Mary Sewright, Principal of Shining Mountain Elementary and Superintendent Intern, shared an overview of No Excuses University.  Bethel School District has six elementary schools in the No Excuses University Network of Schools including Shining Mountain, Thompson, Evergreen, Spanaway, Roy and Centennial. The fundamental belief of these schools is that every child deserves the opportunity to be educated in a way that prepares them for college if they choose to attend.

Principals from the five other No Excuses University schools were present to assist and answer questions about their involvement in the network.

Newly appointed administrators were introduced to the school board:

•Lori Haugen, Executive Director for Special Services

•Jeff Johnson, Principal of Challenger Secondary School

•Lindsey Stein, Assistant Principal of Bethel High School

•Julie Shultz-Bartlett, Assistant Principal of Bethel Middle School

•Stephanie Weinheimer, Assistant Principal of Cedarcrest Middle School

•Bethany Aoki, Assistant Principal of Cougar Mountain Middle School

•Kim Kosa, Assistant Principal of Frontier Middle School

•Adam Cox, Assistant Principal of Liberty Middle School

•Don Sims, Assistant Principal of Spanaway Middle School

•Tom Steinbeck, Director of Special Services

•Mike Presswood, Risk Manager

Of significant note, several changes involved the administration of the new middle schools which become grades 6, 7 and 8 this year. Comments made by the new administrators included the sense that Bethel was an, “Innovative district which has started a number of initiatives which it is becoming known for.” This is helping the district attract new talent.

Policies were placed under consideration and further study for Educational Field trips and Outdoor Recreation (2320) and Community Service (2414).

A physical inventory of theft sensitive items was accepted.

Spanaway Lake High School’s reconstruction got its final acceptance.

New Federal regulations went into effect for Child Nutrition (HHFKA Meal Price Equity). This increased costs associated with meals, especially a new portion of fruit required in breakfasts. The meal costs are going up $0.24, but the federal supplement for the costs was only $0.06. So the department asked and got approval to raise the price of school meals. A price comparison table of Bethel and other districts is on the Boarddocs site here.

Elementary lunch 2.50

Middle School Lunch 3 .00

High School Lunch 3 .00

Adult Lunch  3.75

Elementary breakfast 1.60

Middle School breakfast 1.75

High School breakfast 1.75

Adult breakfast 2.50

Milk  0.55

Leeda Beha, the Child Nutrition Director also noted the district started taking applications on-line for free and reduced lunches. They found out the idea was so well accepted in the district that Bethel was actually tied for number one their first year for the percentage of families using the online application system. Bethel moves to online and the district people are there with them.

At the end of the meeting, Director Chapin asked the Superintendent about new access systems that are expected to be ready at the start of school September  4^th. These systems will require anyone approaching the building during school hours to ring a bell. The person entering will be on video in the office and will wait for the buzzer, to be allowed entry. The new systems were the administration’s way of addressing the concerns for greater school security after the Sandy Hook incident. The Post will have a follow up article later on this topic.