Everett SchoolsSpring 2014

Graduation rates are up, up,

and away!

Our students will lead and shape the future.

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Students doing heroic things

Most schools in Everett Public Schools responded to help those affected by the Oso mudslide.

Gateway Middle School raised $3,688.96 and donated that to the Red Cross. Forest View Elementary School raised $3,268.52 and channelled their donations through Cascade Valley Hospital Foundation and Clothes for Kids.

Lowell Elementary School raised $350 for Oso during their coin drive. Hawthorne Elementary School raised $962.

Henry M. Jackson High School helped spread the word about Oso and the people supporting the rescue and recovery efforts while learning about newscasting. The high school news team was the only school journalism team invited to report from the mudslide site. The complete news release and video are on the district website. http://bit.ly/JHS_Oso

The news team from Jackson High will continue their media experience as guests on 90.7 FM, KSER’s Sound Living program June 13 from 4 to 5 p.m.

“We talk a lot about 21st century skill building. Empathy, compassion, and community awareness are also timeless qualities to celebrate in young people. These qualities are alive and well in our schools,” concluded Associate Superintendent Peter Scott.

Student and staff coin drives yield nearly $8k and big help for Oso

Hawthorne Elementary School was one of many schools that raised funds for Oso through coin drives.

Keeping students safeEach day, student safety patrols help keep over thousands of students safe as they arrive and leave school. Students selected to be on the safety patrol must be good role models with a desire to serve their schools and community. They are courteous and helpful and maintain passing grades in school. Thank you to all the safety patrol students in the district and their advisors!

Cover story on page 6

Cedar Wood Sea Wolves Safety Patrol (above) is a heroic team of 19 responsible fifth-graders and their advisor, Elaine Byram. King5 featured the group during Traffic Buddies on May 20.

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View Ridge Elementary students celebrated the start of spring on March 20 with a grand opening ceremony for their new raised garden beds. Parents, staff and students watched as each of seven classes claimed its plot with a sign and ceremoniously planted the first-of-many flowers in the beds.

Students are growing vegetables and also flowers used for school events. The project itself will grow to include a compost bin, filled with school kitchen compostable waste. Waste will go back into the soil, helping young students understand the science and stewardship behind that cycle. The garden will be an outdoor classroom for hands-on science lessons.

View Ridge Elementary Principal Kert Lenseigne shared, “We plan to make this garden a retreat for students, where they can learn about the growing cycle, tend the garden and build positive relationships with each other.”

View Ridge Elementary PTA donated the tools and equipment needed to build the garden, and key staff, including Theresa Townsell and Heidi Davis, helped grow energy for the project throughout the school. Families, staff and community volunteers built the garden beds and shed.

The school is partnering with the Boys and Girls Club to tend the garden in the summer and during school breaks.

Students plant primroses to welcome spring in their new garden.

View Ridge Elementary sows seeds of stewardshipStudents grow flowers, vegetables and learn science in new school garden

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Everett High teacher earns $15,000 grant and partnership

Everett High School’s Cynthia McIntyre is one of 23 teachers from five states to earn a $15,000 grant from the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington to improve science education in the Pacific

Northwest through the Partners in Science Program. The award, won through a competitive process, enables McIntyre and the other 22 selected teachers to spend two years researching together, then sharing their research with other teachers around the country at both regional and national Partners in Science conferences.

McIntyre’s work will be with Dr. Mark Groudine at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle on a research project entitled Studies of Protein Interactions with Topoisomerase II in Developing Erythrocytes.

Through this program, high school science teachers work at the cutting edge of science, and thus revitalize their teaching, develop new inquiry-based teaching strategies and encourage more students to pursue careers in science. Awardees are selected based upon the qualifications of the partner members, the quality of scientific research proposed, and the potential of its impact on high school teaching and learning.

Henry M. Jackson High teacher earns national award Lauren Dandridge, a science teacher at Henry M. Jackson High School, earned the Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for New Teachers. The award, for up to 25 teachers across the nation, covers the costs for teachers of elementary, middle and high school K-12 in their first five years of teaching to attend the annual national conference.

Dandridge received her award in May at a special banquet and ceremony at the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) 62nd National Conference on Science Education in Boston, MA. As an award recipient, Dandridge has been mentored, tracked and received support and meaningful opportunities for connections with NSTA and its programs on behalf of science learning.

NSTA President Bill Badders said, “We’re proud to honor these amazing teachers and science education professionals who are ... inspiring the next generation of informed citizens, scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and innovators. Through their passion, patience, and dedication, and by instilling a sense of wonder about science, they are helping to build a more promising future for all students.”

staff

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Five schools earn Washington Achievement Awards

Five schools are 2013 Washington Schools of Achievement Award winners based upon continuous, sustained student learning improvement.

• Cedar Wood Elementary School earned three separate achievement awards – the High Progress Award, the Overall Excellence Award and the Math Growth Award.

• Madison Elementary School, which earned a national Title I award last fall, has also earned a state achievement High Progress Award for 2013.

• Silver Lake Elementary School earned two separate achievement awards – the High Progress Award and the Overall Excellence Award.

• Woodside Elementary School was recognized with an Overall Excellence Award.

• Gateway Middle School, which has been a state School of Achievement since the awards program began, earned a Reading Growth Award.

What do these individual awards mean?

