Newsletter of the Lake Pend Oreille School District
LPOSD doubles up on safety with second School Resource Officer
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hen it comes to the safety of the community’s children, teachers, and staff, the Lake Pend Oreille School District takes a proactive, rather than reactive, stance on keeping our schools secure and our law enforcement team prepared. That’s the primary reason behind the hiring of a second School Resource Officer (SRO) for the 2019/2020 school year. SRO Spencer Smith, who has been with the district for seven years, is joined this school year by Dave Giffin, who has been with the Sandpoint Police Department for 18 years. Giffin will be working out of the Sandpoint Middle School, while Smith will retain his office at Sandpoint High School. Both officers will serve all of the schools within the Sandpoint city limits, which affects over 2,300 students. The Bonner County Sheriff’s Department covers the outlying schools, including Northside, Southside, Sagle, Hope, and Clark Fork. “The SRO position is almost twofold - we’re here to keep kids abiding by the law, but it’s also to show kids that just because
School Resource Officers Spencer Smith (left) and Dave Giffin.
there’s an officer, it doesn’t mean they’re in trouble,” Smith said. “Over the years, I’ve been able to gain trust and get along with the kids.” - continued inside
Message from your Superintendent: Excited for a great year!
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y name is Tom Albertson, and I want to first say thank you for trusting me to be the new superintendent of Lake Pend Oreille School District. I am excited to lead our community, staff, and especially the students in the venture of learning from kindergarten through high school graduation. With a family history spanning 5 generations in Bonner County, attending Northside Elementary School, the 9th grade center, and graduating from Sandpoint High School in 1982, I am passionate about preparing all students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District to be productive citizens and to be career and college ready. This is the same opportunity afforded me; though times have changed, students deserve the very best education our community can offer. My career is rooted by 22 years as a mathematics teacher, two years as activities director, three years as assistant principal of student management, and five years as principal, all at Sandpoint High School. With this diverse background, I am uniquely qualified to make decisions based on what is best for student learning and the success of each individual student, one of the strategic priorities for LPOSD.
I welcome communication and partnering with our community to provide educational opportunities for all students. Thank you, please know that you have an open invitation to discuss educational topics and questions as they arise. I am excited for a great school year! Tom Albertson M. Ed, Ed. S. Superintendent of Lake Pend Oreille School District
Tom Albertson with his fifth-generation grandsons, Riley and Nash.
Newsletter • Fall 2019
CTE helps propel local students forward
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t is the job of the Lake Pend Oreille School District to prepare our youth for high-skill, in-demand careers. And that’s why all of the district’s high schools, Sandpoint, Clark Fork, and Lake Pend Oreille, offer a dynamic range of CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs. CTE is best defined as a series of classes in an occupational area. According to the State of Idaho’s CTE website - CTE. Idaho.gov - career and technical students in our state are incredibly successful: 96 percent of CTE students graduate high school, and 94 percent of CTE high school graduates find a job or move into postsecondary education. Sandpoint High School’s Alex Gray, coordinator of the school’s CTE program and instructor of the Information Systems program, is not only enthusiastic about the wide range of programs offered at the school - everything from culinary arts and welding to technology, video game design, and more - but also the future possibilities for students who enroll in classes. “We are opening up work experience opportunities for these kids in the fields that they’re interested in,” Gray said, noting that CTE students’ employability after graduating high school can lead in a variety of directions. One former student now works at Kochava, a mobile analytics company here in Sandpoint, while others have gone on to become certified welders, fill a range of health occupations, and more. Gray explains that the broad range of classes are a great way for students to “test the waters” in fields that interest them, and observes that CTE students are more likely to go on to college as a result. “It’s a huge confidence builder,” he said. At Clark Fork Junior-Senior High School, CTE instructor Marty Jones utilizes a cluster program because of the school’s size. “The problem with small schools is that you can’t fill out a threeclass CTE pathway with enough students to make it worthwhile,
Want to attend a school board meeting? Board of Trustees meetings are held at 5 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month in the Ponderay Events Center, 401 Bonner Mall Way in Ponderay. Here’s the schedule for the remainder of 2019/2020 school year:
Oct. 8, 2019 Nov. 12, 2019 Jan. 14, 2020 Feb. 11, 2020
March 10, 2020 April 14, 2020 May 12, 2020 June 9, 2020
Tre Cirrincione, a student at Clark Fork Junior-Senior High School, works with a Bridgeport milling machine that was given to the school by North Idaho College.
so I offer a variety of opportunities to explore different types of work.” This year, Jones will teach Intro to Electricity and Electronics, Power and Energy in Transportation Systems, Welding, Intro to Automation and Robotics, Manufacturing Systems, The Tech Track (which tends to focus on auto repair), and will be adding Aerospace engineering in the second semester. “My hope is that students will either find something that they really like - enough to pursue it after high school,” Jones said. “Or, and it is just as worthwhile, they can find out that they really don’t want to do something that they Left to right, Paul Walters, Chris Wade, and Hunter Sutton check out a machine that is a battery-powered articulated rover. tried here.”
