New Lake Washington High School opens Sept. 6

The new Lake Washington High School opens its doors on September 6. The new building includes features designed to improve student learning. The school is split up into four academic houses with a fifth house occupied this year by Northstar Junior High, a Choice school. The high school students will benefit from small learning communities within a large, comprehensive high school. Other features include a library linking the four houses together, a large cafeteria and a performing arts center, all of which are designed around collaboration and bringing groups of people together.

Extra days to prepare for grade reconfiguration

Part of the budget challenges concerned how to address the reduction in money the state allocated for staff salaries. The allocation for teachers was reduced by 1.9 percent. However, the legislature left it up to individual school districts to determine if they were going to cut teacher paychecks or find another way to pay teachers the same amount as last year. In Lake Washington, the district will continue to pay teachers the same amount by using levy money and some reserves, built up in anticipation of state budget cuts. In return, teachers will work two additional days. Each of these days, one student day with kids in the schools and one non-student day, will be devoted to preparing for the change in school grade configuration that will take place in the fall of 2012. This additional time will be used to ensure that students and teachers alike are prepared for the changes that a grades K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 system will bring.

Register early to volunteer

For the safety of our students, any parent, relative, community member or older student who wants to volunteer their time in LWSD schools must be approved through the Volunteer Approval process before the event or activity. For parents, this process includes completing an online form that is available through Parent Access. (Forms that can be printed out are available on the district website for those applicants who don't have Parent Access.)

During the busiest time of year, it can take up two weeks to process volunteer applications, so please complete your application early. To check your volunteer status, contact your school office or the volunteer office at 425-936-1300.Volunteer approvals are good for two years.

Permission to receive text messages

Lake Washington School District uses a service called School Messenger to send mass telephone, email and text messages to parents and guardians. Our policy is to use the text message service ONLY in the case of real emergencies, when text messages may be the only communication that can get through. However, School Messenger cannot send text messages to you unless you specifically give them your permission. When contact information for a new family is entered into the district's system, a text message asking for that permission is sent to any cell phone numbers listed. To give permission, just reply and type y or yes or opt-in when replying to the message. If you did not receive the message or forgot to respond, simply text message the number 68453 with the message "opt-in" or "yes." A return text will confirm that School Messenger has registered that cell phone number for text messages.

Emails to schools are public records

As a public agency, Lake Washington School District is subject to state laws and federal regulations that make documents, emails and other records available to the public on request. The district must keep all emails for a period of seven years. Since 2010, the district has been archiving all email messages, including emails to and from parents. Some emails are exempt and will not be released. Others may have personal information removed before providing them. It's still a good idea to remember the email you send to your student's teacher or school becomes a public record and as a result may be seen by people other than the intended recipient. For more information, contact the district's public records officer, Kathryn Reith, at kreith@lwsd.org or 425-936-1342.

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If you did not receive this newsletter directly and would like to sign up to receive it, please click here. You can also sign up for the Special Education E-Newsletter to stay up to date on the Special Education Program for students in the Lake Washington School District. If you'd like to stay up to date on school board issues, a third publication notifies subscribers when new agendas or board packets are posted before school board meetings.

Awards & Achievements

Lake Washington School District ACT Scores Increase in all Categories 
While state mean scores for college-bound students fell slightly in all categories this year, Lake Washington School District students scored higher in all four of the ACT tests (English, Mathematics, Reading and Science) and improved their average composite score. Read more.

Renaissance student one of Popular Science's top 10 high school inventors 

Gabriel See, a ninth grader at Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning (RSAR), is featured in the September issue of Popular Science Magazine and honored as one of 2011 top 10 high school inventors. Gabriel designed a LEGO robot for automated DNA assembly. Read more in Popular Science.

United States Tennis Association recognizes Redmond's Marceil Whitney

Redmond High School's tennis coach, Marceil Whitney, has been recognized as one of nine national finalists for the 2011 United States Tennis Association's (USTA) National Starfish Award due to her commitment to the USTA's no-cut tennis program. A no-cut policy essentially means every student who wishes to play is welcomed as a member of the team. The USTA will recognize two national winners at the Community Tennis Development Workshop held in New Orleans, L.A. from January 13-15, 2012.

Four Lake Washington School District teachers attend Microsoft Innovative Education Forum
Bret Crane (Redmond Junior High), Robin Hoover (Finn Hill Junior High) and Matt Palmer and Kim West (LWSD Technology Integration Team) attended the 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum on July 28-29 at the Microsoft main campus in Redmond. The teachers showcased projects that demonstrated the creative ways they are using technology in the classroom. Only 100 teachers from across the country represented the U.S. at the forum. Read more.

(left to right) Lake Washington School District's Bret Crane, Matt Palmer, Kim West and Robin Hoover attended Microsoft's Innovative Education Forum.

Have an award or achievement to share?

Send all of the information to Kathryn Reith, or contact her at (425) 936-1342.