Edmonds School District - Citizen Planning Committee

Information for Hilltop Elementary School parents and staff

April 9, 2012

The Edmonds School District's Citizen Planning Committee met on April 9, 2012. Agenda

ELL:

The Education Subcommittee met to hear Gretchen Fleming, the District's ELL coordinator, provide an update and overview of the District's ELL program.  Certified ELL teachers are being deployed to elementary and high schools with large ELL populations.  These positions are funded by grants.  These ELL teachers provide "sheltered instruction" to ELL learners who remain in their "mainstream" classrooms but who are "pulled out" for ELL instruction.  These teachers are supported with workshops in their buildings and at the ESC, and by para-educators in their buildings.

The program has expanded at the high school level to include all four district high schools.  High school students were opting to remain at their home schools, so the ELL programs were delivered to them at their home schools rather than try to induce students to attend other schools to obtain ELL services.  This has resulted in increased participation in ELL programs at the high school level, which in turn attracts additional funding providing additional staffing resources.

For example, at EWHS, which has ELL for the first time this school year, 29 students are served by one ".6 FTE".  7 of these ELL students are "Level One" in English proficiency, meaning they are at the lowest level of English language use and comprehension.  Next year, these numbers will warrant the assignment of one full-time "FTE" to provide ELL services to EWHS students.  Rising numbers are resulting in the addition of ELL staff to Meadowdale Middle School.

This is good news, as ELL needs within the district continue to grow and change over time.  In 1990, the district served approximately 200 ELL students.  Now there are 1900 ELL students in the ESD, comprising 10% of the district's total student body.  The largest language groups, in order of distribution, are Spanish, Ukranian, Vietnamese and Arabic.  The fastest growing populations are Arabic and Western African speakers.  There are trends across the district, and at individual schools. Cedar Valley has huge numbers of ELL students (approximately 170), while Maplewood has only two.  Some neighborhoods have high concentrations of speakers of languages that don't exist at all at other schools, so it's difficult to predict future trends.  Immigration spikes seem to follow geo-political events, as evidenced by war and strife in West Africa driving the latest round of immigration to the United States and to the Edmonds School District.

The district believes providing ELL services at the student's neighborhood school provides the best results for the greatest number of students.  They are finding fewer students deciding to drop out/opt out as their needs can be met at their home/neighborhood schools.

STEM:

We next finalized our thoughts and comments for the Board of Directors regarding the ESD's attempts to introduce a vibrant STEM curriculum, and the conversion of MTHS into a "STEM Magnet School".  The committee is generally supportive of STEM with a few concerns: 

TPEP:

We reviewed and finalized our list of priorities we'd like to see contained within the revised teacher and principal evaluations imposed by the Legislature:

Teacher priorities:

  1. Teachers readily available for parent and student consultations.

  2. There is clear communication of expectations, assignments, and curriculum to both parents and students.

  3. The teacher is culturally sensitive.

  4. The teacher is personable.

  5. The teacher is a good listener and responsive to feedback.

Principal priorities:

  1. Articulates a clear vision for the school, and is subject to consequences for not doing so.

  2. Effectively partners with the community.

  3. Accountable.

  4. Visible on campus.

  5. Approachable.

  6. Sets and enforces an appropriate and rigorous learning tone for the school.

  7. Culturally sensitive and promotes cultural sensitivity at the school.

The full committee then gathered and heard from Board Member Susan Phillips, who told us about the "Expand Your Horizons" event scheduled for May 4th at Edmonds Community College.  This event, led by woman leaders from businesses in the technology sector, is designed to empower and expose high school girls to the possibilities presented by careers and opportunities for girls/women within the technology sector.  This program fits well with the district's emphasis on STEM education, and will hopefully steer more girls towards studies and potential careers in STEM-related fields.

Interested female high school students should contact their guidance counselors to get signed up for the program.  There is no cost to attend the program.

The Education Subcommittee reported our work on ELL, STEM and TPEP outlined above to the whole committee.

The Boundaries & Enrollment and the Operations Subcommittees reported on their joint meeting regarding overcrowding at Hilltop, Martha Lake, and Oak Heights Elementary Schools.

The district feels that current overcrowding issues can be addressed with minor adjustments to the attendance boundaries of six to nine elementary schools.  The district intends to implement these adjustments on a "rolling" basis, meaning current students can continue to attend their current schools.  Newly arriving residents will send their kids to the "new" neighborhood school.  The district lists "sibling preference", "transportation", and "middle school assignment" as "unknowns" at this time, meaning they do not know if siblings will be allowed to follow their older siblings to their "old" neighborhood school, what, if any, transportation will be provided to get students from the same neighborhood to two different schools, and how these new boundaries will impact assignments to district middle schools.

