

We Are Bremerton!
BSD's monthly community e-newsletter
February 2025
Bremerton Voices: The second annual all-elementary choir concert was a success!
Nearly 200 students in grades 3-5 from all six of our elementary schools “wowed!” a packed house at the Bremerton High School Performing Arts Center (PAC) last week for the second annual Bremerton Voices elementary choir concert. To prepare for the performance, students rehearsed outside of their music class, coming for morning rehearsals, giving up their lunchtime recess or staying after school starting in October, coming together for a dress rehearsal where they sang together for the first time as one choir - called Bremerton Voices - before the big show on February 19.
In its second year, the Bremerton Voices concert has quickly become a tradition that our music teachers and students look forward to every year. We want to thank all of our elementary music specialists for all of their efforts. Special thanks are also in order for Kathryn Donaldson, our middle school choir director for all of her work behind the scenes, as well as our concert accompanist, Wendy McPhetres (BHS choir director), and the District Music Coordinator and BHS band/orchestra director Max Karler. Events like this are not possible without the support of our family members and our school and broader Bremerton community as well. All of our music programs are funded with local levy dollars so thank you to the community for their continued support of our students!
We invite you to view more photos here.
February is CTE Month
Our Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program helps students build real-world skills for their future careers. Through hands-on learning experiences, we prepare students for success, whether they plan to attend college, join the military, or start their career after high school.
Our program areas include business & marketing, health science, family and consumer science, STEM, and skilled & technical. We invite you to learn more about our CTE course offerings on our website at BremertonSchools.org/CTE.
Renaissance High School Archery Team competes in statewide tournament
The newly-formed Renaissance High School Archery Team competed in their first statewide tournament in Lynden, Washington earlier this month.
This fall, RHS launched a NASP National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) as a part of their PE curriculum. The National Archery in the Schools Program is an in-school program aimed at improving educational performance among students in grades 4-12. Through the program, students are learning focus, self-control, discipline, patience, and the life lessons required to be successful in the classroom and in life.
The tournament in Lynden was the first time that Renaissance High School was represented at an athletic event in the history of the school, and Archery Coach and RHS teacher Jeff Bevers couldn’t be more proud of his athletes.
“The growth of each student was tremendous from start to finish,” said Coach Bevers. “The discipline and focus they cultivated through archery training were clearly reflected in their success in the classroom and in their school attendance.”
The program has contributed to the athletes feeling a sense of belonging and a connection with their team and their school, and has given students a greater sense of confidence. “At the beginning of the tournament, students felt like they didn't belong. By the end they couldn't wait to come back,” said Coach Bevers.
RHS will continue to offer archery as a PE class and students will have an opportunity to qualify for the team with their academic performance and attendance, and participate in more tournaments this spring and next school year.
BHS well-represented at All Northwest and All State music events
Eight BHS choir students recently traveled to Spokane to participate in the All Northwest and All State music events. Last fall, these students (among thousands of other students across the NW) went through a rigorous audition process and were selected to be the top singers and placed into the All Northwest Choir, which includes Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and the All State (Washington) Choir.
While in Spokane, the students were divided into three different choirs led by three different guest conductors. Musicians rehearsed Friday afternoon and evening until 9 pm and all day Saturday, culminating in a concert Saturday afternoon. Congratulations to all of our talented singers!
Orienteering athletes wrap up another successful season!
The Bremerton Orienteering team wrapped up another successful season at the Championships in Point Defiance Park this past weekend. Orienteering is a sport that involves using a map and compass to navigate to specific points in the outdoors. The season and championships had students working through various difficult scenarios, dealing with wet and unpredictable weather, hilly and muddy terrain and courses that had newly fallen trees.
The District’s Orienteering team, which is a part of the Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League, includes students from both Mountain View Middle School and Bremerton High School.
Our Orienteering Team added a MVMS team this year, in addition to the high school Rookie team, a Junior Varsity team, and a Varsity Team. At last week's championships, the Rookie team finished first of 11 teams and the Varsity team finished second of 6 teams--missing first place by just 10 points.
