Waitsburg School Board update

The Waitsburg School Board met December 11, at the Preston Hall Middle School. The meeting was moved to 7:30 pm to accommodate the DW Athletic Combine meeting earlier that night. The Board swore in new members, selected chair and vice-chair positions, and reviewed the recommendation made by the Athletic Combine Committee.

Board members present were Ross Hamann, Christy House, Lisa Morrow, Randy Hinchliffe, and Pam Chapman. Stephanie Wooderchak, Mark Pickel, Linda Henze, and Becky Dunn were present, as well.

Before the business portion of the meeting, Board Chair Ross Hamann took a moment and recognized outgoing board member Randy Hinchliffe for his years of service. Board Member Jason Kaehler was recognized, as well, but was not in attendance. Hinchliffe’s seat was filled by Pam Chapman. The outgoing members received a plaque, and the board shared cake with everyone at the meeting. Newly elected board members were sworn in. The new members were Lisa Morrow, Christy House, and Pam Chapman.

ASB Report

Stephanie Wooderchak, secondary principal, reported on behalf of the ASB. The Exchange Club of Walla Walla recognized Amy Farley and Kailyn Lewis as the Youth of the Month for December. Farley and Lewis both read essays they had written about community, and submitted the essays to have their names entered into a scholarship pool. They will know more about the scholarship in the late spring.

Wooderchak gave a quick reminder regarding HB1599, Pathways to Graduation. This bill allows senior students more opportunities to fulfill graduation requirements. The bill will apply to the Class of 2020 and beyond.

There are six ways that HB1599 allows students to graduate. One graduation route is to pass the SBAC (Smarter Balance) test in ELA and math. Under HB1599, students are not required to take the SBAC, though it will be strongly encouraged. Under HB1599, students may complete 2 or more CTE credits. There are no set courses, however, the school districts must complete and submit a form provided by OSPI, explaining why the selected courses were approved. Taking and passing the ASVAB with a score of 31 or higher is a new graduation requirement. Juniors take the ASVAB test each year.

The last three pathways under HB1599, are passing the ACT or SAT test with a minimum pass score. Students may take a dual-credit class in both ELA and math, and earn a C+ or better. Running Start classes are accepted. The final pathway is completing a transition course through the Bridge to College Program, which is not currently offered in Waitsburg.

Spirit building activities are going well. December 6 was the Breakfast with Santa event. The multipurpose room was decorated and included a train car from the Polar Express. Santa was available to take pictures and a mailbox destined for the North Pole was nearby. The middle school dance was December 13. Thank you to Ms. Ball for all her work helping the kids organize the dance. On December 18th, the LEO’s Club will be collecting food with the Lion’s Club. Middle and high school students have special winter break activities on December 20.

Athletic Director’s Report

There was no report from the Athletic Director. Sup. Pickel noted that the Combine Advisory Board had just finished a meeting and recommended that the Combine continue indefinitely, based on the survey data and public comment. He noted that Stephanie Wooderchak and Katie Leid both did a nice job keeping the public comments on track and allowed everyone the chance to speak.

There was no report from Facilities and Maintenance.

Elementary Principal’s Report

Superintendent Pickel noted that he, along with two board members and a staff member, attended the WSDA Conference the weekend before Thanksgiving. They had some very good sessions, and they plan on holding work sessions in the upcoming month to share what they learned. He briefly went over the Polar Bear Breakfast with Santa on December 6. Susan and Erin in the food services did a large amount of work to put the event on. They had lots of help from the middle and high school students. Superintendent Pickel estimated that they had hundreds of people come to visit.

The curriculum associates hosted a professional development for the iReady program used for reading and math diagnostics benchmarks. The associates helped staff deeper understand the diagnostics that were provided. The last diagnostic was in October, and another diagnostic will take place in January. The students all seem to be positive about the testing.

The first Wednesday of the month is the building directive day. This month, the staff saw a presentation by staff members who attended the six trait writing training over the summer. They would like to use the next in service day to host a training.

The Winter Program is December 19 at 6:30 pm. Pre K-5th grade classes will be a part of the show. Superintendent Pickel said that he has been listening to the practices and it sounds like it will be a fun show.

As a reminder, the Waitsburg School District offices will be closed Dec. 23- Jan. 3, 2020. School will resume Jan. 6.

Superintendent’s Report

The Coffee with the Superintendent is the first Friday of each month from 8:30-9:30. Roughly eight parents/community parents were in attendance. School delay/closure systems were discussed.

Superintendent Pickel has been in contact with ESD 123 in regards to the upcoming enrichment levy. He has been working with Molly Curtis, the Director of Communications, to get information gathered and shared.

December 9, WSD hosted Rep. Skylar Rude. He spent the day visiting with staff members and classrooms, spoke during Mr. Elder’s CWP class, and visited Mrs. Groom’s Leadership class. Waitsburg is the 6th school district that Rep. Rude has visited so far. Rep. Rude’s office reached out to the district and set up a time for him to visit.

There was no public comment at the December meeting. Board Member Christy House asked about Mr. Kiefel’s new curriculum, and Mrs. Wooderchak reported that the curriculum is going well.

Old Business

The Board reviewed the second reading of five policies.

New Business

Board member Jason Kaehler submitted his resignation. The board voted to accept the resignation. There is a process that the school district must follow to open up the board position, and they are taking the correct steps to fill the vacancy.

The board voted to move forward with the recommendation provided by the D-W Athletic Combine. Board member House asked that an ‘all or nothing’ be added to the approval, to include the middle school. The Dayton School Board does not meet until Dec. 18th.

There were four resignations received from coaches. Kayla Lewis resigned from the assistant winter cheer coach position. Nick Carpenter moved out of the area and the school has requested an email resignation. Danielle Carpenter has moved out of the area and the school has requested an email resignation from her, as well. Nick Swisher has resigned from the head middle school baseball coach. Those openings will be posted as soon as possible.

The board took a roll call vote to approve Resolution 121119A for the enrichment levy.

The board approved the second reading of five new policies. They began the first reading of a new set of five policies.

The board closed the meeting to the public in an executive session.