Members of the Dieringer School Board worked with staff, parents, and community members for several months on our Strategic Planning Committee. The group worked very hard to develop a new plan that was approved by the school board in February. 

The development of the new plan gave the Dieringer community and the school board a unique opportunity to define what is important for our students to accomplish in our district. The new plan details our goals, how we’ll monitor progress toward achieving those goals, and how we’ll determine success. This process took a little longer than originally planned, but the group had some wonderful conversations about teaching, learning, and supporting Dieringer's students, parents, and staff.

More information is available here. 

Dieringer School District and Lake Tapps Elementary are excited to have Dave Cordell as our new principal.  Dave is highly qualified and brings over 27 years of experience working in public education. Dave has served as a teacher, instructional coach, and administrator in the Federal Way, Sumner-Bonney Lake, and Bethel School District prior to accepting the position at Lake Tapps. Dave's roles and experiences provide him with a deep ability to connect with students and staff across grade levels and positions. His collaborative history will be an asset to our district.

School board president Megan Bearor commented, “I’m excited to welcome Dave Cordell to the Dieringer School District. Dave has a host of experiences as a principal in the Bethel School District, supporting students, staff, and families. He will be a great addition to the Dieringer team.”

As Dave and his wife have been local residents since 2005, Dave is looking forward to investing in the lives of students and families where their own children were raised and thrived.

With Reading Street, our current reading and literacy curriculum, already 15 years old, and our current subscription to the online portions expiring next year in 2024, we recognized the need to align our reading instruction with a structured literacy approach based in the science of reading.  This new approach takes into account what current science says about how kids learn to read.  This type of instruction is explicit and direct, with clear instruction of skills.  It is also systematic and specific, following a sequence of skills that build upon previously taught skills.  This approach is also engaging; it captures and maintains student attention and creates connections.  Last, it is multi-sensory and engages students’ multiple senses during instruction.  All the while, it is developmentally appropriate for the student’s age, culture, and intellectual capacity.

Our teachers took part in training on the science of reading this past spring and will learn more this summer and fall.  We have also hired a reading implementation coach to support our staff and students with the new reading materials and teaching strategies.  We are excited to see how much growth our K-5 students will make over the next few years with their reading.

You can view a presentation to the school board at the April meeting about the science of reading and our curriculum adoption process on YouTube.  Use this link, and skip forward to the 37th minute.

Want to become a volunteer?

Volunteers are integral to the daily operations of a school district. We are so grateful for our numerous volunteers. The 22-23 school year saw our district have close to 600 volunteers. This number includes those in the classroom, on field trips, and field day.

You can sign-up here:  Volunteer

All the best to Janice, Julie, Monte, Sandra, Jody, Jeffrey, and Carol!

Everyone in the Dieringer School District is thankful to the larger community for their support of November's Captial Levy. This levy was crucial for the long-term sustainability of Dieringer's school buildings and critical infrastructure systems. We’re excited about the prospect of ensuring quality learning spaces for our students for years to come.  This is an investment in our schools and our community as a whole. This summer, a few smaller projects are underway.  Those include an LED light fixture replacement and an elevator rebuild, both at Dieringer Heights.  Several larger projects are in the planning stages, with the aim of work beginning next summer in 2024.  That includes HVAC systems at all three schools and a roof replacement at North Tapps Middle School.

At the end of 2022, a previously approved construction bond expired and gave us a unique opportunity to have this capital levy replace the expiring bond and not increase taxes in our school district.  In the fall of 2022, we estimated the 2023 tax rate at $4.05 per $1,000 of assessed value.  The latest information from the Pierce County Assessor, in fact, shows the tax rate to be even lower at $3.47.  Over the last few years, the tax rate has gone down in Dieringer, as the chart below shows.  More information about our levies can be found here, and additional information about capital levy projects is available here.

The lack of a high school is one of Dieringer's most unique features.  We are, in fact, the largest K-8 or non-high district in the state.  That means that our students get to choose their high school, and can technically attend any high school in the state.  Most other K-8 districts are in rural areas and more remote.  In those districts, students typically go to one high school.  With Dieringer bordered by four other districts and a host of other districts in our region, our students truly get the pick of the crop.  This past year, our students mostly went to Sumner High School and Auburn Riverside High School.  Check out the graph below for a more detailed breakdown.  Congratulations to our 8th graders, and good luck in high school.