Richland Real Estate Blog » Richland Schools

RSD Launches School Technology Survey

Matt McGee — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 05:12:32 +0000

With an eye towards possibly (likely?) putting a Technology Levy in front of voters in the future, the Richland School District has created a 15-question survey to get feedback from district residents about the importance of technology in schools.

There’s background about the district’s technology use on RSD.edu, and here’s the direct link to take the survey.

The survey should only take about 4-5 minutes to complete.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

RSD Launches School Technology Survey

Richland Schools Considering Tech Levy

Matt McGee — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:48:42 +0000

If you live in Richland or West Richland, you might get asked to help the Richland School District pay to improve the use of technology — presumably in schools and maybe at the District offices, too.

RSD’s Levy/Bond Planning Committee recently met to talk about a technology levy and agreed to continue exploring the possibility of putting a levy in front of district voters in spring, 2011.

The plan going forward will be to develop material that explains the need for such a levy, and there’s mention of a community survey after this school year starts next month to gauge the public’s willingness to support higher taxes related to technology in schools.

The committee is set to meet again next week, August 18th.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Richland Schools Considering Tech Levy

Richland School District is on Facebook

Matt McGee — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:02:40 +0000

It’s nice to see so many local groups, organizations, and businesses getting more active in social media. One of the latest is the Richland School District, which now has a Facebook page at this address:

www.facebook.com/pages/Richland-School-District/130723533635885

They’re doing a good job posting updates there during the quiet summer months; hopefully that’ll continue once school starts and news happens more often.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Richland School District is on Facebook

Hanford High School named one of Best in U.S.

Matt McGee — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:57:33 +0000

Congrats to Hanford High School on being included in Newsweek magazine’s list of America’s Best High Schools!

Hanford HS is ranked #1,094 out of 1,600 high schools that made the list. You can see the blurb/page about Hanford here. The rankings are based on the number of advanced placement tests administered at the schools and the amount of graduating seniors.

By making the Newsweek list, Hanford is said to be in the top six percent of all high schools in the country. Very impressive!

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Hanford High School named one of Best in U.S.

Live Video: Richland Bomber Baseball vs. Kentwood

Matt McGee — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:38:09 +0000

The Richland Bombers baseball team is going for another state championship tonight at Safeco Field in Seattle. They’re taking on 4th-ranked Kentwood at 7:00 pm, and if you’re not planning to drive over to Seattle today for the game, you can watch a live stream online here:

Washington Sports Network: Richland vs. Kentwood

If Richland wins, it’ll be their second consecutive state title … third in the past four years … and fifth since 1999.

Go Bombers!

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Live Video: Richland Bomber Baseball vs. Kentwood

Hanford High School Growing

Matt McGee — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:41:21 +0000

Hanford High School is growing quickly, and the Richland School District is planning changes in the 2010-2011 school year to deal with the school’s growth.

Hanford High already has 80 more students this year than originally expected. At Tuesday night’s RSD board meeting, the board learned that Hanford High is expected to grow by another 70 students next year — a total of 150 more students than the school anticipated.

RSD plans two changes to handle the student growth:

A Dean of Students will be hired to help school administrators with the growing student body.
An additional 3.4 FTE staff will be added next school year.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Hanford High School Growing

White Bluffs Elementary gets new school boundaries

Matt McGee — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:32:00 +0000

With all the growth happening in and around south Richland and West Richland, the Richland School District has changed the attendance zone for White Bluffs Elementary. At last night’s meeting, the board approved this plan of action for the 2010-2011 school year:

14 housing developments in the White Bluffs zone have been reassigned to Lewis & Clark, Marcus Whitman or Tapteal Elementary Schools.
Lewis & Clark will be used for immediate needs while Marcus Whitman and Tapteal will be used as new residential developments are built out in future years.
Any students currently attending White Bluffs and residing in one of the reassigned developments will be allowed to continue at White Bluffs.
All students registered by April 27 will be allowed to attend White Bluffs. After that date, students registering who live in one of the reassigned housing developments will be bused to one of the other schools.
Families who move into new housing developments in the White Bluffs attendance zone will be told ahead of time that their children will attend schools other than White Bluffs.
The District used a similar strategy eight years ago when Wiley Elementary School reached capacity. Students moving into new developments near Wiley were bused to schools in central Richland which had available space.

The district says White Bluffs — which just opened in the last year or two, as I recall — will already be at capacity next year. You can read more about last night’s board meeting by downloading the April 27 summary from the RSD web site.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

White Bluffs Elementary gets new school boundaries

RSD Expects $1.7 Million Budget Loss

Matt McGee — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:04:14 +0000

This isn’t official yet, but it’s not good news even in preliminary form. The Richland School District sent out this notice today about its expectations for next year’s budget:

The state legislature approved a 2010-11 budget earlier this week. A preliminary review of the budget indicates that the Richland School District will have a $1.7 million funding reduction for the 2010-11 school year. District administrators have begun developing strategies to address the reductions. Those strategies will be presented at the April 27 school board meeting.

Looks like there’s gonna need to be a lot of creativity in place to make up a huge loss like that while trying to minimize impact on student learning. It may be a bit irresponsible to speculate, but I’m guessing we’ll see cuts in after-school, extra-curricular activities as well as transportation, sports-related travel, and so forth. Bound to be an impact on staffing, too.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

RSD Expects $1.7 Million Budget Loss

RSD Seeking Instructional Materials Help

Matt McGee — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:42:39 +0000

In light of the current hubbub over the use of a novel in a 10th-grade class at Hanford High, this opportunity seems particularly pertinent: The Richland School District is looking for community members who wish to serve on the Instructional Materials Committee. Here’s how the district explains the IMC’s work, as well as how to apply:

The Richland School District is seeking community members/parents to serve on the Instructional Materials Committee (IMC). Various curriculum committees present recommended instructional materials for adoption to the IMC. IMC members then review the process and make recommendations to the Richland School Board. The IMC is made up of six teachers representing various grade levels; seven community members/parents (may not also be a teacher in the District); and two administrators. The IMC meets once or twice per month (two-hour meetings) during the school year.

“The school board has adjusted the makeup of the IMC so that more community members and parents can be involved in the process,” explains Wendy London, Executive Director of Teaching & Learning. “The IMC’s work is important because recommendations for every content area are reviewed as the curriculum renewal cycle progresses.”

Those interested in serving on the IMC may get an application by contacting the RSD Teaching & Learning Department at 967-6004, or by emailing devonne.roth@rsd.edu. The application deadline is May 10.

So, now you know.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

RSD Seeking Instructional Materials Help

RSD Selects a New Superintendent

Matt McGee — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:55:00 +0000

Via email tonight we learn that Richland School District has selected a new superintendent: Dr. James Busey, who’s most recently served as superintendent at the Lake Chelan School District. The photo at right is from Dr. Busey’s staff bio on the LCSD web site.

The RSD email includes some more background about Dr. Busey:

Dr. Busey has been superintendent of the Lake Chelan School District since 2000. Prior to Lake Chelan, Dr. Busey served as superintendent of the Zillah School District for nine years. He was also an assistant principal and principal in Zillah. His classroom experience was at the secondary level. He earned his doctorate from California Coast University in 2003.

He’ll start the new job on July 1st.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

RSD Selects a New Superintendent