Education Archives - Page 68 of 77

Berg aims to ‘hit the ground running’ as Marysville schools’ new superintendent

By Kirk Boxleitner, The Marysville Globe

Courtesy photo.Dr. Becky Berg officially starts as the new superintendent of the Marysville School District on July 1. — Courtesy photo.
Dr. Becky Berg officially starts as the new superintendent of the Marysville School District on July 1.

MARYSVILLE — Dr. Becky Berg is still mapping out her transition between the Deer Park School District, where she currently serves as superintendent, and the Marysville School District, for which she was selected as the new superintendent on March 28, but between now and when she officially starts her new job on July 1, Berg aims to get up to speed in short order.

“I intend to hit the ground running, listening and learning,” said Berg, whose career in education opened with stints as a classroom teacher in the Renton and Enumclaw school districts from 1986-91, after earning her B.A. in education from Eastern Washington University in 1984. “I’m open to meeting with as many constituents and community groups as possible, so that I can learn as much as possible during those golden hours when I’m still new to the school district. I have no agenda other than continuing the great work that’s already been done in the district, and understanding its future needs.”

Indeed, Berg cited what she deemed the healthy relationships between district leaders, staff members, students, families and surrounding community members as one of the traits that drew her to the Marysville School District in the first place.

“I was impressed,” said Berg, whose stints as acting, associate, assistant and full principals in the Bainbridge Island and Mead school districts, the latter in Spokane, ran from 1991 through 2010, when she began her current job as superintendent of the Deer Park School District. “Innovations such as the Small Learning Communities are the kinds of bold measures that it will take to keep up with the needs of the 21st century. This district’s diversity was also a huge draw for me, since I’m looking forward to working with the Tulalip Tribes, the growing Hispanic community and other partners.”

Berg eagerly anticipates familiarizing herself with Marysville as a resident, a process that she referred to as “knitting in” rather than “fitting in.”

“This really isn’t about me, though,” Berg said. “It’s about the Marysville community and its students. This district demonstrates that dynamic, effective education is possible, and I’m incredibly excited to be part of it.”

Easter Bunny visits Montessori students

Photos by Jeannie Briones

Easter may be a few days away, but on March 29th kids at the Tulalip Montessori School got an early visit from the Easter Bunny.

After much smiling, laughing and hugging, the kids made a dash through the playground, hunting for candy and eggs, which they stashed in their own hand-decorated bags.

Tribal member Zakk Boehme — Tribal member Peyton Gobin.

Totem Middle School deemed ‘bright spot’ in state for Algebra education

By Kirk Boxleitner, The Marysville Globe

Kirk BoxleitnerBreann Williams offers interventionary instruction to help get Totem Middle School students up to speed for Algebra I by the eighth grade. — Photo: Kirk Boxleitner
Breann Williams offers interventionary instruction to help get Totem Middle School students up to speed for Algebra I by the eighth grade.

MARYSVILLE — Three years after receiving a less auspicious designation from the state, Totem Middle School has been spotlighted by the League of Education Voters for its significant accomplishments in those intervening years.

League of Education Voters CEO Chris Korsmo explained that the LEV’s 2013 Citizens’ Report Card, which was released on March 26, cited Totem Middle School’s push to up the numbers of students in its higher level math classes, which prepare them for high school and beyond.

“This school’s success is a bright spot for Washington,” Korsmo said. “Their innovation and dedication to helping students reach their potential should be a model for schools across the state.”

Korsmo noted that half of Totem’s students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, and yet almost all of the school’s students take Algebra I before they move on to high school, which he pointed out makes them better prepared to take the math courses that colleges and technical schools look for when admitting students.

Marysville School District Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland expressed his pride in Totem’s staff for helping so many eighth-graders succeed in Algebra, which is traditionally a ninth-grade class.

“They have added extra periods and extra tutoring,” Nyland said of the Totem staff. “They constantly challenge students to step up a notch. They have visited other schools to learn what else they can do. They have developed roadmaps that let students work at their own pace. Totem staff don’t give up. They find a way.”

Totem Middle School Principal Robert Kalahan recalled how, three years ago, Totem received a federal school improvement grant as a “priority school.”

