East Valley students adjust to middle school routine

Seven months ago, Natasha Zubritskaya was worried about leaving Trentwood Elementary School for East Valley Middle School.

Now the 12-year-old has a 4.0 grade-point average, in part thanks to an after-school study club.

“I was worried it would be much harder, and then I realized the staff here really helps. They have study clubs after school to help with homework,” she said. “I actually enjoy it more than an elementary school. You have more friends because there are more kids here.”

Zubritskaya is among about 500 seventh- and eighth-grade students who returned last fall to East Valley Middle School, at 4920 N. Progress Road, under a traditional middle school model.

Just prior to opening Aug. 30, administrators and teachers scrambled to get the school up to speed after the district abandoned a switch to K-8 schools that had been fully implemented during the 2013-14 school year.

Challenges did crop up, said Principal Doug Kaplicky, but he noted how well students have come together.

“I saw it as an opportunity,” said Kaplicky, hired last summer with Vice Principal Stacy Delcour to reopen the facility in less than 50 days. Kaplicky had worked in Tri-Cities schools, and Delcour left a position in the West Valley School District. They work with 60 teachers and staff members.

Well into the school year now, Kaplicky credits staff and parents with supporting the students’ transition.

“Our No. 1 attribute is our climate,” he said. “The parents are very happy and the staff is extremely supportive; they have ownership. Keeping middle school students happy can be a challenge, and we have students who are excited to come to school.”

About 670 kids come through the hallways, with roughly 160 students bused to the facility part-time for music instruction or PEP, a program for highly capable students.

Kaplicky listed examples of what’s working: a parent advisory group’s regular input, a student reward system, and a large number of students in study clubs, music and athletics. More than 130 girls turned out for the school’s volleyball team, and around the same for basketball. Boys’ basketball drew just under 100.

“For challenges, I would say we definitely need to move forward with our technology,” Kaplicky said.

He said a more serious challenge that occurred near the holidays took staff by surprise but also resulted in better crisis response teamwork to help students with abuse or mental health issues. Six to eight students at the time were experiencing trauma.

“We put together a crisis team,” he said. “We worked with Frontier Behavioral Health. … It was everything from home abuse to components of suicide. That was a challenge we didn’t foresee.”

To get to know students better, Kaplicky goes on informal visits to their homes, so far reaching roughly half the households. He said the unusual step helps him better team with families for students’ success.

Meanwhile, a new reward-referral system acknowledges students when they succeed with positive write-ups. It enters names into a lottery for prizes such as signed Seahawks and Mariners memorabilia. Families attend monthly assemblies recognizing 20 to 24 students.

East Valley Middle School parent Katie Wilson had supported the shift to K-8 but said the transition back to middle school went smoothly. “My son has adjusted very well, and I think the middle school better meets the needs of the teenage kids,” she said.

The district’s second middle school, Mountain View, closed in 2011 with declining enrollment and state funding. The district recently leased portions of Mountain View to Spokane County, for a Sheriff’s Office training facility. Continuous Curriculum School, East Valley’s year-round choice school, has some middle school students, but most of them are at EVMS.

“I love that we’re at one middle school,” Wilson said. “It benefits the kids to get to know their peers. I can’t say enough about Mr. Kaplicky and Mrs. Delcour. They’re so highly qualified but they’re so willing to hear ideas and criticisms from parents about how they can improve.”

Teacher Tim Busse said students have settled into a routine of classes and hallway high-fives. He’s also noticed a return in recent months of some students who initially stayed away.

“I think some people kind of wanted to see – how well did the transition go,” he said. “Kids talk, and I think we’ve created an environment that’s welcoming to kids. I’ve seen several former students choose to come back.”

Eighth-grader Justin Martinez, 14, put the school shift in the “pretty good” category.

“I think this is the best school I’ve gone to, actually,” he said. “At the old school, I had difficulties. Here, I get help and good grades and people caring about me.”