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Fourth CHS/CMS secretary calls for paraeducator hire

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged budget cuts, Coupeville High School, Lisa Yoder, paraeducators, secretaries on December 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

A fourth Coupeville High School/Middle School secretary has written a letter to Superintendent Steve King and the school board asking for help.

CMS Secretary Lisa Yoder joins Registrar/Counseling Secretary Eileen Stone, Attendance/Athletic Secretary Barbi Ford, and Fiscal/ASB secretary Rosalie Fix in expressing the belief budget cuts have placed a substantial burden on support staff and are stretching them to the limit.

The four, who have combined to give the district 39 years, are asking district officials to put a priority on hiring a general education paraeducator.

Yoder, who is also part of the Coupeville Educational Support Association Exec Board, addresses the impact the letters have, while detailing why the secretaries have reached this point.

“We do not want to advertise our district’s shortcomings and we do not want our school community to think we do not appreciate our important roles/the opportunities we have to support our students and their families,” she said.

In the letter, Yoder details a meeting with district officials, and the secretary’s belief that their concerns are not being fully addressed.

“We asked for some help, by way of a part time substitute of any kind, to assist with tutorial, lunch supervision, ISS, secretary lunch coverage, etc., until winter break.

“The help we received from the district was being told to create a schedule where we cover for each other at lunch, which has only added to our workloads and has done nothing to help with the most important issue we brought forth, which is the plight of our students.

“We realize the budget situation is certainly not ideal, but is it so dire that we couldn’t have had a substitute at the rate of approx. $20 per hour to come in for three hours a day just to get us to winter break?”

The letters come in advance of the final school board meeting of 2023, which is set for Thursday, Dec. 14 at 5:30 PM in the Kathleen Anderson Boardroom on the CHS campus.

The school board acknowledges receiving correspondence during those meetings, but letters are not read aloud.

Public comment is allowed earlier in the meeting.

To read Yoder’s full letter, pop over to:

Click to access Letter%20from%20L%20Yoder.pdf

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Spend a few clams, buy a sweet tale

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged Beatrice Powell, Christmas, clams, Coupeville, Kingfisher Bookstore, picture book on December 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Go back in time for Christmas.

Clam the Wham and Min the Pin, a delightful-looking book written and drawn by Coupeville author Beatrice Powell in 1983, is now available to buy in person or online for the first time.

The artwork which is the basis for the book was found by her daughter, CHS grad Sarah (Powell) Lyngra, when she was cleaning out boxes.

The Min from the title is Sarah’s younger sister, who, like everyone in the family, is a former Wolf athlete.

Brother Caleb rounds out Beatrice’s pack o’ kids, all now adults.

The book is available to buy at The Kingfisher Bookstore on Front Street in Coupeville.

Purchasing it there allows you to gaze out at the tidelands and see where Beatrice Powell set her tale.

The house shown in the book is the historic “The House on Penn Cove,” now an Airbnb.

“The book is a delight full of whimsy and would make a great Christmas present for readers of all ages,” Lyngra said.

“Mom’s art is lovely, and I’m delighted to share it with the world. I think she would be thrilled that it has been officially published.”

You can also purchase the book online at:

https://www.pianokeyfinders.com/product-page/clam-the-wham-and-min-the-pin?fbclid=IwAR1a3hnoNEXsSIInxazQ5XsdKqGnKFTk2_gEV2nBQvjKozQYwmstPHiRrBo

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CHS secretaries ask for help

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged budget cuts, Coupeville High School, paraeducators, school board, Steve King on December 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Three highly respected Coupeville High School employees have submitted letters to Coupeville Superintendent Steve King and the school board asking for help.

The trio — Attendance/Athletic Secretary Barbi Ford, Fiscal/ASB Secretary Rosalie Fix, and Registrar/Counseling Secretary Eileen Stone — have combined to give 32 years to the district.

Now, all three, while describing their deep love of the school and community, say CHS is reaching a breaking point.

With Vice Principal Leonard Edlund out since the start of the year with medical issues, and Dean of Students Tom Black — originally a budget cut — brought back only on a part-time basis, they describe a situation where the administration is stretched extremely thin — and the support crew is taking the brunt of it.

