Griffin School District Participating in “Food to Flowers Lunchroom Recycling”

On February 1, 2010, the Griffin School District kicked off their participation in Thurston County’s Food to Flowers program. Thurston County staff weighed all of the trash and all of the organics and other recyclables generated by the students in the lunchroom for the first 5 days of the program from February 1 to February 5, 2010.

The results are impressive. Students are doing a great job separating out food, soiled paper and other recyclables to be made into compost and other valuable products. As a result of their efforts, about 90% of what used to be thrown in the trash in the lunchroom is now being composted or recycled. For a full school year, that’s about 12 tons of food and soiled paper and about 720 pounds of recyclables that are no longer being sent to the landfill. A graph illustrating this data is included below.

All of this and the program is just getting started. Kitchen staff are already separating out their organic kitchen scraps for composting and a bin for compostable material has been set up in the staff break room. The next steps in the program include collecting paper towels from the bathrooms and expanding the collection of recyclables in the classroom.

For more information on the Food to Flowers program, contact Peter Guttchen at (360) 709-3013, guttchp@co.thurston.wa.us, http://www.thurstonsolidwaste.org/

Griffin School Levy Request Goes to Voters; Rate Among Lowest in County

The Griffin School District will send a Maintenance and Operations Replacement Levy to voters this February 9, 2010. While the levy, described in a flyer distributed by the school district, will produce one of the lowest levy rates among districts seeking voter approval that day, the amount collected represents the highest percentage of those district operating budgets. Our local school district has an excellent track record in the judicious use of property owner’s dollars and I am writing here to encourage my fellow voters to approve the levy.

As reported recently in The Olympian, expected rates for this levy are $1.92 per $1,000 in assessed value in 2011 and $2.11 per $1,000 in assessed value in 2012. The rate is considerably lower than levies asked from North Thurston, Tumwater, Rainier, and Rochester Tenino districts. In 2009, Griffin’s levy collection rate placed it second lowest in school districts county-wide. However, The Olympian is reporting money from all levies represents nearly 24% of the District’s operating budget.

47% of the money collected will go to pay for educational programs and district-wide services including maintaining smaller classes, playground supervision and special education; 42% pays to send our high schoolers to other districts, mainly the Olympia School District; and 11% will go to transportation.

This levy is not a new tax. It replaces or renews the existing maintenance and operations levy, which expires at the end of the 2010 calendar year.

The Olympian reports that “Local districts have made millions of dollars in cuts in the past few years because of cuts in state funding.” This levy will provide important money to our local top-performing school district. Ballots are coming in the mail soon. Once you learn more about this levy request, I think you’ll join me in voting in favor.

Click here to read a copy of the Griffin School District’s flyer describing the 2010 Maintenance and Operations Replacement Levy.

– MARK MESSINGER

Health & Safety Fair This Saturday

Sponsored by Griffin PTO, Griffin’s Health Advisory & Safe Schools/Caring Climate Committees, a Health and Safety Fair will be held this Saturday at Griffin School.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
10:00 a.m. to Noon

It’s fun and free! Enjoy interactive activities, games, contests and more! The Health & Safety Fair is an event to increase health & safety awareness by providing health screenings, activities, and materials for students and community members.

Get Your Flu Shot ($25.00)

The West Side Safeway Pharmacy is offering flu shots again for a fraction of the cost! Bring your medical card and you may be able to get your flu shot for free! Your insurance can also be billed. You must be 11 years old or older! Also, H1N1 shots will be offered if vaccinations are available at this time.

Meet Smokey Bear!

Want to meet Smokey Bear & pledge to do your part to prevent wildfires? Try on “Bunker Gear” & see what its like to feel like a real fire fighter. Take the smoke house challenge and learn how to create a safety plan for your family. Visit the Griffin Fire Dept. Booth at this year’s fair.

Race Wacky Trikes!

Monitor your resting heart rate and your active heart rate as you race competitors on “Wacky Trikes” through an inflatable race track! This is great exercise and lots of fun for kids and adults too!

Visit “Germ City”

Think your hands are clean? Think again! Visit Germ City again at this year’s fair and see just how clean your hands really are. Germ City is walk through booth provided by Thurston County Health Department!

Take Advantage of “Iris Recognition Technology”

Have a high resolution digital photograph of your child’s eye (iris) taken for identity purposes and get a one of a kind I.D. Card provided by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office!

