ML school board mulls options, consequences

MOSES LAKE - Three of the four options being considered by the Moses Lake School Board to address secondary overcrowding could bring some pretty big changes, ranging from a new high school schedule to districtwide year-round school.

What those changes would mean is still to be determined.

After six months of community meetings and surveys, district officials presented four options to the board, starting with staying with the status quo. Other options included year-round school, converting Columbia Basin Secondary School to a middle school and expanding the schedule at the high school, and moving sixth graders back to the grade schools and redistricting Chief Moses and Frontier middle schools.

Board members discussed their options in a four-hour work session in May, talked again at the May 23 board meeting and asked administrators for their opinions. Another work session is scheduled for the June 13 board meeting.

The possibility of closing CBSS has generated vociferous protest from some parents, students and district patrons. The secondary school is in its second year as a "priority school," which means it's part of the state's school improvement process.

Schools can end up in priority status for a lot of reasons, and in the case of CBSS it's graduation rates. As a priority school, CBSS must have an improvement plan, and the first step was a survey conducted by an outside expert.

Price and the board reviewed the information at the May 23 meeting. According to the report, CBSS is doing a good job of meeting the emotional needs of students enrolled there, and taking into account those needs when planning for student success. But graduation rates remain in the lowest 5 percent in the state and graduation requirements don't meet the standards for kids trying to get into four-year colleges, according to the report.

Year round school is the "one solution that fixes crowding without an added facility," Price said. But it would impact every family in the school district - and Price said, in her opinion would have a big impact on the whole town. "System-wide change," she said.

Price said she thought year round school could be an option if the district keeps growing, but not yet.

At the May 23 meeting, Price, executive director for secondary education Dave Balcom and executive director for business and operations Mark Johnson were asked for their opinion on the best way to solve the overcrowding problem.

Both Price and Johnson said they thought the do-nothing option wasn't an option. The third option, moving sixth grade back to the grade schools, wouldn't work if the board is committed to implementing all-day kindergarten at all grade schools, Price said.

That leaves the option of expanding the high school schedule and converting CBSS, Price said. If the board decides to pursue that option, district officials will have to find a way to recreate the CBSS environment for the kids that need it, she said.

Balcom said the data showed that many kids at CBSS weren't meeting the district's goal of being ready for college or the workplace. There are more options for kids needing support to graduate at Moses Lake High School, he said, because of its size. In light of that, it might be time to rethink CBSS, he said.

Johnson said he thought the district's effort to institute all-day kindergarten was a "sound educational decision," and moving the sixth grade to the grade schools would be a new phenomenon for Moses Lake. Given the other choices, Johnson said some version of the extended schedule made the best sense to him.

Balcom said the board should reconsider offering a construction bond, maybe revised from the proposal that was rejected by district patrons in February 2012.