“It was a disheartening designation, because for each of the three years in a row prior to that, we’d seen gains of 11 percent in our reading scores,” Kalahan said. “We were making solid, steady gains in reading, but we realized we hadn’t made any gains in math during that same time. So, we called a state of emergency and got everybody on deck to teach math.”

Totem began by doubling its Algebra classes from 30 to 60 students, and then expanded further by scheduling double-periods of Algebra and working to help an additional 25 students get ready to take the state test. By the time Totem had enrolled nearly 100 eighth-graders in Algebra classes, 89 percent of them passed the end-of-course exam.

“We passed more Algebra students than all the other middle schools in town combined,” Kalahan said. “From there, we asked ourselves what more we could do, which led to us focusing on the sixth- and seventh-graders, to try and give them a math curriculum that would get them ready for Algebra by the eighth grade.”

Additional Algebra classes, further double-periods of Algebra and Totem teachers working on an elective basis to pre-teach Algebra skills soon added up to 180 Algebra students, 80 percent of whom passed the regular Holt curriculum.

“They weren’t as successful as the students the year before, but there were so many more students taking Algebra,” said Kalahan, who confirmed that nearly every eighth-grader at Totem now takes at least an Algebra class. “There’s been concern expressed over whether students are being pushed to take Algebra too early, but my research of our local ninth-graders has found that their learning has continued to accelerate in high school.”

Kalahan credited the success of Totem’s aggressive promotion of Algebra not only to teachers who believe that students can achieve at high levels, but also to teachers who are afforded extra time during the school day to intervene on behalf of struggling students.

“Thanks to the work being done at the Totem and 10th Street middle schools, as well as more students taking eighth-grade Algebra at the Cedarcrest and Marysville middle schools, we are now ahead of schedule in meeting our district goal for students taking and passing eighth-grade Algebra,” Nyland said. “Eighth-grade Algebra is one of our steps to success, as a leading indicator of student success in graduation and college readiness.”

Inslee on budget: ‘I choose education over tax breaks’

By Jerry Cornfield, The Herald

OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee prescribed his plan Thursday for pumping $1.3 billion more into the state’s public school system then challenged lawmakers to buck up and pay for it by ending popular tax breaks and extending taxes set to expire this summer.The first-term governor wants to fund full-day kindergarten in high poverty schools and make preschool available for more children of low-income families.

He also wants to pay for smaller kindergarten and first grade classes, beef up reading intervention and dropout prevention programs and hire 1,400 secondary school teachers in order add courses in middle and high schools.

And he’d pour half of the new money into shouldering a greater share of the bill for school bus service and the purchase of materials and supplies in each school district.

Most of the investment is a first step toward complying with a Supreme Court decision last year that found lawmakers in violation of the state Constitution by not adequately funding public schools.

“To govern, it is said, is to choose,” Inslee said after releasing a broad blueprint of his priorities for the next two-year state budget. “Today, I choose, and I believe we should all choose, education over tax breaks, and to make good on our constitutional and moral duty to quality schools for our children.”

Republicans in the House and Senate didn’t object to how Inslee wants to spend the money only his reliance on taxes to pay for it. They wished he’d looked harder to trim government spending and not put as many dollars into salaries and benefits of state employees.

“I don’t see one on there I can support,” Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler of Ritzville said of the list of tax breaks. “You’re not choosing between kids and tax cuts. You’re choosing between bureaucrats and tax hikes.”

House Democrats said Inslee’s plan spending and tax proposals are on the same scale as the ones in the budget they are writing.

“Overall I think the budget reflected the values of our caucus pretty well,” said House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington.

To pay for his education plan, Inslee wants to generate $565 million by repealing or revising 11 tax exemptions most of which have been a political hit list before and survived.

Among them are ones that could lead to bottled water getting taxed and Oregon residents paying sales taxes.

Time and again Thursday, Inslee said it comes down to preserving those breaks or preparing the next generation of engineers and scientists.

“I challenge anyone, anyone in any part of the state in any industry to argue that any single one of these tax breaks is more important than the STEM education of these students,” he said.

Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, serves on the Senate budget committee that will have to approve any of them.

“I don’t think anything is more important than education other than getting our economy going again,” she said. “Adding more taxes on businesses has a dampening effect on growth.”

