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Long-form interviews and conversations from Mason County, Washington. Host Jeff Slakey sits down with local leaders, legislators, small business owners, and community voices for unhurried conversations about what's shaping the Hood Canal region — government, education, healthcare, the outdoors, and the people making a difference.
New episodes drop throughout the week. For daily local headlines, subscribe to KMAS Morning News with Jeff Slakey.
Well, once again, everybody, welcome in. I'm Jeff Slakey from KMAS Radio. We're continuing our community forums across the Shelton School District.
This time, we're at Shelton High School, and we have some great representatives to talk with us tonight. Bruce Kipper is the principal. We also have Jordan Stray, one of the assistant principals, Katie Shrum, a CTE teacher, and still here with us is Superintendent of the Shelton School District, Wyeth Jessee.
We have a good audience here tonight. If you have questions, you can fill them out over there and get them to me, and we'll go through it. Otherwise, this will have a similar feel to all of our other conversations we have, just a good opportunity for the community to get a better understanding of the Shelton School District and Shelton High School.
So Bruce, we'll start with you as the principal overall for the high school. Kind of just give us a rundown of the teachers, the number of students, the number of teachers, the student body, things like that here. Sure, thanks, Jeff, and thanks for being out here tonight and doing this.
This is a great opportunity for families to get more information, and like I always like to say, a closer look always reveals more than a casual glance. So I appreciate the opportunity. So here at Shelton High School, we have roughly a little over 1,400 students.
About 100 of those are enrolled in Running Start. So those are mainly juniors and seniors. They attend, some go 100% in Running Start, and then others have a varying number of classes here, one, two, some have three, and they kind of go back and forth between the college and high school.
All of them are very involved at Shelton High School in extracurricular activities and sports and those type of things, theater, choir. We have a lot of choir students that are in Running Start, band, those things. So they do take advantage of the opportunities here outside of the classroom.
Beyond that, we have about 75 certified teachers, roughly 125, 130 staff members overall, including our classified staff and paras and those things. So it's a fairly large organization. We're really just a microcosm of our community.
We have students that come from varying backgrounds, and we have a fairly large ML population, our multilingual students. We have a population of students that have IEPs or have special services that we attend to. Roughly, any given time of the year, roughly half to 60% of our students are involved in extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, those type of things.
We have a very robust CTE program. I'm sure that many of our families are aware of our academy program. We're really built around the academy model, and the freshman year is designed for students to explore.
And then after that, when they get near the end of their freshman year, they choose an academy and a pathway to enter their sophomore year. Wyeth, can you pick up on the microphone here? I kinda wanna get an understanding of where, and Bruce joined in too on this, how that academy model came to be, where you kinda took the inspiration, because it is different than what a lot of families, I think, here that even went to Shelton at some time went through in their education. So how did that all come about, and where did the research show that this was a good idea? Yeah, that's a great question.
I think one of the great things about these roundtables is capturing some of that history, right? No one's gonna get on the internet and research all these things and get some quick answers of like, why did they do the academy model? Where did that come from? One, the academy model's now over 10 years old here, and it was really, I think, it's about pathways, really, and that's also pathways for students at most comprehensive high schools have something where they are interested in something, or a field, or a line of studies. There's a sequence of courses, and for us, we have a tremendously robust CTE program, College and Career Technical Education Program. It comes with its own funding.
It's a restricted fund source that comes from the states, about $8 million a year. That's a lot for a district the size of Shelton, and they can do a thing like the academy model, these pathways, and the academy model's out of Nashville, so Nashville, Tennessee is where it came from, and it should be a very evolutionary model. I think that's sometimes hard for people to understand because, one, industry in the workplace is always changing, and so they're always looking for different skills, different things that kids can do.
It's fast-paced. I mean, just right now, this technology where AI is, I mean, that is a very shifting environment, but then also for AutoShop. Like, you go, oh, this, no, well, now you gotta know how to be able to do the technical boards to be able to read and diagnostic things.
I'm sure you know we do performances and publication and broadcasting. That area's obviously shifted as well, so we shift those skills and the things that we teach inside the classes upon a sequence as they build up, but there's really two other things that I think are also important. One is just the interest of students, and so we craft, like other high schools all across the United States, our courses are also based on the interest of students.
We can't just simply create pathways because that's what industry wants. Kids won't sign up or they won't show up, and so we make sure that we match that. We have a very detailed way of doing that, a lot better.
