Lake Washington School District Parent E-Newsletter
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School Changes 2012-2013
Lake Washington School District is growing, by the equivalent of one elementary school a year for the next five years. The district has looked at alternatives to house this boom in student population and made two decisions, effective with the 2012-13 school year, to use its current school building space more efficiently. These two decisions, announced at the school board meeting on May 3, include changing its school grade configuration and shifting the junior high schools into which three elementary schools feed (Audubon Elementary, Bell Elementary, and Einstein Elementary Schools).
The majority of the district's growth over the next five to seven years will occur at the elementary school level. Moving from a grades K-6 elementary, 7-9 junior high and 10-12 high school system to a K-5 elementary, 6-8 middle school and 9-12 high school will shift one grade out of the elementary schools where space is already tight and move the population to the secondary schools, where more space is available.
While these changes will enable the district to use existing space more efficiently, there will still be a space problem at the high school level. The district plans public meetings for next fall to determine which of several options to select to address the remaining space issues.
Dr. Chip Kimball, superintendent, expressed his intent last spring to move toward a change in school grade configuration for academic reasons. He is concerned that ninth graders in the district's grades 7-9 junior high schools often do not fully recognize, despite admonitions from parents and teachers, that their high school transcript for graduation and college admissions purposes begins in ninth grade. Read more. You can also see more on the school changes for 2012-2013 by visiting the new " School Changes 2012-2013" section of the district web site. |
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Do You Have Experience Translating Text into Foreign Languages?
If so, we need your help! Lake Washington School District recently began piloting the Microsoft Translator (MT) widget on certain pages of the district web site. Machine translation tools like Microsoft Translator are helpful but not perfect. Those imperfect translations can be confusing or misleading in places, especially when translating education-specific terms. The MT widget allows for community translation, meaning that community members can review the translations and submit better translations to the site. We are interested in finding parent volunteers who can review the machine translations on key pages and submit improved translations with that human touch. Because we are still testing this tool, we are asking for volunteers, particularly those who have experience with translating text, to contact us at connections@lwsd.org if you are interested in helping with this project. Please let us know what language(s) you speak and write fluently. |
School Board Highlights
The May 3 meeting of the Lake Washington School District Board of Directors had a full agenda, including the long-awaited elementary math adoption, announcements of actions that will help the district handle its upcoming population growth (see article above) and discussion of the federal government's Race to the Top funding.
Redmond Junior High was the host school. Board president Jackie Pendergrass read a National Teacher Day proclamation. In additional to National Teacher Day (May 4), President Pendergrass proclaimed May 12 as National School Nurse Day in our district.
The Elementary Math Adoption Committee made a comprehensive presentation concerning their extensive process and the final recommendation for a new elementary math curriculum. Curriculum director Matt Manobianco, who led the efforts, announced the committee's unanimous consensus for enVision Math. Members of the committee made a presentation of the curriculum's materials and answered questions from the board.
The new curriculum has extensive on-line materials for teachers, students and parents. Online materials for teachers include information on how to meet individual needs. Those needs may be related to students who are below grade level, advanced, English Language Learner or in special education. The program is consistent, which makes it easy for teachers to understand what to do at each grade level. Students also get a login to access the textbook, games, and lessons from home.
The Board approved a new contract with the Lake Washington Educational Support Professionals. A collaborative bargaining process brought the two sides together and allowed relationships to be rebuilt.
Dr. Kimball proposed signing on to the Race to the Top application from Washington state. Several Board members expressed concern over the direction the Department of Education is going, particularly around charter schools. Board members agreed that it is worth signing on to this specific application, even though they may have some philosophical differences, because of the potential additional dollars the district could receive. |
| Awards & Achievements
Students Receive National Merit Honors
Seven Lake Washington School District students have received National Merit Scholarships, as announced by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, so far this year. Additional announcements of Scholarship recipients will be made at the end of May and in July. The following students have received scholarships so far:
National Achievement Scholarship: ( Read more).
- Austen Samkange, Eastlake High School
National Merit Corporate-Sponsored Scholarship: ( Read more).
- Jeremy Housekeeper, Lake Washington High School - National Merit Boeing Scholarship
- Briana Gahler, Redmond High School - National Merit Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Scholarship
- Sam Keller, Redmond High School - National Merit Boeing Scholarship
- Kathryn Norton, Redmond High School - National Merit Synopsys, Inc. Scholarship
National Merit $2500 Scholarship: ( Read more).
- Rachel Ballantyne, Redmond High School - National Merit $2500 Scholarship
- Stefan Mellem, Redmond High School - National Merit $2500 Scholarship
Redmond Arts Commission Selects Paula Ferguson for Arts Award
The Redmond Arts Commission has selected Redmond High School and Redmond Junior High Orchestra Director Paula Ferguson to receive the 2010 Redmond Arts Award for her outstanding work in the arts. The award will be presented on June 1 at 7 p.m. with a reception in the lobby of Redmond City Hall and the award presentation at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The two award recipients that will be honored are Paula Ferguson and the Second Story Repertory Theater. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Have an award or achievement to share?
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5/25 - PTSA Special Needs Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Resource Center
5/31 - NO SCHOOL: MEMORIAL DAY
6/2 - GEAC
Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Resource Center
6/3 - PTSA Council Meeting, 9:30 a.m., Resource Center
A full list of events is available on the Tandem Online Calendar. This calendar can be filtered by school and is searchable. More details about the Tandem Online Calendar are available here.
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Lake Washington School District is expected to grow by an additional 425 students each year over the next five years - that is the equivalent of one new elementary school per year! See more information in a PowerPoint slideshow on the district web site (pdf).
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The following Parent Education Courses are available:
5/24 - Temperament: Yours and Your Child's. How does it impact parenting?
For additional information, visit the Parent Education section of the Lake Washington PTSA Council Web site. |
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