Inslee also wants to make permanent a hike in the business and occupation tax paid by doctors, lawyers and accountants and a 50-cent-per-gallon tax on beer. He also wants to expand the beer tax to cover all producers; today it only applies to those making in excess of 60,000 barrels a year.

Inslee hopes to bring in $661 million from these taxes which were enacted in 2010 and are set to expire June 30.

Inslee, who campaigned against raising taxes, said his plan doesn’t backtrack on that. He said he repeatedly pledged to close tax break and not seek a general tax increase.

“I am fulfilling on my commitment to the ‘T’,” he said.

For owners of small breweries the change in the beer tax means they the tax they pay on each 31-gallon barrel produced could rise from $4.78 to $20.28.

“We’re going to pass it through and it will go through to the beer drinker,” said co-owner Phil Bannan, co-owner of Scuttlebutt Brewing Co. in Everett. “Beer is a common man’s drink so this is going to hit the common man in the wallet.”

Kegs, which hold 15.5 gallons and cost around $135 apiece today, could go up in price by about $10, he said.

“I don’t disagree with the priority of education,” he said. “But I disagree with his way of solving it.”

What Inslee released Thursday was his spending priorities for the two-year budget which begins July 1.

With a projected shortfall of $1.3 billion, Inslee is proposing to save $321 million by suspending the cost-of-living raises for teachers required under Initiative 732. He also suggests cutting $29.8 million in funding for alternative learning experience programs which cover costs of online and home school programs.

In other parts of his budget proposal Inslee backs full expansion of the Medicaid program. That move, he said, will reportedly save the state nearly $300 million as the federal government picks up the cost of covering the estimated 255,000 adults who could become eligible.

He wants to hire more child and adult protective services caseworkers, restore the 3 percent pay cuts for state employees and put $23.7 million into state parks.

With release of his proposal, Inslee kicked off the budget debate in Olympia.

The Republican-dominated Senate Majority Coalition expects to release its budget early next week followed by the House Democrats.

The 105-day legislative session is scheduled to end April 28.

Tulalip elementary students graduate from self-defense class

By Kim Kalliber and Jeannie Briones; photos by Jeannie Briones

Students, instructors and Tulalip police officers celebrate the 21 radKIDS graduates.

Empowerment, self-esteem and safety skills – these are a few of the core values of the radKIDS program and 21 proud radKIDS graduates are now armed with these important life skills. Tulalip police officers, instructors and

Tribal member Nakoyia Fryberg and Tulalip Police Officer Mark Nelson.

students celebrated the graduation at Quil Ceda & Tulalip Elementary School on March 26.

RadKIDS, which has been in operation at Quil Ceda & Tulalip Elementary for two years, is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to providing effective lifesaving skills to children. Through this program, kids become empowered to recognize and avoid dangerous situations, and to replace the fear and confusion they may feel in these situations with confidence and self-defense skills.

“There is no other program like it for safety. Students benefit from learning about safety, like being safe from a bully, staying away from drugs and alcohol and keeping safe from someone who’s trying to harm them,” said Rochelle Lubbers, Tulalip Police Department Emergency Services Manager and radKIDS Instructor.

During the graduation, students received a certificate and got to demonstrate their newly acquired self-defense skills against the “redman.” Tulalip police officer Mark Nelson wore the padded red suit to protect himself from the kids slick moves like shin kicks, toe kicks and knee kicks.

This training includes kids and their parents creating a password. A password is a word that is used as a safety check should a parent need to send another adult to pick up a child from school, sports, etc. The purpose of the password is to protect your child from going with someone under false pretenses. When approached by a stranger, the child will ask for a password, if the stranger does not know the password, the child is then taught to run away or seek help.

“We can get away from who tries to take us. It feels good to be safe,” said Nakoyia Fryberg, radKIDS graduate and Tulalip tribal member.

To learn more about the radKIDS program visit www.radkids.org

2013 Young Native Women’s Leadership Academy

Declaring Our Power, Defining Our Future

April 4-6, Swinomish Lidge

This 3 day training is designed to strengthen women’s understadning of money, popular media, personal development, goal setting, leadership, tribal sovereignty, Indian law, networking, and self-expression. At the end of the Academy, women will leave empowered, engaged and prepared to reach their goals for Indian Country.

