September-October 2012 Staff Newsletter - Kennewick School District

KSD Connection
Staff Newsletter
Sunset View Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
L to R: School Board member, Brian Brooks; Principal, Tony Langdon;
Superintendent, Dave Bond, School Board members Heather Kintzley and Ben
Messinger; and Tri-Cities Area Chamber of Commerce CEO, Lori Mattson.
The skies were blue and spirits high as more than 200 parents,
students, and community members gathered to celebrate the
reopening of Sunset View Elementary School. The Tri-Cities
Area Chamber of Commerce led the program followed by
Principal, Tony Langdon. Tony thanked the school board for
authorizing the bond, the Citizen’s Bond and Levy committee,
KSD voters for approving the bond, as well as the architects
and staff who worked on the design and construction.
Tony also remarked that there is one thing from the old building
that was maintained—its foundation, and that Sunset View
Elementary has a rich history of success, with a 30 plus year
foundation of dedicated staff and
outstanding families.
Students spoke to the crowd about
their favorite classes, including
one student who drew applause for
his enthusiasm for reading. The
pledge of allegiance followed the
school’s flag being raised proudly
for the first time. After the ribbon
cutting, the school was open for
tours. Thank you to the Tri-Cities
Area Chamber of Commerce, and
to everyone who worked on the
Sunset View project.
September-October 2012
Eva Sandoval Named
State Home Visitor of
the Year
Eva Sandoval has been
recognized at the state level by
the Migrant Education Program
(MEP) for her work enrolling
families in the district’s Migrant
Program. Crediting her strong
work ethic, the MEP recognized
her role in increasing enrollment
of migrant families in KSD from 1,892 migrant students
enrolled in 2010-2011 to 2,110 students enrolled in 2011-2102,
an 11% increase.
Eva says it her past experience as a migrant herself that drives
her. Growing up, her family migrated from Texas to Illinois,
then Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. In 1972 they
finally settled in Umatilla, and Hermiston, Oregon where she
lived for 28 years.
“As a migrant, I remember missing out a lot in school because
of the short durations of the crops.,” says Eva. “At the end of
each year we went back home to Texas. As a High School
student it was even more difficult for me because I only went to
school for 3 month out of the year. I was able to work in the
fields when I was living in the Pacific Northwest. I dropped out
of school in my sophomore year because I did not have enough
credits to graduate."
After she was married, Eva decided to earn her GED and I and
when her first child started school in 1985, she began to get
more involved in my son’s education. She became a member
of the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC), and was eventually
nominated to serve on the Oregon State Advisory Committee.
Eva says she enjoys her job because she can relate to the
families. “I encourage them to stay in school and I help them to
find work and an alternative to the migrant life style.”
Our Mission: To provide a safe environment in which every student reaches
his or her highest potential and graduates well prepared for success in postsecondary
education, work, and life.

KSD Connection ~ Staff News, Notes, and Events
Mural Dedication at Cottonwood
Public art enhances and
enriches the communities
in which it lives. In a
school setting, public art
allows students—and
staff—an opportunity to
experience and gain
appreciation for art in its
many forms. For that
reason, the Washington
State Arts Commission
works with districts with
new school construction
projects to plan, procure,
and care for artwork for
their buildings.
Artist Ken Spiering with Cottonwood
students and teacher, Nicole Foltz
At Cottonwood
Elementary, students,
families, and staff had a
special opportunity to gain insight into the creation of their
mural, entitled “The Gift of Community”, from the
perspective of the artist at a dedication held during the
school’s open house. The dedication was an opportunity for
Spokane artist, Ken Spiering, to share a history of his career
and how each piece he has created over the years has built
upon and influenced later works and ultimately the mural at
Cottonwood Elementary.
“The Gift of Community” depicts an early 1900’s wheat
harvest in the Palouse country of eastern Washington. In his
artist’s statement, Spiering notes that his concept was to
create a powerful representation of what it means to work and
live in concert with others. “I know first-hand the combined
effort needed from families and friends toward achieving that
all-important goal of harvest, says Spiering. The mural also
September-October 2012
meets the selection committee’s desire for the artwork to
reference the agricultural nature of where Cottonwood
Elementary School is located.”
The mural was created of grouted ceramic tiles and enameled
copper tiles. While the motion of the piece reads left to right
as we are accustomed, the sequence of the harvest reads right
to left. It begins with the binding and cutting bundles of
wheat, bunching the shocks, and gathering them by
wagonload to be taken to the threshing machine. You can see
the wheat separated from the chaff and straw, and the straw
being blown out and into piles. All of this work is being
supported by the meal being served in the far-left. Showing
this community support was important to Spiering, because,
as he puts it, “(the) communal process illustrated….was most
valuable in my development of its design, and I think
universal in most successful human endeavors, not the least
of which is the education of our children.”
The process involved a local art selection committee made up
of district staff, Cottonwood teachers, parents, the architect,
and Principal, Mary Ann Kautzky. The team worked together
over several months to select the artist, make site
recommendations, provide community and historical context,
and provide feedback and approve the artist’s final design.
State law mandates that a half of one percent of state
construction funds be set aside for the acquisition of public
art. Statewide, K-12 art allocations are pooled and schools
interesting in receiving public art projects apply for funding.
It is only applicable to new construction projects, not
renovations. The process is overseen by the Washington State
Arts Commission’s Art in Public Places Program.
Information about promoting art in public schools is available
at http://www.arts.wa.gov.
Our district is certainly richer for this beautiful addition of
public art at Cottonwood Elementary.
Gift of Community—Artist Ken Spearing

