Bellinghame Public Schools

News & Information


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DATE: January 22, 2010 14:53:17 PST

Seventeen staff members in the Bellingham School District earned National Board Certification this year. They are:

  • Amy Berreth, mathematics teacher, Whatcom Middle School
  • Bryan Berreth, mathematics teacher, Kulshan Middle School
  • Ashleigh Bobovski, world languages teacher, Sehome High School
  • Matthew Cole,  music teacher, Bellingham High School
  • Kevin Criez, technology teacher, Sehome High School
  • Lara Crome-Guthrie, fifth grade teacher, Geneva Elementary School
  • Catherine Crouch, special education teacher, Northern Heights Elementary School
  • Jill DeJong, kindergarten teacher, Happy Valley Elementary School
  • Jonathan Fleck, math/technology teacher, Sehome High School
  • Mary Hornof, fifth grade teacher, Alderwood Elementary School
  • Bruce Mansfield, social studies teacher, Bellingham High School
  • Dawn Oehlerich, math teacher, Squalicum High School
  • John Schick, library media specialist, Northern Heights Elementary School
  • Sarah Smoldon, math teacher, Bellingham High School, 2008-09 school year
  • Jodi West, math teacher, Squalicum High School
  • James Yoos, science teacher, Bellingham High School
  • James Zurcher, core teacher, Whatcom Middle School

Certification is a year-long introspective process that requires teachers to submit a four-part portfolio and a six-exercise content and pedagogy assessment. The 10 entries document a teacher's success in the classroom as evidenced by his or her students' learning. The portfolio is then assessed by a national panel of peers.

Legislation passed in 2007 awards a $5,000 bonus to each certified teacher. Teachers can receive an additional $5,000 bonus if they teach in "challenging" schools, which are defined as having a certain percentage of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch (50 percent for high schools, 60 percent for middle schools and 70 percent for elementary schools). The legislation will run until 2017 (10 years).

Thanks to a joint effort by Gov. Chris Gregoire, the Washington Education Association and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, as well as to broad bipartisan support in the state Legislature, the number of NBCT candidates continues to increase. About 7 percent, or 4,000, of Washington's 58,000 state-certificated teachers have now received the credential. The state now ranks fifth nationally in the total number of its teachers certified under the program, which is run by the private, nonprofit National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Details about the process teachers undertake to achieve National Board certification are available through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' Web site: www.nbpts.org/. For more information, contact Nora Klewiada, executive director of Human Resources, at 676-2782.