Washington Elementary School District Welcomes You!
Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year. The Washington Elementary School District (WESD) is a great place for children to learn, for staff to work, and for parents and community members to be involved. Our mission in the WESD is student achievement, preparing all students to become responsible, successful contributors to our diverse society. Every day in each of our 32 elementary and middle schools, teachers and the people who support them are doing their best to provide a quality education for your children.
I am so proud of our staff of more than 3,000 employees who serve the students and families in our District. They truly live our vision of achieving excellence for every child, every day, every opportunity. I am proud of the direction we are going to support the education and success of our 24,000 WESD students.
This year promises to be one of progress in the WESD. This past year, we identified five strategic areas of concentration and implemented action plans for each. These areas are:
I invite you to take a look at the action plans and our progress on each of them. They are on the Web site under "Vision, Mission and Values."
Reflected in those plans is a focus on energy conservation in each of our buildings, with a goal of reducing energy consumption 10 percent at each site.
Our Vision, Mission, and Values as well as our strategic action plans are focused directly on our students and families whom we serve. We have:
- More than 24,000 students in 32 ethnically diverse elementary and middle schools (Approximately 38 percent of District students are Caucasian, 48 percent Hispanic, 7 percent Black, 4 percent American Indian, 3 percent Asian.)
- Full-day Kindergarten programs in all of our 27 elementary schools.
- Music, art, and physical education programs in all schools.
- Gifted Services at all schools, with approximately 1,700 students being challenged beyond the traditional classroom setting, including two self-contained programs that serve highly gifted students.
- District-wide English Language Development Program to support the more than 50 different languages that are represented in our schools.
- Title I services, which offer supplemental education for identified students in need of additional assistance in 22 schools.
- Special Education services provided to approximately 15 percent of the student population.
- After-school programs at all 32 schools to meet the needs of school communities.
- A diverse staff of more than 3,000 employees, including 1,500 teachers, 1,400 support staff, and 100 administrators.
- A strong mix of teaching experience, from first-year teachers to veterans with 25 years and more of teaching experience.
I have unwavering faith that, by working together, we can ensure that Washington Elementary School District is a great place to work and learn and that we can continue to be responsible stewards of all of our resources.
With warm regards,
Dr. Susie Cook
Superintendent