[EVSD News] Superintendent's Newsletter 06.10.10

[Jodi Brown]

June 10, 2010
 
The purpose of this newsletter is to update you on events that are
happening in the district, provide information to address issues or
rumors and provide you a forum to communicate with me on items of
interest. If you are receiving this e-mail you are either an East Valley
Staff member, you have signed up for this service, you have sent me an
e-mail or have had some form of contact that we think would cause you to
want this information. If you do not want to continue to receive this
information you may unsubscribe by clicking the link below or contacting
the district office.  
 
We are fast approaching the close of the school year.  Graduation is on
Monday and we have some very excited students and parents. I want to
thank the entire staff and community for not only helping us to have a
great school year but for all of the extra effort and energy that has
gone into reviewing what we want for kids in this school district.   
Several months ago, this community began the hard and tedious work of
examining the schools. The re-visioning process, as it was dubbed,
required long hours and some very emotional discussion.  Many community
members were able to attend meetings and many more participated by
reading the minutes and research posted on the district web site.   
The committees have spent many, many hours in consultation, discussion
and reading research. They are very close to the end of the first stage
of the process. I will present their preliminary recommendation to the
Board for consideration on June 23, 2010.  The meeting will be held in
the high school library and will begin at 6:30 pm.   
The Board will consider the recommendations and formulate a preliminary
plan.  The plan will then be presented to the community for review and
modification.   While great progress has been made, the process is far
from over. There will be many opportunities for stakeholders to give
input, address concerns and ultimately vote for the approval or denial
of any proposed changes.  
It is understandable and expected that even engaging in a process that
examines the need for sweeping change will cause anxiety and resistance.
 The resistance that is put forth is likely to take many forms.  I fully
expect that the leadership team and I will suffer some personal attacks.
I fully expect folks will start to spread some rumors and
misinformation.  I did not expect this campaign to begin so quickly. 
If you have read any of my correspondence, you know I am not a fan of
rumors.  I believe that we must confront misinformation and we must try
to open communication.  Below is a rumor (reprinted verbatim) and a
thread that was related to that rumor that was posted, on a social
networking site, to various folks in the district:
“East vally students, parents and taxpayers---please check out the EVSD
Re-visioning Task Force. Read the meeting minutes carefully. This is not
good for our students, nor is it a good use our tax dollars. Rumor has
it this superintendant was fired from two previous school districts. May
be time for a third”.
“Top of Form

I was tipped off by another parent. You have to dig through the mtg
notes to get the whole pix, but the grand plan is to make all elementary
schools K-8, close down both middle schools, turn one into the district
office and the other into a TRADE SCHOOL! The super believes our kids
aren't college worthy (you have to watch the verbaige to catch ... See
More this) so we should just give up and teach them a trade instead. He
is already planning on rolling out an Aviation program at the high
school so students can graduate with their pilots license (tax dollars
at work! My dad actually saw an airplane parked at the school last
week)”.
30 minutes ago
 
Thread Response—Respondent name deleted 
Yikes! And I thought the schools out here were bad! Wow, their all
gettin bad!
10 minutes ago
 
Thread Response—Respondent name deleted
I am on the high school revisioning commitee you are missed informed we
want to establish a 3 strand school that has an AP track, a vocational
track and a fine arts track. They will all earn a 21 credit diploma but
it will be designed to keep kids in school. Many of the vocational
programs will be sponsored by local business. No we they ...See More are
not turning the middle school into district office...if you want more
information feel free to come to any of our commitee meetings...Our
super wants what is best for the students and this is all being direct
by community members the adminstration that attends these meetings are
there only in advisory capacity for data etc...

Please come to the meetings. 
 
 

I will not address the personal attack about my previous employment but
I will first thank the last respondent for trying to set the record
straight and elaborate on the issues identified by the original
posting.
1)     All of our kids are college material.  At the present time,
based on current data, 50% of our kids choose to attend college.  Of the
50% who choose to attend only about 50% of those kids graduate (of those
25% the vast majority earn 2 year degrees). Right now, in the best-case
scenario we are under serving 30% of our students. We must offer more
options and opportunities for kids.  Nationally, vocational and
technical trades are in great demand.  These trades pay living wages to
people who have a certification or advanced training.  The purpose of a
vocational strand is not to limit opportunities but to expand options.
  
2)    In addition to the idea of a vocational strand, there will be
opportunities for students to also engage in an expanded fine arts
program and an expanded academic program with more advanced placement
(AP) options.  Students would not be locked into any one strand and
could move seamlessly between strands, once the basic requirements were
met.    
 
3)     The proposal to move to a pk-8 system was developed by a
community group. It is not what was proposed by me.  The proposal was
made after the group, consisting of about 35 people, spent hours
examining what was best for kids, reading research and looking at data.
The elementary re-visioning group will meet June 15, 2010 at 6:30 pm at
EVHS in the library. This is an open meeting and you are welcome to
attend.
 
4)    Any discussion about facilities is very premature and nothing has
been decided.  All of the discussion that has occurred has been framed
around how to save tax-payer dollars and increase efficiency.
  
5)    We are exploring the option of an Aviation high school.  We
believe we can, in a 2-year training program, offer those students who
want to do the work, an option for a private pilot’s license.  The
program would also serve as a springboard for students to participate in
one of the fastest growing industries in the Spokane area: Aero-space.
They would not necessarily be pilots but would be prepared for one—or
more –of the dozens of high paying jobs that this industry is seeking. 
The implementation of this program would not result in an increased
burden to taxpayers.
  
6)    There was an airplane parked at the high school a couple weeks
ago.  It was part of a presentation that was presented at EVMS, at
absolutely no cost to the district, by Honeywell Corporation to
encourage students to learn math and science.   
If you have questions, ideas, criticisms, or complaints about the
process that is being used or the outcomes that are being proposed I
urge you to make your feelings known.   The meetings to discuss these
issues are open to the public and are designed to give folks a chance to
speak. The meetings are chaired by community members and are not run by
administration. 
As always, you may contact me at the district office, 924-1830, at
home, 928-0519 or via e-mail glenewinkelj at evsd.org.  I do my very best
to return all e-mails and phone calls the day they are received.  Thank
you for the opportunity to serve this district.John  
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