Pioneer Press Omak School District Newsletter Summer 2016 Our annual tradition set for Thursday The annual Back To School selling T-shirts for their school Night in Civic League Park is set Leader In Me programs. for Thursday, Aug. 25, 5-6 p.m. Pioneer mascot Other booths will feature Freshman Orientation follows information and opportunities for at 6-7 at the Omak PAC. Omak Public Library activities. As is tradition, buses will come Family Health Centers Staff will also cast a lure for and park along Ash Street by the Mid-Valley Hospital Pokemon Go players. park, and many teachers, bus driv- ers and other staff will be in the Book giveaway park to meet and greet. Boy & Girl Scouts Back to School Night Class lists will also be available Fit4Life Thursday, Aug. 25 for parents and students. Okanogan County Fair This year will also feature many booths, from local health clinics to ...and more! 5-6 p.m. school groups and more. Free books will be given to have a table where students and Civic League Park children thanks to our Early Child- parents can sign up for library hood programs. cards. Español en la página 7 The Omak Public Library will East Elementary will also be www.omaksd.org ~ www.facebook.com/OmakSchools ~ Twitter @OmakSchools 2 Summer 2016 District Report Every election is about educa- Curtains for the tion. 2016 is a national election year, and I am sure all of our school community members who are registered to vote will do it. My PAC concern is that many people vote PACPhotos by Cari Zachow only in national Due to the gener- elections. The osity of the com- November elec- munity, the Omak tion has national PAC had new cur- candidates in it of tains installed in course, but there July. The specialty are also state, county and local fire-safe curtains candidates on cost $60,000. the ballot. In off-years, those local Money came in offices come up for votes as do from individuals, school funding votes on levies and matched by the bonds. Okanogan-Omak Choosing the policy makers Rotary. from local School Directors up to the President impacts all of our students and their families. The decisions they make in office de- termine a broad number of policies and set budgets. Being thoughtful about who is elected, no matter what the level, and the perspective they take on public education is extremely important right here in the Omak School District. The Omak School District does not have any ballot measures on the November ballot. However, the state and federal legislators and State Superintendent of Public Instruction, who determine school funding and set learning priorities, are on the ballot. Student achievements In 2017, it is likely that Omak School District will run a bond Seniors earn recognitions Superior ratings. election for a proposed replace- Omak graduated a class of 89 this past ment building for Omak Middle June in its 105th commencement cermony. Key Club earns international award School. In 2018, we will come to Among those 89, 10 were Highlands The Omak High School Key Club the community for a new opera- High School graduates. Two were Run- was awarded the Distinguished Club tions and maintenance levy, and ning Start students, earning their high Award-Diamond Level at the International our US Congress, US Senate and school diploma and Associates degree Convention this state legislators will face re-elec- through Wenatchee Valley College-Omak. summer. tion. Students pulled in nearly a quarter- This is the You can do two very important million dollars in scholarships, about first international things to support schools: Regis- $30,000 of which was from local organiza- award the club ter to vote, and then vote in every tions. has earned. election. Each vote matters and Twenty of the seniors took Advanced Distinguished will ultimately impact children in Placement courses to earn college credit. Club Award- classrooms and the future of our Seventeen seniors were scholar- Diamond Level : community. athletes for having a high GPA while also A club that goes -Erik Swanson being involved in at least one sport. beyond on duties Omak Schools Superintendent The Advanced Choir earned a Su- and community perior+ rating, following seven years of service. 