Superintendent's Reports -- Recommendation for Construction Management Firm: During a special meeting on July 23, the Board heard presentations from two firms interested in serving as the District's construction manager -- Gilbane Building Co. and IHC Construction. The construction manager will represent the District's interests as it works with an assortment of contractors to complete the $21.6 million of Life Safety Study projects that are categorized as requiring completion within two years. Following that meeting, the Administration evaluated the two firms by analyzing the details of their fee structures and checking their various references. The Administration then recommended, and the Board approved its recommendation, that the District enter into a contract for Gilbane to serve as its construction manager for the Life Safety Study construction work that will begin next summer.

Superintendent's Reports -- Extracurricular Soccer Program Extension: Dr. Thompson recommended, and the Board later approved, an expansion of the junior soccer program that the District launched last year. The cost of offering this program last year was approximately $45,000. This expansion is estimated to cost an additional $35,000, but it will double the size of this popular new interscholastic athletic offering, as each junior high will now field boys' and girls' teams at both the seventh- and eighth-grade levels. In its first year, nearly 500 students tried out for the new soccer teams. However, each school fielded just two teams -- a boys' team and a girls' team, each of which was comprised of a combination of 18 seventh- and eighth-grade students. So unfortunately, just 144 students were able to play on the new soccer teams. This year, with each school fielding four teams, 288 students will be able to participate.

Superintendent's Report -- Board of Education Annual Goals (2015-16): Dr. Thompson presented the Board with a draft of the 2015-16 Annual Board Goals. The five main goals outlined within the 2015-16 Annual Board Goals were developed in accordance with the five-year Strategic Goal Map approved by the Board in the fall of 2011, and they have remained consistent since that time. They are as follows:

• Improve Student Achievement: Examine and align the comprehensive curriculum to include the Common Core Standards to meet student growth targets and the diverse needs of all students.
• Learning & Organizational Development: Enhance D15 schools as places creating successful young people who are knowledgeable, emotionally and physically healthy, motivated, civically inspired, engaged in the arts, prepared for work and economic self-sufficiency, and ready for the world.
• Effective Instructional Environments: Promote safe, inclusive and positive learning environments that encourage respect, foster collaboration and support equity.
• Stakeholder Involvement: Increase strategic communication initiatives that allow every stakeholder voice to be heard, making them active participants in our organization.
• Resource Stewardship: Ensure the District remains fiscally responsible while maintaining quality educational programs and facilities for our students.

In their entirety, each of these goals includes timelines, specific action items, and evaluation tools, and they assign specific administrators responsibility for each component of these plans. The specific actions outlined beneath each of these main goals are updated each year.

The Board is now seeking the community's input on these plans. To review the proposed 2015-16 Annual Board Goals in their entirety, and to provide your feedback on plans, click here. Please submit comments by Tuesday, September 1. A final draft of the 2015-16 Annual Board Goals will be presented for approval at the Board's next regular meeting on Wednesday, September 9.

Superintendent's Report -- Opening of the 2015-16 School Year: Dr. Thompson presented the Board with a brief preview of the upcoming school year. The District's 12,000-plus students are anxiously preparing for the first day of school later this month-buying school supplies, choosing new clothes, organizing backpacks, and awaiting teacher assignments to see which of their friends will be in their classes, he said. Meanwhile, noted Dr. Thompson, a variety of activities has occurred in the District over the summer:

• Fifty-five new teachers have joined the District this summer; 22 of them come to the District with master's degrees. These new teachers average 2.3 years of experience. They have gone through the District's orientation program and been paired with mentors to assist them with their transitions into their new teaching positions.
• A new Executive Director for Personnel & Human Services, a new Director for Assessment, Accountability, and Programs, three new principals, and five new assistant principals have joined the District and its Leadership Team, which continued to work hard over the summer to prepare for the upcoming school year.
• The District completed approximately $3.65 million of summer maintenance projects, including roughly $2.2 million in galvanized piping replacements and bathroom upgrades at Lincoln School and Plum Grove Junior High, $235,000 of parking lot repairs at Plum Grove and Lake Louise School, and $750,000 of fire alarm replacements at Thomas Jefferson, Gray M. Sanborn, Marion Jordan, Pleasant Hill, and Frank C. Whiteley Schools.
• In the midst of these various construction projects, the District's custodians have worked hard to deep clean the buildings in preparation for the new school year.
• The District continued to offer its Summer Early Learning Academy as a way to reach out to its emergent readers who need continued support over the summer months, and its Summer Blast program as a way to help its neediest students.
• The District will pilot new math programs in more than 150 classrooms this year, and it will continue its preparations to implement the Next Generation Science Standards next year.
• Teachers throughout the District are continuing to be trained in the new CHAMPS classroom management program that the District implemented last year.
• Principals underwent two days of professional development with representatives from the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington. This training was designed to help principals clearly identify and develop the behaviors that excellent teachers exhibit, and it will help principals support their teachers' efforts to improve their instruction.
• Transportation is set to begin the school year with 152 drivers covering 144 routes.