Federal Way school district responds to parent concerns, Star Lake teacher shortages

Published 9:00 am Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Nichole Becker, once the PTA president at Star Lake Elementary, can no longer keep her child at the school she once played a significant role at.

“We happen to be one of the families who choice-enrolled our son into another school,” Becker said, noting that he’ll attend Meredith Hill Elementary in September. “We just felt that it’s going to take time to heal, but our kids don’t have that kind of time.”

The “time” Becker refers to is the time it will take to develop a sense of community after the recent loss of around 30 percent of Star Lake Elementary’s certificated staff – teachers, principals, etc. – throughout this school year.

Federal Way Public Schools officials wouldn’t confirm precisely how many teachers left the school this year, but Superintendent Dr. Tammy Campbell speculated that the percentage of exiting certificated staff could be greater than 30 percent.

Becker was one of six parents who voiced concerns over the losses at a June 14 school board meeting.

“Star Lake has really been a source of pride for our and many other families in our community,” said Jason Mattson, a parent of one Star Lake student and one alumni, at the board meeting. “Over the last few years, however, under the new school administration, morale has seemed at a steady decline, culminating with the recent notice that over a third of our staff are departing the school for other opportunities.”

All of the parents who spoke at the school board meeting said teachers were leaving because of poor management, and despite numerous attempts to provide training or fix the situation, solutions fell short.

Shannon McCann, president of the Federal Way Education Association teacher’s union, confirmed there have been “climate concerns” at Star Lake, but she couldn’t provide an official count of resignations because the “cut-off” date for resigning teachers isn’t until this Sunday.

“Since this news came out, several families have determined that this situation is too far gone and have submitted choice enrollment applications to attend other schools,” Mattson said. “No one I’ve heard from wants to leave the school, but some feel that it’s in their child’s best interest to finish their elementary education elsewhere.”

Mattson requested the district give priority status to students and parents who wished to opt out of Star Lake.

Federal Way school district spokeswoman Kassie Swenson didn’t answer whether that status would be granted, but she said “the district’s choice enrollment rates from last year’s spring 2015 enrollment were no higher than our spring 2016 choice enrollment.”

According to parents, a combined 65 years of teacher experience was lost, including experience in specialized fields like speech, counseling and English language learning.

“Four lost over the year held National Board Certification,” said Carolyn Kraemer, a Star Lake parent who spoke at the meeting. “Most have left the district.”

Kraemer said she believes it will be hard to fill the positions over the summer, given the “hiring climate in Federal Way.”

In an interview, Campbell acknowledged the difficulty of hiring quality teachers because of a severe teacher shortage in not only her district but in the region, state and nation. However, she said the overall teacher shortage makes it hard to determine the root cause of the loss at Star Lake.

“When I talk to superintendents when we meet, this is happening all over the region, and I’d hate to ascribe this thing to why all those people are leaving,” Campbell said. “And without us being able to talk to each and every one of them, it’s hearsay and it’s conjecture whether or not they were actually leaving for those reasons.”

Campbell said the “truth is, people can make a little bit more money right in Auburn.”

“I’ve been in education almost 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Campbell said of the teacher shortage. “So what that means, teachers have opportunities to go to other districts, make more money and be close to home – it’s truly a market where they get to choose, in a way.”

McCann said the high teacher turnover in the district and others, combined with those who are retiring, is “absolutely symptomatic of the predicament our legislature has failed to solve for our students, families, Federal Way Education Association and Federal Way Public Schools.

“Federal Way educators know what’s best for our kids, and upon hearing yet another Olympia Band-Aid for more [expensive] testing, educators are choosing to leave the field,” she said. “What is also glaringly obvious is that despite the Federal Way Education Association and Federal Way Public Schools’ partnership to recruit and retain educators, the failure of many of our elected officials to fully fund education is punishing not only Star Lake but all of our Federal Way Public Schools.”

Regardless of the reason for teachers leaving Star Lake Elementary, Campbell said the district has been responsive to parents and staff’s concerns. She met with parents after the June 14 school board meeting and talked with them at greater length.

“I wanted to assure them that we took this seriously,” Campbell said.

Prior to the board meeting, the district helped facilitate a staff and parent survey through the Center for Educational Effectiveness because they had “heard the rumblings.”

“But you can’t just go in a school and say, ‘We’re going to get rid of your principal because some people don’t like you,'” she said. “People have rights; you can’t do any of that.”

Approximately 147 parents were surveyed, and Star Lake Elementary Principal Kris Rennie emailed a summary of the results to parents on June 30.

The survey indicated Star Lake had strengths in standards and expectations, parent/teacher relationships, respect to cultures and a supportive learning environment, among others.

But the school fell short in two specific areas.

“As in all data, we need to find the time to celebrate strengths, but we also cannot turn a blind eye to areas of concern,” Rennie wrote in the email to parents. “The CEE (Center for Educational Effectiveness) data from parents and families has clearly identified two overarching areas of concern: 1. the need for effective leadership, and 2. parent/community involvement. These areas of concern highlight that I need to strengthen my leadership and collaboration skills to lead our work in determining the causes for these beliefs and intentionally build a process for healing, building trust and positively moving forward.”

Rennie and Campbell said parents would receive more information on the results of the survey at the first Star Lake Family Forum sometime in August. From there, the district and Star Lake’s administration will develop action plans centered around that data.

“The bottom line is that we’re wanting to be open and responsive to our community, to our parents and to staff,” Campbell said. “And the work of teaching and creating an environment for students and learning, that’s complex work. And whenever you’re engaged in complex work, you’re always going to have opportunities to get better, and I see this as an opportunity to listen to the data and get better.”