Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged budget cuts, Coupeville Library, Coupeville School District, music, Steve King on May 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »
They’re trying to keep the beat alive.
After the Coupeville School District opened the budget discussion by cutting the secondary music program, there was immediate public blowback.
Now, people are putting action behind the words.
A meeting has been set for this coming Sunday, May 19 at 2:00 PM at the Coupeville Library to discuss “proposed ideas that have been discussed with Superintendent Steve King.”
The meeting is open to everyone in the community.
Posted in Administration, tagged Coupeville School District, Hawaii, PE, Steve King, superintendent on May 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Steve King, enjoying island life with his wife and grandson.
He’s island hopping.
When Coupeville Schools Superintendent Steve King departs at the end of this school year, he and his wife are moving to Hawaii, and he’s returning to his roots as a teacher.
The 2024-2025 school year will see King teach PE and health at Kulanihako’i High School in Kehei on Maui.
That’s a new school, constructed and opened just last year.
It’ll be a fairly quick turnaround for King, as he begins his new gig July 31, with the Hawaiian school year kicking off Aug. 1.
That brings to an end a 27-year run in Washington state schools.
Six of those were as a teacher, 11 as a principal, and ten as a superintendent, with his Coupeville run covering 2018-2024.
He tendered his resignation in January and will be replaced by Shannon Leatherwood.
A huge part of the lure of Hawaii, other than the chance to bring his golf game to the sun-drenched links, is family.
King’s daughter and grandson, who is 18 months old, reside on Maui.
“We want to be able to spend more time with them,” he said. “The additional benefit is being able to enjoy outdoor activities that I enjoy every month of the year.”
While he will look back on his time in administration with pride, burnout is a concern.
Even in the best of times, being a superintendent in a 24-7-365 plugged-in world is taxing, but add in the pandemic and budget cut battles, and King has seen the need for a change,
“Since March of 2020 this job has been extremely stressful and to be completely honest, I am tired,” he said.
“For my own health and well-being, I need to step away from administration for a while and return to the classroom.”
Doing so as a health and PE teacher, jobs he began his education career in, offers a way to recharge and revitalize.
“The best part of my job this year has been opening the gym before school on Wednesday’s and working out with students,” King said.
“I look forward to being able to do that on a daily basis.”
Coupeville’s superintendent has been very open about his desire to promote health, and the benefits of quality eating habits and exercise.
His new job is perfectly in line with that.
“This will be returning to my teaching roots and something that I am passionate about,” King said.
“Hawaii is sort of a dream place to do this work as we can enjoy year-round local produce and outdoor activities throughout the year.
“The lifestyle there is also much more relaxed, which is something that is appealing right now.”
While teaching is in his immediate future, beyond that the horizon is wide open.
“I am considering options beyond teaching in the future,” King said. “It is possible that I will return to coaching athletics as I did before I became a principal.
I was a golf coach at Mount Baker High School, where we often had to pick range balls out of the frozen mud,” he added with a laugh. “No frozen mud in Maui…”
A return at some point to administration is a possibility, but only if he believes he is able to deliver at a high level.
“To be fair to myself and whoever my employer would be, I need to make sure that I have the energy and enthusiasm for the job,” King said.
“One other passion of mine is to eventually become a Functional Health Coach. I may pursue this while I am teaching, or it may be something I do in my retirement.”
King remains proud of the work accomplished in Coupeville during his time here.
In particular, he points to “the growth of our student services program, including regular resource fairs,” and “establishing a strong Special Programs department providing services in areas such as special education, highly capable, and migrant programs.”
Guiding the district through the pandemic while projecting optimism, especially during a time when state officials seemingly changed rules hour by hour, was incredibly draining but rewarding.
Also, a major point of pride for King is the district’s Connected Food Program, “which has doubled our daily meal participation and shown that real food cooked with love is something our students want and deserve.”
As he departs, the superintendent who walked to work every day and “loved Coupeville and was thankful to live in such a beautiful place,” hopes to be remembered as someone who deeply cared.
“I loved (my) students,” King said.
“I stood my ground when it came to my strong convictions,” he added, “(But) hopefully people will remember that I took the time to listen and showed kindness.
“Finally, hopefully they will remember that I realized when it was time for the district to bring in new leadership and have a fresh start after some very difficult years.”
Posted in budget cuts, tagged Band, budget cuts, Coupeville School District, school board, Steve King on April 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The trumpet wails no more, and the piccolo is silent.
The Coupeville School District likely killed its secondary music/band program Thursday, at least in the short term, as part of the first round of budget cuts.
By a 4-1 vote, the school board adopted a “modified education plan” brought forward by outgoing Superintendent Steve King, part of a move to ultimately slash up to $1.66 million in an effort to restore the fund balance.
Thursday’s cuts call for the likely elimination of the middle/high school music program as well as an elementary school specialist program “to be determined” — likely STEM or art/music.
The plan also authorizes the reduction of up to six certificated teachers.
King stated at an earlier board workshop that the district already has “papers in hand” for four teachers who are either retiring or resigning.
Potential teacher RIFs (Reduction in Force) and “impacted program reductions” have to be in place by May 1 by “state law and contractual obligations.”
Other cuts, which will need to account for close to a million of the $1.66 million — if current projections hold up — will likely be announced to the public by the end of May, King said.
In his presentation Thursday, the Superintendent, who has resigned and will depart at the end of the school year to be replaced by Shannon Leatherwood, offered hope the shuttering of the music program is not permanent.
“Recommended program reductions are temporary,” King said. “And the district is dedicated to restoring them when resources are available.”
