For those of you who aren't aware of the Washington Policy Institute give Liv's article a read: WEA union threatens illegal strike to close public schools in Evergreen and Camas » Publications » Washington Policy Center  Check out our other articles on this topic as well. … [Read more...]

On July 28th 2020 the Battle Ground school board met with the district superintendent, asst. superintendent and head of finance. This was a meeting to share information and get feedback as the district prepares for the August 24th budget meeting for 2020/21. No votes were taken and the public was not allowed to comment (although the public could listen). The budget session lasted about 1 hr 20 min and was the last item of the evening. I took 2 1/2 pages of notes that I will share in this article. I will report AND I will comment. I've spent the past 6+ years reviewing every annual budget for the district and providing comments, suggestions and asking questions. NEVER in that time has one … [Read more...]

The world is soooo overwhelming with serious stuff and education is front and center. To start the new year off we offer, without comment, some cartoons about K-12 education to help you de-stress. If you come across any you want to share please send them to use and we'll post them (so long as they are not vulgar or inappropriate). Here you go... … [Read more...]

It seems that today there is an all out assault on anything "old" being wrong, inferior or harmful. But it's ok to use any harebrained educational fad...especially if it's on a computer...to teach children. Along comes the following article originally posted on American Thinker and written by Ryan Walters. Maybe some of the old stuff is as good or better than the "evolved" views of today? Just maybe... The focus of many policies around the country is to create an environment for high quality education at public schools.  States require teachers to gain certifications, log professional development hours, and create meticulous lesson plans in the hopes they are creating schools full of … [Read more...]

Today we bring you the details about another unique effort to teach your children/grandchildren about emotions. Yes...parents and grandparents don't know how to teach their young people about emotions so a software company is going to it for you. They are so eager to get it used their going to give it away to teachers to use in the classroom so you'll be comfortable buying it. Please read on and share... The website (so you can go see for yourself and watch some videos) is: https://www.emotionalabcs.com/ Let's walk through the pieces and pitch and cost... School Readiness The ability to self-soothe and work through emotions is essential for school readiness. It is the … [Read more...]

As we close out 2017 we finish our 2nd year of the blog. Our readership has grown steadily. In this, our last article of the year, we bring you our 6 most read stories. We hope you enjoy them. We didn't include the school board races in the count since those were situational and temporary. https://swweducation.org?p=4234 https://swweducation.org?p=4220 https://swweducation.org?p=3149 https://swweducation.org?p=4272 https://swweducation.org?p=3592 https://swweducation.org?p=4327       … [Read more...]

Ever wonder how your school district measures the student population? Ever heard the terms "headcount" or "fte"? Well...we recently had an opportunity to investigate the topic as it relates to the Battle Ground School District (BGSD). In this article we'll explain the differences and in so doing provide specifics for the BGSD. First, let's start with some definitions: We borrowed these from a website called - Differencebetween.net FTE vs Headcount FTE (meaning full-time equivalent) and headcount are two methods of counting a certain number of members in a population or in an organization. Both measures also account for the measurement of rendered time. In addition, both headcount … [Read more...]