WHS joins schools in hosting young leaders

By Diana Zimmerman

Wahkiakum High School student Sydney Hansen opened up the school district’s Board of Director’s meeting on Tuesday with a presentation on the Association of Washington Student Leaders Conference, which is coming to southwest Washington in October.

Wahkiakum, along with several schools in Cowlitz County, is hosting the event, scheduled for October 14-16. More than 1,000 students are expected to attend from schools all over the state to learn leadership skills.

Hansen, who is involved in organizing the event, told the board that they were looking for host families who are willing to take at least three students into their homes for two nights and three meals. The students will need a place to sleep comfortably in the home.

“We’re looking to house 40-50 kids, WHS Principal Leitz said. “One busload. We will bus them into Longview, to the conference.”

Several local students will also attend.

Hansen told the board about the service project being planned for the event.

“I am on a sub-committee for a service project,” Hansen said, “it’s with the outreach program and United Way. We are going to package 100,000 meals at Kalama High School on that Saturday. We’ll have the kids go into assembly lines to put together packages of mac and cheese and rice and beans to be distributed to five local food banks, one of which is Wahkiakum Food Bank.”

“This is the first time that Wahkiakum and Cowlitz have ever hosted this conference and it’s been going on for many years,” Leitz said. “They’re very excited.”

For more information, go to http://www.awsleaders.org/hostfamily or contact Stephanie Leitz at 795-3271 or sleitz@wahksd.k12.wa.us.

Teachers Carrie Badger and Tina Merz presented a supplemental curriculum they have been using for their language arts classes. They found the curriculum, which is provided for free, on the Open Educational Resources Project website. The two have found so much value in the curriculum and their students have been so responsive, they hoped the board will allow them to adopt the curriculum as core material.

“They are an excellent resource,” Leitz said of the OER Project, which provides curriculum for free online for language arts, math and more. The website is linked to the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s own website.

Parent Lacey Woodside Vik pointed out that the resource could save the district money as well. Textbooks and curriculum can be very expensive. The education materials found on the OER Project website could be copied at a much reduced price.

Board Member Paula Culbertson did not want to give carte blanche to the teachers as far as curriculum and expressed concern that thus far, the board did not have a curriculum committee.

“I am for what you are doing,” Culbertson said regarding the language arts curriculum presented.

But she had caveats. She wanted a process in place so the board would be informed about changing curriculum, to make sure they were “meeting legalities” and to make sure the community was informed.

The board approved contracts for all the teachers in the district, including a new kindergarten teacher, William Parks. They also approved the calendar for 2016-2017. The Christmas break is a little longer and there are no snow days built in, but if all goes as planned, the students will end the school year with a half day on a Friday instead of a Monday.

Superintendent Bob Garrett and the two principals hold the district’s credit cards. Garrett asked the board to approve an increase for all the credit limits provided it was okayed by the bank. The board approved an increase of $5,000 for each, upping their limits to $10,000.

Garrett spoke to the board about shrinking ASB funds and asked if they would consider providing relief for the rising costs of tournament and officials fees.

One reason the ASB has seen a decrease in their funds is the dwindling attendance at games, which has a direct effect on the concession stand. Regular Pepsi can no longer be sold in the soda machine due to new regulations and the school saw a huge loss due to that. And originally, the ASB was funded by the lunch program, according to Leitz.

No decision was made by the board at the time.

The meeting closed for an executive session. There was no report.