KSD Connection ~ Staff News, Notes, and Events
September-October 2012
KSD Recognized as a National Leader in
Parent Involvement
Parent Involvement Coordinator Sara Del Toro, Superintendent Dave
Bond, Federal Programs Director Jack Anderson, and Bilingual
Department Coordinator Maria Henrickson represent KSD in this photo
taken for the NNPS award recognition publication.
It is no secret that parent and family involvement in a
child’s education increases the likelihood of his or her
success in school. Kennewick School District is
recognized nationally for its success in developing
partnerships with parents to increase student achievement.
Now in its fifth year of involvement with the National
Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS), a program of
Johns Hopkins University, the district has been visited by
members of other districts and education organizations
from as far away as Australia. And now, for the third
consecutive year, KSD has received the NNPS 2012
Partnership District Award. Amistad, Eastgate, and
Edison Elementary schools also received 2012 Partnership
Schools Awards.
At the district level, schools are given assistance, training,
and on-going support to come up with a plan for how they
will increase student achievement through authentic
partnerships with parents. What this really means is
working to help parents become connected to their child’s
education so that their children do well in school and life.
The schools form Action Teams for Partnership, or ATPs,
to bring together staff and families to plan, create, and
make decisions. According to Sarah Del Toro, KSD’s
Parent Involvement Coordinator, the district has seen this
connection growing in all of the schools that are NNPS
members. “We are seeing an increase in parent attendance
at events and meetings and parents are reporting feeling
more welcome at schools. We want parents to feel
ownership and we are seeing this connection growing.”
For example at Amistad, it is not unusual for parent
meetings to have more than 100 attendees. The school
received their partnership award for their
“Communication Notes” program, which was the result of
parents giving input to the school about how to
communicate better with them and what would help them
as parents communicate better with the school staff.
Communication Notes is a two-way method of
communicating information to and from school that works
well for Amistad and its families.
At Eastgate, the school was honored for its Trimester
Goals and Tools Program. This is a building-wide
program. At every grade level, teachers selected a math
and reading goal for the fall, winter, and spring trimesters.
They developed a couple of tools that families could use
at home to help their children meet these goals. These
tools were put together in a kit for each family to use at
home and the staff trained parents on how to use them. All
of the teachers were involved and it is a great example of
the school reaching out to parents and saying – “let’s
work together.”
Edison Elementary recognized that Science can be hard
for teachers to fit in to their busy class schedules, and
enlisted the help of their ATP to find a way to reach out to
parents for help. They came up with “Taking Science to
Home.” A fun and engaging Engineering Night was
developed for Edison fourth and fifth grade students. The
night was filled with fun activities for families and kits
were handed out for the families to take with them so the
learning could continue at home. These game kits were
given to families even if they were not able to attend.
KSD started with four schools, and the program has
expanded to eight schools. New this year, Sunset View
elementary has begun the process and is forming their
ATP. This is significant because Sunset View does not
receive federal funding to support their work. However,
they recognize the value of devoting resources to
developing strong relationships with families and the
value of connecting parents to the school and their
children’s education.

