Dave Bond, Superintendent
Dr. Chuck Lybeck, Associate Superintendent
Ron Williamson, Assistant Superintendent, Secondary Education
Greg Fancher, Assistant Superintendent, Elementary Education
Beverly Johnson-Torelli, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources
Vic Roberts, Executive Director, Business Operations
Robyn Chastain, Communications Director
September, 2013
Dear Park Middle School Parent/Guardian;
Two years ago states were given the opportunity to apply for a flexibility waiver to the National Elementary
Secondary Education Act, (“No Child Left Behind”). Washington State applied and received a waiver from the
United States Department of Education. This waiver exempts the state from many of the requirements of the AYP
(Adequate Yearly Progress) regulations and was needed to help Washington schools utilize the federal funds more
efficiently. It also frees up $58 million dollars across the state allowing individual school districts to utilize the
funds to address the unique needs of their struggling students. The flexibility waiver has replaced AYP with
Annual Measurable Objectives (AMO). This means that schools are now identified by where they rank with all
schools in the state on Washington’s state assessments. This system has been replaced by one that identifies
schools as; Reward, Priority, Focused or Emerging.
 A “Reward” school is a Title I school that has met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or Annual
Measurable Objectives (AMOs) in both Reading and Math for three years for the school and for all
subgroups.
 “Priority” schools comprise the bottom 5% of Title 1 schools in the state. For the 2013-14 school-year,
schools were added to this list based on how their students scored on the 2010, 2011 and 2012 MSP
(Measurement of Student Progress) state exam.
 “Focused” schools represent the next lowest 10% of Title 1 eligible schools.
 “Emerging” schools include the next 10% of Title I schools from the bottom of the list.
It also has eliminated Public School Choice (PSC), where students are bussed by the district from a school that
did not meet AYP to other schools in the district that did meet Adequate Yearly Progress. (Students that are
presently in schools of choice may stay in that school until the student completes the last grade in that school. The
district is no longer required and will not provide transportation for students that had previously selected Public
School Choice.)
Park Middle School has been identified as a “Focused” school. Because of this identification, the Kennewick
School District and Park Middle School must adhere to a set of regulations and changes that include: providing
strong leadership, reviewing test and assessment data, ensuring that all staff are highly qualified and effective,
providing on-going job-embedded professional development for teachers and staff, implementing a tiered
intervention system that helps students who need help the most, and utilizing data to help guide instruction and
professional development for staff. It also requires that Park Middle School implement college and career
readiness programs similar to GEAR-UP.
School districts are required to notify parents/guardians when schools that their children attend have been
identified as a Focused school. Park was identified as a Focused school because of low state achievement scores
in math and reading over the past three years for Special Education and Limited English speaking students.
The administration and staff of Park Middle School continue to work diligently to prepare students to meet the
high academic standards established by the state of Washington and Kennewick School District. Most of the
indicators of student academic progress show that students at Park are making good progress toward achieving the
state goals.
Parent Involvement
As a parent/guardian your input is valued and encouraged. There are many ways that you can be involved in
helping us to address the issues around school improvement. Some of those include communicating with teaching
staff through the Parent Portal and student planners, participating in school parent activities, and by monitoring
your child’s academic progress and reinforcing good study habits at home.
In closing, Park Middle School staff are committed to the success of our school and to serving all of our students.
We are taking intentional and innovative steps to address each student’s academic performance. A program called
GEAR-UP was implemented to supplement instruction and to provide additional learning opportunities for Park
students. Park MS is not alone in their efforts; the district is working very hard to assist the staff and students at
Park. The central office administration is supporting Park by providing: literacy and math coaches, a bilingual
literacy coach and staff training on instructional strategies and best practices for helping students learn.
If you have any questions, please contact Park Middle School at 222-6900. More details about the movement of
our state, district, and school in pursuit of ongoing improvement for all our students can be found at
http://www.k12.wa.us/ESEA/PublicNotice.aspx).
We are excited and optimistic about the future and we hope that you will join us in this important effort.
Sincerely,
Dave Bond
Superintendent