Mount Adams School District #209

Keeping students safe is our number one priority!  On Wednesday January 10,  White Swan High School went into full lockdown because of a situation in the community. Students and staff were kept safe at all times. This experience brought both successes and challenges. Principal Tenney reports, “The staff was wonderful and watching them work together with the goal of keeping our students safe was amazing to see.”  The lockdown happened at the beginning of the day as students and buses were arriving. Staff made sure that students who were arriving were quickly taken into the building to a safe location and the transportation department was immediately responsive and changed routes when needed. One of our biggest challenges for safety campus wide is our open campus with many access points. However, even with this challenge staff worked together to sweep the campus and respond quickly to keep all students safe.  Many thanks to Deputy Allen and his team of officers from around the valley who responded to this situation and to all of the staff who went into action to keep everyone safe!

Law Enforcement stands ready to support Mt. Adams School District. This week was a great example of the benefit of having a Resource Officer on campus.  The presence of and partnership with the Yakima County Sheriff has resulted in the development of relationships between the school district and law enforcement agencies. We now have monthly meetings with Yakama Tribal Police, Yakima County Sheriff, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington State Patrol, ESD 105 School Safety Operations Control Center, and other State and Federal law enforcement agencies. The improved communication between the school and law enforcement agencies has resulted in enhanced safety for our students and staff.  Yakama Nation Police have also been very responsive and supportive of the needs of the District both in White Swan and Harrah.  Thank you officers for keeping us all safe!

White Swan Athletics are more active than ever! Mr. Muller reports that the Cougar Wrestling Program this year has expanded and we now have 23 boys and 11 girls. We hosted a meet on Wednesday January 10 that was attended by high schools from across the state. We had six teams attend the meet where 93 matches took place. Our athletes were very successful and we also honored our three senior wrestlers.

Wednesday Interest Events at White Swan High School Get a High Rating -  “On Wednesday afternoon our students participated in an interest fair for Wednesday activities,” reports Principal Tenney.   Students had the opportunity to pick some of their Wednesday classes based on their personal interests. Students that have earned a grade in one or more classes of either a “D” or an “F” attend study hall until they can raise their grade. This opportunity provides time for the student to meet one-on-one with a teacher to help with unfinished or incomplete work. Some other choices for students included Jujitsu, teen Mental Health First aid, Crochet club, and Crafting for Charity.  The staff also provide reading interventions for students who need to raise their reading skill levels. 

Conflict Resolution-  Students in the 8th grade had the opportunity to deeply analyze four different types of conflict.  They skillfully used literary text to explore plot elements and discussed how conflicts were resolved in the story.  The next step is applying some of these important conflict resolution techniques in real life.  Parents, please let us know how this goes at home.  

We all love a good word problem in math… right?   This week in Ms. Gonzalez’ fifth grade class, students had to use many of their skills including math, writing, speaking, and interaction with other students.  The learning target was for students to strengthen their ability to navigate math word problems as they plug in different values to set up various formulas.  Nice job Ms. Gonzalez for teaching such important life skills.  

B – I – N – G – O!  No, not the farmer’s dog named Bingo, but the 3rd grade students at Harrah playing BINGO!  Students developed their arithmetic fluency in exciting ways this week as they played multiplication bingo.  This game consisted of rolling dice to create arrays, and using playing cards to practice addition. 

Take me out to the ball game!  The baseball and softball fields on the new Harrah Campus are beginning to look amazing.  If everything goes well, the fields will be ready to play on for the first game of the Spring Sports Season which is around  March 1st. Play Ball!

Busy Week for Cougar Athletics: Thanks Everyone and Go Cougars!

University of Washington is a great partner for our District – We have two UW Gear Up Grants in progress in our District.  The first is entitled  “RISE UP GEAR UP” (Rise Up is the Class of 2023 and they started in this grant program during their 7th grade year in 2017)  Students have received academic support services and enrichment opportunities. Eighty-three (83%) percent of cohort students were served by the program this current school year.  Seventy-nine (79%) percent of students received financial aid counseling/advising services, 73% received counseling academic and career planning services, 44% participated in workshops, and 27% experienced a college visit. These activities contributed to core and advanced course completion and increases in students' educational expectations. A total of 12 students completed an advanced English/Language Arts course, 7 completed an advanced Science course, and 14 completed an advanced Math course. There were 10 families that received GEAR UP services and a total of 2 educators that received an average of 12 hours of GEAR UP sponsored professional development.

The SKY GEAR UP Program (SKY is the current senior Class of 2024. They started their Gear Up experience during their 7th grade year in 2018). These students have received academic support services and enrichment programs as well. Eighty-two (82%) percent of cohort students were served by the program this year.  Seventy-nine (79%) percent of students participated in workshops, 44% received counseling academic and career planning services, 26% experienced a college visit, and 25% received financial aid counseling/advising services. These activities contributed to core and advanced course completion and increases in students' educational expectations. A total of 6 students completed an advanced Science course and 5 students completed an advanced English/Language Arts course. There were 12 families that received GEAR UP services and a total of 2 educators that received an average of 11 hours of GEAR UP-sponsored professional development.