BSD Staff Updates

Compiled by Ioanna Cossack, Board Secretary

Board Recognition: The Board learned a little more about the Destination Imagination (DI) program. Although it is a small group (19), it is growing and now has three elementary teams and one middle school team. The middle school team, Pieces 2 the Puzzle, actually competed at the Global Finals in Kansas City and did very well. The Board provided certificates as well to all of the adult volunteers who make this happen each year, beginning with Lisa Gordon-Ramstad, and including Nora Gregersen, Jamie Gregersen, Jaymie Ford, Alise Fulton, and Claire Delaney.

Athletic Director Casey Lindberg helped the Board recognize our Bremerton High School student-athletes (spring season) and we heard from several coaches. Many of these students are not only great athletes but also great scholars, receiving either individual honors or team honors – there were five teams over the year who received the WIAA Scholastics Award.

Winding down the year: Reports from our outgoing student representative, directors, and Superintendent Leavell all included reports on the great events they’ve attended across the District as well as some of the upcoming promotions and graduation ceremonies yet to happen. Professional Development is also planned over the summer to prepare for the coming school year.

Dr. Leavell and President Rotter recently attended WSSDA’s Equity Conference. After also visiting several elementary schools, President Rotter gave kudos to staff and buildings for their work in Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and working to become trauma-sensitive schools.

The Board approved a 2-year working agreement with the Assn. of Bremerton Administrators, and also passed resolutions approving new 2019-20 salary schedules for District Administrators, as well as the West Sound Technical Skills Center Director.

Upcoming Events:

• Bremerton High School Graduation, June 7, 7:00 pm
• Welcome to the Countdown to Kindergarten – Monday, June 10
• View Ridge Talent Show, June 13, 8:00 am
• 8th Gr. Graduation, West Hills STEM Academy (flex wing), June 14, 12:00 noon
• Crownhill Elementary Talent Show, June 13, 2:00 pm
• Armin Jahr Elementary 5th gr. Promotion, June 17, 2:00 pm
• Special School Board Meeting, Board Room, June 20, 3:30 pm (Subject: Special Education)
• Regular School Board Meeting, Board Room, June 20, 5:00 pm
• Last Day of School (early dismissal), June 18
• WA Youth Academy Graduation, Tacoma Life Center, June 22, 10:00 am
• Regular School Board Meeting, Board Room, July 11, 5:00 pm
  

You can find these reports, other attachments, and more information on the agenda/BoardDocs site

An important reminder from Payroll

Employees are encouraged to be proactive in knowing your own leave balances, how much you have used during the school year and how your balance is affected by your working agreement and District policy.

If you earn Vacation you should ensure your balance on August 31st (June 30th for Administrators) is no more than thirty (30) of your work days. Any days in excess of thirty (30) days will be forfeited on September 1st (July 1st for Administrators).

Additionally, each employee should review their working agreement regarding their rights associated with Personal leave. If you are allowed to accrue Personal leave, it is accounted for in the “Other Paid Leave” category in the Time Off Section of EA+. Any excess personal leave not used or cashed out (if eligible) by June 30th (August 31st for full year employees), will be forfeited on September 1st. For Personal Leave that qualifies for cash out (please read your specific Collective Bargaining Agreement, located on the District's website), complete a paper leave slip, mark “Other” and write “completed qualifications to receive _(insert number)_ days of Personal leave cash out”. Your request for cash out (leave slip) must be approved (signed) by your building administrator and must be submitted to Payroll by June 30, 2019. The Leave slip may be obtained in the Payroll Office or printed from the District’s website. Go to Staff, Employee Forms, Leave Slip – Exception Reporting Form.

Mike Armendariz, one of our amazing District carpenters, has been offered and has accepted the position of maintenance foreman. I look forward to working with Mike in the Foreman capacity. His official start date as foreman will be July 1st.

Each year, our Bremerton High School Lady Knight returning varsity players, host a two-day soccer clinic for kids in late August. This has been a popular event over the years and we always look forward to giving back to our local community. We keep the clinic affordable to encourage active participation. Soccer is a lifetime sport and this youth soccer clinic is so much fun to be a part of, and we hope to see lots of our great Bremerton kids for this special event!

Lance McCoy

Bremerton High School

Lady Knights Varsity Soccer Head Coach

The Bremerton School District is in serious need of school bus drivers for the next school year! Please encourage parents, friends, family members and neighbors to consider driving a school bus for the BSD. We provide paid training, good pay, flexible hours and summers off! Sick leave, Personal leave, Retirement Contribution, as well as medical, dental, and vision benefits are available for regular, permanent drivers.

Those interested should complete the online district application for substitute bus driver ASAP, and call Marco DiCicco at 360-473-0508 immediately to save their spot in the next training class that beings in July. Applications must be completed by June 24th

Inspirus Credit Union contacted us last week to say they still have money they'd like to give to Bremerton School District Teachers. The online form is quick and easy and if the request is under $500 there is no pre-approval required. Just submit the grant on the Donor's Choose website! They are also funding grants over $1000 in an effort to reach their donation goal! It is a very busy time of year, but don't miss out on this chance for funds for your classroom/students.

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Because it is so late in the year, we realize that many of the projects funded by Inspirus will be for next school year. However, as a part of this Inspirus funding program, we'd like to tie-in the Character Strong trait of the month for May-June which is GRATITUDE.

