Schools prepare to welcome Crestline students
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VANCOUVER, Wash. – Students at Vancouver’s Riverview Elementary School are preparing to welcome some new classmates.
Four classes of third grade students and one special education class from Crestline Elementary will resume their school year on Thursday at Riverview.
A fire destroyed Crestline early Sunday morning, displacing nearly 500 students. On Monday, Evergreen Public Schools announced that students would attend one of five Vancouver schools, based on their grade level. The students will stay with their Crestline teachers and classmates.
“As the day went on, I realized how devastating it was and started thinking about what space do we have that we can give to kids,” said Riverview Principal Ruth Beggs. “We’re very excited. We want to do everything we can to support our community, and Crestline is part of our community.”
While the Riverview student roster will grow by 93 kids, for some, the move will mean downsizing.
“Our instructional coach is giving up her office space, so our reading specialists can move in there, this is about a quarter of the size of what she’s used to using,” Beggs said.
Riverview students made signs Tuesday to make the Crestline students feel welcome. The school will also have coffee and donuts for the new families Thursday, and Riverview students will give school tours.
“All of our Riverview kids are all of our kids,” said Beggs. “But now it’s all of our Evergreen family are all of our kids.”
If you'd like to make a donation to Evergreen Public Schools to help replace school supplies lost in the fire, you can call 360-604-4088.
Cash donations and school supplies are also being accepted at two Vancouver Burgerville locations:
- Cascade Park: 11704 SE Mill Plain Blvd.
- Fisher's Landing: 16416 SE McGillivray Blvd.
The restaurants are also planning fundraisers to replace school supplies.
I work for Evergreen (though I'm not a teacher) and the question of why a donation fund is needed is a good one. Â The school district doesn't supply everything teachers need for classrooms. Â What the kids will need will be things like school supplies of course - paper, pencils, markers, glue, kleenex, hand sanitizer, pencil boxes, binders, paints, calculators etc (because not all families can afford to just go out and buy a new set of school supplies for the second time in a school year), but also math games to compliment curriculum, personal libraries with books at every reading level to challenge all students. Â Most teachers I know have hundreds of books in their classrooms so students can feel free to choose anytime without needing to check out at the school library where the limit is often two books max per week. Â Those personal libraries alone cost thousands of dollars and are accumulated over years of teaching and are not necessarily funded by the district. Â This list goes on - calendars, hanging wall pockets, cubbies for student supplies, other materials for student projects, science materials, easels, individual white boards for writing and math, there are music players, headphones for listening to books and electronics such as itouches and nooks to engage kids in learning. Â This is just a small idea of the types of things teachers accumulate in their classrooms throughout the years of teaching. Â The district provides desks, chairs, computers, projectors and phones...things like that. Â But all the personalization and materials that suit a particular grade level are the work of the teachers. Â
Please don't miscontrue my question...but I know that I read the school was insured and that none of trhe teachers would have to go without pay. If this is true, what are all the donations for???? Wouldn't insurance cost the loss of books and supplies? What does the insurance cover, just the building??? And if so, how come? Why isn't it all insured?
@fracas I guessing that the donations are to replace the students school supplies. I know that there are a number of the Crestline students that receive free or reduced lunches. I'm thinking that it might be really hard for all of those families plus many more to have to replace the supplies again. Not to mention all of the extra money that teachers put into their classrooms and projects. Not many people are aware of how the cutbacks are being passed on to the teacher, parents, and children. My son is part of the EXCEL program & a lot of the budgeting for these types of classes as well as the SPED classes have been diminished greatly. As our children get older the more things they need in the classroom. I obviously don't know first hand if this is what the donations are for though. Just a guess since my nieces both attended Crestline.
 @fracas I was thinking of the samething, but then thought... how fast do you think the insurance company is going to pay?  I know its not going to be right away and the kids need supplies now not weeks or months from now.  I have two sons in Elementary school and ALL their supplies stay at the school and getting supplies for 500 kids is not cheap. Â