TO: Michael Green, SuperintendentFROM: Mark Houk RE: WPS MONTHLY SCHOOL UPDATE
As typical of January, this past month has been exceptionally busy. From Winter Benchmark Assessing, to CAST, to staff development, 2011 is off to a roaring start!
Some highlights:
-January 24th was a day spent together with our WIS colleagues in learning about differentiation of instruction. Asha Riley did an outstanding job of leading our staff into the first steps of really thinking about how we can work to give each student "what they need" within the framework of the regular classroom. Our plans are to continue to lay the foundation for teacher learning in this area going forward.
-A week of teachers meeting as part of our Collaborative Academic Support Team (CAST) allowed us to interpret student data in reading, identify learning, and other challenges, for students and to ready plans for addressing areas needing extra or different support. This time is always part celebration of great student progress and staff effort, part analysis and shifting of resource focus, and part frustration in areas where we just are not seeing student success. I am proud of our teams for their approach to doing "Whatever it Takes" to help students experience success!
-We have had another parking lot audit conducted by folks from the ESD Risk Management Team. The results, along with some suggestions from KWRL will be analyzed for potential implementation in our ongoing effort at making our pick-up/drop-off situation safer. Off and on over the past ten years, we have examined, made adjustments, etc...yet with ever-increasing motor and bus traffic, we simply have too many vehicles in too small a space for an optimum situation. So, we continue to try and refine, making situations safer where we can.
-Finally, thank you to our new Woodland Wal-Mart for the $500 donation to WPS - money which made a very brief stop at our school before going directly towards the purchase of a new popcorn machine to replace our recently "expired" machine!