September 2017 Welcome Back

September 5, 2017

Dear community,

Our first week of school is behind us and we are off to a great start. It hasn't been without challenges, but it has been exciting and the staff and students are beginning the year with enthusiasm and great attitudes.

We have some new staff members this year and some of our staff have taken on new roles. In our high school social studies/history department, we welcome Roger Craver to our teaching staff. Mr. Craver comes to us from Spokane and we are excited to have him. We also want to welcome Al Sorsby. Mr. Sorsby was teaching in Bridgeport this past year and is very excited to be here. He will be teaching high school mathematics. Alejandra Leon is in charge of our on line learning this year. We are using a program called Odysseyware and most of our students are taking Spanish I or II along with some other electives. Mrs. Leon was helping in our special education department last year. Mrs. Leon will be taking a 12 week break from managing our online classes, starting in January, to student teach in Mrs. McBride's room. Mrs. Leon will finish her coursework and become a certified teacher at the end of this school year. Congratulations Mrs. Leon. Regina Roberts is joining us, full-time, as a para-educator working with special programs. We want to welcome Mrs. Roberts! Dr. Navarre will be teaching 7^th and 8^th grade English this year. This role was filled by Mrs. Merfeld last year, but with full-day kindergarten in full swing this year, she has a full schedule with her 13 kindergarten students.

The last two staff members who are taking on new roles this year are, Kim Clinton as business manager and myself, as superintendent. The transition to our new jobs has been very smooth mostly because Mr. Palmer and Judy Naught did a great job preparing us for our positions and left the school in great physical and financial shape.

Our enrollment as of September 1^st was 120 students in K – 12. Our enrollment in K – 8 increased the most with about 20 students in each room. Because of the increase, the board has decided to put a freeze on enrollment in grades K – 8. This means that we will not be accepting any more students from out-of-district in those grades until further notice. 

Our school board has been working on updating board policies all summer. We hope to have this completed this fall. Our board members are: Chairman Tom Mains,  MaryJo Hanson, Gary Hess and John Jensen. We are still trying to figure out exactly how the changes made by our legislators, regarding education, this past spring are going to affect our school. There looks to be some changes in funding over the next several years as the legislators are trying to comply with the Supreme Court's decision that Washington's public education system be fully funded. You have a great board representing you and they will be making necessary changes as needed.

I plan on updating this principal's corner every quarter so the next one will be in November. If you have any questions please give me a call at school, 896-4573.