The Medical Lake school board breezed through another agenda at its Nov. 24 meeting, which was rescheduled from Nov. 17 due to the windstorm.
In action items, the board of directors approved adjusting the winter sports practice schedule, allowing for two double-practice sessions to make sure both basketball teams have the number of required practices before their first game. Chris Spring, Medical Lake High School assistant principal and athletic director, explained that many student athletes missed practices because of the storm. Many families were without electricity, and athletes would not have had the required 10 practices to be eligible to compete in the first game.
Spring moved Medical Lake’s basketball game against Rogers High School to Jan. 23, 2016, which the Spokane School District board already approved.
“Some athletes will be at 12 practices, but the majority of our kids will be at the 10 required practices with these two double practices,” Spring said.
Other options Spring presented included Sunday practices. He said coaches talked to athletes who did not want to come in Sunday. The other option was to hold practices before games. He added that the wrestling team does not need any extra practices as they will have enough before their first match against Freeman, Dec. 10.
The board approved the district’s annual financial report. Highlights of the report include revenues exceeding expenditures by $620,000, which aided the district’s fund balance of $1.613 million. Business manager Chad Moss said revenue was up by $833,000, which was made up of increases in the state and local revenues, as well as an increase of $230,000 in federal impact aid. Moss added that the district paid off its high school bonds in December 2014 and utility payments were down.
“We had a lot of things come our way, it was a great year,” Moss said.
The board approved the first and second readings of a policy relating to freedom of expression. Superintendent Tim Ames explained that the policy cleans up a few phrases, including taking out “student-written” when referring to publications being distributed on school premises that are in accordance to the procedures developed by the superintendent. The policy also states that students responsible for distributing materials that lead to substantial disruption of school activities and operations will be subject to corrective action, including suspension or expulsion, consistent with student discipline policies.
The board also approved the first and second readings of a policy relating to conflict of interest. It approved a conflict of interest policy relating to federal grants earlier this year. Ames said this policy addresses employees engaging in any financial interest that conflicts with their duties and responsibilities.
“An example is if a teacher is offering tutoring for students and charges parents a fee per session,” Ames said. “That would be a conflict if they did not talk to the principal first,”
In other business, the board approved a $50 bid from Trevor Meade to purchase the 1982 Ford Bronco with a snow plow from the district.
During his superintendent’s report, Ames said he and staff received the results from the district’s Thoughtexchange process. He said staff will present those results to the building administrators first and later to the board. Thoughtexchange will also create a website where community members can see the results.
“Every building has its own issues and concerns,” Ames said. “It’s really interesting.”
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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