Lind, Ritzville school boards address changes for upcoming year

The Lind and Ritzville School Boards met on June 27 for their last meeting with Superintendent Rob Roettger and welcomed new Superintendent Matthew Ellis. Roettger is moving to the position of superintendent for the Cheney School District after five years with the local schools.

Roettger began the meeting by addressing the positives for the school districts. The districts have hired Ellis to serve as the superintendent for the cooperative and Ronanda Liberty to serve as principal for the high school.

Along with administrative hires, Roettger explained the district recently received positive results from the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Washington State Patrol for transportation inspections. The district passed with exceptional results, a trend they have kept for the past two years.

“We congratulate you, your administration, and the staff of your transportation cooperative for these outstanding school bus inspection results. We look forward to your continuing support of student transportation safety,” the letter from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn and Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste stated.

Roettger also took the opportunity to thank the school board members and individuals present at the meeting for their support over the past five years.

He said he has truly enjoyed working with everyone in the local communities, and is proud of the work the boards and administration has done to create successful cooperative school districts.

With the approval of the consent agenda at the beginning of the meeting, the school boards approved the resignation of five teachers. The teachers resigning are Martha Heidenreich, Rita Fryberger, Kerry Murphy, Susan Schafer, Leanne Borman and Janis Behrens.

Also on the consent agenda was the hiring of high school business teacher Steve Greenwalt, Lind fourth grade teacher Sarah Dinkins and middle school para professional Marie Borth.

During the legislative update, Roettger reminded the boards about Dorn’s retirement from his position, meaning there will be a new state superintendent.

The boards also voted on members to serve as the legislative representatives for the next two years. The Ritzville School Board unanimously voted for Scott Carruth to continue in the position, and the Lind School Board voted for Bev Kulm to continue in her role.

Roettger presented an update regarding the upgrades in the Lind School District with the last of the funds from the capital bond.

With the playground equipment installed, Roettger said the final projects include the installation of an intercom system this summer and gates installed on the playground for safety.

The last of the projects is the completion of the sidewalk outside of the Lind Elementary School and making it ADA accessible.

Lind-Ritzville Athletic Director Greg Whitmore presented the updated athletic cooperative agreement, which includes the addition of the Washtucna School District. The contract has been revised in accordance with the addition of another school, and also included appropriate upgrades to the agreement.

The Broncos will remain listed as Lind-Ritzville/Sprague and the middle school as the Lind-Ritzville/Lamont Bulldogs. Whitmore will continue to oversee and coordinate the programs, and the fiscal manager will remain in the Ritzville School District.

Whitmore explained all of the business managers are having a meeting in the month of July to discuss the changes and for Ritzville School District Business Manager Dana Telecky to answer any questions regarding the billing for the cooperative.

The 2016-2017 school year is serving as a trial run for the Washtucna School District.

With the addition of Washtucna, the coaches and athletic trainer’s stipends, cost of officials, and uniforms and equipment will be split equally between the schools participating in that particular sport.

For the upcoming year, Sprague will not compete in high school golf, while Washtucna will not participate in high school and middle school volleyball, high school and middle school track, and high school tennis.

Whitmore explained the Lind and Ritzville districts will begin tracking the expenses for maintenance and miscellaneous costs to determine if the other districts should help reimburse for those expenses. Whitmore said they will take into consideration that the neighboring districts have additional costs as well, especially for transportation.

While the districts are accepting Washtucna into the cooperative, Whitmore said there will not be a lot of changes. Ritzville and Lind will continue to be the primary locations for the sporting event venues, and coaches will continue to be approved through the Ritzville School District.

Each school district is responsible for the transportation of their student athletes, and Whitmore expects it to go smoothly this year because of the experience of LRS as an athletic cooperative and continued communication between all districts.

Whitmore said one of the major changes to the agreement was a change in the date for notifying the other districts about wanting a change in the cooperative. He explained this includes the addition of other districts, and they must be notified by Feb. 1.

To date, Whitmore said he has personally been working with five Washtucna high school athletes that are registering for football this fall.

He said the Washtucna district is excited at the opportunity, and the athletes are making a seamless transition into the cooperative.

Both the Lind and Ritzville School Boards unanimously approved the athletic cooperative agreement.