That's one of our improvement things since I've been here the last five years, but the last one, which is a very interesting thing, is our freshman academy, and I got experts here to my left. Ultimately, Bruce and I were in Nashville. I was already like, what are we gonna do different? We went to some different high schools in Nashville, and we're both like, we gotta have this freshman academy because it's about the orientation of the students to high school.
It was one of the things in our strategic plan. Students and families were like, I need a lot more orientation in high school. It's very confusing and very intimidating, and I don't know how to navigate it, so now we have a freshman academy.
Not only can it help you navigate high school, navigate high school and beyond, but also, I think, which I think is more important, actually, in those things, is really about how do you navigate life? You become, you're 14. You're faced with a whole bunch of social situations along the course and journey of high school. You wanna be able to navigate those the right ways because if you can get off on the wrong path in high school, it can take you into where you truly won't have access and opportunity, so that's my long answer.
I think it's important that I go over some of those things just because those are the really cool things that go on for the academy model here at Shelton High School. And when it comes to somebody choosing an academy, they're not pigeonholed into that for the rest of their life. Is that right? I mean, they can, just like any college major or whatever, you go, well, I'm not, this isn't the path that I liked, and you're not then starting over again.
I mean, you're still getting credits to graduate eventually, right? Yeah, and the way the pathways are built is there's some crossover between classes. Certain classes may meet a different number of pathways. And so students, when they choose their pathway going in at the end of their freshman year, then their courses for the next year are set up, their electives are set up based on that pathway.
And usually, if a student gets in their sophomore year, beginning of their junior year, and they want to change, they can still complete the pathway of the next chosen, the one they make. So there's, because some of those classes are crossing over and they're meeting different requirements, just like a college class meets different requirements depending on what major you're having or what minor you might have. And you mentioned this, kind of like an elective.
This isn't pushing aside any of the, I guess, traditional general education courses here at the high school, right? No, they still have to meet all of the general requirements that any other graduate has to meet. Jordan, tell me a little bit about your role here at the high school. Yeah, it's perfect that we're talking about this because my role previously for the past three years has been to oversee the Freshman Academy or as we have titled it, the High Climber Academy.
And so really, I think, thinking about pathways and academies, my role has really been to gather a core team of teachers that teach mostly freshmen. We have built a course called Freshman Seminar. It was inspired by a course that Nashville offers as well.
But really, we kind of took it, ran with it, and made it our own. And really made it something, I think, even bigger than Nashville treats it to the things that Mr. Jesse said about, not only giving students skills to be successful in high school and outside of high school, but in life. And so really, we got as a group of teachers and Katie Shrum here to my left was a core part of that initial group who were excited about freshmen, passionate about making sure that our freshmen were successful in high school and had purpose in high school and establishing what are some of our goals? What are the things we want freshmen to get? And it continues to grow.
And so sometimes I feel like I have to be protective of Freshman Seminar too because our freshmen, there's a lot of things we want them to learn so that they find success in high school and they find purpose in high school. And I think our biggest goal of High Climber Academy is that students feel a sense of belonging here at Shelton High School. And they feel that with the teachers that teach in this program.
They feel so cared for, so loved. They're constantly going back to their teachers. Our seniors are the last group of students who didn't have seminar and they're still bitter about it.
So if that tells you anything. Good crowd here tonight. Again, if you have questions, you can write them down over there and we'll get to those as we move through the night.
So we've talked a lot at the different schools. Katie, Jordan, this will be for both of you. We've talked a lot at the different schools about systems and processes and how the strategic plan and through the work with the school board and the different principals there have been able to kind of really, while still giving each school their own unique personality, they are working on underlying systems.
So by the time they get here to the high school, they are better footed to move through the four years in a good trajectory with attendance and graduation and things like that. Talk to me a little bit about what you see as those systems have come in and online, how the freshmen coming in are able to get involved and be integrated with the school programming. Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you, Jeff. So when our freshmen come to us, they are truly, I mean, they're 14 and 15, right? So they're young, but they're actually really prepared because at the eighth grade level, they are really informed about what seminar is, but also what the high school is going to be. And then we as a team put together a freshman orientation for them.
So before classes even start on campus, we bring just our freshmen class on and we show them where their classes are going to be. We walk them through their mock bell schedule and their day and introduce them to their advisory teacher and to their seminar teachers, just to give them just that little bit of a headstart and help them to be fully prepared. So then when they do enter their classes, they have that familiarity.
And seminar really helps to back that up. We like to say that we teach them how to high school, but even more than that, we're teaching them about our high school. And like Jordan said, they are our high climber academy.