Regardless of all the missing pieces to the puzzle, the district is committed to moving forward, and the district will have a proposed resolution for the CPC committee to review at the May meeting with hopeful CPC approval early in the 2012-13 school year.  The district anticipates a first presentation to the board in October, a second reading in November, and board approval in December.  The district has already committed to meetings with interested parties at the affected schools on or about September 10, 2012 to explain how this will be implemented and to address parent concerns.  These new attendance boundaries would be implemented for the 2013-2014 school year.

Personally, I'm waiting to see the details before developing an opinion on this plan.  If the new boundaries seem logical and don't have bizarre results like pushing schools outside of their own attendance boundaries, then I'm inclined to support the proposal.  If the proposed new attendance boundaries produce absurd results, then I'm inclined to oppose this proposal.  As of now, there are simply far too few details to warrant the development of any conclusions at this point in time.

Budget & Legislative Updates:

Marla Miller, Director of Finance for the district, brought us up to speed on budget matters as related to the ongoing Legislative session.  Everything currently proposed is relatively benign to the ESD.  Proposals to reduce school employee benefits and pensions are state-wide and don't directly impact ESD funding for classroom operations.  The District is formulating the 2012-2013 budget, but with the state budget still in flux, much of the district budget remains unsettled.  Those interested in learning more about the 2012-2013 budget can find answers to their questions here: http://www.edmonds.wednet.edu/domain/128

Debby Carter, the Human Resources director for the district, next reviewed legislative developments regarding the TPEP program referenced above and elsewhere.  New legislation has given the Legislature greater oversight of the TPEP process, and has imposed a mandatory "long-form" evaluation on every teacher at least every four years.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you might have regarding the CPC or anything I've shared here.

Doug Vavrick
CPC Representative
Hilltop Elementary School
doug.vavrick@gmail.com

March 5, 2012

The Edmonds School District's Citizen Planning Committee met on March 5, 2012. Agenda

STEM

In the Education Subcommittee, Mountlake Terrace High School Principal Greg Schwab came to speak about the addition of the S.T.E.M. Magnet program to MTHS. 

The district's experience with "Project Lead The Way" laid the groundwork for ramping up STEM education with the addition of the STEM program at MTHS.  The program/curriculum consists primarily of existing courses that were repackaged to create the STEM program.  The plan is to offer three paths for STEM students: 1. Aerospace, 2. Robotics and computer science, and 3. Biotechnology, however the district is still fleshing out the details of the biotech track.

The program has attracted 52 9th graders who will enter the program for the 2012-2013 school year.  Of those 52 students, 25 will be coming from other district quadrants, and four students are attending from outside the Edmonds School District.  MTHS' current robotics club will soon be joined by a Rocketry Club. 

The district plans on starting the marketing of the STEM program to parents and students earlier next year, so that interested 9th graders-to-be will have more time to investigate and sign up for the program.

Greg Schwab shared that the original intent of the STEM program was to "poach" IB students from Edmonds-Woodway High School.  Committee members had concerns that programs like STEM should be designed for and marketed to all students.  STEM needs to be accessible to all who want it.  Committee members also encouraged the district to improve the elementary and middle school math curriculums so students leave middle school prepared for a high school STEM education rich in advanced mathematics.  Greg Schwab confided that they now realize STEM should be made available to all.  All STEM classes at MTHS are designed to be "mainstream", in that students not in the STEM program will also have access to the classes, assuming they've fulfilled the prerequisite requirements.

Greg Schwab also shared his understanding that 9th graders should have access to an introductory STEM class that does not require Algebra I as a prerequisite, as not every 9th grader arrives having completed Algebra I in middle school. 

In response to the discussion regarding better math preparation at the elementary and middle school level, Asst. Superintendent Tony Byrd shared that the district is unveiling a new middle school math curriculum (extending "Math Expressions" to 7th and 8th graders in middle schools) in an attempt to prepare more students for the STEM program and eventual careers in STEM-related fields.  The new "Common Core Standards" (CCS) also call for more rigorous algebra in 6th grade.  The district is trying to figure out how to offer more algebra to more 8th graders for the 2012-2013 school year.

Our area is a "hotbed of high-tech", and STEM education addresses a local need in our community, and provides enormous opportunities to connect with different kids in different ways.  Rigorous hand-on project-based learning utilizing real-life applications of science and math prepares students for well-paying careers in fields in high demand by area employers.

TPEP

We watched 10 minutes of a video presentation (Assessing Teacher Effectiveness) by Charlotte Danielson, a renowned leader in teacher evaluation circles.  We reviewed her framework for evaluating teachers with the goal of better understanding the categories and criteria used to evaluate teachers.

On April 20, 2012, while students are enjoying a day off from classes, the district's 1200 teachers will be meeting in the MTHS gym to hear the district's update on the TPEP process.  Charlotte Danielson's work figures prominently in the path being followed by the ESD.  Other districts pursuing the same evaluation philosophies are Bellevue, Lake Washington, Northshore, and Everett.

Different frameworks are being developed from librarians, music teachers, P.E. teachers, etc., where standard teacher evaluation criteria might not apply.

