The Reporter sat down with Issaquah School District Superintendent Steve Rasmussen to discuss his perspective on goals and issues the district is facing in the new school year.
Q: What issues do you want to focus on this year?
Steve Rasmussen: We’re always focused on instruction, and improving instruction so that all kids can learn at high levels.
We have an emphasis on thinking skills, including all kinds of strategies that cause kids to go deeper into their learning, whether it’s math, history or science.
We’re also focused on really incorporating state standards that kids are expected to learn.
Q: Last year Challenger Elementary had a Cougar or Husky pride day. What colors would you wear?
A: There are only two colors I would wear, crimson and grey. There is no question.
All three of my degrees are from Washington State – bachelors, masters and doctorate. For 23 years, my wife and I have always gone to the home games.
We think it’s important kids have fun, and staff have fun. We also think it’s important that kids get exposed to both colleges so they can someday go to either one.
Q: The community achieved something remarkable with raising money for the new elementary science curriculum this year.
A: We have a community that is highly engaged in our schools, and we want them to be. This is just one way our parents and community could come together during these tough times. They said, “We don’t want our science curriculum to go any longer without meeting state standards.”
Q: The district got through a second round of major cuts relatively unscathed thanks to voter levies and planning. Are you nervous that the next state budget could force program cuts?
A: We’re always fearful of that. You plan for the worst, and hope for the best. We’re watching every penny we have. When we have to make key decisions, we make them with those impending cuts in mind.
We’re also building our reserves, and we’re watching how we’re spending our money now.
We’ve read all the news articles, and our business office is working with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Office of Fiscal Management so that we have some ideas about what may be coming our way. It’s our plan to expect those cuts to come
But the most important thing that’s going on is that we have kids who need to be educated. That’s where we’re going to be putting our effort.
We’re not going to worry about the things we can’t control, but we are going to worry about the things we can control.
Q: You supported putting a facilities bond levy on the ballot next year. Are you confident people are going to support it?
A: Our community knows the value of having quality schools for their kids for several reasons. For one, they want their kids to learn and continue their education to college.
The other thing is that a quality school enhances the community. It makes it attractive for people to come, learn, live and work.
We want to attract some of the best teachers. Even in these tough times, we’re still hiring 100 teachers a year.
Also, the longer you wait to improve your facilities, the more expensive education becomes. Districts that wait until their facilities are falling down around them, have a hard time passing levies, because they’re too big.
Q: What are you looking forward to the most this coming school year?
A: I love beginnings. We are looking forward to the academic success of our kids, and having our teachers engage our kids with the rigorous and high quality work that we give them.
We’re also looking forward to continued training with our teachers. We want our staff to continue learning more about their craft.
Along the way we’re also engaged in continuing a third year of what we call our star protocol, where we encourage teachers to work together.