We didn't want them to come in feeling separated out as the freshman class. We want them to know you're high climbers now. And so we put together then the freshman seminar curriculum and everything that builds around exploring our academies.
Each of our academies is really important to the different pathways and such that we have inside of them, but also to connecting our freshmen to their studies. So if they're taking classes that they really enjoy, classes that they have a passion for or a natural talent in, then they're going to be way more interested in those classes and in their other classes as well. Bruce, you're here for a few years now.
Explain to me the mention of the culture of being a high climber. What does that mean? Yeah, so it's interesting because I guess I have a little different perspective of it because I was an outsider at one time. I will tell you that this community has been nothing but welcoming to me since I got here.
And I think if you have ever seen our, we had made a video a few years ago that we show at graduation. And in it, I think some of our community members and I think a couple of board members explain what it means to be a high climber. And it's more than just a guy who climbs up a tree and cuts trees down.
It is a true, almost like a being. It's like, you're something special because that particular job in the forest industry is dangerous. It takes a high level of skill.
It takes dedication and passion. And I think that's what describes what a high climber is. And that's what describes what our students are, what our staff is.
I came from a very, we called it a small district in Arizona, but it had 14,000 students. To a district that they call a big district with 4,000 students and a big school. I mean, I've been in schools with 3,000, 3,500 kids at high school.
And this community is very passionate about their kids and about their community and about their schooling. And it is reflected in what we see on a daily basis. I love the kids here.
I have a good honor of talking to many folks in our community. And I run across generational high climbers. I actually ran into a fourth generation high climber the other day I was talking to.
This is pretty impressive. You're right, people take ownership and they really have roots. With 1,400 students here moving through on a daily basis, how does that all work in making sure everybody gets to where they need to be and it's all safe and secure here with the different staff that monitor those things and see kind of the comings and goings of the students? So I think the most important thing to understand is we understand and we know that our students are gonna make mistakes.
And we aren't here to punish students. We are here to help them grow. And so like me, I don't like having a lot of rules because then students just become robots.
There's a checklist. And if I just check these things off the list, then I'll be doing good, right? Not necessarily. Like students have to know how to get along with others.
They have to know how to communicate. They have to know how to manage their time. And you can't teach them those things by having 10 or 12 different rules.
They have to experience it. And our job as educators is to redirect students. Yes, there are some things that students get held accountable for and they may not be here for a few days.
That happens. But it's our job to make sure that when they do come back, they can integrate back into school and they can grow from that experience. If a student just keeps making the same mistake over and over, we're not doing our job right.
We have to be in a position where we're helping our students learn from their mistakes. And so there's a lot of freedom here. It's organized chaos at times, you know? And especially like on a Wednesday with advisory class, like kids can travel at times and they can go see other teachers and get help.
And when you have 1200 kids walking around it, it can be intimidating for people that aren't used to that. But that's how people grow. Like you put parameters in and like, I kind of like to say you put the fence around them and let them operate within the fence.
But we can't just have so many rules that kids can't make decisions on their own. Airline pilots have a saying that, judgment comes from mistakes and good judgment comes from learning from those mistakes. And so you just have to let, kids have to experience life.
They have to make some mistakes and learn from them. And over the course of four years, it's amazing how much growth you see in students. Like I love, I don't know if I could work any lower level than high school, so I'm scared of those little kids.
But the amount of growth you see from a 14 year old to an 18 year old is like you can actually see it. And that's what's really fulfilling about working at high school. One of the rules I think that has been enacted here and across the district is a new cell phone policy.
All three of you, if you can, just riff on that a little bit. Tell me how that's going, how the, we're in the second half of this year here now. Folks are back from break.
And I think studies and research that I've looked into on this, when it's gone, obviously there's less distractions. That's kind of a no brainer. But when it comes to engagement and connectivity and reduction in bullying, I mean all of that kind of stems from the ability to post or not post quickly and I think, what's it like here? Well, I will start off, I'll start off with a kind of an overview.
Morale is always highest in the general's tent. I get that. So I think it's going great.
Sure, sure. You know? But I understand the realities of it too. And overall we're seeing, to be honest with you, the biggest difference is we're seeing more kids have conversations with each other.
If you go into the sub during lunches, less students, even though they can use their phone, less students are on their phone. And in the beginning, it's like anything else, you have to be really consistent for about the first two weeks of school. And if you are, then you can set the tone and everybody understands what the expectations are.