We encourage young Native women who are seniors in high school through their 4th year in college/university during the 2013-14 school year to apply. Applicants will be judged on the applicant’s potential for leadership and commitment to Native service, as reflected in her application.

Applications are available online at www.enduringspirit.org. Applications are due by March 29, 2013.

$10M sought for EvCC University Center expansion

The University Center is expected to outgrow its home at EvCC by 2021 because of rising enrollment.

By Jerry Cornfield, The Herald

OLYMPIA — Washington State University is inciting the kind of concern in Everett that community leaders have dreamed about for years: too many college students, not enough classroom space.

A consortium of universities led by WSU thinks it will nearly triple its enrollment at Everett Community College this decade and need a new home for its students by the next.

WSU and its partners at the University Center predict the number of full-time students they serve will rise from 465 this school year to 1,179 by the spring of 2021.

By then the center will “outgrow currently available facilities on the EvCC campus and will need significantly more physical capacity,” according to a report delivered to the Legislature in December.

Area lawmakers are citing that prediction in their efforts to secure $10 million in state funding to buy land and erect a new building near the community college.

“It is a necessary next step if we are going to continue to meet the growing need for those four-year degrees,” said Sen. Nick Harper, D-Everett, who first submitted a request for funds to the writers of the Senate capital budget in February. Around the same time, Reps. Mike Sells of Everett and John McCoy of Tulalip approached the chief capital budget writer in the House, Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish.

Dunshee, long a central figure in efforts to land a university branch campus in the county, gave no hints on how he’ll respond.

“I have a lot of requests,” he said. “I have to consider all the statewide interests.”

Today the University Center is managed by Everett Community College and operates out of allotted space in Gray Wolf Hall. Its participating colleges include Western Washington University, Central Washington University, University of Washington-Bothell and WSU.

A state law passed in 2011 prescribes a path for WSU to take over management by July 1, 2014. That same law required that before the changeover the Pullman-based research university had to begin offering undergraduate degrees at the center and write a long-term plan for running the operation.

WSU launched its mechanical engineering degree program at Everett Community College in August and quickly filled its 60 slots.

It is seeking $2 million in the next state budget to start baccalaureate degree programs in electrical engineering, communication and hospitality business management. WSU also wants to add certificate programs in education. All told, these could push WSU enrollment to 450 students by 2021.

Western Washington and Central Washington also want to add generously to their respective enrollments at the University Center in the next few years.

Crowding is already a concern at the community college, where the number of full-time students was 7,842 in the 2011-12 school year. Enrollment is climbing, in part among students interested in taking lower-division classes that prepare them for WSU’s engineering courses.

“They understand what our needs are,” said EvCC President David Beyer. “We’re going to be supportive (of the funding request) because these programs at the center are very important to us, as well.”

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson is also deeply involved in trying to snare money to establish what could become a beachhead for a branch campus.

“What you’re beginning to see is the next evolution of the University Center,” he said.

There is no specific project tied to the money as of now.

However, officials of the city, WSU and EvCC are talking about constructing a 95,000-square-foot building on the parking lot of the former College Plaza shopping center, which is owned by the community college.

WSU would use the requested state funds to buy nearby properties and convert them into parking lots to offset those spaces displaced by the new building.

In recent days, the hunt for money gained a bit more steam in the Legislature.

In a rare show of unanimity, six of the seven senators representing Snohomish County on March 7 sent a letter supporting the requested dollars to Senate budget writers.

Signing the letter were Democrats Harper, Paull Shin of Edmonds, Maralyn Chase of Shoreline, Rosemary McAuliffe of Bothell and Steve Hobbs of Lake Stevens, along with Republican Kirk Pearson of Monroe.

“If we’re not serious about this, we’ll never get the branch campus we need,” Hobbs said.

Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, who is a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee that writes the budgets, did not sign.

“I felt it was inappropriate for me to do so since I sit on the (budget) committee” she said. “I need to try to stay neutral.”

