Medical Lake school board is back to business

The Medical Lake School Board got back to business and up to date for the new year at its Jan. 23 meeting.

But it did not happen right away as the meetingtook place on School Board Appreciation Night. The board arrived to find a collection of gifts and tokens of appreciation from the community. They also took time out to mix and mingle with the audience over snacks.

Superintendent Tim Ames read a proclamation from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee deeming January as School Directors Appreciation Month. And then it was back to work.

School resource officer Travis Pendell updated the board on a variety of security measures and ongoing efforts for building safety in the district.

“I would rather keep you informed than keep you in the dark,” Pendell said as he gave his half-year update. There is an added emphasis on safety following the shooting in Freeman last September.

Pendell has visited every school in the district, noting that while the buildings are safe, “They are not necessarily secure.” The latter will be addressed after the Feb. 13 vote where the district proposes a 40-cent-per-$1,000 levy to initiate a number of safety improvements. The district will also seek the renewal of what is now known as a Replacement Educational Programs and Operations measure —formerly Maintenance and Operations at $1.95 per $1,000 of assessed value.

In a related matter, Ames reported on a recent program the district is studying that they hope will also help make schools safer. A variety of district personnel have been evaluating Safe Schools Together with the likely intent to bring that program home.

Among other business, Director of Teaching and Learning Kim Headrick reminded everyone that the kick off of “assessment season” will occur soon. The Smarter Balance state assessment test time will begin after spring break.

As for results of past testing that is expected to be released to the public in early March. The data is currently being updated with internal release in February.

Ames reported on news out of the state capitol in Olympia where a fix to the Hirst Decision, a water rights court matter, allowed approval of the capital projects budget. Medical Lake schools did not have any projects tied to that money.

When the 2017 Legislature finally passed the biennial budget in the final minutes of the previous fiscal year last June 30, it did so amidst not having fully dotted all the Is and crossed every T. The result, particularly for school funding that makes up some 50 percent of state spending, has been there being many questions for districts.

“They know there needs to be fixes,” Ames said, adding that will be ongoing for the near future.

Ames said that in this session, where supplemental budget items will be addressed, lawmakers will look at, among other things, legislation to address a teacher shortage.

In routine board business, three policy items, including one dealing with how public records requests are handled and approved. The district currently receives very few of those inquiries Ames said.

Medical Lake Middle School was singled out as the recipient of a Gold Star award for its work with the College Bound Scholarship program. The program was created to provide state financial aid to low-income students who may not consider college a possibility due to the cost.

New board member Leo Spilker took his seat with the group and is getting brought up to date. He has been doing considerable reading and recently was out in the field on school tours.

Among the items the board received were the use of new Chrome Book tablet computers on which they can conduct official business. They must surrender them upon leaving the board.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].