If you’re like Brian Lewis, the Kitsap Sun’s coding guru, you may have left school supply shopping to the last minute. Well, we’re not exactly to the last minute yet, but getting close.
School starts Sept. 2 for most local districts, except South Kitsap and North Mason, which start on Sept. 9 (after our late Labor Day, Sept. 7).
Brian, a devoted uncle, had the bright idea to make his and your lives easier by compiling all school supply lists on one webpage, along with other relevant links.
As the Kitsap Sun’s education reporter, my theme for the upcoming school year is “here to serve you.” I’d like to focus on providing families with useful, relevant information about local schools, as well as state and national trends in education that affect your kids.
I compile the Kitsap Sun’s education stories (and other education news) on my Facebook page. You can always reach me with your questions or comments on stories by Facebook message (friend me please so messages don’t go in the dreaded “other” folder), by calling (360) 792-9219 or emailing christina.henry@kitsapsun.com.
Some of the topics we covered last year were bullying, state funding for schools, teachers’ pay and the rolling-one day walkouts in which teachers’ protested for higher pay and smaller class sizes.
We also tried something new this year, offering live chats on trending topics, like the one we did on South Kitsap’s plan to bring ninth graders up to the high school.
In the upcoming year, I hope to dig into Common Core and find out how it’s playing out in the classroom, and how (if?) it’s impacting students’ lives and education. We hope to follow up on our series on discipline and equity by looking at the role of paraeducators, who work with students with disabilities. Statistics show these students are disciplined at higher rates that their peers. What’s with that? And I’d like to write about preparing students for college, not just the academics, but equipping them to navigate in this new environment (and — considering how much has been written about helicopter parents these days — being able to let them go).
Anyway, these are just a few of the ideas I have. I hope you’ll contact me with ideas for education stories that would be useful and interesting to you. I can’t promise we’ll get to all of them, but we’ll do our best.
P.S. Yes, I still cover South Kitsap, so stay in touch as well if you live or work in that part of the county.
Chris Henry, Kitsap Sun reporter
chenry@kitsapsun.com
https://www.facebook.com/chrishenryreporter
(360) 792-9219
