Olympia School District

In this most recent edition of Spotlight on Success; Olympia School District unveils Elementary Art Pilot Program, Students participate in FIRST Lego League mock robotics competition, Olympia School District Welcome Center reaches out to bilingual families, Performing Arts Initiative brings storytelling and music to students...and much more!

Thurston County residents may register to vote online, by mail or in-person at the Thurston County Auditor’s Office for the February 11, 2020 Special Election. There is one Olympia School District measure on this election ballot. The district is asking voters to consider a four-year Educational Programs and Operations Replacement levy.

The Olympia District School Board includes not only our district directors and superintendent; the board also includes two student representatives chosen from among our four high schools. Ruby Gruber, a senior at Olympia High School, and Alexis Nevy, a senior at Avanti High School, are this year’s student representatives on the Olympia School District Board of Directors. Although the student representatives do not take part in the voting process, their input is vital to the school board’s decision-making processes.

Lindsey Johnstone’s art class at Hansen Elementary School has been hard at work creating a collaborative art piece she has titled, “Feather Mural.” All students, from kindergarten to fifth grade, will contribute a feather to this mural to create two large wings that will become wall art for the school. Johnstone’s art class is part of the Elementary Art Pilot Program, a program currently in its first year at the Olympia School District. There are three teachers in district who are teaching art at their schools: Lindsey Johnstone at Hansen Elementary, Julia Bloom at LP Brown Elementary and Mike White at Garfield Elementary. “Our board members had an interest in expanding art programs in our elementary schools,” says Executive Director of K-12 Teaching and Learning Lauri Klancke. With this piloting program, each student at the three schools receives an art class once a week.

Olympia School District students from four elementary schools, one middle school, and two high schools recently attended a performance by a music group called Che Apalache. This performance was sponsored by the Performing Arts Initiative (PAI) and was performed at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. The purpose of the PAI is to enhance students’ opportunities to enjoy the performing arts. One of the PAI’s goals is to reach students who don’t have equal access to the performing arts. PAI performances cover a wide range of the performing arts. Professional storytelling, comedy, music, poetry, opera and more are brought to our students through this initiative. Funding is mainly provided by the Dawkins Charitable Trust, as well as through grants and private donors. Schools occasionally pay a small fee to host or attend PAI performances.

Congratulations to Linda Kim-Zaccagnini, administrative assistant at Garfield Elementary School, for being named this year’s Olympia School District Classified School Employee of the Year.

The Olympia School Board has unanimously agreed to place an Educational Programs and Operations Replacement Levy proposal before voters on the February 11, 2020 Special Election ballot.

Everyone can learn math. One key to success, says Reeves Middle School math teacher Jana Dean, is understanding the connection between math and language and how it creates opportunities for students to make meaning for themselves. Dean set out to discover more about that connection last year during a six-month stay in the Netherlands. The veteran math teacher, a 2019 recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, boarded a plane last January for the small country in northwestern Europe.

Carol McKay, a pre-calculus and algebra teacher at Capital High School, is one of five finalists for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).