Wapato School Board Earns Board Of Distinction Honor

The Wapato School Board has earned the “Board of Distinction” recognition from the Washington State School Directors’ Association. It is the only Board in the Yakima Valley to receive this recognition this year. Board members include President Myron Yolo, Vice President Maria Erickson, Javier Vela, John Francisco and Alan Taylor.

The annual Boards of Distinction program honors school boards that demonstrate effective use of the Washington School Board Standards. The standards, developed and adopted by WSSDA in 2009, promote research-based governance practices that lead to high levels of student and district achievement, and help close the opportunity gap.

Award applicants submitted essays and supporting evidence to demonstrate how they are putting the standards into practice. This year, applicants addressed the following:

• Being accountable and open to public, and seeking divergent perspectives in its decision making.
• Adopting a collaboratively developed district plan focused on learning and achievement.
• Employing and supporting quality teachers, administrators and other staff, and providing for professional development.

Applicants also discussed specific decisions their boards had made and evidence on how they were working to help close the opportunity gap.

The applications were evaluated by an independent review panel.

Wapato was one of twenty-four boards across the State receiving Board of Distinction recognition this year. This is the largest number of boards in the eight-year history of the program. “The increase in the number of boards of distinction reflects the rise in expertise on boards across the state to improve the quality of public education for each and every child,” said WSSDA President Chris Nation.

The boards will be honored November 17th during the 2016 WSSDA Annual Conference in Spokane. At that time, the association will also announce 2016 Boards of the Year winners.