Wednesday, April 11 from 12-1 p.m.

888-863-6102

Increasing access to high quality early learning programs and improving transitions into kindergarten are priorities of Washington State PTA.

2012 legislative priority

Public education and funding, Long-term legislative principles

Excellent Schools Now and A+ Washington are hosting a telephone town hall on the importance of early education and efforts to expand it. Featured speakers include:

·         Bonnie Beukema, Assistant Director for Outcomes and Accountability at Department of Early Learning

·         Heather Cope, Policy Director for the League of Education Voters

·         Frank Ordway, Director of Government Relations for the League of Education Voters

Preparing all students to succeed in school and life starts with a solid foundation of investments in high-quality Pre-Kindergarten through 3^rd grade education. Studies have shown that children who participate in high-quality, aligned pre-kindergarten through 3^rd grade learning have lower rates of special education referral, fewer behavior issues, higher overall school attendance, improved test scores, higher graduation and college participation rates and lower rates of incarceration. Investments in early education help children succeed in school and sets them up for success in life.

Washington State PTA has not endorsed the full A+ Washington plan but much of it aligns with our body positions, including Strategy No. 1 – Expanding Access to High-Quality Pre-Kindergarten through 3^rd-Grade Education.

Ramona Hattendorf

Government relations coordinator

Washington State PTA

www.wastatepta.org

Still no budget – kids need payment plan

Special session ends at midnight tonight.
Still no budget deal as day ends, but lawmakers continue to negotiate (from TVW – Monday night wrap) – Gregoire pitching new proposal as deadline nears (from AP – Monday afternoon wrap) – Senate passes K-12 health insurance bill, balanced budget bill (from TVW – Saturday wrap)
The areas of negotiation continue to be a balanced budget bill, K-12 health insurance bill and pension/early retirement bill – not the budget. Yesterday the House Ways and Means postponed twice and then cancelled a meeting to take action on its version of a balanced budget bill and K-12 insurance benefits.

TAKE ACTION

In 2009, the legislature decided on a great plan for basic education. In 2012, the supreme court ruled the state was failing its paramount duty to pay for that plan and cover its legal obligations. Our state needs some resolution. We need a strategy to pay for education and maintain the safety net families rely on.  The McCleary court decision means the state must follow through on promises for significant funding increases to pay for class-size reduction, all-day kindergarten and graduation requirements that prepare all of our children for jobs, technical training or college.

Please insist that when the next session starts legislators have a payment plan ready to move — such as called for in House Bill 2824. It’s time to talk about tax structures and budgeting strategies that take care of our children and invest in their potential.

Ramona Hattendorf

Government relations coordinator

Washington State PTA

www.wastatepta.org

Hosted by Washington State PTA Region 6

Wednesday 2/29/12, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Washington Middle School in Seattle.

Hear pro, con and ask your questions.

This event includes a review of national and state PTA positions on charter schools. ALL regions are welcome. Please, come hear what pro and con advocates have to say and what pro and con speakers from the academic world have to say.

Moderated by C.R. Douglas, Political Analyst, Q13 Fox News

PTA positions reviewed by Ramona Hattendorf, Government Relations Coordinator, Washington State PTA.

Panelists

·          Olga Addae: President, Seattle Education Association, (Teacher’s Union). Con Speaker

·          Rosalund Jenkins: Director, Black Education Strategy Roundtable (League of Education Voters project), Pro Speaker

·          Dr. Wayne Au: Assistant Professor, Education Program, UW- Bothell, Editor, Rethinking Schools, Con Speaker

·          Robin Lake: Associate Director, Center for Reinventing Education, UW Bothell, Pro Speaker

WHEN & WHERE

Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Washington Middle School Cafeteria

2101 S. Jackson St, Seattle 98144

DIRECTIONS

From S. Jackson Street go south on 20th Ave South, take first left onto S. Weller St, (going around the Franz Bakery). At 20th Place South, parking lot is on your right, school entrance is to the left.

Questions: contact Heidi Bennett, WA State PTA Region 6 Legislative Chair

heidi@bennettdirect.net

REGION 6:

Seattle, Shoreline, Northshore & Vashon Island

A.R. Ammons

Dear Colleagues and Families~

Closings are always bittersweet and today I write with great affection for you and our community.   The work we have done this year was single mindedly focused on our children and it makes me proud to be a part of this community.

It is in the midst of a tinge of sadness that we send you off with the hope of a joy filled summer. Please take time to rejuvenate yourselves.  I know for some of you this means being with friends and family, while for others it will be climbing mountains and biking through Europe.  The time will fly.

I would like to take just a moment before we all depart for the summer to both reflect on this year and look forward to the fall.

The work we did this year provided opportunities to increase the support and collaboration we have among our staff members.  Our Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) provide us a framework for looking at four essential questions of teaching and learning:

• What do we want kids to know and be able to do?
• How will we know if they’ve learned it?
• What do we do if they haven’t learned it?
• What do we do with students who already know it?

Our focus next year will be to continue to learn more about the processes for strong professional learning communities and specifically, common formative assessments and our response to interventions.  We are a staff who looks at kids and responds to their needs.  We don’t put them in preconceived squares and triangles. We should all be proud of how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time.

To facilitate our continued work in professional learning communities for next year we agreed on Schedule option “B”.  From now on we’ll just call it the 2010-2011 professional development calendar.  This provides one two-hour early release day a month.  Every other Wednesday we will devote our meeting time to working in PLC’s.  I am attaching a copy of the calendar so you can have it for your planning.

The other decision we had to make for next year was the bell schedule.  Providing students and teachers with two fifty-minute blocks of Homeroom time this year opened up a number of opportunities.  Students were able to use the time to make up assignments and labs as well as get additional help from their teachers.  More importantly, we were able to continue our Cohort homeroom for 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade students.  We just started to scratch the surface of more interventions for students.  The Math Mentor Program is only one example of this.  I know that by continuing to provide time we will develop more interventions for students who are struggling in school. With this in mind, we will continue to offer two, fifty-minute study hall periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  The bell schedule for next year is included below.

BELL SCHEDULE AND HOMEROOM/STUDY HALL:

2010-2011 Bell Schedule

Classes on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are 55 minutes long.  Classes on Tuesday and Thursdays are 45 minutes long.  The study halls are 50 minutes each. The study hall time will be used for cohort, the math mentoring program, silent sustained reading, ASB, assemblies and activities.  We will also be able to have grade level lunches on Tuesday and Thursday.

We will continue to evaluate schedules and calendars in the upcoming months.  All changes will have opportunities and challenges and it’s up to us to evaluate and maximize the strengths. What I am sure of is that we will work together to make things work for our kids.

We will have some staffing changes for next year and this means the loss of some wonderful teachers and friends.  Below are the staff members who are moving on:

Carl Chew – Science

Orleen Baugh – LA

Kimberly Reagan – LA

Dianne Siasoco – SS

Kristie Fowler – LA

Paul Cavendar – LA

Clayton Townley – Music

We have had the opportunity to hire two teachers for next year.  Please join me in welcoming Sara Hoofnagle and Al George to Eckstein.  Ms. Hoofnagle will be joining the 6^th grade science team.  Al George will be a new PE/Health teacher at Eckstein.  Both were teachers at Summit K-12 and are excited to be at Eckstein next year.

We will keep you updated on any additional hiring that occurs this summer.

Have a wonderful summer and we’ll see you in the fall.

Best,

KW