OTC buys school bus barn; teams gain accolades

The Odessa School Board met June 19 to consider an offer to purchase the old bus barn. The Odessa Trading Company’s offer of the district’s minimum asking price of $57,000 was accepted by unanimous vote of the board.

The board discussed three bids it had received for the construction of two different sizes of a new storage facility for the district’s vehicles. The bid from Johnson Brothers Construction was accepted for erection of a 50' x 72' free-standing pole structure attached to the grandstand. The board asked for change quotes from the contractor, first to put up a section of transparent siding on the south wall, and second, to provide matching siding for the sides of the grandstand.

Bi-annual joint board meeting

After the special board meeting in Odessa, the group traveled to Harrington for the Odessa/Harrington Athletic Coop joint board meeting.

The co-op’s athletic director Darin Reppe reviewed the winter and spring sports seasons and went over planned summer activities for the student athletes.

Both the high school girls and boys basketball and track and field teams, as well as the girls golf team won Outstanding Scholastic Awards. The high school baseball, boys golf and girls tennis teams all won Distinguished Scholastic Awards.

Reppe provided information on the costs incurred to date by the coop for the 2011-2012 school year, including coaches' salaries, equipment, uniforms, travel, etc. The budget for this period was $220,876 and the actual cost to date is $199,452. The only area of the budget that cost more than projected was for officials for the various contests.

Estimated operating costs for next year are $216,166. The figure is down from the budgeted costs for 2011-2012 but represents an increase over actual expenditures. Odessa superintendent Suellen White said the figures used for determining travel costs appeared low to her.

Reppe said the co-op will fulfill its obligation for uniforms this next year. Discounts will still be available, he added.

The 2012-2013 schedules were provided for fall and winter sports. The schedules have more total contests in Harrington than Odessa for the period.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has passed amendments which affect the Odessa/Harrington sports programs. A running clock will be instituted when a football game has a 40-point differential, instead of calling the game at that point. Basketball teams will be allowed to have 16 players suit up and can include 8th graders.

Cheerleading was discussed. Odessa parent and last spring’s Titan softball coach Ryan Shafer asked the boards to allow cheerleaders to participate in both cheerleading and a sport at the same time. After a lengthy discussion about the impact of this change, the coop agreement was amended by eliminating point #3 under cheerleading, which will allow cheerleaders to also participate in a sport as long as good guidelines are developed to prevent conflicts. One such development would be to organize an away squad comprising non-competing athletes. The co-op agreement was also amended to increase the number of cheerleaders allowed on the floor at any given time from 8 to 12.

Darin Reppe discussed different philosophies for dealing with spring sports in a time of declining enrollments. Some schools only have team sports and others only have lifetime sports. Board member Ed Deife proposed that the issue be confronted whenever the problem actually arises.