Student and parent running toward the finish line during the STRIDE fun runDistrict Wellness Plan

District Wellness Committee Purpose : The Wellness Committee promotes and maintains a healthy and positive workplace for all WSD employees and students. This committee must cover these topics including:

  • Adhere to the district wide nutrition and physical fitness policy and procedures
  • Supports WSD staff with wellness resources (i.e. stress management, mental health, physical health, etc) and supports available through various agencies (examples include the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Educational Service District, Kaiser, the School Employees’ Benefits Board, etc) with the goal of creating a Staff MTSS multi-tiered system of support for holistic wellness.

District Committee Champions:

  • Sheri Cranford, Culinary Services Office Manager
  • Margaret Rice, WSD Director of CTE, Culinary Services & Innovative Programs
  • Cindie Persons, HR/Payroll Manager
  • TBD, Family Resource Coordinator
  • Sandy Renner, Spanish Speaking Liaison
  • TBD, Prevention/Intervention Specialist
  • TBD, District Nurse
  • TBD, Classified Staff Representative
  • Tami Culp, Principal Gause Elementary School
  • Kris Grindy, McDonald Excavating; Parent & Community Representative
  • Michael Dornbusch, Pure Wellness Chiropractic & Massage; Business & Community Representative
  • Margaret McCarthy, Drug Free Community Program Coordinator Unite! Washougal Community Coalition & Community Partner
  • Betty Gabel, Teaching and Learning Department Assistant, Washougal School District Office; Washougal School Foundation Representative
  • Michael Isotalo, WHS Health Teacher

Roles of our Wellness Committee Champions:

Work collaboratively and in small groups to accomplish committee goals.
Communicate the work and opportunities provided by the Wellness Committee.
Provide a sounding board for staff and students to share ideas for future wellness opportunities.

2024-25 Wellness Plan/Goals: 

  1. Promote a positive workplace climate that includes a focus on diversity and inclusion with the following functions:
  • Sharing links and any associated resources regarding secondary traumatic stress, stress management, and other mental health resources and supports that are available through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Educational Service District, and the School Employees’ Benefits Board, etc.
  1. Develop and provide a culture-building resource for all schools/buildings including but not limited to: 
  • Staff wellness goal setting with periodic check-ins with supervisor and create a year-end survey to determine effectiveness.
  • Develop/launch a gratitude-sharing process, designed to allow every district employee to express their appreciation for their colleagues in a meaningful and impactful manner to highlight instances of exceptional kindness, support, professionalism, and/or collaboration that might otherwise go unnoticed.
  • Create designated ‘safe’ spaces for staff to relax, decompress and build relationships with other staff.
  1. Support ongoing efforts to develop goals that promote physical fitness and activities to advance student and staff wellness per board policy.

Guiding Policies and Procedures:

2023-24 Wellness Successes:

  1. A fully operational (award winning) scratch-made school food program with quality, healthy, fresh foods which include: Locally or regionally sourced foods, sustainability efforts such as composting and recycling and provides student engagement.
  2. Providing activities/events annually that engage the community and/or create continuity between schools in order to assist students and staff in practicing lifelong healthy habits such as Staff Wellness Fair, STRIDE, district or building specific socials, morning yoga and other exercise-related activities.
  3. Partnered with Kaiser to being the development of multi-tiered systems of support for staff wellness.
  4. Staff wellness spaces completed at Gause Elementary School (total of 2 so far, including Hathaway Elementary School).

Community Engagement

Partner with these organizations and use these resources to further this work
  • Pure Wellness, Ripple, Kaiser, SEBB, Smart Health, etc.
  • SEBB – SmartHealth
  • Washougal School District Foundation
  • WA Health Care Authority
  • Website content creators, Latino/a Community Event organizers

Interested in partnering or being involved with the district in this work, contact Sheri Cranford at [email protected].

Wellness Policy Assessment Results

Interested in knowing the results of our latest District Scorecard from our Wellness Policy Assessment? Click HERE to learn more. We have outlined our plans for improvement based on those results. If you want to know more about that, click  HERE for more information.