June 6 was a night of celebrations during the Olympia School Board meeting. A standing-room only crowd watched as the board:

Welcomed Olympia High School student Rachel Hodes, the new student representative to the Olympia School Board. Olympia High School Assistant Principal Mick Hart introduced Hodes, who was joined by family members for the special occasion. Board President Mark Campeau administered the oath of office, and Hodes shared a few words about herself, including how she is looking forward to being a student voice on the board. She then joined other board of directors at the table for her first meeting as student representative.

Celebrated three schools named recipients this year of the statewide Washington Achievement Award. Nancy Faaren, assistant superintendent of K12 teaching and learning, called forward school principals from Boston Harbor Elementary, and Jefferson and Reeves middle schools, as she shared about the awards. Boston Harbor Elementary has been recognized for Overall Excellence and English Language Arts Growth. Reeves Middle School has been recognized for High Progress, while Jefferson Middle School has been recognized for Overall Excellence, High Progress and English Language Arts Growth. The purpose of the Washington Achievement Award is to recognize schools that excel on many different levels and to shine light on the best practices that are making success possible. Board President Campeau presented each principal with an etched acrylic plaque, provided to all honored schools statewide as part of the Washington Achievement Award program. School principals also received a Washington Achievement Award banner to proudly hang in their schools and took a moment during the recognition to have a photo taken with the banner and fellow school colleagues, the board of directors, and Superintendent Dick Cvitanich. 

Honored the 2016 Olympia School District Employee Recognition Award winners. This annual awards program is designed to recognize employees from throughout the district in several categories. All employees districtwide were invited to send in nominations, and a committee reviewed the entries and selected the winners. Master of Ceremonies Scott Niemann, executive director of K12 teaching and learning, called forward each of the

winners, as well as the person who nominated the individual to share about the award recipient. Each award winner then received an etched wooden plaque and stand made by students in Brian Morris’s Tech Arts Enterprises class in the Washington Middle School CTE program. Eighth grader Maddie Waite also received a special shout-out for designing the plaque. Congratulations to all of the winners! We have included a few photos here; however, more than 50 photos are posted on the district Facebook page. Be sure to like us on Facebook at the same time if you aren’t following us already! A complete list of all winners was published as a posting in last week’s Here’s the Scoop staff blog. Click here to see the honorees.

In other business the board:

• Held a first reading of the English Language Arts middle school curriculum. A second reading will be held at a special board meeting scheduled on Monday, June 13. The meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. at Knox Administrative Center, 1113 Legion Way S.E., Olympia.
• Heard the 2016-17 Superintendent’s Budget Proposal, presented by Jennifer Priddy, assistant superintendent of finance and operations.
• Approved the 2016-17 school year calendar.