In this issue:
District work teams research reopening scenarios
THS students, staff share video for Memorial Day
Tahoma School District finances stable
Spotlight on Glacier Park Elementary
News briefs
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District work teams research reopening scenarios
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As students enter the final weeks of the 2019-2020 school year, they continue to work from home in the emergency distance learning program that was launched after all Washington schools were closed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Tahoma School District leaders are turning their attention toward the 2020-2021 school year and examining ways to continue serving students in the midst of the pandemic.
Three work teams are looking at different aspects of how the district can operate next year, divided into these topics: Public Safety; Continuous Learning; Wellness. A fourth group that will focus on Human Resources will get underway soon.
The teams are being guided by information from the state Superintendent of Public Instruction and Gov. Jay Inslee’s office regarding rules that will be in place for all Washington schools in the fall. Guidelines from a special state committee, called the Reopening Washington Schools 2020-21 Workgroup, are expected during the week of June 8.
Early work by the Public Safety work team is focused on ensuring students and staff will be in a safe environment if school buildings are reopened in September. There must be sufficient supplies of cleaning and personal protective equipment, along with appropriate usage protocols, before school buildings can reopen.
“We’re getting an idea of what it may look like in the fall, potentially,” said Assistant Superintendent and Director of Finance and Operations Lori Cloud, who is leading the Public Safety team. “We’re trying to zone in on what are the few most likely things.”
The Wellness team is looking at physical and mental health aspects of operating schools next year. Among the topics that will be discussed are to identify counseling and support needs of students and staff; how to create student-staff connections and relationships in remote-learning situations; and generally how to identify health and wellness areas of need.
“We’re looking to focus on the strengths of the system, and then find out what the holes or needs are” and address those, said Special Services Director Annette Whittlesey, who is leading the Wellness team.
Continuous Learning is taking on the challenge of identifying what amounts to a hybrid teaching model. Assuming that schools will not operate in traditional ways next year, the committee is exploring ways to blend learning that range from fully remote to a mixture of classroom and remote instruction.
Dawn Wakeley, Teaching and Learning Executive Director, said the approach is to use the school district’s education values to drive the design work for next year’s learning model. She said students and parents will be part of the design process on the committee and also through feedback from surveys and focus groups.
The district’s COVID-19 Task Force is receiving regular updates about the work teams’ progress; we will share similar updates in Tahoma Matters to keep families and staff informed.
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THS students, staff share video for Memorial Day
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For 18 consecutive years, students in the Tahoma School District have placed flags on individual gravesites at Tahoma National Cemetery prior to Memorial Day weekend as participants in a service-learning project known as Operation Veterans Remembrance. Due to the pandemic and the closing of regular school, this outreach will not be performed this year. Those restrictions, however, are not preventing Tahoma High School students from remembering our military veterans and their family members who have sacrificed so much for our nation.
About 10,000 Tahoma freshmen have proudly served as members of Operation Veterans Remembrance. Cumulatively, those students have cleaned more than 500,000 headstones and placed more than 500,000 American flags on individual gravesites. When the new Tahoma High School opened in September 2017, Operation Veterans Remembrance transitioned from Tahoma Junior High School (which closed) into the new Freshman Success Program. In 2018, Social Studies classes at Maple View Middle School began placing flags for Veterans Day. Before that time, only headstone cleaning had been permitted at Tahoma National Cemetery in the lead up to Veterans Day.
Tahoma High School students, graduates and teachers created this special video to honor those who have served our country and in recognition of Memorial Day, 2020.
In addition, Teacher Cary Collins
shared this piece with us about why his students named Tahoma National Cemetery as the "greatest landmark in Maple Valley.
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Tahoma School District finances stable
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COVID-19 complicates budget forecasts; TSD receives clean audit
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Tahoma School Board Director Val Paganelli gives an update about the financial health of the district, challenges presented by COVID-19, and the results of the district's most recent audit.
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Spotlight on Glacier Park Elementary
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Fourth-graders hear how parents use Future Ready skills on the job
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Why do some patients with coronavirus fare better or worse than others? Students in Ruth Markert’s fourth-grade class had the chance to hear about research on the topic from a classmate’s parent. Lori Blanchfield, Ph.D., a staff scientist with the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, shared with the class why it’s important in her job to be a Community Contributor and a Quality Producer as she works with her team.
“This was such a great community experience,” Markert said. Other parents and guardians talked about their jobs, including: airplane black box analyst, an actuary who spoke about her experience producing and directing local theater, a Boeing engineer, an entrepreneur who began her own essential oil company, a mom who is a mechanic, a Tahoma bus driver, and a women’s coach (for business). One parent is a neonatal intensive care unit nurse who takes care of premature infants, and noted that some of her tiny patients are treated for COVID-19, because their moms delivered while infected.
“Our community is rich with diverse experiences for sure,” Markert said.
Her class is booked through the first week of June with parents and guardians who are eager to share.
“It was an experience that brought the community to the classroom,” Markert said. “We don’t have time for this most months, but it worked so well that I don’t know why we couldn’t do this virtually with parents, once we go back to the GPES classroom in Maple Valley. Parents seem to love this! I know I really enjoyed it.”
Principal Shelly Gaston, who had the chance to sit in on some of the Zoom sessions, said this is just one of many positive things that have happened as a result of emergency remote learning.
“Mrs. Markert’s Future Ready show and tell is most definitely one of the highlights. Listening to her parents share how our Future Ready Skills play out in their jobs was so important for our students. Students were so engaged, proud to show off their parents and had the opportunity to ask questions of each of the presenters,” Gaston said.
“While we have always had opportunities to invite parents in to talk about their jobs, the reality is some parents aren’t able to take time off to come into the classroom. I can see the power of using video conferencing for this type of activity even when we are back to full time in-class learning,” she continued. “I can imagine a parent being able to join a video conference for a few minutes during a break or while they are working out of town. I am so grateful for Mrs. Markert’s creative innovation!”
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School Board discusses budget process
Tahoma School Board directors are engaged in learning how to take a more active role in developing the school district’s annual operating budget.
At a special meeting May 19, held via Zoom video conferencing, Interim Superintendent Mike Maryanski led an exercise for the School Board to help identify a process that could give the board a larger role in formulating the budget.
Board members and administrators were placed in two virtual discussion groups to begin conversations about how the budget is structured and the factors that guide annual revenue and spending. More discussion is scheduled for future meetings. The final operating budget for the 2020-2021 school year must be completed and approved in August.
School district closes Monday in observance of Memorial Day
Tahoma School District will be closed on Monday, May 25, in observance of Memorial Day. Remote-learning classes and other operations resume on Tuesday, May 26.
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The Tahoma School District does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups The following employees have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination:
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Title IX Officer
Director of Human Resources
25720 Maple Valley Highway
Maple Valley, WA 98038
425-413-3400
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ADA Coordinator
Director of Human Resources
25720 Maple Valley Highway
Maple Valley, WA 98038
425-413-3400
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Section 504 Coordinator
Director of Special Services
25720 Maple Valley Highway
Maple Valley, WA 98038
425-413-3400
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25720 Maple Valley-Black Diamond Rd. S.E., Maple Valley, WA 98038
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