All of these interviews were recorded in early March before the closures. Sam Carlton, kindergarten teacher at Alderwood Elementary School “Coming to Bellingham through Western, I had all these intentions of being an English professor. But when I did my undergrad at Western I worked at the child development center for three years. And that…
How would our community change if every child grew to meet their full potential? How could elementary school parent groups (e.g. PTSAs, PTAs, PTOs), Bellingham Public Schools and the Bellingham Public Schools Foundation work together to better realize this vision? These are the questions being explored through a new collaboration between elementary school parent groups…
Written in collaboration with Leora Watson, Western Washington University Allied Arts of Whatcom County partners with Bellingham Public Schools to bring the experience of art to children in elementary schools throughout Bellingham. The Allied Arts Education Project (AAEP) was started in 2002 with a mission to expand quality arts learning opportunities for students in Whatcom…
The following interview with school board directors Camille Diaz Hackler and Kelly Bashaw was published in the Fall 2019 edition of InsideSchools, the community newsletter of Bellingham Public Schools. Why have a race and equity policy? Camille Diaz Hackler: I think the majority of people don’t think about race and equity because they don’t have…
Even if “nothing” is the default answer to, “what did you do in school today?” elementary families now have snapshots from their students’ day thanks to Seesaw, a digital student portfolio available to all elementary schools. Families who sign up can see their student’s work and the communication between their student and teacher, both online…
Beginning this school year, a traveling book club kit is making the rounds at elementary schools. The book kit started as an idea by the Columbia Parent Association as part of their inclusion committee. Last spring, the Columbia Parent Association was awarded a Project Neighborly Grant from the Whatcom Community Foundation for a traveling book…
This time of year we are thinking a lot about endings—but for our new teachers in Bellingham Public Schools, this was just the beginning. All year long, our first- and second-year teachers are mentored through Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST), a grant-funded program sponsored by the state of Washington. Facilitated by veteran teacher Andrea Quigley,…
For the past three years, volunteer coordinator Jennifer Gaer has been growing the volunteer program in Bellingham Public Schools. She’s organized and streamlined the process for volunteers to register and find opportunities. She’s also built relationships and connections with many of the more than 5,000 volunteers. She noticed that many of her volunteers were retired…
Newly-constructed Happy Valley Elementary school is the most energy-efficient school Bellingham Public Schools, a Dec. 2017 energy use audit showed. The data point is the Energy Use Index (EUI). This index expresses a building’s total energy use as a function of its size or other characteristics, and is expressed as energy used per square foot per…
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