New principals at Othello, Desert Oasis high schools
Cheryl Schweizer <Staff Writer> | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 11 months AGO
OTHELLO — Othello High School has a new principal, Desert Oasis High School has a new-old principal, and Wahitis Elementary has a new interim principal. Those changes, occurring at the end of the first semester last week, prompted some questions from the high school representatives to the Othello School Board.
The board was scheduled to meet Monday, but didn’t have a quorum. The two board members in attendance discussed unofficial reports. That included questions from Kaiden Quigley and Kiera Stansall, the board’s two student representatives.
Former OHS principal Russell Kovalenko moved back to his old job as principal of Desert Oasis at the end of the first semester, replaced at OHS by Wahitis Elementary principal Alejandro Vergara. Kiera said students were confused about the change, and wondered what it means. “We kind of don’t know where we stand yet,” Kaiden said.
Board member Rob Simmons said word of the students’ concerns can be passed back to Vergara.
After the meeting district superintendent Chris Hurst said he decided to rearrange administrative positions to make better use of the district’s administrators and their talents. Former Desert Oasis principal Vance Frost was moved to the district’s career and technical education department. Wahitis assistant principal Justin Johnson took the Wahitis principal’s job on an interim basis.
Hurst reported district officials have scheduled two snow makeup days, May 26 and June 9. The district lost a number of days to snow and ice during the first three weeks of January.
“Right now, graduation is not affected,” Hurst said.
Washington education policy allows schools some leeway in making up days lost to bad weather, if the cancellations meet certain criteria. The superintendents in ESD 123 weren’t sure the cancellations this month fit that criteria, Hurst said, but proclamations from Governor Jay Inslee indicated they did. Othello schools had three days that qualified, he said.
The state does require kids to be in school a minimum of 1,027 hours, and that requirement must be met no matter what. Hurst said district officials are looking at all the remaining school year to see where time might be recaptured. Those include days (and hours) set aside for teacher training, parent conferences, late start or early release days.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER <STAFF WRITER>
Othello School Board approves property purchase
OTHELLO — The Othello School Board has approved an agreement to purchase 81.14 acres of land along 14th Street and Lee Road. The district will pay $2.4 million to the current owner, Terra Gold Farms. The draft agreement was approved during the regular board meeting Monday. The land is located at Lee Road between Seventh and 14th streets. Assistant superintendent Gina Bullis said there are no plans to build on the property now, but district officials plan to keep it as a site for any additional schools. The sale should be completed by the end of January. In other business, a discussion of a site visit to Wahitis Elementary prompted questions about traffic on 14th Street. Construction closed part of 14th Street during the spring, summer and fall, including the stretch in front of Wahitis Elementary. Prior to construction the road had a four-way stop outside Scootney Springs Elementary, but the stop signs were removed during construction and haven’t been replaced. Board member Juan Garza said he had received inquiries about the stop signs, and whether they would be reinstalled. “It sounds to me like they (the stop sign removals) are permanent, right? It’s going to stay that way.” Bullis said she had received inquiries too, and had asked city officials about them, including a question at the Othello City Council meeting earlier Monday evening. City manager Wade Faris told her, Bullis said, the city wasn’t required to reinstall them. The original purpose was to eliminate some of the congestion on 14th, Cemetery and Ash streets when kids and parents were coming and going from Scootney Springs. City officials think the extra lanes will accommodate any congestion, she said. Board member Mike Garza said the stop signs were installed as the result of a traffic study conducted by the district at the city’s request. He asked if the city had done an additional traffic study prior to removal. Bullis said city officials didn’t give a reason for the change. Mike Garza also asked if city officials planned to paint crosswalks across 14th Street at Wahitis Elementary. “I noticed there are no crosswalk designations across 14th” at the school, he said. Bullis said she would ask city officials.
Othello School District land purchase moves ahead
OTHELLO — The Othello School Board is scheduled to review a draft purchase and sale agreement for 78 acres of property along Lee Road at its Oct. 10 meeting.
Othello School Board discusses 14th Street with city officials
OTHELLO — Traffic, traffic flow and pedestrian safety, especially for elementary students, were the subjects of a lengthy discussion at the Othello School Board meeting Monday.