Mountaineer Moments

This is the first district newsletter of the 2025-26 school year. New editions will be emailed each month to all district staff and families. Community members can also request to be added to the mailing list by completing this form: https://tinyurl.com/5a7eb4zk

Oct. 10 - NO SCHOOL for staff development

Oct. 17 - Early Release for Secondary Only at 12:00 p.m. for Conferences

Oct. 21, 22, 23, 24 - Early Release for Elementary Only at 1:00 p.m. for Conferences

Oct. 22 - NO LATE ARRIVAL

The new school year brings fresh energy and opportunities, and communication is a top priority as I begin my first full year as Superintendent. (You can find more information about me at our Superintendent Page on the district website.) Families and community members can stay informed and connected through our district Facebook pages, our website, and the printed 2025–26 school calendar. I also look forward to meeting many of you in person at events, during upcoming "Superintendent Trail Talks", and at our public school board meetings. Together, by staying connected, we can strengthen the Mount Baker community for our students.

-- Superintendent Jessica Schenck

As you know, we have late arrivals most Wednesday mornings. This time allows teachers with opportunities to collaborate and prepare for their work with students. The pictures below show our hard working teachers as they learned together this past Sept. 17. Next month, we will share information and pictures about how they are applying this learning in the classroom with students!

School Board meetings are the second and fourth Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m. We encourage the community to attend in person or watch online. The agenda and Zoom link is available on our BoardDocs website. In addition to Teaching & Learning, the district budget is a key topic of discussion at board meetings. The good news is we are on track to having an ending General Fund balance of about $1.7 million for the 2024-25 school year. This meets our binding conditions requirements, and if we can maintain that, we are still scheduled to exit binding conditions in the fall of 2026.

The hard work of the past couple years has definitely paid off, but we are not out of the woods yet. So far this year, we have about 50 fewer student than we had this time last year, and about 30 fewer students than was budgeted for. This is shared not to alarm, but to be transparent that we still have a lot of work to do. We will have a more detailed update on what this means for the budget next month. Budget documents can be found on the district website. We also provide a detailed monthly budget report on the second board meeting of each month. Those monthly documents are always shared on the BoardDocs website.

It is time to update the district's Strategic Plan! The purpose of a Strategic Plan is to provide clear direction for the district over the next five years. The School Board will hold a study session during the regular board meeting on Oct. 9 to begin this process. Staff, Students, Parents, and the Community will be invited to provide input about what is most important for Mount Baker as we plan for our future.

We will begin collecting this feedback at elementary PTA/PTO meetings and other school events. Superintendent Schenck will also be scheduling "Trail Talks with the Superintendent" when the community can meet with Jessica to ask questions and talk about their hopes and dreams for the district. We will share specific dates, times, and locations on Facebook and the District Website.