School board gearing up for end-of-school

The February 27 school board meeting began with high-school English teacher Dr. Duane Pitts and science teacher Seth Hodges providing a summary of their experiences as participants in TPEP (Teacher/Principal Evaluation Project). They showed the board an article they had written and submitted to the Phi Delta Kappan professional journal for educators.

The board approved a request by Hodges to take 8th grade students to Zillah for a robotics challenge. The students are currently working on this project in class.

Personnel

The board approved spring coaching contracts for Bruce Todd and Larry Weber, baseball head and assistant coaches, respectively; Sam Read, golf and Travis Schuh, track and field, and concurred with Harrington’s coaching contracts for Rachel Roberts, tennis, and Mike Cronrath, junior-high track and field. The board also accepted the resignation of Ken Scherr as head high-school volleyball coach.

Superintendent’s report

Superintendent Suellen White told the board of a meeting of the teachers to discuss technology needs. Ian Hanson, from Innovation Computing, was at the meeting to hear the issues brought up by staff. The top priority based on that discussion was replacement of the elementary/junior-high computer lab. Its current configuration is only useful for testing at this time.

With the advent of the state’s new SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) testing being piloted this year and implemented in two years, the current lab will not even be useable for this function. We will need to purchase 18 desktop computers and four laptop computers for this space. The second priority will be to make Wi-Fi available throughout the building. The third is to decide how we can make another high school computer lab available. Another meeting will be held specifically to discuss the second high school lab.

Elementary teachers expressed a need for more iPads for use in each classroom. The board discussed the technology options and their various pros and cons. White reported that a problem with student access to inappropriate material was recently encountered, resulting in configuration of the school security software to block Facebook due to potentially damaging material found there.

White reported on the school calendar development process. Two scheduling options will be presented to interested parents during a meeting in March. One schedule would provide late starts every Wednesday morning (school starting at 9:05) and the other would provide early releases twice each month with school getting out at 1:15. Following input from parents, a calendar will be presented to the board for adoption at the March meeting.

After the last board meeting, White met with head cook Becky Kolterman and a group of interested parents to discuss the new federal food guidelines, what foods kids like to eat at home and how to improve the breakfast and lunch menus. Kolterman recently added a new feature in the cafeteria. Students who have unopened milk cartons, whole unpeeled fruit or sealed containers containing applesauce or other side dishes that they do not want to eat or take home with them are encouraged to put the items in a separate area of the cafeteria in a “leftover box” instead of throwing them into the trash. Other kids may then come and take any items they wish. The box is filled and emptied every day. Waste is reduced and kids with bigger appetites have access to additional servings.

The third and fourth grades visited the new Mobius Science Center in Spokane and reported that it was a great field trip. The trip was paid by the PTO, with the school district providing transportation. The K-2 classes went to the version of this center designed for younger children the previous week.

School board chairman Ed Deife attended the annual Small Schools Conference and reported that it was not the best conference he ever attended, but he nevertheless came away with new ideas being tried in other districts that might be worth discussing in Odessa. One district provided iPads for all third-grade students to keep until they reached seventh grade. Surprisingly, Deife said, the iPads withstood the rough treatment they were subjected to by this age group, with only one becoming non-functional before the year was out.

Deife found the keynote speaker, one of the authors of the "Common Core" standards, to be a disappointment, noting that it will be interesting to see what happens as these standards are implemented.

Facilities

Head custodian Justin Parr’s written facilities report told of the installation of two new pumps at the Ag Shop to provide heat in the greenhouse, office and bathrooms. He also fixed the water pipes and made some modifications to make it easier to water plants in the greenhouse.

The firm CSN, the contractor for the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning control system, made its quarterly preventive maintenance visit. CSN personnel fixed a broken CO2 sensor in the gym, calibrated thermostats and made a recommendation to install controls of the back-up system in the kitchen to be tied to the computer to limit boiler operation.

Parr ordered new sprinkler heads to retrofit old sprinklers on the softball, Little League and playground fields.

Proposals are being sought and discussed for improving security in the school district’s buildings.

The district is waiting for the ESD to make the final fiber-optic connection to the K-20 network, which should improve Internet connection speeds.

A board member asked about recommendations the superintendent received from a community member regarding bathrooms at the athletic fields. The patron felt that a set of bathrooms nearer the grandstands, to be used by football, track, softball and baseball would be helpful and suggested that this become a school-community partnership once the Fest Platz project is completed.

Legislature

White said the state legislature is still working on policy bills for defining a school day (which keeps changing based on input from the field), determining state graduation requirements and potentially grading schools with A through F grades.

White said she thought grading schools was a bad idea, especially when small numbers of students are involved and part of the ranking is based on improvement. When you have 100% of sophomores meeting the standards in writing one year, then the next year one student misses the standard by one point, the school’s percentage drops to 82%, resulting in a negative ranking due to falling achievement.

Enrollment declined by 1.4 students to 191.1, which still is above the budgeted number of 185 students. The district ended January with $553,299 in its reserve fund.

White informed the board that Classified Employee Recognition Week will be March 11-15.

Policy reviews

On second reading, the board approved policies concerning: Proposed Agenda; Guidance and Counseling; Suicide Prevention; Interscholastic Athletics; Education of Students with Disabilities; Career and Technical Education; High School Graduation Requirements; Certificate of Educational Competency; Student Safety Walking to School and Riding Buses.

The board reviewed the following policies at the first reading:

Qualifications of Attendance and Placement; Part-time, Home-based, or Off-campus Students; Homeless Students: Enrollment Rights and Services; Enrollment; Compulsory Attendance; Excused and Unexcused Absences; Withdrawal Prior to Graduation; Removal of Student During School Hours; Child Custody; Attendance Area Transfers; Release of Resident Students; Nonresident Students; Exchange Students; District Notification of Juvenile Offenders; Release of Information Concerning Student Sexual and Kidnapping Offenders; Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Mandated Drug and Alcohol Testing Program; Purchasing: Bids and Contracts; Driver Training and Responsibility.

The board approved changing the student-led conference days to April 22 and 23 for this year.

The next board meeting will be March 27 at 7 p.m., preceded by a board workshop at 6:30 p.m.