As a teacher in Blaine County, and as a parent of two children in our district's dual immersion program, I am writing to publicly acknowledge Matt Murray's efforts and accomplishments during his three years here.
Matt Murray is the director of curriculum and dual language learners for the Blaine County School District, and in beginning his job here, was asked to continue the development of the district's dual immersion English/Spanish program started by Dr. Lewis eight years ago. Over the last few years, Mr. Murray has focused on making our program the best in the state.
Because he came from California and is bilingual himself, it has been a natural fit for Matt Murray to work closely with our second-language programs, learners and parents. With his ability to speak Spanish, parents of our ELD (English language development) students have an administrator with whom they can speak directly.
As an ELD teacher at Wood River Middle School, I know that Matt Murray expanded his focus this year to include raising reading scores for our ELD students. As a committee, the results of our yearlong efforts are very impressive on both the state reading ISAT scores as well as scores on our own district's reading fluency assessments, which are assessments Mr. Murray worked hard to get established districtwide to monitor students throughout the year.
Our valley was very fortunate to have Matt Murray move his family here from California three years ago so he could share his academic excellence and varied professional experiences with the school district staff. To Mr. Murray I would like to say, "Thank you for your tireless commitment to our schools, our district and our community. ¡Muchisimas gracias!"
Tristan Ellison Gralenski
Bellevue
