Medical Lake School Board takes meeting on the road

The Medical Lake School Board took its show on the road once again April 25, playing to a sizeable audience of parents and staff at the middle school.

Attendees were given a demonstration of a new program at the school known as Safe School Ambassadors.

School principal Sylvia Campbell helped coordinate the introduction of a variety of demonstration skits by members of the student-peer group who seek to “Break the code of silence,” when it comes to issues pertaining to students.

The kids know 95 percent of what is going on in the hallways and classroom while the adults know just 5 percent, Campbell told the audience. The kids trust the 40 ambassadors who are currently part of the program with important information much more than adults.

The ambassador group, established in January, collects and record data in hopes of eventually showing trends with the nature of reports. With the short time the program has been in effect, it will take a while to see reliable data.

From there the board, minus Felicia Jensen, conducted routine business and heard a variety of reports. The board approved renewal of a yearly contract with ESD 101 to run Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility.

The matter of surplussing old Medical Lake High School basketball uniforms drew some chuckles and comments from board president Rod VonLehe wondering, “Are they like Hoosiers (era) uniforms.”

Three buses were also put on the auction block with the district hoping to realize about $1,000 each.

In a report from Superintendent Tim Ames on the results of a routine yearly audit of the district’s finances, the exercise was swift, taking only about 15 minutes.

Ames thanked the work of Finance Director Chad Moss, who was absent from the meeting, in preparing the data for auditors. “Audits are stressful, but it was a clean audit,” he said.

Ames also reported on the proposed new salary schedule. Moss’s version came within $500 of what OSPI had issued. Moss sent his model, which projects salaries for the next three school years, to the district bargaining team for study.

Most recent enrollment numbers show the district has been pretty static this year, even Michael Anderson Elementary on Fairchild Air Force Base which tends to show slight declines in student numbers by spring.

Overall, after starting with 1,843 students in September, the number has increased to 1,861. “That’s really good, we always want to be within budget,” Ames said. “That’s a pretty good projection to see up grow instead of decline.”

Ames also read a proclamation from Gov. Jay Inslee honoring Certificated Employee Week which takes place May 7–12. The state Teacher’s Day is May 8.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].