March 10, 2023
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope that this update finds you all doing well and adjusting to our cold transition to spring which will hopefully be upon us very soon. In this update, I want to share with you the many extraordinary things happening with students in the Sultan School District while also providing an update on many other important topics.
First, our winter athletic teams had an outstanding season across the board. Our cheer team won the state championship in our division which goes through 2A-size schools. Sultan is a 1A school. Girls varsity basketball went to state for the first time ever! Our boys’ team also had a phenomenal season finishing near the top of the league standings. We also had students participate in gymnastics and wrestling with several athletes moving on to regional and state competitions. In addition, our technology club under the direction of Mr. Dave Moon recently won the Democracy in Action award!
As we move forward, it is my observation that we need to spend more time recognizing the many strengths that students and staff possess. In other words, there needs to be more kindness in the world where we each see the good that is in each of us and not our perceived weaknesses. There is no doubt that students and some adults are still recovering from the pandemic and the negative impacts that it had on everyone. I am confident that with time, we will move beyond these impacts. I am happy to announce that we have about 140 approved volunteers in our schools. Thank you for volunteering because what you do matters!
Sports Medicine Students
Our Sultan Turk Sports Medicine students are performing at a very high level with 12 qualifying and competing students representing SHS at State! We have some serious wins to defend after our sweep of the Anatomy Competitions last year—and many Turks placing in the top 4 in some really tough events! The road to state begins for us this year as students will prepare for about a solid month for some very rigorous competition. During this time, they put in countless hours before and after school at practice to increase their understanding of medical knowledge, exercise science, emergency response, clinical research, and presentation skills and to master their clinical skills, as they prepare to compete against over 70 schools in WA State! At the HOSA State event there are no divisions by school size etc.—it is every competitor/team competing against every other competitor or team in their event brackets. Sometimes these event brackets hold more than 50 teams! The term HOSA refers to future healthcare workers.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-teacher conferences will take place on Wednesday, March 15th from 4-8 pm, Thursday, March 16th from 9 am-8 pm, and limited conferences on Friday. Please check with your child’s school to get specific conference details.
Running for School Board
Three school board positions will be up for election in November 2023. The open positions are in District 1, District 3, and District 4. If you are interested in running for any of these positions, you have to declare your candidacy during the week of May 15-19 with Snohomish County. Here is a link on how to go about doing this. In addition, if you don’t know what school director district you live in you can view a map and other information here.
Preschool Enrollment
The Sultan School District is starting an additional district-sponsored, tuition-based preschool in the Fall of 2023 at Sultan Elementary School (SES) and Gold Bar Elementary (GBE). Priority registration opened on January 10th. Preference was given to those registered before February 10th. General registrations will be accepted through April 10th. Registration forms can be found on our website or picked up inside the school office at GBE or SES. Feel free to call the school offices with any questions. The registration form can be turned in to the front office of the school of interest.
Dolly Parton Reading Foundation Free Books
Dolly Parton’s Imagine Library is open for your child to receive free monthly books. This program is available to kids from birth to age 5 and each individual who signs up receives 1 age-appropriate book per month until they begin school at about age 5. To sign up go to the following link: https://www.imaginationlibrarywashington.org/.
Citizen Facility Advisory Committee
This school year has marked an increase in student enrollment due to growth in our community for many different reasons. At the direction of the Sultan School Board of Directors, an application process was used to find interested citizens who wanted to serve on this committee which originally began meeting in 2019. The overall committee is a mix of about 25 citizens and school district personnel. The committee has the charge of evaluating our facilities for needed learning space and infrastructure integrity. The committee will make short-term and long-term facility needs recommendations to the school board. School facilities are aging and experiencing varying degrees of being overcrowded. As an example, Sultan Elementary School has about 90 more students this year than attended last year. You can view the meeting materials and participants at this link.
Mental Health Committee
Student and adult mental health is a real challenge that we are trying to support in the best way we know how. We offer various counseling services K-12 and we are trying to add to this support as needs arise. Be on the lookout for various events and activities that may arise as a result of this committee and our desire to support student well-being.
2022 Capital Levy
Several projects that are the result of the 2022 Capital Levy are in progress or complete. We are collecting the proceeds from this levy over four years so the projects will come online as cash flow allows. As you may recall, the levy was divided into three areas: 1. Critical infrastructure, 2. Technology, and 3. A new transportation facility. You can visit our website here to see what is complete and what is still to come. The big project that is currently under construction is the Sky Valley Transportation Cooperative. The facility will be located behind the new fire station and next to the cemetery. The contractors are making great progress on the building as you can see under the “SKY VALLEY TRANSPORTATION CO-OP FACILITY” tab. Late this spring and early this summer we will finish the work that was started to repair the middle school roof.
Sincerely,
Dan Chaplik
Superintendent, Sultan School
Districtdan.chaplik@sultan.k12.wa.us