Principal's Corner May 2019

Another school year is almost on the books. It has been a great year with some great challenges and some great outcomes. We have seen some real academic growth in our students this year. Everyone involved, parents, staff and students, have really cracked down and fought to stay on track to give every student their best chance at getting ready for the next grade or going beyond high school.

The seniors are finishing up their requirements and are all but done. We have our Spring Awards Program on May 28th at 5:30 pm, Baccalaureate at 7 pm on May 29th and Kinder and 8^th grade Promotions scheduled for June 5 at 11:30 am and 1 pm respectively. Our state testing continues through the rest of this month and has gone very well so far.

Our legislature removed passing the Smarter Balanced tests from the state graduation requirements. We will continue to take the Smarter Balanced tests because the State of Washington is required to have an assessment in place to satisfy the Federal Government’s requirements. So, the test is still very important to us and we will continue to administer it, but next year’s seniors will not be required to pass it as a graduation requirement.

I want to thank everyone for adjusting to all the changes we had to make throughout the year. Two major ones that come to mind right away were the weather and our heating system. Our snow-days were made up as of Friday, May 17^th with the exception of two hours we will make up on the last day of school. I know everyone made sacrifices, starting in January, to keep the roads and school open and to make up the time we missed in the classroom. Coming to school with no heat was also a big challenge. Everyone came together and did what needed to be done. This is an important part of our school and community culture.

One area I hope we can improve on next year is school attendance. We have been committed to making sure we miss as little school as possible because our 4-day student schedule means we cover a lot of coursework every day. Making up a missed school day by any student is a challenge. I am aware that being sick and having appointments do happen and can’t be avoided. All I ask is for everyone to make it a high priority to have the students in school every day. I promise our school days are not wasted time. With that being said, we do have quite a few students who have stellar attendance.

Thanks again for everyone’s support for our Bickleton School District. Students, you are the very reason we are here. Continue to take advantage of all the opportunities you have. Parents, keep up the good work. You are our greatest resource. Community, school is important because you make it important. Staff, you set the pulse of our district so keep beating strong. Have a great summer!

Tom Whitmore, Superintendent