Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
schmuck restrooms installed
A crew member for CTX Infrastructure of Spokane Valley helps guide into the place the second section of the new restrooms facility at Schmuck Park Nov. 21. A joint City of Colfax-Colfax School District project, the building will serve the athletic complex and the park.
The Colfax school board met Monday night and touched on a range of topics following last week's attendance at the Washington School Directors' Association (WSSDA) conference in Spokane.
Superintendent Jerry Pugh opened the meeting with a comment that Jennings Elementary has held its last running club session. The fall total added up to more than 1,000 miles. On Nov. 23, more than 200 kindergarten through sixth-graders participated in a Turkey Trot, with three Rosauers-donated turkeys presented to the winners.
Pugh saluted Robin Garnica, a new Colfax parent who began the running club.
“We appreciate her getting involved and welcome her to Colfax,” he said.
The board then voted on three Policies for Second Reading, which are updates or amendments to WSSDA policies. The board approved a new one, No. 1450, regarding absence of a board member. No. 1610 was next; a revision to Conflicts of Interest, which deals with exceptions such as recusing a vote if a spouse is on staff. No. 1620 came after that, the board approving a revision on the Board-Superintendent Relationship.
“This one's about trust, candor and good will,” Pugh said.
The board then set its meeting schedule for January to June of next year, including a Jan. 23 meeting in the junior/senior high library and a Feb. 27 meeting at the Jennings library.
They concurred on June 3 at 1 p.m. for the class of 2017 graduation.
“We'll put next year's on the school calendar at the beginning of the year,” Pugh said.
“I've often wondered why that wasn't the case,” said board member Robert Smith.
The ASB report followed, with class of '17 member Jayden Burt noting the annual musical, “Oklahoma!” completed its run last week.
“I heard lots of good things about the play,” said board president Jennifer Hauser.
Next on the agenda was Policies for First Reading, in which WSSDA policies are introduced by Pugh for consideration by the board at a later meeting.
The superintendent put up four, beginning with No. 1805 Open Government Trainings, which has to do with board members' participation in training every four years.
“Most of this is covered at the WSSDA conference,” Pugh said.
No. 1810 – Annual Governance Goals and Objectives – is about board self-assessment, and No. 2000 (Student Learning Goals) is about graduation rates, reading with comprehension and other topics. No. 2004 (Accountability Goals) regards improvement goals for math and reading as well as graduation rate.
Pugh followed with an update on the athletic complex work, reporting that the new restrooms are in place.
The pre-built structures were brought in Nov. 21 from Spokane by Hennigar Trucking, with a city crew installing them in about three hours. Avista set up a new transformer to serve the building, which also has a concessions area. The facility will be open for use in March.
The portables have been removed.
“Are they still going to have the Schmuck Park bathrooms?” asked Hauser, referring to the building at the corner of the park.
“I don't know,” Pugh said.
“I was surprised there are four separate bathrooms,” said boardmember Terry Huber of the new option's four individual rooms; two marked for men, two for women.
Nearing the meeting's conclusion, Pugh reminded the board that the Dec. 22 meeting will be on a Thursday, instead of the usual Monday.
Final item on the agenda was for comments on the board's experience at the annual WSDDA conference, Nov. 16-19 in Spokane.
“I love that conference,” said member David Nails. “I think it's great we get that professional development. We need it, I believe.”
Brian Becker talked about a session he attended – one of up to six per day the board went to, choosing from among several each time period.
“I've never seen less get done and take as long to do it,” Becker said.
He noted that he mainly focused on sessions on construction and community engagement on bonds and bond issues.
“I learned so much. I really enjoyed it,” said Huber, while noting the frustration at some of the focus on large district issues.
Hauser complimented Pugh for what she experienced at the conference.
“We have a direction,” she said. “A lot of school districts really don't have a direction.”
In Pugh's comments, he noted how many more people attended the Spokane conference compared to last year in Bellevue.
“It's a long conference,” he said. “By Saturday, you're tired. I'm tired.”
“I think I said that Friday,” Hauser said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
Reader Comments(0)