Levy amounts to remain at 2011 levels

Meeting for the last time in 2011, the Odessa School Board met December 21 and unanimously approved resolutions to run a General Fund Maintenance and Operation Levy on February 14, 2012 for the same $698,000 as the retiring levy it will replace; and at the same time to run a Capital Projects Fund Levy of $110,00 which is also a replacement for the current levy. Due to an increase in property values within the district, the levy amounts have gone down from $4.03 to $3.98 per $1,000 and for the CPF levy from $.65 to $.63 per $1,000 of real-estate value.

Given the budget cuts proposed by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and the inability of the state legislature to make any timely decisions regarding financial matters related to education, the Odessa board’s hopes of being able to reduce the current levy amounts were determined to be unfeasible. Board members appeared to be caught in the perpetual bind of having to make financial decisions based only upon vague ideas of what the legislature might ultimately do in terms of allocating funds for education.

New board member

Prospective new board member Joe Schlomer was interviewed prior to the meeting and then appointed to the board by a unanimous vote of the members. Schlomer has three children attending school in Odessa. Schlomer works for Cenex Corporation in Moses Lake but makes his home in Odessa.

After the vote, all board members present were sworn into office, Schlomer as a new member and each of the other board members for the beginning of their next terms of office. Only Travis Wagner was not present but joined the meeting by phone from Arizona where he and his family were vacationing.

Board chairman Ed Deife was nominated and unanimously elected to continue as chairman. Marcus Horak was elected vice chairman. School business manager Juli Weishaar acts as the board’s secretary.

Committee appointments were then made by Deife, assigning Schlomer and Wagner to the facilities committee, Horak to the curriculum committee, Karma Henry to the school-improvement plan committee, Wagner and Horak to the negotiations committee and Schlomer as the representative to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (and responsible for reporting WIAA activities to the board). Deife himself will remain on the legislative committee.

TPEP project

Superintendent Suellen White reported on the Odessa School District’s involvement in the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot (TPEP) project. Initially, she said, the purpose of the change in the criteria and methods for evaluating teachers and principals was to help them improve their skills. A recent quote from Governor Gregoire, however, called the process a way of getting rid of bad teachers and administrators. In White’s view, this approach will likely destroy the trust that was being developed among parties involved through the process.

In Odessa, the TPEP project includes OEA (collective bargaining group for certificated staff) president Ellen Holman and past OEA president Duane Pitts, as well as Principal Schutz and Superintendent White.

Fairchild AFB outreach

White said she joined several other Lincoln County superintendents in touring Fairchild Air Force Base in a community outreach effort mounted by the base commander. Different areas where schools might arrange field trips were highlighted during the tour.

STEM

As the result of a grant-writing effort by Schutz, high school science teacher Jeff Wehr, high school math teacher Travis Schuh, junior-high science teacher Sam Read and junior high math teacher Larry Weber, the Odessa School District was selected as a STEM Lighthouse School by the state and will receive $20,000. Funding will be used to put on a science workshop for secondary science teachers in the region and to make presentations at various locations throughout the year, including having students make a presentation to the legislature. A presentation will also be made at the Small School Conference held in March.

Ken also presented data developed by the BERC group about college attendance and persistence. The data continues to show Odessa graduates far above the state average in both college attendance and persistence in staying in school until they get a degree.

Drivers’ Ed.

White said she has worked with Cruisers Driving Academy of Moses Lake in an effort to have them deliver Driver's Education to Odessa students this year. Odessa’s driving instructor Dick Greene has taken a leave of absence this year for health reasons. The Moses Lake company will offer the class for the amount the students have already been charged for Driver's Ed., $400 per student, this year. The school district will furnish the classroom, car, gas and maintenance for the class. Cruisers Drivers Academy will provide instructors, insurance and materials.

Jr.-Hi literature

Ken Schutz presented the instructional materials approved by the Curriculum Committee for sixth-grade reading, to replace books that are more than 20 years old and which are falling apart. The board approved the new curriculum and the purchase of the materials. The new books will be used during second semester of this school year.