At its Feb. 10 meeting, the Cheney school board received an outlook of its community engagement and facilities planning for the year.
In the fall the school district used Thoughtexchange, a community engagement tool, to reach out to residents and ask them what they feel are the most important issues in the district. Superintendent Dr. Deb Clemens explained that through the results of the first Thoughtexchange process, the district learned the top priorities the community has are the increasing enrollment and facilities to accommodate that growth.
In January, the district started another Thoughtexchange process focused on enrollment and facilities. Once the latest conversation finishes, the district will gather the data and hopes to share the results with the board and the community in March.
Kassidy Probert, executive director of finance, announced the district qualified for a study and survey grant, around $16,000, from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The district was awarded a similar grant in 2010 which resulted in the planning recommendations the board approved, including constructing two middle schools and another elementary school.
The study and survey process will involve a review of the district’s current facilities, enrollment growth, projections and current educational program needs. OAC Services will facilitate the process of selecting an architectural firm from the small works roster to conduct the survey. The firm will then provide the board with a completed planning report when the work is finished, which is scheduled for late April.
“Then they’ll do an overall review of the facilities to see what conditions they are in and develop a long-range plan for our facilities,” Probert said.
After Probert’s presentation, Clemens recommended the board conduct community conversations at Sunset Elementary School, Westwood Middle School and Cheney High School to share results from the Thoughtexchange conversation the Study and Survey, as well as elicit community feedback. The district hopes to compile the feedback and conduct a September Thoughtexchange process that would include some options to address the enrollment and facilities issues for the community to weigh in on.
The district will host three more community conversations with the results from the September Thoughtexchange process in order to get more feedback.
“By December it would be my hope that the board would have enough information to make a decision about a bond measure for next February (2017),” Clemens said.
In action items, the board approved several new policies adopted by the Washington State School Directors Association that relate to the operation of the board including “Key Functions of the Board,” “Annual Governance Goals and Objectives,” “Board Self-Assessment,” “Training and Development for Board Members” and “Censuring or Reprimanding of Board Members.”
The board also approved rescinding Policy No. 6891 “Ozone-Depleting Chemical Handling” which prohibits the release of ozone-depleting chemicals.
Probert said the policy is not recommended by WSSDA as there is already a state law — Revised Code of Washington 70.94.970 — that prohibits the release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere.
“So it’s not a necessarily policy for the district to have,” Probert said.
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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