After seven school districts in our region endured work stoppages at the start of the school year, the strikes have all been settled. Those strikes impacted our early learning centers, transportation and ESD school programs. We’re happy all districts are back in school and ready for a successful year.

Tim, Loy and two ESD board members are traveling to Washington D.C. this week to visit with our Southwest Washington congressional delegation. You can read a brief here that outlines many of our legislative priorities and provides information about our programs.

We had our first Regional Superintendent’s Meeting of the year last week. These meetings provide a great opportunity to network, learn from others and talk about state, regional and district challenges. We shared a booklet with our superintendents at the meeting called Stronger Together.

Our facilities team is working hard around our ESD campus to prepare moving the Wahkiakum Computer Lab over to the 2200 building, which will help open up another room in the conference center. The change should be complete in late October.

Lastly, it’s Open Enrollment time for ESD health benefits. In a time of rising health care costs, we want to take this opportunity to thank our HR and fiscal staff for negotiating the best possible coverage without significant out-of-pocket increases.

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather in the Northwest!