New principal hired

The Odessa School Board held a budget workshop prior to the regular monthly meeting on July 23.

The regular meeting opened with a budget hearing which produced no public comment.

Under old business, the board approved Ken Schutz’s resignation as K-12 principal, three additional days for the superintendent for 2013-2014 and hired Jamie Nelson as the new P-12 principal for Odessa Schools, the salary schedule for the union-exempt employees.

The board also hired Tim Hauge as the new bus driver, Jeff Nelson as the high-school assistant football coach, Justin Ikehara as the junior-high head volleyball coach, Suzie Deife as the junior-high assistant volleyball coach, Ellen Holman as fall cheer coach and Amy Hunt as winter cheer coach.

The board approved the Carl Perkins Grant (vocational/technical education) submission for the 2014-2015 school year and the school nurse contract with the Lincoln County Health Department.

Superintendent Suellen White welcomed Jamie Nelson as the new principal. White told the board she attended a recent conference for superintendents and principals, where she spent time talking to people about the district’s need for a new principal. She was told by numerous people that she should consider Jamie Nelson based on their experiences working with her. On her return to Odessa, White called Nelson and asked her to come in for a chat. After visiting for a couple of hours, White called two board members who came and spent another hour talking with Nelson. The superintendent and board members decided to offer Nelson an interim position as principal for the next year.

White also shared her experiences over the last week dealing with the major fire in her community of Twisp. She said her family was doing well and had not been threatened by the fire except for a brief period the previous Friday. They could see the fire on the ridges and over the ridges to the North, East and South of their home, but prevailing winds were from the north and west prevented them from getting much smoke. Communications was the most difficult part of the experience, as they had limited local telephone service, no long distance, no cell service, no Internet, no TV and limited radio reception. They also had no power, but with generators and a gravity water system supplying her home, it was a minor inconvenience. She thanked all for the concern expressed during the ordeal. She said the amount of devastation from the fire was terrible, especially for families who lost their homes.

White reported on Summer Chef Camp scheduled for the first two weeks in August. The 31 students registered will be doing lots of cooking under the guidance of Merleen Smith and doing math and reading under the guidance of Bev Scherr using iPads and the IXL program. The program is being funded by the district’s PE grant.

Facilities report

Facilities director Justin Parr reported that the carpet in the hallways had been laid. The tread on the stairs is black, however, and does not clearly define the stair treads. The carpet should also extend to the fire doors in the hallway. Not realizing how bad it would look where the old and new carpets meet and that the new padding would bring the carpet level up as high as it did, administration is now looking at the cost of extending new carpeting to the fire doors.

The gym floors have been refinished and look good. He said he has been replacing lots of sprinkler heads to keep enough water on the fields during the hot weather. He added that, with the changes in teaching staff, he has had lots of work for his crew making the desired changes to the rooms for the new teachers.

New business

White’s financial report showed the ending cash balance for June was $677,854.

The board discussed the proposed FFA trip to Nationals, with White recommending against it because it did not meet district requirements for travel to national conventions for students. The board agreed, voting unanimously not to approve this trip.

The board approved the budget as presented for the coming school year.

The board also approved new curriculum adoptions for the psychology course to be offered this next year, as well as for a new literature book and math books for algebra and geometry.