Griffin Transportation Department

Learn how Griffin School District keeps your students safe while they are transported to and from school. Meet some of our bus drivers, and watch a cool bus safety video!

Advanced Medical Supplies

Did you know that Griffin School currently has two defibrillators? Do you know what a defibrillator is? Staff members from Advanced Medical Supplies will be on hand to help you learn the basics of CPR, as well as how to recognize and use a defibrillator.

Help Stop Crime with Crime Stoppers!

Learn how you can help stop crime by visiting the Crime Stoppers booth at this year’s fair. Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater Police Departments along with Thurston County Sheriff’s Office will make you an honorary Crime Stopper when you visit their booth!

Learn How Loud too Loud is . . .

Watch as your hearing is being tested with Kelley Powers, M.A. Clinical Audiologist from ENT and Associates! She will help you find out what ‘hair cells,” “tinnitus” and “turn it to the left” have in common. See the smallest bones in your body and learn how your hearing works.

Simon Says . . . Dance, Dance, Dance Revolution!

Participate in a Simon Says style music game (Dance, Dance Revolution). Come see if you have rhythm then step onto the stage and prove it! You’ll love dancing to the rhythm as you get your excise!

Techniques for Helping Kids Manage Stress

The Family Support Center will offer stress management techniques, information and activities for Griffin Kids. Students will get to decorate cards with information they learn hands-on.

Quake Ready Earthquake Kits

Do you have the supplies you need in the event of and earthquake? Don’t have time to prepare? Quake Ready Kits does it for you. Purchase car kits, home kits, large or small!

Play PTO BINGO, & Enter to win DOOR PRIZES (Sponsored by the PTO)!

WASL Scores: Significant Improvement for Griffin, but Capital Lags District

The WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) scores and trend analysis are now available on the web site of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. While a complete analysis of the scores is beyond the scope of this article, when compared to last years’ showing, Griffin showed significant – in some cases very significant – improvement in most grade levels and subjects tested. And, the performance of Griffin students generally place them in scores higher than other districts in the State. The story at Capital High, on the other hand, is of performance which has taken a downward trend, this last year, and continues to place Capital’s overall scores below the numbers for all high schools in the Olympia School District.

Click here for the Griffin School District’s summary page.

Click here for the page from which you can navigate to trending information for specific grade levels at Griffin.

Click here for the Capital High summary page.

Click here for Capital High’s trending information.

At Griffin, students in grades 3 through 8 sit for the WASL in two or three subject areas. Students in Grades 3 and 6 are tested in reading and match. Students in grades 4 and 7 are tested in reading, writing and math. Grades 5 and 8 are tested in reading, math and science. This last year, scores in most grades and subjects reversed the dip they had taken in the 2007-2008 school year.

Fairly consistently, students at Griffin are achieving scores above the average throughout the State.

The Griffin School District is justified in being proud of its performance in this last years WASL testing. After a dip in the prior year’s test scores, the 2008-2009 scores generally bounced back, some by quite a bit.

At Capital, 10th Grade students sit for the WASL in four subject areas: reading, writing, math and science. After showing improvement in writing, science and math over the last few years, performance in last year’s WASL was off slightly. After reaching its peak, in 2005-06, Capital’s score in the reading WASL continued to decline in 2008-09. In all four subject areas, Capital lags the average for Olympia School District 10th graders.

Randy Dorn, the new Superintendent of Public Instruction, was voted into office largely on his campaign promises to reform WASL. WASL has since been replaced by the grades 3-8 Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) and the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE).

Latest Issue of “GriffinLink” Now Available Online

The August, 2009 issue of the Griffin School District newsletter, “GriffinLink,” is now available online. Click here for your copy.

This issue features an article highlighting the many ways the public can become involved in planning, including the Budget & Finance Advisory Task Force and the Safe Schools/Caring Climate Committee.

There are messages from Superintendent Don Brannam, Principal Greg Woods, Assistant Principal Doug Andersen, and Griffin School Board Chair Brenna English.

Along with the September and October calendar of events, there’s lots of beginning-of-the-year information.

If you’ve got a student going to Griffin, this year, you won’t want to miss this issue of the GriffinLink.

Click here to visit the web site of the Griffin School District.

Griffin parents can now receive important school district alerts on Twitter. Just follow @Griffin SD FA.

