Superintendent Dr. Dani Pfeiffer shared updates about Federal Way Public Schools in a “State of Education” speech at the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon on Dec. 4.

Pfeiffer highlighted the ways the school district has made progress over the past several years despite the impact of the pandemic. Much of this progress has been through collaboration with scholars, parents and community partners, she said.

As one recognition of that progress, 8 FWPS schools are being recognized for growth in closing academic gaps in the past few years by the Washington State Board of Education.

“This happens because of collective efficacy, the belief that all students can achieve,” Pfeiffer said. TAF@Saghalie was also recognized by the same body as a “school on the rise” for “their work focused on student, adult collaboration, and our continued upward trend.”

“Results like these demonstrate that we’re truly better together. Our families and students provide a vital voice and feedback around how we can make our schools better for our young people,” Pfeiffer said.

This year the school district represents 132 countries of origin in its 21,500-plus students. There are 7,606 multilingual students and in 2024, 222 students received the seal of biliteracy, the most ever.

Pfeiffer shared that dual-language programming is expanding, including a new Korean and English program at Olympic View K-8.

Throughout the presentation, Pfeiffer thanked the many community partners who help students in the district thrive. These groups provide resources to meet a wide range of needs, including everything from school supplies to arts access to mentorship and leadership or breakfast served in the classroom.

Many of these are based in Federal Way, like Phenomenal She, which Pfeiffer thanked for supporting 650 scholars through their programming.

Community partners are also vital for the variety of STEM focused career pathways and general education. At the district’s STEM Exploration event this past year, Pfeiffer shared they had 3,600 attendees and a variety of local businesses and organizations who came out to connect with students.

Room for improvement

Pfeiffer shared that math, English language arts and attendance are the three areas they are focusing on most for improvement at this time.

Partnering with scholars themselves has proved effective as one strategy for generating creative ideas to improve metrics, she shared.

“Our scholar advisory members helped generate the solutions toward attendance, sense of belonging, summer school offerings and leadership opportunities. … Our successes would not be possible without the partnership of 3,000 dedicated staff members,” Pfeiffer said.

The school district is creating partnerships and strategies. Pfeiffer shared that they are the first school district in King County to implement a school garden to cafeteria program.

Career and technical education course offerings (CTE) are continuing to expand, including entrepreneur and pre-apprenticeship programs.

Multicultural learning

Many FWPS staff were present at the luncheon, including Sunnycrest Elementary Principal Kelley Schottle.

Her school has become an example for how to turn barriers into a source of strength.

In the past few years they’ve implemented a Multilingual Academy for newcomers that is “really creating almost kind of like a soft landing space for kids who are new to country, new to school system, and helping them build up their functional level of English,” Schottle told the Mirror at the luncheon.

This program has helped them to achieve a “huge drop in discipline”, achieve the highest attendance in the district and they’ve seen “kids and families just having much more success navigating the school system and wanting to come to school.”

This all comes from “starting with belief in our kids,” Schottle said.

Last year, FWPS implemented Principal Networks, which helps school principals learn from each other and share successes. This has been very beneficial, Schottle said.

Each time principals meet they “give each other ideas, give each other some solutions, and then we bring it back to our building to keep working on it and come back and forth,” Schottle said.

The school district is now engaging in a process to create a community-driven “portrait of a graduate” to define what the community wants scholars to leave the FWPS program with upon graduation.

FWPS Superintendent Dr. Dani Pfeiffer and Principal Kelley Schottle of Sunnycrest Elementary School at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Dec. 4, 2024. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang/The Mirror

Carlecia Bell, Executive Director at Phenomenal She at the Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. Phenomenal She is a community based non-profit organization that partners with FWPS to fulfill their mission to provide mentorship, encouragement, and empowerment to young women of color by building confidence around education, social awareness, and self-esteem. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang/The Mirror