Full CPC Committee

Over-crowded elementary schools:

I have good news and "other" news to report regarding the district's plans for addressing over-crowded elementary schools in the NE quadrant.  The good news is that they've backed away from the proposal to dump three or four portables on Hilltop's fields, and expanding Hilltop's gym into the parking lot.  The "other" news is that the district feels they can once again reconfigure the attendance boundaries of Hilltop, Martha Lake, and Oak Heights to shift students to underutilized schools in the SE quadrant.

The Boundaries and Enrollment and the Operations sub-committees heard a presentation from district staff regarding their proposal for reconfiguring attendance boundaries.  The larger committee wasn't allowed to see the hand-out that was distributed to the members of the two subcommittees, as we're told it's still too much of a work in progress to be disseminated further.  The subcommittees report that they'll have a proposal for us to review at the April CPC meeting that will contain proposed new attendance boundaries for the three elementary schools.  Here's what they've shared so far:

While all options are still technically on the table, the district proposes to address overcrowded schools by adjusting attendance boundaries.  Construction of a new elementary school would cost approximately $30 million and would take 3-5 years.  A new proposal to expand Oak Heights Elementary into a "mega-elementary" by adding a wing with five new classrooms and expanding the multi-purpose room at a combined cost of $6.5 million has been placed on the back-burner for now, along with the proposal to convert the Alderwood Early Childhood Education Center back into Alderwood Elementary School.  The district estimated it would cost between $500,000 and $1 million to upgrade the Alderwood facility back into a fully functioning elementary school, and then a home would have to be found for the Early Childhood Education Center.  Also on the back-burner are plans to add "permanent portable" classrooms to, and to expand the gym/multipurpose rooms at Hilltop and Martha Lake Elementary Schools.

We're told that there will be much more information for us to evaluate at the April CPC meeting.

Diversity of the Citizen Planning Committee

Concerns were raised with the lack of diversity reflected on the CPC.   It was pointed out that there are 11 schools not represented on CPC, and three of the school board members have not appointed CPC committee members as they are allowed to do.  It was suggested that the district attempt to identify schools without representation and attempt to have representatives appointed to CPC who also  represent the diversity of our community.

Snow days

District HR manager Debby Carter led a discussion on the development of the district calendar, and the processes involved with making up snow days.  There are 14 groups that must sign off on the district calendar, and making adjustments to the calendar after it has been agreed to would require the agreement of those 14 groups, so fiddling with the calendar after it has been implemented is troublesome at best.  Thus, the assignment of half-days, staff education days, furlough days, and snow make-up days does not take place in a vacuum.  Committee members urged district officials to better communicate the process used to set the district calendar - and thus determining snow make-up days - to parents.  If CPC members have no idea how the district calendar is developed, then the average district parent has no way to understand the processes involved.  District staff said they would work on more/better ways to convey this information to parents.

Meeting minutes

February 6, 2012

The Edmonds School District's Citizen Planning Committee met on February 6, 2012.

In the Education Subcommittee, we continued our work on "TPEP", or the revised "Teacher and Principal Evaluation Process".  We were reminded that the three most important influences on children/students are - in this order:

  1. Parents

  2. Classroom teachers

  3. School leaders (i.e. the principal)

Teachers want better evaluation criteria so they can become better teachers.  Merit pay, or pay based upon evaluation results, is not on the table at this point in time.  The program will be fully-implemented state-wide for the 2013-2014 school year.

First, we reviewed the work we've done thus far.  The subcommittee then broke down into smaller groups, where we further refined and developed our themes we feel are important when evaluating teachers and principals on their communication and collaborative skills.  Key themes were encouraging both the quantity AND the quality of communication between teachers, principals, parents, and other interested stakeholders. 

We reviewed and critiqued a few of the evolving drafts from the current pilot program.  The Central Valley, Wenatchee, and Snohomish School District examples were shared, along with a template provided by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).  We reviewed packets of samples for both teachers and principals.

We found the Wenatchee model to be the most favorable of the examples provided thus far, but we have concerns with all of the examples that the evaluation rating scale isn't rigorous enough.  In some areas, it is impossible to imagine that any teacher or principal could ever receive the lowest ranking using the definitions described in the criteria.  No situation would be allowed to deteriorate to the point where such a ranking would be given.  Similarly, several of the criteria describe what a teacher or principal must do to obtain the highest rating, and our thought was that the definitions described what should be the minimally acceptable criteria. 

For example, the Snohomish School District lists the following as their description of a teacher who receives a rating as "exemplary" in the category "Maintaining Accurate Records":

"The teacher's system for maintaining instructional and non-instructional information on students is standardized, regularly maintained, and tied to district reporting systems.  District resources are leveraged to to make the information timely and meaningful.  Students contribute information and interpretation of the records."

To us, the above seemed more like a description of the bare-bones minimum requirements for classroom record-keeping, and less like a description of what would be required for a teacher to obtain a rating of "exemplary".

