Mountaineer Moments

Jan. 19 - No School - MLK Jr. Day

Jan. 22 - No School - Treaty Day

Jan. 30-31 - High School Play Performances

This past week has brought significant challenges as our region has experienced severe flooding. While much of our school district has been spared the worst damage, we know that many families and staff members have been deeply affected. We are grateful for the compassion and support shown across our community and remain mindful of those who are facing loss or disruption. We will continue to monitor conditions and stay in communication with local partners as recovery efforts continue.

We also want to share how decisions are made when weather or road conditions impact school schedules. Our transportation department monitors road conditions early each morning and determinations are usually made by 5:15 a.m. Announcements will be sent through district email, text, automatic calls, Facebook, and the district website. When there is no announcement, families should assume that school is operating on its regular schedule.

Making the decision to delay or cancel school is not often easy, especially when weather conditions change quickly. We will announce delays or closures the evening before whenever possible, but announcements might not be made until the morning. Please know we make the best decisions we can based on current information and keeping students and staff safe. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Thank you to everyone who has responded to our Strategic Plan survey. It's not too late to participate and all staff, students, families, and community members are invited to respond. Please use this link to answer a few questions about your hopes and dreams for Mount Baker schools.

https://forms.gle/ckY5F8xLgTf6ERjY7

All responses will be reviewed by a community committee in February. See the Superintendent Update below for information about how you can get involved in the process!

In last month's newsletter, I shared that secondary students and parents would be receiving updated resources and information about our Chromebook process. Those resources will now be coming out in early January through the individual schools.

We are also working to prepare for the launch of the Strategic Plan process. The School Board has done some foundational work reviewing the previous plan and setting the stage for the updated plan. Now we are ready for the next phase where we invite students, staff, and the community to join us in this process. Here are two ways you can get involved:

Community Listening Session: In addition to the online survey, we are inviting the community to an in-person conversation and provide feedback on priorities we should consider for the plan. This Community session will be Jan. 15 from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. in the District Office boardroom. We will send out reminders closer to this date.

Steering Team: The Steering Team is a group open to all interested staff, students, parents, and community members. We will send out invites and additional information about what to expect very soon. This group will play a key role in ensuring that our Strategic Plan represents feedback from our community. We will meet 4 times to review survey feedback, name goal areas, and help draft vision and mission statements. The Steering Team dates are Feb. 9, Feb. 23, March 2, and March 16. All meetings will be from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. in the MBHS Library. If you would like to participate or receive more information about this process, please use this link so we can add you to the team.

-- Superintendent Jessica Schenck

Budget Update: At the December 11 board meeting we discussed the budget revenues, enrollment, fund balance, and plans for the new budget process. Not much has changed since last month in that enrollment is still down about 30 students. This means the district will receive less money from the state for our enrollment. We did finish the 2024-25 school year with a higher than expected $1.8 million fund balance. If maintained, this "savings account" will allow us to exit binding conditions and also be able to accommodate the lower enrollment. As we plan for the 2026-27 school year, however, we will need to make careful decisions to ensure we maintain a healthy fund balance. In February 2026 we will have a Budget Advisory Committee workshop where we will discuss spending priorities. This committee will include staff, students, and community members. Please email jschenck@mtbaker.wednet.edu if you are interested in participating.

The district has updated our reporting system. The new number -- 360-383-5875 -- provides 24/7 notifications to district administrators and will allow us to respond to issues and concerns more quickly. This flyer is on our district website and provides more information as well as other options for reporting. This system can be used for both reporting threats and for making HIB reports.

Mountaineer Moments is the online community newsletter of the Mount Baker School District. 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

Find past issues here:

• October 2025
• November 2025