Rhonda Ham: Creating a School Environment that Supports and Believes in All Children

Ocean Shores Elementary has made substantial gains in academic achievement under Principal Rhonda Ham, who credits her staff and greater community. But as the school’s instructional leader, she is, as the saying goes, where the buck stops. It’s not hard to see she has worked diligently to create a school environment that supports and believes in all children.

Principal Ham has lived in Grays Harbor County for her entire life, raised her own four children here, and has been an educator with North Beach School District (NBSD) for 33 years.

After graduating from Hoquiam High School and Grays Harbor College, followed by Western Washington University, she briefly worked as the director of a local parks and recreation district. It wasn’t long before her passion for teaching called to her, and she answered, applying for a position here at NBSD. 

She taught for eight years at the old Ocean Shores Elementary, then was hired as a science and math teacher at North Beach Junior High for another seven years. She also coached basketball and softball.  She then returned to Ocean Shores Elementary, serving in a variety of roles -- 3^rd grade teacher, LAP and Title I specialist -- before earning her administrative credentials and being selected as OSE principal. She’s now in her eighth year in that role.

Longevity in a small-town school district means you often know not only your students well, but their parents, grandparents and sometime great-grandparents.  Those relationships give educators insights and additional opportunities to reach out to students and enhance their learning.

Principal Ham is excited about how the school community is coming back together to meet each and every kid’s needs. The greater community is noticing the renewed enthusiasm and this, she believes, has resulted in enrollment at the school shooting back up by 45 students this year.

The school has been named a Washington State School of Distinction for the second year in a row, an award that is given to the top five percent of elementary schools in Washington when ranked by growth and improvement. She’s quite proud of this award, noting, “It shows the commitment of our staff, community and parents.”

Principal Ham’s advice to parents? Don’t ever stop believing in your kid’s no matter how old. “Our kids are our most prized possession and we can never stop believing.”

Tell Us About Your School Experiences

 

North Beach Parents: Our district is aggressively working to respond to your commendations and concerns.

 

We are hoping that 100% of our parents will fill out the following survey about our schools and your experience with our schools.

 

This data will help us prioritize next steps, make plans, and ensure that our schools become the schools we dream for our kids!

 

Please click on the link and spend 10 minutes giving us this vital feedback. https://www.research.net/r/northbeach-parent

 

This survey is open through November 16.  If you have children in more than one school, you can complete a survey for each school.

 

Please share this information with other families, parent groups, and so on. We want each parent's voice to be heard!

 

 

 

Ocean Shores Elementary School is “Rising above the Tide!” 

Named a School of Distinction for the Second Consecutive Year

North Beach School District is proud to announce Ocean Shores Elementary School has been named a School of Distinction (SOD) for the second year in a row (2017 and 2018). The award is given for sustained improvement in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math over a five-year period. In 2014, OSES ranked in the 14^th percentile, meaning 86% of the elementary schools in the state were performing better.

Since that time, OSES has produced a trendline, growing at 5.7% percentile points annually to now be near the 50^th percentile. This aggressive improvement data, places OSES in the top 5% of elementary schools in Washington for growth and improvement.

Ocean Shores Elementary School is one of 91 schools being honored by the Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) and their partner organizations; WSSDA, WASA, AWSP, AESD and ASCD, all of whom place a premium value on sustained school improvement.

Principal Rhonda Ham acknowledges her “amazing staff who are committed to each student.” According to Ham, “We want each of our students to succeed and are focused on doing whatever is necessary to ensure their success.”

NBSD Superintendent Andrew Kelly forecast earlier this year with the North Beach Board of Directors that the district expects a total turnaround and wants to be the highest performing district in Grays Harbor County by 2020. “The district is filled with first class educators who believe in the potential of our children,” Kelly commented. “We’re working aggressively, across the district to ensure that each of our kids are performing at grade level. When we discover that a student is not where they need to be, our principals are building strategic intervention plans and partnering with teachers and classified staff to close the gaps and help our scholars to grow.”

If you would like further information about this story please contact Andrew Kelly, Superintendent, North Beach School District, akelly@northbeachschools.org or 360-870-3321

New North Beach Junior/Senior High School Principal Announced

Dear North Beach Community,

Please join me in welcoming our new JH/HS Principal Ms. Cynthia Valdez!

Cynthia will take the helm at our secondary school immediately and join our leadership team of Wendy McCoy and Vernon Bruni and our outstanding teaching and classified colleagues.

District Offices Move To North Beach Junior/Senior High School

July 25, 2018

The District Office has moved from Ocean City to our new location at the North Beach Jr./Sr. High School.  You can find our new office by driving around the West side of the building, towards the track/baseball field.  We are located on the second floor, to the right of staircase. Our summer office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

North Beach Junior/Senior High School

336 State Route 115
P.O. Box 159
Ocean Shores, WA 98569

Superintendent Selection - June 13, 2018

North Beach Board of Directors Names “Kids First” Educational Leader as New Superintendent

 "We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do this. Whether we do it or not must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we have not done it so far.''― Ron Edmonds

The North Beach School District Board of Directors named Andrew E. Kelly (Andy) as the district’s new superintendent late Tuesday evening, June 12th. The board’s appointment comes after a tumultuous year has left the district educational staff wanting a new kind of leadership with district parents expecting improved academic results for their children.

