June 17, 2009

As I sit tonight working on this letter I remember again that this should be the first hours of our summer vacation. Somehow the addition of snow days to the calendar seems just a little unfair given the calendar and everyone is whining just a little. Remember those days we thought the cold, snow and rain would never end? They did end and now we’re wondering if we will set a new record for rainless days in June. Go figure. Love the Northwest. I hope you enjoy the last few days of the year and then time with family, travel and trying to stay cool.

This has been a challenging year; they all are to some degree of course. The budget, school closure, reductions in force, adding a new classroom, weather, new curriculum and potential changes at the state level have all brought different challenges. While I strongly believe that our kids need to be in school longer hours per day, longer days per year or both—the anticipation for summer is intense. I hope your time away is wonderful for your kids and for yourselves.

At this time it is unusual to still have major decisions to make but that is where we are currently. The outcome of the RIF process is still unknown, we have an open position that is not acknowledged and we have even more students expected to walk in the doors in September. One decision I will announce at this time is that Kate Kristian will be teaching first grade next year. Kate has been a Resource Room teacher and second grade teacher for the last three years and will now team with Mrs. Kimball and Mrs. Brown in first grade. Her classroom will remain the same on the second floor, as Room 108 will become our fourth kindergarten next year. Our new full-day K teacher is Farin Houk. Farin has been a teacher at Olympic Hills Elementary and is currently finishing her internship for her principal’s credential at West Woodland and John Stanford International. We are excited to have her join us and look forward to introducing her formally next year.

We have also had a change in our QA/Magnolia cluster as Ed Noh, principal at Lawton, leaves for Hawaii. He and his family will be taking part in a church planting on the Big Island and he will be working for the Hawaii School District on school improvement. Ed has been a wonderful colleague; a good friend and he will be missed not only at Lawton but also by all of us in the cluster and our Successful Schools in Action partnership.

Thank you so much for your continued support of this wonderful school, for your passion, for your generosity, for your time, for your food and for your commitment to make this a special place for our kids and our adults too

Take care,