22-23 Mid-Summer Update
July 14, 2023
Dear Parents and Community Members,
I hope that this summer update from the Sultan School District finds all of you doing well. Summer is the time for spending time outdoors with family, friends, and loved ones and I hope that you are finding time to do so. During the summer months in the Sultan School District, work continues throughout each campus. We currently have several projects happening while we prepare for the 2023-2024 school year.
It is my goal with this update, to make you aware of many of the things that are going on. As you have likely noticed, new home construction up off Sultan Basin Road continues to occur at a robust pace. We are looking at the impacts of this building from both a short-term and long-term perspective so that the overall enrollment impacts on our students, families, and community members are as minor as possible. We recently added a portable at Sultan Elementary School (SES) that will provide two additional classrooms for capacity. This is where the collection of impact fees is so important to a school district and community being able to offset the cost. You may have also seen on the Sultan Elementary School campus last year that we had portable restrooms on wheels. We rented these units with impact fees as well, this year we are purchasing 2 units with impact fees that we will be able to sell and recoup the impact fees spent on those to be able to fund more long-term needs. Below you will find some brief but more specific information about the happenings around the district.
- 1. Summer Meal Program | The summer feeding program we'll begin on Monday, July 17th. Meals will be served at Sultan middle school for all individuals from birth to age 18 for free. Adults can purchase meals for $4.75 – you can’t find that price these days! See the flier HERE for all the details.
- 2. Capital Levy Projects Update | The Sky Valley Transportation Cooperative building and completion of the Sultan Middle School (SMS) roof are our two capital levy projects that are happening this summer. The new transportation facility is coming together nicely and you can see some photos right HERE. We are scheduled for a November 2023 opening and we are on time and within budget. I've also included some photos of the work going on the roof at Sultan middle school the first phase of the project there was significant rot within some of the walls and the roof structure.
- 3. Facility Survey | We are continuing to gather information regarding our facility needs from your perspective. If you have not already done so, please take a minute to complete the survey that can be found HERE.
- 4. Tree removal at SES and SMS | Beginning the week of July 17th, landscaping work will begin on the Sultan Elementary School (SES) campus to replace the trees that were removed with trees that are safer and other foliage that should bring a more welcoming look to the campus. Regarding Sultan Middle School (SMS), some plants and other foliage will be planted in front of the Commons, but work to replace the trees on the West side of 4th St. on the middle school campus will not occur until the spring of 2024.
- 5. New SES Playground Structure | If you've driven by the Sultan Elementary School playground you've probably noticed that the old playground apparatus has mostly been removed. This is not a capital levy-funded project, but it's desperately needed so we are funding it through a loan. This part of the project should be complete by the end of September 2023.
- 6. New Website Launch | Next week we will launch our new website! This will be an updated tool that we hope will be more user-friendly and a better source of data for our families and community members. You will still be able to access our website at the following address: www.sultanschools.org.
- 7. Community Agency Youth Listening Sessions | For multiple reasons, young people and school-age youth are experiencing a lot of stress. This has resulted in fights, bullying, and other dangerous behavior between our youth that are happening within the community and on our school campuses. This isn't just a Sultan challenge this is a statewide and national challenge. thanks to outstanding community leadership, we are going to begin a series of listening sessions for students that will involve representatives from the city, Sultan Police Department, Fire District #5, Sultan School District, Community Coalition, and Volunteers of America. Be on the lookout for a schedule of these listening sessions and when everything is scheduled, we will be sure to post it on our website and make it readily available for everyone.
- 8. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library | If you have children there are five years or younger you can sign up to receive a free book each month from Dolly Parton’s imagination library. With screen time on phones or other devices becoming so prevalent, it is important to foster a love of reading books at a young age. This program provides an opportunity for you to do that at no cost to you at all. Just follow the link HERE and you can sign your child or loved one up for this program.
If you have any questions regarding Sultan School District, the 2023-2024 school year, or anything else that you think I might be able to answer, please don't hesitate to call me or reach out via e-mail. I will do whatever I can to be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Dan Chaplik, Superintendent
Sultan School District