Board Chair, Doreen Cato, following two days of interviews reflected, “The Board is extremely impressed by Andrew Kelly’s foresight and passion for making kids first. We were looking for someone with the ability to hit the ground running with vision to lead the school team; having specific skills to upgrade the rigor in our academics, and proven strategies. The Board would like to thank Dave Wayman and Stan Pinnick for “coming out of retirement” and being instrumental in helping to identify quality candidates, and giving the staff confidence that day-to-day concerns were in good hands. We, the Board also want to thank the community for its willingness to attend two days of interviewing and rating the candidates. Our decision was fueled by the input and support of the staff and community.  We would also like to acknowledge both superintendent candidates who had impressive credentials, making it difficult to disappoint one."

"Mr. Kelly’s infectious passion and can-do attitude with a track record of accomplishments encouraged the Board’s decision.  We intend to be part of a united North Beach community in support of 'our' kids, and are thrilled for Andrew Kelly’s arrival July 1.”

Kelly comes to North Beach with a 28-year career in public education. He was born in Chehalis, Washington and graduated from W.F. West High School to pursue his bachelor’s degree at Central Washington University, majoring in music education. Kelly’s teaching and coaching career began in Zillah, WA. As a lover of both music and athletics, Kelly knew at the very beginning of his career that the key to supporting kids in school begins with relationship building and connections.

Superintendent Kelly earned his master’s degree at Heritage University in Educational Leadership and was quickly recruited “home” to become an assistant principal at Chehalis Middle School (where he had attended as a student just a few years earlier). Andy grew as an administrator moving on to serve the Yelm Community School District as both the director of their alternative school/assistant principal at Yelm High School.

School and district improvement have been one of Kelly’s passions his entire career. He has served as a high school principal in three different communities, in three different states. In each position, Kelly was charged with turning around low performing high schools and pushing for equity in systems where students were frequently marginalized. His 14-year high school principal career in the Clover Park School District, Portland Public Schools and Washoe County School District (Reno, NV) provided him the opportunity to radically transform both the expectations and results for kids.

Kelly returned to Washington in 2011 and after less than a year of focused work for a school improvement non-profit was recruited to serve then State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn. Kelly’s role at OSPI, as the Assistant Superintendent in the Office of Student and School Success, placed in a coaching role of 286 schools, statewide, that were identified as focus or priority schools, for low student achievement in reading or mathematics.

On July 1, 2015, Kelly accepted the invitation to serve the Lyle School District as their superintendent in an effort to transform student outcomes for each of the students they serve. When Superintendent Kelly began, each of Lyle’s three schools were labeled, “priority,” meaning they were performing in the lowest fove percent in the state in reading and math proficiency. By January 2018, all of Lyle’s schools had exited “priority” status and their elementary school was recognized as a Washington School of Distinction for being in the top five percent in growth statewide. Kelly credits the success within Lyle School District to their brilliant educational staff and amazing scholars. “In Lyle we adopted the pledge, #ALLmeansALL. It permeates everything we do and sets the tone for high expectations for each of us, staff and students alike.”

On Monday, June 11^th, Kelly visited the district, interviewed with the board and district employees, toured each of the district buildings and participated in a community forum hosted at Ocean Shores Elementary. “I believe that the North Beach School District can be the highest achieving school district in the state of Washington,” Kelly reflected in the community forum. “It is clear that you have a committed and dedicated educational staff, brilliant scholars, and a community that wants “what’s best” for their sons/daughters. We can improve our district to meet the needs of each and every learner and support our teachers, classified staff and administrative team to do their very best work.

According to Kelly, his most important job is that of dad to the “Kelly Kids,” all six of them! Marissa, 24, is a University of Portland grad, currently serving in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica. Jeremy, 20, will be attending Grays Harbor Community College in the fall. Twin grads, Shakira and Rashida (18) will be attending The Evergreen State College and Central Washington University. Ezekiel (15) and Josiah (15) are looking forward to “beach life” and attending North Beach High School in the fall.

Mr. Kelly’s first day on the job is July 1^st. He can be reached via email at akelly@northbeachschools.org or (360) 870-3321. The board will be hosting “Supper with the Sup” later this summer and are excited for the year to come. You are invited to reach out and extend a “north beach” welcome to Mr. Kelly and his family.

2017-2018 District Calendar

The North Beach School District Board of Directors has approved the 2017-2018 District Calendar. 

2018-2019 District Calendar

The North Beach School District Board of Directors has approved the 2018-2019 District Calendar.