Peninsular Thinking

Here’s a press release from the South Kitsap School District about its annual back-to-school event, which seems to get bigge each year.

South Kitsap School District starts off each year with a FREE Back-to-School Celebration

On Saturday, August 20, from 11:00 a.m. – 2 p.m. the South Kitsap School District will hold its seventh annual Back-to-School Celebration for all SKSD students and their families at the South Kitsap High School Track.

Entertainment, music, games, and fun await you and your family at this event. Booths from organizations, businesses, and schools will line the South Kitsap High School track with kid-centered displays, demonstrations, and activities. There will also be hands-on games, art projects, and school bus rides. The day will culminate in a kids’ parade lead by the South Kitsap Community Band. All activities and performances are free. All students should be accompanied by an adult.

In addition free family health services will be available such as vision, hearing and dental screenings.

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The South Kitsap School District will host the Harlem Wizards at 6:30 p.m. tonight at South Kitsap High School, 425 Mitchell Ave., Port Orchard, WA 98366. Tickets are $12 at the door. Proceeds benefit the district.

Here’s the press release from the SK Parent Teacher Student District Council, which organized the event.

Tuesday, May 10 to perform an outstanding show on the court and to take on SKSD’s Key-sters team including, teachers, and principals. See who’s on the SK team!

The game starts at 6:30 p.m. at South Kitsap High School. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Refreshments and souvenirs will be sold and free autographs from players will be available after the game.

Fans will see amazing basketball talent combined with hilarious comedy. It’s two hours of family time where parents, grandparents, and kids can all laugh together. Throughout the game fans will experience a magical display of tricks, coordinated ball handling, fancy passing and aerodynamic athleticism combined with high-energy comedy and audience interaction. The experience can only be summed up in two words: Awe-Inspiring

BUY TICKETS NOW:
Tickets are available for purchase online at www.harlemwizards.com. Or by mail – download Ticket Order Form. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, 3 and under are free.

Proceeds will benefit the students of the South Kitsap School District.

This event is sponsored by the SK Parent Teacher Student District Council. For more information, contact Tracy Hopkins at tshopkins@wavecable.com.

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South Kitsap School District officials have invited parents and community members to a meeting to discuss the district’s future from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at South Kitsap High School.

The school board last week voted to lay off the equivalent of 15 teachers. The district is required under teachers’ contracts to send notices by May 15 to those whose positions are targeted for elimination. According to school board President Kathryn Simpson, the district actually will be eliminating 25 teaching positions, but some will come from attrition and retirement.

The district has cut $19 million since 2009 and faces the need to cut $6.5 million in the 2011-12 school year. Without local levy support, the district would be bankrupt, according to Terri Patton, assistant superintendent of business and support services.

South Kitsap in the past has been able to balance its shrinking budget through attrition, but enrollment — a key revenue driver — is down this school year (2010-11) by 3.22 percent, when the district had expected a decrease of 1.25 percent. In addition, federal stimulus funds that helped buoy the district through the past couple years has dried up, and the state has made drastic cuts to education.

The district learned partway through the school year (once its 2010-11 budget already had been adopted) that the state wold be cutting funding for the current year by about $2 million. This was partially offset by federal funding to save teachers’ jobs, but the net result was a loss of $890,000 in this school year.

The state Legislature has proposed deep cuts to education for the upcoming school year. The Senate version of the budget calls for a $250 million reduction to K-12 education that was not included in the House. They’ll go back to negotiations for a special session this week. For that reason, Simpson does not expect legislators representing South Kitsap to be at Wednesday’s discussion, although they were invited.

Bottom line, class sizes are going to increase. And the question parents likely will be asking — or should be asking — is what does this mean to my kid?

In addition to what the district has to say about how it will try to accommodate the loss of teachers, I wonder what plans families have for living with SKSD’s new normal.

Will you migrate to a private school? Likely that’s a factor in decreased enrollment, although I don’t have the stats at hand to prove it.

Will you give your kids a primer on how to get their questions answered, their voices heard in the crowd? Will you amp up your level of parental hovering, where schools are concerned?

One last question: Bainbridge Island has had considerable success supplementing that district’s budget through its foundation, with pledges and fundraisers.

Disclaimer: I’ve not heard anyone from South Kitsap School District raise this as a possibility. I’m just wondering if anyone out there would be willing to donate to public schools.

Just askin’.

Chris Henry, reporter

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Ah, the first day of school: the smell of new pencils, the look of new clothes carefully chosen, the sound of eager voices, children ready to hit the books for another year.

But wait, one district was missing.

On Wednesday, as students in North Mason and all other Kitsap County schools returned to the classroom, students in South Kitsap School District continued with their summertime sloth and frivolity.

At least the kids in my neighborhood could be seen soaking up those precious last dabs of summer sunshine, getting in the last few games of basketball, a last bike ride. Some I know personally took the opportunity to sleep in until all hours, before the rude shock to their systems of having to make the bus in the cold, gray dawn.

I called Greg Roberts, assistant superintendent of personnel, to ask why South Kitsap schools resume Sept. 8, a week later than other districts.

“For years, South Kitsap has always started after Labor Day, so there’s a tradition on that,” Roberts said.

On the calendar, Labor Day cycles year by year farther into the month before jumping back to near the beginning, Roberts said. This year, the difference in start time between schools that start before Labor Day and after is more pronounced.

Families in South Kitsap have told district officials that they like having the extra time at the end of the summer, Roberts said. And really, if you think about it, the other districts will be just getting up a small head of steam, when wham, there’s a three-day weekend.

The decision has nothing to do with the South Kitsap Education Association, the teachers’ union, which recently ratified a new three-year contract with the district. Teachers have the right to bargain for starting before Labor Day, but it’s never come up in Roberts’ memory.

South Kitsap’s late start does not mean that students get fewer days of schooling, Roberts said. South Kitsap compresses its 180 student days over nine months so that the last day of school, June 15, is within a day or two of most other school districts in the area.

So, to all Kitsap and North Mason students and their families, enjoy this Labor Day, and as you bid adieu to summer, stay safe, have fun and make memories to carry you through the winter.

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