School board

End of school nears, much is going on now

 

Last updated 5/14/2017 at 8:19pm



On April 26, 2017, superintendent Dan Read, principal Jamie Nelson, Ed Deife, Heather Valverde, Chris Crossley and Carmen Weishaar held a workshop in the district office prior to the regular school board meeting for the purpose of discussing district policies and procedures. The board then met in the school library at 6:00 p.m., with Deife, Valverde, Crossley, Weishaar, Read and Nelson present, along with business manager Juli Weishaar; Justin Parr; Kevin Schaefer; Jeff, Julie and Kiegan Wehr; Tim, Jill and Elizabeth Larson; Chance and Colton Messer; Destiny and Arianna German, Cole Kissler and Terrie Schmidt-Crosby.

High school science teacher Jeff Wehr gave a brief overview of the advanced science projects presented by students this year in regional and state competitions. Cole Kissler, Elizabeth Larson, Chance Messer, Kiegan Wehr, Destiny German, Arianna German and Colton Messer each gave a one-minute overview of their research.

The board approved the consent agenda, including the minutes of the March 22, 2017 special and regular meetings, payroll warrants and direct deposit warrants for $244,982.53; general fund warrants for $60,328.09; ASB Fund warrants for $18,170.55.

The board also approved:

• Megan Walter as 2017-18 Kindergarten teacher;

• HaLee Walter as part-time ag education teacher/FFA advisor

• Don Sheldon as part-time industrial arts teacher

• the retirement of JoEllen Wollman as paraeducator

• the resignation of LaRee Kuchenbuch as paraeducator

• travel to the state FFA convention May 10-14, 2017 in Pullman

• travel to the International Science & Engineering Fair May 14-18, 2017 in LA

Principal’s report

Nelson reported a P-12 headcount enrollment of 257 students.

She reported on the success of the school musical. State testing is currently underway, as teachers work around test schedules, club competitions and sporting activities.

Terri King and the FBLA students were congratulated on being selected Washington State’s Outstanding FBLA Chapter of the Year and for qualifying a large number of students to compete at nationals this summer.

Nelson reported upcoming activities include the State FFA Convention in Pullman, the Lilac Parade in Spokane, a Listen2yourself Youth Health Day for grades 7-10 and two spring music concerts.

Superintendent’s report

Read’s report gave a March enrollment of 234 full-time equivalent students.

The regular legislative session ended with little accomplished, Read said. A special session was to begin April 24, focussed on negotiating a two-year operating budget. Other items to be resolved include the Pro-Teach Certification Program, a possible revision of state salary schedules for teachers, levy swap and levy lid considerations, new potential funding formulas and possible delinking of state assessments to graduation.

AD report

Athletic director Bruce Todd was attending Harrington’s school board meeting, so Read delivered his report. It included an update on current open coaching positions, the dates, times and locations of post season play for all high school sports and a summary of junior high participation numbers by sport and upcoming competitions.

Facilities report

Operations Director Justin Parr reported the facilities committee had met and created a list of maintenance issues needing attention during the summer. Parr said new speakers were installed in the multipurpose room and repairs were made to the baseball fence.

Financial report

Read’s report showed revenue at $279,109 and expenditures at $304,708 for an ending balance of $704,651.

O/H Sports Co-op

Read proposed the following at the April 12 athletic cooperative meeting.

Hold all HS football practices at Odessa with the exception of the first week of practice (without pads) and the week prior to the game held in Harrington (Fall Festival). Hold JH football games and practices at Odessa. Hold JH and HS track practices in Odessa. Split JH and HS volleyball and basketball games and practices 50/50 (Odessa would gain back one basketball game so that games are evenly split). JH and HS baseball in Odessa. All tennis and golf in Harrington. Cheerleading to be determined based on participation.

A new cost structure would include 60 percent of expenses being paid by Odessa and 40 percent by Harrington. Read expects an answer from the Harrington administration within a few weeks.

FFA Community Garden

Read reported that HaLee Walter continues to gather follow-up information on the FFA Community Garden Project. Read indicated that he is in support of moving forward with the project with the caveat of polishing the final details, including the exact location of the garden.

The next regular board meeting will be Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 6 p.m. in the high school library, with a workshop preceding at 5:30.

Read presented Policy #1400 for first and second reading to change the time of regular board meetings from 7 to 6 p.m.

Sabbatical leave

The board approved Marianne Iksic’s request for a sabbatical leave from her teaching assignment for the 2017-2018 school year in order to pursue her doctorate degree.

Curriculum adoption

Read explained that current FOSS kits used in grades 3-5 are not adequate to meet the STEM science standards. He presented a recommendation from the curriculum committee for science kits from Carolina Biological which the board approved.

Contract renewal

Chairman Deife presented the superintendent’s three-year contract for renewal which included an increase to 180 days of service and a corresponding salary increase.

 

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