Henry resigns from board; Valverde appointed and sworn in

A new job for Mike Henry and a move to Idaho for him and his family has led to the resignation of Karma Henry from the school board. At their regularly scheduled meeting on September 26, 2012, board members sadly accepted her letter of resignation after it was read aloud by Superintendent Suellen White. On a much happier note, the board approved the appointment and swearing in of Heather Valverde as a new board member to fill out Henry’s term.

Preschool

Now that the preschool has come under the auspices of the Odessa School District, issues have arisen between parental expectations and fiscal realities in the district and having to do with state programs.

Under public input, HaLee Walter, speaking for several parents of preschool-aged children, expressed concern about a decision made to have three-year-olds born in 2009 attend preschool only one day a week, while three-year-olds born in 2008 attend three days a week. She said she felt the decision was unfair, because all of the children would most likely end up in the same grade and go through school together with some of them getting more of a head start by having preschool three days a week.

She proposed that the children attending only on Wednesday be allowed to attend also on Friday in order to receive two days a week of preschool instruction at least, suggesting that the staff member leading the preschool on Wednesday also be assigned to Friday.

White responded that the state-sponsored preschool program for low-income families (ECEAP) is not funded until mid-October and that no revisions can be made to the program until the funding is in place. The possibility of having the students go two days a week will be discussed at that time. One concern about having two-day-a-week preschool is that the paraprofessional who would cover the Friday session would be taken out of the remediation program for students in grades 1-6 needing extra help in reading and math. White said she hoped to have a definitive answer by the next school board meeting near the end of October.

Principal’s report

School principal Ken Schutz reported that school was returning to normal following all the activities related to Fest and Homecoming. The Homecoming bonfire has been delayed due to the existing fire danger and will be rescheduled for October 24. However, if there is no rain by then, it will have to be canceled. Schutz emphasized that no additional wood is needed.

Schutz reported on the two professional development days that took place before the start of school on August 29, during which teachers learned evaluation and assessment procedures. There will be changes in the state assessment procedures coming the year after next.

Superintendent’s report

In her superintendent’s report, White also addressed the changing assessments that students will face and showed board members an assessment data update from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Under the schedule provided, current juniors and seniors will have to pass the reading and writing High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) and either an algebra or geometry end-of-course exam (EOC). This year’s sophomores will have to pass a reading and writing HSPE, as well as an algebra and geometry EOC and a biology EOC. The new assessments will be called the Smarter Assessment Consortium (SBAC) exam in English/Language Arts and EOCs in both math and science. The EOCs will be based on SBAC items and cover multiple fields in both math and science. Another option might be to have the students tested as juniors, taking the SBAC Summative Test in E/LA and math and not the science test. Responding to this recitation of “alphabet soup,” board member Joe Schlomer could only say, “OMG.”

White reported that in 2006 the school year ended with an average enrollment of 230, which fell to 219 in 2007, 207 in 2009, 206 in 2010 and 198 in 2011 and 2012. At the beginning of this school year, enrollment was at 191. Of those students, 23 live outside the district and have chosen to come to school in Odessa: three from Harrington, 10 from Lind/Ritzville, one from Wilson Creek, six from Warden and three from Wilbur. There are also seven Odessa students who have opted to go to other districts, two to Harrington and five to Lind/Ritzville.

The academic calendar for this year included two days in October as extra paid days for teachers for professional development. Plans were for other Bi-County schools to join together for one day of regional professional development. The joint plan did not work out and Odessa is working on its own professional development days.

Business teacher Terri King has been working on the school’s new website. She will provide her fellow teachers with instruction on how to develop their own classroom webpages during the next professional development day.

Paraprofessionals will be involved in “Right Response” training designed to help teach how to defuse emotionally charged situations and to deal with students who become “out of control.” Staff will begin training for the “Common Core” curriculum, which is set to become the new learning standard in two years.

The Odessa School District will host a legislative dinner on November 13 in Odessa with the representatives from the13th legislative district of which Odessa is now a part following redistricting. The administrators and board members from Lincoln County schools and the ESD administrators from Spokane have been invited. Judy Warnick and Matt Manweller will attend but state senator Janea Holmquist is expecting her first child soon and will not be able to attend. She will send her assistant instead.

Misc. business

All board members reported they will be able to attend the annual School Board Conference in Spokane in November.

White reported the district ended the 2011-2012 fiscal year in August with a cash reserve of $686,439.

The board approved bus #10 and the blue Nissan flatbed pickup as surplus vehicles.

The board approved extending the contract of the visiting occupational therapist by three days for the year.

Science teacher Seth Hodges presented for approval a new science textbook for physics to replace the current physics books purchased in 2004 and never used. The book he presented is the same one he used in his previous school district. He also presented three non-fiction books he would like to use with his class as supplemental reading materials. These books also need school board approval, since they will be used by the entire class. He owns the books that will be used, so no purchase is necessary.

Bev Scherr submitted a text book needed for the new Survival Living class.

The board approved all curriculum materials presented.

The next board meeting will be October 24 at 7 p.m. preceded by a board workshop on assessment to be presented by Ken Schutz.