Carre began her educational career as a math and leadership teacher at Keithley Middle School in the Franklin Pierce School District. She also taught 6th grade for four years at Meeker Elementary in Puyallup. She joined the Bremerton School District in 2018 as Assistant Principal at Mountain View.

After graduating from Kent-Meridian High School, Carre earned an AA at Pierce College before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Education with endorsements in Elementary Education and Middle Level Mathematics from Pacific Lutheran University. She went on to earn her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University and her administrative credentials from the University of Washington Tacoma.

Her vision is always to work collaboratively with the Mountain View staff, and move forward as a family in a positive direction.

When away from school, Carre spends her time with her children, puppy and friends. She loves traveling, being outside and eating out.

Victoria (Tori) Fairweather has been named interim assistant principal for Mountain View Middle School for the 2020-21 school year.

Tori began her educational career as a Family and Consumer Sciences and AVID teacher at Kalles Junior High in Puyallup. She joined the Bremerton School District in 2015 as Family and Consumer Sciences teacher and FCCLA advisor at Bremerton High School before taking the position of Dean of Students and Athletic Director at Mountain View MS in 2018.

Tori, a South Kitsap High School graduate, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development with an endorsement in Family and Consumer Sciences from Washington State University. She earned her Master’s degree in Educational Administration and her administrative credentials from Grand Canyon University.

When away from school, she enjoys quality time with her family, friends and pets and she enjoys traveling and exercising - including Crossfit! Tori also considers herself a “foodie.”

Melissa Rohr (pronounced “roar”) has been selected as the new principal at West Hills STEM Academy.

In her 15 years in education, Melissa has taught in the Peninsula, Coupeville and Jurupa Valley, (in East Los Angeles, California) school districts. She was the assistant principal at Patriot High School in Jurupa Valley CA, before joining the Bremerton School District as assistant principal at West Hill STEM Academy for the 2019-20 school year.

In her leadership roles in other districts, Melissa has focused on bringing inclusion and a sense of belonging for students and staff. While working in East Los Angeles, she focused on equity and culturally responsive education. She is committed to data-focused leadership to help direct and move students forward.

Melissa received her Associates from Clark College, her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Washington State University, and her Master’s in Education from Pacific Lutheran University, and her administrative credentials from Western Washington University. She grew up in Shelton and Vancouver, Washington.

Melissa’s has one grown son. Her hobbies include running camping, gardening, motocross racing, boating, and playing guitar. She admits that her world revolves around her dog, a year and a half old Border Collie.

Kelli Andrews has been selected as the new assistant principal for West Hills STEM Academy.

Kelli was the first in her family to go to college but she did not take the traditional path. She joined the Army after graduating from high school and became a Black Hawk pilot. She later went back to school and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Washington, and a Master's in Science in Teaching from Old Dominion University. She earned her administrative credentials from Western Washington University.

Kelli holds a National Board Teaching Certification and has served for 13 years as a biology, biotechnology, and AP biology teacher at Bremerton HIgh School. Kelli has also served in a building leadership role as the Science Department Chair. She believes that education is the key to empowering our students to success and happiness.

She enjoys laughing, traveling, reading and spending time with her husband and three sons.

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The NEA has included this photo of BSD CNS staff member Ashley Ah Chan in an advertisement that pays tribute to teachers during school closures. The ad is running on national TV networks and social media. They saw the photo (which was taken by award-winning photo journalist Larry Steagall who has been doing some contracted photography work for the District) on our Facebook page and reached out to get permission to use it (Thanks, Ashley!).

Check out the ad below. Ashley's picture is at :15 of the 30-second ad.

Compiled by Ioanna Cossack, Board Secretary

Policy News:

A new procedure, 6700P, is available for Policy 6700, Nutrition, Health and Physical Fitness.

The Board held another meeting using the Zoom platform. If this continues for our next meeting, simply go to the BoardDocs website on the day of that meeting, click on the “meeting date,” and a “video” icon will show up that allows you to sign in and be a part of the audience. There will be opportunity for public input as usual.

Public input was received in regard to District plans for helping to address childcare for the community as more people return to the workforce.

There were many “business as usual” items on the Consent Agenda, including a few new agreements as we proceed with the planning for a modernized WST Skills Center, a renewed agreement with Panorama and an agreement with Herff Jones to hold a virtual graduation ceremony. The Human Resource Report announced a new hire for the Director of Special Services (Jonathan Bell), and promotions within: 1) Carre Potis will start the new year off as interim Principal at Mountain View Middle School, and Tori Fairweather as the interim Assistant Principal; 2) at West Hills, Melissa Rohr has been hired as the new Principal and Kelli Andrews is moving over from the high school to serve as their new Assistant Principal. The Board sent their congratulations to all.

Thank you to our Staff! The Board passed Resolutions proclaiming May 4-8 as Teacher Appreciation Week (May 5th as National Teacher Day) and May 6th as School Nurses Day in the Bremerton School District.

The Board also passed two resolutions as recommended by the WA State School Directors Assn. (WSSDA): #16, Adoption of Continuous Learning Plan and Emergency Waiver of School Days and Instructional Hours, and #21, Emergency Waiver of High School Graduation Credits.

