Reelected school board members Richard Eckert and Breana Martinez were sworn into office by Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson at a recent school board meeting.

Erickson recognized the efforts of the school board during COVID-19.

“This is an interesting time to be a school board director, and all of you have been working very hard for the well-being of our children,” she said.

The board elected Nancy Moffatt as board president, Mike Desmond vice president, and made the following appointments: legislative representative Cindy Webster-Martinson; school board liaison to WIAA is Desmond; Webster-Martinson is the liaison to the Port Gamble S’Klallam & Suquamish Tribal Councils; Eckert is liaison to the city; and Martinez will be liaison to Kingston.

Presidents of the Rotary Clubs of Poulsbo, Crossroads and Kingston thanked North Kitsap School District employees in response to the superintendent’s recent appeal to find ways to emphasize the outstanding efforts of district staff during the pandemic.

“We care really deeply about our community,” Poulsbo Rotary Club president Donna Pledger said. As a result, club member Don Russell spearheaded a community service project that delivered 14 cakes and cookies to 14 principals and directors and their staff in the district.

Referring to superintendent Laurynn Evans, Russell said, “This whole thing happened because of her. She said they need to be thanked. It was fun, and we’ll do it again.”

Central Market created the cakes with a 40% price reduction, Sluys bakery donated cookies, Coffee Oasis provided coffee cards and club members wrote thank you notes for district employees.

Evans updated the board on main initiatives for the strategic plan and partnering with staff as well as providing training on areas of focus.

“We continue to focus on both academic recovery and academic extension, as well as social, emotional learning,” she said.

Last month the district administered a survey to students, staff and parents through a platform called Panorama, which is used by many districts to gather data. The district intends to use the data to create a dashboard to share academic performance and survey responses with the public.

“This year we are collecting our baseline data, and we have a very systemic approach that we’re using for that, and we’re doing that for areas that are more qualitative in nature, like social-emotional wellness,” Evans said, adding she expects a report in early 2022.

Evans also said the district Public Records department has recently begun posting requests on its website. There are 51 public records requests for January through December 2021 listed, which includes staff costs for each request, which range from $41.29 to $1,800.40.