We are asking teachers whose $500 grants are funded to find a way (this school year) to involve students in thanking Inspirus for their generosity.

In addition to this $12,500 commitment to the Bremerton School District, Inspirus has donated nearly $15,000 this school year to the Bremerton School District. This program brings their donation to teachers in our District for this school year to more than $27,000!

Student letters, photos and art will be displayed on the "Community Wall" at the new Bremerton Inspirus branch on Auto Center Way throughout the summer. This is a great opportunity to showcase student work, and highlight our District's SEL focus.

There are no "rules" for this request. It could be be as simple as thank you notes from students to Inspirus, or perhaps a single thank you card signed by your students. Or maybe it is a photo of students holding a "thank you" sign or brief student essays on gratitude. Maybe you want to get creative and do a class video or create a class poster. Again - no rules for this request. We just want kids to be involved in thanking Inspirus, and to reinforce the importance of gratitude.

Questions? Please contact Karen Bevers.

We had a very successful "Countdown to Kindergarten" event on Monday with more than 375 incoming kindergarten students and their families in attendance!

The "headline" act was life-like dinosaurs from "Dino Crew" - and they were a huge hit --as was the Dinosaur Dig activity and giant tug-o-war!

The event included kindergarten readiness screenings, an opportunity for kids to get on a school bus, and a chance for kids to practice entering their student ID into the key pad like they will do for school lunches. We had information and resources on everything from SEL to immunizations with 26 different resource tables set-up in the Board Room and gym (with both District and community organizations represented.).

Every child took home a free book, a "Ready for Kindergarten" tshirt, a Eureka math game, pens/pencils, alphabet flash cards, a summer activity calendar - and more!

We set up a new Facebook page (@BSDKindergarten) just for incoming kindergarten families, and will be encouraging families to share photos of their kids wearing their new "Ready for Kindergarten" tshirts throughout the summer.

Shout out to Kelsey McCreary for her vision and leadership, and to the event planning team including Kim Mayo, Julie Lorden, Julie Wasserburger, Karen Bevers and Joyce Cowdery. We couldn't have done it without the 63 (!!) volunteers helping with the event (Thank you, volunteers!)

We are now sharing photos from District events and activities into photo albums on our Facebook page - as quickly as possible - so they can be enjoyed by students, families, staff and the community.

Some albums have professional photos from our District photographer - others have photos taken by staff or attendees. Some have both!

When we post the photos, we invite people to email us their own photos to be added to the album to be shared.

We are using Facebook because photos can be quickly uploaded, and it gives parents an opportunity to share, download and even print photos of their student. Photos on the website are more difficult for others to download, and are often too low-resolution to print.

No Facebook account? No problem - the albums can be viewed even if you don't have an account.

Recent albums:

• West Sound Tech Year-End Celebration
• Renaissance HS Graduation
• AVID Recognition Night
• 2019 Armed Forces Day Parade
• 2019 be Bremerton
• 5/2/19 Board Meeting
• 2019 Districtwide Volunteer Celebration

Coming soon:

• BHS Graduation
• Open Doors Graduation
• Countdown to Kindergarten event
• and more!

For those of you wondering about opt-outs. Per our attorney:

• The District may, without permission, post videos/photos that are not education records.
• Videos/photos of events such as school assemblies, graduations, concerts, or athletics events are not part of the educational record of students who merely appear in the audience/background or who are filmed as they participate in a group activity (such as a performance or sport) in which no particular student or small group of students is the main focus.
  

That being said - if the photo is a close-up of a student or if we do a media interview, opt-out status is considered. We also do not identify students by name in our photos on the website or social media except for situations where the student is being recognized for a special award, etc.(and the family has not opted-out of District photos).

While we will still be providing the traditional printed school supply lists to local retailers (this year, anyway), we're now uploading school supply lists online at www.TeacherLists.com. The site is FREE and easy to use! Class lists are uploaded by grade level and can be searched by school name or zip code. Check it out - after the lists are uploaded tomorrow (6/13).

We've got an information page on the website, and will be promoting this option via social media and in parent communication over the summer.

Teachers -we used the lists provided by your OCs for this website, with edits made for types and consistency. However, if you have edits to your lists, please have your OC contact Cindi Probst and we'll submit the edits. Thanks!

Applications are now being accepted for the annual Patsy Collins Award, open to all K-12 teachers in Washington. Three teachers are selected annually for the award, which includes a $10,000 cash prize thanks to a partnership with the Seattle Foundation. Deadline for applications is June 30, 2019.

Learn more or nominate a teacher here.

This engaging, effective, enjoyable experience takes place over 6-days with a cohort of 15 extraordinary educators.

For the summer of 2019 choices are: July 8-13 or August 5-10 in Bremerton, WA. Space is limited. Sign up now to take part in this amazing opportunity, and/or share with friends or colleagues.

60 Clock Hours from the State of WA available (other states’ continuing education credits are often attainable with the right documentation).

Early bird pricing available until June 1; special pricing for groups of 3-5 coming together from a school/district.

For more information or to register, click here.

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• Submit ideas for the Staff Updates newsletter to: Karen.Bevers@BremertonSchools.org
• Submit listings for the Staff Bulletin board to: Lucinda.Probst@BremertonSchools.org

Website: www.bremertonschools.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BremertonSchools/
Twitter: @BremertonSD

BSD Staff Updates Newsletter Issue #12 distributed June 12, 2019.