From staff reports

Campuses around the South Kitsap School District reopened Wednesday for the 2011-12 school year with plenty of festivities.

At the high school, there was an assembly for sophomores that began at 7:30 a.m. and featured a “flash-mob dance” by 70 staff members.

Hidden Creek Elementary School had its own celebration as staff

members and parents lined the hallway to greet students after an assembly to start the day.

SKSD deputy superintendent Kurt Wagner said the district also is excited about the district’s progress in Measurements of Student Progress (MSP), which is the state’s testing system for third through eighth grade. Wagner said SKSD math scores ranged from 9 to 14 percent better than the state average for students in third through sixth grades.

Wagner attributed those results to several factors. He said the district’s instructional leaders developed a curriculum that they felt best suited students and teachers and stuck with it, except for fifth grade because of significant MSP alterations. Also, he said the district heavily invested in supplemental instruction, such as the ORIGO Education Inc., and focused on other professional development. Wagner said that includes Late Start Wednesday, where students arrive at their schools 45 minutes after the normal time begins. According to the SKSD website, “The purpose of this time is for teachers to analyze student data, review best instructional practices, and modify and improve instruction based on student needs.”

Wagner said Burley Glenwood Elementary School, which previously was sanctioned for failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress in special-education reading, passed all 37 different areas that were evaluated. Only two elementary schools in the district, Orchard Heights (low income and all reading cells) and Sidney Glen (all, white, special education and low-income cells in reading), did not make AYP. Wagner said both schools only are about one or two students passing away from meeting AYP.

• Several new administrators started in SKSD, including Josh Emmons (assistant principal, Cedar Heights Junior High), Kristi Rivera (principal, Olalla Elementary) and Jay Rosapepe (transportation director). South Kitsap football coach D.J. Sigurdson will serve as an assistant principal this year at the high school.