Organization forming to support MLSD extracurriculars

MOSES LAKE — A group of Moses Lake School District patrons is in the process of forming a charitable organization to support the district’s extracurricular activities after the rejection of an educational programs and operations levy and financial challenges put them in jeopardy. The group tentatively is scheduled to discuss their ideas with the Moses Lake School Board at its regular meeting June 27.

The as-yet-unnamed group will be raising money over the summer. The goal is to retain all the Moses Lake High School programs and those at the district’s three middle schools, or retain as much as possible. That includes sports and other activities such as band, drama and speech and debate. 

Leaders of the group met with acting Superintendent Carol Lewis and MLHS Athletic Director Loren Sandhop Wednesday to discuss the options.

Lewis told school board members Tuesday that district officials estimated it would cost about $2.29 million to retain the existing programs without cuts. At Wednesday’s meeting Lewis said there were some options for savings that could reduce that estimate. 

Districts do not receive any state funding for extracurricular activities; it’s all raised locally, and most districts, Moses Lake included, pay for it through the EP&O levy. But district voters rejected that. That was followed by the discovery that accounting errors and declining enrollment, among other factors, led to the draining of most of the district’s reserves.

The district has a policy that donors cannot dictate where donations or gifts are spent, and some participants said they want to be able to assure prospective donors that the money will go to the activities programs. 

Cody Parrish said that given the course of events, donors would be very skeptical without some assurance.

“That is the biggest thing right now. Nobody trusts the school district,” Parrish said.

“And I don’t blame them,” Lewis said.

The lack of trust in district administration and the school board has been discussed at a number of school board meetings, and Lewis said it’s up to the district to gain it back. Ensuring any money raised would be used for the intended purpose would be part of that. 

“As long as I’m here, I can promise you that it will (be used for the intended purpose).” Lewis said. “I know you can’t trust that yet, I’m going to tell you that it will.”

The group also said transparency would be important, both for their organization and the district. As part of that, they requested an accounting of costs. 

Lewis said the district has labor and equity rules it must follow, and those must be taken into account when planning possible cost reductions and fundraising campaigns. One of the participants used the example of the MLHS softball team; a donation targeted specifically for the softball team could be accepted, but only under certain conditions. 

Group members will be working on ways that people can donate over the next week, as well as establishing fundraising goals and rules to make the process transparent for donors. People who want to get involved, or who want to donate, can contact Parrish, cody.parrish@claconnect.com, or Ryan Carpenter at ryan@podiumpt.com.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Moses Lake junior Brady Jay rolls out for the pass. Raising money to support Moses Lake School District activities like football, other sports and academic clubs is the goal of a group now being formed by district patrons.