SBLSD News
April 20, 2023
Watch D.O.G.S. are Dads of Great Students!
Anthony Greenlee is one of many Watch D.O.G.S. in our District. If you don't know, Watch D.O.G.S. stands for "Dads of Great Students" and is a group of volunteers who provide positive male role models in many of our elementary schools.
This is the first year of the program at Bonney Lake Elementary, thanks to the work of Anthony Greenlee, who is known as "Papa" to his two grandkids at BLE. Anthony has had a long history in education, previously working at the Bethel and White River school districts.
"As a whole, the community has embraced it, and we all come together for the kids," Anthony said.
Watch D.O.G.S. help in various ways at the school, from giving out high-fives to kids, holding open doors, helping at lunch and recess and even some remedial intervention with students.
"They're respectful, they're awesome and they're really nice," said one BLE student about Watch D.O.G.S.
Anthony has helped get more than 30 Watch D.O.G.S. to participate and they have logged hundreds of hours volunteering.
"I think that he has a heart for kids that you can see in what he does every single day with our students at recess, in the classroom, and I appreciate him very much," said BLE principal LeeAnn Alfono.
Learn more about Watch D.O.G.S. in the video below.
Art Docents help students get creative
Melissa Deckman, Jessica Scheiderer and Paula Hemminger are all parents and members of the Victor Falls Elementary PTO who help run Art Docents, a program where volunteers teach a classroom of students about a particular art style every month, then have them practice it.
"Every month when I walk into the classroom, I feel like I'm a celebrity because they're like 'Yay, it's art day!'" said Melissa, who is also an art teacher at Bonney Lake High School.
Jessica recently taught a group of 3rd graders about Pointillism, the practice of using small strokes or dots of color to create an image. Students practiced the technique in class with the help of volunteers.
"You get to unlock everybody's inner artist," she said. "By the end of it they're all very excited."
The staff love how colorful the halls get with student artwork.
"My favorite part is at the end when you get to see everything that they've created and just their unique, creative styles come out. It's very gratifying and fun," Paula said.
Many of our schools have art docent programs! Learn more about the program below.
Our goal was to gather, and our community responded. Around 250 people showed their support for the Sumner-Bonney Lake community at the 28th Annual Community Summit on April 18.
At the event, community members gathered at breakout sessions to learn about important local topics like youth behavioral health, Sumner-Bonney Lake parent volunteer group efforts, what’s next for the Sumner Library, and city reports. Attendees enjoyed delicious dinner and heard from keynote speaker and educator Erin Jones.
A big congratulations to this year’s Unsung Hero Award winners, who were honored at the Community Summit. The Unsung Hero Award recognizes the dedication of a person who serves in support of our local community:
Dr. Larry Pruitt
Director of Suicide Prevention Services at local veterans’ hospitals and Professor of Psychiatry at UW Medical School
Panther Robotics is representing Bonney Lake High School at the Worlds First Robotics Competition in Houston!
Robotics advisor Jason Vander Hoek said there are 613 teams total on 8 fields of about 76-77 teams each! The Panthers are playing on Newton Field.
If you are interested in staying up to date on competition results, stats and watching live matches, head over to this link. Good luck Panthers! We'll be rooting for you back home!
It was quite the game for Sumner Spartans Baseball earlier this week - specifically for SHS senior pitcher Jacob Bresnahan, who had an incredible 19 strikeouts. The game didn’t go unnoticed! Check out the below News Tribune article by reporter Jon Manley:
“Sumner High School senior pitcher Jacob Bresnahan thought he might have thrown the game of his life against Curtis last week, striking out 11 Vikings’ batters over five innings of shutout work.
It turns out, that was just a warmup. On Tuesday against the defending 4A state champion Olympia Bears, Bresnahan tossed a game so dominant, it’s unlikely to ever be touched by a future Sumner pitcher.
The lefty’s line: 7 innings pitched, one hit, 19 strikeouts, no walks. Of the 23 batters he faced in the home game, he struck out 19.
‘19 is by far a lifetime record,” he said. “I threw good (against Curtis). I just built on it. … I didn’t think it was anything too special. I was just really in the zone, in a good mindset. Kind of just throwing strikes, one after another.’”
Continue reading here.
We strive to provide the best possible education for all students. In doing so, feedback is critical in helping our schools continually improve. On April 11, the District emailed all families a link to a survey, inviting your sharing of perceptions about the job we are doing in providing a quality education for your child(ren).
Your survey responses, along with other research and analysis, play an important part in the development of each school’s annual improvement plan, which includes goals that are specific, data-driven and measurable.
Families with multiple children may complete one survey per child. If you don’t have an email address on file with the district, or if you didn’t receive the email message, use this link to access the family survey. Hard copies are also available at your child’s school.
Thanks, in advance, for your time and participation. The survey deadline is April 25.