Each May, the Board President appoints one member to serve as the School Board WIAA (WA Interscholastic Activities Assn.) Representative. Director Hurley has agreed to continue in this position for the 2020/21 school year. The Board also passed its annual resolution reinstating our membership with the W.I.A.A.

Student Report to the Board

Kudos to all of the BHS staff who are working so hard to maintain the many important traditions and activities for our high school students - especially seniors.

Be sure to check out the Department Awards "assembly" and the Knighting "ceremony" recently posted on Bremerton Knights TV.

On Monday, BHS hosted a "drive-thru" event for seniors to pick up their caps and gowns, honor cords, diploma covers, etc. Check out the video made by Jay Montgomery below.

The Kitsap Sun sent a photographer (see link to the Kitsap Sun's photos below). We also had a District photographer at the event and those photos have been posted on Facebook so families can comment, tag, share and/or download.

Note: you may want to grab a tissue.

Due to the potential changes in what school might look like in the fall, the Foundation Board has extended the grant deadline to September, 11. Our hope is to give staff an opportunity to submit a grant for items or projects that will meet their needs for a changing school environment. All Bremerton staff are eligible to submit a grant that supports student learning and the school experience.

• Grants are due on Friday, September 11th
• Recipients will be announced on Friday, September 18th
• Questions? Contact Julie Wasserburger at 360-620-8411 or wasser3@comcast.net

BIG shout-out to WHSA preschool teacher Katrina Jones, former BSD staff member Donna Gearns, and members of Abundant Life Foursquare Church for sewing more than 150 masks for our staff to wear while distributing meals.

Important reminder for staff: All staff helping with meal distribution must follow social distancing guidelines.

• Gloves are required *
• Face masks are strongly encouraged *

*Both will be provided by the District.

Please see the guidance document below for details.

During times such as these, full of stress and unknown, community is more important than ever. However, the current public health practice of “social distancing”, while critical for flattening the curve of this pandemic, is a huge barrier for our community to naturally give and receive the support they need, the very type of support that can transform toxic stress into tolerable stress.

Kitsap Strong is fundamentally focused on helping to make sure that the stress families are facing due to COVID-19 does not become "toxic stress", and we recognize that it absolutely has that potential. This is why we are excited to announce the launch of Kitsap Strong's Virtual Community Center. Our goal is to help our community find connection through “regulation” activities/practices (regulation refers to science-informed activities that help individuals manage stress; art, music, drumming, singing, movement, play, breathing, mindfulness, etc.) all while still practicing social distancing and gathering virtually.

Our Virtual Community Center will be launching tomorrow and will run for approximately two weeks. Information on all available content will be posted to the Kitsap Strong Facebook page via events. Each virtual session will be provided via zoom or previously recorded videos and is all free to our community. We are also exploring other accessible ways to share this content with community who aren’t currently online.

Please help us spread the word with all of the families in your life! We look forward to becoming part of their community! Thank you for helping make Kitsap strong!

Our buildings may be closed, but we've got some great stuff happening in the District. We want to tell our story via social media with a "campaign" called: What does home-based learning look like? We will be featuring examples of different home-based learning on the District's Facebook page (see example on right).

BSD staff are encouraged to submit photos and videos of “home-based learning”

• Submissions MUST include brief-write-up to explain the photo/video. This is a chance for us to showcase the great stuff we are doing and share all of your creative ideas!
• Students will not be named in any social media post but must be cleared for opt-outs prior to submitting.
• If you do not have access to your building's opt-out list, please email your OC the names of the students and ask them for assistance. Thank you, OCs!
• While we will not be using student names in the posts, we can use student grade, school, teacher's name and/or subject.
• I will tag buildings when I feature staff/students from that building.
• In each post, we'll ask families to comment with their pictures of what "home-based learning" looks like for them. We may end up featuring some of these in posts down the road. But we are currently NOT going to ask families to send in photos by email.
• Staff should send photos and information to Karen.Bevers@BremertonSchools.org
• It doesn't have to be a perfect or super artistic photo....It is about telling our story - not perfection!
• NO RUSH on this. I plan to continue doing this through the remainder of the school year so this is an ongoing request!

The amazing Joe Marquez, tech guru extraordinaire, has offered us weekly drop-in tech help on Wednesdays from noon to 1 pm. Stop by to get your tech questions answered! https://zoom.us/j/966825544

And for more tech help, especially as it relates to this brave new online learning world we're exploring together, visit BSDTeach. There's a whole new section on Digital Teaching and Learning you can find here: https://sites.google.com/bremertonschools.org/bsd-teach/instruction-and-engagement/school-closure-resources-for-teachers

If you need assistance, you can also contact Kati Carthum (360-473-1056).

• View past issues of the Staff Updates newsletter
• Submit ideas or content for the Staff Updates newsletter to: Karen.Bevers@BremertonSchools.org

BSD Staff Updates Newsletter 2019-20 / Issue #18 : 5/12/2020

Photo: BHS "drive-thru" event (photo by Larry Steagall).

Website: www.bremertonschools.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BremertonSchools/
Twitter: @BremertonSD