MARYSVILLE – Interim superintendent Jason Thompson says the Marysville School District is making progress toward getting out from under a “black cloud.”

Its use of technology in the classroom has been cutting edge the past few years.

And now work is under way to setup a trade school apprentice program at the old Marysville-Pilchuck High School wood shop.

“We’ve heard from our community” about the need to get students trained for trade jobs, Thompson said Wednesday at a Marysville Kiwanis Club meeting. Local labor unions have been speaking out the past year or so that, “We don’t have enough workers,” Thompson said.

Sno-Isle already works with students interested in the trades, but, “This would take it a step further into apprenticeships,” he said.

Students going to college can get a jump using Running Start. This would be like a Running Start for trades.

“It’ll be revolutionary,” he said of embedding math and science requirements into the program.

Thompson said the district is still trying to recover from the black cloud that has hung over the district since the shooting at M-P four years ago.

“We want to take that black cloud away,” he said. “We do that by leading the way in the trade school and with technology.”

He said he also is glad MSD teachers didn’t strike like they did in some districts statewide. “That would have been devastating,” he said, adding the teachers understood the district didn’t have as much money as some others. He also was upbeat about the maintenance MSD schools received over the summer. Again, he said they listened to the public.

“Take care of what you’ve got,” he said they were told by voters who decided against a school bond a few years ago.

He said the idea of not taking care of schools and building new ones doesn’t work here.

“If we would have put lipstick on them over the years we wouldn’t have the problems we have now,” he said of negligence in the upkeep of schools.

MSD loses students each year to other districts, private schools, online schools and home schools. He said everyone in the district needs to treat each other better. There is too much bullying and a lack of respect. “If we treat each other well and care – the test scores will rise,” he said.

Thompson said too much effort is put into test scores and not enough in developing relationships. “It’s a critical time” for education, he said. “Teachers need to make a shift.”

Thompson said he’s glad he’s not in the classroom anymore because of all the demands put on teachers. Their students come from many different backgrounds. They have so many things going on at home. About 300 in the MSD kids are homeless. Some students don’t even know English very well. There is a huge disparity in the ability of students to learn. Yet each student is supposed to be taught individually so they can reach their highest potential.

“We are going to have to adapt a little more,” Thompson said. “Kids come from very different situations. It’s the biggest challenge in public education.”

Rather than teach to the group, teachers may need to give different assignments then be there for support instead.

He said teachers need to get kids to love learning and make school fun. They can’t do that if they are teaching so kids can pass state standards. He said he’s seen kids as young as first grade shut down because they’ve already had too many failures.

Thompson isn’t a fan of state tests. “There’s too much emphasis on test scores,” he said. “Government involvement seems to lead to problems.” Thompson said the MSD is becoming diverse. He said whites will soon become the minority as the number of hispanic students grows yearly. He said more than half of all students qualify for free or reduced meals. That number should actually be more but many hispanic families don’t apply because they are “fearful to fill out paperwork for government agencies.” He said a lot of those kids might be the first in their families to graduate from high school. But it might take five or six years because they had to learn English.

Many other students also are taking more than four years to graduate. “For them it’s more because of the breakdown of the family. They don’t have the support at home” and teachers are actually the ones who talk them into staying in school to graduate, Thompson said.

Meanwhile, at Monday’s school board meeting, Thompson said, “We’re off to a good start to the school year.” Director Pete Lundberg, who went to five schools on Day 1, agreed. “They looked excited, and it was a positive vibe,” he said.

Director Vanessa Edwards said the maintenance department did a great job over the summer because the buildings and grounds look good.

Lundberg agreed. “The opening of school is a crazy time for the people who work on the grounds,” he said.

Also, Director Chris Nation said he will be working with Washington State School Directors Association on trying to get fairness when it comes to the state handing out money to school districts. MSD has said it gets $1,000 less per student than many other districts because housing is not as expensive here.

Nation also said the WSSDA will be working on school safety measures. He already sees a split between goals of districts on the East and West sides of the Cascade mountains.

Action items were few. The school board approved the salary schedules, and it was announced the Marysville Rotary donated $2,500 for the district’s summer reading program.