Warden SD discusses annex, driver’s ed

WARDEN — During the Warden School District board meeting Thursday evening, district officials addressed the future of the city’s annex building and driver’s education programs. Additional topics included enrollment and an anaphylaxis policy update.  

The meeting commenced with updates on student enrollment. West reported a slight decline in enrollment numbers.  

“We experienced a four-student decline from November to December, but since the December count date, we’ve enrolled two families and will begin with seven new students shortly,” West said. 

Annex 

A significant portion of the meeting centered around the future of the annex building, a facility that has been a point of contention between the school district and community members who utilize it for various purposes, including fitness programs. The current lease arrangement has raised concerns over potential future uses of the facility.  

“Currently the annex is used as a facility for accommodations of cheer, baseball, a fitness center and a community center,” Superintendent Scott West said.  

The Annex facility has a 30-day notice of termination with the school district and is in need of repairs including the floor and HVAC system. The building has two HVAC units and one of them isn’t functioning. 

“Those are large expense projects, and the district is not in the financial position at this time to complete those repairs at this time,” West said.  

The board discussed potential options including an outside source that would like to lease the facility, make repairs and potentially give it back to the school district. Another option is seeking grants and other funding such as the Paul Lozier community grants to make the repairs; however, the district has applied for the Lozier grant twice and it was denied both times.  

“We currently do not have the capacity to serve all our students. Until further solutions materialize, letting go of this facility is not on the table,” Board Member Bryce Cox said. 

The board will hold a special meeting Dec. 20 at noon to discuss options for the annex. 

Drivers Ed 

The board also took time to discuss the Driver's Education program, which the district will have to raise the prices of. Warden School District is one of the few districts in Eastern Washington to offer driver’s education. However, the instructor is asking for higher wages and the car used for the program is aging.  

West said neighboring cities have independent driver’s education classes that cost around $500 to $600 per student.  

There was a proposed price of $400 a student in comparison to the last three years at $245. This would increase the instructor's wage to $40 an hour instead of $28 an hour, which was the previous rate. Even with the proposed class increase and an estimated 49 students the district would still lose around $248 total without considering vehicle maintenance, insurance or other fees.  

If the board were to enact an increase, West asks that it is not done until the 2025-26 school year.  

Anaphylaxis 

The board unanimously approved a new policy on anaphylaxis prevention and response. The policy includes training for staff in recognizing signs of anaphylaxis and administering lifesaving epinephrine. It also will allow for nurses to administer the medication to a student who is going into anaphylaxis without epinephrine on their student record.  

“I still would like to say we should send something out to the parents, it doesn’t have to be a permission slip or whatever but just so they know,” board member Tiffany Hymas said. “Epinephrine saves lives but students that are atypical, like they have a heart defect. I just think parents deserve to know that this is going to be on campus.”