Lind-Ritzville academics shift successful so far, districts stable

RITZVILLE — Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools, a joint school district consisting of both the Ritzville and Lind school districts, is doing well, with a shift in focus in recent years for the cooperative’s academics, according to Lind-Ritzville Superintendent Don Vanderholm.

“We are doing very well,” he said.

Vanderholm said the cooperative’s recent shift in focus happened when it joined the Washington State Board of Education’s (SBE) Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative. 

“It is really mostly about shifting thinking and approaching learning with more about what students are able to know and do versus how much they do, kind of getting away from being about the stuff and the content and more about the skills and knowledge,” Vanderholm said. “That's been a major shift. It's gone really well.”

According to the SBE website’s definition, Master-Based Learning focuses on students demonstrating mastery of content, explicit and measurable learning objectives that empower students, student support based on individual learning needs, a focus on application and creation of knowledge and the development of important skills.

“I think that like all things in schools,” Vanderholm said, “I think if you can stay focused on making your learning the best model it can be a lot of your other issues are a little easier and kind of take care of themselves if kids are really engaged in what they're doing.”

Venderholm said testing is still an important part of the process.

“We believe and are hopeful that by focusing more on skills and knowledge…and more on can you demonstrate what you know, can you demonstrate that you acquired it, and in doing so they should — and the research shows they will — do better on those state assessments because they actually have skills and knowledge and not just practice,” he said.

Finances at the cooperative have been stable, even with the recent end to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund funding, Vanderholm said. He also said both districts will be going out to voters for Educational Programs and Operations levies and capital levies this February.

“Our voters have been really great about supporting us in that so we can keep our one-to-one devices and keep our buildings up to speed on the latest technology,” Vanderholm said.

One-to-one devices refers to allowing each student access to an electronic device for school work. 

Current enrollment for the cooperative is about 350 students in the Ritzville district and about 250 in the Lind district, which Vanderholm said is fairly stable. 

Vanderholm elaborated further on some of the differences between the Lind and Ritzville districts.

“Lind qualifies in those high poverty categories, whereas Ritzville does not, so … free or free and reduced lunch is at one school and not the other, those kinds of things,” Vanderholm said. “But the nice thing about the cooperative is, even though we're two separate fiscal entities, the two districts do work together as much as they can to help support each other in ways that are allowable.”

Vanderholm said the cooperative has also worked on growing its recently instituted online alternative school as well as its Career and Technical Programs, including a partnership with East Adams Rural Healthcare to offer internship opportunities.

“We're also really trying to work on project-based learning and we’ve introduced that and just are continuing to add that to all levels,” he said. “Trying to work on increasing that so students can do more active type learning in the classroom, activity-based learning where they're focused on solving real-world problems.”

Vanderholm also spoke about some of the challenges still facing the district.

“Transportation has been one of the big things that maybe is a little bit unique for our Cooperative because you have 1800 square miles of real estate to cover with some pretty long routes and rising fuel costs and the same driver challenges everybody has, although we've been lucky to keep our staff fully staffed on transportation,” he said.

Insurance costs are also a difficulty, Vanderholm said.

“Insurance for our districts and for everybody has been impacted by 30% to 45% increases, and that came late, that came after like July,” Vanderholm said. “We have to turn our budgets in by July 1. So, with each district taking between $60,000 and $80,000 of increases in insurance for two small districts, that's a pretty significant impact.”

Despite the challenges, Vanderholm said there is a benefit in working with two smaller districts and supporting each other.

“These two school districts and school boards work very closely together, and I think it's kind of a unique way of working together to provide students with better opportunities, that was the whole point, and some shared staff that help make some things possible that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.

    Lind-Ritville High School seniors throw their caps in the air during the school’s graduation ceremony.
  

    Lind-Ritville Cooperative Schools students attend a career showcase in October featuring various local and regional organizations. Superintendent Don Vanderholm said the district has entered into a partnership with East Adams Rural Healthcare to provide internship opportunities for students.