Griffin School District Budget Details Now Online

Like most school districts in the state, our local Griffin School District is under a great deal of financial pressure. Responding to heightened community awareness and (some) increased participation in the process of budgeting for next school year, the District has posted a considerable quantity of information on its web site.

Click here for the Griffin School District web site. Then, select the link to “Current Budget Planning Updates.”

Griffin’s Saturday Morning Networking Breakfast – April 18

Griffin’s Saturday Morning Networking Breakfast: Strategies for Dealing with a Tough Economy and a Tougher Employment Market.

Saturday, April 18th
8:30-9:30 A.M.
Griffin School Grizzly Grill

Why: To provide Griffin Community Members an opportunity to meet one another and to build strong business and social networks – resulting in an even stronger community.

Short program provided: Importance of Building a Network in a Tough Economy.

This is a great opportunity for community members who are unemployed, underemployed, and/or looking to improve or expand business.

Who: Open to any Griffin resident wanting to come together with other community members to develop business and/or social friendships.

What: Short stack breakfast (donations welcome), great conversations and dialogue with others while expanding your network of business and social friendships.

When: First breakfast is Saturday, April 18, 2009 from 8:30-9:30 A.M.

With a good turnout at the first breakfast, future events will be scheduled for the first Saturday of each month.

Where: Griffin School Grizzly Grill

Come and Join Us!

Breakfast Sponsors:
Griffin Neighborhood Association,
Griffin School District
and a community of volunteers.

Note – RSVP for Breakfast:
Please call Don Brannam (360) 866-4918 x104 or email dbrannam@griffin.k12.wa.us

Help get out the word! Click here to download a copy of the flyer for this breakfast.

Griffin School District Unveils New Web Site

The Griffin School District has come out with a dramatically redesigned web site. Area parents will really appreciate the new layout, which makes it easy to navigate to the school calendar and to access lunch menus, emergency contacts, teacher information and information regarding the Griffin PTO, Griffin Foundation and the school board.

“The site will incorporate premier website technologies, such as interactive school calendars, teacher class pages, news and announcements functions and even a special programming that connects parents to students’ schedules. In addition, the site allows several innovative functions, including interactive multimedia blogs, the ability for students to submit their homework online and much more.

This solution also provides a significant saving in the maintenance of the Griffin web site. The service is outsourced and negates the need to replace an aging web server. It also meets guidelines for federal funding.”

We also like the links to online educational resources, such as Encarta Academic and the Timberland Regional Library District.

The new site is located at http://griffin.schoolfusion.us/ and there’s a message, on the old site, which refers browsers to this new address.

We compliment the Griffin School District and their technology faculty member, Pat Passmore, on this much-improved web presence.

Congratulations, Griffin School District, for Meeting Federal Benchmarks

Four paragraphs in to an article in The Olympian entitled “7 school districts fail U.S. standard” we read, “In Thurston County, only the Griffin School District, a small K-8 district with one school, was listed as having made Adequate Yearly Progress, which means it met all the federal benchmarks.”

We say, “Congratulations!” to Dr. Donald L. Brannam, the teaching staff, administrators, and School Board of the Griffin School District. And, lest we not forget, all the students and their parents.

We’re proud of our school district; it’s one of the reasons many of us moved to this area.

Don’t forget, there’s an opportunity to directly support the Griffin School District by attending the Griffin Foundation Benefit Auction Saturday, September 13. Tickets are available at the Island Market. Click here for more information.

Click here to read the Griffin School District’s page, on the “Washington State Report Card.”

Click here to visit the Griffin School District’s web site.

Griffin School District Releases “Levy 101” Information on Upcoming Levy

An insert in the latest issue of the “GriffinLink,” sent to many postal customers within the school district, contains a description of and background information for the upcoming Maintenance & Operations Renewal Levy. This levy, which will be sent to voters in the upcoming Presidential Primary, on February 19, asks for approval to renew the levy approved by voters in February, 2006.

Among other details, the insert to GriffinLink provides a history of M & O Levies, dating back to 2001, and illustrations which show how rising home values don’t necessarily increase the amount of school taxes collected.

It appears the GriffinLink is not available online, but we have scanned a copy of the levy insert and it is available for download. Click this link.

Should you wish to read the entire 10-page issue of the GriffinLink, you may download that using this link.

Other documents are available, too, regarding the levy, on the Griffin School District’s web site. Go to http://www.griffin.k12.wa.us/ and seek out the link for “Levy Information.”