Smooth opening to school year in Othello
Cheryl Schweizer <Staff Writer> | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 3 months AGO
OTHELLO — There’s a meteorological date for the end of summer - which in 2018 is Sept. 20 - and the date summer really ends, which is the opening of school. And after a week or so, school seems to be going OK in the Othello School District. District superintendent Chris Hurst said enrollment is 4,354 students, not counting the district preschool. The preschool will have 162 kids; that’s up from 79 two years ago, Hurst said. The projected enrollment for 2018-19 is 4,434 students. District officials have changed the configuration of the district’s four elementary schools, expanding them from kindergarten through fifth grade to kindergarten through sixth grade. Three of the schools had enough room to accommodate the sixth graders, but portable classrooms had to be added at Wahitis Elementary. Installation of the portables should be completed by mid-September, Hurst said. Until they’re ready Wahitis sixth-graders will attend class at McFarland Middle School. For 2018-19 seventh and eighth graders will attend McFarland, and the preschool classes will be housed there also. “All in all it’s been a really good opening,” Hurst said. Sixth-graders are in an environment they’re used to, so incidents of harassment seem to have declined, he said. Moving sixth grade to the elementary schools was the first step in a three-year project to reconfigure the district’s elementary schools into the kindergarten through eighth grade format. District officials decided to suspend further planning for the time being, until a committee appointed by the Othello School Board makes recommendations for any changes to the district’s facilities. District officials commissioned a study of the cost of reconfiguring schools, and making some additional changes. The study estimated the cost would be about $32.6 million, without any accommodation for growth. In light of that, Hurst said planning for the 2019-20 school year will begin after the committee delivers its report.
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.