December 2023
Dear Families and Community Members,
I want to take a moment to provide an update on several things happening in the Sultan School District as students get ready to be dismissed for winter break. Students in all schools will be dismissed on Friday, December 15, 2023, for a half day. Elementary Schools will get out at 12:32 pm, Middle School at 11:13 pm, and High School at 11:00 am. Be sure to join us at the Soup, Supper, and Concert on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, at Sultan High School’s commons 5-7 pm with a small entry fee of $10. Bring a pie for the auction and watch the magic unfold, complete with soup, pie, a roll, coffee, and tea. You can find the flyer here. The updated cell phone policy that went into place at the beginning of this school year has been successful! Students are more engaged in learning and with each other which is very positive. We have found it gratifying to hear from students that they appreciate this new practice overall.
1. Bond: On Monday, November 27, 2023, the Sultan School Board of Directors approved a resolution to put a bond on the February 13, 2024, ballot. The Citizen Facility Advisory Committee made this recommendation after spending the last year working on various plans to alleviate overcrowding plan for continued student growth over the next 10 years. The bond will include the construction of a new 450-student K-4 elementary school, adding an addition to Gold Bar Elementary School to make it a 450-student K-4 elementary school. The school attendance boundary will change, and Sultan Elementary School will become a campus that serves grades 5 and 6 while Sultan Middle School will become a grade 7 and 8 campus. Minor upgrades will be made to Sultan Elementary School so that 5th and 6th graders can be appropriately served. This move also cuts the current enrollment of 640 students at SES to about 310 students. This link will provide you with a brief overview of the school board-approved plan and how much it will cost.
2. Sultan High School STEM Center: The Citizen Facility Advisory Committee is also recommending that we work directly with the state legislature to build an 18,000 sq. ft. STEM Center on the campus at Sultan High School that would hopefully be written into the state Capital Budget. Details of this plan can be found here.
3. Capital Levy: Two of the main projects on the capital levy that was approved by voters in 2022 is the completion of the middle school roof and the construction of a new transportation cooperative. The funding designated for the roof at the middle school is down to the punch list which we are in the process of working through. The transportation cooperative is scheduled to be ready to move in on December 20, 2023. The state of Washington contributed nearly $4,000,000 to this project as a condition of it being built as a cooperative and the best news is that the facility is within budget and will be paid off completely after the current capital levy expires in 2026. Photos can be viewed here.
4. Playground Equipment at SES: The current new playground equipment is nearing the final stage of construction. The final stage of construction however is proving to be difficult to complete due to weather and the challenge of scheduling.
5. Property Purchase-The Sultan School District is in the process of purchasing 49 acres of property from the Department of Natural Resources. The cost of the property is $455,000 and will be purchased using impact fees that have been collected as part of the new development that has happened in our community. The property borders the new developments called Cobble Hill and Sky Ridge Estates to the north between 116th and 124th off Sultan Basis Road. You can see the exact location of the parcel right here. This is phase 1 and the planned site of a new K-4 elementary school that is part of an overall school district grade reconfiguration plan.
6. Grants-We have received a couple of grants within our CTE program that will help us move the program forward. First, I want to thank Jared Skeith for writing a grant to the FFA of Washington State that will fund new panels for the greenhouse. The $35,000 that we will receive is much needed as the current panels have become very brittle. The grant we received is from Foundry10 and it will provide the CTE program with $17,200 worth of equipment that includes 3D printers, a vinyl plotter and Glowflorge that is industry standard, and Arduino supplies that include Arduino drone kits.
In summary, I want to wish you a happy holiday season with your family members and other loved ones. We truly have a lot to be thankful for and living in the beautiful is just one of those things. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at dan.chaplik@sultan.k12.wa.us or you can call me at (W) 360-793-9801 (C) 360-926-6188.
Sincerely,
Dan Chaplik, Superintendent