Small Town News

School leaders to pick architect firm

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The school board will decide tonight on the architectural firm to work with the district in the initial stages of developing a plan for new facilities.

An 11-member community group heard presentations from four architectural firms Monday and is sending their scoring sheets and comments along to the school board for final review and a decision.

Funding for the process comes from a $500,000 legislative grant obtained through the efforts of State Sen. Linda Evans Parlette.

Architectural firms, ALSC of Spokane, Architects West of Spokane, Design West of Pullman, and Integrus Architecture of Spokane, all made 45-minute presentations before the group.

Architects explained how they would handle the project, and then answered questions from members of the group.

One of the big issues facing officials will be picking the site for any new K-12 school complex. The site most mentioned is the property where Lake Roosevelt High School and the old Wright Elementary are located. Both the ball fields and bus garage are already located there, and the district owns the property. That's one of the issues that any architectural firm will need to work out.

The community members taking part were Greg Wilder, retired public works official; Greg Behrens, Coulee Medical Center board member and retiree from the Bureau of Reclamation; Greg Hanoff, Coulee Medical Center; Susan Chaffee, school board member; Joette Barry, librarian and school board member; A.J. Gerard, builder; Kyle Desau-tel, planning manager for Colville Confederated Tribes; Steve Breeze, Lake Roosevelt High School principal; Janice Archer, representing classified employees in the school district and Cathy Huston representing the teachers' union.

One thing that there seemed to be unity on Monday was that members of the group expressed confidence in all four firms. Several said they could work with any of the four.

Tonight's meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at the district office, will be two-fold.

Board members will also be discussing how to proceed with the hiring of a new superintendent.

Current Superintendent Jeff Loe, who also handles the business manager job, provided a number of different routes for the board to consider in replacing him. He outlined the costs of having a part-time superintendent and a full-time business manager or a full-time superintendent and a part-time business manager.

The board tonight will continue its efforts to update some of its policies.



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© 2010 The Star Grand Coulee, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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