And we did that. I was averaging about 18,000 steps a day going and getting phones from teachers. But that lasted a week to 10 days and then it cooled off and kids understand the expectation.
And they're young, they're gonna challenge the status quo too. But from my perspective, from an administrative perspective, it's been a big, a nice change in seeing kids engaged. But I think Katie, from a classroom perspective, can probably give you a little more on that.
Please. Absolutely. Well, and I honestly think that I am probably in the best position because our freshman class, they're used to this, right? The schools that they were in previously in eighth grade, they didn't have their phones out at all.
So I do know that I definitely have a little bit of that. A little bit of a benefit on that. But they are going to push and they do.
And the consistency is that key point. As long as we're consistent in the classroom and we're consistent on campus, then it makes everything easier for all of us. Students know what to expect.
The staff knows what to expect. And we do that. I have honestly had this in my classroom for years.
So it was really nothing new for me. I do teach it as an employability skill. And when you're on the job, you can't be on your phone.
When you're doing that first entry-level job that our students are going to have, they're not gonna be able to sit there on their phone or have their earbuds or their headphones on. And so I tell them, I said, learn those skills now where it's easy and you don't, and I can't fire you. When you're on the job, that is going to be what's going to happen.
You're going to end up losing your job or you're gonna get reprimanded for it. And it will be far more detrimental than having to put your phone away or lose your phone for the day in high school. Again, folks, if you have any questions, you can fill them out there.
Otherwise, we'll just continue this conversation. Wyeth, we've kind of talked about this leading up to, most of the conversations we've had at the lower-level schools kind of are in preparation for eventually being here at the high school, the capstone experience in the Shelton School District. So talk to me a little bit about where you see the high school.
And in the past, we've talked about in relation to other schools in the district. But now, as you look across our region, kind of the highlights that you recognize here at the high school compared to when you talk to other superintendents that you know around here, the things that the staff are doing great, the students are understanding and moving forward with. Yeah, so, I mean, there's, previous district, we had 12 high school, comprehensive high schools, right? Like, and Bruce is used to some of those things too.
We've had many conversations coming on board and seeing things that are unique about SHS. The school has changed a lot. This school has undergone a lot of transformation.
Started well before I got here, since I've been here. The A building here, in and of itself, it's now become like a great, nice central hub. Kids love coming here, even during lunch, maybe when they're not even supposed to.
But they do congregate here. You got an amazing mural that I saw last week when I was here doing my walkthroughs. You know, and I get in a lot of classrooms and see a lot of things.
And it's just really a point of change. Like, some high schools don't change, like, hardly ever. So, and I think the thing that the staff, the students, the community should be very proud about here at SHS is that it is a school that is responsive to the needs of students.
It is gone from a place where I think some kids had a hard time engaging with this school and the population. There was a lot of places where kids couldn't even be around each other. I think some of the relations with them, some clubs were, they just weren't wanting to participate.
And since then, I mean, like, it's brimming with activity. It has all sorts of choices. It's the academy model.
It's now the college and the high school that's here where you can get credit. It's extra mental health support for students who need it, where kids are like, what? We got mental health support, too? Yes, you do. It's available to you, the football team and the girls' basketball team, the athletics here, swimming, I can go track.
I just kind of go on and on. This is a place where winners come to win. This is a place where you can do, you have access and opportunity.
This is where you're accepted for whoever you are. We'll take you, we'll grow you, not only as a student, but as a person. And that's what I think sets this school apart from other schools where it was just running on tradition.
If you didn't have it, well, you're a loser out. Here, it's like, it's just the opposite. It's whoever you and what you need, we will change for you to help you get where you wanna go.
And so I think that's people, this town has a little bit of a hard time taking some extra pride in their ability to be super successful. And I think SHS is, I think, a real highlight in the recent history for this community. So in the second half of the year, the Freshman Academy model is moving, and soon they'll be deciding the pathways to go as they become sophomores.
What is going on now in the classrooms to get them prepared for the latter half of this year and into next year? Absolutely. So like I said, we explore all of our academies throughout the first two trimesters of the year in Freshman Seminar. And we get to explore those in different ways depending upon the academy.
One thing that we've introduced this year, which has been an absolutely amazing experience, is our Skills Fair that we do in the High Climber Gym. And it's a great opportunity for our freshman class to get to go through and try out the different pathways. So they're learning in a hands-on amazing way from our community members, from student leaders that are in the classes, and they're really learning about what those classes could entail.
