WEST PLAINS – Cheney and Medical Lake school districts have teamed with other districts around the state to hopefully prove there is power in numbers – especially when it comes to buying personal protective equipment needed to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Both school districts have placed orders through Educational Service District 112 in Vancouver, Wash. to purchase a variety of supplies ranging from reusable cloth face masks to isolation gowns, disinfecting wipes and infrared thermometers. The idea came after individual attempts to procure supplies early in the pandemic met with mixed results — including price gouging and even lost orders.
Cheney Assistant Superintendent Tom Arlt said several early attempts to buy supplies resulted in placing an initial order, receiving a notification it had shipped and then after trying to track down its delivery status being told it was just lost.
“It was a little goofy there for a couple of weeks,” he added.
Medical Lake School District Fiscal Director Chad Moss said one of their first orders was for touch digital thermometers that would allow remote temperature taking. It was an order the district finally received a couple weeks ago.
“It took for ever to get here,” Moss said, adding they are just now beginning to receive backordered items from other orders placed in March.
That has since changed, but state officials decided to hedge their bets by forming a co-op agreement with school districts to band together to purchase supplies. Local ESD 101 helped coordinate districts in Northeast Washington with ESD 112, and an initial survey was sent out in early June to ascertain district’s needs.
Both Arlt and Moss said the districts then worked with their internal health experts while receiving input from ESD 101 and local health officials on devising supply lists. It was a long process, with ESD 101 suggesting orders provide supplies for 3-4 months of in-person instruction.
Final orders were submitted to ESD 112 on July 17, with orders placed with vendors tentatively to have taken place July 20.
Arlt said Cheney’s order went from between $43,000 – $45,000 to $24,555 thanks to the co-op arrangement and is also one-third more than what they originally ordered. Medical Lake’s order totaled $35,968.75, and reflected increase in quantities for some items as bulk pricing became better known.
Neither district’s final order price is comparable as each ordered different items and different quantities as to their anticipated need. Orders were anticipated to arrive at ESD 112 by Aug. 17, with deliveries to districts beginning Aug. 20, although districts were also presented with quicker deliveries if they wanted to pick the supplies up themselves – something Medical Lake said they were interested in doing.
“We might have to grab one of our trucks and go get it,” Moss said.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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