The full committee then assembled for the general meeting and subcommittee reports.  The Boundaries & Enrollment sub-committee met with the Operations sub-committee to continue their review of the strategies and proposals available to deal with chronic overcrowding at three NE Quadrant elementary schools - Hilltop, Martha Lake, and Oak Heights. 

The district has the following options:

I shared the view of the staff and parents at Hilltop that Hilltop was uniformly opposed to the installation of additional permanent portable buildings on our campus, and has serious concerns with the preliminary siting of the proposed expansion of Hilltop's multipurpose room/gym.  The subcommittee chairs welcomed our position, and said they would find our input helpful when formulating their ultimate recommendations to the full committee, and then on to the school board.

We were reminded and encouraged to vote for, support, and advocate for passage of the replacement tech school levy on the February 14th ballot.  A detailed accounting of how funds from the 2008 tech levy is available on the district's website.  There are two documents - one for the district's elementary/K-8 schools, and one for the district's secondary schools.

Should the legislature mandate additional cuts to basic education funding, district administrators believe that we can mitigate potential cuts to state revenue streams with existing district resources. 

The district anticipates having approximately 62 fewer FTEs for the 2012-2013 school year due solely to declining enrollment.  Declining enrollment saves the district money, but it costs jobs.

We received a report on the work done by the EAACH (Equity Alliance for Achievement) committee.  The committee has 150 volunteers in its database, and can consistently count on 40-50 active participants who are working to address the committee's concerns.  Chief among the committee's goals are to empower parents and families by educating them on the policies and procedures that craft public education.  Parents new to our country, culture, language, and political systems are encouraged to participate in their child's education and in our democracy by becoming activists on behalf of their child's education.  The district has over 2000 families where Spanish is the primary language spoken in the home.  The next most frequently spoken language is represented by approximately 150 families, so it is no mistake that much of the committee's work involves outreach to the district's Hispanic and Latino communities.

February 6, 2012 CPC meeting minutes

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you might have regarding the CPC or anything I've shared here.

Doug Vavrick
CPC Representative
Hilltop Elementary School
doug.vavrick@gmail.com

January 9, 2012

The Edmonds School District's Citizen Planning Committee met on January 9, 2012.

In the Education Subcommittee, we continued our discussion of what's important to parents when it comes to communicating with teachers and principals.  Study after study brings us to the inevitable conclusion that the two most important people in a child's life are the parent and the teacher.  The leadership of the child's school also has a huge impact on the quality of education provided by the school.  Study after study tells us that high performing schools have high performing leaders.

Dr. Tony Byrd, Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning and the staff coordinator for our subcommittee, again passed around the chart showing the current evaluation criteria, and the framework for the new system to be implemented for the 2013-2014 school year as mandated by ESSB 6696.  The 8 school districts and one consortium of small rural Eastern Washington school districts continue with their pilot programs, and continue to share their progress with districts across the state.  The process and programs are described in great detail at the state's website devoted to the process: http://tpep-wa.org/.  The Snohomish School District is one of the districts participating in the pilot program, and has begun the process of fleshing out their criteria.  Dr. Byrd shared their draft of their proposed principal evaluation criterion #7 as an example of what type of results these processes are producing.

We then broke up into groups of two to develop lists of ideas or concepts that were important to us when thinking about how teachers and principals can best communicate with parents.  The groups of two then combined into groups of six to share and refine the proposals, and then each of the larger groups shared their ideas with the committee.  Here are a few of the ideas that were discussed:

Teachers:

Principals:

The Education subcommittee next heard from Edmonds School Board Director Gary Noble, who wished to speak to us regarding changes the board has made this year to the district's ELL program.  Previously, the secondary school ELL programs had been concentrated at Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood High Schools.  This year, the program was split so ELL programs could be added at all four high schools.  Director Noble was opposed to this shift, as he finds value in keeping the programs co-located and centralized.  He's asked our committee to monitor this change to ensure spreading the program out doesn't dilute it's effectiveness.

The full committee then assembled and heard reports from the subcommittees.

The Building & Enrollment subcommittee will be meeting with the Operations subcommittee next month as the two committees address the district's issues regarding facilities and capacities. 

Alleviating overcrowding at Hilltop, Martha Lake, and Oak Heights is a priority. 

The district is exploring the addition of portable classrooms to accommodate growing student populations at these three schools.  The district thinks that adding portable classrooms will impose unreasonable demands on existing multi-purpose rooms as the additional students would need P.E. and lunch periods in these already overtaxed facilities.  Thus, adding a couple of portable classrooms would also require adding an additional multi-purpose room to these schools.  This ratchets up the price tag of adding portable buildings.  While a "permanent portable" classroom can be installed for approximately $200,000 ea., adding a multipurpose room will cost approximately $1/75 million per school.  The total cost of adding two portable classrooms at three schools then balloons to approximately $12 million.  The district owns land for a new elementary school at 501 184th St. SW across the street rom Lynnwood High School.   The ball-park figure for constructing a new elementary school is $30 million.  Considering the continued growth of housing in the North-East quadrant of the district, the construction of a new elementary school at this location seems not to be a question of why, but of when.

