Board recognized by staff

The Board of Directors of Odessa School District #105 met in the library at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 23, 2019, preceded by a workshop in the district office at 5:30 p.m. for the purpose of reviewing the budget and discussing staffing.

Present were board chair Ed Deife; members Heather Valverde; Chris Crossley; Janie Steward and Carmen Weishaar; Superintendent Dan Read, Principal Jamie Nelson and Business Manager Juli Weishaar. Also present were Facilities Director Justin Parr and Athletic Director Bruce Todd.

Following the flag salute and adoption of the agenda, the floor was opened for staff or public input. There was no input, so the board members then voted to adopt the consent agenda, which included the minutes of the December 19, 2018 meeting; payroll warrants #611671-611697 and direct deposit warrants #900006682-900006740, totaling $288,289.37; general fund A/P warrants #611698-611741 for $67,329.33; ASB fund A/P warrants #611742-611753 for $7,508.19; ASB fund void warrant #611575/re-issue warrant #611670.

Superintendent’s report

Superintendent Read reported an enrollment of 249.6 full-time equivalent students for the month of January.

Read presented certificates of appreciation to board members in honor of School Board Recognition Month, thanked them for their service to the district and to the community.

Read discussed attending the upcoming Small Schools Conference with the board.

Principal’s report

Principal Nelson reported a P-12 headcount enrollment of 263 students.

Nelson said science teacher Jeff Wehr’s students gave their STEM research presentations to the 7-12 graders. The top winners for each class, as voted upon by the students, were Chloe Winkler, Maddie Scrupps, Ireland Luiten, who gave Eric Johnston’s presentation, and Tori Weishaar.

Nelson said upcoming activities include the FBLA Winter Conference in Spokane on February 7 and the first semester academic awards assembly for grades K-12 on February 11.

AD Report

Athletic Director Bruce Todd reported that junior high students will have the opportunity to participate in both track and baseball/softball this spring. This will be a one-year trial run to determine if the model should continue in the future. Carmen Weishaar brought up a community concern that junior track season starts early in February and if the arrangement continues, that switching the junior-high track and junior-high baseball seasons from year to year should be considered.

Todd met with the administration and representatives from both the junior-high and high school coaching staff members to discuss future uniform purchases. He presented the board with a five-year rotation schedule for both junior high and high school uniform purchases.

Todd concluded by reporting on the two WIAA amendments up for approval regarding classification changes. He feels the first amendment, which in part, proposes the 1B cutoff be set at 104 students in grades 9-11 will pass. The second amendment dealing with free and reduced lunch percentages will more than likely fail according to the athletic director.

Legislative report

Read shared a handout of 2019 legislative priorities compiled by the superintendents of the districts in the NEWESD 101 region. Topics highlighted on the list include eliminating levy funding inequities, improving school safety and security, and supporting funding for school facility construction projects.

Facilities report

Facilities Director Justin Parr reported the facilities committee had met and discussed summer projects as well as forecasting long-range facility updates and expenditures. One priority is to replace the roof on the elementary building during the summer of 2020.

Parr reported work will begin filling the cracks on the old tennis courts, in anticipation of the start of track practice if the weather cooperates. He also advised the board that FFA students will begin work on the community garden this spring, which will be located adjacent to the new parking lot diagonally across from the gym.

There was a short discussion regarding temporary handicap parking spaces during basketball games and the scheduling of gym floor refinishing.

Financial report

Read presented the ASB balance sheet for December. He further presented the financial activity reports for the general fund for December showing an unassigned fund balance of $911,871.

Date of next regular meeting

Due to mid-winter break, the next regular board meeting will be held Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 6 p.m. in the high school library with a workshop preceding at 5:30 p.m.

Teacher resignation

Read shared a letter of resignation from Marianne Iksic in which she shared that, due to health issues, she would no longer be able to fulfill her teaching obligations to the district. She requested sick leave for the remainder of the school year, at the conclusion of which she would retire. She thanked Read for his support during this time.

Salary rider adjustments

The board unanimously approved a salary adjustment rider to increase Terri King’s contract from 0.67 FTE to 0.833 FTE for the remainder of the 2018-2019 school year.

The board also unanimously approved a salary adjustment rider to increase Kim Todd’s contract from 0.63092 FTE to 0.833 FTE for the remainder of the 2018-2019 school year.

Coaches hired

The board approved the recommendation from the athletic director to hire Suzie Deife as the high school head volleyball coach. Also approved was AD Todd’s recommendation to hire Cade Weber as junior-high head baseball coach.