OROVILLE – After fulfilling duties serving ice cream at the district’s open house, the Oroville School Board held a later-than-usual board meeting in which they met several incoming staff members and toured the bus garage.

The board and members of the public at the meeting Monday, Aug. 26 were introduced to Jay Thacker the new basketball coach, Steven Gunderson, Jan Ottman and Ryan Frazier. Each told the board a little bit about themselves. Thacker, who is a Physical Education teacher, grew up in Walla Walla and went to Gonzaga University. Gunderson, the new High School Counselor, is originally from Bellingham, then did his undergraduate work at Western Washington University, before participating in a special Masters program at Gonzaga for counselors. Ottman, who will teach 7-12 math, has taught 17 years at Tonasket and was born and raised in Tillamook, Ore. Frazier, who will be teaching 7-12 social studies and history, grew up in Oroville and went to school here. He said his background was in alternative schools.

“I’m very excited about our new staff,” said Oroville High School Principal Kristin Sarmiento.

Julie Tyus, a kindergarten teacher at Oroville, played a short video of her class last year. She talked about “whole brain teaching” or “power teaching.” She said the strategy helped to focus her students on the task at hand and to pay attention to the teacher. The program will be introduced to additional grades in th coming years.

“It’s a nice way to speed up the transition and a great way to make it through the day.”

Board Chairman Rocky DeVon said his son benefited from the strategy last year in Tyus’ class.

“He had a task to do and gave him something to focus on. I’m glad the first grade is going to start that… I’m excited to see it integrated and how it works with all the grade school.”

In his Superintendent’s Report, Steve Quick said the board had met in a retreat at the Pastime Bar & Grill and talked a lot about student assessments.

“This gave them a general idea on who we’re doing compared to the rest of the state… there are some good results, but there are some gaps,” Quick said.

The superintendent also reported that the main part of the elementary roof is finished with only a few items remaining.

“We also opened the bids for the elementary gym roof and the lowest bid was for $108,000,” said Quick, who added the original bid was for between $155,000 and $156,000 and that was why it was separated out.

“It seems it was well worth it to put out the gym bid separately,” said Quick.

Work is continuing on installation of the new HVAC system at the high school where they are still waiting to drill the wells for the geothermal system.

“We will probably transition from the old system to the new one in October, just before winter hits,” said Quick.

The superintendent said the Crows Nest at the football field was also nearly completed. He expressed the district’s appreciation for all the volunteers that have been helping.

One-to-One Computing, getting one computing devise into every students hands, one of the board’s goals for this year, is also getting closer to a reality.

He said that the schools Technology Specialist, Ed Naillon had set up two new iPad Carts.

“Ed has worked really hard to set up carts for both buildings,” said Quick.

The superintendent also read a letter of appreciation from North Valley Community Schools for all the district does to aid that popular program.

In their reports, High School Principal Kristen Sarmiento and Elementary School Principal Joan Hoehn told the board that there was a good turnout for the open house in both buildings earlier that evening.

Sarmiento said she and Hoehn had attended training workshops on Teacher Principal Evaluation Project (TPEP), which is being implemented around the state.

The board approved a large consent agenda. Among the items approved was the resignation of Brett Fancher as the district’s Athletic Director and the hiring of Tam Hutchinson in that position. Sarah Marlow was hired as Elementary School Counselor. Kelsey Bourn resigned as Assistant Girls Basketball Coach, Kelsey Cleveland resigned as a high school teacher and Assistant Softball Coach and Eric Cleveland resigned as assistant high school wrestling coach. Kayla McKinney was hired as junior volleyball coach.

Bruce Russell Cool

As part of their continuing effort to tour school district facilities, members of the Oroville School Board invited those at their Monday, Aug. 26 meeting to join them in the bus garage. Here Transportation Manager/Director Jim Bretz discusses the district’s latest bus purchase, a 78-passenger, rear-engined “pusher” International. Bretz told School Directors Rocky DeVon, Amy Wise and Travis Loudon, as well as Superintendent Steve Quick, that the bus has had wiring problems and has had to be repaired under warranty several times. “In fact, the bus didn’t even make it across the tracks on the (SR. 97) bridge the first time it went out,” said Bretz. In addition, Bretz pointed out that the district is replacing gravel garage floors with concrete one bay each year. Gary DeVon/staff photo

Crews from Spokane-based Potelco were stringing new fiber optic cable along Cherry Street in Oroville last Monday. The new cable is part an Okanogan County PUD project where 180 cable miles of fiber is being installed along Highway 97 from the Canadian Border to Pateros and along Highway 153 from Pateros to the Methow Valley. The project is being paid for through a $9 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) awarded to the PUD to bolster high speed broadband access in rural America. Along with the new fiber optic cable, 172 wifi modules, or outdoor access points, are being installed on power poles and one and a half mile intervals. Each of these modules will be connected to a fiber optic line and will provide access to broadband by customers who subscribe to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), retailers, who use the PUD system. Like the current PUD internet system, the PUD will act as wholesalers. “People will be able to subscribe to an ISP and connect to the module to gain access to broadband,” said John MacDonald, Network Engineer with the PUD. “We have tested the system and people can expect speeds up to 10 megabits a second from about three-quarters of a mile away from a module.” MacDonald said the network is being engineered in such a way that it will not be over-subscribed and slow down access. He said that if some areas have more subscribers a second module may be added in the area to prevent slow-downs from happening. “At this point we are running cable to about Veranda Beach on the east side of the lake and to the Canadian border on the west side,” said MacDonald. “We will be going from the north in Oroville to Pateros first, then from Pateros to the Methow.” He said there are also plans to run spurs along Havillah Road, up Swanson Mill Road, South Pine Creek and to Loomis, as well as to Wannacut Lake. Gary DeVon/staff photo