School district board discusses bond passage, appoints new director

BRIDGEPORT – The Bridgeport School District Board held its first meeting last Monday, Feb. 27, since passage of its facilities bond earlier this month and, among other business, appointed Bridgeport resident Maggie Ochoa to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of Rick Halterman.
Ochoa was interviewed in a board work session prior to the meeting and, following board approval, given the oath of office for the position of Director No. 2 by school superintendent, Scott Sattler.
Sattler told board members that passage of the bond measure represented “a positive sign of community support.”
Douglas County voters gave the bond a 65.3 percent approval and Okanogan county voters 58.3 percent for an overall margin of 64.5 percent, Sattler said.
Passage of the bond will allow the district to add more classroom space to the high school and elementary school and renovate the middle school.
With the help of financial and legal counsel the bonds will be sold this summer and the district will begin its search for an architect and project manager, Sattler said. The design phase will take about a year to complete so Sattler estimates that groundbreaking can begin in the spring of 2018.
In the category of Special Recognition, teacher Jenny Sanon was honored at Certificated Employee of the Year and paraprofessional Luana Gavin as Classified Employee of the Year.
The board also recognized the week of March 13-17 as Classified Public School Employee Week and March 13-19 as School Retirees Appreciation Week.
Sattler presented Middle School Dean of Students, Hanna Coffman with the Gold Star Award for the state’s College Bound Scholarship (CBS) program from the Office of Governor Jay Inslee.
The CBS was established by the state Legislature in 2007 to provide college financial aid to low-income students. Students must sign up for the program during their seventh or eighth grade year and agree to abide by pledge requirements to remain eligible for CBS. The Scholarship Pledge includes:
• High school graduation from a cumulative 2.0 GPA or higher.
• No felony convictions.
Students must also be U.S. citizens, eligible non-citizens of have DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) status, be income eligible, and be accepted by an eligible college that they will attend within one year of high school graduation.
The CBS covers tuition (at comparable public colleges), some fees, and a small book allowance, according to the website, www.wsac.wa.gov/college-bound
In a letter accompanying the Gold Star Award, Gov. Inslee wrote: “Your district’s success places you as one of the top-performing districts in the state,” and added that Bridgeport’s CBS sign-up rate exceeded the state average and “set an example for others to model.”
The board also accepted the resignations of high school cheer coach, Lisa Pierce, fourth grade teacher and high school JV girls basketball coach, Kayla Craig, and middle school special ed. teacher, Jennifer Dodge.
The board approved new hires Caitlin Huber as high school softball assistant coach, Dario Martinez as high school baseball assistant coach, Samantha Torres as high school cheer coach, and Jesse Macy as high school baseball head coach.
Macy said he held his first varsity practice in the school gym earlier than morning and had nine players turn out.