“It shouldn’t be the norm to have the principal be the primary lunchroom supervisor 5+ hours a week, while more pressing matters must be put on hold,” Fix said.

“It should not be the norm to have the Fiscal Secretary monitor Tutorial 2+ hours a week or for the Athletics Secretary to monitor ISS or after school study groups.

“It should not be the norm for the MS/HS Attendance Secretaries to feel the need to forfeit their lunches and breaks most days, because no one is available to cover the office that cannot be unattended.”

That’s a sentiment shared by her co-workers, and all three are asking the district to put an emphasis on hiring much-needed help.

“I feel like many of the hardships that we secretaries are facing could be decreased if we were able to have a general education paraeducator to provide some coverage,” Ford said.

“To help with tutorial, assist lunch supervision, allowing our counselors to be available to students in crisis, without leaving student lunch unsupervised, help cover secretary lunches, provide some direction and supervision for discipline and in school suspension, cover our front desks in the event of training or forums, maybe even help track credit recovery classes that we used to have a fulltime dedicated teacher to do.

“It is getting to the point that we are going to have to look at our job descriptions and identify our priorities because, quite frankly, it is getting nearly impossible to get everything done.”

The three letters are published on the agenda for the year’s final school board meeting, which is set for Thursday, Dec. 14 at 5:30 PM in the Kathleen Anderson Boardroom on the CHS campus.

School board members acknowledge receiving correspondence during those meetings, but it is not read aloud.

Public comment is allowed earlier in the meeting.

To read the full letters, pop over to:

Rosalie Fix:

Click to access Letter%20from%20R.%20Fix.pdf

Barbi Ford:

Click to access Letter%20from%20B.%20Ford.pdf

Eileen Stone:

Click to access Email%20from%20E.%20Stone.pdf

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Wolves join Wildcats, rule robotics world

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged CHS Wolves, FIRST Tech Challenge, Gabe Smith, Natalie Perera, robotics on December 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Gabe Smith ponders the mysteries of the universe. (Photos courtesy Alison Perera)

When they travel, they bring their big brains with them.

Four Coupeville High School students join with their counterparts in Oak Harbor for robotics competitions, uniting to help Whidbey thrash schools from the big cities.

While Coupeville has its own middle school robotics teams, coaches Alison Perera and Doug McVey are working on bringing back a similar program at the high school level.

For now, though, the Wolves and Wildcats work together.

CHS freshmen Natalie Perera and Orion Liedtke, as well as senior Wyatt Sylvester, are on Team 24252 (Wildcats C), while freshman Gabe Smith is on Team 22196 (Wildcats B).

The younger Perera is a driver, while the other CHS students work on their team’s robot as part of the pit crew.

The FBI would like a word…

In their most recent competition, held in Oak Harbor, Wildcats B went 4-2, while Wildcats C was 5-1.

Combined with previous results, that launches the teams to #2 and #3 in their league.

Both squads advance to Interleague competition in Everett in mid-January, where they’ll be seeded in the top five in a 31-team field.

FIRST Tech Challenge is a robotics competition open to students in grades 7-12.

Washington state teams start off with 12 matches in their region, before competing at Interleague, which is the last stop before the state championships in February.

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CMS robotics club shines brightly

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged Alison Perera, Coupeville Middle School, Lego, robotics, robots on December 2, 2023| 1 Comment »

Coupeville Middle School’s best and brightest. (Photos courtesy Alison Perera)

They came, they saw, they impressed the judges.

The Coupeville Middle School robotics club spent Saturday at Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish, competing in the First Lego League Qualifier.

Led by coaches Alison Perera and Doug McVey, the Wolves had two teams competing — the Robotic Wolves and Technical Duties.

CMS left school at the crack o’ dawn (or 6:00 AM) and pulled back into Cow Town about 14 hours later.

“It’s been a long day,” Perera said. “Super proud of the kids for persevering through a long day!”

Coupeville finished 8th and 9th out of a field of 31 teams.

While CMS didn’t advance to the semifinals this year, it was still a strong run for the talented students.

“It was a tough field with some great innovative projects and cool robot designs,” Perera said. “It was a great day after a great season!”

Students did a presentation in the morning, then played the robot game in the afternoon, with both CMS teams notching higher scores than they did in previous practices.