The Operations committee looked at Google Earth images of the footprints of the three elementary schools and discussed site location problems with Ed Peters, the District's Facilities Manager.  Portable classroom sites must be level or else site preparation work become prohibitively expensive.  Most proposed portable classroom sites at Hilltop would conflict with plans to re-work the parking lots and driveways to improve traffic flow patterns before and after school.  Interestingly (at least to me), these three schools are all located within unincorporated Snohomish County, and while Ed Peters has been working with county zoning and land use staff to see how laws and regulations would impact the proposal to add portable classrooms to these campuses, it appears that county zoning and land use regulations are more restrictive than what applies to other district facilities in other political subdivisions. 

District memo re: portable classroom and multi-purpose room addition room costs

One other item that was shared as we discussed overcrowding at the elementary schools in the North-East quadrant are the new rules applying to students wishing to attend Madrona or Maplewood.  Slots at Madrona and Maplewood will now be assigned to quadrants, with an equal number of kids from each quadrant offered spots at these two schools.  It is expected that this will draw a few kids from these three schools as there are now additional slots at Madrona and Maplewood for kids from our quadrant.

Committee member Mark Dillan spoke on behalf of the Edmonds Public Schools Foundation.  The foundation has money to give to district schools, but because there aren't enough trained grant writers asking for funds, the money goes unspent.  Time constraints have inhibited the ability of teachers and staff to apply for grant money.  Mark has suggested holding a "grant writing seminar" for parents and other school community leaders to learn how to write successful grant applications so this money can get out to the schools as intended.  All who are interested are invited to email Mark at mdillan77@yahoo.com.

District Human Resources Director Debby Carter again reminded us to remind everyone else to vote for the Technology and Capital Facilities Replacement Levy on the February 14th ballot.  The replacement levy doesn't increase the tax rate - it only renews an existing levy.  A large chunk of the funds from this levy are dedicated to fixing the parking lot and driveways at Hilltop.

Dr. Byrd shared the "District Improvement Plan" with the committee.  The plan is mandated under No Child Left Behind for all school districts in the United States with schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  Only four school districts in Washington State are not subject to this requirement.  Mercer Island is one of those districts, which helps explain what it takes to get excluded from the list.  The plan requires the district to identify specific weaknesses, and then to establish policies and procedures to address the shortcomings.  There are various categories and classifications where improvement may be mandated.  The Edmonds district has improvement plans for reading, and math at several schools and for several distinct sub-groups of students (special needs and ELL).

Dr. Byrd spoke about the "Math Expressions" program now in use at all district elementary schools.  This curriculum was adopted to improve math achievement in all district elementary schools as part of a prior District Improvement Plan.  The curriculum was brand-new when introduced in 2007, and is now used by most districts in the state, including Bellevue and Shoreline.  Middle school math instructional materials are next for review, and it is contemplated that the "Math Expressions" program will be expanded to the middle schools for a seamless math curriculum.

Finally, Dr. Byrd led a discussion on the impacts of poverty and economic strife and stress on students.  He shared a couple of sobering statistics:  In the "average" home of the average child who qualifies for free or reduced-price school lunches, you will find an average of between zero and four books of any kind or sort.  In the "average" middle-class home, you will find an average of between 300-400 books.  Furthermore, studies have proven a 90% correlation between family income and student performance.  In other words, if a student's family is struggling economically, there is a 90% chance that the student's achievement will be negatively impacted.

Meeting minutes

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you might have regarding the CPC or anything I've shared here.

Doug Vavrick
CPC Representative
Hilltop Elementary School
doug.vavrick@gmail.com

December 5, 2011

Hilltop Community,

The Edmonds School District's Citizen Planning Committee met on December 5, 2011.  Per the usual schedule, the sub-committees met separately to discuss their business before the entire committee met to hear from the other committees and to hear presentations to the entire body.

In the Education Sub-Committee, we continued our examination and discussion of the state and district processes underway to reform and improve teacher and principal evaluations as mandated by state law. (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6696&year=2009)

Asst. Superintendent Tony Byrd was unable to attend due to illness, so substituting in his place was Debby Carter, Executive Director for Human Resources for the district.  She was an excellent source of information.  Also attending was Ryan Nyman, a Social Studies teacher from Lynnwood High School, who sits on the district's Teacher Task Force On Evaluation Restructuring and participates in national advocacy and research on the subject through involvement with the Center for Teaching Quality.  According to Debby and Ryan, The Center for Teaching Quality has been a leader in the research and development of "best-practices" for revising and enhancing teacher and principal evaluations.

Debby Carter handed out the following materials to committee members:

We learned that the teacher evaluation updates will only apply to certificated teachers working in classrooms.  Paraeducators, counselors, and other professionals working in the school community are not subject to these evaluations.