KSD Connection ~ Staff News, Notes, and Events
September-October 2012
Automatic External Defibrillator Devices
in All KSD Buildings
Last year our school board made a decision to provide
automated external defibrillators (AED) to all KSD
buildings within our district. Now that these units have
been installed, lets take a moment to address several
common questions surrounding these new additions to
our buildings!
Why is it important? 61 million Americans have
cardiovascular disease, resulting in approximately 1
million deaths per year. One third of these deaths are
due to cardiac arrest, the sudden and unexpected loss of
heart function. Survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac
arrest are only 1- 5 percent. Most often, cardiac arrest is
due to chaotic beating of the heart known as ventricular
fibrillation (or v-fib), which can be restored to a normal
rhythm if treated early with electric shock
(defibrillation). Treatment of witnessed ventricular
fibrillation with immediate defibrillation can result in
greater than 90 percent survival. With each minute of
delay in care, the chance of survival decreased by 10
percent so that after 10 minutes, survival is dismal.
All heart attacks are the same….right? The difference
between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest is that a
heart attack occurs when a blood vessel feeding the heart
itself is blocked by plaque or a blood clot. The longer
the blood flow is interrupted the more extensive the
damage is. The majority of heart attack victims survive
the first attack. Sudden cardiac arrest involves problems
with the heart’s electrical system, which can cause it to
stop beating entirely. When that happens, blood flow to
the rest of the body is interrupted, and the victim passes
out. Defibrillation is the only known treatment for the
condition and AEDs are the quickest and most efficient
way to reach individuals with this lifesaving therapy.
The fire department is right across the street so I
don’t have anything to worry about! It is a common
misconception that local EMS are able to respond to the
scene of an accident immediately. It is important to
realize that the national average response time for local
EMS ranges anywhere from 6-12 minutes. With every
minute that passes, a victim in sudden cardiac arrest
loses a 10% chance of survival if not defibrillated.
Unfortunately, a victim is facing only a 40% chance of
survival if EMS arrives at the 6 minute mark.
An article by the Department of Labor Occupational
Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) states that in
1999-2000 815 out 6339 fatalities in the work place were
due to sudden cardiac arrest. The conclusions of this
article determined that “The earlier defibrillation is
administered, the better chance at survival for the
victim.” The proper training and implementation of
AED’s, CPR in the work environment helps “bridge the
gap” between the time a victim has a cardiac even, to the
time when EMS arrives on the scene to take over.
What happens if they aren’t having sudden cardiac
arrest? Will I hurt them? The AED is a safe,
effective, easily-learned method of treating cardiac arrest
victims. AED’s are designed to allow minimally trained
laypersons to respond to cardiac emergencies,
particularly sudden cardiac arrest. The devices are preprogrammed
with the expertise needed to analyze the
heart’s electrical function. They also use voice prompts
and to instruct the user on how to operate the device.
AED’s are very accurate and are designed not to deliver
therapy to someone who is not in cardiac arrest. When
used properly and with appropriate precautions, AEDs
are very simple to operate and pose no risk to either the
rescuer or the patient. There are “Good Samaritan” laws
provide immunity protection for those who render aid
during an emergency.
If your position requires you to have a CPR and First Aid
certification please feel free to e-mail Safety
Coordinator, Mollie Lutz at mollie.lutz@ksd.org for a
class. You will be certified under American Safety &
Health for 2 years and be certified for using an AED as
well. If you are not required to hold a CPR/First Aid
card but would like a 15-20 minute instructions on how
to use and AED in case of sudden cardiac arrest Mollie
will gladly come to your location and provide some
hands on training and answer any questions, please e-
mail or call her at x6432 to set up a time that works for
you.

KSD Connection ~ Staff News, Notes, and Events
Ready! for Kindergarten Fall Classes
The READY! for Kindergarten
program is designed to help
participants prepare children with
the skills needed to start and stay
at grade level throughout their
scholastic career. Parents, families and caregivers,
are a child's most powerful teachers. With READY!
for Kindergarten can help plant the seeds for
success in school. Call 222-5035 to Register!
October 13 at Fruitland, 10:00 a.m.
October 16 at Westgate, 6:30 p.m.
October 16 at Eastgate, 6:30 p.m.
October 20 at Fruitland, 10:00 a.m.
October 22 at Fruitland, 6:30 p.m.
October 24 at Edison, 6:30 p.m.
October 27 Fruitland, 10:00 a.m.
November 6 at Amistad, 6:30 p.m., Spanish
November 8 at Amistad, 6:30 p.m., Spanish
September-October 2012
Autism not a barrier for budding artist
at Desert Hills
Gavin Tutweiler has a special talent. Give him a
any kind of cartoon or animated image and he can
reproduce it freehand—often from memory and in
striking detail.
His teacher, Jessica D’Aquila, says “I knew that
one of the things he loved to do is draw. During
free time, he would draw things like McDonald
Happy Meal Toys and they were very realistic with
notations—such as arrows to show action. One day,
I got an idea to see if he could copy an image with
the same detail. I know he loves Disney, so I gave
him an image from Beauty and the Beast and within
20 minutes he had reproduced it almost exactly. I
was amazed! Even the art teacher here was quite
impressed.”
This year, Jessica says she will continue to foster
his interest in drawing and challenge him with some
known artists, such as Picasso, and try working in
different mediums, such as pastels and paints.
Ridge View teacher, Lori Sportelli, talked several teachers and
their spouses, into taking line dance lesson with Beth Trost at
the Kennewick Sr. Citizen Center this summer. Who do you
recognize?

