Hello Wishram Students, Staff, Friends, and Families,

Happy 2025!  We hope you all had a wonderful Winter Break. It’s been great welcoming our students back after the long holiday.

Wishram School has an open School Board position. If you are interested in joining a dynamic group of leaders who work together to improve the lives of children, please submit a letter of interest to the school office.  

While many were relaxing over the winter break, there was still plenty of action at the school. From cleaning, painting, and shampooing carpets to maintaining HVAC systems, cleaning windows, desks, tables, and chairs, handling accounting, and even attending some classes, the work didn’t stop! A special shout-out to Sarah Hathaway, Jason Cooper, and Antione Montoya, who didn’t take the full break. They worked hard to ensure the school was prepared for our return and even made sure staff got their December pay. Thank you so much for your dedication!

We also had Pacific Mobile and Odyssey on-site, preparing the land for the arrival of our two new modular buildings, which will be delivered on January 10th. These buildings will provide three new classrooms and one professional meeting room, something Wishram School has never had before.

As a reminder, Main and Bunn Streets at the former Delaney Gas Station will be closed for about an hour for each modular section that arrives on January 10th. There will be four sections, creating two modular buildings. These additions will support three classrooms and one meeting room.

Here's the plan for these new spaces:

• Special Education will occupy one modular building, offering two classrooms and two bathrooms.
• Our K/1 classroom will be in another modular, with its own bathroom for the little ones.
• The final room will be used for board meetings, staff meetings, and staff training.

Inside the main building:

• We’ll convert the current K/1 classroom back into a cafeteria, allowing our students to enjoy meals in a dedicated space. This change is especially important since our students currently eat in the gymnasium, which requires it to be transformed throughout the day.
• Our 2nd/3rd-grade class will move into the former elementary special education classroom, and their teacher will also utilize the current secondary special education room for REACH and Art supplies—plus, it has a much-needed sink for art projects!
• Finally, our 4th/5th grade students will move into the current 2nd/3rd grade classroom, ensuring all our elementary students are now housed on the lower floor.

We are still finalizing staffing for the upstairs classrooms and will keep you updated.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support as we make these exciting changes! We look forward to the improvements and how they’ll enhance the learning experience for all our students.

Monday, January 6, 2025

The School Nurse was here. 

The School Therapist was here

I attended my Rural Education Center meeting, where Blair Daily presented an initiative he plans to submit to the state. The initiative, called the "WA Initiative for Boys and Men," aims to create a State Commission focused on addressing the unique challenges facing boys and men. Boys and men make up half of the population, yet they are struggling in various areas, including suicide rates, drug overdoses, homelessness, incarceration, and school dropout rates. Blair, along with many other leaders, believes there is a lack of sufficient support for this group, and this initiative seeks to change that.  

 

We had our Program Committee Meeting right after school. 

School Therapist was here

I attended my Rural Education Center meeting, where the WA State Department of Commerce joined us to discuss compliance with the Clean Building Performance Standards. This is a state-mandated law requiring schools to meet specific energy efficiency standards. As a Tier 2 school, we have until July 1, 2027, to comply with these standards. Fortunately, with the energy upgrades planned through the Small Schools Grant we received, we should be well on our way to meeting all the requirements of this mandate.

 

We also discussed the proposed CR-102 rule, which mandates a 20-minute seated lunchtime. This rule would require K-12 students to remain seated for 20 minutes after receiving their lunch. As a small school, we strongly oppose this mandate for several reasons, which I’ve outlined below. I have sent the following letter of opposition to OSPI and other state leaders.

Dear Leanne Eko

As a small school district, we strongly oppose the proposed CR-102 rule mandating a 20-minute seated lunchtime. 

This rule introduces yet another unfunded mandate that disregards the operational challenges we already face. According to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Nutrition Staff, the 20-minute seated lunchtime begins only once all students are seated. Transitioning groups of students to the cafeteria, serving meals, and ensuring students remain seated for the full 20 minutes takes considerable time and labor. This additional time requirement would cut into valuable instructional hours, which is detrimental to our core mission of providing quality education.

We believe that local school districts are better positioned to make decisions that balance instructional time, student well-being, and operational needs. This proposed change, while intended to encourage healthier eating habits or reduce food waste, presents numerous logistical challenges that far outweigh any possible benefits.