8 school districts and a consortium of 8 small Eastern Washington school districts are currently participating in a pilot project to revamp their evaluation processes.  These pilot programs have provided a wealth of information to the Edmonds School District, and have identified specific issues the district supports, and issues over which the district continues to have concerns.

Key to the process is the development of the rubrics that will define and describe what a teacher meeting the various evaluation levels will look like.

The new system will trade a satisfactory/unsatisfactory rating scale for a continuum with four categories.  An unsatisfactory teacher who needs much improvement will be rated as a "1".  A marginally better teacher will be rated a "2".  A strong teacher will be rated as a "3", and the cream of the crop will be rated as a "4".  The rubrics will flesh out, define, and describe in detail what a "1", "2", "3", or "4" looks like in the classroom, enabling evaluators to use a commonly-accepted rating scale to produce evaluations relevant in any school, in any district across the state.

These "rubrics" will be defined by the state, but how they are interpreted, and how they will be refined to fit within individual districts, is up to the individual districts.  The Edmonds School Board has tasked the CPC with defining how the definitions and descriptions should look with respect to the new teacher evaluation criteria #7 ("Communicating & collaborating with parents and school community") and the new principal evaluation criteria #8 ("Partnering with the school community to promote student learning").

Immediately and overwhelmingly, CPC members expressed a desire to comment and participate in the development of all eight criteria for both categories.  It will be interesting to see how that interest is handled by district administrators.

Because a teaching certificate is a legal right, there are huge implications for imposing discipline upon a certificated teacher.  Thus, there is a huge incentive to produce an evaluation process that withstands legal scrutiny and challenges from teachers who are disciplined as a result of negative evaluations.

Several committee members wondered if this process is designed to create evaluations that can be incorporated into determining a teacher's compensation.  It certainly appears that these evaluations can be used in such a way should decision-makers choose to tie teacher pay to classroom performance.

Teachers and principals are evaluated annually, and this schedule will continue under the new scheme.  Under the current system, teachers with a proven history of success are eligible for "short-form" evaluations, and new teachers and those working to improve their skills receive "long-form" evaluations.  It seems that some version of this arrangement will continue under the new system, simply because principals can't conduct "long-form" evaluations on every teacher, every year.  The hypothetical example of a high school with 70+ teachers was used to demonstrate how annual long-form evaluations of every teacher could easily become the sole focus of a principal's workday.

Ryan, the Lynnwood High School teacher, views this as a unique opportunity for teachers to enhance their professions.  He views the new system as a huge improvement from the teacher's perspective, where star teachers will be better recognized and those needing assistance and further professional development will be quickly identified and mentored.

The full committee then assembled. 

First to report was the Operations Sub-Committee.

The Operations Sub-Committee reviewed the district capital project "wish list", with an eye towards utilizing the resources the district hopes the voters will approve on February 14th when they vote on reauthorizing the district's technology and capital facilities levy.

The Ops Sub-Committee will meet with the Boundaries& Enrollment Sub-Committee in February to discuss overcrowding at Hilltop, Martha Lake, and Oak Heights Elementary Schools.  Options on the table are once again redrawing attendance boundaries and bringing in portable classrooms.

As an aside, I sat on the Boundaries & Enrollment Sub-Committee last year, and we addressed this issue back then.  At that time, we encouraged the district to consider building a new elementary school on district-owned property across the street from the new Lynnwood High School.  It seems as if this option is again "off the table", so I will work to see that this is again considered as an option for overcrowding in our corner of the district.

I reminded the entire committee that it "only" costs approximately $30 million to construct a new elementary school.  Building a new school pencils out if adding portables (and/or remodeling to accommodate portables), or remodeling to add classrooms and/or multipurpose rooms at two or three schools exceeds the $30 million price of a new school. 

I firmly believe that our corner of the district will continue to add population as we continue to grow and develop, and ultimately the addition of another elementary school to our district sub-area is inevitable.

The Boundaries & Enrollment Sub-Committee met with the principals from two of the three elementary schools in the North-East quadrant to also discuss the overcrowded elementary schools at Hilltop, Martha Lake, and Oak Heights.  (Hilltop's principal was unable to attend due to illness.)

The principals of Oak Heights and Martha Lake described their schools and how they currently accommodate the large numbers of students.  Both expressed a desire for an additional multi-purpose room for their schools, so that P.E. classes and student lunches could co-exist in separate rooms.

It appears that the district would like to consider the use of portable/modular classrooms as a potential fix.  Adding portable classrooms to existing campuses can often be inappropriate, as lunch room, library, plumbing, music and other communal resources are unable to accommodate the demands presented by additional students.

The full Citizens Planning Committee next heard from Marla Miller, Executive Director for Business and Operations for the district.  She addressed previous concerns regarding anticipated overcrowding at Lynnwood High School and an anticipated underutilization of Mountlake Terrace High School.  The district's worries have subsided somewhat.  The district, along with data provided by the district's contracted demographer, has determined that Lynnwood High School is at the peak of their enrollment trend, and that student numbers should gradually decrease over the next few years, alleviating the projected overcrowding problem.