We had a number of students who individually had tremendous success this year. Anakin Petheram finished 1st for the season in the Rookie category. Maynor Pablo Mendoza finished 4th for the season, Adrian Tirador finished 6th and Carlos Torres finished 9th out of 67 first year runners for the season. Bremerton swept the podium at the Championships last weekend, with Maynor Pablo Mendoza, Alex Boyer and Phunaret Kulrat taking 1st through 3rd. Nathan Hinds finished 3rd for both the season and at Championships. Congratulations to all of our Orienteering athletes!
First place Rookie Team at last weekend's championships.
Second place Varsity Team at last weekend's championships.
Kindergarten Countdown: Kindergarten registration now open!
Do you have a child who will be attending kindergarten next year - or know someone who does? Any child who turns 5 by September 1 is eligible for kindergarten for the 2025-26 school year.
Registration is now open, and we are encouraging families to visit our website (BremertonSchools.org/Kindergarten) to register, and to get information about upcoming Kindergarten Countdown events. We can’t wait to meet the Class of 2038 and their families!
Bond program updates
We are pleased to share important updates on our 2024 Bond Program projects. Over the past month, we have made significant progress on multiple fronts. Our teams continue to work diligently on the replacement of Armin Jahr and View Ridge, the Interim Armin Jahr school campus, Districtwide HVAC Upgrades, and the consolidated facilities project!
For Armin Jahr and View Ridge, our focus remains on delivering the best value for our new schools. We will be submitting permit applications within the next few weeks, and our Armin Jahr Transition Advisory Working Group will review the final plans and begin discussions regarding the operations of the interim school campus in the near future.
Our Design Advisory Committee has now met twice with the Design Team to provide valuable input on the design of the new schools. Their ongoing collaboration is helping shape preliminary site plans and early design concepts, ensuring that the final designs meet the needs of students, staff, and families while staying aligned with our budget and schedule.
In addition, the consolidated facilities replacement project has reached an exciting milestone. After a rigorous selection process, the Board has approved the selection of the Abbott and Rice Fergus Miller team. We are now finalizing the contract with this team and will be kicking off work with them shortly.
Our community engagement efforts continue as well. In January, we hosted a Community Open House, and more recently, we held a "Stop, Learn, and Share" event (photo above with Bond Program Manager David McBride) where we invited staff, families and the broader community to stop by to learn about the bond and share any questions or feedback. Stay tuned as we plan to schedule these events regularly at different locations and times to ensure all families in the District and community members have opportunities to learn about and provide feedback on these projects. Questions and comments can also be submitted on our website.
Bremerton School District Board of Directors Updates
February 2025 Meetings
February 2025 Meetings
At the February 11th Board Meeting, the Board of Directors interviewed five candidates for board position #5. The board appointed Ben Anderson who was sworn in at the February 20th board meeting. Read the full announcement.
On February 20th, recommendations for an elementary Comprehensive Sexual Health Education curriculum were presented and approved by the board. View the findings and recommendations here.
POLICY NEWS:
The following policies were adopted by the board:
- Policy 4300- Limiting Immigration Enforcement in Schools
- Policy 3205- Sexual Harassment of Students Prohibited
- Policy 3432- Emergencies
The following procedure was retired by the board:
The following policies were brought to the board for a first read and were approved:
Other Business:
For more information about these meetings and to view any of these documents, visit Community.
The next Regular Board Meeting will be March 6
Join us in-person or online!
We've updated our board website!
We are pleased to announce that we are migrating to a new and improved platform for our board communication. BoardDocs has been replaced by "Community." If you run into any issues with this new site, please feel free to submit your feedback HERE.
Superintendent Search Update
Save the date! All are invited to meet the superintendent finalists on April 1
The process for hiring the next Bremerton School District superintendent continues! The application window is open through the end of this week, and the board plans to do the initial round of interviews with candidates in mid-March.
Save the date! All are invited to meet the superintendent finalists on April 1! Please see details below.
For updates on this important process, we invite you to visit our website at BremertonSchools.org/SupSearch.
Stay connected!
The Bremerton School District is transitioning to a new communication platform called ParentSquare to improve communication and engagement with our families, students and community. During this transition, you may receive our updates twice. We apologize for any inconvenience. To continue receiving our communication, please subscribe here.
Bremerton School District
Email: communications@bremertonschools.org
Website: www.BremertonSchools.org
Location: 134 Marion Avenue North, Bremerton, WA, USA
Phone: 360-473-1000
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