Enumclaw keeps winter break

By Brenda Sexton-The Courier-Herald

Unlike neighboring districts, the Enumclaw School District will continue to keep its February mid-winter break for the 2009-10 school year.

The Enumclaw School Board approved the calendar, which was earlier given a stamp of approval by the Enumclaw Education Association, at its March 17 meeting.

District teachers' union leader Amy Weber provided details to the board. She noted 129 Enumclaw Education Association members, 71 percent voted for calendar option A, which kept a full mid-winter break. The second option, which favored an extended weekend over a full week off, garnered 54 votes, or 29 percent.

In 2009, school will begin Aug. 31 and is scheduled to close June 18. The calendar has three built-in snow days.

A complete calendar is available on the district's Web site at www.enumclaw.wednet.edu.

During the meeting, the board also earned about Byron Kibler Elementary School's math program from Principal Julene Miller and teachers SaraLee Rasmussen and Sherrie Hardersen, who went over math tools and student self-assessment strategies, math questions and vocabulary, and Rose Becker, who led students Bill Miller, Aleah Quinlan and Olivia Adams through equations for the board.

Self-assessment strategies include knowing more than one method, showing multiple representations, justifying why and the ideal that mistakes start new learning. Math vocabulary includes 300 words like circumference, perpendicular lines and rotation.

By fifth-grade students should have an understanding of number sense, measurement, geometric sense, probability and statistics, algebraic sense, problem solving. The must also be able to reason logically, communicate understanding and make connections.

In other business, the board:

€ introduced Shawn Tobius as Enumclaw High School girls soccer coach;

€ set 7 p.m. Monday in the district conference room for its next board workshop. The topic will be technology. The next board meeting is 7 p.m. April 21;

€ accepted nearly $3,000 in automotive equipment to EHS from Renton Technical College; $500 from the Thomasson family for EHS girls water polo team; $1,500 from the Muckleshoot Tribe for math workbooks at Kibler; $1,500 from the Muckleshoot Tribe for science-related enhancements at Sunrise Elementary; $1,500 from the Muckleshoot tribe to the EHS choir department and $1,500 from the Muckleshoot Tribe to Thunder Mountain Middle School to be applied to the cost of a baseball field;

€ accepted the resignations of EHS principal David Dorn, EHS band teacher Roger Breakfield, EHS Native American Specialist Sharon Calvert and TMMS special education teacher Donnell Bingham;

€ accepted leaves of absences for the 2008-09 school year from Sunrise/Southwood elementary school teacher Kyung Shin and Southwood teacher Ashley Stuenkel.

€ hired EHS nurse Jennifer Stroh, district assistant groundskeeper Justin Bray, Westwood paraeducator Connie Nielson, Enumclaw Middle School custodian Dermot Shiels, EHS secretary Judith Kinch and transportation bus aide Carolyn Hagan.

€ rehired Thunder Mountain custodian Stephen Thomas.

€ changed Sandy Zachar from Southwood preschool to an Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) paraeducator.

€ gave additional hours to Southwood ECEAP health assistant Garie Sender and Tobius as EHS girls soccer coach.

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