On behalf of the entire ESD 105 team, we would like to sincerely thank you for making our first annual Better Together Leadership Summit a HUGE Success!
We had over 200 registered participants, packed sessions, plenty of opportunities to connect with other leaders and a ton of fun at our social events! We also had excellent initial feedback about our two keynote speakers and about the 40-plus sessions that were offered, but we’d love to learn more about your experience to help with planning next year’s event. If you attended our Better Together Leadership Summit and you haven't yet taken our survey, we would greatly appreciate your participation. Please click the button below to take our BTLS survey.
The success of this event was made possible by our host district and our sponsors. We owe a huge thank you to East Valley School District for hosting this year's event and to our sponsors for providing the funds that allowed us the privilege of being able to provide this event in our region:
- Classic Photography, Extreme Sports Photos, Yakima Printing Company
- WA529
- Grand Canyon University
- Finalsite
- Eastside Vocational Services
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The Print Guys
- Coca-Cola of Yakima & Tri Cities
- Kameo Flowers and Events
- Yakima Valley Community Foundation
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Educator Growth & Development
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The Special Services Department is excited to announce a significant change within our department's leadership team. On July 1st, Dr. Melissa Matczak assumed the role of Director of Educator Growth and Development.
What does this mean for our region's districts? As we continue to expand our reach and impact, we have secured several new grants, including the SONA and LEADER initiatives, which both focus on teacher preparation and recruitment. Dr. Matczak and her team will be working to support our region's districts in these areas.
While many of you may have already heard about our LEADER Initiative which focuses our efforts on diversifying the educator workforce across our region through the intentional recruitment, induction and ongoing professional development and mentor support for our BIPOC educators, the acronym SONA may be new to you.
SONA is our newest grant which will support the creation of pathways for future educators. This grant will ...
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Spearhead the development of innovative programs that provide clear pathways for educators to obtain necessary certifications and advance in their careers. These programs will enable our educators to grow professionally and reach their full potential.
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Provide our education system with greater access to effective educators. This team will collaborate with stakeholders to ensure that our education system has improved access to highly effective educators. This will involve exploring partnerships, recruitment strategies, and other initiatives that attract and retain top talent in our district.
We look forward to sharing opportunities for you to engage in these recruitment and retention programs and to share progress throughout the school year.
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Attend Today. Achieve Tomorrow! New Campaign Materials Now Available!
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Last school year we released our first two phases of attendance and re-engagement messaging, focused on highlighting the the importance of setting strong attendance habits early in the school year and on creating connections. We are excited to share that our newest campaign materials are ready for distribution!
We have created several templates for you to share this messaging in your districts. Please feel free to download these images and print them using your preferred printing company. All of these templates are also accessible in Canva as editable files. Please do not change the messaging. We have created editable templates to allow districts to modify the student images, colors and logos to reflect their districts. If you would like these graphics customized, but are not familiar with Canva, please contact our public relations & marketing department.
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Engaging Families | Things you can do now to start the year off right!
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As a school or district leader, August is extremely busy! From meetings with your colleagues to planning PD for your own staff and supporting your educators as they prepare to welcome back your school's students, there are a lot of boxes that you have to check off the to-do list.
The engagement of our families is paramount to the success of our students. Although you are extremely busy, it's important to take time now to set the tone for how, where and when your parents can expect to receive communication from you! As an administrator, there are a few things you can do early in the school year to help ensure your families get your message from the source you want them to (you)!
- Make a plan for updating parent contact information and make sure that these updates are being made in your SIS and communication platform.
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Ensure your website is up-to-date with the information parents need most (food services updates, bus routes, school supply lists, information about how to volunteer, updated staff contact lists, detailed bell schedules, PBIS/school expectations, enrollment instructions, high quality and current pictures and most importantly.... upcoming dates that they should be aware of like back to school night, conferences and spirit days).
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Send a welcome message to your staff and families. Post this on your website, send it as a printed flyer, share it in your e-news and post it on your social media pages if you have them! The more places you share this, the more likely it is to be seen! In this letter, inform your parents of how you plan to communicate with them and where they should go to look for information if they have questions. This is also a great opportunity to share ways your families can engage: Do you need volunteers? Donations? Get your families invested early!
- Delegate a staff member to ensuring that your website calendar is always up to date. Shifts in schedules or daily activities impact parents and they need to know if they have to find alternate childcare or buy costume materials for spirit days. Parents may miss these announcements for various reasons and if their kids come home and tell them about it, they will likely visit your website first for confirmation.
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If you have a social media page, start posting now! Highlight your new staff members and why they're excited to be a part of your team. Ask your families and staff to tag a teacher that they're excited to see this year and have them share why... this will not only engage your families, but also make your teachers feel really special! Share your school supply lists. Create fun posts that highlight your PBIS or school wide expectations and ask parents to help remind their students before the first day. ....Jump on the Barbie bandwagon and post a picture of pink erasers, flowers and backpacks with a message about how excited you are to welcome your students on their first day and include this date as a reminder! You don't even have to mention Barbie in the post, but pink is trending and it will catch your audience's attention! Don't forget to have fun!
- Set a goal for ongoing communications and then set reminders to help keep yourself on track!
Need support with communications, reach out to our Public Relations & Marketing department.
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| Saturday | August 19, 2023
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Miller Park
FREE EVENT for families with young learners!
We'd love your help spreading awareness of a FREE FAMILY event that our Head Start team is hosting this Saturday at Miller Park.
Geared toward families with children ages 0-5, this event will host interactive activities, crafts, snacks, and a guest performer.... Captain Squirrel... will take the stage!
Share this event on Facebook or download our pdf printable flyer to send these home to families in English & Spanish.
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Monday | August 28, 2023
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
ESD 105 Conference Center
Join Tere Hernandez for the first BEST assurance grant meeting of the year later this month! This meeting will provide district leads with
- updated data,
- highlights of successes across the region,
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important information about how to successfully implement a BEST Mentor Program, and
- opportunities to share and provide feedback to ESD 105 and with other participating districts.
For the full calendar of BEST events this school year, click here. If you have questions, please contact Tere Hernandez.
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We're excited to share our STEM team's 2023-2024 events calendar. We would love for you to start planning for your school to attend one or more of these amazing opportunities!
Additional information will come out in the coming months. We look forward to seeing you and your students this next school year!
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Looking to send a calendar to your community, but don't know where to start?
Our PR & marketing department has two templates to choose from this year.
Our team will modify your selected template to reflect your school/district's
- Branding
- Dates
- Principal/Superintendent Welcome Letter
- School board/PTO members
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Bell schedules
- Food Services Info
- Bus Routes & Rules
- School Contact Information
- One Free / Open Page to reflect your needs
- 15 high quality images of your students
Final proofs will be ready for printing within one week of receiving all submissions. Our team is also happy to support printing through one of our preferred vendors.
The service will cost $850.
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