Bridgeport School Board selected as 'School Board of the Year'

Small towns run with the help of a lot of people doing a lot of jobs that are necessary, but aren't glamorous, and sometimes just qualify as a pain in the neck. City councils have to learn about sewer systems-talk about unglamorous-and street paving; fire district commissioners learn more than they probably ever wanted to know about fire engine pumps and disclosure restrictions for emergency medical service personnel. As for hospital district commissioners and the complex rules governing reimbursement for services--well, don't even ask. School boards grapple with graduation rates and state-mandated benchmarks and oh by the way, the high school roof needs repairs.

And all this takes place on the public stage, and everybody in the audience has an opinion, and sometimes spectators are not averse to cornering the man or woman on the school board, or the hospital board or the city council, and expressing it.

In small towns they're not quite volunteer positions; most participants on the various boards and councils make somewhere in the $50 to $150 range for their labor.

Not glamorous but necessary, and people in every town step forward to do them because they are necessary. Occasionally their labors do come to somebody's attention. Recently members of the Bridgeport School Board received recognition as the "School Board of the Year" from the Washington State School Directors Association, one of three in the state. Bridgeport won the award in the small schools category; the other winners were the Kent School District and the Sunnyside School District.

Board members receive a $500 grant for additional training as well as the plaque. Board members are Tracy Zahn, Jacque Workman, Esiquio (Zeke) Martinez, Rick Halterman and Justin Avenell.

The winners were chosen on the basis of a nominating essay; "we expect success," the essay said. That's the board's attitude, it said. "Improved student achievement occurs because our board believes we can achieve."

Board members have supported projects that give extra help to students who need it, including extra math and reading instruction for students and additional math and reading training for teachers. Board members have supported efforts to accommodate children from diverse backgrounds, and help students who are still learning English. "Exemplary leadership is demonstrated in our board's belief that improved student achievement, like English acquisition, is a good thing that best occurs over time. The board has shown patience as students in their early years of schooling have struggled to learn English." Bridgeport's grade and middle schools are in the school improvement process because they haven't met some of the state-mandated progress goals. "Rather than make excuses, our board faced the challenge head-on," supporting the establishment of a preschool, establishing all-day kindergarten and supporting community literacy programs.

Board members approved a program at the high school that requires students to meet with advisors every school day, and support the district's "college in the high school" and advanced placement classes. (High school students can qualify for up to 45 college credits while in Bridgeport High School.) The board also supported establishment of the district's alternative high school. All that work is paying off; Bridgeport's on-time graduation rate (students who graduate in four years) went from 48 percent in 2005-06 to 60.5 percent in 2006-07, with the 2007-08 rate projected to be about 65 percent.

"Exemplary leadership is demonstrated by our board's management commitment to improve school facilities," the essay said. District patrons rejected a proposal to build a new middle school wing at the high school, and "discussions with community members led to a board decision to forego another ballot measure. Instead the board secured a small school repair grant, initiated non-voted debt and used limited cash reserves to install a desperately needed $369,000 heating and cooling system in our 1950-era middle school." The project also included new lights and ceilings in 10 classrooms.

The district hosted an emergency evacuation and lockdown drill last spring, part of the effort to improve student and staff safety. "This 'first of its kind' live simulation added to the board's resolve to plan another live simulation emergency evacuation and lockdown in spring 2009."

Leadership is internal as well; working together can be tricky. "Great governance is needed. Our board took much needed steps to improve their meeting focus back on governance issues by first healing their differences as board members. There was a time, not so very long ago, when personal conflicts between board members interfered with the board's focus on their paramount duty, improved student achievement." Board members got help from the school directors association and held a board retreat that included the establishment of new communication protocols. "The introduction led to a new sense of civility amongst the board and allowed them to refocus their energy on the importance of improved student achievement."

The nomination essay said there are lessons to be learned from Bridgeport's experiences. Communication with district patrons and school staff is important to find out where they think improvement is needed. The information gathered through that effort must be analyzed and used to introduce the necessary changes. And when demographic change comes, schools should embrace it. "Our district discovered that it is possible to reclaim many of the traditional values such as working hard leads to success, while at the same time embracing the new realities of our new student population."

Making the effort to work together-school board, administrators, teachers, students and district patrons-has resulted in a better education for kids, the essay said. For the second year running all seniors met the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) graduation requirements, and more than 85 percent of the current sophomores and juniors have met the WASL requirements. "Education in our district is getting better," and board members are willing to take the time, do the work, and have patience to wait for the results, the essay said.