School board

Prior to the regular meeting held Tuesday, August 23, as agreed at the previous meeting (moved to Tuesday from Wednesday due to scheduling conflicts), the board of directors of Odessa School District #105 held a budget workshop in the district office beginning at 6:30 p.m. to review policies and procedures and discuss district goals for the coming school year.

The board then met in the high school library with board members Ed Deife, Heather Valverde, Janie Steward and Chris Crossley present. Roland Singer was absent due to an emergency. Superintendent Dan Read, principal Jamie Nelson and business manager Juli Weishaar were also present, as were operations supervisor Justin Parr and high school English teacher Laura Caler.

There was no staff or public input. The board went on to approve the consent agenda which included the minutes of the July 27, 2016 regular meeting; bills and payroll for August: payroll warrants #609112-609134 and direct deposit warrants #900004953-900005001 for $236,771.34; general fund A/P warrants #609135-609172 for $41,076.90; capital projects fund A/P warrant #609173 for $5,905.73 and ASB fund A/P warrants #609174-609178 for $4,123.15.

Also approved was the hiring of paraeducators Lyndsay Reyes, Sandi Smith and Don Sheldon, as well as extended contracts and extra-curricular contracts for 2016-2017.

Superintendent’s report

Read reported an enrollment projection of 226 full-time equivalent students for the new school year. This projection is fairly close to the final enrollment number in June.

Read shared a letter from the NE Washington Interagency Incident Management Team regarding the recent Black Rock Road Fire. The incident commander expressed his thanks and appreciation for the use of the school facilities as the incident command center and gave a special thanks to Dan Read, Jamie Nelson, Justin Parr and Terri King and her FBLA students for all their help and support. Read said the district will receive monetary compensation from the state for the use of the facilities.

Read concluded by reporting on the response of the State of Washington to the Supreme Court of Washington’s orders regarding the McCleary Act ruling.

Principal’s report

Nelson reported a projected PreK-12th-grade head count enrollment of 248 students for the start of school next week. Back-to-school activities include a certificated staff day on August 29, with topics of discussion to include various teaching, discipline and policy approaches. All staff were to meet the following day for the district’s annual back-to-school inservice day. Nelson reported that ASB officers were planning a welcome-back assembly for the first day of school revolving around the theme, “You Matter.”

Athletic director report

Nelson delivered athletic director Bruce Todd’s report in his absence. Highlights of the report included practice dates for fall sports, an interest expressed by several students to participate in cross-country track, the high school girls assistant coaching position, fall and winter sports schedules and a survey being conducted by the WIAA regarding the restructuring of the state basketball tournaments for all levels, 1B-4A.

The board discussed the feasibility of offering a cross-country program this late in the year, determining that there would not be enough time to advertise and hire a new coach, get board approval from both districts in the athletic co-op and get the required number of practices in before the start of cross-country meets. Only two individuals had expressed an interest in cross country on the athletic sport interest survey conducted last spring.

Following a short discussion, the board agreed to reopen the high-school assistant girls basketball coaching position. If no applications are received by the next regular board meeting, the board agreed to hire Chris Shafer as both the junior-high head girls basketball coach and the high-school assistant girls basketball coach with the understanding that the seasons will overlap by approximately three weeks.

Board members had no committee or legislative reports.

Facilities report

Justin Parr reported repairs to the heating and HVAC system have been completed by Control Solutions Northwest. Due to scheduling conflicts, the fume hood in the high school science classroom will be installed later in the year, Parr said.

Parr concluded by reporting that sports practice shuttle runs have commenced for the new school year.

Financial report

Read presented the ASB balance sheet for July, plus the financial activity reports for the general fund for July showing revenue at $295,767 and expenditures at $309,375 for an ending balance of $628,821.

The board voted to hold its next regular meeting Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 7 p.m. in the high school library and scheduled a workshop at 6:30 p.m. right before the regular meeting.

Resolution #7-2015-2016 TVF Interfund Loan

The board voted to approve Resolution #7-2015-2016 reading, in part, as follows: “WHEREAS, WAC 392-123-140 allows school districts to make interfund loans, and WHEREAS, the General Fund of Odessa School District #105 has sufficient funds to make such a loan without detriment of any function or project for which the fund was established, and WHEREAS, pursuant to the lack of funds in the Transportation Vehicle Fund and as the School Board desires to purchase a new school bus, and NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of Odessa School District #105, Lincoln County, in the State of Washington, directs the Lincoln County Treasurer, as of September 6, 2016, to create an Interfund Loan from the General Fund to the Transportation Vehicle Fund in the amount of $3,500.00 with repayment to include interest based on the prevailing interest rate in Lincoln County in August 2017.”

Laura Caler presented a curriculum adoption request for two novels, The Great Gatsby and The Help, to be used in her high school English classes.

The board unanimously approved the adoption of the two novels for the high school English curriculum.