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Coupeville School District finances still in flux

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , , , on February 29, 2024| 1 Comment »

Coupeville Schools officials forecast 1.66 million in budget cuts for next school year, plan to ask for an $800,000 loan in May to “make it through the fiscal year,” and acknowledge the district is on a “financial watch list.”

All of that, and more, is detailed in a report Finance Director Brian Gianello will deliver Thursday night to the school board.

That meeting, set for 5:30 PM in the Kathleen Anderson boardroom in the district office (right across from the CHS gym), is open to the public and will be streamed as well.

Brian Gianello

In his report, Gianello will address plans to repay a $400,000 loan in which money was transferred from the district’s Capital Projects Fund to its General Fund.

He states “projections indicate that we will be able to pay back the 400K interfund transfer loan, with interest, from General Fund back to Capital Projects fund in April as we are slated to receive the majority of local levy revenues that month.

“However, we will need another interfund loan transfer of approximately 800K in May in order to be able to make it through the remainder of the school/fiscal year.”

His report also details that the general fund remains “at critical levels that require close monitoring.”

Coupeville is currently on a “financial watch list due to declining cash balances and declining cash flow” and is being monitored by Northwest Educational Service District 189.

Four school districts in this region, including Gianello’s former employer, La Conner, are under “binding conditions” this school year.

That means the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction requires the districts to regularly file budget reports and restore financial reserves to certain levels by a prescribed date.

Those pacts span at least two years and are meant to help districts prevent financial insolvency.

In extreme conditions, OSPI has the power to dissolve school districts.

The last time that happened in Washington state was 2007, when the Vader School District was erased overnight.

Coupeville Superintendent Steve King said his district is not in a similar situation.

“We are currently on the watch list like the majority of districts in the region,” he said.

“Given this situation we absolutely have to continue to make budget reductions this year and likely in future years.”

He does not, however, believe Coupeville will be put under additional monitoring.

“I do not anticipate that we will be going into binding conditions this year as we can borrow money from our Capital Projects fund instead of having to borrow money from OSPI,” King said.

“When districts have to borrow from OSPI is when they go into binding conditions.”

La Conner, which placed Gianello on administrative leave in January of 2023 before he resigned a month later, appears to be pulling itself out of its financial hole.

According to public records on Board Docs, La Conner’s Deputy Superintendent of Finance, Human Resources, and Operations Dave Cram was “given a standing ovation from the directors for his hard work on the budget” at the Nov. 27, 2023, school board meeting.

Back in Coupeville, Gianello will also address the potential need for deep financial cuts when the district puts together its 2024-2025 budget.

King, who has tendered his resignation after a six-year run at the helm, is slated to leave at the end of this school year.

He was authorized by the school board to make 1.45 million in cuts during the last budget process.

That set off a firestorm in the community, when initial proposed cuts included Dean of Students Tom Black, Athletic Director Willie Smith, and Athletic Trainer Jessica Caselden.

The AD duties were to be handed to Assistant Principal Leonard Edlund, whose hours were also being trimmed, but that decision was reversed before the budget was finalized.

The other two positions were cut, but the athletic trainer position was funded for a year by the community, and Black returned on a part-time basis after Edlund had to take a medical leave.

During the debate over budget cuts, many in the community cited the cost of the district’s food service program, alleging too much was being spent for “restaurant level food” while the program, still recovering from pandemic restrictions, failed to show a profit.

Next budget, Gianello projects cuts of 1.66 million will be needed to balance the budget.

“Decreased federal funding and increased salary and benefit contract commitments coupled with not enough staff attrition, rising inflation, and increased insurance costs are indicating that budget reductions are needed as we continue to closely watch cash/fund balances and other key financial indicators,” he said.

“It will be extremely important to continue to right size district staffing levels and seek a sustainable model in this new volatile financial climate.”

Gianello also cites the cost of a search for a new superintendent, “15+ staff currently on and/or upcoming leave of absences,” and pending negotiations with unions as factors in reaching that number.

 

To read his report in full, pop over to:

Click to access 2024.02_Monthly%20Board%20Report%20Summary%20for%20February.pdf

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2,023 words about 2023

Posted in 2023: Looking Back, tagged , , , , on December 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

2023 – here’s looking at you. (Parker Hammons photo)

Stuff happened. A lot of stuff.

And, while there are still three days left in 2023, we’re pausing to look back at what drew the headlines over the previous 362 or so days.

