It's Friday morning September 22, 2023. We just got off the phone with the Evergreen School District HR; Evergreen Teachers Association Union office; Camas School District HR and Battle Ground HR. We contacted Evergreen and Camas to get copies of the newly approved teachers contracts. Neither contract is published and there is no target date for publication. Both districts said that once the teachers have approved the contract the district must then go through a review process to correct any wording and formatting. The proposed final document then goes back to the Union with any revisions and then back to the district, rinse and repeat until it's approved by both parties. In the case of … [Read more...]
Washington State K-12 compensation and other data
Our friend Jeff has a website we've mentioned before. Given the strikes at Evergreen and Camas and talk of striking at Battle Ground and other districts around the state we reached out to Jeff asking for an overview of the information he tracks. Following is that discussion with links to his website and data for your perusal. Note: Jeff does an annual update in December to capture the most current data published by OSPI. This data is entirely from OSPI. Jeff amalgamates and organizes it. So if someone claims the data is false refer them to Chris Reykdal the State Superintent of Schools. I have these charts already online for all 295 traditional school districts in WA plus most of … [Read more...]
Evergreen School District – Won’t take NO for an answer
The Evergreen school district went to the voters in February asking for a new Operations Levy to supplement the state money. It failed. But the district and school board don't agree with a NO vote so they come back again just 2 months later. Today we bring you an opinion piece by a local resident who thinks that NO means NO. The Evergreen School District is attempting another voter approved levy just 2 months after 57.2% of the voters rejected their last levy February 8th (by over 3,600 votes). They say it is not an increase and although the levy rate is the same as the current levy, that is disingenious thanks to the ever increasing property values (11% average increase this year) … [Read more...]
Evergreen School District Levy – February 2022
Voters are being asked to approve or deny the latest Evergreen levy. The following comes from a local resident who believes the vote should be "NO". Give it a read and see what you think: Opposed Statement to the Evergreen School District Levy: Per OSPI’s website, less than half of ESD (Evergreen School District) students met standards for English 49.7%, Math 39.3%, and Science 40.6% (10% below Washington’s state averages). Until focusing on academics, no more money is warranted as $15K per child is already State/Federally funded. This resolution increases the current levy from$1.72 to $2.12 (23% over 2 years). You’re ESD Superintendent and his $305K salary was terminated … [Read more...]
Southwest Washington School Board Races – November 2021
On November 2nd you will elect school board members across Southwest Washington State. These are four (4) year positions so the choices you make will have impact for years. There are a number of issues up for consideration during this election cycle. Where do the candidates stand on CRT? Common Core? CSE? Masks? Vaccination of children? Funding? These races are all non-partisan so political parties are not intended to be part of the discussion. However, there are some philosophical differences. Namely, are the candidates positions more liberal or conservative? Do they believe in the Feds/State telling parents what to do and how to do it or are they for local control and parental … [Read more...]
Evergreen School District Board of Director Candidates 2021
In November 2021 there are two (2) school board director positions open in the Evergreen School District. Position 1 and Position 5. Today we bring you information on the candidates for those races that may be helpful as you decide who to vote for. In the case of Position 1 there are three (3) candidates who will participate in the August "Primary". The two top vote getters will move to the November election. Please take the time to look into the candidates. Position 5 only has 2 people running so they'll both move on to November. We sent a list of ten (10) questions to each candidate with a return due date specified. Some candidates responded while others didn't. If we received a … [Read more...]
Teachers crossing the line: Evergreen Middle School
When teachers stray from educating to pushing their personal views and agenda the consequences can impact the lives and feelings of impressionable students. Today we bring you an example of a teacher who some think crossed the line. You be the judge: If you think what happened needs to be addressed consider reaching out to the Evergreen Superintendent (Mike Merlino) We bring you the perspectives of the student involved and of the parents. We’re removed the names of the student, parent and teacher as well as the specific school. Student: On Monday June 14th I went to my 1st period class. We had no specific assignment but were sitting around talking. At the end of the class the … [Read more...]
Have taxpayers hit a wall on school taxes?
School taxes. Most people want to support K-12 education. Most want the best for students. Most agree that spreading the cost across all property owners (whether or not every household has children in school) is a good idea. But...when is enough tax money enough? In Southwest Washington State school districts have, over the past 3-4 years, gotten taxpayers to pony up a LOT of money for schools. Money for M&O (Maintenance and Operations) and school bonds to repair and replace schools. Indeed the Vancouver district has gotten over $1 billion in bond money and every M&O levy passes (with each increasing every time it goes to a vote). Evergreen got nearly $1 billion in capital bond … [Read more...]
Healthy Student Survey – Southwest Washington School Districts
Every 2 years OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) has all school districts in Washington State conduct a survey of students. In this survey they ask some very personal questions deal with drugs, sex and other issues. They use the responses to help formulate policies. For example, when the effort was being made to force the adoption of Comprehensive Sex Education Mr. Reykdal (State Superintendent) cited data from the survey. As the legislature starts the next session the very same data will be used to "demand" adoption. So that got us to wondering if we could get the results for school districts. The short answer is YES! The reality was a bit more challenging. It took nearly … [Read more...]
Evergreen /School District – Superintendent Steach’s Departure
Why did John Steach, Superintendent of the Evergreen School District depart? Did he resign or was he asked to leave? Did he go voluntarily or was there pressure and if so where from? Was it a joint judgment by Mr. Steach and the Board of Directors? How was his performance? What did is employment contract look like? What was his severance package? There was a press release that said nothing. The school board agreed to a severance package of just over $300,000. No one is talking. All records are sealed. So what (if anything) can we glean? We filed some Public Record Requests to see what the district would release. This blog article shares everything we could find and our speculation … [Read more...]