All the good work
This past year, the NWESD staff quickly shifted gears to support member districts. Staff helped in a variety of innovative and thoughtful ways to meet the ever-changing needs as we all moved into remote learning.
Although we could not highlight everyone, and there were so many who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, here are the standouts, nominated by their co-workers. To read more about our staff hover over the photos below.
Migrant-Inclusive Distance Learning Repository
Clint Weckerly spearheaded a pilot program aimed at supporting migrant-inclusive distance instruction in Mount Vernon SD, Burlington-Edison SD, & Sedro-Woolley SD.
Keeping our students & staff safe
Debbie Johnson “Nurse Debbie” has been critical in ordering PPE for the many NWESD cooperative programs. She also played a key role in keeping the students and staff safe by properly training them to follow the guidelines.
AESD Learning Management System Work
Amy Colburn was the NWESD representative for the initial phase of statewide work involving Learning Management System (LMS) course creation and instruction.
Student Care Packages
Last spring, Whatcom Discovery staff put together biweekly care packages for all of our students and delivered them during the remote learning. Staff also found ways to engage students in relationship building activities online, like a rousing game of Pokemon. Nick Juenemann is pictured delivering a package to a student.
Supporting District Nurses
School Nurse Coordinator Lynnette Ondeck, MEd, BSN, RN, NCSN, and Administrative Assistant Jodi Meekins have been both advocates and liaisons between government organizations and school nurses helping to connect school nurses with ever-changing, critical information.
Behavioral Health Support
New legislation has allowed ESDs to provide system-level technical support, suicide prevention policy consultation, and training. Behavioral Health and Prevention Department Director Jodie DesBiens and Assistant Director Natalie Gustafson lead the effort in our region.
IT Support
Nooksack Valley SD had a critical network component fail in October. Within two hours Chris Francy was working on a replacement, which he configured overnight. The component was delivered the next morning. When the new hardware was installed, Chris worked through the weekend to fine-tune the configuration ensuring full connectivity on Monday morning. Classes went without interruption, and students were connected when they needed to be.
Weekly Regional Collaboration Meetings
Leading weekly/bi-weekly Zoom meetings to support the following positions in districts: Superintendents
(Larry Francois); Ed Tech (Bre Urness-Straight, Amy Colburn); Math, Science, ELA (Brian MacNevin, Kim Kellogg, Tina Mott); Communications
(Jessica Owens); Building Leaders Connection (Gayle Everly); Business Managers (Lori McLeod); Transportation
(Mark Dennis); Coffee with Coordinators (Migrant Education Program & NWRDC)
Personal Protective Equipment Deliveries
Darrell Ritchey was our critical “go to” person when the AESD PPE deliveries for school districts arrived at the NWESD in Anacortes.
Snohomish Discovery Thanksgiving
At Snohomish Discovery, staff donated enough money for four Snohomish Discovery families and two Northwest Regional Learning Center families to have full Thanksgiving meals.