Colfax School Board meets after the first day of new school year

COLFAX — Board members discussed several topics ranging from safety, bus bids, budgeting and policies during the Colfax School District Board meeting Monday, Aug. 26.

Superintendent Jerry Pugh reported to the board he continued to meet with the emergency management to plan for community-wide safety control.

“Next summer we’re going to do an in-depth table top exercise in February,” Pugh said, noting all the district windows and doors are now numbered except for the second story of the high school.

“Elementary is done throughout,” said Pugh.

The new numbering system will help emergency responders get where they need to go by correlating the same numbers in the hallway to one that is on a map.

“That’s still coming, we haven’t set a date,” said Pugh. “It looks like possibly in June before we get into harvest season.”

Pugh reported he also attended the Regional Safety Summit put on by ESD 101 in Spokane Monday, Aug. 5 and Aug. 6.

“It was good information there,” he said, noting he learned and listened to law enforcement officers.

Pugh reported he is in the Eastern Washington Quality School Coalition, a lobbying group that prepares for the legislative session.

The coalition is facing issues with insurance premiums in school districts.

Pugh reported that the district’s premium insurance was $164,809.80 in 2023 and after adopting the budget it went up to $258,754.13.

“They promised us this year they would let us know early on what the range would be,” said Pugh.

The board approved a bus bid for the price of $211,757 through Bryson Sales and Service of Washington, Inc.

The bus will not be available until 2025.

Resolution #259 was approved to transfer funds from the General Fund to the Capital Projects Fund.

A price increase of $.25 affected the breakfast and lunch meal price. Pugh said that this would just affect the high school, since at the elementary level the state pays.

Policy No. 3117 was approved, stating that students in or released from an institutional educational facility will have the opportunity to receive an education.

The policy allows students to receive full credit due to withdrawal or transfer, the district will also grant partial credit for coursework completed before the date of the withdrawal or transfer.