Online classes paired with advocate for at-risk students

Photo: Dan Bates / The HeraldMadison Conlon works at one of three tables occupied by her fellow American Academy students at the Mountain View Diner in Sultan on Thursday. The students meet each week with their Sultan School district advocate, Dayna Monteleon, who helps students deal with non-academic issues to keep them on track with their studies. — Photo: Dan Bates / The Herald
Madison Conlon works at one of three tables occupied by her fellow American Academy students at the Mountain View Diner in Sultan on Thursday. The students meet each week with their Sultan School district advocate, Dayna Monteleon, who helps students deal with non-academic issues to keep them on track with their studies.

Students at risk of dropping out of high school are taking classes online but also have an advocate who can address non-academic issues and keep them on task.

By Melissa Slager, The Herald

Willem Gmazel had just completed his junior year at Bothell High School when he said he started “acting really crazy.”

Anxiety and depression hit; he was unable to sleep in a regular pattern. The problems persisted into his senior year, so he switched to the Northshore School District’s alternative Secondary Academy for Success.

Attending regularly scheduled classes remained a struggle, however, and Gmazel was close to becoming a statistic — among the nearly 1 in 4 Washington teens who disappear from high school altogether.

But he didn’t want to give up.

“I wanted to graduate, you know? I didn’t want to have to get a GED or anything like that. I wanted my diploma, even though I was going through a tough time,” he said.

With the support of his mother, Gmazel asked school staff about the possibility of online courses. He soon was enrolled in The American Academy, which offers online courses and pairs students with hired “advocates” who help keep teens on task and on course for graduation.

The Northshore School District is in its second year using the program, also called NoDropouts.com.

Since it started, five students — including Gmazel — have graduated with Northshore diplomas through the online program.

The Sultan School District also has used the program for a little more than two years. Three students have graduated.

In February, the Edmonds School District penned an agreement with The American Academy to try the program for one year.

Like other districts, Edmonds already has a range of options for students beyond the traditional high school program, including alternative schools, online classes, Running Start college courses and more.

The American Academy program will target those who have already dropped out and work with them one-on-one to get back on track. “If that helps just one student acquire a diploma who otherwise might not have earned one, than it is an initiative worth trying,” Assistant Superintendent Patrick Murphy said.

Jordan Stengrim, 17, of Gold Bar, is taking courses through the Sultan-based American Academy program and is on track to graduate by next summer.

Stengrim said he was failing classes at Sultan High School, the result of frequent absences and a lack of focus in the classroom. Since switching to The American Academy online courses, his grades have improved dramatically, he said.

Stengrim said he likes doing things at his own pace. “To me it’s easier than regular school because I don’t want to talk to my friends all the time,” he added.

The American Academy is accredited and is on the state’s OK list for digital learning programs. Licensed teachers teach core classes, which are said to meet the state’s learning standards. Tutors are available via live chat, 24/7. Students who don’t have access to a computer with Internet are provided a laptop.

A key component of the NoDropouts program is a “student advocate,” who is not a teacher but someone who keeps regular tabs on students and tries to address non-academic problems.

“I’m available to the kids on weekends, at night. If they have a problem they can call me or text me,” said Dayna Monteleon, the American Academy-hired student advocate for the Sultan School District. “If they’re not getting their work done, I’ll go knock on their door. … I’m basically the only face-to-face contact they have. Everyone else they interact with is online.”

Monteleon worked with youth in Sultan before taking the advocate job. Now living in Bremerton for a second job, she maintains her role with The American Academy and commutes to the east Snohomish County city for weekly meet-ups with students. Her 18-year-old son also still lives in Sultan, completing his studies at the district’s alternative Sky Valley Options program.

In both Northshore and Sultan, prospective students must meet with district administrators first.

In Northshore, Donna Tyo is that gateway. She heads up the district’s secondary alternative programs as principal of the Secondary Academy for Success.

The American Academy is not for everyone, Tyo said.

Students who take online courses must be self-motivated, she said. They tend to be bright students who simply have a barrier to learning in a traditional environment, either because of work schedules, anxiety problems or other issues.

Gmazel, the recent graduate, for example, was already engaged in other aspects of high school life, competing on the Bothell High School wrestling team, and his SAT scores were good enough to pursue college studies.

