Schools Gear Up For New Year

With classes beginning this week and next, Spokane Valley school districts are scrambling to prepare for the influx of thousands of children.

“It’s like studying for finals,” said Harry Amend, superintendent of Freeman School District, south of the Valley. “It’s coming whether we’re ready or not.”

Freeman’s 885 students started classes on Tuesday, Aug. 29. Classes at Central Valley, East Valley and West Valley schools begin Sept. 6.

New teachers, new computer labs and innovations in the way traditional subjects are taught are among the changes at Valley schools.

Amend is excited about the leap his district has taken in technology this year. A new computer lab was built in the elementary school with 30 donated computers. And eight old computers will be placed in each of the high school’s three English classrooms, hand-me-downs from the high school computer lab which recently upgraded.

During the school year, the district plans to adopt new reading and English materials, which will include textbooks, novels and plays for all English classes, Amend said.

East Valley School District also is working on a new curriculum for kindergarten through third grade math classes. But first, said K-8 Director Lu Embrey, the district will look at learning guidelines established by the state.

East Valley, with a projected enrollment of 4,424 students, plans to examine its existing student objectives for all grades, Embrey said, and examining how they compare to the state guidelines.

“That’s going to guide our curriculum,” Embrey said.

Also new in the district this year is a team-teaching program at Trent Elementary. In fact, said Superintendent Chuck Stocker with more than a touch of pride, Trent teacher Vicky Spring’s photo graces the cover of a national education magazine this month for her work in team-teaching.

Last year at Trent, fourth and fifth graders were team-taught in some classes and kept separate in others in order to provide a choice. This year, Spring also will incorporate third graders into the combined classroom, to work along with the fourth and fifth graders.

“There’s a lot of cooperating going on,” Stocker said, “and younger kids are working at a higher level.” The program also fosters more bonding between students, he added.

Stocker also is excited about a new alternative education program in place at the high school.

As of last Wednesday, he said, 49 students had signed up for the more personal, flexible program which will be housed on the East Valley High School campus.

Central Valley School District is in a year of transition. The biggest changes affecting the distict’s 10,100 students will be new teachers and administrators gracing the halls at most schools.

“Many of our changes are people-oriented,” said R. Wallace Stanley, interim superintendent. “We have new leadership at just about every level.”

Some new administrators have been hired, such as Erik Ohlund, who replaces Dennis Hill as principal of University High School.

Other administrators, such as the principals of Broadway and Ponderosa elementary schools and Horizon and Bowdish junior high schools, have been reassigned.

Also, former Superintendent Dick Sovde left the district this year for a new job in Puyallup School District, near Tacoma. His last day was July 31. A huge focus for the district will be its search for Sovde’s replacement.

“It’ll be a broad-based operation in which the community and staff will be able to participate,” Stanley said.

Many schools in the CV district are developing site-based management teams this year, in which more decisions affecting the school will be made at the school, instead of at the district.

The district also is in the process of developing a technology plan, seeking alternate funding sources. Cuts in the state budget have caused technology to be excluded from the district’s 1995-96 budget.

Technology also will be a focus this year for West Valley School District’s 3,473 students, up 95 from last year’s enrollment.

In all district social studies classes, teachers will be using laser discs to enhance lessons.

A multitude of images can be pulled up on a screen to increase student comprehension, said Sharon Mowry, assistant superintendent for the district.

“You can just key up the Martin Luther King Jr. ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, or anything,” Mowry said.

New computers also have been purchased to ensure there’s at least one in each elementary school classroom.

The district also is piloting new integrated science materials and strategies in grades seven through 12. For example, classes will combine life, earth and physical sciences to attack a real world problem.

“We’re looking at how do all the sciences interrelate,” Mowry said. “It’ll be a lot more hands-on.”

, DataTimes