
Dear Puyallup Staff,
I hope that each of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Holiday with
family and friends, and that you returned to our work rested and
thankful for the opportunity that we have each day to serve the over
22,000 students of our community.
There is indeed a great deal to be thankful for in our district at
the moment. With the 69.09% passage of our school construction bond, our
community has very positively supported the future direction of the
district as we begin our work to upgrade and expand the permanent
educational facilities within the district. Over the last three weeks
the district has been working with bond rating agencies and local
governmental entities to make certain that bond sales can go forth as
planned and that the planning and construction processes can begin
quickly as promised.
On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 the district is planning to sell bonds
that will deposit $80 million into the capital projects fund to begin
the initial projects that were outlined in the bond package (the
construction of a new elementary school and the replacement of Firgrove
and Northwood elementary schools, with Sunrise and Pope elementaries to
follow). In addition, the district operations department is in the
process of applying for a state “class size reduction grant” which would
have the possibility of providing funding for additional elementary
school classrooms as well. It is the intent of the district to move
quickly and inclusively in the educational specification process for
these projects. It is also our intention to garner extra funding
wherever possible to enhance the very generous support of our local
voters.
The passage of the bond and the subsequent steps that are in process
will begin a five to six year period where the district as a whole will
see a great deal of facility improvements and enhancements. We are also
aware that there will continue to be needs beyond the scope of the
planned projects, and for this reason we are looking into the future and
beginning to plan for next steps, even as the new bond package is just
being moved into action.
In the coming weeks our School Board, which was just honored with a
statewide “School Board of Distinction Award” for the second straight
year, will be considering several steps that have been in the planning
for over a year. These items for consideration include dedicating the
funding for a 1:1 electronic device initiative which would impact
students in grades 4-12 and is proposed for full implementation over a
four year period. The Board is also considering funding for a required
local contribution for the before mentioned “class size reduction
grant” and the next installment of funding for the continued
modernization of our district bus fleet. All of these proposed
initiatives which are being considered by the Board not only support the
strategic direction of the Board and the district with their intended
purpose, they also bring the added benefit of bringing long term
operational efficiencies to our district. It is our goal as a district
whenever possible, to make improvements that bring the students, staff
and community a long term return on their investment in our schools.
As we look forward to 2016 and 2017 there are a number of additional
steps that the board will be considering. The commissioning of a “Bond
Oversight Committee” of citizens and staff to work regularly with our
operations and capital facility department on the stewardship of our
bond proceeds as the projects take shape will be one of these. The
board will also consider the commissioning of a “Boundary Review
Committee” which will consider the location of our existing children,
new construction and growth in our community and consider what the
attendance boundaries for all schools (Elementary, Junior Highs and High
Schools) will be as we move into the future. These committees will
perform a very important advising function to our School Board, and
everyone within the district will benefit from their thoughtful and
carefully considered recommendations.
With so much work taking place with our facilities and in the
community, it is very important to remember that our main mission of
making sure that each child is well prepared for a meaningful
post-secondary opportunity from our schools remains our primary focus.
The work of teaching our students every day, and supporting our students
with food service, custodial, maintenance, transportation, security,
office support, warehouse and delivery, nursing, counseling, ESA
services and co-curricular opportunities is what makes our district such
a great place for each child.
I wish to add a personal note of thanks to the staff and students of
the district. During this past election we experienced a record number
of our staff members who live in Puyallup partaking in the election.
Thank you for voting! We also experienced a record number of parents of
our children voting in this election. I believe strongly this was due
to the relentless efforts of our staff members to “get the word out” to
our community about the very real need. This occurred with a record
number of “yes votes” from our community. Thank you for making the
distribution of factual information to our parents and community members
a priority! Lastly, as many of the staff heard me say in our
one-to-one conversations, there are 80 new homes a month being sold in
our community. The number one reason that most people are relocating to
Puyallup with their families is the quality of the education that their
children will receive. Thank you for your fine work in making Puyallup
such a positive community in which to live and work.
Puyallup is a great place to be! Thank you all for your work in making it so for each child in our community.
Tim
Dr. Timothy S. Yeomans, Superintendent
Puyallup School District