In no particular order and drawn from 1000+ stories here on the blog (seriously), what people were talking about in Coupeville.

 

Best of the best:

Grey Peabody (volleyball), Dominic Coffman (football), and Maddie Georges (basketball) played in All-State games, while Scott Hilborn and Jonathan Valenzuela (baseball) participated in the All-State feeder games.

League MVP honors went to Hilborn and Coffman in football, then Hilborn in baseball.

May brought the CHS Athlete of the Year awards, which went to Ryanne Knoblich, Hilborn, and Tim Ursu.

 

Budget battles:

Money is the root of all evil, and also the cause of a lot of hurt feelings.

Everyone has their opinion, and their explanation, but the facts are simple — school district officials initially called for cutting the jobs of Willie Smith (Athletic Director), Jessica Caselden (Athletic Trainer), and Tom Black (Dean of Students).

The decision to hand Smith’s AD duties to Assistant Principal Leonard Edlund, whose own hours were being cut, was reversed long before the school board voted on a budget.

But not before ADs from every other school in Coupeville’s league, and many others, made a public defense for a veteran leader who was in the midst of delivering a record-setting year, athletically and academically.

Caselden’s job was slashed in the final budget, despite a large public outcry, but then the community rallied to do what the district would not — save a valuable resource by funding the position for a year.

A GoFundMe and a car wash — the latter driven by the children of Caselden’s childhood friends — brought in $8,000 and gave school district officials a year to reassess their priorities.

Black was also cut, despite impassioned letters and speeches detailing his impact on the lives of countless Wolf students.

He was brought back on a part-time basis, however, after Edlund took a medical leave at the start of the school year.

As we head into 2024, Black has returned to full-time, for now, with the news the Assistant Principal is unable to return to his duties this school year.

Things remain unsettled, as four CHS secretaries sent letters to the superintendent and school board in December detailing the pressure they are under as the school tries to operate under the current budget.

 

Jonathan Valenzuela only needs one eye to beat La Conner. (Morgan White photo)

Buzzer beaters:

Valenzuela, down to one good eye after taking an elbow to the face earlier in the game, banked in a three-point bomb at the horn on La Conner’s floor, lifting Wolf boys’ basketball to a 57-56 win in February.

Jump forward 11 months, and it was Mia Farris driving the length of the floor in Coupeville, sliding between two defenders, and slapping home a game-winning layup as the Wolf girls held off Orcas Island 42-40.

 

Cheertastic spirit leaders:

CHS cheer balanced a sideline squad with a return to the competitive mats, with a high point being a 2nd place performance at the Blue Fusion Cheer Competition in Puyallup.

Other highlights included participating in Spirit Day at the U-Dub, and pulling off two hugely successful junior cheer performances, one of which drew 103 kids.

 

Coaching changes:

Brett Casey (CHS football), Hunter Smith (CHS boys’ basketball), and the dean of Wolf coaches, 20-year vet Ken Stange (CHS tennis) left the arena.

Meanwhile Bennett Richter added on a CMS girls’ basketball coaching gig to his high school football duties, while RayLynn Ratcliff, Alex Evans, and Jaylen Nitta took over the CMS boys’ hoops program.

Also new: Kimberly Kisch (CHS girls’ soccer), Amber Wyman (CMS cross country), Kristina Hooks (CMS volleyball), and (for a season) Mia Littlejohn (CMS girls’ basketball), while Craig Anderson and Jon Roberts bounced from middle school basketball to high school.

 

Carolyn Lhamon, different school, still awesome. (Photo courtesy Helene Lhamon)

College and beyond:

Multiple former Wolves suited up for college athletic teams this year, including Carolyn Lhamon, Lucy and Sophie Sandahl, Mitchell Hall, Ben Smith, Mica Shipley, Taygin Jump, Logan Martin, Joey Lippo, Caleb Meyer, and Hawthorne Wolfe.

Shipley reached the end of a four-year run as a D-I cheerleader at Eastern Washington University, while Martin earned All-West Region honors in the hammer throw for Central Washington University.

The Sandahl sisters (crew-Seattle Pacific) and Lhamon (soccer-Colorado School of Mines) participated in national championship events, while Sean Toomey-Stout, the first Coupeville grad to pile up stats for the University of Washington football team, took a medical retirement.

Then there were former Wolves playing at a higher level, with Dawson Houston and Kwamane Bowens suiting up for the Everett Royals semi-pro football team and Makana Stone entering her third year of overseas professional basketball.

