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Agreement
near on tribal history and culture project
A special ceremony is scheduled next month for the
formal signing of an agreement that will launch a
unique tribal history and culture project in
Washington state. The project, prompted by a law
approved last year, will bring school boards and
tribal councils together to promote increased
understanding of tribal history, culture and
government, and to work on ways to narrow the
achievement gap for Indian students.
Learn more here…
June WASL score
release: Communications help…
For the first time, high school students
statewide will be getting results of their 10th-grade WASL tests at the end of the school year. Districts and schools need to be prepared for this event, which is expected to generate a significant number of questions from students, families and the media. With that in mind, WSSDA, OSPI, WASA, AWSP, the Washington State PTA and the Partnership for Learning
have teamed up to provide education leaders with a package of resources for the June score release. This "toolkit," scheduled to be available online in early May, will include suggested key messages, media guidelines, a checklist of action items, templates for letters and other communications, and a variety of related materials. Watch your e-mail for an announcement on the toolkit’s availability.
…and K-20
Videoconferences
Next month, OSPI will hold three K-20 videoconference meetings for school/district teams to learn more about the June release of 10th-grade WASL scores. These meetings will last about two hours and include information from OSPI’s assessment and communications teams. This is a great opportunity for school board members, superintendents, high school principals, counselors, parent and teacher leaders, public information officers and assessment directors to ask assessment questions and to learn about the communications
project mentioned above. Meetings have been scheduled for late afternoon
to allow the option of asking student and community leaders
to join the discussion about communication efforts. Here's the schedule:
• Thursday, May 11: (2–4 p.m.)
Puget Sound ESD,
Northwest ESD, and
Olympic ESD
• Monday, May 22: (3–5 p.m.)
ESD 105,
ESD 112, and
ESD 113
• Wednesday, May 24: (3–5 p.m.)
ESD 101,
ESD 123, and
North Central ESD
Golden to chair student
achievement task force
WSSDA President Quent Goodrich (Chimacum) has announced the
selection of Walla Walla School Board Member Anne Golden
as chair the association’s forthcoming task force on student achievement. Golden, an 18-year member of the Walla Walla school board, served as WSSDA president in 2003 and has
held numerous leadership positions in the association. The overall mission of the new task force will be to assist school boards in ensuring that their districts are making progress on student achievement as required by the No Child Left Behind Act.
Specific responsibilities and anticipated outcomes for the task force are expected to be finalized
by the WSSDA Board of Directors in June.
WSSDA seeks
officer candidates for 2007
The selection of WSSDA’s leadership is one of the most important responsibilities of association membership. That’s why school board members are asked to pay particular attention to a recent mailing that explains how to run or suggest candidates for WSSDA president-elect and vice president. You can submit information using the forms in the packet, or do it all electronically through the
WSSDA Web site. Don’t delay…nominee suggestions are due May 31 and candidate applications are due June 12.
Coming in
May: Online registration for the WSSDA Annual Conference
Early registration and hotel reservations for the 2006 WSSDA
Annual Conference will open online only starting May 1.
Those who know they will attend the conference may register
online at
wssda.org/annualconference. Conference housing is being
handled exclusively by the Spokane Housing Bureau and room
assignments will be made once WSSDA confirms your conference
registration. Hotels will not accept reservations directly
from individuals or districts. The 2006 WSSDA Annual
Conference takes place Nov. 16-18, with Pre-Conference on
Nov. 15. The meetings will be held at the new Spokane
Convention Center and the Spokane City Center DoubleTree
Hotel.
NSBA delegates
take issue with school district takeovers
School district takeovers are much in the news lately;
the state of Maryland recently seized control of Baltimore
schools under the No Child Left Behind Act, and the mayor of
Los Angeles just unveiled his plans to take over the nation’s second-largest school district. All this doesn’t sit well with the Delegate Assembly of the National School Boards Association, which approved a position statement opposing any move to interfere with the governing authority of local school boards. See the
NSBA Web site for the full text.
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