Pateros School District address Field of Dreams, Capital Levy

PATEROS – Pateros School District personnel James Broome (certified), Shane Kelly, and Darlina Fernandez (classified) were selected by their peers as the 2018-19 Excellence Award Winners and will participate in the North Central Educational Services District Excellence Banquet at 5:30 p.m. at Bridgeport High School on April 24. That was one of many items on the regular meeting agenda of the Pateros School Board of Directors regular meeting on Feb. 25.

In other business Pateros Mayor Carlene Anders addressed the board on the subject of cooperative possibilities between the city and school district on the Field of Dreams survey.

Kris Erlandsen of Erlandsen & Associates, Brewster, shared a diagram made by Design West in 2013 of the eight-acre Field of Dreams complex showing the placement of the baseball and softball fields. Erlandsen noted that a retaining wall bordering the edge of the property would need to be removed to allow full utilization of the site.

The district has requested a rezone of the parcel along Industrial Way from light industrial to public use and a 60-day comment period allows interested parties to write to the City of Pateros Planning Commission to express their view on the proposal.

The District is proposing a Capital Levy in April to raise funds for at least three school campus projects aimed at improving student health and safety. The levy will amount to one dollar ($1) per thousand of real estate valuation for two years and yield $411,190 with the first collection in spring 2020 and last in the fall of 2021.

School Board Chairperson Grace Larsen wrote in a public service announcement (PSA) that the funds raised from the levy will be used to construct a covered play area on the elementary playground so students will have a sheltered outdoor area to use in inclement weather. Another project will expand a second-floor room over the auxiliary gym to create an indoor recess space. A third project will provide for an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant access ramp to the music building. Any remaining funds will be used in support of campus health and safety.“ The Board decided to run the $1/$1,000 levy amount because it keeps the school tax rate essentially flat (with the exception of taxes for 2019),” wrote Larsen. “It helps the District compensate for the negative impact of a new state law (2018) which placed a cap on how much school districts could raise in maintenance and operations levies.”