Similarly, the district and its demographer predict that population and demographic shifts, combined with the conversion of MTHS to a STEM Academy starting with the 2012-2013 school year, will eliminate district concerns regarding the underutilization of MTHS. 

The district now feels that enrollment at these two schools is stable, and no further actions need be taken to address the situation.

Next, Debby Carter gave an overview of District Policy 8207, the "Harassment, Intimidation & Bullying" (or "HIB") policy.  The district had a robust anti-harassment/intimidation/bullying policy before the changes recently mandated by the State Legislature.  The district needed to only tweak the policy in minor ways to comply with the new state requirements.

Some highlights of the district's "HIB" policy:

Finally, Marla Miller attempted to give an update on developments in Olympia regarding the state budget.  She provided a brief outline of the Governor's proposed budget, along with a handout on the Governor's proposals.  Marla shared that most believe no movement will take place during this month's Special Session, and that we'll have to wait for next year's regular legislative session for a resolution to the crisis.  I shared my best-guess, based upon my experiences working in the legislature, that the Legislature will likely require two Special Sessions after the regular session ends at the end of March, and it might be well into May before we know the full details of how the shortfalls will be addressed.

Doug Vavrick
CPC Representative
Hilltop Elementary School

November 8, 2011

Hilltop Community,

The Citizen Planning Committee met on November 7, 2011.

In the Education subcommittee which I attend, we heard a fascinating and inspiring presentation from James Sullivan, a STEM teacher at Brier Terrace Middle School.  Mr. Sullivan is an nationally-recognized expert on STEM education.

Mr. Sullivan brought amazing examples of the types of projects students work on in his "Sci-Ma-Tech" (Science, Math & Technology) program at BTMS.  A closely related program also used in the district is called "Gateway to Technology".  We learned that the program developed by Mr. Sullivan has been adapted and is currently in use in over 75 middle schools around Washington State, and was recently endorsed by representatives from The Boeing Company as an example of precisely what they want to see happening in our schools in Snohomish County.

The middle school STEM elective program (called STEM Foundations) for 7th and 8th Graders is now in effect at all four district middle schools (Meadowdale, College Place, Alderwood, & Brier Terrace).  The district intends to use STEM initiatives to enhance algebra and geometry skills in all students, with a particular interest in using STEM initiatives to help under-performing math students grasp concepts and learn to love math, science, engineering, and technology.  Mr. Sullivan reports that his STEM classes are a rich blend of traditional middle school students and students from BTMS's Challenge Program.  His class even has three students who are legally blind - and who are thriving in the program.

In furtherance of this goal, Boeing - along with other partners such as the University of Washington, Seattle University, and the Puget Sound Biotechnology Advisory Committee, have pledged support for the establishment of a STEM magnet school at Mountlake Terrace High School beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.  A description of the program is available here.  This effort is styled to accomplish two goals:  Bring a STEM magnet school/academy to the Edmonds School District, and to bolster declining enrollment at MTHS.

Mr. Sullivan reports high interest in extra-curricular STEM activities, particularly through the Technology Student Association, or "TSA".  The TSA holds annual engineering competitions, and BTMS has done well in these contests.  The competition begins with district-level competitions in January, and culminates with the state competition in Bellevue in March.

The district will hold a STEM open-house at Meadowdale Middle School on November 16th, from 6-8:30 PM.  The district will discuss and take questions about the middle school STEM programs as well as the new STEM Academy at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Next, the subcommittee addressed the status of English Language Learners (ELL) programs in the district.  15 years ago, the district served 200 ELL students.  Now the district serves 2000 ELL students, representing an increase of 900%.  Those 2000 students speak over 70 different languages.  Cedar Valley Elementary is the most heavily ELL school, with 50% of the student body described as an "English Language Learner".  The district recently shuffled staff around to replace paraeducator ELL "teachers" with certificated ELL teachers at every elementary school, including Hilltop.  ELL programs have been established at the following district schools: Meadowdale ES, Oak Heights ES, Mountlake Terrace ES, Hilltop ES, Westgate ES, Martha Lake ES, Hazelwood ES, Cedar Way ES, Meadowdale MS, and Edmonds-Woodway HS.

ELL students are classified into three possible categories:  Level 1 students have little or know knowledge of the English language.  Level 2 students are more advanced, and Level 3 students are approaching academic fluency.  Experts on ELL say it can take from 5-7 years for a student to pick up "academic English", meaning they understand the language well enough so that it doesn't become an obstacle to learning.

The Edmonds School District believes that every ELL student should have an opportunity to go to college, and that it is the responsibility of the entire school to educate ELL students.

Next, the full CPC committee met.  

The Operations subcommittee reported that they are working on building prioritization lists, where district capital building and repair projects are ranked in order of need.

