Superintendent Lohrey told the board Aug. 28 that the district submitted the required attestation under "education law 8 18" and that the state approved it. Carrie Buckman, a district staff member involved in curriculum work, said, "our attestation has been submitted and approved. We submitted through the portal and it's online and reviewed at State Ed and happy to say it's been approved." Rick Granieri and Carrie Buckman described the work behind the attestation: teacher training across multiple sessions, curriculum reviews, and an expanded scope to include grade 3. Granieri said the state provided guidance rather than prescribing specific programs and that acceptance was based on alignment to stated pillars, not on using or excluding named programs.

Why it matters: the attestation is a required public declaration that the district’s early literacy instruction aligns with the state’s specified "science of reading" pillars. Approval by State Ed is the step the district needed to show legal compliance and to proceed with the planned instructional changes in classrooms.

District presenters said the core elements they reviewed are phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and oral language, together with writing and early reading interventions. Buckman said the district ran a summer professional-development schedule with eight main workshops and filled about 380 seats (a duplicated count because many teachers took multiple sessions). She told the board the work will continue into the fall: "this kind of work and making these shifts is not a 1 and done endeavor. We have to keep offering support on the ground from our instructional coaches and continuing to refine our, practices through continued professional development."

School leaders said they developed internal training, ran book-study groups for teachers, and assigned five elementary English language arts instructional coaches to lead in-district professional development. They also said the district piloted and then adopted particular instructional resources in some schools while not banning previously used supplements: "they are now using as their primary program foundations, but miss Buckman working with them has not taken Fontus and Pinell away from them or banned it. They're using elements of Fontus and Pinell to support the pillars and to support foundations," Superintendent Lohrey said.

On scope the presenters said the state did not publish an approved or disapproved program list; acceptance depends on whether materials and instructional practices align to the pillars. Board members asked about services for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs); Buckman and Granieri said the changes to curriculum and small-group instruction should not reduce IEP services and that students identified for therapy will still receive the services "they are entitled to receive based on the testing that they've been given."

District staff said the completed attestation will be available through the State Education Department portal and confirmed the district met the Sept. 1 deadline specified in the guidance.

Less critical details: presenters said the district’s alignment work began with internal training last school year, surveys of teacher needs and preferences, weekly planning meetings and a series of summer workshops and book studies. Instructional coaches will continue to provide turn‑key training into the school year.