STYLE is Songwriting Through Youth Literature Education
Media: You are invited to visit Gilbert Elementary School, 4400 Douglas Drive, Yakima 98908, this morning! If you come between 10:00 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. you can see STYLE in action with the students. From 11:45-12:15 STYLE musical artists/teachers are available for interviews. It's really amazing!
Questions? Contact Gilbert Elementary School Librarian, Judith Strosah, on her mobile at 206-396-7246.
STYLE’s main focus is to ignite a passion for reading in students that will last a lifetime. Our goals include impacting students’ ways of thinking and working while giving them new tools and skills in everyday life. Collaboration is an important aspect of STYLE, and we hope to help build a learning community that thrives on these goals.
The Library Program Includes:
- STYLE teaching artist(s)
- Performance of songs inspired by the selected book, and more
- Cross-curricular lessons in ELA, critical/creative thinking and musical concepts
- Password protected webpage for each participating classroom
- Recording of creation (Mp3 download made available on your STYLE webpage)
Yakima, WA – Davis High School SkillsUSA members donated meatloaf muffins, mashed potatoes, chocolate peanut butter cookies, oranges and toiletries to Rod’s House, a resource center for homeless youth. The donation was delivered on Friday, March 8th.
Rod’s House has been a resource center for hundreds of homeless and at-risk youth. Every day, Rod’s House greets its youth with a hot meal provided by community partners. Youth also have the option of accessing free showers and hygiene products, “shopping” in the clothing room, and getting non-perishables from the food pantry for the night.
The SkillsUSA members at Davis High School were happy to help others; they also delivered a meal to Rod’s House in November 2018.
SkillsUSA is a national leadership organization for students enrolled in career and technical education. Community service is part of our program of work and leadership development objectives, and it enables us to give back to the community.
Open to parents, community, students, and staff.
The drawing and painting classes at Davis invite you to the 2019 IB Visual Arts and Senior Advanced Art Exhibition. The opening will be March 11th from 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm in the AC Davis High School KIVA. IB Art students will be there with their work to talk to people about their individual themed exhibit. The exhibition will continue at 8:00 am - 4:00 pm through March 15th for parents, students, staff and community. The show will display individual exhibitions from each of our IB Visual Arts students, as well as the advanced art students work that they have done while at Davis. Viewers will see the visual results of imagination, effort, and perseverance by our Davis art students. Unlocking the potential within each student, increasing imagination, as well as creative, critical thinking and problem-solving skills are in great demand in our world today. Art classes are designed to increase these skills.
The IB Senior Art Exhibition is only one part of the IB Visual Arts program. Each IB student will present their theme through their own original resolved artworks accompanied by exhibition texts and a written curatorial rationale that defends and articulates their purpose and intention for each piece that is to have global and cultural connections. The themed work is based on student choice and executed from the skills, techniques, and knowledge they have gained from the program. The results have been amazing because most of the IB art students had VERY limited knowledge and experience with art, so beginning art also needed to be added to the already full program. IB students are beginning artists with advanced art student’s tasks, demanding imagination and higher level creative and problem-solving thinking, so students have worked extremely hard to meet these standards. The individual student exhibition is one portion of IB Visual Arts with a process portfolio, and a comparative study based on art history completing the program.
The Senior Advanced Art Exhibit will be from the advanced drawing and painting class and will be artwork that students have created throughout their time in the art program through this year and previous years at Davis High School. They have taken beginning art, as well as some students have continued in advanced art. The artwork is a result of student choice, exploration and investigation in new techniques, media and personal findings through developing their creative, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Some art students have had work in fairs and competitive exhibits, as well as several, have sold or done commissioned work over the years and may go into a field of art.
Andy Gonzalez (at 6:00 p.m.), the Yakima School District's Director of Technology, will give the keynote address regarding Cyber Security at the district's Parent Forum this Thursday evening.
It is important for parents to understand how their children might be using social media and digital devices so that they can be kept safe. Mr. Gonzalez will speak to the audience about cyber safety and then he will conduct a break-out session titled "Teens, Technology & Trends." Additional break-out sessions include:
- KINDERGARTEN READINESS (Parents can also enroll their child in Kindergarten at the forum.)
- HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
- GANG AWARENESS
The forum begins at 5:00 p.m. at Washington Middle School. It is open and free for all parents of students in the Yakima School District. Sodexo, the district's food service vendor, has donated a free lasagna dinner for all. Also, the district will provide activities for young children so that parents can best focus on the information provided at the forum.
Media notes:
- Flyers in English and Spanish are attached to this release and contain additional information.
- Please contact Kirsten F. if you would like to interview Mr. Gonzalez prior to the forum (or at the forum).
- If television is interested in broadcasting LIVE from the forum, we can work with you to accommodate.
March 1, 2019 - The Yakima School Board has unanimously named Trevor Greene as superintendent of the Yakima School District, pending contract negotiation. Mr. Greene will replace Dr. Jack Irion who will retire at the end of this year (June 30, 2019).
Greene is currently the Executive Director of Human Resources for the Highline School District in Burien, WA. He brings 28 years of experience in education including 17 years in public schools administration. Trevor started his career in education as a Spanish and English teacher. He is a graduate of A.C. Davis High School in Yakima. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, Master’s degree from Central Washington University and is a doctoral student at the University of Washington. He earned his Superintendent certification from Washington State University.
“We feel Trevor Greene is a great fit for the board's vision for the future of the Yakima School District," said Board President, Raymond Navarro, Jr. “His passion and enthusiasm for public education were apparent in his interviews.”
Prior to his current position, Greene’s experience includes leadership roles in the Toppenish and Highland School Districts. He is the 2013 MetLife/NASSP National High School Principal of the Year and during his tenure there, Toppenish realized a 93.5% graduation rate.
Trevor and his wife, Melanie, have been married 26 years. They have four children, two who are grown and two who will enter the Yakima School District.
The Board had an intensive five-month process since Dr. Jack Irion announced his retirement effective June 30, to find the next Yakima School District superintendent. That process included hiring a search firm, solicitation of public input to define the district’s needs, search meetings with public input, evaluating and researching 15 applications, and many hours of candidate interviews, including the community forums with the candidates this week.
“As elected representatives, we recognize the trust placed in us by the Yakima community and we hope to live up to the high standards this community expects,” Navarro, Jr. said.
In a regularly scheduled school board meeting this morning, the Yakima School Board, currently in executive (closed) session, will enter open (public) session at 10:30 a.m. for a vote to select the next Superintendent of the Yakima School District.
The meeting is being held at the Yakima School District Central Administration Building at 104 N 4th Avenue.
An announcement with the outcome of the vote will be made to media (via FlashAlert) today.
Mr. John Boyd, Superintendent of the Quincy School District, and one of three finalists for the Yakima Superintendent position withdrew his application today.
All scheduled meetings on Thursday, February 28th, regarding his candidacy, have been canceled.