The Cheney School District is taking a new approach to replacing some of its vehicle fleet, one municipalities and other taxing jurisdictions have engaged in for several years.
The school board of directors approved a five-year contract at their regular meeting, Oct. 22, to lease four vehicles from LeaseExperts.com. The $173,867.75 lease amount comes with a 3.47 percent annual interest rate, bringing the total lease cost to $189,937.50, with the district making annual payments of $37,987.52.
Two vehicles and accessories, a 14 1500 GMC Yukon XL four-wheel drive and a 2015 F550 Ford with Dakota utility truck body and equipment, will be utilized by the district’s transportation department. Two others, a 2015 F250 R-Cab 4x4 and an 8x8 box van, will be used by maintenance.
Kassidy Probert, the district’s finance director, told the board the expenses for replacing older vehicles in the district’s fleet had been built into the 2014-2015 budget, and that this was a different way of meeting that need. The lease also contained a “No buyouts at lease end” clause that will enable the district to use the vehicles “forever” at no cost.
“These (vehicles) are kind of meeting several of our needs that have been deferred over the years,” Probert said.
Also at last Wednesday’s meeting, the board held the first reading on several policy revisions. The first involved changes to the district’s “Highly Capable Programs” policy resulting from changes in state law.
Associate Superintendent Sean Dotson said the changes better defined and clarified elements of the district’s policy, such as how students are selected.
“We’ve added in criteria for selection which wasn’t really clarified in this policy before,” he said.
The board also heard revisions to the district’s “Nondiscrimination” policy. Language adding “equal access by the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups” is recommended by the state while language regarding inclusive approaches for transgender students such as confidential health and education information, sports and physical education and access to restrooms and locker rooms comes from the Washington State School Directors Association, Dotson said.
The final revision reading centered on the “Student Dress” policy. Language added for when student dress is regulated includes references to possible gang or hate group membership and when it becomes a “substantial disruption to the learning process.”
The board also adopted three revised policies that received their first readings at the Oct. 8 meeting: “Accommodating Students with Diabetes,” “Board Officers and Duties of Board Members” and the policy on “Meetings, PUBLIC NOTICE, Quorum, Meeting Conduct and Order of Business and Public Comment.”
In reports, Probert told the board that enrollment figures through October showed the district total full time enrollment (FTE) at 4,180 students, 50 students above the 4,130 used to calculate the district’s 2014-2015 budget. Probert said the increased enrollment was district-wide, not just restricted to specific schools.
Probert also told the board that the reserve fund balance was $2,533,082 through August, putting it at about 5.9 percent of the district’s overall budget.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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