The superintendent spoke of his own children’s positive experiences with music while growing up, and he offered an apology to Mary Western, a CMS 8th grader who spoke in favor of retaining the music program.
“I’m really sorry to you and your classmates,” King said.
In his presentation, the superintendent pointed to declining participation numbers as a primary reason for eliminating the music program.
Though, there is an elephant in the room everyone tiptoes around — the longtime CHS/CMS music teacher having spent much of this year on paid administrative leave after years of parent and student complaints.
The night’s public comment section was full of parents who spoke of the positivity of music and the growth in the Coupeville program they see under a replacement teacher.
“I’m so sad for these kids who won’t have access,” Erin Howard said. “Music is universal, and cutting this program, even temporarily, does a great disservice and will have a huge impact.”
Kerry Western, a kindergarten teacher and mother of three, talked about the growth she has seen in the three years her daughter Mary has been involved in the music program.
“She had no prior musical experience, and it has changed the life of my daughter,” she said.
Describing how Mary had come to her classroom this afternoon and played the flute “so beautifully,” she brought several in the audience, and on the board itself, to honest tears.
Board member Alison Perera, whose children are musicians, spoke to dual emotions warring in her.
As part of the board’s budget committee, she knows how hard Coupeville needs to work to repair its finances.
“When the neon lights started flashing five or six years ago, it should have been an enormous red flag warning,” Perera said. “We didn’t take heed and it has led us here.
“If we had course corrected, we might be able to make small changes now, but that’s not where we are.
“We have to take it seriously; we have to make our district solvent.”
But Perera also expressed the fear that once the music program is shut down, it may never recover.
To that, she proposed an amendment to the “modified education plan” concerning the music program.
Perera called for the word “elimination” to be struck and replaced with “reduction,” with the words “by up to $150,000” added.
She failed to get a second, however, and the amendment did not move forward.
When the vote was taken, Sherry Phay was the lone dissenting vote, with Perera and fellow board members Nancy Conard, Morgan White, and Charles Merwine approving the plan.
In the immediate aftermath, half of the room slowly trickled out, disappointment etched on their faces, as the meeting continued.
The mood in the Kathleen Anderson boardroom was muted. Much like the music program itself.
Posted in budget cuts, tagged Band, budget cuts, Coupeville School District, Patric Manuel, Steve King on April 22, 2024| 1 Comment »
Music fans are not going down without a fight.
The Coupeville School Board will vote Thursday on adopting a “modified education plan” which begins the process of cutting $1.6 million from the budget.
That first proposal offered by outgoing Superintendent Steve King includes “elimination of the secondary band/music program.”
The reaction on the streets of Coupeville? It doesn’t have a good beat, and you can’t dance to it.
The first letter to the board has hit Board Docs, and comes from Patrick Manuel, a highly-regarded music instructor who began his career in Coupeville.
His thoughts:
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Patrick Manuel, and I am the middle school band director at North Whidbey Middle School located in Oak Harbor, WA.
I was recently informed that the Coupeville School District is considering eliminating the band and choir program.
This is unfortunate because we all know the importance of music education and how music impacts and develops the entire student.
I worked in the Coupeville School district for four years as the Middle and High School Band and Choir Director.
My last year teaching in Coupeville was in 2002 right before Jamar Jenkins was hired.
Although my time teaching in Coupeville was short, I grew the program in a short amount of time.
The students in Coupeville were super talented and there definitely was a high interest in music in the school and community.
Depriving students of their music education is a travesty.
Students need this opportunity and healthy outlet in their education.
There is always an over emphasis on athletics and not every student wants to be an athlete.
I truly believe that a positive and energetic teacher could grow Coupeville’s band and choir program.
From what I have heard, Mr. Brown has already sparked a lot of interest in just a few months of taking over the program.
Fun fact, Mr. Sean Brown was one of my students when I taught in Coupeville.
I hope you consider my thoughts on the matter and thank you for your time.
I have also added the student numbers I started with in Coupeville and where I got them to in four years.
Beginning Band – 30 to 75
Advanced MS Band – 20 to 45
HS Wind Ensemble – 18 to 45
MS/HS Jazz Band – 9 to 14
Respectfully,
Mr. Patrick Manuel
North Whidbey MS Director of Band
Posted in Tennis, tagged capital projects, construction, Coupeville School District, new courts, Steve King, tennis on April 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Wolf net ace Kaitlyn Leavell blasts a return while playing on South Whidbey’s courts. (Andrew Williams photo)
With improved spring weather, work on Coupeville High School’s new tennis courts is picking up speed.
Superintendent Steve King released an update Friday in which he predicted the courts should be “open for play sometime in June.”
With no available courts, the CHS girls’ tennis team is playing all of its matches on the road this season.
But, after being slowed down by cold weather, the increase in sunny days has helped the work move forward.
“Currently, most of the paving for the courts has been done,” King said.
“Over the next few weeks, they plan to paint and fence in the courts. They will also have to work on the landscaping around the area and seed grass around the perimeter.”
The new courts are being constructed next to the CHS gym, a hop and skip away from the old ones, which used to sit next to the school’s bus barn.
Along with the courts being finished, the dirt unearthed in the project, which has been sitting on the corner of Terry Road since last summer, is expected to depart in the next few months.
“We have also worked with contractors to create a plan to remove the large pile of dirt,” King said. “If things go according to plan, they will be taking care of this late summer or early fall.”
The construction of new tennis courts is part of the district’s capital improvement projects, which were approved by voters in February 2022.
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