Just this week, we are actually culminating our Business, Finance, and Hospitality Academy with our own Orca Tank. And our students are developing a product. They are then going to pitch that product to a panel of pod investors, I believe.
I have to rethink my terminology because it's been Shark Tank, so they've been sharks. Now they're pod investors. But it's such a great opportunity for them to get to explore that.
And then we will reflect back on all those academies. And what did you like? What did you not like? Remember those classrooms that we got to go and visit or the different classes that you can take? And then we reflect on that, and then they do a declaration. And this declaration is really their way of connecting to that academy and pitching why it would be important to them, why they want to take the classes.
I have students that have known from day one of their freshman year what they want to do, and that hasn't changed. And I still have students that don't know necessarily, and I get constantly asked, but which academy should I go into, which pathway? And I said, well, if you, kind of what Bruce was saying, if you choose a pathway and it's not, and you get in there and it's not exactly what you want, you can make a change. You don't have to.
But this gives you an opportunity to try on a career pathway, try on something that you may really like. And so it's just really a great way for them to safely get to explore those careers that they may think that they really want to do without a lot of added expense or a lot of added burden. So they've really, and we do have a good connection with doing those connection with those academies.
Yeah. I think one thing, Jeff, we haven't touched on that makes really the academy model work, and that's our community partners. I mean, I think we're up over 35 community partners in all.
It might even be more than that, to be honest with you. But these are local businesses, industry that are investing in our kids and our students, which creates opportunities for them after high school. You know, it used to be where students, like, you either went to college or you went to work.
Like, that was the model when I first started in education. And now it's like, we want students to have a number of opportunities after high school. And these opportunities are being created by our community partners.
Many of them, they'll pay the students tuition or college as long as they come work for them. And so it's just a lot of, for a community that I would say this small, having that number of community partners just shows the commitment that the community has in our young people. Because like I like to say, they're gonna be your neighbors one day, you know? And we want them to be contributing members to society.
And the community has really bought into this model also. I was at the Natural Resources Expo and the Health Science Expo. Jordan, I talked with you a little bit about this.
I think I'll be there on Friday for the Orca Tank one as well. So it is fun to see not only the pride that the student leaders have showing off their classes in their situations during those expos to the freshmen who can then choose, but then talking with the freshmen and kind of getting a chance to interview them a little bit and seeing some of those sparks start to light up and go, I didn't quite realize this was a pathway. I didn't quite realize this could lead to a good, sustainable family wage income here locally so I can stay close to my parents if I choose to do that after college or however you go down those paths.
How often do you talk, I guess this would be sophomore through senior and the teachers there and the students and kind of assess what is being taught. You mentioned the adaptability of the classes and how you're making sure you're teaching to what students like these days, but you're not gonna necessarily always be teaching streaming YouTube creator classes like that. Like how do you decide what the future focus looks like and how you get these kids prepared for that, any of you? I think that's a really important role that our community partners play in this process in addition to just kind of revisiting our courses every year.
Our CTE programs have to be grounded in like 21st century skills and what is current and so they're meeting regularly once a quarter with industry partners to discuss like current issues, talk about their programs and so really trying to continue to stay relevant and grounded in what the workforce is looking for, what does the future of business, for example, or marketing is a great example, right? Marketing has moved so much from this kind of traditional pathway to what does social media marketing look like? Katie teaches a social media marketing course and it's really hard when we're trying to not allow cell phones, but also like that is the world, right? Our students are most like they are buying products mostly from influencers that they see every day and so really trying to continue to make sure that our programs adapt to what is occurring at this time. I think it's really helpful that we often have staff members that have worked in industry too, so they may still have friends that are in the industry, so they're still staying current as well. For a lot of high schoolers, it can be obviously an adjustment.
You're going through four years of your life at a really key moment here. You're changing physically, physiologically, mentally, all sorts of things are happening here in these important four years. What are some of the things, you talked about mental health support a little bit, but what are some of the other ways that this school helps support students on a basis where either a teacher or a staff member recognizes that someone might be struggling or there's the ability to talk to somebody if there's problems at home or things like that? Well, we have our school counselors who are well-equipped to support staff and students.
I would say our staff as a whole, though. Bruce spoke to this. Our staff is an incredibly aware staff and they know when a student is struggling or they're looking different, they're behaving differently, and they're really quick to either check in with the student or get the student to somebody they know who can support them.
We do have a mental health counselor that is here five days a week. We have a drug and alcohol counselor here one day a week. We have a school social worker.
