The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

After accepting resignations from boys basketball coach Bill Olsen, baseball coach Kyle Hurley and softball coach Cindy Fudge at November’s Wahkiakum School District’s Board of Director’s Meeting, the board heard about the farm forest, the levy and security issues, and some of the good things that have been happening around campus.

Olsen has coached the Mules for 18 seasons. Assistant Todd Souvenir will take over as head coach.

Vocational Agriculture teacher Kyle Hurley spoke to the board about plans that he and his students have been batting around for the farm forest located across SR 4 from the high school.

“What we’ve decided as a class,” Hurley said, “if you look at the farm forest, we’ve sold five acres to the city. There’s another five to 10 acre piece right above it that we want to keep as an educational resource, because that’s our big 55 to 70 year old timber. From the access road above it to the top and to the west, we’d like to log. That’s about 15 acres or so.”

Hurley and his class will prepare a forest practices application for the board to review at the December 16 meeting.

The board approved the $102,456.58 purchase of a new 2014 bus recommended by Calvin Grasseth, the transportation supervisor, a price which includes the $1,200 trade-in of one of the school’s old surplus buses.

Wahkiakum High School Principal Stephanie Leitz talked about Wednesday’s veteran’s assembly, sharing pictures from the event with the board. She and J.A. Wendt Elementary School and John C. Thomas Middle School Principal Theresa Libby talked about the send off for the Mules volleyball team to the state tournament, which included students at the grade school coming out of their classrooms to cheer as the team paraded down the hallway.

“We’ve had an exciting couple weeks,” Leitz said.

T member of the board asked about the recent middle school dance, which Libby and Leitz declared a success.

“I like to see the young kids that have been making the things they want happen,” Libby said. “It’s easy to come up with ideas, but making them happen is a good learning experience. I’ve been really impressed.”

Superintendent Bob Garrett shared that Maintenance Supervisor Mike Wright had met with Beau Renfro from the Department of Emergency Management to discuss communications at the school district. The two will be meeting with a representative from Day Wireless to learn about options for radios, cameras, and public announcement systems.

Garrett noted that the district wanted to address issues not just on campus, but on buses as well.

With the recent passing of the security and technology levy, Garrett asked the board members to consider how they wanted to move forward.

“We asked for $125,000 each for four years,” Garrett said. “Do we want to piecemeal this or ask the county if they would loan us $500,000 to front fund the project and get it all done the summer of 2015?”

Chair Tina Schubert asked Garrett to approach the county regarding a loan, in order for the board to have all the information they would need to make a decision at the December meeting.