 

Future phenoms:

Tamsin Ward kicked off her middle school track career by winning 11 times, including taking a league title in the high jump.

The only CMS athletes to top the 6th grader during the years I can … track?

Future high school legends Lindsey Roberts and Alex Murdy, who won 18 and 12 times, respectively, as 8th graders.

Meanwhile, the softball field was once again ground zero for future stars, as the Central Whidbey Little League Majors squad went 15-2, won a district title, and made a strong run at the state tourney.

 

Hit the road:

CHS graduated 88 seniors in early spring, with Helen Strelow and Abigail Ramirez sharing Valedictorian honors.

 

It’s a party:

CHS celebrated the 50th anniversary of girls’ basketball, bringing in a considerable crowd on a night when the current Wolves beat South Whidbey handily in two games.

The top 15 career scorers, led by Brianne King, and the 1999-2000 team — the first Wolf girls’ team to win at state in any sport — were honored, while former coach Phyllis Textor was among those garnering an epic response in their return to the gym of their younger days.

Earlier in the year, Coupeville celebrated Homecoming by anointing Skylar Parker and William Davidson as Queen and King.

 

“Pardon me ladies, I need to go win this game!” (Jackie Saia photo)

 

League leaders:

Multiple Wolves claimed All-Conference honors.

The first teamers included Cole White for soccer, Farris and Peabody for volleyball, Logan Downes for basketball, and Hilborn, Jack Porter, and Valenzuela for baseball.

Not to mention Farris, Madison McMillan, and Teagan Calkins for softball and (deep breath) Chase Anderson (on both sides of the ball), Downes, Hunter Bronec, Zane Oldenstadt, Davidson, Marcelo Gebhard, Mikey Robinett, and Jaje Drake in football.

 

Record setters:

Downes blitzed the books, establishing new CHS football records for touchdown passes thrown in a game (5), season (20), and career (40).

As the new year looms, he’s back at it, gunning for the #1 spot on the boys’ basketball career scoring chart.

Downes has 989 points and counting, with 10 games left on the regular season schedule, and then hopefully a long playoff run.

That puts him just 149 points from breaking the record of 1,137, jointly held by Jeff Stone and Mike Bagby.

During the spring Knoblich capped her track career by soaring five feet, two inches in the high jump at the state meet, tying a school record set in 1999 by Yashmeen Knox.

This fall, Wolf booter Ezra Boilek banged in five goals against Grace Academy, while playing just the first half, shattering the school’s single-game soccer scoring mark of four, jointly held by cousins Abraham and Derek Leyva.

 

Soccer shuffle:

A lack of players forced CHS to cancel its girls’ soccer season, but most of the players and coach Kimberly Kisch made the jump to team up with their male counterparts as the school went co-ed on the pitch for a season.

The varsity team, which featured Ayden Wyman and Bryley Gilbert, was ranked as high as #4 in the state at one point, while the JV squad, with close to a 50/50 mix, was competitive every time out.

Will the programs split next fall, or remain together? Only time will tell.

 

Madison McMillan (left) and Mia Farris celebrate long into the night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

State success:

CHS volleyball returned to the big dance for the first time since 2017, holding its own with big-timers Lind-Ritzville and Goldendale.

Wolf baseball beat Toledo 3-0, capturing the program’s first state win since 1987, then scored off of projected Major League Baseball first-round pick Zach Swanson of Toutle Lake in a quarterfinal loss.

Strelow, who also advanced to state in cross country during her Coupeville days, finished her tennis career by playing three matches at the year’s premier event.

Both baseball and tennis captured Bi-District titles, adding to the school’s Wall of Fame.

Cross country sent its boys’ team to Pasco, where the Wolves claimed 10th place in the team results, the best showing since the mid-’70s, while Noelle Western made a return trip as the lone CHS girl in the field.

 

Titanic track:

Alex Murdy became the 10th state champ in CHS history, soaring in the long jump, while the Wolf girls finished 3rd in the team standings, best in program history.

With the CHS boys finishing 5th in their own team battle, that put the cherry on top in a season in which Bob Martin and Elizabeth Bitting also guided their squads to Bi-District titles.

 

Water (and wrasslin’) wizards:

Finn Price is a one-man Wolf wrecking crew in the pool, training and traveling with Kamiak since CHS doesn’t have a pool program of its own.

As a freshman, he competed at districts in two events. Now, barely into his sophomore season, he’s already punched his postseason ticket in four events.

