ML school board elects president, VP

MOSES LAKE — Members of the Moses Lake School Board unanimously re-elected Kevin Donovan as president and Oscar Ochoa as vice president of the school board at a special meeting on Thursday.

Donovan, chief financial officer for Willow Drive Nursery in Ephrata, will now serve a second, one-year term as president of the school board. Ochoa, a social worker with the Department of Social and Health Services in Moses Lake, will also serve a second one-year term as the board’s vice president, taking charge of meetings in Donovan’s absence.

“Why are we doing this? Even though the offices serve for one-year terms, we typically do it in a two-year cycle,” Donovan explained to high school civics students gathered for the school board meeting. “It takes a lot to know what you are doing, and we value a two-year commitment.”

The board also unanimously re-elected member Vicki Groff as its legislative representative keeping tabs on events with both the state legislature and state education authorities in Olympia.

Both Donovan’s and Ochoa’s terms conclude at the end of 2017, while Groff is slated to remain on the school board until the end of 2019.

In addition, the board also heard from the principals of Lakeview Elementary and Sage View Elementary.

Both administrators focused on space concerns. Both elementary schools have grown crowded and are nearly out of room for new students.

“Space is a challenge, we’ve installed a third portable, and we’re already out of space,” said Principal Kristi Bateman. “I’m not sure what we will do next year if we have to add a class or two.”

Bateman said Lakeview currently has 440 enrolled students, 38 percent Hispanic, with 60 percent of its students receiving free or reduced lunches.

Principal Noreen Thomas said Sage Point has, like several other elementary school in the district, had to eliminate its computer lab and convert it into a classroom. She told the board Sage Point currently has 437 enrolled students, 30 percent Hispanic, with 30 percent of its students receiving free or reduced lunches.

Thomas also told the board there simply were not enough substitutes in the district, with the school pressing some classroom aides into emergency service when they cannot find a substitute teacher.

The school board has proposed a $135 million bond initiative to build a new high school and a new elementary school to relieve overcrowding. Voters in the Moses Lake School District are set to vote on the bond in February.