Balanced Calendar Update – As much as students and staff have enjoyed the “Balanced
Calendar Project” over the past two years, it appears that funding for this project will be
discontinued immediately. The funding was used to provide extra learning opportunities for
students during the October and February intercessions and that funding will not proceed into
the 2023-25 biennium according to a recent news release by the Office of State Superintendent
of Public Instruction. Since MASD’s 2023/24 School Calendar has been approved by the Board,
we will continue with the week-long breaks throughout this school year, but next year we will
most likely have little to no enrichment activities. District administration is very sad to see this
funding cut from the State Budget. According to the news release from OSPI, “The balanced
calendar project is one of the projects that had to be terminated.
Calling All Students – If your friends, family members, or neighbors have school age children,
please remind them that school has started and ask them to contact the school office
immediately. On Friday, August 18, all students that had not registered or that had 4 unexcused
absences were inactivated per State of Washington required procedures. Based on this week’s
data, there are 423 students enrolled at Harrah Elementary, 130 students enrolled at Mt. Adams
Middle School, and 262 students enrolled at High Swan High School. We look forward to more
students joining us soon.
Lunch Pass PBIS Rewards at White Swan High School - Principal Tenney reports that
students participated in a Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support reward program this
week. Students that demonstrated Positive Behavior were entered into a drawing and a select
number of students received the opportunity to go off-campus for lunch. The more reward
tickets a student receives, the more likely they are to be selected for off campus lunch; although
as I mentioned last week, they will miss out on the excellent meal provided by our kitchen staff.
Teacher Leaders are back at it on the White Swan Campus -The first ILT meeting of teacher
leaders met this week. The major focus of the meeting was White Swan’s Standards Based
Grading. The discussion and planning centered on support for teachers through professional
development that will help them implement this method of grading across the entire campus in
every class. On Sept 6, 2023, the District will provide a professional development opportunity
for teachers to learn more about Standards Based Grading so they can implement it more
effectively this school year.
Wednesday Clubs and Content Labs began this week on the White Swan Campus - White
Swan teachers held their Wednesday Student Activity Fair this week where students learned
about and registered for clubs and content labs. Their selections were for one semester and will
be the activities they do during the Wednesday schedule. All students sign up for two clubs and
are placed in content labs as needed for intervention and support.
White Swan Teacher Honored by the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy – Art Teacher
Meghann Halfmoon was selected as an artist to show her work in “The Images of the
Shrub-Steppe.” This is a prestigious honor as Ms. Halfmoon is recognized as a notable artist in
the greater Yakima art community and also brings notoriety to the fact that she is a teacher at
White Swan High School. Congratulations Ms. Halfmoon.
Smooth Sailing on the Harrah Campus - This is the first full week at the Harrah Campus and
according to Principal Widener, both Harrah Elementary and Mount Adams Middle have been
pretty quiet this week.” This means that all systems are working as they should and our students
are receiving high levels of learning every day!
Mt. Adams Middle School Athletics are Up and Running! Mr. Hernandez held an athletic
parent meeting this week that was well attended. He was able to establish expectations for the
middle school program and coaches were able to talk with parents and athletes about their
respective athletic expectations and behaviors. Go Chargers!
Students are Learning Expectations and Routines at Harrah – Mr. Miles reports that, “Staff
are continuing to teach expectations and routines for all areas in the building.” Students learn to
stand in line, prepare for lunch, exit for recess, use the play equipment and many other tasks.
These might seem like little issues that aren’t that important, but when you have only so many
minutes to guide 553 students through a single lunch line, have them eat lunch, and then exit for
recess in a courteous manner, this is a very important process! Miles continues, “This work up
front sets the stage for a warm, safe, and welcoming school environment.”
Communication is Key via the Mt. Adams #209 App – Principal Widener would like to give a
“Shout Out” to Mr. Hernandez and Mrs. Gasseling for doing such an amazing job keeping
information, events, and pictures for our community posted on all our platforms. If parents have
the “Mt. Adams App” on their phone, they will have the first look at these pictures and events.
Please download the app at the Apple App Store or anywhere you search for and download your phone apps.
Teacher Leaders are back at it on the Harrah Campus - The Instructional Leadership Team met this week to do a deep dive into the Professional Learning Community (PLC) rubric. The team will be looking at the Vision and Culture criterion and creating look-for evidence for teams to use as we establish a short-term goal for tightening this area of our PLC practice. The team will be doing this process throughout the year setting goals and collecting evidence as we continue to tighten our PLC process across the building. The District uses the Professional Learning Community model in order to ensure high levels of learning for every student, every day!
