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Hello everybody, welcome to the big
show, i'm nick voll.
Vancouver voters,
you spoke loudly and clearly that
you support your local schools.
On
tuesday, you passed a bond measure
that will build new schools, replace
old schools, and modernize every other
building in the district.
In today's
episode, we'll try to answer the
question, what's next?
Tara *** will
show us something we had not
talked a lot about druing the
build up to the bond, but
something that will benefit local families.
Plus, we'll hear from jennifer halleck,
who's helping plan construction, about the
building schedule.
But first, let's go
to social media, for our top
three.
Our big story, obviously, is
the passage of the bond measure.
The district, its staff, and of
course, its students, are grateful to
voters for recognizing the importance of
first-rate school facilities.
Let's take a
look at the numbers.
In a
landslide, the answer is "yes."
The
count continues, but at the time
we're shooting this, the bond measure
is ahead 69.68-percent to 30.32-percent, with
more than 28,000 votes in.
To
pass.. the bond had to win
a supermajority of 60-percent, and a
minimum vote total of 27,000, and
as you can see, it's cleared
both of those hurdles It's important
to remember that ballots are still
coming in and are being counted,
but at this point it looks
like it's good to go, as
it awaits validation later this month.
The last bond measure the district
passed was in 2001, which was
for 87.7-million, and passed with a
63.3-percent majority, so this measure was
even more popular than the district
could have hoped for.
A quick
reminder of what the $458 million
bond will do.
First, it will
trigger $50 million or so in
matching funds from the state, and
v-p-s has already earned a $43
million grant to reduce class sizes.
Together, that money will build three
new school facilities, replace several outdated
schools, and modernize every other school
in the district.
And here to
talk about what this major project
will entail, and when you might
see construction in your neighborhood, is
jennifer halleck.
Jennifer thanks for being
here.
Quickly, what's your role in
all this?
Questions: - the district
released a schedule for the work.
it essentially sorts out into two
categories, right?
major projects and ongoing
work?
- so which projects are
going first, and why were those
selected?
- talk about how you're
scheduling some of the ongoing tasks,
like improving security at school entrances,
for example.
you're consolidating projects to
save money, is that right?
-
what are you looking forward to
most in this process?
Megan question:
- at my school, for example,
there are several different renovation plans.
how will you choose from these?
will you pick just one, or
combine several?
The district has put
together a lot of information on
these bond projects on its website.
Head to vansd.org/reschools for the absolute
latest, including what will happen at
every site, the full schedule, and
more.
The biggest beneficiaries of this
project of course, will be students.
And so we had one of
our team members, megan, who is
a student at vancouver school of
arts and academics, make a video
for us.
She's also running camera
for us today.
Megan, you asked
your classmates for their take on
the bond?
"Megan ad lib" Okay,
cool.
Let's take a look at
what they had to say.
"Trt:
2:08 outcue: "for our students to
try out new things and progress
their art form."
quick out!"
Thanks
megan.
What's the general feeling among
students at your school about the
bond?
"Megan answer" Thanks megan.
Over
at truman elementary school, students also
reflected on what the bond means
to them.
These 5th graders were
assigned a research project on the
bond measure, and had to present
their findings to classmates.
It was
a fun, real-world project for students,
who used modern technology like i-pads,
and presentation software, to research and
demonstrate their work.
With seven years
of school left, it's a topic
that affects them personally.
""a lot
of the schools i'm probably going
to go to will get upgraded,
and truman is my elementary school,
so I would be very excited""""I
can know that this school is
going to get a lot more
help.
like, it's going to be
a lot better""""it's important to our
whole community and vancouver, and it
will help us be happier and
stuff"" These fifth graders will be
in middle school when they start
to see improvements, and they told
us they're looking forward to seeing
how their schools change.
One of
the lesser-publicized elements of the bond
measure, but a very important one,
is that it will support the
district's "family-community resource centers.
Joining us
now to talk about how that's
going to help kids, is tara
*** from the district's communications team.
Tara, first off, what is a
family community resource center?
Nick, an
"f-c-r-c" is a place at schools
where parents and students can get
basic needs, and connections to other
community-based services.
The goal is to
let kids focus on learning, not
on how hungry they are because
they didn't get breakfast, or how
poorly they slept because the heat
got turned off at home.
And
this bond measure, will build new
spaces at several schools for f-c-r-c's.
Take a look at the lists
on your screen.
On the left
are the schools that will be
replaced as part of the bond,
and all of them will get
dedicated rooms where f-c-r-c coordinators will
set up shop to help families.
On the right, schools that will
get expansions as part of the
bond, that will include new f-c-r-c
spaces.
It's important to note that
most of these schools currently have
f-c-r-c rooms, but they're often jammed
wherever schools could find space.
The
expansions will create permanent spaces for
these important programs.
And since we're
talking about f-c-r-c's, we have some
breaking news.
The district's mobile f-c-r-c
initiative,our f-c-r-c on wheels that you
may have seen around town, has
won a national award.
V-p-s is
one of three districts in the
country to earn a "magna", given
by the "national school boards association."
The mobile f-c-r-c services schools that
don't have a center of their
own, but still have students in
need.
Its coordinator, nicole loran-graham, works
with staff members at 17 schools,
to provide things like a food
pantries and fresh food deliveries, hygiene
products, clothing, and more.
So, pretty
cool.
Nick, back to you.
Let's
take a look at what's happening
in vancouver public schools right now,
and a big event coming up
is the educator career fair.
It's
your opportunity to seek out jobs
with the district.
One particular position
in demand is that of paraeducators,
who assist teachers in the classroom.
It's a great way to get
involved in your local school, and
get paid for it, too.
The
fair is march first
from six
to nine p-m at the district
office.
Head to the web address
on your screen to learn more
and r-s-v-p.
That's it for us
today.
We want take a moment
to sincerely thank the citizens of
vancouver for supporting local schools.
One
of the primary reasons vancouver has
a national reputation for outstanding schools,
is because our community stands behind
them.
Of course, we will keep
you updated on the progress the
district makes on the bond projects
over the next six years.
For
tara ***, and the crew, i'm
nick voll.
We'll see you next
time.