.

Over the weekend, the North Mason Chamber of Commerce named the North Mason School District its business of the year.

Here’s the email NMSD Superintendent David Peterson sent out this morning.

On Saturday evening, the North Mason Chamber of Commerce presented NMSD the award of 2009 Business of the Year. There are 430 (or so) businesses and organizations that are members of the Chamber, all of which were eligible for selection. The Chamber selected us. It was a wonderful honor to stand with NMSD Board Members Mike Gaudio, Art Wightman, and John Campbell as last year’s winner, Jerry Reid, made the formal presentation.
The reasons are many. Our contribution to our local economy and our charitable giving are, of course, important to the Chamber of Commerce. Our “shop locally” attitude, especially in terms of our capital levy work and other vendor selections, is also significant to the Chamber. We make an effort to work with local companies, stores, and other vendors whenever possible, and it is noticed in a big way. Also influential to the Chamber are the dramatic improvements in our public image, improvements in academic achievement, our recent election successes, and more.
This is a big deal, and we are very proud to be recognized by our Chamber of Commerce. Our staff and leadership have been, and continue be working hard on improving the success of students and support of families. To have this work noticed and acknowledged by the community leaders of the NM Chamber is one more step in our continuing effort to Build the Pride.

Not too many short years ago, the NM School Board was in disarray and the district’s reputation was not favorable. Have things turned around in NM that much in just a few years? My sense, as a reporter anyway, is that things are better. Superintendent David Peterson is particularly responsive and open to talking about NM schools and education issues in general.

Let me know, kitsapeducation readers.

A consortium of school districts from across the state filed suit alleging that Washington does not appropriately or fully fund public schools. Read more about the specifics of the lawsuit and the group, known as NEWS (Network for Excellence in Washington Schools,) here.
Now a decision in the case will be given by Judge John Erlick on Thursday, Feb. 4, in his courtroom at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Stay tuned for the next segment in the saga of funding for public schools ….

Terri Messing, a teacher at Cedar Heights Junior High in Port Orchard, has been named the Washington state Civic Educator of the Year.

Read more here about Messing’s award and two other area teachers who will be honored.

Lots of state education stuff going on this week.

Gov. Chris Gregoire made public plans to help the state land some of the federal Race to the Top money.

Read more about Race to the Top and her proposals here and here and here. It’s also interesting to read a survey done in November of 500 public school teachers. The survey asks questions related to Washington’s RTTT proposal, including teachers’ view of how they are paid. 

Also this week, the Quality Education Council released a preliminary plan to revamp the state’s education funding system. The funding system is to be in place by 2018. The council made 13 recommendations, including improvements in early learning, all-day kindergarten, transportation and maintenance costs.

Read a press release from OSPI and the full report here.

Keeping tabs on what the Legislature is doing down in Olympia seems an almost overwhelming task. I subscribe to the Washington State School Directors Association daily leg. reports. Periodically over the next 60 days, I will post information from WSSDA reports. Here’s one from the last 24 hours:

Daily Legislative Update
by Dan Steele, WSSDA Director of Governmental Relations

For Friday, January 15, 2010

On Friday, the legislative schedule was a bit lighter than usual; however, there was one meeting of importance to school directors. This morning, the House Education Committee held a work session to discuss dropout prevention and re-engagement programs. The Committee was briefed on the Building Bridges Grant Program and heard from a number of students on their experiences in the program. Following the work session, the Committee moved to public hearing to discuss to related bills: HB 1418 and HB 2609.

HB 1418 is a returning bill from last session which would create a statewide dropout reengagement system for youth aged 16 to 21 who have dropped out of school or are not expected to graduate by age 21. HB 2609 would provide support for vulnerable students and dropouts by requiring the development of a collaborative infrastructure between systems that serve at-risk students. The bill would also: require the inclusion of information on student graduation and school completion in the rules on school improvement planning; and expand the Building Bridges work group.

