Innovating for The Future

The Bellevue Big Picture School Community is embarking on two innovative projects in line with the district’s developing strategic plan and Superintendent Aramaki’s priority of innovation for staff and students: building renovation and programmatic innovation. On this webpage, you will find updates on the programmatic innovation, including email communications and engagement opportunities for our learning community to share feedback throughout this process.

Purpose

With nearly 15 years of learning under our belts bringing Big Picture Learning (BPL) principles to life in Bellevue, it’s time to deepen our practice implementing the ten BPL “distinguishers.” We are so excited to do this collaboratively with our community, learning and growing together. Over the next year, we will explore how to further our implementation of Big Picture Learning design features.

The Approach

An inclusive approach to design is as important as the outcome. We will employ core habits that promote inclusion, clarity and trust.

Inclusion – Bringing in diverse voices and building a sense of belonging
Empathy – Understanding the views, feelings, aspirations, and needs of others
Co-Creation – Working across differences to understand and create solutions

The Process

We will begin with a School Success Study in late February to identify the ways our school is successfully implementing the 10 Big Picture Learning (BPL) distinguishers and gaps that can be improved. As we learn together about the BPL distinguishers, we will iterate as a community on updates to our school design.

The People

Big Picture students, staff and families will all be invited to be involved. The process will be supported by Bellevue School District staff along with project partners who have expertise in Big Picture Learning design and roots in the Bellevue community.

Students	Kazuki Castillo Bean Garcia Nate Bauer Arushi Sinha Diego Zayas Collazo
BP Educators	Emily Rio - MS Spanish Kelly Clark - MS Social Studies Kevin Roberts - HS Math Anna Morin - HS Social Studies Clinton Stellfox - HS Science Brendan Schimpf - MS special education Amy Stephens - HS counselor Suzanne Reeve - ITCL Tony Granito - Internship Coordinator Judy Hunsberger - Family Connections Specialist Bethany Spinler - Principal Devin Barrett - Assistant Principal
Parents	Ira Becton Chris Martinez Claire Sumadiwirya Angie Di Loreto Anne Underwood
District Administrators	Scott Powers - Executive Director, Teaching & Learning Shomari Jones - Director, Equity & Strategic Engagement

Equity-Driven Decision Making

Decisions will be guided by Equity-Driven Decision Making. This framework helps participants define priorities, barriers, and constraints and evaluate the extent to which the final plan furthers justice and belonging.

The Timeline

The updated design will be completed in winter 2025. Phase 1 implementation will start in the fall of 2025:

February 2024 – School Success Study
March/April 2024 – Community connection learning about distinguishers
May-November – Design options version 1
December 2024 – Feedback on design version 1 with community via Focus Groups
December/January 2025 – Refine design based on community input
January 2025- Feedback on design version 2 with community via Community event
February 2025 – Refine design based on community input
March- June 2025 – Plan for implementation
September 2025 – Phase 1 implementation

Contact Us

Please stay tuned for more information on how to get involved. Contact Bethany Spinler at spinlerb@bsd405.org with any questions you may have.