Lake Washington School District Parent E-Newsletter
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| 2010-2011 School Year Preview
Summer vacation is about to start. Before you and your family dive into your summer fun, here are a few things to look forward to next fall.
- New elementary conference schedule: elementary students will set goals for the year as part of the October parent-teacher conferences. At the end of January, parent-teacher conferences will give students a chance to reflect on how they are progressing toward those goals. That schedule replaces this year's November and March conference timing.
- New elementary electronic gradebook and report cards will give parents online access to their student's progress beginning in October.
- New elementary math curriculum will be implemented.
- Interactive class websites: starting next fall, junior high and high school teachers will be able to create interactive class websites for student and parent access through the district website.
- Work begins on the transition to four-year high schools and grades six to eight middle schools in the fall of 2012.
School begins on Wednesday, September 1, with a full day in school. (No early release that day.) Labor Day is on September 6, which students will have off.
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District Seeks Parent Perspective
Each year, the Lake Washington School District invites all parents to take a survey on how the district is doing in different areas. It covers the instructional program, facilities, technology, communication, and more. This information is used by the district to help improve its work to serve your students. Please take a moment to take the survey. To take the survey on the Internet, you can simply click on this link. If you would prefer, paper copies of the survey are available from your school office. Please return the paper survey to your school office or mail it to Communications Office, Lake Washington School District, PO Box 97039, Redmond, WA, 98073-9739. Please take the survey by June 25 to be included in this year's results. |
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School Facilities Update
Thanks to our voters, quite a few of our schools are in some phase of a modernization project. These projects are all part of Phase II of the district's modernization program, which uses funds from a bond measure passed by voters in 2006. - Lake Washington High School - the new Lake Washington High School is on schedule to open in fall 2011. The new gymnasium opened on time as planned this month. The next portion of the project to be completed is the demolition of the old Chapple gymnasium, so that work can be completed in the area currently occupied by the gym.
- Keller Elementary and Sandburg Elementary / Discovery Community School - The architects have been selected for both of these projects and the first phase of design has been initiated. Each school has a modernization team that is working with the architects to provide input into the design of the school.
- Rose Hill Junior High and Stella Schola Middle School - the architect has been selected and they are ready to start meetings with the Modernization Team at the end of the month. The full design process will begin in the fall.
- Bell Elementary, International Community School and Rush Elementary - all three of these projects are currently in the architect selection phase. Site investigations are taking place at both Bell Elementary and Rush Elementary.
- Muir Elementary - the design of Muir Elementary is being completed. Earthwork is expected to begin this summer once the students are out of school. After the permits are in place, construction of the replacement school is scheduled to begin in November 2010.
- Finn Hill Junior High - Eight construction companies bid for the Finn Hill modernization project. The Board of Directors at its June 7 meeting authorized the superintendent to contract with Babbit Neuman Construction Company, the low bidder on the project. This company built the modernized Juanita Elementary School, among other school projects. Construction is scheduled to begin June 17.
2010 Levy Projects
With the passage of the capital projects levy in February, the district has been prioritizing and scheduling projects. All of these projects are in the planning stage, with design and bidding taking place and work expected to begin this summer. These projects fall into four categories:
- Building systems improvements
- Health and safety projects
- Playfield / schoolyard improvements
- School and program improvements
Thank you to the voters who made these improvements to school facilities possible. |
School Board Highlights
May 17 - The board approved the new elementary math adoption, enVision Math, and reviewed the district's technology work.
Dr. Kimball acknowledged the Bell Elementary parents in the audience and described the issues that have led to a change in feeder patterns affecting Bell and two other elementary schools beginning in the fall of 2012. These changes along with the change in grade configuration to four-year high schools do not solve completely the problem of an imbalance in student population. There will still be a need for additional space in the schools. Dr. Kimball will hold a public input process this fall to determine whether to propose a levy and/or bond measure to fund a building program to accommodate these additional students. School Board President Jackie Pendergrass reported that she sat in on the exit interview with the state auditor. The district received an excellent report, with no findings or management letters from the audit.
June 7 - At the end of long school year, there was plenty to celebrate.
- Two teachers, Bruce Becker and Sarah Van Alstyne, achieved the ten-year renewal of their National Board Certification, the highest certification teachers can achieve.
- Fourteen schools in our district, more than any in the state, received Washington Achievement Awards.
- The Lake Washington School District PTSA Council presented scholarships to an amazing group of high school seniors.
- Two Redmond High School students, Rachel L. Ballantyne and Stefan A. Mellem, received National Merit Scholarships. Only 2,500 high school seniors nationwide receive these prestigious scholarships.
- PTSA Council co-presidents Michelle Grinslade, Cheryl Lewis and Barbara Martin were honored for their service.
Several of the consent agenda items concerned modernization projects. They included the selection of a construction company for the new Finn Hill Junior High and the educational specifications for John Muir Elementary School's modernization program.
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Awards & Achievements
Inglewood Students to Attend Global Youth Leadership Institute Seven ninth-grade students from Inglewood Junior High (IJH) have been selected to attend this year's Global Youth Leadership Institute at the University of Washington. Jakob Graf, Alaina Hartley, Ajay Palekar, Morgan Rowe, Neha Singh, Tang Song, and Phi Voba will all attend the institute June 28 - July 2, 2010. This is the second year that IJH has had several students selected to attend. These students will collaborate with other students across the U.S. to define a program to educate their peers next year about world affairs. Read more.
Kamiakin Wins Gold in District Math Olympiad Led by math teacher, Robert Myer, Kamiakin Junior High's (KaJH) Maroon and Gold teams showed their math prowess at the District's Junior High Math Olympiad held at Juanita High School on April 25. Kamiakin placed first in the competition where seventh through ninth grade mathletes compete in a variety of math competencies. Students compete combining their individual tests on Arithmetic Skills, Arithmetic Concepts, and Calculator and as a team working together in Algebra, Geometry and Problem Solving. All students contribute throughout the evening on timed tests. Read more.
Students Win Gold at National History Day State CompetitionStudents from International Community School (ICS), Redmond Junior High (RJH) and Redmond High School (RHS) competed in the state National History Day competition held on Saturday, May 1, at Bellevue College. These champions will be competing at the National Conference, to be held at the University of Maryland on June 13. Read more, including full results.
Have an award or achievement to share?
Send all of the information to Shannon Parthemer, or contact her at (425) 702-3300. Connections will not publish over the summer but submitted items will be included in the first issue next fall. |
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6/16 - HALF-DAY: Last Day of School
6/21 - School Board Work Session, 5:30 p.m., Meeting, 7 p.m., Resource Center
7/5 - Resource Center Closed for Fourth of July (Observance)
9/1 - First Day of School - Welcome Back
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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This week, 1,570 students will graduate from Lake Washington Schools. Congratulations to all of our graduates!
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Parent Education courses are complete for the 2009-2010 school year.Visit the Parent Education section of the Lake Washington PTSA Council website for information about next year's classes, as they become available.
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