Starting on Monday, the beginning of just the second week of this 2010 Regular Legislative Session, things start to ramp up, with most legislative committees having full agendas. The House Education Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hold a work session to discuss Local Effort Assistance (LEA or levy equalization) on Wednesday, Jan. 20, from 6-8:00 pm. If you are interested in getting better informed about one of the hottest education issues of the session, you are encouraged to check out this hearing. It will likely be telecast live on TVW, if the station is available in your area. If it is not telecast live, it (like all legislative hearings) will be recorded and available on their web site (www.TVW.org) and can be viewed at your leisure. This discussion will help set the stage for hearings in both the House and Senate, beginning on Thursday, Jan. 21, regarding bills to make changes to levies, including levy lids, levy bases and levy equalization.

On Monday, Jan. 18, 1:30-3:30 pm, the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee has a work session scheduled to be briefed on progress of Race To The Top (RTTT) legislation. Superintendent Randy Dorn, State Board Chair Mary Jean Ryan and Judy Hartmann, representing the governor, will update the Committee on plans to introduce an “omnibus” bill to address education reforms required to be made to enhance Washington State’s eligibility for federal Race To The Top funding. The governor, SBE and OSPI have been meeting for months on legislation to enhance Washington’s RTTT application. The legislation has not yet been introduced and we have not been privy to the closed door discussions on the issue; however, we understand there will be several parts to the bill (in no particular order):

•The State Board of Education’s System Performance Accountability plan;
•Changes to the current laws on provisional status for teachers, along with adjustments to the state’s continuing contract laws;
•A new principal and teacher evaluation system, based on student achievement;
•The Professional Educator Standards Board’s changes to the Alternative Routes to Certification program;
•Some type of incentive system for professional development; and
•Language regarding the state’s involvement with the national effort to move towards Common Core Standards.
The specifics of most of these pieces are still being crafted behind-the-scenes; however, we expect an actual bill to be introduced next week. Aside from the Supplemental Operating Budget, this bill will likely be THE major education issue for the session. We’ll provide details of the work session in Monday’s Update and will continue to keep you apprised as we learn more information and after the bill is officially introduced.

We also wanted to make mention of the status of another very controversial issue: school district consolidation. Many of you have learned that legislation, HB 2616, was introduced this week to drive the consolidation issue. In short, the bill would require the establishment of a commission to recommend how to reorganize the state into no more than 150 school districts. The number and a reorganization of the state’s Educational Service Districts would have also been apart of the commission’s recommendation duties. You may have also heard that HB 2616 was scheduled for a public hearing next week. When the Legislature’s weekly schedule was released late Wednesday evening, the bill was scheduled for a public hearing in the House Education Committee. Following conversations with Rep. Dave Quall, Chair of the Committee, the bill has been pulled from the agenda, with no intention of adding the bill back at a later date. Please be aware, however, that Rep. Quall is interested in further exploring the issue and it is likely legislation (or perhaps budget language) will be introduced to require some type of study on consolidation. If this effort is successful, it would be in addition to the required school district cost and size study currently being conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, as required by the 2009 Legislature. The JLARC study is scheduled to be completed and released in June 2010.

Steele calls possible cuts in levy equalization one of the hottest issues in the session. I plan to look into what cuts in LEA would mean for local districts in the next few weeks (though I’m sure some kitsapeducation folks could tell me off the tops of their heads!)

Former state schools superintendent Terry Bergeson has a new role in school leadership, but this time it’s in California.

Read more here.

South Kitsap High School student Ethan Kalkwarf will sign copies of his book, Teen Entrepreneur, tomorrow (Saturday) from 3 to 5 p.m. at Cosmo’s Deli, 1821 SE Lund, in Port Orchard.

Ethan has been in the business world for 10 years with two businesses, Ethan’s Paper Products and Phase 5 Design. His book delves into his experiences with his businesses, but also is meant to inspire teens to take on leadership roles.