The Education subcommittee reported what I've shared above.

The Boundaries and Enrollment subcommittee reported that they met with the MTHS principal to discuss MTHS's relatively low enrollment.  The school isn't losing kids to transfers to other schools.  All evidence indicates there are simply fewer kids in the MTHS attendance district.   Because of the decline in enrollment, the school has lost a couple of programs, such as their sports medicine program, the student store (which has recently been re-opened), and the coffee cart, which is part of the school's marketing program.

Under consideration are changing feeder school patterns to shift more kids to MTHS from the other three district high schools, adding more programs to MTHS to attract kids currently attending other schools, and of course the STEM Academy discussed above.  It is hoped that the STEM Academy will draw kids from across the district who wish to participate in a state-of-the-art program designed to give them a fast-track to a rewarding career in the technology fields.

It was mentioned by district staff that surveys over the years have demonstrated that 35% of school-aged kids living in the Edmonds School District don't attend district schools.  They attend private schools, are home-schooled, or are not in school at all.  A suggestion was made that perhaps public schools could be marketed to the kids who go to school elsewhere.  The district is also considering surveying kids to see what would attract them to MTHS.

After the subcommittee reports, we then heard from district staff about the Move 60! program.  The Move 60! program is an effort of the ESD and what was formerly known as the South Snohomish County Health District (now "Verdant").  The health district received a windfall when Swedish bought in to Stevens Hospital.  The funds are being reinvested into the community to improve community health, and the Move 60! program is part of this effort.  In all, $2.2 million was given to the district for a three-year program to bring additional physical fitness efforts to elementary school children.

This year, the program is spending $915,000 of the $2.2 million to deploy the before or after school program to eight elementary schools this year: Cedar Valley, College Place, Hazelwood, Lynndale, Maplewood, Meadowdale, Mountlake Terrace, & Spruce.  Funding pays for one teacher to administer the program across the district, and a paraeducator overseeing the program at each school.  Move 60! spends a trimester at a school before moving on to another school.  Three schools are served at a time.  It is anticipated that the program will come to Hilltop next year.  The program also provides funds for busses, so students won't have to miss out due to transportation issues.  Each school is allocated slots for 50 kids, and the program has been averaging 100 applicants per school.  Students are first identified for participation by school staff.  Special consideration is given to kids who might otherwise participate in organized sports such as baseball, basketball or soccer, but who don't due to financial constraints.  Priority is also given to children the staff feel could benefit from additional exercise and a reinforcement of healthy lifestyle choices.

Finally, we discussed the reform of the processes used to evaluate teachers and principals.  The district has two steering committees working on new criteria and rubrics, one for teachers and the other for principals.  The current system "grades" teachers and principals using a "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" designation.  The new system will employ four levels of performance, providing more information about the skills, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses of teachers and principals.  The legislation driving this reform (E2SSB 6696) also requires annual reports using the new data to provide greater detail of how teachers and principals are doing.

October 10, 2011

Hello,

My name is Doug Vavrick.  I am the parent of a 1st grader at Hilltop.  This is my second year as Hilltop's representative to the Edmonds School District's Citizen Planning Committee (CPC).  I hope to use this page to communicate information I receive to the Hilltop community, and for the Hilltop community to communicate concerns, ideas and suggestions for me to take back to the CPC.

What is the CPC?  According to the district's website (http://www.edmonds.wednet.edu/19631085131330817/site/default.asp), the Citizen Planning Committee was created by the Edmonds School Board to advise them on the long-range needs and issues of the school district.

The Citizen Planning Committee meets as a whole, and also meets in subcommittees.  The three subcommittees are:

1. Boundaries and Enrollment (attendance areas, feeder school patterns, enrollment and building utilization)

2. Education (curriculum and other similar issues)

3. Operations (budget, finance, facilities)

Last year, I served on the Boundaries and Enrollment subcommittee.  This year, I decided to serve on the Education subcommittee, which is going to be busy this year as we tackle several meaty issues. 

The Education subcommittee is addressing the following issues for the 2011-2012 school year:

The full committee is also working with the district to help ensure the renewal of the Technology and Capital Facilities Levy, which will be on the February 14, 2012 ballot.  This renewal won't raise taxes.  Tax rates will actually go down incrementally if the levy is approved thanks to declining property values.  I hope you've all seen the pink technology posters around the school.  They inform parents and other visitors to the school that the monies generated under the 2008 Technology and Capital Facilities Levy produced real results for our students and classrooms by providing technology used on a daily basis in every classroom in every district school.

We've learned that only half of district parents are registered to vote, and only have of those registered voters bother to cast ballots in school levy elections.  We're working on ways to increase parent voter participation rates, including voter registration drives at PTA events and reminding all parents that they can register to vote at any school office, fire station, library, or even online: http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/olvrsite/

I welcome your comments, concerns, ideas and questions.  Please feel free to email me at doug.vavrick@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Doug Vavrick
CPC Representative
Hilltop Elementary School