If this rule is implemented, we anticipate several significant challenges:

• Loss of Instructional Time: Extending lunch periods will reduce the time available for teaching and learning, which negatively impacts student achievement.
• Scheduling Disruptions: Adjusting school schedules to accommodate longer lunch periods will be complex and time-consuming.
• Increased Staffing Demands: The longer lunch periods would require additional staff time to monitor students, detracting from other essential duties.
• Financial Strain: This requirement could lead to increased costs, either by reassigning current staff or hiring additional personnel.
• Facility Constraints: Smaller districts, in particular, may struggle with limited cafeteria space and scheduling challenges.
• Erosion of Local Control: A one-size-fits-all approach fails to consider the unique circumstances and needs of individual districts.

Additionally, we believe this regulation will increase student discipline issues as longer lunch periods could lead to more opportunities for students to become distracted or engage in off-task behaviors, further complicating our school management.

We respectfully request that you reconsider this proposed rule. It poses significant operational challenges, reduces instructional time, and infringes on local control. We must have the flexibility to make decisions that best meet the needs of our students and communities.

Thank you for your consideration.

Our Boys HS Basketball team Hosted Horizon Christian. We did not pull out a victory, but bour boys fought to the end and it was a great game. 

 
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
The Gorge Superintendents and Business managers met from 11:30 to 12:30 to talk about personnel and other issues facing our small schools. 

 

Our Multi Tiered Systems of Support Team (MTSS) met from 2:30 to 3:00 to talk about Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports. 

Thursday, January 9, 2025
The Wishram School Board held a special meeting at 5:15 to discuss my evaluation. I am grateful for their valuable insights and look forward to working with this dedicated and hardworking group for many years to come. 

 

Mr. Cameron started our mandatory after school two hour homework table for students who have been on the ICU list for more than 5 days.  

Friday, January 10, 2025
Happy Birthday Alyssa Fletcher. 

 

Modular Buildings Arrive

 

Our Standard Response Protocol teams (SRP) will meet from 10:00 to 11:00 to continue to work on and talk about SRP's and how they are working for all districts. 

 

Our HS Basketball team travels to Condon OR. Game time: 5:30 pm

Saturday, January 11, 2025
Our HS Boys Basketball team hosts Sherman Co. Game Time: 3:30 pm

Next Week Schedule:

Monday, January 13, 2025
Happy Birthday Athena Luton-Youell

The School Nurse will be here

The School Therapist will be here. 

I will be in my Early Career Superintendent Academy Class from 9:30 to 11:30

We will have our monthly get-together with other Klickitat Schools to talk about Emergency Planning and how it's going. 

We will have our weekly Program Committee Meeting right after school.

Wishram Community Council will have their monthly meeting here at the school at 5:30

Tuesday, January 14, 2025
The School Therapist will be here. 
I will attend my Rural Education Center weekly meeting at 10:00 to 11:00 am

I will be in a Harassment, Intimidating and Bullying (HIB) Compliance Training from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. 

Our HS Boys Basketball team will Host Trout Lake. If we have a JV team, that game will start at 4:30. Varsity will start at 6:00 pm 

Wednesday, January 15, 2025--Late Start Day. School Starts at 10:00 am. 

I will be doing a Civil Rights Training for all staff which will go from 8:00 to 9:00 am. 

One Community Health and La Clinica will be here to present to the Wishram Staff on their new Mobile Medical Unit. Starting January 20th and then every third Monday after that until further notice they will be bringing their Mobile Medical Unit to Wishram and parking at the Wishram School to provide in town medical services to our community. 

Perry Tech will be here at 10:30 am to talk to our students about the training they can provide to them if they were to choose Perry Tech for post-HS education 

I will be in a Title IX class from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. 

Our Seniors will be doing a fundraiser at Burgerville in The Dalles. If you go to Burgerville for dinner that evening between the hours of 4:00 & 8:00 pm and mention that you are there to support the Wishram Seniors, 20% of your proceeds will go to the Wishram Senior Class

Thursday, January 16, 2025
I will be attending a High School and Beyond plan training with OSPI from 12:30 to 1:00 pm. 

Friday, January 17, 2025
Happy Birthday Fox Anderson 

I will be Attending the ESD 112 Regional Superintendents meeting from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm down at the ESD 112 Conference Center in Vancouver WA. 

Our HS Boys Basketball team will be hosting Grandview Academy. Our HS Boys Basketball team will Host Trout Lake. If we have a JV team, that game will start at 4:30. Varsity will start at 6:00 pm 

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Our HS Boys Basketball team will be hosting Ione/Arlington.