KSD Connection ~ Staff News, Notes, and Events
September-October 2012
Staff Excellence Award Winners
We kicked off the year with the annual Welcome Back Assembly and Staff Excellence Awards.
Congratulations to this year’s honorees.
Niki Amundson—Staff Support
Payroll Specialist, Admin
Elementary Teacher of the Year
Michele Larabee, Eastgate
Kris Tompkins—Staff Support
Transportaon, Bus Driver
Middle School Teacher of the Year
Natalie Maiuri, H3MS
Bonnie Drollinger—Staff Support
Nutrion Services, Secretary
High School Teacher of the Year
Katrina Kutschkau, Kamiakin
Administrator of the Year
Kevin Pierce, Park MS Principal
Cerficated Specialist
Pa Salisbury, Park MS Counselor
Creavity in Curriculum
Elementary Bilingual Team
Hugo Zavala, Amistad
Creavity in Curriculum
Elementary Bilingual Team
Araceli Bueno, Hawthorne
Creavity in Curriculum
Elementary Bilingual Team
Janet Flores, Edison
Creavity in Curriculum
Elementary Bilingual Team
Crystal Ramos, Eastgate

KSD Connection ~ Staff News, Notes, and Events
September-October 2012
Calendar of Events
10/06—Cavalcade of Bands
Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco. Pre-sale tickets are
$10.00/$14.00 at the door. Tickets can be purchased
from a Band student or from Ted Brown Music.
10/25—Horse Heaven Hills Orchestra Concert
HHH Commons at 7:00 p.m.
10/25—Desert Hills Fall Concert
Desert Hills Commons at 7:00 p.m.
10/25—Highlands Orchestra and Band Concert
Kamiakin Auditorium, Orchestra at 6:30 p.m., Band at
7:30 p.m.
10/25—Kennewick High Fall Choral Concert
Kennewick High Choirs with special guests—the 6th
grade choir from Park MS. Kennewick Auditorium, 7:00
p.m.
10/30 —Park MS Orchestra Concert
Park Commons at 6:30 p.m. This concert will feature
6 th , 7 th , and 8 th grade Park orchestras as well as the 6 th
grade choir.
11/01 —Horse Heaven Hills Band Concert
Southridge HS Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.
Pink Week Activities to Benefit the
Tri-Cities Cancer Center
10/01, Carmine’s Spaghetti Dinner, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Email: Elizabeth.stiles@ksd.org for reservations
10/02 , Southridge Pink Week Carnival, 4:00-8:00
p.m. Games for all ages and fun fair-style food.
10/04, Fill the Ribbon on the field before the SHS
Football game.
10/04, Football Game @ Lampson. Various activities,
collections—all fans wear pink.
Office Depot Backpack Donation
Office depot recently donated 200 of the cool slingback
type backpacks ( perfect for elementary school
students) to our district. We want to thank the Rob
Miller and the staff at Office Depot for this generous
outreach. It puts a smile on a lot of kids faces—and our
faces too.
Community Education Classes in October
Trends, Traditions, and Transitions
In addition to practical courses in computer
applications, languages, and home improvement
Community Education is focusing on today’s Trends,
Traditions, and Transitions . Here is a sample of what
is coming up. For the full list see http://
communityed.ksd.org.
Trends
10/3 Wed~Teen Trends: Gifts They Will Love
10/17 Wed~The Return of Records
10/17 Wed~DIY Photos on Canvas
10/27 Sat~Healthy Green Smoothies
Traditions
10/10 Wed~Intro to Knapping
10/12 Fri~Japanese Etiquette
10/17 Wed~Holiday Decorating
10/23 Tues~Scandinavian Pastries
10/30 Tues~Real Gingerbread Houses
Want to see your news here?
The KSD Connection generally publishes the first Friday
of the first full week of the month, except January. Send
your submissions to lorraine.cooper@ksd.org by the 30th
of each month. Photos are welcome. Please include
names and a description of the what is going on in the
Transitions
10/10 Wed~Advanced Planning for End of Life
10/11 Thurs~Understanding GET
10/23 Tues~Finding the Balance