Capital fund spending is approved as well as agenda items ranging from WIAA membership to fitness fees
RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
The Medical Lake School Board authorized administrators to start spending bond money and ran through a host of agenda items and construction talks in their May 25 meeting.
A hearing was held just prior to the regular meeting in which the board approved a capital projects budget extension of $6 million. The original capital budget was set at $500,000.
“We passed a bond last February that gives us the ability to sell bonds but until we do this budget extension we don't have authority to spend the money,” explained district finance director Don Johnson. It's uncertain how much is actually needed for summer projects, but Johnson said it's highly unlikely anything close to $6.5 million will be utilized.
Johnson said following the sale of district bonds on May 18 the district's bond rating was raised two steps, from “A minus” to “A plus” by bond rating publisher Standard and Poor's. “We have a higher fund balance than a lot of districts,” he said. “That was one of the things that was a positive for our bonds and will save our taxpayers some money over the next 20 years.”
Superintendent Pam Veltri gave the board a bond project update. Construction bids will be solicited early this month and some projects can start as soon as students leave for the summer. At the middle school, utilities such as power, gas, water and sewer will have to be moved before additions work can begin, but phone lines will not be in the way of new construction.
The Hallett Elementary project may be delayed, however, due to a city ordinance prohibiting construction within 200 feet of certain wetlands areas. Hallett already sits within the buffer zone and the district's preferred plans put new construction within eight feet of the wetlands themselves.
Veltri said a meeting is being arranged with the city in order to determine whether a special use permit can be filed or the district can request a change of ordinance, a process that could take up to 120 days and complicate the bidding process. “We'd probably have to bid the middle school project separate from the Hallett project,” she said, adding that consultants warn the district will get a better bid if the two jobs are released as a single package.
Other projects that may take place this summer are the replacement of a section of rooftop at the high school and tennis court refurbishments, although bond projects will take center stage, Veltri said.
Moving on to agenda items, the board approved an annual membership agreement with the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association delegating authority to the organization regarding athletics rules and regulations.
They also heard the first reading of policy updates regarding special education and related services for eligible students. Some of the many changes, as mandated by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, include a requirement that the district assist parents with finding services for special needs children and must allow parents access to the classroom for observation, but is no longer required to invite other agencies in for special education postgraduate planning.
The board gave the nod to a voluntary student accident insurance program, allowing parents the option of purchasing additional coverage for students involved in athletics for the 2010-2011 school year.
They also heard reasoning behind a possible plan to lower credit requirements by two and a half for students enrolled in the Medical Lake Alternative High School. MLAHS principal Trish Smith said she'd like to remove some of the elective courses in order to help students who are already behind in credits and may have full time jobs or parenting responsibilities.
“I feel as though they're getting life experiences that could take the place of electives,” she said. “I think (lower credit requirements) would give success to a few extra students that might otherwise say I just can't do it.”
A number of other items were also approved at last week's meeting, including a $10 per semester fee for students and staff choosing to utilize the high school fitness center next year, the sale of surplus buses and a milk and dairy bid between Spokane area school districts and Dairygold.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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