We have lots of support here and it's really a matter of really trying to use our resources well to support students, both with their mental health and whatever's going on in life. I think that a school counselor's role is vast and always evolving. And so sometimes it's challenging for them and that's why there's that value of having that mental health counselor as well.
But also making sure that students are prepared for life after high school as well. That's part of our seminar class's role. We have a college and career specialist who she helps kind of students navigate the challenges of becoming an adult too because that brings a lot of stress to students and families.
And so we provide a lot of supports here at Sheldon High School. Okay, if anybody has any other questions here, we're moving through nicely. Let's talk a little bit too about the safety and security on campus.
I know at least one of the safety officers, former Sheldon Police Department officer here, Paul Campbell, and I know he walks around a lot. What are some of the roles, he does things when he's walking around here. My bad, don't worry.
He's engaging with the students and kind of just making sure everything's going well there. What is it like on a disciplinary side? You talked a little bit about some of the things that you try to do here. But kind of explain that a little bit.
I hear stories on the internet about things going on. And so this would be maybe a good chance to address some of those misconceptions that people have here. Yeah, I mean, I will say this.
So we do have, we have two security guards on campus. There's five administrators. If we include our district athletic director, Scott Chamberlain, who's housed here on campus, he meets regularly with our administrative team.
He's part of our administrative team. And we have a very robust security camera system on campus. We've added more cameras each year as we go by.
Our number one job and priority is keeping kids safe and providing a very safe, because if kids aren't safe, they can't learn. I mean, we might not even try if they don't feel safe. I do, I mentioned earlier that a closer look always reveals more than a casual glance.
And I think a lot of the internet stuff you see are casual glances. And I invite, I'll invite anybody, community members, parents, school board members, you're welcome to come here anytime. I'm happy to take you around.
We're a wide open campus. There's nothing secret here. I will tell you that like any other high school, 90% of our kids are doing exactly what we want them to do.
But you never hear about them. 10% of the students, they need some support. Like they're coming to us, many of our students come to us with some trauma in their life, some difficulties, whether it's broken homes or whether it's, you know, a lot of people are struggling right now.
It's a very tough economy. And it's not all roses and cakes as people think it is. And like I had a meeting with our department chairs today.
Our parents are sending us the best kids they have. They're not keeping the good ones at home. And so we have to work with the kids we have.
And we have to meet them where they're at and we have to help them grow. And they're gonna make mistakes. Do kids make mistakes here? Absolutely.
It's, I go to Walmart, kids make mistakes and adults make mistakes at Walmart every day. I see it. So we're just a microcosm of our community and we respond.
And again, it's all about learning and it's all about getting kids to grow. And if you don't let kids, I mean, obviously we don't like to let kids make mistakes, but if we don't allow them some freedom and the ability to make decisions, then they're not gonna grow. And when you allow students to make decisions, sometimes they make bad decisions.
Just like many times adults make bad decisions. We talk about this the last couple of interviews you and I've had on this topic, on how you and the school board talked about this and work through this on the strategic plan and things like that. It's all kind of part of the educational process.
Yeah, so we have four priorities within our strategic plan. Those are the things that were identified by the community. Over 500 individual pieces came back on our survey.
I think over 1,000 people actually participated overall through the focus groups in the surveys and the information that we received to generate it in a safe and welcoming environment was one of the things that came away. It's the work we keep talking about. It's the, you know, like security and cameras and some of the pieces even around mental health and counselors.
You know, some of it can sound reactive. To a lay person, didn't have kids right now in school, could sound kind of reactive. We do a ton of prevention.
And that work starts all the way from preschool. It builds itself up. We have to teach those social skills.
We have to teach the academic skills. We have a number of activities at the younger grade levels and then we have them here. You know, we want to engage them.
They get a chance to get off their cell phones. They get to talk to one another. We try to pull in the parents and the families.
You know, and as Bruce said, there are things that are going on in kids' lives and have. And so I can't think of anyone else that's gonna hold nearly the responsibility that we do to help shape all those things day in, day out. I can't, I'm sure they have a million stories about something that happened over the weekend.
They call them up and they go, could you deal with this? Could you help us on this? That's not our legal responsibility. We have to actually watch how we get involved in some of those situations. But we feel a lot of pride in what we're trying to do because we do want to shape those citizens who will become your neighbor to do the right thing.
We are trying to get them to be productive citizens in a way that can provide economic mobility. They can most certainly make good choices, help lift up others. And I think that's gotten away from what public education does because I think sometimes people assail us when they have the quick glance.
