Athletic combine a go for another year

DAYTON–The Dayton School District has decided to proceed with the Dayton-Waitsburg Athletic Combine intact with no changes for the coming school year. Superintendent Rich Stewart said the subject will be examined again as the year proceeds.

Superintendent Stewart led the August Dayton School Board meeting on August 17, providing updates about the Dayton and Waitsburg (DW) Athletic Combine, establishing a sex-ed curriculum committee and professional development for the staff. A budget status was given by new Business Manager Jana Eaton. Stewart also presented a contract for discussion and approval with ESD 123 for district business management support.

With the new sex-ed bill passed and slated to take effect this school year, Stewart acknowledged the district is behind in choosing curriculum. He is moving forward with former Superintendent Guy Strot’s plan to form a committee from among the School Board, staff, parents, and community members to select curriculum to be recommended to the Board for approval.

Strot had emphasized once curriculum is chosen, parents can choose to opt-out their children. He said the focus for kindergarten through third grade would be social emotional learning (SEL). By grade five they would teach about HIV/AIDS, but not puberty. In sixth to eighth grade the concept of consent would be introduced along with sex relations.

For ninth through twelfth grades, there is room for the committee to decide how in-depth the material would go. The topics of general health care and prevention methods for STDs and pregnancy, including abstinence, are required for upper elementary through high school. He had said the focus would be on affirmative consent and bystander training.

Stewart then shared that earlier that day, the district had an all-staff meeting where they heard from a speaker from the program Character Strong before breaking into smaller groups. Staff present included those from custodial, the kitchen and the district office. Topics discussed were: Why are we doing this? And how are we doing this? Stewart said it can take three to five years to make a difference but shifts in kids’ attitudes can be seen as early as a few weeks.

He added the feedback from staff about the meeting was extremely positive and later in Board meeting Athletic Director Sam Korslund attested to this. “It wasn’t just positive conversations I had with people – they’re excited...eager to get this year started.”

Secondary principal Guin Joyce is working with staff to provide consistent discipline sometimes using activities to reinforce ideas, said Stewart. They are establishing clear guidelines for expectations and consequences. He clarified, “Discipline is instruction, not punishment. Even though there are consequences for your behavior, it doesn’t have to be ‘punishment’...We want them to understand what the boundaries are.” Elementary Principal Amy Cox will have worked with her staff similarly later that week. Now in the role of K-12 Dean of Students, Hannalee Farrell will be working with both principals but will be supervised and evaluated by Stewart.

Eaton gave a brief budget status report indicating the district is “sitting well.” She is working to make sure funds that need to be expended, such as grant funding, are done so by the deadline of the end of this month.

In addition, it has come to her attention that the apportionment to the district from the State was not put into the district system and they are working to correct the oversight. As a result, next month’s report will have a higher-than-expected balance in accounts payable.

The Board reviewed and approved an hourly contract with ESD 123 for business management support for Eaton to be used as needed.