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Audit finds problem at MSD
MONTESANO — A state audit found two major problems with the Montesano School District: The district’s financial position continues to decline and the district did not comply with bond or bid law.

Superintendent Marti Harruff said the district is working hard to correct the problems.

The audit also discovered two other minor problems not detailed in the audit report but explained in letters of guidance to the district. The district’s oversight of ASB money is disorganized and included several accounting errors, according to one letter. The district also lacks internal controls in the preparation of financial statements; instead of having its own internal controls, the district relies on review procedures performed by Educational Service District 113, the other letter stated.

A separate audit report found no deficiencies in the district’s use of its major federal money.

“Obviously we’re dissappointed,” school board President Ray Sowers said. “There’s no way to sugarcoat this audit.”

Fiscal woes
The financial troubles are the same the district has been working to fix this past school year. The district ended the 2007-2008 school year $227,639 in the hole, was negative $523,483 at the end of February and was down $267,754 at the end of March, the audit stated.
Additionally, the district had been issued $5.6 million in interest-bearing warrants by Grays Harbor County because of cash flow shortages, costing the district $10,476 in interest payments last school year. This school year, the district borrowed $6.5 million from the county, costing $8,346 in interest payments, the audit stated.
The district also spent $959 last year and $198 this year in credit card finance charges because card balances weren’t paid off before interest accrued, the audit stated.
“The district did not effectively control its costs or effectively monitor its financial position,” the audit concludes. The departure of the business manager last year left a vacancy that “contributed to the deterioration of the fund balance,” the audit stated.
Harruff noted that the school district is working with Educational Service District 113, as required by state law when a school district runs a deficit, to improve its financial condition.
The district has made some budget cuts and is planning additional cuts in next year’s school budget to reach a positive fund balance by the 2010-2011 school year, Harruff said.
“The district has permanently filled the business manager position and feels the lack of monitoring left by the vacancy has been corrected,” she stated in the district’s response.
Sowers said the lack of a business manager was a “huge problem” that was the biggest contributor to the lack of financial oversight. There were other contributing factors, such as declining enrollment, he said.
Additionally, the district was able to repay the county April 30 for the previous month without having to borrow additional funds for this month, Harruff said.

Bid and bond trouble
The audit found that the district spent $80,674 from the $16 million bond to build the new Simpson Elementary, remodel Beacon Elementary and renovate the junior-senior high school for purchases not allowed by the terms of the bond, the audit stated.
The district bought a walk-in refrigerator and installed computerized whiteboards at the high school. Additionally, the district did not comply with state law for a competitive bid process in the purchase of the whiteboards, required for purchases more than $40,000.
The district had planned to buy the whiteboards, described as “much needed technology,” using levy money and state money allocated for technology, Harruff said. However, when the bill came due, the state money hadn’t arrived so the district dipped into bond money, she said.
Basically, the district used the wrong pot of money to pay for the purchase. The audit recommended the district repay the money, which the district plans to do, Harruff said.
The school board approved the purchase of the whiteboards in a public meeting.
“(The purchase of the whiteboards) was quite heavily debated by the board,” Sowers said. The audit’s findings about it came as a shock because a prior business manager assured the board that the spending was OK, Sowers said.
“The district believed in fact we were in compliance with the resolution passed for use of these funds,” Harruff said in her response to the audit.
Because the district worked with Educational Service District 113 using state contracts with Microsoft for the purchases, district leaders felt the competitive bid process had been satisfied, Harruff stated in her response.
The audit recommended the district establish procedures to ensure bond funds are used for allowable purposes and ensure compliance with state bid laws.

No confidence
The teacher’s union last Friday took a vote of “no confidence” in Harruff’s leadership. Union members will discuss their reasons with the board Thursday at a special meeting, in which the board will consider Harruff’s annual review. The union prepared a statement but it was not available at press time .

Deep cuts in Monte district
MONTESANO — The school board meeting room was packed to overflowing with tearful teachers last week as the board made official the notifications that 22 teachers would not be guaranteed jobs next year. The teachers were sent Reduction in Force notices in April; one other teacher’s provisional contract was not renewed.
The school board also approved several major cuts including the elimination of Montesano Community Education, elimination of full-day kindergarten for a year, reduction of the Hi-Cap program and athletic budget, administrative cuts and other measures, totaling $437,257, not including the savings of the cut teachers positions.
“None of these cuts are permanent,” school board President Ray Sowers said. “If we can come up with additional funding, we’re more than willing to look at bringing these back. They’re all valuable.”
Of the 22 let go, five will be immediately rehired to fill specific needs, such as special education and art, Superintendent Marti Harruff said.
The budget for next school year assumes nine teachers — in addition to those covered by the program cuts — won’t return. Cutting nine teachers is expected to save $492,739.
The only certain cuts are those included in the program reductions: a half-time French teacher, half-time Hi-Cap teacher and two kindergarten teachers.
The other teachers will be brought back cautiously as the district learns its actual budget numbers, Harruff said.
After the initial five re-hires, the district will look at shifting existing staff to cover vacancies, then will hire for some of the remaining vacancies until the start of the school year when the district knows for sure how many students will attend, Harruff said.
The state has yet to provide the actual dollar amount of cuts to the district, so the final budget won’t be determined until after that is available, Harruff said.

