Superintendent

Welcome

On behalf of our Board of Directors, teachers, administrators and support staff, I welcome you to University Place School District. Thanks to the generous, ongoing support of our families and community, University Place Schools provide students with the highest quality education in a safe, supportive, and enriching environment. Not only do our students encounter an engaging and rigorous academic experience in each of our classrooms, but they also participate in a range of other important activities including music, art, world language study, vocational training, and athletics.

It is my sincere hope that you will actively partner with us to maintain our legacy of success and to help all of our students reach their greatest potential. I invite you to join one of our PTSA groups, support the work of our teachers and staff as a volunteer, and to attend athletic competitions, concerts, plays and other school events. I also welcome your feedback and ask that you contact me directly if you need help, have questions, or want to share ideas or aspirations for our schools.

I am very confident that our continued partnership will result in the very best outcomes for students in University Place School District. I also know that our collective commitment to providing the highest quality education for all students will result in the preparation of competent and contributing citizens and will make a lasting impact on our community - just as it has for so many years.

Superintendent Jeff Chamberlin
(253) 566-5600


SAFETY UPDATE  - October 2018


Dear UPSD Parents, Community Members and Partners:

Thank you all for the wonderful support during the first month of the 2018/19 school year. We feel lucky for the opportunity to work with our great students each day and to help them learn to be competent and contributing citizens.  Learning how to be safe- and how to keep others safe- is an important part of this mission.

Student safety continues to be a focus of our attention, energy and resources in UPSD. We look forward to working with parents, community partners and first responders to make our safe schools even safer this year.  I am sharing this information to provide some important safety updates for the 2018/19 year.

  • Safety Personnel:  We continue to support a variety of safety positions across the district including crossing guards, student supervisors and security officers at CJH and CHS.  We also replaced a general operations position with a Coordinator of Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Torey Heidelberg, our new coordinator, has a background in military law enforcement and will work closely with staff, administration and first responders to promote safety in UPSD. He can be reached directly at [email protected]. We also continue to work closely with University Place Police to promote safety.  Deputy Mike Cooney, a parent and police officer in UP, is our new School Resource Officer. 
  • Safe Facilities: Access control technology is now in place at seven schools and will be completed at CJH this fall.  This system requires visitors to present picture ID before entering a school.  Thank you all for your patience as we use these systems to increase security and safety at schools.  While we understand this can be an inconvenience at times, we feel strongly that it helps keep kids safer.
  • Safety Instruction: New safety lessons will be taught to students in grades 8 and 10 annually in a cooperative effort between UP Police and UP Schools.  We are in the final stages of developing lessons to be taught in 8th grade PE courses and 10th grade health courses this fall. Topics covered in the lessons will include situational awareness, active shooter response and the importance of reporting safety concerns or possible threats. Other safety-related lessons are taught to students in all grades on a variety of topics that are age appropriate.

You can help us keep students safe by teaching your kids to report safety concerns, rumors and potential threats to a trusted adult at school immediately.  We will be using the “see something-say something” concept at school to encourage kids to tell us when they know of a real or possible threat to school safety.  Procedures for how to “say something” when you “see something” will be posted online and reviewed with students.  Parents and community members are also encouraged to report concerns promptly to school administrators or counselors at any site.

Thank you and feel free to contact me directly with questions or comments at [email protected].