Moses Lake school board recognizes teachers

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake School Board recently recognized several of its teachers for receiving national board certification and for helping the district make the Advanced Placement (AP) Honor roll.

Jennifer Carpenter, Rita Fryberger, Jennifer Hammer, Ryan Hopperstad, Chris Kalmbach and Beau Phillips were recognized for achieving national board certification on their first try.

Teachers spend a year studying and putting together portfolios to achieve national board certification, said Moses Lake School District Superintendent Michelle Price. At the end of the year, the teachers have to pass tests as well as an evaluation of their portfolios.

"We've had anywhere from 25 teachers going through the process in any given year to as few as three and every year you can retake it, any faction of it, multiple times," she said. "So maybe you pass the portfolio the first time, but you don't pass the test or vice versa ... This is the first group that we had the entire group that started the process all pass the first time around."

The school board also recognized Advanced Placement (AP) teachers Karen Stall, Chris Koester, Mari Cardwell, Brooke Frederick, Jason McLean, Mike Hofheins, Jon Wrigley, Triscia Hochstatter, Amy Utter and Kristy Swartz. The Moses Lake School District was listed on the AP Honor Roll this year.

To be included in the list, the district had to increase access to AP courses to a broader number of students and increase the number of students who earned a score of 3 or higher on the exam's one through five scale.

"The expertise of those teachers is critical and their relationships with kids is critical," said Price. "They've done a great job of building our AP programs and giving access to kids who wouldn't normally enroll in AP programs."