Our schools are stronger thanks to the support provided by our edtech mentors.

Posted Date: 05/13/26 (09:01 AM)

Teaching & Learning

EdTech Edition

A collage of nine headshots of individuals, identified as Edtech Mentors, with their names below each photo.

Supporting Our Students and Teachers with EdTech

At ESD, our goal is to make sure technology, including AI, is a tool that helps our students think deeper, not just work faster. But we know that behind every great piece of tech, you need a great human to help guide the way.

🌟 Meet the People Behind EdTech

We are so lucky to have building-level EdTech mentors in our schools. These are teachers who go above and beyond to support their fellow staff members, making sure our classrooms are using technology safely and creatively.

A huge shout-out to this year’s team:

Mt. Stuart: Heather Burnham
Valley View: Katy Cavanaugh
Ida Nason Aronica: Pearl Rossi (Welcome, Shelby Wedekind!)
Lincoln: Torre Frampton
Morgan Middle: Jamie Moultine & Angela Thomassen
EHS: Nick Majsterek & Charlie Acheson

We want to give a special thank you to Charlie Acheson and Pearl Rossi, who are wrapping up their time as mentors. We’re also excited to welcome Shelby Wedekind to the team from Ida Nason Aronica next year.

🤝 We’re in this Together

Whether it’s a quick 10-minute "how-to" or a deep dive into a new project, the EdTech team is here to support our staff every step of the way. We’re making sure no one has to navigate these changes alone. We’re excited to keep moving forward and building future-ready classes for students!

Let’s talk about AI

If you feel like AI is everywhere lately, you’re right. Recent data shows that about 80% of students are already using it, but only a tiny fraction of teachers feel like they have a clear playbook for it.

Instead of ignoring that gap, we want to bridge it.

At Ellensburg, we’re working to replace the cheating conversation with a thinking conversation. We want to help students use these tools to think bigger and go deeper, rather than just getting an assignment done faster.

Some things to help everyone out.

We’ve put together a few resources to help everyone get a feel for how this all works:

The Tools: We have access to SchoolAI and Gemini. These are safe for staff and students to work with, and they’re built specifically for school use.
The "Playbook": ESD wrote some District AI Guidelines that make sense. No confusing legal talk, just some helpful tips on when AI is a great "thought partner" and when it’s better to just rely on your own brain.
A Human to Talk To: Students, reach out if you want help learning how to use AI, or if you’re a teacher trying to rework a lesson, see me, Joell Boast, in the EHS Library.

Work smarter, think deeper. New research from Rand shows a big worry: Will AI make us lose our critical thinking skills? The answer is a hard no. We’re teaching staff and students how to use AI to dig deeper, ask better questions, and tackle the high-level problems that future careers will actually pay you to solve.

"The decision schools face is not whether AI enters our classrooms, but whether we shape how it enters." — Stanford

A New Look for ParentSquare

Our favorite communication tool is getting a makeover!

You might notice things looking a little different next time you log in. ParentSquare is rolling out a bold new look and a refreshed logo to make the platform even easier to navigate.

The new logo and colors will update automatically in your ParentSquare app and on the product dashboard.

Let’s Connect!

Have questions or need support? I’m here to help! Feel free to reach out.

Joell Boast

EdTech Coordinator

Ellensburg School District

📧 Email: joell.boast@esd401.org

📞 Phone: 509-925-8300, ext. 31107

📍 Office Location: EHS Library