In a State of the Schools speech to the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce, Wenzel pointed out that in Washington students are in class 180 days a year, but, “instructors get zero days for professional development.” He liked that to a Microsoft without a research department.
Wenzel said that of 2,700 students in the Anacortes district, 34% receive free or subsidized lunches. And, 290 students are special needs kids. “There is poverty in our area,” he said. “That’s not news to many of you, but it is to some because the poverty is largely invisible.”
He said teaching is changing. “Kids learn when they’re engaged.” That means, he said, problem solving and working with partners.
He said that children’s brains are 80% developed by age three. He pointed out that kids don’t start school until 2 or 3 years after that.
Wenzel also made a pitch for two school levy votes coming up on Feb. 11. The school district is asking for an increase in the Maintenance & Operations Levy (M&O), as well as a new Technology Levy. The two levy’s combined would add 36-cents per thousand-dollar valuation. In other words, the levies would increase from the current $2.13 to $2.49 per thousand dollars.