Coupeville senior Jaje Drake is following a similar path, training with South Whidbey while pursuing a season on the wrestling mats.

When the postseason arrives, the Wolf big man will go his own way, with CHS football coach Bennett Richter accompanying him.

 

Jae (left) and Heidi LeVine step into a new world. (Photo courtesy Sean LeVine)

Wedded bliss:

Among Coupeville athletic stars to tie the knot (and give the blog plenty of page hits) were Sylvia Hurlburt, Jae LeVine, CJ Smith, Payton Aparicio, Zoe Trujillo, and Hunter Smith.

 

What a win:

CHS boys’ soccer stunned state powerhouse Orcas Island 4-3 in the rain at Mickey Clark Field.

The middle school boys’ basketball teams won five of six games against archrival South Whidbey, a year after the CMS program failed to win a single contest.

Melanie Navarro cranked two homers on the same day, as CHS softball dismantled South Whidbey 20-2.

But no victory was bigger than the night CHS volleyball slew the beast.

Celebrating Senior Night, the Wolves thrashed La Conner in four sets, snapping a 12+ year streak of league wins for the Braves and signaling the beginning of the end for their four-year run of capturing state crowns.

 

WIAA recognition:

The bigwigs in the big city noticed Cow Town from time to time in 2023.

Lyla Stuurmans, Downes, and Landon Roberts earned Athlete of the Week honors, while CHS track copped Team of the Month for April.

Also, Wolf girls’ tennis and boys’ track teams earned Academic state titles in 2023, and CHS, as a whole, finished 4th among 2B schools in the yearly Scholastic Cup competition, an all-time best for the school.

 

And some odds and ends:

Former CMS football coach Michael Golden was charged with wire fraud in Alabama and faces up to 20 years in prison.

CHS grad Brian Roberts was honored by paramedics for helping to save a man trapped after a car accident.

The building commonly known as “The Engle Farm,” long owned by the state, burnt down.

The Coupeville Boys and Girls Club opened a snazzy new joint and will no longer have to share an old fire house.

Wolf basketball players gathered 250+ toys for children at Christmas.

Alison Perera was re-elected to the school board, while Charles Merwine was also added by voters.

Race the Reserve attracted 277 runners to the biggest fundraiser for CHS seniors.

The rock outside of CHS was vandalized by pro-Palestinian spray painters, but security camera footage revealed the perps to be outsiders, squashing conspiracy theories that local teachers were radicalizing students.

And the true “Chosen One,” Adeline Richter, was born.

“Bring me your finest meats and cheeses, my loyal subjects!”

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Edlund out (for the year), Black back (full time)

Posted in Everything changes, tagged , , , , on December 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville High School Vice Principal Leonard Edlund will not return during the 2023-2024 school year.

Meanwhile, Dean of Students Tom Black, originally a budget cut, has been returned to full-time status after starting the year as a part-timer.

Those changes were announced in an email Friday by Coupeville Superintendent Steve King.

The pertinent details:

Recently, we learned that Mr. Edlund, our MSHS Assistant Principal, will not be able to return to work during the 23-24 school year. 

Given this, we are adjusting our plans for staffing and administration support for the secondary campus for the remainder of the school year.

At the beginning of the school year, we made the following changes to help absorb the loss of Mr. Edlund:

1. We brought Mr. Black back to work on a part-time basis as a temporary Dean of Students.

2. To continue providing leadership for our Career and Technical Education Program (CTE), we brought on Susan Haldezos-Galligan, formerly Johnson, to be our CTE Director.

3. We restored days to Allyson Cundiff’s contract that had been cut over the summer so she could assist Mr. (Geoff) Kappes with staff evaluations.

With the updated information regarding Mr. Edlund, we are making changes to the plan for the remainder of the school year.

First of all, we will continue to support the changes made above.

Last week, when we learned that Mr. Edlund would not be returning, we restored Mr. Black to full-time.

We are also exploring the possibility of hiring an interim assistant principal for the remainder of the school year, with Feb. 1 as a potential target start date.

This plan is still being developed, and all options are being considered as we find a viable option to support students and staff while considering the financial implications.

Unfortunately, this evolving situation has affected the secondary campus while increasing district expenses.

I want to thank everyone for their continued work absorbing the significant workload in Mr. Edlund’s absence.

We will inform you once we have finalized our plans for the remainder of the school year.

Meanwhile, we’re all keeping Mr. Edlund in our thoughts and wishing him a full recovery.

