Superintendent's Messages
Greetings from Superintendent Brady Smith
August Update
Dear
Lopez Island School community,
Tech
and Safety Levy Renewal
Thank you to the Lopez community for voting to pass the Renewal Tech and Safety
Levy! These resources are essential for continuing to ensure that our students
receive instruction that prepares them all for 21st Century college and career
opportunities and to help address some basic security concerns with our
facility. But our instructional vision sees laptops and other classroom
technology as tools to supplement well-planned and effectively delivered
in-person instruction and a way for a small district like ours to provide
access to a breadth of course opportunities. Thank you for voting and approving
this important component of a Lopez education.
Parent
Partner Program (PPP)
I have been working with our Business Manager and others on various funding
approaches for the Parent Partner Program (PPP). I am pleased to announce that
we are able to fund a very small PPP this coming year without sending the
annual budget into the red. Counselor Robb Ellis will be reaching out to
families who have expressed an interest in PPP to discuss options. You are also
welcome to reach out to him via email to ensure he contacts you. Please
understand - we are not likely to be able to support every student who wants to
do Parent Partner. Counselor Ellis will collect all information and if we have
more demand than capacity, Martha and I will have to make hard decisions about
eligibility. We also have not dedicated funds for new curriculum for PPP
so we will have to work out details with families. We value PPP and while we
wish we could fully fund it, we are pleased that we have a budgetary solution
that allows us to serve students for whom the program is essential.
Playground
Resurfacing
The Playground resurfacing project is near completion. The installation team
returns for a few more days to finish, to raise the slide and swings to an
appropriate height, and to clean up the perimeter. It has been wonderful to see
summer camp students enjoying the new, accessible playground. Appreciations to
Denny for overseeing this work!
Gender
Neutral Bathroom
The LISD School Board passed policy to establish gender-neutral bathrooms and a
small committee consisting of Board members, parents and teachers who
represented the advocacy of the student Gay-Straight Alliance met with Martha
and me last spring to discuss options. We have identified a bathroom on the
secondary side that will be gender neutral while still providing all students
access to separate boys and girls bathrooms. We will make sure our secondary
students are aware of this shift and will work with student groups to ensure
all students feel safe and respected. Appreciations to all who advocated for
this inclusive approach and in particular to the Lopez School GSA!
First
day of school for students is Monday, August 26th!
The calendar is available on the LISD website at this link.
Enjoy
these dog days of summer and looking forward to a successful school year!
Brady
Mid-July Update
Dear Lopez Island School community,
I hope your summer has been going well so far and that you and yours are healthy and enjoying some rest and recreation!
I wanted to send a mid-July update as even in summer, there is so much going on at LISD.
The district has managed to address the projected $540,000 deficit for next year and we will be proposing a balanced budget to the School Board at the next Board Meeting. Through staffing reductions, resignations and retirements; through reduction in almost all discretionary spending; and by consolidating and combining some non-teacher roles and responsibilities, we avoid state oversight and now project to be in the black for the 2024-25 school year. Some very hard decisions had to be made that eliminated some beloved programs like our Culinary Program, but through generous donations we continue to offer Music to all students K-12 and we were able to reinstate Elementary Garden Enrichment, Sustainable Agriculture Class and the LIFE Program ensuring not only experiential learning in the school garden but fresh produce grown on-site for student lunches.
The budget for next year together with ongoing support from The Pack includes funding for our athletic program and we have even added Girls Soccer so that our young women can compete with other teams across the region. We are also partnering with NFHS to provide live-streaming of athletic events on our field and in our gym for Lopez School sports fans (including scouts!) who are not able to attend in person.
We are still seeking a sustainable solution to offer the Parent Partner Program. Even though the state does not require that every district provide an Alternative Learning Experience (ALE), we know that Parent Partner is a popular way for our students to engage in learning outside of the classroom. I will share more information before the start of school as we find creative solutions to fund the program. If you or someone you know is in a position to donate to support Parent Partner or any other needs, our website now allows for digital donations and payment of fees. Even though school lunch will be free for all students next year, ASB, Library, Tech and Athletic fees can be paid on the website.
With funds from two different grants, we have begun re-surfacing the playground at school. When students return to school, the pea gravel will be gone and an ADA-accessible turf surface with appropriate padding will be in place, allowing all children to have safe access to all playground equipment!
With support from LIPTSA and the LIFRC, we have begun renovating the Greg Ewert Commons in anticipation of using it as an important meeting space for our middle school program next year. A group of volunteers put up wainscoting and started painting and we are on track to be finished with stage one of renovation when students return. We then can access some additional funding and plan to engage our 7th and 8th graders in developing a vision for further renovations. We did decommission some school furniture and it is available for takeaway in the parking lot on the south side of the school.
Our Mastery-Based Learning Team met and had a very productive week preparing for the district-wide shift to Mastery-Based Grading over the next few years. This work is aligned to the LISD Strategic Plan, provides authentic ways to assess students and give meaningful feedback, and like many other districts across the US, ensures Lopez School students receive instruction that is tailored to support them in achieving mastery of essential content and skills.
We do have vacancies for next school year and ask you to share widely and please direct any qualified applicants to the LISD website and encourage them to apply!
Postings:
Special Services Director (Half-time, Administrative credential)
Garden Enrichment Teacher (part-time .17 FTE, teacher credential)
Multilingual Teacher (part-time .3 FTE, ESL/ENL credential)
Custodian (benefits, HS diploma required, training provided)
Para-educators (full-time salary and benefits, HS diploma required, training provided)
We anticipate a total of nine Para-educator positions next year, all funded through the state Safety Net or LAP funding rather than general school operating funds. If we can hire for all para positions, that will greatly improve the student experience, meet Federal special education mandates AND allow us to provide the training and consistent schedules that allow for effective support, relationship and trust-building and a greatly improved work experience for the paras.
It is also very difficult to find a qualified applicant to assume Mary Fordham's position of Special Services Director, so if you know anyone with Special Education and School Administration experience, it is a half-time position and essential that we find the right person! Maybe you know someone who, like me, retired but is willing to serve and support our students in a half-time position?
We also have so much talent and experience on this island who have expressed an interest in volunteering at the school, but we do not have the staffing capacity to coordinate. If you or someone you know might be interested in volunteering to develop a volunteer program, please contact me!
Ballots arrive soon and include the LISD Tech and Safety Levy, so please remember to vote!
And I want to appreciate the LISD School Board for offering me a contract to continue doing this amazing work with this amazing community for the next two years. I am excited to see our district through these lean years, remain optimistic that our future is bright and look forward to working with the staff, families and community partners of LISD.
Brady
State of the School District- May 2024