Local News

Wahkiakum School District officials reviewed procedures for determining and announcing closures for bad weather at the board of directors’ monthly meeting January 25, but made only small adjustments.
Superintendent Bob Garrett reported parents had particular difficulties one icy morning when he and transportation supervisor Calvin Grasseth decided to delay the start of school two hours and conditions became so treacherous that they cancelled school. However, the notice didn’t reach some parents who had left their homes to go to work.
Garrett said Grasseth starts evaluating conditions around 5 a.m. during bad weather. He and Garrett make a decision around 5:30 a.m., and Garrett begins notifying staff and news outlets, and he records a message on the district phone.
After discussion, Garrett said he would review the decision between 7 and 7:30 a.m. At that point a two-hour delay could be continued, or he could decide to cancel school altogether if the conditions had worsened. He would update the message machine by 7:30 a.m. and contact news outlets.
District staff will notify parents of the change in procedure through the district newsletter or other means.
The board voted to make up two days missed because of bad January weather; one will be March 16, which was originally to be a no school day for staff inservice training, and the second will be added at the end of the school year.

In other business:
—Garrett reported that enrollment, which is the basis of state funding, had increased from 458.1 full time student equivalents (FTE’s) in December to 462 in January. The yearly average is 461.54 FTE’s, which is close to the figure used to set the budget.

—Wahkiakum High School Principal Loren Davis reported he and his staff are implementing the Family Access program in which parents may access student records over the Internet. The parents have passwords to access the accounts, which show grades, quiz and test scores, and even what’s purchased for lunch.
—The board held, in its consent agenda, with no discussion, first reading of 15 revised policies. The policies will come back to the consent agenda in the February board meeting and may be passed without discussion. The policies include Qualifications of Attendance and Placement; Excused and Unexcused Absences; Release of Information Concerning Student Sexual and Kidnapping Offenders; Rights and Responsibilities; Nondiscrimination; Freedom of Expression; Freedom of Assembly; Student Dress; Student Privacy and Searches; Student Records; Student Conduct; Classroom Management, Corrective Actions or Punishment; Prohibition of Corporal Punishment; Notification of Threats of Violence or Harm.
Only the policies on System of Funds and Accounts and on Release of Information Concerning Student Sexual and Kidnapping Offenders were new or highly modified; others had small changes mandated by the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.