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Green Schools$16.7 million awarded to

Washington Schools

Pages 6-7

Free College Tuition for Low-Income Students

Learn how to qualify on page 9

Granite Falls Teacher Publishes Leadership Book

Read her story on page 5

XPRESSEEE XPRESSEEEThe NWESD Newsletter

January 2010

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January 2010

Unit 21, the Skagit, Island and San Juan School Retirees Association, is conducting a retirement seminar for school employees. The semi-nar will be held at the Burlington Senior Center, 1011 Greenleaf Av-enue in Burlington, on March 13, 2010 from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided and a $10 suggested donation will cover the materials and supplies for each participant. Information for TRS, PERS and SERS Plans 1,2 and 3 will be covered. Additional topics include Investments and Financial Planning, Legal Needs and Estate Plan-ning, SHIBA, Health Insurance and Long Term Care, VEBA and the Washington State School Retirees Association. For more information, please contact Leon Greene at 360.855.0918 or Barbara Landrock at 360.856.2190.

Retirement Seminar Offered by Unit 21

It is hard to believe we have al-ready begun a new calendar year! 2009 brought us challenges, no doubt, but it also gave us the op-portunity to think creatively and the inspiration to reprioritize many aspects of how we live and work.

Typically educators return from winter break refreshed and reju-venated, ready to get back into our work—making a difference in the education and lives of every student. While I am certain this year is no different, it will likely be frustrating to hear about the legis-lature’s challenges later this month, requiring significant reductions due to the economic recession. When I find myself frustrated by discussions that seem to focus on everything but making a difference for students—I take time to visit classrooms and refocus. I encour-age all of us to maintain a focus on what matters in these challenging times— students and their learn-ing. You are making a significant difference in the lives of students and their families. Thank you!!

Recognizing the challenges school districts are facing and in the spirit of thinking outside-the-box, I am pleased to share that the NWESD has recently retired all debt related to the Anacortes Facility – more than six years ahead of schedule!

The Superintendents’ Executive Committee and the Board are very excited about this decision; primar-ily because of the benefits we are now able to pass on to member districts.

With “mortgage payments” no longer pending, member district fees related to the facility “cost center” account will be reduced by 45%, retroactively applied begin-ning last August. This means that member districts will not only have reduced fees moving forward, but the NWESD will also be returning funds over the next few months through offsetting fee credits. With the economy still sputtering as a result of the recent recession, there is no better time to provide relief to our school districts.

You might be wondering how the NWESD was able to repay this debt so far ahead of schedule. The

necessary funds were grown over the past several years, primarily through 1) the reduced cost of the Anacortes facility compared to the projected cost of the addition for which the original bonds were sold, 2) six years of rental income for a wing within the facility, 3) indi-rect fees charged some significant grants, and 4) effective cost con-tainment/management. The entire NWESD team is to be commended for making this possible, provid-ing even more efficient services to member districts!

Moving forward, we will be ap-proaching the Superintendents’ Advisory Committee (SAC) for advice related to specific services the NWESD might provide with a significant portion of its remain-ing reserve. The NWESD Board believes that it is time to make use of all available resources to support member districts as they face these economic challenges.

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A Letter from the Superintendent

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www.nwesd.org

School Merger at South Whidbey School District

South Whidbey School Dis-trict has merged two schools (South Whidbey Intermediate and South Whidbey Primary) into one school named South Whidbey Elementary. The South Whidbey School District now consists of South Whidbey Elementary, Langley Middle School, South Whidbey High School, Bayview School, and Whidbey Island Academy.

Oak Harbor Middle School Wins Governor’s

Health Bowl

Each year the Governor’s Health Bowl winners are determined by the average number of miles walked per school. Congratu-lations to Oak Harbor Middle School students for walking the most miles for all middle schools in Washington state! More than 400 K-12 schools contributed to the 3.5 million miles generated on the HealthiestState.org web-site—the equivalent of traveling from Seattle to Paris and back 350 times!

News Briefs

Dr. Robert Marzano is working with Washington State ESDs for the next three years on “Getting Serious About School Reform.” This long-term professional development op-portunity will be centered around Marzano’s three critical commit-ments and how they affect every classroom student.