They put the things out there. I can't believe this behavior. And I'm like, I think one of our student reps said it best.
He's like, it's all good until it's your kid. How come everybody else is trying to say that kid's a really bad kid but until it's your kid? And so that's for us to pick up whoever again walks through the door and for us to help shape them into the best person we can. One of the ways that I see a good opportunity for kids to get a positive outlet on campus is through the different, you mentioned athletics, but also the clubs and organizations that are here.
And over my time at the radio station, I've had the great privilege to interview many of those student leaders in those clubs. FFA, DECA, NJROTC, they all come through and they really are kind of the future leaders and folks in our community who people will start to look to. The diversity of the clubs here nowadays is amazing with game theory and all these things that people can find an outlet to help push them in a positive frame, that's gotta be fun because I know the first home football game, everybody kind of shows up and shows off what they do.
That's a great part of this school, I think. Yeah, I think one of our, well, as Wyeth likes to tell us, it's our business to know our students' stories, strengths, and needs. And I'll say it, kids, many of them come here for the other stuff, the extracurricular.
That's what connects them to their classes. Sure. That's what connected me when I was in high school.
And so by offering a wide variety, and again, it comes down to student interest. We're always surveying students about what they're interested in, how to start a club, what's the procedure for starting a club if you wanna start a club. You hook them on those extra things and then they do better in classes and they become more engaged in the classroom.
They wanna be here. They wanna be here and they have ownership in the school. And what makes that work is that Katie helps coach swimming but she's a freshman seminar teacher too.
So they're like, wait a second, I just saw you at the pool. And so they see Katie as a person and not just a teacher. And so that's why I think it's important that we need to have as many coaches, club sponsors as we can that are teachers because that's how you make the connection.
Now, all schools have to rely on what we call off-campus coaches or off-campus sponsors. There's just too many to fill. But our job when we look to hire staff is like, what else do you offer? How are you gonna connect to kids outside of the classroom? Because from a teacher's perspective or a staff member's perspective, it's much more fulfilling if you're connecting with kids outside the classroom also.
Like you now have a purpose. If a student just comes here, goes to class, then leaves, they don't feel that connection, that's the same thing for a teacher. If the teacher just comes here, teaches their four classes, has their planning period, then leaves, they don't necessarily feel a connection either.
And so that balance of getting staff members that are coaches and sponsors, getting as many kids involved, there's that connection that now everybody is much more fulfilled. Everybody has a purpose. And then that purpose creates, okay, what's your passion? What are you really passionate about? And then let's get you in those areas.
We're taping this on the 20th of January. Ballots will be out soon. There's districts across the state here in Mason County, especially two that are gonna be asking voters to be informed on an upcoming levy vote.
I think as we've talked over the different schools, this is probably the school that would have the most impact on those. If you could explain from the district superintendent's standpoint of kind of where the levy support from the community goes into the high school. Yeah, again, the levy coming up for February 10th, that's, you're talking about 12, 13% of the district's budget comes from the levy and the monies we get back from Olympia.
For us, that would be all up and down this entire school. It's a lot of activities. And these folks know that, the staff know that.
They know that that looks, it's part of everybody's salary, but the things that end up getting when you have to, if you don't pass a levy, the things that have to get turned on itself are the pieces that our administration, counselors, mental health therapists, security, and athletics. Those are the things that get cut because the state's requirement for 24 credits, that's gonna hold, and our needs for kids with special needs, those are gonna take the first take of where the money, whatever, is left over to fund those particular services because, again, those are state law, and that's what you have, and then you do the best you can after that, and that's the tough challenge of it. So that's heavily felt, really heavily felt at a high school.
Jordan went on and on about all these things that are going on and all the things that help assist in all the clubs and activities and athletics, that it's transformative for a comprehensive high school, Jeff, you would see it be night and day. If you're in elementary, you would see it and feel it, but because there's so many other activities that tie into kids and their lives with athletics and activities that's just part of what you do here and the supports kids need to get out the door, yeah, those would be the things that would be absolutely felt. The second half of the school year has started, and what are some of the things that you wanna see by the end of the year, some goals for the high climbers, some goals for some of the athletics, the clubs, the activities? I know that some DECA students just presented at the school board, and they're at state, some looking at nationals and things like that.
It's a pretty great time as you start to wrap up the year. Yeah, I think so. Our main goals that are tied to our SIP are what we focus on on a daily basis.
