I have a handful of resolutions to start the new year. Among my resolutions, I have decided to dedicate time to improve our outreach and cultivate deeper connections for those in our educational network. This is not just “good for business”, it will be necessary for us to keep you updated as the furious pace of change is upon us.
The next twelve months will be very exciting as Columbia River High School as we begin a variety of exciting upgrades, improvements and enhancements.
The aim of CR’s Head of School Blog is to keep readers informed, share our progress and occasionally gather feedback. I hope you find this helpful in partnering with Columbia River High School as we look ahead to 2018 and beyond. I am highlighting three areas in this short essay and hope you find this informative and practical.
Upgrades.
In February 2017, Vancouver Public Schools passed a construction bond that will bring improvements to every site in our district. For River, this means improvements to our parking lots, 500 Wing Classrooms, 700 Wing Portables and stadium. There is a great deal of work ahead to plan for this massive overhaul.
Many have asked about the timeline for our re-model. What I know at this time is that the work will start with replacing the natural grass with an artificial surface for the stadium this spring. Many of you are aware that our current stadium surface only allows for football. After our new surface is installed and stripped, we will be able to host soccer. This means that finally, the perennial soccer power Washington, our women’s soccer team, will be able to defend league and district titles at home, on our campus. Please stay tuned as much more detail on the campus wide projects will follow.
Improvements.
On an annual basis we survey students, staff and families about their experiences in the classroom and on our school grounds district-wide. At the center of our work is improving our students’ learning experiences. We take student feedback seriously. While some of these comments are curious and even silly, we take them seriously. Here’s an example to check out. Intriguing, right?
This leads to our next moves in “stepping up our game” in course offerings. Much more to come as we begin the forecasting process with current students beginning in February.
Enhancements.
In early December, we learned that we will add International Baccalaureate Mandarin to our International Baccalaureate Diploma options. Adding IB Mandarin totals more than 20 IB courses River offers for students invested in the “IB Challenge”.
As we welcome students in from Jason Lee Middle School’s Immersion Program to our community, we will continue to explore a variety of options within the IB. Particularly for the IB Career Related Program. Again, much more to come in later blogs as this will impact all aspects of our teaching and learning at River.
For now, if you are or know of an 8th grader who is considering the wide range of options in Vancouver Public Schools, we have two opportunities to connect with you about student life at Columbia River High School.
VPS Magnet Fair: January 10 at 6:30 pm Roosevelt Elementary: 2921 Falk Road Vancouver, WA 98661
IB Magnet Night: January 17 at 6:30 pm at Columbia River High School 800 NW 99th St. Vancouver WA 98665
We hope to connect with you soon! Thanks for reading.