Tyo has turned to the online classes to convince a professional skateboarder that getting his diploma is still important and for a high-anxiety teen who struggled in the classroom environment.

The online program has become part of “a palette of options” and creative maneuvers Tyo employs to prevent dropouts in the first place. “Whatever works,” she said.

Indeed, while NoDropouts is billed as a kind of dropout headhunter — tracking down students who have already left and getting them to come back — the program often becomes more of a prevention tool for school districts.

Phil Bouie is the American Academy-hired student advocate for the Northshore School District. Most times, students find him.

“We get a lot of students who get recommended to us through the school district. A lot of our students also have other peers or friends who are in a similar situation,” Bouie said.

As an advocate, Bouie has helped students craft resumes, locate organizations for required volunteer hours and find shelter. “Pretty much anytime a student needs help, I try to help,” he said.

The American Academy is not without its problems.

State auditors have scrutinized online education programs in recent years. The American Academy was at the center of two audit findings, in Sultan and Sunnyside. A lot of the problems linked to bad record-keeping. In Sultan, it means $66,619 of state funding is in question and may have to be paid back, pending a state review.

The American Academy is hired to do the work. “But it’s under our name. So if something gets messed up, we pay the piper,” said Dan Chaplik, superintendent in Sultan.

Only a fraction of students who enter the NoDropouts program earn diplomas. A few are too far behind and are steered to GED programs. Some are brought up to speed, then transfer back to district-based programs. Others drop out again.

Program staff focus on the positive stories, including 200 successful exits last year nationwide — students leaving the program with diplomas or to head back into regular school programs. Roughly 1,100 students are currently in the program, including 600 in Washington.

“We are working with the toughest cases,” said Matthew LaPlante, a spokesman for the Utah-based American Academy. Regardless of teens’ reasons for dropping out, “they deserve a second chance.”

In January, Gmazel donned cap and gown and attended a Northshore School Board meeting to receive his diploma.

Now living in Olympia, Gmazel is volunteering and looking for work while waiting to hear back from The Evergreen State College on his application. He wants to study sustainable agriculture.

Gmazel said he’s sleeping and feeling better. He has a plan and is hopeful about his future.

“I’m pretty good. I feel like before all this happened, pretty much,” he said.

Marysville names three finalists for school superintendent

Linda Shaw, The Seattle Times, March 23, 2013

The Marysville School Board has named three finalists to replace Superintendent Larry Nyland, who will retire at the end of this school year.

All three are from Washington state school districts: Becky Berg from Deer Park, Carl Bruner from Mount Vernon, and Tony Byrd from Edmonds.

Board members interviewed five semifinalists in sessions that were open to the public. Observers were asked to provide written comments and score the candidates based on a number of criteria.

The finalists are scheduled to visit the district next week, and the district is holding public forums so that parents, students, staff and other community members can meet them. The schedule is posted on the district’s website at: http://www.msvl.k12.wa.us/

Marysville district interviews proceed

The Marysville School Board has selected six people to be interviewed for the superintendent position.

By Gale Fiege, The Herald

MARYSVILLE — The search for the person to replace Marysville School District’s retiring Superintendent Larry Nyland continues Saturday with public interviews of the candidates.

The Marysville School Board has picked six people to move forward into the first round of preliminary interviews.

They are Edmonds Assistant Superintendent Tony Byrd, Lakewood Superintendent Dennis Haddock, Mount Vernon Superintendent Carl Bruner, Deer Park Superintendent Becky Berg, Orting Superintendent Michelle Curry and Lake Washington School District administrator Jon Holmen.

Preliminary interviews are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday in the school district board room, 4220 80th St. NE, Marysville.

Interviews of the semifinalists are open to the public, but school board members plan to ask the questions. People who attend will be given an opportunity to provide written comments. Finalists are to be selected by the board following the interviews Saturday.

Interviews of the finalists are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with one candidate each day. School faculty and staff, parents, students and other people who live in the district have the chance to meet the candidates in open forums that are scheduled at 11 a.m., 4:15 and 6:30 p.m. each of the three days, also in the district board room.

The superintendent candidates also plan to tour the school district, meet with principals, administrators and the Tulalip Tribes council.

For more information on the superintendent search, call Jodi Runyon, 360-653-0800.