Maybe it was the urgency to get to watch game one of the 2018 World Series, but whatever the reason, the Medical Lake School Board was in and out of its Oct. 23 meeting in quick fashion, under 30 minutes.
The board gave unanimous approval to a variety of policies and action items, as well as assigning diploma distribution duties to Ron Cooper and Felicia Jensen for the June 8, 2019 high school graduation exercise.
Of note among the policies was No. 5252 dealing with keeping political causes out of schools during what Superintendent Tim Ames called sensitive times.
The district’s director of finance, Chad Moss, brought the board up to date on the new task of four-year budgeting, something that was part of the state legislature’s solution to the McCleary Decision. Projections, while somewhat uncertain, show the district is, “Not going bankrupt,” Moss said with a hint a sarcasm.
Peeking just into next year, “We’re in a good place,” Moss said in more of a serious tone.
Ames noted that receipt of impact aid is finally caught up. That funding is money received from the federal government for the district’s inclusion of dependents of Fairchild Air Force Base where it operates Michael Anderson Elementary School.
Ames briefly outlined legislative priorities for the upcoming session that included, among other things, increasing and equalizing funding between schools on the west side who received $2,500 per student of additional state funding for schools and the $1,500 that Medical Lake and other Eastern Washington districts received.
Other tasks include efforts to have both future school boards and levies need just a simple majority for passage. Currently, bond issues, generally for capital projects, require a 60-percent super majority.
It was at the meeting where the board learned that high school music instructor Craig Johnson had been named the West Plains Chamber of Commerce’s Medical Lake “Educator of the Year,” with the award to be handed out at that organization’s annual awards gala on Oct. 26. But Johnson would not be there, opting instead to direct the band — and honor dedicated students — on Senior Night at Medical Lake’s football game with Deer Park.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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