Vince Blauser on education's cutting edge with Gates model

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

  FEDERAL WAY -- Vince Blauser never considered the possibility of being a school administrator before finishing the graduate counseling program at Western Washington University.
  Now, as principal of Sequoyah Middle School in the Federal Way School District, the 1981 graduate of Lynden High School can’t think of any other place he would rather be.
  “I just had to get a job,” Blauser said. “I never thought I would end up down here.”
  In his senior year at Lynden High School, Vince was on two state championship sports teams. He quarterbacked the football team and was a guard on the basketball team.
  Blauser began his 20 years in the district as soon as he graduated from WWU, working as a counselor for nine years. He was on staff at Illahee and Saghalie middle schools before eventually serving on the planning committee for Todd Beamer High School.
  The new high school was partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and divided into four academies with a maximum of 450 students for each academy.
  Blauser said having four smaller academies allows students to choose an education focus in line with his or her specific goals. The same core requirements are taught in each academy, but different electives are offered, he said.
  Blauser served for the school’s first five years as the principal of the school’s Business & Industry Academy.
  Todd Beamer High School has a head principal with lower principals under him for each academy.
  “It’s almost like a junior college approach,” he said.
  Blauser began this year as principal of Sequoyah Middle School, a change that he said is welcome, since it allows him to have his own building.
  Vince Blauser grew up in Lynden where his parents, Walt and Patsy, still reside. He said his experience at Lynden High School has come full circle, with his experience at Todd Beamer.
  Blauser said the goal of the experimental school was to achieve a school environment similar to what he grew up with.
  “I don’t remember kids dropping out or failing like they do in big-city schools,” he said. “We were trying to replicate the personalized education of a small town.”
  The goal is to not have kids fall through the cracks.
  “You can’t teach a kid you don’t know,” he said.
  Blauser’s 20-year anniversary in the Federal Way School District is shared by his wife Arlene, who is a kindergarten teacher. They have two children, Emma, 14, and Madeline, 11.
  Blauser said he has no plans to go anywhere, even after 20 years in Federal Way.
  “This is my dream job,” he said. “I’m excited to get up in the morning and go to work.”
  E-mail Mark Reimers at reporter@lyndentribune.com.