What we’re especially proud of this month… The Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) was in town this month for a program review of ESD-U.  The day-long session involved answering a multitude of questions asked by the PESB review board, which will evaluate and decide if ESD-U will be approved as a permanent provider of teacher certification. Currently ESD-U serves 49 candidates in its second cohort of aspiring teachers. In addition to numerous district leaders, the following ESD staff shared information with the board: Curtis Ellis, Patty Pepin, Alissa Jolly, Mike Esping, Kathy Whitlock, Chelsea Jacobson, Tim Merlino. Mike Nerland, Molly Daley, Katherine Livick, Kristina Wambold, Effie Triol, Pranjali Upadhyay, Vickei Hrdina, Jeffrey Niess and Janelle Tuttle. Our region’s own Teacher of the Year received the state honor during a ceremony in Seattle in September! Amy Campbell, a special education teacher [...]

Lots of work accomplished at annual Cabinet retreat Cabinet members were engaged in a day-long planning retreat in July, with a jam packed agenda that started with each member sharing their challenges and accomplishments from the past year. Specialized Student Services is proud that IEP files from 28 districts have all been centralized at the ESD and new behavioral health priorities are being implemented. The ESD-U program got some love from the state legislature in terms of grant funding to help the next cohort of participants pay a portion of their tuition. Kudos to our Specialized Transportation department for achieving 100 percent on the most recent school bus inspection and also to the work Gavin Hottman and the communications team did on the statewide “hold harmless” and bargaining work through WASA. In addition to being head of HR, Marnie Allen [...]