The second one-day workshop of this three-part series will be held January 27, 2010 at the Comcast Arena in Everett. The cost is $210 per person and limited spaces are still available. Participants can reg-ister online at www.nwesd.org.

The focal point for this upcoming session is “Building Background Knowledge and Academic Vocabu-lary”, a system-wide approach to instruction of common academic vocabulary.

The initial one-day workshop of-fered on May 15, 2009 at the Shore-line Conference Center provided an overview of each of the three commitments to school and district teams. This was a valuable work session that set the foundation for change in Washington Schools.

Over his 35 years in education, Dr. Marzano has worked in every US state and a host of countries in Eu-rope and Asia. The central theme of his work has been translatingresearch and theory into practical programs and tools for K-12 teach-ers and administrators.

In addition to his duties atMarzano & Associates, he is a Se-nior Scholar at Midcontinent Re-search for Education and Learning (McREL) and an AssociateProfessor at Cardinal Stritch Uni-versity.

NWESD hosts Dr. Robert Marzano

“Getting Serious About

School Reform”

Provided by the Washington State

ESD Network

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Oak Harbor students and com-munity members have a wonder-ful new multi-use auditorium that recently opened in December. The rebuilt student union building is a two-story, $12 million structure that houses a cafeteria, auditorium and music program. The auditorium has elevated seating for 500 people on both the main floor and mezzanine levels and a usable stage for the first time in many years.

“Now we’ll have a real stage will real lighting, real sound and real

seating,” Joe Hunt, a school district representative, explained.

Oak Harbor School District also opened a new Career, Arts and Technical Center in April 2009. This center includes automotive, welding and construction shops, engineering, video production and the student-run Wildcat TV studio classes as well as learning space for graphic design, photography, pottery, metal design and art. “The campus has much more of a colle-giate feel to it,” Hunt said.

A community open house is sched-uled for January 13 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The public celebration will include tours, classroom dem-onstrations, free cafeteria samples and student music. Source: “Oak Harbor High School Opens New Auditorium in Latest Addition,” The Daily Herald, Eric Stevick, December 2, 2009, www.heraldnet.com

Oak Harbor High School Opens New Auditorium and Tech Center

January 2010

View professional development opportunties online at www.nwesd.org/classes.

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LeadershipGranite Falls School District Prin-cipal Cathie West recently co-au-thored and published a new book with Mary Lynne Derrington en-titled Leadership Teaming: The Superintendent-Principal Relation-ship. West and Derrington, a former superintendent, discovered over the years that there were no books writ-ten to address the working relation-ship between the superintendent and principal. With more than forty years of combined administrative leadership experience, they felt they had a unique offering for school leaders.

Because the superintendent-princi-pal relationship is one of the most critical aspects to having a success-ful school district, they hope their book will help others improve that relationship so that school districts can be more successful. The book focuses on superintendent-principal relationships, but the concepts are universal and can be applied to all areas of leadership. “Collaboration and trust are essential for a success-ful team,” West and Derrington ex-plained.

“As a former high school principal and school superintendent, I found myself wishing I had had access

to a book like this when I began my administrative roles. The book provides ample resources based on contemporary research and lit-erature and is filled with practical, field-based suggestions and activi-ties that will assist school adminis-trators in building cohesive, goal-oriented, successful teams,” Marcus J. Haack, a clinical associate profes-sor who reviewed the book, report-ed.

West has been a principal for over thirty years, received the Washing-ton Distinguished Principal Award twice, coordinated and directed staff and curriculum development for numerous school districts, served as editorial advisor for the National Association of Elementary School Principals, currently serves on the editorial board for the Washington

State Kappan, has written various articles for educator magazines, and has contributed to several books by Elaine McEwan.To discuss leadership team-ing with Derrington and West, log on to PDKConnect and go to Conversations>>Leadership Team-ing. The book is available at www.amazon.com for purchase.

Source: Phi Delta Kappa Interna-tional, www.pdkintl.org

Granite Falls Principal Publishes School Leadership Book

As a former high school principal and school superintendent,

I found myself wishing I had had access to a book like this when I began my administrative roles.

