Cheney School Board directors Stacy Nicol (left), Mitch Swenson (center) and Henry Browne take the oath of office during the Dec. 16 meeting.
The Cheney School Board welcomed two faces at its Dec. 16 meeting: Mitch Swenson and Stacy Nicol.
Swenson, representing District 5, took over from former director James Whiteley after he won the November school board election. Nicol ran unopposed for the District 4 seat after former director Rick Mount, who had filed for reelection in May, withdrew his name from the ballot.
They, along with board president Henry Browne took the oath of office and were sworn into their positions. Browne was reelected to the school board District 3 seat after defeating former Airway Heights Mayor Patrick Rushing in the election.
In reorganization of the board, Browne was reelected school board president, Suzanne Dolle was selected as vice president and Swenson was picked as the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association liaison for the district.
In action items the board approved the district improvement plan and the schools' individual improvement plans.
Nicole Nancy gave a quick presentation of the district's overall plan. Some highlights she noted were the district's dedication to professional development, community connections and other activities. The plan also includes student demographics and Smarter Balanced assessment data.
The document also includes plans for student support services and a portion of the district's professional development plan. It also lists supporting activities the district is doing to connect with the community.
Some of the elements in each individual building plan include achievement data and Smarter Balanced data, school improvement goals, an action plan as well as sections on attendance, professional development, highly qualified teachers, nonacademic learning, technology use, and a community and family involvement component.
"I'm really proud of our schools for making that effort to hone in and being intentional about their work," Nancy said.
In enrollment, Kassidy Probert, the district's executive director of finance said the district was at 4,325 full-time equivalent students, which is 12 less than the November count. Probert said this follows last year's trend and the district is still 18 FTE students above budget for the month.
During the public comment, Bill Johns expressed his concerns over the district's Thoughtexchange Discover results. He pointed out that the majority of the participants in the conversation were staff, parents or a combination of the two. Johns also noted that many of the comments expressing disappointment that the district's $44.88 million bond proposal didn't pass and hoped the district would run it again in 2015.
"What I'm afraid of is we're going down that same road with a very limited input from people," Johns said. "We're getting most of the input from parents and staff, not the people who voted against it."
Browne thanked Johns for his comments and said the purpose of the Thoughtexchange conversation was to make sure the district doesn't go down the "same road" when looking at ways to address the concerns of overcrowding and facilities.
In other business:
The board approved the second reading of the "Community Use of School Facilities."
It also approved application to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to waive the three school days that were missed, Nov. 18-20, as a result of the wind storm.
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
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