The Deer Park School District Board of Directors is engaged in its search for a Superintendent of Schools to succeed Dr. Becky Berg, who after three years of successful leadership of the district will become Superintendent of the Marysville School District, effective July 1, 2013. Dr. Michael Dunn, Superintendent of Northeast Washington ESD 101 has been selected to direct the search and work alongside Deer Park's Board of Directors throughout the hiring process.

The Deer Park School District Board of Directors would like everyone to know that they will be voting on our District's new Superintendent at Monday, May 20, 2013, board meeting. The board meeting will be held at the Deer Park Administration Building at 6:00 pm.

The Board of Directors would like to invite the community to come to the meeting. They would also like to thank all of the community members who participated in this process; from submitting surveys, participating in the initial interview process and coming to the open forums. Your input is immensely valued in this difficult decision.

• Children need to be 5 years old on or before August 31, 2013.
• Deer Park Elementary School kindergarten teachers will be doing a short assessment with the children while parents are completing registration forms. Please be sure to bring your child to registration!
  
• Please bring proof of immunizations. Call the school nurse for more information on requirements (Dawn Epler, our school district's head nurse, can be reached at 464.5527).
• Please bring a legal birth certificate (this is not the one with footprints you received at the hospital).
• If you come without proof of immunizations or without a legal birth certificate, your child will not be considered for placement.
• If you do not have a birth certificate you can request one from the state in which your child was born. Please contact the school office (464-5600) for more information about necessary documents.
  

Deer Park School District is working toward becoming a "Heart Healthy" designated district. In order to gain that designation, we have obtained Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for most of our school buildings. These are the machines that can "shock" a person back to life in the event of a cardiac arrest. Part of our program requires that we do practice AED drills where we set up a scenario and our "AED Team" in each building responds as if there were a real emergency.

We completed drills today at Deer Park Elementary School, Deer Park Middle School and Deer Park High School. Arcadia's drill is next!  If you have any questions about our AED program, please contact our School Nurse, Dawn Epler, at 468-3512.

At approximately 12:20, the Spokane County Sheriff's Department called Deer Park Middle School to inform them that two individuals, apparently carrying weapons, were walking near the school. Schools immediately went into lockdown.

The Sheriff's Department called the middle school back shortly thereafter, informing them that the individuals had been apprehended outside of the school. Staff and students did a fantastic job of calmly doing just what they had practiced in lockdown drills.

I am confident that our students are in good hands and I thank you for your continued support.

Becky Berg
Superintendent

The state of Washington has required each district to adopt one of three approved instructional frameworks. An instructional framework is really an analysis of what goes into the art of teaching, and hopefully what actions result in more powerful student learning.  It is a helpful tool to provide a common reference point from which  teachers and administrators can better analyze the teaching and learning in our district, and should aid in our quest for  continuous improvement and ongoing professional development.

At its recent December meeting, the Board of Directors of the Deer Park School District adopted Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching. After much study, thought, and research, a committee of teachers and administrators determined that this one best fit the ongoing professional  needs of our district.  We are looking forward to understanding this more deeply together, and the rich professional dialogue and learning that will result from this effort.  If you have any quesitons about this - just ask your building principal. 

The flu has arrived!  Influenza, also known as “the flu” has arrived in the Spokane area and we are seeing increasing numbers of confirmed cases and hospitalizations.  Most people who get the flu will have a mild case and recover quickly, but some people, especially those over 65 and very young children are at risk for developing complications resulting in hospitalization and occasionally death.

The best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu shot!  It’s not too late - most health clinics and pharmacies offer flu shots.  It is recommended that people six months of age and older be vaccinated against flu.  Local flu activity usually peaks in February or later.  This year’s vaccine appears to be very well matched to the flu strains affecting our area.

The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by viruses that infect the nose, throat and lungs.  Symptoms include:

• Fever or feeling feverish/chills
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Muscle or body aches
• Headaches (can be severe)
• Fatigue (very tired)

The flu virus is spread when people with the flu cough, sneeze or talk and spread “droplets” into the air.  The droplets can land in the mouth or nose of another person, thereby spreading the virus.  People can also get the flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own eyes, nose or mouth.  A person can spread the flu before they even know they are sick and up to seven days after.  Other ways to avoid the flu:

• Wash your hands with soap and water (this is best) or an alcohol based hand sanitize
• Cover your coughs and sneeze
• Stay home and keep children home when sick
• Sick people should not return to school or work until they are fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication
  

If you are already sick with the flu, doctors can prescribe antiviral medications to lessen the symptoms and help prevent serious complications.  They work best when started quickly – contact your medical provider right away if you think you or your child have the flu.

For more information about influenza and influenza vaccine, visit www.srhd.org or www.cdc.gov/flu or contact Dawn Epler, District Nurse at 468-3512.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a mother of one of our kindergarten students.  We talked for quite awhile as she shared concern about what we were doing to strengthen security in our schools.   I told her about the processes and procedures that we had in place, but that we were also diligently working to improve them.  At the end of the conversation, we agreed that things are different after December 14, 2012.  The Newtown, Connecticut gunman took some of our nation’s innocence on that day when he took 26 lives, and we are forever changed.  We persevere, however, knowing that good will overcome that bad - and that we have a deep resolve to make sure this continues to be the best country in the world in which to live.  

In the Deer Park School District, staff teams have been meeting at the building at and the district levels to review our safety plans.  We are all taking stock of what we have in place and what we need to have in place.   We are beginning with reviewing our lock down procedures in light of a potential violent intruder.  When we feel good about our work there, we will move on to other security issues that may not be as immediately dangerous. 

Our facilities director and I will be meeting with each principal to walk through their facility and audit our degree of emergency readiness. Once we have developed ‘punch lists’, we will partner with the Spokane County Sherriff’s Crime Prevention consultant.  The Deputy will then look at our work with a fresh set of eyes, and with years of law enforcement experience and wisdom.   Once we have our priorities - we will  work on accomplishing them.  Please feel free to ask your building principal about this process, and ask any questions, or offer ideas, that you may have.  It truly takes every one of us to keep our most precious resource safe - our children.

To the future,

Becky Berg, Superintendent

• Camp Goodtimes-East
• Sacred Heart Children's Hospital-Oncology Unit
• Sacred Heart Women's Health Center Coach
• Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane
• Hospice of Spokane