Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.
———
McCALL — The McCall-Donnelly School District was scheduled to celebrate the grand opening of its new employee housing development with a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday.
The event was to include an open house at the new housing development at 2000 Wolf Pack Place at the corner of Stibnite and Mission Street in McCall.
The project features a total of eight units, including six one-bedroom, one-bathroom units and two two-bedroom, two-bath units. There is one 2-bedroom unit specifically built to accommodate those with a disability.
The eight-plex allows up to three people in the one bedroom apartments and five people in the two bedroom apartments, said Jason Clay, MDSD Director of Operations.
Each unit contains high efficiency heat pumps and appliances like full size washer and dryers, ovens, microwaves and indoor storage space.
The school district has worked on the project for about two years after delays due to unforeseen sewer upgrades that were necessary to complete, said Tim Thomas, MDSD interim superintendent.
“It has had some ups and downs along the way, but it is a great asset,” Thomas said. “I hope it eases the housing challenges for our current staff and opens doors for an increased quality of our teaching applicants.”
The units are available to any McCall-Donnelly school district employee, he said.
Employees can apply for a unit and those interested are encouraged to tour the facility during the open house.
Rent will be based on a sliding scale and will include 30% of the employees adjusted gross income, he said.
The project had a $5.3 million budget while the final project cost was $5.2 million. However, final landscaping work will continue this spring.
Before more units are built, the school board will determine the effectiveness of the new units before moving forward with any plans, said Thomas.
— Sierra Christie, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday
MVSD 244: School resource officer hired, in training phase
GRANGEVILLE — Thanks to a State of Idaho Department of Education grant, Mountain View School District 244 will soon see a school resource office (SRO) in its buildings.
The Idaho County Sheriff’s Office (ICSO) has hired Officer Jenna Watkins to fulfill the SRO role in schools. The three-year grant will fund the position.
“Officer Watkins is in uniform, and she has visited some of our schools already,” MVSD Superintendent Alica Holthaus reported at the Dec. 19 meeting. “In a (rural) area such as ours, you don’t get an officer who is fully trained, so she is in the training process right now.”
Holthaus said she is moving along through that training and will attend POST this summer.
“There is not a specific schedule of where she will be — we don’t want that,” Holthaus explained, saying they want her to be a regular fixture who could be in any of the buildings at any time.
Holthaus said Officer Watkins comes from a background with parents as educators and she understands the school system.
“I have been impressed so far with her and the questions she has asked as we make our way through a job description. This is all new for us,” she added, saying Watkins realizes the program is about the contact between law enforcement and students and fostering good relationships.
“Sometimes, unfortunately, parents say things to their kids like ‘You were naughty so I’m gonna call the cops and have them take you away.’ So, when kids have this mindset that police are bad, that has to be healed in a lot of homes,” Holthaus said, adding that some kids have also seen a family member removed from their homes by police so their experiences with law enforcement are not congenial. She hopes the SRO program can help change those unpleasant opinions of police.
In other news, Grangeville High School Principal Amanda Bush reported plans for an addition to the high school’s greenhouse are ready.
“This will allow for more space to grow plants,” she said. The agricultural science/FFA students sell these each spring. The building will not require any heat.
Bush explained the students will mill their own lumber in the school’s mill (provided by a grant last year) and will build the addition themselves. They have been working not only with FFA advisor and teacher Levi Stone, but also with community volunteers Pam Smith and Dallas Neumann.
“The students will also have to go to the city council for a building permit,” she said.
Total cost of the building is expected to be about $2,500, which will come from their budget and grant monies with no additional cost to MVSD.
Bush also stated the new owners of the former Rickman’s Rockery property donated many pots and additional materials to the program.
The board approved the building addition.
— Lorie Palmer, Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Wednesday
