Year round school topic at community meeting

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake School Board members and district officials fielded questions about year-round school and the high school schedule at a community forum recently.

The forum was one of a series of community meetings for parents and district patrons, to talk about any subject they want to discuss. The next forum is scheduled from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10, scheduled for the meeting room at the district's Transportation Center, 940 East Yonezawa Blvd.

Board members Allan Burritt and Connie Opheikens, along with district superintendent Michelle Price, answered questions from about 25 people attending the meeting.

Many of those questions were about year-round school and the possible effect on the community. Burritt said year-round school tentatively is scheduled to start in the 2016-17 school year.

Students would be assigned to one of four sections, Burritt said, and one-quarter of students and staff would be out of school at any given time. Opheikens said district officials would try to keep all the kids in a family in school at the same time.

Many of the parents said they didn't like the idea of year-round school, asking about the effects on extracurricular activities and students with summer jobs. One mom said she thought year-round school would be very disruptive, and she didn't understand why the board is considering it. Burritt asked her if she knew of a better solution, which was the problem for the board - they didn't like the idea, but so far there's not a better solution. The board had gathered comment for a year before making decisions, he said. Opheikens said board members knew any decision they made would cause disruption, but they had to make decisions to address high school and middle school overcrowding and accompanying issues.

A dad said he understood the necessity for decisions, but that in his opinion the board didn't adequately take into account the opinions of district patrons. Some district patrons see the possibility of year-round school as punishment for the 2012 rejection of a bond to build new facilities, he said.

In answer to a question about the possibility of another bond, Burritt said a study currently is underway, looking at the district's economy, demographics and projected growth, among other things. The board will receive the results in mid-January, he said, and will study that before making a decision about what to do to address the overcrowding.

The effort to address overcrowding led the school board to direct high school administrators to scrap the four-period day and come up with something else, to begin in the 2014-15 school year. In answer to a question, Opheikens said board members asked for six or seven periods, and other than that, it's up to the high school team to design schedule proposals.

The team will make a report to the board at one of the December meetings, Burritt said. Meetings are scheduled for Dec. 5 and 19. Price said the new high school schedule must be in place before March, when registration starts for the 2014-15 school year.

A district patron asked about the new Columbia Basin Skills Center and how that would affect overcrowding. Price said the new schedule should better accommodate the skills center classes. In answer to another question, Price said some vocational programs won't move to the center, citing the automotive program as an example. It's housed at Big Bend Community College and the partnership is working, she said.