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www.nwesd.orgXPRESSEEE XPRESSEEE

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The Bellingham School District’s Resource Conservation Program has already saved the district ap-proximately $180,000 in its first year of implementation last school year. The program was designed to limit energy consumption and pro-mote environmental stewardship by reducing the use of electricity, natural gas, and production waste throughout the district.

“Energy costs are the district’s sec-ond largest expense behind salaries and benefits,” Brett Greenwood, Bellingham School District Busi-ness and Finance Manager, report-ed. “Currently the district spends more than $2.6 million for water, sewer, garbage, electricity, and nat-ural gas in more than 25 buildings annually. We are all working hard to reduce the energy we use. Not only is it the right thing to do for the en-vironment, but reducing our energy costs becomes essential in these tough economic times.”

The district is reducing energy con-sumption by tuning boilers, using less water, turning off lights, using fewer light bulbs in fixtures, and ed-ucating staff and students about the importance of energy conservation. Seven new tankless water heaters have been installed in three schools. The energy savings from these new water heaters will pay for the tanks in approximately six years, based on the rebate from Cascade Natural Gas and the annual projected energy savings.

“District staff and contractors have also replaced HVAC control sys-tems at two schools, all unit vents at two schools, and installed new variable speed drives on circulation pumps at one high school,” Mike Anderson, Bellingham School Dis-trict Facilities Manager, explained. “These steps are showing signifi-cant savings already.”

Bellingham School District Food Services Program also continues to

serve as a role model for conserva-tion. The food service program con-tinues to implement the “Food to Flowers” program with the Sanitary Service Company. The program en-courages students to recycle more than a million pounds of food-re-lated waste. This innovative com-posting program was recently high-lighted in the national Food Service Director Magazine.

Thanks to funding through the American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the dis-trict received grant funds for a new, energy-efficient dishwasher at one Bellingham school. For more information on Belling-ham School District’s conservation efforts, visit www.bham.wednet.edu/departments/businessop/docu-ments/AnnualReportFinal0809.pdf .

GreenSchools

Bellingham School District’s Conservation Efforts Create Big Savings

January 2010 XPRESSEEE XPRESSEEE

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Thanks to a grant program funded by the state Legislature, one out of every five school districts in Washington state will be able to complete neces-sary energy-related projects in school facilities.

A total of 59 districts will receive nearly $16.7 million for projects that include upgrades to heating, ventilation and air conditioning sys-tems, repair and upgrade of controls, and replacement of inefficient light-ing. Districts were notified last week about their projects.

To qualify for the funds, districts were required to conduct audits of the school facilities to identify projects that could demonstrate guaranteed energy savings. The districts also had

to show what local financial resources they had for the project.

The combination of state grant funds, district funds and utility incentives will total about $43.3 million in construction projects in 23 counties around the state.

The projects will save an estimated $2.1 million in energy costs each year. In units of energy – primarily electricity and natural gas – the sav-ings can be compared to the annual energy use in 2,700 average Washing-ton homes.

This grant program is administered by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The office re-ceived 81 grant applications.

The Ferndale School District continues their ongoing efforts in energy conservation by offer-ing a free, online energy-track-ing tool to their community. The free Web site, GreenQuest, is a personal energy dashboard that enables community members to track and analyze energy use in their home and business.

“The district is providing Green-Quest to the community in order to educate, raise awareness, pro-mote energy conservation and highlight the district’s own en-ergy conservation efforts which have produced over $350,000 in cost savings,” Aaron Kom-bol, Ferndale School District

59 School Districts to Receive Grants for Energy Efficiency Improvements

Director of Special Projects, ex-plained.

Community members can track their energy use and cost; com-pare their home figures with friends and neighbors; evaluate energy savings projects; track their carbon footprint; analyze energy use with AccuWeather data; and obtain an ENERGY STAR commercial building rat-ing all from the district’s Web page: http://www.ferndale.wednet.edu/drupal/ and click on the GreenQuest icon. This service is free to the commu-nity and is safe and secure—no confidential user information is needed.

“We use an energy manage-ment software program to track the utility bills for all district buildings and have found it to be extremely valuable,” Tony Torretta, Ferndale School Dis-trict Energy Manager, reported. “When you want to save energy, the first step is to track your us-age. With GreenQuest, we are giving every household and business in the district a tool to do the same thing.”

