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www.bremertonpatriot.com | www.centralkitsapreporter.com
Friday, July 27, 2012
Washington receives waiver from No Child Left Behind By Patrick McDonough pmcdonough@soundpublishing.com
Washington recently become the 26th state to get a waiver releasing it from certain constraints of failing to meet the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act and local educators expect good things from the change. The waiver, announced on July 6 by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, will relieve local school districts of certain aspects of the Bush Era program, such as requiring all students to pass statewide reading and math tests by 2014. The waiver also frees up Title One funding for school districts that was previously restricted based on scores. Under the waiver, dis-
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in growth from January and June of this year compared to the same time last year,” he said. Once a business has
tricts will replace the 2014 deadline for Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, scores with a provision that focuses on subgroups of students such as those in special education, English language learning students and those receiving free or reduced priced meals and requires these groups to test at a halfway point between current scores and 100 percent proficiency. As an example, if one subgroup’s AYP score was 74 percent proficiency in 2011, the group would be required to be at 87 percent proficiency by 2018. School officials and instructors familiar with the NCLB program expressed positive expectations from the change in the testing standards. Central Kitsap School Superintendent Greg Lynch
said the full implications of the waiver would take some time for local districts to digest, but the changes should offer positive gains. “I think it is positive overall, but there are details that we do not have or are not familiar with yet,” he said.”But any changes in the Adequate Yearly Progress standards, I think, will be positive changes for the Central Kitsap School District.” Kirstin Nicholson, President of the Central Kitsap Teachers Union, said she has worked as an educator in the district teaching science during the NCLB era and the program’s standards did not sufficiently take into account the individual needs of all students. “The waiver and more time,in my opinion, is a
good thing,” she said. “Each child is obviously different and expecting children such as those in special education and English language learners to pass the same tests as other students seems counterproductive.” Linda Sullivan-Dudzic, Special Programs Director for the Bremerton School District, said NCLB had positive aspects, but often could have negative impacts on the students who often needed the most help. “At first glance the program seemed to make sense,” she said. “But a deeper look shows it could have incredibly negative consequences on students with special needs.” Sullivan-Dudzic said the waiver would not change the commitment area educators have to students, it would
simply allow more time and flexibility in meeting individual needs. “This change does not short change students,” she said. “No one is going to be let up on trying to get 100 percent out of students.” The change in school district’s use of Title One Funding is also positive, Sullivan-Dudzic said. Before the waiver, federal Title One Funding was required to be used to pay for service providers outside the district who conducted assessments and other services under NCLB. SullivanDudzic said the waiver will now allow greater flexibility in the use of the funding. “The idea that you don’t have to set aside money for supplemental education for services outside the district is a good thing,” she said.
Bremerton School District officials said the waiver would free $350,000 for the district next year. Bremerton Superintendent Flip Herndon said the money could now be used directly within school districts. “The key component of the funding is that every year we have had to set aside 20 percent of Title One funds for supplemental education service providers,” he said. “This allows us to invest in staff that directly serve our kids.” Sullivan-Dudzic said she felt many educators in local districts were hopeful about the changes but still needed to learn more. “I have learned in 29 years of doing this that you celebrate and then wait for the details,” she said.
opened its doors, business owners said the path to success involves hard work, discipline and accountability, but many said it is worth the freedom of working for themselves. “I really like my boss,” Garrett said. “But it takes
a lot of discipline and you assume 100 percent of the risk.” Garrett said he worked more than 80 hours a week through the first year of his business including working part time at a local casino before being able to get it off the ground. Gress said he enjoys being the boss, but said it has always taken a great deal of his time. “It is still great,” he said. “You are making something that is your own and that makes a real difference.” Both Lund and Gress said small businesses need to stick together in the local community. Lund said she had used local talent and businesses as much as possible in her business. She said everything from the artwork on the walls to helping others in the community were part of her business model. “We offer local teachers free massages twice a year and one of our yoga instructors is working with the Olympic High School
football team. Gress said the focus of Fingers Duke is to promote local artists and he said the help he has received from Volholl Brewing is indicative of the community spirit many local businesses share with one another. He said he found many small businesses in the area to truly embrace the philosophy of keeping it local. “A lot of businesses keep it local in Kitsap,” he said. “It’s a big deal around here to keep it local.” Lund and Gress said they also felt they helped in the local community through offering employment to other local residents. Lund said she currently employs two massage therapists, a yoga instructor as well as an administrative assistant. Gress said he currently employs a full-time employee as well as two part-time employees. Sell said she has seen some local businesses fail due to a lack of planning. She said many come to her with an idea and no plan, but that is
not what she has seen make a successful business. “People jump in with idea first and the plan later,” she said. “It should be opposite.” Sell said start-ups have a wealth of options in receiving help, from the Small Business Administration and others. Lund said she had used training through the Washington CASH Program that augmented business training from college. She said the training was inexpensive and a good refresher for anyone considering opening their own business. Gress said he had not utilized any help except from other local business owners he knew and used information from business classes in college to run the business side of his studio and store. Garrett said he created his model from research online. He said he had modeled his business on other errand services around the
country during late night Google searches and made notes on what he thought worked for them and would work with his idea. Lund, Gress and Garrett all have seen growth in their businesses and have visions for the future. Lund envisions franchising the model for her spa within the next few years. Garrett said he is working to the point of expanding his business in the near future by adding trucks and employees. He said he also envisions expanding to other counties and even going nationwide at some point. Gress said his studio has started creating an online presence and hopes to be able to offer designs on a larger scale in the near future. “We want to wholesale clothing to small boutiques in areas such as Seattle, Spokane and Portland, and then we want to move down the West Coast,” he said.
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