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When 8th grade humanities teacher Ian Clogston looks around his classroom at Elk Plain School of Choice, he wants to see students deeply engaged, not just staring into glowing screens. “While technology can make things easier, we also know that learning requires challenge, effort, and friction,” Clogston said. “And so just because it's easier, doesn't mean it's always better.” For over a decade, o...

While teachers and students are in class, behind the scenes, dedicated teams quietly lay the groundwork that keeps our learning spaces safe, warm, and ready for teaching and learning every single day. This past summer was no exception for our maintenance and facilities crews. While classrooms were empty, staff completed nearly a thousand work orders, deep cleaned 2.2 million square feet of school...

Every great school district relies on a foundation that most people only notice when something goes wrong. Here in Bethel, that foundation is built by a dedicated team of Grounds and Maintenance workers whose daily pride and craftsmanship keep the entire system running smoothly behind the scenes. The scale of their responsibilities is immense. Bethel’s Grounds and Maintenance team is responsible f...

From kitchen prep to morning bus runs, the daily effort required to support our students spans millions of square feet and thousands of staff. In September alone, 422,493 meals were served to students across the district. “A lot of work goes into that,” said Paul Marquardt, Executive Director of Operations. “Twenty-thousand meals on average a day is what we'll be doing this year. And by the way, t...

The lessons learned on our middle and high school athletic fields stretch far beyond wins and losses. Student-athletes gain essential life skills, including time management, teamwork, and resilience. Our coaches and staff play a vital role in instilling these values, as demonstrated by two extraordinary leaders recognized for their dedication to our community. At a recent district track championsh...

Getting Bethel students to school safely and on time just got a major boost. With 12,800 students taking the bus to school each day, getting our kids to campus requires an equally massive logistical push. To keep those routes running smoothly, driver recruitment remains a top priority for our transportation team. “What's exciting about that, is that number is going back up,” said Paul Marquardt, E...

When local voters approved our Educational Programs & Operations Levy back in February, they did more than support local schools. They fulfilled a promise to our students.​ Thank you, voters! That local support was ​also meant to unlock ​​additional state dollars through Local Effort Assistance. The state offers LEA funding as an equity measure to help bridge the gap between property-rich area...

Living in the Pacific Northwest comes with undeniable beauty, but it also brings a unique set of natural hazards. From Mount Rainier looming on the horizon to the quiet threat of earthquakes, windstorms, and winter weather, preparing for emergencies is a reality of life.  Our district takes safety very seriously, working proactively to protect our students, staff, and school buildings and to ensur...

Students in the Careers in Education program at Graham-Kapowsin and Spanaway Lake high schools got an inside look at administrative leadership recently during a special visit from Superintendent Brian Lowney. Before his arrival, students brainstormed questions covering everything from his daily job duties to his favorite meal. The class is focused on demystifying the education profession and divin...

Behind every smooth school year is a summer of nonstop work that most people never see. Here in Bethel, our Facilities and Maintenance team spends the quiet months tackling the heavy lifting required to keep our entire district safe, compliant, and ready for students to return. While campuses are empty, the workload ramps up significantly. In a race against the clock before doors reopen, our team...

Walking into Rachel Ballas’ fourth grade classroom at Graham Elementary, you immediately notice the sound of harps and acoustic guitars as music from the Middle Ages sets a tone of discovery for students, who are scattered in groups across the classroom working on an ELA assignment.  Each student has a workbook and a smaller book about medieval castles open. Their pencils are in hand and quiet con...

The transition from middle school to high school can be daunting. New classes, higher expectations and unfamiliar routines can lead to freshman quickly falling behind. But here in Bethel, a program is helping ninth graders build the skills and confidence they need to succeed. Now in its third year districtwide, the Ninth Grade Success program focuses on helping freshmen stay on track academically,...

