School Board » Board Bulletins

Board Bulletins

push pin

CVSD's “SIPs and PLCs in Action” Initiative...

Stephanie Jerdon, PresidentNovember 2025

 

Like the staff throughout the district, the School Board seeks out opportunities for professional development to better support student learning and enhance the system that serves them. School directors and superintendents often share ideas they have developed or are excited about in order to benefit other districts.

 

Last year while attending the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) Annual Conference, School Board directors had opportunities to attend break-out sessions covering a variety of topics. One session I attended introduced an initiative called “SIPs in Action," which connected the board to the work on the ground that teaching teams and administrators do to strengthen student outcomes. After sharing the initiative with the Board, our Board-Superintendent Team (BST) was eager to tailor it to our district. Further, the BST built the initiative into our 2025-26 goals under Academic Achievement.

 

The newly CVSD-customized “SIPs and PLCs in Action” initiative has a two-pronged approach, which both strengthens the board’s ability to 1) understand and monitor School Improvement Plans (SIPs) in progress and 2) experience Professional Learning Community (PLC) work first-hand on late-start Thursdays to see how schools are working toward their SIP goals. ALL SIP plans are submitted to the board at the start of each school year for review.

SIPs in Action” is spread across several scheduled Board meetings. Half of our 29 schools present what their SIPs focus on. Administrators prepare a slideshow detailing school goals based on assessment data, surveys of students, and other school statistics. They share successes they are seeing, as well as challenges their school faces.

 

“PLCs in Action” is calendared out at the other half of our schools throughout the year during Thursday mornings before students arrive. Board directors have the opportunity to sit in on teacher teams. During this PLC time, teaching teams are assessing student data, managing learning supports, magnifying teaching effectiveness by sharing strategies based on what is learned from student data, and identifying progress towards essential standards mastery.

 

To ensure the Board connects with every school in both ways, schools will alternate prongs of the initiative each school year. Next year, the Board will have SIP presentations from the schools who received PLC visits this school year. Those who participated in SIPs presentations this year, will receive PLC visits. 

 

This month, the Board has its first “PLCs in Action” school visits and its second round of “SIPs in Action” presentations. We are excited to be underway and are eager to learn more about how schools support student achievement.

 

Review the "SIPs in Action" presentations to the Board:

Stephanie Jerdon

2025 School Board President

Pam Orebaugh, President

push pin

Your School Board Ensures Safety Matters!

October 2025
 

The safety of our students and staff is the top priority of the CVSD School Board and district. We are always evaluating and looking for ways to increase safety.

 

With the passing of the capital levy in February 2024, we increased safety in numerous ways. We fixed sidewalk issues that were potential tripping hazards. We replaced older playground equipment at five of our elementary schools, as well as upgraded to ADA-compliant material underneath them.

 

Construction was completed on safety vestibules at five of our schools in August. Another five are scheduled for completion in the summer of 2026. This will ensure that all our schools have a locked entrance with a place for visitors to be screened prior to entry, out of the weather, with an intercom to the office. Office visibility from the front of the building was enhanced, security cameras were added, and technology systems upgraded, ONLY permitting a single point of entry into our schools through the offices. Safety vestibules increase the assurance that only those safe to enter our schools are allowed to do so.

 

Another significant change coming in summer of 2026 is improving Central Valley High School’s student parking lot entrance/exit. Numerous parents and citizens raised concerns about students not having a protected left turn onto Sullivan. Students would often make potentially dangerous left turns, some accidents occurred, and pedestrians crossing at the intersection were also at risk. Therefore, in partnership with the City of Spokane Valley, the entrance/exit will be changing. We are adding a third lane which will be dedicated to turning left onto Sullivan. The city is also looking to add a dedicated flashing crosswalk between 8th and 16th Avenue. Currently, the only safe crossings are at 8th and 16threspectively, which led to students attempting to dodge vehicles if crossing Sullivan between these streets. This dedicated Sullivan crossing will make students much safer. We also asked the district to see if the city can reprogram the light at the entrance/exit of Central Valley High School to increase safety this year while awaiting the completion of construction.

 

Resource Officer

Along with these safety measures, the board approved contracts to continue partnering with both the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department and the Liberty Lake Police Department for resource officers/deputies in our schools. Additionally, the district employs campus resource officers to help keep our students safe. The goal of these officers is prevention, while building and fostering quality relationships that empower and help our students.

 

Safety considerations permeate the work that the School Board does for our students and staff—everything from academics to sports. We will continue our efforts in this imperative work.

 

Pam Orebaugh
2025 School Board Vice President

push pin

CVSD School Board sets direction for the 2025-2026 school year...

Tere LandaSeptember 2025

 

The CVSD Board of Directors met with Superintendent Parker on August 20, 2025 in a special School Board meeting to set our direction for the 2025-2026 school year. An important part of the agenda was a discussion of Board-Superintendent Team Goals. Although the goals are still in draft form, we agreed to continue and expand upon the three initiatives from 2024-2025: 1) Academic Achievement, 2) Strategic Plan, and 3) Fiscal Accountability. In this bulletin, I will focus on Initiative 1: Academic Achievement.
 
Student Academic Achievement continues to be a top priority for the Board. In 2024-2025, directors reviewed the book Leading PLCs at Work Districtwide - From Boardroom to Classroom (Eaker, Keating, Hagadone, Rhoades) and participated in various Professional Learning Communities (PLC) workshops/conference sessions with district administrators and teachers to understand the research documenting the impact of PLCs on student academic achievement. To increase School Board director's understanding and support the staff in full implementation of the PLC initiative, in 2025-2026 directors will:
  • Further engage in PLC trainings, specifically in aspects related to the role of the Board and looking for evidence of student outcomes.
  • Monitor progress toward goals written in individual School Improvement Plans (SIPs) through monthly Board reports by identified schools.
  • Make scheduled school visits, titled SIPs in Action, during PLC time to make observations of the impact of PLC work toward student achievement, and report back regularly at Board meetings.
  • Recognize, share and celebrate successes and consider budget support as funding becomes available to address challenges.
     
In our initial study of PLCs, the Board learned about the Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC) tied directly to the state standards and developed by CVSD teachers with leadership from CVSD's Learning and Teaching team. Academic achievement will be measured by the assessments available to CVSD teachers through our professional development team's Teacher Hub web site and tied to the GVC. Note that the GVC in all grades and subjects is currently a work in progress. Through SIPs in Action, directors will have the opportunity to see both the PLC process and the actions/decisions teams take to support student achievement.
 
Through this focused involvement in the SIPs and PLC process, the School Board aspires to understand and be better positioned to support academic achievement long-term, following the Board-adopted 2023-2028 Strategic Roadmap, developed through comprehensive stakeholder engagement including students, staff, parents and community members.
 

Join us for our upcoming bi-monthly Board meetings as we engage in PLCS and review the SIPs in Action throughout the year.

 

Tere Landa

School Board Director

View more Board Bulletins by clicking on the headline or arrow below.

Always On