Schoolhouse Missives

Walla Walla Public Schools

An update on the skills center

This weekend a community member asked me if I knew what had happened to the planned skills center for Walla Walla Public Schools. As I told her what I remembered off-hand on its development, I thought it would be worth a blog mention. Under former superintendent Richard Carter, Walla Walla Public Schools started the process [...]

School bus tickets are no joke

Earlier this week I wrote a story reminding drivers and families to be careful traveling through town as children head back to school. Today, the Washington State Patrol released an advisory reminding drivers to always follow school-bus rules. Not doing so can yield a whopping $394 ticket that drivers would apparently have a tough time [...]

A word from Walla Walla schools

A couple of messages this morning from Walla Walla Public Schools in regards to the School Board meeting from Tuesday night. In one note, Superintendent Rich Carter addresses the community about the district’s recommendation to use $1.6 million left over from the Edison Elementary reconstruction for other district needs. The other message is from Edison [...]

Are free meals good or bad for kids?

I’ve gotten a couple of calls and e-mails from readers about the poor quality of food being served in our public schools. One reader was particularly shocked to learn that children in our elementary schools are given the choice to eat pizza 10 times a week. (For breakfast and lunch. Yes, there is a breakfast [...]

Let the testing begin

It’s out with the WASL, in with the Measurements of Student Progress this month! Starting this week, some area middle school students will start taking an online version of the MSP, which replaced the WASL state standards exam this year for elementary and middle school students. (High-schoolers take the High School Proficiency Exam). Locally, 6th-8th [...]

Some major leadership shifts

Not too long ago I was talking with Green Park Principal Mike Lambert, about how he and Sharpstein Principal Laure Quaresma were soon going to be the veteran principals for the city’s public elementary schools. In the last couple of years, the district’s six elementary schools have almost all received new principals. This week, Quaresma [...]

Interesting study on bilingual education

Education Week has an interesting article this week on the effectiveness of English immersion versus bilingual education. The study finds that whatever the model, children whose native language is not English (in this case, who speak primarily Spanish at home) learned just as well in both models. In Walla Walla, this could give some confidence [...]

The winners and losers

The first round of the federal “Race to the Top” competition ended this week with just two states cashing in. Delaware and Tennessee were the two states chosen out of several candidates to receive federal money to drastically improve schools. Delaware will receive about $100 million, and Tennessee about $500 million, USA Today reports. Among [...]

A change, and about that vote

Over the weekend the Walla Walla Public Schools Web site got a make-over. You can check out the new page here. The main story this morning is the hiring of the district’s new Superintendent, Mick Miller, who will assume duties July 1. Miller currently heads the Deer Park School District. On another note, my story [...]

A dual-language lapse

Families with children in the district’s dual-language programs may have gotten a disappointing update this week on the continuity of the program after elementary school. The district’s dual-language program, where children learn in English and Spanish, launched about seven years ago at Sharpstein Elementary School. The first class of kindergartners in the program started at [...]

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