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Yelm board recognizes office professionals, celebrates student achievements and approves 2025–26 calendar
Summary
The board honored district office professionals from multiple schools, celebrated student successes including Anatomage team qualification for nationals and US Presidential Scholar nominations, and approved the 2025–26 student calendar aligning breaks with neighboring districts.
The board used part of its Dec. 19 meeting to honor the district’s school office professionals. Dr. Lisa Pierre Smith introduced the recognition; principals from across the district described honorees and why they were selected, praising staff for keeping schools running. Individual honorees mentioned included Shannon Hillman, Kelly Morfoot, Jen Roberts, Doreen Hunt, Melanie La Madeleine, Kelly Rhone and Sarah DeVore.
Superintendent and staff also highlighted student achievements: several students were nominated through OSPI for the US Presidential Scholars program (nominations submitted to the U.S. Department of Education), and the Yelm High School Anatomage team qualified for the national competition and will likely seek board approval for travel requests in the spring.
Separately, the board approved the 2025–26 student calendar. Notable changes include moving the start day from Tuesday to Wednesday after Labor Day to align with neighboring districts and removing two former staff development days from the calendar per recent contract negotiations. The board discussed alignment with neighboring Thurston County districts and the benefits of common winter and spring breaks for families and staff.
The recognitions provided an upbeat opening to the meeting; the calendar decision was presented as an effort to improve alignment and reduce end‑of‑year scheduling complications.
