April 4, 2025

Behind the Scenes: How Principals Support Student Success

I’m excited to share an update on the important work happening across our schools as we continue our second year of math curriculum adoption. At the heart of this work is a strong focus on instructional leadership—specifically, growing the capacity of our principals to lead and support great math teaching in every classroom.

Over the past several months, our principals have come together for deep professional learning, exploring how to support strong, student-centered math instruction. They’ve studied problem-based learning, our new curriculum, and the instructional moves that help students think critically and solve problems.

One of the most impactful parts of this work has been our learning labs—opportunities for school leaders working with Teaching and Learning Director, Lindsey Marquardt, to step into classrooms together, observe instruction, and reflect on how to best support teachers and students.

This is a powerful investment in our school leaders and classroom instructors, and it’s already making a difference. By building shared understanding and aligning around what great math instruction looks like, our principals are helping ensure all students have access to rich, meaningful learning every day.

Thank you to our school leaders and instructional staff for your deep commitment to our students and to growing together as a team.

In partnership with you,

Shaun 

Q. Is the District doing routine maintenance? How much does the district spend on maintenance each year?

A. For 2024-2025, we will receive about $900,000 in funding from the state for "facilities maintenance."

Over the past four years, we've averaged $1.4 million per year in maintenance expenditures.

This figure does not include the personnel cost of the maintenance team, only the materials, supplies, and operating costs. These expenditures are for both routine maintenance/repairs and also, when possible, replacement of items that are beyond their useful lifespan. As you can see, the state-apportioned amount for school district maintenance does not cover the need. Because of this, we are often deciding which repair/need is a priority over another repair/need.

There are hundreds of repairs and fixes each year including things like leak repairs, plumbing fixes/repairs, siding repairs, roofing repairs, water heater repairs and replacements, electrical repairs, HVAC repairs, HVAC replacements, kitchen appliance repairs, refrigerator/freezer repairs, equipment replacement, road and parking lot patching/repair, window and door repairs, alarm repairs, security panels, boiler repairs and upgrades, lighting repairs and replacement, tree limbing and debris cleanup, flooring repair, cleaning equipment repair and replacement, generator repairs and maintenance, and also consumable supplies used for cleaning/maintaining our buildings.

These yearly expenditures also include contracted services such as stormwater inspection and service, HVAC controls service, elevator inspections and repairs, security inspection and repairs, fire protection services, leak detection and plumbing/piping repairs, painting, etc.

Q. If the levy is not approved by voters, what are the ramifications? Would funding be taken from somewhere else to fund the necessary maintenance projects?

A. Without local support for repairs, upgrades, and replacements, our systems will continue to age, likely requiring more costly maintenance and repairs for which there is no dedicated funding. For the District to maintain the safety and functionality of our current facilities, if an urgent need or project arises, we may need to repurpose funding from current budgets (if any is available) to address it. Without the funding, the district will not be able to address all of the critical projects at once. We will continue to do our best to patch/repair and replace/upgrade over many years.

To view the full list of proposed projects or more information, please visit our website: https://www.enumclaw.wednet.edu/page/critical-maintenance-levy-2025