We have completed over a month of school and it just goes by like a blink of the eye. I would like to take this opportunity to give you an update of happenings in the Waitsburg School District.

We have got a lot of wonderful things going on. It is hard to distill it down to a few, but I will try.

Last year the Professional Development Council (PDC), a group of teachers, classified staff representative, and administration convened to address needs of the students and staff of the district. During the course of the year, the council worked on our Vision Statement, which is:

CHALLENGE | ENGAGE | INSPIRE | THE POWER OF LEARNING

Once this activity wrapped up, the council worked on establishing district priorities for the upcoming years. Staff were surveyed, and the top four areas noted were: Social-Emotional Learning; Breakfast at the Bell to coincide with our Provision 2 Breakfast Program; Discipline/Behavior Program; and Celebrations.

These four areas are our pillars for the district. Mrs. Abel, CTE teacher, had a document with the above statements depicted on pillars. Mrs. Abel had contacted me prior to talk about what to call the four pillars. One of her students suggested “Waitsburg Foundations” and that is what has stuck. The four pillars together represent the “Waitsburg Foundations.”

Our professional development will be focused on these areas, in particular, social-emotional learning. Two subgroups we have going with social-emotional are, Character Strong, a program for grades 6-12 and a micro-credential grant focused on implementing social-emotional learning. Character Strong is a complement to the Second Steps Program we have at the elementary.

The goal of the social-emotional committee is to guide staff professional development on all early release days. The trainings will center on the Washington State social-emotional standards.

If you have ever done any research on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, you know if the basic needs of food, safety, security are not met, nothing else will happen. The social-emotional focus provides us the tools to ensure success for all students by providing an equitable learning/playing field.

Breakfast at the Bell

Breakfast at the Bell coincides with our Provision 2 program. Last year our district applied to become a Provision 2 school. What this means, is we qualify for free breakfast for all students.

In order to maximize our goals of feeding all of our children, we moved our school start time up 20 minutes. By doing this we are able to cycle all of our students through in three groups. These groups are multi-grade level. By doing the multi-level approach we are developing relationships through mentoring.

The goal of Breakfast at the Bell committee is to provide monthly activities for students and staff to participate in during breakfast time. Activities should be focused on Washington State social-emotional standards.

At this time, we are feeding breakfast to 200-230 students each day. This is over 80% of our student population. This a new program, so we will be working out the kinks.

Discipline/Behavior Program

This committee is researching effective programs to address the needs of our children. Each month this group will present a different discipline/behavior program to staff.

Early Learning ECEAP Partnership

Over the past couple of years, Waitsburg School District has partnered with Walla Walla Community College to provide a ½ day, 2 session combined pre-school and ECEAP program.

This year Waitsburg and Prescott have partnered with ESD 123 to provide an ECEAP program. ECEAP is a full-day program. ESD 123 is the administrative authority and it is held in Waitsburg.

See the following excerpt in italics for an explanation about pre-school.

ESD 123’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) is a “whole child,” comprehensive, family-focused preschool program that provides FREE services and support to eligible children and their families. The goal of ECEAP is to help ensure all Washington children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

Eligibility Requirements:

At least three years old, but not yet five years old, by 8/31/2018;

Not simultaneously enrolled in Head Start;

Meet one of the following criteria:

Qualified by their school district for special education services under RCW 28A.155.020. All children with a school district Individualized Education Program (IEP) meet this requirement.

Students with a school district IEP are given higher priority points, however, priority is based on a point system that identifies multiple risk factors for each child. For more information on this point system, see the WA Department of Early Learning webpageOpens a New Window..

From a family with income at or below 110% of the federal poverty guidelines established by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Waitsburg School District provides space, electricity, custodial staff, meals, and other associated amenities to ECEAP. In return, ESD 123 reimburses Waitsburg School District 75 cents per square foot of space for usage.

Waitsburg Levy Funded Pre-School Program

Our voter approved levy fully-funds pre-school for Waitsburg students at no cost to the parent. Based on majority parent preference, the pre-school program is a ½ day program. The morning program is for three year-olds. Students in the AM program receive breakfast. The afternoon program is for 4-5 year-olds. Students in the PM program receive lunch. This is a program fully run by the Waitsburg School District. Our pre-school lead provides instruction based on what is best for students entering the Waitsburg School system. Out-of-district students are allowed into the program contingent on space. Out-of-district families pay $200 per month to defray costs.

We make an effort to have the ECEAP and pre-school program mingle during the day. However, with ECEAP having strict regulation they need to adhere to, such as family style meals, which are currently eaten in the classroom, prescribed curriculum and playtime, this poses a challenge. We are working through those.

Bond Projects

It was a buzz of activity all of this summer. It was interesting hearing and watching everything that went on. Thank you to our voters for approving the $3.8 million bond. The bond earmarked HVAC upgrades/installation in all schools, a new field house, and an amazing kitchen remodel. Construction is not officially slated to end until December 2018, but we are pretty close. We just have some loose ends to tie up with HVAC and some cosmetic work. It has been so nice having A/C for our children.

Full Athletic Combine

For the past couple of years, we have been in a modified Combine with Dayton for specific sports and cheer at the middle and high school level. This year we are full in. It has taken a lot of planning, effort, trial, and error to get us here. It is not perfect by any means. We continue to work out kinks. There is a Combine Advisory with members from both districts. The Advisory meets once a month. This fall has been wonderful for turnout of student-athletes at all levels.

These are just a few of the great things going on in our district. Feel free to pop in and see for yourself.

Thank you for allowing us to educate your children.

Respectfully,

Dr. Jon R. Mishra, Superintendent