School district agrees to operate pre-school program

At the April 25 meeting of the Odessa School Board, the Parent Pre-school Co-operative’s president Stephen Walter expressed his thanks and relief at the board’s decision to incorporate the preschool into the Odessa School District.

Walter said the co-op board wanted the school to take over operation of the pre-school to provide greater stability and less teacher turnover.

Superintendent Suellen White described the proposal in which the district will partner with NEWESD (Educational Services District) 101 to provide preschool sessions to qualifying children under ECEAP (Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program) and assume operation of the cooperative portion of the preschool.

Tuition charged by the district for non-ECEAP students would be $65/month, and parents will not be required to work in the program. Tuition will be reduced for children qualifying under the USDA guidelines for reduced-price school meals and waived for students who qualify for free meals.

The preschool teacher will be an employee of the ESD, and the classroom assistant (paraprofessional) will be an employee of the school district. The school district will maintain the classroom.

The preschool parents will all be part of an advisory board from which an executive board will be elected. The executive board will serve as the board for the preschool’s 501.c.3 organization, which will continue to hold fundraising activities to fund field trips, scholarships, etc. This organization will be on a par with the PTO (Parent/Teacher Organization) and athletic booster club, independent of the school district but supporting the activities of the district.

The board voted to operate the preschool for three years and then re-evaluate the program.

Personnel

The board approved the hiring of Mona Pope for an additional four hours/day as required by the school’s new maintenance/custodial organization. The board also accepted the resignations of Jeff Wehr as the high school science teacher and of Julie Wehr as a paraprofessional.

White told the board she attended the Spokane Educators Job Fair April 17 and brought with her 12 resumes of potential science teachers, all of whom, she said, would be advised that the high standards established by Jeff Wehr were to be maintained.

The board approved contracts for the principal and all certificated teachers and employment assurances for all classified staff. Also approved was delegation of control of the athletic programs to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Joe Schlomer will be the board’s representative to the WIAA.

Extra-curricular successes

Overnight and out-of-state trips were approved for students in the FFA chapter to attend the Junior Livestock Show in Spokane and the FFA State Convention in Pullman, Knowledge Bowl National Championship in New Orleans and FBLA Nationals in San Antonio, Texas. The district’s policy is to provide $200 per student for national competitions.

White reported that Ellen Holman had advised her of activities the Knowledge Bowl will undertake to raise additional funds for their trip to New Orleans: providing cookies and asking for donations during parent teacher conferences, holding a car wash Saturday, selling Papa Murphy pizzas and taking pre-paid orders for berries to be delivered the end of June when strawberries are fresh.

Facilities

White reported that the bus barn is being appraised prior to putting it up for sale.

The facilities committee of Ed Deife and Travis Wagner will meet May 2 to help determine the summer projects that will be undertaken this year.

White said she had met with CSN, the energy control contractor, concerning unfinished items under the energy grant. They, along with Schneider Electric, had a team in the building Tuesday evening finishing up whatever they could. A few items need to be ordered before they can finish.

White told the board the PTO is having the sign raised, it was not put on top of the original pole due to the wind, and the PTO is purchasing new software. Apparently the sign was upgraded but the software was not.

Legislative report

In the last hours of the legislative session, the issue of school district employee health insurance was dealt with, not by making any substantive changes but by requiring a lot of data development and reporting by school districts and a requirement that WEA, which writes the majority of health coverage policies for school employees in the state offer family coverage at a comparable cost to the HCA plans available to state employees. White said she felt the purpose of these reforms is to break the monopoly WEA has on the health insurance provided by school districts to their employees.

Finances

District enrollment dropped to 195.5 students in April. The ending cash reserve in the general fund is $660,859.

The board approved increasing the school’s credit card limit to $10,000 (from $5,000) and appointed Juli Weishaar as the authorized district contact person.

The board approved paying $125,000 from the general fund towards retirement of the non-voted bond for the energy efficiency project. The district owes $387,000 and is paying 3.78% interest on the debt. Budgeted were $150,000 in expenditures from the capital projects fund. If the bond payment were made from this fund, a budget extension would be required due to the emergency repair grant expenditures for the new hot-water heater in the high school and the possibility of building a storage facility this summer with the proceeds from the bus garage sale if it goes through.

Other

Principal Ken Schutz told the board that student-led conferences would be held Thursday and Friday, with classes canceled as a result. Last year, he said, 98% of students and parents or their representatives attended and a similar number was being anticipated.

He also reported that a STEM training held on April 18 was well received.

Board members asked about getting more recognition for academic teams. Schutz said “state championship” signs at both ends of town have not been updated recently and are also still orange and black. He said it could be a great senior project for someone next year.

Tasha Parr donated 1500 box tops worth $150 in school equipment.

Travis Wagner reported on the death of a Davenport paraeducator Sean Mauer. He said donations were being gathered for a memorial scoreboard in his name. Schutz said he would approach the ASB and ask if they would donate.

The next board meeting will be on May 23, 2012 unless a special session is needed to deal with the bus garage sale.

The board held an executive session to discuss upcoming negotiations with employee unions.