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White Salmon Schools
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The White Salmon Valley School District is doing an exceptional job of preparing our students to graduate from high school and preparing them for life. Our test scores are exceptional! I will share them in the very near future, after the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) releases them to the public. But, test scores are not all that we use to measure student growth, and it is not the only goal our staff has, and is working toward. We have many projects going at any given moment. Some of the other goals I will be working on this year follow. The district's administrative council, or leadership team, in his or her professional development, reads at least one professional book every year. Last year one of the books was titled, "Professional Learning Communities at Work" by Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker. The introduction begins, "The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is developing the ability of school personnel to function as professional learning communities." One of our goals will be to strive to make each of our schools a " professional learning community ". But, what does that really mean? What is a Professional Learning Community? According to the book, the following briefly describes a Professional Learning Community. "Each word of the phrase 'Professional Learning Community' has been chosen purposefully. A "professional" is someone with expertise in a specialized field, an individual who has not only pursued advanced training to enter the field, but who is also expected to remain current in its evolving knowledge base. The knowledge base of education has expanded dramatically in the past quarter century.educators in a professional learning community make these findings the basis of their collaborative investigation of how they can better achieve their goals. 'Learning' suggests ongoing action and perpetual curiosity. In Chinese, the term 'learning' is represented by two characters: the first means 'to study', and the second means 'to practice constantly'. Many schools operate as though their personnel know everything they will ever need to know the day they enter the profession. The school that operates as a professional learning community recognizes that its members must engage in ongoing study and constant practice that characterize an organization committed to continuous improvement. The term 'community' suggests a group linked by common interests. As Corrine McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson (1994) write: 'Community means different things to different people. To some it is a safe haven where survival is assured through mutual cooperation. To others, it is a place of emotional support, with deep sharing and bonding with close friends. Some see community as an intense crucible for personal growth. For others, it is simply a place to pioneer their dreams.' In a professional learning community , all these characteristics are evident. Educators create an environment that fosters mutual cooperation, emotional support, and personal growth as they work together to achieve what they cannot accomplish alone." Each of our schools is engaged in professional development activities to benefit learning for our students. We would not be able to accomplish this without the 10 early release inservice days that our community highly supports. We thank you for this support as we truly believe that to be the best we can be, we must have continued time together as a staff to discuss programs that are best for our students. In future Bear News releases I will continue to discuss Professional Learning Communities and how we are trying to foster continued development in our schools. Another goal we are constantly working toward is curriculum development. We have a district process in place whereby each school has a building curriculum committee for each of the primary curricula areas (i.e. language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies). These committees report to the larger district committee so we have coordination and continuity among the schools. One of my main goals this year will be to pass our upcoming maintenance and operations levy. Yes, it's that time again. We have traditionally held our M & O levies every two years and this winter we will have another levy for you to consider. As time draws more near you can plan on more detailed information regarding this levy. The last large item on my agenda is the ongoing saga of the "Park Center Building". The City of White Salmon will relinquish their lease on this building as soon as the Pioneer Center Building is completed. This will occur this fall. The school district board of directors has been researching a couple of options for this facility, but the bottom line remains, what should the school district do with this old high school? Because it costs a significant amount of money each year to maintain this facility the district needs to make some decisions regarding this facility in the very near future. The above goals are only of a few of the items being worked toward in the White Salmon School District. Each of the three schools has established goals as well. If you are interested in viewing the building goals please contact the respective building of interest and the building principal will gladly give you a copy of their School Improvement Plan. Thank you for supporting the White Salmon Valley School District. We are looking forward to another exceptional school year with our students and their families! |
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White
Salmon Valley SchoolDistrict 405-17
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Superintendent's Goals, 2005/06 
