To: Asha Riley, Superintendent
From: Phil Pearson
Date: October 17, 2024
RE: Woodland High School Board Report
1) School Improvement Plan
We are building up to two events that have important implications for our ongoing school improvement efforts. The first is our professional development scheduled for October 31 and November 1. On the morning of November 1, WHS staff will be walking through and troubleshooting our family reunification procedure. A number of WHS parents will be assisting us with that by simulating parents as they walk through the process and then helping us improve the process. This simulation reflects our continued emphasis on building safety and emergency preparedness.
The other event is Connect Night. Connect Night is our all out blitz to encourage our community to come to WHS. In addition to parent-teacher conferences, Connect Night will feature food trucks, WHS club tables, family activities, community organizations, and a FAFSA information session. Connect Night is an important part of our effort to partner with our families and continue to improve student and family engagement with our academic and extracurricular programs.
2) Recognition
There are a ton of people that I’d love to recognize as we really get started this year. Shari Conditt ran an amazing Homecoming week and was named the national social studies teacher of the year by iCivics. Our GRIT team leaders - Devon Fliss, Stephanie Marshall, Melanie Holmes, and Jaclyn Stewart - have done tremendous work to make our GRIT advisory session a key part of our MTSS system. Mike Lindsay continues to do great work with all of our students. The list could go on for a very long time.
Mostly, though, I think the kids have been really great. You may have heard that we’ve recently had several fights involving a very small number of students. That’s true, but it’s not representative of 98+% of our students. Very nearly all of our students are kind and engaged and go about their business with purpose. Here’s one indicator of this: so far this year, we’ve had basically no bathroom vandalism. Here’s another indicator: Our homecoming assembly was awesome. Staff definitely had something to do with this, but it was the spirit of the kids that made it so much fun.
3) Upcoming Events
Here are some events that are coming up at WHS:
10-31, 11-1 WHS Staff PD
11-8 Veteran’s Day Assembly
11-14 Connect Night