There is no time like the present to read through the 2022-23 Snow Letter, which outlines protocols for 2-hour late starts, school closures and communications.
View the 2022-23 Snow Letter posted on the district website. Scroll to the bottom to click to see the updated Snow Routes.
Congratulations to Brenda Beck, Avanti High School Office Manager and ALE Coordinator, for being named this year’s OSD Classified School Employee of the Year. The annual award recognizes employees who consistently demonstrate outstanding work performance, professional leadership and collaboration.
Brenda will be recognized at the Olympia School Board meeting on Thursday, December 8. The recognition portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Knox Administrative Center, 111 Bethel St. N.E., Olympia, WA 98506. The board meeting will also be available on Zoom.
Friends, family and the public are invited to attend our Olympia School District 2022 holiday concerts. Please be aware that any concert dates/times (listed below) will be updated on the district website should there be any changes.
Reeves Middle School Band & Orchestra Winter Concert
Washington Middle School Orchestra Concert
Washington Middle School Choir Concert
Jefferson Middle School Winter Band Concert
Reeves Middle School & Thurgood Marshall MS Choir Concert
Washington Middle School Band Concert
McLane Elementary School K-2nd Grade Concert
McLane Elementary School 3rd-5th Grade Concert
Boston Harbor Elementary School Winter Concert
Pioneer Elementary School Band and Orchestra and Concert
Thurgood Marshall Middle School Orchestra & Band Concert
Olympia High School Non-Auditioned Band, Choir and Orchestra
Capital High School Band, Choir and Orchestra Concert
Olympia High School Auditioned Groups Band, Choir and Orchestra
Olympia Regional Learning Academy (ORLA) Orchestra Concert
Madison Elementary School All School Winter Sing
Jefferson Middle School Orchestra Concert
Centennial Elementary School 4th/5th Instrumental and Vocal Concert
Capital High School Band, Choir and Orchestra
Olympia High School Auditioned Groups Band, Choir and Orchestra
Capital High School Music Assembly Concert
Washington Middle School Music Department Assembly
OSD employees are encouraged to email the Communications department a photo of their artwork portraying nature (e.g., landscapes, sunrises or sunsets, an interesting cloud formation, a close-up of a flower) for consideration in this staff blog. Your image can be something you captured on canvas, in a photograph, on a textile, in a pencil, charcoal or pastel drawing, with wire — the possibilities are endless!
Please remember, you can be a novice or a professional. You can submit photos taken with your phone or a fancy camera. The goal is for as many employees as possible to participate!
Guidelines:
Depending on the number of images submitted, we will print one or more in each issue of the staff blog.
Everyday Heroes is a regular feature in this staff blog. Remember to submit names of employees districtwide who have done something deserving of encouragement and praise. Give a shout-out to one of your colleagues at your school or support building and watch for it to appear in an upcoming Everyday Heroes blog post.
Here is our newest honoree:
Everyday Hero
Brandy Geyer, Administrative Assistant, Student Support
Brandy is a rock(star) for the Special Ed team. Despite my manic phone calls about phantoms stealing my paperwork, Brandy earnestly searches for — and often finds — solutions. She does this with calmness and without assigning blame or contributing to the errors. I am grateful for her patience with me in my most stressed moments.
Her organization, preparation, and thorough knowledge save the day over and over. Because she is so on top of it, she is by a wide margin the source at the district I (and other special ed teachers around) turn to the most often for answers regarding policy, changes, and what is going on. She makes molehills out of mountains.
Thanks, Brandy!
Submitted by Michael Kelly, Teacher, Thurgood Marshall Middle School
How to nominate an Everyday Hero
All submissions will be posted in this blog on a weekly basis and archived each week.
Olympia School District’s annual United Way Giving Campaign continues through Wednesday, November 30. This year all pledges should be submitted online.
United Way is a national organization that provides a multitude of services to thousands of people right here in the Olympia community, including many of the students and families served by the school district.
Donations through the United Way support a variety of organizations. In past years, United Way has supported organizations such as the Thurston Food Bank, Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB), Boys & Girls Club of Thurston County and the Olympia School District Education Foundation.
Additional details about the United Way of Thurston County can be found on its website.
If you have questions or need more information, please feel free to contact Renee Hunsaker at rhunsaker@unitedway-thurston.org.
All online pledge forms need to be completed no later than November 30.
All Olympia School District schools and the Knox 111 Administrative Center will be closed to the public during Thanksgiving and Winter breaks.
While Knox Administrative staff will be working on-site and remotely over breaks, the Knox building will be closed to the public throughout Thanksgiving and Winter breaks. Any deliveries should be made at the lower level of the Knox building, 111 Bethel St. N.E., Olympia on business days (November 23, December 19-21 and December 27-29). Please plan ahead and make an appointment to work with central office staff over Thanksgiving and Winter breaks.
OSD employees are encouraged to email the Communications department a photo of their artwork portraying nature (e.g., landscapes, sunrises or sunsets, an interesting cloud formation, a close-up of a flower) for consideration in this staff blog. Your image can be something you captured on canvas, in a photograph, on a textile, in a pencil, charcoal or pastel drawing, with wire — the possibilities are endless!
Please remember, you can be a novice or a professional. You can submit photos taken with your phone or a fancy camera. The goal is for as many employees as possible to participate!
Guidelines:
Depending on the number of images submitted, we will print one or more in each issue of the staff blog.
Olympia School District has partnered with the Guaranteed Admissions Program (GAP) and two private universities which provide increased opportunities to attend college.
For the GAP program, juniors will receive information, and seniors who qualify will receive guaranteed admission letters for up to seven Washington state colleges and universities.
In order for colleges to send acceptance letters, students must give permission to release student information for the purpose of higher education through Skyward Family Access.
Participating colleges and universities include:
Guaranteed Admissions Program (Qualifying Juniors and Seniors)
Private Institutions (Qualifying Seniors)
For more information about each guaranteed admission opportunity, please visit the Guaranteed Admissions Program webpage on the district website.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 19, 2022 for Thomas Lee Jorgenson, a former head custodian at Roosevelt Elementary, who died on October 24, 2022.
Jorgenson graduated from Olympia High School in 1972. He retired several years ago from his role as head custodian. Services will be held at 11 a.m. at Heritage Baptist Church of Tenino, 1315 Sussex Ave. E., Tenino, WA 98589, followed by a reception at the church.
To learn more about Jorgenson’s life and/or to leave a memory online, visit the Funeral Alternatives of Washington website
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