Friday News - Port Townsend School District

Friday News
March 20, 2015
Dear Colleagues;
I’ve been reflecting on Mary Sepler as I make final preparations for the Grant Street principal
interview process tomorrow. When I came to the district in 2012 I was faced with enormous
leadership gaps to fill. Grant Street’s principal Steve Finch was headed for Burlington-Edison
and was out the door before I had even moved into my office. He did leave me a note, though,
urging me to consider Mary Sepler as an interim principal for Grant Street. Being new to the
district, I decided it was worth a conversation based on Steve’s long tenure here. From my first
conversation with Mary I knew that Grant Street would be in the best of hands. I removed the
interim tag pretty quickly once the school year was up and running. As I thought then, this was
one of my best decisions as an administrator. Mary has blossomed into an extraordinary
elementary school principal. I am certain that she’ll find a new school across the water in
Whatcom County that will greatly benefit from her passionate, informed leadership. While we
still have a long haul until the end of the school year and Mary has much she’d like to
accomplish with her staff at Grant Street, the interviewing process reminds me of the coming
separation. I hope each of you has a chance in the next few months to stop by Grant Street and
let Mary know how much we’ve appreciated her advocacy for our children and her adult
leadership in the community. Find news from our principals and directors below:
Grant Street
I thought you would enjoy seeing the recent video made as a result of the Tumbl Trak work at
Grant Street. You'll see our classroom and gym in the video as well as several of our students.
Parents gave permission for this production and observed most of the sessions with the
trainers. Here is the link to the final product: https://vimeo.com/120852052 The password is
tumbl. Bobbie Butler, our Physical Therapist, and Kathy Hund, our Special Education Teacher,
both report the exercise and sensory experiences offered through this program to our students
have been invaluable to their progress.
I met with Bill Beezley from East Jefferson Fire Rescue, Samantha Trone from the PT Public
Works Department and Officer Michael Evans from the PT Police Department to plan the
upcoming Grant Street Public Safety Day that will be held on May 28th. Because there will be
significant construction beginning June 16th on Sheridan as part of the Safe Routes to School
grant, this fair is meant to educate children on how to be safe near construction equipment and
other emergency vehicles. Pedestrian and bike safety will also be stressed. The menu of
"stations" includes construction equipment, fire trucks, police cars, a street crossing station and
possibly a helicopter. There may also be a fire/earthquake simulation trailer that will be
scheduled for our 3-4-5 grade students. In addition to this, the police department is co-teaching
with Aleen during PE lessons on April 20 and 21 for bike safety lessons. Also, the city is
generating maps of safe routes for walking and biking to our school along with tips for talking to
your child about pedestrian safety. We'll be sending those home to advertise this event.
Although this was jumpstarted by a Safe Routes to Schools grant, we're all hoping it's the first of
many annual events.
PTA has a very successful Spaghetti-Bingo night last Friday and many families gathered to hear
"Bingo Bob" (Noah Harrison) call the numbers. The culinary class at the High School did an
outstanding job with the spaghetti dinner under the leadership of Jennifer Kruse. Also very
successful were the final productions of OCEAN's Romeo and Juliet. The student's command of
Shakespeare's phrasing was impressive and I was pleased to enjoy a performance alongside Dr.
and Mrs. Engle. Events like these require hours of volunteer involvement and dedication. I'm
constantly reminded of our many community partners and feel so thankful for their support.
Mary Sepler, Principal
PTHS
This week was HSPE retake testing at the high school. With the state making the transition to
the Smarter Balanced exams, the only students who tested were the few juniors and seniors
who have not yet met standard on the High School Proficiency Exam. In past years, the HSPE
was the exam taken by all sophomores to measure their proficiency in reading and writing. This
year those sophomores will join the juniors in the Smarter Balanced exam at the end of April.
Tuesday was our first home boys’ soccer game for the spring season. This first game was
against Port Angeles, which traditionally is our Andy Palmer game. We are currently playing at
HJ Carroll Park in Chimacum, so we set up a table near the parking lot and invited arriving fans
to enter by donation for the Andy Palmer Scholarship. Folks were very generous and the small
crowd of fans gave close to $250. The money has been deposited into our scholarship fund
joining the proceeds from a fall football game, and will be awarded to a deserving graduate this
spring.
The Jefferson County Bar Association sponsored a music fundraiser for our Mock Trial students
on Thursday night at The Cellar Door. The team is working on raising the final funds needed to
go to state competition next weekend.
Our Tolo Dance has been postponed from this Saturday until next month to accommodate our
attendance at the Team Port Townsend Auction. I was able to get a sneak peek at the auction
brochure and it promises to be a great event. I hope to see you there!
Carrie Ehrhardt, Principal
HR/Payroll
The primary focus this week has been to complete the ESSB 5940 K-12 District Employee Health
Benefit Data Collection Project. OESD completed their alert resolutions so I was able to
recalculate the OIC spreadsheet and am now making corrections and updates.
March payroll will be calculated, verified and sent to ESD 114 on March 19.
Per PTEA CBA, page 41, Section F. Group Insurance, item 6, re-pooled the certificated staff
insurance contributions.
Participated in the WASA Substitute Teacher Data Request. On Monday, SHB 1737 passed out
of the House on a 97–1 vote. This would allow teachers who accepted early retirement to
receive their pensions while working up to 630 hours per year as a substitute teacher. While
this wouldn’t solve the current substitute shortage, it is a step in the right
direction. Unfortunately, a similar bill died in the Senate; and 1737 will likely face similar
opposition when it’s considered by that chamber.
