Odessa students in class 5 days/week

ODESSA – At the Jan. 27 meeting of the school board, Odessa School District Superintendent Dan Read reviewed the latest Lincoln County COVID case counts, followed by discussion of specific cases and the few quarantines initiated during the week of Jan. 18. A three-day break from in-person instruction occurred Jan. 20-22 for all students as a precautionary measure to monitor for any potential spread. School was back in session with in-person learning on Jan. 25. Read reminded board members that the new “Healthy Washington” reopening phases are more restrictive than previous countywide measures.

Read informed the board about the 47 new Chromebooks and Ipads the district received through the emergency relief computer initiative, which are up and running in the elementary classrooms. Read reported a count of 205.1 full-time-equivalent students for the month of January.

The board approved the preliminary Wilson Creek sports combine agreement and ongoing combine with Harrington School District for selected sport seasons.

The board met via ZOOM at 5:30 p.m. for a workshop on the 2020-2021 budget and staffing for the current school year. The regular meeting was convened at 6 p.m. in the presence of board chair Ed Deife; board members Janie Steward, Heather Valverde, Chris Crossley and Carmen Weishaar; Superintendent Read; Principal Jamie Nelson; Asst. Business Manager Staci Claassen; Operations Supervisor Justin Parr and Athletic Director Bruce Todd.

The board approved the consent agenda, which included the minutes of the Dec. 16, 2020 meeting; payroll warrants #613432-613446 and direct deposit warrants #900008079-900008131 totaling $294,621.27, general fund A/P warrants #613447-613486 totaling $75,324.02 and ASB fund A/P warrants #613487-613491 totaling $2,872.77; as well the resignations of Amy Schaefer and David Elder from their respective coaching position.

Legislative report

Read discussed the first few days of the legislative session, which appears to be moving rapidly with the introduction of 700 bills in the first week. Read is keeping a close eye on bills related to student transportation and any other bills with hold-harmless provisions on school financing during the COVID pandemic.

Facilities report

Justin Parr reported he is waiting on a preliminary research report for the heating system.

Financial report

Read presented the ASB balance sheet for December. He further presented the Financial Activity reports for General Fund for December showing an unassigned fund balance of $1,108,970.47.

Date of next regular meeting

The next regular board meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 6 p.m. in the high school library with a workshop scheduled for 5:30 p.m. before the regular meeting.

Support services stipends

Support services stipends were approved for Dalles Deife, Heath Voise and Deric Schmierer as recommended by Superintendent Read.