“We are opening up work experience opportunities for kids in the fields that they’re interested in.” Need a really BIG rig? School buses for hire!
To rent a school bus, call James Koehler at the dispatch office, 208-263-3522, or email James.Koehler@lposd.org
Newsletter • Fall 2019
District gears up with Chromebooks for multiple grades
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tudent interns for the Lake Pend Oreille School District’s Technology Department helped set up the 1,250 Chromebooks that were purchased over the past summer. With 409 touchscreen units purchased for Kindergarten through 2nd grade, and 865 non-touchscreen units purchased for 6th through 8th grade, there was a lot of work to get done.
A student intern helps set up Chromebooks.
Both the intern program and the Chromebook purchases are solely funded through the district’s maintenance and operations levy. Next year, the
Teacher Feature Carleen Sandell 3rd grade Kootenai Elementary 15 years as a teacher Why did you become a teacher? I come from a long family line of teachers, and I’m sure that sparked my interest as a child. My work history, even before becoming a teacher, was mostly with children, and I realized that teaching is something that feels natural to me. I enjoy knowing my efforts in this profession make a difference for young people.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job? The daily satisfaction of knowing I am doing something positive to influence young people is very gratifying.
What’s the most challenging part of your job? It is frustrating when so many of the problems facing youth and families are blamed on teachers. Teachers work so hard every day to make kids’ lives better, but it’s difficult to overcome some of the struggles they encounter out of school.
What do you want the community to know about our youth? I cannot speak more highly of the great community of young people we have in Bonner County. Kids here have big dreams, and they are not afraid of working hard for them!
district anticipates just filling in a few spots around the district that need replacements, with an order of around 350. From a technological standpoint, Chromebooks are inexpensive and secure computing devices that are easy and intuitive to use and manage. According to the LPOSD’s Director of Technology Matt Brass, Chromebooks are the ideal tool for students and teachers. “They provide incredible collaboration opportunities for our students and can be used for nearly unlimited online resources,” he said. “They allow teachers great tracking metrics for student progress and growth and tools to help at multiple levels of need.” Brass is grateful for the district’s support. “I feel very fortunate that our community has helped to fund this initiative to provide these devices to our students.”
SRO OFFICERS- continued from front Smith is pleased with the district’s decisions in regards to supporting law enforcement. “The district is always proactive in making sure they’re on the leading edge of what’s going on with SROs, programs, school safety,” he said. Tom Albertson, LPOSD superintendent, said the presence of a second officer on campus has several positive benefits. “The SROs not only bring increased security to our schools, but also a big educational component allowing students to understand careers in law enforcement.” In fact, Smith co-teaches a criminology class at SHS. “We are lucky to have the addition of officer Giffin at Sandpoint Middle School,” Albertson said. Safety measures implemented over the years include blue beacons, which are now in every school in the district to notify staff and students of a lockdown situation, single points of entry, evacuation drills, and lockouts where all doors are locked as a precautionary measure due to a possible threat outside the school. “It’s just another tool,” Smith said. He reminds the community that, despite what we see in the media, schools are some of the safest places for kids. “Yes, there is an issue, but it’s not an epidemic the way society is perceiving it,” Smith said. “We’re doing the best we can.”
901 Triangle Drive Ponderay, Idaho 83852
Lake Pend Oreille School District #84 Newsletter
LPOSD’s maintenance and operations ‘Continuing Levy’ vote coming up Nov. 5
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n Nov. 5, 2019, voters in the Lake Pend Oreille School District will decide whether or not to continue the existing approved annual maintenance and operations levy amount of $12.7 million each year for an “indefinite term.”
Funds from the M&O levy pay for the following: • One-third of district staff • Sound class sizes • Academic and athletic extracurricular activities • Technology and all curricular materials • Professional development • Rural schools “It is our district’s goal to educate our community on how public schools are funded in Idaho,” said Lisa Hals, chief financial and operations officer with the LPOSD. “The vast majority of public schools in Idaho are heavily reliant on voter-approved property taxes for operational funding, and LPOSD is no exception to this funding norm.” Voters have approved an M&O levy every two years for the past 20 consecutive years. This ballot measure would allow the LPOSD to continue to receive the $12.7 million per year
In fiscal year 2019, the LPOSD tax rate was 53 percent lower than the statewide average. Ninety-three out of Idaho’s 115 school districts had M&O levies in place.
onward, without requiring a vote every two years. Any future increase in the levy dollar amount would require going back to voters for approval. All voters who live within the Lake Pend Oreille School District can vote. For information on registering to vote, in-person absentee voting and polling locations, visit the Bonner County Elections page: www.bonnercountyid.gov/departments/Elections