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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

New Web sites for all Central Valley schools

Treva Lind The Spokesman-Review

ALL 22 SCHOOLS in the Central Valley School District have completed the launch of new school Web sites. The updated sites are designed to offer enhanced functionality and improved communication with parents, students, staff and the community.

Located at www.cvsd.org/schools, the Web sites feature a fresh and consistent design, easy-to-read content and user-friendly navigation, according to district spokesperson Melanie Rose.

Significant input from parents and staff led to the development of common site navigation for elementary, middle and high school levels, along with guidance about the content to include on each Web site.

“We are committed to nurturing high levels of family and community involvement in our schools,” explained CVSD Superintendent Mike Pearson in a district news release. “The new school Web sites directly support this goal with event calendars, staff directories and updated information about our schools presented in a user-friendly way.”

The school Web site update project began in April, following the successful launch of a new Web site for Central Valley School District. Development of the new sites during the summer was followed by training for each school’s Web site coordinator and the creation of updated content.

As individual schools were ready, the new sites were launched over a six-week period, beginning in late September.

Work is under way for the next phase of the online communications enhancement plan, the creation of classroom Web sites by teachers interested in an online presence. The new school Web sites and district Web site were developed by Spokane Web Communications of Liberty Lake.

North Pines students create poetry

A visiting writer at North Pines Middle School has helped sixth-grade students create poetry that they shared this week with Central Valley School District leaders.

Sixth-grade teacher Sue Thompson said writer Linda Cooper meets once a week with students from her room and with a group of young writers taught by Lisa Peters, another North Pines teacher.

The program is offered in cooperation with the Get Lit! program at Eastern Washington University, Thompson said. Cooper started visiting the school every Tuesday beginning in late September.

“This is kind of a pilot program,” Thompson added. “Other Get Lit! programs in the past had visiting writers, but for short periods. This is the first yearlong program.”

Cooper also visits regularly this year in the Spokane Public Schools district.

Thompson gives much credit to Cooper and the students for the program’s success.

“I just learn so much from her. The students’ finished products for this trimester were just phenomenal. There was lots of hard work from the students.”

The students didn’t start out writing poetry, per se, Thompson said. “She started them with paragraphs and little vignettes.” Then, Cooper helped students break down the writing into meaningful sections.

“It was a long process. Kids who thought they couldn’t put pen to paper ended up being successful. It’s good writing.”

For the poetry reading, Thompson set up a special area in her room with a stool, Christmas lights and a light rigged to be like a spotlight. The students shared their poetry with visiting CVSD dignitaries: Superintendent Mike Pearson, district administrators Terrie VanderWegen and Jean Marczynski, and school board member Lynn Trantow and Anne Long.

Student takes first Bee step

An eighth-grade student at Evergreen Elementary gave all the correct answers to win overall in the school’s National Geographic Bee this week.

Karch Van Matre won the school-level competition. Rounding out the finalists were Scott Bischoff, Tanner Elliot and Trevor Delmedico.

The geography challenge requires oral answers to questions such as: “Which Nordic capital was built on islands where the Baltic Sea meets Lake Malaren?” Answer: Stockholm.

The school-level bee was the first round in the 18th annual National Geographic Bee sponsored by the National Geographic Society and JP Morgan Chase and Co. Sixty Evergreen students voluntarily entered the competition.

Van Matre also took a written test, and if he scores in the top 100 in the state, he will attend the state championship on March 31 at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. The state winner wins a trip to Washington, D.C. for the national competition.

He also has a chance to win a $25,000 college scholarship.

Food drive fills three trucks

North Pines Middle School students collected three truckloads of food that were delivered Thursday to the Spokane Valley Food Bank’s storage facility on Pines Road. Many schools throughout the Spokane Valley have collected canned goods during drives that ended this week.

Lisa Peters, North Pines teacher and Associated Student Body adviser, helped organize the drive with ASB officers. She said the school brought in almost 2,700 items.

“We do it every year. It was a lot more this year than we usually get. We did the math and figured it was almost six cans per kids, if everyone brought in canned food.”

The items brought in were canned and boxed nonperishable food. Winners of the food drive class competition won Krispy Kreme doughnuts this week. Two classes that tied for the honor include those of Sue Thompson and Mike Dowling, both sixth-grade teachers.