Survey questions:
1. What were your total expenditures for substitute teachers in 2013–14?
$125,692
2. What was your average daily pay for substitute teachers in 2013–14?
$122.92 per day per teacher
3. As of February of the current school year, how many substitute days were you unable to fill?
Current school year unfilled as of Feb 28, 2015, 11.28%
4. As of February of the 2013–14 school year, how many substitute days were you unable to
fill?
1.4 % were unfilled sub requests
Library and Technology News
A Day in the Life of Grant Street Library
Grant Street Library is the hub of many learning activities, often occurring simultaneously. This
photo group shows just some of the learning happening this week in the library.
Teri Freitas checks out books to eager students.
Jean Scarboro works with
Grant Street students to
overcome bullying
Coding with volunteer
Jim Emery
Ben Dow works with students as they learn to
write thesis statements during an enrichment
class.
Blue Heron Reads the Same Book
Students at Blue Heron sign this poster after having read the book
Jupiter Pirates, the Port Townsend Public Library’s community read
for 2015. On Thursday of this week, Blue Heron students attended an
assembly featuring the author Jason Fry. Fry flew out from Brooklyn
NY for the special community read events in Port Townsend. So many
students are reading the book that we’ll have to put up another poster
for signatures!
SBAC Testing Preparations
Preparations for SBAC testing continue for teachers, administrators and the tech department.
From checking student rosters, making sure our wireless access is robust, assigning test
administrators, planning testing locations, to the
distribution of Chromebooks, mice and headphones,
planning for this new testing takes coordination
between many District employees. The first SBAC
tests begin at Grant Street on April 15th. SBAC testing
in Port Townsend School District will take
significantly fewer days than in many districts, since
we have many laptops available for silmultaneous testing. The purchase of ChromeBooks this
year means our District will have fewer days devoted to testing, resulting in more instructional
time. This photo shows mice and headphones in the High School library office, cataloged and
ready for use.
Maritime Discovery Schools
This week I worked with Dr. Engle and several high school staff members to further develop the
vision for the high school maritime academy. Kelley Watson has done an excellent job leading
the discussion and helping move the vision forward. We are finalizing next year’s course
offerings around a cohesive vision of Craftsmanship and Creativity.
Blue Heron, 7th grade, teachers are busy planning the Maritime Discovery program with the
NW Maritime Center. I have been working with Ms. Steinkee to find community volunteers to
help with the navigation and math portions of the experience.
I have been working through some ongoing projects of streamlining our volunteer process, and
strengthening our risk management practice in regards to field based learning. There is a need
to continually review out procedures as more community members are in our schools, and our
students are out learning more often in our community.
Sarah Rubenstein, Project Director
Special Services and Assessment
As of today the winter season is history and now we head into the spring season.
Tuesday was a busy day for me and staff at Grant St. In the morning I met with the special
education teacher to discuss and look at IEP caseloads for next year. The groups from preschool to third grade look to be smaller next year but there are still a good number of high
impact students. It will be another year in which the district will need to develop a program for
these students in the area of a life skills program. We eagerly await to see who will be the new
principal at Grant St and find out what background that person has in special education and
what ideas will be brought up for support of the students with IEPs.
In the afternoon, Mary Sepler, Sara Halton and I interviewed two candidates to take on the role
of the speech therapist for the last few months of the school year. Sara will be on maternity
leave and we would like that person to shadow her the last week in March so they will take the
reins after spring break. We did decide on a candidate and now we need to check references. I
hope to announce a candidate before the end of the week.
Wednesday afternoon I spent time with the preschool team along with Jennifer Acuna and we
discussed the items brought up during the preschool norms and vision building discussed on
March 4. It was a good two hours of discussion and we covered many points brought out during
the March 4 meeting. Suggestions and ideas were brought out during this time. It was agreed
that some of the ideas get implemented into the preschool program.
Thursday was another half day at Grant St due to Round Robin IEP’s.
Friday was spent in Port Angeles for the monthly SPED directors’ meeting.
Patrick Kane, Director
Blue Heron
Congratulations to Mark Tallarico who just received word that he is the recipient of a 3-year
grant for the Presidential Youth Fitness Program. In addition to a virtual teacher training
program, the grant provides software, activity guides, student fitness testing , and fitness
awards for our Blue Heron students. This program replaces the “Presidential fitness awards”
and is aligned with our district wellness goals. Mark has been doing a fabulous job this year as
our full-time PE teacher and is a positive addition to our staff. He is also a member of our
Building Leadership Team.
On Thursday, Blue Heron students were part of the Port Townsend Community Read Assembly,
during which we listened to Jason Fry read and talk about his book, Jupiter Pirates. Afterwards,
Ann Healy-Raymond commented that Jason complimented our students on their attentiveness
and the quality of questions they asked. Many thanks to Cheri Brady and Kit from PT Library
who put this program together. For more information, see
http://www.jupiterpirates.com/news/
On Wednesday evening, Kim Clarke led our 4th grade students in a fun family musical program
for parents and friends. The future of music in Port Townsend is solid based on their
strong performance of song and drama and humor (intended and unintended).
IMG_0159.MOV
Third quarter ended last Friday and teachers are preparing for parent conferences next week.
We will run a modified schedule with only some of the middle school classes meeting each day
to provide a reasonable class time with early student dismissal each day. The bi-annual book
fair will be held in the library all week and we are asking our parents to participate in a parent
feedback survey while they are at school. I anticipate a positive week to share with our families
as we head into spring break.
Diane Lashinsky, Principal