For more information on Fern-dale School District’s energy conservation efforts, con-tact Aaron Kombel, Ferndale School District Director of Spe-cial Projects, at (360)383-9215.

Ferndale School District Provides Free Energy Tracking for Community

www.nwesd.orgXPRESSEEE XPRESSEEE

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Blaine High School sophomore stu-dents step back in time each year as they learn about the infamous Ro-man Empire. Over 130 students and their parents participate in a day-long event consisting of various Roman educational activities and, of course, a large feast.

The day begins with oral presenta-tions from World History and World Literature students and then students and parents help prepare for a large Roman Banquet. Students, dressed in togas, give oral presentations about the food they have prepared for the banquet. This special day concludes with a Roman Empire movie presen-tation held in the school’s performing arts center.

For more information on Blaine High School’s Roman Empire event, contact Mike Grambo at mgrambo@webmail.blainesd.org .

RomanBanquet

Blaine’s History and Literature Classes Host 21st Annual Roman Banquet

January 2010 XPRESSEEE XPRESSEEE

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TuitionWashington’s College Bound Schol-arship Program provides hope and incentive for students who other-wise might not consider college as an option due to cost. The scholarships are based on tu-ition rates at Washington public col-leges and universities and will cover the amount of tuition and fees (plus $500 for books) not covered by oth-er state financial aid awards. Low-income seventh and eighth grade students throughout the state who are eligible to apply must sign a pledge by June 30 of their eighth grade year to receive the scholar-ships in college. Middle school stu-dents promise to graduate from high school, demonstrate good citizen-ship, and seek admission to a col-lege or university. Family income will be re-checked and college ad-mission confirmed after the student graduates from high school. In or-der to qualify for the College Bound program, students must either re-ceive free and reduced-price lunch, receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits,

are a foster youth or meet income standards (family of four must have a 2008 family income equal or less than $40,800 to qualify).

College Bound Scholarship appli-cants nearly doubled from 16,500 in 2007-08 to 32,000 (46 percent of the state’s eligible students) in 2008-09. This scholarship program was created in 2007 by the Wash-ington State Legislature to raise col-lege aspirations of low-income stu-dents. Washington currently ranks 32nd nationally in the percentage of low-income students participating in postsecondary education. In 10 years, these students will represent 33 percent of high school graduates. The scholarship’s goals are consis-tent with the state’s 2008 Strategic Master Plan for Higher Education, which calls for increasing college affordability and accessibility in or-der to raise educational attainment and prepare more students for ca-reers.

The 2007 Legislature pre-invested $7.4 million, which the Higher Ed-ucation Coordinating Board placed

into the Guaranteed Education Tu-ition (GET) program. This alloca-tion was intended to cover the first two years of payments for the first cohort of College Bound students enrolling in 2012, and the first year of the second cohort enrolling in 2013. Although the 2009 Legis-lature was not able to continue to pre-invest funds for the scholarship, the budget language noted, “…the state’s College Bound Scholarship commitment will be fulfilled, and is not dependent upon nor diminished by this action.”

For more information on the Col-lege Bound Scholarship and appli-cation deadlines, visit www.hecb.wa.gov.

Low-income seventh and eighth grade students throughout the state who are

eligible to apply must sign a pledge by June 30 of their eighth grade year to receive the scholarships in college.

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College Bound Scholarship Offers College Tuition to

Low-Income Eighth Graders

www.nwesd.orgXPRESSEEE XPRESSEEE

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January 2010

et plugged into NWESD!

We are getting plugged in and we want you to join us! NWESD is now using Social Media to share articles, review topics and list upcoming events. Visit us on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation. Links to both pages are on the home page of the NWESD website.

The NWESD EDvantage, our popular course catalog, is currently undergoing a facelift to include more featured articles and education news. You’ll find this publication online at www.nwesd.org/edvantage, with the new easy-to-read electronic format. Want a printed copy? Just print the PDF listed below the electronic version - it couldn’t be easier to stay in the loop!

The NWESD resources are more accessable than ever! Log on, join in and get plugged into NWESD!

EDvantage, Spring 2010

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