Overall Excellence – Cedar Wood, Silver Lake and Woodside earned this award in one of two ways:

• Students reached Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) in reading and math for the last three years.

• They are among the top five percent of state schools, based upon a three-year Revised Achievement Index (AI).

High Progress – Cedar Wood, Madison and Silver Lake earned this award because they are in the top 10 percent of Washington schools whose students, in each demographic group, have made the most progress over the last three years.

Reading Growth and Mathematics Growth Awards – Cedar Wood earned special recognition for math, and Gateway earned

it for reading because each is in the state’s top five percent of schools whose students improved in math or reading skills, based upon median growth percentiles in those subjects.

“These awards are particularly meaningful because they are based not just on the results of one year, but upon continuous improvement over a sustained period of time,” noted Superintendent Gary Cohn. “Sustaining gains year after year is a strong indicator that a system and instructional practices are having a positive effect.”

Since 2005, district

schools have won top state awards for improved student

learning 75 times!

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Graduation rates on the rise again More than two percent jump in those graduating in four or five years

2011 2012 2013 Increase (from 2012 to 2013)

Four-year graduation rate (students who graduated in four years)

82.4% 81.8% 84.4% 2.6%

2010 2011 2012 Increase (from 2011 to 2012)

Five-year graduation rate (students who graduated in five years)

84.2% 85.8% 88.5% 2.7%

It takes the state a year to calculate a number that districts around the state eagerly await each spring –statistics for last year’s graduating class.

For Everett Public Schools, a decade’s worth of work toward the goal of 100 percent graduation is continuing to pay off.

More than eight out of ten (84.4 percent) students in the class of 2013 graduated in four years, which the U.S. Department of Education considers on time.

Those who extended their high school experience to five years increased the district’s graduation rate to an impressive 88.5 percent. The Department of Education calls this the five-year graduation rate.

“In each case, the graduation rates for both classes of students are more than two and a half percent higher than it was the previous year, and this is on top of a healthy increase the year before. Quality instruction, personalized intervention and strong community support are critical to producing these impressive individual student achievements,” noted Superintendent Gary Cohn when the results were announced.

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Superintendent’s Scholars Students honor staff who made an impact on their lives

The Superintendent’s Scholar Award was instituted in 1983 by Dr. Rudy Johnson, former superintendent of Everett Public Schools. The award honors students for academic achievement and life-long learning.

The selected students each recognize a staff member who has been influential in their lives and education. During the annual ceremony, students share their stories and their gratitude for their mentors. Audience members often talk about how touching it is to hear these students speak about their teachers, sometimes wiping at tears as they listen.

Since 1987, Everett Public Schools Foundation has presented this award.

Finalist Honored staff

Bryan Gonzalez, Cascade High School Beverly Nyberg, Cascade High School

Jessica Holsopple, Cascade High School Greg Metcalf, former Eisenhower Middle School

Jameson Scriver, Cascade High School Sarah Kelsey, Cascade High School

Melanie Lane, Everett High School Shelly Waller, Everett High School

Ngoc Tuyen T. Van, Everett High School Addie Smith, Everett High School

Allegra Bozorth, Everett High School Shelly Waller, Everett High School

Matthew Reinikka, Henry M. Jackson High School Eric Jennings, Henry M. Jackson High School

Justin Cho, Henry M. Jackson High School Leslie Tucker, Henry M. Jackson High School

Duncan Bartok, Henry M. Jackson High School Bridget Shee-Anderson, Henry M. Jackson High School

Paige Gilliland, Sequoia High School Leslie Sutin, Sequoia High School

Zachary Nelson, Sequoia High School Jennifer Heman, Sequoia High School

Destiny Hansen, Sequoia High School Gale Leamons, Sequoia High School

And the winners are ... pictured left to right with superintendent in middle; Justin Cho, Paige Gilliland, Allegra Bozorth, and Jameson Scriver.

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PO BOX 2098EVERETT, WA 98213

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Carol Andrews

Pam LeSesne

Caroline Mason

Traci Mitchell

Ted Wenta

SUPERINTENDENT

Dr. Gary Cohn

COMMUNICATIONS

Mary Waggoner, Director, writer, photographer

Diane Bradford, Executive Staff Assistant, designer, writer, photographer

Linda Carbajal, Administrative Assistant, writer, photographer, volunteers

Everett Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Designated to handle inquiries about nondiscrimination policies are:

Affirmative Action Office – Carol Stolz, cstolz@everettsd.org, 425-385-4106

Title IX Officer – Randi Seaberg, rseaberg@everettsd.org, 425-385-4104

504 Coordinator – Becky Ballbach, rballbach@everettsd.org, 425-385-4063

ADA Coordinator – Kristine McDowell, kmcdowell@everettsd.org, 425-385-5250

Address: PO Box 2098, Everett, WA 98213

ECRWSSPostal Customer

NONPROFIT ORG.US POSTAGE PAID

EVERETT, WAPERMIT NO. 432

Graduation ceremoniesEverett Civic Theater:

Sequoia High, June 13, 6 p.m.

Comcast Arena: Cascade High School, June 14, 4 p.m. Everett High School, June 14, 12 p.m.

Henry M. Jackson High School, June 14, 8 p.m.

Congratulations, class of 2014!

Tune in to KSER’s Sound Living program on June 13 to

hear Henry M. Jackson High School’s journalism team talk about their experience broadcasting from Oso.