Just what do CK teachers do in the summertime?

Those lucky teachers.

They work for nine or 10 months a year, goof-off all summer, then wander back in September ... picking up where they left off in June.

When Jeanie Schulze, Central Kitsap School District’s community relations specialist was asked if the above public impression was true, she couldn’t stop laughing.

“It’s certainly true that some of our teachers — if they have the time — take off and enjoy the sun,” she said. “But more than 50 percent of our teachers — and many staffers — are going to school themselves.”

l Summer Institute 2002, held at Klahowya Secondary School June 24-28, got things started by attracting hundreds of educators wanting to get a head start on next year.

Seminars included “Overview of a Legacy of Literacy: New K-6 Core Literacy Adoption,” publisher Houghton Mifflin staffed, with K-6 teachers, instructional assistants, and elementary principals attending; a workshop “Revisiting the Overview” followed; another workshop “Assessment in a Legacy of Literacy” followed.

As the week wore on: “BIG 6 Information Literacy Collaboration Workshop, teachers of grades K-12,” “Technology Tools and Project Learning” teachers 7-12, “Hyper Studio K-6,” “Readers Workshop in Literacy Classrooms 3-4,” “Reciprocal Teaching as an Instructional Strategy 3-9,” “Literacy in Kindergarten Classrooms,” “Putting the Language Arts Puzzle Together 1-2,” etc.

Certain classes were discretionary. Not all teachers went to all classes — but most classes were attended by several hundred teachers, said Schulze.

l Administrators received a two-inch-thick pile of teacher applications to attend other classes and seminars in the county, state or out-of-state, said Renee Overath, Community Schools program specialist.

l Many teachers and staff attended classes at Olympic Educational Services District on National Avenue, in Bremerton.

“Teachers come here from Kitsap, Clallum, Jefferson and north Mason counties,” said Nancy Pittman, secretary/coordinator for the superintendent of the OESD. There are nine ESDs in the state, she said, offering staff development and teacher training throughout the year.

Schulze said teachers need 150 hours a year of training to keep credentials current. There are classes in art, technology, reading, math, special education and advanced placement, among others. “It’s breadth and depth of subjects is pretty strong” at the OESD, she said.

l It’s even possible to spend the summer, or part of it, taking “Bullying and Harassment” offered directly by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Such classes have become popular with teachers since the wave of school shootings began a few years ago.

There are 12,500-13,000 students in CKSD served by 851 teachers.

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