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Fourth CHS/CMS secretary calls for paraeducator hire

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , , on December 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

A fourth Coupeville High School/Middle School secretary has written a letter to Superintendent Steve King and the school board asking for help.

CMS Secretary Lisa Yoder joins Registrar/Counseling Secretary Eileen Stone, Attendance/Athletic Secretary Barbi Ford, and Fiscal/ASB secretary Rosalie Fix in expressing the belief budget cuts have placed a substantial burden on support staff and are stretching them to the limit.

The four, who have combined to give the district 39 years, are asking district officials to put a priority on hiring a general education paraeducator.

Yoder, who is also part of the Coupeville Educational Support Association Exec Board, addresses the impact the letters have, while detailing why the secretaries have reached this point.

“We do not want to advertise our district’s shortcomings and we do not want our school community to think we do not appreciate our important roles/the opportunities we have to support our students and their families,” she said.

In the letter, Yoder details a meeting with district officials, and the secretary’s belief that their concerns are not being fully addressed.

“We asked for some help, by way of a part time substitute of any kind, to assist with tutorial, lunch supervision, ISS, secretary lunch coverage, etc., until winter break.

“The help we received from the district was being told to create a schedule where we cover for each other at lunch, which has only added to our workloads and has done nothing to help with the most important issue we brought forth, which is the plight of our students.

“We realize the budget situation is certainly not ideal, but is it so dire that we couldn’t have had a substitute at the rate of approx. $20 per hour to come in for three hours a day just to get us to winter break?”

The letters come in advance of the final school board meeting of 2023, which is set for Thursday, Dec. 14 at 5:30 PM in the Kathleen Anderson Boardroom on the CHS campus.

The school board acknowledges receiving correspondence during those meetings, but letters are not read aloud.

Public comment is allowed earlier in the meeting.

 

To read Yoder’s full letter, pop over to:

Click to access Letter%20from%20L%20Yoder.pdf

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CHS secretaries ask for help

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , , on December 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Three highly respected Coupeville High School employees have submitted letters to Coupeville Superintendent Steve King and the school board asking for help.

The trio — Attendance/Athletic Secretary Barbi Ford, Fiscal/ASB Secretary Rosalie Fix, and Registrar/Counseling Secretary Eileen Stone — have combined to give 32 years to the district.

Now, all three, while describing their deep love of the school and community, say CHS is reaching a breaking point.

With Vice Principal Leonard Edlund out since the start of the year with medical issues, and Dean of Students Tom Black — originally a budget cut — brought back only on a part-time basis, they describe a situation where the administration is stretched extremely thin — and the support crew is taking the brunt of it.

“It shouldn’t be the norm to have the principal be the primary lunchroom supervisor 5+ hours a week, while more pressing matters must be put on hold,” Fix said.

“It should not be the norm to have the Fiscal Secretary monitor Tutorial 2+ hours a week or for the Athletics Secretary to monitor ISS or after school study groups.

“It should not be the norm for the MS/HS Attendance Secretaries to feel the need to forfeit their lunches and breaks most days, because no one is available to cover the office that cannot be unattended.”

That’s a sentiment shared by her co-workers, and all three are asking the district to put an emphasis on hiring much-needed help.

“I feel like many of the hardships that we secretaries are facing could be decreased if we were able to have a general education paraeducator to provide some coverage,” Ford said.

“To help with tutorial, assist lunch supervision, allowing our counselors to be available to students in crisis, without leaving student lunch unsupervised, help cover secretary lunches, provide some direction and supervision for discipline and in school suspension, cover our front desks in the event of training or forums, maybe even help track credit recovery classes that we used to have a fulltime dedicated teacher to do.

“It is getting to the point that we are going to have to look at our job descriptions and identify our priorities because, quite frankly, it is getting nearly impossible to get everything done.”

The three letters are published on the agenda for the year’s final school board meeting, which is set for Thursday, Dec. 14 at 5:30 PM in the Kathleen Anderson Boardroom on the CHS campus.

School board members acknowledge receiving correspondence during those meetings, but it is not read aloud.

Public comment is allowed earlier in the meeting.

 

To read the full letters, pop over to:

 

Rosalie Fix:

Click to access Letter%20from%20R.%20Fix.pdf

 

Barbi Ford:

Click to access Letter%20from%20B.%20Ford.pdf

 

Eileen Stone:

Click to access Email%20from%20E.%20Stone.pdf

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