ILWACO – This was supposed to be the night that the Ocean Beach School District Board of Directors were to give the dollar amount that they would use in their school bond proposal.

Unfortunately, it will take a little bit longer to work on a number that at one point looked like $20-million, and now has blossomed to twice that amount.

Following a pre-bond work session on Wednesday, the board was tasked with working the fat off a bloated bond estimate that had reached $38 million dollars. The board had originally thought that they would have a definitive number for their monthly meeting on Monday, but now they will rely on feedback and an upcoming work session to reach their goal.

“I thought they did an excellent job of presenting to the board,” said board chairman Ed Guelfi of the architects from BJSS Duarte Bryant.

Guelfi said that the individual footprint plans were given to the individual schools for the staff to go over and see what kind of things can be changed in order to work down the estimated bond amount.

“So they can figure out, is there things in those buildings that they could live without?” asked Guelfi. “We’ve discussed having Cadillac buildings, or Chevy or Ford buildings. And we wanted to try to make sure that we’ve given the people good school improvement without all the frills and bells and whistles.”

The board will hold a work session on Tuesday, March 4, with a special board meeting the following night at 7 p.m. in the Ilwaco High School library, in which they plan on having the final bond amount.

“We’re going to take the information from the staff and we’re just gonna kind of go over it as thoroughly as we can, and then try to make some real hard-nosed decisions as to what this bond proposal is going to look like,” said Guelfi.

The board also looked at the process of adopting a budget for this year. Superintendent Tom Lockyer said that it “doesn’t appear as though we are going to see more money” from the state this year. They will continue to discuss the situation with the hope that they will have a budget worked out by March 15.

“What they wanted to do tonight was to give you this, and you can take and read it, and read it, and mull it over, and read it, and maybe highlight it and say, ‘these are things that we should never, ever, ever in the history of this district cut,'” said Guelfi in response to a question by board member Kim Patten as to whether they would be voting to adopt the budget that evening. “Everybody has their own opinion as to what’s the sacred cow in that whole thing.”

Lockyer also spoke about how the district is working on a procedure to update special education and related services. They are having an audit done in those areas and will be looking to see if they are in compliance with current standards.

“The policy is good, the procedures are outdated,” said Lockyer.

Cindy Decker presented enrollment numbers for the schools showing a dramatic drop in enrollment from last month – over 25 students difference. Almost 15 of those are from the high school. Decker said that this is because the semester had just ended and some senior students don’t need to attend as many credit classes.

As far as the drop in pre-high school students, she said she assumed it was due to people leaving town for the winter. Overall the district is still over budget, meaning they still have budgeted for more students then they currently have enrolled, by almost 21.

Vice-chairman Jim Sayce reported that the Hilltop School ventilation project was again a hot topic during the facilities committee meeting.

“The roof units were supposed to arrive today,” said Sayce. Decker added that the units have arrived in state but have yet to be delivered to the site.

Sayce went on to say that the contractors need a full school day with no one in the building in order to install the units, which weight two tons each, that will complete the project.

The public address system [PA] at the high school is not working and will need to be repaired or replaced. Sayce said they will be looking at some local outlets for possible repair, if not, a replacement would cost in the range of $3,000 for a low end model retrofitted to the current, or $13,000 for a new, fully installed system.

“Hopefully the amps can be repaired and we can move the deal along,” said Sayce.

Patten suggested that they look at possible support from security or safety grants, maybe even Homeland Security.

Sayce added that the district will need to do a performance energy audit in all buildings.

“There’s ultimate value in that because the whole idea is to reduce energy costs,” he said.

The board approved three classified hirings: Deana McCulley-Ocean Park Elementary SPED/ECEAP assistant, Kathy Herzog-Hilltop School library assistant transferring from Long Beach Elementary and Pam Peterson-food service assistant. The board also approved the resignation of Dominique Dust, who was a Tlohon-nipts Alternative school assistant.

The board accepted a number of donations of goods to be used at the schools, one of the highlights being a console piano worth $2,000, donated by Mary Hayden, to be located at Long Beach Elementary. David Sexton donated $575 worth of books and a Macintosh computer. Cheri Walker donated a $200 guitar amplifier to the junior/senior high school band.

The general fund was approved at $205,885.63, the ASB fund budget at $12,595.04 and payroll at $630,180.08 for the month.