We are looking at data almost every day with regards to our freshmen and our attendants. So our freshman success goal, we know that, and research clearly indicates this, that freshmen students that earn six credits their freshman year are much more likely to graduate on time than freshmen that don't earn six credits. So before you go on any further, six credits, so to graduate here, it's 24 of that? 24, yes.
Okay. So you can actually earn, with our model and our trimester system, you can actually earn seven and a half credits just in a normal school day here in high school. And so, but we know that if we can get our freshman students earning six credits their freshman year, then their path to graduation is much easier than somebody who doesn't earn six credits.
Because now you're talking about, well, what did you fail? What classes do you have to retake because of their graduation requirements? So when you're retaking classes, you're not taking classes that you actually need. And so we have a very robust system in place to monitor our freshmen. We have a list of freshmen that need support that we are supporting on a regular basis.
Our data clearly shows that when we connect a student with a mentor, with a case manager, or with an adult that they know cares about them and monitors them, that student responds in a positive manner. We also know that students that attend school on a regular basis do better. When I presented at the school board back in December, I think it was like our freshmen and overall student body, those students that attended more than 90% of the time passed all their classes.
Like 94, 95% of them passed all their classes. When you start getting below 80%, there's a huge difference in the number of credits earned for students. So we have two interns that are doing their admin internship, staff members here, and they're tasked with having attendance meetings, contacting families, finding out what the roadblocks are, getting, if we can get parents here on campus and have a conversation with them, their student's attendance improves.
And so a focus is getting families here in front of us so that they can see what all is offered here, what opportunities their child has. So those are the two main things we focus on. But I would also say that continuing to offer our students opportunities.
I will tell you that we took our girls and boys basketball team to Alaska right before Christmas. And some of those students had never been to Seattle before, never been on a plane, let alone all the way to Alaska. It was seven degrees, three degrees, whatever it was, but it was cold, but they all made it over.
We made it back. Those opportunities don't exist if we don't have the resources to do that. We have, this year, we do a read-a-thon every year.
In the first trimester, our students read 145,527 pages in 60 days. And the staff weren't quite as good. They were at 55,000.
That's still pretty good though. But getting our, like focusing on literacy, I think, and Wyeth says this best, like when you can get kids to read and get kids engaged in reading, it helps all subjects. You know, there is reading in every subject, believe it or not, even math out there, you know? And so the work that our ELA department has done, the nine teachers in the ELA department, the support they get from the district staff, that is paying dividends for everybody.
And so continuing to see that work and also just continuing to help our students grow. And like I said, like we have some basic parameters, some basic, I don't like calling them rules, like nobody likes having rules, right? Some protocols in place that we expect of students, we communicate those. You probably saw walking up the stairs, you'll see some of our expectations we have in our common areas.
All of our expectations are posted around school. Teachers have them posted in the classrooms. They're posted in the sub, what we expect of students.
And that's what we go back to. So if somebody's not meeting the expectations, now, when somebody puts somebody else in danger, that has to be dealt with, obviously. But we go back to, here's the expectation.
And then we try, it's our job to figure out what support they need to meet that expectation. We can't just say, oh, they're 15 years old, they should know better. That doesn't help anybody.
And so just continue to see our staff. And it's been a big change. It's, you know, I like to say that everybody, everybody's went to school, right? And so everybody thinks they know how it should be run.
And that's fine. I welcome input from family members and community members, but time, as I said, time is money. Time is change.
And kids don't respond to the heavy handed, you're suspended for a week, 10 days. I did that when I first got here. That's the model I operated on for 25 years.
And you have to change. It doesn't, that doesn't work with kids. And we're seeing kids respond to it.
Like kids know that, hey, they're gonna have a little bit of voice in something, and it's gonna be a conversation, and we're gonna figure out what works for both of us. What can I live with as the principal, and then what can you fulfill? What expectations can you meet? And if you can't, how do we support you? So just continuing that work. It's a never ending process, you know? Long after I'm gone, it'll still be working on it.
As I hoped. So, yeah. We have one more of these forums, February 3rd, where we'll get a chance to learn more about Choice and Cedar High Schools here in the Shelton School District.
You can go back on the KMAS podcast and find all of the conversations from all of the schools across the district. Including this one will be posted as well, so you get an opportunity to share that out. I thank everybody for being here.
Katie, Bruce, Jordan, and Wyeth, for your time in getting a better understanding of what happens here at the high school. And thanks for listening, and thanks for being in attendance.