Inside a 5th grade classroom at Frederickson Elementary, students gather in small groups, crouched over giant sheets of paper spread across the room. They are tackling a brand new math unit focused on “interpreting fractions as division by writing remainders as fractions.” But rather than writing quietly on small worksheets, these fifth graders are filling every inch of paper with large numbers, d...

Working in a classroom is a tough job. But educators in our district take the phrase “see the student before the behavior” very seriously. They also lean into another guiding idea: “Be a palm tree.” “While oak trees are big and strong, when a windstorm comes, they break and fall over; but palm trees flex in the wind,” said Executive Director of Special Services Melissa Munson-Merritt. “The more fl...

Students, staff, veterans, first responders, and community members gathered to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This year’s ceremony held special significance as the first event hosted at Casey Crate Memorial Plaza at the new Bethel High School. The plaza honors Air Force Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, a Bethel High graduate killed in Iraq in 2005, along with all Bethel alumni w...

Forget tuning into The Pitt for high stakes medical drama. Right here in our district, four Bethel High School seniors are getting a front row seat to the healthcare world. And they’re taking the state by storm! HOSA is basically the Olympics for future healthcare professionals. And these students recently swept top three spots in Washington state in their respective events. Seniors Madelynn and J...

Across our district, classrooms are moving away from traditional, reactive punishments. Instead, teachers and administrators are working side-by-side to help every student thrive by building real-life skills, teaching them how to navigate conflicts, and creating a sense of belonging in our schools. The results of this shift speak for themselves: an impressive 70 percent reduction in elementary sus...

School buses are heading back out on the roads, which means it is time for a quick refresher on when to stop for those red flashing lights! Washington state law ( RCW 46.61.370 ) outlines when drivers must stop for school buses. On a two-lane road, drivers traveling in both directions must stop when the bus’s flashing red lights or retractable stop sign are activated.  On roads with three or more...

Mornings are hard. Between lost shoes, missed alarms, and the constant race against the clock, just getting your kids out the door can feel like a victory. But every single day your child makes it into the classroom matters more than you might think. It’s easy to view an absence here and there as no big deal. But missing just two days a month adds up fast. That’s 20 days, or a full month of missed...

At 300,000 square feet and stretching an eighth of a mile door to door, the new Bethel High School is an enormous building. But it wasn't built just to look impressive. It was designed from the ground up for the students who will use it for generations to come. “What I appreciate most is that the building was designed around how students learn and how they will use the school every day,” Director...

Everyone wants to live a longer, healthier life, but figuring out how to actually do it -- and then sticking to it -- can be much harder. A transformative new initiative is trying to remove that guesswork entirely by building wellness directly into the daily environment. Rather than asking individuals to rely on willpower alone, the Blue Zones Project targets the surroundings people navigate every...

More than a dozen Bethel School District seniors walked across the graduation stage in August to receive their diplomas, proving that hard work pays off, no matter the timeline. The students were graduates of Bethel, Challenger, Graham-Kapowsin, and Spanaway Lake high schools.  While our district's 91% on-time graduation rate is something to celebrate, the standard four-year path isn't the only ro...

Through careful planning, efficient staffing, and prudent financial management, Bethel has successfully delivered a balanced budget for the upcoming school year. The budget reflects our commitment to delivering a high-quality education for every student while being careful stewards of local tax dollars. However, as district leaders look toward the future, significant state-level funding gaps threa...

For many of our students, graduation day is more than a ceremony. It is the culmination of years of quiet resilience, hard work, and relentless community support. This year, our McKinney-Vento students -- those experiencing homelessness -- achieved an 84% graduation rate, up from 79% last year. Those are certainly impressive numbers, but behind those statistics are real students overcoming extraor...

Transitioning to a new school brings plenty of anxiety, for incoming students and families alike. To help ease that pressure, every middle and high school in our district runs an orientation program before the first bell rings. Middle schools host WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) for incoming 6th graders, while high schools run Link Crew for incoming freshmen. The goal is simple, to eliminate the fir...