3 Summer 2016 Retirements Awards and goodbyes given Staff gathered the last day of school to congratulate retirees and honor awardees. Mary Ellen Maren of the Year Teachers Hughes Noyes Alicia O’Dell Mary Ellen Hughes Sarah Striggow Nancy Kelly Omak Middle School East Elementary North Elementary Omak High School Kathy Kathy Miller St. Germaine Classified of the Year Classified of the Tiarha Agee Omak High School Lisa Demmitt We will East Elementary Rachelle Gaines miss you, District Office Peggy! Susan Motes Custodial/Maintenance We had an unexpected loss this summer Laura Rhodes at the passing of our friend and coworker, Omak Middle School Peggy Kursave, who has served Omak Schools for 25 years. Our thoughts and Sherry Stevens prayers are with her family and friends. North Elementary Photo by LeeAnn Schrock At left, Camp Invention had kids taking things apart and building something new in June. Photos by Dee Camp Below, Omak Music Teacher Don Pearce co-led the Okanogan Valley Music Camp for Middle Schoolers and a second camp for High School (right) in July. 4 Summer 2016 Phones upgraded The school district had its phones upgraded and placed on a new system, replacing aging systems. The main push behind the upgrades is to enhance our 911 response. Now any phone call to 911 will show the exact room the call came from. All external phone numbers have remained the same. Internal extensions have changed. The system is being managed by the NCW Educa- tional Service District. Update your contacts If you get automated calls through our SchoolMes- senger program, such as for attendance or general an- nouncements, you can change the way we contact you. A new look will be featured on the web. This is an early draft of the high Create an account at infocenter.schoolmessenger. school page, almost ready for the Oct. 1 launch. com to determine which phones are contacted. You can opt out of general announcements, Tech changes coming but emergency Come this October, Omak School District will have new websites for announcements (including attendance) will still be its main page, as well as four schools - Omak High School, Omak Middle sent. You can change which number emergency and School, East Elementary and North Elementary. attendance numbers go to, however. The web address will remain the same - www.omaksd.org. This new step will shortly be followed by a new Mobile App for the school, so that parents, staff or stakeholders can keep track of schedules, Anonymous tips taken menus, etc. Of course we will continue to use the mass notification to send out In an effort to help students, staff and community absence notices, general announcements and emergency notices. members share concerns, problems or compliments All these programs are through SchoolMessenger. without being identified, the school district is launch- ing an anonymous tipline through Tip411. Okanogan County law enforcement is also launch- ing a separate line, but information can be shared between the two if needed. For the Omak Schools tipline, anyone can text with a keyword or submit a tip via social media or web form. Tips could be anything such as seeing drugs or alcohol on a school campus, reporting bullying, sharing concerns about a potentially suicidal friend or sharing something positive about a program or employee. A mobile tipline app will be available from Android or in the App Store soon. Register for OK Fair There’s still time to register for Okanogan County Fair! Online registration is open through Sept. 5. Photo by Sheila Corson Exhibits can be from photogra- After the Omak Walmart sent it to us and our Auto Shop fixed it up, we phy to flowers to crafts to vegeta- delivered a riding lawnmower to a family in our district with 19 acres to bles and more. mow! CTE Director Wayne Barrett, maintenance personnel John Rogers Go to www.okfair.org. and Auto Shop teacher Randy Smith handed the keys over to Teodulo Aguilar, while kids Gabby (7), Pedro (8) and Pablo (5) tried it out. Mom Jaymie and three other kids are not pictured. 5 Summer 2016 Moving Class of 2016 Up Photos by Sheila Corson Graduation season included a “grad walk” with seniors visiting the Middle School on the day before graduation (top left). ASB President and salutatorian Jag Bains also passed the gavel to William Suastegui (above), while senior class president Keith Matt handed his duties to Jordan Beaver. Senior James Monaghan was honored by a shadow box display given to his fam- ily, as he was unable to attend graduation due to a major injury (pictured far left). Meadow Thomp- son sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to her classmates (left). Eighth graders, Class of 2020, had their promotion cer- emony a few days after the Class of 2016 com- menced (bottom left). 6 Summer 2016 Photos by Sheila Corson The last few days of school saw special game and activities days, and even pool parties for some classes. Above, Kindergarteners got to tackle giant bubble wands. Top right, board games came out for first graders. Right, swimming was a great way to jump into summer. The Omak School District #19 complies with all federal rules and regulations and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.