Community Education
The school district has managed Montesano Community Education — which offers a variety of classes to students and adults in and around Montesano — since the 1980s. The school district will save $25,000 by cutting its funding of the program.
Registration fees should be able to keep a portion of the program alive, said Judy Thompson, former program coordinator, who still runs the program in her free time.
A public meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, in the school district boardroom at the district administration building, 302 N. Church St., to discuss ways to continue the program.
“I don’t know what that will look like yet,” Thompson said. “I’m imagining it will have to be run by volunteers.”
Some of classes have high participation and have been running since the program’s inception. Additionally, the program’s online classes will continue because they’re easy to operate and are well-liked, Thompson said.
Additionally, there are some programs that Thompson said she enjoys doing and can get help from others.
“It will depend on people stepping up and volunteering,” she said.

Full-day kindergarten
Moving to half-day kindergarten saves the district $135,000, largely by getting rid of two teachers.
“We didn’t do away with full-day kindergarten; we’ve suspended it for a year,” Sowers said.
The decision was driven primarily by budget concerns but also by limited classroom space during the remodeling of Beacon Elementary next year, Sowers said.
The state provides funding only for half-day kindergarten and Montesano doesn’t have enough low-income students to get state money that could be used to offer full-day kindergarten to all students. The full-day program had been paid for with a voter-approved levy, but that money has been needed to cover basic education more and more as state funding has dropped, Harruff said.

Other cuts
• School district administrators including Harruff will take five unpaid days and won’t take professional development classes, saving the district $33,450.
• The athletic budget will be cut $47,708 by limiting team sizes, reducing the number of distant games, limiting middle school sports to local games and other reductions.
• Cutting classroom field trips will save $9,000.
• Eliminating the Junior High Math Team (due to low participation) saves $805.
• A new phone system will save $24,000.
• Cuts in office supplies and materials will save $10,000.
• School board travel and professional development will be cut $10,000.
• Cutting French and Current Model will save $59,294. That leaves Spanish as the district’s only foreign language.
• The Hi-Cap program, for highly capable elementary students, will be reduced by $28,000. State money for the program will still be used, but the program will have to be redesigned to fit within the reduced budget, Harruff said.
• Cutting courses with insufficient enrollment is expected to save another $55,000.
• The board decided not to eliminate elementary counseling, which would have saved $32,745 had the staff recommendation been followed.

Return of Rakevich
ELMA — Rick Rakevich, former 14-year head wrestling coach at Elma High School and a state Wrestling Coaches Hall of Famer, will return to the position next school year. The Elma School Board approved the re-hire of Rakevich, who teaches physical education at the school, to that position last Tuesday, May 26.
The previous head wrestling coach was placed on paid administrative leave last Dec. 1 because of an allegation of improper conduct with a former female student. After the completion of an investigation on behalf of the Elma School District into the allegation, the coach, also a teacher at the school, returned to the classroom Feb. 4. But he would not be returning to the coaching position in the “immediate future,” Superintendent Howard King said at the time.
The superintendent said he was “not at liberty to give details of that,” however, because the coach had successfully sought a court injunction after newspaper requests for documents pertaining to the district’s investigation and his personnel records.
A grievance on the teacher’s behalf has been filed with the school district, King said.
Rakevich, 53, who was inducted into Washington State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame last year, was head wrestling coach at Elma High School until 2003. He resigned because his son, Jamie, was competing in wrestling at Oregon State University, and “I couldn’t do justice to the job and be able to go watch him wrestle,” he said Wednesday.
Also a physical education teacher at the school, as well as a former social studies teacher, Rakevich said he was “excited” about returning to his former position as the Eagles’ head wrestling coach. He led Elma to the school’s first state wrestling championship in the 1994-95 season. He has been employed by the school district for 27 years.

More Sports
Rice and Solwold split ASCS feature victories at Raceway
ELMA — Shawn Rice of Tacoma and Jason Solwold of Burlington each made a trip to victory lane after winning one of two American Sprint Car Series main events last weekend at the Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma. Rice was the first night’s 30-lap feature victor on Saturday, May 23, and then Solwold picked up the feature win the next evening. In addition to the ASCS cars, the Triple X Ford Focus Midget class was on hand. Seth Hespe of Snohomish and Colton Heath of Everett were the winners of the Ford Focus Midget features on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Keating wins 2A district golf title
LACEY — Elma freshman Alexis Keating made good on her first trip to the 2A District Girls Golf Tournament by taking top individual honors Tuesday, May 19, at Capitol City Golf Course. Aberdeen’s depth proved to be too much as the Bobcats won the team title.

Monte girls nab district golf title
KELSO — Led by individual champion Missy Gregorius, Montesano was able to defend its title at the District IV Class 1A Girls Golf on Monday and Tuesday, May 18-19, at the Three Rivers Golf Course in Kelso. The Bulldogs amassed 74 points in the team competition to top runner-up La Center by 11.5.