School board extends bus contract, approve SPED contract addendum

The Wrangell School Board held a meeting last Monday evening, June 17, to review contracts for the next school year. The district holds various contracts with other entities to assist in the day-to-day management of the district, from transporting students to assisting in educating them.

One contract is between the school district and the Etolin Bus Company. The company had a three-year contract to pick up and deliver Wrangell students to school and then back home at the end of the day, from 2016 to 2019. School Board President Aleisha Mollen said that this contract was due to expire this year. However, it was decided to give the contract an extension of one year, pushing back the expiration date to June 30, 2020. The remainder of the contract has stayed the same, Mollen said, the extension was meant to give the board more time to review their options and decide what would be best for the district in the near future. In the meantime, the Etolin Bus Company will continue to operate on behalf of the school district at the rate of $1,546 per day for a minimum of 170 days.

The school board also approved of an addendum to the contract for Ryan Howe, to make him the special education coordinator. Due to budgeting constraints, the school board decided that Superintendent Debbe Lancaster would assume the position of Special Education Director in the near future, along with her regular duties as superintendent. Ryan Howe is a special education teacher at Evergreen Elementary. The board decided to make an addendum to his contract to let him begin taking on the role of special education coordinator, as well.

"That contract will help him as he takes on those additional tasks and becomes the special ed coordinator, and then Dr. Lancaster will be taking on the role of special ed director eventually," Mollen said. "Then that way Ryan can start building his knowledge base."

Other items covered in the meeting include approval of the 2019-2020 Upward Bound grant application, and the naming of students Jing O'Brien and Jade Balansag as student representatives to the school board. Mollen added that a work session has been scheduled on June 27, to discuss budget revisions, with a special school board meeting to follow on July 11.