Discontent over school board decision aired

HARRINGTON – Several students, teachers and community members signed up to speak at the Wednesday, May 25 meeting of the school board. All of them expressed disappointment and concern about the decision reached at the previous meeting for the Harrington School District to join the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague sports program during the 2022-23 school year.

Many said that the decision was rushed and that the community had too little time to absorb the proposal and all of its ramifications. One person said that a survey filled out by some community members was not clear enough, citing the use of the LRS abbreviation that was not further identified as standing for Lind-Ritzville/Sprague and indicating that some of those surveyed had no idea what LRS meant.

Some of those who spoke also addressed the time away from school that participation in LRS sports would entail and found it excessive. Even Justin Ikehara, a teacher and coach at Harrington whose own children attend the school, said he felt he had no input and was not consulted prior to the board decision.

A student told the board there was almost no student support for the decision and expressed disappointment that being unable to sell concessions at sporting events in Harrington would hurt efforts to raise money for class activities.

Board member Justin Slack reported that the effort to join the LRS sports program was under way, pending completion of plans by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association which oversees sports competitions.

Vice chair Jon Evans addressed his desire for additional attention to security issues in view of the previous day’s shooting at an elementary school in Texas that resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two adults.

He said he was aware that security had been improved at the school in recent years but that some already board-approved security related actions had still not been completed. He urged their completion with all due haste. Fellow board members and administrators present nodded agreement that security should be prioritized.

In other non-sports-related issues, special education teacher Will Christianson said he currently has 31 students in special-ed programs, 10 at the secondary level and 21 in preschool through sixth grade. He indicated that the student numbers are double what the current budget covers.

Addressing the board remotely, superintendent Wayne Massie proposed holding three summer workshops rather than holding full-time summer school. A committee will work out details.

Massie and the board discussed the selection of three dates in June/July for a board retreat (training session) to submit to the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA). July 14, 15 and 21 were selected for the Association to choose from.

The board approved the hiring of speech/language pathologist Hailey Tanke and the resignations of Betty Warner as the ag teacher/FFA advisor, Brian Crosby as the fourth-grade teacher, Robert Vierschilling as the music teacher and a resignation extension for transportation/maintenance director Tony Hamilton, all by unanimous votes.

The 1.5-hour meeting ended after all those who signed up to speak had their say within the three-minute period allotted to each speaker. The meeting then adjourned with no further response or action from the board members.