Attachment #1

Attachment #1

October 10, 2002

Dr. Alison Olzendam

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Education

668 North Riverpoint Boulevard, Box B

Spokane, WA  99202-1662

Dear Dr. Olzendam,

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has developed a wonderful approach to a very worthwhile concept through this incredible grant, the Connecting Schools and Communities Initiative.  Thank you for making this opportunity available to Friday Harbor High School.       

High School Principal, Marilyn Luckman has demonstrated an extremely high level of leadership in coordinating the school and community partnership proposal for this initiative.  Since my appointment as Superintendent in August, I have been impressed with her visionary leadership, charismatic energy, and clear focus on the essential elements to improve and sustain a high performance high school.  She was selected as the high school’s leader just over a year ago due to her record of strong leadership, ability to set clear goals for instructional improvement, and strengths in motivating and sustaining change over time.  Her leadership in developing this proposal has galvanized community support, energized our faculty and staff, and opened a world of possibility for continuing our transformation as a high tech school district with extensive community support.

Your initiative creates tremendous challenges and opportunities.   Our board policies and administrative practices have been carefully crafted to support our schools, to restructure curriculum and instructional practices, to remove barriers and create capacity for flexibility and innovation, and to empower our principals as leaders and decision-makers.  You can be assured that Friday Harbor High School has the confidence and support of the Board of Directors and Administration through policy and practice to fully implement this initiative.  You also have my assurance that initiative funds will be used solely for the high school and that budgeted funds allocated to the school will be sustained at current levels.  In addition, I believe we can expect to receive additional funding to support this initiative through our community partners such as the San Juan Public Schools Foundation and the San Juan Community Foundation.

Essential to this effort is the continuing development of our professional staff.  We will continue to improve upon our school calendar and schedule to increase opportunities for staff collaboration and planning time.  We will continue to build the capacity of our staff through professional development linked to enhancing student performance.  We will continue to honor and recognize our teaching professionals for the success of their students.  We will maintain our focus, evaluate our progress, make intelligent choices, and succeed in attaining our goals.

I applaud your leadership and the vision of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and look forward with great hopefulness to being a partner with you in implementing the Connecting Schools and Communities Initiative at Friday Harbor High School.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Soltman

Superintendent of Schools

October 10, 2002

Dr. Alison Olzendam

Washington State University

College of Education

668 North Riverpoint Boulevard, Box B

Spokane, WA  99202-1662

Dear Dr. Olzendam,

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for making this opportunity available and also to applaud you for the exceptional way in which you have facilitated this effort. 

I commend High School Principal, Marilyn Luckman, Vocational Education Director, Larry Wight and many others who have worked in preparation for this grant.  I believe this effort in itself demonstrates strong evidence of Friday Harbor High School’s ability and willingness to pursue the means towards becoming an even higher achieving school than we are already.

As you may know, our high school was in the process of restructuring curriculum, teaching practice, and school culture prior to the application for this grant.  The Board has endorsed this process by recognizing that the Principal, in consultation and collaboration with the District Management Team, needed the authority and support, as well as the agility, to work towards these improvements.  By adopting a policy that established a Learning Improvement Team (LIT) for the school, consisting of the Principal, teachers, parents and students, the Board recognized the important work to be done in school improvement, and has regularly reviewed the work of the LIT in open, public sessions with members of our community.  Furthermore, the Board recognizes the need for and supports the allocation of time necessary for teachers to collaborate in order to effect these improvements.

The High School has the full cooperation of the District in this matter and the assurance that the applied for funds will be used solely for the high school, while maintaining all current budget allocations.  Finally, we understand that Marilyn Luckman, Principal of Friday Harbor High School will be the on-site evaluator, working with the foundation evaluators to monitor and record reform activities.

Thank you again for making this opportunity possible.  I look forward to the positive results of this interaction between our community and our high school with the enhancement of the Connecting Schools and Communities Initiative.

Sincerely,

Boyd C. Pratt

Chairman of the Board