Newest East Side Elementary Site Grading

Our final major construction project, authorized by the 2007 bond, will be set in motion as clearing and grading work begins at the site on Monday, August 30. The yet-to-be-named elementary school is located off of Crown Road just south or Norse Road and will open in the fall of 2013.

Click here to view a map of the area.

New Elementary Websites Go Live

Over the summer the district's technology and public relations staff transitioned all the elementary websites to WordPress, which is a content management system. This transition gives the staff at each building control of the content of their websites and allows easy posting of news, events, photos, video, etc.

The home page of each site is designed as a blog, where news items are listed chronologically in a scrolling list. A new feature is a live feed of calendar events filtered for each school from DynaCal--the district's web calendar. Also new is a staff directory search tool which returns results specifically for each building.

Take a peek at our new sites!

Dorothy Fox: http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/dorothyfox/

Grass Valley: http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/grassvalley/

Helen Baller: http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/helenballer/

Lacamas Heights: http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/lacamasheights/

Prune Hill: http://schools.camas.wednet.edu/prunehill/

Why WordPress?

We chose to utilize WordPress because:

• It is open source technology, so there is no cost for the program;
• The interface is web based, which means there is no need to locally install software;
• It provides good search-engine optimization; and
• It requires very little training for staff. Creating new pages and posts is snap with a rich-text editor.

Coming Soon

We'll be working on WordPress sites for the middle schools and Hayes Freedom High School in early fall. Camas High School's web site will also be converted to a content management system (Drupal) in the coming months.

Part VII, 2010 Staff Award Winners

Join us this summer as we spotlight our 2010 Staff Award winners each week. In our seventh and final post, we honor the Grass Valley Maintenance and Custodial Crew.

The new Grass Valley Elementary School opened its doors on the first day of school this year. One would think that to maintain and clean a new school would be easy—but that assumption would not be correct. Although the building opened on time, the contractor still had “punch list” items and the commissioning of the heating and cooling system to complete.

The custodial team, consisting of Marilyn Reppe and Terrie Anicker, has provided contractors access to the building on nights and weekends in order to not impact teaching and learning—even when it has meant adjusting their shifts and working overtime. Terrie and Marilyn are committed to making our school look clean and sparkling, but they also are strong members of our school community. This is evident in their positive communication with staff members. It can be challenging to remind staff to wash their own dishes and prepare their rooms for cleaning, but they find light-hearted approaches to get the best out of everyone.

Bill Seekins has also gone beyond the call of duty by being the on-site link between the construction office, the operations department and the contractors. He has volunteered to work overtime on the weekend to troubleshoot the commissioning process for the heating and cooling system. He is dedicated to learning the new system and making sure it works correctly. Bill has also provided valuable input to the contractor and design engineer regarding the daily performance of the system, so that correct adjustments can be made. He is a quiet and “behind-the-scenes” person who always works efficiently, effectively, and is always willing to help!

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Part VI, 2010 Staff Award Winners

Join us this summer as we spotlight our 2010 Staff Award winners each week. In our sixth post, we honor Amy Wing.

The Helen Baller Bears have no time to hibernate with PE teacher Amy Wing keeping them active.

Twice each week, Amy sees all 560 Baller students for regular physical education. Each day during lunch, she serves an additional 250 kiddos in the gym for tumbling, jump rope, and juggling team practices. Then in the winter, Amy brings those teams to perform at girls and boys basketball halftime shows. When spring rolls around, Amy organizes an exhilarating, fun-filled afternoon for these teams to participate in the Junior Rose Parade in Portland—this year they won first place in the Dance/Drill Juvenile Class. And finally, she invites all the families of the tumbling, jump rope, and juggling teams to an end-of-year bash where the kids show off their expertise. Whew! Staff members at Baller think she is an amazing ball of energy and proclaim the Energizer Bunny has nothing on Amy!

Open Registration Begins August 11

Parents and guardians who wish to register their students in Camas Schools for the 2010-11 school year are invited to open registration. Beginning August 11, 2010, families may drop in for registration in the cafeteria at the Zellerbach Administration Center at 841 NE 22^nd Avenue, Camas, WA. No appointment is necessary, and hours are 7:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., closed from 12:00-12:30 p.m. for lunch. Open registration will be available through September 3.

Information about required immunizations, proof of residency, and registration forms will be available on site and also at the district website at www.camas.wednet.edu.