Although the first day of school in Coupeville isn’t until Monday for students, teachers tend to get started much earlier.
Trish Didier sat alone in her second grade classroom Monday night, preparing for her 20th year at Coupeville Elementary School. Her classroom appeared in perfect order, tidy and welcoming, a product of weekly visits during the summer months.
Yet, with a week to go, there was still plenty of work to be done.
“There are these tiny things called lessons plans,” she joked.
“Those are different every year.”
The new year will begin in the Coupeville School District with a consolidated administration, a rising number of kindergartners in a new all-day format and a new labor agreement between teachers and the school district.
Jim Shank will be splitting time in two different offices as he juggles his roles as the school district’s superintendent, high school/middle school principal and head of special education.
He took on the principalship after Larry Walsh’s contract was not renewed in June in order to preserve teaching jobs.
“I will be working mostly out of the high school office,” said Shank, entering his third year overseeing the school district. “That’s where the kids are. That’s where I need to be.”
Besides, he admitted, it’s only a short walk to the district office that also is located on campus, so it’s hardly an inconvenience.
Several new faces will be seen in the district this school year with five new teachers, one who’s returning and another still to be hired.
At the district’s school board meeting Monday night, Shank said the district is still searching for a middle school/high school English teacher and was anticipating the school year might have to start with a substitute teacher.
Joe Kemmer is returning as a fifth grade teacher after a year being away.
The new teachers are: Jaclyn Deveau (Special Education, preschool), Chad Felgar (Career Tech, STEM, middle/high school), Jackie Gelston (fourth grade), Arlana Nielsen (STEM, middle/high school) and Kathryn Rickner (Special Education, third through fifth grades).
Coupeville will be moving to all-day kindergarten for the first time this school year and 55 projected enrollees led Shank to approve a third kindergarten class at the elementary school.
In a district that has seen enrollment dwindle over the years, Shank acknowledged it as a positive sign.
Another positive development was the completed negotiations between the school district and teachers over a new two-year contract that brought teachers the first significant increase in pay since the recession, or around 2008, Shank said.
The teachers will receive a 5-percent raise this school year and a 5-percent raise for the 2016-17 school year, which includes the cost of living allowance.
“The Coupeville School District is an amazing place to work,” said Tacy Bigelow, a visual arts teacher at the middle school/high school and president of the Coupeville Education Association. “It really is a community working together. Everything is collaborative and transparent. There was no difference between what goes on at school between us and what happened at the table. It was all a discussion. It truly was a collaborative agreement. It was awesome.”
